THANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS! YOU ARE ALL AMAZING AND I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH!

There was some concern raised about Rose's age, and I wanted to address that quickly (although it will be further explained as the story continues). Rose is 20 years old in August of 1945. She would have been 17 in the summer of 1942, when training began, and 19 on D-Day. It was not unheard of for a 17 year old to join. Many who were younger than that lied about their ages to enlist, and a large number got their parents' permission. Guarnere and Heffron were both 19 when they began training. Skip Muck and Donald Hoobler were 20. Buck Compton was an officer on the D-Day jump at the age of 22.

As far as Winters' age compared to Rose's, he would have been 24 when he met Rose and began training. It was not uncommon for younger women to marry older men, and you will discover that Rose is an older soul than her age would suggest. Winters' real life wife was four years younger. The seven year difference won't really prove to be that much in the end.

Stay with me everyone. I'll try to make it worth it.

** WINTERS POV **

"So… you kinda like her," Nixon elbowed me in the ribs.

"What are you talking about, Lew?"

"Rose. You like her."

"What? No," I answered a little too defensively, and his grin grew bigger.

"Well, she is beautiful. So, I guess you wouldn't mind if I…" I shot him a glare and he laughed out loud. "Uh huh. That's what I thought."

I thought back to Toccoa, when I had first met Rosalie James.

I was walking back toward the officer's barracks. I rounded the corner and ran into a tiny creature carrying a large Army duffel bag. When she looked up and realized my rank, she dropped the bag to salute.

"Oh! Excuse me, sir! I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. Here, let me help you with that. Where are you headed?"

"Um, Easy Company barracks, sir."

"Excuse me for saying so miss, but you look awfully young to be here."

"I'm 17, sir. Young, yes, but I've finished school. My guardian agreed to allow me to try to complete training as a paratrooper. If not, I get sent back to the hospital I was volunteering at… and I really don't want that."

"Ah, you must be Rosalie James. Colonel Sink told me to expect you. I'm Lt. Richard Winters. Here we are. Easy Company barracks. And listen, I think you'll be fine. These are good men. But if anybody gives you any trouble, please let me know."

I watched as she won over the other enlisted men during training, not only because she was beautiful… not that I noticed such things… but because she had a tremendous heart and work ethic. Sink had told the officers when he briefed us that she'd been through a lot in her short life. I wasn't sure what that meant, but whatever it was must have galvanized her for everything that lay ahead. No matter what Sobel put us through, I don't think I ever heard her complain. She just kept pushing everyone to keep going.

She'd be running up Currahee, pacing the slower guys and starting cadences to get them moving. I tried not to pay attention to the way that the white T-shirt clung to her curves or how her tanned legs looked in the shorts, although Nixon pointed it out to me incessantly. I actually started to prefer running the hill in full pack, because running in PT gear had become… distracting.

Once Lew called my attention to that, I began noticing other things about her that I had to actively try not to. I pretended that I didn't see the way she smiled and blushed when I complimented her on something she did well. Or her laugh. Or how much she cared about the guys around her. Or the way it seemed to infuriate her when Sobel came down on me for something stupid… Okay, so maybe I noticed. Not that Nix ever let me forget it.

By the time I cushioned her landing in Normandy, she was a couple of months shy of her 19th birthday. She had grown from this shy, slight girl into a well-trained soldier and, as much as I hated to admit it, quite a woman. I was more relieved that I wanted to admit when she landed safely with me, especially when I realized that we had been dropped in the wrong zone, and impressed with the way she handled herself as we worked our way toward the assembly area. Other than the tension with Guarnere, we were actually making out alright so far.

"Bill, look. I understand you're upset about your brother. But he really just wanted you to wait for his command. He doesn't have a weapon. It's not like he could shoot anything."

"Rose, he don't even drink!"

"I know, sweetheart. But he does know what he's doing. Just take your frustrations out on the Germans, okay? We don't need to be fighting each other out here."

"Yeah, Doll. I hear ya."

She saw that I was listening and fell back a bit until she was in step beside me.

"Thank you for that," I nodded toward Bill.

"Oh. I didn't do that for you, sir. Not that what I said wasn't true, but I did it for Bill. He found out just before we jumped that his brother was killed in Italy. You know how good a soldier Bill is, sir. He's just not in a good place right now."

"Still," I answered, impressed with her insight, "thank you."

Bill actually did seem calmer after she spoke to him, and that night he and I made our own peace. I also realized that although some of the others seemed eager to show off souvenirs and talk about kills, Rose had not, to my knowledge, told anyone of killing the German or saving my life, though she could have easily bragged about it.

I was walking back toward the Company HQ, trying to open a K-ration and thinking about my growing admiration of her, and going over the death of the man who'd been killed in the assault at Brecourt Manor earlier in the day, when she appeared beside me again.

"You okay, sir?"

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine. Just thinking… I knew we wouldn't come back with everybody, and that there was a chance I'd be leading the Company at some point. I just…"

"You were masterful today. This is war, sir. You're gonna lose people. It doesn't make you any less of a great leader. Here, let me get that for you sir."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not really that hungry. But thank you for what you said, Rose… I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome, sir," she smiled, turning to walk back toward the truck where Guarnere and the others had been.

"And, Rose?" I touched her arm so that she looked back up at me. "When we're alone, you don't have to call me sir. You can just call me Dick."

She flashed me the most beautiful smile, and said, simply, "Okay, sir."

"Hey, loverboy! Snap out of it! We've got a blown up bridge to deal with here."

I looked over, catching the amused looks on Nixon and Welsh, and realized that I'd been watching her again.

"Seriously," Welsh asked, "what is it with you and her?"

I took a deep breath and let it out. Neither of us had ever told anyone about what had happened with the German. They looked at me curiously, waiting for an answer.

"She saved my life on D-Day."

Their eyes registered surprise, and Lew sputtered, "Wait, what? What happened? Why am I just now hearing about this?"

I recounted the story of the jump, our landing, and our encounter with the German soldier. I told them about the Luger, Rose's quick thinking, and the fatal blow with the trench knife.

"He was about to fire, but from my angle, I didn't know he had seen me and I couldn't see the gun. We were surrounded. She couldn't shoot him because of the noise. She jumped him from the side and took him out with her knife before he could get off a shot. She saved my life."

"Wow," he breathed, unsure of what to say. "You put her in for a medal?"

"She told me that she didn't want any recognition. Said she just did as I would have. She deserves something though. She could have panicked and fired, giving away our position. Or she could have frozen and let him fire. She took him down with a trench knife, Nix. He was twice, maybe three times her size. If he had overpowered her, she'd have been dead before I could have done anything. But she never even hesitated. She risked her life to save mine."

"Well, just when I thought you were immune to women, she comes along. No wonder you're falling for her."

"What? No I'm not! I just respect her. A lot. She's quite a woman… soldier… Shut up, Lew."

Welsh nudged Nix, muttering, "Bet he can't make it through the war without at least kissing her."

"No way am I taking that bet."

I wasn't sure that I would either, and the thought startled me a bit.