** WINTERS POV **

"This came for you today," Lewis Nixon said, casually flipping a piece of mail onto my desk. I reached for the white envelope, recognizing the handwriting almost immediately. Before I could open it, he added apologetically, "I got one too. It's a wedding invitation. The day before the reunion."

Randleman. The name on the return address said Randleman. I looked up at Nix and he shrugged, as if to say that he had told me two years ago that this was going to happen. He had, but I really didn't want to hear it right now. Sensing that I was lost in thought, he left my office quietly, and I sat back in my chair and thought back across two years. It seemed forever ago, and that it had just happened all at once.

She had deserved the Bronze Star. I knew that she didn't want it, but she deserved something. Until that day, I had abided by her wishes not to say anything. When she fell asleep in my arms after we made love, I spent the whole night just watching her. I knew that we were going to the Pacific, and as an officer, I had seen films of the action over there. I just couldn't let her go over there. I knew that with the Bronze Star, she'd have the points to go home. I also knew that she'd sooner stay with Easy than take advantage of that. Colonel Sink would certainly take any opportunity to keep her safe, so I knew that it wouldn't be hard to convince him. There, tracing her soft, naked skin with my fingers, I decided that I would rather have her live to hate me than die beside me.

I went into Sink's office the next morning with a report suggesting her commendation and a request for her discharge. As I expected, he was thrilled. Lewis Nixon, however, let me have it as soon as he figured out what I had done. Then, he let me have it again after talking to her and Bull outside of Sink's office.

She felt that I had sold her out to get rid of her. Bull, who apparently knew of our relations the night before, probably would have come looking for me if I had been another enlisted man instead of an officer. As it was, he stood guard over her from that moment on. I couldn't have approached her if I had wanted to. His clenched jaw and fiery glare were more than enough to let me know that his patience with me was running thin, even if I was an officer. He loved her. I could see it when he looked at her. Though it was obvious that she held similar feelings for him, he'd been reluctant to pursue anything because of her complicated relationship with me, or so Nix told me. Now, it looked as though I had led her on to my own physical ends and left her to cry again. I steered clear of him, mostly because if he had decided to take a swing at me, I probably wouldn't have had the heart to see him court-martialed.

She had not been rotated home yet when word came down that the Japanese had surrendered. We were all going home. I looked around at the company that had come to mean so much to me, and I felt peace in knowing that those who had made it through to this day would be able to go home. At last, my eyes fell on her. Or, better put, on them. He had lifted her off of her feet, his arms wrapped around her slender waist in the same way that mine had once been, and they were gazing happily into each other's eyes. He kissed her tenderly before putting her back on her feet, confidently taking her hand and following the rest of the guys toward the inevitable celebration that would follow.

Beside me, my usually sardonic confidante patted me on the shoulder and said, simply and seriously, "That could have been you."

That was two years ago. I hadn't spoken to her since the morning after she shared my bed. We came home. I went to New Jersey and began working for Nixon Nitration Works. Despite Lew's best efforts, the women there held little interest for me. I thought about her much more often than I was willing to admit. I knew she had gone to Arkansas with Bull after the war. I knew that Colonel Sink was thrilled at the prospect of her being with Bull Randleman, for much the same reasons that I had once recited to myself.

Still, I retained this feeling of unfinished business between us. Mike Ranney's invitation to the upcoming reunion had fanned those flames. It took me awhile to make the decision to go, but in the end, I knew that I had to. I needed to see her. I needed her to know that what I did, however misguided, was done out of love. That I still loved her. I needed to see if my gut feeling that something was still there between us was right.

The white envelope that lay in front of me answered all of my questions at once. Just like that, it was all over. It no longer mattered. I pushed the envelope away as Nix walked back in with a cup of coffee for each of us.

"You not gonna open it?"

"Why? I can't go anyway. I have entirely too much to do here, and I'm working on the farm," I rationalized.

He sat the coffee down roughly in front of me, sloshing some of the hot liquid out. Surprised, I looked up and he placed his hands on the desk and leaned over in front of me.

"You are going. You put yourself in this position, Dick. You have no one to blame but yourself. So, you will go for the reunion and to see your men. You will go to do the right thing and be supportive, even if it is hard. You will go to bury the hatchet and settle all of this, once and for all. If I have to drag you, you're going to go."

The stern look on his face let me know that he did fully intend upon dragging me. I sighed and nodded. A month later, we were walking into a reception hall, having arrived late and missed the ceremony. It seemed fitting, given the circumstances. The next time I saw her, she would be someone else's wife. Nix studied my face outside the door, waiting to see if I were going to chicken out and preparing to pull me inside, if necessary. I took a deep breath, pasted a smile on my face, and stepped over the threshold.

We were quickly greeted by old friends. Ranney thanked us for making the trip. Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye, complete with prosthetic legs that they were quick to tell me they hated, looked happy and healthy, each with a beautiful young woman on their arm. All of the men looked to be doing well, graciously greeting their old CO with the same deference as always, although we were now all on level ground.

Nix and I were talking to a few people in one corner of the room when his eyes widened at something behind me. I knew the deep Southern drawl without having to turn.

"Hello, sir."

I turned toward my long-time rival. His face was serious but not stern, and we stared at each other for a few second as those around us held their breaths. I held out my hand and, finally, he accepted the gesture and smiled broadly, and the whole room seemed to relax.

"Good to see you, Bull. Sorry we were late. Trains here aren't quite as dependable as they were over there, you know."

"No problem, sir. Glad you could make it. Means a lot that you came."

"Wouldn't have missed it," I answered, and we exchanged a meaningful look that let him know I didn't have to be happy to be supportive.

He started to speak again, but before he could, a female voice came behind him and he turned to take the hand of the beautiful young woman.

"Denver, sweetheart, would you like to go ahead and cut the wedding cake? Some of the boys are driving me crazy."

He smiled affectionately as he tugged her forward into my view.

"Ah, my beautiful bride. Come here, baby. Look who made it."