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May 29, 1945

It finally happened. If she didn't hear it from the woman's mouth herself, Liz wouldn't have believed it. She was cleared to return to the front.

She honestly didn't think this day would ever come. It's been over eight months since she had been at war, and she'd be lying if she denied she was nervous. A crazed excitement took over her, and although the war in Europe was over, she heard recently that her regiment was stationed in Berlin and will probably stay there for a long period of time. Also, the threat of returning to war in the pacific against the Japanese was imminent. If her fellow soldiers were going, she was going with them.

She currently only had one thought and that was to find Toye to tell him her news. She looked all over until she finally found him in the abandoned dark room that he brought her to when he witnessed a migraine the first time.

"Joe!"

He turned from the window and gave her that slow, small smile of his. He stood, leaning against his crutches, and waited for her to join him. She leaned a hip against the wall by the window. "Guess what?"

"You're headed back."

She smacked him arm but smiled. "How did you guess?"

His smile grew. "Because you ain't never been this happy before."

Liz adjusted until she pushed her back against the wall, hands behind her back. "That's not true. When those asshole MPs slid on the wet floor that one day, I laughed harder than I can ever remember."

Toye chuckled and nodded. "True, and I liked hearing it." An awkward beat between them. Shit.

She quieted and a strange feeling arrested her chest as his eyes bore into hers. She took a deep breath to try and alleviate it. She wasn't supposed to be feeling anything but excitement. She tried to grin. "I didn't have a choice. It was hilarious."

His war was over, and with it, any caution. Somehow silently, even on the crutches, he moved to stand in front of her and she watched him. If she reached out, she could touch him. Her voice got quiet. "I mean, they got what they deserved. When have they ever done anything nice? Even when Guarnere was here, he didn't deserve Frick and Frack."

Toye remained silent, and Liz felt pinned in place. The question was too tempting not to ask. "If I go, are you going to miss me?"

His silence finally ended, but his eyes were still searching. "If you go, Liz? Come on."

"Yes, if."

Toye gave her a smirk to try and break the growing tension. "If you go, I'll even give you a kiss goodbye."

Liz grinned, but her hands fidgeting nervously behind her. "Are you sure that wouldn't be your attempt to make me stay?"

"Sweetheart, you'd know if I was tryin' to get you to stay."

She laughed, turning away to try and hide the blush. When she recovered enough, she looked at him dead on again. "And if I decided to stay?" she asked quietly.

Toye slowly made his way closer to her, somehow closer, until he was looking down at her. "Then you'd miss out on that kiss. And lemme tell ya, Liz, that's not somethin' I give out to just anyone."

The breath left her lungs and she could feel the heat of his body. She had always admired his eyes, somehow hard and soulful at the same time, but now she couldn't look away. She was afraid to blink.

Clearing her throat, she murmured, "Then tomorrow morning, we're going to have to say goodb-"

Toye leaned in and slid his lips over hers. They didn't notice when the crutches clanged to the ground as his arms wrapped around her waist. His weight against her was heavy and incredible; she had just enough room to reach up and wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer.

She sighed against his lips a moment before he deepened the kiss, nudging her mouth open to caress her tongue with his. They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, and she reared up against his right thigh that he placed between her legs. They both groaned at the friction that was created until finally breaking apart to catch their breath.

His eyes, his dark and probing eyes, somehow looked deeper inside her a moment before he kissed her again. With his hands full of the fabric of her tshirt, he felt her heart pound against his. And he knew that he'd never forget that feeling. It was like his first hot meal after a winter in Bastogne. A drink of cold water after a run up Currahee. The pride reflected on his new jumpwings.

Finally they broke apart, but Toye didn't pull away. Gathering her face in both his hands, he didn't allow her to look away, not as if she wanted to. And even after she was long gone and back with her regiment, training for a new war and preparing to fight and survive once more, Liz couldn't forget the soft but scratchy tone of his voice that both warmed her on cool nights in Germany and sent a chill up her spine under the beating summer sun.

"If you go, promise me you'll come back."

His hands on her were gentle but firm, just like his words, and she knew she couldn't deny him. Even if she was halfway around the world in the pacific, she knew then she'd do anything in her power to keep her promise to him.

"If I go, I promise. I'll come back."