The sisters, all together again in the past, in the snow-globe of girlhood and memory that is ever present but forever gone, are in a flurry of getting ready for a holiday party. Meg March looks to her younger sisters " I know just who I'll dance with!" Amy March a small little 13 year old girl looks to her second oldest sister "who will you dance with ,Jo?" Jo glares at her younger sister " you know I never dance" Beth March sits on the bed looking into space " I can't dance", Amy was upset she wished she was old enough to go to the party with Meg and Jo but being only 13 she was not aloud " why can't we all go to the party?! It's not fair!" Meg's hair is covered in papers, and Jo manipulates a pair of hot tongs . Meg struggles to put on a pair of slippers. Jo noticed this " just wear your regular shoes." Meg started forcing the slipper " these fit last winter!" Amy stands by the mirror as she puts on jewels and rouge and tries to shape her nose " my nose will simply not looked refined." Beth still looks into space " I like your nose." Amy ignores Beths comment and makes her way over to Jo " Now, Jo" Jo moved away standing behind meg slightly " don't touch me, thanks! I already feel ridiculous I don't want to look it" Amy just smiles at her sister " you could be pretty if you tried" Jo glared at her younger sister " don't want to, won't do it" Beth looked at her sisters " I don't want to go but I wish I could hear all the music." Jo smiled at Beth " I'll keep it all in my head and try to sing it for you when I get home" Jo turns back to working on Meg's hair, Beth watches Jo handle the tongs in amazement but slightly worried " ought they to smoke like that ?" Jo didn't take her eyes off of Meg's hair but in confidence replied to Beth "it's the dampness drying" this made Amy look at her oldest sisters and wrinkle her nose up "what a queer smell, it's like burnt feathers" Jo didn't respond to her " There, now you'll see a perfect ringlet." Jo removes the tongs, and a burnt clump of hair follows. Jo screams and Meg screams because Jo screams. Amy gasps, half delighted " you're ruined" Beth looks at the tongs puzzled "why is her hair off ?" Jo steps back from Meg " Meg I am so sorry!" Meg races over to the mirror to have a look " what have you done?! Marmee I'm spoilt! I can't go! My hair!" Jo looks at her sister with such sorrow " I'm sorry you shouldn't have asked me to do it! I ruin everything!"

Meg and Jo walk down the hallway at the Gardiner's very fancy party, the party was already in full swing. Meg is chastising to Jo " Don't stare, don't put your hands behind your back, don't say Christopher Columbus, don't say Capital, don't shake hands, don't whistle..."Meg is pulled away from Jo by her friend Sallie "Meg March! You look so pretty!" Sallie Gardiner pulls Meg away from Jo who is left standing awkwardly "Meg..." Meg seems to put on another face and attitude, more grown up and elegant. Jo fades away into to the back of the party.

Jo,16, miserable, glumly watches the dancers. She pulls at a string on her dress. She catches Meg's eye who is laughing with her dance partner, and pleads with to leave. Meg aggressively shakes her head, and Jo sighs. A large red-headed boy makes a bee-line for Jo, in her terror, she looks for an escape. She slips in behind a curtain, and walking backwards, she nearly sits on Theodore Laurence. Laurie a very serious 17-year-old boy sits on a couch "dear me, I didn't know anyone was here!" Laurie rises from the couch " Don't mind me; stay, if you'd like." Jo looks at the boy " I won't disturb you?" Laurie smirks " not at all; I don't know many people, and felt rather strange at first you know" Jo looked at him "so do i" They both stand there, unsure of what to do, both shy. " Miss March isn't it?" Jo looked at him smiling " Yes, Mr Laurence, but I'm not Miss March, I'm only Jo." Laurie smirked "And I'm not Mr Laurence, I'm only Laurie." Their first burst of conversation has run it's course, and they smile at each other, standing in the not-unpleasant awkwardness of meeting. The two draw their attention to someone else stepping into the room. Lottie looked at her older brother, the small 13-year-old girl doesn't seem to notice Jo standing to her left " Laurie you left me alone out there how could you" This cause Jo to laugh " my own sister did the same to me" Laurie looks apologetically at his younger sister " I am so sorry Lottie it won't happen again." Jo looked at the siblings " you must be the same age as my youngest sister how did you get invited here tonight anyway." Lottie finally acknowledged Jo was standing in the room " oh em well my grandfather told Mr Gardiner, to invite me as we don't know anyone here." Jo turned back to Laurie " don't you dance?" Laurie looked back at Jo " We don't know how you do things here yet, you see we've spent most of our lives in Europe." Jo was shocked " EUROPE! That's Capital!" This caused Lottie to burst out laughing as Jo covers her mouth " I shouldn't use words like that." Lottie turns to her " Says who?" Jo looks at her "Meg my older sister." They all go to the curtain and peek through to watch Meg dance. " That's her, see? The girl in the violet dress." Laurie and Lottie respond at the same time " Very pretty" they all turn back into the room " she reminds me to be good so father will be proud of me when he returns." Laurie looks confused " where is he?"

Jo, Laurie and Lottie all take a seat "Volunteered for the Union Army. I wanted to go fight with him. I can't get over my disappointment in being a girl." Laurie doesn't look disappointed that she's a girl at all, Leigh notices this and smirks at her older brother. Laurie clears his throat " Jo ....would you like to dance? With me?" Jo just stared at him " I can't because ." Laurie looked puzzled " because what." Jo smiles at him " you won't tell?." Laurie smiles back at her "Never!" Jo stood up from her seat on the couch " I scorched my dress, see? Meg told me to keep still, so no one would see it. You can laugh if you want to. It's funny, I know." Lottie laughs but Laurie doesn't he looks quite tender " Never mind that; I'll tell you how we can manage." They all walked out onto the Gardiner's porch Laurie bows, and Jo awkwardly curtsies and then they go dancing wildly up and down a wrap around porch. Lottie follows laughing at them but stops when she notices them laughing too, it's actually very romantic in its exuberance. Jo is the woman and sometimes the man- it's the same with Laurie. They are mid-spin when they see Meg wildly gesture at them from inside: she looks hurt " My foot- I've hurt my ankle." The three of them make there way inside and to Meg's aid. Meg limps, Jo and Lottie support her although Lottie isn't helping a great deal due to her being so short; as Laurie trails behind the three girls. " how will I get home?!" Jo just looks at her older sister " I don't see what you can do except get a carriage or stay, here all night. Meg just looks disappointed " carriages are too expensive." Lottie looks back at Laurie nodding towards the March sisters " well, let us take you. It's right next door." Meg shook her head " No, thank you, we can not accept." Lottie answered her this time " you must take ours. Please!" Meg shook her head again " No, it's so early ... you can't mean to leave yet." Laurie pipes up again " we always leave early .. we do truly." Laurie looked at Jo for some help in persuading her sister to take the carriage " what choice do you have?" They all head to the carriage with Jo, Meg and Laurie got in the carriage while Lottie hoped up beside the coach man and they where on there way.

A laughing Marmee, holding a book and covered in flour, opens the door on Lottie and Jo supporting Meg and Laurie. Marmee laughs at the sight " Goodness gracious, what have you done!" Marmee has none of the pretensions of the other mothers, no artifice. She's a hippie before they existed. The little girls , Amy and Beth come rushing down the stairs and attack the older girls, this causes Lottie to let go of Meg and back off to her older brother in absolute terror, she has never experienced something like this before and this cause Laurie to laugh as Lottie elbows him in the ribs telling him to shut it this doesn't go un noticed by the youngest March who was curious. " Here make room, Meg is a wounded soldier!" Meg replies in a tiered voice " I sprained my ankle dancing!" This causes Marmee to laugh " oh Meg, you'll kill your self for fashion one of these days. Hannah, we need ice!" Amy turns to her sisters " tell us about it, what are they like." Referring to the Laurence siblings standing away from everyone . Beth turns to Jo " was the music wonderful." The Laurence siblings stand apart, not wanting to be a disruption, but loving the March household, this slightly medieval utopia of artists and thinkers Marmee looks at the Laurence siblings " come in come in! Apologies for the chaos: I enjoy baking in the middle of the night! Don't mind the clutter Mr and Miss Laurence, we don't." Laurie looks at the woman " Laurie and Lottie , please." Jo was taking off her skirt and called over to Laurie " can I call you Teddy and Charlie?!" Laurie smiled " Yes" Marmee looked over at Lottie" you must be part of the girls' theatricals!" Amy looks at Lottie pointedly " I'm Amy" Lottie smiles at the youngest March " Hello," a blush makes it way on to both girls and they can't help but smile at one another. Marmee looks back at the pair " They could use an extra player, although you'll have to fight Jo for the male parts Laurie or play a girl. Here have a scone." Marmee hands Laurie and Lottie a scone as Hannah enters with ice for Meg's ankle. Amy keeps sneaking looks at Lottie and Lottie keeps doing the same to Amy. Marmee starts laughing again " Laurie, Lottie how are your ankles? do you need ice?" The pair of siblings laugh and for the first time since she arrived at the March house Lottie spoke laughing " no thank you, ma'am." Lottie's voice sends a shiver down Amy's spine. Marmee instantly, sees their loneliness although they have each other their lack of a mother is evident " oh just call me Mother, or Marmee. Everyone does." They don't say anything, but looks as if they are about to cry. Lottie grabs on to Laurie as if to steady herself she has never been in such a caring and rather loud atmosphere and feels as though she might be on another planet , Amy looks at her apologetically. They don't have a mother, and they haven't had one for a long time. Meg pipes up from her spot in the arm chair " It really seems like a fine young lady to come from my party in a carriage and have maids wait on me!" Jo laughs " I don't think fine young ladies enjoy themselves as much as we do. The girls laugh and prance and gossip around the warm fire. The Laurence siblings stand apart, loving them all, the whole family... but most especially Jo and Amy. As the pair retreat back to their big, lonely house, they looks across the field to Jo and Amy, Jo writing alone in the attic, absorbed with her work and Amy prancing around the room like a ballet dancer.

Ok here is chapter two word count 2027