"They're…Dead?"

Leo barely nodded.

"Leo, I don't get it…" Piper shook her head. "I thought you were a medic."

"I—I was…There were so many soldiers killed they needed extras, replacements. There weren't enough so they basically pointed at men and said, 'You ready to kill some of Hitler's soldiers?' The main answer was, 'What the hell'…"

"So they recruited you."

"Yeah."

"We were cousins…My sisters and I?"

"Yes."

"And the Germans killed them…"

Leo nodded.

"…I'm still confused…I thought you were married to Lily…"

"I was."

"Then why…"

"Different country…Different rules. A lot of men were married, and a lot of them had affairs. Started new relationships…"

"Why?"

"They knew they wouldn't make it home."

"And you…?"

"I never planned on meeting you. I never planned on our relationship then…You hadn't either."

"Why didn't you remember us?"

"I don't know…Maybe the Elders…There's a lot about the War I don't remember…I mean, it's all coming back to me now, but…"

"…Did I…Did I know about Lily?"

Leo nodded. "Yes. You knew about her. You saw her picture the day we met."

"I knew you were married, I knew you loved your wife, and we still…?"

"I told you, different country, different rules."

Piper sighed deeply. "So do you still love her?" she asked, not sure who she herself was referring to. Was she asking about Lily? About her past life?

Leo answered calmly. "I'll always love both of them…But they're both part of my past, even your past life…And the fact that I have you now and I had you then means we're meant to be."

Piper smiled.

By morning the next day the temple was destroyed. Leo found Piper at her home. It was reduced to rubble, like the rest of the town. He found her sitting on the charred bed, rocking Brooke in her arms gently. He walked up from behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

Piper jumped up and turned around defensively. When she saw Leo, she sighed. Setting Brooke on the bed for a moment, she hugged Leo tightly.

"You're alive…" she whispered.

"I promised, didn't I? Besides, I rather like staying this way. Alive, that is."

Piper sensed something was wrong. "What happened?"

"…We lost a lot of men."

Piper closed her eyes.

"They're moving us again."

She wrenched away from him. "What?"

"Not far. About three miles away."

"What? No, Leo, you can't go!"

"I talked with my sergeant…He said you can come with us."

Piper's eyes lit up, but then she stepped back. "I can't."

"If you stay here, you risk death."

"Look around you, Leo! We're risking death simply by being alive!"

Leo stepped around the bed and took Piper in his arms. "You're safer with us. I'm not guaranteeing you life…" He closed his eyes. "Just a better chance. We can take you to England. You're much safer there."

"I don't want to go to England, Leo! I want to stay here! I live here!"

"You don't have a home, Piper. It's gone."

"I can't go…I can't stay…"

"If we can get you to England, you can take a ship to America."

Her eyes lit up again. "I can?"

Leo nodded. "We're headed that way anyway. We're planning on being back there in two months. Three, tops."

"That's so long."

"You've waited long enough, I know. But you will be safer with us. It's not anything fancy. We don't live the high life out here."

"Will I survive?" Piper asked.

"Your chances of making the journey are barely less than mine."

"So if you die, I'm done for…"

"No…I'm not going to die out there and neither are you."

"What about Brooke?"

Leo sighed. "Between disease…lack of food…bombings, shootings…She may not make it to England…"

Piper took in a breath.

"But she could."

Piper shook her head. "No…I can't go. I'll just be in the way. I'll get someone shot. Maybe you. Maybe myself…"

"This opportunity doesn't come by often, Piper. You have to take it. It's your chance to live. To make it to your aunts and your mother and your grandmother."

"…What do I need to take?"

Leo closed his eyes in relief. "Whatever you can carry."

The unit moved as far as they could in one day. At dark, they set up camp. Piper and Brooke were separated from Leo while the unit was moving. They rode in the back of a jeep with wounded soldiers. Piper helped the nurses tend to the men. Brooke cried for her mother but slept most of the time.

As soon as the camps were set Piper fell into the crowd of people. No one seemed to notice her. She walked up and down the camps and tents and scanned the small circles of people sitting around little fires outside their camps. Holding Brooke in one arm with her other hand supporting the little girl, Piper searched the camps for Leo. She hadn't seen him in hours and was nervous, scared, hungry, and cold.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and whipped around to see Leo. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I was wondering where you were."

"They've got all the camps set up and me and four other soldiers are brushing up on our cooking skills."

Piper nodded and smiled. She hugged Leo. Brooke moved away from Piper and into Leo's arms.

"Here, follow me. Maybe you can help us."

"Okay."

Leo led Piper back to a group of tents with four American soldiers sitting around a small fire like the other soldiers. One of them was cleaning his rifle. Piper shuddered when she saw it. She averted her eyes to glance at the other three men. All three were staring at a can sitting over the fire. They looked up when Leo walked up with Piper and Brooke.

"Get yourself a daughter, Wyatt?" one of the men asked.

Leo smiled slightly. "You never know."

"Who's your friend?"

"Ah, Piper. She's coming with us to England. And her cousin Brooke is coming along as well."

"They told us we were just coming to shoot some of Hitler's troops and now we're escorting civilians into another country."

"Shut up, Jones," one of the men snapped. He looked at Piper. "Don't mind him. He's always a jerk. Doesn't know how to act around ladies." He stood up and introduced himself as Scott Roberts, shaking Piper's hand.

"Roberts thinks he's a charmer," Leo explained. He shifted Brooke in his arms.

The other three men introduced themselves but didn't get up. Charlie Jones was poking the contents of the can with a stick now, letting it cook over the fire, Caleb Schaefer was cleaning his rifle, and Justin Monroe was falling asleep.

"Can you cook?" Jones asked suddenly.

Piper laughed. "Of course."

"Can you turn beans and rice into a meal, then?"

"Beans and rice is a meal. Just…mix it together." Piper looked at the rice. She took the bowl of it from Jones and took the can off the fire tenderly, being careful not to get burned. She poured the beans into the bowl and stirred it with a metal spoon Roberts had handed her. Then she gave the bowl back to Jones.

"We got any bread?" was all he asked.

The men shrugged.

Piper glanced over at Brooke, who was asleep on Leo. She sniffled in her sleep. Piper smiled slightly at the little girl and listened to Leo give Schaefer some tips on his rifle. She didn't care to listen, but the bowl of beans and rice was being passed around and she was waiting for her turn. Brooke would be hungry soon, too. In a normal world, in her town, she would have eaten first and fed the baby first. The men would have waited.

Piper sighed.

It wasn't a normal world anymore.

When everyone had eaten and the fire was dying out, they were all still sitting outside their tents. Brooke was inside Leo's tent, sleeping peacefully. Jones said goodnight and went into his tent.

Roberts looked up at Piper, who was leaning against Leo's shoulder. "I assume the lady's sleeping in your tent, Wyatt."

Schaefer laughed and Piper chuckled to herself. Her eyes were closed.

"As a matter of fact, she is," Leo answered. "And it's probably best we go to sleep now. We'll be up at dawn, anyway, and that's just a few hours off."

Soon after, Schaefer grabbed his rifle and said, "'Night. Hope you all make it to the morning."

"Ha. Funny."

"I wasn't joking."