Disclaimer: Not a bit, my dears. I don't own anything. Boo.

Author's Note: There's dialogue in this chapter! Also, at the end is a long author's note where I explain a few things and basically profess my love for all of you. You might want to read it. It's up to you, of course. And I'm just wondering, does anybody here watch The Office, Heroes, or Grey's Anatomy? Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 15: In the Midst of a Storm

Kit took a step back, away from the door where the figure still stood. Outside, another flash of lightening tore the sky apart, while a clap of thunder shook the tiny house. Kit did not notice. Her attention was transfixed on the man, for it was a man, in front of her.

Suddenly she heard a familiar voice ask, "Kit?"

The man stepped into room. He removed the hood of the cloak he was wearing and gazed through the near darkness to look into Kit's face. His hair was longer than she remembered and it was dark and clung to his head due to the rain. The stubble on his jaw indicated that he hadn't shaved in a couple of days. But his eyes were still the same unique shade of blue that could fill her with such joy or cut her to the quick.

"Nat?" she gasped and then stammered, "W-what are you doing here?"

He flashed a smile that she had once known so well and had come to miss so much in the past months. "Why, I'm visiting my mother and grandmother. And Hannah, too, of course."

"Oh, of course, of course," Kit muttered, glancing away, ignoring the peculiar twisting sensation in her stomach.

Nat looked at her. "Kit? Do you mind if I come in? It's really quite a storm out there."

"I'm sorry! Of course you should come in. It's your family's house after all. Oh, you're dripping wet! You take off your coat and I'll go rekindle the fire so you can warm up." Kit began to move around between rooms.

Nat took off his coat and hung it by the door. He saw Hannah sleeping in the corner of the next room and continued into the other room where there was a freshly lit fire blazing. He pulled a chair closer to the fire, grabbed a small blanket from the chest in the corner, wrapped it around himself, and sat, staring into the fire, waiting for it to heat up.

Kit walked in a few minutes later with a steaming cup. "Here you are. Some tea should warm you up a bit."

He took the offered cup. "Thank you." Looking over the brim, he turned to her. "Kit, are you well? You seem a bit…flustered."

She looked down into her hands. "Oh, I'm fine. You just frightened me."

Nat continued to silently gaze at her. She looked the same for the most part. Her hair was as untamed as ever and her eyes, he had noticed in the few moments when she actually looked at him, still had the same fighting spirit though, somehow, they seemed sadder than he remembered.

"Kit," Nat called. She looked up, startled. "I have a fairly serious question for you." She raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a small grin.

She laughed. "Oh! I was in the corn fields earlier and I didn't leave until it was ready to storm. Then I went home and I saw your mother and Anne there, but no Hannah. I didn't want her to stay here alone, so I came to bring her back with me, but the storm broke as I was running over here. Obviously, it's pouring rain out there, so I decided to wait here until there was a pause in the downpour, but Hannah wouldn't leave until Thomas returned." She glanced with a smile at the old woman, still slumbering in her chair by the window. "And now she has fallen asleep again."

Chuckling, Nat said, "Well, that sounds like the two of you. But did you say home?"

"Yes. Although, it's really Mercy and John's home. And Maddie's as well, I suppose. I just live there," Kit rambled. Seeing his bewildered look, she continued, "I guess you don't know. John and Mercy are married; Maddie's their daughter. John is the reverend of Saybrook. I came with them to help, since a new baby, a new home, and the duties of a reverend's wife would be daunting to a perfectly healthy woman.

"Besides, there was nothing left for me in Wethersfield. As much as I love Uncle Matthew and Aunt Rachel, I wouldn't want to be the spinster indefinitely living in their home. Since William and Judith were married, I decided to come with Mercy.

"And, now, I'm here, where I won't be in the way as much."

Kit let out a long sigh and looked back into the fire. Nat sat silently. When he did not speak after a minute, she turned to look at him and could see the reflection of the fire in his eyes. "What is it?" she asked.

He blinked and shook his head. "Sorry, Kit. 'Twas a lot of information at once. I just realized how long I have been gone. Let me see if I understand all this." He took a deep breath before continuing. "You did not marry William, Judith did. Judith did not marry John, Mercy did. John is the reverend here and lives in that house over there with Mercy and their daughter, who is Maddie. You live here as well because you want to help and not be a burden. And you are here because Hannah is and you did not want her to be alone during the storm. Do I have all this correct? Did I miss anything?" he asked, giving her a slightly overwhelmed, questioning look.

"No, 'tis all. Oh! I'm also teaching the dame school," Kit added after a moment.

"That's wonderful, Kit. You were always great with Prudence," he said, smiling and looking into the fire. He turned to look at her again and she felt her heart swell. He held her gaze and said seriously, "I am glad to see you again, Kit Tyler. Not Mistress Ashby. And I cannot believe you would ever be a trouble to your aunt and uncle; you are like a daughter to them."

Kit worked hard not to let the blush rise to her cheeks. "Perhaps, but even a daughter, treasured and loved, can be a burden. And, yes, I am still Mistress Tyler." She added in a very low mutter so Nat could not hear, "And I probably always will be." Louder, she continued, "I realized I did not love William and I knew he did not love me either. 'Tis for the best. He and Judith get along splendidly. You'll be able to witness it yourself; they are staying with us right now."

She turned to look at the young man sitting beside her. He was as much a mystery as he had always been. "And what of you, Nat? What has become of you since I last saw you…how long has it been?"

Nat chuckled, glancing at his hands. "Too long. Are you sure you want to hear of my adventures? It may take a while," he warned.

Grinning, Kit nodded, settling back in her chair with her own cup of tea. Nat told her tales of The Witch, of James's marriage to a young woman with brown hair and green eyes named Lily, and of Barbados.

Kit listened, enthralled. The storm continued to rage outside, but she was perfectly content at the moment to be sitting near the man she loved and to listen to his voice, a voice that had always been able to calm her. She could confess it to herself, if not to anybody else, that she had missed Nat dearly. She knew he was the reason she ended her engagement with William, though she would never tell him so. The thought of never talking to him again had hurt her more than she cared to admit.

After some time, Nat ran out of things to recount and the two sat in comfortable silence. Hannah grunted in her slumber, startling the two young people, but bringing them to the subject of memories. As they revisited past days spent together, the rain began to slow, though neither of them noticed.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure appeared at the door for the second time that night. "Kit!" the figure called out. "Where are you?

"We were worried. We didn't think it would take this long to convince Hannah to come with –" Mistress Eaton, removing her hood, entered the room where Nat and Kit were talking. She stopped suddenly when she saw her son and rushed to embrace him. "Nat! What are you doing here? I've missed you!"

Nat laughed, looking down at his mother who reached slightly over his shoulder. "We've been making the runs between the islands and America. My ketch is still a few miles offshore, but I thought I would come by to visit, maybe spend a couple days, so I rowed myself here. I came here straight away, but only Kit was here, and Hannah, though she's been asleep the entire time. We've been visiting." He gave his mother another embrace. "I've missed you, too. And Grandmother. Where is she?"

Mistress Eaton gave her son a smile. "Oh, I left her at the Holbrook's." She gave Kit a wink, adding, "She was very busy lecturing William. She has moved on from history to literature." She and Kit laughed. "Poor boy. Mother can be quite intimidating. Well, come on, you two. We must eat and you must tell us all about all your travels. I'm sorry, Kit, you'll have to listen to his ramblings again." The two hurried out of the room.

As Mistress Eaton and Nat set about getting Hannah ready to leave, Kit said in an undertone, "I don't mind."

After the Eatons and Hannah left, Kit found herself in the kitchen with Mercy cleaning up after their near feast. John was putting Maddie to bed and Judith and William were in their room packing, as they would be leaving the next night.

Mercy turned to her cousin. "Kit, are you all right?"

"Of course I am. Why would I not be?"

"Nat."

Kit paused for a moment. "Oh. No, I am fine. I'm glad to see him again."

Mercy gazed at her intently. "Are you really? I know you are in love with him."

Kit gasped and dropped the spoon she had been cleaning. Turning to her friend and cousin, she stammered, "Wh-what? I am not in…what are you on about?"

"Kit. It's my legs that are weak, not my eyes," Mercy said gently. "I've seen the way you look at him. You've been in love with him since he walked you home all that time ago, before I even knew his name."

"Oh," Kit weakly managed. She sat on a stool and looked at her hands that she was wringing together. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" she asked, looking up with shining, wet eyes.

Mercy gasped and sat on a stool next to her. She gently guided Kit's head to rest on her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her younger cousin. She stroked her hair and waited until the sobbing subsided before continuing, "Of course not, dear. I don't think anyone else has noticed. John doesn't know your heart as I do, Judith and William have never been able to read subtleties, and the Eatons were too busy drinking the boy in to see. But I truly believe you should tell Nat."

Kit shook her head violently. "I cannot! Mercy, I didn't tell you this before, but Nat asked me to marry him before and I refused. I chose William over him. And now I realize I love him and it's too late. I don't deserve him, Mercy. Don't you understand?"

Giving a small smile, Mercy said, "No, dear, I don't. You made a mistake, yes, but you realized it and fixed it. You have been a kind, caring, devoted, loving woman. You deserve to be happy."

"But I'm certain he has moved on. He has probably forgotten about his former feelings for me and just remembers me as a friend. I cannot stand to be rejected by him. Better be his friend then nothing at all," Kit cried.

"True as that may be, you don't know for certain that he no longer loves you. You should tell him how you feel," Mercy advised.

Kit took a deep breath and was silent for a moment. Then she stood up, wiped away her tears, and walked back to the plates that had been used during dinner and scraped them clean. With her back to Mercy, she declared, "I cannot. He doesn't need to know; 'tis better if he never knows. He'll be leaving soon and that will be the end of it. We'll just be friends again and talk as we used to. I shall be his peculiar friend who acts without thinking and who is constantly getting herself into scrapes. Love need not change anything."

Still seated on the stool, Mercy shook her head at her cousin's back, silently berating Kit's obstinacy and pride.

Thanks to: ffgirlmoonie (YES!!!), Hannah (Thanks for your support and excitement and continue to review!), Bac210, Meagan, and friend of CrimsonScarz (Oh, I wish your computer would let you review! But thanks for liking my story so much to get somebody else to review for you...it means a lot to me!). I will be sending longer responses with the review button or I'll send an e-mail to anonymous reviews if they leave an address from now on.

Author's Note: I know, I know, I'm a terrible person. It's not exactly mid-January. But before you all attack me, please understand that I did have my reasons. I missed the second week of school because I had to deal with personal family…events that required me to not be in the country. Then I had to make up all my work and try to catch up, which I never really did. But no matter, the year is over now!

I know this chapter is short, but I thought it better to post it now than make you guys wait longer for a chapter with more words, but no more details. Now, as I was writing this chapter, I realized I'm a very into clichés. Well, I knew this already, but I love clichés and I assume many others do as well and that how they become so cliché. Also, I've lost inspiration for this story and I cannot make myself write all the time the way I think these characters would act. I'm trying, but it's hard. So if they seem off, I apologize in advance. Or is advance gone now and I'm just apologizing? I'm a bit tired...sorry.

Anyway, it's summer for me now and I will try to write and finish this story up. There are only two chapters left. And I know what I want to happen, so hopefully it won't take me too long to update, but, as we know, my word means nothing when it comes to update deadlines. I hate deadlines. But I promise that I will write and this story will be done before 2008. Hopefully. Two chapters shouldn't take too long to write, right?

So, I'm gonna sign off now. Please review. Speaking of reviews, I was thinking about the number of reviews I have received for this story, from before it was taken down and this version, and the number is staggering and so amazing. I love all you guys for sticking with me through my attempts to write Kit's story. It can't have been easy all the time, especially since, I'm so terrible with the updating thing and I'm not that great of a writer…what I'm trying to say is thanks for your support and I love you guys. Have a good summer!