Carmen expected the silence to continue. Falk didn't allow it to last.

"Vhy are you here?"

Asked so simply, effortlessly, and so impossible to answer.

Carmen picked at blades of grass. Letting the rough edges cut against her skin, wondering how to respond.

Why was Carmen there?

Believing curiosity led her back up to the mountainside; Carmen was no longer so confident that it was.

Only when Carmen studied Falk, honestly, looked him in the eye and saw him. Did Carmen understand?

She saw herself reflected in Falk. A human wanting a slither of human kindness. To be seen as a person and not an object to be treated without the value of worth.

And when Carmen let that truth dawn upon her, it terrified her—leaving her witless. Speechlessly, miserably, hollowed out.

"I finally have a face for everything I have despised," Carmen uttered, mustering courage and confidence from oblivion. Only to lie. Partly at least.

Falk scuffed a rock with the tip of his boot. It hit the fence with a sharp clanging, his narrow face painted in amusement but not surprise. "For how long?" His eyes never left the spot where he focused all his attention; a finger stroked across his temple.

"Three years." Carmen smiled, and for once, it wasn't forced or bitter but relieved.

Falk lifted his gaze, boring it into the smile Carmen wore. Brow in a scrunch and appeared openly confused until Carmen elaborated upon its presence.

"My suffering is an infant in comparison with yours...," Carmen was being bold and assuming but was sure she was not wrong. "Isn't it?" She wanted clarity. To know that her first question was not answered with a flattering lie to put her at ease, and now, holding Falk's stare, she wondered if she had the cunning to fool him.

Falk was older. Wiser. He was a little too intelligent to fall for such cheap trickery because he laughed.

It was handsome and daunting. Overbearingly aware of Carmen's intentions, yet still humoured by it all the same.

It was, though, more than anything else, genuine, and authentic.

Carmen could tell by how it reached Falk's eyes, further highlighting the creases of crow's feet, deepening the lines around his mouth. Not quite blonde, not quite brown hair lifted and dancing in the breeze that scattered it from its neat parting on his head, shone under the sun.

And finally, Carmen saw a glimmer of what she wanted to see.

Falk bore a mature visage and beneath it a boyish innocent charm.

This man was no monster. He was human, at least on the surface. Carmen was no mind reader, and like how she intended trickery, Falk could do the same.

Playing pretend to gain access to Carmen in a depth she never intended to offer. To have an ally on the other side of the chain-link fence.

Yet, a tiny part of Carmen prayed that her cynical thinking was precisely that; cynical.

Watching how freely Falk laughed, how a single tear slipped from his left eye, rolling over a thin white crescent scar on his cheek, Carmen guessed that he had been deprived of cause or reason to express a celebration of laughter. It was almost infectious, and Carmen smiled again, but sadly.

If Carmen never returned, would Falk ever find a reason to laugh again?

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She owed Falk nothing. Not even her compassion, but with every chest-deep laughter from Falk's mouth, she wanted to give him a reason to believe he would feel this way again.

Because Carmen wanted the same. Wanted someone to make her feel alive again. Leave her breathless and not from physical exertion but out of joyous celebration. To laugh unhindered, unburdened, and without being devoured by sadness, regret, and guilt.

And whilst Carmen became lost, enraptured by Falk's laughing, she realised she was envious.

Envious of a man who was a prisoner in a foreign land.

"Oi!"

Jumping at the shout, Carmen was not alone in the shock. Falk jumped almost to attention, though it was wary and cautious, eyes scoping and scanning their surroundings.

Carmen twisted about, trying to source the person who interrupted a rare moment of peace.

"You're not supposed to be up here." This time not disembodied and with apparent authority, the one who wrecked the peaceful moment appeared behind a grassy bank with an Enfield on his shoulder.

At once, Falk retreated a step from the fence, and Carmen, in turn, scrambled to her feet, blurting: "I was on a walk and tripped."

Cheeks flushing at the terrible attempt at a lie, Carmen watched how the soldier almost tripped to a halt, angling back a little to study her like she was the local village idiot.

Even Falk, who closed his eyes like he was in physical pain from Carmen's horrendous on-the-spot lie, opened them again to peer at her like she was an idiot.

"Well, that explains why the kraut was laughing then." The soldier used a thumb to push up the overhang of his beret, a venomous dose of disgust at referencing Falk, not just vocally but visually.

More than aware not to jump to Falk's defence but worried that it would hinder future communications, the knot forming in Carmen's stomach came undone when Falk gave her a gentle nod.

Almost like he was giving approval or permission for Carmen to react in a way that would not draw suspicion.

"How else is a brute expected to act?" Carmen posed the question whilst slapping grass from her skirt, avoiding the eye of both men, overcome by a terrible dread that the soldier who was likely on patrol may have been a previous client. Carmen didn't want her image to be tarnished in Falk's eyes. Or for him to get even a whiff of how Carmen made a living.

The man chuckled at Carmen, a slow shake of his head added to the gesture, "Which is why we keep it caged," he approached, striking the chain-link fence like he wanted Falk to flinch and cower from him. "Aye, you piece of shit." He close to growled at Falk, spitting at his feet.

It was like watching herself on her first meeting with Falk the month before, spitting at him and hurling foul language.

Carmen almost shouted at the soldier to stop, but a rapid warning glance from Falk tempered her.

And left her confused.

Why would Falk show Carmen any consideration?

They were strangers. Enemies.

The soldier scoffed and turned his back to Falk to address Carmen.

The prior worry that he was once a client was unnecessary when Carmen looked at him thoroughly and attentively. He was a stranger to her, and she was a stranger to him.

"Come on, Bambi," He turned a cheeky smile upon Carmen, "You can't be up here. It's not safe for something as delicate as you," he chuckled again, and it wasn't mocking, not quite.

Startled by being compared to the deer in Disney's most recent feature-length film, Carmen forgot to take offence, though he took it for her by Falk's grimace.

"I'll escort you," the man offered, extending a hand for Carmen to lead the way.

Carmen wanted to decline. However, doing so seemed unwise and likely to draw unwanted attention.

"Thank you." She smiled, though it was tense, far from relaxed.

Taking care when the soldier came alongside, not to be evident that she was looking beyond him rather than at him, a tiny ache started in her chest when Falk turned and walked away.

"Freddie,"

"Pardon?"

"My name," the soldier cocked an eyebrow, peering at Carmen like she was a complete dunce.

Truthfully, Carmen was not always the smartest. If being caught speaking with an enemy soldier was not evidence enough.

Forgetting that patrols would be ongoing to ensure no breach within the chain-link fence, Carmen realised she would have to take greater care and caution the next time she visited Falk.

"Are you alright?" Freddie clicked his fingers in Carmen's face. Drawing her out of her thoughts.

Shaking herself out, Carmen quickly smiled. "Yes. Sorry." She assured, carefully placing a hand over Freddie's to remove it from her space, "I may still be in a slight daze from my fall," again she lied. Or instead continued with it.

Freddie smiled. It was genuine. Lighting up his dark green eyes. "Don't worry. I will be here to spare you from any further falls," he joked light-heartedly whilst also giving Carmen's shoes a little look, "Those probably don't help. Next time, wear something a little flatter," he suggested, stuffing a hand in a pocket of his khaki trousers.

"Next time?" Carmen almost shouted, fearful that she had been caught out.

Freddie didn't even notice the fear and chuckled again as he gave Carmen a cheeky smile and said: "Well, I hope this won't be the only time I run into you on my patrols. Would rather like a breath-taking view to stumble upon once in a while."

Carmen might have been a little dumber than she first thought because it took Freddie to sigh softly and gently, prompting her to understand.

Freddie was honestly flirting and not with his coin.