" There is something simply beautiful and simply innocent, in being human. It is just so innocent and beautiful. I love it."

- C. JoyBell C.

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Driving through the city was beautiful - Joe had turned down the windows, letting Hazel put her head out of the window as if she were some sort of golden retriever, letting the warm sunlight reflect down onto her, the bustling streets filled with people overwhelming her system.

The last time she had seen bustling streets like this was back in New York City after the 3 Viragos were secretly escorted to Camp Shanks - that felt like years ago.

Which it was.

Joe looked over at Hazel every so often, leaning out of the window, the wind catching her loose curls, lighting up her face into golden hues, her eyes bright and wide, looking completely and utterly unbothered.

Yeah, he was in love, big time.

And being in love with his best friend was an even better feeling.

" Hi doggy!!' Hazel called out, waving out of the window to a pup who barked joyfully towards her. Joe just about slammed into the back of the car at how adorable it was, pushing a smile on his face.

Hazel made him such a better person - he liked the new him.

Hazel slid back through the window fully, giggling.

" You should've seen him, Joe! He was so cute, a little black and white dog." she said, with soft eyes, " I never realized how fun it was to be in a city." Joe smiled glancing towards her.

" It seems you fit right in." Joe said as he slowly rolled forward again and Hazel grinned up towards him.

Hazel personally thought San Francisco was beautiful, all the little roads and street corners, the lovely ladies dressed for every occasion, the gentlemen in their suits, the military men and women walking proudly through the streets.

To finally lay her eyes on a life that was not involved in a war was something Hazel needed especially after last night, to finally look upon a world where the war wasn't the immediate thing on everyone's minds. Just to feel the wind in her hair, the breeze tickling her cheeks, pushing a smile to her lips and Joe beside her was enough to make her feel genuinely happy. No forced smiles, no breaking and aching heart - just purely happy.

Hazel was purely happy. She wished to always feel this way.

Hazel could tell they were approaching the coast, because as they drove, the saltiness of the sea began to fill her nose and they were getting away from the large buildings of San Francisco and into the rolling hillsides and cliffs and little beaches that ran into the Pacific.

Hazel had never quite seen the Pacific ocean, so when Joe parked, her eyes widened. She could see the entire ocean she felt, glistening under the sun, shining so bright, and the soft breeze warming her skin.

Joe softly glanced towards Hazel watching as she looked so blissfully just, happy. She looked so happy. He had seen her so broken before and now that had all but faded. There was sadness but there was happiness, and even if both were needed to live life, it was nice to let happiness take the wheel.

" Want to head down before lunch?" Joe asked her and Hazel looked over at him with shining eyes.

" Can we?" she said, leaning back into the car and watching his eyes with her own glowing ones. Joe grinned and nodded.

" Race ya!" he called and Hazel couldn't help but let out a giggle as Joe popped up and out of the car. But Hazel was quick on her own.

" Joe!" she giggled, jumping out of the car and racing after him down the hill towards the ocean under the little restaurant that sat above.

Hazel nearly felt her breath was taken away watching Joe run through the tall grass, fluffy hair flying atop his head, a boyish grin on his lips, turning back to look towards Hazel every so often, like fireworks were igniting his face.

As Hazel approached where he had stopped, all she could hear was the crashing of the gentle ocean waves below, and her slightly labored breathing from running mingling with Joe's.

But all she saw was Joe, underneath the sun, soaking it up, as he looked down at her, a gentle grin on his lips. Hazel couldn't stop looking up right into his eyes which seemed endless and unexplored in so many sectors, just like the sky above them.

" I'm glad I'm here with you, Joe, I really am." she whispered softly, her heart race softly increasing. Joe softly cupped her cheek, his thumb gently brushing over her feather-light skin, which had previously been tarnished by war and destruction and had felt and seen the lives of so many lost and almost her own.

" I'm glad you're here, I always am," Joe said softly, and Hazel might've blushed just the slightest bit.

Joe treated her too well, even though Hazel knew it was always just out of love.

Just being told that someone is glad you're there...means more than anything sometimes when you can't tell yourself that.

Joe softly pressed a kiss to her forehead, before wrapping his arms around her, as she smiled, hugging him even closer, just yearning for his comforting touch that never failed to feel like home.

The sea was endless, boundless, crashing softly beside them, the waves rolling up upon the shore every so often, a breeze ruffling their hair, encased in the warm and loving hug together, side by side. Hazel softly looked towards the sea from Joe's shoulder and let out a sigh.

Her love with Joe, was not the outcome she expected from war. Sometimes from war you met your death, you found grief and desperation, you found a family, you found a home, you found the love of your life, you found so many different things within war.

Hazel had found many of those, far more than she would've ever imagined or believed she would, stepping into Fort Bragg all those years ago - but she had found a sisterhood with women who had meant more than they ever would to hazel - sisters for life. She had also found Joe and Joe had found her.

And despite war, they had found each other and held onto each other, despite all the heartache, pain and grief that managed to wedge its way in between them. They loved each other for the pure and raw emotional connection found with one another at the most vulnerable time.

They were best friends who happened to be in love, and they knew each other like the back of their own hands.

Maybe love was more, maybe it was what was in the movies in Hollywood. But not to Joe and Hazel - love was simply being there for each other when you couldn't be there for yourself, maybe a soft glance in the early hours of the morning, even just a simple 'How are you today?', or even just sharing a tiny snack before bed at night.

Gazing at the stars, watching constellations roll overhead, knee to knee in the foxholes of Normandy, managing to make it a laughing moment instead of one filled with sadness. Maybe it was the way Joe had glanced at her and it had all seemed to click in that moment, that he'd always be there for her, seeing her down to her bare beginnings and saying, 'I don't care, I'll always be there.', with simply just his deep brown eyes watching her own.

Love wasn't perfect.

Nothing in this world was absolutely perfect.

And you weren't supposed to be perfect in love.

God never created love to be perfect, because if it was perfect, it would get quite boring wouldn't it?

Where would the wrong turns on the drive that lead you to the most beautiful hillside overlooking the ocean with no one around be?

Where would the nights spent up late all night talking before work the next morning, and accidentally not even taking a moment to rest, but realizing there was someone there for you all along?

Where would the lonely moments of desperation be, that eventually turned into the two of you curled upon the couch just simply holding each other, being there for each other, simply just touching each other with warm hearts and knowing that you may feel alone, but you aren't alone and someone will always be there?

If love was perfect those moments wouldn't ever happen.

And with Joe, Hazel wished to have those moments with him, where their imperfections were placed together like artwork, but shown to show that love wasn't supposed to be perfect, it was just supposed to be right for you, just you and the person you were with. Whatever worked for the two of you.

Hazel believed that more and more everyday with Joe. But their love was beautiful and that's what she felt mattered the most between her and Joe.

Hazel softly pulled back and looked up towards him. Joe watched her with gentle eyes.

" Thanks for talking to me back in England," Joe said, " after the boat ride, even though I was a complete grouch." Hazel giggled softly at the words and the smirk on his face.

" Not everyone's happy all the time, I just figured that maybe by talking about it....you'd feel better. Mom always did that - you weren't any different." Hazel whispered and Joe softly grinned, his eyes aglow under the sun.

" Thank you, Hazel." Joe whispered softly.

And Hazel knew the thank you from Joe was for more than her simple words.

Hazel couldn't help but giggle quietly to herself, a blush rising to her cheeks as she stood under his gaze. Hazel softly kissed his cheek, before wrapping her arms around him again, hugging him close, inhaling his scent which brought a comfort unlike anything else to the world.

Sometimes you never had to say how much you loved someone - words were congesting after a while.

All you needed to do was simply just feel.

War had taught her that.

Churchill Downs, Louisville, Kentucky - October 14th, 1945

Catherine McCown slowly stepped forward, her footsteps slowed, her gaze soft and her heart rate low, but the tremble in her throat caused a bit of heartache to radiate within her soul. It was quiet in the large stadium that was normally filled with cheering fans, loud calls from owners in the stands, and the heavy breathing from all the horses and jockeys, the hooves in the mud, flying up into their faces, the ringing of the bell once the winner passed the finish line.

Catherine remembered distinctly how she felt the minute she saw her Grandparents' horse win the Kentucky Derby here, the excitement, adrenaline, the calm before the storm. It had been before a war, before the world had exploded with hatred and sadness and so much grieving pain that would settle into all their hearts for as long as they live.

Catherine glanced down at her uniform, the medals from her service shining under the looming sun, her heels and toes perfectly pressed together as if she were still in war. They would all be at war still even with it over - 3 years of your life to war, you were likely to never forget. Who you fought with, cared for and loved, no one ever made it out perfectly alive.

Catherine inhaled the scent of Churchill Downs. It was beautiful at this time of morning when there were no horse races, no people, just her and the birds, the sun and the quiet hum of the silence of the stadium.

Gentle footsteps that approached her right side signaled someone was coming up beside her.

George Luz had been the one who offered to stop here before meeting the family. She needed a moment like this.

Many of her previous moments like this were usually shared between her and a horse, as she softly held its face in her hands, stroking its gentle snout, looking into its wide, understanding eyes, in the early morning hymn, just her and the horse who would race without fail.

Now, it was her and George in the early morning sun. George softly stopped beside her and leaned his hands against the railing and then softly glanced towards her. Catherine met his eyes and then softly smiled.

" Thanks for bringing me here....I needed this." she whispered softly. George softly reached forward and put his hand over her own.

" You don't have to thank me." he whispered, his voice enough to just warm her heart. Catherine softly looked out towards the stadium again, the racetrack that wrapped around the entirety of it.

" As a kid, I never thought I'd be standing here all these years later, like this." she said, her voice trembling slightly, nodding, " I was just a child." George softly shuffled closer and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, pressing a loving kiss to her temple as she brought in whatever warmth he managed to provide her.

" Hey George?" she asked softly.

" Hm?" George hummed gently.

" Remember in Bastogne....." she whispered," what I promised you and....and uh," Catherine squeezed her eyes shut and let out a shaky breath. Catherine hadn't said their names in quite some time, it had been too much for her, to repeat their names after seeing them disappear never to show again.

" Skip and Penkala." George finished for her and Catherine nodded against him, choking up a bit as she did so.

" I promised..." she whispered, her heart breaking as she spoke," that they'd see this one day, they can't now." Her voice broke at the end and George softly pressed her head against his chest as she softly shut her eyes in his embrace. The war would follow them through too many aspects of life and settle into every crack and break it could.

War did that.

Even in your happiest moments, it would always find a way to get inside.

Catherine's heart raced, but listening to George's which was right underneath her ear, settled her, letting her focus on now.

But she had seen them, her and George both had and it had ripped a part of her soul from her - the innocence that had been with her had disappeared watching a death like that capture the two of them, people who were going to have a good life after the war, who would go home happy and merrily, and would try to be the best positive light they could. Now they were gone.

What kept her from not shattering, was standing there in George's arms, simply just being in this gentle moment with him, with no one else around, knowing that he was there, the man she loved and who loved her with just as much love, stood right there and she got to be in his arms.

" George?" Catherine asked softly.

" Yes?" his voice was so gentle and vulnerable.

" I don't want to think about Bastogne, but I feel I won't stop feeling the pain unless I talk about it." Catherine whispered, her voice shaking, " And I hate it, but I can't stop feeling so guilty." George pulled back and watched Catherine gently.

" Cath," George whispered softly, as the two met eyes in the morning light, " they wouldn't want you to feel like this, no one would. You can't save everyone in war." Catherine watched George - his usual happy self, suddenly evaporated - but you can't be happy all the time.

" Someday." George said softly with a nod, " Maybe we won't have to feel all this pain some day, but you can't live life without pain and it sucks but, what we can do is continue to tell their story, of how they lived and breathed. How they fought. Skip and Penkala's singing, their jokes, their stories. Continue to tell them and they won't be forgotten, and maybe someday we won't feel what we do."

Catherine watched George. Even if he was a jokester most of the time, he was also someone who gave the best advice, some of the best besides Hazel's that she had heard. He always knew what to say, he always knew how to comfort her and make her feel better about the raging thoughts in her mind. He was George Luz. Catherine watched him with shining eyes filled with adoration. He seemed so gentle in this moment, calm and content, as if he were some ancient poetic. His hair slightly brushing in the breeze, a gentle grin on his lips, his chocolate eyes watching the horizon. Her heart skipped a beat.

" You won't go through whatever is in your mind all alone, I won't let that happen." he whispered softly, " And I love you Catherine McCown and after what you did for Easy Company, you don't deserve to feel and go through the pain you did over there." Catherine's eyes welled up with tears and suddenly her throat was lodged with them.

To have someone tell you that you weren't alone in your sufferings was enough to make her cry, to make her feel all of it, all the pain that had encircled her and suddenly have it out in the open.

But George understood her deeply, more than anything in this world - and he couldn't live with himself if she suffered alone. No one deserved that.

George softly pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, holding it there for a few moments as Catherine savored the intimate touch of George's lips on her forehead. A touch that meant more than she could imagine.

A symbol that he loved her through hell and high water and love always prevailed. No one deserved to suffer alone and in the middle of Churchill Downs in the early hours of the morning with no one around, George signified that.

And to Catherine that meant more than she could ever imagine.

A single touch could mean a thousand words.

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AHHHHHH IM BACK!!! school has been CHAOTIC if you can guess, so yeah well that's why i haven't been able to update :) but TONIGHT WAS THE NIGHT!! and yes! we are moving into catherine + george territory now and i'm very excited for their upcoming chapters, i'm hoping to at least get another out this week for you all!! i've been so excited to reveal this chapter and the night has arrived finally!! thank you all so much, the story as you can tell is slowly drawing to a close, which i'm emotional about of course - this was my quarantine book that pushed me through - but landslide, my third bob fic is what is keeping me going because i know i have another after this LOL so check it out if you want! i have the prologue all set :)

THANK YOU ALL!!! <3