"Speirs is coming back?"
The surprise couldn't be heard from Lipton's words, but he sure was surprised. This certain Captain Ronald Speirs had been gone for a week or two. Or several weeks, Lipton had lost count. Not that he even had counted. He lifted his gaze back on Luz, who had suddenly out of nowhere brought this information back. Luz shrugged and lit a cigarette. Speirs was supposed to be in England. Or that's what Winters told to the company. Nevertheless, Speirs' took-off was really sudden and came out of nowhere. It had surprised Lipton as much as the comeback information now. It made him feel… Something. He couldn't tell. Lieutenant dropped his gaze back to his boots. Speirs was coming back to the line.
"Lip?" Luz asked when Lipton had been quiet for a while. It was freezing cold out there. The evening was about to turn into a night and all you could hear were the voices of Skip and Penkala from a foxhole nearby. Lipton didn't look at Luz, he just let out a deep sigh.
"Good. We need him back", that was all Lipton could say. Luz uttered a laughter.
"Yeah, Dike's no good. We could really use a good captain. I mean, couple days ahead and we are sent to Foy. Wanna make a bet? Speirs is def-" sergeant got a chace to start before Lipton interrupted him.
"It's Captain Speirs."
Luz apologized and kept going about Foy. When he finally realized Lipton had something else that Foy on his mind, the sergeant decided to leave. He mumbled something about Frank's lighter and left Lipton's foxhole. Lipton looked after Luz and frowned, mostly to himself. Speirs was coming back. When? Last time Lipton spent time with Speirs, it was in Carenten. They had talked about war. Speirs' attitude towards this whole war had concerned Lipton. Technically, Speirs didn't give a fuck what he did – he said he was already dead. As much as Lipton hated to admit it to himself, he didn't know what he would do if Speirs got killed. In the end, Lipton and Speirs were lot alike. They were both humble but yet didn't lack courage. They both knew when to speak up or be quiet. Lipton was maybe more liked when Speirs was kind of… Well, let's just say nobody wanted to get on his way. It had felt like this soulmate-thingy, y'know? And then Speirs just had taken off. Lipton crossed his arms, to warm himself a bit, and gathered his knees closer to his chest and then covered himself with a half-frozen blanket. Damn winter. It was going to be another long night. Maybe even without sleep. This time, not because of the Germans but because of the information of Captain Spears coming back.
"See Lip, I heard you weren't too happy of the news. You know, of me getting my ass back here in the line. I didn't have much to do in England and there was no one, absolutely no one to talk with. And in the end, I belong here more than anywhere else. Actually, I thought you would be kind of happy if I got back. That is one reason I got back. I kind of left without saying anything and—" Speirs kept talking. Lipton slowly opened his eyes, just to notice that his foxhole had no "roof" anymore and Speirs was sitting right next to him smoking a cigarette and talking nonsense (that's what it sounded to Lipton's ears). He frowned, gathered himself a bit and then looked at Speirs who looked back at him with a weird smile.
"You awake? Good, we got a Foy to conquer", Speirs smirked widely, patted Lipton shoulder and got up. Lipton was still frowning, mostly because of the bright daylight. A little bit because he wasn't sure if it was Speirs standing there. Lipton got up, slower than Speirs, and stretched his back a bit. He climbed up from his foxhole, took a look of the landscape and then smiled a bit to Speirs. No one else was up yet, it was dead silent.
"Glad to have you back, Captain", a little chuckle escaped from Lipton's lip as he shook Speirs' hand.
"Glad to be back, Lieutenant", Speirs answered uttering a laughter and took Lipton into a bear hug.
