“So I and Alice will leave early in the morning the day after tomorrow to make the deal. We will also be gone for two days. So can you please take care of the house while we are gone?”

Taija had come to the workshop and explained for Ellen and Jill about the situation that Alice was in.

They thought that it could be the best way to solve the problem with that HM had leaked out at the street. Ellen had been thinking about that idea too, but she didn’t take the chance to talk with Alice about it. Which first was because Alice had left with Lilly, then Ellen had locked herself up because of Jack. Then at last so was it that Ellen didn’t even bother to talk with Alice after how “that princess” had overreacted.

“No problem. We will take care of the house.”

Ellen understood the situation, and it was a thing that Alice and they had to decided to handle. So there was honestly no other choice for Ellen but to accept it since she wasn’t a part of the solution.

“I have seen Taija here every day since you and your sister’s fight. Have she moved in?”

Yes, Taija had moved in by some reason after the fight. And now she took care of both Ellen and Alice, making sure that they actually could face each other without that anything worse happening. Which had been for the better, even if no one of them seemed to even want to talk with each other. Of course that wasn’t a problem. And before Ellen even wanted to talk with “that princess”, so would she like an apology for that horrific overreaction earlier.

Jill let out a short laugh and walked up behind Ellen, placing her hands at Ellen’s hips. “She’s taking care of you now, will it be fine if I take cares of you later on?”

“Of course, I expect you to both be my guide and take care of me.”

Jill was sounded just as jolly like always, so Ellen felt she needed to answer her.

“Of course? My beloved one is expecting me to really take care of her.”

Jill moved her hands and hugged Ellen under the arms, almost acting like she did hold some feelings toward her.

“You are joking, right?”

“You have a really cute reaction, almost so I might want to do something immoral.”

Taija came back into the kitchen after talking with Ellen in her workshop.

Alice was really grateful that she wanted to help her with Ellen, even if it meant that Alice used her as a messenger to tell Ellen things. But it’s necessary until Ellen her sister has come to her senses and apologises for that, incredible, stupid mistake.

She had started to cook the food before she asked Taija to tell Ellen about what was going on. The whole time so had she been thinking about how it honestly should have been her that should have told Ellen, even if she didn’t want to do it until she got the apologies from her. It was after all Ellen that had done wrong, it was Ellen’s fault. Yet, Alice was her sister.

It was a big pain for her to even try to sort her thoughts out.

Taija comes up to her from behind and hugged her tight.

“I have told Ellen, do you want me to do something more?”

Alice tried to get out of Taija’s hug, this wasn’t a good place for Taija to hug her. Since she didn’t know how she felt about Taija, so was it best to keep it low until after she had found a way to find it out.

“Can you please help me with the cooking?”

Alice couldn’t break out of Taija’s hug, no matter how hard she tried. Sure she knew that she wasn’t a strong person, but it really showed up now when she not even could break free from Taija.

Alice thought about what her feeling possible could have told her about love, if they still had been there it was. Was there something that she felt for Taija, or? Alice did want to know, but no matter how she thought about it so was it still impossible for her to find it out at her own.

Ellen and Jill had been just as boring as always during the meal, eating without a word said. And as soon they had eaten up, they left the house.

Alice let out a sigh, she didn’t like that Ellen went out with “that woman”. Last time they had been gone for a whole day, without a word about it. Alice view of Jill didn’t get any better, especially not after hearing what she earlier had put Lilly through.

“Are you worried about your sister?”

Taija and Alice were sitting the living room and drank some wine. Alice hadn’t felt for tea, it was too much going on for her to enjoy even be able to enjoy it.

“Of all that worries me, that might be the least problem.”

Taija had told her that Ellen was working on a project inside the workshop. She didn’t think much about it, but Alice knew that it easily could mean that Ellen was thinking things through. Maybe it could be that she was about to come back to her senses.

“Then it’s the deal you really are worried about.”

Of course it was, she was worried about the deal. How couldn’t she be that, it was not like she could stop thinking about it? Even if she had so many people that would help her, so was it impossible for her to calm her mind. There was after all so much that could go wrong. She could be most unlucky and leave the deal skinned and ready to be served on a silver plate.

“You can calm down Alice, we will all be there to help you.” Taija did her best to help Alice calm her mind. She was experienced when it came to making deals, so she would really use everything she knows to help Alice with it. She had much knowledge since she had been at her father’s deals, all the way from when she only was a little child.

“I must say that it was the most boring times in my life.” She tried to point it out the last part as a joke, which actually helped to calm Alice’s mind.

“Can you tell how I feel?” It suddenly struck Alice that Taija had seen straight through her of how messed up her thoughts had been.

“Of course. You are having a really clear body language, so it’s easy to tell some of your feelings.”

“It has always been like that. It’s so cute that it made me miss to notice that the emotions were gone.”

Cute and clear? Alice didn’t know that, can it really have been so clear that it made it possible for others to not notice that she was defective? And how could it be so clear when Alice had tried her best to hide how she was feeling. Had she really failed that bad?

A light and warm feeling spread in her face. It had to be an explanation for that, right? Couldn’t it all stop for now?

Ellen and Jill had hit the bar after they had finished the dinner, now sitting and drinking some beer together.

“Sister, I think something is going on with Taija and your sister.”

Ellen didn’t care. If it was something going on, it would be Taija’s lose falling for “that emotionless princess”. It wasn’t really anything that Ellen even cared about.

“Do you think they only have been waiting for us to leave, so they could get their time for some heavy cuddling?” Jill had waited for Ellen to drink from her beer before saying it, making her spit out some of it over the table by surprise.

Those two, HEAVY cuddling? That wasn’t even anything she wanted to think about, but yet her mind builds up a picture of just that situation. She knew she was blushing. Jill had found out that Ellen easily blushed when the conversation leads toward things like that, which of course she used as much as she could.

“Then how about trash talking that man and drink till we drop?”

Jill ordered in more beers while giving her opinion of what they could talk about.

Ellen didn’t like the suggestion, but Jill couldn’t care less. And instead asked if it could be that she only believed that she had loved him because she had looked up to him as a parent. Slightly mixing it up because those feeling could be very similar, calling it “something similar to Electra complex”. Which she of course needed to give Ellen a light explanation first. It turned out to be very similar to the situation that Ellen had been in. Simply said the whole concept of a girl falling in love with their father.

Ellen ordered in four shots of absinthe, she could need it if she even should be able to survive this evening with Jill.

“At least, of what I have understood so would I like to say that you didn’t love him.”

“You spent a night cuddling with a cute girl, but you didn’t feel bad that you were cheating at him. Only thinking about how you could do it with her but not him.”

Jill had got her beer and handed one to Ellen.

She had got it more right than wrong, and she did have a point.

“And I believe that you are afraid of love, since you hold on to him even though he left you for a long time. Afraid of falling in love with another person.”

She couldn’t be serious, Ellen wasn’t afraid of falling in love. It had only been that she waited for him because she thought there was pure love between them.

Sending over two of the four shots absinthe to Jill, while painting it up very clearly.

Jill emptied one of the shots and walked over to Ellen, making her drink it mouth to mouth.

“If you ain’t afraid of falling in love, so am I look forward to seeing you fall in love with me.”

Alice came into the kitchen for making some breakfast before she and Taija should leave for the clinic.

There were no signs of Ellen. Maybe she had come back during the night, without making noises and wake up Alice for once. No, she found a small note left in the table. Ellen had been out the whole night, only coming home to write that note to Alice. Telling her that she still would be out with Jill during the day, but Ellen would at least come back sometime during the day.

There was no reason for Alice to not dislike Jill. It was probably her idea that they would go out at an adventure, again. Hopefully so would Ellen come back unhurt this time too.

It had been a boring day, only talking about the deal between the treatments. Sure it gave Alice a clearer picture of how the deal would be, but it still wasn’t calming her mind. There was still so very much that could go wrong.

There were only two small things she could calm her mind a little, which of one was that Ellen seemed to have matured a little. She was at least leaving a note before this adventure with “that woman”. It wasn’t great, but it still was something. The second thing was that she had both Lilly and Taija at her side through the whole deal. Which they all should leave for the next morning, so they could relax and get the time to make up a plan before the deal.

Alice had hoped that Ellen was back by the time they got home from the clinic, but she wasn’t.

Ellen didn’t come back until the night had fallen. Both she and Jill was so wasted that neither of them would have been able to walk straight, even if they had tried to do it.

“Sorry for being back so late and being wasted.” Ellen apologised for it when they meet them in the door opening. Maybe Alice could forgive her sister this very time for it.

Ellen suddenly threw herself at Alice, hugging her closely.

“You know that I love you over everything else, don’t you?”

Just how drunk was Ellen, and just how would Alice react to this? Ellen had been loving and protective from time to time when she had been drunk. But it had never been like this.

“You are a really cute set of sisters.”

Taija joined the hug after Alice had given her some pleading looks for help.

Ellen glared at Taija for a moment before letting go of Alice and hugged Taija instead. “Can you please put your heart into taking care of little Alice?”

Alice face got warm, did she meant that Taija would take care of her during the trip. Or did she know that there maybe was something going on between them? A mischievous look from her sister did spell it out for her. She knew about it. Ellen knew that Alice was trying to find out if there was love between her and Taija.

“We don’t even know if we can be a couple!”

Alice had to explain it, there maybe wasn’t anything between them. There maybe couldn’t be anything between them, ever. There were no emotions involved, or at least so couldn’t Alice tell if there were any emotions involved.

“Is there love between you and Taija?”

“I don’t know.”

Ellen just had to ask the most annoying question. She knew it just as well that Alice didn’t feel emotions any more, yet she asked something like that. Alice had told her while they were living in Chris’s house.

“Taija. Alice ain’t as dumb as I can be, so you better really do your very best to take care of her. And make sure not to hurt her. Please make her happy.”

Ellen acted like she didn’t know, hadn’t meant that Taija would take care of her as in a relationship? Alice didn’t really know what to do now, she had exposed that it maybe could be something. Except that she might need to help poor Taija. Taija tried to tell Ellen that she wouldn’t hurt Alice, yet Ellen didn’t buy it and almost threatened her.

“I promise you Ellen, I will tell you if Taija does something against me.”

“I think it could have been really nice to celebrate this, but I believe that I and Ellen will need to get some sleep. So we can maybe celebrate when we are all here again.” Jill supported Ellen while talking, in a tone that almost was as if she tried to remind herself that she wouldn’t drink anymore more.

Alice and Taija agreed and sent the drunkards to bed before going to bed themselves. They would need their sleep, they had to get up early the next day.

“It isn’t every day someone gets confessed to by the younger sister while threatened by the older sister. I must be a very lucky person.” Taija laid beside Alice and talked happily.

“It wasn’t a confession.” Alice didn’t like the situation. She had been talking to much back then. She had more or less expressed that her heart was somewhere she didn’t know. And that there could be something going on between her and Taija.

“But you still expressed your feelings, and that you can think about being in a relationship with me. That really is close enough for me.”

Taija sounded happy, was it even a situation to be happy about? Would Alice also have been happy, if she still had been feeling emotions? Should she have got happy for small things like Taija, would she had been overjoyed right now?

“You was so cute back then Alice, do you want to sleep or cuddle?”

“Sleep”

Taija shouldn’t ask for things that she only can give when her heart is involved.

Alice jumped out of the carriage and stretched her body.

They had just arrived at the hotel where they should live during these two days during the deal. She was tired, even though she had been sleeping most of the time it took to get there. By a strange reason so couldn’t she get any rest during the night. It could have been understanding if it had been all because of the deal, but she hadn’t even spent a thought on the deal. It had all been all because of Taija, more correctly because of her comment about cuddling. It had left Alice unable to sleep and reacting every time Taija had moved in the bed, almost as if she had very low thoughts about her…

“Do you want to stay out for a little while longer, or do you want to follow us to the rooms?” Lilly forced out Alice from her thoughts.

Of course Alice should follow them in.

She started to think if she really should be there. Alice didn’t have any kind of experience about anything like that. She would probably only be a bother. Maybe it had been better to ask Lilly and Taija to do it for her. But wasn't that meaning she only would use them?

“Isn`t that a little of how it already is like?”

Lilly sat on the bed Taija should sleep at in the twin room Alice and Taija shared.

She had a point, Alice was already using them. Using them just like the people said in her dream.

“We only askes you to come along while doing the deal. We will after all need your signature after we are done playing with him.” Taija called it to play with him?

“And don’t worry about it, we will do our best to eat him alive. Lilly will be to big help, she’s a beast when it comes to pressure someone.” Lilly clearly disliked Taija’s words about her but still agreed to it.

Did they try to be funny to help Alice relax? It did somehow help her relax a little. If that now was what they tried to do. Otherwise so would it mean that they were unserious about it, which meant that even Alice would need to keep her eyes open so the deal didn’t end badly for her.

Why couldn’t Ellen had been there with them? Alice knows that her beloved sister never would be unserious when it came to things like this. Ellen had also proven that she knew how to act in bad situations, like when she was up against Mr Halluv.

“Will this really go well?” Alice didn’t want to not trust them, but she couldn’t do anything but to worry.

“It will go well, we will give our best to create the best deal for you.”

Both Lilly and Taija was serious about it, and Alice didn’t have any other choices than to trust them. Why couldn’t her sister have been there with her? It would have helped her to be more relaxed about it.

They were sitting in a big office together with the buyer.

It was finally time to get over with it. After this so wouldn’t Alice need to think any more about it, if it didn’t go really bad that was.

Lilly and Taija had promised that they would do their best, and according to Lilly so had even doctor Svensson promised the same. Which had meant more if Alice had heard it from him herself, but the buyer had arrived earlier. So they hadn’t got the chance to talk to him yet.

“I have heard that it’s you that is the one that made the HM. You must be a very smart woman.”

The buyer really tried to softening up Alice, but it wouldn’t work out for him. She already disliked his words.

An older bald man, that looked like he had been eating for at least four people the last couple of years and still did regularly.

“Yes. I am Alice Morfine and is the one that made HM. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She needed to give off a good impression. Even if it wasn’t anything anyone had told her about was it common sense to know that others would treat you better if they had a good impression of you. Even giving him a light bow from her place in the chair.

Most of the talk in the deal was things that Alice didn’t understand anything about. But there was of course points that she could understand. Like that HM had reached the street, which lowered the value. And that there would be thoughts spent to that they were two people that would survive at the money. Which probably only wasn’t anything more than kind words.

Taija that had said she had the biggest experience of deals didn’t say anything, only sitting and writing notes. And Lilly that Taija wished to call a beast, turned out to really be a beast when it came to pressuring people. Really taking a stand against the man.

After hours of talking so did the buyer leave a price, which was the one that Lilly had said she could get if HM hadn’t reached the streets. Lilly had really done everything and had helped Alice get a good deal.

“I would like to call that price cute and question if we really have been thinking it all through.”

Taija spoke for the first time during the meeting and smirked to the man, in a fashion that even could have given Ellen a bad feeling. She was upon something, beginning to talk while looking from time to time at her notepad. Again so was it much that Alice couldn’t understand.

But out of what she understood so was there a much wider market that he hadn’t mentioned. There was a much bigger value in HM than he painted up. Then it was also the small thing that no one of the other had been thinking about, like the patent for the machine that apparently would follow. Ellen’s machine.

Before he left a new price Taija took herself the freedom to tell him that they could find others that easily could give them a price that they would be satisfied with. His old body shivered when he heard it, he seemed to know that she knew how big the market actually was.

The three of them was back at the hotel, sitting in the resultant and celebrating.

“You called me a beast. If I am that, just what are you. The devil herself”

Lilly had got just surprised as Alice when Taija started. If they had made the man walk away in shame like a dog before, so had Taija made him serve them his tail at a silver plate after she was done with him.

“Not really. That title is already taken, so I am only waiting in line.”

Taija seemed to be really satisfied with her part in it. Which had resulted in a higher price and cut, even giving an extra amount when they would be building a new machine.

“I think that Alice should listen to a request from Taija.” Lilly just had to disturb the peace when they sat around the table and the wine was about to start flowing, didn’t she?

“It can maybe be a problem, there are things I can’t do.”

Alice thought it was best to put it out straight, Taija knows there were things Alice couldn’t do but Lilly didn’t.

“You can at least listen to a special request that Taija has been holding on to for some time.”

“Is there some special request you have?”

Either if she wanted or not, Lilly sure did have a point. Taija had done so much for Alice, just by helping with this. And if Alice considered the other thing to that Taija had done before, she really was in big debt to Taija. Maybe more than she ever would be able to pay off. So it actually wasn’t more than right. No matter what it could be that Taija could ask about, so wasn’t it more than right. Even if it would turn out to be a more intimate request, which Alice really hoped it wasn’t. Only thinking about that it could be that made her face grow warmer.

“Isn`t she cute Lilly.” Taija only giggles to Alice reaction.

“That special request that you thinking about Lilly, I have already done that. I have already got the possibility to tell her my feelings.”

Only telling Alice her feelings? She couldn’t think of herself any other way than being stupid for thinking far too long. She felt her face getting even warmer as she thought about it. She had been an idiot for thinking that Taija would make a request like that.

“I took my chance to force my feeling upon Alice while she was upset about her sister.”

“You didn’t force them upon me. You told me them while you did offer to help me and Ellen.”

Alice had to correct Taija, the way she expressed herself made it sound like she was a bad person.

“You charmed her and tricked her to let you move in at her place, while she was upset.” Lilly didn’t listen to Alice at all.

“Charmed her, tricked her and is waiting for the chance to have my way with her.”

“Can we please order some absinthe?” Alice couldn’t take much more if this without risking to make her face burn from inside out. According to Ellen so could absinthe help with handling problem from time to time.

“Going out hard? Then we should order three absinthe so we all can cheer.”

Carriage? How in the whole world had she got there? ? What had really happened the night before?

At the very least so was all the three of them in there, both Lilly and Taija was sleeping. They had gone out hard during the celebration, just like Lilly suggested. Which turned out to be a little too hard. Could it be how Ellen’s adventure with Jill started? One of them getting the stupid idea of going out hard, and then they stick to it. Maybe Alice can have judged her sister a little too hard if it could happen so easy that even Alice could fall for it.

Alice started to wonder how her sister was doing, she had after all left without a word. Even after Ellen had been acting so cute the day before they left.

Taija let out a light sigh, still sleeping. She was just as beautiful and cute as she was kind.

Alice let out a heavy sigh, she had been trying so hard to force herself to not do anything without feelings. Even denying herself the mental satisfaction of allowing her own heart to fall in love. She could still not feel emotions and most probably never would ever again. But it didn’t change the fact that she would like to have someone to call her’s, someone other than her sister to always stand by her side.

She gave Taija a kiss on the cheek at leaned toward her as she had done before waking up. Her body seemed to hold some affection toward Taija, her mind didn’t have anything against her. So was there even a good reason for her to question the concept that she couldn’t fall in love since she couldn’t feel emotions? Was there a reason to not accept Taija’s emotions and be by Alice side. Maybe they both could win something at doing so.

“Thanks a bunch for the help.” Alice tried to talk clear, but the hangover had kicked in and her head was killing her.

“You are welcome, see you at the clinic tomorrow.”

Lilly didn’t seem to have escaped the hangover either, in differences from Taija that seemed to be totally fine. Life was really unfair.

Ellen and Jill weren’t home to greet them when they returned back. Maybe they had gone at an adventure again, or so was they just out for some business.

Taija led Alice to the sofa and more or less ordered her to get some rest while she went out to buy food, ending it by giving Alice a kiss on her forehead. Alice didn’t like that Taija would take care of her after that they both had a rough night. Apparently so had they been drinking until the carriage arrived. But she could still not deny that Taija’s idea wasn’t bad, she probably needed to get some sleep anyway.

Taija let Alice sleep until the cooking was done. There was still no signs of her sister or “that woman”. Alice would have loved to tell Ellen everything about how the deal had gone, how wide the market was. That they were getting extra for one of HER MACHINES, and not to forget how everyone had helped them to make the deal possible.

A knock at the door? It couldn’t be Ellen, she would have walked straight in. She was after all also living in the house, their home.

It wasn’t Ellen, but it was someone that Alice wanted to see. Lapin, together with that strange friend of her’s from before she relapsed.

” We are really sorry to come here like this, but I was asked to come here and would like to ask for a favour.”

Her voice dripped of shame, for understandable reasons. She had relapsed and tried to hide, making the whole clinic turn at her and she been running away. Which got even more clear after the message there she wrote she had met a dealer.

“How about that we all eat some food first.”

Taija had inspected both the girl’s bodies while Alice been looking at Lapin without minding the other girl after noticing who it was. When looking closer so did it really looked like both the girls could need to get some food. Lapin had been skinny since she moved into the house, which wasn’t as bad like now. And the other girl looked even skinnier, it was like if no one of them had been eating for a couple of weeks.

The girls had tried to decline, but after some of Taija’s rough dealing so was they eating to get allowed to ask for the favour. Not that they really looked sad that it had turned out like that, they had probably been hoping for being offered to eat with them. Which they did by their whole hearts.

“To start with, can we get to know what really was going on back then? Why did you try to hide it instead of asking for help?” Alice still wanted to hear the whole story about that so she maybe could find out what she had done wrong.

Lapin didn’t answer, just like last time.

“She did her best to try helping me kick the crystals addiction. All by herself.”

Lapin’s friend spoke up.

Apparently so was her name Kulta, and Lapin had spent so much time she could to help her to stop using crystals.

“Then why didn’t you ask for help, or even tried to explain it for us?”

“I didn’t ask for help since it was MY try to do somethin’. My try to find a way that maybe could help others in the same situation, without any need to pay for the treatment.”

Lapin tried to explain how she had been thinking. But in the end it didn’t turn out as she wanted, she hadn’t been able to change anything. She couldn’t help anyone and even relapsed herself.

“So you want to get some help from us so you and Kulta to kick the addiction?”

It was clear that they wanted help with that, no one of them hesitated when they answered.

“Miss Alice, I meet sister last day. And she asked me to give you this note.”

When everything was settled so was Lapin suddenly that she had been asked to leave a note to Alice from her sister. Just as Alice had thought so was Ellen at an adventure with Jill, but this time they was visiting the neighbor city. Alice probably needed to take a real talk with Ellen when she came back home.

“Is there something that might be good for me to know about you too?” Alice needed to distract her irritation at Ellen and Jill’s idea to go at a bigger adventure.

“Lapin is my girlfriend.”

Kulta talked without any second thought, almost as if she wanted to point out the obvious. Lapin wasn’t as calm as Kulta about it, blushing madly upon Kulta’s respons.

“I have stopped dealing.” Alice had to make sure that Kulta didn’t do it anymore and had asked about it. Of course so had Lapin pointed out for Kulta that there couldn’t be anything between them until she had stopped dealing.

It had been three days since the deal, and that they had got two new employees at the clinic. No one cared that they were more people there. Which could be because Alice explanation that it was easier to keep an eye at them if they were at the clinic everyone together. Not to mention that Lapin could do some of the work there, and Kulta was trying to learn what she needed. Of course it was also a kind of payment for the treatment they got, just like it had been the first time when Lapin had started to work for them.

“Doctor Morfine, there’s a mail for you.” Lilly handed Alice a letter that had been sent to the clinic for her. Alice hoped that it wasn’t anything about the deal, it really had to be a finished chapter.

“Is it anything interesting that you got doctor Morfine?” Everyone had gathered around her, curious as cats.

“Ellen and Jill have gone out at a big adventure. When they come back, I would like you to do me a favour Lilly.”

“Yes?”

“Can you help me to first take care of Jill and then Ellen. They left without a word for a big journey together.”

Ellen wrote that she had left with Jill for a journey, which she didn’t know how long it would last. She had been thinking about going on a journey for a while, to learn more and to enjoy her life a little more. She had Jill would be at her side so there was no need for Alice to worry, but just to be sure that Alice wouldn’t worry to much so would she write a letter to Alice from time to time.

Alice was glad that Ellen did what she been thinking and wishing for, but she could have done it in a better way. She could have told Alice, in person. There was after all so much she wanted to tell and share with her. Like the question who she would be most angry at for their stupid behaviour, her or Jill?