"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" Dick asked the young woman, who looked as though she'd seen a ghost.

Dick had taken a calming breath after removing his hands from her slender waist. It had been the closest he'd been to a female since that random woman kissed him in Holland.

Rose's mouth opened and closed like a fish, trying to find the ability to speak. She just couldn't believe it that out of the hundreds of thousands of people in Paris at that very moment, it just so happened to be the handsome, redheaded Captain she'd been gawking at earlier was the one who'd caught her.

He'd gone the other way hadn't he?

Rose stared up into his eyes. They were the most peculiar color she'd ever seen. They were very light blue when one looked them alone, but when paired with the rest of his features, they had a greenish tint.

Dick placed a comforting hand on her upper arm.

"Are you ok?" he asked the silent woman again.

Dick looked down into the Lieutenant's wide, brown eyes and smiled slightly. She was a good six inches shorter than him, but she still stood tall with her shoulders back. Her eyes were the warmest shade of brown he'd ever seen, like the color of polished walnut wood, and they were surrounded by long, thick lashes. She had an angular, delicate, feminine face that seemed to be perfectly proportioned. Dick didn't want to say that she was too pretty to be a nurse, but she looked like she belonged on a movie screen. He couldn't imagine her up to her elbows in blood and guts.

Rose mentally slapped herself in the face and tried to remember how to speak.

"Uh, ye-yes Captain." She stuttered. Rose looked up into his kind eyes and for a moment she felt like the entire city had disappeared. She then found herself smiling and her confidence returning. She reached up to re-adjust her cap and pulled her coat back down. "But I believe, Sir, you just cost me a Purple Heart."

Dick laughed and Rose couldn't help but notice what an endearing crooked smile he had.

"I apologize Lieutenant." He smiled with one of his fine, red eyebrows quirked. "If you would like, I could direct you to the pothole that nearly took me out and you could try again."

Rose laughed and offered her hand to him. His eyes flickered down and he promptly took it.

"First Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer, sir."

"Captain Richard Winters."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Rose smiled. She liked his voice. It was slightly raspy, but not harsh. It was like no voice she'd ever heard.

Dick was surprised by the firm grip her slender hand produced. It wasn't soft and smooth like one would expect from a good looking woman. The back of her hand was dry and rough; no doubt the result of being covered in blood and scrubbed raw with harsh disinfectants all the time.

An uncomfortable silence befell the two after they broke the handshake. Rose fiddled with the flap of her pocket and Dick swallowed hard. Part of him was waiting for her to thank him, say it was nice meeting him again and then say good-bye, but a small ounce of him was hoping they could spend some more time together.

"What brings you to Paris Lieutenant Beyer?" Dick asked, deciding he'd make the encounter last somehow.

Rose let out a puff of air and chuckled halfheartedly.

"Honestly sir, I have no idea. They had a raffle back at my evacuation hospital. I won a 48 hour pass. Apparently, I have some amazing luck, because I don't even remember putting in my name." Rose rolled her eyes and shrugged.

Dick chuckled in the same manner. "I know what you mean."

"Can I assume you're enjoying the city as much as I am, Captain Winters?" Rose smirked.

"Oh, I'm having a blast." Dick replied sarcastically and smiled.

Rose laughed. At least she knew now that she wasn't the only one.

Rose wanted to ask him if he had plans, but she knew it would have been very inappropriate for a nurse to ask a higher ranking officer that. Rose wasn't that bold anyway; Captain or not. Besides, no war time flings, she reminded herself.

Dick looked around the busy corner and sighed heavily.

"Well…" he was trying to be nonchalant. He wished Nixon was there, he would have been able to keep the situation light. "Ah, you know any good place to grab dinner?"

Rose was momentarily surprised, as was Dick that he'd been able to choke it out. It wasn't inappropriate to ask a lower ranking officer to join him for a meal. Perhaps he was toeing the line with the fact she was a female officer, but something just came over him and he couldn't resist the urge to spend more time with the nurse. She just had this look about her.

"Uh…" Rose's mind was screaming 'think think', but she didn't even like French food let alone know any restaurants. "I'm afraid not sir. Actually," her eyes twinkled and a sly smirk formed on her bowed lips. "I was looking for a place that had nothing but S.O.S. and beans."

Dick chuckled. She reminded him a little of Nixon with her sarcastic humor.

"Well, I'm sure we could find something." Dick smirked and motioned her to accompany him with his arm.


An hour later, they found themselves sitting on a bench looking out over the Riviera.

"I never would have imagined…" Rose mused as she pulled back the paper wrapper from her sad looking hotdog. "Home of the finest cuisines and restaurants in all the world and you spot a hotdog stand."

Dick laughed and took a bite. He never had been fond of hotdogs back home, but at the moment it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. He looked down at the little picnic they had sitting between them on the bench that, besides the hotdogs, included a bag of popcorn and two bottles of Coco-Cola.

"That vender is the one laughing though." He said as he wiped a bit of mustard off the corner of his mouth with his thumb. "I bet he's making a fortune."

"No doubt." Rose smiled. "Didn't you hear him say 'God Bless America' after you paid him?"

Dick chuckled and took in everything around him. The scars of war were still ugly in the city, but there were signs of healing; mostly the people seemed to be healing. They were full of life and vivacious as ever. He popped the top off his Coke and took a swig. His blue eyes flickered over the striking nurse beside him. Her eyes were trained on a group of children playing tag down the hill from them. He could see a sense of longing in her eyes and noticed the tiny sigh that escaped her chest.

"Do you have any kids back home?" he asked without thinking.

Rose whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. She scrunched her forehead and flashed her eyes back over towards the children she'd been watching. She tried to ignore that proverbial pain in her chest. She felt it every time somebody asked if she had children.

"Oh. No, no. I'm not married." Rose replied hastily, maybe a bit too hastily.

Dick was slightly embarrassed and felt stupid. He looked down at his half-eaten hotdog. Of course she didn't have kids. If she did, she'd be back in the states taking care of them. Most nurses weren't married, engaged maybe, but he didn't think married women were allowed to join any Military branch.

"I was a teacher back in Wisconsin." She told him, noticing the slight blush creeping up from under his collar.

He looked back up at her with the corner of his mouth curled up slightly. He smiled more when his eyes meant her warm, brown ones. He could see her being a teacher with that kind, trusting gaze. He leaned back and draped his elbows across the back of the bench.

"You miss it?" he asked.

"Teaching or Wisconsin?" she joked and smiled at Dick's indifferent shrug.

"Either I guess."

Rose sighed sadly, but laughed it off.

"Well, I do miss both, some days more than others though. Never ceases to amaze me how Wisconsin can be like the Arctic in the winter and as hot as Arizona in the summer. I love it there though. It's a lot like Pennsylvania I guess, but with hills instead of mountains."

Dick smiled, thinking of his home as well.

"And the kids." She continued. "I really do miss them. I had a really great class. I felt pretty bad about leaving them. But, I'll tell yah," she wagged a finger at him. "I don't miss those older farm boys. I'd rather evacuate during an air raid then deal with that rowdy bunch in the winter."

Dick chuckled. He knew what she was talking about. He used to be one of those rowdy farm boys. He finished the last bite of his hotdog and wiped his hands with a napkin.

"What about you?" Rose asked, "Do you have a family back home?" She watched his eyes suddenly turn very distant and his shoulders slump ever so slightly. Rose's heart leapt a bit when he shook his head, but she quickly scolded herself. She could tell something was hurting him.

"Nope," he said, clearing his throat. That pain she saw a second ago was quickly masked. "Just a few nieces and nephews."

"Those are the best." She smiled, trying to rekindle the mood. "Spoil them rotten and then send 'em back. Repayment for all the times my older brother locked me in the chicken coop and left spiders in my bed."

They both laughed. It seemed that once that elephant was out of the room, they really kicked it off. They spent the next few hours talking about everything. The more they talked, the more they realized how alike they were. Both had grown up on small farms that somehow made it through the depression and they'd both gone to small colleges. They shared stories about their childhood and the crazy adventures she and her brothers carried out. Dick found himself relaxing for the first time in a very long time. With every chuckle, he eased up a little more and opened himself up.

Rose saw this. His emotions came across clearer and clearer the more he laughed. Most people saw him as being a very blank person, hardly raising an eyebrow at anything. However, his facial expressions were so subtle that one hardly noticed. Being a teacher, she was an expert at reading people. Her kids could never get away with anything because she could see right through them. Her brothers often said she would have made one hell of a cop had she been a man. Rose had only spent a few hours with him, and already she could read the Captain like an open book.

They talked about everything well after the sun had dipped below the cityscape. Then Dick and Rose walked side-by-side down the lighted streets. For the first time, Rose found herself smiling for no reason. There wasn't that suffocating weight on her chest that had been there since she'd joined the Army.

Dick felt the same way. If it wasn't for their reflection in the glass, store windows, he would have forgotten they were even in a war.

However, both their moods were suddenly brought back to reality when they rounded a corner…