June 10, 1945

Four days. It had been four days since the anniversary of the jump into Normandy, four days since Shifty had been given discharge, and four days since Sink had confirmed the 506th and the 101st Airborne would definitely be redeployed to the Pacific. Shifty hadn't left yet; his paperwork still needed to go through. But as Alice sat barely dressed in bed, hair a disaster, all she could think of was how it was ending. Everything was ending.

Her mind raced. As much as she tried to focus on the warm light cascading through the sheer curtains, Alice couldn't. There was too much stress, too much anger, too much uncertainty. She pulled the comforter closer to her chest. 

Dick planned to apply for a transfer. She'd heard him talking to Nixon the previous night. They'd been outside when she'd walked by. Alice had meant to go up to them, but hearing Dick say those words had frozen her on the spot.

A part of her understood his perspective. The waiting game they had to play now, of when would they be sent East, it was enough to drive anyone crazy. The enlisted had been getting more and more antsy. Ron tried to keep them active with training, to get their minds off the unknown. But the officers didn't have that comfort, not really.

As if Dick leaving wasn't hard enough, Alice had seen the look on Nix's face when he'd been told that. Her heart had broken in two. Without a shadow of a doubt, Alice knew that Nix would go with Dick, or would've, if she hadn't been in the picture. They had a bond that she couldn't compare to anything really. A love that came only from relying on each other for everything. Not unlike how she loved Nixon. Different, and yet the same. And they'd known each other twice as long as she'd known them.

Alice had fled to her room. Panic had seized her body. She saw no right answer. A terror filled her even thinking of Dick and Nixon jumping into the Pacific and leaving her behind. But equally as scary was imagining either of them jumping alone. And she knew, the only reason they'd not jump together would be her.

The sunlight reached her bed. Alice closed her eyes. She let the light fall on her bare arms, on her face. A pleasant warmth spread over her body. She could feel it through the dark green comforter. Her breathing slowed. She tried to calm down.

A gentle knock at the door pulled her back to reality a several minutes later. Alice released a breath. It took a second knock for her to crawl out of the blankets. She glanced down. Figuring the only people to be knocking on her door would be people she didn't mind being seen in PT shorts and a loose shirt, Alice went and opened it up.

Nixon leaned against the door frame. With a small smile and shake of her head, she moved to let him in. For the first time in days he wore clean ODs instead of the dress uniform that had become commonplace for staff officers. While he sat down at the desk chair across from her bed, Alice just padded back to her pile of blankets.

"I was surprised you didn't see Second Platoon off," he said.

Alice shrugged. Her smile faltered a bit. She'd been trying not to spend as much time with the enlisted in preparation for her or their inevitable departure. "I'm sure they were excited."

He snorted. "That's an understatement. I think I overheard Malarkey say something about wanting to try the ski class?"

That made her grin. Dick had organized a rotation of one platoon from the 2nd Battalion for a break at a resort up in the mountains every few days. It offered a distraction from the monotony, and now that training had resumed, a reason to run up a mountain. Hi-yo silver.

At the memory, Alice couldn't help but smile a bit. As she looked from the blankets to the mountains through the window, she felt her heart beating rapidly again. Light bounced off the lake. She turned back to him. He sat watching her.

"I heard Dick last night," she said, voice low. Alice looked away from him, towards the window, and then towards the blankets. 

His smile dropped instantly. "Crazy man, is what he is," he tried to joke. "Such a thrill seeker."

"Nix." Alice stopped him. Glancing up at him, she tried to form the words she'd finally convinced herself were the right ones. They wouldn't come. She bit down on the inside of her cheek so hard it bled. "You're going with him." 

It was more a statement than a question, but her voice wavered. Across from her, Nixon didn't move. He didn't say anything. After several moments of them both in silence, he seemed to regain control of himself. "He can jump by himself. He's an adult, sometimes-"

Alice cut him off with a small, sad laugh. She dipped her head to look down at her bed for a moment before facing him. "You're going. You need to go." With a sigh, she tried to keep a smile on her face. "You can go. You should go. If you didn't go, and Dick, well." At the thought, she clammed up for a moment. But she pushed on. "You'd never forgive yourself. And you might not be able to forgive me for being the reason you weren't there. Shit, I don't think I'd forgive myself." 

The silence between was palpable, but not uncomfortable. She could see him thinking. For a moment she wondered what was going through his head.

"I'll be the lucky one, really," she added. "I'm done. No more jumps for me. Dick will need you more than I would. I figure, I'll just go stay with Millie once I'm discharged. She could use the help." More silence. Alice looked at him. "I don't think I've ever seen you speechless," she attempted to joke.

Nixon laughed a little. He downed a drink of alcohol from his flask, but he still didn't say anything. After a moment, he shook his head. He glanced towards the window. Then he glanced back. "You're sure?"

"You need to go with him," she stated simply.

With a small laugh, choked from emotion, he looked down at the floor. He had no words. Never in his entire life had Nix been struck so silent. Standing from the chair, he walked over to the nearby window. Alice joined him. 

"It's okay. I know you'll come back," she said, voice low. But she tried to smile for both of their sakes. "Otherwise I'll have to jump into Japan and drag you both back."

Nixon turned to face her. He stood against the window. With a small shake of his head, he watched her. He took a deep breath. "When we get back, would you marry me?"

She stopped breathing. It wasn't that she hadn't expected it eventually. But at the question, Alice froze. After a moment, she laughed and grinned. "Yes." 

"Good, but this isn't an official proposal," he added, grinning too. "I need a ring for that."

Alice laughed again. Pulling him into a kiss, she had to break it a moment later to try to stop herself from grinning like an idiot. For the moment she pushed away any and all thoughts of him getting sent to or, god forbid, dying, in the Pacific. She stayed in the embrace hoping it would never end.

"So why'd you come up here?" she finally asked.

Nixon moved apart, trying to remember. "Oh, right. First and Third are going to be playing a baseball game. Harry and I were heading over to watch, thought you might want to come."

"Tempting." She smirked at him. Pushing away from the window, she walked to the dresser. "I think I can squeeze that into my schedule."

"We are truly honored by your presence," he deadpanned. With a small laugh, Nix took another drink of his flask. He turned to look out the window at the beauty of Zell am See. "You've got a nice view. Jesus Christ, how'd you luck out with that?"

Once she'd pulled on a nice set of fatigues, Alice leaned against her bed and laced up her jump boots. Her smile never left her face. "Guess I'm just lucky."

"Well, you got me," he pointed out.

"There's the arrogant rich jerk from Yale," she teased. Straightening up, Alice gestured towards the door. "Come on."

When they reached the lounge, Harry stood chatting with Talbert. They both were grinning. Harry laughed at something Talbert said. When they caught sight of Alice and Nixon, Harry nodded to him and joined them.

"Took you awhile," Harry commented.

Alice shook her head. "I was still in bed, sorry."

He hummed, glancing between them with a smirk. "Right. Let's go."

The three of them headed towards the doors. Just as they set foot outside into the warm air, Vest came over to them, mailbag at his side. He flagged them down. "I've got mail for you three, sirs." He handed three to Alice, two to Harry, and two to Nixon.

Alice smiled. As he moved away, she called after him. "Thanks, Vest."

"You're popular," Nixon muttered.

She looked from the two of them to her letters. Three was definitely more than she'd been expecting, but not unwelcome at all. She shrugged. "Come on."

By the time they reached the baseball fields, First and Third platoons had already started throwing balls around. They walked from the jeep over towards some tables at the edge of the field. They spotted Ron sitting on top of one, Grant beside him. The latter saw them first.

"Captain, Lieutenants." He nodded to them as they came around in front of them.

"Where's the smart money, Grant?" Harry asked. 

Grant smirked. He looked at the two teams practicing. "My money's on First. Bull's got a helluva swing," he told them. "I'd say they're the safe bet."

Nixon snorted. "What's the betting at?"

Grant shrugged. He pulled out a cigarette. With a light, he pointed towards Johnny's group. "Last I checked, George had it three to one for Third."

"Where is he?" Alice asked.

Grant pointed to another set of tables. "Hey! Luz!" 

At his shout, the man turned and headed towards them with a grin around his cigarette. Once he reached them, he nodded. "Sirs."

They ended up exchanging quite a bit of money towards betting on the game. George kept a small sheet of paper with amounts and odds. Once Nixon and Harry had added theirs to the pool, he grinned and thanked them for doing business. Alice suspected he'd be getting a cut of the winnings. It surprised her a bit that Ron didn't crack down on the gambling, but she supposed he was as tired of the rest of them of the boredom and stress.

Alice heaved herself up onto the table to Ron's left. It didn't take long for the game to start. Grant stayed with the rest of them as they settled. He got along splendidly with Ron. It actually surprised her how little Ron ruffled him. It surprised her how little Ron bothered any of them, considering that all through training and Normandy they'd been vehemently against her even associating with him for fear of something she didn't quite understand. Maybe Dike had done one good thing; he'd made the enlisted beyond grateful for Ron Speirs.

With the baseball game underway, Alice lay back across the wooden table. She'd never been a huge fan of the game. The men had called her crazy. With the sounds of the athletes around her, and of her friends reacting to every play, she just closed her eyes and let the warm sun fall on her skin. With deep breaths, she did her best to just think about the fact that Nixon had asked her to marry him after the Pacific. She couldn't help but smile at the sky. So even though the thought reminded her of how soon she'd be losing Dick and Nixon, at least she could think of what would come after.