So, this is my first Harvest Moon fic. I normally write HP fan fiction but lately been suffering from writer's block, as such I'm going to try to write for another one of my favorite fandoms, Harvest Moon! Also, this is based around A Wonderful Life: Special Edition rather than A Wonderful Life to make use of Lumina's older age.

Disclaimer: I'll only say this once; I don't own any rights to Harvest Moon whatsoever, anyone who thinks I do needs to get their head examined.

March 12, 1975. Forget-Me-Not-Valley

"So did you hear about the new farmer?" Lumina asked Celia as they sat by the Goddess Pond.

Celia was intrigued, up until now she hadn't heard a word about a new farmer, but after thinking about it for a moment she realized it had been several months since the old farmer had passed. In her opinion it was about time a new owner took over the place.

"No, I haven't heard anything about a new farmer. Do you know anything more than that the land was sold?" Celia asked knowing full well the Lumina would know, her grandmother always knew what was going on and passed whatever knowledge she had onto Lumina.

Lumina grinned a sneaky little grin before responding, "Oh, the land wasn't sold, the old man's son is taking it over,"

"What? He had a son? How old is he? Why hasn't he ever come here?" Celia asked stumbling over each word.

"Hold it for a second Celia, I'll answer every question to the best of my abilities," Lumina said smirking, "First, yes, Nick had a son named Jack. Second, He's twenty four, a little more than a year older than you. And for you last question, he's been here before but not since you moved here. When I was eleven and he was seventeen he left to join the military,"

"Okay, now why didn't he come back after getting discharged?" Celia asked wanting to know more about this mysterious Jack.

Lumina looked a little more somber at this question, "He got shot in Vietnam, he came back for about a week after that but felt useless on the farm, so he left once again saying he'd find work somewhere. I don't know what he did after that,"

Celia thought about everything for a minute and didn't know what to make out of it all. She wanted to know more about him but didn't want to get it from a second hand source.

"I've got to go Celia; auntie Romana wants me to practice the piano before dinner," Lumina stood up from where she was sitting and began to walk down the path towards town.

"Wait! One more question, do you remember anything about him?" Celia asked hopefully.

Lumina couldn't help but smile at her friend, "Sorry Celia but I don't, I came to live with auntie about a month before he left and he was always working on the farm, never had time for anything else,"

As Lumina walked off she thought to herself, If this s what Celia is like before she even meets him what will happen if she does fall for him?

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Celia finished setting the table for dinner before sitting down with Marlin and Vesta, they were having a simple fish dish but Celia wasn't very focused on that. Celia's mind was still on the new farmer and what he would be like.

Vesta noticed that Celia was just moving her food around her plate with her fork and decided to figure out what was on her mind without directly asking. Vesta could only think of one piece of big news in the valley and decided to go with that first.

"So Celia, have you heard about the new farmer?" Vesta asked innocently enough.

Celia couldn't help but blush a little before responding, "Yeah, Lumina told me a little about him today,"

Marlin choked on his drink when he heard this, "What! Nobody told ME about a new farmer!"

Vesta chuckled a little, "That's 'cause he isn't really a "new" farmer. Do you remember Nick's son Jack Marlin?" Marlin nodded, "Well, that's our farmer,"

Marlin groaned and started to complain, "Not him, I remember when he left and was going to be some big war hero,"

Celia started to listen to the conversation intently when she deduced that both Vesta and Marlin remembered Jack.

Vesta looked at her brother with shock, "You idolized him before and when he joined up. You tried to follow his footsteps and tried to join the Army. You're just upset that when he got back from the war all the girls from here and Mineral Town wanted to see him and not you,"

Marlin looked angry for a second but looked defeated and sighed, "You know they wouldn't take me because of my flat feet,"

Celia seemed to ignore what Marlin has just said and spoke to Vesta, "Did he ever date when he lived here?"

Vesta then realized the Celia wanted to meet this boy and perhaps have a relationship with him so she told her what she remembered about him, "No, I don't recall him dating; before he left he was so focused on his work that he never had the time and the week he was back after his injury he spent holed up at the farm. Now that I think about it he left for the second time right before you moved here,"

Vesta could see Celia relax at this information, "That's good," Celia said under her breath.

"So I wonder if he still hunts. I really miss the meat," Marlin pondered out loud.

"Yes, I imagine he still does. Remember the game feeds Nick and Jack used to have? All the different dishes, though to be honest I don't miss any of the more "exotic" meats," Vesta said wandering down memory lane.

Celia realized the Vesta and Marlin remembered more about this mysterious Jack than they let on. She knew she could probe them for a little more information on him before he arrived in the valley.

"What do you mean by "exotic" meats Vesta?" Celia asked honestly wondering what Vesta could possibly mean by that.

Vesta couldn't help but laugh at this, "Of course you wouldn't remember, you didn't live hear back then. They often had things like opossum or raccoon at their feeds. Nick and Jack were big into hunting; Nick went out almost every day after finishing all the farm work. Jack went out a lot too; he'd do his farm chores in the morning before school so he could go out when he got back,"

"Wait. Where do the valley children go to school?" Celia asked Vesta. Celia had never thought about the education of young children before.

Once again Vesta laughed having forgotten her houseguest wasn't from the valley or any of the towns around it.

"You know where Harmonica Town is right?" Celia nodded, "That's where the school is, it's where both Marlin and I graduated. You probably haven't heard much about it because Lumina was homeschooled by her grandmother," Vesta finished explaining.

"Do you have any stories about Jack…or Nick?" Celia asked trying to hide her interest in the boy.

"I remember one occurrence you might find interesting, first you have to understand that Jack and Gustafa never really got along, they're the same age and polar opposites. Gustafa is a peace loving hippie and Jack was and maybe still is a warrior at heart, just like his father. But one day shortly before Jack joined the army. Nick and Jack were sitting in the Blue Bar talking with Griffin when Gustafa came in and started complaining about the U.S.A.'s involvement in Vietnam, Jack was about to argue when he stopped and asked Griffin if he could borrow a guitar. He just started to strum the guitar, he played for about five minutes before saying "Music brings people together, well, they ain't got music out in Vietnam right now, it's our job to bring the music back," Gustafa had nothing to say to that and just walked out. That was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen," Vesta told this story with a smile, remembering all the antics the town's favorite teen used to be involved in.

"Wait. You said Nick and Jack were warriors at heart. What do you mean by that?" Celia asked trying to figure out the latest twist the father and son.

"You wouldn't know this but Nick and Takakura met during World War Two, after the war ended they moved here to start a farm. Nick was an Army Ranger while Takakura was in the Navy, according to the story they used to tell they met on a transport ship while Nick was on his way overseas, they agreed if they survived the war they would meet up again," Vesta looked very pensive while telling this story, "Nick truly loved serving his country during an important time of need. Jack got into a fight or two while in school, he hated to see the bigger kids pick on the smaller ones and always made sure to put a stop to it,"

"I guess I really never thought about Nick having that much to do with history of the valley," Celia thought out loud.

"Well, let's finish up dinner and head to bed, we've got a big day tomorrow, what with planting, watering, and throwing a welcome party for a new neighbor," Vesta said loving the look of shock on Celia's face.

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March 13, 1975. Forget-Me-Not-Valley

Dear Diary,

Today is the day the new farmer is supposed to get here and I don't whether I'm excited, nervous, or a mixture of both. So far since I've lived here nothing has really changed. It's been the same day in and day out, and in the winter when it's cold and there's nothing to plant time passes really slowly. Oh well, it's off to work I suppose; I want to get everything done so I can clean up for the welcome party tonight.

Celia,

Celia, Marlin, and Vesta were all out tending to the crops in the field. Vesta wanted the work done as early as possible so she could make something for the party that would be later. Celia couldn't help but agree, she wanted to make sure she got a chance to shower and change before going.

Suddenly, from the path that leads to Mineral Town and beyond Celia heard the low rumbling noise.

"Must be Jack, he always had a love of vehicles, I would have been surprised if he didn't have one," Vesta said to Celia

Celia suddenly became worried about her appearance but knew she couldn't go and do anything about it now, not if she wanted to be one of the first to see him anyway.

Around the corner of the path and truck came around, a little Ford F-Series, and started down the hill, from where she was standing she could barely make out two occupants, a man and a dog. The truck continued down the hill when suddenly it stopped making noise and just started coasting. Celia was still standing in the field with Vesta and Marlin and could see the truck stop in front of the house.

Celia was suddenly worried that Jack would knock on the door, find no one was home, and move on to his next stop. Her worries proved uncalled for when Vesta shouted.

"Hey Jack! Over here!" Vesta shouted at the man who turned around and jumped the fence into the field at a sprint.

As Jack stopped right by Celia got a good look at him. He wasn't particularly tall, just taller than Marlin. He had dark brown hair that was fairly long; on top of his head was a backwards ball cap. He was wearing a white t-shirt with OD green fatigue pants, on his left hip was a fixed blade knife, and on his right was a closed top holster containing a gun. Celia didn't know what to think, she had only seen one other person carrying a gun in the valley and surrounding villages and that was Harris, the police officer in Mineral Town.

"Vesta, it's good to see you again," Jack said with a smile, "Marlin, you haven't changed a bit,"

Then Jack turned to Celia, smiled wider and held out his hand to shake, "And you must be Celia,"

Celia's expression went from shock to joy in a few seconds, "How do you know me?" She asked.

"Simple, my dad never mentioned this before his passing, but about a month after I left here the second time they put me back on active duty in Vietnam, when I wrote my dad and told him he was quite saddened. He knew I had almost lost my will to live because of what I saw in 'Nam, so he sent me a letter telling me about the girl who had just moved here" Jack than took his wallet out and removed a picture, "He also sent me this, a picture of the girl who had just moved here that he took at her welcoming party, on the back he wrote her name and age,"

Jack had been watching Celia's reaction to this story, gauging if he should finish the story. Celia's facial expression remained shocked for most of the story. Vesta was thinking the Celia may have a boyfriend soon, and Marlin was pissed that Jack came back and was making another girl fall for him.

"Two days before I was supposed to be discharged for good, I was captured by the VC; they took all my equipment from me, all they let me keep was my fatigues and my helmet," Jack said, deciding he would finish his story no matter what Celia might think, "Hidden in the lining of my helmet was the picture of you Celia, all that kept my alive in the POW camp was the thought of seeing you someday. One day I knew it was either do or die, what little Vietnamese I knew gave me the indication that they were going to execute me the next day. That night I managed to overpower the one guarding me and escape, I worked my way to Saigon and was brought back to the states,"

"Oh Jack," Celia said tears starting to form.

"That's a boy Jackie, I always knew you were a fighter," Vesta said proud of the boy who grew up with her brother.

"Thanks Vesta," Jack said with a chuckle, "but to be serious for a moment, Celia, would you like to go on a date sometime?"

Celia perked right up after hearing this, the tears that threatened to fall no longer were tears of sorrow, but of happiness.

"Yes Jack, I would like to very much," Celia told him with a smile.

So Jack is a Vet and former POW. How will factor into their relationship? Will Jack's one track mind get the best of him? What about the farm? Tune in next time for some answers and possibly more questions.