Mastermind

Chapter 20

A/n: So much fun here.....so much to say....so I'll just leave this here and eagerly await your thoughts haha!

Chapter Text

February 14, 1943

Dearest darling heartbreaker Ruthie,

You won't believe this anymore than I can express it, but we've finally managed to oust Sobel from our ranks. It took a whole mutiny from the NCO's (which you most certainly would not have approved of), but he's gone and that means that we finally have some decent leadership when it comes to the field. And though I can't spoil much, I can say that things are looking towards a horizon where action is coming. And you'll be proud to know that the NCO's did this for our good friend, Dick.

He won't admit it much, but I will—he misses you. And frankly, so do I. What does a man have to do to find some good humor here in England? You'll find it funny to know that I'm still hiding some Vat-69 in his locker, though I suspect he may know that and may have known for some time (Did you tell him?). You should write to him again, I think he's missing the backup and sensibility that you provide the whole company. We did get your Christmas presents though, and it was awfully nice of you to send us a whole bunch of scarves. Though with spring on the horizon, I can't imagine we'd have much use for the scarves quite yet (we'd look like babushkas or something, you know?).

In your last letter, you asked about things were going at home. They're the same as they were the last time you asked, which is to say that things are going poorly and I don't think we'll last the year. It's alright though—what's a man to do when he's thousands of miles from home and fighting a war, after all? Anywho, I hope you're keeping yourself busy with weeding out the weaklings in the army and having fun whilst doing so (with that little smirk of yours, you know the one). I hope to hear from you soon—and that you can visit us sometime.

Your friend,

Lewis Nixon

For a moment, Ruth just stared at the letter in front of her, a fond sort of smile on her face. That daft man was always going to be one of her favorite people in the world—though her ever-sensible mother could never know that Ruth had spent the better part of a year with a half-drunk troublemaker such as Lewis Nixon.

She supposed that her friendship with Nixon was somewhat akin to Bucky and Gale Cleven's friendship in terms of being odd. They were not an expectant pairing of friends, nor were they what people expected them to be when they were together. That was quite alright with her, even if she had no intention of visiting anytime soon. That would be a distraction—though right now, a distraction might prove to be just what she needed.

Things had just been plain strange around Thorpe Abbotts since her brother had so prolifically spread the rumor that she and Robby were dating. And things had only continued to spiral into a sort of madness about the whole situation—their contract for such an event, in an effort to keep attention away from Abe and onto themselves—Harding's feelings on the whole situation in order to discourage pregnancy amongst the women in the camp—yes, the whole situation was just odd .

Then there was the fact that she had come back from London and the holiday season with a young teenage girl in her care, who didn't want to be parted from her or travel to New York to be with Ruth's family. That left her with precious few options except to keep Liesel on the base with her—though she had fought Harding on the entire situation until he had relented. Liesel attended the nearby school where the other children on the base went during the day and it seemed to be a good system that was working for them for now.