Only a Paper Moon [ Band of Brothers ] 3

Chapter Twenty-Three

February 19, 1947

In her entire life, Alice had never seen anything so beautiful. The green slopes of the Alps, covered in wildflowers and evergreen trees, could not compare. The sight of town lights from the Eagle's Nest could not compare. The Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Statue of Liberty, even the paintings of Caravaggio and Friedrich and Raphael could not compare to the pureness of the little girl that now lay in her arms.

This girl, this child, this product of her and Lewis Nixon was not only beautiful. Her face seemed to radiate. She had never seen anything like it. This child, this little girl who looked up at her with eyes the color of slate blue, was good.

And Alice had created her.

Even as she smiled down at the infant swaddled in her arms, Alice cried. She didn't want to let go. She would never let go of this little girl, the little being that she had made with Lewis Nixon. Those blue eyes, they no longer reminded Alice of Hitler's lie. Nothing about this tiny being could be touched by that lie of Aryan perfection.

Alice had never seen perfection. But that face, pale with blushing cheeks, the slightest wisps of blonde hair framing her blue eyes and little nose... that was perfection.

The door opened. She didn't want to look away. She wanted to stare down at the one good thing she'd made. The one thing that wasn't touched by the blood she'd spilled, the lives she'd taken, the faces she'd lost. But she did. And at the sight of Lewis Nixon standing there in silence, watching as the Alice held the girl they'd created, Alice started crying again through a smile that never faded.

"She's perfect," Alice choked out.

The nurse took her. Alice didn't want to let go. She didn't want to let the tiny, perfect being she'd made out of her arms. But she did. And when she saw Lewis holding her, she relaxed. He'd made that too. He'd made that little person with her.

Lewis didn't turn from the girl's face. "She's beautiful."

"Do you have a name?" the nurse asked. In her hands she held a clipboard, ready to take down the personal information that they had to pick.

He turned to Alice. She knew the answer. They'd agreed on the name already, if she was a girl. It hadn't been hard to decide on. There had only ever been one choice for a first name, and Lewis had provided the middle.

"Bernadette Rose," Alice said.

Ettie, for short. Tears filled her eyes again, thinking of her sister. As they placed Ettie back in her arms, sleeping in the wrap she'd been given by the nurses, Alice held her to her chest. Bernadette Rose Nixon. The one thing Alice had made that was pure. She would never let go.

"She's perfect," Alice repeated. Then she looked up at Lewis. "She's good, Lew."

"Just like her mom." His voice caught for a moment as he looked from Ettie to Alice.

Alice didn't argue. She just smiled through her tears at the man who she'd fallen in love with in 1943, married in 1946, and created a tiny, perfect girl with in 1947. Though she knew there were many nights ahead where she'd wish they were still doing a duet, Alice looked down and realized that would never be the case for long.

She had done more than find a home. She had created it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Just the epilogue next friends, and then a tiny bonus finale piece. It's the end of an era and I'm very emotional over this. I am going to finish uoading this fic today, I think, doing the epilogue in a few hours or so, and then the finale + thank yous.