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Luthlien: Yes, I think he was a bit angry about Lillian. ^^ He just wants her to be safe after all and knows that she can´t defend herself, if it should became necessary and he isn´t with her. But he will get over it soon. ;)

Back to the start again

"It´s starting to get comfortable." I couldn´t hold back this dry comment. It felt like we were laying in this haystack for hours now and although I couldn´t hear anything that would indicate the presence of soldiers nearby, Connor didn´t made a move to leave our hideout. Entirely motionless he lay there and I admired him for being able to prop up himself on his elbows for so long, so that I wasn´t crushed by his weight. Nevertheless I had the feeling that my legs were becoming numb. The hay rustled quietly when Connor finally began to move slightly.
"I think they are gone", he murmured and had stood up shortly afterwards. Now that his body wasn´t laying over me like a barrier anymore, the whole hay slumped down on me and I would have cursed, if my face wasn´t buried under the scratchy stalks like this. I kicked my legs a bit and tried to find support in the hay so sit up somehow. But I found none. Helpless I stretched out my arms which reached the surface at least, but at first I only felt the cold night air on my skin. With my lips pressed together, I uttered a noise that hopefully was loud enough to be heard by Connor. It was. Each of his hands grabbed one of my wrists and shortly afterwards Connor effortlessly pulled me out of the haystack and I got firm ground under my feet again. In an instant I ran my hands over my face, freed it from remaining stalks and began to hectically beat my clothes. It itched and scratched everywhere and I envied Connor, because obviously only a few simple beats against his robes were enough to remove the remains of our hideout from them. His hood had done the rest. I had to open my braid to shake my hair out, too. Soon the ground around me was covered by single stacks, but with a quiet curse I noticed that they also had found their way into my neckline. I took a step to Connor so that he covered me, as if anybody else in the darkness could watch me fishing the last stacks out of my décolleté.

When I raised my eyes again, I saw that Connor had turned his gaze away. Because of a certain sense of decency or just because he had an eye on the environment, I didn´t ask for it. When he noticed that I was looking at him, he turned his gaze to me again and as if he had given me a silent signal, he went on towards the street. I followed and stayed close to him. The moon was already high over Boston, but its light was hidden behind thick clouds. So it was entirely dark in town, except of some burning lanterns here and there. But the darkness was good for us. We stayed in the shadows of the buildings, evaded appearing soldiers with turning into other streets and alleys or entirely turning around if there was no deviation we could use. Although I felt safe in Connor´s presence, I always became afraid when soldiers or templar guards almost crossed our way. So I was relieved when we finally approached the house of family Adams and stopped in front of their door. The windows were still enlightened. So they were waiting for us, but when Connor just wanted to raise his fist to knock, I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Wait", I said with a quiet voice and Connor turned to me frowning. "Are you really fine?", I asked and he nodded slowly. "So they didn´t harm you when you were their prisoner?"
My voice sounded insecure and a hidden fear was noticeable in it. The fear I had felt since I had learned about Connor´s arrest. But it seemed like he didn´t understand what I meant and why I was asking these questions. He shook his head.
"I think that was not their intention. They only wanted to get us out of their way and to expose us to the judgment of a court. Except of some strikes, they could not do much to us."
Silently I looked into his eyes and I shortly felt anger flaring up inside of me. He said it as if it was nothing that the templars had tried to blame him and the others for the crimes of Ray and his gang. That there was no difference in the way the templars hurt him. No matter if with simple strikes or something worse. But probably there was really no difference for Connor and so I lowered my eyes again sighing.
"Well, if it were only some strikes, it´s fine", I murmured and looked at the spots of light falling through the windows onto the wooden floor to my feet.
"What did you think they would do to us?", Connor asked, when I thought that this conversation was over and I raised my eyes again, only to look at the door next to me. I chewed on my bottom lip, took a deep breath and tried to hold back the tears which were rising into my eyes, before I looked at him again.
"What do you think?", I asked, almost angry. He really didn´t know which memories I was associating with his arrest, although I had actually thought that he remembered them well enough himself.
"I saw you hanging from the ceiling in chains in the darkness. Beaten black and blue and half dead. That´s why I had to come here and couldn´t wait for your release at home."

Silently Connor looked at me, but it wasn´t a questioning gaze anymore. Now he seemed to understand what I had meant. That I had feared the templar could hurt him like they had done in London. But that I could really lose him this time. I hoped that he also understood that this was the reason why I was here. He always did everything to protect me and others and even though I couldn´t do it in the way he did it, I basically wanted the same. If it was possible for me, I would always try everything to save him from harm. Probably Connor thought that there was no reason for me to protect him, but I thought that I had every reason for it. I loved him and it already wasn´t just about protecting him, so that I didn´t lose him. Now there was also Emily who needed him.
"I am fine", Connor assured me and a short smile flitted across his lips which was obviously supposed to reassure me. I smiled faintly, too. It was obvious that he was fine and I should be glad about it, instead of thinking about the past. He was free and healthy. That was basically everything I had wanted.
"Shall we then?" Connor raised his fist to knock, but again I grabbed his arm. I stepped to him, put my hand on his chest and kissed his lips. It was just a light touch, but I had needed it to ban the last concerns and fears for Connor from my mind. Smiling I stepped back from him.
"Now we can go", I said and knocked on the door shortly afterwards.

Surry, the family´s maid, opened and led us to the parlour, where the others were already waiting for us. The three assassins were obviously unharmed. Samuel Adams leaned by the fireplace, a pipe in the corner of his mouth and Maria was sitting in an armchair, rocking Emily in her arms. I shortly greeted everyone, but my way led me directly to Maria and I carefully took my daughter from her. She was awake and a loving smile appeared on my lips when I spoke quietly to her and she reacted with a squealing sound, before she closed her eyes, when I began to rock her.
"Was everything alright?", I asked Maria, sat down on an armchair next to her and she nodded smiling.
"In the beginning she cried, but after some time she fell asleep. She just woke up."
Pleased with this answer I looked down at Emily again, until I heard Maria chuckle. I felt a light pull in my hair when my friend pulled a green stack out of it.
"Where have you been?", she asked amused and I squinched up my face. I had hoped that I had got rid of the whole hay.
"Connor tore me into a haystack", I answered grimly and this time Maria´s laughter became louder, so that the present men, who had been talking about the rescue until now, looked at us. Irritated I looked at Maria who bent down to Emily and murmured, clearly audible: "Well, maybe you´re having a sibling soon."
"Maria! That´s not what I meant!" My jaw almost dropped and I felt how I blushed as my gaze slid though the room. Everyone, including Connor, was looking at us. They appeared partly confused, partly amused. Sam Adams seemed to be suppressing a laughter, as well as Duncan.
"We were hiding!", I emphasized. "We didn´t...well...you know what I want to say."
Hastily I lowered my eyes and wished that the ground would open and swallow me, while Maria was still enjoying herself immensely. Why was she always so cheeky and direct?
Clearing my throat I lifted Emily to my shoulder and stood up. "Sam, do you have a quiet room where I can put the little one to sleep until you spoke about everything?", I asked our host and hoped that my cheeks weren´t still glowing.
"Of course." Sam Adams smiled, but I could still see this amused sparkle in his eyes. "I thought, maybe it is better, if you would stay for the night. Surry already prepared the guest room for you and the former room of our daughter for Maria. She will show you the way, if you want to."
I nodded gratefully and wished everybody a good night, before Surry led Maria and me upstairs. I would have liked to stay in the parlour to listen to the men´s conversation, but to care for Emily still had priority. Furthermore I didn´t want to stay there after Maria´s jokes. Certainly she had meant no harm and hadn´t intended to joke about me, but nevertheless I didn´t feel like letting others amuse themselves about me.

Finally in the guest room and alone with Emily, I sat down on the bed at first, to nurse my daughter and to prepare a bed of pillows afterwards, because of a lack of a cradle and carefully I bedded her on it. It was always wonderful to watch how Emily lay there, entirely satisfied and falling asleep a few minutes later. For her there were no fears and concerns keeping her awake. Everything she needed was a full stomach, a dry napkin, a soft bed and the closeness of someone who loved her and cared for her. It was enviable and I hoped that it would stay like this for her a while longer.
I turned off the light, undressed to my shift and laid down on the bed next to Emily shortly afterwards. Carefully I spread the blanket over us and caressed the soft shock of hair on her little head. Soon my thoughts wandered to the men, who were probably talking about their next steps against the templars and Ray´s gang right now, but soon my tiredness gained the upper hand and I fell asleep. After some time I was woken by the cold air brushing me, as Connor lifted the blanket and laid down on the bed to us. Carefully, so that I didn´t woke Emily up, I turned on my back and Connor, who was laying on the side propped on his arm, paused in his movement when he noticed like this that I was still awake.

"Did you decided how to go on?", I asked quietly, but even though he was nothing more than a shadow next to me, I saw that Connor shook his head.
"I will explain it to you tomorrow. Sleep now."
I would have liked to contradict, but when Connor lay down, I turned onto my side and with the back to him again. Even though I wanted to learn now, what they had talked about, I wanted to give Connor the chance to rest. During the last days he certainly hadn´t come to rest and basically I wanted to enjoy that he was with me again. But there was one question I couldn´t hold back.
"Nobody said something about Maria´s...comment, didn´t they?"
Shortly it was entirely silent until Connor wrapped an arm around me and I felt his breath brushing the nape of my neck.
"You mean the one about the haystack?", he asked a question in return and inwardly I was irritated about his amused undertone.
"It was embarrassing for me", I said, a bit offended and I heard Connor smirk.
"You made it even worse yourself. We did not hear anything else but that Maria was saying something about a sibling. Only when you began to justify yourself, we could imagine the rest. Nobody would have known what you were talking about."
Oh, great. So I had made myself become the centre of everybody´s amusement. Again. Grimly I buried my head in my arms and decided that from now on, I would say nothing about a topic that could become embarrassing for me anymore.

Connor´s arm around my hip tensed, when he effortlessly pulled me closer, until my back rested against his chest. Shortly he pressed his lips against the nape of my neck, before his breath tickled my skin again when he murmured: "Do not think about it. Nobody talked about it and nobody will."
"I hope so."
I stared into the darkness for a while and felt how Connor´s arm relaxed more and more and his hand slid from my hip, when he quickly fell asleep. Carefully I grabbed it, led it further up to my belly and while my thump gently caressed the back of Connor´s hand, I closed my eyes, listened to his regular breathing and finally let my tiredness lead me back into the world of sleep.

In the next morning we were four of us, sitting in the parlour of the Adams' and shrouding ourselves in a thoughtful, maybe even a morose silence. Connor, supported by Sam Adams, had told Maria and me about the newest insights regarding Ray´s gang. It had come to light that the templars were searching for them as long as we did, but they had been more successful over the last days. In New York, as well as in Philadelphia and here in Boston, they had busted several hideouts of the gang and had arrested some members. Ray´s men had been forced to split up, which meant that they were defeated for now. They had no opportunities to act, or rather they had to gather again at first, but therefore they had probably not enough resources. The templars had distributed the stolen goods, they had been able to find, to their owners again. For the good will, like they said, but for Connor this apparently friendly gesture was a sign for the real intentions of the templar´s.

After the war of independence, the state of the Americans was still in its infancy, so it was the perfect chance for the templars to subliminally establish themselves and to try to get their own order through. Some of their men were already holding positions with great power of decision and if they supported the people with protecting them from criminals like Ray and his men, their chances were quite good. To blame the assassins on complicity, was another chance to harm them. Callaghan had said that he had felt the acting of the assassins to be an interference. That we didn´t know what it was actually about. Sam Adams had already told Connor about this conversation and even though my husband was sure about his present supposition, he believed that the templars were also planning something else. Something that had nothing to do with their own kind of politics. But nobody of us knew what this could be. But it wasn´t the only thing we thought about. Ray´s gang was defeated for the most part, his plans practically destroyed. But my brother had disappeared and the templars had already started searching for him, but until now they had no trace to him. I didn´t know if I should be glad that Ray was gone. I had always wished for it over the last days and weeks, but somehow I didn´t like the thought that the templars were chasing him now. I could say that I didn´t care and that it would be easier for us, if the order took care of him. But I doubted that they were searching for him because they wanted to bring him before the judge and Connor thought the same when I mentioned it.
"We will search for him, too and we will find him before the templars do", he decided determined, although we had no indication for Ray´s whereabouts until now. We were practically back to the start again.
"And what shall we do now?", I asked into the silence that had spread inside the room after some time. The current helplessness was almost seizable. Connor, who was standing in front of the extinct fireplace with his arms crossed, glanced at me, but then his attention turned to Emily, who was laying in my arms, happily sucking on her tiny fist.
"We should go home", he said. "I have to think about how to go on to find Ray."
I nodded. I wanted to go home, too and not only because of Emily. I felt better when I could have some distance to the templars until we knew how to go on.

So we were just ready to go when there was a knock on the front door and Surry led Clipper Wilkinson into the parlour shortly afterwards. Connor´s expression got tensed in an instant, because it seemed like the other assassin had been in a hurry to come here.
"We got a member of the gang", he told us. "A young woman. She escaped the templars but directly ran into Stephane´s arms. He´s detaining her. Maybe she can help us about Jarvis."
Connor knitted his eyebrows when he heard that and even I winced, as his gaze shortly became threatening.
"What do you mean with: 'He´s detaining her'?", he asked slowly and now Clipper appeared uncertain.
"Well, she wanted to flee. He bound her, but she didn´t get injured, if you think that."
Silently Connor looked at the fireplace, before he nodded after some time, as if he had made a decision.
"I will come with you", he told Clipper and instantly went to the door.
"Wait!" I had leaped up and had laid Emily into the arms of the surprised Maria, before I ran after Connor and Clipper. The former looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"I will come with you", I told him whereupon Connor shook his head vigorously.
"Not again, Lillian. Leave it to us."
"Because it´s too dangerous? You´re detaining a woman and there are at least three of you. Come on."
"But there are still posters of us in town. We already took care that they will disappear soon, but until then it is not safe." It had been Clipper who had spoken and at whom I was now staring with wide eyes.
"There are wanted posters of me?!"
He nodded slowly. Well, this was getting better and better. Now they were already searching for me, as if I was some criminal. And I had only...helped to attack a prisoner transport.
"It is better you stay here", Connor used this new information for himself and already went on to leave the house. But this matter wasn´t over for me yet. If this woman really knew where Ray was, I wanted to be there when she told it and that they had decorated the town with posters with my face on them, wouldn´t stop me. It was the same issue with Connor´s and Clipper´s faces. Why shouldn´t I hesitate if they were with me?

"Maria. Could I borrow your scarf?", I asked my friend, but didn´t wait for an answer. I took the scarf off her on my own and while I followed the assassin with hurried steps, I wrapped it around my head, hid my hair underneath it and pulled it into my face a bit. The front door had already closed behind Connor and Clipper and when I stepped outside, too, they were already walking down the street. I hurried up with following them and when I had almost reached them, Connor turned around. Grimly he looked my headpiece over and I almost expected him to send me back. But he didn´t. Wordlessly he turned away and went on. Even when I walked beside him, he didn´t say anything about it. He just stared straight forward and no one said a word until we reached the tavern where Stephane was the innkeeper. Clipper knocked on the door, a bolt was pushed back and Duncan let us enter shortly afterwards, before bolting the door behind us again. I pushed the scarf off my head and looked through the empty tavern, before I followed the three men through an inconspicuous door into a storage. Several crates and barrels were stacked here, covering the only window. A single lantern was lighting up the room and I almost hadn´t noticed Stephane, who was leaning against a crate in the shadows, his arms crossed and looking at Connor expectantly.
"Until now she didn´t want to say anything. But I think, it would be better anyway, if you take care of it", he said and now my gaze moved to the young woman, who was sitting on a chair, her ankles tied to the chair legs and her hands bonded behind her back.

Her straw-coloured braid was already resolving and some strands hung in a tender face with ice-blue eyes, shining provocatively. She had a mocking smile on her lips while she looked us over, one after another. It didn´t look like she was afraid and I was almost admiring her for it. I wouldn´t have been able to sit there so calmly, while four strong and armed men were standing in front of me, even though two of them were leaving the room now. Clipper and Duncan closed the door behind themselves from the outside and while I stayed in the shadows by the door and Stephane stayed where he was, too, Connor approached the young woman.
"What is your name?", he asked calmly. He had turned his back on me, but I could still tell by his posture that he didn´t intend to threaten her. He was standing two steps away from her, his hands folded in front of his body, far enough from his weapons. But like I had thought before, she didn´t seem to be afraid. Her smile widened and she cocked her head when she looked at Connor.
"Eso a ti te importa una mierda", she said sweetly and after Connor had glanced at Stephane, who shrugged his shoulders, he also looked at me. I recognized that she was talking Spanish, but I wasn´t versed in this language. But it hadn´t sounded quite friendly.

Connor turned to her again. "I know that you can speak English", he said, as calm as always. "I have already seen you in Philadelphia. You are working for Raymond Jarvis and that is why I think that you can tell us where he is."
The woman´s smile turned into a grin and she cocked her head again. Was that...supposed to be a flirtatious look?
"Is that so? If I knew it, why should I tell you?" She spoke without any accent. The only conspicuous thing about her voice was this provocative, but also bitter sweet undertone. As if she was seriously trying to wrap Connor around her finger, but she didn´t know him. He was entirely unimpressed by it.
"We will let you go and you do not have to be afraid of us", Connor simply answered. She uttered a theatrical sigh and began to writhe her torso back and forth. The ropes around her ankles and wrists creaked quietly and I could see how they scraped along her pants and bare skin. I remembered how Nathan had tied me up like this. The scraping of the robes had burnt like fire and the created grazes had still hurt terribly while healing. But the blonde didn´t squinch up her face. She actually provoked to get hurt.

"You say I don´t have to be afraid. So why are you tying me up? It would be much easier to talk, if I´m not sitting here, tied like a packet, don´t you think?"
"Because you are a prickly bitch, that is why." Stephane slightly moved in the shadows and I could see how he glared at the young woman. I looked at her again. She was very petite, had almost my size. If I had met her on the street, I would have doubted that she really was able to defend herself. But her appearance and the fact that she had had to assert herself in Ray´s group among men, were giving me another feeling. Nevertheless it seemed like Connor had decided to release her. He took a step towards her, let his hidden bade snap out and raised it slightly, so that it shined in the light of the lantern.
"I will release you, but if you should try any foolish actions, it will not do you good, understood?"
"Claro, guapo."
Connor cut the ropes and stepped in front of her again. The young woman uttered a long sigh and began to stretch and sprawl like a cat. She really seemed to have no shyness. She sat up in the chair and folded her hands on her knees, while she didn´t turn her eyes away from Connor.
"Now we can talk."