Preston sighed deeply, "Looks like you were right, Thaddeus...The Nazis will be even more confident, along with Hydra, since they believed that you died in that car accident.", looking at Thaddeus who has now lost half his mustache's incredible length and dyed his hair dark grey, and even changed his frames from the square glasses they are to a half frame rectangle shape. It is now December 8, 1941, on this day.

"At least Milo is safe...", Thaddeus sighed softly, hating to see his grandson grieving still for him as it's very recent since his fake death, barely managing his job on the boilers and being a linguist occasionally, but he had suspected for the past year that he was being stalked by spies, and he knew if he was caught, they would've threatened Milo's life.

It was very fortunate that he has friends in Preston and Abraham who worked on a plan to fake his death, through it was a close call. He would never thank Abraham enough for getting him out of that shed that was storing barrels of gasoline near the train station. Who knew a crash would ignite those gasoline barrels into an inferno, and that there was an exit door for enough time to be a close call?

He was grateful that the fire trucks got it out in time before it consumed the train station and the innocent people, and Hydra would assume that the body was literally ashes in the inferno while he himself had snuck away into the train at the time with Erskine, the chaos confusing everyone to notice two men heading for New York.

It was thought best that Thaddeus hides out not too far away from Washington, at least a place where the trio could meet in secret. He was lucky that he knew plenty of survival skills that he picked up exploring through much of his younger days; so, a small, wooded cabin in northern Pennsylvania was where he'd lie low until he either lived out the rest of his days, or it was safe for him to come out of hiding.

"I know you feel guilty about Milo being kept in the dark, but it's best this way; I still have no idea how those HYDRA guys knew you had really anything regarding Atlantis.", Preston said as Thaddeus sighed.

"Obviously there's some spy amongst the Iceland crew; probably waited a few years to either tell or was tracked down and well paid for the information.", Thaddeus said.

Erskine replied, "I can see that very easily, Thaddeus. You cannot underestimate the power of Schmidt and his Hydra followers...I made that mistake...I'm grateful I saved you that day as it was so close...And now, we're at war...just like I predicted...all of us predicted...", listening to the president's speech on Thaddeus' radio.

"Yes, and soon, there will be a call for able-bodied men to sign up...I have the strangest feeling that the museum isn't letting go of Milo easily, because they will take advantage of his linguist skills and of course, being used as a lowly boiler and plumber.", Thaddeus scowled, and Erskine responded, "At least that's good news in a way since he's safe.".

Preston glanced at Erskine, "And you're going to tour the cities to look at prospects soon, then, old friend?", and Erskine replied, "Phillips has ordered me to look through Washington, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and eventually New York City, as he figures that the gritty atmosphere and the prospect of signing up would bring guys out.".

"How many sign-up posts, then?", Thaddeus asked, and Erskine replied, "Two in Washington, four in Chicago, three in Pittsburgh, and six in New York City.".

Preston whistled, "Dang. How long?", and Erskine hummed, "I'll have a week here in Washington, two weeks in Chicago, and a week and half in Pittsburgh, and of course, since I work and usually live in New York, probably a couple of months. After all, families will be talking and such; husbands, brothers, sons, nephews, you name it...It won't be an easy decision for them.".

"Plus, it will be difficult to find the right person...", Thaddeus added. He then smiled, "But at least they finally accepted your project.", with a chuckle. "Took quite a while if you ask me... Schmidt has years ahead of us if I'm right.", Erskine sighed.

"Of course, we have the advantage, old friend.", Preston chuckled as he was looking through the Sheperd's Journal. Sure, none of them could really read it, but some of the illustrations were pretty easy to make some guesses.

Thaddeus replied, "You think you're almost done with the planning, Preston?", and Preston chuckled, "Still working on last-minute details, but the money has been paid for the expedition itself. I believe it will be ready by summertime at best, perhaps September at the latest, pending the weather then, of course.".

"Brilliant. Perhaps your prospect would be able to come along. After all, they'd need to understand ancient power since we'd be using some sense of Atlantean technology in a way for the serum to be affixed to your formula, Abraham.", Thaddeus smiled.

Erskine chuckled, "It'd be a lot of convincing on Phillips's nerves, but if I make it as a test trial of how the prospect is doing through the mental, physical, and emotional feelings of the expedition, to prepare for the war in a way, and then Phillips can be convinced that he's ready to be a Super Soldier, hopefully an Atlantean Super Soldier, if Atlantean technology still exists down there.".

Thaddeus nodded, "That's marvelous thinking, Abraham.", and Preston nodded, "Oh, aye.", before noting the time on his watch, "I better get going before Washington assumes that I'm missing. You're still staying in the inn at the nearby town before going off to Washington, doctor?".

Erskine smiled, "Someone has to do the shopping for old Thaddeus here, even if you're already excellent on surviving out here. You must miss a bit of civilization, hmm?".

"Indeed, especially with the worse of winter around the corner. I'd use some food to store up to make it through.", Thaddeus chuckled, and Preston smiled, "Good. So, same time in two weeks then?".

Thaddeus nodded, and Preston smiled, "Alright then.", before doing their familiar school handshake, and he left, keeping the Shepherd's Journal hidden in his jacket, taking his horse as the trio knew that driving a fancy car would grab attention out here.

Erskine smiled, "So, a game of chess before I leave? I'll return with the food tomorrow before I have to catch the train back to Washington.", and Thaddeus chuckled, "Oh, yes. That sounds excellent. Let's see if you can win this time.".

"You're lucky that I had a few years of practice with you, Thaddeus. I'm getting better those days.", Erskine grinned wryly, and Thaddeus laughed heartily, and so they played a game of chess.

Upon the end of the game, Erskine laughed, "I told you, Thaddeus! I almost beat you there!", and Thaddeus smiled, happy to see him less weary than before, and he wasn't thinking for the moment as his hand enveloped over Erskine's hand, listening to Erskine's science babble to compare against the history of chess.

"Still... you'll need a bit more time if you want to beat me.", Thaddeus chuckled. "But at least you're doing much better than you did at first.".

"Well, chess was never really my thing growing up; as hard as it is to believe that someone of my scientific intellect wouldn't constantly play the game that is considered the most thought provoking.", Erskine explained.

'Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.' The radio was once more broadcasting a repeat of Roosevelt's speech to congress that morning. The Japanese were doing their own blitzkrieg across the Pacific at the same time as when they hit Pearl Harbor the previous day.

"Almost funny to think about it... we're allied with the British for sure now since their colonial possesses have been attacked too...", Thaddeus said. "But we're still neutral with Germany.".

"I don't believe that'll be much of a case for long; Japan will probably beg Hitler and Mussolini to declare war on the United States. Uphold to their treaty obligations and all... and force America to fight a war on two fronts, across two oceans.", Erskine replied.

"Do you think it's possible?", Thaddeus asked. "After all, the last war, we only had our boys mostly go over to France and fought the Germans mostly in significant numbers. The other fronts of Europe were pretty much non-existent to us.".

"If there's one thing I've learned seeing this country, Thaddeus... is that this nation is truly built to tackle the challenge and win.", Erskine smiled wryly.

Thaddeus chuckled, "We have been through tough challenges from the beginning of those very States, and we've come out stronger.", and Erskine smiled, "Yes, history give us lessons.", starting to move his hand to clean up the chess pieces when he finally noticed Thaddeus's hand over his hand, not in a comrade sort of way nor a comforting pat, but longer than the respective amount of time.

"T-Thaddeus...", he whispered in confusion and fear, realizing that it dared to look like a romantic gesture, and Thaddeus blinked, realizing what he'd done out of unconsciousness, and looked at Erskine who startled back like a sheep, getting up quickly, "I must get going.", as Thaddeus replied, "Abraham, I...", reaching out to him.

Erskine looked at him with a deer in headlights look, "Please...I need to go...", grabbing his bags, "I...I'll drop off the food tomorrow...", and Thaddeus exhaled, trying to think, trying how to figure how to apologize as Erskine fled with the door slamming closed after him.

Thaddeus rubbed his eyes out of anger and self-blame, lifting his glasses off for a moment, "Damn it, Thaddeus! Why did you do that?!". Three years of friendship, and he ruined it because he was a fool for becoming interested in a man...He blamed Preston for that embarrassing bet; if he found the Sheperd's Journal, Preston had to kiss him full on the lips amongst paying for the expedition to Atlantis.

He never had an interest in Preston as he had feared that he'd ruin Preston's reputation, and he was relieved that nothing came from it...Then came Abraham...He never cared that Abraham was a Jew nor of German origin, as he greatly respected him, saw him as an equal...

And now...He never imagined he'd find love again as he's elderly, and he knew his wife didn't say anything about not wanting him to marry again, but he bets that she'd never thought that he would even be interested in a man ever...And then...there was the society circles...By Jiminy Christmas, he cannot...but he is, with the smartest, insightful, bravest, and kindest man ever in Abraham Erskine...

He suspected that it started when Abraham saved him from the close call of executing his fake death...Damn it...Thaddeus sighed deeply, looking at the stars, murmuring, "He'll hate me...", a tear escaping his eye, knowing that Jews were strict on man-woman relationships.

He then went to clean up the chess set, and headed to bed, praying that Erskine got safely home to the inn, as he would blame himself if Erskine got hurt out there while driving...Would he even come back tomorrow? He can manage to do some survival hunting and foraging if needed, as he couldn't blame Erskine if he doesn't want to come back...

Of course, he wasn't the only confused in thoughts about their feelings as Erskine was going through much of the same thoughts himself. It was just so troubling considering the present society. Surprisingly, if one was to turn the clock back to, say, ancient Greece, the situation would be a little bit easier.

Erskine exhaled deeply as he had turned off his thoughts during the drive back to the inn, and now alone, his thoughts came back to him.

He wondered if Atlantis was the same...After all, Thaddeus told him that Atlantis was an influence for centuries of time over ancient empires including Greece...

He then shook his head. He obviously needed more time to think about this; and he had a lot to worry about at the moment with the war now on and his obligations to the War Department with practically what had now become his life's work.

Erskine sighed heavily, ashamed of how he acted back there with Thaddeus, but it scared him, and the look on Thaddeus' face...He looked lost and guilty while understanding reluctantly why Erskine had to leave.

He was raised to be a Jew by his parents, and he followed his religion, passing it into his children, but he knew that being a Jew got him in danger, thanks to Hitler and Schmidt, and so, he never, ever dared to show any hints of being a Jew like the Star of David, and most of all, Jews had a strict rule of societal pressure on only having a gender norm of man and woman relationships.

Would he be able to keep his beliefs yet leave being a Jew for Thaddeus? Oh! He's really conflicted, and then there was his wife...His children wouldn't see the complications, but they would be happy for him, but his wife...he didn't want to hurt her feelings...

He looks at the clock, and realized that he was lost in thoughts for a long time that it's late already, and he went to bed, taking off his glasses on the nightstand. He sighed, "I'm sorry, Thaddeus...I don't know what to do...I want to save our friendship...This is going to be awkward...", falling asleep, yet rolling in his bed as he couldn't stop thinking for the next couple of hours before finally falling asleep where he was able to dream.

The next day came with a bit of a surprise to Erskine as he had received a message indicating that he was to meet Phillips the day after in New York at the Stark Expo; Phillips thought it might be a good place to hopefully snag a few more military minds for their project since it was bound to attract a few scientific minds that were up in the New England area.

Erskine hoped it would work, and he was excited to see prospects since there's one army post sign up near the Stark Expo, but first, he'd have to get plenty of groceries to give Thaddeus...And that means facing him and talking...

It didn't take too long; but Erskine knew it was probably one of the last times that getting groceries would be this easy before rationing was going to take place in the next few weeks before he headed up to the cabin; still trying to think of what he was going to say to Thaddeus.

Erskine looked at the cabin, and took a deep breath, carrying the bags, seeing Thaddeus at the side window of the door, and politely opening the door for Erskine, and closing the door behind him.

He went to place the bags of groceries on the table, and he heard Thaddeus's sad sigh, "I fucked everything up...I'm sorry...You're mad at me...I don't blame you if you hate me...".

There was a deep breath before Erskine finally spoke. "Why would you think that I would hate you, Thaddeus?", he asked.

Thaddeus was heard exhaling, "Because you were raised and is living as a Jew, a secret Jew as of now, but you must be disgusted that it's against your morals...I never took advantage, I promise...It just happened...", and Erskine looked back to see Thaddeus looking downtrodden, looking at the floor.

"Thaddeus...", Erskine spoke for a moment but glanced away; obviously finding it difficult to say the right words until something at least came up to his mind, "I... I know exactly how you're feeling right now... I'm...".

Thaddeus looked up a bit, seeing Erskine struggling to say something, and he cautiously walked closer to him, whispering quietly, "I would never betray you to anyone, Abraham...You...you've became someone I can count on, especially since you saved my life that day on the execution of my fake death. If I ever saw Hitler, or Schmidt, I'd gladly end up with a badly bruised knuckle by knocking them down into a brick wall...".

Erskine had a small smile upon hearing that; that Thaddeus would go to great lengths for him, "Th-thank you, Thaddeus... it deeply comforts me to hear you say that.".

Thaddeus replied, "You're welcome, Abraham...", before sighing softly, "I don't know how to fix this...I mean...I know I was freed from my marriage to Grace upon her death, and she never forbid me from seeking love again, but how could I when I'm...well, old? I always thought I'd be alone that way...".

Erskine replied, "Hey, I'm old too, Thaddeus...and yes, it's against the morals of Jewish religion, but honestly, I have never been a real Jew ever since I was treated like dirt when I was in that prison camp with Greta and the children...I still believe in the Lord, but I've been...I have seen so many kinds of people ever since I've come to America when I was rescued...Would I still be human if I am involved in forbidden love?".