After last nights . . . escapades, Frederick went to bed so exhausted he thought for sure he would be out as soon as his head hit the pillow. However, what happened was quite the opposite. Many things were unfolded in one evening and Frederick's analytical mind would not rest until he came to an understanding.

Prescott was going to make Micheal his sole heir. That bit of information lit up the situation in a whole new light. Micheal would have to go to school. He didn't know the first thing about running an estate. The boy was widely unprepared for his very big future.

Unfortunately, Micheal ran away before Prescott could reveal his deeper motive. After Frederick and the others had discussed it at length they debated on going after Micheala and try to explain it to him from this new perspective. But it was agreed that the boy needed time to cool off. He should have some time to think and rationalize. They would approach him in the morning.

And so the night went on, Frederick managed to get a relative amount of sleep between worrying about Micheal and dreaming about Alice. A couple hours after dawn, Frederick sat up and realized he had overslept. He couldn't remember the last time he missed the sunrise.

Pushing his hair back and grumbling as if fell back down, Frederick brushed the covers back, stood, and made his way to the dresser on the far side of his room. As he went he slapped his face a bit, attempting to wake himself up. He knew he was late, he knew he was going to have an important conversation with Michael today, he knew he wanted to see Alice, and yet his sense of urgency was nowhere to be found.

As Frederick did up the buttons on his shirt and looked around for his waistcoat, he realized that his grogginess must be a side effect of oversleeping and his concept of time must be fugued.

"Let's hope it's nothing a little coffee can't fix." he thought as he pulled the retrieved coat over his shoulders and set the collar to rights. Putting on his white gloves, Frederick went back to his bed and did up the covers, before he pulled his shoes out from underneath. Sitting on the newly made bed, Frederick allowed his mind to trail off as he began loosening the laces. A smile came to his face as he remembered his time with Alice last night.

"I like this," she had said, "us telling each other things."

He laughed, "Makes one wonder why we haven't done it sooner."

Alice's expression changed into a more thoughtful one, "There is one more thing that I am curious about."

"What might that be?"

"When did you know you loved me?" she asked, "I mean, I wasn't even sure you liked me as a person."

Again, Fredrick laughed thinking all the weeks of torture he suffered over his feelings for her. Little did she know.

"What?"

"Nothing I-" he hesitated, something told him referring to his feelings for her as torture wouldn't go over well, "I think my heart knew I did before my head was ready to accept it." better.

"Ah, so you didn't want to like me," she said with a smile.

"I'll admit I needed some convincing, but, In all seriousness," Frederick thought aloud, "I think you've had my heart since the first time you made me laugh."

Pulling the second round of laces tight, Frederick's mind returned to the present, and he once again, he stood. Suddenly his feet couldn't move fast enough. Alice was undoubtedly up already, probably wondering where the blazes he was, after all, he never slept in just like he never went fishing. Damn but love can make a man do strange things.

Pausing in the mirror to check his appearance, Frederick straightened his cuffs and scolded at his unruly hair in the reflection. He should get it cut. It was getting close to uncontrollable. Then he remembered Alice saying she liked it, something about it being charming, he smiled and shrugged. Control was overrated, Frederick decided and walked out the door.

The Kitchen and Break Room were empty but that was expected. Frederick filled a mug with lukewarm coffee and went to the pantry to pick out a fruit for his morning meal. Today he took a pear and settled himself against the side counter in the break room. He bit into the pear, as he looked about the lonely room. Usually, he would have already done a round through the house before coming to join the others for breakfast, but today he had missed them, and now had no people to observe, so instead, he studied the shelves and took note of the little trickiest he hadn't realized were there before. He was just about to take a sip of his coffee when Alice rushed through the doorway.

She looked up and screamed. Frederick jumped. He didn't have to look to know that his fresh white shirt was now a wet toffee brown.

"You're here!" She cried

"Good morning to you too." He replied trying not to grimace while he reached for a towel from the counter behind him.

"Where have you been?"

Frederick looked up, there was something in her voice, she wasn't mad, no not mad, concerned, "I've been here. I just slept in."

She looked at him in disbelief much like she had when he invited her to the pound yesterday. Frederick would have laughed if he hadn't sensed something was defiantly wrong.

"I hadn't thought about that," she said.

"Alice, what's going on?" He asked gently.

She looked up and gave him her full attention, "We can't find Micheal. He's gone. We couldn't find you either but now I know you had just," she hesitated confused, "slept in. At first, we thought Micheal had too but Prescott went to talk to him but found us saying Micheal wasn't in his room. So we checked the stables and he wasn't there either and Mrs. Pench said she hadn't seen him eat this morning, so we've been looking and looking and now I don't know where else to look. " She grabbed his arm, "You don't think he'd leave? Without saying goodbye?"

"Woah Woah," Frederick took her hands and eased their grip off his wrist, "slow down." he said, "What do you mean leave?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe you had taken him somewhere to talk, but evidently I'm wrong because you're here, which means you're not with him, which means he's all alone and you've to go to town and look for him and bring him back before he gets in trouble or boards a train or something!" Alice finished with a huff, the way her voice cracked at the end indicated she was close to tears.

"Hey," Frederick took her shoulders, "breath," he crooned, "It'll be alright," he caressed her chin and tipped her head up so she would meet his reasoning gaze, "We are going to find him." He promised before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

He lingered there, waiting for Alice to compose herself. He was eager to start searching for Micheal but knew he had to quench this fire before He could move forward. Besides, he had been waited all night to hold her again, he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass him by.

After a moment Alice's palms pushed slightly from where they had landed on his chest. Lifting his head, he attempted a reassuring smile.

"Sorry about your shirt," she said.

"I don't care about my shirt," he said his face settling into a frown, "I have a dozen more just like it."

Alice couldn't help a giggle and Frederick was already feeling better about the situation.

"So will you go to town?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

Frederick thought for a moment. He didn't think Micheal would leave like this, not without saying goodbye. Then again he had been furious and hurt last night, no one could ever be sure of what a person might do if they were hurt enough. "Yes," he replied, stepping away from her, "But there are few places I want to check around here."

"Where?"

"Well, the library for one, the stables, the pound, and the Green room."

Alice was already shaking her head, "We looked there, and Prescott's on his way out to the pound now."

Frederick paused to consider this then said, "Check the Library again. Remember that he was an orphan off the streets. He knows how to keep hidden. It's one thing searching for him when he's lost, but it's another when he doesn't want to be found. I'm going to the Green room."