A/N: Happy Sunday everyone! I got a PM from someone who was offended by Fitz calling Olivia "brown sugar" in chapter 7, saying that it was racist and fetishizing her race. As a black woman myself, I didn't have a problem with it. The tone of that exchange was humorous, as evidenced by their laughter, so I didn't expect anyone to be offended by it. Ironically, the person didn't pick up on the objectifying tone in which Jake used the same nickname in chapter 8 so I'm assuming they were just looking to criticize something. Oh well. That being said, everyone is welcome to voice their opinions on anything they'd like. I love hearing from you guys.

Olivia walked around the infirmary, checking on her assigned patients. She had to bite her lip to keep from crying at the sight of someone else occupying his cot. Luckily, the patient was on a morphine drip so she didn't have to interact with him. She smiled at Colonel Finch, Fitz's friend, who was sitting on his cot working on a crossword puzzle.

"Afternoon, Colonel Finch," she greeted.

Stephen looked up at her, smiling at her though her smile didn't reach her eyes. "Hello. You can call me Stephen if you'd like."

"I'll remember that," she replied. "How's your arm feeling?"

"Good. I can use it much better since I got the sling off," he answered.

"Any nausea? Constipation? Appetite trouble?"

"None at all," he replied. He watched as she filled out his chart then said, "I'm sorry about Fitz."

Olivia looked up at him in surprise. She was sure she'd never given away anything about their relationship. She wondered what Fitz had told the colonel about them. "It's alright."

"No it isn't," he replied knowingly. Anyone with eyes could see what was between Fitz and the nurse.

Olivia sighed and blinked away the tears that pricked her eyes. She agreed, "No it isn't."

"I didn't mean to upset you," he apologized when she sniffed.

Olivia shook her head. "It's not your fault. I'm just a little… It's okay."

Stephen frowned at her back as she walked away. He wished his friend hadn't had to leave the girl behind. Olivia had to step outside and take a few deep breaths to keep from crying. She was surprised to find Jake outside as well, leaning against the building as he smoked. He looked up at the sound of the door shutting and smiled at her. Olivia almost turned and headed back inside. She didn't have the strength to be bothered with him.

"Hello," he greeted, exhaling smoke.

"Hello," she replied, leaning back on the wall and hugging herself.

"Heard your boyfriend's gone." She looked at him, expecting a sneer on his pudgy face, but he was just looking out at the street.

"He wasn't my boyfriend," Olivia insisted. It wasn't technically a lie. But Ballard didn't need to know the truth.

"Whatever," Jake replied with a shrug. She looked up at him when he offered her a cigarette.

"No thank you."

"Just take the cigarette. You look like you could use it."

"I'd rather not."

"Come on. I'm not hitting on you. Only an asshole hits on someone with a broken heart." Olivia looked up at him, trying to read his face. He didn't seem to have any ulterior motives so she took the cigarette and put it between her lips. Jake lit it and watched as she took a drag off it. She looked so tiny and hurt.

"Thank you," she replied. He watched her for a moment then patted her shoulder before going back inside the hospital. Olivia was surprised to say the least. The last person she'd ever expected compassion from was Jake Ballard. She was just finishing her cigarette when a plane passed overhead and made her heart hurt. She went back inside the hospital.

XXXXX

Olivia climbed the stairs to her bedroom slowly. She was so tired, so worn out from missing Fitz all day. Before him, work hadn't bothered her at all. Now everything reminded her of him. It was only Wednesday. He had been gone two days, but it felt like months. In her room, she unbuttoned her blood-stained uniform. A private who had just lost his left arm had vomited violently enough to give himself a gushing nosebleed that she had unfortunately taken the brunt of. She threw the uniform in her hamper and collapsed on her bed in her slip. She wasn't sure how long she slept, only that it was nearly 5 in the evening when she awoke. Abby's freshly folded laundry sat on her bed. Olivia guessed she was washing her delicates. She sat up on her bed and her heart leapt at the sight of a light blue envelope on her nightstand.

She read the French return address with glassy eyes. She smiled at the slightly slanted left-handed writing. Her palms were sweaty as she carefully tore open the envelope. She pulled out the folded letter and smiled when a slightly wilted tulip fell from the folds of the blue paper. She unfolded the letter carefully, wondering what splendor it held for her.

Dear Livvie,

It's Tuesday. It'll be Wednesday when you get this but I just wanted you to know that I meant it when I promised to write every day. My brand of romance is more of an on-the-spot sort so these letters won't exactly be Lord Byron but I'll try my best to make you smile.

It rained all day today. It's still raining, probably will be tomorrow too. I guess that's alright. I'm gonna catch up on my reading. Have you read A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway? If you haven't, you should. I'm reading it for the second time in as many days. You should read The Sun Also Rises too.

I miss you. It's only been a day, but I do. I miss your drawl. And your laugh. God, I miss your laugh. I hear it in my dreams. I've worn everyone out humming that song from the hotel. What was the name of it? I'd like to buy the record when I get a chance. I wish I'd brought my sax so I could play it, but that would probably get me kicked out of the barracks.

Paris is beautiful. Those bastard Nazis tried to destroy it, but it's still the most beautiful place I've ever been. The rain makes all the city lights blurry, like a watercolor painting or something. I'll send you a picture when I get a chance to take one.

I suppose I should wrap this up. It's late and I'm probably writing complete nonsense. Did I mention that the mess hall doesn't have French fries? I couldn't believe it. Apparently they aren't French. They're Belgian. Who'd have guessed? God I miss you. I've said that already which means my thoughts are circling so I should definitely wrap this up. I promise to write tomorrow.

Love,

Fitz

P.S. I have your hair clip, the one with the little diamonds on it. It fell out of your hair at the train station. I'll give it back when I see you again. I promise to keep it safe.

Olivia wasn't sure if she felt like laughing or crying as she held the letter. Everything about it was just so Fitz. She laughed, laughed until she was crying with the letter pressed to her chest. She almost didn't hear Abby come in the room.

"Liv?" Abby stood in front of her, peering down at her with concern. "What is it?"

"I got a letter from Fitz," Olivia answered, wiping her eyes with his handkerchief, clutching the letter.

"What does it say? Did something happen?" Abby pressed.

"No." Olivia hiccupped, trying to stop crying. "He's just so…wonderful."

She smiled at the letter as she held it out to Abby. Abby took the letter and read it, expecting something heavy and gut-wrenching that had caused Olivia's tears. When she finished the letter, she looked at Olivia with an amused smirk. "This is literally the kind of nonsense you can only write to someone you love. Anyone else would be pissed at the waste of paper and the mailman's time."

Olivia laughed as she took the letter back, putting it back into the envelope. "I love his nonsense." She chuckled wryly. "I can't stand Eddy's though. It drives me crazy. It's always something his mother put in his ear."

"What's with them? Did she breastfeed him too long or something?" Abby asked with a smirk.

Olivia chuckled. "I don't know about that, but after his father died, Eddy became her whole world. To her, he's a god and no one is worthy."

"And you expect to compete with that dynamic?" Abby questioned.

Olivia looked up at her friend with a confused expression. "There's no competition. We don't occupy the same space."

Abby scoffed. "You said he's her whole world. How well do you think she'll handle you being his?"

"It's not the same," Olivia insisted. She had often found herself annoyed at Edison's deference to his mother, but she'd always thought the apron strings would sever when they were married. It hadn't even occurred to her that his mother would be a permanent fixture in their everyday lives.

"Liv, take it from someone who's dated her share of mama's boys, you should run for the hills if you even get the inkling that that's the dynamic you're walking into. You'll always be second. Even after she's dead. You'll never make him happy. There's no fixing mommy issues."

"Does George—"

"God no," Abby interrupted. "His mother lives in Florida and we only see her at Christmas. We send funny postcards back and forth and keep it at that. He and his mother have a detached affection for each other that I thank God for every day."

Olivia frowned, suddenly horribly annoyed. She could have hit someone, preferably Edison. "Oh goddamn it!" she snapped, slapping the bed with her hands. "How is it we ended up talking about Edison and his damn mother? Honestly, it seems like everything in my life revolves around him these days! As soon as people see this damn ring, they ask about him. Like my life didn't exist before he proposed. Goddamn bullshit is what it is!" Abby gave a surprised laugh at Olivia's rant. She'd never heard her genteel friend swear before. Olivia was suddenly on her feet, pacing back and forth between hers and Abby's beds. Abby sat on Olivia's bed and watched as her friend had what she guessed was Olivia's first bitch fit. "It amazes me that he can eclipse me without trying. I'm always his fiancé, Olivia, instead of Olivia, his fiancé—like my name is a secondary characteristic in terms of our relationship. Fucking bullshit." She stopped and looked at Abby. "It sounds petty and small to characterize our whole relationship by the way he introduces me but it says so much about us."

"It's not petty, Liv," Abby assured.

Olivia began pacing again but stopped abruptly. "No. It is. But I've earned the right to be petty. I've put up with his stupid jokes and his damn mother and his fucking pettiness for a whole year without so much as a cross word. I straightened my hair for him for fuck's sake!" Abby looked confused. Olivia explained, "It's chemically straightened. You put—That's not even the point! The point is that he thought it looked nice and he kept talking about it until I did it." She sighed. "And he doesn't mean any harm, mind you, but he can only relate to the world in terms of himself and it makes me so mad I could just—" She gave a harsh aggravated exhale.

Abby was thoroughly impressed with her friend's rant. Olivia was always so sweet and put-together. It was nice to see her cut loose. With a grin, she said, "I'd offer to take you for a drink but you're so fired up whiskey is the last thing you need."

Olivia huffed as she went to her closet and pulled out the tulip-covered sundress she'd worn to see Fitz off. She put it on, buttoning it quickly then slipped on her yellow sandals. "I don't need a drink. Whiskey makes my stomach hurt. I'm gonna go for a walk before I do something fucking insane like hop on a train to Paris and never go back home."

Her hands shook a little as she took her purse off the closet door's knob. With a silly grin, Abby complimented, "You're sexy when you say fuck."

And suddenly Olivia was laughing, so hard that she had to lean on the closet doorframe for support. She had never been so worked up in her life. But it felt good to finally say what she was thinking. All her life, her mother had told her what a lady "should" do. She decided her mother was wrong. Another first for her. She decided that the only things a lady should do and be were who- and whatever the fuck she pleased. She wiped happy tears from the corners of her eyes. "Oh Abby, I've gone off the deep end, haven't I? I've become a loud-mouth bitch, haven't I?"

"It's about time you joined the ranks. I was beginning to think you were a lost cause," Abby replied with a grin."

Olivia put her purse on her shoulder. "I'll be back. Or maybe I won't. We'll see."

She tucked Fitz's letter into her purse then left the tenement, not intending to go anywhere in particular. She just needed to walk around and clear her head. And to miss Fitz without anyone seeing her do it. She didn't want anyone to know how much she missed his face.

She stepped out into the evening air. It smelled like rain coming. She wondered if that was a little gift from God so she and Fitz could share the raindrops. As she walked around the small city, she thought of the night they'd spent together.

He had let her steal the covers to stave off the chilly night breeze, and held her tightly to keep her warm, his body cocooned around hers. When she slipped from his grasp to use the bathroom and shut the window, she had returned to find him sitting up in bed, looking around for her. The night's full moon made his skin luminous. He had grinned, brushing his errant curl back from his face as she crawled back into his arms, placing a kiss on her forehead as she nestled against him. They had awoken entangled at sunrise and made love quietly so they didn't wake anyone, a surprisingly Herculean task as they both discovered erogenous zones on the other's body. He groaned throatily when she slid his ears between her fingers. She wasn't sure how loud she moaned when he caught her earlobe between his teeth and tugged on it gently, making her back arch as she straddled him. His arms hooked underneath hers, holding onto her shoulders so he could control their agonizingly slow pace that drove her crazy. She'd begged him to stop torturing her only to beg for more of the same treatment within the next breath.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly collided with a man and his gelato cart. She recognized him as the man she and Fitz had bought gelato from when they went to lunch. He smiled, recognizing her.

"Ah, cherry for you!" he boomed, already digging around in his cart.

"No," Olivia replied, stopping him. "I want the café this time."

"Like your boyfriend!" He nodded, grinning at her. Olivia wasn't sure if she should correct him. There was no need to explain her complicated romantic involvements to an ice cream man.

"Uh, yes," she agreed as he scooped gelato into a cone. She produced a dollar from her purse.

"No charge," he insisted, pushing her hand away. "Is gift. From friend."

Olivia smiled at him as she put her money away. "Thank you. Uh, grazie."

The man nodded, waving at her as she walked on. Olivia licked the gelato and could swear it tasted like Fitz. She smiled, making a mental note to tell him about her gelato when she wrote back to him. She pushed her bangs back from her face, a smile again coming to her lips when she remembered that he had her favorite hairclip. She had no doubt that he would keep it safe until they saw each other again.

She walked until the sun went down then headed back to the tenement. Abby and some of the other nurses had gone to a bar. She was glad she'd missed them. Abby would have insisted she come along and she would have gone but wouldn't have had any fun. She wanted to wallow in her feelings for Fitz.

She took paper and a pen from the nightstand between her and Abby's beds then went to the kitchen to sit at the table to write back to him. If she got the letter in the mailbox first thing in the morning, there was a chance that Fitz might get it the same day.

XXXXX

Fitz was half-asleep, A Farewell to Arms open and splayed on his bare chest, when someone shouted that there was mail. He looked around groggily. It was Thursday night. He wondered why they were getting mail so late. It usually came around lunch. But things seemed to be breaking down all around him. People were tired. The war was becoming bigger than life itself. Nazi forces were weak but refusing to surrender and opposing forces were tired of the bloodshed. What was at first heroic and exhilarating had become a soul-stealing dark cloud among all the troops on both sides. Fitz was tired of seeing young men on both sides dying in heaps like animals. Medical forces were doing their best, but there were just too many injured men to attend to them all. Fitz hated having to leave behind comrades too injured to be helped. He had seen more death than he ever wanted to know was possible.

He put the book down and sat up, yawning as he pulled on his undershirt. A private—undoubtedly the scrawniest young man Fitz had ever seen—was dragging a burlap sack between the bunks, handing out mail. The young man—Teddy, a boy, really—couldn't have been any taller than Olivia and she probably could have given him a run for his money in a fight. Fitz felt bad for him. He looked out at everyone with huge green eyes from underneath long blonde eyelashes. His head had been shaved, making him seem even smaller and paler. His uniform was too big and he seemed generally petrified of everyone. Fitz had actually hugged him after one particularly tough skirmish. The young man had burst into tears when they returned to the barracks, a few men short as some had gone to the infirmary and others had met their maker, and Fitz had felt so bad for the boy that he gave him a hug and took him for his first drink.

Teddy got to his bunk and pulled out a white envelope, smiling as he handed it over. "It's from Olivia."

Fitz broke into a huge grin. He hadn't been expecting a letter from her until the next day. Teddy handed him the letter. "Thanks man."

"If there's a picture in there, can I see it? I really wanna see this girl that's got you going in circles."

Fitz smirked. "She does not have me going in circles."

Teddy scoffed. "Man she'd leading you around by the nose and she's not even in the same country as you."

Fitz laughed. He talked about Olivia constantly. He couldn't help it. Thinking of her was the only pleasurable thing he had to do those days besides reading. "Don't you have mail you should be delivering? Hop to it so you can go eat. Your bony ass is liable to blow away the next time it storms."

Teddy laughed as he dragged the bag on. He couldn't lift it. He could barely hold his gun level. His presence on the front lines was a testament to the military's desperation for bodies. Even with the draft, there weren't nearly enough healthy young men to accommodate the war's needs.

Fitz looked down at the envelope, smiling at Olivia's loopy girlish handwriting. He tore open the envelope and pulled out the thick pink stationary inscribed with more of her neat script. Huck grinned at his friend from his bunk on the other side of the room.

"Letter from Olivia?" he asked, his grin dangerously close to a schoolboy sneer.

"You are seriously five seconds from warning me about getting cooties," Fitz replied with a smirk.

"Hurry up and read it. You've gotta have some hot-off-the-presses Olivia news to regale us with at dinner," Huck teased. Fitz smirked as he unfolded the paper.

Dear Fitz,

I'm sorry about the rain. It smells like rain's coming here too. I hope it comes soon. It's ungodly hot here, almost like summer back home. But there are no lightning bugs and that's just tragic. I'm sorry about the non-French French fries too. How did they even come to be known as "French" fries if they're Belgian?

I hope y'all aren't out in the rain. I would hate for you to get sick when you're so far away from the best nurses in the world.

I haven't read A Farewell to Arms but I'll definitely look for it. It must be good if you're reading it again. I hope I like it as much as you do.

I miss you too. You've been gone three days and I miss you like it's been months. I miss your curls, and your smile. There's someone new in your bed and I can barely stand it, especially now that your friend Stephen is getting ready to leave. He's going to Japan in a few days. I'm sure I'll miss him too, but not like I miss you. I don't think I could miss anyone the way I miss you.

The name of that song is "Dream a Little Dream of Me." I can't remember for the life of me who sings it though. I'm glad you like it so much. It's my favorite song. When I get home, I'll mail you the record if you'd like.

I'm sure Paris is beautiful. I've always wanted to go there. Especially after I read about all the expatriates who lived there in the 20's. I always imagined it was the most exciting place to live. Maybe I'll get there someday.

I have your handkerchief. I promise to take care of it like you'll take care of my hairclip. It's been getting quite a bit of use these past few days.

I ran into the gelato man. I had coffee-flavored ice cream this time. It was so good. Do they have ice cream in Paris? Is it as good there as it is here?

I've started to ramble so I should probably finish up. It's late here and I worked today. I don't know if it's the heat or the long hours I've been putting in but I can't seem to get rested. I'm permanently ready for bed these days.

Tell me more about Paris. Or anything you want to tell me about. I get the feeling you could write to me about the color of the sky and I'd read it a hundred times just to hear your voice in my head. I should definitely go now. I'm writing absolute nonsense now.

Love,

Olivia

Fitz's smile was immovable as he read Olivia's letter. He could hear her twang as he read her girly handwriting. He caressed the paper with his thumb. He missed her so much. He reread the letter a few more times, trying to get as much Olivia from it as he could. The bell for dinner rang and he folded the letter carefully before heading to the mess hall with the other soldiers.

"So what did she say?" Teddy asked eagerly as he followed Fitz to a table. Fitz smirked at his little friend. The boy barely had any facial hair. They sat down at the table and Fitz pulled the letter from his pocket. Teddy read it quickly then looked up at Fitz. "I don't get it."

"What's there to get? I wrote. She wrote back." Fitz asked, watching as the boy picked at his stew. "Eat it. Don't pick at it."

"What is it?" Teddy asked, eying the soup doubtfully.

"It's food. Kid, you're gonna have to wolf it down now and think about it later," Fitz admonished. Teddy nodded and began eating the stew. It didn't taste as bad as it looked.

"So you and her were together for a while before you came here? Is that why the letter sounds like that?" Teddy asked, now shoveling the stew in his mouth. He hadn't eaten much of anything in the week he'd been in Paris, mostly because the appearance of the food made him nauseas. "I just imagined love letters would be more romantic than that. At least that's how they are in books, I mean."

"We met in Italy. She's a nurse. I took a bullet to the shoulder. We spent a week together while I was in the infirmary." Fitz smiled. "The letter sounds like that because we're not characters in a book, kid. We're real people living in the real world. We don't have to be all flowery all the time. We just want to hear from each other."

"Getting the new meat updated on the legendary Olivia?" Huck teased as he sat with them.

"He asked," Fitz replied. Everyone in their platoon had heard of Olivia at least once. Fitz talked about her more than anything else.

"So what's she like?" Teddy asked. The young man didn't have a girl of his own back home so he was terribly curious about everyone else's.

"She's magnificent. She's really smart, and really funny, and probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. She plays the cello, and the piano, and she paints. She's got these big brown eyes and the cutest nose. And she's always smiling. She's got the prettiest laugh I've ever heard. It's the kind of laugh that makes you laugh because it's so happy."

"Wow. How'd you land a girl like that? I can't even get girls to look at me back in Wyoming," Teddy replied.

Fitz grinned, giving Teddy a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're just a kid. Give it time. When I was your age, girls weren't exactly clamoring for me either. I was too shy to breathe in their direction. But as I got older, it got easier. Women are people just like us. It doesn't take some great plan to woo 'em. Just be decent and respectful."

"Listen. Girls love to talk. All you have to do is sit there and pay attention and you're golden," Huck advised.

Teddy nodded, absorbing all the wisdom as he finished his stew, quickly moving on to his ham sandwich.

Later that night, Fitz found himself reading the letter again, humming that song. On the bunk next to him, Teddy slept peacefully, stuffed from dinner. Huck sat up with a flashlight, writing to Quinn on the other side of the room.

"Are you finished with that book I lent you?" Fitz asked.

"Yeah. It was pretty good," Huck replied before tossing Fitz the book. He looked at his weathered copy of A Farewell to Arms. He hoped Olivia loved it as much as he did. He opened it, laying the front cover flat on his thigh so he could write her a little note.

Stars shining bright above you

Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"

Birds singing in a sycamore tree

Dream a little dream of me

A/N: So our babies got their first letters from each other. And we learned a little more about Olivia and Edison's relationship. The next chapter is going to jump ahead a few weeks to the day Olivia goes home and we'll finally meet Edison in person. Don't forget to leave your reviews!