" It's all about who calms the storm. It's your dancing partner, drinking buddy, lover, adventure buddy, stare at the stars and talk about life, and best friend in one."

- Unknown

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Pigeon Forge, Tennessee - September 24th, 1945

Hazel Parker looked up towards her home, the one where she had seen her life grow before her own eyes, where she had lost her first teeth, done her first page of homework, cried over getting a bad grade, stubbing her toe, falling on the playground - all of it. The one where she had left her mother behind and the war ahead of her.

Letting out a shaky breath, Hazel slowly glanced up towards Joe Liebgott, who stood by her side with a soft smile.

Joe Liebgott - he had been the one to help build up the strength to actually have the confidence to return. Hazel knew she loved her mother, she would never stop loving her mother - but being gone for as long as she had been, missing all those holidays, birthdays, all of it - it would be so hard to fall into the way of life back in America. Finally away from war, and finally home, at a place that she adored and missed so much.

Hazel remembered stepping onto American soil for the first time, the joy of letting her foot brush the ground and automatically knowing she was home. But she remembered the sadness that encased each hug she had to give before coming home, officially. The tears, the crying, the raw and guttural sobs that left many mouths.

How would they cope?

Alone in this big, wide world?

Without their brothers and sisters in arms?

How were they supposed to?

It was like they had forgotten how to live in that war and just hold a weapon and fight - it was what fighting that war had felt like for too long.

Hugging and holding Catherine and Lizzie before the 3 Viragos parted ways was what hurt the most. Hazel had seen those women practically everyday of her life since June 1942 - training and fighting and preparing with them up until September 1945.

Over 3 years - and now she was supposed to act like those 3 years didn't happen, like they hadn't just won an entire war. But holding Catherine and Lizzie as the three of them didn't fail to sob into one another's arms hurt the absolute most, because Hazel knew she didn't know when she'd hold either of them in her arms again.

Saying good bye to Ronald Speirs hurt as well - Hazel knew he was staying in the Army and he made a promise of being at the wedding if Joe happened to propose and Hazel couldn't help but burst into tears as he said that.

Poor Speirs had to console the girl - he didn't mind.

Saying good bye to the others though, hurt the most - all of them - each and every man of Easy who didn't fail to touch her heart and make her feel important, like she was a part of something greater than what the world had to offer. With Easy, everyone was important - she'd miss that.

In this world, you were merely a speck in it all.

" Hey," Joe said softly and Hazel looked up at him. Staring up into those beautiful brown eyes, the ones that had never failed to follow her since day one.

" I'm right..." Joe said softly, taking her hand in his," I'm right here." Hazel managed a small smile on her lips and squeezed his hand tightly in her own.

" I'm glad you're here, next to me, standing here." she said, " I need you." Joe's gaze softened as he softly squeezed back her hand.

" I need you too you know," he said, softly pressing a kiss to her head," who else to keep me out of trouble." Hazel couldn't help but giggle.

" Does your mom know I'm coming?" Joe asked her. Hazel watched him. She nodded with an innocent smile.

" Yes," Hazel said, " and she's been so so excited to meet you, Joe." Joe actually felt himself blush the tiniest bit even at the mention.

" C'mon, Daisy's here too." Hazel whispered and Joe grinned. He loved hearing Hazel talk about her mom and Daisy.

As the two slowly approached the door in their pristine uniforms, bags on their shoulders, Hazel's hand grew sweaty and Joe only squeezed her hand tighter.

As the two stood on the front porch, you could smell the warm afternoon breeze that blew in from the Appalachian mountains, similar to that of the Alps. Hazel had loved being in the Alps more than anything. A few birds twittered about and the minute Hazel knocked on the door, soft barking echoed from inside the house and Hazel couldn't help but squeeze Joe's hand tighter. Joe softly watched her with a loving gaze.

Hazel needed that.

Hazel's heart was racing faster than anything before, watching and waiting for the face of her mother to appear where the door currently was, with her beautiful and bright blue eyes, a warm smile on her lips, her soft motherly gaze looking upon her daughter. Hazel swallowed thickly.

Footsteps slowly came from the other side and the minute the door opened, Hazel couldn't help but let tears fill her eyes.

Dropping each and everything in her grasp, she launched forward, wrapping her arms around her mother.

And before they knew it, Lena Parker had her daughter back in her arms again, sobs escaping Hazel's mouth as her mother held her, soft cries leaving her own mouth.

Joe watched with tear filled eyes, as Hazel cried into her mother's embrace, a warm, loving, and never-failing to provide some sort of safety sort of embrace. An embrace Hazel hadn't felt in over 3 years.

Daisy was even quiet, watching the scene.

It was like an older version of Hazel, with those same wise, blue eyes. Joe couldn't help but bite back a slight trembling lip at the raw cries escaping Hazel's mouth. Hazel had never missed her mother more.

The two stood for a moment, just holding each other, silent tears that held the words that would rather be held in than spoken, crawling down their cheeks.

As the two Parker women pulled back, Joe could see the resemblance of Hazel's beautiful smile on her mother's lips as the two held each other's faces, soft whimpers escaping both their lips as mother and daughter finally held each other once again.

" I missed you, mommy." Hazel whispered, her voice so soft, so fragile, so raw. Lena gently brushed the hair from Hazel's tear-ridden cheeks and smiled.

" I missed you more, love." Lena said softly, before leaning forward to press a tender kiss to her forehead, one filled with love, a motherly love. The hug had meant more than what any words could've for them. Hazel let out a tiny laugh as she reached up to wipe her tears and glance towards Joe.

" Mom, this...this is Joe, my boyfriend. Joseph Liebgott." Hazel said softly with glistening eyes. Lena softly looked towards Joe with a bright smile, her eyes shining like Hazel's always did when emotional.

" Joe!" she said, and like Hazel, she didn't hesitate to wrap him up in a warm hug, which Joe gladly melted into.

Like his mother's.

A motherly touch could heal anything for Joe.

" It's nice to meet you Ms. Parker." Joe said softly into the motherly embrace and Lena pulled back gently cupping his face, like a proud mother, her eyes shining, a smile, almost exactly like Hazel's on her face.

" Oh, please, Joe, call me Lena." she said, a slight Polish accenting hinting in her voice. Hazel didn't have one - Hazel had told him from growing up in America and not speaking Polish heavily that she didn't have one. Her mother had grown up speaking Polish before learning English. Joe grinned.

" My, my aren't you just the most handsome young man." Lena said with a wise eye noticing her daughter start to blush even at the mention, a smirk dawning over Lena's features.

" Thank you, Lena." Joe said and Hazel softly grinned up at him as his mother smiled.

" You two come inside, I was just preparing lunch, some Kopytka if you don't mind, I made a fresh batch last night." she said.

" Oooh, Mom, with the crispies on top?" Hazel asked and Lena smiled at her daughter.

" Just as you like them," Lena said and Hazel grinned, gently picking up her bag and taking Joe's hand in her own.

" C'mon inside, hello Daisy-girl," Lena said as she stepped inside the cool house and Daisy was already on Hazel and Joe. Wagging her little butt around, tongue hanging out of her mouth excitedly as the two automatically knelt down to pet her little doggy head.

" Hiya Daisy," Hazel said as the top began licking her face, before suddenly distracted that oh there's another human here and jumped on Joe as Hazel let out a laugh as Joe knocked back onto the ground the dog licking him repeatedly.

And Hazel couldn't stop smiling seeing the smiles and laughs that escaped Joe's mouth.

Lena let out a jolly old laugh - like Santa Claus, before kneeling down as well.

" Daisy's just happy to see other people, she's only see a few of the same the past couple of years and of course babcia and dziadek, but I kept telling her you two were coming soon." Lena said and Joe sat up with a laugh as Daisy continued licking his face.

" She's a beautiful dog, Mom." Hazel said petting right on top of her head and Daisy's little eyes almost squeezed shut in glee. Lena smiled.

" She is, isn't she, she's been my best friend through all this." Lena said and Hazel softly glanced at her mother, placing a hand on her knee. Lena gently placed a hand over her daughter's and squeezed it.

A silent conversation between mother and daughter, one that never failed to show the love they had for one another.

And Joe saw this even past petting Daisy's little head. He saw their powerful bond, their powerful mother-daughter connection that had kept them together even through a war. They shared so much together. It made his heart feel so so warm, warmer than anything before.

Holy fuck he was so in love with Hazel.

" Daisy-girl, now why do you think attacking our poor guest is the proper introduction?" Lena said and Daisy turned from Joe as she realized oh HUMAN and started wagging her tail, before sitting down off of Joe now.

" And now she thinks I have treats, she's a little spoiled, since it was just the two of us." Lena said and as Hazel helped Joe to his feet, the two chuckled. Meeting his eyes, Hazel smiled at the joy in Joe's eyes as Daisy moved to follow Lena into the kitchen.

Grasping his hands, Hazel finally began to feel like the reality of Joe and her actually living the life they had both wanted through this war. And by the look in Joe's eye, she knew he was beginning to believe it to.

Hazel slowly turned from Joe and looked around the home. It looked like it always had, and all the home improvement projects her mother had started were all finished. The front door was the same old oak, with the little glass window in it, and the black framing, and the bathroom and her mother's bedroom were to the left and right of the door.

And in the hallway they were in, were beautiful pictures of mountains and landscapes, as well as a few of Hazel. Hazel softly grinned. It opened up into the large backroom and the door that lead to Hazel's room to the left. The kitchen looked beautiful and so clean, with its pristine plates, delicacies and antiques of pots and little cups around, tiny plants growing from them, and of course her mother's favorite oven mitts with the chicken on it.

And the island connected right into the backroom with the wooden table Hazel and her mother had crafted years ago together, little place mats set, the bookshelf in the corner, and the couches and chairs in a large circle by the fireplace next to the bookshelf.

It was home - a home Hazel had missed.

" Now, Daisy-girl, are you going to take it nicely like you always do?" Lena asked as Hazel and Joe came around the corner as Daisy sat in front of Lena. Daisy softly bit the treat and Lena smiled.

" Beautiful as always my Daisy." Lena said patting her head before looking up at her daughter and Joe.

As a mother, to see the man who your daughter is in love with, be watching her as Hazel is watching her mother is the thing any mother could dream of. To see someone just so in love with your child, wanting to take in just everything about them, just to be by their side, to be near them, to be able to just look at them, and inhale them like a flower. Lena smiled and Hazel let a tiny grin pass her face.

" The house looks beautiful, mom." Hazel said as Lena smiled.

" You should go look at your room," Lena said and Hazel's eyes widened. Ever since she was a kid, she had wanted to redo her room, but there had never been enough money or time - and her mother had been stressed to the high heavens, and Hazel had always respected that about her mother. That her mother was trying her hardest.

" My room?" Hazel asked and Joe smirked meeting Lena's eyes who twinkled with a wise grin.

" How about you bring Joe with you?" Lena said, " I'll get the Kopytka ready and we can sit out on the back porch, overlooking the mountains." Hazel grinned and then took Joe's hand in hers whipping him around the corner towards her room. It left Lena chuckling, watching as Daisy went padding after them, tongue returning to hanging out of her mouth.

The minute Hazel got to her childhood room, it no longer looked like her childhood room, even if it had each and every bit of her childhood inside. The minute the door had creaked open, Hazel had dropped Joe's hand and had instead cupped one over her mouth as she stepped inside. The house was built like a log cabin almost, so each room, had a log cabin feel.

Joe softly leaned against the door, hands in his pockets, with a soft smile on his face as Hazel slowly stepped inside and looked around, her eyes shining as sunlight streamed in from the open window, which let it a bunch of fresh air, filling the room with Earth.

The bed was a queen, two soft beige pillows on top, and then a white, fluffy comforter underneath. Her nightstand was wooden, seemed to be made by hand, and had little ceramics and potted plants adorning it.

On the walls were star pictures and from the look on Hazel's face, Joe knew she'd seen them too. A bunch of star pictures, hanging in beautiful frames, all around the room. And the tiny closet in the corner had a mirror beside it, door slightly ajar to show there were things inside of it. And there were plants everywhere.

Hazel had mentioned before how much her mother loved plants and thought with more plants in the home, you always had a healthier home.

Her mother lived by it.

And the desk even had a typewriter, clean and shiny, some ink on the side, paper, a few more plants and even some picture frames.

Hazel softly met Joe's eyes again with her own shining ones and softly stepped towards him.

" My mom must've done this when I was gone, the room...." Hazel said, looking towards it," I never thought it could look like this." Joe grinned softly at her.

" C'mon," she said taking his hand and pulling him into the room and Joe let out a laugh following her in.

But before Joe could do anything, he turned and jumped right onto the bed as if he were a little kid and it made Hazel let out the loudest giggle he'd ever heard from her - it meant she was happy, it was a gloriously happy giggle. It made Joe smile as she jumped in beside him.

" Momma said jumping on the bed was the best thing to make you happy again, even though all the other kids at school were never allowed to." Hazel said as Joe smirked at her, handing slowly reaching back for one of the pillows.

" Well I guess you can say I'm pretty happy right now because I did in fact jump on the bed." Joe said and Hazel laughed lightly, before she felt something hit her head.

A pillow. She scoffed as Joe laughed, before she reached over his body to grab the other and wack him on the head. Joe let out a laugh before smacking her again and before it could be stopped they were laughing, giggling, and smacking each other in the head with pillows.

" I told you I'd get you back someday," Joe called over the pillow smacking and Hazel stopped staring at him panting a bit.

" What?" she asked.

" You, jumping me awake back a few days before D-Day," Joe said, gently picking a feather from the pillow out of her hair as she laughed.

" Oh, right," she said with a slightly sarcastic tone," how could I possibly forget?" Joe smirked at her.

" It might've taken me quite the year to figure out just when, but just because I can kiss you doesn't mean you're not my best friend anymore. I'll still gladly prank you." he said and that made Hazel's heart soar because in all honestly, Joe felt like one of her best friends.

Catherine and Lizzie would always be her best friends, but they were sisters now, more than anything. Joe would always be one of her best friends, more than anything. He understood her more than others did. He knew how to make her laugh, feel better, he always listened and even when the two weren't side by side, they had each other's backs.

She just got to kiss his little face now.

" And I will so gladly prank you, Joe Liebgott." she said and Joe chuckled.

" C'mon, my mom's probably got the Kopytka waiting," Hazel said, but Joe stopped her from getting up by taking her hand and pulling her back into his arms, closer to himself, where they were merely inches a part looking into each other's eyes.

" Thank you..." Joe said," for bringing me here, to your home, your family. Just to see it all." Hazel softly smiled, cupping his cheek and softly brushing his soft skin.

" Thank you for coming," she said with a joking twinge and it made Joe chuckle before the two softly kissed each other.

Joe's lips tasted like honey, Hazel thought, and it only made her melt more.

Pulling back from the gentle kiss, Hazel let out a shaky breath, because honestly it felt like her breath had been taken from her. Joe always seemed to do that to her. Hazel watched his eyes. He was smirking.

" And who knew that getting you back into your home town, that adorable slightly Southern accent would come out of you." Joe said and Hazel blushed smacking his arm.

" I'll hit you with that pillow again, Joseph." she said softly and Joe smirked.

" Is that a challenge?" Joe said, a glint in his eyes.

" Quite possibly." Hazel answered.

" Tonight, after dinner, it's pillow fight time." Joe said and Hazel giggled at his goofiness," I don't think you'll be laughing for long." But it just made Hazel giggle more.

" Fine, then I suggest you eat your fill with these two meals and prepare yourself," she said, slowly shuffling back from him and the bed to her feet, a smirk, one that he had never seen before on her face, " I don't think you'll be ready."

And with that she turned and left the room with even a little wink, like back in Aldbourne.

" Oh, you're on Parker," he called racing after her out of the room.

The childhood room heard the gentle laughs from the 2 as they moved out of the room.

And for a moment, Hazel's childhood finally felt proud of the young girl that had cried so many nights in this room.

She was finally free.

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AHHH!!! i am B A C K with postwar finally! and just for a lil update - it'll be coming out in 2 chapter spams at the moment, just because i want to relish postwar and not rush through it because honestly we need this joy after all the angst of war. i love these two with my whole heart and they deserve happiness :)) thank you all so much for reading and continually being apart of this journey with me, i appreciate it more than you can imagine!!! <3

and the quote at the beginning of the chapter sums of hazel and joe's relationship beautifully and makes me S O B <3