InsaneJournal

The house could be very scary at night and Georgiana often had a hard time sleeping. Snuggling her favorite doll did help, but it still made noises and there just had to be monsters in the wardrobe, she knew it. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, looking around the room. It looked really scary in the dark. She remembered what Fitz told her, though. The dark just made normal things look scary. But she wasn't allowed to light the candles by herself and she really was scared. So she decided to go try to find her brother instead. He could light the candles and show her that everything was okay.

She climbed out of the bed and grabbed her doll and then slowly made her way out of the bedroom. It all looked really different. That had to just be the dark, right? That had to be it. But there was supposed to be a hall outside her bedroom not another big room with couches and things. Now she was really scared.

"Fitz? Mommy? Daddy?" She looked around the room and then saw another door, going out into a hall that looked very much different from the one at home. Had she been taken? People sometimes did that when they wanted money from very rich men like her daddy. Maybe that's what happened. "Fitz? Mrs Reynolds? Hello?" She started to slowly walk down the hall calling after anyone that might be able to hear her.

Ashley hadn't been sleeping much since the accident so she was wide awake and sipping a glass of tea when Georgiana started yelling out in the hall. She put her tea down slowly and took a deep breath. Okay, Georgiana was little. She could handle this. She got up and made sure she had her robe on before going to the door and opening it slowly.

"Georgiana, sweetie. You'll wake everyone if you're not quiet, dear." She tried to keep her voice soft.

"Who are you? Where's my mommy? And where's Fitz?" She held her doll close to her chest.

"My name is Ashley. I'm a very good friend of your brother. He's right in here, but he's not feeling very well right now. He fell off his horse and got hurt. I'm sure he'd love to see you, though." She held out her hand to the little girl. Oh how was he actually going to handle this?

"How do I know you're not lying?" Georgiana gave her a defiant look. It was a very good question. Ashley cleared her throat.

"You can ask me anything you want. If I answer it correctly, will you believe me?" She smiled.

Georgiana nodded for a moment, then scratched her head as she thought about it. "How good a friend are you?" She tilted her head.

"Um....Fitz and I are actually engaged." Ashley held out her hand with the ring on it. It wasn't a custom back then but she didn't care. "He gave this to me."

Georgiana was momentarily distracted by the shiny ring. She walked over and took Ashley's hand, looking at it. "That's really pretty. Fitz didn't tell me he was getting married."

"We haven't told anybody yet." Not entirely true but she didn't know that.

"Oh." Georgiana looked down at her doll. "If Fitz is really in there, what's his horse's name?"

Ashley cleared her throat. Fuck, how long did horses live? She couldn't remember. "Well, the horse he fell off of is named Annie." She bit her lip.

Georgiana couldn't remember if that was right or not. They had a lot of horses and she couldn't remember all of their names sometimes. She decided that sounded right, though, and nodded. "Where's Fitz?" She took a hold of Ashley's hand.

Ashley led Georgiana into the living room and then smiled a bit. It was all the furniture from home so she wouldn't feel too out of place. "I need to go let him know that you're here, okay? Will you sit on the sofa for me for a few minutes?"

Georgiana nodded and then went over and climbed up onto the sofa, hugging her doll close again. Ashley took another deep breath and then headed back into the bedroom and over to sit on the side of the bed, gently shaking Fitz to wake him.