Author's Note:

Handsoff: Colin had to be removed. I felt bad killing a character with the same name as my nephew

livingartemis: you caught me. I had originally had it so Michael had gotten in touch with her. Changed my mind though. As for the atomic age...think about the date. It's early August 1945. But it's explained here so no worries.

Thanks to everyone else reading. Only about one or two more chapters after this.

I'm listening to Boyzone...should I be concerned?

We crowded around the radio and listened to the announcement that an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The number of casualties were unknown, but average citizens had been warned and advised to leave the city days before.
"Can you just imagine?" Lilly asked. "Like, a family might have been sitting around listening to a radio program then WHAM! Killed."

"Well," I said, rubbing Brie's back. "They were warned."

"Dad, if we were told to evacuate, where'd we go?" Lilly asked as her father turned off the dial.

He didn't respond. He just stared out the window.

"Okay now girls, go on and wash up for dinner. Mia, I'll take Brie," Mrs. Moscovitz said sushing us out of the room.

Lilly and I went into her room before dinner while Mrs. Moscovitz set Brie down for a nap. "What do you think this means?" she asked me.

"No clue," I said softly.

"Do you think…think that Michael knows?"

I shrugged. I'd gotten so used to living without him. It will be odd if, no, when he comes home. He has to come home. "I have no idea."

"Mia," she said, noting my sense of sadness. "He is pretty busy over there."

"I don't understand," I said, almost in tears. "Why can't he just take a minute to jot a note for me?"

"Cuz he lost the tops of his fingers and he's working on writing with his other hand?" Lilly guessed.

Damn. She's way too logical for my liking. "I suppose they will sue for peace now," I said finally.

"Huh?"

"They'll surrender. The war will be over. Everything will go back to what it was like before the war," I explained.

She looked a bit worried.

"What?" I asked.

"I forget what it was like," she admitted. "I mean, we were what, thirteen? All of our teen years have been the war. It won't be the same."

My life would be totally different. I still wasn't sure of where I was to live. If I would be forced to move back to Genovia or what. Grandmere might make me. She would scare Dad into making me move there. To move with Michael and Brie. I know Michael would never stand for it. Maybe that would be his way out of this marriage. He would quietly divorce me because he didn't want to move. Or because of Brie. Who knows?

The paper had been announcing the first group of soldiers returning to New York. Only days before the second atomic bomb had been released over the skies of Japan, causing the Empire to sue for peace. The war was over. And life would soon go back to 'normal'.

I found it amazing that Gabriel would not have a single memory of this war. Or of not knowing his father for who knows how long of his life. I smiled. It was nice that he would never know that . He'd never know the heart ache I've been feeling for the past month. I hope he would never have to experience what I know millions of couples have these past four year (in America at least).

I stared at the sleeping boy and wondered what he'd be when he grew up. Would he fall in love in only seventeen years. Would I be a grandmother? God, I hope not. "Hey, you are going to wait until you are eighteen to even date a girl," I whispered. "And you are going to college and then getting married."

Not that I don't approve of how Michael and I did things. I just…I don't want to be a grandmother when I'm in my thirties. Plus, I want my son to have a full life. Doing things that his father and I couldn't do because of the war. Not to rush a courtship into only a few weeks. I know it may sound romantic to fall in love like Michael and I have, but I would have liked him to have met my family before. So it would not have seemed like I was being sneaky…going behind their back.

Marrying Michael was probably the most impulsive thing I've ever done in my entire life…but also the smartest thing. I know we haven't spent much time together- actually, more time apart than together- but I don't really care. Just getting a letter from him would make my day.

The nextfew days were filled with anticipation. Word got out about a parade of soldiers and navy men returning. "Think about it, men in uniform. Can you imagine a day with more handsome men?" Laura asked dreamily.

I buttoned up my jacket. "I would settle for the one," I replied. "Thanks for the nylons, by the way."

"Don't ruin them, Mom will kill me if there are any runs in them," Laura replied. "Wait, let me put another pin in your hair."

The girls had come over to dress up for the parade. Laura was determined to find a sailor to suit her liking. I was trying to look princessy so Simon would not tease me for my new American attire.

"So, what does your brother look like?" Tina asked, applying rouge to her cheeks.

"The male version of me," I replied robotically.

"Wait, I have a picture," Lilly replied, grabbing her scrapbook.

"You have my brother's photograph in there?" I asked with a laugh. "I mean, you put film stars in there!"

"She does so for good reason," Tina said dreamily. "Your brother is so handsome!"

I rolled my eyes. Something that Lilly had taught me. I am sure Grandmere will have a coronary if she saw it. "He's my brother, girls. I used to bathe with the boy."

"I wouldn't mind that," Laura replied, taking the news clip from Tina.

"That is beyond disgusting."

"You made love to my brother," Lilly reminded me. "So I think it's even."

"Well….I ….I am in love with him. You girls do not even know Simon."

"Mom says there is going to be a sexual revolution. Women will have sex with several different men before settling down. That sounds exciting," Lilly replied, placing the clip back in her book carefully.

"Gross," I replied. "It's only good with the one you love."

"W-What's it like?" Tina asked carefully.

I finally realized that I, the foreigner, was the only one fully aware of a man's body. They had the basic ideas but not the image. "What's what like?" I asked, trying to avoid the discussion. Grandmere always said it was improper to discuss such private matters with others.

"Doing It?" Laura continued.

Lilly stormed out of the room. "I do not care to hear about my brother like that."

Tina laughed. "You don't have to tell us. It's just…interesting."

I studied her expression. "I would never have done it with him if I didn't know I loved him. And that he loved me. I can't imagine it would be better any other way."

"He'll be back," Tina said, reading my mind. "I promise. Who knows, maybe today?"

I held back a chuckle, "Yeah, right. Simon would have…wait, Simon doesn't even know Michael. He knows he exists, yes, but not him. But I doubt it. If he was interested in home he'd have written."

The two girls shared a saddened glance. "Let me finish doing your hair," Tina replied.

"I just fed him an hour ago," I explained to Mrs. Moscovitz about fifteen minutes later. "There is a bottle in the ice box."

"Dear, I know how to take care of a baby. Now you go get your brother, okay?"

I kissed my son gingerly. I hated being apart from him for very long. Or being very far at all from him. In my one month of young motherhood I had grown quite attached to the child.

She hugged me tightly. "You look gorgeous."

Lilly and I started walking toward Times Square. The others decided to go further up the route and look for boys on their own. "How can we be sure we'll see him?" I asked, stepping on my toes. It had been hours since we had arrived. Hundreds of veterans had swarmed by, none looking like my brother. He'd wait by the ship for me if we did not arrive together. Or he would ask a phone operator to contact the Moscovitz's.

"I hear some screaming," Lilly replied. "Here, step on this hydrant"

MICHAEL:

As we docked that morning I stared at the New York skyline. "That's the Statue of Liberty," I explained to Simon. "And that's the Empire State Building."

"And my little sister has been in the middle of all this?" he said, laughing. "I can't imagine her here."

"She fits right in," I replied.

We had to go through a final physical before disembarkment. It was going alphabetical. Simon was still going by the name Jacques, so he went before me. But he promised to wait in our bunk room.

It was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon before I finally was allowed to pack up and get ready to get off the ship. Simon and I stared out at the crowds waiting for the troops to come greet them. Mia was somewhere in there. I hope she showed up for this. To see me for the first time in eight months. God, how had it been that long?

"We marching to Times Square, then have to come back for our things," Simon explained. "How far is Times Square?"

I laughed. "We have a walk ahead of us."

We started walking at two o'clock. I searched the crowds. "It's pointless," I sighed. "I'll never see her."

He rolled his eyes, "Stop being so dramatic."

I realized I was being kind of dramatic. But who wouldn't be? I mean, my wife, whom I have not seen in eight months, was pregnant.

"How's the leg?" he asked after three miles.

I shrugged. It was killing me. The left more so than the right. I hadn't walked around this much in months. Not since the accident. I have to say, it was nice to have some feeling in my legs. Besides, I had to consider the pain Mia would be certainly going through when she has our baby. I think the leg isn't nearly as bad as that. At least from what I hear. "I'll survive I think," I replied.

"I never thought I'd ever see so many people in one place…ever. I think there are more people on these streets than there are in Genovia at all."

I laughed, "That's our school," I said pointing to good old John D. Rockefeller School for Young Men (and now Women, which was on a handwritten sign by the front entrance)."

He laughed, sincerely. "My sister in a normal school. Now that's something I'd like to see."

We continued walking, with me pointing out different landmarks until a girl hopped over the barricades and kissed Simon square on the lips, "My thanks to you boys," she said, eyeing me.

I said thanks was all I needed, and that she could just kiss him again instead of me. So she did.

"I think I'm liking America," he said with a laugh, looking back at the giggling girl. "A lot."

"I doubt your grandmother will like hearing about you making out with a random girl on the streets of New York."

He shrugged now. "Like she'll ever know."

We were at the end of the parade around six o'clock. Still no Mia. I was starting to lose faith. Plus, I was seriously thinking about amputating my leg. It was killing me. "Think we could steal a cup of water over there?" Simon asked, pointing towards Corby's Market.

"Uh, sure, I suppose," I replied dumbly. How dumb was I to expect the romantic return? To just have her jump into my arms?

I started walking over to the market and realized that Simon had stopped walking. I turned to see why, but he simply pointed to a girl standing on a fire hydrant.

Mia. Shorter, lighter hair, but my Mia. My perfect Mia.

God. She looked per- wait. Where is her stomach? What happened to the baby?