All characters are copyright to Valerie Tripp and Pleasant Company, we're just merely borrowing them for a bit. Also, this will be the only disclaimer we will do, so thus this is already disclaimed for the whole story!
Independence. It had been a long time coming, but it had come at last. Fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, partners, loved ones were returning home. The world was a peace. Everywhere except for Felicity Merriman's heart.
She had bid farewell to Benjamin Davidson eight years ago. Ben, her childhood friend, had gone a boy, and returned six months later a man, hardened by war. That was the last time Felicity had seen him, after that he had journeyed to the north, and had last been heard of fighting under General Washington against the British in the New York area.
She hoped against hope that he wasn't dead, but she knew in her heart of hearts that he most likely was. He would have written to her family and she had he still been alive, he wasn't one to leave people hanging.
Yes, he was almost certainly dead.
X-X-X
Ben Davidson was not dead, nor was he injured. What he was, was sitting on the banks of the Thames, cursing the rotten luck that had led to his capture. There was little chance of his getting a ship back to America. Now that it was no longer a British colony there were few ships going back and forth, and those that were mainly carried goods, leaving no room for passengers.
Yes, he was lucky to be alive, and to be free, and lucky that the changeover of currency had not yet taken effect, so that he would be able to use the £100 he had in his pocket. He had every chance of survival, but no chance of returning to the land for which he had given his all, and little chance of any letter he wrote to anyone living there reaching them before next year.
He was dipping his toes in the close to filthy water of the Thames as he surveyed his surroundings. London wasn't pretty, that was for certain. There were plenty of large, grand buildings, and no shortage of the aristocracy and fine clothes and baubles, but there was none of the community spirit that he had grown accustomed too in the colonies, London was far too big for everybody to know everybody as they had in Williamsburg. The smog that had settled over the city seemed to choke him, used as he was to the fresh country air that was found in Virginia.
He turned upriver, continuing the walk that he hoped would take him to Oxford, the university town renowned for its scholars. He had heard tell of it from Felicity's grandfather, "the Dreaming Spires" he had called it, this town with its old buildings and ancient history. The Dreaming Spires. They sure held dreams for Ben. He had the absurd notion that if he could reach Oxford, all would be alright with his world again. He knew it was ridiculous, but there was something pulling him there, only he didn't know quite what.
It was a brisk, chill day in Cincinnati, Ohio. Adjusting her cloche hat slightly, Kit, also known as Margaret Mildred Kittredge, stepped gaily into the street, eager to reach the offices of Gibb's newspaper for her first job as a reporter. Days earlier, Kit's whole world had exploded when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had issued an emergency broadcast about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Holding her head high, the blonde-haired young woman tried to ignore the undercurrent of uncertainty and district intermingled with excitement fairly tingling in the air around her as men young and old hurried to sign up for service in the military to protect their country.
Crossing over to the doors of the newspaper office, Kit stopped short in disbelief as she caught sight of a tall, almost gangly man with tan-colored hair like straw, sparkling crystal blue eyes, and gentle, calloused hands, dressed in uniform. The man raised his finely made blond head, gazing curiously at Kit in her denim blue jumper, cropped short tresses cut to a pageboy (Kit's favourite hairstyle), and her satchel filled with papers poking out of it. A breathless silence filled the air between the two people as they stared into each other's eyes, and then the man asked,
"Kit? Kit Kittredge?"
While at the same time Kit exclaimed in surprised pleasure,
"Will? Will Shepherd?"
"What are you doing here?" Will inquired of Kit, crossing over to her, taking her hand in his, and the girl didn't resist his touch. A few people walking by on their way to work cast disapproving glances at the two outside Gibson's Newspaper Offices, and a man and woman darted a look to each other that clearly meant such affection in public! It shouldn't be done.
Kit took a deep breath, her face seeking Will's.
"I'm here…" she began, and then paused, her pale face alight with hesitation as her stare roamed up and down the light tan uniform that Will was wearing, and then up to his eyes again. An expression of dismay glimmered in her disturbed face.
Changing the subject, Kit raised one eyebrow with a practiced flair, causing the young man's hand that she held to tremble slightly in her grasp, but she didn't notice. Her face paled as she demanded,
"Will Shepherd, why on earth on you here – in uniform?" she trailed off as she found herself lost in his face again.
In response, the man took Kit's other free hand in his as her satchel slipped down into the crook of her arm.
"To say goodbye," Will replied softly. Noticing her puzzled expression marring the beauty of her face, he hastened to explain,
"Kit, I'm going overseas – to fight against the Japanese who so imprudently wronged us at Pearl Harbor; and I have joined to come bring aid to our Old Mother England, who is in distress from the nasty Germans, who have bombed her cities without avail. It's for the good of everyone, Kit."
Beguiled by his appealing Texas drawl, Kit heard his words, but failed to comprehend what they meant.
"Kit," Will continued, "I'm going overseas – to fight in the War."
A/N: This is a collaboration story between DiegoRedeemedLover (who is writing Kit/Will) and HeartOfPaperBloodOfInk (who is writing Ben/Lissie). They both have other stories in the AG FanFiction universe as well, and love for you to go read them :) (hint hint...!)
To clarify time periods – Ben/Lissie is set at the end of the War of Independence, and Kit/Will is set at the very beginning of America's involvement in WWII.
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