721: The Very Best of Friends: Two


by Fleur Le Marc
81225.0000
-=Flashback continued=-


An elaborate, four-post bed with a wrought iron frame was angled in the far corner. The windows were tall and let in brightness, even on a dreary winter day such as this. There were so many fine things to look at that she had a difficult time deciding where to look next.

There was a seamstress' dress form in the corner opposite the bed, and upon it was the finest gown that Fleur had ever seen. She was certain that it had to be a wedding dress, even though it was no longer exactly white. It had millions of beads and sequins upon the bodice and a train that fell to the floor and pooled there. Fleur's heart raced at the thought of how beautiful Madame must have been, the day that she wore that dress.

Fleur began to wonder now about the fact that she had never seen Madame's husband; and wondered if maybe that had something to do with that word that they always called her.

All thoughts of everything else ceased, however, when Fleur looked at the bedside table and, to her relief, saw a very friendly, if sad looking face peering at her, head lopped to the side as though asking a question.

"Hello, bear." Fleur said politely, and quite seriously, to the small stuffed toy. "Do you know which door goes back to the parlor? I am going to be in a lot of trouble if I don't get back soon. Maman will be angry."

The bear, sadly, offered no reply.

"Please? If you tell me the way I promise I will not tell anyone that you spoke to me." Fleur began looking around her, starting to feel truly afraid that she was going to get into trouble and anxious to find a way out of it. She turned and bumped into something, knocking a thin sheet of fabric away from it.

She gasped, in the wonder-filled way that only the smallest of children can.

It was a dollhouse.

It was two stories, with pink walls and a white roof. It had perfect, tiny little shutters and the windows each had a tiny little flowerbox beneath it, filled with even tinier flowers. Fleur closed one eye, and peered in through the closest window. It was filled with furniture, and dolls in fine dresses. "All my days," she whispered sagely to herself, as someone twenty-five times her age might do, "I've never seen a house like this before."

She reached out to touch it, but stopped. It did not belong to her.

She stepped backward, the desire to do so, so strong that she pulled herself away so she just could not do it.

She bumped into a box on the floor. It had a tag on it that said bears. There was another box, marked dolls. Fleur was proud that she could read them, when Catherine and even Henri were still trying to learn their letters and could not yet read much of anything.

She saw toys piled one atop another in those boxes, and wanted so badly to look deeper inside and see what treasures may lie beneath, but she reminded herself very sternly that these toys did not belong to her, and so she should not touch them.

She sighed, looking around for the exit again only to find there was yet another door she had not seen before. Upon inspection she discovered that it led to a large closet where Madame kept her dresses.

*I want to live in here...* Fleur decided upon seeing the closet, and after breathing in the gentle, lingering scent of Madame's perfume.

At last, she returned to the bear sitting by the lamp on the nightstand. "If I go through that door," she pointed to the one that she hoped led to the hallway, "will I find my way back?" She frowned as again, she got no response. "I guess you don't feel like talking today." She nodded soberly. "I understand. I don't like talking much at all. Goodbye, little bear."

By this point, Madame Brézé had grown concerned that perhaps Fleur needed assistance of some sort and had come back to find the bathroom door locked.

She remembered then that it had slipped her mind to have the carpenter come and fix the lock, which was forever getting stuck on its own.

She heard the soft sound of the girl's voice coming from her bedroom and now stood, beaming, watching as Fleur spoke to the tattered stuffed bear.

"He likes you."

Fleur jumped, and turned. "I am sorry, Madame, please do not be angry. There are so many doors."

"Oh, chou chou, come here." Brézé knelt down and took Fleur into her arms for a quick hug. "I could never be angry with you. This is a big house, I was afraid you might have gotten lost. I will take you back."

She saw Fleur glance, as hard as she tried not to, back at the dollhouse on the bed and then up at her apologetically.

"I am so sorry, Madame, I didn't mean to bump it."

"It is fine, Fleur. Do not worry." She looked at the child's expression and nodded. "It is a beautiful house, no?"

"Oui."

"It is going to be offered for sale to those ladies who are drinking tea in my parlor. The money that it brings will be used to buy many toys for a holiday for children on the planet where my mother was born."

"Bad..." Fleur twisted her tongue in an attempt to say the name. "Badj...."

"Bajor." Brézé giggled. "Many of the children there are all alone. So I thought that sending them toys would be a nice thing to do, ah?"

Fleur now knew for certain that Brézé was the nicest person she had ever met.

"They will like that, very much." Fleur thought she would like it very much if someone gave her a toy. It was almost Christmas, but she had already been told by Maman that she had not been a good little girl this year and she should count herself lucky if she got to have Catherine's old winter coat, should Papa Noel bring Catherine a new one.

"I see that you made friends with that one, ah?" She nodded toward the well-loved bear on the table, and Fleur pulled away in fear.

"I didn't touch him! I promise, I didn't!" She seemed terrified suddenly that she was in trouble, and tears filled her eyes.

Brézé burned inside. This child reacted as a puppy that had been hit too often, startled by the slightest movement or sound. *Something is not right in that house.*

"I know you didn't touch him. In fact, you didn't touch any of them. They are all just as I left them..." she was speaking now more to herself than to the child and doing so in disbelief. How any little girl could be in a room filled with such fine toys and not touch a one, was something incredible. But knowing Fleur, she could believe it.

"Fleur, listen to me," She took the girl’s hands and gently swung them from side to side. "All of these toys, they are spoken for. But," she looked at the sad little bear on the table, thinking it had been far too long since he'd been properly loved by a someone who truly needed him.

He'd followed her through her life and been her most loyal toy companion; it was time for him to live again in the heart and arms of another child.

"This one. The one that you were talking to? He is sweet too, no?"

Fleur nodded. He had the sweetest face of any teddy bear she'd ever seen. Not even the new ones in the window of the store up the street from her parent's bakery had eyes like this one.

"He, oh, look!" she lifted the bear and pressed his muzzle to her ear. "He is trying to tell me something."

Madame seemed to listen with rapt attention as Fleur thought it odd that the bear wanted to talk now, after insisting upon not saying anything to her before.

"He says that he wonders if you would take him home, and play with him and love him."

Fleur's eyes grew enormous. "Oh, I cannot. Maman will be,"

"I," Brézé whispered softly, "will handle your Maman." She wanted to handle Le Marc, all right..."You see, Fleur, I am a very busy lady, and I do not have time to give him enough attention. And soon," she stopped, not wanting to speak the words completing her thought, "soon, I will not be living here anymore."

"You're going away?" Fleur's voice broke, her pain at the thought clearly evident.

"Since my husband has gone to Heaven, Fleur, this house is, so much for me. And living in Paris now..." she sighed softly, unsure if the small girl could truly grasp anything that she was trying to say. "I am going far away, Fleur, to that planet where everyone has noses like mine. I have some family there, but none left here on Earth now."

"I will stay with you!" Fleur volunteered, genuinely willing. "I will work for you, and you will not be alone anymore." *And I won't be alone either,* Fleur thought.

Brézé's eyes brimmed with tears, and she swept the girl into her arms and hoisted her onto her hip. "Oh, Fleur. If only it were so easy, I would keep you with me and I would never let you go." She squeezed her tight, and Fleur hugged her neck.

"Don't go away, Madame. Please."

"I have to, Fleur. But oh, how I will miss you." Brézé sniffled, even as she pulled a linen handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at the girl's eyes. "I am-"

"FLEUR AURORE LE MARC!"

Brigitte Le Marc burst through the doorway ferociously. "If you touched one thing in Madame's house, I swear, I will-"

"You will what, Madame Le Marc?" Brézé snapped, setting Fleur down gently. The girl immediately took up position hiding behind her.

Brigitte did all she could to get hold of her temper. "She has done nothing wrong. In fact, I was just about to give her a special gift to remember me by."

"To remember you? I do not understand, Madame."

"The house is sold, and I will soon be leaving for Bajor. I have something for Fleur and I would like your permission to give it to her." Brézé was not so much asking for it, as she was demanding it.

Le Marc's eyes burned into Fleur, as the girl stared at the floor.

"If it...pleases you...Madame," Le Marc grudgingly agreed, not wanting to perhaps discourage future business from Brézé's friends by offending her. "Of course you may do as you like."

"It pleases me very much. But I will do so only with the understanding that this gift is for Fleur only." Brézé clarified. "Not the other children." She had seen too many times during her visits to the cafe that Fleur was often passed over for anything good in favor of her older, larger siblings, and she had no desire to see that happen again.

Le Marc's displeasure became even more evident.

"This toy is for Fleur alone," Brézé repeated.

"Oui, as Madame wishes. I...I must see to your guests. Fleur, come along."

"I will bring her along in a moment." Brézé declared, reaching for the bear on the nightstand and waiting until Brigitte had gone to speak again. She sat down on the bed, hoisted Fleur onto her knee and prepared an introduction.

"Mademoiselle Fleur Le Marc, may I introduce you to my very best friend. His name is Alphonse, but you can call him anything that you like, if you want to, now that he is going to be your best friend."

"But his name is Alphonse," Fleur sounded concerned. "If I call him something else, he will not answer."

"Ah, you might be right." Brézé's eyes again shimmered, as she leaned down and kissed Fleur on the cheek. The ridges on her nose brushed Fleur's cheek, and she swung her small feet happily, wondering if this is what it felt like to belong to someone.

"He is very old, and so you must take good care of him or he might fall apart.”

“I will.”

“He’s your best friend now. If anyone tries to take him away, you tell them that Madame Brézé will be very angry and they will be in big trouble." Realizing that the time for the auction to begin was near, she knew it was also time to bring this sweet moment with her little friend to an end.

"Come now, Fleur. It is almost time for you to be going home, and you will want to start getting to know Alphonse right away, no?" She regarded the time-worn, and threadbare stuffed toy one last time. "Take good care of Fleur, Alphonse. Just as you took good care of me." She handed the toy over to the girl officially, and Fleur hugged him tightly to her chest.

"I will always take care of him, Madame," she promised. "He will never be alone."

"Neither will you, Fleur." Brézé's hugged her one last time before gently sliding Fleur from her lap and beginning to rise. She offered her hand to the child and Fleur grasped it tightly.

"When you move away, Madame," Fleur whispered as Brézé led her back down the long hallway, "will you forget about me?"

"I could never forget about you, Fleur."

-=End Flashback=-


Fleur heard the sound of a muffled, familiar voice, and stirred. She slowly opened her eyes, finding that for the first time in days, they did not ache or burn any longer.

"Maman," Tress murmured softly. She had managed to climb out of her crib and onto Fleur's bed, and was now resting her head on Fleur's chest, and winding a strand of the woman’s soft, long hair around a small, pudgy finger as she mumbled sounds that she could not hear.

Jariel, who had stepped out of the room only for a moment to confer with Drs. Adams and Hartcort, returned and laughed softly at the sight.

"Well, what have we here?" he asked, a broad smile forming upon his lips for the first time in days as he watched Fleur sit up under her own power. "Both of my girls are up."

[Look!] Tress signed excitedly. [Awake!]

"Oui, chou chou," Fleur said, resting her cheek for an instant against the top of Tress' head as the child continued to play with her hair. "I am awake now."

Camen's eyes blurred with tears of joy and relief as he saw that at last, the fever seemed to have left her entirely. He pressed his lips against the top of Fleur's head, and then the Tress' as well. "Is there anything I can get for you? Anything at all?"

"Yes, in fact," she looked up at him, suddenly fighting the urge to cry as well as she spoke. "Do you think, if it is not too much to ask, that you could replicate something small for me? For Tress."

"No trouble at all. The Alchemy's replicators can make nearly anything. What do you want?"

"A toy bear," Fleur smoothed Tress' hair down gently, averting her gaze from Jariel's now. "A small, soft, teddy bear."

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Fleur Le Marc

Currently on Bajor