A/N: This comes from Friday's episode where Sarah returns back to America. Notice how James never said hi, did you? And did you see his look when she hugged him?
(Colonial Man appears with a sandwich sign reading "No money...no work!")
Mac: Good grief. What do you want?
CM: I want to get paid!
Mac: With what?
CM: I know you work!
Mac: And how am I supposed to pay you?
CM: What do you mean?
Mac: You are, technically, a figment of my imagination. I created you!
CM: Oh. Well, I'm still on strike!
Mac: Fine. (Disappears into the house where she keeps all the characters she has created in the past and pulls one out.)
Erika: What the hell?
(A/N: Erika is the main character for my fics The Phantom Lives On and All's Well that Ends Well)
Mac: Listen, my disclaimer reader is on strike. Could you read it?
Erika: Okay. clears throat Mackenzie W doesn't own any of the following characters: Sarah, James, Henri, Moses, or Sarah's parents. They belong to whoever makes Liberty's Kids. Any famous people mentioned also do not belong to Mackenzie W because they really did exist. So, no, you can't sue her for using them. Thank you.
(Erika disappears back to the house)
Mac: Sorry, folks. Enjoy the fic!
Chapter 3: Returning Home
Sarah disembarked the ship from England and looked about Philadelphia. She walked the streets, knowing her way back. All the way, she worried about James. She had just realized she loved him and didn't know how to handle it. A conversation with her mother played over and over in her mind.
Sarah sat in her own room, writing furiously in the book James had given her. It was almost completely full, for a lot had happened on her trip from America, like meeting John Paul Jones. Sarah's mother walked in, and stared at her daughter for awhile, waiting to see if Sarah noticed she was in the room. "Sarah," she decided to begin.
"I'm busy," the teenager responded.
"Can we talk? You've been distracted this whole time. What's the matter?"
"Nothing!"
"Sarah, I know something is bothering you. Just tell me what it is," Mrs. Phillips pleaded.
"Alright," Sarah gave in. "I'm confused."
"About what?"
"Many things. Mostly, though, matters of the heart. Like, am I a British citizen or a loyal American?"
"I think you know the answer to that one, my dear child."
"You're right. I am an American."
"So what is really bothering you?"
"A friend I met in America."
"A male friend?"
"Yes," Sarah tried to fight back the tears. "We didn't really part on the best terms. He was upset that I was leaving. But he did give me this." Sarah held up her book.
"No wonder you wouldn't part with it," her mother mused. "Do you love him?"
"I don't know," Sarah said.
"I think you do. Just meditate on it. Good-night, dear."
"Goodnight Mother."
Her mother was right. She did know how she felt about James. But the question was did he still feel the same. She had been gone so long, had he met another girl that he liked better? Sarah stopped outside the Pennsylvania Gazette and took a deep breath. She opened the door and went inside. "Henri? Moses? James?" she called into the shop. "Is anyone here?" After deciding that no one was in the office, she went into Benjamin Franklin's lab, to explore. She felt right at home, though she was still unsure of the welcome James was going to give her.
She heard someone come in and was very happy to find both Moses and James by the printing press. "Sarah!" Moses said as he hugged the British teenager. Sarah advanced to James and threw her arms around him, even though he didn't return the hug. He hates me. It's official! Sarah thought as she released the boy. She decided to pretend that didn't hurt and started to go on and on about her trip to and from England. It was then that they heard fighting in the street and ran out in time to pull Henri off of another boy.
While Sarah and Moses explained Dr. Franklin's inventions to the Tory boy Henri was fighting with, James was deep in thought. She came back! James thought happily. And she hugged me! Why didn't I hug back?
Because she doesn't deserve it. Remember, she left YOU!
But I love her.
Love? Love someone who left you?
I forgive her.
Don't!
Shut-up. I do. I'm going to apologize to her tonight!
Don't! What about your pride?
Shut-up, I am apologizing. Now disappear back into my mind, thank you.
That night, James paced outside of Sarah's room, nervously forming the words he wanted to say to her. Sarah's door opened as the red-head stood in the doorway. "Um, hi. I was just coming to talk to you," James said.
"I know. I've been listening to you pace out here for nearly a half-hour. Come on in and say what you have to say," Sarah said. She was still hurt from the fact that James didn't hug her earlier and still felt he hated her completely.
"Listen, I want to apologize for the way I acted before you left. I guess I was just upset at losing another person I had adopted as a family member after losing my whole family. But my attitude and actions weren't correct. I'm sorry," James said.
"It's okay, James. I understand."
"Why did you really come back?"
"To be here, silly. I realized some things in England, James."
"Like?"
"Like you've gotten to me. Somehow, I've become a loyal American patriot," Sarah said.
James was so excited he hugged her and spun her around. "I knew I'd get to you eventually. I just had to work on you a little bit more. But you said 'things.' That means there's more, isn't there?"
"Well, yes. There were so many things that happened to me in England. I wrote most of them down," Sarah said, tossing James her book.
"This is the book I gave you!" James said.
"Of course it is! What did you think I did with it?"
"Threw it overboard," James replied sheepishly. "Because it was from me."
"I would never throw anything you gave me overboard. It would be too precious," Sarah said, not catching what she said.
But James certainly did. "Too precious?"
"Yes, I care too much for you to get rid of anything you ever gave me," Sarah was ranting now, and James didn't care.
"Care too much for me?"
"I love you! Though I'm sure you don't feel the same for me. I admitted it too, aloud before, on the ship as I returned to England. I whispered it to the wind, I guess that counts as saying it aloud, right? But I guess you hate me still, since you didn't seem to happy with my return!"
James was shocked by the ending of the rant. "Of course I was happy you came back. I just wasn't happy with my attitude about when you left!" James said.
"Really?"
"Honestly. I love you too," he said.
"What?"
"I said I love you too. You do remember admitting you loved me just a few minutes ago?"
"James Hiller, I did no such—I did didn't I?" Sarah said, sighing.
"Yep," James said, giving her a hug. "Welcome back," he said. Without a warning, he felt Sarah bring his head down and kiss him on the lips.
Sarah didn't care what she was doing, because she knew it was right. James didn't fight it either, but ended up kissing Sarah back. As the two held each other, they knew that nothing could ever tear them apart again.
Moses walked in to check on Sarah, and find quite a sight. There, on Sarah's bed, lay both James and Sarah, sleeping peacefully with their arms around each other. Moses didn't know whether to yank James out of Sarah's bed and throw him back into his room, or to pull the covers up over the two young lovers. Moses took a step closer to the bed, considered his options, and made his choice. Since the two were fully dressed and already comfortable, Moses pulled the covers up over the two and blew out Sarah's candle. Shaking his head, he closed the door, knowing that what he saw was not a one time thing, but the start of something really special.
Inside, Sarah sighed as she nestled closer to James. A smile played on both their lips, unaware of the conversation they would have with Moses in the morning, and the taunts they would have to suffer from Henri for the next two weeks. The only thing the two of them knew right now was that they were together and were not going to be separated. Ever.
A/N: I am so sorry that took so long. When I started this, it was the first time for the episodes that aired last Thursday and last Monday. It took so long because the day after I started this chapter, my laptop refused to start and I had to send it out. Over a month later, I'm finally reunited with it and updating. This is it for this story. Thanks for sticking around. Mac