Fearless // Lafayette x Reader

4. She Meets a Fear

She was gently awoken by someone lightly shaking her shoulders.

"(Y/N)," she heard a soft voice with a thick French accent. "We're here."

(Y/N) quickly opened her eyes, embarrassed. She hadn't wanted to sleep that long.

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" She asked, turning to face him.

He shrugged, smiling. "You looked very peaceful asleep. And you were out like a light - no sense in waking you."

She smiled slightly as she turned back to face the front. Soldiers on horses were already dispersing from the line, making their way to several wooden posts that stuck out from the ground so they could tie their horses up.

Lafayette jumped off their horse and held out his hand to help (Y/N) down. Hoping she wasn't blushing, she took it, carefully setting her booted foot in the stirrup before falling to her feet.

"You'd better go claim a good spot for your tent," Laf told her, wrapping the pinto's reigns around his hand.

She thanked him for the ride before heading off to find the stack of tents.

~~~

"Well, well, well. Neighbors again, aren't we?"

The little group sat around the fire, laughing. (Y/N) had to agree that it was a piece of luck - a much needed piece of luck - that had landed their tents next to each other.

Unless it was just Washington trying to keep an eye on them all at once, which was more likely.

(Y/N) yawned, tucking a stray piece of hair out of her eyes as the first drops of rain began to sprinkle.

"Well, this fire wasn't going to last much longer anyway," Herc sighed. "Should we put it out now or let the rain do it?"

"Oh, it can't hurt to leave it a little while longer," John smiled. "It'll go out soon enough."

All around them, tents were being zipped, lanterns turned off. The four men bid her goodnight and headed off into their large tent, right next to her tiny one.

Lafayette was the last into the tent. He lingered outside for a minute, as though her was going to say something, but then ducked through and zipped it shut.

(Y/N) crawled into her own tent. She'd laid out everything neatly earlier, the sleeping bag in one corner and her neatly-folded clothes in the other. She turned the lantern off, changed into her pajamas (just a more comfortable version of the pants and top she was already wearing, courtesy of Herc's mad tailor skills) and lay down on her cot, slowly drifting off as the fire died.

~~~

The next few days were almost more boring than the ones behind them. There wasn't much to do - they couldn't practice shooting, in case the enemy was nearby, or ride their horses for the same reason. The camp wasn't near a bar, so the whole group was rather alcohol-deprived.

Then one day a man came crashing through the underbrush. (Y/N) recognized him as one of the scouts sent out from the camp.

"T-they're coming!" he shouted hysterically to the little camp. "They've got troops on the water and they're coming!"

Someone called General Washington out of his tent. He briskly strode over to the man, placing a hand on each shoulder.

"How many troops do they have?"

"I-I'm not sure." The man looked frightened. "A lot - probably over 30,000."

Washington asked calmly, "Where is this happening?"