As Marie always does every morning when a girl is in the house, after leaving her bedroom, she would go into each girls' bedroom, wake them, and hurried them along before going into the next girls' bedroom. This morning was going to be a bit different, as she discovered when she opened the door to Charlotte's bedroom to wake the girl. Only... no one was in bed. Charlotte's bed was made. Checking under the pillow, Marie found Charlotte's nightgown neatly folded as it should be. Hearing no water running in the en suite, Marie opened the en suite door, look around, but found no one. Puzzled, Marie left Charlotte's bedroom, closing the door behind her, walked the short distance to Francis' bedroom, and discovered the same absence as she had discovered in Charlotte's bedroom. Marie slowly walked out of Francis' bedroom, closing the door behind her and puzzled where the girls could be. After how they'd showed great concern for Jane, running away didn't seem possible, especially after what they did for Jane yesterday. Maybe they went on an early ride. But no, Jane explicitly told Charlotte not to leave the house without telling someone, and she wouldn't disobey Jane, she thought to herself.

It was as she slowly walked towards the stairs that a realization hit her. She smelled food cooking! And it smelled delicious! Wasting no more time puzzling about the girls whereabouts, she quickly descended the stairs and headed straight to the kitchen. Practically blasting through the kitchen door, Marie came upon a scene she'd never once encountered in all her time with Jane at Seasons House. Charlotte and Francis were in the kitchen preparing breakfast. She was even more shocked when Francis, of all people, told her, "Tante Marie, you just scoot back out of the kitchen, Charlotte and I are busy getting breakfast ready. You sit yourself down at the dining room table and I'll bring your tea and juice out in a moment." When Marie stood there dumbfounded, Francis walked over to her, physically turned her around and pushed her out of her own kitchen, guiding her to her usual place at the dinner table. Francis pulled out the chair, guided a stunned Marie around in front of the chair, and gently sat the woman down in the chair. "Now you just relax and I'll be back in a moment, tante Marie."

It was but a few minutes as Jane came walking down the short hallway that led to her bedroom. As she walked into the dining room, she saw Marie sitting at the dining room table with a stunned look on her face. As Jane watched, Marie planted both of her elbows on the table, then put her chin in the palms of her hands. As Jane watched, Marie's stunned expression changed to one of being flabbergasted, as she started saying, over and over again, "Je n'y crois pas. C'est incroyable. Je n'y crois tout simplement pas (I do not believe it. It's incredible. I just don't believe it)." Jane's attitude went from one of concern for her dear friend to one of anger, thinking the girls had finally done 'it' this time. Jane had walked over to stand by Marie, but her attitude changed as a noise came from the kitchen, she turned and took one step before Marie's left hand shot out and grabbed Jane's left wrist. "No, chère, it isn't bad, just unbelievable. You better sit down. Even you won't believe it." Slowly, Jane stepped back, pulled out her chair and sat down, all the time keeping her eyes on Marie. Marie finally sat up straight, turned her head to look at Jane and regaled her with something totally unbelievable. "You know I wake the girls every morning on my way down to the kitchen." After Jane slowly nodded her head, Marie continued with, "Well, I went into Charlotte's bedroom first, but no Charlotte. Her bed was neatly made, her nightgown where it should be, neatly folded, and the room and en suite neat and tidy. I then went to Francis' bedroom and found the same. When I reached the stairs, I smelled food cooking and rushed down and into the kitchen. Only to have Francis throw me out of my own kitchen. She said she and Charlotte were making breakfast for us, you and I. She threw me out of my own kitchen, can you imagine that. Our two girls threw me out of my own kitchen, and they're preparing breakfast for you and I."

Now it was Jane's turn to have a stunned expression on her face, as the kitchen door swung open and Francis and Charlotte came into the dining room. Francis was carrying two glass of orange juice, while Charlotte was carrying two cups of tea. "Good morning, Aunt Jane," Charlotte said, as she sat the cup and saucer down in front of Jane, kissing her on the cheek. She then walked around to Marie's right, sat the other cup and saucer down in front of Marie, kissed her on the cheek and told her, "Don't worry, tante Marie. Your kitchen will not be harmed by the two of us. Remember, my Uncle taught me how to cook." Charlotte kissed Marie again on the cheek before she disappeared back into the kitchen. Francis, meanwhile, had followed Charlotte, setting first on glass of orange juice in front of Jane, wishing her a good morning, giving her a kiss on the cheek before doing the same for Marie.

"Now, you two relax, enjoy your tea and juice, and breakfast will be ready shortly." Two overly stunned women turned to watch Francis walk back into the kitchen, both not realizing they had their mouths open.

A still stunned Jane turned back to the table, put her left arm across her chest, brought her right arm up and rested her elbow on her left arm, with her hand at her mouth, asking Marie, "Were we just given orders by our girls, Marie?"

A still stunned Marie answered with, "We were, and I was kicked out of my own kitchen."

The kitchen door opening caught the attention of the two women. Francis came out first, carrying two glasses of orange juice. Charlotte followed her with two cups on saucers of their tea, setting one of each at their own places at the table. Neither girl said a word, as she disappeared again into the kitchen only to return with each girl carrying two plates of food apiece. Charlotte sat one plate down in front of Jane, then the other in front of Marie. As the two women look at what had been sat before them, Charlotte said, "It's the best I can do making Huevos Rancheros without all the right ingredients. I think you'll really like it though." Francis set her plates before her's and Charlotte's places at the table, before both girls sat down.

The two women looked at their plates, then at each other, before looking at both girls, who had sat down at their place but had yet to start eating. It was Jane who, in a fake dragon voice, asked, "And just what made you think you had permission to work in MY kitchen alone?"

Charlotte pushed her chair back, stood up and walked around to stand between Jane and Marie. She put her arms around both women and told them, "You two needed this. You both have been so worried, and angry, about everything connected with me and now Toby. You two deserved to have Francis and I do something without having to be told or threatened in to doing it. And we love both of you." She then kissed first Jane then Marie on their cheeks before walking back to her chair and sitting down. Charlotte never gave Jane the answer she was expecting, and after what the girls had done, and Charlotte said, she didn't care anymore.

"So," Marie, began, looking down at the food on the plate before. "What poison have you conjured up for us, Charlotte?" Both Marie and Jane knew what Charlotte had attempted, and both knew the kitchen didn't have all of the right ingredients to make it properly.

"Tante Marie. First off, it isn't poison, it's quite edible. And second off, it looks as though you recognize what I attempted to make with what ingredients that were on hand. It is the best version of Huevos Rancheros I could make with the ingredients kept in the kitchen. I substituted toast for corn tortillas, parsley for cilantro, but added a bit of something to make the parsley seem to be cilantro, green peppers for jalapeños and lemon juice for the lime juice for the pico de gallo. When my Uncle taught me to cook, he even made sure to teach me how to improvise when the right ingredients weren't available. I couldn't improvise anything in place of the refried beans, so they were left off the dish."

Neither Jane or Marie could see that Francis and Charlotte were holding hands, not quite sure what they'd done that morning wasn't going to have consequences they weren't going to enjoy; they both also had the fingers of their free hands crossed. The girls watched as Jane and Marie took their first tentative bites. Marie was the first to react, as she sat back in her chair, with her eyes closed, chewed and swallowed her first bite before saying, "Oh mon Dieu, mon enfant. Toi et moi allons ouvrir un restaurant ensemble." She didn't say another word as she continued eating, eliciting a few moans after several of the bites she took.

Jane, on the other hand, trying to maintain an air of authority, but failing, told Charlotte, "This is quite good, Charlotte. But I think you could do better when you have the right ingredients. Don't you agree, Marie?" So out of character for Marie, who just kept on eating despite Jane's question, she gave Jane a thumbs up and kept savoring her meal. Jane was about to take another bite when she saw the girls weren't eating, but sitting in their seats with a look of relief and smiles on their faces. Jane started with, "And why ar...," but she let those words drop and said instead, "Yesterday you two made me go ride. Today you fix breakfast for Marie and myself. You two are the most remarkable girls I've ever had. And like yesterday, I shall never forget what you two have done today. Now eat, before it gets cold. And Marie will get everything you need to make a proper Huevos Rancheros, Charlotte. That I can't wait to taste."

So taken with what she was tasting, all Marie could say between bites, in agreement to Jane's statement, was, "Ja."

Squeezing each others hands, the girls joined in and had their breakfast, happy they could make Jane and Marie happy. Happy they took some of the concern off the shoulders of the two women. Extremely happy there'd been no consequences mentioned, yet. Or maybe weren't coming. They still had their fingers crossed.

When each had finished their breakfast, and the girls had asked to be excused to attend to their morning ritual of clearing the table and taking care of the kitchen, they told Marie that since they were the cooks that morning, they would attend to everything in the kitchen. That she could do something else and wait until they'd finished in the kitchen before coming to see if her kitchen was still in one piece. Jane had to cover her mouth in order to hide a smile and stifle a laugh. Again, Marie was flabbergasted. Putting on her best Marie 'I'm serious' look, along with her voice, she told the girls, "If anything is out of place, anything, if the kitchen isn't spotless, if you have broken anything, you two are going to scrub that kitchen from the ceiling to the floor. Before you repaint the walls and refinish the cabinets." Then she leaned close to the girls faces before saying, "DO. YOU. TWO. UNDERSTAND. ME?"

The two girls simply smiled at Marie, kissed her on her cheeks, then told her together, "We love you too, tante Marie," before they started clearing the dining room table.

Jane was trying so hard not to laugh that she was shaking. Marie turned to face her, threw her hands up in the air, rolled her eyes as she looked to the ceiling and said out loud, "Ils m'ont encore expulsé de ma propre cuisine. Ils sont incorrigibles."

When the girls came out of the kitchen to take more off the dining room table, Jane stopped them with, "Girls, I'm being very serious now, so please listen. As I said yesterday, I'm going back to the hospital to be with Toby. Marie will be in charge," to which the girls watched and Marie crossed her arms over her chest. It was clear to Jane and Marie that both girls were doing the best to stifle laughs because of Marie's actions. "You'll do what she tells you without question, just as you would for me. You both have lessons, so I expect you to start on those once you've finished in the kitchen, brushed your teeth and freshened your faces. Is that clear, girls?"

As usual, the girls gave Jane the only answer she'd accept of, "Yes, Aunt Jane."

Jane knew Charlotte knew several languages, and hoped she didn't know Portuguese, as she told Marie, "Leve as meninas para comprar os ingredientes que Charlotte precisa para fazer Huevos Rancheros adequados. Espere até o meio da manhã para se mudar."

To not give away anything, Marie only replied, "Oui."

Jane was looking at Charlotte as she spoke to Marie, trying to discern any recognition from Charlotte of what she had told Marie. What Jane didn't know, was that Charlotte understood everything Jane had said to Marie, and that she knew Jane was trying to see if she knew the Portuguese language. When Charlotte realized what Jane was doing, she entered her 'ready' mode that caused her to tightly school any facial expressions. In essence, she pulled one over on Jane. A victory she best not let Jane know about or the consequences might be much different than being a clothing or makeup model.

When Jane arrived at the hospital, everyone ignored her as she entered the elevator, press the button for the third floor, exited the elevator, walked past the nurse's station and went straight to room 325. When she enter Toby's hospital room, Jane saw Jill sitting in a chair she'd pulled over near the bed, sound asleep. Jane quietly walked into the room, gently touched Jill on the shoulder, and stepped back as Jill roused herself then looked up at Jane. "Were you here all night?" Jane quietly asked as she picked up another chair, walked around to the other side of the bed carrying the chair, before setting it down near Toby's head.

Stretching, Jill said, "Yeah. I wanted to be here in case he needed anything. And to keep from having nurses coming in and out throughout the night. Ya know, the fewer eyes the better? Anyway, he had a good night, stirred a few times, maybe nightmares or something, his condition is stable and the anti-biotics are doing a fine job of fighting the infection. He's hydrated better now, so I've slowed the 'IV' drip. I've also lowered the sedative, so he'll start coming around sometime today or maybe even tonight. Since you're here, Jane, I think I'll go freshen up and get a change of clothes. And I think I'm hungry."

Jane simply told Jill, "Go. I'll be here the rest of the morning." Just before Jill opened the door, Jane added, "And if you would, only have your most trusted nurses coming in to look on him. You know, the fewer eyes the better." Jill nodded her head, opened the door and left the room.

Jane looked down on the boy lying in the bed, breathing deeply and steadily. She reached up and moved some of his hair off his forehead, before she softly told him, "It's going to be okay, Toby. I'm going to see you receive the best care possible. And you don't have to worry, no one is going to hurt you while you're under my care. If only you could tell me who did this to you so I could let some friends know."

Jane sat back in the chair, laid her head back against the chair back, and reflected about everything up to this point. Jane was fighting with her monster, the one who wanted to scorch earth the ones who was responsible for everything, when she felt a hand on her right arm. Looking down, she saw Toby's right hand was lightly gripping her right arm. Just above a whisper, in a halting voice, Toby said, "My... brother... did... this... to... me. I... tried... hiding... from... him... but... he... always... found... me. It... started... when... mom... left... him... beating... me. Water... please... Aunt... Jane." Jane got out of the chair and walked around to the other side of the bed. Picked up the pitcher sitting on the patient cart, poured water in a cup sitting nearby, put a stray in the cup, and walked back around the bed and sat in the chair. She held the cup close enough so Toby could drink through the straw, and when he'd had enough, pulled back and told her, "Thank you, that makes my throat feel better."

Jane sat the glass on the table behind her, then asked Toby, "How long has this been going on, Toby? And why, Toby"

"May I have more water please, Aunt Jane?" Toby asked, then took another forth of the glass of water when Jane held the straw up to his lips. "Thank you, Aunt Jane." Jane watched the boy laying in front of her, on his left side, organize his thoughts before he started his story. "I was thirteen when he started beating me. At first, it was just with his hands, slapping me around and punching me. After a few weeks, he started using a belt, a cord, anything flexible. He also started burning me. Said he wanted to remind me who was in charge. Dad never found out because I was told it'd be worse if I ever told dad. He was always careful to hit me where it wouldn't show. He told me I was going to help him make some money, but didn't say how until he took me to meet a man and a lot of other kids. Those kids didn't look any better than I did. Anyway, we all found out we were going to shoplift items from the department stories in the area, and the man was going to teach us how to do it. One kid, a boy, I remember it being, told the man he wasn't going to do it, and the man walked up to the boy and punched the boy in the face. After the boy fell to the ground, the man picked him up by the neck of his tee-shirt and punched him two more times. Then the man stood up and asked who else didn't want to help. None of us said anything. Aunt Jane, I think he might have killed the boy. May I have more water please, Aunt Jane?"

After Toby drank what water was left in the glass, Jane got up, walked around the bed and refilled the glass, before returning to the chair. "Thank you, Aunt Jane." As Jane watched, Toby slowly reached down and pressed the bedside call button, telling the nurse who answered that he had to pee. In a few moments, the same nurse who'd shown Jane to Toby's hospital room, entered the room.

"How's he doing?" She asked Jane, as she lowered the bed railing on the left side of the bed. Jane nodded her head several times before the nurse said to Toby, "Toby, I'm going to roll you to your right side, so I can help you get out of bed, okay?"

Toby replies with, "Okay," as the nurse gently rolled Toby onto his left side. Toby let out a loud hiss as his back came into contact with the mattress, but the pain was brief as the nurse didn't let his back touch the mattress but for a moment. Then the nurse helped him to sit up, eliciting another hiss until she helped him stand. She let Toby lean on her, as she pulled the stand with the monitor and 'IV' bag along with them. When they were in the restroom, she told Toby she was going to stand behind him and help support him while he peed. Toby smiled, then told her, "And so you don't embarrass me by seeing my penis."

The nurse laughed before telling Toby, "Yes, so I don't embarrass you by seeing your penis. But you do understand I've seen those organs before, being a nurse?"

Toby laughed and replied with, "Yes, I realize that," and let out a sigh as he emptied his bladder into the toilet. "Oh, that feels so much better. Thank you for helping me." After flushing the toilet, he turned to his left, since the stand with everything on it was to his right, and took two steps to the sink where he washed and dried his hands before being helped back to his bed. A few hisses and Toby was in bed but lying on his right side this time, causing Jane to move the chair around to the other side of the bed. Continuing with his story, he told Jane, "And so the man started showing us how to shoplift and not get caught. We'd get yelled at for a while, but then he'd start slapping us or punching us when we messed up doing dummy shoplifting. Then we were divided up into teams of three and told go to work. He also told us if we came back with less than $500 worth of merchandise, we'd regret it." Jane had moved the glass of water around with her, and this time Toby reached up with his left had, took the glass and drank almost half the water in the glass.

Jane watched as Toby shuddered, then heard, "Aunt Jane, I watched that man tie some of the kids between two poles and beat them until they passed out. Girls too. I wanted to run away, but with my brother and his beatings, I was scared. They gave us time off, as they called it, and when that happened, I'd go to my Aunt Terri's place. She was really angry over what my brother was doing to me, and about the shoplifting I was being forced to do. But as she said, it'd just be my word, our word, against two adults. And since we were just 'kids', no one would take us seriously. She helped me be myself, and lied to my brother more than once when he called looking for me. When dad was around, my brother had other things to do, work was what he told dad. Aunt Jane, if dad had found out what my brother was do to me and the shoplifting, my brother would have gladly confessed everything to the police after dad was through with him. It was dad and Terri who taught me to think of others before my self. To treat others like I wanted to be treated. And I couldn't do anything to stop my brother or that man because no one would have listened to me."

"Then I got arrested, along with the two boys I was with. I was granted bail, and bailed out by my brother, who took me directly to that man. I got slapped around by that man and punched hard in the stomach, before I was dragged and secured between those two pole. The man told my brother, since I was his brother, he'd get the honor of punishing me. I don't know how many time I was hit with the belt thing my brother used, or on my legs with that cord, or how many time he used a paddle on my butt, because I passed out after the first three hits. And you've seen the results of my brother's work." Toby had just been talking, not looking at anything in particular. Now he looked directly into Jane's eyes and told her, "Thank you for getting me medical attention. If I had gone on my own, or with Terri, there would have been all sorts of questions. Questions that might have resulted in more beatings like the last one I received. Or maybe worse, like that one boy."

"And Charles," Jane asked. "Why'd you involve him?" Toby gave Jane a questioning look until Jane told him, "The boy you saw at Taylor's the day you were caught shoplifting. The boy you lied about being involved in the shoplifting."

Jane watched as Toby searched his memory, then said, "Oh, him. His name is Charles?" He watched as Jane silently nodded her head. "I was angry then, Aunt Jane. Angry I couldn't stop my brother from beating me. Angry I couldn't do anything when that man beat one of the other kids, or go to the police or my dad. When I saw him standing there at the jewelry counter, I became jealous, knowing he could do anything he wanted and go anywhere he wanted. I lied about him and I was wrong. I let my hate control me and took it out one someone else, contrary to what I was taught."

"Do you know that man's name, Toby?"

"No, ma'am, my brother only called him Mister. That's all he'd let us call him."

"Can you describe him, Toby? How tall he is, the color of his hair? Was he a big man, medium tall, short? Was he skinny, medium build of burly?"

"Well," Toby said, thinking back to the man. "He had gray or white hair, down to his ears, and full. He didn't have a gut, but he wasn't overly muscled. I'd say he was maybe five ten to six feet tall. He was maybe in his late 50's or early to mid 60's. And his voiced dripped syrup, until you made him mad, then it took on a really cold tone. He always wore a suit and tie, with some type of pin on the right lapel. I didn't want to see too much of him after what he'd done to some of the other kids."

There was a light knocked on the room door, before Jill entered, looking much better and a lot more relaxed. "Ah, I see my patient is awake. How are you feeling Toby? How's the pain?"

Toby looked at Jill then at Jane, who nodded her head. Somehow, even without the interaction the two were scheduled to have, Jane saw that Toby trusted her. "I'm feeling much better...,"

"Oh, sorry. I'm doctor Jill Peters, I'm your doctor."

"The pain isn't as bad, unless I'm on my back. The nurse helped me to the restroom, and getting out of bed was a bit rough. How long have I been here in the hospital?"

"We brought you in yesterday afternoon, after Aunt Jane called me and I saw the condition of your wounds." Jane saw Jill so wanted to know what happened to him and who beat him like this, but caught Jane looking at her and slowly shaking her head no. So instead, she told him, "We'll see how you're doing tomorrow and decide then if you can go with Aunt Jane. But for now, try and get all the rest you can. Someone will be with you through the night, in case you need anything. Okay?"

When Jill stopped talking, Toby thanked her just as a nurse came into the room with Toby's lunch. "Well, I best get home to check on the girls. Jill, you'll call me if need be. And Toby, you call me if you need me to bring anything." Both told Jane they would, as Jane waited for the nurse to clear the door before leaving the room. Once in the hallway, she reached into her purse and turned off the small recorder she'd brought with her. Now she had to figure out how to get it to Jeb and Ruth without it being intercepted by the wrong people. What Toby told Jane was a box car full of dynamite. And her monster begged her to let it have a few minutes with the brother. Jane tamped it down again. She'd let the right people dish out the punishment.