Kate lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. Outside the rain pounded down on the glass of her large bedroom window. It was another dreary day in England. It had been just warm enough for a lull in the snow so the rain could leave a sheet of ice over the ground for the days to follow. Kate felt like it was oddly appropriate for her mood. She found herself wondering, as she often did, what rain felt like. Rain had always been one of those things that her mother would never let her play in. Ever since she was small and they determined she was like her father she wasn’t aloud out in bad weather. And ever since she was small she had wondered what they would feel like falling down onto her skin. Would they melt and steam or would they be painful? Kate would never know. It had been engrained into her head that they would make her sick or kill her, and that was enough to keep her inside.

But today was different. Today, Kate couldn’t feel anything. She had seen her mother lowered into the ground no more than 24 hours before and now she was beginning to feel the numbness set in. It was like her mother had been more than just her mother. She had been her tether to the world, her rock. Kate was surrounded by people who loved her but without her mother she couldn’t feel them. It was like the fire inside of her was slowly going out.

Kate sat up and looked to the window and watched the droplets fall. It was at that point she made a decision. She stood and walked out of her room. Her house was warm and safe, but right now Kate didn’t feel safe. Her world was falling down around her and she needed to do something.

All that could be heard was the tapping of her bare feet on the wood floors. At first they were slow and steady. Then they started to get faster as she began running though to halls.

She breathed heavily as she stood in front of the large wooden door that separated her from the outside world. She tentatively grabbed the handles and throw the doors open, causing a loud bang to echo through the entrance hall. Kate didn’t care if anyone hear her or tried to stop her. She had made up her mind and there was no changing it.

She could see the rain falling in sheets and pounding the gravel path. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she walked out into the cold. Her lungs filled with the winter air and stung her core.

It tickled at first as the droplets cascaded down her arms and legs. And then there was nothing but pain. Pins and needles, like a million daggers coming down on her skin at once, falling onto her bare arms and legs and feet. She raised her face to the heavens and took it all in. She breathed through her mouth, letting in the droplets, opening her eyes and watching them fall. Then the pain subsided and her body cooled and she once again felt nothing.

Kate’s breathing became more erratic and shallow, as her temperature lowered and her heart slowed. The longer she stood in the rain the harder it became to breath, until she couldn’t anymore. Her eyes closed as she fell to the ground and all of a sudden all the pain she had been feeling was gone, and she was at peace.

((OCC I will be playing NPCs for the rest of this thread.))

Kate had been too silent.
Sure, she cried, and she looked sad; but all the time s/he spent with her, she looked... composed. She was holding up. She was the lady of the place now. But somewhere in the traveling and organizing she did not seem to find the time and place for proper grief.
Gawain knew how it felt. He did not lose his mother; he refused to think of her as if she was dead. But still, he had his moments when he needed to let go of the pain and frustration. He knew Kate needed that too.
It was just a matter of time.

Ever since she got the news, Gawain tried not to leave Kate alone for long. Not because he was afraid she'd so something stupid; just because he though she needed company. It made things easier, usually.
Then, she did something stupid.

"Kate?" Gawain went down to the front door when he heard it bang open; rain was pouring outside. It was not a good weather for a fire elemental. "Kate...?"

He could barely see the figure outside in the rain. He could barely make out the black dress and the slender form.

"Damn."

Gawain was wearing jeans and a black shirt, but the rain still felt biting cold; he couldn't begin to imagine how it must have felt for Kate, with her special powers. He got soaked to the bone in the first ten steps; water was trickling down his face and neck, and under his shirt.

"For all the stupid, reckless..." he muttered as he ran up to the girl lying on the ground "Kate!"

He landed on his knees, rolling her onto her back and checking for breathing and pulse. She felt cold. very cold.

"Goddammit."

Picking her up, he started running back to the mansion. "Somebody get help!"

The house had been so quite since Kate had moved. When she had left she had taken much of the laughter and happiness that had filled the halls. There used to be music playing and servants chattering. These days the servants each did their jobs and nothing more. There wasn’t much they actually wanted to talk about anymore. Most of the potential subjects just made them sad. So, when the doors crashed open, they resounded through the whole house.

Jensen had been cleaning when he heard the crash. He started making his way to close them figuring that they had flown open in the storm. It was quite windy on top of the rain and the latch on the door needed to br replaced. The house was old and many things were original or at least 100 years old. Maybe he could convince Kate to start a remodel and keep her mind off her mother and the holidays that were to be spent alone.

>>Somebody get help!

Jensen ran around the corner to see a horrible site. Gawain was sitting on the ground clutching Kate and they were both soaking wet. Jensen didn’t have time to think as he jumped right into action.

He ran over to the intercom on the wall and pressed the button to make his words resound in every room, “Whoever is closest to the master bath run it scalding hot. If you can’t touch it then it is the right temperature. I need towels and blankets brought to that room immediately and Marie please report there. We have had an incident.” Jensen turned back to Gawain, “I need you to carry her as you are already wet and I apologize if this is more then you asked for.” Jensen didn’t wait for an answer and started walking in the direction of the largest bathroom in the house.

>>“I need you to carry her as you are already wet and I apologize if this is more then you asked for.”

"Oh do shut up." Gawain muttered through gritted teeth as he walked around Jensen and headed for the bathroom. A bath was already going, great amounts of steam raising from the scalding hot water.

"Now that looks awful" he muttered, lowering Kate into the bathtub as she was, clothes and all. "Ow ow ow... sh*t." the water was hot. it was burning hot, maybe a little cool for a fire elemental, but not nearly pleasant for a human. Especially after the chilling cold of the rain.

"Has she done this before?" he asked, whipping the hot water off his hands and looking at the pale girl, checking her pulse and breathing again "Because with that cold outside, this doesn't look like something she'd do for fun."

>>Oh do shut up.

Jensen chose to ignore the comment and led Gawain around the house. The servants were all in a frantic run trying to get together everything that was needed to help their lady. They all loved the Finch-Hattons much more then servants should. Each one had been saved in some way by Harriet and her daughter and had chosen in turn to stay and protect them as well. They did everything they could to keep Harriet alive and they would do everything they could to keep Kate alive.

>>Now that looks awful. Ow ow ow... sh*t.

Jensen took out cleaning gloves from under the sink and put them on. He needed to get her out of her cold wet clothes as quickly as possible.

>>Has she done this before? Because with that cold outside, this doesn't look like something she'd do for fun.

“She has actually never done anything like this before in her life,” He felt the heat as he reached into the water and started removing her dress. He unbuttoned the wrists and then just simply lifted it up over her head and threw it aside. She flopped about like a rag doll and, even through the rubber of the gloves, he could feel the coldness of her skin, “When she was 8, we learned about her limitations with cold weather. She had gone into hypothermic shock from simply playing in the snow. She almost died. So, I took the proper percussion and made sure that I knew how to handle such a situations should it arise again.”

Marie walked into the room with 4 maids following behind her, “Jensen I have called the doctor and he will be here as quickly as possible. He says we need to raise her body temperature. We won’t be able to revive her if her body is still cold.” Marie put the back of her hand to the young girls face.

Marie waved an instruction at one of the maids who then walked over to Gawain, “Mr. Morris would you mind waiting out in the bedroom?”

>>“Jensen I have called the doctor and he will be here as quickly as possible. He says we need to raise her body temperature. We won’t be able to revive her if her body is still cold.”

"He'd better be as good as Doc, or we're in trouble." Gawain muttered, stepping back to allow some space for everyone who was running around them. Kate was still out; she did not stir. Everyone looked like they knew what they were doing, but that did not comfort him one bit.

>>“Mr. Morris would you mind waiting out in the bedroom?”

"Yeah, actually, I would mind." he answered, folding his arms; after a few moments, he sighed, and walked out. It was better to leave them to do whatever they were doing. It still did not feel good to just walk out. He liked to keep an eye on his friends when they were in trouble.

In the bedroom, Gawain paced up and down, listening to the voices next door. Not doing anything quickly got on his nerves.

Saph barged into the bedroom looking like hell. His hair was messy, his eyes were red, and he was dressed in his messy rented tux. It was the closest thing to his bed at the time.

He had been taking a little nap, but had woken up when he heard a loud commotion. By the time he'd gotten his senses about him, the whole scene had made it's way into this room.

Saph looked about panicked, trying to find out what was going on. Were they being robbed or something? Maybe he'd pissed off the wrong people last time he went into town. He could think of a few... But... It didn't look like there were any criminals here... only a very flustered looking Gawain. "Eh... What's goin on, man? What's all the ruckus?" He took another look around, and then down at the floor... it was a little wet... Gawain was a little wet...

Water fight?

It was 20 minutes before the doctor arrived; the nearest town was still not very close.

“Take her out of the water.” Dr. O’Donnell came running into the bedroom and walked straight through to the bathroom, “Dry her off… Quickly!”

Jensen moved to lift Kate out of the water and delicately lay her on the ground. Each person in the room grabbed a towel and started cleaning a section of her and she was dry in no time.

The doctor started pulling out his tools and checking Kate, “47 degrees,” He listened for her heart and silently prayed that he would hear something. The room waited in anticipation, hanging on his every word, “Her heartbeat is weak. We need to get her breathing again and raise her body temperature more.” He pulled out a bag of IV fluid, “Abigail, please put this on the stand next to the bed.” The young maid grabbed the bag and ran out of the room.

Dr. O’Donnell was once again reminded of why he moved to Corby as he did chest compressions on this young 18 year old girl. He had been a emergency room surgeon before coming to Kirby Hall and Corby. He had grown up in a small town in Ireland and wanted to open a practice in one like it since he was in high school. So, when he read the Finch-Hatton’s add he had jumped at the chance to move. They had brought him into Corby and he was their on-call physician as well as the town doctor. He got the quite life he always wanted with the excitement it was missing.

>> "Eh... What's goin on, man? What's all the ruckus?"

Gawain spun around as Saph walked in, and ran his fingers through his hair once again. He was starting to look positively messy. Not that he cared.

"Kate ran out into the rain. She's..." he paused; he was not even sure what was going on "They called the doctor." he finished.

And the doctor came. There was more commotion and worried voices from the other room, and it still did not sound good. Gawain folded his arms over his chest.

"She's cold." he muttered "I brought her in. She was barely breathing."

Saph blinked a bit as he saw Gawain's initial reaction.

It wasn't a water fight. Something bad had happened. His heart sank into his gut as he awaited the news.

"Kate ran out into the rain. She's..." His eyes widened, and just before he could fire out a 'what?' the young knight started talking again. "They called the doctor." He stood in silence for a moment... the poor girl. She had been pretty silent; nothing they did seemed to get much of a reaction out of her lately, but he couldn't have guessed that it was this bad. He didn't really understand how bad it was... had she killed herself? If a doctor was on the way, that meant there was some chance she would be okay, right?

"Is she ok-" The doctor stormed in and got right down to business, disappearing into the bathroom as well. Saph looked back to Gawain... Damn, he was falling apart... Saph made a move to put his hand on the young man's shoulder so he could steer him to the nearest chair.

"Hey. I'm sure you did everything you could. Sit down. Calm down. Everything is gonna be okay."... I hope. "The doctor's here."

“Katherine you are not allowed to die on me.” The entire room watched helplessly as Dr. O’Donnell worked diligently to try and get the young elemental to breath. It had been minutes and soon her heart would stop and it would be to late. It was now or never.

Suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity Kate’s eyes shot open and she gasped in her first breath. Her chest was pushed off the ground and she looked at the surprised and relived face of her doctor before she passed out once again.

Marie went to say something but was cut off by the doctor, “I want to get her into the other room and hook her up to her mother’s machines. She isn’t out of the woods yet.” The doctor picked her up and started moving her to the large bed, “I am going to stay around for the first 24 hours to keep an eye on her. After that I will be on call for when she wakes up. I don’t see there being any problems but this was a close call and we never know what could happen.” He placed her down on the bed and started hooking her up to the heart monitor and putting an I.V. into her arm.