As winter begins to relent its seemingly eternal grip, plants begin to ponder life.

At the same time Natalya begins venturing out of the house.

"Donna my love," Natalya chuckles standing on the front porch looking out at the dark sky in the middle of the day, "Can you, maybe, retract a few vines. It'll be hard to grow plants here with no light."

Instead Donna peers out. She touches Natalya's arm, "Maybe-Maybe we don't, plant anything outside."

By now Natalya knows to be gentle. She touches and squeezes Donna's hands.

"Donna, what's outside?"

"Trees. Plants. Some squirrels, once."

"And what else?"

Donna's lips quiver, "My gardener."

"Okay."

"He-He- I didn't want to. I just- It was new, the cadou. I couldn't control," Donna tries, "He tried to kill- He took Angie away. I snapped. He's buried, in the garden."

As they walk out to the garden Donna begins peeling back layers of leafless branches so light can peak through enough for them to see. They come upon a spot completely unremarkable. There's a tree, bushes, other dead darkened things it's difficult to determine exactly what they are.

"He's there."

"Then we leave him there and we'll put plants elsewhere-"

"No," Donna shakes her head, "I-I want to make a headstone. He was a good man. He was just, scared. I want to plants flowers everywhere here to remember him by."

However, the duke is mysteriously absent. So flower bulbs and seeds are hard to come by. In the time it takes for Natalya to locate three unrecognizeable tools and manage to open what remains of the gardener's tool shed, Donna has called Heisenberg to commission him for some metal heads for new tools. Meanwhile she herself is whittling handles.

"What kind of flowers do you want to plant?"

"Something that will grow."

"Holy shit. Did you just make a joke?" Heisenberg's voice carries through the house, "By the way what the literal hell happened outside? Did Miranda try to lock you in?"

"No," Donna murmurs, "I forced her out. I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'm-I'm undoing it. Slowly."

Heisenberg laughs, "Tell you what, if you grow some of that shit around my fences to keep the village scum out I'll make these free. These new people aren't scared enough. I ought to smash a few heads like pumpkins-"

"Do that and I'll hammer you into the ground like a nail," Natalya says, "Curiosity is normal."

The phone rings and Angie goes to answer it. Donna follows. Heisenberg pulls out a seat and falls into it with a heavy sigh, "How's the arm?"

"Fine."

"Any special functions?"

"One more word and I'll show you what it does best. Last warning."

At the same time they listen to Donna down the hall listening to someone.

"N-No."

Silence.

"I said no. I will not watch your daughters- No. They're dangerous and rude and they leave blood everywhere," Donna hesitates, "Like mother like daughters. Goodbye Alcina."

Upon returning Donna startles when Heisenberg claps and Natalya pulls her into a hug.

"Look at you growing a pair."

"I'm proud of you," Natalya murmurs, "You're getting better."

Donna frowns, "I wasn't sick."

"No," Natalya tapes her forehead with a tender smile, "When we first met, you wouldn't let me see your face. Now you tie your hair up when it annoys you. You didn't used to speak in more than two or three broken words. Now you speak. Now you tell Alcina no and force Miranda to obey the boundaries you set."

Heisenberg rises with a groan and Natalya's hair stands on end.

"Don't mind me, I'm just leaving before you get any sappier."

"Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out."

Once the sound of him has faded Donna stands in Natalya's arm, smiling up at her. She pushes Natalya's dark hair back and Natalya kisses her palm.

"Don't leave."

"Never."

...........................................................................

AN: Thank you everyone who's been on this journey with me from Dimitrescu's Daughter, The Love of Dimitrescu, and finally Her New Doll.

Due to SEVERE art block this is the end of this story. For now. I might revise and fix it later but don't hold your breath.

I would appreciate it more than words can say if you would look at my other works that aren't fanfiction, I promise they're worth the time to glance at. Have a good day/ night - Briarly