Part five of my fan fiction seemed to slowly sink into the depths of the internet with a woeful glugging sound. For those of you who liked the piece, I present you with part six.

The other parts can be seen here:
Prequel – The way you make me feel
Part One –  Telling Dick
Part Two – Back at Kirrin
Part Three – The first day
Part Four – George

Enjoy.

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GEORGE AGAIN

“Where’s George?” Dick asked as Julian took off his coat.

“Sitting on the beach, ignoring me,” Julian said, hanging his scarf up with his coat.

Dick folded his arms and watched Julian closely for a moment, while Anne looked on concerned. For a moment the three siblings looked at each other, each knowing that there was not a lot that would shift George from a sulk.

“Maybe you should have told us all together,” Dick said after a moment, voicing the shared thought of the three siblings.

Julian fixed his brother with an angry look but didn’t say anything as Anne cut in. She disliked that George had already lost her temper today, and she was determined that her brothers were not going to fall out.

“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty,” she said, moving between them. “I think, that we should split up for a little. Ju, why don’t you go and write back to Sally while Dick and I go and see if we can talk George around?”

Both boys looked at their little sister with admiration in their eyes. Usually it was Dick and George flying at each other’s throats and Julian stepping in  to calm the situation down. Now it seemed as though Anne was just as good as Julian.

“That is a brilliant idea, Anne,” Dick said, warmly giving Anne’s shoulder a quick squeeze.

Anne looked at Julian, who smiled at his little sister and nodded. He put his arm around her and gave her a quick hug.

“Dick’s taken the words right out of my mouth,” Julian told her. “Alright, Tiger. I’ll do as you say. Are you two going to be alright trying to talk to George?”

“As long as she hasn’t rowed over to the island, I think we’ll be just fine,” Anne said, confidently.

Dick and Julian exchanged surprised looks over Anne’s head.

“I always knew that the mouse would turn into a tiger properly one day,” Dick said with a laugh. Anne fixed him with a look that was very similar to the one their mother gave him when he was in trouble.

“Are you coming or not Dick?” Anne asked, as she reached for her coat.

Dick smiled at Julian as he said “Of course I’m coming with you. Give me a moment Anne.”

Anne grinned at her brothers as she pulled her hair out from under the collar of her coat.

“I don’t suppose that we’ll be too long,” Anne said to Julian as Dick pulled on his coat.

“But we don’t promise,” Dick added seriously. “You of all people know how stubborn George can be when she digs her claws in.”

Julian laughed a little. He stood on the bottom stair as he watched his younger siblings get ready to go out. He never thought he would see the day when he couldn’t be the one to talk George around and Dick and Anne would be the ones with a chance. It was an odd feeling.

“Good luck,” he said, tipping them a mock salute. “I’ll be upstairs, letter writing when you come back. Just don’t start playing the fool Dick and let her push you into the sea. We don’t need you tucked up in bed with pneumonia over Christmas.”

Dick was about to retort when Anne pulled open the door and tugged on his arm.

“Come on. Otherwise George will have wandered off somewhere else!”

Dick shrugged, and mockingly saluted Anne and then Julian before following Anne out into the cold.

Julian watched the door close with a feeling of anxiety in his chest. With a heavy heart he turned on the stair and headed up the room that he had shared with Dick for so many years to write his reply to Sally. At least that was a bright light on a sulky looking horizon.

Dick followed Anne down the garden path towards the beach.

“Do you really think we’ll be able to talk her round?” Dick asked Anne. He had his hands shoved in his pockets against the cold as they walked.

“I don’t know,” Anne said honestly. “It is hard to know with George.”

Dick nodded and bit his lip as he and Anne hurried on towards the beach.

George was still sitting on the rock where Julian had left her when they got there. Anne suddenly looked scared; she disliked dealing with George in a temper.

“Don’t be a mouse now,” Dick chided as he strode forward. Anne gave herself a little shake and hurried forward with her brother.

George heard them calling her name but chose to ignore them. She had her arm around Timmy as she stared steadfastly on Kirrin Island as the tear tracks on her face dried.

George was angry with herself for crying, but she blamed Julian for making her cry. How could he be so selfish? She thought when he had gone. Just because he had gone off to university, he thought he could have adventures without them. Not to mention this Sally girl, who sounded dreadful to George.

George chose not to acknowledge her cousins still feeling furious at them for finding out before her. She hugged Timmy closer to her, and he whined, as he disliked seeing his mistress so upset. His tail wagged happily when he saw Dick and Anne, and he stood up, pulling away from George to go and meet them. Timmy thought that they had come to cheer his mistress up.

Dick greeted him by patting his head fondly, his eyes fixed on George as she turned to glare at them.

“Go away,” Dick heard George say before she turned back to the sea.

Anne heard her whistle to Timmy, and watched as he bounded off to his mistress.

“George,” Dick called. “George come down here!”

“No!”

“George!” Anne called. “Please, George we need to talk!”

“I don’t want to talk to any of you!”

Dick looked despairingly at Anne who shrugged a little. They walked closer to George, who was still staring out to see, her eyes fixed on Kirrin Island.

“George, please don’t take what Julian did personally,” Anne begged as they sat down on either side of her, Anne sitting with her arm around Timmy.

“How can I not take it personally?” George asked her, turning to face Anne her eyes blazing with fury.  “He told both of you before he told me. I would say that I have a good reason for taking that personally!”

“Because I know for a fact that he was more concerned about how you would react than anyone else,” Dick replied for Anne. “George, he was worried that this was the way you would react.”

“Well at least he got one thing right,” George said fiercely.

Dick and Anne shared a glance.

“George,” Anne tried. “Why are you so upset about Julian getting a girlfriend? I’m sure Sally is a lovely person and she sounds super from the adventure he told us about…”

“She sounds soppy,” George retaliated. “And she got herself kidnapped!”

Anne and Dick didn’t think that Sally sounded soppy at all but couldn’t quite bring themselves to remind George of the two times she had been kidnapped.

“Look, George, whatever you think of Sally – who we haven’t met yet – I don’t think you should be too hard on Julian,” Dick said eventually.

“Why shouldn’t I be? Everything’s changed now, everything will be different! We shan’t be spending the hols together any more, and we certainly won’t be having adventures! I suspect that Sally girl will stop Julian having adventures! She sounds just like that sort of person,” George elaborated.

Anne suddenly reached the conclusion that George was worried that she was going to lose Julian as part of the Famous Five to Sally. Anne was aware of how unreceptive George was to change, and would be a big one.

“Julian won’t change all that much George,” Anne said suddenly. “I don’t think that there is anyone who can stop Julian being part of an adventure if he wants to be part of one. If Sally isn’t the girl Julian seems to think she is, then it will all sort itself out.”

Anne didn’t think that now was the time to add that she thought that Julian had a pretty good idea on what Sally was like and that she was just perfect for him. Anne already liked the idea of this girl who meant so much to Julian. She had always wanted a sister.

“I still think that it’s jolly selfish of him,” George told them firmly.

Dick raised his eyes heavenward and shook his head despairingly at Anne. Anne shrugged a little at her brother.

“Well I’m certainly not going to spend any more time trying to convince you otherwise, George,” said Dick. “Its jolly chilly out here and I think you’re being rather childish about the whole thing. Julian is allowed to do what he wants to without consulting us.”

Anne frowned a little at her brother as George stared at Dick in disbelief.

If Julian was the one who had tied George to them, Dick was the one who had made her want to stay, and now her beloved cousins were seemingly turning on her. George stood up, her face red and turned away from them, stalking away over the rocks, Timmy running along at her feet.

“You fathead,” Anne scolded her brother. “We’ll never get her to come back now!”

Dick stood up and watched after George as she disappeared behind an outcrop of rocks.

“Well she was being childish,” Dick said gruffly, shrugging his shoulders and turning his back to George. Anne could tell he was upset at George’s behaviour as much as Julian was.

“I still don’t think you should have told her that,” Anne said as she began to make her way back down to the beach. She took the helping hand that Dick offered her.

“Maybe Aunt Fanny will be able to talk some sense into her,” Dick grunted.

Anne sighed and looked over her shoulder again, unable to see her cousin.

‘Oh dear,’ she thought. ‘This Christmas is going to be uncomfortable.’

Continued in chapter 6