𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐓 ✈︎ r.rosenthal

𝐈𝐈. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐬

June 9, 1943: East Anglia, England

Over the course of the few weeks that Bucky and Willow had spent together, working across the base to continue welcoming fellow crews, Bucky had seemed to grow quite fond of the girl. Dorothy herself had even began to grow closer with the Major, his carefree nature reminding her of her own brother's similar personality and bringing her a sense of warmth and home through the horrific position they found themselves in.

Though Lieutenant Wilkens had yet to even mention a single thing about her past to John, she felt as though she could rely on him if trouble were ever to occur. That privilege, however, could not be extended to the rest of the base as the many side glances and hushed whispers she heard told the girl enough about how these men felt about her, and so she did not provide the courtesy of polite conversation to those who showed an obvious lack of respect to the Lieutenant.

One of the only other exceptions to this boundary that wasn't Bucky were the ground crew workers, which Dorothy had grown quite fond of, unbeknownst to her, after witnessing their interactions with the local children of Thorpe Abbotts. Her favourite worker, which she would never admit, was Ken Lemmons, a respectable young man who was in charge of managing the ground crew at only 19 years old. His kind greeting upon her arrival earned nothing but the girl's earnest respect as he was one of the only few men who actually acknowledged and welcomed her instead of plain on ignoring her existence. Ken had nothing but kind words for both Dorothy and Bucky, and so that in itself allowed a friendship of respect and kindness to grow between them.

Slowly, Willow had begun to let the bounded walls of promised safety and security be knocked down by Bucky's extroverted personality as she found herself unable to have a single moment of silence with him before he'd go right back to talking about a random topic she couldn't care less about, and yet the Lieutenant found comfort in his constant yapping, finding it better than being stuck in the chaos of her mind. The man had also learnt across the weeks to not bring up topics that Dorothy had shied away from, realising early on that there were just some things that the girl did not feel comfortable to share. As they continued to grow closer, Lieutenant Wilkens own personality began to blossom as well, her bold, strong-willed attitude beginning to shine through the cracks of her well crafted barricade.

This newly blossoming friendship also led to the girl being able to take advantage of the Major's privileges, such as catching a quick ride on his jeep down to the runway, or back to the sleeping quarters. Through becoming friends with Bucky, Dorothy had been told that she had signed up to having another friend called Major Gale 'Buck' Cleven, who she was unable to greet on the night of her arrival to the squadron, though she knew her introduction was quite abrupt as she left the next day, not leaving her much time to connect with the other pilots.

She now found herself sat off to the side in the small jeep, chatter surrounding her as she replayed that last 15 minutes in her mind. Discontent etched her features as despite the Lieutenant's protests of being in the middle of eating, Bucky had still managed to drag her to welcome his friend onto the base. In return, however, he received mass amounts of complaints from the girl for the entirety of the journey, reducing the Majors will to live bit by bit until they finally arrived at the runway.

"Morris, thanks for the bikes!" Bucky shouted at one of the ground crew, earning a slight snicker from the girl sat to his right as the worker quickly responded; "I'll get you next time!"

The two pilots sat and watched from the car as the line of planes began to descend safely onto English soil, the Major not waiting a second before quickly following his friend's fort to its parked position, eager to reunite with the man that Willow had already heard so much about.

"DeMarco!" Bucky shouted after climbing out the jeep, Dorothy immediately following his eyes before she herself locked eyes with who she deemed to be the most adorable dog ever. "Where did you get that dog, Benny?"

"I won him at craps." The man responded as Willow remained eyeing the dog, debating whether to pet it or not.

"You took this baby above ten thousand feet?" The girl questioned, finally patting the dog as it practically snuggled up to her.

"He's got a mask. It cost me three bucks, but boy he loves to fly." DeMarco responded.

"He wouldn't stop howling." Buck complained, finally walking over to greet his two comrades with a calming smile as he dragged his bag alongside him.

"That's because he's part wolf." The man explained, trying to reason his dog's case.

"That wolf's part dog." The blonde joked, earning a small smile from the girl who remained petting the 'wolf' gently, already falling in love with the cute animal.

"Got a name?" Bucky inquired.

"Meatball." Answered DeMarco before quickly bidding goodbye to the small group, leaving the girl crouched down in position as she watched the dog walk into the distance with his newfound owner.

"You miss me?" Dorothy heard Bucky ask, finally standing up to witness the two share a welcoming handshake.

"Like a stone in my shoe." Buck responded, slightly turning to face the girl standing slightly off to the side. "Lieutenant Wilkens was it?"

"Just Dorothy, Sir, or Willow if you're wanting to follow this guy's nickname fiasco." The brunette replied, shaking hand briefly with the Major as she pointed skeptically at the man standing next to them.

"Well, he does have a knack for creating unnecessary names." Buck whispered, causing Dorothy to giggle slightly as Bucky looked questionably at the two's antics, already knowing that he was the centre of their jokes.

Their attention, however, was quickly brought to the late arriving plane that had emerged from the clouds, and by the looks of it, was making an attempt of a belly landing. The three practically leaped into the jeep and drove towards the crash landing, Willow being placed on the back seat with the bikes despite her arguing.

They soon arrived in front of the fort, Bucky looking quite displeased with the sight before Lieutenant Wilkens watched as Major Egan interrogated Brady on his late arrival in his so-called 'office', quickly deciding to send him off with some confusing words of advice that even the Lieutenant couldn't decipher.

"So, you wanna tell me about this unicorn story?" Buck asked, earning a snort from Dorothy as the incident quickly replayed in her mind, previously being witness to the events that occurred that night.

"Well, the unicorn is my favourite extinct animal." Bucky responded as both Buck and Willow looked at the Major in utter disbelief before he quickly drove off, unable to face the two's obvious discontent at his actions.

Choosing not to face the two's judgemental stares any longer, the Major decided to drop them off at the sleeping quarters, citing his reason to be an urgent meeting with the CO before quickly speeding off, leaving the two comrades standing there, looking at him driving off incredulously before deciding to head in.