Boy, it sure has been a while since I've written for this. I got a review sent to my inbox not too long ago that reminded me it was still out there… Just waiting to be finished. Or at the very least, worked up to two chapters.

So, here you have it, for anybody that wants it, chapter two.

'Move your feet, move your feet! 100 yards, 75 yards, 50, almost there… Just over that hilltop, they're all waiting, don't think, don't think. Just pull the trigger, you've got good men behind you, just aim the rifle, pull the trigger. Run hard and fast goddamit!'

Sharp, hard gasps of air blew from his mouth, the blade of his bayonet swung upward with his gait, stock and barrel of his rifle held firmly in his two-handed grip. The rattle of his gear, the thump of his boots, the smell of the wet grass in the field.

All of these things and more assailed Dick's senses as he ran for all he was worth toward the hill, that one hill. One of many in this war that promised each American soldier they were another dead German closer to winning the fight. To going home with honor and glory. To going home with their souls intact. They weren't killing sons, husbands, fathers or brothers. They were serving justice to Jerry, and all he stood for against the good old American Way.

Dick reached the crest of the hill, so utterly focused on the charge that he didn't notice the absence of pounding feet behind him, didn't realize that he stood on that hilltop alone, aiming the barrel of his rifle at a confused teenager in a too-large German uniform. His instincts kicked in before he could draw another haggard breath.

'Don't stop, don't think, pull the trigger, just pull the trigger."

POP! POP! POP!

His shoulder kicked hard by the recoil, he fired until he heard the magazine eject, chasing grey men with the end of the rifle. Empty, reload, cock it, and fire, POP! POP! POP! The sound of more rifles, a BAR, Thompsons, joined in all around him. Jerry fell over and over again as the rest of Easy Company dug into the fight.

Finally, the rattling blast of mortar rounds shooting plumes of black earth 50 feet high added to the cadence and mayhem of the ambush, and the youngest soldier Dick had ever shot was forgotten in the pile of bodies.

Dick only registered muffled voices speaking around him in the hospital, echoing from the high ceilings and reaching into every white corner of the room he had found himself in. He stared at the bloodied mess on a nearby bed, gaze locked to the eyes of a terrified German youth, face pale and set in pain, tears creeping down dirty cheeks.

"Captain?"

Dick snapped to, tearing his attention back to the Naval commander who had addressed him. For a second, his eyes flicked downwards to Jennifer, the blonde, hurricane of a woman who had dragged him into this. She returned with a half-smile, grey eyes silently begging for his help.

"Sir?"

"I asked you where you're from, Captain."

"Sorry sir, of course. Captain Richard Winters, Easy Company with the five-oh-six, 101st Airborne Division."

"Very good soldier. You're here on leave?"

"Yes sir, 48 hours."

"If I could use your help here, I'd appreciate it. I don't know an officer around that will do the job right, now, are you my man for the task?"

"Absolutely, if you think they have intelligence we can use."

The commander nodded, clearly grateful. He turned to Jennifer, who stood smartly next to him, hands clasped behind her back.

"Lieutenant, do everything you can for these boys, we need them. I have a few men, privates and MPs, who will assist you. Captain Winters, help establish a barricade outside the hospital and keep the peace. I don't think that crowd will stand around too long. Goddamned, if they aren't causing trouble in the field, they'll do it when there's a pretty girl in sniffing distance... Once they're gone, come back here and help the Lieutenant with whatever she needs, understood? My men will report back to me when this is all over."

"Sir."

The commander nodded again, turned on his heel, and left the ward. His men looked to Dick, waiting for further orders. Jennifer had already started snapping orders to one or two nurses, making her way to the wounded boys in their white beds and ignoring the dagger-glare from the head nurse. She walked past Dick and reached out to squeeze his shoulder briefly, eyes meeting his, her own steeled for the job ahead.

The Commander had been right; the crowd outside the hospital had dispersed within hours. Paris was far too exciting to be wasted over some Kraut kids who probably wouldn't see it through the night, which had long since fallen. Dick and the Commander's men had pushed a barricade outside the hospital's doors, listening to insults and threats from drunken men on leave and their catty "girlfriends", all wanting a piece of Jerry. This certainly wasn't how he had planned to spend his 48 hours in France's famed city… Nix was going to be disappointed.

Watching the men who wandered up to the hospital, he could immediately tell the difference between these fools and those who had already had a taste of what the Germans had to offer. They'd walk up to see what the commotion was about, ask Dick or one of the sailors a few questions, stare up at hospital for a moment, and then go on their way. To them, it made a difference that the German soldiers inside were barely old enough to fight, that they'd had their lives cut short by violence and agony, watching their countrymen die right beside them, when just a few minutes before they were sharing stories about home.

Dick told the men to hold the barricade while he went back to the hospital to see what progress had been made.

Walking into the hospital, the steady thump of his boots on the clean tiles echoed through the beds. Dick couldn't help but notice how empty the hospital was. Maybe a day earlier it would have been filled with American and British soldiers, evacuated from any hellish corner of the war, any god-forsaken battlefield filled with blood and the din of artillery fire.

With any luck, some of them could be discharged and sent home, but it was more likely that they had recovered enough to sneak out and get back in the fight. Bloodthirsty, hardly, but eager to defend and fight next to some of the best friends they would ever have.

In the dark of the hospital, a single lamp shined brightly, illuminating a female silhouette that sat between two hospital beds at the far end of the room, speaking quietly to the two German boys tucked comfortably in their white sheets. It was Jennifer, Dick could tell by the curly mess of hair and the slim shoulders. She slouched in the chair a bit, the only evidence of her exhaustion, but she gestured animatedly as she spoke to her two patients.

From the corner of his eye, he caught a white form in the shadows across from the beds. A quick glance revealed the ward boss, the old woman with no heart for Jerry's kids and a look that could freeze fire. She was watching Jennifer intently, arms crossed and dark eyes unmoving behind her glasses. The disgust on her face was clear, by morning Winters' new friend might very well be off to another hospital for her… "Insubordination." Maybe this hospital hadn't seen many German soldiers, or maybe this nurse in particular had a certain hatred for the war… Whatever the reason was, it disappeared in to the dark hospital hallway with her, as she turned and walked away, her eyes flashing to Dick for only a second before she was gone.

As he walked closer, he could hear Jennifer telling a story, could hear the smile in her voice as the words became clearer –

"—I'll be damned if that dog didn't chew those shoes down to the rubber soles. James went barefoot for a whole month that summer, took my parents about that long to buy him a new pair of boots. The lashin' my mama gave him and William nearly burned my ears off. I'll tell ya', if it's one thing you young boys are good at, it's findin' trouble… That or goin' about makin' it yerselves… Captain Winters!"

She had turned to smile up at Dick, hearing him approach from behind as she told her story. Her face was half-shadowed, but her grin gleamed even in the dark, but something in her grey eyes belied the humor in her voice.

"I was just telling the boys here about the summer my two brothers snuck onto the neighbor's farm to go for a swim in his pond and got chased off by his pack of dogs… They ran the 2 miles back to our house nearly naked, laughin' like it was the world's best joke…"

Dick chuckled at the thought. He had raised his own little bit of hell when he was young… In his own quiet way…

"Mischief runs in the family I see…"

Jennifer winked and turned to the boys, who both looked like they were half asleep already. Their relaxed faces cheered Dick somewhat… He had seen the same look on men who knew they would finally be going home. The feeling that men at war suddenly get when they realize that all those plans they talked about in their foxholes at night may actually become real.

"Charles, Lukas, I'll be just right over here, talking with my friend Captain Winters. Don't go doin' anything stupid now, I'll be watching."

She stood over them each in turn, checking the covers and their breathing, watching their eyes finally drift shut before she walked over to Dick, her voice a whisper now.

"Lord knows if they even understood a word I've been sayin'…"

"You're good with them, I don't think it matters much. You must be the first and only friendly face they've seen since they were captured. They must remind you of your two brothers. Are they back home with your folks?"

Looking back at the beds, Jennifer's smiling face turned serious.

"They barely made it, those two… The others… The others left us real quick. The one that was screamin'? Even younger than they are… Not by much, but still enough. I'll never understand how men can let boys go to the fight… It's a horrible time for 'em in the field, and even worse, the older they get the more these memories are like to turn in to nightmares…"

Dick only watched her. The look he had seen in her eyes had shifted to something even darker, something far away that lived in the deepest part of her heart. She must have sensed his look, and she flashed a half-smile, not turning her face to look at him.

"Captain, you make a girl blush, lookin' at her like that."

Clearing his throat, Dick took a nervous step backward and motioned for the door. Whatever he had seen in her, it was hiding now under a cocky grin, and he was flustered at her implication.

"Well, I uh… I don't think you need me anymore. It's pretty quiet outside and I only have until tomorrow to enjoy the rest of my time in Paris. I should go back to my hotel."

Hooking his arm, as seemed to be a habit of hers, she led him toward the hospital doors. Light on her feet despite her obvious fatigue, she still spoke quietly. Perhaps she was trying to be mindful of the boys in the beds, or perhaps because of what she was about to ask.

"Which hotel are you stayin' in?"

"The Hotel Anglais."

"Funny, the French namin' their hotel 'English'… Do they serve dinner at that hotel of yours?"

"Well I sure hope so, or I'll have to complain to the Army about where they send their officers…"

"I'd have a word or two for 'em too, if I was you. Tell you what, my shift here is almost over anyways, I'll come to this hotel of yours and we'll have a quiet dinner. That sound alright?"

"Sure, I uh… I just—"

They had reached the front doors, swinging them open to a cold, damp night on the streets of Paris. The warm glow of the lights above the hospital made her blond curls look like fire, ruffled only briefly by a passing breeze before she tucked the errant strands behind her ears. Dick had only just realized how tired he was, but Nix would tell him "The night is young, have some fun for chrissakes." He hadn't been much of a role model before, but…

"Sure. I just want to get straightened up first… Long day, right?"

She looked him straight in the face, confident and smiling to the last second before she leaned forward and softly kissed his cheek. He could feel her eyelashes brush across his skin, the feeling warming him against the night air.

"A real long day Captain Winters. I should be there in two hours. "

The door clicked shut quietly behind her. Dick was left alone to walk down the street, wondering where the nearest station was that would get him back to the hotel, and in the back of his mind begging whatever powers-may-be that the sensation of her warm hand squeezing his would last until he saw her again.

Well, it has been a while… Hopefully I didn't lose the voice. Reviews are so very much appreciated, if there even still anyone out there reading this… God, did I really publish the first chapter three years ago? Unnacceptable!

As always, thanks for reading. Stay tuned, and stay groovy.

-Matad0r