Apart from that fateful afternoon when the three of them had almost met their doom, The General hadn't been spotted in the village since.
The presence of Mutumbo's little army at the borders of the village gave the villagers a sense of security, albeit a tenuous one. Likewise, the Elders reckoned that it was safe enough, and continued to go about their daily routines around the village, determined to make every second of their time left in Uganda count.
Connor had drilled into them the importance of being aware of their surroundings, and running and hiding at the first sign of danger.
It was ten days more, before Connor could see his parents again; before Kevin and him would be safe from The General; before they could start life anew in London.
At the same time, it was also only ten days more before they had to bid Uganda goodbye, along with all the villagers, and his Elders, who had become more like family.
"Elder McKinley?"
Connor snapped out of his thoughts, "Hmm, yeah?"
Elder Michaels frowned at him, "You've been staring at the weed you're supposed to be pulling for five minutes now. Wanna help us out here?"
Connor nodded, and returned to his task of helping Kalimba to clean out the school yard, "Sorry. Got lost in thought."
He looked up at the rest of the Elders, sans Kevin, who were scurrying around the land pulling out any weeds that they could see. There were probably more weed than grass in the yard. They certainly had the job cut out for them.
Connor kept up with the mindless task of pulling up stubborn tufts of weed for the next ten minutes, before he got bored and his mind started drifting again.
What was Kevin doing now, back at the hut? Connor hoped that he was following the doctor's orders to do nothing. Kevin had tried to help cleaning the mission hut while the Elders were out in the village, and it had ended up with Connor finding him curled up on the ground in pain when he returned.
The next morning, Kevin had promised Connor that he wasn't going to do anything at all, after Gotswana's threat that if Kevin kept it up, his arm was going to heal all wrong.
"C'mon, dude!" Elder Church groaned and pointed to the weeds all around where Connor was kneeling, "You barely got any out!"
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Poptarts nudged Connor.
"I'm just bored," Connor shook his head.
"Yeah well, be bored while you work, will you?" Elder Church sighed, "I can't even feel my hands anymore."
Connor reckoned that they should call it a day, before anyone got hurt.
"Elder McKinley!" Arnold called out as the Elders made their way back, "Connor!"
"Yes, Elder?"
"Umm," Arnold shrugged, "I was wondering…well, you see…"
"Arnold, just spit it out."
"Well, today's the anniversary of Nabu's mom's- you know," Arnold sighed, "I want to be with her, and I want to ask if you could stay with Kevin tonight."
"Of course, Arnold. Just be careful, alright?"
"Yeah I will," Arnold nodded, "Thanks!"
—
Connor was checking his emails on Arnold's bed, as Kevin watched beside him, while humming some Disney tune which sounded vaguely familiar. Connor scrolled passed a wedding invitation from one of his high school classmates.
"They're awfully young to be married, don't you think?" Kevin commented on the photo in the email, "She's probably pregnant or something".
"They're Mormons, Kevin," Connor wrote a congratulatory reply to the email, "And they've been together since freshman year. People get married around our age all the time."
Kevin made a face.
"Why? Do you not want to get married?" Connor frowned.
Kevin shrugged with one shoulder, "I don't know. Never really thought about it."
Connor, on the other hand, often finds himself thinking about the future, their future together, and how he looks forward to the day when he could take Kevin Price as his lawfully wedded husband.
"Never really had anyone to think about getting married to either."
"Oh," Connor's heart sank.
"Until now, of course," Kevin smiled slightly, "But not now, Connor. Not yet."
Connor relaxed back into the pillows, "Right."
Kevin snuggled closer to Connor, "You want to marry me?"
"Hmm," Connor pursed his lips, "I think I should explore my options before I settle down. There are still lots of fishes in the sea, especially in London."
"I hope you're joking, Connor McKinley," Kevin frowned.
"Of course I am," Connor chuckled, "Or am I?"
Kevin brought his hand down on Connor's thigh.
"Ow, ow," Connor rubbed at the stinging spot, "Kev!"
"That's what you get," Kevin rolled his eyes, and laid his head on Connor's chest, "But I guess, if you want to find someone less of a mess, I won't blame you."
Connor smoothed Kevin's hair down, "Nah…you're stuck with me."
Kevin tilted his head up to look at Connor, "I love you, Connor."
Connor would never get tired of hearing Kevin say that.
"I love you too."
—
Connor didn't have a good night's sleep at all. He hated to admit it, but he had better sleep when he was with Poptarts.
Kevin's nightmares were getting worse. He was constantly being woken up by them, which woke Connor up too.
Connor was sick of the look of absolute terror in Kevin's eyes every time he startled awake and thought that Connor was the bad guy.
And the noises, gosh, the noises were just as bad. The noises which Kevin made as he tried valiantly to escape Connor half-asleep. Despite that, Connor had to hold on to Kevin, before he hurts himself falling off the bed.
If Kevin wasn't being startled awake, he was talking and moaning in his sleep.
"No, where are you going?" Kevin whined, when Connor realised that maybe he was the one triggering Kevin's nightmares by sleeping next to him.
And the sleep-deprived side of Connor's brain selfishly thought that maybe separating the beds would allow Connor to sleep better too. He hadn't slept for long enough bouts to have nightmares of his own, that was the only silver lining.
Connor swung his legs over the side, "I don't think I'm helping by sleeping so near-"
"No no," Kevin frowned, "No, don't go."
"Kevin."
"Don't go," Kevin pulled on Connor's shirt, "Please come back?"
Connor couldn't say no to that, even thought it meant that he was probably going to suffer for it in the morning.
—
"You look awful, Connor," Poptarts commented.
Connor grunted as he searched through the kitchen cupboards, "Didn't really get to sleep much last night."
"Oooo, had too much fun huh?" Poptarts smirked.
"I wish," Connor sighed, "Kevin woke me up with his nightmares."
"That's too bad," Poptarts frowned, "Can Gotswana give him something to help?"
"I doubt it," Connor said sullenly, and then groaned when he remembered.
"What?" Poptarts asked.
Connor sighed as he held his aching head, "We're out of aspirin."
"Yeah, you were the one who told me that last week, remember?" Poptarts laughed, "Go take a nap, Connor. You need it."
"But the-"
"We'll be fine for a day without you," Poptarts placed a hand on Connor's shoulder, "I'll keep an eye out for everyone."
"Are you sure?"
"Go on already, Connor," Poptarts waved, "Before you fall flat on your face."
"Thanks, Poptarts. Help me look out for Kevin, okay? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Yeah, no problem."
—
Connor was rudely awakened by a loud rap on his window pane. He jumped upright when he realised that there was an unfamiliar man standing by his window. Before he could start panicking, the man showed him a cardboard box.
It was just the courier.
"Should have closed the curtains," Connor muttered.
Limbs leadened with lethargy, Connor shuffled out of his room and to the door. The other Elders were not back yet.
"Hello," Connor smiled at the man, who handed over the heavy box, "Thank you."
Connor was about to shut the door after signing for the parcel, when the man held out a hand.
"Oh, ummm," Connor frowned, "Hang on a second."
Connor wondered what was the convention for tipping couriers in Uganda. All of their other mails and packages have just been haphazardly left on their doorstep before now.
"Is this enough?"
The man nodded and left.
Connor read the label on the package, it was for Kevin, and the return address of that of his parents' back in Utah. The parcel was also labelled to be important and confidential. That must be why the courier didn't just chuck it at their door.
This couldn't be anything good.
Should he open it first?
Would Kevin mind?
Connor probably shouldn't, it would be an invasion of Kevin's privacy. Right?
Connor's indecision was saved by the Elders returning to the mission hut.
"Hey guys," Connor greeted as they filed into the hut, still holding onto the box.
"Hey Elder McKinley. How are you feeling?" Elder Michaels asked.
"Much better, Elder Michaels. Thanks for asking."
"What is that?" Elder Church pointed to the box.
"Oh, it's Kevin's."
"Mine? Who is it from?" Kevin grinned.
Connor was reluctant to sully his apparent good mood, "It's uh…it's from your parents."
"Oh," Kevin's face fell, "What is it?"
Connor shrugged, "I don't know, I haven't opened it yet."
"Whatever it is, I don't fucking want it! Throw it out!" Kevin strode back to his room and slammed the door.
"Kev-"
The other Elders were stilled by Kevin's outburst.
"Well…Shall we opened it?" Elder Church suggested.
—
Connor tried the knob on Kevin's door, but it was locked.
"Leave me alone, Connor," Kevin said from the other side, "Please."
Connor opened the parcel on the couch, the Elders surrounding him. Everyone was curious.
"Oh no," Connor's heart grew heavy as he uncovered the files beneath all the bubble wrap.
It was full of Kevin's stuff: his academic transcripts, certificates of achievements, important documents like his birth certificate, and some old photographs.
The Prices had clearly been cleaning out Kevin's room.
"I'm sure we shouldn't be throwing this out, right?"
"Yeah, no shit Michaels," Elder Church scoffed.
"Look at this," Arnold flipped through Kevin's test scores, "Kevin's a genius."
"Nah," Elder Church pointed to the only A minus in the sea of A pluses, "He's got an A- in…Intermediate Algebra. Gross! Who willingly takes even more algebra than necessary?!"
"Alright, c'mon guys, we shouldn't be riffling through his stuff," Connor snatched the files back from the Elders and placed them back in the box.
"Hey, you're the one who opened it, not us."
"Just," Connor sighed and threw a glance at Kevin's door, "Let's get dinner started, alright?"
How could all these still not be enough for Kevin's parents?
If Connor had siblings like Kevin did, would he then become dispensable in his parents' eyes?