A/N: Holy potatoes, Batman! I never thought that this story would get all the way to 77 reviews when I started writing this. It is all thanks to you, the faithful fans!

Decisions

Chapter 15: Camilla and Ratonhnhake:ton

Connor's POV

Homestead, Ellen's Tailoring Shop

I watch as Evangeline gingerly advances to greet my parents. Cautiously, she holds out her arm in polite greeting.

"Hello, I am Evangeline." She starts. Father takes her hand into his and shakes it firmly. Mother repeats the same sequence, as well.

"How do you do, Ms. Evangeline? I am Haytham, Connor's father, and this is my wife, Ziio."

"It's nice to meet you, Mister and Missus Kenway." She says with an awkward sense in her voice. I lift myself from the desk I was previously leaning on and proceed to stand by her. To reassure Evangeline of my presence, I lightly stroke her back. She smiles and leans into my touch just a little further. Out the corner of my eye, I see Ista smile in satisfaction and Father grinning like a fool. Ista interjects.

"Tell us about yourself, Evangeline. How did you and Connor meet?" I feel Evangeline's shoulders and back tense underneath my hand. I rub her back once more and she seems to relax, but not to the point of comfort.

"Well, I was sort of out wandering in the woods when I came across Homestead. Connor was settling this land for the owner, Achilles Davenport. He offered me a place to call home and I offered Ellen, the owner of this shop, another seamstress." Evangeline replies as calmly as possible. Once again, Ista nods in approval.

"Where is your family, Evangeline? Why were you 'wandering in the woods'?" I hear Father ask her next. It occurs to me that I am, too, intrigued by this question. Evangeline never really liked to talk about family. Whenever the subject was mentioned, she'd shy away from the conversation. It was my intention to ask her about it later into our relationship, but learning now will suit me just fine.

Evangeline wrings her hands over each other and I can see her tanned skin begin to flush with a light pink, and there's a glaze over her skin as if she was…sweating. "I'd prefer not to talk about my family just yet. Perhaps when I know the both of you better, it is a—I guess you can say—sensitive subject for me." Father stares at her incredulously. I almost raise my brows at her. Maybe a death in her family?

"I will leave the subject, then." Father respectfully backs down from his interrogation. I look for reason to leave and give Evangeline some peace. I look up at the clock and see that it is about nine-thirty o'clock in the morning. Achilles still hasn't gained knowledge of Father abdicating from grandmaster of the Templar Order. I would like to be the one to deliver it to him. I break the strained silence.

"Father, Ista? We should head to the manor to meet Achilles. He will want to scrutinize you as much as possible and I will give him time to do so." Father and Ista begin to walk to the carriage outdoors. We all wave a quick goodbye to Evangeline before heading out. I pause when I feel something tug the sleeve of my Assassin robes. I spin around to see that it's Evangeline. She looks distressed, Father and Ista can wait. I poise myself to yell out the door. "I'll be out in bit!" I look to Evangeline with softened eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Please don't ever surprise me with your family again!" She slowly weaves herself into my arms and hugs me tightly. It feels good to be able to call her my woman, but physical affection is still foreign to me. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her closer. I rest my chin on my head so that my mouth lies right against her ear.

"Do you not like my parents?" I whisper.

"Oh, no. It is far from that, Connor." I look down to see her eyes only to find the top of her wavy-curly hair-filled head buried in my chest. I smile at the sight.

"Then what is it, then?"

"When you tell me about your 'work' later, I'll tell you about my family. I try not to remember too much of my past life. The most I'll say now is that my family was corrupted and that I needed to find solace. I found it here. Go take you parents to Achilles, he is most likely beginning to get into a crabby mood."

I rub her back once more before I hug her tightly once more and free her from our entangled limbs. "I will see you this afternoon, Evangeline. Goodbye."

"Bye-bye, Connor!" She smiles at me. If I hadn't seen her face a few seconds ago, I would have assumed that everything was well. She puts her hands to her lips and blows me a kiss. Hmm, might as well tease her for a while.

"You know, you could come over here and give me a real kiss…" She smirks at me and begins to walk my way. She puts her hands on my shoulders and stands on her tippie-toes. I pucker my lips preparing to lean in and kiss her and feel her soft lips on my cheek. I begin to feel her withdraw from my hold and open my eyes. That's it?

"Don't be greedy, Connor. Plus, we're in public, with your parents right outside no less."

I think of another way for her to kiss me. "Please, I'll get you more fox furs." Aah, the beautiful gift of hunting. Her eyebrows arch at that one.

"You promise?"

"I swear, I'll have them to you by tomorrow."

"I suppose it would be alright then." She advances toward me and gives me a real kiss. "That's all, Connor! If you behave, I'm sure you'll receive more tonight." She smirks before returning to her post at the front desk. "Now, shoo!" I hold my hands up and walk out the door to the carriage.

I wave a quick goodbye to Maria before jogging to the carriage. I pull myself up to the driver's seat next to Ista. We ride to the manor in peaceful quiet. When I pull the carriage to a stop by the front porch of Davenport Manor, I hop out and help Ista out.

"We're here."

"It's about time, So—Master. Let us get this unnecessary training out of the way." I hear Father grumble from behind. I spin around and give him the most perturbed look I can muster.

"Your training is far from unnecessary. Sure you may have the physical abilities to be an Assassin, but you lack knowledge in our ways. There is a certain way to fight, certain way to speak, certain way to… be—just like the Templars."

"You don't think I learned all this before, I most certainly can remember." He retorts quickly.

"You may know what our ideals are, but you haven't learned. You won't learn until you go through the intensive mental training that every Assassin goes through before they are considered a Brother. Now, do not sass or back-talk me once we pass that threshold." I point to the front door on the porch. "If you so much as call me 'Connor', I will make your training a living hell." I see a flash of surprise pass through his eyes and I see Ista with her mouth agape. "Let's go. The man you meet shall be addressed by 'Mister Davenport'."

Ista and Father amble behind me, so quiet that I looked back to make sure they were still following me to the door. I opened the door and turned, looking for any sign of the Old Man.

"Achilles? Where are you?"

"I'm in the office, Connor." I walk over to the room with an eagle figurine and a ledger for trading. "How is your day going—why is a Templar here? Connor, have you gone insane, boy?"

"No, I am perfectly sane. But, the reason for my parents being here is not my story to tell."

"Oh, so I assume that the Native woman is you wife, correct? Or is she just one of the surely many concubines that Templars 'spend time' with?" Achilles spits. It takes a lot for me not to lash out at my mentor, I have to remember that he thinks we're dealing with everyday average Templars. No, oh no, we are dealing with one of the few Templars that chose to settle down and get married before having children. I hold up my hand to keep Achilles from questioning any further.

"Achilles, that is my mother. She has nothing to do with any of this fighting, leave her out. And, to answer your question, she is his wife. Please, Achilles, just question my father." Achilles gives me a quick apology before turning to my mother.

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to be quick to accuse. It's something I typically do in relation to Templars. Now, back to business. Why is Grandmaster Haytham Kenway in my house on a perfectly good morning?"

"Mister Davenport, as you know, Connor is my son. He left us when he learned of how the Templar Order worked and came to you to join the Assassins. The past six months or so, I've seen my world collapse. Work mattered little to me. I came here to restore my wife and I's lives with the one thing that means most to us. Our son. In order to this, I would like to become an Assassin again." Father delivers about the same speech he gave me. I cross my hands behind my back, waiting for Achilles response.

"You are a fool, Haytham. If you want to really be an Assassin, you'll need more than just a family crisis. Sure you have the motivation, but can you last? You must go through days, weeks, months even of grueling training. For you, I don't expect your training to last nearly as long. You have the physical indeed, but do you have—"

"Yes, Mister Davenport, I have the mental capability." I send a glare in Father's direction, why would he have the nerve to interrupt Achilles? Wasn't Achilles frightening enough? His training will be indeed hard for him; he's not used to taking orders, only giving them. I sigh as I see Achilles' face contort with a few emotions.

"Mister Kenway, you may be a fine-tuned gentleman from England, but you're going to need to gain some manners. I know being at the top can make you come to disrespect commoners, but I, Sir, am no commoner. Do not interrupt me again." Achilles snaps. I look to Father and almost see him flinch under Achilles' gaze despite the fact that he is most likely a foot taller.

"You will not gain my trust nearly as easily as you will gain your son's. I don't like you, I don't respect you, and I barely see you as a man. You are scandalous; you've caused more deaths than any Templar that has come to the colonies. If you want anything from me, you'll have to gain my respect. You want to be an Assassin? Well, we start tomorrow. Connor will be your supervisor and he is not a nice and doting son when he is working as an Assassin." Achilles hobbles away to his room and I call the maid to set-up another bedroom upstairs. I hear Father stroll up behind by the click of his leather boots.

"Is he always so grouchy, Connor?" I hear him ask. I stop and look over my shoulder to see him.

"'Grouchy'? No. He is wise, never angry. What he did is completely tell you the truth about your life. If you cannot handle hearing the past then there is no sense in training for the future. If you truly think that was mean you might as leave now." I reply with a bite to my voice. I see him physically snap up at my words; maybe I have a chance in this supervising business. "Okay, I'll go get your luggage. Until then, our maid, Helena, is preparing a room for you. You two are welcome to sit in the dining room or office here until I return."

I walk briskly out of the house to the carriage, bringing only a few bags in, surprisingly. I thought Ista would bring more of her paintings or such. I walk into the house and bring everything upstairs to my parents' future room. I set down the bags neatly by the door. I then walk down the stairs to the office where my parents still remain.

"Okay, Helena will get you when everything's ready. That should only take a few minutes. You are welcome to get settled or explore the grounds of Homestead. There's plenty of game in the forest, Ista. Would you like me to fetch you a bow or knife perhaps?"

"No, my son, I would prefer to say with your father. I don't think hunting is in the question."

"Perhaps. There are also a lot of shops, you can go meet the town or go down to the harbormaster and talk to Mister Faulkner. Maybe he'll even allow to board ship. Either way, there are plenty of things to do if you choose to venture out of the manor."

"Where will you be, Master Kenway?" I hear Father ask and finally speak to me in the proper way.

"Thank you for addressing me properly. I will be spending the remainder of the day with Evangeline."

"Be on your way then, Ziio and I should be fine."

"Thank you." I turn on my heel and head out the door on my way to Ellen's tailoring shop. As I make my way down the familiar sloped path once again, I find that Maria is still sitting on the same stump as she usually does, only this time without a piece sewing that needs to be done. She sits happily staring off into the sky with her head tilted slightly to the sun. She looks down and sees me.

"Hello, Connor! Back so soon?"

"Hello, Maria. Yes, I'm here to see—"

"I know who. Evangeline! I have a surprise for you!" She yells back to the shop. I hear a muffled voice from the shop and the door opens to reveal the goddess of a woman.

"What's this surprise you speak of?"

"It's right over there, Eva!" Maria replies. Eva? When did pet names come in? Maybe I can use that against her… I let a small smirk graze my countenance before continuing to listen in on the conversation. Evangeline turns to see me once again.

"Oh, a surprise indeed. Thanks Maria!"

"You crazy kids have fun!" Maria replies. Evangeline turns back and responds.

"We're older than you." Maria sighs and returns to staring at the open sky again. Evangeline comes to me and joins my side. I choose this moment to slide my hand into her's and tug softly to pull her into the woods with me.

She doesn't make attempts at conversation during our walk. I'm reminded of when I confessed my affections to her, we were both very silent throughout the duration of our walk; neither one wanting to encroach on the boundaries of our relationship. I intend to take her to that same location beneath the singularly huge oak tree. Maybe we'll even climb it again. I feel something tickle my cheek when I turn and find that while we were walking, Evangeline managed to maneuver my hand around her waist and lean her head on my shoulder. I mover the piece of hair away from my face and slow my pace a little. It's best to relish in this closeness before she finds out about the Brotherhood.

In the late afternoon, we make it to the oak. She lifts her head and wiggles out of our embrace to sit on a nearby log. I do the same and sit next to her, I try to wrap an arm around her waist once more, but she pushes me away. Why would she..? I try to conceal the hurt on my face, but as always she sees it immediately.

"No, no, Connor." She places both of her hands on my cheeks. "It is not as if I don't want you to touch me. It's just that if I take any new information. I don't want to be love-drunk and blinded from the truth. I don't assume you to be one to do such, but one can never be too sure." I nod.

"Do you want me to go first, Evangeline?" Terms of endearment have never really appealed to me, so I settle for saying her name in the most heartfelt voice as possible.

"No, you deserve an explanation much more than I do. You have never so much as told a white lie to me, so I believe it's time you learned some more about someone you might consider wedding." I nod again in agreement.

"I agree with you, but I can go first if you'd like."

"That's unnecessary. When you found me, I was seventeen and you fifteen. This we know. But, the reason why I left my home is unknown to you. I grew up in a family five, my madre and padre, my two older brothers, and me. We were Italian immigrants, wealthy Italian immigrants. We moved to Philadelphia and bought a manor there. We were respected despite our nationality, mostly because of the wealth Padre had built in his youth and adulthood."

"I don't understand. Why would you want to escape a family like that? You could have anything you want."

"I'm getting to that. As the wealthiest family in almost all Pennsylvania, many men wanted to gain some of the money. When men found that they didn't the knowledge that my Father needed, they turned to their only other option to get some of the money."

"To marry into the family."

"Exactly. My mother convinced Padre to turn down most of the offers of courtship. Father thought that all the men sought after me for my beauty, which I did and still do have." She added with a wink. "He was a man as well and only wanted to help the young 'gentlemen' get their 'dream girl'. I only wanted make Papa proud and happy. To do this, I began to court a certain man. He was evil in every way possible. Mother saw this and tried so very hard to make Father break off the courtship, but he wouldn't."

"So you ran off as soon as you knew it was going too far, Evangeline?"

"Not exactly, my mother convinced me to go. After saying farewell to my brothers and Madre, I fled the city. Mother gave me a good bit of money in case I had fallen of the wagon. But, I traveled from one small town to another. Eventually, I made it to Lexington and I was questioned by redcoats, I had to tell them everything. This included my birth name. So I changed my name to Evangeline Williams and passed as a mixed French woman. This helped lower worries about my Italian accent. I wandered around all the way to where you found me and I have never looked back." After her long explanation, the only thing that stands in my mind are 1) she was going to be forced into and arranged marriage 2) she was rich out of her mind and 3) her real name isn't Evangeline.

"So, what should I call you? What's your birth name?"

"I respond to either, but you can only call me by my birth name in private. I do not want to raise suspicion. There is no doubt that my father is ransacking the colonies looking for me."

"Okay, I promise."

"My name is a traditional, simple, Italian name. Camilla Moretti. What's yours?"

"You know my name." She pushes herself forward so that we are chest to chest. She looks at me with piercing green eyes against her tan-brown skin.

"Not your Mohawk name."

"Ratonhnhake:ton." She smiles and leans on my shoulder once more. How is she so calm? She just told me her life story and is fully relaxed.

"Cute, mia carissima." She says.

"Hmm? What does that mean?"

"My dearest. When you live in Italy until you're twelve, you learn to speak Italian."

"You are not full-blooded Italian though. This I know, you are English."

"Very little though, my grandfather who was born in 1605 was full-blooded English." Her words are muffled for now her face is in my shoulder.

"Interesting."

"Indeed, aren't you supposed to tell me about your work and family as well?"

"Yes, I don't know any other way but come out and speak it directly. I am an Assassin." She immediately lifts her head and backs up until she hits the tall oak tree. She poises herself in the position to run.

"Are you one Father's men?! Capturing my heart and then trying to threaten me with death if I don't come home? Did you know about this?" I stare at her intently and drop all my weapons, leaving myself defenseless. She seems to relax a little. I lift my hands and stare into her eyes trying to soothe the stormy, green, orbs.

"No! I promise I didn't know about any of your past life. I'm not here to kill. I'm here because I want to know you." She looks at her feet and back up. She walks to me but keeps a good six feet distance.

"You may not be murdering me, but you are killing someone. It's an Assassin's job, is it not?"

"Yes, but it is not the murder of innocents. It is the deaths of men who try to control humanity itself and men who kill innocents. Eva—Camilla, you have to understand. I want a relationship with you."

"A relationship is friendship. Maybe we should leave it at that and stop with this courting business. In you line of work, it would be impossible to commit. Besides, you can't even admit to saying that you love me. Don't lie, you do. I know you do. I can see it in your eyes. I love you too, Connor. But, to be in a relationship that could lead to potential marriage with an…Assassin is unstable. Women need stability, I need stability." She turns her back to me and begins walking away in the late-afternoon sun.

"Camilla, wait!" She stops, but doesn't turn. "I want something more than friendship with you. I can commit. I can be stable." I realize that I'm pleading, begging her. It is still too early for love. I can feel the stirrings in my chest, but not yet. Too early, it's just attraction. Nothing more. Just attraction, pure attraction. Maybe more, potentially more.

"I know you can be all these things, Connor. But, if you can't admit you love me than there is no point in waiting for you. I don't want a marriage. I want a love. They are different. When you can tell me that, come find me. Until then, I don't want to see you." She walks away and I don't stop her.

I was expecting her react badly, but not to the point where she would want to end our relationship. I know I feel differently than attracted, but this can't be true, right? Just this morning, I was telling Ista how it was attraction. Maybe I love her. I want her. I don't want her to go. I want to be with her. But, do I love her? In a way, I always have. I've admired how she is unlike any other woman I have encountered. If I do love her, it is a shame that I had to find out from Evangeline rather than myself. I miss her already. I love you too, Connor. The first time I expected her to say those words was when I spoke them first. Perhaps in this very spot, or in the tree, maybe, just maybe, when we were waking up together, side by side, in the manor.

Perhaps I may love her, but only time will tell. The only thing to do now is to wait until our separation kills me.

~O~

Hello my beloved readers! Sorry about my death! I've been writing a research paper from hell! I hit you hard with some story plot twisting events. Next chapter, I promise there will be some Haytham training! =D But, I can't promise our coupling will. CammillaXRatonhnhake:ton. Has a nice ring, ey? EvangelineXConnor. Either way, still pretty! I will see you all later my beloveds! Kisses! MMUAAHH!