Only a Paper Moon [ Band of Brothers ] 3

Chapter Eleven

After her breakdown, Alice didn't stay awake much longer. By the time she got inside again, she was exhausted, emotionally and physically. It had been a long time since she'd allowed herself to think about Germany and her family. Too long, maybe.

Spina had shown her upstairs, to the extra bedroom. The bed felt glorious. For some reason, her body seemed to expect hard ground. But the mattress and sheets hugged her tightly and she managed to sleep mostly straight through. 

When she woke up that morning, Alice could hear Carol downstairs already. Seven in the morning, and the girl was up and running around. A true champion. Alice couldn't help but smile as she finished putting on her makeup.

Alice took the stairs carefully. Her small heels clicked against the cherry wood. It was a nice house. Small, but comfortable. She liked it.

"Miss Alice!" Carol came bounding around the corner at top speed, down the hall, and almost crashed into her. "Come, come. It's breakfast!"

Her grin widened as she followed Carol through the hall back to where she assumed the kitchen sat. It had pastel aqua cabinets and cream counters, and drawings in crayon were hung up all over the place. Alice smiled even wider.

"Good morning, Spina," Alice said.

He turned around where he was messing with breakfast. "Carol, did you wake her up!"

"No, daddy. Miss Alice was awake," she argued.

When Spina glanced up, Alice nodded. "She didn't wake me up. Though I wouldn't have minded." When a small hand grabbed onto her dress, Alice looked down again. She crouched so she was face to face with the toddler's brown eyes. "What did you need, Miss Carol?"

"Come see this. I drew a doggy."

Alice heard Spina groan but she just grinned at the pure excitement in the face of the little girl. "I would love to see your doggy picture. Show me!"

Carol grabbed her sleeve and pulled Alice to the wooden table. Crayons and half eaten breakfast were spread over it, and as she clambered onto her chair, Alice couldn't help but smile. Carol grabbed a right hand of eggs and stuck them in her mouth before shoving three pieces of paper with dogs drawn on them and refusing the rest of her breakfast.

The green one had to be Alice's favorite. "These are great, Carol! I love them."

"Daddy wants a dog," she told her. "Mommy says not yet. I want this one." Carol pointed to the green drawing.

"Carol, there aren't green dogs," Spina said. He plopped some moderately burnt toast and a glass of water in front of Alice. With a grimace, he just shrugged. "Never was very good at the whole cooking thing."

"Daddy's a bad cook," Carol said. 

Then she started giggling, and Alice joined in. With a laugh, she gave Carol a tiny hug. "Well, your daddy can't be good at everything. That wouldn't be very fair now would it?"

"Oh daddy's not. He's a bad cook. And daddy can't draw." 

She pointed to a set of stick figure drawings. Alice had to admit they were less than stellar. When she looked up at Spina who had tried to hide his groan behind a coffee mug, she just laughed. Spina hid behind a newspaper.

"I'm sure your mommy's wonderful though," Alice added.

"Yes. Mommy's good at everything," Carol agreed. She continued to draw, adding longer fur to the green dog. The crayon had gotten down to barely more than a nub. "Mommy's the best."

Alice smirked. "Well that's good."

"Daddy, is Uncle Bill coming today? And Uncle Babe?"

Spina dropped the newspaper and yawned. Then he nodded. "Yeah, they're gonna hang out with Alice."