Hey guys,

First thing's first here. I wanna apologize for it taking me almost a year to update this story. I'm so terribly sorry. I got busy with life things and this kinda just got pushed to the bottom of my list. I do want to let you guys know that I am still working on this. I've come up with a couple ideas on where I'm taking this, so it may still take me some time but I'm determined to finish this story. and the good news being it definitely won't be another year for the next chapter.

Again, I'm so very sorry it's taken so long. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

In this chapter we see a little more of the Alma/Ellen interactions. Things are gonna start getting interesting from here guys!

Alma gave an exhausted sigh as she slowly shut the door to her youngest girls' room. She rested her head on the door for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she collected her thoughts. Even though she would have never had told a soul, her children had been testing her patience as of late. The problem hadn't been her youngest either. Oh no, her four eldest children had been the ones that had almost pushed her past her limit.

In the quietness of the mansion, Alma could hear the distinct sounds of rustling from the kitchen. A frown formed on her face as she walked towards the sound.

It didn't take her long to find the source of the noise. Alma put herself on guard as she slowly looked around in the kitchen. She and the children were the only inhabitants on the island. Eleonora had left the prior morning to check out another lead in a loop. Her eyes fell on the intruder's silhouette.

"You're back awfully fast." Alma said skeptically as she approached the figure that stood in front of the fridge. The intruder kept their back to the ymbryne, not bothering to turn around. In a blink of an eye, the silhouette was gone.

"I learned a new peculiarity." The silhouette's voice said from behind the brunette. Alma turned around to see none other than Eleonora standing behind her with a toothy grin on her face. The woman disappeared into a puff of light gray smoke.

"Pretty nifty, isn't it?" Ellen said. She was now sitting in the chair behind the island in the middle of the room. Alma smiled as she walked to the cabinet and removed two glasses from inside.

"I must say. This one will be very useful in the future. How did the lead go?" Alma questioned as she placed the glasses on the table, one in front of herself and the other in front of her friend. She moved over to the refrigerator to get something to fill the glasses with.

"Madeline's group has heard some stories, but nothing concrete. She did tell me that she has a bad feeling about the whole thing." Ellen explained. Alma stopped pouring the drinks and looked at the redhead. Madeline Raven had a gift of prophecy. It was not nearly as strong as Horace's gift, but Ellen could count on one hand the times she had been wrong.

"What does she think?" Alma placed the cap back on the juice she had taken

"She thinks their planning something. Something big." The two shared a look. "But this could be the fifth time she's wrong. So, here's to hoping." Ellen said as she grabbed her glass and raised it in the air before taking a drink. The two sat in silence for a while, each taking sips of their drinks.

"I want you to promise me something." Alma spoke as she sat her glass down and turned to her friend. "If something happens to me that you will take care of the children for me."

"Nothin' is gonna happen to you, Fay."

"Just humor me. Promise me you won't be the hero in any situation and that you will take care of my children."

"I can't promise you that." Ellen snapped. "Don't get me wrong, if anything ever happens to you I'll care for the children. However, if the situation ever presents itself and I can do something to stop it, you can bet your ass that I will do everything in my power to stop it. I'm not going to stand by and watch something happen to you. I won't let him or anyone else near you. I'd gladly lay my life on the line for you and those children."

"You see, this is exactly why I didn't want you to get involved!" Alma growled, her frustration with the conversation growing. She couldn't understand why Ellen had to act the way she did. Why couldn't she just honor her wishes? For once she wished the woman would just listen to her. "Why, for once in your life, can't you just listen to me and stay out of matters that do not concern you!"

"Because these 'matters', as you like to say, do concern me!"

"Nothing about this situation pertains to you, Ellen! You just want to make it about yourself because for whatever reason you obsessed with playing the hero! And now that there is a situation that lets you do it you are more than ready to throw yourself in some form of danger just to prove the point that you can do it. I don't need you coddling me like a child! Besides, it's your reckless ambitions that will get you killed one day because you can't seem to act like an adult and handle situations properly!" Alma regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Her pride, and anger, at the moment kept her from apologizing.

Ellen's eyes narrowed. She stood up so quickly the stool that she had been sitting on flew to the ground with a loud crash. Neither of the two women flinched, each of them staring intently at the other. "Is that what you think? You think I do what I do because I want to be the hero? You're so dense Fay. You really are." Ellen opened her mouth to say something else, but close it quickly. She pushed past the ymbryne.

"Where are you going?" Alma demanded as Ellen headed for the open archway.

Ellen threw her hands up in the air, her back still to Alma. "Since I 'can't act like an adult' then that means I don't have to stand here and debate with you like one. I'll be in the training room, come find me whenever you get what crawled up your ass out of it." And just like that the redhead had disappeared.

Alma stood in the kitchen trembling slightly. It was very rare for her and Ellen to fight. In the decades of knowing each other she recall only two incidents where they had a disagreement. None of them ever escalated that quickly or ended that horribly. She thought to herself. She gave an exasperated sigh as she leaned over and picked up the fallen stool. She blinked back tears of frustration as she sat it in it's right position. She snatched up the glasses on the island counter and made her way over to the sink, trying her best to reign in all her rampaging emotions.

Alma braced herself against the sink as a single strangled sob escaped along with a couple tears. Everything had finally begun to catch up with her from the past few weeks. The events that happened while she was captured, the reoccurring nightmares she had been experiencing, and trying to find out her brother's plans for her. Not to mention trying to keep a normal appearance for the children.

"Is everything alright Miss?" Alma cursed every bird above at this moment. The last thing she had wanted to deal with at this moment was the questions of one of her eldest.

"Olive, you should be asleep. It is past lights out." The ymbryne didn't turn towards her ward, but began washing the cups she had placed in the sink, trying to give the illusion of her being okay.

"I know Miss, I had just come down to get a drink when I heard yelling and a crash. Are you sure that everything is okay?" The firestarter asked. She knew very well that something had happened between the two women of the house. She, along with all of the other children had come to think of Eleonora as an aunt figure, just as they saw Alma as their mother. She had never seen the two fight, and if she were being honest, what had happened scared her.

She had passed Eleonora in the hallway on her way to the kitchen. The scarlet haired woman had given her a forced smile. "I wouldn't go in there Fire Bug. It's probably for the best if you go right to back to bed." Ellen had said in a defeated tone. That, along with the fact she was still very thirsty, had been what kept her from turning around and heading back to her room.

Olive watched as her ymbryne brought her hand up to her face, brushing away a few tears before turning towards her. "Everything is fine, Olive. Let's get you a drink so you can go back to sleep." Alma poured Olive a glass of water in one of the freshly clean cups. Olive took the cup from her mother and took a drink.

"Miss, can I say something?" Alma's eyes narrowed as she inspected Olive, as if trying to find her motive, but she nodded. Olive took this as her chance to talk freely. "Please don't be upset with me Miss. You don't want to tell us what is going on, because we are children." Olive stated. "And I understand that, but in the same regard, we are worried about you. While I'm not saying that you need to tell us everything, we are here if you need us. Especially Enoch, Jake, Emma, and myself. We've noticed a change in you. It's nothing bad, but you always seem so tense. Like something is going to happen. We want to make sure you're okay."

"This is becoming ridiculous." Alma muttered to herself before turning her attention to Olive. "Olive I will not have this discussion with you. I am fine. I want you to listen to me because I am only going to say this once. You are my wards, my children. My job is to protect you, and I will do just that. I will not involve you in matters such as this."

Olive sighed. She had known that this conversation would not end well. Her ymbryne had already put her walls back up. She decided that it was best to end this conversation quickly, before her ymbryne's anger turned on her. "I know, Miss. I'm not denying that. You are the best ymbryne there is. We just worry about you is all. You are our mother after all. It's only natural that we worry about you as well." Olive stood. She placed a quick kiss on Alma's cheek. "Goodnight Miss Peregrine. I'll see you in the morning."