"Darlin', grab my jacket while you're up there, please!" I hollered, pulling my other boot on.

"Got it!"

I busied myself around the living room, packing small fruits and brown blankets. I sighed at the movement—my back was all sorts of messed up because Alex kept folding into weird positions trying to fall asleep and I was the barricade so he wouldn't fall off the bed. I heard the light thud of Alexander come down the stairs.

"This one?" He came into the room with a dark brown coat slung over his arm.

"Yep!"

I took it from him, placing a chaste kiss on his cheek in thanks. He beamed at me and began to help me pack.

I'll never get over his boyish grin after each kiss from me.

A heavy knock sounded on the door, pulling me from my love-induced stupor. I strode to the front of the house, gripping the knob and pulling it open.

"Mornin', John." Richard greeted, and I stepped aside to let him in. "Mornin', Alexander!"

"Hey, Richard!" Alex yelled from somewhere in the house.

"How'd you sleep, Richard?" I asked, leading him into the living room.

"As well as I could. You?" He replied, falling back onto the sofa.

"Pretty well." I shot a slight smile at Alex's back, watching as he popped some flasks of water into the duffel we had. "Nothing to complain about except having to get up."

"Yeah, I haven't slept in until noon in what feels like years," He shook his head and chuckled. "Makes me feel like a teenager again."

I snickered along with him and moved to sit down. I gestured to the armchair across from me and Richard took his place. Alex came in a few seconds later, exchanging greetings with Richard again.

"So, I checked out the pub this morning, it's called Crowley's, by the way." Richard mentioned, leaning back and crossing his legs. "Looks like we've got the perfect view from the adjacent alleyway."

"Great, should we bring our own trash bags to hide behind or will they be supplied?" Alex joked, sitting beside me on the sofa.

"It's a high-end alleyway, Alex, of course they'll be supplied." Richard retorted, scoffing at the question.

"Of course, of course." I nodded along, amused by their banter. "Does heading out around late dusk tonight sound good?"

Richard and Alex bobbed their heads in agreement. We all stood, ready to finish prepping in the meantime. We had roughly five hours before we had to leave and we wanted to spend it readying for any confrontation that might arise.

/ / / / / / / /

"Alex, pick your feet up, you sound like a limping old man!" I starkly whispered, rolling my eyes at his scandalized look over his shoulder at me. He gave a disgruntled huff, but picked his feet and pace up. "Thanks, babe."

Richard coughed, drawing my attention to him. "So, uh, I forgot to ask earlier and forgive me if I'm prying, but are you boys, uh… an item?"

"Yes, sir." I turned back to look at him while Alex stayed ahead of us on the dim sidewalk. "Any problem?"

"Nope, just wondering." He was quick to shake his head, coming up beside me. "I can see how you look at each other. I used to look at my Belle like that, when we were first starting to court."

I smiled. "Is that your wife?"

"Yep. We were married right before I headed off to the frontlines, and she's stuck by me ever since."

"That's really sweet, Rich." Alex softly commented, peeking over his shoulder to give us a grin.

"Ah, thanks."

I walked up to Alex, making sure I stayed along the wall that we were going along. Richard trailed behind me, keeping an eye out for anyone following us.

"Just another block, then turn right." Richard whispered to us. "That's gonna be our home for the rest of the night."

I adjusted the duffel over my shoulder, sighing at the heaviness. I had stashed so much food, water, and extra coats in here that even Eliza would call me dramatic. Alex was a few feet ahead of me and I watched as he turned into the alleyway.

Richard and I followed after him, and we went six or seven paces into it and stopped to look for a hiding spot. A large pile of trash, beer crates, and broken bottles laid in the side of the passage. Alex headed straight for it and immediately crouched behind it. I did the same, and dropped my bag beside me as Richard plopped himself down to a crouch as well.

Alex turned on his heels so he was huddled in a circle with Rich and me. "Okay, so we wait around for a bit and look for what exactly?"

"Anyone that is vocal about their hatred for revolutionaries or anyone that I recognize as being someone who could've hurt one." Rich answered.

"Got it." Alex and I quietly responded.

Rich shuffled his legs out from under him so he was sitting against the alley wall. He let out a shallow breath as Alex and I adjusted ourselves to get comfortable on the frigid cobblestone ground.

"Alright, boys, settle in for a long night of disappointment." Richard muttered before we all set our eyes on Crowley's front entrance.

/

"John!" A belligerent whisper brushed my left ear. "John, up, now!"

An influx of air hit my lungs as I bolted upright, my eyes wide and alert. I became aware of his warm hands on my shoulders as I looked into Alex's big eyes.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I choked the harshly whispered words out of my arid mouth.

Richard had apparently heard the muffled commotion as he had also quickly sat up, eyeing every which way.

Alex sharply pointed his left arm in the direction of the pub's door and held a finger to his chapped lips. Rich and I followed his sight, and saw a small cluster of lanky men standing in front of one of the pub's hulking windows. There weren't too many, just about five or six guys huddled close. They seemed to be in agreement about something big. They were patting each other on the back and smiling real wide.

"That's mighty suspicious, I for sure don't trust lads being friends or anything." Rich rolled his eyes and leaned back against the alley's craggy wall.

"No, Richard, shut your sarcasm up and actually listen!" Alex turned to glare at him before gluing his eyes back on the little crowd.

I had to strain to hear, but the bits and pieces of conversation I got was enough.

"Nah, we're fer sure to scare 'em out their boots if we do…" Damn it, I can barely hear them.

"Why don't we do the same as we did to ol' Hugh?"

"Ay! Mate, that's the first time you've ever 'ad a good idea!"

I barely registered the roars of laughter and spilling of light as they opened the door to the pub and disappeared.

Alex's shaky breath reminded me to focus, and I scrunched my eyes before his paling face came into view.

"They were speaking about how they have crew wanting to go to New York City to rough up some revolutionaries a few moments before I woke you guys." He mumbled, his eyes slightly watery. "Something about teaching General George Washington a lesson."

"Oh, Alex…" My mouth dropped into a frown and I moved onto my knees to wrap my arms around him. His head automatically went into the crook of my neck and I could feel his shallow gasps on my exposed skin. "Nothing will happen to Washington, he can handle anything that comes his way and he's got an entire country behind him. If he falls, it'll catch him."

I almost forgot Richard was here with us until he spoke up. "We'll get to their rat leader before the good ol' General even knows anyone is planning on attacking him and his boys on their ground."

"Yeah." Alex slowly nodded.

"What do you think we should do for the time being, Richard?" I glanced at Crowley's hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the men through the windows, but had no such luck. "I didn't see any of them well enough in the crappy lighting to really remember them if saw them again. Did you?"

"Yep, it's called being good-at-my-job, ya dolt." He groaned as he stood up and patted dirt off his pants. I ignored his slight jab since it made Alex give a small chuckle, and we listened to the rest. "I saw two of them real clear, but I'll write down descriptions once we get back to the house for you boys to look over."

"Sounds like a plan. What do you guys say about getting out of this hellhole of an alley and making some food at the house?" Alex suggested, heaving the duffel bag over his shoulder.

"I'm so down for that and I'm sorry to put a wrench in it, but what if we can't find these guys tomorrow?" I quietly asked, knitting my brows together.

Richard answered me as he tightened his coat around himself. "Ah, no worries, I know their faces now and they seem pretty familiar with the pub so they most likely live around here. We'll find them with no issue."

I nodded an 'okay' and the three of us set out for Hugh's house.

/ / / / / / / / / /

We made it back to the house a few hours before dawn broke. We were exhausted, hungry, and Alex was less of an emotional-wreck than I'd expected. Usually after hearing threats or jokes against Washington he's in one of two states: fuming or depressed. When I kept checking on him during the walk home, he was neither.

Very, very, worrisome.

Rich immediately retreated to one of the rooms upstairs to catch some shut-eye once we entered the building. Alex and I, however, chose to sit down on the couch for a few moments. After the night we'd had, we needed to take a break.

I sat down in the corner of the couch and Alex dropped down beside me to curl into my side. He put his hands together on my chest as I enveloped his shoulders in my arms. A little moan of content escaped from his lips, and I hummed in return.

"You okay, love?" I mumbled, bringing a hand up to his hair and curling my fingers around his messy locks.

I felt him nod against me. He opened his hands to grabs fistfuls of my shirt and tightened it, before nestling deeper. A narrow strip of his forehead was visible under a shaggy burst of his bangs right beneath my chin. I maneuvered myself to place a chaste peck on his head and then returned to my former position before he could complain about me moving too much.

"Mm tiiyuud…" His distorted words were stifled by my body and the result made me giggle a bit too much. He scooted back a tad and I tilted my head down to meet his eyes. His mouth was pursed and he looked like a little tomato. My little tomato. "Don't laugh, John! I, agh, I'm tired!"

"Baby, I know you're tired, but you look so freaking adorable right now." I grinned at him, dipping my head down to give him a swift kiss.

His lips were cold but so were mine.

Apparently Alex took a second to even register that I had kissed him, because as soon as it hit him I was already pulling away. That wasn't the right move for me, since he rapidly shook his head and gave a quick smirk. He jumped from his place next to me to straddle my lap. He grabbed my face and kissed me like we'd just gotten off of an active war field. My mind completely blanked as his tongue familiarized itself with the inside of my mouth. I habitually engulfed his waist with my arms, my hands grasping at whatever part of his body I could find. His thighs squeezed against my torso and my pelvis involuntarily pushed forward at the sensation.

He gasped into my mouth at the contact and his hands undid my ponytail, letting my shoulder-length curls drop as he bunched them in his fists. I couldn't contain my smile as he kept kissing me and I accidentally ended up knocking teeth with him. He made a groaning sound of disapproval and I did a small 'agGHh' but then we recovered.

I'm not even sure how long we made out until I realized I needed a break. I lightly tapped his hip with one of my fingers- a signal I've started doing when he's nonstop and I'm definitely in need of a stop. I could feel beads of sweat all over me and I'm sure he was even worse.

"We should get cleaned up and get some sleep…" I breathed, not meaning to sound as knocked out as I did. My eyes wouldn't even fully open.

Lord, this man does a number on me.

"Mhmm, sure, some sleep." He had this cocky grin that was just lopsided enough to not look stupid, but enough for me to roll my half-open eyes.

"Yes, jackass, sleep is what I said." I stood up, holding him by his thighs and tried not to laugh when he damn near yelped.

"Why didn't you warn me you were going to pick me up?!" He gasped, flinging his arms around my neck and crossing his ankles behind my back for maximum stability. I laughed and begun to move to the stairs.

All I remember before going upstairs and tossing us both into bed were his soft cries of "If you drop me, mister, I'm breaking up with you!"

He wouldn't throw away this shot.

A/N: Holy shit. I am so many types of tired right now, but here I am, updating. at 11 pm. on a friday night. nearly a year after the last update.

Y'all, so much shit has gone down in my life in the past year and it's been real rough. I'm trying to get back into the fanfic updating world, because I got an email about someone reviewing this story a little while ago and it actually made me cry. People are still out here, reading my work, liking it, reviewing it, following and favoriting it, and it makes me so happy. I'm shaken that you guys still support this story even though I haven't touched it in so long.

I'm going to do my best to work on the next chapter, but I'm working two jobs right now so I'm not sure how it'll go. Thank you all so so so so much for supporting this story for so long and for reviewing. The reviews are honestly such lights to me and they always give me a smile or a writing boost and I love it and am so grateful to those of you who take the time to write them out.

I hope you're all doing incredibly well and that you're surrounded by love. 3

all my hugs,

thatwritermadeofpotatoes