#writing het laurens at the start was very painful but hes just pretending okay?

[penisslayer69]

SOMETHING I WROTE FOR MARTHA MANNING BECAUSE SHE DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER

~~

John smiles fondly at Martha, stroking his hand along her jawline.

"Promise me you'll come back my dear" she pleads.

"I will be back as soon as i can" he says, clutching her wrist with his other hand.

"Jack dearest, please stay safe" nartha feels a tear run down her face "and i beg of you to not do anything too reckless, like our love"

John purses his lips, he wouldnt describe it as love as there is nothing really between them except wedding vows and an unborn child.

"I promise." He presses a gentle kiss to her forehead and turns away from her.

Martha stilll watches as he runs eagerly towards tge ship and stays until she sees the ship disappear over the horizon.

~~

(A/N martha m laurens: patty

martha l ramsay: patsy)

Nearly two years pass, martha has given birth to the most beautiful little girl who she named after an old friend of john's

Her name is Frances.

She loves the little girl dearly.

Frances has her father's eyes, his smile and she has her mother's freckles and her curly hair but in john's honey gold colour.

She is the most beautiful little girl Martha has laid her eyes upon.

Martha has often been caught up late by her sisters (biological and in-laws) at night doting on the child.

Martha Laurens, a fellow martha and her sister in law walk in one day

"Up again Patty?" Patsy cocks her brow at the other martha

"I love her so much!" Patty smiles widely

Patsy grins "you love her so much that you have lost perception of time again?"

Patty's eyes flicker about "what- what time is it?"

"Two in the morning, sister." Patsy smirks.

"Two???" Patty's eyes widen.

She just now realises that her sister-in-law is in her shift and her hair is loose, she holds a candle which is the only light source in the room asside from the moonlight outside

"Aye, come to bed patty, it's late" patsy pleads

"You're right sis, i should get some sleep shouldn't i?" She turns to her sleeping daughter and presses a gentle kiss to her cheek "good night frances"

~~

Martha wakes up early to the mailman, she is barely clothes in her shift and a lousily laced up stay

"A letter for Mrs Laurens?" The boy says

"That be me" martha saya, taking the letter in her hand.

The boy bows his head and jogs off to the next house

Martha eagerly tears open the seal as she kicks the door shut with her bare foot.

Dear Mrs Laurens,

I shall be glad to inform you that my son shall be in France over the next few months to negotiate with the king, i should hope he takes the opportunity to visit you

Henry Laurens

John.

It has been so long since she has heard from john that she worried that he was dead, he never wrote to her after he left like he promised the would write to her but she only heard from him once a year in very vaguely worded letters.

She is very quick to pack up her stuff.

"Frances!" She yells.

A little girl, now five comes running down the stairs

"Yes mama?" Frances cocks her head

"We're going to france" martha says

The little girl's eyes light up and a wide smile grows on her face.

"You better pack up quickly before the ship sails off without us!" Martha prompts.

By the time they are all ready to go they quickly make their way to the harbour.

Frances stares in awe at the ships

They are huge.

Martha approaches a sailor.

"Excuse me sir, which one is going to france?" She asks.

The young man nods and points her in the direction of their ship

~~

By the time they finally arive after a few weeks martha is gutted to find out that john had already left.

What makes things worse is that she also picked up a dreadful disease on the way over meaning even if john had made an attempt to come see her he wouldnt be allowed to due to her state.

It is only just turned september, not quite summer, not quite autumn either.

Martha dies before anyone sees to her that morning

The last thing on her mind is john promising to return but how he left her to die when she needed him most

~~bonus~~

Nearly a year later nartha is greeted with a familliar face.

John.

He looks so sheepish

Martha cocks her eyebrows at him "and where have you been?"

"War" he purses his lips

Martha grins "i know that face, you're hiding something arent you? Dont worry i wont kill you since we're both dead so that would be pointless"

John looks away sheepishly "you may not murder me but you will hate ne for it"

"Go for it dear" she prompts on

John inhales deeply "ileftyoubecauseitrulyididntloveyousoileftfortheamericasandatcampimetthemostbeautifulladintheworldhisnamewasalexabderandhewassobeautifulifellinloveinevertoldhimaboutyouandhefoundoutbyaccidentandsentmeaverysaltylettertellingmeofffornotmentioningyoubutistilllovedhimdearlybutmostofthewaricompletelyforgotaboutyouandnowthatiseeyouhereifeelsomuchshameimsorryimsorryimsorry"

His words came out in literally just one breath

Martha stares dumbfoundedly, no idea what he just said and only catching certain words like 'i didnt love you', 'alexander' and 'i never told him about you'.

Martha throws a heavy punch to johns face, knocking him over.

"I deserved that" he says slowly getting back up.

Martha nods "yes you did, now lets just leave it at that, the past cant be changed okay?"

"Okay" john nods "i still love him, he is probably going to be really mad at ne for dying"

"Im mad at you for dying, what even happened anyway?"

"So..."

[Insert infodump about the battle of combahee i cant be bothered to write]

"Wow john, you're such an idiot" martha teases.

"I may not love you like my alexander but i like you, can we just keep going as friennds as opposed to lovers?" John asks

"Sure" martha nods "now, tell mme of your alexander, i must know everything"