Copyright 5/19 by Kirby's Cowgirl
Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc, ABC, Image
Productions etc.
Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, this WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction and I am not being compensated in any tangible way for this story.
Little Lost Sheep
He was dead. How long had she sat here and held the soldier's hand? She didn't think she could get up, her back and legs hurt so badly. She laid her head down on the cot.
Three days ago, when Rick had left she and Sally here at the hospital, they had been a safe fifteen miles behind the lines. Now the gunfire was getting louder and louder, and she thought they should have already evacuated. The prisoners that Rick was supposed to pick up and take to HQ for interrogation hadn't been there when they arrived. Rick had gotten a frantic call on the radio from someone. He and Sally had had some nasty words, much more than a lover's quarrel, and he'd left.
Rick's prisoners had shown up the next day, accompanied by some MP's, who Alex had decided were worse than useless. The hospital had no "jail" facilities, and the prisoners were currently chained to beds opposite Alex, in the last tent in the camp. The MP who was supposed to be on duty, guarding them, had left when the orderlies carried in the man that Alex had been sitting with.
His screams had disrupted the entire camp. They had given him enough morphine to drop a horse and he still hadn't shut up. She'd thought one of the orderlies was actually going to smother him with a pillow before she just reached and held his hand. He'd quieted, and she'd talked to him, just non-sensical things. She didn't know if the Germans spoke English or not. She needed to get up and go and tell someone that he had died and ask them what to do. There were so many wounded and the medical staff were always shorthanded. She reached and rubbed the small of her back. And then she realized what the Germans were saying, and froze.
...
It had been almost two months ago that Alex and Sally were off duty and waiting to go to dinner with Rick. Some brass had come by and he'd been hustled into a meeting, and the girls had been more or less shoved into a room that contained a hand cuffed German prisoner. God forbid that they hear anything. Alex had just taken a pen and pad out of her jacket and started a letter to her mother in law.
Sally was furious, and she'd started playing sailor's tag. Every time her knife jammed between her fingers into the old marred up table, the prisoner had jumped.
"You really can't carve up another guy the way you did the last one." Alex said idly. She didn't think the German understood her, but he certainly understood Sally's intent.
"Oh, I could get him to talk." Sally said. And smiled. If Alex hadn't known her cousin very well, it would have scared her.
The man started babbling as rapidly as he could. When Rick finally reappeared, Alex had two entire sheets of paper full of his ramblings. Troop positions, an ammo dump, and other information that she didn't understand, but assumed someone higher up in S2 would. They could have the fun of figuring out if any of it was true.
"I'm sorry I made you mad." Rick said to Sally, who had moved her game to lightning speed. Alex was afraid she was going to lose a finger and she had been carefully not watching her cousin.
"Just take me back to the barracks." Sally said, jamming the knife into the table with a force that Alex feared was going to make it shear off.
"Here." Alex said, ripping her notes free from her pad.
"What's this?" Rick scanned the first sheet. "He talked to you?"
"You speak German." Sally said accusingly to Alex.
"Need to know basis." Alex said, giving Rick a dirty look.
"Excuse me, Ladies." Rick said. "I'll get someone to drive you back to your quarters."
He started out the door with Alex's notes, then stopped and turned around. "Thank you. Very much. I know you're both pissed as hell at me right now, but this may save a lot of good men's lives."
That little episode had started a new assignment for the two girls. They would be left near some German prisoners and would make small talk or read movie magazines aloud to each other. Sometimes Sally would play sailor's tag. It was amazing to Alex the information they got. She hoped that some of it helped.
...
Alex slowly straightened up, still rubbing her back. Her legs were asleep and she knew she couldn't run. If she had translated properly, and she was sure she had, the two men were expecting to be rescued very shortly, and they were headed off to intercept a meeting between an army squad and the maquis. Where was that damn MP?
She started out the door, wondering if she should just shoot the two of them. She could have them uncuffed before the idiot guard got back, and all she had to say was that they'd been escaping. No one but Rick and Sally would know any different. But Rick had been adamant that he had to talk to the senior officer.
The MP looked up from his cigarette. "You finally have enough?" he sneered. The look on Alex's face made him take a step back. He had no idea how close he was to getting knocked down and clobbered with a rifle butt.
"It's a shame you're not dead instead of him." She said. "Open your mouth again and I'll have you on the front."
She made it back to the main hospital tent, told one of the nurses that the soldier was dead.
"Are you alright?" the woman asked her tiredly.
"No." Alex said truthfully. "I don't know how you do this. Do you know where Sally is?"
"She was playing poker." The nurse pointed. "I don't know how she got them settled down. Between them and the one you took -" she sighed. There was a group of particularly rowdy wounded in the back and they had been harassing the poor nurses since their arrival.
"You need some rest." Alex said. "I have to sort something out with Sally and then we'll be back."
One of the injured started calling for a nurse and she went to assist him.
Alex headed toward the back wall where the nurse had pointed. She didn't see her cousin but maybe the guys would know where she'd gone.
"You come to take the rest of my money?" One of the guys tried to raise himself up in the bed, and she automatically reached and helped him. He grinned at her, but there was nothing disrespectful about it. "Thank you. It sure is nice to see a friendly woman. These nurses -"
"These poor nurses are run off their feet and the five of you have been absolute jackasses." Alex cut him off. "This is not a nursery. I just held a poor man's hand while he died. You should be ashamed of yourselves."
"That was my buddy." The guy in the next bed said. He swallowed hard. "I don't see why they couldn't do anything for him -"
"You think we have unlimited medical supplies? They gave him enough morphine to knock down a horse and it didn't help." Alex was fixing to lose her temper. "Do you know where Sally went?"
"She beat us but she still went to get us coffee." Another man said. "Look, I can't get up," he gestured to his missing leg, "But I can roll some bandages or something. I don't mind helping, it's just that I can't -" his voice trailed off, and he looked like he was going to start crying.
"None of this is easy." Alex said, thinking she should go and hug him, regulations be damned, but she just didn't have the time.
"OK, coffee." Sally said from behind her, appearing with a tray. "I only have one spoon." She warned, before she showed them the sugar packets she had in her pocket. Alex helped her get them settled with their coffee, and then she gestured to her cousin. They stepped outside and she told Sally what she had learned.
"Stork won't listen to us." Sally said using the nickname she and Alex had given the camp's CO. "If you can get the radio operator outside, I can call Rick."
"I can just go back and shoot those damn prisoners." Alex said. "Rick said it was really important for him to try and get some information from one of them though -"
"Let's get our gear." Sally interrupted her. "We'll see what we can get out of them. And whoever comes to rescue them will get a surprise they didn't bargain on. That MP they left -"
"I'm having Rick send him to the front." Alex said.
"Did he get smart with you?" the look on Sally's face spoke volumes. "I'll kick his ass. Rick's not here -"
"Sally, you need to stop fighting with him." Alex said as they jogged to their quarters. " I know you love him -"
"He doesn't love me." Sally said flatly. "He never did. I don't know how I could have been so stupid." She looked like she was going to start crying.
They grabbed their gear and started out the door as gunfire erupted.
"Shit." Alex said. "The nurses!" And started to head back to the hospital.
"The Krauts!" Sally yelled. "They may shoot everybody in the hospital!"
Hugging the buildings for cover, Alex ran after her cousin. A truck was accelerating out of the camp away from them, and Alex grabbed Sally's rifle barrel when she stopped to take aim. "Let them go! They're not shooting now and I don't want anymore collateral damage!"
"I'll get on the radio, you check on the nurses!"
"Hold your fire!" Alex yelled before she stepped into the hospital tent. She didn't know if anybody was armed but she remembered Bull's training. One of the nurses had a pistol leveled at the entrance and one of the amputees was struggling to stay upright with a rifle.
"Stand down." Alex said, noticing the blood dripping from the man's stump where they'd cut off his leg. "Help him!" She told one of the orderlies.
"He wouldn't give me -"
"I don't have time for it!" Alex cut him off. "Is anybody hurt?"
Several of the wounded poker players started rising up from the floor and Alex realized that they must have tackled the nurses and covered them with their bodies. One orderly was sprawled over a patient's bed, and another one was hunched over the Doctor.
"We'll handle it from here." The Doctor told Alex. "Thank you." He said to the amputee, who was resisting having his rifle taken from him.
"You can shoot sitting down." Alex told him, looking worriedly at the blood pouring from his stump.
The orderly gave the rifle to the man in the bed closest to the door, and the Doctor went to work.
"Keep watch." Alex told the armed soldier, and gestured to the nurse with the pistol. "You too, if they can spare you. I'll be back."
"Alex!" Sally called from the door.
"I'm comin' out!" Alex stepped outside, figuring that whatever her cousin had to say didn't need to be overheard by the entire hospital.
"Stork's dead. They shot up the radio."
"We need to get help." Alex said.
"Forward or back?"
"Let's go forward. Maybe we can help out that squad. They should have a radio."
Sally hesitated only a second. "There's a jeep over by the mess tent. I don't know how bad they shot it up. That MP's dead."
"I'll get the jeep." Alex said, starting to run towards it.
"Ok." Sally said. Alex was a better mechanic than she was. She headed inside to tell the nurses what was going on.
Ten minutes later, they were barreling down the road, the jeep groaning with every bump. Sally held on and kept her mouth shut. Steam was coming out of the hood and it smelled like something was burning.
"I'll push it 'til it quits." Alex said, looking at her cousin. "Still faster than we can run."
...
Caje, on point, signaled "down". He had heard something. Just a tiny little rustle. He knew without looking that it was Saunders crawling up next to him.
Then, "Caje?"
Someone had said his name. He looked at Saunders. The Sarge had heard it too. He wasn't losing his mind.
"Caje?" again, sounding anxious. Definitely female, and she'd moved just slightly from her original position.
That crazy woman of Kirby's? Again? They were well into German territory with the constantly shifting lines.
Saunders signaled and Caje laid down his rifle and slipped silently into the woods.
"Caje?" Sally asked again. Where the heck was Alex? Had that German gotten her?
"Right here." A very pleasant voice with a French accent said in her ear. At the exact same moment, a hand clapped over her mouth and an arm of steel wrapped around her and jerked her back into a very hard male body.
Sally went limp, tried to pick up her foot to kick backwards, and felt instant pressure on her windpipe. "I don't think you want to do that." the voice said. "I'm not going to hurt you .My Sergeant wants to talk to you, and you will behave." the pressure eased off.
He'd just showed her how easily he could kill her. Sally didn't resist as he more or less just pushed her in front of him after slinging her rifle over his shoulder. Did they have Alex too?
The woman that Caje was holding was not Kirby's crazy woman. Saunders didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned. The last time he'd seen this pretty little pig tailed brunette, she'd been working with Rick Jackson. *
She was looking frantically toward the rear and mumbling against Caje's hand. She'd only briefly met this tough as nails Sergeant, but she knew that Rick respected him, and that was good enough for her. But she had to tell them Alex was out there -
"Kirby!" Every man's fantasy was a woman who couldn't keep her hands off him. Until he got one.
"Kirby!"
"Not again, Alex." Kirby groaned, tried to burrow back in the covers. "Honey, I love you, but even I have to sleep sometime."
"KIRBY!"
Rustling. What was the damn woman doing? Pulling the blankets off him.
McCall had thought Kirby was just messing with his lady friend, but he suddenly had the horrid feeling he'd dozed off. They were all so damn tired. Back to back patrols for weeks. He didn't know when they'd had any down time. Poor Alex was turning purple with embarrassment, and he'd been trying not to laugh out loud. "KIRBY!" he hissed.
Ah, that was not his sweet Alex. That sounded like McCall!
Kirby snapped awake and swung Bertha toward the noise in the bushes.
"Kirby, NO!" McCall bolted toward him.
Alex jumped sideways, away from Bertha's muzzle. "Kirby, what the hell is wrong with you?" she was shaking her fist at him. "I called you three times!"
Kirby blinked his eyes, shook his head. He was so exhausted, he was seeing things.
"He was asleep!" Alex thought. "He's so tired he went to sleep standing up."
She was terrified. She had thought her first barrage was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. Shanking a German in the back? She shuddered. All she wanted to do was throw up and cry, but she didn't have the option. And, oh, God, this was her squad. Her guys. She needed to go shank that German a few more times.
"You little idiot! You went to sleep! Don't you know there are Germans everywhere out here?" she settled for mad. Alex shook her fist in Kirby's face. She should just hit him. "Do your job!" she hissed at him, and turned toward Saunders.
Kirby saw the blood dripping down her pants, and grabbed her. One hand closed over her fist and he felt carefully down her leg with the other. "It's not mine." Alex said, seeing the concern on his face. He was mad at her. She'd hurt his feelings.
She gently swiped her knuckles across his cheek. "I love you."
Sally watched in horror as the BAR man swung his rifle on Alex. He was going to shoot her. She was struggling frantically in the scout's grasp, and he just clamped down on her. She couldn't breathe - at all. Alex was going to die right in front of her, and she was going to pass out. Why where none of them doing anything? They had been careful not to hurt her - "so far" a little voice in her head said.
Then one of the older soldiers was trying to stop the BAR man, and Alex, Alex was shaking her fist at him! She was going to slug him! Sally thought the two of them were going to drop their rifles and go at it. Alex and her temper. She was going to get them both killed.
What was wrong with the guy holding her? He was - he was laughing! Though he was too professional to do it out loud. And the Sergeant's jaw clenched just a little bit. He almost smiled.
Alex was cussing at the guy, and she started to walk towards Sally, and then he just grabbed her. He was patting all down her leg, and Sally figured he was going to get a rifle butt to the head. But Alex was letting him do it!
Alex was hurt. The guy had been going to shoot her. Now that he saw she was hurt, he was frantically trying to find out how bad. She thought Alex was really going to slug him, but she just swiped her knuckles across his cheek and said she loved him!
Sally thought she was the one with the secrets. When had Alex even had time to - that was Kirby! Alex and Kirby? How in the hell had that happened? And why hadn't her cousin told her? Sally had thought that Alex shared everything with her. Allthese men knew Alex, she realized. Her cousin nodded to the older man, then the giant, stopped when the medic wanted to look at her leg, squeezed his hand and shook her head, and headed straight for the NCO.
"I don't know what's going on, because nobody will tell me." Alex shot Sally a look that said they would straighten this out later. "But whatever your mission is, it's already compromised. We need to move. You were walking right into a machine gun nest. And the hospital needs some help. Do you have a radio?" Then she looked at Sally, "Did you get yours?"
Sally nodded, started talking against Caje's hand. She was looking at Alex's leg worriedly.
"Not my blood." Alex shook her head at Sally. "If you bite him, you'll wish you hadn't."
Instant pressure back on her windpipe. Sally let go. She'd just caught his filthy hand between her teeth, not clamped down. He would kill her, she realized, and not even think about it. And Alex was completely comfortable with all these men.
"Sally, talk to Blondie."
The NCO glared at Alex.
She winked at him. "Talk to Sergeant Saunders. You can trust all these guys, I do. Just tell somebody what's going on, before we all get killed."
" Alex, why was this woman saying my name?" Caje asked quietly, ignoring the look he got from the Sarge.
"You're the password, sweetie." She looked back at Kirby, and Caje grinned at her. "Who in the world would think of that?"
Alex had just called this man "sweetie" and he hadn't gotten mad. Sally had thought Caje was the name of one of Alex's critters on the ranch. She could never imagine anyone calling this hard, seasoned soldier "sweetie." In fact, she was just a little afraid of him. Which made her mad. She had been wrapping men around her little finger her entire life. That wouldn't work with this man, or that NCO either. She had a feeling that if she tried to play with him, she might get a spanking, a ring on her finger, or both.
"Sally, if you make any noise, Caje will make you wish you hadn't." Saunders warned.
The hand came off her mouth. "The maquis you were supposed to meet are dead. " Sally said. " I need to contact my SO. Do you have a radio? The hospital is in trouble too." She shot a worried look at Alex that Saunders didn't understand.
"Caje, you and Davidson check it out." Saunders just wanted the idiot kid away from the women before he said something rude or stupid that might get him shot. He was sure that the scout understood why he hadn't been sent alone.
"Do you want me to show you -" Alex started.
"Go with Littlejohn." Saunders cut her off. Maybe the brunette would talk if she was gone. The fact that she didn't seem to trust Alex bothered him.
Sally seemed to read his mind. "Alex is my cousin and my best friend. I trust her with my life. But not with things that could get her killed."
Saunders nodded. He understood that. "We don't have a radio." Chronic equipment shortages were just a fact of life.
Caje just materialized in front of him the way he did, and Sally looked shocked. He was quieter than Alex, and she'd never thought that was possible. "Machine gun nest with a dead Kraut in it. Shanked in the back. They'd have cut us down, Sarge. No way I would ever have seen them." Sally didn't notice the confused look he gave her. She did see the frightened look she got from Davidson.
Littlejohn and Alex came back a few seconds later. "Dead Kraut." Littlejohn said. Alex just looked green. She hadn't wanted to look at the German scout again, but she hadn't been sure Littlejohn could find him in the tall grass.
Saunders sighed. Hanley was going to be very unhappy with him again. Whatever these two women were doing out here, they had quite possibly saved the entire squad from being gunned down. He needed to get these troublemaking females back to HQ. He knew Alex had some major brass connections, and he was betting the little brunette did too.
" Move out. " Saunders ordered. "Alex, stay away from Kirby."
Alex headed straight for him, stopped, resigned. "Yes sir." She squeezed Littlejohn's arm affectionately as she went by.
"You know better than to call a NCO "sir." Saunders growled.
"I call you that because I respect you. Get over it, Blondie. And you should be an Officer. You're certainly more qualified than that idiot Lieutenant of yours." Alex said tiredly. She simply shrugged at that look that Saunders gave her. He couldn't do a damn thing to her and they both knew it.
When Sally started to move back toward Alex, Saunders barked, "You stay in front of me where I can watch you." He motioned Davidson behind Caje, and Sally directly in front of him.
"Really, Blondie?" Sally demanded in exasperation. The she looked around. "Where's the kid?" She slammed her mouth shut in horror and tears came into her eyes.
"Billy got sent home." Saunders said. He wasn't about to tell her how badly he'd been shot.
Sally gave a shaky nod and stepped in front of him as he'd told her.
"What the hell was Alex doing? Touching Littlejohn." Kirby tried to clamp down on the rage that was threatening to erupt." What was wrong with him?
Alex was talking to McCall. What the hell was she talking to McCall for? If she touched him, he was going to break the man's jaw.
"Go ahead and throw up." McCall said quietly, reaching for Alex's rifle. "Nobody will think anything about it."
"I'm ok." Alex choked out, then dashed to the bushes. Saunders watched from the distance, noting that Kirby had turned to guard the rear, and Doc had moved back to her, putting a gentle hand on her arm. He'd bet she'd never killed anybody before.
Davidson just shifted his feet and looked uncomfortable. Saunders figured that Caje had probably told him that any of the men in the squad would kill him if he was disrespectful to Alex. Kirby had hit him with a rifle butt for mouthing off about Sally.
"I'm sorry." Alex managed to say to Doc, grabbing her canteen and squirting water in her mouth that she spit out. "I'm sorry. I'm holding everybody up."
"You ok?" Doc asked worriedly, and offered her a piece of peppermint candy.
"Thank you." Alex said gratefully, unwrapping it, and putting the cellophane in her pocket.
"Give me your bayonet." McCall said, when she reached for her rifle.
They were taking her weapons away from her? She shot a glance at Sally. Caje had her rifle slung over his shoulder, and she didn't know if he'd patted her down or not.
"It's ok, Alex." Doc said, grabbing a handful of dirt and smearing it in the bloody spot on her pants.
"I made a mess." She said, looking at the blood trail she'd made. "Oh, god -" she thought she was going to be sick again.
She handed McCall her bayonet. If Saunders wanted her weapons, well he could have most of them. "Clean it right after." McCall said, plunging the steel into the dirt twice before handing it back to her. "I'm sorry you had to do that." He waited until she had the bayonet back in its sheath before handing her her rifle.
"Killing a man is not an easy thing." Doc said quietly, and the pain in his eyes made her realize that he had. "You want to talk about it?" He still had his hand on her arm, and acknowledged Saunders signal to move with a flick of his fingers.
"I'm ok, Doc." Alex reached up and squeezed his hand. "And we better get movin' before Blondie starts yelling." She looked at McCall, "Can you spare me a clip?"
He fished one out of his pocket and gave it to her.
"Have to protect my baby." she said, glancing back at Kirby. When she saw the way he was glaring at her, "Sorry, McCall, I may need to protect you." She looked at him worriedly. "What am I supposed to do if we run into some more Krauts?"
"We'll leave you and your friend with Doc and we'll take care of it." He assured her. She didn't look scared, so much as confused.
"I'm supposed to protect Doc?"
He grinned at her. "Yeah. You protect Doc." Having no idea she was taking him seriously.
"Thanks a lot, McCall." Doc said, but he was grinning. And he kept a gentle hold on Alex's arm when she stepped into the line. He didn't like how pale she was, but he figured that if he offered to carry her, she would be insulted at the least. The fact that she hadn't made him let go told him she wasn't as steady on her feet as she wanted everybody to believe.
Kirby tried to rein in his temper when Alex stepped in front of McCall. She had asked McCall if she could walk in front of him. Like McCall wouldn't much rather look at Alex's cute little butt than at Littlejohn. "Don't go there." he told himself, as he realized she had put herself in probably the safest place in the squad.
Littlejohn would die before anybody got past him, and he and McCall would too. He knew Alex. She would have much preferred to walk behind Saunders to needle him just a little, because she knew the Sarge didn't quite trust her. And the Sarge hadn't thought the two of them were professional enough to be trusted together, when the exact opposite was true.
"Doc, see if you can find Alex a pair of clean pants." Saunders said, before he headed into Hanley's HQ. "And they might have some tea in the mess." He looked at Kirby sternly. "All of you stay together. I mean it."
"Kirby's virtue is safe with me." Alex said, grinning.
"Damn!" Kirby retorted, but he grinned back at her.
"Somehow, Kirby and virtue are two words I never thought I'd hear in the same sentence." Littlejohn said.
Doc snickered, McCall started laughing, and then all of them, except Davidson, joined in.
" That's better." Saunders thought. She'd been so pale all the way back he'd wondered if she might faint. He gestured Sally in front of him. As Brockmeyer exited Hanley's tent, he pointed. "Watch her."
"Oh, Blondie, don't be ridiculous." Sally said, crossing her arms. "I am not going to run off. And you might be afraid of your CO -" the look on Saunders face made her shut her mouth. She seriously doubted that he was afraid of anything, but she was tired and she wanted this sorted out so she could sit down and have a heart to heart with her cousin. Alex and Kirby! Never in a million years would she have put the two of them together.
Saunders gave her a final glare, waited for Brockmeyer's nod, before he entered Hanley's tent. The rest of the squad, plus Alex, had already headed for the mess tent.
Sally grinned at the stocky Corporal. "What's cookin', sweetie?"
"Ma'am?" he backed a step away from her.
She'd scared him half to death, Sally thought. And now he looked like he might start crying. Oh hell, he must be one of the ones who got "Dear Johned". She'd just been going to flirt a little bit. She was so tired of putting up with Rick.
"I'm sorry." They both said at the same time, then Brockmeyer sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "My wife - I haven't had a letter in weeks." He choked. "The baby was already overdue and I'm afraid something's wrong and they don't want to tell me." He choked on a sob. "I'm sorry, I just -"
Sally patted him on the shoulder. She'd bet he was afraid of his CO and wouldn't ask for a favor. But she would damn well do it for him. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Saunders noticed Brockmeyer crying, and Sally looked stricken. What in the hell had she done to the Corporal in the five minutes he'd been talking to Hanley? "The Lieutenant will see you now." He said to Sally. As she headed into the tent, he looked at Brockmeyer." You ok?"
Brockmeyer nodded shakily and Saunders ignored the tears streaming down the man's face. Maybe Sally reminded him of his sweetheart or little sister. He didn't know anything about the Corporal, they didn't share details of their lives. He didn't seem to want to tell Saunders what was wrong, and frankly Saunders didn't have the time anyway. He needed to go corral Alex and make sure she and Kirby hadn't gotten into trouble. He'd love some hot chow if any was available. A lukewarm shower would be nice. A week in bed. Alone. Just to sleep. And then maybe a week in bed with a redhead - He was just too damn tired.
Saunders was making it entirely too much of a bad habit, going out on patrol and returning with a troublemaking woman. Hanley sighed, stood up from his crate.
"Before we start, you need to send the Red Cross to find out if Corporal Brockmeyer's wife and baby are ok." That could not be forgotten in the midst of everything else. Sally looked at the tall lanky Lieutenant. He was cute. She'd gathered that Alex did not like him at all. He must be a jackass. Oh well, she could certainly handle him.
"Excuse me?" Hanley said. He had no idea that his clerk was even married.
"Are you deaf or just stupid?" Sally gave him a dirty look. "Did he ask you and you couldn't be bothered?" Maybe she should just kick him. She certainly wanted to kick somebody and Rick wasn't available at the moment.
"Miss - " Hanley stopped. He didn't think he could bring her up on insubordination charges. He didn't think he could do anything to her. He gritted his teeth. "I was not aware that Brockmeyer was married. I will certainly see if I can find out about his family for him."
" Do you know how to work the radio?"
What kind of idiot did the woman think he was? Oh, she was friends with Alex.
"I assure you -"
"I don't know troop positions." Sally checked her watch. "Five hours ago, the hospital was in trouble. They need some help if it hasn't already been sent."
The worry and fright in her eyes was real, and it wasn't for herself. Saunders had told him that the entire squad might have been lost if it wasn't for her and Alex. Definitely Caje, Davidson, and possibly himself. And how in the hell had she gotten anything out of Brockmeyer? The Corporal was almost as reticent as Saunders. She hadn't had an easy night. Hanley relented. "The hospital was evacuated three hours ago. No casualties as far as I know."
Sally reached over him, grabbed the headphones, and got them routed to Captain Jampel. She scooted over so Hanley could sit on the crate next to her, and then gave him the headset back. She wiggled around a little to get comfortable and grinned at him. He glared at her. "He doesn't like me." she thought. "He doesn't like me at all. This is going to be so much fun!"
Once they were finally patched thru to Jampel, she wrote. "Ask if the tin cans are still there?" At Hanley's confused look, she whispered, "I'm not supposed to talk on the radio."
When they got an affirmative, "Tell Old Hickory his nylons and chocolate have gone missing."
If this woman was playing him for an idiot, he was going to kill her. Just flat out murder her. He relayed her message.
"Say again?" came over the radio.
Hanley repeated what he had said. He supposed theywere telling Colonel Jackson that the girls were missing.
Then, "Wait one."
It seemed like ten minutes before someone else said. "This is the big bad wolf. Where are my little lost sheep?"
"Right here, but soaking wet and about to get a cold." Sally said.
"Here, sir." Hanley said into the radio. This was ridiculous. This was -
"Little lost sheep are soaking wet and about to get a cold." Okay, Hanley thought, as he repeated Sally's words. There's a leak somewhere. He understood that. But the rest of it, no.
"Put my sheep in the barn and guard them, over."
"Affirmative, over." Hanley said, groaning to himself.
Sally punched him in the arm, wrote, "Stork is dead, and your canaries have flown."
"The stork is dead, and your canaries have flown, over."
"Say again? Over."
"NOOOO!" Sally said, shaking his arm. "Just Stork! Not the stork!"
"Stork is dead, over." Hanley repeated, thinking this was the most inane conversation he'd ever had on the radio. Sally was leaning against him so she could hear, and she smelled good! How in the world could a woman who'd been out on patrol and shanked a Kraut look and smell as good as she did? And she was pretty too. In fact in a dress -
He was exhausted. He didn't know when he'd had any sleep. He must have lost his mind. This woman could probably become an even bigger thorn in his side than Alex West was. He nearly groaned out loud. He hoped that Saunders had Alex and Kirby under control.
"Put Blondie's squad on guard duty if he's available. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm holding you personally, responsible for my sheep." Jackson said, signing off.
The man had had the nerve to demand Saunders. Well, he knew Saunders, but still -
"You need to call the Red Cross." Sally said. "I don't know how to do that. Your poor Corporal is pretty upset."
"How in the hell has she gotten that out of Brockmeyer in five minutes?" Hanley wondered. Well, maybe she looked like his wife - He groaned, and put the call thru.
"Can I have something to eat?" Sally asked, once he was done. "And I know Alex would like a shower. Kirby could stand guard -"
"NO and HELL NO!" Hanley interrupted her, not caring if he shouldn't use that kind of language in front of a lady or not.
"I can't have anything to eat?" Sally asked, purposefully misunderstanding.
"Yes, you can have something to eat." Hanley said, gritting his teeth. "BROCKMEYER!" he bellowed, sending the Corporal scurrying into the tent. Sally slugged him in the side and gave him a reproachful look.
"Yes sir?" Brockmeyer asked, standing respectfully at attention, not quite able to hide the horror on his face from Sally actually hitting the Lieutenant.
"You have to monitor the radio." Hanley ran his hand thru his hair. "I've been put in charge of guarding ladies." He made it sound as distasteful as possible.
He and Sally headed for the mess tent. Davidson was sitting outside with a cup of coffee and a cigarette and he jumped to his feet and saluted. "At ease." Hanley said, as he returned the salute and stepped inside.
Alex was sitting between Kirby and Littlejohn and she appeared to be drinking tea. The rest of the squad was clustered protectively around her, though Hanley really didn't think the woman needed any help looking after herself.
"Are you alright, Captain West?" Hanley asked.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry I'm so much trouble." Alex said.
"Thank you for what you did." Hanley said stiffly. Losing the squad would have been a tragedy. Losing Saunders - he swallowed hard. He didn't think he could recover if he lost the tough Sergeant.
"Are you ok, Al?" Sally asked, gesturing to all the guys to sit back down, as she took a seat next to McCall.
"I'm fine. How much trouble are we in?"
"None." Sally said, at the same time Hanley said, "A lot."
"Don't you try to blame any of this on Kirby." Alex said, glaring at Hanley, and starting to get up.
"Alex!" Kirby said. Littlejohn put a gentle restraining hand on her arm.
"Doc, go grab yourself a shower. Take Davidson with you. You'll have to take turns, we've been tasked with guarding the ladies." Hanley said.
"The ladies are perfectly capable of guarding themselves." Sally said icily. "Can I have my rifle back?" she asked Caje.
"Yes." Saunders said, gesturing to Caje to give it to her.
"NO." Hanley said at almost the same instant.
"Sir?" Caje asked, not sure what he was supposed to do now.
"I shoot better than you do." Sally said to Hanley. "I qualified expert, just like Alex. Uncle Bull wouldn't have had it any other way. And I can drive a tank, can you?"
The horror on Hanley's face was apparent. He hadn't realized that Sally and Alex were related, which would cause even more trouble. "Women and firearms don't mix."
Littlejohn clamped down on Alex's arm, and shook his head at her. Kirby and McCall looked horrified. Caje and Saunders looked like they wanted to laugh, but didn't dare to.
The cook bustled out of the kitchen just then. He had a plate of cookies and a china cup, that was probably only supposed to be used by officers. "Oh!" he said, noticing Sally. "Ladies, I'm sorry, I only have one cup."
"This mug is fine." Alex said. "Give it to Sal."
"Thank you." Sally said, and smiled at the man when he poured her a cup of tea and put some cookies on a plate for her. "Would you like to sit down with us?"
"I have to get back to the kitchen, but thank you for asking, ma'am. I have another pot of tea brewing." He said, looking at Hanley, "and my helper is washing the ladies pants."
"I told you I would do it!" Alex protested, starting to get up.
"SIT DOWN!" Hanley bellowed.
Saunders thought Alex was going to hurl her cup of tea in his face. He was glad that Littlejohn had hold of her arm, and he was pretty sure that Kirby had grabbed one of her legs as well, from the look she gave him.
"Lieutenant, are you always this much of a jackass?" Sally asked, offering him a cookie. "Sit down and be quiet, or I'll kick your butt."
"Sir," Saunders said, hoping to intervene before Hanley murdered her, "I'm sure that you have other things to do. We can watch the ladies."
If Rick hadn't left them at the hospital, they wouldn't be in this position. Sally knew that she could only push that idiot Lieutenant so far. He couldn't do anything to her and Alex, but he could take it out on the squad. She wanted some private time where she wouldn't have to keep up her carefully constructed façade of not caring. That poor Corporal - she swallowed hard. And now, she had to worry about Kirby too. She couldn't believe the irresponsible little Irishman had lasted this long. Furious, Sally said something particularly nasty half under her breath, and Hanley turned red. Saunders took half a step in his direction, afraid he was going to throttle the girl.
"Call him that to his face when he gets here." Alex said, and the guys cast nervous glances among themselves. Maybe that hadn't been directed at Hanley. "I know you're mad at me. I'm sorry I wouldn't let you shoot those Krauts."
The cook gave Sally a horrified glance before scurrying back to the kitchen.
"I'm not mad at you. You were right." Sally tried to pick up her tea and they all saw how her hands were shaking.
"Al?" Kirby asked, wondering what was going on.
"They had stopped shooting and they were running. I didn't want anymore collateral damage -" she looked like she was going to start crying. "Some of the wounded got hurt trying to protect the nurses."
"I'm sure you did the best you could." Saunders said, when he saw how Hanley was gritting his teeth, trying not to explode.
"I'm sorry, but I really need to use the ladies room and I bet you're not going to let me go by myself." Alex said to Hanley, looking embarrassed.
"Are you sick again?" McCall asked instantly.
"I'm fine, Danny. Thank you."
"Are you ill, Captain West?" Hanley asked.
"I shanked a guy and I got blood all over me and got sick. I'm ok now. Thank you." She looked him dead in the eye when she said it.
Hanley realized that Saunders hadn't told him the whole story, but he hadn't had time to elaborate. He gestured the girls in front of him. The entire squad trooped along behind, and Saunders went ahead to clear out the latrine. Alex was mortified.
"I wish I could just tell him to stuff it." Sally said suddenly. "I hate this damn War! I'm so afraid he's going to get killed!"
"Sally!" Alex reached out a hand to her cousin. She knew that she stayed angry at Rick most of the time because of the risks he took.
"And you and Kirby? I thought you told me everything! How long has that been going on?
"Since before Bill got killed. I'm a fallen woman." Alex tried to grin at Sally, but didn't quite succeed.
"If he hurts you, I'll -"
"Sally, it's alright. Come on, before Hanley comes after us."
"He wouldn't dare."
"No, he wouldn't. He'd send Saunders."
But it was Doc's voice they heard. "Alex, are you sick again? Can I do anything for you?"
"We're coming, Doc!" she called, catching hold of Sally. "Don't cry in front of the guys." She whispered. "McCall and Littlejohn can't handle it and it will upset the rest of them."
"Not Davidson." Sally said, and Alex knew her cousin was back to normal.
"Are you ladies alright?" Doc asked.
"You are the kindest man I have ever met." Alex said, smiling at him and giving his arm a gentle squeeze.
"Lieutenant Hanley said he could call a chaplain for you to talk to on the radio if you wanted. We don't have one here." Doc looked at her worriedly. The rest of the squad were spread out a distance away, none of them looking at the girls.
"What for?" Alex looked at him curiously.
"He thinks you need to talk to somebody because you killed that Kraut." Sally said, looking at Hanley in a different way.
"Thank you, Lieutenant, I'm fine. He would have killed all my guys." Alex gestured to the squad. "I'm not sorry I killed him. I am sorry that the Army feels they have to babysit us when we're more than capable of looking after ourselves. Please let Sally have her rifle back." She hoped he had enough sense not to try and make her relinquish hers.
"Caje." Hanley gestured, and the scout handed Sally her rifle.
"Let me guess, you unloaded it." Sally said sweetly, and then she realized the clip was still in it.
"Sally, behave." Alex said. "Can we go back to the mess? We can peel potatoes or do something to help the cook."
"That might be a good idea." Hanley said.
...
"Drop us off at the mail facility." Sally said to their driver.
The Corporal looked over at Rick questioningly.
"That's fine." Jackson said. "You can take me to HQ and go back and wait on the ladies."
"We can walk." Alex said.
"NO." Rick said, and his tone meant no argument.
"What are you looking for?" Alex asked, sliding her rifle between her arms as they walked into what was left in the building.
"361st's mail?" Sally asked the WAC who looked at her questioningly.
"Ma'am, we have to process in order -"
"361st's mail." Sally repeated.
"Oh lord." Alex thought. Sally was still mad. The poor woman in charge was about to get the crap beat out of her and she didn't know it -
"One of them got to 'ya, huh?" the WAC gestured to three bags. "I don't know nuthin' about what you're doin'."
"Thank you." Sally said, sitting down and carefully dumping a bag on the floor.
"What are we looking for?" Alex asked, sitting next to her cousin.
"A letter for Corporal Brockmeyer."
"Hanley's clerk?" At Sally's nod, "Why him?"
"Overdue baby and no news from home."
"Ok." Alex said, starting to sort thru letters.
"Want to tell me about you and Kirby?"
Alex very carefully didn't look at her cousin. "He's fun. He's good to me. I certainly deserve something after putting up with Bill for so long."
"But he's a jackass."
"Not all the time." Alex swallowed hard. "He was very kind to Beth. Once you get to know him -" she stopped.
"Do you really love him?"
"I'm not sure." She always told him that she did, because she never knew if she would see him again. But she wasn't sure that what they had could survive the War.
"Ok, fair enough." It took them almost two hours to sort thru a bag and a half of mail. Alex found two letters for Littlejohn that she stuck aside, and Sally finally found a letter for Brockmeyer. She slit it open where the censors had re-sealed it.
"Sally!" Alex protested.
"If it's the right one we can stop." Sally looked at the mail they hadn't sorted thru. "I don't think I can keep doing this. I stink. I want a shower."
Alex tried not to laugh. Sally had never liked getting dirty. Then her cousin handed her a picture of a pretty young girl holding a baby. "They're ok." She said, and her eyes filled with tears.
"Yeah." Sally said, swiping at her eyes as she skimmed the letter. "I was going to make Rick send him home if they needed him but it seems like everything's ok."
The WAC in charge looked at them as they started out the door. "I can't let you take those." She said, gesturing to the letters.
"Please don't try to stop her." Alex said. "These are going in a dispatch bag as soon as I get hold of Jackson."
"Must be important."
Sally was glaring at the WAC and Alex knew it wouldn't take anything to set her off. "Overdue baby and no news from home." She said, hoping the girl wouldn't demand to look at the letters. She was not putting Jimmy's mail back in the sort bag.
"Everything ok?"
"Yeah, thanks." Alex said.
"I ain't seen you. But if you gals wanted to come back and help sometime -" she gestured. "Not like you don't have your own work, but we could use some extra help."
...
"Lieutenant!" Brockmeyer called, stepping into the CP, and handing him the dispatch bag. It felt really light.
Hanley opened the bag and saw that it only contained three letters. "I believe this is for you, Brockmeyer." He said, starting to hand him all the mail, and then he realized part of it was Littlejohn's.
Brockmeyer took the letter and looked at it, and didn't move.
"Go ahead." Hanley told him. "It's alright."
Tears started, and Brockmeyer choked out. "I'm scared. Not knowing - But if something's wrong -" his hands were shaking so badly he couldn't get the envelope open.
"Here." Hanley slit the letter open and handed it back to him.
"Oh." Brockmeyer said. "Oh. She looks just like Nancy. She's so pretty." Tears streaming down his face, he offered Hanley the photograph.
"You have a beautiful family." Hanley said. Then, clearing his throat hard, "Go get yourself some coffee. The War can spare you for thirty minutes."
"Thank you, sir." Brockmeyer said shakily, and left.
Hanley went back to his paperwork, and then stopped and scratched his head. He didn't know why the Corporal hadn't confided in him, and it bothered him. He still hadn't heard back from the Red Cross, and he had a feeling that Alex and Sally had taken it upon themselves to find Brockmeyer's mail. Not knowing had to have been eating at the man.
There were, basically, two kinds of soldiers in the War. Those like Kirby who spilled their guts to everybody and got over it, and then men like he and Saunders who kept everything close and bottled up. Why hadn't he realized that Sally was hurting every bit as badly as Alex, she was just better at hiding it. He had never misjudged a man so badly. Except Doc. He and Saunders had both been clueless about how handy the medic was with his fists, until one of his patients, or any woman or child was in danger.
He had never had a woman threaten to kick his butt before. In spite of himself, he chuckled. That tiny little thing actually thought she could do him some damage. Wrestling with a woman who knew what she was doing might be fun. But she and Jackson were an item. He sighed, and went back to his paperwork.
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