A/N: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! Updated Sept. 12, 2020

Hello friends! In my fun I've had (and continue to have) writing the Alice Klein/Lewis Nixon series, I've been uploading to four platforms: FFN, Archive of Our Own (Ao3), Wattpad, and Tumblr. I've got this new series of one-shots about the Nixon kids AND the kids of the other Easy Company members. Originally I planned to put these only on Ao3 but I've recently found the time to do it here too!

They'll mostly feature Noë and Ettie Nixon in some capacity, and their antics with the other children and members of Easy Company. But any "next-gen" characters are fair game for me. I've got some fun plans. It'll be primarily set in the 1950s-1970s. Hope you enjoy them!

Companion to

A Soldier of No Importance

Humanity of the Broken

Only a Paper Moon

[ 1 ]

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

He knew she was a Nixon when she held out the $50 bill.

San Francisco, California

The summer of 1967

Wildflowers, Ettie always told her, got their names from being equal parts tough and beautiful. They could woo the wandering soul, and they could resist any amount of poison thrown their way. Noë liked to think she was a wildflower.

She would settle for the term Flower Child though.

Ettie would be on her butt about running off without her that morning. But Ettie didn't understand. Rules were meant to be broken. They existed purely so the stupid men in power could keep her down, pinned against a rock. And if rules didn't make sense, well, then they shouldn't be rules.

Besides, the music in The Haights was amazing. And the art, she wanted to show Ettie all the paintings and charcoal sketches and the pastels. Oh the pastels! And of course the music. Too much great music to contained in such a small area.

It wasn't fair, really. Not to the world, that the beauty she had found with her fellow Wildflowers should be constrained to an intersection in San Francisco. Criminal, almost. Yeah, the real crime came from the stupid people who didn't see how simple everything was.

Simple. Very simple. Be nice to people, they'll be nice back. She may have only been fifteen, but Noë knew that humans weren't bad, just a little confused. If they sat down and talked, they'd see that they had a common language: beauty.

Beauty could be found everywhere. It was in the art that the Wildflowers decorated their cars in. It was in the music that Jefferson Airplane graced the airwaves with. It was even in the sirens of police cars. They just didn't see it.

Ettie didn't see it. Or, she saw it but she didn't want to admit it. She had her books, and her hope that Yale would see Dad's way, that it would become for girls too. Noë knew that Ettie missed Aunt Blanche, but Noë also knew that maybe if the world had been a bit kinder, Aunt Blanche would still be alive. Or, that's what she chose to believe.

"Hey! Kid!"

Noë turned, her sandals catching on the uneven sidewalk. She tumbled, barely catching herself on a street pole. The man who had called out was a cab driver. Dark hair, tall, probably about Mom's age. Maybe she could get herself home before Ettie even got her nose out of her books.

"What?" Noë asked.

"Jesus." He almost snorted in amusement. "I was gonna tell you to stop putting your nose in the air. If it rains, you'll drown. Or trip on the sidewalk."

"Funny," she sneered. Noë knew the type. Thought they were better than the Flower Children. These guys were the reason they even had to celebrate alone.

"Ah, come on. A kid your age shouldn't be wandering around alone. I'll give you a lift."

Noë frowned. But she reminded herself she was a Wildflower. Tough and kind and pretty. She had to trust this man, or else all her beliefs that people were inherently good would just be worth nothing. Ettie would've won then.

"Fine. But no funny business."

He laughed again. "Fuck, kid, just get in the cab. Where you going?"

As she crawled into the back seat, she gave him the address. Grandma Nixon's old place, where she and Aunt Blanche had lived. They'd kept it in the family to use as a vacation home. The cab smelled like cigarettes. Noë liked it immediately. It reminded her of Mom.

"Rich part of town, kid. You gotta name?"

"Noëlle. It's French," she added absentmindedly. The cabbie sure did love to talk. But it surprised her that he went a bit quiet after that. "My mom, she's french," Noë tried to explain.

"I knew a French broad once. Crazy girl, kinda like you."

"I'm not crazy. We're changing the world here, fella."

He laughed. "Yeah. Sure."

The sun was high in the sky now, inching towards the other horizon again. Noë liked the sun more than the moon. The sun was strong, bright, powerful. It never gave up, always rising in the morning. Kinda like a Wildflower in its own right.

"Why don't you think we're changing the world?" she finally asked.

The man was quiet. "Well fuck, I don't know. Maybe you are. Maybe you will. I saw a lot of shit during the war-"

"Which one? There've been too many," Noë bit back.

"Fucking right there." He sighed. "The second world war."

"Oh. My parents fought in that too."

"Nursing isn't the same as fighting," argued the man. "Important work, but we saw things as soldiers…"

"She wasn't a nurse, asshole." Noë was tired of his chatter. He didn't know what he was talking about. "She fought. For freedom. Our freedom, and we Flower Children, we're fighting in a different way. A way that doesn't hurt people."

He gave a sharp laugh. "You got a big mouth, kid."

"Yeah I do. And I use it," she snapped back.

Noë smirked as she saw them pull up outside her house. Of course, her smile dropped as soon as she saw Ettie rush out the door, her blonde, curly ponytail bobbing up and down and her book still in her hand. She glared even as the door opened.

"Damn it, Noëlle Ryer Nixon, you gave me a heart attack!" Ettie pointed at the house. "Get inside. I'll pay."

Noë glared. "I was safe, Ettie."

"Wait wait, fuck. You're Nixons?"

They both turned to where the man had gotten out of the car. He stood on the driver's side, arms across the top of the cab. Noë thought he looked a little pale. But then he started laughing.

"Jesus fucking Christ that makes so much sense," he said. Then he laughed again. "Shit. I knew your parents. No wonder you've got a mouth on you, kid."

"I'm sorry, who are you, exactly?" Ettie asked, physically pushing Noë behind her. The girl grunted a protest.

"Joe Liebgott, formerly of Easy Company. Shit. I see it now. Goddamn, you're both Nixons." He shook his head again with a grin. "I cannot believe this. Her daughter is a damn Flower Child."

"Hey!"

"Noë, shut up."

"You can't tell me to shut up."

Joe laughed again. "Yeah. Definitely Nixons." He disappeared into the cab, rifling through the center compartment. When he popped back up, he had a pencil and a scrap of paper. "Here." He started scribbling his phone number and address on it. "Give your mom a call. Tell her Joe Liebgott sends his belated regards. Jesus. Nixons in San Francisco. God help us all."

Ettie watched him carefully. But she nodded, taking it and smiled. "Thank you, for picking up my idiot sister. Even if you don't know our parents, I owe you for that." She rifled through her back pocket. "Here's a $50. Keep the change."

Joe's eyes widened. "Yeah. Definitely Nixons."

Ettie moved a bit to stand between Noë and Joe as he watched them a little longer. But with a final laugh, he just shook his head and scooted back inside his cab. While he drove off, she watched it go.

"I was safe the whole time, Ettie."

"Noëlle Ryer Nixon, you are in so much trouble!"

Noë cackled as Ettie tried and failed to grab her arm. "Gotta catch me first."

Ettie was a wildflower, even if she didn't want to admit it. As Noë dashed off towards the house on the top of the hill, she just laughed at the way her sister dropped the book and raced after her. Even adults could be wildflowers if they wanted to be. Ettie just needed to want to be like her. Then they'd all be happy.