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Got myself a chance to watch Band of Brothers again. I love that show. Its beautiful and incredibly tragic, but hopeful throughout.

I was thinking how Winters might conduct himself for the 48 hours he was in Paris, and for the time they were stationed in Austria. I wondered if maybe they never gave Winters a chance for "romance" because they wanted a certain image for his character, or if he really didn't have any women while he was in the service. Of course, he was married after he returned to the States, but I'm more concerned with his time in Europe. So here goes. Let's see what we have.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The Band of Brothers title and character belong solely to all affiliated companies, such as HBO. I claim only the plot line and all original characters not featured in the show.

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Captain Richard Winters. Captain… He was the XO of Easy Company. That was a Major's billet. Was he about to be promoted? He could only hope. But this would take him farther from the men. Farther from the battlefield.

The men…

The men…

That kid. That Jerry kid. He must have just finished a piss, maybe. He'd looked up to find Dick pointing the business end of his rifle at him. He'd smiled, as if he was uncomprehending. Had he thought that Winters was a fellow Kraut? He had no way of knowing now. Light and shadows, they play tricks on people.

So does war, then again. Wears a man thin. Takes him to the brink and back again. Threatens to drive him mad, and just when he thinks he's gotten away without a scratch, it finally does push him off the edge.

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He loved the cafes of Paris. Being outside in the fresh air, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. Chattering patrons, streetcars, giggling women, and servicemen full of stories and their fair share of nightmares.

Although, he'd enjoy the café scene much more if the jackass behind him would quit bumping his arm and yammering on and on about eating rats during basic. God… These recruits had no idea what suffering was.

He was glad to have the time away. All this war was really starting to do a number on him, but he was anxious to get back to Easy. Anxious to get back to the fight.

Winters set his newspaper down on the table, standing to leave. He counted out the change for his coffee, dropping a coin. As he bent to pick it up, he heard a commotion. Sounded like a fight. He was suddenly buffeted back into his seat with a newly acquired weight on his lap.

"Hey!"

A woman. He could tell by tone of voice. He looked up into the sunlight at the source of the voice, eyes straining in the light to make out a face and was met with a slap and a stinging pain on his left cheek. He grabbed for the hand that had hit him and was rewarded with a slim wrist held tight in his grasp.

"Hey man, let go a' my girl!"

Winters turned to see a red-faced Air Force private staring him down. Dick was barely able to read the patch that had his name on it. "Hatfield" He looked ready for a fight, and by the looks of it he'd already been in one not too long ago. His lip was split and dripping blood onto the clean white of the tablecloth. His right eye was swollen and he had knuckles bloodier than his lip. He leaned over the table, one hand resting on the surface as he came closer to Winters.

"I said git your hands off my girl."

The whole café was silent, watching the spectacle. Richard had completely forgotten about the girl on his lap until he felt her fingers on his, a request to loosen his grip on her wrist. He nodded and let her go. She stood primly; face still blocked from his view by the harsh sunlight.

She walked the two steps over to Private Hatfield, smiling sweetly as she fiddled with the edge of his collar. Her voice came out a soft purr with a slight southern drawl.

"Sweetheart?"

The man had a goofy grin on his face. A triumphant smile.

"Yeah?"

"I told you once, I ain't your 'girl'!"

Winters saw it coming and leaned back out of the way of her arm, stretched back as far as it could go. Her fingers curled into a hard fist as they were brought back to Hatfield's face, smashing into his jaw, sending blood and saliva flying into the crowd of onlookers. Dick was glad he was on the other side of the splash zone.

The private hit the ground, yelling with fury. Two MPs came running through the crowd that had gathered, forcing their way into the spectacle

Winters stood and smoothed his uniform, greeting the officers with a salute and an explanation. As he opened his mouth to speak, he was pushed aside by a woman in white. The woman who'd fallen into his lap and who'd knocked out an Air Force private with one hit. She stood before them with a look of mock defiance.

Both MPs sighed and gave her a look of frustration.

"Lieutenant Moore, what's the count at now?"

"Oh, I dunno… 6?"

"Right. We'll take him away, but next time try diplomacy before aggressive action."

They marched off with the Private between them, laughing and yelling to the crowd to go about their business.

Lieutenant Moore spun on Winters, who flinched at her sharp movements. This woman was mad.

"Now what was all that grabbin' business about? I outta hit you too, just for fairness."

Winters was able to get a good look at her now. She was an Army Nurse. He stood a good six inches above her, staring down at what he considered to be pretty features. Her shoulder length blonde hair curled in an unruly fashion around an oval face with grey eyes that made her look more severe than her stature let on. She was a small girl, like most of the nurses. Made from every enlisted man's dream of a woman with big tits and a small waist, welcoming him to Paris with a bottle of wine and a soft bed.

He threw his hands up in surrender. He fought to keep the grin off his face. She was a startling woman.

"Sorry ma'am. I was caught off guard when you landed on me… Wait a minute, you already hit me!"

She took a step back, surveying his appearance. Her mouth scrunched to one side as she studied him. A smile broke out on her face and she plopped down into the chair opposite the one he'd intended on leaving. She glanced at stripes on his shoulders and hat, and grinned up at him, tapping the empty chair in invitation.

"Well, you might as well have a drink with me, right Captain?"

Winters was hesitant. If he was being completely honest, she scared him a little.

"I was… I had a thing—"

She hopped out of her seat as fast as she'd sat down in it, extending a hand and another smile.

"Wait a minute, where are my manners? I'm First Lieutenant Jennifer Moore. Native of Huntsville, Alabama. You're a Captain, I know that much. What else can you tell me 'bout yerself?"

"Right, nice to meet you Lieutenant Moore, I—"

Jennifer hooked an arm through his and spun him around, leading him away from the café at a pace he barely followed at first, tripping over his feet as she dragged him along. He'd never been this awkward in his life…

"Sorry, hun, but we gotta move. I saw the ward boss was lookin' for me at that particular café. I really don't feel like going back to the hospital just yet. Go on, keep talkin'. I'm listenin'."

"Right… Uh. Well, I'm the Captain of Easy Company. You know, 101st Airborne?"

"Yeah! I've heard of ya'll a couple times. Paratroopers. Real soldiers."

"Well, we're all 'real soldiers', Lieutenant –"

"Jennifer. This place looks good, let's go in here."

Winters hadn't even been paying attention to where she had been leading him. Truth be told, he'd just been staring at her while they talked. He was mesmerized by this woman. He couldn't remember this ever happening, and he wasn't sure what to do, other than open the door for her.

She'd led him to a bar…

A mostly empty bar, surprisingly. It was still the middle of the day, anyways.

She sat down at a booth in the back of the facility and waved to the bartender, smiling as she watched Winters' uncomfortable behavior. Jennifer tapped her long fingernails on the worn wooden table, one hand propping up her chin.

"You okay hun'? I'm sorry if I dragged you into all my mess. You seemed a little confused, to say the least. I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"

Dick chuckled, rubbing his cheek where he still felt a slight sting from where she'd hit him.

"No, I'm… Fine. I've been hit harder. What was all that about, anyway?"

Moore sniffed and waved a hand dismissively, her face turning pink as she spun around, looking for the bartender distractedly.

Winters imitated her, tappeing his fingers on the table and grinning patiently.

"I… I, uh…"

"Its okay, I can wait."

"Oh, fine. He and a few men from his outfit had been brought in. They were in real bad shape. I didn't think he was gonna make it! He was so doped up and outta his mind with pain, I made him a promise I didn't think I'd have to keep."

"What was it?"

"I told him… I told him I'd be his girlfriend when he got outta the hospital. But I didn't think he'd make it! It must have boosted his spirits so much that he fought through half a grenade's worth of shrapnel in his chest just to go out with me. I feel awful, but that's what happened. Come to find out, he's one angry son of a bitch who likes to drink and gamble a little too much. Don't blame me for not being interested!"

Winter's gave her a half-cocked smile, and she turned her head away again, her cheeks flushed pink.

"Its not funny…"

"Yes it is."

Jennifer huffed in frustration, but hid a smile behind her hand. Finally the bartender came around and they ordered coffee, since it was far too early for alcohol. Winters was a little hyped up from his coffee at the café, but he didn't want to sit there like a dolt, so he ordered another cup and sipped it slowly. Besides, he had no idea how long it'd be until he had another cup this good. God knows, field brew isn't half as good as the stuff they served in Paris.

He looked up from his glass to see Jennifer staring at him.

"…Yes?"

She propped her head on her hands, staring at him intently.

"So… You've been in the action, right?"

Dick stared back at her. Her question made him smile.

"Of course I have. How do you think I got my stripes?"

"Well, yeah, but what's it like?"

He could feel his smile fading away as he cleared his throat and brought his eyes back to his coffee cup.

"Its… Terrifying."

Jennifer was visibly uncomfortable.

"Sorry. I probably shouldn't have asked. I just… I see men and boys come into my ward, an' I wonder what it was like. Wonder what they were doing when they got beat up and mangled like some o' them are. Being a nurse and seeing men in the hospital isn't the same as being there with 'em on the battlefield."

Winters was a little astounded. She wasn't talking like any of the other airheaded nurses that he'd seen or talked to. They all wanted to know how many Krauts he'd killed, or how many wounds he'd taken. His favourite was what hotel he was staying in…

He looked up and smiled at her. He knew she meant no harm.

"No, its fine. I was just being honest. Its loud, its intense. You can smell the Cordite from all the guns being fired. You can feel the ground shake when a mortar is shot from hundreds of yards away. If it's snowing, you're running so hard that you can't feel the cold. If it's hot, you're so dead with exhaustion, you don't give a damn about anything but killing the first enemy you see. Nothing about it is easy, but it's all I know these days… This is my first Liberty in a long time."

They sipped their coffee in silence for a moment. Each absorbing what had been said. Dick opened his mouth for a split second, meaning to speak. But he couldn't think of a question. What did he know about this girl?

The bell above the door rang loudly, and a chubby brunette nurse poked her head into the bar. Across the street, he could see another nurse in a dress shop doing the same. They must be looking for other nurses.

The brunette spotted Jennifer and ran over to her, out of breath and looking panicked.

"Jennifer, ward boss says to get over to the hospital! She's been looking for you, she said there's a big one coming in!"

She ran off, ringing the bell again on the way out. Dick looked at Jennifer, shoving his chair away from the table.

"That sounds urgent. I should be going back to my hotel anyways…"

Jennifer stood, pulling him up by the wrist as she pushed some money across the bar and they walked out. She linked arms with him again as they marched down the street. It had all happened so fast, Dick didn't how to react.

"Wait, she looked really worried, are you sure you don't have to—"

"Oh no, Allison always looks like that. It's probably nothing. You should come with me. We're always in need of a ranking officer to keep the dogs away from the door!"

Dick let her lead him down the street, six blocks to the Army hospital, blathering the whole time about how he needed to go back to his hotel, and how he had plans for the evening, and how he'd only get in her way.

He could swear that the suave and smoothly operating Captain Dick Winter's had been left behind and replaced by this new Dick who couldn't string together two words when he was with this Nurse.

They were almost a block away from the hospital, when Jennifer broke out into a sprint. Servicemen crowded the doors to the hospital, demanding entry. And they all looked angry.

As they got closer, they could hear some of the shouts coming from the men as they tried to force their way into the building, some of them brandishing their sidearms menacingly at the MPs and Nurses trying to hold them back.

"Bring those filthy bastards out here! I'll skin 'em alive!"

Dick looked down at Jennifer, who was looking uneasy by now.

"I thought you said it wasn't an emergency!"

"Usually its not! We haven't had any majour evacuations for months!"

They pushed their way through the crowd, Dick leading the way with a tight grip on Jennifer's hand.

They were literally pushed through the entrance by the crowd, and the heavy oak doors slammed behind them, leaving them in a quiet empty hallway. The chubby nurse that had found them in the bar came running up to them, clamping a hand on Jennifer's arm and dragging her down the hallway towards the wards.

"Jenny, you have to hurry. Nobody else will touch them, and we have a Major here telling us that we have to treat them! Jenny, you'll do it, won't you? If you don't, they'll die, and we'll all get in trouble!"

"What're you talking about?"

Dick was following close behind, and heard the advancing sound of someone screaming continuously, and was blinded by a flash of light as a pair of doors swung open to reveal a surgical-white room awash in midday sun. A hospital room, lined wall to wall with close to fifty beds and IV-drip stands.

Four of those fifty beds were now occupied, and stained red by their residents, one of whom was responsible for the screams he had heard outside in the hallway.

On the opposite wall, twenty or more nurses stood with their arms crossed, all staring anywhere else in the room but at those four beds. Some of the women had fingers in their ears, trying to block out the sound of the screaming man.

A Navy Commander was standing toe-to-toe with the most severe looking woman Dick had ever laid eyes on. Obviously she was the Ward Boss that had been looking for Lieutenant Moore earlier. Her frame was short and stocky, and her horn-rimmed metal glasses stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin and white hair.

"I told you once, Commander, you cannot boss me and my girls around! These men surrendered to you and your ship, so why didn't you leave them on your ship?! You've brought immeasurable danger to these fine women and to this hospital and I tell you that not a single one of these nurses will stoop so low as to aid these filthy rats!"

The Commander was a thin man, and his uniform looked almost too big for him, but he towered over the ranking nurse by almost a foot. His cap was clenched tightly in his hands, bent almost to the point of being unrecognizable. He pointed a finger at the old woman, his face beet-red in his fury.

"Woman, you have not only an obligation, but a DIRECT. ORDER. To help these men! You answer to officers of the service, not to yourselves! These wounded soldiers could hold valuable information that could save thousands of American's lives, but you won't help your own countrymen out of pride?! I will order you and your staff one last time, treat these men!"

"We will do no such—"

"I'll do it."

Jennifer had been watching from the doorway with Winters, and she marched forward, dragging Dick with her, much against his will.

The ward boss turned to Jennifer, face purple and splotchy.

"Missy, you'll do no such thing! These men will be out on the streets within five minutes, in as bad a shape as they came!"

"Only if I do a really poor job of fixing them up."

She turned to the Commander, who looked relieved to finally have someone of reason in the room.

"Commander, sir, Lieutenant Jennifer Moore, at your service. Please get those men outside away from the hospital, by at least a block. We don't have the defenses to keep these boys here for longer than a night, and we certainly can't take them out of here tonight. I will personally see to these soldiers, you have my word.."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll get some of my men on it. Captain, where are you from?"

The Commander was now addressing Dick, who had been staring at the four wounded men on the beds.

Four wounded soldiers. Four wounded German soldiers.

All of them no older than 20 years.

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That's chapter one! I'm sorry if it's all a little funny and rushed. I've been babysitting most nights I've worked on this, so there's a few periods in the text where I've come back to the story after yelling at some little children to GET TO BED!

Let me know what you think. Second chapter to follow soon.

-Matador

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