Falling Star- Chapter 2
Hi! Hope you're all liking the new story. I just want to correct a mistake from the last chapter. Towards the end when Roseanna is talking to Sink about her father, Nix is supposed to say "singer Father" and not "single Father", cos he is, after all, married to the evil stepmother :P. Anyway enjoy. Please review, I live for reviews! Good or bad ones! All suggestions appreciated.
…………………………….
That night, Roseanna had made her way into the Ardennes along with the other soldiers, paling with every gunshot that she heard. For as much as she'd spent time travelling around warzones with the USO, this was the first time she'd ever even come close to being in close proximity of battle. And she didn't like it. After a few hours waiting in the freezing forest as the men dug what looked like huge holes in the ground (bizarre!), Sink instructed Captain Winters to take her with him into the nearby town of Bastogne where they'd be setting up HQ. He was instructed to find her a room somewhere close to HQ where she could pass her time. He did as he was instructed, finding her a room 2 floors up in the building they'd selected for HQ, figuring it was high enough that she wouldn't be privy to private, official conversations and that she'd…laughingly…get a good view of the town. Not that there was much of a view anymore. It was small, but it had everything she'd need to be comfortable, and certainly more than any of his suffering men were going to have: a bed with fresh sheets, a desk, a chair and just a short walk to a working toilet.
"You can sleep here," he said, opening the door to let her inside.
Nervously, she looked around, her heart beating like a train. "O…Okay."
"Any serious problems, Battalion staff are just downstairs," he explained, dragging her bag over to the desk and setting it down.
"Thanks, Captain Winters," She said, her legs turning to jelly, forcing her to sit down on the bed. She began shaking uncontrollably.
Scratching his head, he had to stop himself from swearing. This wasn't a good situation for anyone her being there, not for her or the battalion. She looked so scared. Slowly he walked over to the bed and set next to her, keeping a respectable distance of course. "Are you alright?"
"N-n-not really…," she said. "A little scared, if I'm honest."
"It's normal," he reassured her. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here as soon as possible. You might not be here long."
She flinched at the sound of planes flying overhead. "Hopefully not."
"Well, I have to go…," he said, standing up and smoothing out his jacket.
She looked at him, her eyes filling with panic. She reached out and desperately put her hand on his sleeve, tugging at it slightly. "You're leaving? Why?"
"Uh…I have to go be a soldier," he said, trying to ease a smile out of her. No such luck.
"Oh," she looked down. "Of course."
"Don't worry," he reassured her, his fingers gently grazing hers as he released his sleeve from her grasp. "I'll have Doc Roe come check on you, make sure you're doing okay."
"Will you come back?" She asked tentatively.
His cheeks reddened slightly as he searched for an answer. "Me?"
"It's just," she continued. "You're the most familiar face I recognise out here."
"I'll come back when I can," he assured her. "Just try to relax, wait it out."
"Thanks, Captain."
…………………………
19th December, 1944
Eugene Roe made his way up the stairs of Battalion HQ, carrying a tin of Joe's refried beans. He moved his head to the side, trying to keep downwind of the smell. Nodding respectfully at various members of staff he passed on the way, he came to a halt outside Roseanna's door. He'd tried to introduce himself to her last night, and check if she was alright. She'd refused to let him in, just called out that she was fine from the other side of the door. He hated to admit it, but he almost resented having to take time off of the line to attend a young, clueless starlet who'd waltzed onto the wrong truck…especially with the conditions the men were facing out there on the line in Bastogne. But, nonetheless, he'd promised Captain Winters. Tentatively, he knocked on the doorframe. He could hear nothing from inside, nothing whatsoever.
"Ma'am," he called out. "Miss Caine?"
Silence.
"Everything okay in there," he called out again.
"Who's that?" the alarmed response came from the other side.
"It's Eugene Roe, ma'am," he introduced himself for the second time to her. "I came to check on you last night, rememba?"
"Oh…," she replied, mousily. "I remember. What…what do you want?"
"I brought you some dinner," he said. "Figured you hadn't eaten anything yet…need to keep your strength up."
"Oh…thank you," she called out. "That's…kind of you."
Silence spread between the door posts once more. He rolled his eyes. "So…you gonna open up to let me in, or…?"
"If you could just leave it on the other side of the door…that will be fine," she called out cautiously.
He didn't really have time for this. Quickly he set the tin cup outside the door. "As you ask, ma'am. Have a good evening."
Turning on his heel, he began his descent down the stairs with a view to getting a truck to take him back to the line. Moments later, he bumped into Captain Winters who was making his way up the stairs. The two stopped as they passed each other. Gene raise his hand over his forehead in salute to his superior. Winters replied.
"How is she doing?" Dick asked, looking up towards the direction of the closed door.
"Still no contact I'm afraid, sir," Gene replied, shrugging his shoulders. "She wouldn't let me inside, just told me to leave the food outside."
"That so?" Winters asked, his eyes filling with concern, muttering under his breath. "She can't get used to it here."
"It's far-removed from her world, I suppose, Sir. It seems to me that she's retreating within herself." Gene mused. "Sir, how are things on the line?"
"Stable for the moment, I just came over to drop off some paperwork…thought I'd check on her since I was here."
That struck Gene as slightly odd, Winters had orderlies to do that sort of thing. Nonetheless, he'd never question the Captain. "Good idea, Sir. Hopefully she'll listen to you."
Dick nodded at him, setting a foot on the next step. "You should get back on the line, Gene, check on the boys."
"On my way, Sir," He said, offering Winters a final salute. "I'll check on her again when I can."
With Eugene on his way, Dick continued his ascent up the stairs. Stopping outside her door, he looked down at the tin of beans, growing colder by the second. Knock, knock.
Nothing.
Knock, Knock.
"Miss Caine?" he called, knocking the door again.
"…Captain Winters?" her almost-relieved voice sounded out clear like a bell from the other side.
"Yes, it's me," he called, holding his face closer to the door. "How are you today?"
She didn't respond, but moments later he heard the lock fumbling, and then her pale, tired face appeared from the other side. "Come in."
As he followed her inside, he noticed she was wearing several layers of clothing, and that she'd covered over her window with a long pashmina-style scarf. He cocked an eyebrow. "How are you?"
"I've been better," she said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "Any news on getting me out of here yet?"
Not wanting to voice his initial response, which was that the army had more important things to worry about in the face of the major German offensive that had been launched against them, instead he opted for: "No, not as yet, I'm afraid."
She looked down, crestfallen. "Oh."
"Have you been sleeping alright?" He asked, shuffling closer to the desk.
"Not really," she said quietly. "There's screaming."
"Screaming?" he asked.
"I can hear people screaming, moaning…," she put her head in her hands. "Every second of every day. I don't know where it's coming from…or if I'm just imagining it."
"There's a military hospital nearby, in an abandoned church," he said comfortingly. "That's probably what you can hear. Just try and block it out. Easier said than done, I know, but…"
Suddenly the sound of bombs exploding pierced the air and made the ground shake. She let out a high shriek, and within seconds she'd thrown herself forward in a panic, straight into Dick's arms, burying her head in his shoulder. He was taken aback slightly by her sudden movement, his cheeks flooding red as he toyed with the idea of giving her a comforting hug, but deciding against it…inappropriate.
"Miss Caine, they're not bombing the town," he said as tactfully as possible as she clung to him. "They're bombing the forests. You're safe for the moment."
"Oh," she said, breathing a slight sigh of relief. "Thank God, I thought I was a goner!"
"They just sound loud," he explained.
She suddenly became aware that she'd thrown her arms around the Captain and felt the red flush of embarrassment creep up onto her cheeks. Quickly, she released her arms from his waist and sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Sorry about that."
"Uh…that's not…not a problem," he said, seeming very nervous and sitting down on the desk chair, just to have something to do.
She stifled a laugh, the first time she'd laughed in a long time, actually. "You must think I'm such a pathetic, scaredy cat."
"No, that's not what I was thinking," he said, smiling playfully as he looked at the ground.
"No? Then what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking…," he said, feeling strangely confident and looking up at her, hoping to take her mind off of things. "…that I can't believe I was just hugged by Roseanna Caine."
She stifled another giggle, her eyes lighting up in amusement. "Is that so?"
"Closer than I got to you in Paris, actually," he paused for a moment before revealing.
"Paris?" she cocked her head to the side, confused.
"Oh…," he said, realising he'd have to tell the whole story now. "I was actually in leave in Paris just before you're show in Mourmelon. You and your USO troupe were in Paris at the same time, and I managed to catch your show…from the very back of the auditorium, granted."
"Gee, really?" she asked, her eyes alive with intrigue. She loved hearing about people coming to the shows. "So you were a fan of the show?"
"I liked the show," he nodded. "But I've always been a Caine family fan."
"Always, huh?" she pressed.
"Ever since I was young, my parents listened to your father's songs on the radio, then when you and your sister formed the duet…we listened to those too when I was in my late teens," he told her, shyly.
"I bet you liked Lola, right?" she asked, assuming it would be true.
He couldn't believe he was in a town stuck in the middle of a warzone and yet here he was, discussing music with Roseanna Caine. Oh well, he still had a while before he had to get back to the line. He wrinkled his nose. "Not really. I always got the impression that she was a little…highly-strung. I guess from what I saw in the corridor in Mourmelon the other day…I was right."
She beamed at him, getting a huge kick from the fact that he'd been a good enough judge of character to be able to see what most of the public seemed oblivious to. Still, a thought came into her head. "It might have been better if it had been her here though and not me. She was always the braver one…she'd find a way to get through this. I'm not the bravest girl in the world, as you can probably tell."
He stroked the stubble forming on his chin, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure about that. I always thought it was brave of you to quit the duet when it was at the top of it's game to go off to Sarah Lawrence College."
"How do you know it was Sarah Lawrence I went to?" She asked, intrigued.
"Uh…," he stuttered, embarrassed to have revealed so much. "I think I read it in a newspaper or something at the time."
"Oh…," she said, looking at him suddenly with a little twinkle in her eye.
"Anyway," he stood up, feeling the need for a quick exit. "I should get back onto the line. Have a good night."
She walked him over to the door. He picked up the tin of beans and thrust it in her direction. "You should try and eat, Miss Caine."
"Please, call me Roseanna," she smiled at him, before looking down into the tin. "…what the hell's that? That's not food."
He smiled. "Doesn't look like it, does it? It's the best we have, though. For the moment, anyway."
"I'll imagine it's filet mignon," she said, taking it from him as he held it out to her. "Will you be back in Bastogne again soon?"
"I really couldn't tell you, it's all very uncertain at the moment," he admitted truthfully, doing up the buttons on his jacket. "But, tell you what, if I can't make it out, I'll send you something to cheer you up."
………………………………
20th December, 1944
The next day Roseanna sat on her bed, glumly trying it through a chapter of The Great Gatsby. It was her favourite book and she always carried a copy with her as it always cheered her up…usually, anyway. Not today. She was feeling down despite yesterday's visit from Dick. On her way back from the washroom that morning, she'd heard some orderlies whispering about what an inconvenience her presence there was. She was beginning to feel guilty for being there, even though it hadn't been her fault. Even more, she had finally had to admit to herself that morning that she didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of making it back to the States in time for her traditional, peaceful Iowan Christmas. Not really reading the words, she absent-mindedly turned a page when the sound of a knocking at the door interrupted her thoughts. Putting the book aside, she tiptoed over to the door, hoping it might be Dick.
"Who is it?"
"It's Sergeant Luz, ma'am. George Luz," came the reply.
She frowned, the name was familiar.
"Captain Winters sent me," he added from the other side of the door.
With this new information, she quickly opened the door. She instantly recognised his face, the soldier from Mourmelon who'd been besotted with Lola. "Sergeant? Captain Winters sent you?"
"Indeed he did," he nodded, walking past her into the room. "Kind of an exchange deal. I got an hour off the line to come and get a hot meal if I agreed to come and, in his own words, cheer you up."
"Cheer me up," she folded her arms, looking at him. "Are you a clown or something?"
"You're not far off," he made a "dusting off his shoulder" motion. "You could say I'm well-known as being the funnyman of Easy Company."
She didn't reply, just looked at him amusedly.
He looked around the room, dark from the shawl that she'd placed over the window. He grimaced. "What's with the darkness in here…it's a little creepy."
"I don't really want to look out of the window, if I'm honest," she said, looking at the ground.
He shrugged his shoulder, making a noise of agreement. "I don't blame ya. Not much to see out there and what there is to see aint pretty."
"Not really," she said, folding her arms awkwardly and sitting on the edge of her bed.
"So…," he said, spying her large rucksack lying to the side of her desk. He pointed at it. "Got anything of Lola Caine's in there?"
"No," she said, instantly.
"Meh, too bad," he said, sitting down on the desk chair, gripping the sides and looking excitedly at her. "So what's it like being her sister?"
"She's not my sister," she corrected him automatically.
"Well, stepsister I know, but you're basically sisters, really…," he began.
"No," she cut him off, sending him a stern look. "We're not."
He held his hands up defencelessly. "Okay, I get it, I get it. So…does she have a boyfriend?"
Roseanna scratched her head. "Sergeant Luz…sorry, but if you're idea of cheering me up is firing questions about my bitch of a stepsister at me, then…"
His face lit up with excitement. "No love lost between you two, I see. What's the story there?"
"No story," she said, realising she shouldn't really be discussing it with everyone and anyone the way she'd been doing the past few days. "We just don't get on that well."
"Oh," he said, sensing he shouldn't push it. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out a deck of cards. "Wanna play?"
………………
40 minutes later she was in tears of laughter as they played Gin Rummy (the only game she actually knew how to play). Luz was telling her stories about all of the men of Easy, knowing the best ones to cheer her up.
"So he thinks he's being really smart by collecting condoms everywhere he can get a hold of them, right?" Luz said, arranging his cards. "So time goes on at Taccoa and we're traning, training, training…so eventually his collection grows to about 200 or so- even though he aint even getting' any, I have to add. Little does he know, Sobel comes across this when he's doing a barrack inspection…tosses the lot in the trash. So then, on one of the few weekends we actually get to use our weekend passes, he meets this local girl on the town. This poor sex-deprived guy, the minute he actually gets close to gettin' some…comes back to get a condom…to find they're all gone. All 200!"
Roseanna couldn't breath between fits of laughter, tears running down her cheeks. She set her cards down, reaching for a tissue and dabbing at her eyes. "I'd really like to meet these guys. They sound like a hoot!"
"They are," he said, smiling fondly. "Pains in the asses a lot of the time, but they're good fellas."
Once she'd composed herself and picked up her cards again, she changed the subject slightly. "What about Captain Winters? I can't seem to figure him out."
"Winters?" Luz repeated. "Good luck figurin' him out, I tell ya."
"He's the nicest man ever," she stressed. "He's been nothing but helpful since I got here but, it seems when you're on the verge of a deep conversation with him he closes himself off."
"He's dedicated," Luz explained. "Winters doesn't take time for himself, the company is where his focus always lies."
"Oh," she said. "Must be tiring for him, especially being in this place."
"For him?" George said, incredulously. "Not just for him. It's fuckin' tiring for all of us!"
She rubbed her chin. She'd never thought about what the soldiers were going through here, she'd been selfishly caught up in how she was coping in Bastogne. All of a sudden she felt utterly ashamed. At least she had a roof over her head. "What are the conditions like out there in the woods."
George shivered at the thought. "Where do I start? Snow everywhere, it's so cold it feels like your body is constantly frozen over. There's hardly any food, we're sleeping in foxholes in the ground and the damn krauts won't stop shelling and shooting at us."
"Goodness," she whispered, it sounded absolutely horrific.
George looked at his wristwatch and groaned. "I have to get back to the line, fun as this has been."
"Okay," she nodded, gathering up the cards and handing the deck back to him. "Thank you for the visit, it really did cheer me up."
"Nothin' to thank me for," he said, putting the cards in his back pocket. "If anything I'm thankful for the chance to get off the damn line for an hour. Have a good day, Roseanna."
As he began to leave she suddenly had a thought and called him back. She walked up to the window, pausing for a moment before determinedly pulling the shawl from the window, light flooding into the room again. Rather fittingly she thought, as it seemed talking to George in the last few minutes had prompted her to face up to the reality of where she was and what the situation was here. Folding the shawl up, she handed it to him.
"What's this for?" he asked, running his hand over the soft silk.
"I don't need it anymore," she said, smiling at him. "Besides…it's Lola's."
His face lit up, and he put it to his nose, trying to breath the scent. "Thought you didn't have anything of hers."
"I forgot," she admitted. "She asked me to take it on the truck with me while she went back to get her bags. Take it, if anything it might keep you a bit warmer out there."
"You kiddin' me?" he said, bending down to put it in his rucksack. "This is stayin' firmly in my backpack, else somebody will try and steal it…especially when they know it belonged to Lola."
"Well, you can do whatever you want with it. It's yours," she smiled, opening the door for him. "Sergeant? Please pass on my regards to Captain Winters."
Once he'd
gone and she was alone, she walked over to the window, looking
outside into the daylight for the first time. She watched all of the
soldiers and HQ personnel, scuttling around, attending to their
business. It was then she realised she wanted to do something to
help. She might as well, seeing as she was stuck
there…
………………………………..
21st December, 1944
The next day she awoke early, changed into fresh clothing and placed on the thick army overcoat that Dick had given her outside the Ardennes that night. Walking over to the door, she had to count to three before she could force herself to do it but, sure enough, 3 seconds later…she opened the doorknob and tentatively stepped outside her room. It was time for her to emerge from this building she'd been holed up in since she arrived. Slowly, she walked down the stairs, trying to ignore the whispers of "she emerges…at last…" from the personnel who walked past her. Pushing open the thick wooden door at the entrance, she stepped out into the street, taking in a huge gulp of fresh air. Ooh, headrush. Too much, too soon. She sloped to the side, sitting down on a wooden bench by the door, trying to get her breath back.
"Morning, Miss Caine," a voice sounded out from in front of her.
She looked up to see Captain Nixon staring back at her, wrapped up tightly against the cold.
"Morning, Captain Nixon," she greeted him.
"Call me Lewis," he replied, rubbing his hands together against the cold and stamping his feet. "What brings you out here? From what I hear you've been hiding away in your room since you got here."
"Well," she said, uncomfortably. "I couldn't stay there forever, could I?"
"S'pose not," he smiled at her, joking. "So what are your plans for today? Sightseeing?"
She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm, smiling slightly. "I was actually hoping to talk to Captain Winters, do you know if he'll be in Bastogne today?"
Nix gave her a secretive yet suggestive smile, pointing to the HQ doors she'd just come out of. "Yeah, he's right inside there actually."
"Oh, he is?" she asked, surprised. "Are you headed in there, yourself?"
"I am," he nodded, waiting for her to ask…
"Do you think you could ask him to come and see me? If he's not busy, that is."
"I'll see what I can do," he said, nodding politely at her as he made his way inside. "Have a nice day."
"You too," she called after him, rubbing her own hands together as she began to really feel the cold.
………………………
Nix walked into the main offices. He reached into his rucksack, pulling out some paperwork, signing it and asking a nearby orderly to make 3 copies. He'd done all he came to do.
"Seen Captain Winters?" he asked the orderly, who pointed him to the file room in the back.
He sauntered through the small, wooden door, instantly seeing Dick browsing through one of the filing cabinets. "Morning, Dick."
Dick looked up surprised, clearly not expecting company. He relaxed when he saw who it was. "Morning, Nix."
"Back in Bastogne so soon?" Nix teased.
"I had some things to take care of," Dick replied in his trademark serious tone.
"Oh," Nix said, leaning against one of the filing cabinets before casually saying. "Your girlfriend's outside."
Dick froze, not looking Nix in the eye and then trying to appear casual. "My what, Nix?"
"Your starlet, Roseanna. She's outside, asked me to ask you to go out and see her," Nix laughed.
"She left her room," he asked, surprised.
"Apparently so," Nix nodded. "Seems to have perked up a hell of a lot too."
Dick made his way to the door, stopping just by his friend. "Don't go around saying that she's my…what you just said, Nix."
"Dick," he laughed. "I was only kid-."
"Well don't," Dick warned, digging his friend in the ribs playfully as he passed him.
………………………..
"Roseanna?" Dick asked, almost unable to believe the girl sitting on the bench was her.
She looked up at the sound of his voice, a smile spreading on her face when she saw that it was him. "Morning, Captain Winters."
"Call me Dick," he said, taking a seat next to her. "Wow, you have colour back in your cheeks. My little present must have worked."
She laughed. "Or it could just be the cold. But I am feeling a lot better, George's visit really helped. Thanks, Dick."
"He's good for cheering people up," Dick explained. A short silence followed, which he dutifully broke. "Well, since you finally escaped the confines of Battalion HQ, I'd offer to take you a walk around Bastogne…but there's not much to see, I'm afraid."
"It's okay," she shook her head. "I'm happy just to sit here for a while. You should go inside though, Dick. You've been out in the cold so long, and you don't get much time off the line."
"I'll be fine, don't worry, " he reassured her. "Nix said you wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah," she paused, trying to figure out how best to word her request. "I've been thinking…. I was really selfish here when I was holed up in that room up there, just thinking about how sorry I felt for myself and not giving a damn about what you're all going through all over the forest."
"Okay…," he nodded, unsure of where this was going.
"Well I've been thinking that I want to help," she declared.
"…help?" he asked, squinting at her slightly.
"Yes, help," she enunciated. "In any way possible, really."
"Doing what, exactly?"
"I don't know, just…anything that needs doing," she said, trying to convince him. "It'll help me feel like I'm being useful and maybe it'll make people see it's not so inconvenient me being here."
"No one thinks that," Dick lied, trying to spare her feelings.
"Yes they do," she rolled her eyes, rubbing her hands together as the cold bit into her once more as a gush of wind blew over them. "Maybe I could…I dunno…help in the hospital or something."
He shook his head instantly. "No, no, no. That's not somewhere you should be Roseanna, it's too dangerous in there. The church foundations aren't very stable."
"Even if I just wash rags or something for the nurses so they have more free time to help the others," she suggested.
He laughed, feeling strangely enchanted by her sudden determination. He liked seeing that in her. He joked. "Are you tryin' to get me trouble with Sink? Imagine the papers if one of the nation's most loved young starlets gets killed under his command."
She sighed, relenting. "Okay, well maybe there's something I can do inside division here!"
He rubbed his temples, not wanting to dash her enthusiasm. He thought to himself for a second. "Maybe we can find you something in admin or in the mail room. Can you type?"
"Oh!" her eyes lit up at the prospect. "Yes! I typed my papers at Sarah Lawrence by typewriter."
"Then I'll see what I can do,"
"Thank you!" she smiled, elated. Before she realised what she was doing, she reached forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. He reddened as he was prone to do, placing his hand over his cheek for a second. "Sorry, I couldn't control myself there, Dick. Just happy to have the chance to help out and keep myself occupied here."
"It's…it's fine," he smiled.
"Okay," she stood up, offering a hand to help him up. "Let's see about getting you a hot meal."
