Thank you to everyone who is reading. Please review and send messages I love to hear from people good or bad. In case your wondering this story is a little on the slow side but the romance aspects will be picking up (slowly but surley) from here on in dont worry. Again thanks for reading and I do not own any of these charactures or the show Liberty's Kids.

As the plates cleared and the men went about their evening routine, James couldn't help but think about Sarah. Her reaction to the news about the man coming to court her was odd. It was undignified, it was uncollected, it was entirely unSarah. After another hour of worry and no site of Sarah he decided he should go and be sure she was okay.

Slowly James made his way up the stairs and to Sarah's room. He raised his hand and paused, thinking if he really wanted to bother her or if she would want him to go away. In the end he decided to go for it and slowly knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" He heard Sarah call through the door.

"Sarah it's James. I understand if you're busy or something I just wanted to be sure you were okay. You didn't seem quite yourself at supper..." His voice rather dropped off as the door opened to reveal a sad looking Sarah. She said nothing and he looked at her for a few seconds "Are you okay Sarah?"

"Yes Im perfectly fine." She replied sounding offended that he would suggest anything else.

"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously

"Yes...well maybe...oh I don't know!" Sarah again looked as undignified as James had ever seen her as she threw her hands in the air and sat back down at her desk looking as though she might cry at any moment. James noticed a small pile of crumpled paper on one side of the desk and a clearly used handkerchief on the other.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted her to or not.

She thought about it and slowly shrugged answering "I guess so." She then paused for a long time before continuing. "I'm just so confused about everything. The past few days with seeing Elizabeth and then the news of the man. It just feels like everything is coming fast."

James had wondered if it was the idea of courting that had upset Sarah. But he didn't understand why. Hadn't she just been talking to her friend about the wonders of marriage. Didn't proper British girls dream of growing up to be a good wife and mother? Maybe James was wrong about all of it.

"I thought you would be happy to hear about the man coming"

"Oh I know I should be. Proper British girls my age go off and are courted and get married and raise children and keep house, just like Elizabeth is doing. But once Henri said that the man had come by I just wasn't happy. I was nervous and sad and confused." She looked up at James as though she had just revealed the most terrible secret ever. It felt terrible to say it all, and she couldn't tell why she was telling James all this, but at the same time it felt so nice to get all this confusion out of her head.

"And I just worry that I won't be happy in marriage. What's wrong with me that that's true? I don't want to have to think about all of this yet, but here I am. Im the right age and there is a man waiting for me to court." She looked up at James as she finished, her face getting steadily more flushed and her eyes looking closer and closer to tears.

"Well if you don't want to deal with it yet, then say no to the man and no to any other men who come until you're ready."

"I could never! James you don't understand. That is so improper to refuse to go with someone who has come to court you. You do not have to say yes to a proposal but its incessantly rude to not even allow them one evening of your company! And I'm sure the evening would be fine and he's a pleasant man but oh James I just don't want to have to think of it at all! And eventually if I keep turning down sutors mother will hear and I don't know how to tell her that I'm not ready." James attempted to say something comforting while Sarah stopped to breathe but it turned out she was faster than he and just kept going.

"And the biggest thing is that I don't want to stop my writing. I can't move back to Britain now when all this excitement is happening around me. Oh but I do want to be married. What is wrong with me that I'm not excited?" Finally James thought as Sarah seemed to really be done with her rant.

"I'm sure there are some men who will let you still write. And really why can't you marry a general (he hated the idea but he had to say it) like Elizabeth and then you don't have to go back yet, or better yet marry an american." Sarah signed lightly and looked down at her desk.
"I don't know." She began to almost chuckle to herself. "I really just wish I had more time for all of this. You're so lucky James. Men get to court when they want and who they want. You get to decide when your ready. I just have to sit here and wait be it too early or too late." She smiled and shook her head at him, but was surprised when his face showed one of envy.

"No Sarah you have it lucky. Women in the end decide everything. Every man has to go ask a woman. To court or to be married, and then you have to wait while in the end the woman decides. No matter how much I would wish to marry a girl in the end she says yes or no and I can do nothing about it." James sighed. He hadn't really thought of marriage much, until they had been at Elizabeth's. Now it seemed to be consuming his life, what with the man asking for Sarah.

"You can always talk to her family, I'm sure they would persuade her." She offered encouragingly

"Yeah. Orphan like me doesn't really make a great catch though. And besides that I'm so ungentlemanly as you always say I would never have any pull with a family." James said sadly. He didn't think about love marriage a lot, but now that he was it saddened him to realize that he was not a good catch at all. Maybe he should start courting and taking his rejections early.

"I'm sure you're a fine catch James. Not very proper of course, but now American women seem more interested in determination then dignity. Besides your very kind when you want to be. I'm sure things will work out for you when you want them to." Sarah smiled up at him, and he smiled back. Though both teens were now worried, confused and scared of the new stage in their life, they both felt much better about it after having their little heart to heart on the matter.

"Thank you Sarah. That was very kind of you." Said James as he turned to leave the room.

"No thank you James. I really needed to talk with someone about this. I appreciate it." And with that he left and she shut the door returning to her writing which she hoped would go a little more smoothly.

-Thank you for reading!-