It was the summer of 1948, things were going a lot smoother with the airlift now that winter had long since passed and there weren't a lot of obstacles other than the occasional screw up here and there due to human error. Alfred was really happy with how well this was going, and getting to see the smile on Elyse's face every time he dropped by was more than enough to keep him going.
Sometime in the middle of July, one of his Lieutenants was making unauthorized drops, which he didn't understand at first until he noticed the kids that would come watch the airlift in progress when they had nothing better to do. The man was dropping candy for them.
While candy wasn't really on the list of necessities that they were bringing in, morale definitely needed to be boosted, and what better way to do that than with a sweet treat?
Without much thought, he learned the name of the Lieutenant that was making the drops and quickly called the man in charge of the airlift and tipped him off to what was happening. Lt. General Tunner loved the idea, so much in fact that he ordered it to be expanded upon.
The middle of September came around pretty quickly and "Operation Little Vittles" was soon to be underway. To surprise Elyse, he didn't tell her that he was coming in on this one, having a little bundle just for her at the ready when he landed.
Elyse was mainly busy with the ground crew to notice what was going on, making sure her people were okay and helping them out as much as possible. Taking a break from lifting things out of an airplane every half-hour on the half-hour, Elyse stood off to the side and watched, only for her vision to be impaired by a pair of hands.
"Guess who," Alfred teased, grinning like an idiot.
"I guess a silly American man who needs to learn how to properly greet people?" she said, turning to him with the smile he loved so much.
"Damn it– can't get anything past you, can I?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Nein," she said, grinning triumphantly. "Anyway, what the hell are you doing here, Jones? Was there an update or something on the airlift?"
"You could say that, yeah," he nodded, slipping off the bag he'd decided to use as a vessel for the candy bundle, producing a little handkerchief with little teddy bears printed on it from one of the nice women helping out with the mini-operation they were doing.
"What's in this?" she asked as it was handed to her.
"Just open it up, you'll see," he said, barely able to contain his excitement.
Elyse looked up at him with some suspicion before taking a peek into the bundle and gasping, looking up at Alfred with a look of surprise.
"Alfred! You seriously didn't have to do this for me," she said, opening it up a little further to see what all was inside. "What's all this for?"
"Operation 'Little Vittles'. One of my pilots felt bad for the kiddos and decided to do some candy drops earlier this summer and I thought it'd be a nice little morale booster if we maybe... expanded it a bit," Alfred answered with a shrug, keeping a grin at bay.
The look on her face made Alfred absolutely melt, a mixture of excitement, joy, and something else he couldn't quite pin down, but he didn't get much of a chance to figure it out before he was pulled into a tight hug.
"Danke dir sehr viel," she said, releasing him after a short pause. "Thank you so much. I swear you're spoiling me! I don't deserve all this."
Alfred just shrugged. "I think you do. Call me an optimist, but I know for a fact that you were against everything that war stood for, El. Don't beat yourself up over it– enjoy the moment, will ya?"
She let out a soft breath out of her nose to symbolize a laugh, shaking her head. "Alfred F. Jones, you're going to be the death of me, you know that?" she said, reaching up and kissing him on the cheek gently.
Alfred had to hold back a blush. Ever since that night in '45, he'd been a little confused about what their relationship was. She never refused his advances but at the same time she never made any either, so this was a first for them.
"Well, Elyse Beilschmidt, I could say the same about you," he said with a grin to smooth out his falter. "Gosh, your last name is a mouthful."
Elyse laughed, rolling her eyes at him in a good-natured fashion. "Alright, alright, I've got to get back to doing important things. You probably should too. Aren't you also supplying Israel?"
"But what if I want to stay here? Hm?" he challenged.
She rolled her eyes again. "Oh, you saukerl. Get out of here. I'll see you later, okay?" she said, patting him on the chest before making an about-face and walking off.
Alfred watched her go with a small smile on his face. He feared he was beginning to love this woman.
YOU ARE READING
Cold War Blues
Fanfiction(Content Warning for chapter 4: r*pe and sexual assault are big themes in chapter 4, so please be careful reading that, or you can just skip that chapter altogether. Best wishes!) Berlin after WWII was kind of in a sticky position. On one hand, she...
