Snowflake #6 - Turn Fic

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In your own space, Create something. It doesn’t have to just be the written word or a drawing. Creativity is much more inclusive. I enjoy making jewelry. Maybe you are into yarn/thread/fabric. Compose music? Create recipes? (Ooh this kinda reminded me, but I used to do some jewelry making too when I was younger and I had a lot of fun, I'd love to do that again!)

For this, I decided to post something I wrote as a wish fulfillment for jesseofthenorth , about a character being rescued after being out in the cold! <3 It's a little late for this challenge, but I'm glad I posted it tonight because we've had a huge snowstorm and about six inches of snow today, so I'm feeling very in the mood for this story!!

I don't know if you, Jesse, or any of my followers know about this fandom, but it's the show Turn: Washington's Spies! It's about a group of spies during the American Revolutionary War and is loosely based on the real-life Culper Ring. My favorite pairing (Anna Strong/Edmund Hewlett) is predictably tragic: she's a Patriot spy and he's a Redcoat officer... *cries* I'm sure you can guess how that turned out, but they were so so cute and soft together for a while there!!! Good old fashioned rivals/enemies-to-lovers :')

Some general info: They live in the town of Setauket, New York, and Hewlett lives in Whitehall, the house of the town magistrate, because he's the commander of the garrison there. He invites Anna to come stay there with him to protect her from another Redcoat who is creepy af and is also Hewlett's arch-nemesis throughout the show. Hewlett loves horses and astronomy and is a big nerd, and he and Anna have a really cute stargazing date in one episode. I hope that's enough of an intro to make you want to watch it lol, but I think that's all you really need to know for this story! It's just fluff and hurt/comfort!


Anna was thrown from her horse right as it started to snow. She wasn’t badly injured, but her wrist ached from how she’d tried to catch her fall, and the fierce wind stung her cheeks. She was growing colder and colder as she tried to find her way back to Whitehall, and she wished she hadn’t decided to go out on her own. She didn’t ride much, and Edmund had wanted to take her out to give her more practice, and because he loved it and wanted to share that passion with her.

Edmund had ridden back as it started getting colder and windier, but Anna had wanted to stay out longer and felt confident that she could handle herself alone for another half-hour. But the horse had gotten spooked, and Anna hadn’t been able to calm him to stop him from turning and running the other direction, throwing her off in the process and tearing her cloak almost in half on a nearby branch. By now, it had been well over half an hour, and Anna could only hope her horse had returned to Whitehall without her and Edmund would come looking for her at any moment. She could hardly see anything through the heavy snowfall, and she hoped he wouldn’t get too lost in it to find her…

The wind blew hard again, making Anna’s eyes tear up. She shivered hard and wrapped her cloak around her as much as she could, although it hurt her wrist, and she could feel a few of the big, fluffy snowflakes melting on her skin and slipping down her blouse, and making her hair and face wet. Her cloak and the skirt of her dress were already wet from when she’d fallen, and she suddenly couldn’t stop shivering. Everything around her was covered in a white blanket of snow, so the landscape almost looked completely flat.

“Anna? Anna!”

She heard the voice from a ways away, and when she looked up, Edmund was there on his horse, riding toward her. It was like the red speck of his uniform had appeared out of nowhere, from over some invisible hill.

In only half a second, he was beside her, and she must’ve fallen down because he was pulling her up and wrapping his warm arms around her. It jarred her hurt wrist and she groaned.

“Anna, darling, come here. Can you get up on the horse?”

She nodded slowly, and with his help, managed to clumsily get into the saddle. Then he was behind her, holding her against his warm chest in his warm arms. He swore quietly but fiercely and tightened his hold around her waist.

“Christ, you’re freezing. I’m going to get you home.” He spoke in a whisper, perhaps to himself, but Anna squeezed his arm with her uninjured hand, hoping to let him know she knew.

Very soon, they were home, safe inside where the fire was built up. Anna was given a warm change of clothes and helped into them by a servant, and she finally started to feel warmer. The fire in her room was built up, and her bed was soft and warm, and after a few more minutes, there was a soft knock on the door.

“Yes?” she called, sitting up a little straighter. She moved her hands out from under the blanket, and the movement made her wrist twinge again and she gasped.

Edmund stepped into the room, a soft, worried look on his face, the shoulders of his uniform wet from melted snow. “Are you hurt?” he asked, sitting next to her on the bed and half-reaching to touch her wrist, then stopping and instead putting his hand on her upper arm. He had such big, warm hands, she realized—not for the first time—and she leaned into the touch.

“Yes, a little,” she murmured. “The horse got spooked by something and threw me, and I hurt my wrist when I fell.”

He gave a soft, concerned sound in his throat. “God, I’m sorry. I should not have gone back so soon, I wish I had been there to help you.”

“You did help me, Edmund,” she told him, and she squeezed his hand with her good hand. “You came back and found me.” His eyes met hers, and he smiled, happy and relieved, and kissed her cheek softly. He was so sweet with her, and Anna smiled back and wrapped her arms around him.

He wrapped a bandage around her wrist, very gently, and then all she wanted to do was sleep. It was early afternoon, but it had already been a long day. Edmund promised he’d stay by her bed, and he went to his own room to get a book before pulling a chair closer and settling in to sit with her.

Later, she woke to see the curtains on the window drawn closed, and Edmund still there next to her, hunched over the book in his lap in a way that hardly looked comfortable. Anna turned onto her side, and he looked up with a jerk at the sound of her movement and sat up forward in his chair.

“How are you?” he asked, and she smiled.

“I feel much better now.” She felt rested and relaxed and warm. “What are you reading?”

“Oh,” he looked back down at the book. “It’s Homer’s Odyssey.”

She hummed and closed her eyes. “Can you read to me?”

“Of course, if you like,” he murmured, and she could tell he was smiling. He started, and the words washed over her softly, though they didn’t make much sense to her. Someday, perhaps she’d read the whole story, or have him read it to her when she wasn’t so tired. She was sure he wouldn’t mind at all.


I might post this to AO3 in a few days after I tweak it a little...!

EDIT: Here's the edited version on AO3: read here <3