Hi! I'm making up for the long wait of the last chapter with a speedy chapter 20. I wrote this in a day, maybe a total of eleven hours because I had no homework this weekend, yay! This was also the most fun chapter to write. Hope you all enjoy!

The countryside flashed by through the window of the train compartment that Laurien shared with two other passengers, an old woman and a young girl. The girl was most likely the woman's granddaughter from the way that she would periodically giggle and point out something to the woman in the big picture book that her small fingers were holding tightly. Laurien smiled at the two of them, though she hastily went back to looking out the window when she felt her eyes welling up. She blinked quickly and took a deep breath, trying to take interest in the architecture of a passing farmhouse to divert her attention from what she was feeling.

Belgium really was beautiful. The flat grassy fields were usually a rich emerald green, so bright and colorful that you could see its reflection in someone's eyes if you looked hard enough, but around this time of year, a thick blanket of powdery white snow hid it beneath its layers. Laurien had made a point to pack warmly, with as many winter coats, scarves and woolen socks that she could fit in her suitcase. She was utterly thankful for this decision as she sat in the train compartment, feeling her cheeks begin to sting as the cold outside air seeped in through the small cracks in the glass of the window. Packing had been rather difficult, as Sean had developed the habit to swiping things from her open suitcase and putting them back into the drawers when she wasn't looking, elongating the process immensely until she finally caught wind of it after the third time that she'd packed her black scarf.

They weren't happy to see her go. Sean sulked and pouted in a corner of her room after she told him off for messing around, as Alex sat sullenly on her bed reading another one of his comics. It was only Hank who had actually helped her pack, but she could tell that he was reluctantly doing so. The quiet bitterness that hung in the air eventually became too much to the point where she slammed her hardcover copy of Animal Farm against the desk, making them all jump.

"I'm coming back, you all know that right?" She said sharply. "I'm not abandoning you like he did."

They all looked taken aback, but Hank quickly spoke up. "We know that, Laurien."

"Then why are you acting this way?"

"Well," Alex murmured from his spot, cross-legged at the head of her bed. "We are exhibiting a perfectly normal human behavior, you should try it sometime."

"Hey!" She barked as she raised the book threateningly, but Hank stopped her.

"What he means to say is that we just don't want to see you go, but if you really have to, then we'll miss you."

Her face softened. She lowered the book back down onto the desk and shook her head. "I'm not even completely sure why I'm going."

"Sometimes you have to get there to understand." He said, shrugging his shoulders. "Even if it is three-thousand, six-hundred and ninety-nine miles away from us."

Laurien narrowed her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. "You counted?"

He bowed his head bashfully and helped her finish packing.

Laurien buried her face into her black wool scarf after she saw the sign that they were entering the town of Ghent, letting the heat of her breath warm her skin and bringing small pinprick sensation into her cheeks as feeling gradually returned to her cheeks. They were nearing their destination, as Ghent wasn't too far from Ypres, but with each second that passed, another butterfly was born inside her stomach as they got closer. It had been almost three years since she was last there, with Bastijn, Roosje, and… him, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that it was only yesterday that she had left with tears in her eyes and vengeance pounding against the walls of her chest.

She still didn't know if she should be doing this, but it was too late to turn back now as she honestly didn't want to go back on another plane. She'd already had issues in the airport when she almost forgot that on her passport, it said that she had blue eyes, prompting her to try her best to become sad quickly, as she stood next in line for the check in. She hastily remembered seeing in the newspaper that Queen Wilhelmina had recently died, and it seemed to do the trick, though just nearly.

The plane ride wasn't any better as the man seated next to her had noticed her anxiety when she groaned as they went through some turbulence, her face losing its color instantly as her stomach leapt into her throat when the plane dipped suddenly.

"Not an easy flyer, huh?" The man asked, his voice thick with a prominent cockney accent. "Not much of a flyer myself, especially not after hearing about that crash in Maryland last week."

She nodded in agreement, remembering the newspaper headlines that she'd seen Charles reading at the breakfast table.

"Been on many planes, miss?" The young man asked, again trying to make conversation.

"Only a few." She said, taking deep breaths to calm herself down as the turbulence soon disappeared. "Though, I haven't had a lot of luck with planes. One of the last ones I was on crashed."

His eyes widened before he promptly buried his nose into a random page of his magazine, not saying another word to her for the rest of the flight, except to bid her farewell when they had mercifully landed in one piece.

London was much like how she had left it a few months ago, bustling with people and cars. Everywhere she went, she smelled the acrid scent of cigarettes and cigars, fuelling her desire for one as her heart kept beating relentlessly faster and faster in her ribcage. She was close to giving in to her craving when she happened upon a pub and suddenly realized how famished she was. She'd ruminated over her plans for the next couple of days with a pie and mash in front of her, before turning her mind to people-watching as she sipped at a vodka gimlet. With a bit of food and liquid courage warming her insides, she had found herself calming down considerably after that.

Later that day, she was off on a long night ferry ride to Brussels before boarding the train she was on at the moment. With every step along her journey, she felt like she was walking toward the gallows. She'd been barely able to read in her anxiety, as the words on the page of her book kept jumping around the page like overexcited rabbits. The story was hard enough to follow as is. She'd picked up the book at an old bookstore in London, since the shop clerk said that it was potentially the best piece of literature that she'd ever picked up, so Laurien obliged in buying it, though she was thoroughly regretting it.

It was called Catch-22, an apparent best-seller that had been released a year prior. She'd had high hopes, but as she read through the first few chapters with difficulty, she grew increasingly irritated with the fact that all of the characters seemed to be certifiably insane.

"This is ridiculous!" She'd muttered under her breath as she tossed the book onto the empty seat next to her on the night ferry, fuming from the injustice that was the treatment of the unfortunately named character, Major Major Major Major.

Despite this, she very much enjoyed the protagonist, Yossarian, as he was the most humorous of the bunch. No matter how much the insanity of the other characters annoyed her, she just couldn't fathom putting the book down without finding out what happened to him in the end.

The book sat comfortably half-read in her bag, its blue cover peaking out from behind her notebook and her tin of hopjes that she'd previously offered to the woman and her grandchild, both of whom accepted gratefully.

Laurien could see the town of Ypres approaching in the distance as she rubbed a hole to see through the fogged up window and tentatively got to her feet. Gathering her things, she waited for the train to pull to a complete stop and for the woman and her granddaughter to leave before attempting to get her suitcase from where it was situated in the overhead area. She quickly made sure that no one was looking before she used her powers to lift the suitcase and slowly lower it into her arms. Smiling contently to herself, she carried it out with her onto the station platform and set it on the ground, looking out anxiously towards the snowy town before setting off.

It was normally a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the station to the house, but with the obstacles of the snow and ice, it took her over half an hour. During her walk, she was thankful for her red pea coat and her black hat that protected her from the cold, but she found out the hard way that her shoes weren't quite waterproof when she accidentally stepped into a deep pool of icy water. She wasn't proud of it, but she swore loud enough for her voice to echo through the street.

She trudged on, her mood decreasing gradually with each step as the water seeped into her socks and froze her feet, it didn't help that the house came into view before she was prepared for it. It crept up on her like the monster from Frankenstein, stalking slowly at first, before springing on her and sucker punching her hard in the stomach.

It was townhome, connected to the other neighboring houses to make a long wall of brick. The front stairs led up to a large, faded red door that was littered with missing chips of wood from the years of wear. Her aunt, Mathilde, had always complained about the door, as it looked as though a particularly strong gust of wind might blow it off its hinges. Laurien had always thought that it gave the house a bit of character, not that it didn't have character already. The house was made of solid reddish-brown brick and was surrounded by a soft cream trim that laced the windows and the doorway. The archway above the door was molded and carved into multiple unrecognizable things. Laurien remembered the days when she and her siblings would come home from school, only to find that the hidden key was no longer in its usual place, therefore leaving them to sit on the front door stoop until their aunt returned from work. While they waited, they would try to imagine what the original builders had initially intended for the carvings to be. Bastijn had called them his 'kleine waterspuwers,' as if the house were his own personal castle.

At the summit of the house was a large glass dome that acted as a skylight. They had never needed to have the lights on during the day from all the natural light they received. Laurien loved the dome, as it usually let them see the meteor showers in the summertime without obstruction, that is, when leaves and birds weren't been leaving deposits there. Laurien wasn't fond of going out onto the roof to clean it, but apparently the birds thought it was immensely amusing, so she'd usually find herself up there at least once a week with a sponge and soapy water.

She didn't know how long she had been staring at the house from where she stood at the foot of the steps, but when a voice called out, a considerable amount of snow fell from her head when she turned toward the voice. She spun around to see the familiar faces of her former neighbors, Adela and Franz Fleischer coming down the steps of their house.

"Hello, stranger!" Adela exclaimed as she pulled Laurien into a soft embrace. "We weren't expecting you."

"It was a bit of a last minute decision." Laurien uttered, a smile pulling at her lips as Adela's perfume enveloped her in its sweet scent, bringing her back to the days when Adela would let her try on her dresses when she would sometimes come over to her house after school.

Adela was only a few years older than Laurien, and was the closest thing she'd ever had to an older sister. Adela had gladly welcomed her, seeing as she was an only child and was desperate to spend time with anyone other than her parents. During their adventures around town, Laurien and Adela frequently ran into the boys from their school who were obviously following them around in the hopes of catching Adela's affections, only for them to shake nervously in their boots whenever Adela laid her eyes upon them. For who could blame them? Adela had dark brown locks that felt like silk when you ran your fingers through it, beautiful dark eyes to match, and a brilliant smile that could convince any of her admirers to buy her a few cuberdons which their hard-earned pocket change.

Laurien couldn't remember how long they'd know each other, but she would guess that it had been forever, considering that she couldn't remember a single day going by during her childhood in Alkmaar that Adela hadn't been there. Laurien had grown up thinking that they were cousins, but it was only after the war that she found out about Adela's family being Jewish and that her family had been hiding them in the attic ever since they caught first wind of the plans of the Nazis taking them away.

"How have you both been?" Laurien asked.

"Well, we can't complain. How about you? How long has it been?" Franz asked as he finally joined them after taking his time on the stairs with his prosthetic leg. He'd lost it during the war, though he was unfortunately caught on the wrong side of it. He was seventeen when the Nazis started pulling teenagers in occupied countries out of school and putting Lugers in their hands. He'd paid the price for something that he'd had no part in starting when a grenade blew his leg off on the Western front and the Allies had taken him as a prisoner of war. He'd been stationed at a POW camp in France before he was tasked with helping to rebuild some of the towns in Belgium, where he stayed ever since and eventually met Adela a few years later.

"I'm well, and it's certainly been far too long." Laurien said, giving them both a kiss. She then suddenly noticed the swell from underneath Adela's thick emerald coat. "Adela…" She started, wanting to be careful with the subject just in case she was mistaken.

"Yes, I'm fat. I know, and I don't care. I just can't wait to get this thing out of me." She laughed as she placed her hands on her belly. "Come on, let's go inside, get you unpacked and then you can give us the rundown of what you've been up to these past few years."

Laurien nodded, her heart clenching in her chest. "Sounds good. You've still got the spare keys?"

Prepared as always, Adela suddenly whipped her arm up the air, a ring of keys dangling from her fingers. "Ta-dah! Let's go!" She exclaimed before turning to rush up the stairs to Laurien's house.

Laurien and Franz shared a smile as they watched her go. "So how's the pregnancy been going?" Laurien asked him.

"The cravings are astounding." Franz whispered to Laurien as they each grabbed a bag and followed Adela up the steps. "Yesterday, it was pickles with melted chocolate. God help that child."

Laurien giggled. "Do you know what you're going to name it?"

"Brynner, if it's a boy." Adela stated as she fumbled around with the keys. "And Saskia, if it's a girl, but Franz doesn't agree."

"Oh?" Laurien asked, looking at the smiling Franz. "You do know that you're fighting an uphill battle."

"I know, but I like Annika." He said meekly.

"What do you think, Laur?" Adela questioned as she pushed the door open and flicked on some of the lights. "Annika or Saskia?"

"Oh, do not think for one second that I'm getting in the middle of this." She giggled as she entered through the doorway.

"That's what everyone else we've asked has said." Franz mumbled, closing the door behind him as he brushed the snow off of his prosthetic leg. "With good reason."

"Whatever, in regards to the town, not much otherwise has changed since you've been away." Adela noted as she shrugged off her coat, fully revealing the enormity that was her belly. "The bugler still plays the last post every day, the Kattenstoet still happens every year, and Mme. Girard is still a nosy cu–"

"Anyway!" Franz interrupted, flashing an embarrassed smile. "Laurien, how does it feel to be home?"

Laurien took her first glance in years at what had been her home for half a decade. She wasn't quite sure if it was a great comfort that it looked exactly the same. With the fading wallpaper and the worn down flooring, it looked old, but not unpleasantly so. It was a well lived in house, with black and white photos hanging everywhere to display the many people who'd walked upon the floorboards. They consisted of old family members and friends from before and after the war, though there were noticeably some people missing in the later photos.

Up the staircase from the entry and to the left, the open space in front of a large window was filled with a hectic arrangement of mismatched furniture that had been brought in over the years. The seats ranged in eccentricity from a bright fluffy orange lounger to a conservative hand carved wooden chair, all of which sat before a small television.

In an adjoining room lay the comically small kitchen that had always puzzled her. It was clear that whoever had built this house was too preoccupied with the pristine glass dome overhead to think about a proportional divide between the kitchen and the living room, but after all these years, Laurien was used to it. The baby blue painted cupboards almost completely covered the walls, save for the spot above the sink and the stove, the latter of which had caught on fire during a rather spirited try on Laurien's part to make a special pancake that apparently had some ingredient that didn't bode well under pressure.

Laurien ran her fingers over the smoothly varnished wooden counter, memories flooding back to her of cooking and baking with Bastijn while Roosje handed them ingredients as she sat on the counter, reading Anne of Green Gables. Her eyes welled up again, as they had earlier on the train, but she blinked them back. There was more of the house to familiarize herself with again, but she avoided looking toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms, knowing that part of the house was for when she was alone.

She put on a smile as she looked back at Adela and Franz, hoping that her eyes weren't showing what she actually felt, though they probably wouldn't know any different.

"It feels good."

So that's chapter 20! I'm actually reading Catch-22 right now, and I probably have the same view on the book that Laurien has, though I'm still holding out hope that the story will actually start. It's not a bad book though, believe me, it's made me laugh many times, I'm not bashing on it. It's just so absurd and different! (February 2024 Edit: I have no fucking idea where my copy of this book went.)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, thank you so much for your support, and please review!