" We're all a little broken, but that's what life's for; putting our pieces back together."

- Unknown

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Grand Rapids - January 26th, 1946

It was snowing again, Lizzie could sense it from the moment she awoke and felt the familiar chill rise up her entire body.

It triggered the chain reaction of memories, following from Bastogne, her sickness, and her inevitable fever that was persistent in remaining with her through that time.

Lizzie's eyes stared at the ceiling, illuminated with a small bit of light - from the new lamp her mother had gotten her after Lizzie had accidentally broken the other one from her most recent breakdown.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Lizzie remembered the horror on her parents faces when they saw just exactly what the noise they'd heard from downstairs was only to come up and see their daughter in tears, barely able to hold herself together as a few glass shards covered the ground, blood on her fingertips and the lamp sprawled across the ground.

Opening her eyes again, Lizzie forced herself to sit up, even though her body wished to remain stuck to the bed sheets and never move again.

Sitting up, her eyes carried her to the window that was beside her bed and leaned forward a bit. The snow was falling fairly hard and collecting up and about the ground, as well as the sidewalks and the streets and the overhanging trees of the forested neighborhood. Lizzie could see the neighbors kids in the yard, giggling and squealing as they threw snowballs at each other and paraded around like the innocent souls they were. She sighed softly to herself and slowly turned to slide off the bed.

It was Saturday - it meant that her father and mother would both be home, no work today, which meant facing them again - having to see her parents look at their messed up daughter, turned young woman to war child torn by the heartache the war offered.

It also meant another letter from Floyd - she practically knew by now which days letters were sent by her friends like it were a routine.

Hazel and Joe's were Sundays, Smokey's were Mondays with Alton's, Shifty's came on Tuesdays with Don and Gene on Wednesdays, Joe Toye was Thursdays with Catherine and George on Fridays - and sometimes there'd be a letter from Lip or Winters in the mix or sometimes even Bill.

But today would be Floyd's letter.

Lizzie pulled one of the cardigans on around herself, her face numbly set staring forward as she took to leaving the cold room behind and moving towards the staircase which was still covered in cedar garland that her mother used for the winter time. It would have candles and lights at Christmas, but now was dull wrapped around the wooden railings.

Lizzie slowly moved down the stairs and was not greeted by her parents, but a knock at the door.

" I'll get it." Lizzie called faintly into the kitchen where she had heard her parent's voices previously.

Lizzie hoped it was the mailman.

Slowly reaching forward, Lizzie unlocked the door and slowly stepped back as she pulled it open and looked up tiredly.

Please be a letter.

Anything, please.

But her eyes looked with a set of eyes she thought she wouldn't see at least until the wedding.

" Hey Lizard."

" Floyd?" Lizzie whispered, as suddenly she took a step back to take him in.

It was Floyd Talbert, with a bouquet of yellow flowers in his grasp, and a wide smile spread across his face, standing there on the doorstep of her home. His cheeks were rosy, eyes filled with life, and the familiar shit-eating grin on his lips was shining bright against the falling snow which made Lizzie want to run and hide.

The only thing that didn't make her want to run and hide was the fact Floyd Talbert stood at her doorstep at 11 in the morning.

" You seems surprised." Floyd said and Lizzie's eyes didn't fail to then quickly well with tears, as she put a hand over her eyes and felt her lip tremble.

" Aw, Lizzie, hey, come here, don't cry." Floyd said, stepping inside, shutting the door quickly behind him, before being the one to quickly take Lizzie into his arms.

And almost instantly, Lizzie felt a warmth that for months she had not felt, now standing right in her own home. His arms were around her, and holding her close, holding her right up against her just like their last hug on the train station, just like their last hug in Austria and just like their first in England when there was still a war on and Lizzie didn't know what it would eventually do to her.

Wrapping her arms then around him was a feeling she never wanted to forget, just to be able to know that there in her arms was the person whom she had missed more than anything in this world and the person who had kept her from insanity in the war, even when she didn't believe it herself.

" You're here." she managed out as her voice broke, " You're really here."

" Yeah...I am." Floyd said softly and she squeezed him even tighter in the hug when she felt the soft touch of his lips against her head in a gentle kiss against her hair. A tear squeaked out. Pulling back, she finally looked upon his face, looking at his eyes, his smile.

" How?" she whispered. Floyd grinned softly at her.

" I knew you were expecting a letter from me, but I figured me showing up would be much better." Floyd said, his eyes turning worried, " You're last letter worried me, a lot, Lizzie." Lizzie met his eyes, as she reached to wipe the tear that trailed down from her eye, briefly. And she wanted to say she was fine to him, to not have another person worry for her, but Floyd could almost instantly see right through her like she was a piece of paper.

" I didn't mean to worry you, just...." Lizzie looked past him and out of the window by the door where she saw more snow falling. Floyd watched Lizzie's eyes fade for a second, dazing out, completely unfocused and like she were transported to a different time that was not here.

" Hey, Lizzie..." Floyd whispered, bending down a bit to meet her eyes which stared off.

" Lizzie." he whispered, reaching forward to push one of the strands of lose blonde hair behind her ear and from her face. At his touch, her eyes turned upon him again, glassy and slightly red from the tears which had previously streamed down her face.

" It just reminds me....of...things." her voice was small and quiet, not the cheerful and outgoing sound it had been like back in Austria, at Catherine and George's wedding. What happened?

" Like Bastogne....." she tried to keep speaking but her throat lodged up with memories and things she wished to not remember.

" I know, I know." Floyd whispered softly, the gentle nod of his head, enough to let Lizzie blow out a breath of air in a silent relief to herself, as she forced a smile on her lips as she watched him.

The two watched each other briefly, taking in the other as they stood there in the slightly dim foyer of her home, the only noise the sound of the radio her mother put on in the morning and the quiet chatter of their voices in the kitchen.

" Have I ever told you how pretty your eyes are, Floyd?" she whispered softly, watching a grin poke up at the corner of his mouth as he watched her. He'd missed her.

This ethereal woman that stood before him.

" Who's this?" a voice asked and Lizzie was quick to turn away from Floyd to see her mother standing in the doorway, a wide smile on her face, dough on her hands from making her Saturday bread.

" Um..." Lizzie slowly wrapped her arm through Floyd's as he stood there grinning like the sun and took him a few steps forward towards her mother, " this is Floyd Talbert, Staff-Sergeant - I served with him." Her mother grinned, her eyes shining as she turned upon Floyd.

" A good friend." Lizzie added, but she could see the twinkle in her eyes.

" It's a pleasure to meet you, Floyd, I'm Rebecca. Rebecca Elliot." she said, " I would shake your hand but I'm afraid to get dough on you." Floyd laughed as Lizzie giggled softly.

" I didn't meant to just show up, but your daughter, I wanted to come and surprise her." Floyd said, turning to take the flowers off the table, " I knew yellow flowers were her favorite." Rebecca's eyes shined as she looked at Lizzie who looked up at Floyd with shining eyes. For the first time since Lizzie had returned home, Rebecca saw a real smile on her daughter's lips.

" Would you like to join us for breakfast? The others aren't awake but my husband is and I've just made the first pot of coffee." Rebecca said as Floyd grinned.

" Of course, I was up at 6 in the morning to get over here and I forgot coffee when I left." Floyd said as Rebecca let out a laugh.

" Then let me make you up a cup, you deserve it." Rebecca said, " C'mon."

Floyd glanced down at Lizzie who he found was already watching him with shining eyes, eyes that he himself had missed more than anything. Lizzie softly rested her chin upon his arm as she looked up at him with shining eyes. And she smiled, it was a soft smile, one that had seen pain, a pain that lived within her still, but one that was learning to poke the corners up again and grin.

" C'mon," Lizzie whispered, leading Floyd into the kitchen with the big windows to the outside world - her favorite place of the entire house, as it was filled with warmth and love.

Immediately, Lizzie's father looked up from his daily paper and a smile spread on his face as he saw his daughter smiling for the first time, a real smile, in months as she lead Floyd towards him.

" It's a pleasure to meet you sir," Floyd said as he stuck out his hand with a smile towards her father. Lizzie's father smiled wide and shook his hand right back.

" It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Floyd," her father said and Lizzie smiled as her father grinned.

" He served with me, Dad, in the Airborne, he was a Staff-Sergeant in Easy." Lizzie said and her father smiled, as Lizzie looked up to Floyd, " Dad was in the Army, he was a medic in the Great War."

" Like father like daughter." Floyd said as the two Elliots laughed as her mother chuckled from the kitchen.

" Where you from?" her father asked with a smile and Lizzie knew it was genuine, not the fake one he had used with past boyfriends of hers, no, this was genuine.

" Kokomo, Indiana." Floyd said.

" Not too far from here then," her father said and Floyd nodded with a grin," Looks like you'll be able to visit more often then."

" I hope so." Floyd said and Lizzie grinned softly.

" Well here you are Floyd," Rebecca said coming over with the cup of coffee, " I put in a bit of cream, a pinch of sugar."

" Sounds perfect." Floyd said, " Army usually didn't have any of this stuff."

" We usually had to take the coffee clean out with nothing in it," Lizzie pipped in, " super watery, but we took it anyway."

" Nice to know that things haven't changed." her father said with a laugh as the group broke into chuckles.

" Take a seat, I'll start bringing over some food for you all." Rebecca said, " The best way to any home, is the heart, the kitchen, and that's with the food - the heart of a home."

" Mom's quite the cook." Lizzie offered as Floyd smiled.

" I bet it'll taste delicious." Floyd said and Lizzie smiled softly as she glanced over towards him with shining eyes again.

Breakfast with Floyd's surprise was the thing that Lizzie had needed to claw her out of the hole that had kept her in the dark for months.

Of course, the heartache would still hold her hostage at points, but in that moment just to sit there beside Floyd, and have someone who understood her for her, was what she needed and all she could've asked for that morning when she had been near her breaking point.

Just being able to look beside her and see Floyd sitting there with a grin on his face, talking to her parents like they were old friends, and laughing along at the jokes and stories Lizzie had heard one too many times, Lizzie was sure, as she sat in that very chair, that Floyd had turned into more than just the friend, the annoying, jokester friend he had always been.

With the yellow flowers, his gentle touch and voice, the way he watched her like she wasn't the broken mess she always felt like she was, she felt something in her heart that she felt when she saw the girls, or when she saw her grandmother, even in pictures, or when she saw the men of Easy Company.

Love. She felt love, and a love where she wanted to be able to tell him that for the rest of his days, she would be by his side, she'd be by his side, holding his hand and refusing to let go despite what might ever come between them. She wanted that. She wanted that more than anything.

And most of all, she wanted it with him. With Floyd Talbert.

Who had looked at her that day in Austria, despite her disorder and hugged her and told her that he wouldn't think of her any different than what she was right in this moment. Never.

Sipping her coffee, she peaked towards him as Floyd laughed at something her mother said to him, and felt a warmth on her cheeks for the first time in a long time.

Dressed still in pajamas and a slight bit of bed head, Floyd had stepped inside and been the one to take her into his arms without second though. And now, he sat at her kitchen table, laughing and talking and just being him with no guard up in front that the war had forced them all to do.

Floyd briefly glanced towards her and caught the blue eyes almost instantly that stared up at him with wonder and curiosity.

Seeing her smile was what settled him, but simply seeing her, sitting slow close to her that he could reach out and tuck that stubborn strand of hair behind her ear, and being right by her side was enough to make him reach forward and softly place a hand under the table on her thigh, lightly brushing the pajama bottoms as the two held one another's gaze.

Lizzie softly bit back her lip as he watched her, and she could feel her heart rate pick up just by the look in his eyes, watching her and only her.

Because she was the only thing important to him in that moment as she lay in his sight.

Her cheeks warmed up a bit more than she would've wished and she watched Floyd smirk.

She could only wait for the snarky comment he'd make - but in that moment of silence, the two watched each other and simply took the other in.

So natural in their own states, right in front of one another.

A moment of silence, where the eyes spoke and lips laid shut.

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AHHHHH!!! floyd and lizzie back together again, i knew i couldn't keep them apart long :) this just made me so soft and happy, seeing the gentleness they have with one another - i can't get over it!! 5 more chapters and epilogue after this folks, and all i can say is that i'm starting to feel that reali