Abe and Sam sat out in the garden, both of them enjoying the cool early October night. Gabby was inside reading, Heidi out in town with some friends, and Anna was putting Elli to bed.

Abe was enjoying one of the cigars that Hollywood had sent him, his feet up on another chair in front of him as he watched the smoke waft into the air. Abe had managed to send Hollywood a letter thanking him for all that he had done. He also told them about their loss, hence why a lavish pack of cigars was sent back to him.

Sam shot his friend a glance. Abe knew why.

Abe hadn't stopped worrying about Anna since the miscarriage. She was trying her best to hide how desperately sad she was, but he knew. At least he had been there with her. He owed Hollywood and Sam so much.

It was only days later that the news arrived that the Japanese had surrendered. The war was finally at its end. Hollywood had written to Abe. Most of the boys were staying for the occupation until their points sent them home. It was only a few weeks after that that Sam arrived with them at the house. He'd earned his last points and had been discharged. Abe was so glad to see him again; he didn't want to admit how much he needed someone else to talk to. What if he hurt Anna more by her thinking that he didn't want to discuss what had happened? But she understood and told him as much. She was happy to see Sam again as well.

Now, it was about getting to America.

They had found out that a ship was leaving Dover, England in November; it was said to be the first that was accepting 'war brides.' Abe was determined that they were getting on it; Sam too. Heidi's friend had helped push through the adoption process for them. Anna's heart certainly seemed to lift when Abe gave her and Elli the news that he was now officially her adoptive parent. They had their family of three, and in the end, that was all they truly needed.

Sam sighed, breaking the still. "I really can't understand why you like those things. Even the smell is enough to put me off."

Abe chuckled. "Man, I love that smell. Couldn't have them all the time, mind you... but still. Ain't nothin' sweeter than a cigar and a good glass of bourbon." Abe lifted his glass and took a sip. "You know, if you'd said a year ago that this is where we'd be, I'd never have believed you."

"I wouldn't either," laughed Sam. "Europe has been..." He couldn't find the right word. "You've done all right out of it though," Sam pointed out. "A wife and a kid. Who'd have thought it."

"I'm a very lucky man."

There was a pause.

"How are you both holding up?" asked Sam.

Letting out a long breath, Abe couldn't stifle a grimace. "Anna's still beatin' herself up about it all. I hate it."

"But why?"

"She thinks she's failed me."

"Oh God..."

"I know. It's crazy. And I don't know what to say to make it better. When I try to comfort her and say that I'm at peace with it, she thinks me indifferent. And if I show her I'm sad about it, it plays up to the idea that she's done something wrong. I can't win."

Conjuring the right placating words, Sam shuffled closer. "Abe she's going to be mixed up about it all. Not just because of what's in her head, but pregnancy is a big change in a woman. She's experiencing a physical loss as well as an emotional one. And especially after losing one before, it's bound to have shaken her up."

"I know, I know," sighed Abe. "I can't stand seeing her so sad though, Sam. It's the worse fuckin' thing I've ever seen." There was a pause. "She has the same look in her eye that Rick did..."

Sam took in a sharp breath.

Rick was one of the men they had lost during the Bulge. He was caught by heavy artillery fire on a patrol. But before he'd died, he'd lost his closest friend a few days prior. He'd shared a foxhole with him, and knowing he was alone that first night without his friend, Abe had gone to make sure he was all right. It was bad enough in Bastogne with the freezing temperatures and lack of supplies. Loneliness would take it that step too far. He stayed with Rick through the night, both of them huddled together to keep warm whilst Abe reassured him. But he had had a look in his eyes Abe hoped never to see in someone again. It was blank, and empty. Rick had always been so cheerful, yet losing his best friend made him hollow. It's probably why he wasn't paying attention on the patrol when Abe had called out to take cover.

"Anna is going to recover," Sam assured him"She has had to survive so much already, it's no wonder that she reverts back when things go wrong. But she has you and she has Elli. She will be okay. She's so strong-"

Abe's eyes locked on his for reassurance. "What if this is a step too far though?"

"Think of all the shit you've seen in the past few years, and you've bounced back. You've lost people too. You've had to jump out of planes and lead your men through foreign countries. Hell, you're the company's First Sergeant! You've never been away from the front and you've always been the one holding all of us together."

"That's different though!"

"No it isn't," cut in a voice behind them.

They both looked over their shoulders. It was Anna.

"How long have you been standing there, baby?" Abe asked as she came out to stand beside him.

She didn't speak; her expression said it all. She'd heard them discussing her.

"Anna..." Abe began, holding out his arms to her.

"Sam is right." She sat herself on his lap and tucked herself into his embrace. "I will be all right. It's just harder than I thought it would be to move past it."

"I'm just worried about you, that's all," murmured Abe as he pulled her even closer.

"I know," she said, kissing his cheek. "I'm okay though, I promise."

Abe sighed heavily, nuzzling his neck with her nose. He didn't fully believe her, but he also wasn't going to argue the point.

"So Sam," said Anna, looking at him, "tell me more about my brave husband."

Sam smiled.

Abe groaned. "Anna-"

"You never tell me about your side of the war," she pointed out to him. "I ask you all the time and the most you've ever done is tell me about how you got your scars."

"I think I'll leave you to it," interrupted Sam, getting hastily to his feet. He certainly didn't like being party to other people's intimate discussions. "See you later."

"Coward!" called Abe as Sam left, chuckling to himself. Abe looked back to see Anna staring at him intently. "Why do you wanna know these things?"

"It's a part of you that I don't really know," she pointed out. "And I'm not sure why you won't tell me."

"I guess," managed Abe, "it's because of who we were fightin'." He looked sheepish, Anna taking his hand and kissing it. "It makes me nervous to bring it up after your reaction to the Bulge-"

"But I had just met you! That was so long ago-"

"That was April-"

"Abe, I don't care that you were fighting the Germans. I hate that I have to learn about the things you did through other people! Hollywood told me that you were such an amazing First Sergeant... that you were the man everyone could always rely on. I see how much they all look up to you, my husband. Why can't I admire you too?"

There was a pause.

"I don't know how to talk about it," he mumbled as his hand wound tighter around her waist. "I suppose I just... did it, you know? You understand... when you're in the thick of it, you just carry on."

"I don't think I could have done what you all did," admitted Anna. "It sounds terrifying."

Shifting her so he could see her face, Abe stared at her. "After what you suffered, you think what we did is scary?"

"To have to kill people and run head first into a fray... yes that is terrifying. I have had to endure what other people did to me, Abe. I have never had to lead a fight."

He thought about it. "Damn, when you put it that way, it makes sense." He sighed again. If she wanted to know these things, he would tell her. Abe could deny Anna nothing. But the image of the horror sweeping over her when he had first mentioned Bastogne haunted him. "The most difficult one for me was the Bulge... but I won't talk about it if you don't want me to-"

"Of course I do! Tell me."

Head tilted back for a moment, Abe took a deep breath. How was he supposed to explain this to her? "It was just so damn cold," he said, his voice low and throaty. "We could never get warm. So much of our time there was stuck in foxholes prayin' we didn't freeze to death before the enemy rained fire on us again. And I was First Sergeant. The men looked to me to look after 'em. I couldn't ever show how much it got to me."

"Karl said the same thing about Russia," mumbled Anna. "He told me that you would envy a man for an extra pair of socks."

"God yeah," breathed Abe. "Thing was, none of us really had anythin'. There were so few supplies, and we were there for over a month. I've never known pain like it. Getting shrapnel stuck in me was nothing compared to that cold. I don't think I felt my fingers for the entire God damn month. And then you'd lose people too-" He paused, mulling over his choice of words. "I count my blessings that I still have Sam and Hollywood. Honestly, if I'd lost either of them, I don't know how I would have kept goin'. Seeing the other men go through that was shit. We lost over half the company in that month."

Anna snuggled in closer to him, her fingers curling around his shirt. "I've never felt closer to you."

Smiling for a moment, Abe rubbed her back. "The stories I have to tell are just filled with blood and pain. I think it would take years to tell you them all."

"Good thing that we have years, then."

Abe kissed her cheek, filling his lungs with her smell. She always smelled sweet. It wasn't her soap or a perfume, it was just her. "I'll say this though. Bein' a combat leader and getting shot at, will always be easier to stomach than the day I walked into your camp."

"Really?" she asked, turning to look at him fully.

He cupped her face, his thumb stroking her cheek. "Really. It's not that the war ain't got to me... but at least that was warfare. I kinda expected a lot of it. But that place..." His breath caught in his throat. "It's the most shocking thing I have ever seen. Seeing that first hand is the hardest thing I have ever had to face."

Tears caught in his eyes, and he blinked them away. "It's why Keller got to all the boys so bad, baby. Not just because of what he did to you, but because we knew he'd had a hand in all of it. You say you couldn't handle what I went through... well, I sure as hell know I couldn't have done what you did." He pulled her in, kissing her gently on the mouth. "I still don't know how that wretched place ended up giving me the best thing of my life," he continued, his nose rubbing hers, "honestly, I try not to think about it. That's why I don't talk about that past year so much... because I just wanna move forward with you."

"As I do you," she whispered, kissing him again.

He didn't deserve this woman. Every time he thought of her, Abe was acutely aware that no one in the entire world was good enough for her. Yet here she was, cuddled close to him, as in love with him as he was her.

"Come on then," he smiled, cuddling into her more. "Tell me another Egyptian story."

Her entire expression lifted. "You're becoming quite the history fan."

"I just like it best when you tell the history ones. Your eyes light up. And you get so excited, it makes me excited! And I'm always so amazed by the fact you remember it all."

"One day you'll get bored of them."

"Nope. Never gonna happen, baby. Now come on, tell me about the Hyksos invasion-"

"All right," she acquiesced. "Do you remember the first Pharaoh to rebel against their rule?"

"Can't you just be impressed that I remembered the word Hyksos?"

Anna giggled. "Of course I am." She kissed his nose and settled further into his embrace to begin her story.

Abe held her close, happy to have her body draped over his. How he had survived Austria without her was unfathomable. Being without her and Elli had been the worst month of his life. He would never let anyone keep them apart again.

Never.

***

The train platform was quiet. It seemed like the days before war; just a regular day in a regular town. Anna couldn't help but marvel at it, her eyes wandering curiously between the few other passengers.

November came to them far quicker than expected. Their tiny suitcases were packed with all their worldly possessions, and it was time for the four of them to go to America. Heidi and Gabby drove them to the station, ready to put them on the train that would take them to France, where they could board a ferry to England.

"Well," said Heidi, pulling Anna from her thoughts. "I suppose, this is it now."

"Promise you'll write," managed Gabby, her eyes brimming with tears that trickled down her cheeks and onto her huge smile. "We'll want to know how you're doing!"

"Of course!" breathed Anna, surging forward and hugging them both.

"Me too!" said Elli, burrowing her way in. They laughed, the four of them squeezing each other.

"I don't know how to show my thanks," Anna whispered. "What you did for us..."

"It was our pleasure," said Gabby, pulling back and looking at Anna. "Just promise us that you'll live a good life. No matter what happens-"

"Only if you do too," smiled Anna.

The train guard approached them. "We'll be sounding the whistle soon," he said gently.

Anna thanked him. They all hugged a final time, Sam and Abe bidding them a heartfelt goodbye also.

As they parted, they found their seats on the train. Then Anna opened the window so that she and Elli could wave to them. Elli leant out to Gabby and Heidi. They took her hand, telling the little girl how much they were going to miss her.

Anna's mind drifted. She couldn't help but think of the last time she had been on a train. The train that had brought her nothing but despair and utter desolation. This time, it was filled with hope. But she was leaving Germany. It was strange; it had always been her home. No matter where else she had gone with her birth mother in those early years, she had always felt such a pull to her mother country.

It was gone now.

She felt so betrayed by it, the ties that were once there were totally severed. She thought of Karl... of Freddie and her parents... of Hans. They were all tethers to this place.

Anna looked down the platform at the few people also boarding the train. She could almost imagine the three men standing there, waving her off. Karl grinning devilishly at her, Freddie giving a gentle wave goodbye. And Hans. She wished she could see something in him other than the man that left her at the camp gate. But that was it. That's all she could ever see.

There was a part of her that felt as though she were leaving them all behind. It was ludicrous, but still... she knew how unlikely it was they would ever come back here. Maybe in the future, but it wouldn't be for many years. She'd be in a strange country with people that didn't speak her native tongue. She wouldn't see Berlin again... her parents' house... the streets in which she grew up were in the past. Her heart pined for them in that moment. She was so sure she'd go back there once upon a time. Karl had talked about running down their road again, for old time's sake. They'd never do that now.

As her eyes brimmed with tears, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she glanced up. Abe smiled down at her, his index finger tracing circles across her back. Her entire body flooded with warmth. His eyes creased at the corners and she smiled at him.

Abe.

Abe was her home now. He was the reason she wanted to get up every day and fight for their future. He was her everything. This was why she wanted to leave it all behind. She wanted to be with him. The man that had saved her in ways he didn't even know. The man that loved her sister unconditionally, exactly as she did. Perhaps there was someone watching over them that had planned all of this out. Perhaps she had passed her trials and this perfect man was her reward. He could see that she had tears trickling down her cheeks, and he brushed them away with his thumb.

The whistle sounded, Gabby and Heidi letting Elli go and waving at them all. Anna and Abe were still staring at one another.

"Ready, baby?" he asked softly.

She smiled at him determinedly and stared out of the window. "More than anything," she replied. They all waved to the two women as the train began to pull away, all of them watching the platform become a tiny speck in the distance of their past.