They bury their faces in their tattered jacket.
"It's alright, I won't hurt you." I whisper, reaching out a hand.
One lets out a shriek as I touch his shoulder and they both recoil into a tight little ball.
"It's fine. I'm trying to help you." I whisper, scooping them both up out of the trash. "Where are your parents?"
"Gone." The older looking one whispers.
"Are they dead?"
"No. Gone. They left us." He mutters, pulling who I assume is his brother back into his arms.
I frown at the fact that any parent would desert their child, especially at such a time.
"Come here." I say as gently as I can.
I gently pry them apart and life the younger one into my arms, taking the older one's hand.
"No!" The older one cries, clawing at my arms and face, trying to grab his brother.
"Shh, it's alright. I'm a solider, trust me. I'm trying to help you."
"Get away from us!" He screams.
The younger one starts crying and reaching for his brother. I set him down, but keep an arm around both of them.
"It's fine. I won't hurt you. Just come with me back to the base."
"NO!" He shouts again.
"You have to trust me. I can keep you safe."
I lift the younger one again and walk the last few paces to my horse, setting him on the saddle, keeping one hand behind him so he won't fall off.
"No! No! Leave us alone! Leave us alone!" The older one shouts.
"Please, come with. I need to be back by sun-up to start assembling the first escort."
He looks at my uniform for the first time, scanning me up and down.
"Look, I'm a major. I'm in charge of escorting all civilians off the island, including you." I point to the insignia on my shoulder.
He looks warily at me again, but when I lift him onto the horse he doesn't resist.
I position his arms around his brother, and put his hands on the saddle horn.
"Here, hold on like this."
He nods and I grab the bridle and lead the horse back through the streets.
At a point we come to a narrow foot bridge, only wide enough for one at a time. I come back next to them and put one arm around them as I grip the horn and swing up behind them.
I take the reins from the boys and give them a light flick, signaling Ross to walk.
At the sudden start the younger boy jerks forward and starts to slip beneath my arm. I grip my boots into the stirrups and reach out with both arms to catch him. I right him on the horse and start again, slower.
"Sorry." He murmurs, shrinking back into his brother's embrace.
My brow furrows.
"What reason do you have to be sorry? It was my fault you nearly fell."
He cranes his head around to look at me, biting his lip.
"Here, just hold on, it's fine." I wrap his hands around the saddle horn, wrapping mine around his.
We cross the bridge and finish the ride into camp uneventfully. By the time we are back, the sun is coming up and most of my soldiers heave returned.
"Eh, Jasper! Never told me you had a kiddies. Let's see, how old is Maria again? Those two couldn't be her's. Tsk-tsk. Jasper. You knew you were engaged, what were you doing with another woman?" Emmett shouts across the camp.
"It's Major Whitlock to you. Go get Lieutenant Cullen, ask him to meet me at our tent in ten minutes." I command.
He glares at me, probably displeased that I didn't react better to his comment, but goes to the Lieutenant's tent.
I dismount and help them down, tying Ross up to the hitching post and unbuckling the saddle, setting it next to him.
Carrying the younger one- who looks on the brink of exhaustion- I guide them to the communal fire where a pot of hot grain is bubbling.
Taking three cups from the cook, I sit us down on a makeshift bench, holding the younger boy up between his brother and I, then return for the saddle, setting it behind me.
"Well, I'm going to need some explanations. I need something to tell my commanding officer."
They look at me, wordless.
"Are you tired?"
I look to the sky, the sun is almost halfway past the horizon and I haven't had a wink of sleep.
The younger one nods, but the older one just looks to the ground, holding his brother protectively.
"After you finish eating I'll take you to my tent, you can rest there while we gather people for the evacuation."
The older one's head shoots up, panic flashing through his eyes.
"It's fine, no one'll hurt you."
He looks down, but panic is still coursing through his veins, every muscle in his body is stiff.
They both gobble up the grain so fast that I pour the rest of my helping between the two cups, causing them to look up, wide eyed.
"For us?" The younger one whispers.
"Yes, I ate with some friends right before going out earlier, I'm not very hungry."
He looks at me in disbelief for a second more before pouring the rest of the grain down his throat, as if afraid I would say 'just kidding' and take it back if he didn't eat fast enough.
"Follow me, I'll show you where the tent is."
The reaction of the older one is once again, unmentioned panic, but he stands and reaches down to help his brother up as I take the cups back to the cook. When I get back, the younger one has one arm slung over his brother shoulder, with his knee bent so he won't have to walk on that foot.
"Are you injured?"
"No. I'm fine." He replies too quickly.
"No, you aren't. What happened to that foot?"
"Nothing. It's fine."
I squat down to be at eye level with him.
"It's fine, nothing is wrong with admitting you're hurt. I'll send for the camp doctor."
"No, it just got caught between some rocks at the beach while I was running. I'll be fine. It'll be better soon."
"I would still like to have the doctor look at it."
"We can't pay for it." The older one chimes in, a look of pain across his face as he looks at his brother's foot.
"I'll put you under my name, the Army doctor will do it for free."
"Are you sure?" he whispers
"Yes, it's fine."
"We wouldn't want you to get in trouble..."
"He's an old friend of mine, he won't care."
He looks up, biting his lip, but nods.
"Private Saunders." I call to the nearest idle solider.
"Major Whitlock, Sir."
"Run and get Doc Mason for me, please. Send him to my tent."
"Yes sir." He hurries off to the Doctor's tent.
I lean over and lift the boy into my arms, wrapping his legs around my middle. His brother cringes, but doesn't say anything. I hold the saddle under my arm and lead the way to my tent, the other brother trailing close on my heels.
I set the younger one on my cot and gesture for the other to take a seat on Emmett's.
"What are your names?"
"I'm Al, this is my brother Samuel." The older one says.
"As you probably figured out, I'm Major Jasper Whitlock. You can call me Jasper."
I nod and try to think of some other topic of conversation that would be acceptable.
Luckily, the doctor comes in shortly after, carrying his bag, a nervous look across his face.
When he looks around the tent, his expression relaxes, then furrows in confusion, glancing between me and the two children.
"When I heard that I was supposed to come to your tent I thought it was another gunpowder accident with Private McCarty... but... who are these two?"
"I found them while I was putting up evacuation postings. Brothers, Al and Samuel." I nod to them respectively as I say their names. "The younger one is injured, his foot."
"Which one?"
"Right."
Mason kneels down next to the cot, examining the child's bare foot.
"Yes, well it appears that the ankle is sprained, but nothing too severe. It should be better withing a few days, a week or two maximum."
"Thank you," I nod to him, already on his way out to the next tent.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Carlisle's voice shouts from outside the tent, just as the flap closes behind the doctor.
"That it would be funny." Emmett snickers
"And damn funny it'll be when I'm through with you!" He shouts, coming through the flap.
He freezes, glancing between me and the boys.
"Uh..."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about Jasper's kiddies." Emmett chuckles, pushing past him into the tent.
"Could you two please try to watch your language?"
"Uhm... yeah... yes. Of course I will. Sorry, I didn't realize there were children here." He steps in the rest of the way, "I'm sorry I-"
"Carlisle-"
"No, really, I-"
"Carlisle-"
"Honestly-"
"Carlisle! What are you wearing?"
He turns beet red and Emmett's shoulders shake with silent laughter.
"They're Rosalie's." Emmett manages between chuckles. "And that, is why you don't take away my whiskey. I get irritable."
"It wasn't even whiskey! It was boot-leg!"
"What happened?" I ask, muttering into my hand.
"Well, I went to sleep, and wake up to find both my uniforms soaked in moonshine and set on fire right outside my tent, the only other clothes in my tent being a pair of woman's bloomers."
Emmett's silent laughter breaks into an all out, booming, ringing laugh through the whole camp.
I reach under Emmett's bed, pulling out his extra uniform and tossing it to Carlisle.
"Wait! No no no no no! Wait! No! That's the only extra uniform I have!"
"Too bad." Carlisle mutters.
I grab my extra shirt and set it on my bed.
I smirk at Emmett as I shrug off my shirt.
A flash of movement catches my eye and I glance to the side to see the older of the two brothers turning bright red, staring at me, eyes widening with what seemed to be terror. He quickly looked to the floor, turning a darker red.
I slide into my other shirt and button it up as Carlisle does the same with Emmett's. He slips off the pink bloomers and steps into the other pair while Emmett sulks on his cot.
I drop onto mine as I do the last few buttons, and look to Samuel, who is being held in his brothers lap. Both of the boys are blushing and looking to the floor.
"I'm going to go to the medical tent and ask Mason if there are any spare uniforms. I'll be right back." I announce.
-0-
I arrive back at the tent with three white shirts and three pairs of trousers, two substantially smaller than the other.
"Emmett, I found you an extra set of clothes. Not a uniform, but you can wear it around the camp." I toss him his set and turn to the brothers. "And they are going to be a bit big, but I think they'll do for now." I say, setting the two extra sets on the foot of the cot the brothers are on. "You should probably change now, then get some sleep. One of you can have Emmett's cot-"
"HEY!" He pouts.
"Take one for the team buddy." Carlisle claps him on the shoulder.
He glares up at me from his cot, but eventually gets off it and leaves the tent, muttering something about me needing to be more careful when I'm with women.
This makes both the boys blush again, Al biting his lip.
"So, yeah, get dressed, get some sleep, and Lieutenant Cullen and I will figure out what we will do for your long term arrangements."
They sit there and stare at my with worried eyes.
"What's wrong?" I ask, reaching under Emmett's bed for his other boots.
"Well... uhm..."
I find the boots and toss them to Carlisle. He catches them and starts to undo to laces, sitting on Emmett's bed.
"Could you leave for a minute?"
I look at Al for a second, the back to Carlisle.
"It's fine to change in front of us you know... every one has to get dressed with someone else at some point." Carlisle says.
"We uh..."
Carlisle pulls a pair of socks from the boots and pulls them on.
"We aren't brothers... we uh..."
I turn to look at them, my brow furrowed in confusion.
"We're uh... well... we're sisters." Al whispers, though I assume that isn't her real name.
"I'm Alyssa. This is Samantha, my little sister."
