These two won't leave me alone. Here is another small snippet

I hope you all enjoy it, thank you all for the reviews from the last chapter.

A few months later

It was the little moments that come out of nowhere that reminds you that even when you think you know someone. You don't. Much like the first time she saw the scars. Ones his clothing kept hidden from the view of the world she almost wept. Scattered over his body like puzzle pieces that had no home. It was entirely improper of her to see them as she did.

It had been one of his 'off' days. He had been in a daze, any slight touch or sound would make him jump. Rilla had come home for the weekend on the cool October nigh. Somehow she managed to get late acceptance to Redmond for the fall to most of her families surprise. She was always intelligent she just never used it to her full capacity. Or that is what she told him one night when they were out of a ride in his automobile. There was a strange pitch in her voice as she spoke about her parents never expecting much from her. Unlike her siblings who were all ambitious and keen to learn. They offered her queens once, but with her refusal, they never said another word about it. Even her taking care of her war baby was a shock to them.

They had a happy summer as he got back on his feet. He was working again; writing for the local paper. Spending evenings in Rainbow Valley; escaping the many eyes of Ingleside.

Life appeared normal while he lived at his parent's old house, but normal he learned with a relative term.

He was just about to take a drink of tea when a large horn from a passing boat went by harbour sounded loud. His eyes glazed over as the hot tea ran out of the cup over his shirt. He cursed at the hot liquid that was fresh from the kettle.

Rilla who had been looking around the house of dreams her mother called it. She has stopped by with the basket of clothing that she had ironed from him. Something she began when she saw the states of his shirts when he tried to iron them himself. It was strange to be in the house where her parents spent the first three years of their marriage. Knowing thing was where Jem was born in that small bedroom upstairs. She rushed to the small kitchen at his words, holding up her skirt to make more quickly. She said nothing as she helped him peel off his shirt undoing the buttons. He wasn't wearing an undershirt to her own surprise. She kept her features schooled, not wanting him to recoil from her own shock. She pressed a cool cloth over the burn, much as her father did for them over the years. She could hear father's voice from her childhood as she ran through the steps of caring for a burn.

"I am barely surviving," Ken sighed in defeat.

"You are human, who has been through a lot," Rilla responded. A lot of the women who frequented the steps of Ingleside mentioned the aftermath and the effects of the war. Faith who has already married Jem in a small ceremony spoke of the nightmares that came at night. Jem had been a doctor on the field, and the transition of treating sick children and seniors was a relief.

"Is this why you didn't want to go to the beach with the rest of us?" Rilla asked quietly as she gently rubbed the cream into his chest. Trying not to pay to close attention to all the markings. The one that stood out the most was a long jagged scar that ran over his shoulder. She ached to touch it, but she didn't want to change his reaction.

Ken nodded after a moment. "As much as seeing you in a bathing suit is high up on my priorities," he told her with a small smile. Despite his voice sounding tired and withdrawn. "I just can't get past the last beach I was at. Which was where I got the majority of these from," he added as he motioned to his chest.

Rilla found herself nodding. She had read about many of the battles from the papers. Yet seeing it first hand of how it could tarnish a body; she couldn't imagine what it would have been like.

"Though I am sure your father would skin me alive if he saw us together like this." Ken ran his fingers through his hair.

"I just turned twenty," Rilla contradicted him. "I have seen plenty of men shirtless in my life."

"Your brothers do not count," Ken cracked a small smile. "So unless you have been keeping company with other men while I was away. Or at the school of yours, I am sure the number is small." He teased her and feigned pain when she gently swatted his arm.

"What boys? Everyone so focused on the cause, though Fred Arnold tried to court me before he left." Rilla admitted after a moments thought. "That is when Mother found out about you. She found me crying after he left because I felt so horrible at telling Fred that I couldn't kiss him goodbye. She looked at me so queerly, like a mother sometimes does when something surprises her." Rilla told him as she handed him a shirt that came from the clean laundry she had brought over from Ingleside. "As for school, I am in applied sciences and intro-psychology and I am one of two ladies in the whole entire course. Most of the men were too young to be in the war and find our existence annoying. All we hear every day is that we don't belong and should go study art or get married. It's all rather dull," Rilla sighed.

"You are enjoying it though?" Ken questioned her. He wasn't entirely sure if she truly liked college yet.

"It is different, but Father and I can hold conversations about many new things lately. Not that we couldn't, but for the first time he's willing to actually explore and answer my questions honestly. It's all new and a lot of things we are learning first hand, much like a father himself. I think he enjoys that I can bring him all the new-fangled ideas of how to treat-" Rilla stopped herself short.

"Men like me?" Ken finished for her quietly. "We can say it out loud, shell-shock, we have some forms of shell shock. You saw it in my writing, during and after Passchendaele. Some of it was wanting to keep my memory of you innocent of all the horrors, but that would be a lie. I just didn't want to burden you with my own problems. I was only a captain because I managed to survive long enough to be one."

"I never-" Rilla flushed, but the dates added up in her mind. "I'm sorry," she sighed not sure what else to say to his admission. Such a Canadian thing to say in a moment such as this. "However you made captain on your own merit, Jem only made Lieutenant, and he was enlisted before you. You were rewarded for your bravery and heroism, your mother was so proud when she heard. I was proud when you sent that photograph of you, I slept with it underneath my pillow. I am still proud of you today. I tell everyone at school that I belong to a Captain who helped win a victory in the war."

"You tell them about me?" Ken raised an eyebrow.

"Of course! It was the only way for the young men to stop bothering me outside of classes." She shrugged like it was nothing big. "So how about my captain walks me home?" Rilla asked him looking at the time before offering her hand to him. He pulled her close, hands on her hips for a long moment.

"Do I need to come to that fancy school of yours and make my presence known?" Ken asked standing up, feeling rather jealous that other men were looking his woman. Yet proud that Rilla only had eyes for him.

"Only if you wish, I know you aren't good with large crowds just yet," Rilla replied softly. She stood as he locked door to the house of dreams. Hands clasped they walked the familiar path to Ingleside. She felt him stop as he looked towards the shoreline. Squeezing her hand he directed her down the old stone steps. Walking closer to the old lighthouse where they first danced.

"An ocean still separates us," he spoke. "A small scale of an ocean, but still it separates us most of the time. I wonder if the war never happened if the thing would have been different. Would we be married already, possibly even a child? I am a selfish man Rilla-my-Rilla. I want you all to myself, yet I need to let you be free. My social butterfly, who skipped up those steps of the lighthouse that night we danced. So pure and full of light, you took my breath away that night."

"Ken-" Rilla breathed as he continued on.

"I was checking out a lighthouse. I heard them before I could see them coming, I turned around it was like you were telling me to get out. I ran, screaming to the others to get back to get to safety, wherever safety was." Ken spoke evenly. "I watch good men die that day, hell I thought I was good for dead. Instead, I suffered splinters and shrapnel being pulled from my chest for god knows how long."

"You get it though, you're one of the few who get it. You don't push me, you don't tell me to get over it, to move on with my life. Because at least I have a life to live." Ken shoved the sand with the toe of his boot. Rilla leaned into him, her forehead resting on his shoulder as she tried her best to silently console him.

"I know it will never compare, but when I told Mum and Father that I wanted to apply to Redmond they didn't believe me at first. They were shocked. I know they mean well, but sometimes it feels like every time I come home. They expect me to announce that I want to come home. The sad part is sometimes I do. The whole school thinks us girls are only there to catch a husband or waiting through an engagement." Rilla admitted out loud for the first time. Trivial compared to his but it ate at her either way.

"But I already have you, my friend, lover and confidant. Yet it seems so selfish to want more, that's what I'm told by teachers who find about you. But this is our life Darling and no one can change that." Rilla added on at the end.

It was moments like this Rilla was often reminded that even when you think you know someone. You don't. There is always another little piece hidden away that you never saw before it surfaces. All the insecurities and worries that live in one's mind are only shown when they are with the people they trust.

I am not sure about the whole battle on a beach thing as I know Normandy didn't have any encounter with the war in WW1. But surely there had to be other places on the coast that were attacked at some point in time.

Rilla studying science and psychology...is it a stretch. Oh goodness yes, but I wanted to have a purpose for Rilla as she seemed to be the one with least ambition out of all the children. But then again she was raised by a doctor and a rather romantic dreamer. She must have some sort of ambition or dreams in her life?

Also shameless shirtless Ken? totally inappropriate and would of probably warranted a shot gun wedding by her father. But what Gilbert doesn't know won't hurt him haha.

Tina