" You feel like home and everywhere I've never been, all at once."

- butterflies rising

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The sun on her face was welcoming enough to nearly send her asleep by that point and the smooth rolling of the car down the long streets through the valleys below mountains was sure a sight to behold.

Catherine softly smiled to herself and then turned and glanced briefly towards George who relaxed comfortably in the vehicle, one hand resting on the steering wheel loosely, as the other sported his shiny watch from Carentan that he liked to go on about, running through his hair every so often as he did so, a lazy smile on his face as he stared forward towards the horizon, in his own little world that Catherine managed to peak in on.

Sighing softly to herself, Catherine leaned up against the window again and let her mind drift a bit, back to Haguneau, after the news of the patrol had been canceled officially and she was about to get a full night's rest, the first after a while. She had just clarified with Speirs before he had sent her off to rest, a small smile on his tired face, which signaled he needed sleep as well.

Catherine had gone and visited Hazel, yes that was right.

And Hazel had told Catherine, on that darkened bombed out balcony about her love for Joseph Liebgott. Catherine always had Hazel's innocently distraught face in her mind for days afterward, to see her so truly in love with Joe Liebgott and realizing the war was still going on and was still destroying the world around them.

Love had prevailed.

Catherine remembered standing out by the embankment that night, helmet pushed down over her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks, with her arms stiffly crossed over her chest, and her lip trembling. She remembered the cold that had bit at her fingertips and the icy way her cheeks were kissed by the wind.

She had got into the CP late that night, her feet moving almost sluggishly across the ground as she entered the slightly darkened room, a small fire in the pot belly stove nearby glowing with as much might as it could the surrounding rooms.

Catherine's glassy eyes slowly caught on the warmth and slowly picked her way towards it, briefly glancing over and seeing Captain Speirs passed out, looking pass exhausted at this point on the couch that Lip had previously occupied, on the opposite side of where the stove was. She smiled sadly. She had never seen their CO with his guard down and so vulnerable in a war like this.

But sometimes even he remained strong for too long.

Catherine slowly caught the blanket over the chair and brought it into her arms before glancing back towards the CO. She slowly took a few steps closer to him and then gently laid the blanket across his figure, before cuddling it up around his neck and tucking it in gently to make sure he was warm enough. He cared for the company so much that sometimes even he needed to be cared for.

Speirs barely moved at her touch, but she noticed he seemed to fall into an even deeper sleep and that was all that mattered to her in that moment.

Softly moving fully to her feet again she wrapped her arms around herself and moved over towards the potbelly stove to warm her numbed fingertips the best she could before she'd head back out to make sure all the platoons and CP and the medics were getting the rest they needed.

Catherine crouched before the stove and gently removed the gloves from her hands and pushed them towards the stove, eventually feeling the bits of warmth breaking through the layers and finally warming her up, even if it was just the littlest bit being warmed.

Suddenly she felt something draped around her shoulders and was immediately encased by the warmth of whatever this was. It was a blanket. Catherine softly turned and glanced up towards the source and found George Luz looking at her, his face aglow with the light from the stove, his warm brown eyes watching her with such care, and a gentle smile glowing on his lips.

" George..." her voice had cracked as she said his name, she remembered the slight falter in her tone and the way George's smile had fell the slightest bit as well.

" Hey, Lieutenant." he said, his voice barely above a whisper as he slowly sat down beside her and glanced at her, " Figured you were cold, you looked cold, and well, there was a spare blanket." Catherine smiled softly and cuddled the blanket closer and nodded, relishing the bits of warmth the blanket was able to provide to her freezing body.

" Thank you, George." she said, feeling her throat tighten up a bit at even just speaking - her voice like a vase on the edge of a table ready to fall to the ground and shatter into a million tiny pieces of her soul. George noticed the fresh tears that were in her eyes, as the way her nose remained bright red and this time it wasn't from the cold.

" You okay?" he asked her softly. Catherine stared at the crackling fire in the little stove as the light illuminated her face, spreading across her entire body. Her eyes slowly filled with more tears at his simple question - because no one ever asked if she was okay, no one ever worried for her wellbeing - she was a Lieutenant, she didn't need checking up on. But with that simple question it damn near broke her. But she nodded.

" Yeah." she managed out, trying to nod, trying to show that by nodding, it was holding her from breaking completely. She slowly turned to meet George's eyes which watched her softly, trying to search her eyes for an answer as the two sat side by side lost in the way the other's eyes tried their best to heal the wounds the other felt so very deeply.

" George..." she whispered, as a tear crawled down her cheek, the fire making it the feature of her face to stand out the most, "...I tried." George softly scooted closer to her to really look into her eyes and simply just hold her gaze with his, just to be able to look into her eyes and see the beauty even with the waterfall of tears that were on the verge of escaping.

" I know you did." George whispered softly, his hand briefly reaching up to wipe the tear from her cheek, her body yearning for more warmth than what his finger on her cheek provided. She wanted to be held by him, she wanted him to take her into his arms and tell her it would be okay, that all of this would go away, that this pain would soon be taken over by something other than the ache inside her heart.

" Not hard enough." she managed out as George felt his heart give a deep and dull ache from somewhere inside his chest, " I feel so guilty, for everything. And I take it all in, all of it, and it just builds and builds until I absolutely lose my mind. There's days where...." her voice cracked as another boiling hot tear streaked down her face, " I don't know who I am, I don't even feel like myself. Bill and Joe, I could've, I could've done something...George."

" Hey, Cath, hey, hey, look at me," George whispered," yeah it's okay, look at me, the guy with the dorky face." Catherine couldn't help but let out something between a chuckle and a sob. George's warm hand on her cheek, brought a comfort she didn't know she had needed, feeling his calloused thumb brushing away the tears that rolled down her cold face. When she met his eyes, a warmth had filled her, and set her lip from quivering for a moment as she watched George's brown eyes.

For a moment, it felt like home.

Watching his eyes still manage to see past all the pain her own withheld.

" If Bill and Joe saw you now, with what you've done for these men, for this company, keeping yourself together, going around on sleepless nights, making sure they're all rested up, they're eating, that mentally they're okay, that simply you put them before yourself. I don't even know how to describe how proud they'd be of you right now, Cath. They love you, so much, Cath. They're your brothers and they love you. And seeing what you've done, they'd be so proud of you, Lieutenant." George whispered softly as Catherine's heart gave in evident pain.

" But you're not alone okay? And I know you're suffering, and I won't ignore that. And I won't let you try to take care of yourself alone either. You may think you're fine taking care of yourself alone, but I know you're not. And if I can just sit here with you and just be with you to let you know that, then I'd rather do this than any other thing in the world right now." George whispered as tears dripped from her blue eyes as she watched George with a trembling lip, the words spilling from his mouth and flowing into her ears.

Because for a moment, she wasn't alone and there was someone sitting right there, holding her so close and caring simply for her. She wasn't alone anymore in this, having to patch the wounds on her heart and fix it with a bright smile and encouraging words, she didn't have to do that anymore.

Because George was there.

Slowly scooting forward, she closed the tiny gap between them and hugged him, really hugged him, wrapping her arms around his body, and absolutely crumbling, her face contorting in utter pain as her body yearned for the warmth he provided. And George's arms wrapped around her so tight, pulling her as close as he could.

Catherine's tears soaked the front of his ODs, as her weak fist balled into a fist, grasping the front. But he smelled like pine. A gentle scent that entered her system and sent her cuddling into him even more, shutting her eyes, as her innocent, stuttering cries for a breath of air were taken in by his uniform and never let out again.

His other hand was on the back of her head, and she could feel the gentle kisses that he pressed into her hair - what he didn't realize was how soothing his gentle touch was on her weary body, to for once feel the touch of another human caring for her and letting her vulnerability be the only thing important for them in that moment. His touch was keeping her from losing her entire mind, his gentle grasp, the way he let her just cry and didn't try to justify it with the virtual use of words others decided were best.

Because sometimes just the touch of another person was comfort enough.

Late into the night, into the early hours of the next day, they were there, in each other's arms, trying to patch what wounds they could of each other's hearts, trying to mend their broken souls, patch it up with what they could in that moment.

Catherine had run out of tears by 0400, her throat dry from heaving cries out of her system, her eyes scratchy and red, and her cheeks stained with an emotion she didn't even know would leave her system.

And George was still there, his chin gently resting upon her head, which lay cuddled underneath. Her finger played with the loose string on his jacket, her white fingertips feeling the gentle fabric underneath in the slightest bit, in the darkness. She felt George briefly pulled the blanket up around her softly again, the soft rumble inside of his chest, the evident chuckle in his chest making a soft smile glow on her lips.

" Tuck you in..." he mumbled slightly under his breath and Catherine softly smiled again, moving her hand to swipe underneath of her eye again.

" You need rest." Catherine whispered, her throat still raw with touches of emotion, " I need to head out to check the guys anyway."

" I'm fine, I can promise ya that, Cath, alright. Champion all-nighter back home." George said and Catherine giggled softly.

" Why? Did you not do all your homework or something?" she said with a chuckle and heard the vibrations from George's chest as the signal.

" You know me very well, Lieutenant." George answered her and Catherine let out a tiny laugh that settled George's heart for that moment. Catherine slowly sat up and looked at George in the darkness of the CP, the fire in the potbelly stove, having long ago gone out like a light.

" I just....I need to make sure they're alright." Catherine said softly, watching his eyes, the deep and darkening brown of them watching her back. It was like his eyes knew he couldn't hold her back, even if he so badly wanted to. George nodded, a small smile growing on his lips as he watched her.

Catherine watched him, taking in his features for a moment when it grew quiet, and all you could hear was the rushing water in the nearby Rhine river, faintly but there. The slight scruff across his sunken in cheeks, the way his tired eyes grew with the stress lines at the corners, his mused up hair hanging in his eyes a bit, but the same smile just like back in England that he always wore.

Catherine softly smiled, a pained smile that had seen war's grief and softly cupped his cheek in her slightly cold palm, the blanket sliding down from around her for a brief moment. Then Catherine softly, on his other cheek, pressed a soft kiss there, a tender touch which caused George's eyes to flutter close for a moment.

Catherine knew she should've done a small peck, but George deserved far better than that, as she then softly slid her arms around his neck and pulled him into her arms in a warm hug.

" Thank you, George." she whispered, her eyes still slightly sad as she hugged him warmly, " Thank you." George smiled, she could feel the way with her face pressed against his, and the way his dimple seemed to appear.

" Always." George whispered softly back to her as Catherine squeezed him tighter, just to solidify that in this moment, it was her and George and there was nothing else going on in the world beside this hug, this moment, where two humans simply wrapped their arms around one another to show that they cared. To show that they cared for each other. A hug meant more than what 1000 words spoken from a trembling lip could.

Catherine sucked in a tiny breath and then gently pulled back and watched him, not hesitating to gently brush the hair from his eyes a bit so she could really see his beautiful, brown eyes for what they were. And she smiled, a brief, fleeting, spure of the moment smile, but a smile. George grinned seeing that smile on her lips grow.

" I'll be seeing you, George." she said softly and George cracked out a grin to her as she smiled, " Thank you." George's gentle dip of his head was enough for her to pull the blanket off of her body and gently lean forward to wrap it around him, cuddling it up under his chin, tucking it in, and making sure he was warm.

" Get some rest." she whispered softly and George lazily smiled at her.

" Knowing you're better I will now." he said and Catherine smiled in the darkness.

" I just...it's hard to deal with it all on your own, and having you there...I can't thank you enough, George, for everything." Catherine said and George smirked at her.

" I think that kiss on the cheek was enough as a thank you as a guy like me could ever get." he told her softly and Catherine smiled softly, looking down in almost a slight embarrassment briefly at his comment.

" You deserved it." she whispered back and George chuckled gently, his eyes closing a bit, his long eyelashes clasping over his brown orbs before opening again.

" I'll be here when you need me, alright?" George told her softly, " You know....in case you need somewhere to go after checking up on them." Catherine couldn't contain the laugh on her lips as she softly punched his shoulder.

" I'll see ya." she said softly and then rose to her feet in the dark room, before a final glance to George led her moving out in the cover of night. And this time she left with a smile, a real one on her face. The tears had gone and would return for another day, but for now, there were no tears and that was okay.

Yeah Catherine still remembered that night and hit herself in the head nearly for not figuring it out sooner that she was in love with George, intoxicated by his touch and brought in by that smile or those eyes. But love was patient, she knew that much, it always was.

Glancing back over towards George she smiled at the way he was already taking glances towards her in the sunlight.

" Almost there." George told her, and Catherine's eyes widened, a grin spreading on her face as she looked out of the window as they moved into a more suburban setting around them, with parks and trees, little houses everywhere, and people outside, walking their dog, or little kids in the yards.

Catherine couldn't help but grin wider, because more and more she was imagining her life with George. Catherine glanced back towards George and imagined them in a house, sitting around the dinner table, talking about their day, as George made the kids laugh, filling a home with life and love.

When Catherine felt she was on her death bed in Normandy, she would've never imagined that she would get a second chance at life, that it was the world's way of saying it was her time. But life had given her that second chance and George had been apart of that.

" Here we are." George said, turning the vehicle into the driveway of a small ranch style home, with trees surrounding the outside, a variety of potted plants outside along the walkway, a few children's toys like a hula hoop and a few bikes scattered vicariously around, and a hopscotch drawn out as well. A grin found it's way to Catherine's face and George couldn't help but grin.

" It's so pretty, George." Catherine said as George clicked off the vehicle with a smirk.

" Wait until you see the inside," George said, as he pulled the keys out and shoved them into his pocket, before glancing at her, " don't get out yet, I want to get the door for ya." Catherine watched with a soft grin as he jumped out of the car like a child and giddily ran around the opposite side of the vehicle to pull the door open for her.

Gently pulling open the car door, George stepped around and softly lent his hand forwards toward her for her to take. Catherine softly grasped his welcoming hand and stepped into the sunlight as she did so, allowing the warmth to spread across her uniform, hitting her jump wings gently, and finally warming her skin.

George watched Catherine in that moment, underneath the sunlight, so naturally herself, surrounded by nothing but the light the sun provided.

" Georgie!" a voice suddenly called and both Catherine and George turned to find a little girl, stood out upon the step, a glowing smile, just the same as George's on her face, her big, brown eyes glowing under the sun, the yellow sundress she wore, matching the yellow ribbons that were tied up in her hair.

" Maria!" George called, his voice sounding like pure joy as the little girl giggled, jumping innocently off the edge of the step and racing towards George. George laughed, crouching down to his hunches, opening his arms up wide enough to bring the little girl into a warm hug. Catherine's eyes shined, as she watched the two hold each other, giggles leaving each other's lips as they held each other there so tightly.

" You're back!" squealed the little girl, pulling back from George to ruffle his hair a bit, another childish laugh leaving her lips as George chuckled.

" You bet I am, kiddo." George said ruffling her hair a bit as she giggled. Her shining eyes met Catherine's and a wide grin spread across her face.

" Cath! Georgie is that Cath! Catherine!" Maria cried, immediately shoving George to the side to move towards Catherine. Immediately Catherine bent down and immediately caught the little girl in another warm hug as she giggled, giving Catherine a few tight squeezes as she did so.

" We've heard all about you from his letters, you're even more beautiful than he described you to be." Maria squealed and Catherine shot a glance up at George who stood with a soft smile on his lips.

" That's because words can't describe her beauty," George said as Maria giggled pulling back to look at Catherine. Catherine softly looked to George who slowly crouched down and blushed slightly as George looked down, a grin on his face - he wasn't lying.

" Don't you just have the most beautiful smile, young lady," Catherine said, smiling wide as Maria giggled again, grinning with a few teeth missing.

" So do you, Catherine!!" Maria squealed, placing her small hands on Catherine's cheeks and giggling.

" I'm sorry you had to deal with my brother through your war, he's a bit of a lunatic if you ask me." Maria said and Catherine let out a laugh as George faked a gasp of shock.

" I'll have to agree with you there, Maria," Catherine said, " quite the lunatic." Maria let out a high-pitched giggle and turned to George with a smirk.

" At least some one finally agrees with me." she said to him and George shook his head with a smirk.

" Alright, kiddo, alright, you win." George said as the two girls laughed, " Mom inside?"

" Yeah! She's beyond excited to meet you Cath, so get ready for the hugs and food." Maria said, resting her little head softly on Catherine's shoulder, " I know they'll love you, I know I already do." Catherine felt her heart soften at the innocent words and softly glanced at George who was already watching her with loving eyes, finally seeing a world in front of him, right within arm's reach.

And within minutes, Catherine was inside, the Luz family welcoming her like she was one of their own, with hugs from everyone, and plenty of food to fill her stomach. It made Catherine glance across the table, as his mother told stories, celebrating with a song every once and a while, and would find George, a grin on his dorky face, watching her from where his chin sat on his knuckles, his eyes taking every inch of her in.

Catherine brought the wine glass to her lips, eyes on George for a moment as they held their gazes and it all seemed to fade out.

And for a moment, Catherine was back again, standing in those English barracks watching George Luz run up to her like the excited person he was and wrap his arms around Catherine a tight hug - he hadn't even known her. He had just wanted to hug her, that's all he had wanted.

And now years later, she sat at his family's dining room table, watching him and falling in love with the man who had captured her heart, all over again.

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HEY!!! i am BACK with another chapter on catherine and george who's love i absolutely will forever adore. i can't get enough of them!! but as you know, we still have one fearless virago left to account for and that's lizzie. and i know so many of you have anxiously awaited to learn what happened to her - and what all this floyd talbert business is about ;) well, soon enough, never fear, you'll learn what happened!! get ready!! thank you all for reading as always, this story brings me so much joy! thank you! <3