July 6, 1945

Alice always seemed to find her way back to the water. The sun had yet to rise, a gentle darkness still over the world as she walked down the dock to the edge. Just as she settled down, taking her boots and socks off, the sun began to cast rays of light into the sky. She took a deep breath.

A breeze rustled the trees and disturbed the surface of the lake. Birdsong echoed around her, increasing as the sun continued to rise. No voices, just the harmony of nature. Alice took another breath. She let the cool, clear air settle in her lungs.

She dangled her legs off the edge. The water shocked her system briefly, the lake still chilly despite it being midsummer. As the sky lightened, the lake became the near-glass she'd gotten used to. The birds sang louder, more frequent. Alice moved her feet to keep inquisitive fish away. The ripples spread out into the lake, endless.

Rolling her neck, Alice tried to relax her muscles. She shifted off her shirt leaving just the tank top underneath. The sun, now above the horizon enough to light the whole area, warmed her skin. Dozens of songbirds echoed around her now. It was almost deafening.

Alice figured she must've been there an hour. With her knees bent and the bare pads of her feet against the slate dock, she laid back and used her top shirt as a small pillow. Her eyes closed against the bright sun. She breathed.

A few minutes later, footsteps against the stones made her sit up and twist around. She relaxed a bit. Malarkey strolled over towards her, hands in his pockets. Alice smiled. Crouching down next to her, he looked out over the water.

"Nice spot," he said. "Is this where you always are?"

Alice smiled. She shrugged. "I like it." Scooting over a bit, she gave him a bit more room on her right. "How's life been acting as a First Sergeant?"

With a small laugh under his breath, he settled down on the dock. "Well, I don't blame Tab for stepping down."

She nodded. They sat in silence for a while, the birds quieting down to a manageable level with the morning wearing on. Laying back down, Alice closed her eyes.

"Are you going to the party tonight?" Malarkey asked her.

She opened her eyes again. Above her blue skies and a few white clouds filled her view. "There's no way not to go, Malark."

He let out a tiny laugh. "Yeah, guess that's true."

Sink had planned an American Independence Day party for the 506th, but the weather had been downright awful the 4th and the 5th. But Sink had other ideas. Never one to be told no, the Colonel had gotten it all organized for that night, and the enlisted and officers would be able to party all night. Alice didn't like it. The last thing they needed was more alcohol.

Grant had been sent to Paris, and would probably be moved to England soon. As much as thinking about that night still pained her, Alice had been working as hard as she could to forgive, more for her own sake than anything else. She did nothing but herself by holding onto it.

Then news of Shifty's car accident had gotten to them. Alice had hugged him for half a minute when he was ready to leave. She hadn't wanted to let go. But she'd bit back her tears as he thanked her for her kindness and her dedication and everything Alice felt she didn't deserve to hear. But because of some drunk jackass, he was laid up in a hospital.

Janovec had been killed in an accident a few days previous. Alice hadn't even gotten to see his body. Webster had explained it all. If she thought Webster would've accepted it, she'd have given him a hug. He looked so sad. As much as she was loathe to admit, though, Alice felt almost numb to the death at this point. And that upset her more than anything.

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you go home?" Alice asked, a few minutes later.

"Sleep in my own bed for a week." Malarkey answered so fast, it made Alice pause. With a small yawn, he turned towards her. She still lay on her back. The top shirt balled up under her head acted like a crude pillow. "You?"

"That's a good one," she admitted. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably just sleep for a year." With a sigh, she put an arm over her eyes to block out the sun. "Maybe I'll go back to school and finish my degree."

"So you're coming back to America, right?" he ventured.

Alice removed her arm and glanced at him. The smirk on his face said enough. She sighed. "How many people know about us."

With a chuckle, he shook his head. "Pretty sure only a few of us. Johnny, Perco, Bull, me, probably Lieb. I'm sure Tab knows. And you know the officers better than me."

"Harry definitely knows," she muttered. "I'm positive that Speirs knows. There's just no way he doesn't."

Malarkey let out a small snort of amusement. He shook his head. "At least you get to come back to America," he said.

Alice sat up. She nodded, placing her feet back in the chilly water.. "I spoke to Colonel Sink. He said he's going to see that I get citizenship." She yawned again. "What time is it?"

"Just about 1000 hours."

Pulling her feet out of the water, Alice struggled up. She used her shirt to dry off. There was still work to do before they could start celebrating. Once she had laced up her boots, Alice set off towards town.

After a brief lunch by herself and finishing up a stack of paperwork that Sink had pushed her way for her application for citizenship, Alice got ready for the afternoon party. She had no doubt it would go well into the night. Soon she wore her finest dress uniform.

Alice found Harry first. He was out in the gardens. As her boots went from concrete to grass, she almost stopped to marvel at the neverending beauty of Lake Zell. But Harry caught sight of her and she went to him instead. She joined him in leaning against the stone half wall, looking into the party.

"Did you hear about Malarkey?" Harry asked.

As she sipped at a glass of champagne, she shook her head. Alice looked at him in confusion. "What about him."

He smiled. "Dick found him a position to get him out of any danger of jumping into the Pacific." As they spoke, she saw Dick and Nixon across the way chatting quietly. Harry turned back to her. "Some sort of military advisor job in Paris."

"Thank God," she muttered. "When's he going?"

"Tomorrow."

Alice froze. The champagne glass froze on her lips. "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, and Lip's getting transferred into Battalion HQ." Harry took another drink from his half empty champagne glass. "He deserves it."

They stood in silence for a while, watching as officers and a few enlisted wandered about. Colonel Sink still chatted with Strayer and some officers of HQ Company across the way. Before long, Malarkey and Lipton both wandered in. Nixon slipped away from Dick to join Alice and Harry.

"What's the point of champagne," he complained. Nixon settled leaning against the half-wall on Alice's other side. "It's too weak for celebrating."

She snorted. "Only to you, Nix."

"All I'm saying is whiskey would be better."

Harry started laughing. He shook his head. "I'm not disagreeing, but good luck with that."

Tuning them out, Alice watched Dick and Malark. A tightness in her chest only increased as she watched them talking. Malarkey would be leaving. He certainly wasn't the first one, but Alice hadn't expected him to be going just yet. She knew that saying goodbye meant the war continued to come to a close, and that was wonderful news, but she worried about how they would cope afterwards. She worried about how she would cope afterwards.

Still, she couldn't help but smile when Malarkey saluted, and Dick returned it instead with a handshake. They both, they all, knew Malarkey had done more than enough in service of his country and his friends. He had lost almost everyone; of anyone in Easy, she figured Malarkey to be the only one to grasp grief like she did.

When Malarkey moved away, leaving Dick to speak with Lip, she pushed off the wall and left the officers to go join him. She smiled. As he caught sight of her and waited, Alice took a drink of her champagne.

"Guess I get to see Paris afterall," he joked.

Alice grinned. "I think you'll like it."

"I should've paid better attention to your French lectures in training." With a shake of his head, he laughed a bit. "I can't believe it."

Emotions gripped her chest. Alice grabbed him in a hug, not caring if anyone around them would judge. She held him tight. When she finally drew back, she tried desperately to wipe off any teams before they were noticed.

"I'll give you the names of my friends in Paris," she assured him. "You can ask them for anything."

He nodded. "Thank you." A pause followed before he continued. "In case I don't see you-"

"Don't even think that," she snapped. Alice shook her head. "There's not a possibility Don. We'll both be in America eventually."

"You are one of the most inspiring people I've ever met, Alice," he continued. He didn't waver, just kept his voice steady. "It's been an honor."

She choked back a sob. Alice bit her cheek, willing the tightness in her throat to go away. But it wouldn't. Finally, she found her voice. "Thank you. The feeling is mutual. I fought for my own home, but you fought for my home, someone else's home. That's something I will never, ever forget."

With a tiny laugh, he shook his head. "Long way from when I demanded to know why we'd be serving with a girl."

Alice could keep herself from laughing at the callback to Toccoa. The humorous memory let her release the tension building in her body. As she grinned, so did he. She shook her head. "Well. I'm glad I could change your mind."

"When the war's over, you gotta come meet my family," he insisted.

As she went to respond, Dick called over to her. She glanced at him. He and the other officers were chatting and looked to be getting ready to go. She turned back to Malarkey. "I need to meet your brothers." She gave him one last hug. "I'll try to find you before you leave tomorrow."

He nodded. "Alice. Thanks."

"Thank you," she insisted.

With that, she turned away and hurried after Dick. They had congregated towards the gate from the garden. Soon enough, she left the gardens with Lipton, Nix, and Dick. On the way, Nixon explained that a German General wanted to surrender and she'd potentially be needed as a translator.

They barreled into a jeep and with Dick at the wheel, soon made their way down to the airfield. The afternoon was warm, but not uncomfortably so. Whenever she started wishing for it to be a bit colder, Alice reminded herself of Bastogne. All thoughts of wishing for cold evaporated immediately at the thought.

When the jeep pulled into the airfield, it was to the sight of a hundred Germans. At the head of the regiment, Liebgott stood by a General. Perhaps she wouldn't need to translate. Nevertheless, as Liebgott went towards the car, she pushed out of the jeep and went up to the general.

At the sight of Alice, the General stopped. She held his gaze for a moment, neither looking away. Instead of getting defensive, though, Alice just smirked. The knowledge that this general would have to surrender to Lipton was too amusing not to focus on.

Behind her, Nixon, Dick, and Lipton watched her. As Liebgott came up, and they heard Alice start speaking to the General in German, Nixon turned to him. He asked him to translate.

"She asked if he's surprised to see her. He's not," Lieb added. He continued to listen to their conversation, eyes widening. "He says she's a disgrace, that at least we're fighting for our country. But, that she's a traitor."

Everyone in the jeep stiffened. But just as Liebgott was about to step in, furious, he stopped. Alice's words made him shake his head. "She said that Germany betrayed her first. And that he lost to a bunch of Yanks who couldn't even point to Germany on a map, so who's the bigger fool?"

At her last statement and Liebgott's translation, they all started snickering. Dick and Lipton managed to suppress it more than Lieb or Nix, but they were all quite amused. Liebgott told Lipton she'd explained he'd be surrendering to Lip. As she turned away and Lipton moved to get the job done, though, they all stopped. Alice watched him.

Captain Herbert Sobel stalked through the airfield, an aid at his side. Alice ended up standing a few feet from Liebgott. When the Staff Sergeant on Sobel's left saluted Dick, she felt giddy that she'd get to see Sobel salute him.

But he didn't.

"Captain Sobel," Dick said. But when the man kept walking, merely acknowledging him with his title, he raised his voice. "Captain Sobel!"

The man paused in his step. Even turned away from her, Alice could see his entire body deflate. He tried to look everywhere but Dick.

"We salute the rank, not the man."

At his words, Alice's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. She immediately looked at Dick and then past him, Nixon. She could see the corner of Nix's mouth twitching as he tried his hardest to suppress a smirk. Liebgott was doing nothing of the sort, quite fine with having Sobel see his disdain. As for the man himself, he shrank in on himself. But to his credit, he did in fact salute.

"Captain." Alice grinned as he walked past. For the first time since knowing Sobel, she raised her arm in a proper, eager salute. As Dick's words still hung in the air, she bit her cheek to keep from laughing as he sped off.

Dick looked at her and smiled. She returned the gesture as Nixon shook his head at their antics. But she knew he'd enjoyed it as much as they had. And beside them, Liebgott looked more pleased than she'd ever seen him.

And if she were honest with herself, the little petty revenge had done wonders to soothe her nerves. She supposed she'd have to work on that one, too. Even as Liebgott translated the speech from the General for the other two, she couldn't help but smile from where she stood near Nixon behind the jeep. Even she had to admit the General was an eloquent speaker. And she had to agree. They all deserved long and happy lives in peace.