Thank you so much for your support, my dearest reviewers! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your feedback. The following chapter is not too long and not too exciting but it's necessary ;) I hope you'll enjoy it. Hugs, Julia.

When they finally arrived back at the camp, Maggie and Dick had just an hour left to sleep before they had to be at the mess.

"I hope you'll arrive quickly to sleep, because I'm afraid you'll not get much of it tonight…"

"Same to you, Sir. I'll see you in an hour. Goodnight."

Maggie didn't feel like serving in the mess but she appreciated the possibility to spend some time with Lieutnant Winters alone. She wanted to get to know him better and that was impossible as long as the rest of the platoon or even Lt. Nixon were there.

In her barrack Maggie stripped down to her underclothes and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She didn't notice it earlier but due to the lack of sleep and her illness her body needed rest. Therefore she didn't hear her alarm clock when it rang an hour later. She didn't wake up until someone knocked on her door. She stood up and was still drowsy so that she needed a moment to realize that she was too late. What she still didn't realize was the fact that she stood in front of Lt. Winter with nothing on than her underwear.

"Oh, Sir. Shit, I'm so sorry. I'll hurry up!" said Maggie and lurched through her barrack in search for clothing.

Unlike Maggie Dick did notice that Maggie wore nothing but her underwear and turned beet red before he turned around to give her some privacy. But he couldn't help but cast a glance over his female comrade. He had to admit that his first impression of her was right: She was really an attractive person. When this thought came to his mind, Dick's face turned into a deeper red.

"Sir, I'm ready. I'm really sorry! Will we be too late?"

"Not if we hurry up. I was 10 minutes early" said Dick with a wink and started to run towards the mess hall.

They were just in time when they arrived and started their duty.

Maggie didn't see any sense in her presence at the mess. The men and women who worked in the mess prepared the food like every day and she just would have disturbed their routine. Dick was in charge of the inspection. This left nothing to do for her. That's why she polished the glasses and dishes and tried to talk to Dick.

Though her time at the mess hall was pretty annoying concerning her work, it was the best time she had in a while because she got to know more about Dick. He told her that he grew up in different places in Pennsylvania and that his parents still lived in Lancaster where he went to school. He talked a lot about his love for books – the subject didn't really matter – and his favourite sports. Maggie wasn't surprised that Dick had wrestled at college; it explained the source of his physical strength. Because of their shared addiction to books, they had a lot of topics of conversation. Maggie was impressed that Dick had a bachelor in business, though he had to work a lot to bankroll his studies. She had worked as a waitress to finance her studies, too but Dick had had particulate three jobs at the same time.

Dick was pretty amused when he saw her reaction to his former job as a painter of high-tension-towers. Maggie was pale and her face had a greenish shade. He couldn't hold back a laugh when she told him that she was totally afraid of heights.

"May I ask you what you're doing at Taccoa if you're afraid of heights? You know that the planes have to leave the ground so that we can jump out of them?" teased Dick.

"I didn't really have a choice. I think that my assignment to the paratroopers is the Army's payback for my persistence…" After a small break she added: "But I'm glad that I'm here. This company is the closest to a family I had in years. And besides most of the men are nice to look at" and winked.

When Dick noticed that they were flirting he turned beet red and tried to return to a more serious subject.

"And what about your family? Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, I have an older sister. She's 6 years older than me. But she disappeared some month ago and my mom doesn't know where she is… I'm afraid she might have been arrested by the Gestapo because of her Jewish boyfriend and the trouble I caused back home…" Maggie introduced and told Dick everything about the political situation in Germany and shared her fears about her sister with him. Dick was impressed by Maggie's courage and her love for other people, especially for her sister. He noticed that Maggie had had a close relationship to her sister and felt very sorry for her. He didn't like to see that desperate expression on the face of that small, weak being in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to embrace her and protect her from whatever there might be in store for them. It wasn't his plan to fall in love during this war but he had to admit that he had at least a little crush on her.

Because an embrace would have been very inappropriately, he just took her hand in his and gave it a short squeeze and a hopefully encouraging smile. She returned his smile and went back to her polishing-work. Maggie was glad that Dick didn't shrink back because of her past and instead tried to comfort her. He was exactly what she needed in her life: An affectionate, smart and reliable man. Maggie knew that they were very rare and was tempted to try to deepen her relationship with him but she knew also that Dick always sticked to the rules. In addition she had to admit that a relationship during war might not have been her smartest idea. A relationship beard always a high potential for conflicts and nobody promised them that a relationship between them would work. So she decided to be content with the comfort he gave her and wait what might develop between them.

During the two weeks of mess duty they grew very close which made it much more difficult for them to ignore the feelings for the other. When they were occupied with their training, they could suppress the growing affection but in the evening their thoughts were with each other.

Lew admired his best friend for his steadfastness. It was totally obvious to everybody – except to Dick – that Maggie was attracted by him too. But it was positive for Maggie that everybody saw her as belonging to Dick because it kept the boys from getting too close to her. Lew was agog with curiosity about the development of this relationship and was glad that he would be in the first row to see it.

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