#bernard demarco mention hehe

[wexhappyxfew]

Yay asks! Can I do 'riding the bike to the bakery in the morning' from the Spring list for Flo and Lemmons?

hey merc!!! thank you so much for stopping by the askbox and with such a fun prompt idea!! AND for flo and lemmons - these two i just love getting a chance to write with, and your enthusiam towards their friendship meant a whole lot, so finally getting to give them a feature - just thank you!! :) i hope you enjoy! <3

prompt: riding the bike to the bakery in the morning

featuring: Florence 'Flo' Godfrey and Ken Lemmons

"I'll get there faster than you can say hardstand!" Flo yelled over her shoulder as she sped down the road, the grass-laden fields dipping down into trees, filled with sprawling hills and livestock.

Growing up with an older brother who seemed to make it his life goal to make everything and anything when they were younger 'friendly competition', she'd gotten pretty good at beating Kenny Lemmons fair and square to the bakery on their bikes at 0630 in the morning.

It was usually better on mornings when the B-17s weren't taking off to the sky, but even that seemed lucky, whenever those days did happen to come.

"Keep making statements like that and one day it will happen," Ken called from somewhere behind her, before the sound of his bike disappeared a bit, "just not today!" Flo let out a chuckle as she came to a skidding stop in the middle of the road, the world silencing around her as she watched Lemmons come rolling up to her side, stopping rather abruptly beside her, exhaustedly leaning forward over the handle bars and glancing up to her with a soft sigh.

"I'm gonna have to have a word with Charlie Godfrey," he said, pushing up from the handle bars and taking in a breath, "you're too damn fast."

"Consider it a gift." she said with a grin, maneuvering her bike facing forward again, "Charlie wouldn't consider it one, but…..hey, he started it." All those years ago, she finished in her head. Lemmons chuckled at her words and looked out towards the sunrise - bathed in blues, purples, pinks and yellows. Yeah, she could say something like that was beautiful. Especially in a time like this. Sunrises were a sign you made it to the next day.

"Pretty ain't it?" he said; she glanced his way and nodded.

"Sometimes it's nicer when the planes aren't taking off," she said quietly, "knowing the boys won't be going up to the skies."

"Yeah," Lemmons said quietly like he didn't want to think about it, before glancing her way, "hey, you realize you could give Major Egan a run for his money on these things." Flo let out a chuckle and shook her head.

"He's a mad-man on wheels at the best of times," Flo said, "next time he happens to get his hands on a bike, I'll make sure to give him the offer. First one to cycle around base buys the other a drink."

"I'd bet on you, Flo," Lemmons said, adjusting his front tire from his handlebars, "though, he'd probably heckle me for not picking him."

"That's just his thing," Flo muttered over her shoulder with a laugh, "c'mon, that blueberry muffin is calling my name and squawking over a sunrise isn't going to get us there any faster!" Lemmons chuckled, as he pushed off from the ground, riding gently beside her as they continued down the quiet path that early morning towards the nearby town where the local bakery had muffins that were quite literally to die for - a cinnamon-sugar crunch on top, fluffy, thick and delicious. And usually, the owner would give them a drink for free, so she'd go for house coffee and Lemmons, ever as oh-so-sophisticatedly, drank tea. Flo usually got a kick out of it, seeing him sip tea like a middle-aged Englishman.

"Someone was looking for you earlier this morning," Lemmons said with a smirk, as he sent a glance her way, "he seemed really interested in your wearabouts. Wink was worried at first it was some weirdo, but then he started talking about this girl he had met the other day and he had sworn he'd seen her with us before-"

"Who?" Flo asked, glancing his way as she readjusted on the bike, suddenly feeling like she lost all capabilities of riding a bike. One person came to mind in her brain, enough to hijack her bike riding capabilities, quick enough for Lemmons to realize.

"Real swell guy," Lemmons said with a smile her way, "real kind, too. Usually makes sure we're taken care of as ground crew men." Flo sent him a look.

"Well that could be just about any pilot on base," she said, and then scoffed," even Helen! Or Tatty! Sweet as peaches those two are! Watching out for me when I need time away from the crew."

"Are you saying we're bad influences?" Lemmons scoffed with mock offense, "I'm wounded, Flo, really, that hurt." But she watched the smile on his face grew and she shook her head.

"You ass." she said with a chuckle, "Seriously who was it, just tell me."

"I think it's more fun to make you guess," Lemmons said with a laugh, "c'mon, we still have at least 15 minutes to the bakery, just take a guess, let me have it."

"Is this charades?" Flo murmured under her breath as she sent him a look. He let out a laugh.

"C'mon, Flo, just take a stab, I'll make sure to tell him later that you didn't remember him-"

"Kenny!" Flo admonished, reaching over the bikes to give him a light, slightly unstable slap on the shoulder, "Don't you tell him that!"

"Oh so you do know who it is." Lemmons said with a snicker, catching the look on her face in an instant, "Oh, c'mon, you know who it is. You got all defensive and protective. Let's see -"

"Is he a Captain?" Flo questioned softly, her voice gentle as they continued down the street in front of them. Lemmons smirked and let out a laugh.

"Oh he's a Captain," Lemmons said, "and a dog named Meatball is his first mate." Flo broke out into a laugh and glanced at him, and then looked forward again, still keeping a smile dancing at the corners of her lips.

"Captain DeMarco." Flo said and Lemmons chuckled at her words.

"Yeah," Lemmons said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I suspect when they get back from the run today, he'll be looking for you, too." Flo smiled wide, maybe too wide for her own good and then glanced over at him.

"He's a real sweetheart," Flo said as they continued forward, "a gentleman really." Lemmons watched her and then stopped his bike, Flo glancing back once she realized he wasn't keeping up with her.

"Am I going too fast again?" she called to him as he slowly walked his bike forward a bit and stopped beside her, the look in his eye far more serious than it had been earlier.

"Fonda wrote me earlier, just got her letter," Lemmons said, "asked how the crew was, how you were doing, how the boys were….I wrote back, saying how everything was, giving her updates, telling her how I was feeling, all of that sorta stuff." She watched him.

"I don't know, Flo, but," Lemmons shrugged his shoulders, "you just always got this big smile on your face now. It suits you, really. And it started once you came in from the flying club a few nights back. Look, I'm not telling you what to do, but…..he cares about you. And when he goes up in those forts day after day, knowing he has the opportunity to see you any chance he can manage, I know he'll come looking for you." Flo stared at Lemmons, watching as he messed with a piece of fabric he tore off the pilots seat of Cleven's fort earlier - it'd been hanging about with no way of getting sewn back on anytime soon.

"War's war, but so is love," Lemmons said, "I write to my Fonda any chance I can get, even if it's at 2 in the morning after cleaning up a plane. He shows up even after he's watched men parachute out from burning forts and dying high above the ground. Even when I know he's hurting. When they all are." Flo watched him as the sun began to tickle their cheeks, her eyes fighting a bit of the emotions that lingered there.

"And I know you haven't had an easy go in the past," Lemmons said, "but someone like him is showing up for you - it's scary? Hell yeah it's scary! But ya know what else is scary? War. But hope and love are greater than that combined. And I don't want you missing that just because you think you don't deserve it…." Flo continued to watch him, his words and her thoughts living in her mind and consuming her.

"I see him and…." Flo started and could feel her thoughts beginning to calm, just the idea of him there settling them. She saw his eyes, heard his laugh, remembered the touch of his hand somewhere along her cheek, that look in his eyes when it was just the two of them somewhere under a sunset, looking at each other like it would never end. Knowing it could be the last time. Last time for anything and everything. Last time for him.

"You really think so?"

"I know so," Lemmons said, the quickness with his words enough confirmation, "Meatball doesn't just run over to us for shits and giggles now, does he?" Flo watched him and smiled softly and nodded.

"Thank you, Kenny," she said quietly - Lemmons patted her arm and then nodded forward.

"C'mon, those muffins got our name right on top and I'm gonna have to tell Fonda exactly how it tasted or she'll lose it on me if I don't tell her how it was," he said, before pushing off from the ground, a wild grin on his face, smile growing wide on his lips, and a wink in his eye, "you should see the way he looks at you, Godfrey! Like you lassoed the moon!"

a/n: fonda mention! she was kenny's wife, and they married before the war and it felt apt to give her a mention here! :) ALSO, charlie godfrey is in fact friends with marty armstrong, the brother of war correspondent esther armstrong featured in my bob fic And Then The Dawn Came! i LIVE for these connections for fun WOOO!