Authors Note: Hello all! I'm here with my first ever BoB fanfiction! I've been writing for a long time, but never had the courage to publish, so here's my go at it. I'm not quite sure who I want my OC with, so I think I'll have a vote off. I quite like the idea of having a minor, unloved character to pair her with. Such as Shifty, Skinny, Webster, or maybe even Skinny look-a-like Talbert. ... Is it just me or are Skinny and Talbert oddly similar looking? Honestly now...

Right anyway onto the...

Acknowledgments: To Ashley (Bobaadoo) my beta reader, thank you for putting up with my long sentences and grammatic errors. I wouldn't have posted without you!

and

Disclaimers: I do not own Band of Brothers. If I did, I wouldn't be writing a sappy romance story about it. I mean no disrespect to the real Band of Brothers or their families in any way. I respect them highly and the acts they did during World War II. This is purely fan based off of the characters in the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, and the actors portrayals in the series. Some things in this story may not be completely based off of history, but I will try to stay as true to the actual story as possible.

Edit: Italics are words/phrases/sentences spoken in German. I meant to add that earlier... but my scatterbrained head forgot. Silly me.


Prologue

If there was ever a time to ponder the bane of one's existence, it was, unequivocally when said person is or was going through life threatening situations. One would not stop to think about it on their way to shop or while having a nice Sunday afternoon walk. No, considering your life to be pest to other human beings was something many people only thought about when their life, at least in most regards, was in danger of ending. Such was the case with Katherine McAlester. Staring into the face of death was something she had grown accustomed to, yet, she couldn't help but wonder if her life had made a difference. A plausible thought was she was just a filler in the world, someone who people walked past on the streets but did not talk to. Maybe she was just an annoying nuisance to the people around her and never did anyone any real good, like a mosquito. Still, she couldn't help but cling to a small chance she had done some good in the world. If but by a small miracle, maybe, just maybe she had helped someone out there. Of course no one directly came to mind, but that small hope was the only thing left that kept her sanity intact.

D-Day plus 5

11th June 1944

"My dear, you look dreadful." Katherine, or as she preferred, Kate, merely stared at the concrete floor that lay under her feet. The sickly sweet tone of her SS German captor only sent sporadic shivers down her spine. "If you just tell us what we need to know, it will all be over."

Mustering all the strength she had Kate spit in the direction of the cleanly dressed SS man, who quickly side stepped to avoid the incoming fire. "I'd rather die than tell you. You're a disgusting vile pig of a man."

The man in front of her sneered. He was a decorated officer but was given the task of breaking this little girl. What made him internally seethe was the fact she refused to break. Usually the people he had to interrogate were pitiful civilians that broke under his harsh gaze. The girl that sat before him bloodied and bruised was not like them. He almost pitied the fact she wouldn't break, her will would do nothing more than cause her pain. "That's too bad. Guess we'll have to break your leg," He paused for dramatic effect, "again."

Kate narrowed her eyes but made no other notion towards the man. "You've already done before, what's to stop you from doing it again?"It puzzled Kate as to why her will was so strong. It occurred to her that never giving into the SS man might be her shot at redemption, her shot at helping people in the world, in some way or another. "Besides, it's not as if you won't do it after I tell you." She didn't bother counting how many times they had broken her legs. She'd have time for that later, after the senile man in front of her was gone. Kate knew it was at least two times. There was a slight chance her legs would never fully function again, but she pushed that to the back of her mind. She had vaguely heard one of the other officers suggest pulling her finger nails out one by one, but the Germans had too much class for that. At least the SS men did and for that, she was thankful.

"You do not belong here. We can both see you do not. Why not make it easier on yourself and just tell us what we need?"The SS man, also known as Alaster Vongel, felt a raging headache threaten to worm its way into his head. He usually ended up with one after talking to this certain prisoner too long. He usually opted to return to his quarters and down a bottle of liquor to rid his head of the pain when it happened.

A laugh erupted from Kate's pale, bloody, cracked, chapped lips. "Have I ever made it easy on you? Why should I start now?"

This was true. Kate had always made it harder on Vongel albeit sometimes it wasn't even on purpose. They had a sort of up and down relationship going on. Sometimes Vongel respected the girl for having such a strong will, other times he would torture her because of it. Kate would often laugh at Vongel's attempts to get her to tell and then spite him for bringing in the crueler SS men to make her submit into telling. She never succumbed to it of course, many times she'd come close but her pride got in the way.

"Why don't we just start from the beginning?"Every time they came to stalemate Vongel would try and start over. It was a long and often painful process for both him and Kate.

Kate glanced up at Vongel almost mockingly. They'd been through this nearly a dozen times. "Really? Again?"

The raging headache true to its threat invaded Vongel's mind and he scowled. Turning sharply on his heels he walked over to the door and spared a glance at the girl. "Obviously talking to you won't do anything, so I'll let Lehmann have his fun with you."With that Vongel opened the door and waved to one of the men down the hallway from him. The man grinned in a sadistic manner and sauntered over to his officer. "Do what you want with her and this time…. try to muffle the screams."

Lehmann nodded curtly, his eyes glinting with something that could only be described as inhuman and opened the door. "That, I can do."

Vongel rubbed the side of his head and started on his way to his quarters. The makeshift HQ in Carentan was an old apartment building. The even more improvised interrogation rooms were in the basement in attempt to smother the noises of screams and keep their occupants in the dark. As Vongel reached the stairs the screams began. Taking a deep breath through his nose he began to meander his way up the stairs, the screams still ripping through the once silent air. It seemed Lehmann had failed to do the one job he was given. He'd have to talk to him about that.

Sometime later a groggy Kate awoke in her 'cell'. Her cell was a small ass shed to the rear of the apartment building with a small cot in it. Blinking owlishly she screwed her nose up in disgust at the smell of blood. She knew it was her blood, but the smell of old blood mixed with the new blood was never a pleasant smell. Movement on her left caused her to sit up, regretting it almost instantly as she tumbled back over.

Dull blue eyes seemingly appeared out of nowhere and blinked back at her. Kate's eyes soon adjusted and she could see the outline of the small girl she'd been locked up with. Little Ann Lacroix was a six year old Jewish Russian girl that had moved to France to escape the racism towards the Jewish in Russia. Little did her family know it was a big issue there as it was in Russia. When the deportations started Ann moved out to Carentan with her Grandmother to hide from the Gestapo. Her Grandmother had recently been killed and the girl taken hostage under suspicion of working with the French Resistance. Kate knew that was complete bullshit. Little Ann had blonde curly ringlet hair to her shoulders and pale pink thin lips. She was a very pretty little girl in a horrible situation. Ann could only speak the few words Kate had taught her in English during their captivity. The only other thing she could speak was Russian, which Kate had no language skills in at all.

Kate sighed and blinked her dark brown eyes, pushing herself up to a sitting position. As opposed to Ann, Kate had long, straight, mid shoulder black hair. Her parents were American and Asian giving her very unique looking qualities, though her American side outweighed her Asian blood. Consequently she was named after Katharine Hepburn, her mother's favorite American actress. The only real Asian thing about her was her eyes – albeit the black hair was unusual but not dreadfully Asian. She wasn't ugly in any respects but she wasn't the all American blonde with big breasts like those pinup girls she wished she could be. "How long have I been out?"

"A…. while." Ann's English was obviously very broken but they could still communicate with each other which sufficient enough for Kate. "Your leg. Broken."

Mumbling a few colorful words under her breath Kate glanced down to her leg which was indeed broken, or at least fractured, yet again. What was that, the third time now? Yes it had to be. They had started with the right, then did the left, and it was back to the right. Beautiful. Running a hand through her hair she could feel a few new cuts on her head and a broken pinky finger on her right finger. Grabbing her pinky finger she winced and let out a low hiss as she set it back into place. Better to have it in place and feel the pain then have to re-break it later. Noticing something else was off Kate began to feel her body, checking to make sure everything was there. A nose, two ears, ten fingers, breasts, legs, "Shit." She couldn't feel her entire left side thanks to a knife wedged in her side. She bet ten bucks it was a Hitler Youth knife one of the SS guards had on hand.

The smaller girl winced at the others choice of words but quickly frowned seeing the object sticking out of her caretakers' side. Ever since Ann had arrived Kate had taken care of her like a mother or older sister would. "Knife? Hurt?"

"Yeah," Katie winced as she tilted her body slightly, the knife sending a sharp pain through her system. "I have to get it out though. It'll do more damage in then it'll do out. I might bleed to death if I take it out… but I have to risk it. Here, hand me the sheet."

Ann did as she was told; only understanding a few words Kate spoke here and there. Ann watched silently as Kate tore a long strip from the dirty sheet with her teeth and then bit down on it as she grasped the handle of the knife. "I can… help?" Kate merely shook her head and Ann went to sit in the corner, covering her ears with her hands. She couldn't take the screaming. She didn't want to hear the only person she had left be in pain. She didn't understand the war or what was going on much, but she knew in her heart she would most likely never see her loved ones again.

Baring down on the cloth with her teeth Kate pulled the knife out of her slide as quickly as she could like a bandaid. She squeezed her eyes shut as semi-muted screams of pain erupted from her lips. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and she mentally smacked herself for being so weak that she'd cry from this. Once the knife was out she quickly took the strip of sheet she'd torn and wrapped it around the wound. It wouldn't last long, and if it didn't get medical attention she'd bleed out. Her tormenter, Lehmann had never done something to risk her life like this. Minutes later she could already feel the lightheadedness take over and blur her vision as blood freely oozed out of the wound. Not able to sit up straight any longer she fell backwards onto the cot and gasped for air as her lungs began to burn. Did they attempt to gas her too?

Ann came up and put her small hand on Kate's forehead, her hand instantly warming up from the heat radiating off of Kate's skin. "Hot…"

Kate paid no heed to the smaller girl's words as her vision clouded and the dull humming pain seemed to begin to fade. Could this be the end for her? How long had it been since she pulled the knife out? Minutes, hours? She had no idea, and she didn't bother asking Ann. Instead her mind wandered back to what she was told to say if she was ever taken by the Germans. A small almost inaudible giggled left her lips. 'Genevieve Bellamont, Twenty Two years of age, helping in an aunt's bakery in Carentan. Has relatives in Normandy and often goes to visit them. Can speak German because of a German father named Bernd Alterholz, and then a Japanese born mother deceased during child birth, only child- Nationality, German'. That had worked just about as well as Chamberlain's appeasement policy had.

Her mind began to muse to itself about what would have happened had she said her real identify. What if she had blurted out what the men that had gotten her into this mess told her never to say nor admit? Her lips moved as she spoke out her true identity to only herself, little Ann, and whatever higher being there was. After all this could be the last time she was alive and breathing. "Katherine McAlester. Twenty years old. Daughter of Jonathan and Lily McAlester, heirs to the McAlester fortune." She paused as a fond smile made its way onto her lips, her world slowly fading, "American, spy."


May 15th, 1941

Kate looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. It was her seventeenth birthday party and all the richest from California to Florida were in attendance. Her father, Jonathan McAlester was heir to one of the biggest building corporations in the country. He and Carnegie were friends on a first name basis, a major feat that only few had the privilege of. Tonight, as her father had said earlier, was the night of nights. Her dress was made of rich red silk and hugged her body in all the right places, but was modest enough her father let her wear it. Her hair was pulled up with tiny ringlet curls framing her face. Her makeup had been done exquisitely, tingeing her already doll like cheeks a soft rose pink.

"Come on dear, it's time to greet the guests."

Looking in the mirror she could see her mother's reflection. Her mother was beautiful in every way imaginable. She was a China Doll, as her father once bragged, with the loveliest face of all the women in America. Her Chinese accent was long forgotten thanks to Jonathan's speech teachers and she bore her American accent with pride. Everyone knew the McAlester's, and everyone looked on with envy at their happy family. The trophy wives of the other wealthy business men scoffed at Lily's Asian background, but Lily paid no mind to them.

"But mother, father is only throwing this party because he wants me to find a suitable courter." Kate replied in an almost whining fashion.

Lily smiled fondly at her little girl and walked over in a graceful manner, petting her daughters head in a soothing manner. "He's only looking out for you Kate."

Kate wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "But mother. You and dad met at a dance and you fell in love. True love! That's what I want!" Her lower lip jutted out in a pouting manner. Even nearing adulthood, she couldn't help but try her pouting face on authority.

Lily laughed and began to fix the small impurities in Kate's hair. "It's different. A young beautiful woman with money can be taken advantage of quite easily. Your father was a teenage boy with parents who didn't dot over him like we dot over you. His parents didn't care who he married. Your father just wants the best for you."

"Yeah," Kate retorted, standing up. "Meaning he wants me to marry someone who won't run the company into the ground."

A smile played on the older woman's lips as she moved towards the door. "Well, that wouldn't hurt now would it?"

Kate snorted in an unladylike manner and threw open the door, her heels clicking against the marble floor. "I guess I should get this over with."

Lily smiled and patted her daughter on the head as they walked down the grand stairs. "That would be for the best I suppose."

As the two neared the landing, a couple people squirmed their way over to greet them. One of them just so happened to be Alfred Stone, the nineteen year old grandson of one of the largest oil tycoons on the east coast. Alfred was also one of Kate's best friends. She couldn't deny how dashing and handsome he looked in a suit. That little liar said he couldn't make it!

"Hello Mrs. McAlester," he said in a smooth voice, putting on a charming smile. Alfred then turned his lovely blue eyed gaze towards Kate, "Happy birthday Kate." He produced a small red box tied up with gold ribbon in his hands from behind his back and held it out for the birthday girl to take.

Looking at the gift Kate couldn't help but grin giddily as she took it out of his hands and opened it- her accusation of him being a liar fading instantly. Sitting on a white cushion was a beautiful gold locket in the shape of a heart with her name engraved in elegant cursive. Her eyes traced every bit of the necklace as her heart beat faster in her chest. Sure she had received many gifts like it, but this, this was special. Her best friend had taken the time to seek out something like this and have it personalized, just for her. She could feel her nose tingle as tears threatened to fall. Truly, Alfred was the best friend she could have ever asked for. "This…- this is.."

Alfred looked crestfallen at her lack of words. "If you don't like it… you don't have to we-"

He was cut off as Kate tackled him in a hug, squeezing the air out of his lungs. "This is the most perfect gift in the history of gifts! It's the most beautiful thing I've ever laid my eyes on! You're the best friend in the world!"

A grinning Alfred hugged the smaller girl back, his cheeks turning red. "You're welcome Kate! I'm glad you like it." He closed his eyes and inhaled her scent knowing this could be the last time he'd see her. He was going to tell her he was going to England to help the RAF, but he decided against it. He didn't want to ruin her night. Poor Alfred didn't know that not telling her would cause her more pain and suffering than he could have ever thought possible. When Alfred disappeared without a trace, it would open a whole new chapter in Kate's life filled with many things he would have never thought possible. Oh, if only he had known.


I saw Berry Pepper in True Grit yesterday, aka: the sniper (Daniel Jackson) from Saving Private Ryan. I nearly cried at how different he looked. Oh Jackson, what happened to your incredibly attractive sniper and helmet?

Please give me a boost of confidence and review?

~Secret Wonderland