So this is kind of like a two-part epilogue. First, I present to you - the flash forward! I hope you like this short glimpse into the life of Evelyn and Joe. I'm sorry to anyone that was looking forward to Evelyn meeting Joe's family or him popping the question in detail. I needed to cut it off somewhere and that felt right for me. I hope you still like this!

As always, I mean no disrespect to any real life and loved ones of the real heroes of Easy company. This is solely a work of fiction.

April 14, 1960

Liebgott flipped a pancake high into the air, causing the two boys sitting at the table to cheer. The older girl smiled and rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

He saw it and grinned. "What's wrong, Becca-bear? Not impressive enough for your old man?"

Rebecca huffed indignantly. "Quit calling me that, Dad."

Liebgott smiled to himself. His baby was eleven going on eighteen. "Who was that on the phone? Not that Hunter boy, I hope."

His daughter rolled her eyes again harder this time. "No, Dad, it was Georgie."

"Uncle or cousin?"

"Both. Why do you think I was on the line so long? Who else can yammer on forever? Uncle George said he'd call back later today when you and ma were free."

Liebgott nodded. "They tend to do that, don't they?" he replied affectionately.

"And Auntie Jackie says hi. Well, first she muttered something along the lines of 'send help,' but that's nothing new."

His grin widened as he pictured Luz's poor wife and the mass of miniature, fluffy-haired demons overtaking the small state of Rhode Island. "And little Georgie? You know, he ain't really your cousin."

Rebecca huffed again, impatiently this time. "Stop it, Dad."

"Just sayin', he's a good lookin' kid, and if you joined the families one day, your mother would just about..."

"Dad!"

"Alright! Alright! You've got at least twenty years ahead of ya anyway before you can date. You're right, I'm rushin' things."

Just then, a small girl scurried in, teddy bear held tightly to her chest. Liebgott spread his arms wide, spatula swinging in the air like a sword. "There she is! The princess awakes!"

Mary glanced at him, her eyes wide, but she didn't say anything. She continued to move quickly out of the kitchen and into the living room alone.

He caught Rebecca's eye. "Keep on eye on this for me, Bec?" She nodded and stood. He rubbed each son's head affectionately. "And on these monsters."

"Rawr!"

"Point made."

Liebgott walked into the living room to find Mary on the ground, playing with her bear. He might be biased, but his youngest child's beauty took his breath away almost every time. She looked exceptionally like Evelyn.

"Peapod, what's wrong?" He squatted down to his haunches and she looked up.

Mary bit her lip, deep in thought, her four year old brain working overdrive. "I saw Mommy naked."

Liebgott grinned. "Did you walk in on her shower? I think you've now done that to the entire family, you curious cat."

Mary didn't smile, but she motioned with her finger for him to come closer. He sat down and leaned in to hear the secret. "She didn't see me and she had her underwears on."

"Well, that's more than you gave me."

She harrumphed impatiently. He held up his hands and laughed. "OK, I'll be quiet. Tell me what's buggin' you."

Mary paused a moment before her voice dropped. "I think Mommy got attacked."

"What makes you say that?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "The monster under my bed got her. She's got booboos."

Liebgott furrowed his brow. "Where does she have a booboo?"

"Booboos. Lots of them. On her back."

He understood immediately and got quiet. He pulled Mary into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "Those aren't from a monster, peapod. And I told you, we scared away the one under your bed last week, remember?"

Mary blinked, the tears disappearing, but her face rigid with curiosity. "Where are they from?"

He gave her a small smile. "You know how you like to play with this scar on my neck?"

She nodded and immediately began tracing it over with her fingers, leaving behind something sticky. He grinned. "And remember how Mommy told you that I got it for being brave?"

"But you told Mommy she was being stupid and that you aren't brave!"

"We don't say 'stupid.'"

"You did!"

Liebgott sighed, telling himself not to argue with a toddler. "I'm a grown up, but I shouldn't have said that. I meant to say she was being silly. And she was."

Evelyn stepped into the doorframe from the staircase and watched the interaction silently. She couldn't see Mary with Liebgott's back to her, but she could catch her hand pet the side of his neck.

Mary was deep in thought. "So Mommy got those scars for being brave?"

Liebgott nodded. "That's why she has so many. She's extra brave."

"Braver than you?"

He smiled. "Absolutely. The bravest." He noticed Rebecca standing in from the kitchen and he smiled. "All my girls are brave. And strong. And beautiful."

Rebecca rolled her eyes, but she smiled. "Now we can all call you silly, Dad."

Liebgott gave them both a stern look. "I refuse to be called silly for believing in the women of my life. I once questioned your mother's abilities, the biggest mistake I ever made."

Mary gaped. "You are silly, Daddy!"

He motioned for Rebecca to join them and she knelt by his side. He draped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. "Your mother is the strongest person I ever met, and you are both so much like her."

Liebgott studied his girls' faces before calling into the kitchen. "Hey! Frick and Frack! Get in here. You need to hear this too."

Rebecca whined. "Not again."

He gave her a look as the boys ran into the room. "Yeah, again."

Jack and David lit up when they saw Evelyn. "Mommy!" they cried together.

Evelyn smiled as her boys ran to her, dragging her closer to the others. Liebgott turned and grinned. "Oh good, you're here for the best part."

"I already heard you spurting nonsense." Her eyes twinkled as she admonished him.

He gave her a wink. "You know I love showing you off."

She kissed him on the top of the head. "Stop being stupid."

"We don't say 'stupid'!" scolded Mary.

"Hush up, everyone," interrupted Liebgott. "Time to listen to your old man." He had their attention. With his girls in his arms, he looked at the boys. "Girls and boys might be different, but they can each do anythin' they put their minds to. Nothin' and nobody can hold you back if you don't let it."

Rebecca huffed impatiently again. "Dad, we know. You've told us a million times!"

He kissed her cheek. "And I'll tell ya a million more. You have your mother's spirit, her determination…"

"And your father's drive," added Evelyn. "With that, watch out world."

Liebgott and Evelyn shared a grin. "You mean my ability to drive ya crazy."

"Still going strong, too."

Mary began to get antsy that her fears weren't being met. "Mommy, want me to kiss your booboo and make it better?" The boys immediately cried out, asking about the wound, where it came from, why she had it, was it bad, and if they could see.

Evelyn smiled, kneeling into the ground. Mary crawled from Liebgott and into her lap. She rolled up her shirt sleeve until her right upper arm was exposed. "I would love that, my darling. This booboo here is the worst of them all, but I got it a long time ago. If you kiss it better, all the others will feel better too." Rebecca watched the exchange in silent interest; her mother's old war wounds already explained to her, although it was something she couldn't wrap her mind around.

"Even the ones on your back and legs and bum, mommy?"

Liebgott cut in. "Don't worry, peapod. I'll get those later."

Evelyn swatted at his head, but she could feel a blush creep into her cheeks. She watched as Mary kissed her arm and she gasped in delight. "It feels so much better!" The boys immediately demanded to kiss it better too, her three youngest children wrangling for their turn.

Liebgott ended the scuffle by pulling on Evelyn's hand until she fell onto his lap. He studied her lips as she giggled. "Hmm, I think there's a booboo right here…" He kissed her softly, causing the boys immediately to cry out in disgust, Mary to shriek in laughter, and Rebecca to declare they were embarrassing her.

Evelyn pulled back and looked Liebgott in the eyes. The relentless chatter of their children fell away for a moment as soft smiles tugged at their lips. He held her closer and that familiar twinkle overtook his gaze as his smile turned slowly into a smirk. "Bec, still lookin' to prove you can handle these rugrats?"

Rebecca brightened from her scowl and looked at her parents hopefully. "You know that I can. And like ma always said, I am far more mature than my age, and remember that cat of Mrs. Aarons? I can give her a call if you don't believe me that I was the best sitter she ever -" Their eldest child inherited more than just her father's token glower when perturbed - but also her mother's ability to ramble when excited or nervous. "- so really what's the difference between a kitten and Mary?"

"Hey!" Mary cried indignantly, but then thought better about it. Kittens were cute.

Liebgott reached into his pocket and extracted a few dollars and handed it over to Rebecca, his eyes never leaving Evelyn's. "Then skedaddle to the park for an ice cream with the troops. Be back in an hour or it ain't ever happenin' again. But not before. One hour. Got it?"

The boys and Rebecca jumped up happily, dragging a whining Mary with them when she couldn't decide if she should bring her teddy bear or not. Finally, the four of them trudged out, leaving their parents still cradled on the floor.

Cocking an eyebrow, Evelyn gave Liebgott a look. "You do realize you just put the safety of all our children into the hands of a pre-teenager who has never kept a goldfish alive for more than three days? Not to mention allowing them to eat ice cream for breakfast."

His grin only widened before kissing below her ear. "Hmm, scold me again, I like it. This hour is gonna turn out even better than I thought."

She couldn't help but chuckle as he rolled her onto her back, pressing his body into hers. With deft fingers and a hurried pace that only parents looking for a moment of peace together could understand, Liebgott quickly kissed down her chest, unbuttoning her blouse. Her fingers stroked softly into his hair. "If you behave and after I make sure all four are still breathing when I check on them in ten minutes, you might even get a repeat performance."

He made sure to give her a good-natured glare, muttering, "ten minutes," under his breath before hiking her skirt up with his hands. Grazing his fingernails over the backs of her thighs, he smirked when her breath stuttered and her hips bucked slightly. "Try and relax, Cass. The park is across the street, and no way Bec is gonna fail in her quest to become a paid babysitter." Sliding his body up hers again, he grinned when her legs automatically wrapped around his hips. "Unless you wanna take this to in front of the window. Maybe give good ole Mrs. Aarons a show. Get the old bat's heart pumpin' again."

Evelyn giggled and swatted at his head but sighed against his lips when he kissed her again. When he pulled away, her fingers traced the laugh lines around his mouth and the deep crinkles near his eyes. Even with the added wrinkles to his skin and the peppering of grey in his hair, he somehow only became more handsome over the years. She grinned. "I still don't think Babe is over the heart attack we gave him at the last reunion."

Liebgott snorted. "Serves him right for poking around in Guarno's basement for more beer. I told him I'd get it." He paused and grinned back. "Eventually."

"Eventually we're not going to be invited to any more parties if you keep having your way with me every year. I think Perco burned those sheets when he hosted it five years ago."

He shrugged, unabashed, and began kissing her skin again, traveling south. "We made him Mary's godfather, yeah? Think he put two and two together yet?"

Evelyn giggled. "If he did, he hasn't said anything." She sighed at the feeling of his hands on her legs again, but impatiently this time. Sitting up, she quickly divested him of his shirt before pulling him back down on top of her once more. Her fingers danced across the skin of his back, tracing the knobs of his spine until hitting the top of his trousers. "George didn't speak to me for an entire week - still a record for him - after he found us in his laundry room that first year. I think this summer we need to make sure to keep our hands to ourselves."

Liebgott kissed the inside of her bare knee. "And why would I want to do that? You can't just kill tradition, doll."

"Because it's being held at Speirs' house this year."

He visibly shuddered and Evelyn laughed heartily until he shut her up with his lips. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she returned the kiss, slow and sweet. "We might want to forego our annual adventures just this once."

He pouted miserably for a moment. Before he could reply with another plan of action, a wail reverberated from outside. With a sigh, he leaned his forehead into the crook of her neck before standing up.

Liebgott threw open the front door. In the short distance across the way, the boys were wrestling in the sand box while Mary swung thoughtfully on her special swing (the others didn't hold magic powers to make her fly as high), and Rebecca was busy trying to stop the madness."Is anyone bleeding?" he shouted.

"He took my yo-yo!"

"That's my yo-yo!"

"Jeez, Dad! Put on a shirt!"

"I'll take that as a no! See you in -" A quick check to his watch. "- forty-six minutes!" And he slammed the door shut again.

When he turned around again to face Evelyn, he stopped short to find her naked and grinning mischievously from the carpet, propped up on her elbows. "Thought I would save us some time before the inevitable chaos starts again."

With a growl of appreciation, he leapt down onto the floor with her. And in a mash of thrown clothing and giggles between them, they managed to finally get exactly seventeen minutes alone before the next cry of injustice occurred. But Liebgott at least remembered to put his pants back on before opening the door once more with an impatient sigh.

"Is everyone still breathing?"

"HE TOOK MY SPECIAL SWING!"

"Dad! Shirt! Now! There are people around!"

"Still breathing then? Good. Twenty-nine minutes!" And he slammed the door closed again as Evelyn giggled once more in amazement and delight at the craziness that was her family.

Liebgott seemed to read her mind and grinned, brushing a hand to push back her unruly hair. "You know, I think I can take on Speirs. Tradition is too damn important. Hell, we might even get lucky and get that fifth baby we wanted."

Rolling her eyes but grinning back, she leaned up to give him another kiss. "You mean the fifth baby you wanted. I'm closed for business. And there's no chance I'm allowing this confrontation with Speirs." Her fingers grazed his arms slowly as her smile widened. "You think you can leave me with these animals alone? Besides, I might miss you."

He captured her lips again before pulling back just enough to murmur and smile against the soft skin. "Christ, Cass. I love ya too. And don't worry, you're stuck with me."

Kissing him again sweetly, Evelyn grinned. "Lucky me."