Chapter Text
Ben had to chuckle a little at the irony. Here he sat, in Sarah’s modest home, hiding from, well, everyone. He never meant for Sarah’s life to end how it did but he was betrayed by her and he saw it fitting that the home where she kindly took him in, mended him, gave him food and temporary companionship, now served to shelter he and and John Andre. His head spun pondering the intricacies of this war; loyalty, ideals, foundational beliefs. Was not every action taken, in some way, to preserve these tenets of life?
John lay nursing a very sore neck and resting on the very same bed that Ben had when he was wounded. They’d traveled miles and miles, the adrenaline pumping through their veins, worried they were being tracked. Ben did not have a true plan at this point aside from running. He hoped Washington had some way of rationalizing the legality of the prisoner exchange. After all, what Andre did was technically illegal but so was Arnold’s treason. Could it be possible to cancel each other out? Of course, Ben had no idea what that all meant, for him, for John, for Peggy. For life after war. No one knew the future but decisions needed to be made for some kind of forward progress and this here was all he could muster.
“I… have to thank you, Major Tallmadge.” Andre said, sitting up in bed.
“Ben, please. After this, I think we’ve moved beyond the pleasantries.” Ben laughed quietly. Through their escape, Andre sat behind him on the horse as darkened trees rushed past them, holding onto the younger and smaller man’s waist for dear life. Their familiarity with each grew from that shared experience and Ben needed more of it. Here in this home everything felt on another plane; for now they were safe. For now they were alone and all the horrors of war were absent, if only for a brief time.