Chapter 14:

Hot tea pouring into a glass teacup wakes Lillian up from her moments sleep, sitting up in the chair across from her mother, and her father on the end of the table. She blinks having caught a ray of sunlight in her eye and the shiny fabric of her satin organza dress. It felt like she was going to a ball, but in reality, no.

She is dressing the part as the Commanding General's daughter, an upper class lady, and a lady of the Patriot cause. Since she is no longer at home, which is located in the middle of nowhere, every day nowadays is considered a ball or event.

"Glad I woke you up," Maria says with a sweet smile.

"Thank you Maria," Lillian returns the smile, feeling the steam hit her face as she goes to pick up the teacup and take a sip in attempts to get rid of the chills on her arm from the draft coming up through the wooden floorboards.

"Will you be tending to the sick today?" Her mother asks with a polite yawn, covering her mouth, before lifting a fork to eat some eggs.

She felt her father's eyes peer over at her pointedly over the book he was reading. He had breakfast pushed to the side in front of him and instead a few reports in a stack waiting to be read.

"No I can't because Derik, my appointed guardian," Lilly looks at her father who nods his head. "Is out with the soldiers today, helping them with their horses. Without a guardian I can't go anywhere today, but it's not all bad. We can have a nice family day all together."

"Your brother and his wife aren't here," George says quietly with his breathy tone.

"A day all together we'll have then," Lillian smiles before taking another sip of tea, the eggs leaving dryness in her throat from the salt on them.

"But we're not all together," Martha comments.

"A day, together," Lilly says instead, losing her smile.

"Only this morning though, I'm afraid to say. I'll be in my office or outside directing an army," George says folding his book shut and begins sifting through reports.

"Then together is what we'll be, for now," Lilly sighs, leaving the frustration out of it because her once long statement turned to really only one word. "Let's enjoy our morning, together, while we can."

Martha shakes her head looking at her daughter, "And you'll just sit in here the rest of the day while men are out there freezing and dying form illness."

"They aren't freezing, Martha," George utters.

"Oh? Have you been outside lately? No, because you have your nose stuck in a book and papers in the warmth of a house. Your men are freezing, especially the ones who haven't been inside in months. They should take turns," Martha rebukes, making her case clear much to Lillian's amusement.

"I get my fair share alright. I'll be out there until nightfall starting at noon," George ends the small dispute.

"A shame you don't have anyone else to be a guardian whilst you went to do your job," Martha asks her daughter, taking the whole teapot from Maria's hands and pouring her cup up to the brim with it. "Get me some more sugar, please."

"They'll be alright, only influenza symptoms as I told you the other night, and bad hygiene," Lillian mumbles an apology when her mother grimaced at that assertion. "Except for one patient."

The room fell more silent than it was before, and it lasted several moments.

"Abbot is sentenced anyway. I spoke with him and he accepted those terms rather well," George breaks the silent with this admission making Lillian blink back tears. "He understood what he had done was wrong and unnecessary."

"That wasn't so wise, father. I was going to not tell him the whole truth because sometimes it's better to not know than to know," Lilly picks up her lap-napkin and tosses it on the table through with breakfast.

"I'm sorry," her father sat the papers down and rubbed his eyes for a split second. "But you know good and well the rules of war, and I must abide to them."

"And you should, but don't get those rules mixed up with mine. Rules of life, health, and death," Lillian says feeling her nurse talk spill out of her and her composure fall making her father bite his lip and blink away his discomposure.

"I follow those as well-" he gets cuts off.

"General," a guardsman walks into the room with his rifle propped on his shoulder, and gave a book to him swiftly before walking out the room and returning back to his post outside the front door.

"Ah, your homework," George slides over the book Lillian recognized Mr. Sackett gave to Benjamin to 'commit to memory.' "Major Tallmadge left a note for you."

"He committed this to memory rather quickly," Lillian said with wide eyes flipping through the book with only ten or so pages. Names and numbers were in tiny font front to back on every square inch: Gen. George Washington…. 711

"George," Martha tries to get her husband's attention, until he finally hums back. "Why don't this 'Tallmadge' man be her guardian for the day?"

Lillian rolled her eyes before slanting them at her mother who is smiling suspiciously.

"Excellent question," George looked up from the papers returning the smile before standing from the table with papers and book in hand, leaving the room.

Martha shakes her head at Lillian from across the table.

"Well, he answered your question. Just not what you were expecting," Lilly says closing the book and setting it in her lap, hands on the ends of it as if securing it with her life.

"I'm sorry you can't leave the house, and go see to all of them. Your father is stressed, worried, and anxious-"

"I know he never meant any harm with his words, never," Lillian says. "There's always tomorrow. If the men survived this far without me here they'll be fine another day."

The silence that followed was calming, Maria picked up the plates and teacups to go wash, and the two Washington women sat there until Lilly made to stand up.

"I'll go do my homework then," She says.

"That's my girl."

When Lillian made it to her room, and shut the door behind her, she quickly folded open the note that was sticking out in between the middle of the book, and began to read:

Miss Lillian Washington,

In here you will find all of the codes which will be used in our spycraft- this includes any further communications we will have with each other, excluding letters which have no intelligence report, of course. You are not on this list of contacts due to relative safety for your overall person and identity. This was completed under orders of your father as well as you not being on the list, which was a wise decision to make. This was done in case our list of codes were discovered, and you wouldn't be risked death or tried for treason. You are a private contact and as a whole, you are to be kept the most secret about out of us all. I wish you the best in committing many of these key words to memory, but I recommend, what I have done, is transcribe it separately and keep hidden should the need to use it comes up.

-Major Benjamin Tallmadge

She smiles to herself at his well explained letter, and understanding the fact she wasn't included in the list. Her chest seemed to de-constrict at the thought of being kept safer than she thought she'd be. She still felt an overwhelming since of security.

And with this good feeling, she found an extra journal in her nurse case used for taking notes on patients, and began transcribing.

"Lillian, a Mr. Brewster is here to see you," Maria walks into the room with her blue head wrap glowing in the dark candlelit room of her friend, who is sitting at her small desk copying words from a book into another worn journal.

Lillian looks up from her work, still in her day clothes, and gasps at the dark window, "It's night! What does he want?"

"That he didn't say but he assured me it is all in good will and wishes to apologize to you."

Apologize? Didn't he already—oh.

"I'm coming," she says scribbling the last five people and code words down and their matching numbers before taking the original book with her and following Maria out the room and down the stairs to Caleb in his wide brimmed hat leaning against the wall regularly, as if he's been here a dozen times all day. A very easy-going and laid-back man is what he is, and Lilly found she liked that about him; almost an attractive quality for a man to have to feel inclined to be comfortable anywhere. He has a warm welcoming presence despite his rough outlook and gruff scraggly black beard.

The beard, she was afraid to say, ruined it for her, but it didn't change the fact it looked well on him. She prefers her men clean-shaven.

"Miss Washington, lovely seeing you," Caleb smiles cheekily with his thick northern accent, and stands up from the wall and approaches her as she steps off the last step. "Sorry for being late, but I need this for Ben to finish transcribing."

Caleb paused looking over Lillian's shoulder. She blinked twice before turning around as well to see Maria, who was standing at the foot of the staircase in earshot.

"You're excused Maria," Lillian nods in gesture 'it's alright,' and Maria smiles before leaving the room altogether.

"What did he have to transcribe? I just finished mine it was a mess to read in this tiny script," she tells the bearded man still quietly for the secrecy of the matter and she was tired.

"He needs some words out of it he didn't get to finish writing. He's writing another book for our Samuel Culpeper to keep on his person, and that book is about to be finished tonight so I can leave at midnight and travel across the sound to Setauket to greet him kindly tomorrow morning," Caleb finished with a smirk, taking the book Lillian gave to him during the conversation.

"Wait. Setauket?" Lillian's senses perk up. "Setauket, Long Island?"

"Yeah, the one and only. The place where the black petticoat hangs and our two spies operate."

Lillian exhales a breath in amazement, "Unbelievable, why didn't we discuss this."

"Discuss what?" Caleb's tone drops to a serious level, which would've scared Lillian to no end if she never met him before.

"My contact is stationed there, my British contact," she says making the man let out a low whistle. "We have three spies there!"

"Do you have any more important secrets I need to know?" he asks with a sarcastic smile. "Because that is information I never knew, and if I don't know it Benny-boy doesn't know it. If he doesn't know it then we are all screwed. This is why I don't agree with women helping in man's work."

Lillian crosses her arms in front of her with a raised brow, "Is this what it is to you? Man's work? No, this is America's work. If we want to win our rightful freedom all of us should collaborate."

"And you are right, Princess," Caleb continues a sarcastic smile. "But its dangerous work, I've already risked my hide more than five times! The courier job isn't all easy as you think it is. Since it's dangerous you could've made it more dangerous if you didn't just tell me of your Redcoat friend, and he's in my hometown operating under our noses!"

"You don't think I know that it's dangerous? I've been told only eight-thousand times by just my father. I was never given the chance to explain my contact's details more, Sackett always blew it off or interrupted me, and as for Ben it never came up when we talked—I can't just throw in there 'oh my contact is in Setauket by the way, where our two spies are! And I don't know which side he is truly on.' In fact you both never told me you had two spies in the same location either! Isn't that important for me and my chain's safety!?"

He nods his head, losing his smirk. "So then we're both wrong, I accept that. But I don't accept half-ass said information. Start saying what's on your mind more and keep everything that's prancing around in there in the front of your mind—" Caleb's angered face dropped to one of apology and regret. "Miss—shit. Miss Washington I'm sorry-"

"No it's fine you have every right to be."

"No I don't. I'm sorry. This isn't a good start to becoming friends," he says placing his hand on her shoulder in attempts to being reassuring. He was apologizing, but she felt awkward feeling his hand on her shoulder or upper arm.

Her surprised glance at his hand there made him drop it quickly as if it was never there.

"Sorry about that too. I'll speak up to you more- more than I just did- now I know I'm allowed to speak this much to you and in such manner without being slapped."

She held back a little laugh that tried to escape as the corners of her mouth twitched a little, "Not yet anyways."

"Oh you do have a sense of humor!" He exclaimed with a toothy grin.

"Well, you'd be the first to say that. Look, I'll be sure to speak up much sooner next time, and just to add, personally, I don't like too much cursing…"

"I'll remember that," he smiles kindly and apologetically.

She nods her head sweetly, as they stand in a moment of silence, before she asks remembering him saying, "You want to be friends with me?"

"We're in this together aren't we? Being strangers or acquaintances won't make things easier. And since this whole ring requires trust, being friends will allow true trust."

She smiles, "It does require trust. So far I haven't doubted any of you for a second which is rather good for me."

"I know," He nods his head. "I was told trust is hard to come by for you. It is for me too. Everyone nowadays, everyone is betraying each other."

"Not everyone," she exclaims with such an honest face making Caleb close his mouth at what he was about to say.

"Sorry your British friend betrayed you," Caleb said putting the book in his coat pocket before taking out another journal to hand to her.

"He didn't… I don't know what he did to me, alright? All I know is he is still writing me and helping us. One day I'll get to the bottom of it," she says taking the book from him with an interested face. "He'll always be my friend though," she added under her breath.

"Maybe I will get to the bottom of it tomorrow morning if I come across him. I'll rough him up a little-"

"Don't rough him up! In fact no, don't find him at all, don't ask anyone for him. Just get in there and get out we'll have more than one occasion to meet him again," she says with a huff opening the book. "What is this?"

"We'll? Miss there is no way I'm smuggling you in to that British occupied town one day," he states gravely with a troubled face.

"Who says you will? Who says I'll be smuggled in? I have my own plans for that—I don't know the whole plan yet but I will let you and everyone else know when I decide, he is a part of my chain—actually our whole chain, now. We're combined. Now answer my last question, what is this?"

Accepting her argument, for now, he answered her question, "That is a personal Bible Benny-boy made for you, guessed which words you'd use most and put them in code. He added some Latin in the back in case you prefer it, for old times' sake." Caleb grinned lopsidedly and winked making Lillian feel a blush creep on the back of her neck. Good thing it was dark outside and only candles were inside, he couldn't see her blush.

"I only know Latin medical terminology, and some regular common phrases and words. How thoughtful though, I give him my thanks."

"I'll let him know!" He begins to step back toward the door, but halts before asking, "What is your British boy's name by the way? We should know, especially since we're all in this together."

"Albert Baker," she answers gently and quietly, looking around making sure no one was inside. Her father and his guardsmen were outside for some important reason; probably in a tent with the other officers in a meeting.

"Albert-Baker-Culpeper. I can remember that," he jokes making her giggle at the rhyme he tried coming up with on his way out the door.

"Stay safe, Mr. Brewster," Lillian calls after him concernedly, feeling the intensity of his mission hit her fully.

"Always," he smiles holding his head in the door. "Have a good night now Lil' Washington."

She blinked at his endearment before breaking out into a smile and hushed laughter. How bold of him. After he shut the door, Lillian felt the nerves prick her skin and worry gnaw at her stomach, or was it her corset she's been in since dawn?

"Maria! Come help me out of this," she called as she went up the stairs with the new book tucked under her arm, anxious to read what words Benjamin thought she'd use most. But her eyelids are drooping, knowing she'll have to wait until morning to read it.

"Hey Woody," Caleb casually said as he rocked back and forth in the quite comfortable rocking chair, trying his damnest not to laugh at the reaction that Abe displayed upon waking up and seeing him. "You got any breakfast here?"

"You bastard!" Abe hissed after half rolling and jumping out of bed like a cat splashed with hot water, throwing a brush at him, to which he tried to dodge but only managed to cover his face from the attack. "You bastard! What are you doing here?! This is my home!"

"Aye," he agreed, looking around, admiring all the quaint and simple looks that decorated the ceiling and walls. "And a fine little home it is, albeit a bit lonely."

"You are aware," Abe continued to angrily whisper, "that the soldier quartered here will be back soon!"

Caleb made a noise of agreement before saying, "Better eat quick then." He got up and with a smile, left the room, making his way down the stairs to the first floor. Despite the hilarity of just how badly Abe had reacted, it was the fact that it had been a little too easy to infiltrate Abe's house and sit so close to him without Abe knowing it instantly.

Despite the protection that he was about to give Abe with the object in his coat's pocket, he was still worried. Ever since Lillian informed him of her British contact, Albert Baker, being stationed in this small hometown of his, he felt worry crawl inside of him like bugs in a dead lobster back carcass… Or just a regular lobster carcass. Of course he told Ben, before he left last night. He had heard Ben quietly confer with the elder Sackett last night on how best to ensure that the men around the camp were more alert to whoever traveled through, and if there were any Britain's around, lone riders, to not shoot at them in case it is this Baker.

Clearly Gen. Washington and his daughter trust him in some aspect, different albeit.

Caleb knew that Ben wanted to ensure that Abe was protected, and with what Lillian had said to not ask about Baker or to find him, it was quite a good thing that the courier duties had fallen to him. He'll follow orders through and through, until something isn't right in his eyes.

Too much protective measures would stifle Abe's ability to spy and the fact there was a silent worker in his area wearing a redcoat and probably killing someone this moment, Abe can't risk knowing this. Baker gets his information, and Abe gets his in New York—they operate separately. And who knows, Baker may not be all he appears to be. He could be a double-agent, which was what Sackett expressed his concerns about which lead their small meet to a close until morning where Lillian, Sackett, and Ben will discuss further.

Still...to have gotten this close to Abe while he was sleeping...

Spotting a piece of biscuit that didn't look as dry or hard as the rations they had at camp, he sat himself at the dining table and picked it up. Biting into it, he savored the day-old stale taste, letting it melt in his mouth before chewing and swallowing it. It felt like ages since he had eaten anything so fresh.

"Fine silver," he said, as a very beautiful spoon with an intricately designed handle caught his eye, just as he heard the clatter of footsteps on the stairs descend. He picked the piece up, admiring it as he chewed on the biscuit. Knowing that Abe was probably short on silver, he suggested, "I could fetch a good price across the sound if you'd like."

Abe immediately snatched the spoon out of his hand and slammed it into the case that it had been in before closing said case. "We're supposed to meet at the cove!"

"You're supposed to hang a petticoat," he pointed out, popping another piece of the biscuit into his mouth.

"When I'm ready with the intelligence! That was the plan!"

"When you're ready?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as he leaned back in the dining table's chair. "It's been two months since you passed a message about sauerkrauts."

Exasperated and annoyed, he saw Abe fling out his arms as he said, "I've been having trouble getting into the city without raising suspicions, all right? It's not as easy for me as you think."

As Abe peered out of the window, Caleb mentally sighed. "No one thinks it's easy, but this is more than just about you." He tossed the last of the biscuit into his mouth as Abe turned back around and reached into his coat's pockets to pull out the secret notebook he had been tasked to carry and defend with his life. Dropping it on the other side of the table, he watched as Abe walked over and picked it up.

"What's this?" Abe asked.

"That, is your new Bible," he answered, watching his friend open the notebook up. "It's a code dictionary to ensure that anything that you write cannot be read by the enemy, in case of intercept. Each word has its own number. Ben chose the words that we thought you'd use most." Getting up, he strode over to where Abe was and pointing to the numbers that were on the current page, saying, "Now look, 722, that's you. 721, that's Benny-boy. 725, yours truly."

"Wait, hang on a second," Abe said, "722, that says 'Samuel Culper'."

"Culpeper," he clarified, careful to keep the surprise from his face. During the initial interview that Washington had conducted, the younger Sackett had mentioned 'Culper Spy Ring' in association to what was happening now – the formation of a chain of agents. While nothing had been said of the pronunciation of 'Culper' versus what Washington had designated as Abe's alias surname, 'Culpeper', Caleb had a feeling that what Abe had stated just now was not entirely coincidence.

"That's your alias, alright?" he continued, pushing aside the thought, knowing that his friend's confusion needed to be assuaged. "It's the only name we use for you back at headquarters. Woodhull does not exist."

"Culpeper," Abe tested out after a few moments of silence. The variations that followed eventually rolled into the beginnings of a familiar children's rhyme. "I hate it."

"Well, Washington picked that one, and Ben picked Samuel, on the account of his brother."

His statement had the desired effect as Abe stuttered for a moment, "W-Washington? Ge-General Washington?"

"That's right," he nodded, "old 711 himself. In speaking of Washington, Washington's daughter, Lillian Washington herself, is involved with her own chain."

Abe's eyes widened, "Wait, he has children?"

"Long story, but we all work together," Caleb smirked at his friend's agape mouth. "Kennedy is her alias from what Ben told me, and it is her former last name because she was adopted. She is never to be mentioned, do you understand that? If information needs to get to her by some odd reason, it'll go to her father or me than to her. She'll be mostly communicating with Ben and I on her wing, so really you have no meaning to affiliate with her."

Abe seemed to accept the explanation and as he sat down at the table, murmuring to himself, he finally said, "I'm not going to remember all of this."

Caleb grinned; leave it to Abe to turn a simple thing into something that did not need to be complex. Leaning in, he gave his friend a pat on the side of his arm, saying, "That's why you keep the book – hidden. Now when can I tell them you're heading back to British headquarters?"

"I don't know," Abe said after a moment as he closed the notebook and bound it back up in the leather ties.

"Why don't you take Anna with you to get past the checkpoint-"

"No!" Abe vehemently said, dropping the notebook back on the table as he swept his arm out to emphasize his point. "Absolutely not!"

"Whoa Woody," he said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "It's all right, it was just a suggestion. I mean, traveling with someone who knows what you're doing might be better than say, traveling with your father, since you're having problems getting into New York."

Abe sighed and merely looked to his left and back out the window, placing his hands on his hips as he said, "You'd better get going, Caleb. That soldier will be here shortly."

"All right, all right," he said, before snagging one last day-old stale biscuit, knowing that he did not need to worry about Abe hiding the codebook. Leaving through the front entrance, he took a long look around the field and forest that surrounded the small farmstead and when he was sure that there was no one watching him, he quickly ran towards the tree line.

Abe watched his friend through the curtains of the window nervously whispering, "Run Caleb!"

After seeing his friend was more than safe, nearing the tree line, he stepped back and picked up the journal, eyeing it cautiously and attentively.

"Wait Lillian… Kennedy, where did I hear that before?" He asked himself, mind racing in deep thought from where he heard this name before, but only twice and paid no mind to it until now.

"Shit!" He runs to the cupboard and shoves the book under old placemats and towels just as he heard footsteps walking along the side of the house to the front door, and the door opens with a click, and a small groan. In stepping the aforementioned Redcoat quartered at Abe's now empty home.

"Ah, good morning Mr. Woodhull!" The soldier exclaimed with a polite smile, seemingly forced on his tired face from being on duty all night.

"Good morning Mr. Baker, I have some leftover breakfast biscuits from yesterday's breakfast. I can cook you something hot if you'd like, my wife isn't here—"

"It's fine, sir," Baker says with an understanding nod, unstrapping the rifle from his back making Abe tense, even though the man was only taking it off his back, and he trusted the young bright-eyed soldier, he still lived in fear. Especially after what he walked in on when he and Anna were… intimate.

"I'll manage. For now, I must go prop my feet up and get some proper sleep," Baker's smile fades with a long yawn and trods slowly up the stairs, disappearing into his room. While he was walking up the stairs, Abe was watching him closely, and nodded his head after the man's door shut and locked.

"That's where I heard her name," he mumbles, swallowing worriedly. "Her alias."

That same morning back at Headquarters…

If it weren't for the fact that the office he had been assigned was adjacent to a smaller one, Ben would have taken the open room next to Sackett's. However, due to the fact that their guests Lillian and Martha Washington had been accommodated here and only allowed out when either one of them has their proper escort, Martha sometimes lingers in the office next to Sackett's being a secretary for his General he was later told, and Lillian is in the smaller office adjacent to his for reasons.

Despite the significance of her working near him for matters of the Ring, he wasn't complaining about the view he had from his place. When he'd turn his head to stretch his neck, he'd gaze at her sitting perched on the edge of her seat, arched forward emphasizing the curve of her figure and back, engrossed in her writing.

"I hate refilling the ink every time, is it only me?" he heard her mutter quietly for what felt like the twentieth time since he had begun the day, but he smirked every time finding it humorous.

"No it isn't," he called over to her, making her turn sharply hardly expecting him to have heard her. She blushed lightly at Ben gesturing to him dipping his quill into the inkwell more than a couple times and finding herself shaking her head stifling laughter.

The door between his office and her study was open, mainly to allow fresh air to flow through, but it also allowed the woman to listen in to any reports that were verbally given to him as he sat here with written ones scattered all over his desk. Though tradition and secrecy dictated that he should not have allowed her to listen in on confidential intelligence and scouting reports, he realized once more she was no ordinary woman. Her father has let her sit in once before during a meet with his officers and she is a part of the Culper Ring, the most guarded part of this army he believed.

"Senseless plucked feather of a poor bird- I'm bringing my own quills next time..."

Mentally sighing, he placed his own quill down and got up. Taking the few steps over to where the frame that separated the two rooms. Peeking in, he saw that his new friend had already broken three quills. Expected because they weren't the finest ever made and only meant for quick reports and chicken scratch. He glanced back at the grandfather clock just outside in the hall. It was not even midday yet and she had already done this much destruction to the quills.

"Sorry," she said, looking up as he returned his attention to her attempts at writing down on parchment. "I'm bothering you aren't I? I'm used to being alone and talking to myself as I write to get my thoughts across."

He shook his head quickly in negative, saying, "It is no bother."

"Well, I say it is. I'll keep my complaints to myself. I'm beginning to sound like my mother, which isn't good." This caused him to laugh, at her own hilarity and how she speaks with such self-confidence yet says it demurely.

The entrance to the house opened and closed, and moments later, Caleb appeared at the entrance to his office, just as he resumed his seat. He couldn't help but smile as he saw his friend arrive with quite a flushed face and what hopefully would be good news.

"How's Mr. Culpeper?" he asked, grinning.

"Great...great," Caleb answered. "Living alone for now. Didn't ask why, but he's still got that British soldier quartered in his house."

"His wife?" he asked, concern filling him as he frowned slightly. Picking up his quill again, he waited for the answer before he would resume his report writing.

"Don't know, but I think she's doing well," his friend answered, starting to pace around, as if his rush to get the codebook to Abe had not worn him down and only made him more excited. "Don't know why they're separated, but he seems to be doing just fine, or as fine as can be. Those spoons... were they Anna's?"

"What?" he asked. The last time Caleb had been this vague had been about the supposedly wild night that his friend had spent with the most beautiful tavern wench in Elizabethtown, Genevieve. Not that Ben asked for details, it was just Caleb had a habit of giving him details when he didn't want them. Caleb had been awfully vague about Genevieve, other than saying that she was the most beautiful woman ever.

"Anna. There's something going between those two. Just don't know what," Caleb said while pacing back and forth. "You know, when I suggested that he take Anna to New York City to get past the checkpoint, he got very upset. Anyways, I supposed that this is none of our concern."

"They must've had an argument, him and his wife, or as they say, 'taking a break'," Lillian says joining the conversation.

"Perhaps the argument happened, but 'taking a break' my arse. They should've thought that before they got married there would be no breaks," Caleb commented making Lillian laugh.

Ben glanced up during his friend's comment from the report he was currently reading and transcribing via summary to another piece of parchment, quill paused in the middle of writing, "They're my only two agents on Long Island with the exception of Baker. If there's any trouble between them, I want to know about it."

"How's about jumping on a whaling boat with me, Major...get your arse out of this woodpile?"

A small grin appeared on his face as Ben tried to keep it from appearing, but due to their female guest in the next room, who was still scratching away on her reports or a letter of some sorts, though a little more quiet-like than she had been earlier, he dared not to say what he truly thought about Caleb's suggestion.

"I'd like to," Ben began, placing the quill down, seeing that he was not going to accomplish any relevant work done, not while Caleb was pacing in his office. "But Washington needs me here...compiling." Leaning back, he gestured to the pile of reports that littered his desk. "That, and there's also Sackett's 'homework'. 'Tradecraft' as he calls it. I feel like I'm back in school again."

"Yeah," his friend said, grinning, "See, this is exactly the reason why I've been careful to avoid success."

"Good for you, Caleb," came the barely heard quip from the room adjacent to his office. "My success is getting my hands bloody every day or myself almost injured."

"And facing potential death," Benjamin glanced over at her, remembering she said a patient stabbed her once before, which still leaves an unsettling feel in his stomach and mind to picture her lovely person harmed in any manner.

"The high life they call it," Caleb remarks with a grin and Lillian returns it.

"It's quite the life." The entrance to the house opened and closed, silencing whatever else Lillian was about to say.

"Sir!" the corporal who entered his office said, stopping at the foot of his desk.

"Sir, he says," Caleb mocked, though both the corporal and Ben ignored him.

"I have an urgent report from the Provost Marshal. Thought perhaps you'd like to see the latest prisoner exchange proposal."

"Thank you corporal," he answered, taking the letter and opening it with a flick of his wrists as the corporal left. Taking a few moments to read through the letter and formality paragraph, he scanned the list of the names...and immediately stood up in surprise, almost knocking his chair back and into the ground.

"What is it?"

"Samuel," he said, staring at the final name on the list, blinking in disbelief as an elated smile blossomed on his face. "It's Samuel...he-he's alive!" Caleb snatched the letter from him, but he didn't mind as he continued to say, "He's being released!"

Caleb's half-laugh, half-hearty cheer filled the room as he exclaimed, "Sammy-boy!" Happy and quite full of cheer and good spirits, he accepted Caleb's celebratory embrace, before his friend stepped back in an excited manner, saying, "We'll go get him!"

Ben's elation immediately fell as he realized the date of the exchange and when it was going to happen. "I-I have to report to Washington tomorrow," he said, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Ah, come-on!" Caleb said, "He'll release you for this!"

"No," Ben answered, removing his hands from his face, "he won't. He'll consider it 'special treatment'. There are other men's brothers on that list."

"I could report to him, since he'll want to talk to me anyways after you give your report, Major," the close voice of Lillian said, as both he and Caleb looked up and towards the back of the office to see the young lady peeking her head through the door. "I can convince him to," she says with confident eyes, causing Ben to gulp in surprise of her being a good convincer.

Ben then glances back towards the 'front' of his office to see that one of Washington's personal guard who stood vigilant outside of the office, Thomas Hickey, was his name, indicating nothing. It meant that there were no other visitors or occupants in the building other than him, Caleb, Hickey, and their Commanding General's daughter.

As a secret-keeper and personal guard of Washington, Hickey had most likely been informed of the generalities surrounding the circumstances of Lillian, which was also why he had been left behind. The guard was meant more to ensure that Lillian did not leave without her proper escort while the elder Sackett, Mrs. Washington, or Gen. Washington was not present.

"No," Ben said, shaking his head slightly. The offer was tempting, but he had an obligation to carry out his own duties as Head of Intelligence. It would otherwise reflect quite poorly on the trust that Washington had placed in him. "Thank you for the kind offer, my lady, but it is as the General and Mr. Sackett said, my duties cannot clash with yours."

Surprisingly, Lillian booked no argument and merely indicated her acknowledgment of the polite dismissal with a slight nod of her head and a curt, "Yes, sir."

She then returned to her place to try to continue writing her reports. He knew and understood that the woman was quite frustrated in being cooped up in the house since arriving here, and though there had been a look of longing to go outside, she had not asked in her suggestion earlier.

"All right, well I'll pick him up," Caleb said after a moment. Before Ben could say anything, he saw his friend dash towards the entrance, halting for a moment and turned back with a wide smile on his face. "I'll go and get Samuel, and I'll bring him straight back here...actually I'll get him drunk first... no I'll get him drunk and get him a screw."

"Wait, Caleb," he managed to say before the man disappeared.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," he said.

"Hey, what are brothers for, right?"

He smirked, before remembering something else, "Wait!"

Before the bearded, grinning man left Ben grabbed his shoulder and whispered, "If you can, be on the lookout for Robert Rogers. And do not hesitate to kill him."

"Where is this angst coming from for that Queen's Rangers pig leader?" Caleb asks bewildered, but just as quietly.

"I did just as you told me, Mr. Brewster. To speak up and inform of everything, and to not keep it in the back of my mind," Lillian says stepping out of her little room to stand near the two men in order to speak more hushed.

"The meet earlier this morning is where Mr. Sackett, the Major, and I spoke in more detail of our chains. More pointedly I was asked about Baker, and later the man I am after for killing my father, for what reason I don't know."

Ben removed his hand from Caleb's shoulder during her speaking, listening to her words falling frail the further she spoke.

"Robert Rogers killed my father," she says with emotionless eyes.

Caleb found his mouth dry, but he found the chance to speak, "Then you should do the honors of killing him then."

"Caleb!"

"Heavens no!" Lillian's eyes widened. "And do not kill him; take him in captive because I want to speak with him along with my father."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled, Princess," Caleb says, ending his promise with a smile. "And I got to focus on Sammy, drinks, and finding him a screw. Life is rough."

And then Caleb was gone, with the slamming of the entrance to the house heard a moment later. Ben sighed, wishing that he could feel as giddy as his friend did, but here he was, stuck with reports that needed to be summarized and compiled so that Washington could be properly informed.

"Sorry for cursing earlier too!" Caleb poked his head back through the front door, shouting towards the office he was just in.

Lillian smirked before shouting right back, "It's fine, Mr. Brewster!"

"Great! But you know," Caleb sauntered back in the house and leaned in the doorway of the office, making sure Hickey is out of earshot, looked at Lillian and ignored his friend who is staring at him questioningly. "You can just call me Caleb. We're all young here, friends, and 'Mr.' makes me feel old. I don't want to wear it out too soon y'know?"

Laughing, Lillian nodded, "I understand all too well. You may call me Lillian, then, or Lilly."

He winks, "Nah, Lil' Washington is still my favorite, easier to remember."

Ben's jaw was slack at the whole exchange, and his eyes stayed glued to the spot Caleb was once standing, now leaving out the door for sure.

"Are you alright, Major?" a light melodic voice asked him, and he quickly turned his face towards Lillian's, meeting her big brown eyes that are glazed with natural unshed tears and a sparkle in each of them, capturing every light everywhere she goes.

"Yes I'm fine. Only disheartened that I can't go see my brother, and confused of my friend's sudden forwardness towards you."

"No he wasn't forward at all, bold maybe, but not forward. In fact I've been meaning to mention that at one of our meets. We are seemingly developing a friendship bond, and being on a first-name basis seems appropriate…" She trails off looking in the direction where Hickey is standing guard.

She continues quietly as Ben pulls her further into the room, understanding flowing across his features, "Also the fact we are going to be communicating more quickly now, there won't be any time to say formalities and such," Lillian says playing with her hands but meeting his eyes unswervingly.

He found himself smiling thinly because he was holding back his goofy grin that wanted to plaster itself across his face.

"I couldn't agree more, but around so many ears at any time, I can be caught so easily and reprimanded for not using my manners in using your proper title for a lady in your standing," Ben states.

"Then when we are alone, like now, you may call me Lillian, or Lilly, I insist Major," she declares, bowing her head at his thoughtfulness to what society around them would think. If he called her so in public it would stir bad rumor and gossip.

"If you insist then. Benjamin," he says, deciding to take her white gloved hand and be bold to bow and place a kiss upon it. "Or Ben, at your service, Lillian."

She froze in place when he kissed her hand, but smiled huge, feeling a warmth inside her she hasn't felt in her whole life.

She made friends with people other than the people that live in her own home.

She wasn't alone anymore.

A/N: Thank you all for following, favoriting, and reviewing! Sorry for the delay but as I said last chapter, this was going to be a long one. And the new episodes of TURN have my head spinning at all that's happening lol! I have a lot in store for this fanfic, and tons more surprises on who will be in this. Please stay tuned! Thanks a million! :)

BrownEyedGirl87