"I'm very glad you're here, Miss Alice, I... well, I don't know how well I would handle this place without you." It was hard to predict what would have happened, or if things would have been very different. But she's very comfortable in Alice's arms and closed her eyes.

At knowing she could stay with Alice at night, she let out a breath and the tight tension in her shoulders eased, and the hand clenched around her chest loosened.

She smiled and hugged herself closer to the older girl.

"We are family. How could we be anything other than that?"