Revolutionary War, Evolving Emotions
Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For...
A/N: This is based on an animated series that comes on national PBS stations that is set during the Revolutionary War. I'll give you brief character profiles first thing:
James: James is a fourteen-year-old apprentice in Ben Franklin's printing press who is a firm believer in the American cause who aspires to become the owner of a newspaper himself. He is somewhat the "big brother" figure to Henri and rival/friend to Sarah (maybe more).
Henri: Henri is an eight-year-old "street urchin" who was semi-adopted by James and his caretaker Moses. He is rather small, which is sometimes an asset to James and Sarah's curious journalistic nature.
Sarah: Sarah was a British Loyalist until the near end of the War, and now with America being a very young country she has mixed feelings about the matter, although James assuredness about things still gets under her skin. She has become like Henri's mother despite the fact that age wise it is impossible.
Sarah tried to avoid touching either of the boys she was sharing a relatively large bed with, but regardless of how big it was it was rather hard for three people, two teenagers and one child to sleep in without touching on another, not that she thought they would take offense at it, after all she had been living with them for the past couple of years, and still no word from her father. For a reason unbeknownst to her she had stopped receiving correspondence from her mother several months ago. She was assuming that her mother was unhappy with her or something along those lines because of the fact that despite the American's victory that she had still not found a way to come home, either that or she had become ill, both of these possibilities she tried to push far from her mind and just live her life seizing each moment, something she had learned to do throughout the course of the war, not knowing if her current breath might turn out to be her last. She eventually fell asleep, smiling at the peacefully sleeping Henri, and what she could assume was a sleeping James, but with his conniving ways she never knew what to think about him. She obverted her attention to Henri, someone that she thought she had learned to love as a mother would love a child, but then she could never be sure, not ever having been a mother herself. She carefully made sure that Henri was between James and her, because she didn't want anything that might be considered by Moses to be inappropriate to happen accidentally. She closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.
Slowly she began to dream.
She could hear the wind howling outside the simple log cabin she found herself in. She was trying to sleep but she disliked storm and could tell that the tears were ready to fall from the bleak and dreary sky. Through the tiny crack at the bottom of the door she saw the bright flash of lightening from the outside. She removed the last of her clothing, only leaving a pair of delicate cloth panties and she put on a relatively thin nightgown. She laid down in the bed that obviously had another person already in it, but of course that wasn't anything out of the ordinary, although this was a different bed, it seemed smaller. Wind blew through the tiny cracks that occasionally graced the walls with their uninvited presence as she did. She shivered a bit when she finally got into a comfortable position she felt an arm wrap around her waist. She breathed in sharply not sure what to think, as she turned slightly to see who had their arm around her she was incredibly shocked to find that is was James. maybe he was just asleep and didn't know what he was doing, in that case she could carefully squirm her way out of his slight embrace without waking him and pretend that it hadn't happened at all, but just as all this was going through her head, she felt James' hands running up and down her abdomen, getting all to close to her chest for her to be comfortable. Just as she was about to pull his hand way and move a little further away from him she felt something hard on his left hand around his finger, it felt like a.ring. She touched each of his fingers; counting them in the dark, realizing that is was on his ring finger, which could only in tradition be one thing, a wedding band. She was somewhat awe-stricken and then another thought struck her. She replaced his hand where it had been before, still not sure if he was awake or not. She took her right hand and then felt her own left ring finger, only to confirm her suspicions; she too had a ring on her finger, and with these events that could only mean one thing, that they were. married. She looked around the room, not moving her head but merely her eyes, 'Where's Henri?' she thought. Then she realized fully that this was a dream, and with her mind relieved of one thing she decided that even though this was by far the strangest dream she had ever had to let it go. After all she had never so much as had a fleeting thought about James romantically, he just annoyed her, so she was probably just overly tired, this couldn't be a wish of some sort manifesting itself. Deciding to rest her mind instead of worrying about things she decided to let it go and allow herself to mentally rest as well as physically. She took a deep breath, the wasn't quick to admit it but she found James' touch comforting, she didn't know why exactly, 'It's just because I don't feel alone and I am a little afraid of storms.' She convinced herself and even though in denial of it herself she allowed herself to relish in another person's touch, something she hadn't known in ages, well sense she left her mother, except in an emergency, even if this was just a dream. And in her dream state she fell asleep.
She opened her eyes seeing James lying across from her, she began to wonder if she was still asleep but just thought she had awoken. She looked down at her hand and the ring was gone and she was no longer in the same nightgown, but merely the one she was wearing in actual life before her dream. Coming to the conclusion she was awake she sat up, wondering where Henri had gone, it was very early, not even Moses woke them up this early, it wasn't even five o'clock yet, she would be surprised if it was even four. She then began to shake James, gently at first then slightly harder because he didn't respond. "James wake up!" she quietly exclaimed, as he began to open his eyes she shook him again a little harder this time to make sure he was awake. "Sarah, stop, stop being so mean, you're crazy if you think I am getting up now," James whined, still not completely awake. "Oh just grow up!" Sarah replied harshly, still keeping her voice down, "Where is Henri?" she asked. "I don't know, he crawled out of bed a little while ago, he didn't try to wake either of us up though, I just did because he had to climb over me because you boxed him in between us last night. I think he went somewhere with Moses, now please, leave me alone for a while." James replied groggily leaning up on his elbows and looking at her pleadingly. "All right, just let me see." Sarah leaned over James' reclined body and grabbed the relatively accurate pocket-watch that Benjamin had given to them. Not realizing fully what she was doing she was still leaning on him, her body slightly on top of him, her eyes having adjusted to the extremely dim light provided by a scarcely burning oil lamp across the room. It was 3:30 am, just as she had thought, she replaced the watch on the table and was still supporting herself over James. Seeing that he was still awake, and looking into her eyes, batting his sleepily, she smiled, blushing somewhat, glad that he couldn't really tell, seeing as he was so sleepy and the lights were so dim, "Sorry for waking you, Henri not being here just worried me," she murmured. "Mother dear." James replied, his quick whit not quitting even though he was scarcely conscious. She rolled her eyes and realized that she was on top of him, "Umm." was all she could say looking down as she felt him raise his hand and stroke a strand of her hair that was falling like a curtain in the two people's faces behind her ear. She closed her eyes, 'His touch is even more comforting than in my dream.' she thought. Immediately she scolded herself for thinking that and began to change positions so that she would be back on the other side of the bed, or at least where Henri had been. "It's okay." James said following her with his eyes, only then fully realizing the heat her body had caused on his because a sudden chill came over him as she removed it by moving herself. As she lay facing him her turned to look into her eyes, slightly more awake that he was before. Having lost some of his inhibitions because of how sleepy he was, and she having to let her guard down because of her exhaustion he said, "Sarah?" "Yes?" she replied stammering a bit for a reason unbeknownst to her. "You have beautiful eyes. just remind me of that next time I'm cruel to you," he said as she began to blush. They both looked away towards the door, which lead to the kitchen and Moses' bedroom and then back at one another's eyes. Slowly their faces inched closer together as they sealed their eyes and right before their lips met they heard the main door of the small house open, it must have been Moses and Henri. They both jumped and opened their eyes and blushing turned away from one another and Sarah assumed her previous position, trying to pretend to be asleep. To her surprise Henri didn't come back into the room, but she still tried to go back to sleep to prevent anyone from knowing anything about the last few moments, because no one would understand it, not if even she couldn't.
{{James' POV}}
'What was that all about?' he thought, 'One minute I was just looking at her and.' then his journalist nature took over and he decided to go over all "the facts" step by step. 'Okay, Who? Sarah and I. What? Uh, I am really not sure yet. Where? In bed. When? The middle of the night. Why?' he asked himself. A little voice in his head, also known as his subconscious said, "Because you love her!" "That's not true, it's completely insane!" he argued back. "I am you, why would I lie?" He didn't have a reply to that. 'So did I really try to kiss her?' he thought as he felt his cheeks flush, with that he fell asleep.
Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For...
A/N: This is based on an animated series that comes on national PBS stations that is set during the Revolutionary War. I'll give you brief character profiles first thing:
James: James is a fourteen-year-old apprentice in Ben Franklin's printing press who is a firm believer in the American cause who aspires to become the owner of a newspaper himself. He is somewhat the "big brother" figure to Henri and rival/friend to Sarah (maybe more).
Henri: Henri is an eight-year-old "street urchin" who was semi-adopted by James and his caretaker Moses. He is rather small, which is sometimes an asset to James and Sarah's curious journalistic nature.
Sarah: Sarah was a British Loyalist until the near end of the War, and now with America being a very young country she has mixed feelings about the matter, although James assuredness about things still gets under her skin. She has become like Henri's mother despite the fact that age wise it is impossible.
Sarah tried to avoid touching either of the boys she was sharing a relatively large bed with, but regardless of how big it was it was rather hard for three people, two teenagers and one child to sleep in without touching on another, not that she thought they would take offense at it, after all she had been living with them for the past couple of years, and still no word from her father. For a reason unbeknownst to her she had stopped receiving correspondence from her mother several months ago. She was assuming that her mother was unhappy with her or something along those lines because of the fact that despite the American's victory that she had still not found a way to come home, either that or she had become ill, both of these possibilities she tried to push far from her mind and just live her life seizing each moment, something she had learned to do throughout the course of the war, not knowing if her current breath might turn out to be her last. She eventually fell asleep, smiling at the peacefully sleeping Henri, and what she could assume was a sleeping James, but with his conniving ways she never knew what to think about him. She obverted her attention to Henri, someone that she thought she had learned to love as a mother would love a child, but then she could never be sure, not ever having been a mother herself. She carefully made sure that Henri was between James and her, because she didn't want anything that might be considered by Moses to be inappropriate to happen accidentally. She closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.
Slowly she began to dream.
She could hear the wind howling outside the simple log cabin she found herself in. She was trying to sleep but she disliked storm and could tell that the tears were ready to fall from the bleak and dreary sky. Through the tiny crack at the bottom of the door she saw the bright flash of lightening from the outside. She removed the last of her clothing, only leaving a pair of delicate cloth panties and she put on a relatively thin nightgown. She laid down in the bed that obviously had another person already in it, but of course that wasn't anything out of the ordinary, although this was a different bed, it seemed smaller. Wind blew through the tiny cracks that occasionally graced the walls with their uninvited presence as she did. She shivered a bit when she finally got into a comfortable position she felt an arm wrap around her waist. She breathed in sharply not sure what to think, as she turned slightly to see who had their arm around her she was incredibly shocked to find that is was James. maybe he was just asleep and didn't know what he was doing, in that case she could carefully squirm her way out of his slight embrace without waking him and pretend that it hadn't happened at all, but just as all this was going through her head, she felt James' hands running up and down her abdomen, getting all to close to her chest for her to be comfortable. Just as she was about to pull his hand way and move a little further away from him she felt something hard on his left hand around his finger, it felt like a.ring. She touched each of his fingers; counting them in the dark, realizing that is was on his ring finger, which could only in tradition be one thing, a wedding band. She was somewhat awe-stricken and then another thought struck her. She replaced his hand where it had been before, still not sure if he was awake or not. She took her right hand and then felt her own left ring finger, only to confirm her suspicions; she too had a ring on her finger, and with these events that could only mean one thing, that they were. married. She looked around the room, not moving her head but merely her eyes, 'Where's Henri?' she thought. Then she realized fully that this was a dream, and with her mind relieved of one thing she decided that even though this was by far the strangest dream she had ever had to let it go. After all she had never so much as had a fleeting thought about James romantically, he just annoyed her, so she was probably just overly tired, this couldn't be a wish of some sort manifesting itself. Deciding to rest her mind instead of worrying about things she decided to let it go and allow herself to mentally rest as well as physically. She took a deep breath, the wasn't quick to admit it but she found James' touch comforting, she didn't know why exactly, 'It's just because I don't feel alone and I am a little afraid of storms.' She convinced herself and even though in denial of it herself she allowed herself to relish in another person's touch, something she hadn't known in ages, well sense she left her mother, except in an emergency, even if this was just a dream. And in her dream state she fell asleep.
She opened her eyes seeing James lying across from her, she began to wonder if she was still asleep but just thought she had awoken. She looked down at her hand and the ring was gone and she was no longer in the same nightgown, but merely the one she was wearing in actual life before her dream. Coming to the conclusion she was awake she sat up, wondering where Henri had gone, it was very early, not even Moses woke them up this early, it wasn't even five o'clock yet, she would be surprised if it was even four. She then began to shake James, gently at first then slightly harder because he didn't respond. "James wake up!" she quietly exclaimed, as he began to open his eyes she shook him again a little harder this time to make sure he was awake. "Sarah, stop, stop being so mean, you're crazy if you think I am getting up now," James whined, still not completely awake. "Oh just grow up!" Sarah replied harshly, still keeping her voice down, "Where is Henri?" she asked. "I don't know, he crawled out of bed a little while ago, he didn't try to wake either of us up though, I just did because he had to climb over me because you boxed him in between us last night. I think he went somewhere with Moses, now please, leave me alone for a while." James replied groggily leaning up on his elbows and looking at her pleadingly. "All right, just let me see." Sarah leaned over James' reclined body and grabbed the relatively accurate pocket-watch that Benjamin had given to them. Not realizing fully what she was doing she was still leaning on him, her body slightly on top of him, her eyes having adjusted to the extremely dim light provided by a scarcely burning oil lamp across the room. It was 3:30 am, just as she had thought, she replaced the watch on the table and was still supporting herself over James. Seeing that he was still awake, and looking into her eyes, batting his sleepily, she smiled, blushing somewhat, glad that he couldn't really tell, seeing as he was so sleepy and the lights were so dim, "Sorry for waking you, Henri not being here just worried me," she murmured. "Mother dear." James replied, his quick whit not quitting even though he was scarcely conscious. She rolled her eyes and realized that she was on top of him, "Umm." was all she could say looking down as she felt him raise his hand and stroke a strand of her hair that was falling like a curtain in the two people's faces behind her ear. She closed her eyes, 'His touch is even more comforting than in my dream.' she thought. Immediately she scolded herself for thinking that and began to change positions so that she would be back on the other side of the bed, or at least where Henri had been. "It's okay." James said following her with his eyes, only then fully realizing the heat her body had caused on his because a sudden chill came over him as she removed it by moving herself. As she lay facing him her turned to look into her eyes, slightly more awake that he was before. Having lost some of his inhibitions because of how sleepy he was, and she having to let her guard down because of her exhaustion he said, "Sarah?" "Yes?" she replied stammering a bit for a reason unbeknownst to her. "You have beautiful eyes. just remind me of that next time I'm cruel to you," he said as she began to blush. They both looked away towards the door, which lead to the kitchen and Moses' bedroom and then back at one another's eyes. Slowly their faces inched closer together as they sealed their eyes and right before their lips met they heard the main door of the small house open, it must have been Moses and Henri. They both jumped and opened their eyes and blushing turned away from one another and Sarah assumed her previous position, trying to pretend to be asleep. To her surprise Henri didn't come back into the room, but she still tried to go back to sleep to prevent anyone from knowing anything about the last few moments, because no one would understand it, not if even she couldn't.
{{James' POV}}
'What was that all about?' he thought, 'One minute I was just looking at her and.' then his journalist nature took over and he decided to go over all "the facts" step by step. 'Okay, Who? Sarah and I. What? Uh, I am really not sure yet. Where? In bed. When? The middle of the night. Why?' he asked himself. A little voice in his head, also known as his subconscious said, "Because you love her!" "That's not true, it's completely insane!" he argued back. "I am you, why would I lie?" He didn't have a reply to that. 'So did I really try to kiss her?' he thought as he felt his cheeks flush, with that he fell asleep.