A/N: You know the drill…don't own anything from The Patriot. I just own the stuff form my mind.

AND IN THE MORNING

As the sun rose over the hills of Kentucky, a fine mist hung low about the quiet plantation, Shadowgate. And in the upper most window of this plantation, stood a man staring out at the men milling around below.

"William?"

He turned slightly and glanced at the woman behind him.

"Yes, my lady?"

"You rise much too early, William."

He laughed bitterly.

"Of course I do, Catherine."

Without another word, she crossed the room, wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him tightly to her. For a brief instant, his entire body stiffened as if an unseen force had grasped him with it's icy fingers, but then he relaxed into her embrace. She was, after all, only a woman. But a woman with whom he found safety, respect and...

...love.

"When do you leave?" she asked suddenly.

He entwined his fingers with hers, squeezed them lightly, and grinned.

"WE leave day after tomorrow, my dear."

Catherine withdrew her arms from around him. She moved to stand beside him, a look of confusion on her face.

"We? I assume, you mean yourself and the Green Dragoons?"

He shook his head.

"No, I mean WE, Catherine. Myself, my men and YOU."

She stared at him blankly.

"I? Why would I leave with you, Colonel Tavington?"

"Am I Colonel Tavington to you again?"

Catherine smiled coolly at him.

"Only when you issue commands, and the way you said this, it was a command."

Tavington laughed softly.

"Perhaps it was, though I didn't mean it to be one. I sometimes forget, that you are not one of my men."

Catherine turned away and walked to the foot of the bed. She stood there staring down at it, reliving what had taken place in that bed, then turned to look at him.

"Why are we to leave with you?" she asked.

Tavington turned away from the window slowly.

"We? What do you mean?"

She studied him silently.

She suspected there was much more to this, then he had told her so far. And for some reason, part of her was not happy about it, yet the part of her...the part of her that adored him, loved him, needed him...was overjoyed by what he hadn't said.

"I mean, Colonel, why are we, myself and my sister, leaving with you?"

He stared at her with an expression on his handsome face, she had seen many times before. It was one of utmost glee.

"Ah yes, it would seem that your father, the Lord General, wishes to have his daughters with him in South Carolina."

"Oh? Is there more to this order from my father?"

He nodded.

"Yes, but I am not at liberty to say. He has given his orders, therefore I will carry them out."

As he said this, she noticed the bitterness in his voice.

"You do not normally escort women, do you Colonel."

She shuddered at the bitterness in her own voice.

"No, I don't."

"And you certainly have no wish to do so now, am I correct?"

He stared at her.

"I have my orders, Lady Catherine."

So formal. So cold now.

She turned once more and looked down at the bed. Again, reliving what they had done there. And yet...this coldness he now had towards her.

Why?

Catherine turned back to him.

She brought herself to ridged attention, and stood before him as she were merely one of his legion, her head held high.

"You have been given your orders from my father, and now..." she stared at him with a coldness she did not feel, "I have been given mine."

Tavington's face was now devoid of all expression. He simply watched her.

What was happening here?

It was all wrong.

"And who has given you orders, Catherine?"

When he said her name...she felt her cold demeanor cracking...she pushed it aside, and glared at him.

"You, Colonel Tavington."

And with that, she turned away and left the room.

He watched her leave. What had just happened? When had they, again, become the Colonel and the daughter of the Lord General?

When?

He turned back to the window. He could see his men going about their usual tasks, their routines...

By his order, of course.

Is that what he had reduced her to?

Merely one of his legion that he ordered around? Someone beneath him to do what he commanded?

He shook his head.

Of course he had.

But he loved her!

Damn love!

He couldn't think of this now...

He had a legion to command. They would march to South Carolina soon...his orders were very clear...

And once again, the nightmare reared it's ugly head.

He shuddered.

He knew.

He felt it in his entire being.

He knew.

Would not given into the orders he was given. And if he did? He would carry them out in his own way, and be damned the consequences.

The Lorde General would damn him for it...

But, as he turned from the window and made his way to the door..

He stopped, looked down at the bed and...

And, crushed the warm emotion that welled up inside him.

Damned.

He shuddered again.

"The rebels have started to uprise in South Carolina. You, Colonel Tavington, will put a stop to it."

Damned.

He shuddered once more, looked longingly at the bed, crushed that emotion, and left the room.

He would not be damned by a woman.

He knew.

He already was.

And he would not be damned by the Lord General.

But for Colonel William Tavington.

He already was.

A/N: Want to know what happens in the next chapter? R and R and you'll find out!