Arthur Havisham x Y/n * GENDER NEUTRAL*

"My Sister, I Loved You Most"

Honoria: Oh! God this hurts...
Frances: I'm coming. One minute.
* Frances rushed up the stairs carrying blankets, water, and towels*
Honoria: Did you send for him?
Frances: Yes, what are you doing?
Honoria: Oh, I don't know. Just feels right. What's all that? * I said leaning against a wall*
Frances: There are always cloths and water. That much I know, there are always cloths and water. So I got some. And an encyclopedia. M, for midwifery.
* Frances glanced at me worryingly before opening the encyclopedia to find tips and the proper way to help give birth to a baby*
Frances: The doctor will need a sensible woman to assist him. I am she.
Honoria: Do you promise you sent for James?
Frances: I promise. I want a doctor to come. Even if I do not want Captain Hawdon. Do you think he'll come, after the disagreement?
Honoria: The disagreement? * I said scoffing *
Frances: Hmm...
Honoria: Oh, Frances! The disagreement? He'll come. Despite the disagreement. Despite you and everything you've done, he will come. He loves me, you see. This is his baby. He loves me so much.
Frances: I'm sure you should be in bed.
Honoria: Oh, what would you know?
Frances: If you aren't in bed when Captain Hawdon and the doctor come, they'll see your legs.
Honoria: Captain Hawdon has seen more than my legs.
Frances: Must you? * She said looking at the ground*
Honoria: And the doctor will see much more than my legs. Or do you think he'll magically discover the baby under a gooseberry bush? We don't even have a gooseberry bush. * I said laughing slightly *
Frances: Honoria-
Honoria: Oh! I don't know why I'm laughing. It hurts so much. Oh, it hurts so much.
Frances: Then get to bed.
Honoria: No, I don't want to be in bed. This helps. It helps just to stay like this. For a little while at least.
Frances: Shall I leave you?
Honoria: No, no, no, no.
* I moved my hands to her shoulders and smiled weakly*
Honoria: You have a rose petal in your hair. Don't... Don't, it's pretty.
* I leaned my head down and placed it on her shoulder, bringing her into a hug*
Frances: Honoria, the bed...
Honoria: Let it stay. Oh.
* Frances placed an arm on my shoulder and the other on my back, patting it slowly. We swayed as I sighed and groaned in pain*

Captain Hawdon's POV

* I sat in The Three Cripples bar at a booth. I drank alcohol and before I knew it I was drunk. A young boy came up to me no older than seven and handed me a letter*
Boy: Captain Hawdon, from Miss Barbary.
Captain Hawdon: Miss Barbary?
Boy: Sir...
Captain Hawdon: Or Miss Honoria. Not the beautiful one, I know her handwriting.
Boy: She said I'd find you here, sir. She said he'd be certain you'd be drinking, sir. Like a petulant boy.
Captain Hawdon: I'm not angry with you. What else did she say? * I said getting angrier by the second*
Boy: She also said you'd give us sixpence, sir.
Captain Hawdon: Oh boy, I'm going to give you some advice. Man-to-man.
Boy: I'd rather you give me the sixpence, sir.
Captain Hawdon: When the woman you love, when the one who has your heart calls for you. You run to her. As fast as you can, through fire, through storms. Run. But when her sister demands your presence... You leave her to sweat. * I said throwing the letter into a fire place*
Boy: She did say that was important, sir.
Captain Hawdon: Mmm, it'll be insults and threats. And she'll take herself off to her narrow bed and sleep the sleep of the righteous as though she hadn't tired to destroy everything. She won't... She can't part us. Nothing can do that. Least of all Miss Frances Barbary...
* I drank another glass of alcohol and scoffed at the boy*
Captain Hawdon: You have your sixpence, go.
Boy: Yes, sir.

Honoria's POV

* I lay in bed waiting for James to show. Frances was cleaning scissors and other medical supplies. She washed a needle and then walked over to me. She put her hand to my forehead and a worried expression washed across her face*
Frances: You are very hot.
Honoria: No, I'm cold.
* Frances wrapped me in a few more blankets and then held the encyclopedia in her hands, flipping the pages*
Frances: This isn't particularly informative. It doesn't tell you what to do after the cord is cut. Just... Just swaddle the baby, and then hand it to the wet nurse. We don't have a wet nurse.
Honoria: We have me...
Frances: Captain Hawdon is taking his time.
Honoria: He'll be fetching a doctor. I wonder what it is. A little boy or a little girl. I don't mind, daughter or a son. As long as it's healthy. But I wonder what it is.
Frances: It's unwanted.
* I turned to face her and made eye contact, I scoffed and said*
Honoria: I want it, James wants it.
France: Are you so blind, Honoria? This baby is a scandal. It is shame, it is a disgrace! It will stain our family name forever. And it is your doing. You're willfulness that has dragged us all into the mire.
~ ~ ~
Honoria: Why do you hate me so much?
Frances: I don't.
Honoria: Ever since you came home... Ever since you came back, you have hated me. Hated me, and hated me. What did I do?
Frances: Apart from ruin yourself?
Honoria: No, before this. You hated me. There's nothing I could do that was right for you. Just hating and hating. Why?
* France's eyes were in tears and she was fidgeting with her hands*
Frances: You were always preferred.
Honoria: What are you talking about?
Frances: Everyone, always preferred you. Loved you most. Mama, Father...
Honoria: That is not true-
Frances: Oh, yes it is.
Honoria: Frances, you were engaged. You were going to be married. You were happy. You were preferred. Y-You broke off your engagement to come back home, to hate me. To hurt me.
Frances: It wasn't I who broke off the engagement, he did.
Honoria: But you said that...
Frances: I know what I said... I was too sober for him, too serious. He said, " Why can't you be more like Honoria? " She is so carefree, so vivacious." And then just when I thought that someone preferred me, just when I thought that Sir Leicester Dedlock had an interest...
Honoria: Sir Leicester? You had hopes for him, with you? Why did you push me to him if you had hopes?
Frances: He didn't want me, he wanted you. He was captivated, entranced. So you see... You were always preferred. Always loved the most...
Honoria: I loved you most.
Frances: No, you didn't.
Honoria: I did. My sister. My sister, I loved you most. If it's a boy... Thomas Edward. If it's a girl, Esther Frances.
* Frances smiled and sobbed at the same time*
Honoria: You are going to be an aunt, Frances. This baby is part of you, part of us. James and I will marry, because this baby is so wanted. If it's a girl, Esther Frances. And you and I start again. We start again. And we try...

A/n: Sorry no Y/n this chapter, I was planning to write a longer chapter but I'm tired and I have homework. I'll try and do better next time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, Bye!