The former residence of Captain Robert Webber, the Webber house is red brick with a white staircase. Once the epitome of federal fashion, it has since fallen into disrepair with the captain's death and the later demises of his four eldest sons. His slaves have since abandoned the house, leaving his widow and orphaned daughters, Carolina Louisa and Virginia, to tend for themselves.

The fine furniture inside is now moth-eaten and sparse, having been put to use to heat the large rooms during the cold Virginia winters. The floors are scuffed and dull, and the windows are largely uncovered. A large garden now covers the fine front lawn, tended solely by Carrie Lou Webber, and a small brood of chickens roost under the porch. A scarecrow in a moth-eaten top hat has been erected by the gate, and a sway-backed old nag is stabled in the back yard. Well-mended linens can always be seen drying in the side yard or strung from the portico at the top of the stairs. Watch your step - barn cats are constantly gamboling about on the path inside the gate.

Carrie Lou continued to wipe the blood off the man's forehead. "All right, Antinan--Antinnaaan--" She stumbled over the foreign name. "Mr. MacDermott, I want you to rest, but don't sleep. I'll bring you some food and then I'll bandage your head. It doesn't look too bad now that it's cleaned up."

She stood and hurried into the back room, where a smoky fire was still licking at the kettle, where the charred remains of lunch were still sizzling. Carrie Lou bypassed this and took a precious loaf of bread out of the cupboard and sliced as thick a piece as she dared, then swiped it through the kettle to catch the last few drops of the thin chicken broth.

When she returned to the parlor, the man was in the same position she'd left him in, and she pressed the bread into his hands. "Eat this. I'm going to bandage--"

Suddenly, Carrie Lou realized that her basket, with a few precious eggs and a roll of makeshift bandages, was missing. Where was it? She'd had it when she--oh, Law. It was still in the stable. "Oh, dear. Mr. MacDermott, I must step out for a moment--please stay there."

She swept out of the house, forgetting her shawl and slamming the door in her haste.

"Call me Mac," Mac told her, but she left the room before he finished. He sighed and stared at the fire, still forcing himself to stay awake. Then she was back with the bread and he accepted it gratefully. He manged to express his thanks, just before she ran out the door seeming rather flustered.

He sighed again and relaxed on the sivan, munching on the bread and wondering how in the world this was going to end for him.

((Since Carrie Lou's mother and sister are there, I might as well RP them, while I wait...))

A flaxen-colored head popped around a corner. The head belonged to a pretty but vacuous-looking young woman, with eyes that bore a striking resemblance to Carrie Lou's. She watched the foreign-looking stranger with rude but fascinated interest.

Mac didn't pay attention to her.

((LOL! I wouldn't, either.))

Virginia continued to watch him. He was a handsome man, she admitted to herself with a little shiver. Pity he looked savage...but perhaps she could have some fun with him anyway.

She cleared her throat, then threw her handkerchief across the room, where it landed near the divan. "Oh, dear," she trilled. "I dropped my handkerchief!" She scurried over and bent to fetch it.

Mac raised one eyebrow. "You must do that alot." he commented, "Too bad there aren't any men around for you to, uh, show off for."

Virginia blinked sweetly. "Why, whatever do you mean?" she giggled. "You are a man, aren't you?" She sat slowly and painstakingly on the pouf nearby, making sure to bend slightly so the firelight would show her porcelain skin to its best advantage.

((Gosh, Ginny's quite the, uh, tart, isn't she!))

Mac snorted. "Sure I am, but that doesn't mean that I'm out to stare at young women who flaunt themselves excessively."

((hehe, Mac's rather cruel, ain't he?))

((I love it. *cackle*))

Virginia sat back with a petulant "Humph!" The put-out look on her face quite spoiled her good looks, but she continued to glare at the stranger. "You are quite unkind, sir. I do not 'flaunt,' as you so nicely put it."

"I'm just speaking truth, Ma'am." he told her with no remorse whatsoever.

Virginia did not like the fact that this dashing young stranger seemed impervious to the charms that had worked innumerable times on other young bucks like him. She decided that she would unleash the deadliest weapon she had at her immediate disposal. Surreptitiously, she tugged her bodice a little tighter and higher up to accentuate her bosom, and then took out her handkerchief and began to cry.

Mac yawned.

Virginia scowled. It was no use, at least at the moment. But she would get him hot under the collar, some day...then she could play with him, shaking a string back and forth for him to jump at. Perhaps he would buy her a broach like the others had. She dimpled prettily at the thought.

Ah but little did she know that he had basically no money to speak of and he wasn't going to spend what little he had on some girl who was too desperate for attention that she wasn't going to get from him. Besides, no one would approve of any relationship anyway, seeing as he was half Indian.

"Where's your sister?" he asked her.

Virginia's pretty smile disappeared, and she frowned. "Carrie Lou?" she asked. "What do you want with her? You know she's never gotten an offer before. Not once. Not even a beau!"

Her consternation eased a little, and she laughed merrily at the thought. "She has gone quite wild. She digs in dirt and kills chickens. Disgusting!"

Mac nodded a slight smirk playing on his lips. "Sounds like my family back home. She'd fit right in. But I don't have any interest in either you or your sister like that, she's just been gone for a while and I'm wondering where she went."

Virginia shrugged. "How should I know?" She paused, thinking. "Though I do hope she's getting food. I'm famished."

Cross stepped in and watched.

Mac tossed her his left over bread. "You can have that."

((Oh, ha, ha. Let's try that again, shall we?))

Cross was wandering down the dusty street, his hands shoved in his pockets and his head aching still. Then he noticed a red brick house with its front door hanging slightly ajar. Perhaps they had some licker left? He fingered the nickel in his pocket, then opened the gate and climbed the peeling stairs.

He knocked. "Hello?"

((How's that? :P))

Virginia made a feeble attempt to catch the morsel of bread that the stranger had tossed at her, but it slipped and fell to the floor. At that moment, there was a knock.

"Hello?" someone called.

Virginia leapt up. "Carrie Lou, you are very late--oh! Hello!" It was not Carrie Lou, but rather another short soldier. Virginia felt her hope returning. Perhaps this one would be easier than the one on the divan!

(Fine. But if you take over my char again I will do this: *Arm waving dance*)

Mac suddenly became rather nervous, he tried to see who was at the door, but his eyesight still hadn't cleared up.

((Oh and Cross is short))

((Oh, dear. I am scared. ;) ))

Carrie Lou returned, sweating, to find her parlor filled with people. "Excuse me, but who are you?" she demanded of the newest stranger. "Virginia, what are you doing? Have you been patronizing poor Mr. MacDermott? Go on, shoo!"

Virginia scampered out of the room after shooting Carrie Lou a dirty look.

"Mr. MacDermott, I have bandages for you," Carrie Lou went on, pulling the roll from her bodice. "And who are you?" she asked the short stranger again. "Speak or get out of my house!"

"Call me Mac," Mac told her. then he recognised Cross. "Cross? What are you doing here?"

Carrie Lou looked between the two men. "Excuse me, but this man is injured," she said to the shorter one, the one Mr. MacDermott had called Cross. "I do not know you. If you are looking for money, I have none. I have no food. I have nothing but myself, and that you most certainly won't get."

His silence was unnerving, but she drew herself up to her full height and glared at him. It took her a moment to realize that she was now taller than he. Her anxiety dissipated a little.

"I just needed a doctor I guess...What was that about?"

Carrie Lou sighed. Another soldier needing medical help? "What was what about?" she asked tiredly, drawing the newcomer a chair near the fire. "Go on, then, sit. I might well feed two soldiers as one."

Mr. MacDermott's wound looked better, but he still looked dizzy. Carefully, she helped him sit up, and bound the bandages around his head. "There. I'll get you both some honey wine. It's not too nice, but it's the best we've got."

Mac sat still while she wrapped his head. "Thanks, but I don't drink." he looked at Cross, "Did you get left behind, too?"

He nodded. "Took a bullet to the shoulder. First time I ever got hit."

"You got worse than me, then," Mac replied, "I got a little scrape on my head."

"Looks a little rougher than that."

Mac just shrugged, wondering where Carrie Lou had gone.

"We'll be ok."

((Oh, fine. I'm back--for just a moment, though.))

Carrie Lou, who had stepped into the kitchen to fetch the watery wine for Mr. MacDermott's friend, stopped when the door swung shut behind her to collect her thoughts. She hadn't had this many men in the house since Stephen, Tom, and their father had had furlough on the same day.

Tears rushed to her eyes at the thought, and she sniffed them back. Two hungry men and two equally ornery women to feed tonight, she thought. Must get supper going.

Wondering when Katherine would call for tea, Carrie Lou set about making dinner. Once the porridge was simmering over the fire, she took a tin of wine back out to Mr. MacDermott's friend. "Here you are."

He nodded. "Thank you very much," he downed about half. "Its a blessing."

Mac looked at Carrie Lou. "Thank you for everything, ma'am."

Kath ran up to the door and knocked.

She sighed, grateful that she could escape the house. Her mother was in a panic, their visitor having mysteriously disappeared and she was worried that he would bleed to death. Kath was a bit panicked as well, but wasn't taking it as hard as Ma.

Cross answered the door clutching his shoulder.

Kath smirked, recognizing Cross and chuckling.

"Was the chicken shed too uncomfortable?" she asked, stepping inside. "'Cause you could've asked to sleep in the barn."

"Its not a hotel," he commented. "But your ma wanted me to see a doctor so I figured I would."

Kath shrugged.

"Alright." she said, dropping the sarcasm. "Ma's pretty worried about you though."

"I don't think she nededs anymore on her mind."

Kath shrugged.

"She cares about everyone." she said. "Not a quality I share, unfortunately, but it's true for her."

He nodded. "Well.."

Kath looked around.

"Where's Carrie Lou?" she asked.

"Cooking I think.."

"Ah." Kath nodded, leaning up against the wall. She looked around and saw the two soldiers, one of them looking half-dead on the couch. Eerie.

"So...?"

Kath looked at Cross, shrugging.

"Yes?" she asked, tilting her head.

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