Three weeks later more, and Connor's return to the homestead was finally alight. He returned by nightfall.

"Ellie?" Connor went down to the basement area, looking below to see if Ellie was still there. He spotted her at the cot, sleeping in. "Ellie...!" Connor jogged over to her cot-side. He knelt down at the cot-side, and put a hand over her forehead. The first thing he saw was the square cloth on Ellie's cheek, that was covering a bruise that was finally lowering from swelling.

The softly placed hand on her forehead stirred Ellie awake, opening eyes to see Connor.

"Shit, you fucking scared me." Connor breathed out in relief to see Ellie awakening.

Ellie looked up at Connor and made a smile. "Hey." She greeted tiredly.

"I got the letter from Achilles, while I was gone." He brushed her loose bangs. "Are you okay?"

Ellie nodded her head, with a small "m-hm" to confirm it. "Just a little winded." Ellie admitted, as she started to try pulling herself up to a sitting position on the cot. Connor was about to stop her, but, Ellie assured him that she was fine to move. "I think it's starting to get better." Ellie rubbed her stomach uncomfortably, before exhaling heavily. "I feel like shit, though."

"Let me see." Connor gestured to Ellie's hands, moving them aside to lift up her dress shirt slightly. Enough to see the giant, closed gash over her stomach, that was stitched thickly with black sewing strings. "... Oh." Connor looked down at her stitched gash, in utmost disbelief. He put a hand over his eyes, rubbing them in frustration. "Charles Lee tried killing you, and I was not here to watch over you." He was blaming himself. Something Ellie knew he would do.

Ellie then started to pull herself out of bed, kicking her legs off the edge.

"You should not-" Connor tried stopping Ellie.

"Pssh." Ellie scoffed at him, which made Connor surprised. He honestly did not think Ellie still had enough strength in her to stand, but, she did it. Pulling herself off the cot and standing on her two feet, Ellie put her hand over her stomach, clutching her teeth together tightly, when she felt pinches of pain at the closed gash line. "I'm fine." She assured Connor, when she saw him give worry-wart eyes.

She walked normally, but still held her stomach.

"Did you speak to Achilles yet?" Ellie asked Connor.

"No." Connor shook his head. "He's asleep."

"Then, how was Monmouth?" Ellie asked him instead, looking up at Connor. "Everything okay?"

Connor shifted his eyes down to the floor, shaking his head in disappoint. "Charles Lee has been dismissed." He tells Ellie, and her face falls to disbelief. "Washington will not heed my warning of Lee betraying him, and is not going to do anything about it."

"Fuck." Ellie swore in frustration. "Is he fucking dumb or something? Charles Lee is going to have his ass, the next time they meet!"

"I tried wording that out to him, but, he does not understand." Connor made a glare, to the thought of Charles Lee still running amongst the land freely. "Son of a bitch."

Ellie scoffed to herself. "When I get back out there, I'm going to find that bug-eyed freakshow Charles, and stick a fucking knife in his stomach." She inhaled deeply through her nostrils, as she tried standing straight. "Fucking guys that tried to kill me..." And then, the question came to mind. "Hey. Were you here, about three weeks back?" She asked Connor curiously.

Connor made a bewildered look, shaking his head. "No. I was still in Monmouth at the time." He answered.

"Ah." Ellie raised her eyebrows to herself, nodding her head slightly.

Three weeks ago, when morning dawned, the two assailants that tried murdering Ellie before, were found dead, right at the basement floor of where Ellie was. Their throats were slashed, and left facedown on the floorboard. At first, Ellie had thought it was Connor that had did that, because he was visiting at the right time. But, now that Connor confirmed that he wasn't at the homestead at that time, every fell into place.

Haytham.

[I Love You]

"How old are you again?"

"... Fourteen."

The French captain was ready to scoff. "You? Fourteen years of age? From how the people of Boston and New York say that you've been at Connor's side since '73?" He took a good look at Ellie's face, into her big, vibrant green eyes. "You do look as if you've remained fourteen, though. Have you some sort of human-defect on aging, of some sort?" He asked curiously. "I mean," He shrugged his arms. "Since '73, to the year of '81, and you have not changed one bit."

Ellie became nervous, unsure of what to really say, to explain her non-aging process over the past eight years she's been next to Connor's side, during the entire war. She knew it was because of the Animus that moved time fast, and because her current state of age in body, in realism, was still fourteen. Even she found herself completely odd that she hadn't aged since the timeline next to Connor's side.

What was amazing to see was Connor and Achilles age right before her. She saw the new facial wrinkles age on their faces, and how their heights have changed, and how dark their eyes have become from the depression of war weighing on their shoulders. Connor's eyes, when she first saw him, were bright and glowing brown. But, now, they were an abundant color of darkness, that looked as if they were just abyss of black, with no sign of life.

But, if there was something she could read in Connor's eyes, were the lit ashes of desperation for nostalgia. And, the fact that he still held something deep.

"Maybe a defect?" She couldn't help but chuckle, evading the question quietly. "Maybe something else..."

"Ellie." The voice of Connor approached her from behind. "Are you fine?" He asked, while handing her a small pirate coat. Connor was back in his captain's uniform.

"Yeah. Nothing wrong." Ellie took the coat from his hand and slipped it on. "Ready to start departure?" She asked, with a tender smile on her face.

He saw this, and also smiled back. "Yes. We depart soon."

"I cannot believe this." The French captain of the ship was disappointed, as he looked out at the Aquila, that was parked next to his vessel. "Lafayette promised me a fleet far beyond compare, and a captain with no fear. Instead, I am greeted by one whole ship, and," He looked over Connor and Ellie, "kids in costume."

"Kids?" Ellie was insulted. "Hey, man, what the-" Ellie was about to retort with an insult, but, Connor quickly stopped her with arm out in front of her.

"I promise that we are all you need, Admiral." Connor reassured the Frenchman.

But, the captain couldn't help but scoffed once more. "I doubt this very much. But, beggars cannot choose, hm?"

"And, the ships I required?" Connor asked.

"They are yours... provided we survive through this." The Frenchman still sounded highly doubtful of Connor.

"What would you have me do?"

"Hold the bay, while I engage the main fleet. Should any British ships dare approach, destroy them!" He firmly ordered. "We must keep them from Yorktown."

Connor nodded, understanding the order, and walked off, with Ellie following behind.

She threw the Frenchman a glare, before departing down the ship steps to venture forth to the Aquila.

On the deck on the Aquila, while pirates were maintaining the sails and cargo, Ellie strolled up to the bird's nest beam and looked straight up to where the nest was. Since her first step onto the ship, Ellie had never been given a chance to climb up to the nest. Something that she wanted to do for a while now. She knocked on the thick wood three times, before nodding her head to herself.

"Good ship." She said to herself, patting the beam. She exhaled heavily to herself, through her nostrils. For an odd reason, Ellie had a gut feeling of something that told her a bad cess was written across their task. Something of their mission to find and confront Charles felt off. As much as she did want Charles dead for almost killing her, Ellie felt that something was awfully wrong.

While in thought, Connor startled her with a rough pat on her shoulder. She looked up to him at her side, seeing that he was smiling down at her.

"You have not been on the bird's nest, yes?" He asked Ellie.

Her eyes lit up. "Can I go to the nest?!" She excitedly asked.

Connor gave her a nod.

The two climbed up the ropes that led up to the bird's nest. To the top of the nest, Ellie and Connor stood at the landing, to look out at the sunset of the horizon. The sky was covered in smoke, from a recent naval battle that occurred on the sea, not too long ago. The smoke clouded the sky with black fog, and the sun looked as if it were clouded down into a darkened orange, than it usually was. The rays of the dark sun beamed crimson into the partial of the setting sky.

"Looks like hell." Ellie couldn't help but say, looking out at the crimson sky.

"Yes." Connor step to Ellie's side. "Something that means death approaches."

Ellie snorted softly to herself. "I guess my intuitions were right, then..." She lightly shrugged her shoulders. "I had a bad feeling of something." She then looked up to Connor and asked, "Think someone's going to die tonight?"

Connor frowned to that. "It has to be Charles Lee that must be silenced, forever." He petted the back of Ellie's head as assurance. She didn't mind. "But, if it comes down to us, then..." Suddenly, Connor knelt down to Ellie's height, and put both his hands on her shoulders to turn her attention to him. "Ellie. I love you."

Ellie's eyes grew wide, like saucers. Her heart almost dropped to the sound of those words leaving Connor's lips. She almost felt her body become paralyzed in pure shock.

She nervously shifted her eyes to anything else beside her, other than Connor. "... In what way?" She asked, in a quieted tone of voice.

Connor made a small scoff, and smile. "Not that way." He patted her shoulder roughly, as assurance. "I love you like a best friend, in this damned apocalypse. Since the last eight years with you at my side, I feel as if you have become... someone awfully important to me." He cupped his hand onto the side of Ellie's face. "I know I promised, eight years ago, to only watch over you for a short time, but... You have grown as a root onto me, as family."

Ellie's heart lifted to the truth of Connor's feelings. She put her small hands over his forearm that was extended out to her face.

"When you first appeared in my life, I knew you were something special." His smile was something softer and more realistic to Ellie's eyes. Something he never does. "When you first went into battle with me, at Concord, I knew you were more than just a little girl." He brushed her bangs aside with his thumb. "What kind of kid knows how to wield a gun and blade? Not many, as to my knowledge."

And for once in Ellie's life, she made a wide smile on her face. Family. The word in her head reminded her of how much loved ones she lost in the past, and how many wanted to leave her side. But, Connor was wanting nothing more, than to stick around her side, for as long as he could. She breathed in heavily, when she felt her heart-strings pull at her beatings hard when Connor gave her an embrace in his arm, holding onto her in his grasp as hard and warmly as he could.

Feeling coddled felt like an understatement. She felt reformed in the knowledge of knowing that she was needed.

Ellie embraced him back, with her small arms snaked around his back, as she pressed her nose and lips against his coat-covered shoulder. Her eyes closed for a moment as she embraced him tightly, and as she felt his hug tighten around her slim body as well.

Even in that blood-riddled sky full of hell, there was still a warm, sunny spot of some hope. A sunny spot, just like in Spring.

Family. The word reeled in her head like a broken record.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand where all of this is coming from. I thought that we were fine. Your head is running wild again. My dear, we still have everything. It's all in your mind. You've been having real bad dreams. You use to lie so close to me. There's nothing more, than emptied sheets, between our love. Our love." (- Pink ft. Nate Ruess' "Just Give Me A Reason").

No. NO PEDO. Just great friendship between two blundering brutes that had gone through shit together. Besides, Ellie remains fourteen. Connor is still twenty-five, or twenty-six years, of age. Does the age difference make any sense to you? NOT ME.

More to come, in the next chapter! Peace, dawggie-dawg. :)