"Did you see him smile? It was terrifying."

"The word you're looking for is demonic."

"It weren't so much a smile as it was a grimace."

"Whatever it was, I have no wish to see it ever again."

Daisy chuckled to herself as she listened to the men talking about their CO. Spiers had been the talk of the men since he shot a bunch of POW's on D-Day– maybe even before– and ever since the assault on Foy, he was now received with a mixture of awe along with that same old fear.

Now that they were training again for war in the Pacific, Spiers was coming down hard on them during exercises and morning drills, before softening slightly during their free time. It was an enigma that Daisy found interesting, while everyone else seemed to find it alarming.

"Where you going?" Talbert asked when she got up from her cot.

"For a walk," she answered. "Maybe write a letter home while I sit by the lake and get some peace and quiet. That means, no, George, you can't come."

"Bitch," George muttered playfully. "I hope you fall in and drown."

"Love you too, George," she blew him a kiss, taking her small satchel and leaving the men to their gossiping.

… … …

"I thought you weren't coming."

Daisy gasped and put a hand to her chest as she jumped in fright at the sound of his voice as he stepped out from the tree line and into the glistening sun.

"I got stuck talking to Welsh about something on my way here," she answered, craning her head up to look at him when he stepped closer, placing one hand on her waist while the other cupped her face.

"I hate your hair up like that," he growled, pulling out the pins that had her bun secured to the back of her head. He ran a hand through her auburn curls, ruffling them until they framed her face; revealing a soft femininity that was so different from the harsher one she usually showed. He finally kissed her then, possessive and all consuming yet somehow so tender that it took her breath away.

"Someone might see us, Ron," she murmured when his lips brushed across her cheek and then her jaw until he captured her earlobe between his teeth as his arms pulled her closer to him, hands wandering up and down her waist.

"Let them," he muttered back, his hot breath bringing her out in goosebumps despite the stagnant heat of the day. "I don't care."

"Yes you do," she snorted, pushing him away and knowing that she was only able to actually move him because he allowed it.

His answer was to do little more than narrow his eyes at her, but she could see that the darkness there was more lust than anything else and she grinned.

"Come on, let's go sit down over there," she pointed to an area where the tree branches stretched over the water, providing seclusion from prying eyes and the sweltering sun. A place where they could dangle their toes in the water and just be together. She laughed to herself at the dizzying realisation that she and Captain Speirs were finding a lot of time to be together these days; a lot of time to talk and kiss and hold hands. A lot of time to be like an ordinary man and woman in the beginnings of a romantic relationship when they were actually two soldiers on the brink of another war.

He was always watching her. At first she hadn't thought it unusual because Speirs always watched everyone. Eyes like a hawk, he noticed everything and it was as terrifying as it was impressive.

Standing up straighter, she adjusted her rifle over her shoulder slightly and waited for him to approach. She hated doing guard duty, especially at night, and the guys teased her for the fact Speirs gave her that job more than he gave it to any of them.

"What made her choose the name Daisy?" Speirs was in front of her before she had even heard him move.

"Huh?" she frowned.

"Your mother. Why did she choose the name Daisy?"

"She likes daisies," she answered. "Said they hold up no matter the weather and they're pretty."

"She was right about both things then," he smiled. A real smile that might have looked predatory if it wasn't for the slight softening of his eyes which were caught by the light of the moon above. "Cigarette?"

Unsurprisingly, Ron didn't take off his boots when they sat down; instead his eyes followed every movement Daisy made as she took off her own and he smiled softly when she got excited at the sight of a butterfly fluttering close to them. Sitting down behind her and lighting up a cigarette, he wrapped his arms around her and let her lean into his chest as she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the birds in the trees surrounding them. Holding the cigarette to her lips so she could take a drag, his eyes fell upon the bump on the bridge of her nose. The only reminder of the broken nose she had suffered back in Holland when Luz hadn't seen her kneeling down to tie her boots, spun around to ask Perconte something and smashed his radio right into her face.

"What are you laughing at?" she felt the rumble of his amusement against her back.

"Nothing," he lied.

"Hmm," she made a noise of disbelief but did nothing to press the matter further, content to just enjoy the peace and quiet of the moment.

With the looming deployment to the Pacific hanging over them, as well as the uncertainty of where this unexpected thing with Spiers was going, she craved these moments like nothing else.

"I take it you're not using your points to go home?" Ron asked, as though reading where her thoughts had briefly flittered to.

"I take it neither are you?" was her reply.

"It won't be like this was, Daisy," his voice sounded thick. "It will be ten times worse."

"Worse than Bastogne?" she tried to make her own voice sound light but her throat scratched even at the thought of that awful place.

"I don't want to lose you," he entangled his fingers with her and brushed his lips beneath her ear. "This is not just fun… for me. I think you should know that."

"Sensitive Speirs," Daisy turned to grin at him. "That should be your new nickname. The guys would never go for it though."

"You live to irritate me, don't you?" he narrowed his eyes but the playful twinkle in them made her lean forward to kiss him.

"Always," she promised.

And she meant it.