#stanhope keeps Dick around his office

[roadtogracelandx45]

Courage Under Fire| Pre War 7| Band of Brothers

@marycorleone @prettyinpayne @ohnoitsthebat

masterlist

part 6

We are getting so close to where Liv and her band of girls to Toccoa and meet the boys. We will start meeting them in part 9 and 10. Part 8 is Olivia, Alice and a new girl Betsy going to Officer's training camp. And we meet Dick Winters.

Pre-War part 7

“You married my daughter?” Katherine questioned causing Olivia, who had been focused on the kids to turn to the two, her eyes going to Lewis who gave her a discreet nod to play along. He was doing this to save her from Davis and anything else that her mother had planned.

“Yes, it’s just something that happened.” The older Stewart daughter added, “I stopped him from marrying Kathy. I came to realize that I loved him and that I wanted him for myself.”

“You know it’s funny that you call her your daughter now.” Lewis started, “You wanted nothing to do with her until you heard that we got married.”

Helen, who was talking to her husband and his brothers which included Olivia’s father, James, smiled proudly, she had to hand it to both her cousin and her niece, they both thought very quickly on their feet and could twist things to make things better.

“James, they aren’t married, Liv wouldn’t do that to you or to the family.’ She started seeing the surprise in her brother-in-law’s eye turn to anger, “She told us before we boarded the flight about what Katherine was doing to her and Marla. Lewis is just trying to save her. He is pushing her to join the Army Nursing Corps as well.”

Furious, James turned to his brother and uncle who had joined them, “You want my 18-year-old daughter to join the Army Nursing Corp? Are you out of your goddamn minds?”

“No,” Finn started keeping his eyes on the trio, “You know your daughter just as well as we do, you know she isn’t going to want to stay home and do nothing not with her brothers and the men she cares about fighting. And she won’t take the money she has rightfully earned from Granddad, and she won’t take money from the Nixons.’

“They offered?” James was floored, he knew his twins were close to the Nixons, especially Olivia. But he never thought that they would offer to pay for her education. Helen nodded her head in agreement, she had a conversation with her aunt and uncle while Lewis and Olivia were getting ready for the rehearsal dinner a few nights prior. And Stanhope had expressed his hope that his son would end up with Olivia.

“They were going to offer it to her in person after the dinner, but Kathy struck her.” She had all the Stewart men's attention then. “That woman raised her hand at Liv?” Michael asked peering around her to look at his niece who was being scooped up into a hug by her twin.

“She has a nice cut on her cheek from the ring.’ She motioned to her cheek, “Though she handled herself just fine today. She almost broke her wrist when Kathy went to strike Lewis after she stopped the wedding.” James looked at his daughter and then at his sister-in-law, there were a lot of things that they were going to have to talk about. ** “Olivia Stewart!” A voice came from the top of the stairs causing Olivia to pull away from her oldest brother who was inspecting the cut on her cheek. “Faith Anderson!” Olivia returned, moving around her brothers and going up the stairs to hug her friend.

When she had first come back to Charleston after the fiasco with Evie and Bill, she had tried to hold Alice at arm’s length, so she didn’t get hurt again. But the girl pushed through the walls and was a constant when she was struggling with Fredrick’s care. Faith's dark eyes shot to where Lewis was at, hovering behind her friend, like another shadow.

“This is Lewis Nixon, he’s Aunt Helen’s cousin. I was at his wedding.’ Faith looked between the two confused, “Why is he here with you then and not with his wife?” “It’s a long story, Alice.” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, “That I can explain.”

The taller girl studied her friend for a long moment before looking at Lewis, "It's nice to meet you, sir.”

“Don’t inflate his ego.” Bobby teased from where he was standing hanging their laughing nephew upside down his ankles.

‘It’s already big enough.” she agreed with a nod of her head. “You are getting me right here Liv. I am hurt.” Lewis complained, covering his heart with his hands. “Love you.” She grinned before taking her friend’s hand to take her upstairs to talk to her. “Better be glad of the fact that I love you too.” He returned, if he had been with his family, he would have been as open with his affection towards Olivia. But her family was a whole different story.

** The next morning **

James knocked on the door that led to his daughter’s bedroom, he had given her time to get settled and get some sleep, he had known that she hadn’t been sleeping well and he wanted to talk to his brother and uncle about her joining the Nursing Corp.

“Come in.” She called and he pushed the door open, Lewis was coming out of the adjoining bathroom, fidgeting with the tie and Olivia was sitting at the vanity examining the healing cut on her cheek.

“Good morning, Bean. Lewis.” He greeted; he hadn’t been pleased when Helen told him that Lewis had been sleeping with his daughter, but she hadn’t woken up the whole house with her nightmares. She seemed at semi-peace, and he would take that. “Morning Daddy. Everything okay?’ she asked, turning to look at him.

“We need to talk about what happened in Phoenix and the Nursing Corp.’

“I will leave you two to talk about that.’ Lewis commented before dropping a kiss on Olivia’s forehead.

“Don’t start drinking yet, okay? Need you kind of sane to keep the wicked witch away.”

“Of course, sweetheart.” He winked before nodding his head at James and slipping out of the room. “You and him huh?” James asked, “Last you told me you didn’t want to date anymore.”

“I can’t explain it, Daddy,” she started, “other than you and my brothers, he makes me feel safe and brings out a different side to me.”

“What about Bill?”

“You didn’t like Bill either.” She pointed out, “And I am not going to marry Lewis any time soon. If at all. Kathy was a lot like Katherine. I didn’t want him to live through that like we did.”

“He is a big boy Bean.” James started, “But if it had to be between him and Bill, I would pick him. Yes, you and Bill make sense but you two would be so unhappy. This isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. The Army Nursing Corp.” There was a sudden spark in her eye that made him think he made the right choice. “If you want to join, you can. Andrea and I had a talk about it last night with your uncle Finn, Michael, and Elizabeth Forbes.”

“The General is here?”

“Hmm, there is talk of her and Finn getting married.”

Olivia bit back the rude comment that she had built on her tongue, “That is going to go over real well with Marie and her family.”

“Got that right. They want you to stay here and finish up your schooling at a faster pace, you can get it done quicker without the distraction of Bill or the family.” Olivia nodded her head, she didn't want to admit that she had missed being in Charleston. As much as she loved South Philly, being with her younger siblings and around the neighborhood, she missed being there with her grandparents and great-grandparents. “Andie wants you to come home for Christmas though. She is dead set on it.” “I can do that. Just no snowball fights. I don't think I have ever properly warmed up from the time that Nicholas dumped all that snow down my back.” James laughed, out of his kids, Olivia was the only one who had an aversion to the cold.

The others adapted quickly to it.

“Bobby is already enlisting isn’t he?” She asked after a heartbeat, “After school?” James nodded his head, he hadn’t wanted to let him join after losing Nicholas but he had no choice in the matter.

“Finish getting ready, we have to leave soon for mass and I am sure Katherine is going to want to yell some more at you.”

“I would have to be the Queen of England to have her stop yellin’ at me. But I doubt even that would stop her.” She stood up from her chair and smirked, “Let me tell her I am joining the Nursing Corp.” “Bean, I know this is hard on you but please, please don’t cause a fight that ends up getting the cops called here.” Though James knew that it was nothing new for them to get called to the house when they had something like this going on and with Katherine being around. ** Lewis wasn’t surprised when Olivia appeared next to him at the dining room table nor was he surprised when she picked up his coffee cup that held coffee and Vat .69. “What’s this I hear about you joining?” Bobby started before his sister rushed across the room and clapped her hand over his mouth.

“Robert, shut up! Katherine doesn’t know yet. I am going to tell her when the time is right.” He bit back the laughter that bubbled up quickly, he only hoped that he was there to see Katherine’s reaction to it. If the blow-up was anything like the one from the night it would be a sight to see.

“Do you know what you are doing? Joining?’ he dropped his voice so only she could hear him.

“Do you?’ She returned, “They aren’t sending nurses into active war zones yet, or if they ever will. I’ll probably stay here or be sent to Pearl to help with the hospital there. I’m more worried about you, our brothers, Lewis, Bill, and the other boys in the neighborhood than I am about me going to a military hospital to help wounded soldiers.”   "God help anyone that came between you and one of your soldiers." Lee, their middle brother, commented from the doorway.  He along with Edward had an unsettling  pit in his stomach at the thought of their younger sister joining the Nursing Corp, things were constantly changing, and she could be shipped out to the Pacific where their brothers  Daniel and James were  currently in the Pacific.

And that scared him and scared Bobby, but their father had been right, Olivia was going to do this whether they liked it or not and it was better for them to know where she was than her up and disappear into the night.

[lupoteodoro]

headcanon: Dick working for Stanhope Nixon

[aloraundomiel]

I’ve decided to combine @rubinecorvus Wartober 2021 and @raincoffeeandfandoms Kisstober 2021 prompt challenges for double the fun and double the headache. :3

Day 3 - Vessel + Morning Kisses

Dick can tell what kind of day it’s going to be by the mug Nix chooses upon waking.

He shuffles into the kitchen, already running late and nearly nude, if not as naked as the day he was born. Occasionally there will be socks. His hair will be unkempt and sticking up in every direction, inexplicable if Dick has tugged on it through their sex the night before. Eyes closed as he’s drawn to the coffee pot like a moth to the flame, skirting the kitchen table and counter edges from memory.

Dick shakes back his sleeve, mouth tightening in a minute down turn as his watch ticks on insistently.

Nix scrubs a hand through his heavy stubble, peers over to where Dick’s standing in his mild irritation.

“You’ve missed the first train,” he slurs.

Dick tugs his sleeve back down, crosses the three strides it takes to get from the cramped apartment kitchen to the door and plucks his coat from the hook.

“I can make the second if I leave in the next couple of minutes. The benefits of cheap housing, being so close to the station. Are you coming?”

Nix barks a laugh and it’s no indicator whether he’s scoffing at the suggestion he could possibly be ready in minutes or at the notion of showing up for work at all. The possibility of either happening is slim to none and mentally Dick already starts to run down the list of tasks he’ll have to add to his own agenda today to ensure Nixon Nitration’s administrative offices continue to run smoothly without their employer. Not that any of the staff will be shocked by the boss not showing up at the office. The times they actually see Stanhope Nixon’s son per month can be counted on both hands. But Dick’s job is enough work on it’s own. Not particularly challenging, but he would like to stamp it with his own brand of efficiency and work ethic without constantly having to cover for Nix going AWOL.

Dick watches from beneath his lashes, stalking Nix’s movement to the cabinet where the coffee mugs are kept.

“Coffee first,” grumbles Nix, fumbling through the collection of ceramic vessels with a series of soft clanks and clings.

Dick waits, holding his breath. Though there’s a dozen different cups within reach, there will be three that dictate Nix’s current mood and mental state. If he chooses the white, unassuming diner mug, lacking any kind of decoration or detail, a full night’s sleep was had and the day will consist of the usual amount of humorous cynicism. If he goes for the slightly larger jadeite mug with the chip in the handle, the day will only be peppered lightly with bouts of irritability and spells of hopelessness and ennui, and some level of productivity and socialization will be maintained. If he reaches for the hand-thrown extra large stoneware mug with Adirondack pines circumventing it’s convex sides...Dick hopes he doesn’t reach for that mug.

“You sleep all right?” Dick prompts, hoping to get some insight into foretelling the selection before it happens.

Nix cuts a sleepy side-eyed glance at him across the counter, flashes that smirk that even in his bedraggled, rugged state makes Dick’s heart do a tiny wet flip-flop.

“Well not for the present company’s lack of trying.” He lifts a brow and drops his gaze lewdly down Dick’s front, rests it suggestively at the crotch of his khakis.

To hide the flush he feels spreading from the apple of his cheeks, Dick clears his throat and leans over to snatch his hat off the coat rack.

“Wasn’t my intention to keep you up all night-”

“Some parts of me, it was,” Nix drawls.

Dick continues with a grimace. “I just thought,” he insists, “it might be nice to spend some time together. Things have gotten busy at the office lately, and well.”

He trails off, chewing at the inside of his lip. It does seem silly now. Inviting Nix over to spend the night because he’d missed the feel of his skin against his own, missed the timbre of his unguarded laugh. Reckless even. Although the apartment building is the right amount of cordial and distant, he’s still got neighbors. And even the most loyal neighbors can talk. It’s ridiculous. Risking what he has with Nix on a single night’s basest pleasure. He’d told himself once they were back home, he’d figure something out. A way to love him without the secrecy and sneaking around, a way to care for Nix as he deserved to be cared for - without regret. Dick swore to be the first. The first to adore Lewis Nixon and not treat him as a burden to be endured. As a mistake to be suffered.

“Nevermind,” he says, rather glumly. “I’m glad you got some rest.”

Nix leans back to peer around the cabinet door, picking up on the change in his tone. His face softens, eyes opening fully for the first time since entering the kitchen and he abandons his quest for coffee to step around the counter’s edge. He reaches for Dick, runs a cautious hand down his arm.

“Hey, Dick, hey.” His eyes are the perfect compliment to a fine cup of coffee. Dick’s always been drawn to the color of Nix’s eyes.

“It was great,” Nix tells him, sliding his hand up to cup the back of Dick’s neck, gives it a squeeze. “Extraordinary. Transcendent. It always is. But I don’t always need you to fuck me through the mattress to enjoy spending time with you. You could let me take you to dinner.”

Dick can feel the crude words push his flush out to the roots of his hair. “Dinner?”

Nix leans in, eyes flicking between Dick’s and his mouth and back. “Yeah. You know. Dinner. And a movie. And maybe a little necking in the car in the back of the parking lot.”

His grin is annoyingly contagious and Dick stops fighting the magnetic pull, let’s himself be drawn into Nix’s gravity. “Like a date?” he murmurs.

“Yeah. A real date. I’ll pick you up, bring you flowers, spring for dessert, the whole shebang.”

Dick tilts his head, inviting Nix closer, draws his other arm up to cage Dick fully against the door.

“Careful,” he whispers, a hair’s breath away from Nix’s lips. “A man might think you’re sweet on him with all that.”

Nix’s coffee colored eyes twinkle, wide awake. “Good.”

He surges up to capture Dick’s mouth, kissing whatever smart reply he had building on his tongue away. Dick moans, buries his hands in Nix’s wild hair and kisses him back, licks at the seam of his mouth until he opens and allows Dick entrance. He tastes sleep-sour and there’s an echo of last night’s whiskey and that bitter, smoky afterburn that is all Nix and Dick laps it up greedily. All night he’s chased this taste, desperate for it, accenting it with the salt of Nix’s sweat and the sound of Dick’s name from his throat. And he still wants more.

Is this what Nix feels every time he reaches for his flask? Is this what addiction is?

He kisses Nix until his cheeks burn from the rasp of his stubble. He kisses Nix until his lips feel swollen and his heart full to the brim. Kisses him until he’s satisfied he can wait until it’s time to punch out from work and find Nix again to refill his need of Nix’s lips against his.

When Nix draws back, his breathing is just a tad uneven, his pupils a tad too large. Dick smirks, pleased he’s not the only addict between them.

“So,” Nix says, trying and failing to cover his breathlessness. “You name the day. And I’ll come steal you away for a whirlwind courtship. What do you say?”

Dick runs a thumb over Nix’s bottom lip, watches the way it catches in the tacky saliva still clinging to the swell. “I accept.”

Nix grins, catching the pad of his thumb and giving it a swirl with his clever, devious tongue. He releases it with an audible pop and pushes off the door, leaving Dick choking on a rather indignant whimper in his wake.

“You better run,” he advises. “You’ve got sixty seconds if you’re making your train.”

Snapping out of his spell, Dick tsks and glances at his watch again. He bends at the waist to retrieve his poor hat that got abandoned to the floor with all the smooching.

“Are you coming in today or not? I need to tell Janet or she won’t stop hounding me about it.”

Nix, already back at the coffee pot, lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “Who can say?” he says airily, reaching into the cabinet. “I’ve got a big date to plan for, might need to take the day off and prepare.”

He lowers his hand and in it is clutched the plain white diner mug.

Dick beams.

“Fine,” he chuckles, already half out the door before Nix can finish filling his coffee. “See you later. Or not.”

There’s the sound of a sloppy, particularly wet coffee kiss being blown at his back as the door shuts and Dick finds himself grinning all the way to the train station.

It’s going to be a great day.

[justthinkingofwaystoavoidbusses]

Diner

Hi! Would you ever write something for Dick Winters. Maybe she’s an old friend of Nixon’s? - anon

A/N- Sorry I’ve been way for so long, I’m not sure how often I can actually post because my laptop still won’t work so I’m having to type this on my tablet which is much slower and harder to type on. Excuses aside I wanted to post a little something to keep you going!

A/N2- Sorry, I coudnt get the gifs to work on the app xx EDIT: gif added

—

“Nix, I don’t know about this,” Dick tugged anxiously at his cuffs. Lewis stood behind him with a know it all grin, already started on his ‘pre-party drinks’.

“They’ll love you,” he shrugged casually, “Major Richard Winters, owns land in rural Pennsylvania - you’ll fit right in.”

“My parents own that land, it’s hardly land, it’s an average sized farm.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “What my parents friends don’t know won’t hurt them. It’s a small lie, if that, more like an exaggeration; which they’re all guilty of anyway.”

Dick frowned, trying and failing to make his face relax as he gazed at his appearance in the mirror. He almost didn’t recognise himself. Before he had been a young farm boy, then a battle hardened soldier, now…he didn’t know what he was now. A manager at Nixon Nitration, working with/for his best friend. It didn’t fit, something was lacking in his life. “Let’s get this done with.”

—

The party was in full swing by the time the two arrived, nobody seemed to take note of their entrance for which Dick was eternally thankful. Though, he did catch on to Stanhope Nixon’s disapproving look as he glanced at his son, not that he ever looked at him with any other expression. Dick began to follow Nix around like a lost puppy, he spoke when spoken to and introduced himself politely but other than that he hung back behind Lew’s shoulder and listened.

It reminded him of the meeting for Operation Pegasus, watching Lew chat and get on with the guys from HQ while he stood awkwardly in the corner waiting to be acknowledged.

“Lewis Nixon,” a disbelieving voice sounded from behind him making him and Nix turn around to see who had spoken, “Here you are! In the flesh! Didn’t think I’d see you at one of these things again.”

Nix’s face broke out into a wide smile, “Same goes for yourself,” he replied brightly, sounding more genuine than he had the entire night thus far. He stepped past Dick and pulled the woman in for a short hug.

“Ah, well, Madaline dragged me along, couldn’t get out of it. Why are you here?”

“Perks of the job,” he replied wryly, “Apparently it’s my responsibility to show my face and network,” Nix’s face screwed up in distaste. “But I brought company,” he turned around and slapped a hand on Dick’s shoulder.

The woman’s eyes shifted to Dick and widened, “I’m sorry, how rude of me, I didn’t even notice you there. Please forgive me,” she stuck her hand out, “I’m Y/N Y/L/N, and you are?”

Dick shook her hand and gave her a soft smile, “Dick Winters.”

Lew looked between the two with a large grin on his face, “Y’know I never realised I wanted you two to meet until just now. Dick, Y/N is my childhood best friend and one of the only reasons I lasted as long as I did. Y/N, Dick’s a war buddy and now he works for me, he’s no fun but I think you’ll get along,” he said good naturedly and Dick rolled his eyes.

“Pleasure to meet you,” she nodded at him.

“Pleasure’s all mine.”

Someone called Nix away and he looked disappointed that he’d have to leave the conversation. “I’ll be back soon, why don’t you get to know each other a little better.”

—

You watched Lewis walk away and focused your attention back on Dick. “So you’ve known Nix a while?” he asked.

“Since we were five,” you nodded, “He’s always getting in trouble so I kept an eye on him. I assume you did the same?”

Dick nodded, “Yes, he can be quite the handful. He used to hide his VAT 69 in my footlocker.”

You snorted, “Sounds like him. I kind of got him hooked on that stuff. When we were 16 I snuck some out of my father’s liquor cabinet, Lewis swore it was the best whiskey he’d ever had and couldn’t go back to the crappy stuff the corner shop vendor was willing to sell us.”

Dick chuckled, “That sounds about right. So where are you from?” You told him where you grew up and asked him the same. “On a farm in Pennsylvania,” he told you, remembering Nix’s earlier words to exaggerate on how much he owned.

“Was it a lot of land?”

He shrugged, unsure of how exactly to lie, he hated having to lie. Instead he made a vague unsure noise as a response. Your eyes lit up in amusement, “A farm sounds a lot nicer than some kind of estate like these lot,” you reassured him.

Dick nodded, a light blush coloured his cheeks, “It’s actually my parents farm. I would have gone back after the war but Nix dragged me up here to work for him, it’s not really my thing.”

“It’s not mine either. I never worked for Stanhope but Lewis complained enough for me to feel like I did. I grew up round these people and got out as fast as I could, I’m surprised Lew wasn’t begging you to take him with you - he always said he wanted out.”

He shrugged, “I don’t think he had a farm in mind.”

“A farm sounds better than this place. If you don’t mind me asking, why do you stay. No offence, but you don’t exactly look like you fit in here.”

Dick could tell you didn’t mean it in any kind of offensive way, just an observation. “The moneys good,” he answered, though it didn’t sound like he believed it. “Truth is, what else have I got. I’m lucky to get a manager job without any experience.”

“I think you’re plenty experienced, Major.”

“In the battlefield. Not the office. I’ve always hated paperwork.“

You bit your lip and scanned the crowd, you spotted Lewis drinking with some girl at the bar. “I do believe our mutual friend will be indisposed for the remainder of the evening,” you smirked with a roll of your eyes. “There’s a great diner a few blocks away that serves actual sized portions of food that we can pronounce. Want to ditch this place? I feel like I’m suffocating in satin and pearls.” Dick nodded eagerly, glad for any excuse to leave. “Lets go, its just a short walk.”

Together you left the building, each letting out a small sigh of relief at being able to leave. “Won’t we be a little over dressed?”

You glanced at your fancy dress and his suit and shrugged, “Maybe a little. Who cares, who says we can’t dress up to go to a back street diner,” you grinned up at him and he smiled back.

At the diner you directed him to the booth at the back next to the window, a small smile on your face as you watched the cars go by and the people make their way through town. You didn’t notice Dick looking at you, a shy smile on his own face, as he realised his heart beat had yet to slow down since he met you.

“Hi, what can I getcha?” a waitress came over.

“Um, I’ll have the strawberry milkshake and double bacon cheeseburger,” you requested without looking at the menu, you came her often enough.

“And you?” the waitress turned to Dick and he realised he hadn't even looked at the menu. His eyes quickly scanned the menu which was printed onto the table top but he couldn't focus on any, embarrassed that he had been too busy looking at you to choose what he waned. “I–um–the same. Please.” He gave an awkward smile as the waitress walked off and you tried to hide your smile.

“Smooth,” you teased and his face went even redder.

“You come here a lot I take it?” he tried changing the subject.

You grinned, letting him drop the topic. “Yup, I always came here when I got dragged to one of those parties. Sometimes Id drag Lewis if he wasn't too drunk yet, this is always the first place I come to when I get back to town. I've been coming here for years and it never changes, Eddie, the chef, has been running this place for god knows how long and he doesn't change the recipes.”

“Well, thank you for bringing me here.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

The waitress came back with your food and Dick had to admit it was the best burger he had had jn a long time, maybe even ever. “Like it?” you asked eagerly.

“Yeah, I love it.” He smiled, the two of you ate and talked for the rest of the night until it was closing time. “Can I walk you back to your car, or hotel?”

You nodded, “I’m staying at a place about ten minutes away.”

“Lead the way.”

You began walking down the street and you boldly decided to link your arm with his as you walked. The streets were mainly quiet and deserted now and it seemed almost too soon that you were standing in front of your hotel, “I had a great time tonight, Dick.”

“Me too,” he ducked his head slightly with a small blush.

You bit your lip and before you lost your nerve you leaned up and kissed him softly. It took a second for him to kiss back but his eyes fluttered closed and he placed his hands on your waist to hold you in place. The sound of a car beeping at another car on the way past broke you apart and you both blushed deeply. “I’m in town for another two weeks, if you ever wanted to-”

“Yes!” Dick nodded, blushing again. “Yes,” he said quieter, “When are you next free?”

“Wednesday evening?”

He nodded, “I’ll pick you up here.”

You smiled, “Great. Goodnight, Dick,” you kissed his cheek before you ducked into the building. An excited grin on you face the rest of the night as you though about Wednesday. You realised that when Lewis got word of this that you’d never hear the end of it but you got the feeling that it was worth it, that Dick was worth it.

***

A/N- Wow, sorry I suck. This has taken forever to get out and I feel bad about it but hopefully you wont hate me too much! Thank you for reading, requests are closed xx