Installment the First
Or, The Adventure Begins
Disclaimer: I don’t own the canon characters, obv. I’ve just stolen their souls for my own purposes. The MCs are a melting pot of my imagination, real interactions, and silliness.
Disclaimer 2: If you haven’t seen season four yet, spoilers will probably abound. Ye have been warned.
Part the first: Where we meet the fangirls and they encounter our favorite #bromance
“This is silly.” Addie pulled her peacoat more tightly around her and blew into her hands to warm them. She’d been the one to talk her sister Mal into this impromptu meetup with some of their online fandom friends. But now they were wandering beside Conscience Bay in Setauket, Long Island at ten o’clock at night in December in an attempt to feel some connection to the area’s history.
“Yeah, it’s freezing out here,” Mal agreed, stopping next to Addie. She let out a frustrated huff when their companions continued along the road, looking for a clearing to get to the edge of the water they'd been following for three blocks.
“Not the weather,” Addie pressed. “I mean, I love Turn, and I love Revolutionary History, but this place wasn’t even much to look at when we saw it during the day. What are we doing?”
“It’s awesome at night,” Leena called back over her shoulder. “Come on!”
“We might even see a ghost!” June, leading the group, shouted.
“Not if she keeps screaming like that,” Mal said, nudging Addie.
Addie smirked. “The guide this afternoon didn’t say anything about it being haunted, did he?”
Leena slowed down to match the sisters' pace. “Not that we know of,” she said, the light from the full moon making her toothy grin luminescent. “But last time I came, I swear I saw someone on the water. It was too dark to see who it was, though.”
“And you think it was Caleb Brewster coming from Washington’s camp to collect intelligence?” Addie asked, unable to suppress a bemused smile.
“Maaaaybe. Not going to rule it out!” Leena giggled before hurrying to catch up to June.
Addie looked at Mal, the unspoken question of What have we gotten ourselves into hanging between the sisters.
“Friggin’ Twitter,” Mal muttered. They'd never met the other women in person before, and knew them only from the online fan group they were part of. “This would have been so much better if Steph had showed up.” Of all of their online friends, Steph had been the one to connect the most with Mal. Part of the reason Mal’d agreed to come at all was because Steph was also going. Except she’d had to cancel at the last minute because of a work obligation.
“We’ve had a good time up to now,” Addie allowed. Mal rolled her eyes. “Okay, like I said, this part seems silly. I don’t know what they think we’ll find out there, but I guess it beats just sitting in the B&B, right?”
“Get a fire going, make some hot chocolate, binge Turn –“ Mal shivered as another wintery blast buffeted against the treeline. “It’s going to friggin’ snow. Let’s just go back.”
Addie looked up at the sky, the stars clearly visible. “It isn’t going to snow,” she challenged.
“It should snow if it’s going to be this cold,” Mal complained.
“Let’s hurry up a bit, then,” Addie suggested. “We can catch up to June and Leena.” The other women had already disappeared around a bend in the road, and Addie was nervous that they were no longer in sight.
Mal made an irritated grunt, but quickened her pace to match Addie’s.
A scream pierced the hush of the evening. Addie and Mal looked at each other, eyes wide, before both breaking into a run and calling their friends’ names.
When they reached Leena and June, the other women were giggling, laying on the ground.
“What happened?” Addie asked, looking for any signs that they’d been hurt.
“Leena thought she saw a ghost and pulled us both down when she tried to get away from it,” June laughed. “Ghost turned out to be a dang squirrel! Pullin’ me down here,” she admonished. “Break my hip if you’re not careful!” June was twenty years older than the others, though she was in far better shape.
“Leena’s more likely to break her hip than you are,” Addie pointed out. “And I thought you wanted to find ghosts,” Addie laughed, offering a hand up to Leena as Mal did the same for June.
“Yeah, but – maybe not when I’m not expecting it, y’know?” Leena brushed off the back of her jeans and looked around. “Anyway, we’re here! This is where I saw him last time!”
Addie found herself peering out at the water, squinting her eyes as though that would show her the ghostly whaleboatman.
“What are we doing?” A voice whispered in Addie’s ear and she jumped, embarrassed by the resounding squeak of fear that escaped her lips. She spun around and exhaled as the others began to laugh.
Steph had made it, after all.
“Not funny,” Addie admonished, her heart still racing.
Steph was grinning. “It was a little funny,” she said before hugging Addie. “It’s so great to finally meet all of you!” She hugged the others in turn – and Addie was glad to see Mal smiling – finally.
“Ugh, sorry I missed the first couple of days,” Steph said once the hellos had been finished. “Work is so unpredictable. But I’m here now, ready to sink my teeth into history and all things Turn! So what’re we doing? Ghost hunting? Dibs on our illustrious spy leader if he shows up.”
“If Ben shows up, honey, I’ll fight you for him,” June said. “Ghost or not, I’d sink my teeth into that boy any day of the week!”
“OMG, cougar alert!” Leena giggled.
“I might be older than y’all, but my eyes work just fine,” June said with a smirk.
Addie laughed and shook her head. “So what now?”
“Let’s build a fire!” Leena suggested, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We can all sit around it and do a round-robin fanfic!” She put her hands – hidden inside her slightly too long jacket sleeves – up in front of her face as she tried not to giggle again. The result was a high-pitched noise that sounded suspiciously like a mouse squeak.
“A fire?” Addie shook her head. “I’m not sure we’re even supposed to be out here, let alone trying to start a fire.“
“I’m with Addie,” Steph said. “Besides, I’m starving. I drove straight from D.C. and haven’t eaten anything since lunch.”
“We’ll head back to the road, see if anything is open,” Mal suggested. “It’s almost midnight, so I don’t think – son-of-a-“ she let a low growl finish the sentence as snow began to drift lazily to the ground. She turned to her sister. “No snow, huh?”
Addie looked up again. The stars were as bright and clear as they had been ten minutes before. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she said, frowning.
“So we head back,” Leena said, reaching up to put one arm around Steph’s shoulders and the other around Mal’s. The shortest of the quintet, what she actually managed was a hand up to her wrist on either girl's taller frame. “Find something to nom on and get back to the bed and breakfast before it decides to go full-on blizzard.”
Addie was still frowning up at the sky. “So we’re going to completely ignore the fact that there are no clouds for the snow to be falling from, yeah?”
“You just can’t see them,” June said without glancing up. “It couldn’t be snowing like this without clouds. Hey! Y’all know what we need?”
“Flaming Dr. Pepper shots!” they cried out in unison, all of them laughing.
"I don't know if there's a bar within walking distance," Addie said as she and June caught up to the others.
"Everything's within walking distance technically," Steph said. "Just depends on how far you want to walk. Besides, if the snow picks up, we don't want to be driving around in it, right?"
Mal raised her fist in the air. "Here's to being stuck in a bar and getting hammered while we discuss a certain Major Tightpants!"
Addie laughed along with the others. Much of their online threads seemed to center around the wardrobe choices of the characters, the most infamous being the snug breeches of Benjamin Tallmadge, leader of the American spy ring. She shook her head. "Because being wasted and trying to walk through a storm is a much better idea."
"Maybe Caleb's ghost will be there. He can walk us home!" Leena suggested.
"Didn't he die in Connecticut?" June asked.
"He did," Steph confirmed. "And Ben, too."
"Aww, the bromance continued after the war!" Mal laughed. "That's so cute!"
"So then why would he be haunting a bar that didn't even exist when he lived here?" June pressed. "That makes no sense!"
"Maybe the bars he haunts in Connecticut ran out of whiskey," Addie said.
"Or they tried to give him tea," Mal snickered.
The joking had distracted them. They stopped at the corner and looked up to the street sign to get their bearings - but couldn't see it. The snow had gradually reduced visibility without their noticing, and none of them knew quite where they were.
"Holy crap, it's really coming down now," Mal said. "Addie? Pull up GPS on your phone or something."
Addie complied, pulling out her phone and scrolling through her apps until she found the one for directions. She tapped on it, and frowned as it opened to a white screen, the 'processing' icon spinning. "It usually doesn't take this long to start," she said. "Probably the storm." The network icon at the top showed NO SERVICE in red. "Dammit!" She showed the phone to her sister.
The other women pulled out their phones. There was a chorus of 'mine, too' as they checked their network status.
"Maybe the storm knocked out a tower," Leena suggested.
They all glanced around - except for the denseness of the snow, the 'storm' had very little teeth. An intermittent wind nipped at their faces, but the night was otherwise perfectly still.
"Well we can't just go on standin’ in the middle of the street,” June pointed out.
"Are we in the middle of the street, though?" Steph bent down and brushed the snow away from the ground immediately around her. "Grass," she muttered. "We were on pavement, weren't we?"
"Snow without clouds, disappearing pavement - anybody else freaked out yet?" Addie asked.
"Look, there's an explanation -"
"Be quiet, Mal." Addie held up her hand to silence her sister, her head tilted, listening to the sounds around them. A muffled exhalation of breath was followed by the crunching of snow. "There," she whispered when she heard it again. "Someone's coming."
"Help! We're poor tourists who have lost our way!" Leena laughed. The others shooshed her. A horse's nicker came in response.
"What the -" Addie frowned, shrugging as they all glanced at each other. Addie’s heart thudded against her ribcage painfully. Something wasn’t right.
A horse and rider cut through the storm, parting the snow as though it were a curtain. A second was right behind it.
The women gaped.
Mal grabbed Addie's arm. "Is that -"
Addie could only nod as the first rider turned his horse in front of them, his sabre drawn. His blue and buff uniform was spotless, topped with a plumed hat – it was Ben Tallmadge.
“Identify yourselves!” he demanded, eyes raking over the group.
The second rider circled behind them, effectively blocking any escape attempt they might have made.
The women huddled a little closer together, but didn’t answer.
The wind tugged at their coats and hats like a child wanting attention. Addie’s hat blew off, and she turned as she tried to grab it – with no success.
“Dammit,” she muttered, looking up at the second rider. Her heart stopped. The snow was still falling, but the long leather coat and cocked wide-brimmed hat were instantly recognizable to her as Caleb Brewster.
Addie grabbed Mal's hand.
"But the last season of Turn is already airing," June said. "Did you get picked up by Netflix? Oh my God. Are you filming right now?"
"Filmin'?" Caleb asked, looking across their heads at Ben. He dismounted, reins in hand as he looked at each of them. “They’re all women, Tallboy!”
“No call for rudeness!” June huffed.
Ben dismounted as well, coming around to stand by Caleb. He sheathed his sabre and sighed, hands on his hips.
“It isn’t rudeness, Madam. It’s surprise,” he said. “When you dress like a man, you should be prepared to be seen as a man – and a threat.”
"This is awesome," Leena giggled behind Addie.
And terrifying, Addie thought.
“’Dress like a man?’” Mal scoffed. “Steph, is this you?” Steph often boasted about her connections with the show – connections she never explicitly defined, but did always seem to result in inside knowledge.
She also liked her practical jokes.
Addie started to breathe a little easier. That’s all this was. It’s all it could be.
“Not me,” Steph said. “Shit. This is not me.” Her voice wavered. So did Addie’s relief.
“So – not on a set,” Addie said, her eyes locked on the men. “This is – real?”
"But if they’re supposed to really be Tallmadge and Brewster, they wouldn’t look just like -"
"I know," Addie said, hushing her sister. "I didn't say I could explain it."
“Don’t remember tellin’ you who I was,” Caleb said, head tilted to the side. His eyes flicked to Ben’s and then back to Mal. “Suppose ya tell me how it is you seem to know.” His hand was on the top of the axe at his waist, his body rigid, waiting.
Mal squeezed Addie’s hand. Addie could feel the tremor running through her sister. She squeezed back.
“Well, hell, boys. Everyone knows wherever Tallmadge goes, Brewster’s at his heel,” June said, her words easing Mal’s trembling.
“And Brewster’s axe is legend on its own,” Steph said. “We just connected the dots. Sir,” she added when Caleb remained still. Only his eyes moved, back to Ben.
Ben gave a curt nod, and Caleb’s body relaxed. He folded his hands in front of him and straightened his neck, walking around the group, looking each of them up and down in turn.
Addie felt the heat rising from under her coat collar as Caleb passed. He stopped when he’ d made a full circuit of the group.
“None of ‘em are armed,” he conveyed to Ben.
Ben nodded, his posture becoming less stiff. “Identify yourselves,” he repeated, his voice still firm.
Steph made her way to the front of the group, pushing Mal and Addie apart in her haste. "Stephanie Beecham," she said, giving a perfect curtsey, one ankle crossed behind the other.
Addie glanced at Mal behind Steph's back, knowing the smirk that graced her sister's face was mirrored on her own. Mal shrugged and shook her head.
"Miss Beecham." Ben nodded stiffly.
"Addie Hunt," Addie offered with an exhalation and a nod in response to Ben's.
"Mal Gower." Mal thrust out her hand. Caleb cast a bemused look at Ben, then stepped forward and shook it. Addie found herself wishing she'd been as bold.
"Leena Owens." Leena's voice squeaked as she stood on her tiptoes to be seen over the other women.
"June Cort." June stuck her hand over Mal's left shoulder, palm down. Caleb looked back at Ben again, then took it and pressed his lips to it. June grinned. Her face, already red from the cold, deepened in color.
"Right. Now we all know each other." Caleb hooked his thumbs in his belt and stepped back, his head tilting to the side. “Mind tellin’ us just what you’re all doin’ wanderin’ around here in the middle of the night?”
“And how you managed to get past the posted sentries?” Ben added.
“Posted sentries?” Addie echoed.
“Aye, the sentries,” Caleb said. “The lads done up in blue and buff that are posted around the perimeter of our line.”
Oh, God. The war hasn’t ended yet, Addie thought. Her heart felt as though it would burst. Being here, mere feet from the living, breathing incarnations of what had effectively been an obsession for four years should have been exhilarating.
But they’d somehow been transported into the show – or at least the world the show inhabited – and these were very real people.
With very real guns.
"We were just in Setauket," Leena offered.
"Setauket?” Caleb snickered. “Yeah, give or take 100 miles.”
Leena blushed and grabbed June's hand. "He spoke right to me!" Her voice wasn't above a whisper, but they all easily heard it.
Caleb looked at Ben, an amused smirk spreading across his face.
“100 miles from Setauket?” Mal whispered to Addie. “How did that happen?”
“Sure, that’s the weird part of all this,” she whispered back.
"Never heard any of them names around Setauket," Caleb pointed out. “How ‘bout you, Ben?”
"’Course we’re not from Setauket, " June said. “We were just visiting family."
"Yeah, we’re cousins of the DeJong's," Mal finished, giving her sister a perfunctory nod.
"Cousins?" Ben asked, nodding. "All five of you?"
They nodded. "Distant," Steph said. "There was um a -"
"Wedding," Leena said. Addie suppressed a groan. Weddings were something they could check on. Although, come to think of it, so was the existence of visiting cousins. This wasn’t make believe. If they were taken back to camp and their stories checked, then found to be false - she began to fidget.
“Mind tellin’ us what you’re doin’ out here, then?” Caleb asked. “Like I said, it’s a long way from Setauket.”
Each of them looked to the others for some kind of direction.
“We got lost?” Steph said.
“Lost.” Ben’s voice was flat, his free hand on his sabre hilt. “You expect us to believe you just - wandered up here from Setauket, through enemy lines?”
“So we’re in the show world, right?” Addie mumbled to Mal.
“What?”
“I mean, we’ve so obviously been Twilight Zone’d – and since they look like the actors, I figure we’re in the show’s universe, and haven’t somehow time traveled to the past, right?”
“How the hell do I know?” Mal hissed.
“I’m just wondering if they know about Hewlett yet,” Addie whispered.
“What’s this about Hewlett?” Caleb asked, stepping forward again and focusing on Addie.
She turned to Mal, who shrugged. “I – I just thought you might not have heard that Major Hewlett’s taken over for Andre as Head of Intelligence for the British,” she said.
Caleb’s face tightened and he whipped his head around to Ben, who had a similarly grim look.
“How did you come by this information, Madam?” Ben asked.
Because I watch the tv show, Addie thought.
“Everybody’s talking about it in York City,” Steph said quickly.
“Right,” Caleb said, nodding and heading back to his horse. “I’m going to find a way in –“
Ben stepped back and put a hand on Caleb’s chest to stop him, keeping a wary eye on the group of women.
“You can’t go to York City, Caleb. You don’t have a way in or a way out.”
“If Hewlett’s there, Culper’s at risk,” Caleb said.
“No, it’s okay - they’re working together,” Leena said. Ben brought his gaze to hers slowly, and Caleb craned his neck around to look at her. The other women turned to her and exhaled, a collective breath of chastisement.
“What?” Leena asked, her palms turned up in front of her.
“What do you mean ‘working together’?” Ben asked, walking into the group so that he was in front of Leena.
He had his back toward Steph, whose eyes kept straying below his waist.
Addie swatted at her hand as it reached towards Ben’s butt.
Behind them, Caleb snorted. Addie didn’t turn around, but felt the color rising to her cheeks again. She felt as though her face was going to be a permanent shade of pink before the end of the night.
“I was just going to give it a little squeeze,” Steph muttered.
Addie shook her head. “Not the time,” she whispered.
“I mean,” Leena said, blushing even more now that she was inches from him, “that they made a pact to get Simcoe.”
“Simcoe,” Caleb said, crossing his arms again. “That bas-“ he cleared his throat as he remembered the ladies present. “We knew it was a risk –“
“We’ll discuss it back at the camp,” Ben said over his shoulder, studying each of the women’s faces before going back towards his horse. “I’m going to have to ask that you ladies accompany us.”
“I’ve got some rope in my bag,” Caleb offered with a grin.
“Oh, honey, you don’t have to tie us up,” June said.
“Well, unless you want to,” Steph added, matching Caleb’s grin.
Addie wanted to scream. Why wasn’t anybody else freaking out?
“It isn’t far to camp, rope won’t be necessary,” Ben said. “Behave,” he muttered to Caleb as he passed him.
The snow had slowed during the exchange, and was now barely falling. Beside them, the moon was reflecting off of the river, a shimmering path that seemed to stretch endlessly in either direction.
Ben and Caleb rode their horses, the girls walking between the two.
"We probably should have marked where we were," Addie muttered to Mal.
"Why?"
"Because eventually, we're going to have to try and get back, right?"
Mal pulled her head back slightly, a quizzical expression on her face. "Why are you even worried about that now?" she asked. "Just let go for once, Addie. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and we'll figure out the rest when we have to."
“’Enjoy the ride’?” she shot back. “We’ve been dropped in the middle of a war being waged in a fictional universe where we don’t know exactly what will happen. Maybe we’re not tied up – yet – but we’re prisoners, Mal!”
“But we’ve got such nice eye candy,” Mal pointed out, grinning.
Addie ran her hand over her mouth, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. They’d all gone crazy. Logic and reason were what she relied on in her real life, and even though what was happening now couldn't be explained with either of those things, she was trying to cling to them.
They passed a sentry post, the men nodding to Caleb and Ben as they passed, staring at the group of women with interest.
"Eyes on your watch, gentlemen," Ben chided. The soldiers grumbled, but turned away, one of them prodding at the fire by their feet.
"Where we gonna keep 'em?" Caleb asked. "Can't cram 'em all in the store room for very long."
"The barn," Ben said after a moment. "We can post guards there, and they'll be out of the weather."
"Yeah, barely." Caleb looked over the group again. "You lot eaten at all today?"
"I could eat a whole cow," Steph said.
"Well, we ain't long on beef, but we'll find somethin' edible," Caleb said.
They arrived at the barn, the noises from the camp clearly audible even though they could not see it yet.
"Take care of the horses, and bring four men we can rely on to post as guard," Ben instructed, dismounting and handing the reins to Caleb. "This way, ladies."
Caleb led the horses into camp, and the group followed Ben in to the barn.
"This is where they brought Abe!" Leena squealed.
"Please, Lord, don’t make me stand anywhere near where they had poor Richard’s body," June said, a hand to her mouth.
Ben pulled the door closed behind them and advanced towards the women.
"How are you getting your information?" he demanded.
"Oh, oops." June put a hand over her mouth as Leena grimaced.
Ben's face was grim. "I will have no choice but to keep you here, under guard, unless you tell me how you have come to know the name Culper."
His eyes went to each woman's face in turn, searching for answers, for any sign that one of them were ready to speak.
One by one, they averted their eyes, shifting nervously.
Ben exhaled sharply, turning at the sound of the door opening. He held up a hand to stop Caleb where he stood, and focused again on the group of women.
"We will have your source," he said, pointing his finger at them.
He walked to the door and drew Caleb back outside.
"See if you can get anything out of them," he said, his tone low. "I've got to tell Washington about Hewlett."
One side of Caleb's face twitched upward with the movement of his mouth. "You want me to go in to a barn full of women and get information from 'em?"
"Behave yourself," Ben huffed.
"I'll be a perfect gentleman, yeah?" Caleb grinned. "Who's to say they'll be able to keep their hands off me, though, eh?" He laughed, hitting Ben's arm.
His words carried easily into the barn. Mal grabbed Addie's arm and gave an excited jump. Behind them, June and Leena let loose a quiet squee.
"But no Ben and his breeches," Steph complained.
They shushed each other as the barn door opened again.
Caleb shut the door, then walked over to the women, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Right," he said, grinning. "Who's first, then?"
“Best. Vacation. Ever,” Mal breathed.
Addie felt like she was going to puke.