Freya's P.O.V-

Grandpa walked groggily around the kitchen as Freya sat at the table, finishing lunch. Grandma was in the main room, sewing another quilt as she normally did. Freya looked around, waiting for a chance to escape to the loft.

After Axel had passed out in the hay up in the loft, Roger and Freya had discussed what they would do. They would keep quiet and Roger said he would keep Freya's secret for now. Freya couldn't find words to describe the disgusted and angry words she felt toward him. He had attacked Axel. She almost attacked Roger.

But, she also owed Roger. He hadn't told anybody about Axel yet and by the looks of it he didn't plan on telling anybody too soon. Unless things got out of hand. Freya had bandaged Axel's head while he was sleeping and then both her and Roger had left the barn, getting back to work. Roger had finished most of the fence and had gone home, not saying too much as he left.

Freya was thankful that he wasn't going to tell. That was the last thing she needed.

"So, what would you think if we all hit the road for a few days and visited your aunt?" Grandpa randomly said, opening the pantry and looking for something.

"I'd love too. We haven't seen them in a while. But how would we get there?" Grandma called back.

Freya's heart sank. "Wouldn't it be dangerous to travel in the middle of this war?" She said quietly, looking at him.

"Hey, where are all my apples?" Grandpa asked suspiciously, then shrugged and turned away from the pantry to look at Freya, his blue eyes meeting hers. "You would stay here, Freya. To take care of the animals. Unless your not comfortable staying home alone..." he trailed off, walking over and looking in the drawers for something.

Freya shook her head, "N-no, its fine. I've been left home alone, remember?" When she was around 15, they had gone on a trip and had left her home for a week. She had been fine.

"Huh. Right." He mumbled, searching for an unknown object.

"Would that be okay with you Freya?" Grandma called, her hands busy with fabric and needle as she did her work.

"Of course. I'd be fine." Freya nodded, getting up and placing her bowl of soup on the counter.

Grandpa grinned. "To answer your question about getting there," He paused and then his face lit up, "A train! We would walk to the station, or if someone could loan their MG 32 for a day." He sighed, looking into the distance for a moment. "Always wanted one of those."

"A what?" Freya asked, tilting her head.

Grandpa chuckled. "It's a car, Freya. Newest way of transportation! I think Mr. Smith ought to have one..." Grandpa walked out of the room, mumbling to himself about that car as Grandma smiled and looked back down at her sewing.

A car. Hmm. That was something you didn't see very often here in Swingate. This was one of the more poorer areas of England...

With her grandparents gone for a little bit, at least she wouldn't have to worry about Axel being discovered by them. Speaking of Axel, he had probably woken up already. She was generally concerned at the wound he had from Roger's attack. But then she remembered the way he had smiled at her as she helped him over to the ladder, in an attempt to cheer her up. He would be okay. She knew it.

The day passed quickly as her grandparents actually began putting the idea of leaving in action. Grandpa and Grandma were in the main room now, talking and writing things down on a piece of paper. Freya was cleaning up around the house, a damp towel in her hand as she ran it along the window seal, picking up dust and any dirt that had settled over time. She overheard her grandparents speaking and discussing the trip. They would take a train up to London, where some of their family lived. The train wouldn't be available for two weeks due to shipments of new enlistees joining the army, so they would stay up in London for two and a half weeks before catching the next train back.

They would have Pastor Evan check in on Freya and Roger would still stop by as well. Another neighbor, a few miles away, would come over and she would also check on Freya. Freya was going to be responsible for feeding the animals and making her own meals every day, but she didn't eat too much so that wasn't an issue. If anything was too happen, she would go to Pastor Evan or a neighbor. But she highly doubted anything would. Her grandparents decided to leave in a few days, on Saturday. That was in two days.

"Are you sure you won't get lonely? Maybe you could come and Roger or Evan could stop by every morning to feed the animals." Grandma asked.

Freya shook her head. "No, trust me, I will be fine. I like being home alone." She smiled.

Once her grandparents agreed and were done telling her the plan, they let her go to do her own thing for a while.

Freya walked through the house and opened the back door, letting the sunlight land on her and warm her skin as she walked barefoot on the grass toward the barn to see if Axel was awake yet. If he was, she wanted to see how he was doing. Stepping around a few pebbles as she made her way toward the red painted barn and thinking about the trip her grandparents were going to go on, she realized that she wouldn't have to keep Axel put up in the loft. She would just have to hide him whenever Pastor Evan came to check on her. She could even let Axel stay in her fathers room, so he would finally have a real bed to sleep on.

She pushed one of the doors open, letting sunlight shine through. Horses nickered and chickens clucked as she entered the barn, taking in the musty, hay scent that filled the air. Freya's blue orbs immediately looked up and saw a head peeking over the side, green eyes shooting toward the door as he made sure there was no one behind her. She smiled whenever he looked back at her, she couldn't help it. He stayed serious, the corner of his mouth twitching as he gave up trying to keep a serious face and he smiled, disappearing from the edge.

She climbed up the ladder, looking behind her just in case and hen she saw no one she climbed up to the top, her barefoot feet pushing off the uneven wooden panels that made up the ladder. Once she pulled herself up and stood, she turned her attention to the boy on the hay pile. He was sitting on the hay, legs out in front of him so his ankle could relax and his hands supporting him behind him as he looked up at her with bright, green eyes.

"Hello!" He greeted her, the word rolling smoothly with his German accent. She liked the way it sounded.

Freya sat in front of him. "Hi. You seem cheerful..." She trailed off as his emerald's narrowed and he reached back, grabbing the dictionary and flipping through it until he found what he was looking for.

"Heiter...c-cheerful..." He repeated quietly. "Yes, I'm cheerful." He winked at her with a smile and then looked down at the book.

Freya felt her face flush. Cheerful, yeah. Very.

"Awl-so..." The way he said 'Also' was different as he searched for another word. Freya noticed that with every word he said he added a 'W' into it. It made the way he said things unique. When he said 'Cheerful,' it sounded like 'Cheerfawl,' and 'Hello' sounded like 'Hellow." It conclusion, it was just different.

Freya waited as Axel flipped through the pages. "Also, tired. Restless." He said slowly, looking back up with a raised brow.

Freya laughed softly. "Yes, I understand. Soon, you'll be able to leave. My family is going on a trip."

"Trip?"

"It's like a journey. Traveling. Um, new adventures," Freya didn't know how to describe it. Axel flipped a few pages and began reading one of them.

"Oh. Okay." He replied. "A trip." He nodded, staring at the floor for a moment before looking up at the ceiling of the barn for a moment. "Like a plane." He suddenly said, lighting up.

Freya blinked, confused as to why he would think a trip was like a plane. "A plane?"

"It flies."  He stated. Axel looked into her eyes, both eyebrows raising as if he thought she didn't know what a plane was. Freya blushed in embarrassment as Axel's eyes widened.

"You not know...Plane??" He asked quickly, disbelief in his emerald green eyes as he looked around, trying to find an example or a way to explain it.

"Axel! I-I know what a plane is." She replied, watching him turn to her suspiciously. He narrowed his eyes at her for a second and then shrugged, looking back down at the book. She was still curious why he thought a plane was like a trip. She pushed the thought away, it wasn't important.

Axel traced the words on the page with a finger, studying the writing on it and then raising his head. He kept reading, then looked up and saw that Freya was still watching him. Freya looked away as the moment suddenly got awkward. She felt her face warm up and kept her eyes on a small beetle crawling on the wall to the left of her. She stole a look back at Axel and saw him looking down at the book and she noticed his face held a small flush as well. She blinked, looking away again. She didn't know what to say...

"You...have parents...?" The question came slowly from Axel as she turned to look at him, his eyes still fixed in the book. She rearranged her sitting position so she was facing him better and cleared her throat.

"No." She answered softly, blue orbs meeting green as he raised his head.

"No?"

"No. They both died when I was younger. My mother got sick, and my father died in the war." Axel lowered his eyes as he listened, he seemed to understand her well enough.

"Sorry." He whispered, understanding in his eyes. "Your father...fought...Germany?" He formed the words and looked up at her, his face an expression of nervousness as he waited.

Freya just nodded. Then, sighing, she replied, "Yes. Died in Germany."

Axel looked down, almost looking ashamed after he had asked. Then, he looked back up at her, head slightly tilted and looking a little shy and flustered as he stated, "War is bad...Not for me." He dropped his gaze.

Freya looked at him curiously, wondering where he was trying to get at. He cleared his throat and looked back up at her. Freya waited patiently as he narrowed his eyes and looked away again, thinking. His bandage that was wrapped around his head made his hair stick up around it, but it didn't look bad.

"I...have brothers." He read from the dictionary, flipping to another page and letting his eyes roll down the page to search for the words he was looking for. "All went to the...Wehrmacht..." He looked up at her, unsure if she understood. Freya nodded. That was the name of Hitler's army. Axel shyly smiled and looked down again, "I did it...only for father..." He said slowly.

"You didn't want to..." Freya finished, meeting his gaze. His beautiful eyes reflected sorrow and pressure as he remembered some old memory, nodding.

"I wanted to..." His eyes returned to the book, "Be...a doctor..." He then frowned. "Father didn't want me to."

A doctor? That was interesting. Freya smiled softly, "That's a big dream." She didn't know what she would do with her life after the war. Her grandparents expected her to marry off and do her job as a stay at home mother. But Freya knew that some women in the world were taking a stand. She had even seen in the paper a few years back a female in America who was going to fly planes.

But Freya wasn't in America.

Axel smiled at her comment and then asked, "You? Your dream?"

The question caused her to pause and think for a moment. What was Freya's dream? She didn't have the passionate desire to find the love of her life and have children and live happily ever after, in fact, the idea of having children scared her. She thought about what Axel had said. Doctor. That would take years of school and hard work. Freya had always had skills when it came to helping people, for example, she had made a splint and bandage for Axel. Would she be a good doctor? Or even a nurse? She had heard of the Red Cross girls who supported soldiers and made cookies and treats and more, but she didn't like that either. There wasn't too much that she could do when it came to a 'dream'.

"I...I don't know." She replied dumbly, shrugging her shoulders and sticking out her bottom lip in thought.

Axel frowned, "Oh." Then, his thoughts wandered somewhere darker because he also stuck out his bottom lip, eyes narrowing and eyes holding a defiant glare and to her confusion, jealousy too. "Roger?" He asked sourly.

She blinked. "Roger what?"

"Is he your dream?" His voice was completely normal and he kept a completely serious face as he said that, his eyes holding something back as Freya Freya gaped at his question.

"W-what?" She repeated, her face flushing again as she blinked furiously. Was Roger her dream? What kind of question was that? Her face reddened in anger as she thought about it more, looking away from his curious gaze. When she looked back, Axel's mouth twitched as he struggled to keep a serious face.

"Is Roger your dre-"

She cut him off, an exasperated expression on her face. "No, that jerk-face isn't in my dreams. He's in my nightmares!" She was kidding about the nightmare part and watched as Axel stared suspiciously at her, raising a hand to brush some of his black waves off the bandage as he blinked those green eyes.

"Oh. Okay." The two sat in silence for a minute and then Axel opened his mouth.

"What's a jerk-face?"