Alice had them all up and out on the street by 0900 hours. The sun shone bright, not a cloud in the. Despite the chilly air, the walk to breakfast wasn't unpleasant. As they walked, Alice alternated between just gazing around in wonder and telling them about what they saw around them. She took them to the Champs-Élysées.

"There is nothing like it," she said. As they finally turned onto the main avenue of Paris, she stopped. Despite the crowds of Parisians and servicemen alike, the Arc de Triomphe reared up at the far end, in plain sight. 

"That's a hell of a monument," Joe said. "How big is that?"

"Big," George added.

Alice laughed. "Yes. It is quite big."

"Eh, Statue 'a Liberty's better," Bill added. He winked when Alice turned to him, annoyed.

They moved along the side of the street. Alice watched the boys marvel at the sheer size of the sidewalks. They were like streets themselves. It took awhile, but soon they had found a cafe and ordered drinks and food. While Joe grabbed a table outside, Alice did her best not to abandon the other two in favor of chatting up the Parisian waiters. 

Once they sat down with their breakfast out on the promenade, she turned back to them. That said oddly quiet. When they met her gaze, she saw them smirking. "What?" 

George and Bill started cracking up. Confused, she turned to Joe. He just smirked and shook his head. She demanded what was so funny.

"You ain't payin' attention to us, sweetheart, you're all ears for this place." Bill shook his head, smirking.

"You're getting back that fantastic accent, too," George added.

Alice felt herself starting to blush. She just shook her head. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Sorry."

Joe shook his head. "You ain't gotta apologize."

George and Bill echoed his sentiments. As they turned to talk with each other over various matters, Alice decided to people-watch. She hadn't told them yet, but the cafe meant more to her than they suspected. She and her University friends had used it as a meeting place during the occupation. Being back, people-watching, it felt fantastic.

They went on like that for an hour at least. As her three friends would ask questions about Paris, she would answer honestly and earnestly. But between their questions, she just sat and reveled in the moment. Just as they prepared to head out for the day, to walk more of the streets of Paris, her heart nearly stopped.

"Adélaïde? Est-ce vous?"

She froze. She knew that man's voice. Alice whipped around, trying to catch a glimpse of the face she knew belonged to it. The boys with her shouted after her as she pushed her way through the stream of people walking along the Champs-Élysées. But then she saw him.

She saw his dark hair, a bit messy on his head. He had never cared enough to keep it straight, and it looked good unkempt anyways. When she met his gaze, his brown eyes locked onto her. A massive grin spread across his face.

"Jean-Luc!" She nearly cried as she grabbed him in a hug. "Tu es en vie!"

"Adélaïde! Nous pensions que vous étiez mort." He stood back from her, covering his mouth. "Mon Dieu. Tu es en vie."

She laughed through her tears. Yes, she was alive. And here he was, her brothers' best friend, alive as well. Alice nearly broke down as she grabbed him again.

"Comment tu es en vie? Qui sont-ils?" 

At Jean-Luc's question, Alice pulled back. She looked behind herself. Sure enough, Bill, George, and Joe picked their way over. She nearly laughed at how confused and almost wary they looked.

"Ce sont mes amis d'Amérique." She took a deep breath and shook her head. When the other three reached her, she sighed. "A lot has happened, Jean-Luc. We can't talk about it here."

He looked at her closely and nodded. He switched to English as well, his accent much thicker than hers. "Right. Come. Marie will want to see you." He looked the paratroopers up and down. "I am Jean-Luc Beaulieu."

"These are Sergeants George Luz, Bill Guarnere, and Joe Toye," Alice said. "Paratroopers."

As they shook his hand, Jean-Luc turned to Alice. "Parachutistes? Comment les connaissez-vous?"

Alice laughed and shook her head. "Not here. I promise to answer all your questions when we're not in the open."

He shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "Very well. Any friend of Adélaïde is a friend of ours. Come."

It shocked her just how quiet even George was able to stay while they followed behind Jean-Luc. Alice could see them bursting at the seams with questions. But they held their tongues even as Jean-Luc wove through backstreets from the Champs-Élysées further into Paris. After about fifteen minutes, they came to the base of an apartment building that Alice recognized immediately. Again, she froze in place. But Jean-Luc pushed her forward.

They took the stairs to the third floor. With a quick movement, Jean-Luc pulled out a key and pushed the door open. He shouted in French, to which a female voice replied. Alice had another mini heart attack. Bill bumped into her as she stopped in the doorway. She muttered an apology and moved further in.

"Si vous plaisantez, Jean-Luc, je vais vous tuer moi-même!" As the rant stopped, a woman came around the corner with light brown hair in a braid, wiping her hands on an apron. When she saw Alice, though, she fell totally silent. After a moment, she managed to squeak out, "Adélaïde?"

"Salut, Marie." 

"Adélaïde!"

They met in the middle of the flat, laughing and crying all at the same time.Their voices rattled on endlessly, leaving the American paratroopers at a total loss. When they finally broke apart from their hug, Marie looked past her.

"Where the hell have you been?" Marie finally demanded, dropping into English when she noticed the other three were Americans. "Where the hell have you been all this time! When we found out Marc had been killed, and you and Robert went missing, we assumed they'd gotten you, too!"

Pain crossed her face. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. We didn't have time to say goodbye." Alice turned to the three paratroopers. "These are my friends. They're part of the 101st Airborne Division. We're part of the 101st Airborne Division."

"We?" Jean-Luc turned from her to them in surprise. "How?"

Alice proceeded to explain what had happened between that last night in Paris over three years ago and her return the night before. Most of it the Paratroopers knew. But as they settled at a table, tea in hand, they listened carefully whenever Alice went on to explain events they weren't privy to.

"We cannot thank you enough," Marie said, turning to the other three. "You helped us rid this land of the Nazis. Nothing can repay you for that."

"Just doing what's right," Joe replied.

Jean-Luc nodded. "She's right, though. Free France owes America it's life."

As Bill went to respond, they heard a key turn and the door to the front pushed open. A woman with golden-brown hair pushed inside, taking off her beret. She placed her bags of food on the floor.

"Juliette. Salut!" Alice called over.

The woman froze in her motion. Straightening back up slowly, she audibly gasped when she saw Alice standing before her. With a small scream, she ran over and hugged and kissed Alice. Rambling on in French, the three who could understand her started laughing.

"Speak English, please," Alice said with a laugh. "My friends do not know French."

Juliette looked at them for the first time. She cocked her head before smiling. "Ah, so you have met the Americans. Welcome to Paris." Then she looked back at Alice. "T'as fait under belle prise avec ces trois là, Adélaïde."

Alice started cracking up. Of course her first observation would be the attractiveness of the three. But she shook her head. "No, Juliette."

But the woman just smirked. As Alice gave a shortened version of what she'd just been telling the others, Juliette watched the paratroopers in renewed fascination. As the story came to a close, she smiled at George, Bill, and Joe.

"So, how exactly do ya know each other?" Bill asked a moment later. "Now you know us."

Jean-Luc gave a small laugh. "I've known the Kleins since they first moved here," he said.

"He and my brothers were inseparable," Alice added.

He nodded, frowning. "I should've been there. I could've kicked some sense into Marc. Or killed a few Nazis myself."

After several moments of silence, Alice turned to the two women. "Juliette and Marie both took classes with me. All four of us worked against the Nazis as best we could. Pamphlets, rallies."

"We did what small part we could," Juliette agreed. "Not much, but it was something."

George nodded. He pointed to Alice. "She told us all about the Resistance here. We couldn't have succeeded on D-Day without France's underground."

All three of the Parisians brightened up at his words. Alice, George, Bill, and Joe stayed for lunch. The three men stayed relatively quiet, something that Alice decided to thank them for later, allowing her the hours to try to reconnect with her old friends. Talk ranged everywhere from paratrooper training to Holland to even what the Americans were enjoying of France.

After a couple hours, Alice excused herself from the table Taking her plate into the kitchen, she took a few moments to collect herself. An overwhelming amount of emotions crashed down on her, from relief to shock to fear and depression. When Jean-Luc walked in a minute later, she tried to smile. It failed. 

"I tried to get them out," he said quietly. "I went to your parents' apartment once I heard they had cracked down on finding Jews. By the time I got there, they were gone. I'm sorry."

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "I knew you'd try, if you were still alive. So much has happened. So many horrible things," she added. "Thank you, for your hospitality for my friends."

"Of course. A friend of yours may as well be family to us," he added.

With a sad smile, she just shook her head. Alice sighed. "Those three out there, and a dozen other men like them back in Mourmelon-le-Grand, they're the closest I have to family these days. They mean everything to me."

"They seem like good men. I'll break their limbs if they hurt you, though," he added. With a laugh, he smiled at her impatient expression. "Not that you probably couldn't, since you're a Paratrooper and all."

"They're the best."

He nodded. "Good. But I have a responsibility to protect you now that your brothers are gone. If they were here, they'd kick my ass for not having found you sooner."

"I was doing my best not to be found," she reminded him.

Jean-Luc agreed. He took a deep breath and then sighed. "We should probably get back in there before Juliette tries to get one to go dancing with her, though. She's been quite excited about the number of soldiers in Paris these days, now that they aren't Nazis.

She nodded. After Jean-Luc pulled her into one more hug, she followed him back towards the group. When they got there, Juliette had already started flirting with not one, but all three, and she just had to smile. She was home.