This fic will be one story divided into two parts - Theft and Loss. Part one, Theft, begins with this chapter. The two halves are meant to be different arcs, with different moods, but can (and should) be read as one continuous fic, though there will be a resolution at the end of each one. There will also really likely be historical inaccuracies here, though nothing too egregious, I'm just twisting a few facts. It's a fic, and I'm really only here for the drama of it all haha. Hope you enjoy, and please review! :)

Felicity choked on her mulled wine, stifling a snort-laugh. "Imported?" she wheeled to face Elizabeth, who was also giggling. "Did Annabelle just refer to her fiance as imported?"

"Imported?" Elizabeth snickered. "Doesn't she know he is also from Virginia?"

"Furthermore, the fact that literally no man in Williamsburg will marry you is maybe not the best thing to highlight. Getting mommy and daddy to ship a husband in just sounds bad, no matter how you try to spin it."

"Especially considering that he didn't even really have a say in it himself!"

"And God," Felicity continued. "What a prick he must be, to not only have no girls in - where's he from?"

"Yorktown."

"To not only have no girls in Richmond be willing to marry him, but the only girl all the way in Williamsburg who will is Annabelle."

Elizabeth stifled another giggle. "Maybe he just doesn't know what he signed up for."

"What is he like?" Felicity asked.

"I don't really know." Elizabeth said. "Mother and Father spoke with his family, of course, and he and Annabelle exchanged a few letters, I think, but this is the first time they met face to face, and it's certainly the first time I've seen him."

"Well, I'm sure he's terrible."

"How can you be so sure?"

"He's marrying the enemy!" Felicity said quickly, without thinking. It was still so instinctual, with all the pomp and the gossip, to think of all Loyalists as enemies. "By which I mean Annabelle." she clarified to her friend, who had gone quiet.

"Oh!" Elizabeth laughed again. "Remember when we used to call her Bananabelle?"

"What do you mean 'remember when'? I called her that last week!"

Elizabeth laughed again. "Should we go talk to them?"

"Must we?" Felicity sighed.

"Look, you get to go home." Elizabeth smirked. "I have to live with them."

"Well then, as your friend, I suppose I must bear this with you!" Felicity and Elizabeth linked their arms and strolled slowly over towards Annabelle, her fiance, and the small group that surrounded them.

"Hello, hello." Elizabeth said, gesturing to Felicity. "May I introduce my friend, Felicity Merriman?"

"I know who your friend is Elizabeth." Annabelle snipped.

"Gee, Annabelle, you're so witty." Felicity rolled her eyes.

Annabelle's fiance smiled thinly. "I'm Ben Davidson."

"Ben comes from a fine family." Annabelle interjected smugly, if not half-falsely.

"What makes them so fine?" Felicity asked, fake naivete in her voice.

"Oh, it's rude to bring such things up."

"But you just d-"

"So!-" with a sharp interruption, Annabelle brought the conversation back to herself. Felicity had stopped listening to her - not that she often started. She endured all these loyalists - including their latest edition - because of Elizabeth. Well that, and the fact that Mrs. Cole made a hell of a mulled wine.

…

"So, is there anything to do here?"

Felicity turned around at the unfamiliar voice, holding her fourth glass of mulled wine and really feeling it. "Hm?" she said, looking up at Ben.

"Sorry," he apologized for no real reason. "I'm new, as you understand."

Felicity scanned quickly for Elizabeth, who had gone off to help Annabelle with something in the kitchen a few minutes ago. "There's plenty." she said. "It's a fairly large town."

"I suppose he said gruffly. "There's only a handful of shops, though."

"There's plenty of shops."

"One merchant, and then a few specialty shops is not what I'd call plenty."

"That's my father's shop, and he has everything. We don't need more than one."

Ben shrugged a little, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm sure I'll see it at some point."

"You don't have much of a choice." Felicity said wryly. "Like you said, it is the only one." she bobbed a little and said "If you'll excuse me, I think Elizabeth needs my help."

God, what an ass!

...

Felicity enjoyed the birds of the early-morning the most. When few people were out in town they would swoop down and around, like a beautiful dance. The morning sun was still fresh and barely warm, and despite it being the early summer, Felicity had wrapped a light shawl around herself.

"Hey, Felicity!"

"John!" Felicity spun around and smiled at him.

"I'm surprise ye ain't have the lads flockin to you already, strolling around the neighborhood unaccompanied."

"John, I'm perfectly capable to of walking to my own father's shop."

"Oh, of course. Can I walk with ye regardless?"

"Of course. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, I'd say." he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I'm still working down at the jewelers."

"Your apprenticeship must almost be done, right?"

"Aye! I've got about two more months, and then I'll be a partner with him for a year, and then I reckon I can either strike out on my own, or work with him until he retires, and then take over. He's got only daughters, you know."

"Hm, what a terrible curse."

"Oh you know I don't mean it like that!"

But you still said it like that. "I know, John. I'm merely poking fun."

Felicity had known John longer than most of the lads in her town - she had ignored them all, and been ignored by them all, until she turned about thirteen. Some of them had tried to bully her into speaking to them; they would pull on her ponytail, or loop their arms around her,or yell at her as they were playing. John would usually just invite her to join in on their games, or say hello to her when he came by her father's shop. The boy was a tad dense, but she still liked him.

"What are you up to today?"

"I'm just going to go work at my father's shop, as usual." Felicity smiled.

"Don't you ever want a break from there?"

"I don't need a break; I enjoy going there." Felicity insisted. "It's the best place in the entire world."

"Better than a palace, or big ballroom?" John teased.

"Fancier? No. Better? Definitely."

"Maybe I'll see you there, if I have to run some errands."

"Well, I'll be there all day, so that's really up to you."

...

There was a tinkle of bells as the shop door opened.

"Hello, what can I do for you?"

"A pound of coffee, please."

Felicity recognized her father's greeting, but the second voice was strangely unfamiliar - she thought she knew everyone in this town. She leaned back to peek out of the store room - ugh! It was Ben. At least he had the manners to not ask for tea.

"Sure, I'll wrap that up for you."

"Thank you."

There was a lull, and then Edward Merriman broke the silence again. "Are you liking Williamsburg, son?"

"Oh, it's lovely here!" Ben said sincerely. "Very beautiful. But," he paused for a second. "I'm still looking the most forward to leaving." he was cheerful, strangely so, when he said that, as if he were expecting a positive reaction.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm ready to go to war. I figure once I get everything all settled up, I can ship out on the next group that'll have me."

"So eager to fight?"

"For this? Yes."

"I've been in war, son. It's not what you think it'll be."

"Oh, I know it'll be tough, and dangerous. But for this cause, it's worth it."

Felicity never heard her father get angry customers but, even though he was speaking at a normal volume, Felicity could hear her father getting angry. "You're so young. Give it more time. You have your whole life ahead of you."

"How old were you when you fought?"

"That's not important."

Both men stagnated in the silence, before Edward handed the package to Ben. "If you want to fight for something, son, I'd look for a fight here instead."

"Your advice is noted, sir. But I best be on my way."

...

"You'll never guess who came into the shop today!" Felicity said, walking into the Cole's house and into the parlor where Elizabeth sat, embroidering.

"We really should lock the door…"

"Beth, Beth, did you hear what I said?"

"Who came into the shop? Here, sit down!"

"No, you have to guess?"

"Um, the Pope."

"Yeah, you got it! Game over."

Elizabeth laughed. "Just tell me!"

Felicity sat down and held up her hands like she was bracing for impact. "Ben."

Elizabeth was silent, waiting for her to continue. "You know he lives here now, right?"

"Yes, but he came in and stared about how much he wanted to go off to war!"

"Oh, I suppose we expected that." Elizabeth muttered.

"How rude, right? My father, just like almost everyone else in town, is so clearly a patriot, and to come in and start talking about how you'll kill for the king and-"

"What?" Elizabeth interrupted. "Did he say he'd kill for the king?"

"No, he just said he wanted to go to war! And that he'd go as soon as possible!"

"But he didn't say anything about fighting for Britain?"

"No-"

"Okay." Elizabeth waved her hands. "That makes much more sense then."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a patriot, too!" Elizabeth laughed.

"What? Then why is he marrying Annabelle?"

"I don't know, why are you friends with me?"

"Does he love her?"

"They've only just met, I'm sure that'll come in time."

"Well then these aren't fair comparisons, are they?" Felicity retorted.

"I don't even have the full story, really." Elizabeth said. "Something about it being a good match, and Annabelle having to be less particular. But he is a patriot."

"That haughty little snot is a patriot?" Felicity sat down.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, but let the comment pass. "If it means anything, he doesn't really like you either."

For whatever reason, Felicity found herself incredibly offended by this. "Why not? What'd I ever do to him?"

"Oh, nothing." Elizabeth said. "He just wasn't too taken with you at the party. Something about you being aloof. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it."

"Believe me, I won't!" Felicity crossed his arms. "I didn't say anything to him."

"Oh, Felicity. I'm sorry I said anything. You know he doesn't know you."

"No, he doesn't!" Felicity waved her hands. "It doesn't matter. Does Annabelle know?"

"That he wants to go to war?"

Felicity nodded.

Elizabeth laughed a little. "Yes, he's mentioned it a few times. That's part of how I'm so sure of his loyalties. He hasn't ceased talking about them! It's like living with a very independence-minded parrot."

Felicity giggled at this.

"It's driving father crazy. I don't think anyone, Annabelle especially, is taking him seriously, though. He's not even eighteen!"

"Neither are we, to be fair." Felicity said.

"Yes, but you're not looking to run off to war."

"Well Ben is seventeen, yes? I am only sixteen, so perhaps that will happen with my next birthday."

Elizabeth laughed. "I'll be sure to watch out for that."

...

Ben arrived at a very convenient time, as the summer festival was just starting up, only a week after his arrival. For such a dull little town, Lissie thought, there sure would be a lot for him to do. It always was great fun, and Felicity never missed a day of it, even if it was usually the same booths and activities every year.

"Nan, are you ready yet?" Felicity pushed open her sister's door.

"I'm almost!" Nan was fiddling with her corset, trying to pull it tightly enough.

"You don't need to squeeze all the air out of yourself." Felicity sighed, helping her younger sister.

"I wasn't!" Nan insisted.

"Nan, you're barely twelve, you don't need to grow up so quickly."

"I'm not growing up quickly! You wore a corset when you were twelve!"

"Yes, but I didn't use it to suffocate myself." Felicity prodded. "You're growing up so quickly."

"I thought you liked rushing into everything." Nan teased.

"Not everything." Felicity smiled. "But certainly today! Now hurry up! I don't wanna miss anything!"

…

Ben didn't like how it felt when Annabelle held onto the inside of his arm, like he was squeezing him to make sure that he was really there. She wasn't even holding on tightly, so Ben wasn't sure why he kept feeling like she was. But he was living with the Coles now, and he was soon to be a part of their family, allegedly, so he had to suck it up and go to this stupid small-town festival with them.

When they arrived, Ben had to admit that it was bigger than he expected. There were booths, games, a dining tent, and pens of animals. Everyone in town must've been there, for people milled and ran about, with children darting through the crowd.

"We should get some lemonade!" Elizabeth said, pointing towards a table with a large bowl by it.

"Too sour." Annabelle puckered.

"That's why they add sugar. Come on!" Elizabeth insisted.

"Here, I'll go with you!" Ben offered, untangling himself from his fiancee.

"Ben, don't you want to see the fashion show?" Annabelle pouted.

No? ? ? "Maybe later." Ben said politely.

Ben walked off with Elizabeth. She broke the silence by saying. "I'm sure it must be very overwhelming for you to be here all of the sudden, with no one and nothing that you know."

"Yeah, it is." Ben said honestly. "I'm sorry if I'm coming off as rude." It's just that I don't want to be here, at all.

"No, don't worry. You're fine." Elizabeth said kindly. "I remember when I came over from England, everything, even the smallest things, were overwhelming to me. And I had my family!"

"But you were also a child then." Ben said. "I'm nearly eighteen - I should be able to pull it together a bit more. I just can't stop thinking about how I'm going to spend the rest of my life here, and it feels so - I don't know. I'm being stupid. I'm sorry."

"Don't be hard on yourself." Elizabeth said. "Just try to see this less as 'the rest of your life' and more of just another day. Try to enjoy today; have fun at the festival."

"You're right." Ben surveyed around, spotting a booth where half a dozen men were gathered. "I'm going to go check this out."

"Do you want a lemonade?"

"No, I'm good." Ben said, walking towards the booth. "Too sour."

…

The festival was set in the center of town, and so quickly Felicity was sucked into the excitement of it all.

"Bye, mother!" she called, running off.

"Felicity!-"

Felicity didn't catch exactly what her mother yelled at her, but she was sure it was something about being safe, or staying close, or not running off, and Felicity wasn't particularly interested in any of those things so just ran. Besides, she knew where she was going - she had already seen horses as soon as she stepped through the gate.

"Heyyy, honey." she said gently as a horse poked its nose over by her. She stroked it softly, smiling. She loved the horse show - it was the best part of the whole festival.

"Excuse me, miss." a man said, stepping to her left.

"Oh, sorry." Felicity scooched over, watching as he nailed up a sign on the pole nearby her. "What is that?" she asked.

"We're doing something a lil different this year!" he said excitedly. "In about an hour, we're doing a horse race - winner gets a bunch of jams from Mrs. Marmuckle!"

"Oh, God, she makes such good jam."

"It's a heck of a prize, I'll tell ya."

"Where do you sign up?" Felicity asked excitedly.

"Oh, over by that booth." he pointed. "But you don't intend to do so, I hope."

"Oh, I most certainly do."

"You don't have a horse!"

"Not here!"

"In all them skirts?"

"And a corset!" Felicity grabbed all them skirts and ran over to the booth, where Mrs. Marmuckle handed her the sign-up sheet. Felicity scanned the names. There was Alfred Richardson, David Proctor, and - and Ben Davidson. Felicity smiled wickedly. He didn't like her, did he? Well, she was sure he'd especially hate to be beaten by her!

…

Mr. Richardson had brought three horses to the race, claiming that he was such a shoo-in to win that a man could not beat him - even on his own horse! Ben had laughed at this, knowing that it was not the horse, but the rider that mattered. And he had spent enough of his life riding horses, raising horses, taming them. He was sure that this race wouldn't be an issue.

And how grand would it be, winning the contest in front of the whole town! It would certainly make this a fine day, and it might let him meet a few people. Ben didn't want too much - he never liked attention much anyway - but it would be nice to have a bit of excitement, and to have someone besides the Coles.

He liked Mr. and Mrs. Cole, and Elizabeth was perfectly sweet, but he wasn't sure how much of his distaste for Annabelle was because he was stubborn, and how much was them being a poor match.

He knew exactly why his family insisted on this match, but that doesn't mean he had to understand it. He was here, and he was trying to enjoy himself. As Elizabeth had said, this was just one day. And if he was truly going to call this place his home, then he better start learning how to enjoy it.

…

Felicity didn't have much time, so she sprinted home to go saddle Penny up. "Hey, ole girl, are you ready to have an exciting day?" Felicity mounted and trotted Penny back to the festival, around the back way, and got her into the pen.

Walking out of the pen, she passed by Ben.

"Felicity, is that your horse?"

"Yes." Felicity said proudly. "Her name is Penny."

"Are you going to ride in the race?"

"Yes!"

Ben gave a crooked smile. "You know, I won't show you any mercy."

"Oh, Ben." Felicity said, smiling and turning away. "You won't win regardless."

A trumpet blew, signaling the start of the race.

"Well, we better go settle this then." Ben said.

Felicity hopped back into the pen, running towards Penny. Ben laughed in spite of himself and ran to his horse for the day, stroking his nose, in the same way that Felicity did. All the riders, there were ten in total, lined up at the start of a field that dipped down, turned left, and came up to where a finish line flag banner was hung.

"First one to break through wins!" Mrs. Marmuckle said happily. "My husband is waiting at the finish line to spot the winner."

"Oh, it'll be clear." Felicity muttered to herself, smiling and leaning forward. "Isn't that right, Penny girl?"

Penny snorted in agreement.

"Oh your marks, get set, go!"

Felicity clipped the reins and Penny took off with the rest of the horses. Felicity only heard someone yell her name, and she peaked over her shoulder to see her mother, Nan, and William standing there. Her mother hand her hand on her heart, Nan's hands covered her mouth, and William was jumping and cheering.

Felicity knew she especially had to win now, in order to make the lecture on 'riding like a lady' that she was sure to get as soon as she dismounted. She had a lot to prove here, but she still loved it. There was nothing like riding like the wind, and the fun of overtaking each of these people one by one.

"Steady Penny, steady!"

They had fallen into line now, conserving energy for the final uphill push. There were six horses behind her, and three (Ben included) in front of her. Felicity braced herself; the curve looked sharper up close than it did from the top of the valley. She leaned forward, but was so focused on the curve to see a small pothole in the road. Penny jerked down suddenly, keeping her own balance, but shaking Felicity's.

But Felicity trusted Penny, and trusted herself. She gripped Penny's mane with one hand, and used the other hand to maneuver the reins in a way that made Felicity lean left, giving her a shot to get back up straight. Felicity righted herself and squeezed her thighs tighter to stay stable, leaning forward to cut down on resistance. They bounded up towards the hill, passing David...and passing Ben!

Only Alfred was left, and Felicity focused all her attention on winning. She stayed close to Penny and whispered encouragement, smiling as they bounded up the hill, past Alfred, and tore down the banner.

"We have a winner!" Felicity heard, and turned Penny around to watch as the rest of the riders came up the hill and finished the race. Everyone came in panting and hot - both horse and rider - but congratulated Felicity heartily.

"That was some good riding!"

"Thought we almost lost you at the bend there."

"I've never seen a girl ride like that."

"Well, now you have!" Felicity exclaimed proudly.

Everyone began to dismount and relax for one second before they'd begin their trip back.

Felicity hopped off Penny and stood proudly, dirt streaked across her face from where she had rubbed sweat off it, smirking up at Ben. She was ready for his snide remark, his dismissive scoff, his uppity way of covering up how mad he was that she had beaten him so thoroughly.

"You're a fantastic rider." he said to her, his voice genuine. "Would you like to go out riding sometime? I'd love to learn how to take a turn like you can."

...

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