A/N: I wasn't planning on continuing this but thanks to DiamondSkin I've been inspired to write more

A/N: I wasn't planning on continuing this but thanks to DiamondSkin I've been inspired to write more. Please review and let me know what you think!

Chapter Two.

Even in wartime the security in this country wasn't up to scratch. We'd jumped off the train before it reached the next stop and read in the paper's the next day that it had been searched. It was thrilling. We'd train hopped and scabbed lifts during the nights and even made it across the Mason-Dixon Line. Anton hadn't kissed me since that night on the train but I wasn't worried.

We'd met some really lovely people along the way and they'd helped us out a lot. I did most of the talking so they didn't usually realise Anton was German but occasionally we found someone who didn't care and helped us out, giving us bread or somewhere to sleep. One night we were staying in a warm barn belonging to an old man and his wife who realised Anton was a German immediately. I'll never know how, but they protested that they were too old to care and said we could stay as long as we liked.

"Anton," I said, breaking the silence as we lay in the warm straw. "You know how on the train that night you kissed me and said you loved me? Did you really mean it?"

Anton didn't answer at first but eventually raised his head to look at me. His eyes had a curious expression in them, almost as though they were burning with some unknown emotion. "Patty, I meant it when I said I love you. It just might not be in the way you think."

"Oh."

"There are different types of love, and it was a mistake for me to tell you that without explaining it first. I don't love you how a boy loves a girl, or how a man loves his wife. I don't love you as a family member or a friend. I love you how a man loves a girl when he knows he can't yet."

"What do you mean?" I was confused. This was making no sense to me at all.

"You are only a child. A young girl. True, you are much more intelligent and mature than other girls your age but the fact still remains. One day I will love you as a man loves a woman, but not yet."

"So you'll never kiss me again?" I asked, panicking, as I sat up. Anton drew his eyes away.

"Not now, P.B. Not until you are older."

"How old?" I demanded. "Fourteen? That's two whole years away! Oh please Anton, don't make me wait until I'm a grown up. It's not fair!"

"No Patty," he said sadly. "It's not fair. But I will not give you an age. I will wait until I can see it in you that you are old enough for a kiss. But please, do try to understand what I mean when I say that you are not ready."

I turned away and sulked. This was not how it was meant to be. Secretly I'd been hoping that after the war was over we could go back to his hometown and meet his family, and perhaps even get married. Maybe I'd misread all the signs and he'd never even loved me! Perhaps I'd just made him feel awkward and he only said it so as not to hurt my feelings? No, I couldn't think like that. I must do what he says and try to understand.

"I will," I whispered, concentrating on mangling a piece of straw. I felt Anton glance up and knew his eyes were boring into me.

"You will what?" he asked softly, although I think he already knew.

"I will try. I'll try to understand everything you say, because you are my teacher and my best friend. I'll always try Anton, I promise."

"No matter how hard things get?"

"No matter how hard."

At last I brought my eyes up to meet Anton's and I saw him smiling. It was a sad smile, which confused me, but it was also full of pride and I grinned back at him. That was our last night in that barn because the next day we felt it was time to move on again, to lessen the risk of being caught. We thanked the old couple the next morning and they supplied us with bread and cheese. We didn't tell them where we were going because secretly we didn't even know. We'd figure it out as we went along.

TBC

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