Part 2: Confrontation and Disaster and Unexpected Strength

The morning breakfast table found Jane exhausted - mentally, physically and emotionally. Only her own superb cosmetic artistry gave her any semblance of a decent night's rest. Darla, with her own skills honed over the past two years as Jane's ward and assistant, could tell that Jane had used a much heavier hand with her makeup than was her normal preference for breakfast at home. Marie saw the same thing, but with her longer experience with Jane also took in all the signs of a sleepless night and moreover, she thought she knew why.

Caitlyn only knew that Jane seemed more irritable and sharper-tongued towards her than she had been for quite a while - since her first few weeks under Jane's supervision. *I wonder what she has in store for me, today* she thought morosely. *God, I am so tired of feeling helpless.*

"Girls," Jane's firm tone broke through Caitlyn's thoughts, and she looked up from her plate to the older woman. "We will be doing some more walking practice today, Caitlyn. I am determined that you will attend Edith White's ball next month wearing those lovely white sling-backs we purchased for you last week."

Darla groaned inwardly, wishing Jane would just give up. Walking practice meant yet another morning wasted trying to keep Klutzy Caitlyn from breaking a leg or worse. Still, she had promised Jane that she would help. "All right, Aunt Jane. What time do you want us and where do you want to do it?" she asked, pasting an forced smile on her lightly colored lips.

Jane gave her ward an approving smile, but shook her head. "Not you today, Darla. You have that appointment with Caroline this morning. You may use the car. Marie will be assisting us. Perhaps you would clear the table and take care of the dishes before you leave?"

While post-meal KP was definitely *not* Darla's favorite chore, it was infinitely better than yet another session of fighting to keep Caitlyn from killing herself in high heels. "I'd forgotten, Aunt Jane. I'll be happy to take care of the clean up." She rose and began to collect the dishes.

"Thank you, Darla," Jane approved before turning to Caitlyn and Marie. "Marie will oversee you putting on make up suitable for evening wear, and then you will come down to my office. We will practice in the main hall today."

Caitlyn nodded, a weary look on her face. "May I be excused, please, Ms. Thompson?"

"You may," Jane responded. The girl rose from the table and prepared to leave the room when Jane lifted a hand to halt her. "I expect you to give me your *very* best effort today, Caitlyn," she said in a tightly controlled voice. "Your future depends, in large part, on how you handle yourself today. Now is the time to put your best foot forward. Do I make myself clear, young lady?"

Caitlyn felt her heart start pounding and had to fight to keep from squirming under Jane's stare. "Yes, ma'am. I understand," she replied with only a slight tremor in her voice before curtsying and leaving Jane's presence as quickly as she could.

Jane watched in silence as the girl walked out of the room. Then, with a sigh, she reached for the coffee pot to refill her cup. She desperately needed the caffeine.

"Is this in the way of a last chance, Aunt Jane?" Darla's soft question made Jane jump. "I mean, didn't you say just the other night that there was no way you could let her go to a deserted park in heels let alone to something with as much visibility as one of Edith's debutante monstrosities? Do you really think you can get her up to that level in the few weeks you have left when you've already spent months working her with nothing to show for it?"

"I can't tell *her* this is her last chance, Darla. She just might give up on me and I can't have that. However, I suspect you are right on that score. Ruth's probation officer will be meeting with me soon to review the girl's progress, and I just don't have much of anything to report that's positive. She hasn't done anything bad while here, but neither has she successfully made any of the usual transitions that demonstrate changed attitudes and outlooks. She's no more ready to be a big sister now than she was when we first met her on the train, and as you well know, *that* is when her real training occurs. My time with her is running out, Darla."

"I'm sorry, Aunt Jane. I know how badly you feel about this."

"Thank you, dear. By the way, I put Darryl's boy clothes into the trunk of the car earlier. You can change down at the gate house and go up to Providence for the day. I understand the Paw-Sox are playing this afternoon," she said with a teasing grin. One thing Darla had never quite managed to control was Darryl's love of baseball. Jane had never quite broken him of going for the sports page instead of the fashion or business page first. Except when Darla was playing big sister, of course. Then she would smuggle the sports page to her room.

"Thanks, Aunt Jane. I need to meet with the Registrar folks up at the university anyway. I want to make sure that everything is all set for the fall term. I can still be at the ball park in time for the game. It will mean I'll be getting home later than I would if I was going to Caro's, though."

"Don't worry about it. I don't think Caitlyn will notice or remark upon your arrival time. Have a good time, dear. See you at supper." Jane finished her coffee and stood. She was starting to leave the room when Darla intercepted her and hugged her close.

"You've done your best, Aunt Jane," she whispered in Darryl's voice. "It is not your fault that you have run out of time with this one."

Suddenly weary beyond words, Jane let herself cling to her ward's strong young body for several moments, fighting the tears of frustration, anger and sadness burning behind her eyelids. "I know, but it still hurts." Jane broke the embrace and strode out of the dining room, leaving a worried Darla staring at her retreating back.

~----------------~

Jane was furious - with herself more than with Caitlyn and she was becoming steadily more incensed with each passing moment. In truth, for all her acting out for her students, Jane rarely lost her temper with or around one of her boy-girls, but she certainly had lost it in the face of Caitlyn's continued clumsiness. For the past hour, Jane and Marie had walked the main hall, flanking the struggling student as she made her painfully slow, awkward way on yet another lap up and down the long, central hallway. And Jane still couldn't tell for certain precisely what was happening with this student - which further stoked her already burning temper.

The exercise could scarcely have gone more poorly. Since the moment a very sheepish looking Marie had escorted their latest project into Jane's office, they had been served up one failure after another.

The child's make up was as bad as Jane had ever seen it. Except for the foundation, nothing else had been properly applied. Lipstick and eyeliner applications were uneven and jagged, distorting the shape of the mouth and eyes. Mascara seemed to clump at one end of the eye, making her lashes seem to travel only half of the eyelid. Her rouge application wasn't quite two red dots on Caitlyn's cheekbones, but it was close. *Well, at least her hair looks adequate,* Jane consoled herself, *but that is probably Sandy's last permanent than anything more by Caitlyn than a good brushing out.*

The walking exercise in the dainty, nearly three inch heeled shoes had been a series of near disasters. Jane and Marie had each caught a falling Caitlyn at least a half dozen times, and that was before Jane had given up counting in disgust and disappointment.

*DAMN the boy!* Jane's mind shouted. *What do I have to do? Tell him that if he doesn't start moving like we BOTH know that he can, he is out of here within the month? Where is the grace, the elegance of movement I saw last night? Those heels are as nothing compared to what he was doing last night in ballet shoes.*

As her temper became ever more volatile, Jane did not realize she had not kept her position next to her charge until the disaster she'd always feared struck.

Catching Marie in the cross fire.

Caitlyn came down awkwardly on the heel on Jane's side, and it began to roll under her. Marie immediately saw that Jane was not going to be able to catch Caitlyn in time and leapt to the rescue. She caught the toppling boy-girl and tried to brace her own feet to stop the fall. Unfortunately, she had planted her right foot on one of the small, colorful accent rugs that decorated the ceramic tiled hallway. Marie got a first hand insight why those scraps of color as sometimes called slip rugs. Her right foot slid forward, out from under her and under the body of the still falling Caitlyn.

Marie's scream of pain, as she took Caitlyn's full weight on her extended knee tore, Jane from her ruminations and sent her scrambling toward her friend. Caitlyn was there first, having spun on her knees to get off Marie and help her to lay out on the floor.

"What happened!" Jane yelled as she fell to her own knees beside Marie.

"My. . my knee," Marie rasped through gritted teeth. "I couldn't catch Caitlyn in time and she fell onto my knee. Oh, God, Jane, it hurts."

Jane made a quick examination of the injured leg. "Call 911, Caitlyn. I don't think it is broken, but she may have ligament damage. We need to get her to the emergency room."

Caitlyn nodded and raced off to the parlor, only to return moments later. "There's been some kind of massive accident up towards Providence, Ms. Thompson, and the remaining rescue units are on other calls. They asked what the problem was and told me that since this isn't life threatening, we may have to wait a while before they can get to us."

"Like hell we will," Jane snarled, shocking Caitlyn with her curse. She stood and stalked into her office. On returning she tossed a ring of keys to Caitlyn. "I am going to immobilize that leg. You go to the garage and bring around the estate wagon, then come back here. I will need your help getting Marie down to the car."

"Right," Caitlyn answered as she hurried to the garage.

Getting Marie down the long walk to the driveway was not easy, but Jane and Caitlyn managed it. Jane drove while Caitlyn sat in the back with Marie, trying to give what comfort she could, even if it was only providing one hand for Marie to squeeze and another to hold an ice pack against the rapidly swelling knee.

Fortunately, there was more than enough help available when Jane squealed to a stop at the emergency room entrance. Once inside, Jane noticed how perspiration and tears had ravaged Caitlyn's face. She handed her the small necessities make up kit she carried for her students. "Go clean your face, Caitlyn. They will think you are a potential patient. I will wait here for the doctors to finish with Marie."

She watched the boy-girl walk off in search of a lady's room and then turned back to stand vigil on her best friend.

~----------~
Several hours later, the good news was that Marie would not require surgery. She would, however, be required to stay off her feet for up to a week before she could even begin to think about moving around, and then only with crutches for perhaps another few weeks.

Caitlyn had been very quiet during Jane's long vigil as the doctors had worked on Marie. Nor had she said very much during the drive back to the house, not wanting to disturb Marie as she dozed in the back.

When Caitlyn did finally speak, her voice gave Jane a jolt. "Ms. Thompson?" Jane fought to calm her heart and nodded to the girl who then continued. "Marie sleeps upstairs, doesn't she?"

"Actually, she sleeps on the third floor," Jane responded, wondering what was going on in that bleached blond head now.

"Well, that might be a problem. First, it will be very difficult for her to get up there, even with us helping her, but more than that, if there was some type of emergency, like a fire, we might not be able to get her downstairs safely."

"Oh, lord," Jane sighed. She was so bloody tired. The adrenalin that had sustained her throughout this crisis had waned long ago, and nearly thirty six stress-filled hours without sleep was catching up with her. "You're right, of course, but there aren't any bedrooms on the ground floor," She said with a defeated tone.

Caitlyn looked at her for several moments and then decided to chance it. "Ummm. . . isn't that sofa in your office a pullout bed? I know you like your privacy, but maybe we could move that into the parlor? The downstairs powder room is close by, too."

Relief rolled through Jane as she acknowledged the intelligence of the solution. "My privacy compared to Marie's comfort and safety? Nonsense," she said, before quickly adding when she saw Caitlyn's face fall. "Your idea is perfect, dear, but we won't move the bed. We will install her in my office. Once we get her inside, you run up and get some linens and then make up the bed. Good thinking, Caitlyn."

~------------~
Marie was soon settled in relative luxury in Jane's office. "I can't be laid up for as long as the doctor said, Jane. Who will take care of you, the girls and the house?"

"I will take care of the house for you, Marie," Caitlyn firmly cut in before Jane could come up with an answer. "*YOU* will stay put and get well. You took care of me when I fell, and now I will see that you take care of yourself." At Marie's mutinous glare, Caitlyn smiled. "If you don't stay put like a good girl, I will sic Ms. Thompson on you."

That earned Caitlyn a chuckle. "Jane does make a good threat, doesn't she, chica?" Marie said.

"Works for me," Caitlyn said pertly. "Now, I am going to go make you a nice cup of tea and see if we still have any of those cookies that you watched me bake the other day. I'll be right back."

Jane stared in fatigued bemusement at her hopeless student taking charge of Marie.

"What has gotten into *her*?" an amazed Marie asked her friend.

"I have no idea," Jane said with a weary smile. "But since I am too tired to do you much good right now, and since Darla is still not back from her excursion, I am glad whatever it is has gotten into her right now."

Caitlyn came bustling back into the room with a loaded tea tray filled with cookies, pastries and some fruit. She efficiently moved a coffee table over near Marie's makeshift bed and set the tray upon it. "Shall I serve, Ms. Thompson?" She asked.

"Yes, please pour, Caitlyn," Jane replied knowing she would probably spill the hot liquid if she tried to serve.

Soon, Jane and Caitlyn had taken seats near Marie's couch, and each of them had steaming cup of tea and a small plate of food. The food and tea were greedily, albeit daintily consumed. Jane noted with a hidden smile that the tea was not her preferred Earl Grey, but rather a soothing herbal blend. Obviously Caitlyn intended that Marie would not be kept awake by too much caffeine.

Soon, the medication caught up with Marie and she was once again sleeping deeply. The sounds of her friend's gentle, rhythmic snoring combined with exhaustion to lull Jane to sleep as well.

A gentle hand taking the empty cup from Jane's lap startled her back to wakefulness Caitlyn put a finger to her lips to stifle a cry of alarm. "Ms. Thompson," she whispered. "You are dead on your feet. Why don't you go up and take a nap yourself. I will sit with Ms. Marie if that will ease your mind."

For long moments, Jane only stared at her student, eventually causing her to squirm under the hard scrutiny. "I won't run away," she told the older woman disgustedly.

"No," Jane agreed thoughtfully. "I didn't think you would. You've had ample opportunity today and did not take it. Heavens, I even gave you the keys to the wagon twice - once to bring it around to pick up Marie and once at the hospital to take it to the parking lot. As focused on Marie as I was, you could have been hundreds of miles away before I realized you'd run."

"Ms. Marie needed both of us, Ms. Thompson," Caitlyn said simply. "Besides, I figured out a long time ago that I really have nowhere to run to if I did manage to get away from here."

The two sat quietly for several minutes after that, each regarding the other with cautious, yet curious eyes. Finally Jane nodded and rose from her seat. "Darla should be back in two or three more hours. She can relieve you if Marie and I are both still asleep. Call me if you think there is anything wrong." She pointed to the small speaker phone on her desk. "Intercom 2 rings in my bedroom."

"Rest well, Ms. Thompson," Caitlyn offered quietly.

"I will, now," Jane replied as she headed for the door. Just before she crossed the threshold, Jane turned back to face her charge. "Caitlyn?"

"Yes, Ms. Thompson?"

"Thank you for your help today. Marie is very special to me and when she was hurt, well, I was not at my best."

"She is a very special lady, Ms. Thompson. She tries to be tough, but she cares too much for it not to show through some times. I like her a lot and I really do want to help you take care of her."

Jane nodded. "Then, I must thank you again. I will see you later." And then Jane left the room and went up to her own bed, her mind a-whirl with the day's happenings and surprises.

She'd worried that she might still be too keyed up to sleep, but that fear lasted only until the moment her head touched the pillow.

~-----------------~
The house was dark and quiet once again. Darla and Caitlyn had both long since gone up to their respective beds. Jane, however, was savoring the relative peace of her office. A fire burned cheerily in the fireplace, and soft classical music played in the background.

Seated behind her desk, Jane kept a silent vigil - watching over Marie as she slept, her injured leg cushioned 'just so' by Caitlyn. The sleep was the student's work as well. She'd seen Marie trying to fight the pain and had demanded to know if Marie had taken her latest dose of pain pills yet. Jane had known the answer even before Marie's negative response - Marie hated taking drugs of any kind as much as Jane did. This time, she hadn't been allowed any choice in that matter. Caitlyn had gently and sweetly browbeaten Jane's longtime friend until Marie had swallowed the pills out of self defense. The strong muscle relaxer and pain killer soon knocked Marie out. Only then had Caitlyn been willing to go up to her room and rest after their hectic day.

Who would have ever believed that Jane's awkward little chick could be so ferociously determined to take care of Marie? She'd been a clucking broody hen one minute and a growling tigress the next. Just another amazing bit that did not seem to fit anywhere in the increasingly complex and confusing mosaic that was her Caitlyn.

One thing was certain, however. As long as Marie was laid up, and Caitlyn was taking such excellent care of her, Caitlyn had a home with Jane Thompson. They would see what happened after that, but for now, any thought of returning Carlton to the juvenile justice system was put firmly aside. One way or another, Jane would keep the probation officer at bay for at least another month. There were simply too many unanswered questions about Miss Caitlyn Jeffries, and Jane was not about to give up on this child until she had answers to all of them. She now *owed* this child, and Jane Thompson always paid her debts - in full.

Marie gave a little moan of pain as she tried, unsuccessfully, to turn over in her sleep. Only now could Jane let herself look backward and honestly admit to the terror that had gripped her in those first few moments following Marie's injury. Marie was such a big part of her life - her family - that to have her hurt was hard for Jane to bear.

In the dark silence of her sleeping home, Jane felt so very alone and so very inadequate. At times like this she yearned for someone to hug her, to hold her and pet her, and to tell her she was doing fine - that everything would be all right. Someone to guard *her* during the long, cold night when the dark dreams and the darker fears came calling as she was guarding her best friend.

But there was nobody like that for Jane Thompson.

Jane knew that many of her young men suspected that her relationship with the vivacious Marie was of a far more intimate and physical nature than it truly was. Some of her circle of co-conspirators had, at one time or another, hinted that they thought that, too, but nothing like that had ever come of Jane and Marie's friendship. It wasn't that Jane was any more averse to a sexual relationship with another woman than she was to having one with a man. In fact, she had experimented with lesbian lovemaking in college and had found it a beautiful experience when it was done well.

She smiled at those old memories. *Another of what passed for a 'radical act' back twenty-odd years ago. Naturally, that just made it all the more exciting for a finely bred young debutante from *the* Hamptons like Miss Jane Anne Thompson.* She'd been so naively fearless in those days.

However, she had never even considered such a relationship with Marie. Marie was, in every way that counted, Jane's sister. They were family, but they were not lovers. They cared for each other, supported each other, *loved* each other, but not in the physical sense beyond the normal affectionate hugs and gestures of one sister to another.

Perhaps it would have been easier for them both if they had been lovers, Jane mused. Lord knew that both of them wished for someone special in their lives. Jane had had affairs in the past, and she was fairly certain that Marie had as well, but each of her own relationships had sputtered out and died after a few months. In her youth, Jane's innate honesty about her inability to conceive a child had ended at least two promising romances cold. More recently, at an age where her role as the progenitor of the next generation was no longer a significant issue, other problems, such as who came first in her life, had cropped up.

None of the men recently in her life had been willing to accept the short notice cancellations when one of her boys needed her immediate personal attentions, or her sudden departures (once just before the "consummation of the act") when a girl-boy had a crisis experience. Simply stated, her lovers had been unable to accept not being number one in Jane Thompson's life, and Jane had not yet met the man who could become more important to her than her boys. So, Jane Thompson slept alone, contented herself with what she had with Marie and her boys, and faced the demons of the night on her own.