A strawberry blond twenty-four year old stood on his condo balcony, violet-blue eyes scanned over the city he called his home, once upon a time. He leaned forward on the railing; bringing the wine glass to his lips for a sip. Everything seemed to be the same: he could still hear the cars passing in the streets, people laughing as they walked past each other and the occasional sirens of the people chasing down a criminal with the smell of rain pending down. Nothing had really changed about the town since he had left it behind.
Sighing he reentered into his condo, setting the glass on the coffee table before settling himself onto the couch. Leaning back he switched on the TV and flipped through the channels until he caught sight of a familiar face.
"It appears that Patriot linebacker, Alfred Jones, had a long night with his new girlfriend... Yep, new reports say he was caught having a romantic late night dinner at the legendary Les heures de distance with none other than Ly Tran, the cousin of stunt performer Yao Wang. When asked about it early this morning he replied, "My papa owns the place and Ly and I just ran into each other earlier that day. I'm not gonna lie, dudes, I had a huge crush on her in high school so I offered to take her out to catch up. But we are just friends, just catching up with each other, dudes..."
So, his blockhead of a brother was finally making a move? It wouldn't hurt, Ly and Alfred did always make a cute couple even before they really started speaking to each other in senior year, before she started dating Barginski. They completed each other. Alfred being loud, outgoing and obsessive over happy ending while Ly was more withdrawn, rational and wasn't sure fairytales even existed. Alfred would be good for Ly. Not saying that dating a professional athlete was all it was cracked up to be.
"Speaking of the Kirkland-Bonnefoy-Jones-Williams clan, the rumors around Mathieu Williams, Alfred's brother and NHL Ottawa hockey star, and his rumored girlfriend, the sister of line mate-"
Mathieu switched off the TV and snatched his glass back up. The last thing he needed was to worry about during the off season was anything that would get him thinking about the Army officer that could be getting shot at. It already kept him up at night and he was already getting hell for it by Romano and Romano hated her, the last thing he needed was to have media try and take a punch at it.
But she, she was something. She wasn't just his best friend, or the girl that showed him that day could brighten with a single laugh. Juliane Beilschmidt was, in a simple term, awesome.
He couldn't breathe for a moment when he made impact with the white linoleum flooring, or look at something without the object spinning for several moments later. In his dazed state he managed to get onto his back and attempted to push his attacker away, which failed miserably when they started to fight back for the upper hand.
"Yeah, yeah," hands shoved his shoulders down flat. "Mat, Mat, stop fighting it, stop."
And with that, he froze. As a sophomore he wasn't widely recognized, at least not outside the rink, there was nothing about him that made him stand out from everyone else. He was simply Mathieu Williams-Jones, a member of the school's hockey team. In fact, if someone ever bothered him it was because they mistook him for his brother, who was well known.
With his shoulders pinned, he shook his tangled hair from his face to look at the person that was currently straddling him.
The platinum blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, and it wasn't until that he got a good look at her face that he realized not only did she have her hair pulled up but she was a senior. Not just any senior that someone passed in the hall without ever knowing their name, it was the one with killer red eyes that made platinum look white; it was Juliane Maria Gillian Beilschmidt.
"Hey ya, Birdie." She greeted with a smirk. "I'm Juliane and it's awesome to meet you."
Mathieu knew who she was. Juliane was his cousin's best friend, she was a senior, drum major of the marching band, first chair flute in concert, and she was in the JROTC Color Guard. She was smart, strong, and beautiful and extremely off limits least you want her brother, Francis and Antonio to step in. That had been one heck of a show last year when it fell out in the middle of lunch.
"Yeah," he said getting himself on his elbows. He wanted to ask her to get off of him but he was never good at talking to anyone other than his family before.
Juliane let go of his shoulders and settled herself on his knees instead of his stomach, now he could breathe easier, "If I didn't know you were half American and half I would have thought you spoke German just then."
"O-okay," he stuttered out, his blue eyes shifting from person to disappearing person in the hall from behind his glasses. "Did… did you need something, eh?"
"Ja, and I won't take "no" for an answer. You and I are going to go on a date after school. It's Friday and there's this place just down Empire road that I've wanted a cut boy to take me. Now, that I have a cute boy by the name of Mathieu Williams-Jones, I can. So, be ready." The senior practically bounced off of him and stood up, looking over her shoulder as she ran down the hall. "I'll see you after class, Birdie!"
Juliane wasn't lying about seeing him after class because the moment he got out there she was. A slim back case slung over her shoulder and tapping against a cell phone screen, waiting right across from the class room leaning against the lockers. When she spotted him through the crowd of bustling underclassmen her eyes lit up, flashing almost evilly.
"Hey," she wrapped a pale hand around his wrist and began to tug him out of the school. "Let's go, if we want to get home early we need to get there five minutes ago. Are you ready for an awesome night, Birdie?"
"S-sure," Mathieu answered, too confused to say anything else, his eyes darting around the halls for his brother.
Juliane was a part of the most feared group at the school, dubbed the Bad Touch Trio, who tormented everybody from freshmen to the staff. While the BTT never constantly teased him since his own cousin was a member they didn't pay attention to him much either. So, what was Juliane's game?
Mathieu watched as she set her case into the back seat and she climbed into the driver's seat. There has to be a reason Juliane was talking to him and no one else wanted too.
"What's going on, Juliane?" he asked as she pulled out of the student parking lot, the tone of the question making the senior flinch.
"What do you mean?"
He took a breath, "No one talks to me, so why did you?"
"I pass you in the same hall every other day, and you always look so lonely. I'd though I might do something so you don't look like someone kicked your dog; Francis told me you own a Huskie." She laughed nervously. "And you don't know this but Francis drags Toni and me to every game "his boys" have. I love watching your games, by the way. It's like you're a completely different person on the ice. It's… pretty awesome."
"I know you're planning something. What is it?"
Juliane let go of the stirring wheel at a red light and leaned over the console. Thin fingers tangled with blond hairs at the nape and pulled the sophomore in for a peck before pulling away.
Mathieu blinked and dumbly said, "I don't understand…"
"I like you, obviously," Juliane said unblushingly. "That's why I'm claiming you."
He blinked again, "Why are you exactly claiming me?"
"Birdie, I don't know if you've noticed but you're cute. I figured just skip the whole getting to know each other process, in case anyone gets the chance to snatch you away. So, we're dating, got it? Awesome."
At the end of the night, when Mathieu was dropped off, and he was looking at his bedroom ceiling, he found himself wishing that the day would come back.
Mathieu tilted his head so it rested on the back of the white couch, staring at the ceiling much like he had done that first night.
That was the day that he discovered that Juliane wasn't just beautiful on the outside but the inside as well. She was smart, beyond smart, AP classes since she was a sophomore and nothing else ever since. Juliane was inspired to play flute after finding out Frederick the Great of Prussia had. She hadn't been forced by her parents like many others were, she also played piccolo but flute was always where her heart was. That she was an amazingly fast learner, the reason why she spoke French and Spanish just by listening to her two best friends. And as much as she teased her younger brother, Ludwig, she adored him to no end. She told him about how she sometimes had dreams of him being held in a cell that had a barred window so he could look out to a wall with barbed wire and watch towers, when she woke up in the middle of the night she would make the trip from her basement bedroom to his second floor room just to check if he's okay. And every time she cooked dinner with bratwurst she always gave him a couple more. Or that her eyes were really blue, a darker blue than her family's but blue, and she wore contacts because they became annoying during certain classes and summer camps.
He discovered so much about her as their relationship grew.
Letting a short sigh slip past his lips he got to his feet and went to his bedroom across the flat. He needed to get out of there before he let his thoughts carry him into a depression, which was another thing he didn't need while he was there.
Once he entered the bedroom that would he'd been sleeping in for two months he sat on the well-made bed, looking at the black screen of the TV there.
That spring Juliane had burst into his hockey practice, slipping across the blue line to get to him, a big smile spread across her lips as she announced her acceptance to West Point. He has felt both happy and heartbreak and admitting that to her was probably one of the hardest things he ever did.
Juliane simply smiled and assured him that they had summer and forever.
Mathieu should have never trusted his brother, never. Never ask a still sleeping Alfred F. Williams-Jones if he remembered to fill the truck up with gas after his game the night before. He was actually madder at himself that he believed Alfred.
The one day they were able to have a retreat to Roman Canyon, when Mathieu didn't have conditioning and Juliane was back from her boot camp at a local air base. The first day they would be able to spend together since summer began, they couldn't. The one day the truck sputtered and died half way down the Canyon's road.
Juliane smiled at her boyfriend hitting his head repeatedly into the stirring wheel, muttering strings of French curses fall around his twin's name. At one point, she decided that she didn't like him trying to give himself brain damage.
"Alright, Birdie, calm down." She laughed forcing his already bright red forehead from the stirring wheel. "It's not that bad. We can walk home if we need to and grab a gas can then take another car up here to fill her up."
"We're almost four miles from town, Jul, and it might actually rain." Mathieu groaned trying to force his head back to the wheel but Juliane was so much stronger than she looked.
"Come on," she practically sang, horribly off key was noted with a smile. "The awesome me will protect you from the lightening."
That was his girlfriend, the girl that believed she could do anything, with an impenetrable ego the size of Russia. Which is actually why she and Alfred couldn't be left in a room alone without supervision, it does not lead to good things as Christmas had proven.
"You know, Birdie," Juliane started as they entered their third hour of walking to town. "I'm going to miss this. I mean, I don't know when I'll see you again after I leave."
That was the thing. In the back of his mind, since the moment she told him about West Point, he knew that it wasn't going to end well for them. She was going to be an officer in the military and he was planning on teaching Canadian literature if he wasn't drafted into the league, there was no place for their relationship to go but down.
"We have email, phones," he answered looking down at the steps he took. "I know it won't happen every day, it won't if I make it, but I could wait every day for it to ring. Besides, our schedules are probably be pretty hectic."
Juliane could only smile, really. She made the right choice with this one just like Francis said she would. Since that first game in her junior year, when Francis dragged them into the stands with Arthur and Alfred and she saw number 13 flying down the ice, breaking through the defense…
"You know, I always thought that I would end up with a man that would recreate history for me. With photo shop or an actual event and stage a past one. But you know what? You're better than any of them could be to me, Birdie."
Mathieu, the ever why twin, blushed at her comment. He looked at his feet and watches his feet step over the small pieces of gravel on the road.
"I decided to cut my hair," Juliane said to stop the silence that was bound to happen.
"Quoi?" he snapped in French making Juliane jump. "I know shorter hair is easier to take care of but why?"
Juliane sighed, she already knew the reason but if she could handle it as well as she did over four years in ROTC then why chop it off? It was something she had yet to even ask herself. She shifted closer to the nearly six foot male, pressing their arms together and buried her face into his shoulder, knowing her breath tickled and she felt him tense than relax, "Do you think it'll look bad? Because I'm way too sexy for it to look bad."
Mathieu laughed than fell silent as they continued to walk, gray clouds covered the blue sky, "I don't think you'll look bad, you are very attractive but you have really beautiful hair. You… wouldn't cut it all off would you?"
"No, just most of it, vati and bruder complain about it because it keeps catching fire or it falls into my food. But Liz says I would look like a boy with it so short… not that it matters to me. I mean, if I was a boy I'd still be hot."
"It's your decision and I'm always going to support you."
Juliane smiled, "You sound a lot like Artie."
"Thanks because I love the idea of sounding like my dad."
"I still find it funny how they pretended to hate each other even when they played house with you and Alfred. They got married and you're practically moved in with them and they're only two years older than you."
Before the couple knew it they were at Juliane's house, her father and younger brother visibly watching them from inside the house, it was a blessing in disguise; the beginning plops of rain had begun to fall.
"I'll tell vati about the truck and we'll get it tomorrow, for now, I'm going to get my keys and give you a ride home." She said opening her front door.
They were welcomed by streams of German, several barking dogs, and the smell of bratwurst.
"Hello, Mathieu," Steele blue eyes landed on him.
"H-hey, Hr. Beilschmidt." He answered.
The thing about the other men in her life besides Francis, Arthur, Antonio and him were that they all looked capable of murder, and maybe that same with the German heritage or maybe it was because she was the only girl in the family and currently had a boyfriend; not saying little Elise couldn't get one because she was really chummy with Romano lately but she had an overprotective older brother in ROTC.
Hr. Beilschmidt, Ludwig, and Izaak looked so similar, blond hair, blue eyes, big muscles, and dogs that obey their every word. Then there was little Izaak, who hasn't laughed a single time since Mathieu was introduced as his older sister's boyfriend.
"I'm sure you have an explanation as to why you walked to drop my little girl off."
Mathieu was never going to get use to those hard blue eyes, "Ah, the-"
"Alfred forgot to fill the truck up with gas last night," Juliane but in. "We got here before it started raining and I was going to grab my keys so I can take him home."
"No," Hr. Beilschmidt put an arm out to stop his daughter from passing. "Your brother will take him."
Ludwig went to the kitchen briefly, dogs trailing closely behind him, and came back out with his own keys in his hand. He titled his head to the door and exited, knowing Mathieu was going to follow.
"Ja," she nodded.
It was a common thing that they never touched in front of her father; it became too uncomfortable for them… more for the male.
He left the house and went down the walk way to Ludwig's car; it was like clockwork the moment he stepped off the steps when the rain got heavier.
"Mattie," Juliane called from the house.
Now, when he turned around to face her he wasn't expecting for her to jump onto him like she was Ivan after a successful play. Or that she tell him that she had always wanted the cliché kissing in the rain bit.
He was seventeen, with a girlfriend, who was he to be complaining?
Mathieu tugged the sleeves of his coat down, keeping his gaze on the puddles that vibrated when he stepped too close.
When she first returned home for Thanksgiving with her hair trimmed and several duffle bags hanging off of her he had been so surprised. Her hair had surprised him the most. She had walked up to him and looked at him, fiddling with her hands, a sign of her insecurity that rarely reared its head. Running a hand through it, he welcomed her back.
He had heard from somewhere that you needed to be careful around those who had flashbacks, maybe he was one of those people because after what those TV people said he wasn't able to stop thinking about her. It made him feel like a love-struck teenager all over again, not that it was a bag feeling.
It was a feeling that he hadn't experienced since they exited that honeymoon stage. That was when things had become harder, since she was at the Academy, it seemed like she only appeared a few weeks in the summer, Christmas, or Thanksgiving.
Then he had graduated at the end of May, then he had first in the entry draft to the Senators, was lucky enough to join his old teammate Ivan Barginski, who had went fourth to the Senators in the year prior. It felt like things had gotten even harder after that.
Juliane and Mathieu tried to plan ahead of time. Phone calls and Skype dates were arranged around both schedules, they tried not be irritated when one missed it. So when Mathieu comes into the locker room and he hadn't left so nervous to play a game in his life, his phone buzzes on his locker shelf.
ur going 2 fly this time b!
Cn't w8 2 see u play
And Mathieu can't help that his smile grows.
"Ptitsa get sext?" Ivan asked leaning over his center's shoulder.
"Bird's blushing!" A defensemen shouts drawing more attention and more good natured comments from others.
Mathieu laughs as the teasing continues, rolling his eyes at the nickname that stuck since Ivan told the team of Juliane and their high school days.
Every one of the guys knew of his relationship with some mysterious future military officer, never gave him real crap for it when it should be clear that their relationship shouldn't work. But it does and they learned to respect that, even Ivan, who always had animosity with Jul.
Mathieu's favorite part of a home game is when he skates out. He will never get tired of it. He just loves the roar of the crowd as they welcome players out on crisp fresh ice as they skate around the rink. And Juliane is smiling and waving, just a few rows up behind the players' bench.
For those first few moments, Mathieu feels like he could fly. Soaking up the energy buzzing about before the crowd settles before the anthem starts. He skates out to get ready for the face off. And as soon as the puck hits the ice, Mathieu is there to make his move, swiping it to the corner then chasing down for as fast as he could.
One of his teammates get there first to knock it to the back of the net to Ivan. Ivan makes a great game of keep away to wind down the clock and to get to Mathieu for his to take his shot. Juliane jumps up with Francis and Arthur, and yanking at each other's jerseys when the lamp and goal horn go off as he's swarmed by his teammates and receives his head pats.
"Hey there, superstar," Juliane says, when Mathieu emerged from the locker room with Ivan on his heels. "Hello, Ivan."
The Russian mutter something that made her eyes narrow and spit back another choice words in the foreign language and step forward. This was a normal occurrence whether with Alfred, Ivan, or Romano. Juliane and Mathieu's best friends wouldn't get a long if they hadn't had him in common.
"Is the Wolf going to get in a fight?" one of the rookies asked somewhere behind them.
"Da," "Ja," "No!"
Most games that she attended were few to rare and normally ended with a late dinner with his parents, Juliane, and Ivan; though sometimes they'd take a couple rookies along. They settled in a hard to keep routine that mostly consisted of missed calls and late text messages.
When they both were in their hometown during his off-season, she came around in the Jetta that was kept in her father's garage and just drive, catch up, stop at that place at the end of Empire Road just before they reached the canyon. Eat at the Garden like they did on that first day.
Then he turned twenty-two and she graduated and was sent on her first deployment, he was there when she exited the terminal to begin her leave. Not that going out to have some fun is something someone wants to do when they just came back.
"Birdie," Juliane whispered into his ear one night. "Are you awake?"
He rolled onto his side so he could see the army officer, the sheet tangling into his legs, "Yeah, is something wrong?"
Juliane was lying like she was board, staring up at the ceiling with her rarely seen blue eyes, her hands lying across her stomach as if she were in a casket, "I was ready for what was ahead of me, I knew I was or I would have ending up like Poe… That was supposed to be a joke, Birdie… But once you're over there, it's just you can't think about anything but the man getting shot down beside you."
Mathieu would have lied if it wasn't so obvious to the other members of their family that something about Juliane had changed. It took a bit more effort for her smile to reach her eyes now; she would sometimes tense something was loud. It was like when someone had someone like Juliane just barely figured out something went and changed her way of thought.
"They made me fill out, what the others call "Don't Kill your Spouse Survery." Trying to find the first sign of PTSD."
It was hard to imagine Juliane with any form of PTSD; it wasn't something that happens to her. Not the leading member of the Bad Touch Trio, who was the life of every party.
"Things get better, I got use to it, but sometimes I still find myself holding my breath and counting to ten repeatedly to get my mind away from everything. It's weird meeting someone one day than finding their name on the list of causalities the next." She turned, tucking her arm under her head and reaching to brush some of hair that was now longer than hers behind his ear. "I'm sorry I didn't call or email as much as I did, I thought that if I hadn't time would pass by faster and I wouldn't miss you as much."
Mathieu never thought he would ever see Juliane as broken as she was then. Juliane was still there just she wasn't sure how to handle the change in surroundings so easily. That was obvious to tell.
"It just made it drag on. It sounds awfully cheesy, and you know how unawesome cheesiness is to me."
"I could guess."
"I'm glad that I'm here, you kind of make all the ghost go away."
"…That was rather cheesy, would you like tortilla chips with that?"
Juliane laughed and rolled back over onto her back, "That was terrible, you've been hanging out with Artie for far too long."
Mathieu followed her lead to stare at their ceiling, "I might have forgotten to mention that Alfred and I might change our last name. Alfred and Mathieu Kirkland-Bonnefoy has a ring to it. I'd keep Williams on my jersey though."
"So, you're saying when we get married I'm going to be a Kirkland just like Artie and be even more related to Frenchy?"
"Well, they'll be just be your in-laws, Mrs. Kirkland-Bonnefoy." He answered cheekily into the dark.
"God," she groaned. "It isn't bad enough I have to spend Christmas with them?"
"Admit it. You can't wait to be Juliane Maria Gillian Kirkland-Bonnefoy married to Mathieu Williams Kirkland-Bonnefoy of the Ottawa Senators."
"You are so lucky I love you and you're strawberry blond locks."
The next day when they went to Francis' new place, the new small fancy place at the edge of town, and Juliane proved to be the same outspoken and outgoing girl from high school when she pulled him out of his seat to dance. He was sure Francis and Arthur got pictures. He told her stories about his time in the League, things his teammates did and she would in and give him a kiss.
Mathieu wondered where Juliane was currently. Was she safe at home with a new boyfriend? Half across the world away and waiting to Skype Francis and Arthur, Antonio and Belle, or Ludwig and Anita; maybe just getting on a plane to return home or go to back overseas? Juliane was probably smiling brightly where ever she was though and that was what kind of bothered him.
He wasn't there to see it. Mathieu never though he would be the one sticking to the "no matter how many twist and turns life takes you one, you're never going to forget your first love" line. That was more of Arthur, Francis, and Alfred's thing.
Before he could dwell on the topic for long a glass door swung open unannounced as a customer quickly exit, neither person had time to react before they collided. Mathieu paused to apologize profusely when the sound of liquid splattered against the already wet cement reached his ears, but his voice caught in his throat, contracting and making it nearly impossible for him to breathe.
The person had snapped around, almost white hair whipping across the space between them, mouth wide and set on cussing him out with narrowed sharp eyes, "Watch where the hell you're going, you du-"
It wasn't as much as a surprise to see her there than it was to see that the now twenty-six year old hadn't changed apart from hair length. Her pale face was still narrow, looking like it came from Ancient Greek statue, and she still wore here red contacts, her signature black boots with the dark blue coat. There she was, flesh and blond, standing in front of him, face changing from pure rage to pure flabbergasted.
Looking as if he had just seen a ghost, he said something to her. For the first time in two years, his old stutter returned for the reunion, "B-bonjour,"
It was snowing when he came off the plane; it made him ponder the option of calling Juliane to them up. Juliane was in town for her leave, waiting for her post assignment, and he was just coming back from a road trip and was dying to see her.
His cellphone rang when the team got done digging their cars out of the snow pile, sending notes and runs from the Musical Offering into the winter night, letting him know exactly who was calling this late.
"Hey, Jul," he answered, throwing his bag into the car of the car.
"Are you doing okay? I swear, Birdie, if you get in a car accident you're not getting any maple syrup that I gave you for Christmas." She joked although the sleepiness seeping into her voice.
"Yeah, we just spent an hour digging the cars out of the snow, I think Ivan got most of the heavy lifting. Poor guy," Mathieu shoved Ivan where he was dozing in the passenger seat. "Probably will pass out as soon as we get home."
"I'm not carrying him. And you? Are you having any back problems? Any most lost teeth? I saw that high stick."
"I'm going fine too; no back problems and I haven't lost any teeth. Still have all of them and four years like this is a record." He passed lighted shops. "Jul, it's late and you probably be getting to sleep. I'm going to be home soon."
"You're awesome, Birdie."
"You are too, Jul."
"Ptitsa is love." Ivan muttered slumping back over.
"Yeah," Mathieu answered with a smile and faint traces of a blush.
The cold still lingered when he pulled up. He practically dragged the 6'3" Russian from the car and up the front steps. The front foyer to the living room was dark, silent, and Mathieu was not going to drag Ivan upstairs. Juliane appeared at the top of the steps, bare toes just wiggling over the edge of the top step.
"I've missed you." She said when they got to their room.
The next day Juliane skipped around the town with him close in tow, babbling about Ludwig and how he finally asked out the girl he was crushing on, and telling how Izaak and how he was just about to graduate high school. Izaak was going to West Point as a legacy. Mathieu took her out and to his favorite restaurant, it was just a small place tucked in the corner. That was how his day off ws for them. It was easy when they were together.
He doesn't remember how it ended. He remembers finding her in his old high school jersey, telling him her base assignment before she was gone. He said something about how he was going to be in Ottawa for ten months out of the year and she wasn't…
Sitting in the plane to another away game was horrible. She was going to be gone when he got back. She was going to sitting along, moving on, how was she always the lively one, or she could change characters from being Francis' wild best friend to being Mathieu's girlfriend.
"Hey, B… Mathieu."
Mathieu flinched at the sound of his full coming from her. She had never used it before in normal conversation.
"How have you been?" she asked putting her guard back together, smiling like she just his papa's friend.
"I'm fine and I'm sorry about the coffee." He said looking down at the brown drink staining the cement.
Juliane looked down, like she had completely forgotten about it, "Oh, oh it's fine, it's just a cup of coffee. I could just buy a new one."
"Or you could let me buy you a new one." Mathieu offered even as warning signs flashed in his mind screaming it could be a wrong move. What exactly were the chances of his ex-girlfriend agreeing to let him buy her coffee like he was asking out a co-worker?
"I'd actually like that. The Garden just moved downtown, and I've wanted to go visit their new location for a while now." She said in a simpler way then she had eight years ago.
"Lead the way." He said with hands shoved into his pockets.
The Garden had definitely moved to a bigger place, although it kept the dimly lit Paris night theme. It was like walking into the past when he watched Juliane move around from the corner of his eyes into a booth, "I know you asked me but I never asked how you were? How is Ludwig and them?"
Juliane thought for a moment, "Ludwig's getting married, military wedding and he was convinced by Anna to let me and Roderick to perform the march. I feel like I haven't touched my flute in a long time and since Felicia was born I don't think he's gotten around to much practice either. Izaak's doing fine, definitely carrying on the Beilschmidt line down at the Point. And, yeah, I'm on leave right now. I have to head back to post at the end of the week, just came by to catch up with every one still in town."
"I'm sorry for what happened," he got out, making her look up in surprise. "You need to realize that it's not easy for me either. I stay up most nights just wondering if you're okay, I even let myself think that you're on tour and will call at any moment. But I got scared, having an army officer as a lover doesn't usually end up in happy endings."
"I get that, and I still would have liked to try to make it work, at least, Mattie. I wasn't asking for much but I was just asking to we tried."
"Where do we stand now?"
"Nowhere good because I'm sure I'll blow up about you dumping me at one point, and father and Ludwig are definitely going to give you hell the next time they see you. But I would like to think that we're getting back together because I still love you."
Mathieu leaned across the table. "I'll tell you something, Jul, I loved you the moment you tackled me in the hall."
"Liar."
They weren't perfect. Mathieu was too in love with hockey to let go of it but Juliane meant much more than winning a game could. Juliane will always be in danger and have fear that Mathieu might realize why he left in the first place. They were not perfect.
But Juliane and Mathieu; Juliane and Mathieu weren't the only couple that had trouble, they weren't just high school sweethearts or each other's best friends. They just went together, in a simple term.
Notes:
1) Original written as a short story my sophomore year.
2) I added a new scene, fixed some mistakes.
3) Hetalia doesn't belong to me
4) Obviously, I'm not a big Senators fan. I tried to keep it as undetailed as possible.