Thank you for the lovely reviews! Really got me motivated to post the next chapter :)

Chapter Four: Camaraderie

Once the panic resided it quickly got into her head that she had no less than five minutes to get into her gear and she had a funny feeling she didn't shine her boots the night before. The run over to the cabin left her in a complete panic just thinking about how fucked she was. If Sobel's efforts to scare her weren't enough, she was now on the brink of getting her pass revoked yet again because she knew she hadn't cleaned her rifle.

She entered the cabin full of a frantic bunch of Easy Company, flinching as the door made a large bang as she swung it too hard. She paced through, eyes forced to avert from any man changing in front of her. Do not think about how much you're in heaven right about now.

Oh please, you wouldn't go there with half these men.

Her stack of P.T gear was clear in her sights and barely registered when her body collided into the back of somebody else's. Oh boy. He's not wearing a shirt. And you just subconsciously touched him with your hands.

Daring herself to glance up, she met Malarkey's shocked hazel gaze, just registering what had happened. Since when was he muscular? Her head whipped down to the floor, too quick to notice the impish grin on his face as he stepped aside for her.

"S-sorry" she stuttered, not looking her friend in the eye and carried on, heat in her cheeks and ears. Mal watched as she quickly escaped and he would've laughed had she not looked so shell-shocked. She'd seen him shirtless before so he knew something was up.

Just walk it off. Nobody else saw that. Except of course Malarkey.

Reaching over her bed she grabbed her gear and stepped behind the sheet screen that Bull had set up to keep her modesty whilst changing. Slipping on her pants, button up, jacket and all the rest she got changed in lightning speed. She raced back to her bed, picking up her boots letting out a loud groan in dismay at the sight of them.

"There goes my weekend pass" she muttered bitterly, trying to shine them hastily before lacing them up.

"Easy let's move!" Lipton called at the doorframe.

It just seemed today was not her day.

The worst run up Currahee was the day it was for once pouring with goddamn rain. They'd been "rewarded" lectures and a special lunch which Perconte insisted was "army noodles and ketchup" and he probably wasn't wrong. To top it all off Captain Dipshit waltzed in like he owned the place announcing lectures were cancelled and that running Currahee sounded like a better plan. Stella was supposed to be running a lecture today for Easy about basic medical procedures on a field when a medic isn't available. Of course he'd cancel.

Worst of all Stella had stuffed her face with "bolognese". She felt sick the entire run and Hoobler next to her managed to spew all his up, some of it getting on Stella's boots. The smell was enough to put her off bolognese for at least ten years. Didn't help that Sobel was practically spitting in poor Hoobler's face in the process.

"Looking a little green in the face, O'Leary! Cards are still on the table to leave the Airborne and go back home to the comfort of knitting and cooking!".

Perconte next to her was not so impressed by this remark. Bull to her left was the next for the onslaught. Luz was quick to nudge in with a favourite song in Easy.

"We pull upon the risers

We fall upon the grass

We never land upon our feet

We always hit our ass

Hide tidee, Christ almighty

Who the hell are we?

Zim zam, goddamn!

We're Airborne Infantry!"

Damn smartest thing Luz had pulled as it shut Sobel up the rest of the run.

As they reached the bottom Stella's head was spinning, feeling more nausea than before. Luckily for her to avoid shame she threw up after Sobel had dismissed them, so he couldn't yell at her further. Some guys in Easy groaned in sympathy mingled with a bit of disgust as she puked onto the grass.

"Better out than in" Luz said, not certain if his own news was comforting in the slightest. Nonetheless Stella managed a shaky thumbs up as she bent over.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Malarkey asked rather lamely, watching her wretch up her lunch, bent over and holding her own hair out of her face. He stepped forward to hold her hair for her but stopped, his hand falling short. He wasn't sure why but he didn't think it was a good idea.

"I don't think I would make it to the bathroom" she managed to speak, suddenly dry-wrenching again, but nothing came up. She plonked herself on the damp ground, limbs shaking and Malarkey joined keeping his fair distance, waiting patiently for the worst to be over. The others had gone off to get water or play Craps in the mess hall after Don had insisted he could look after Stella, Muck of course giving him a not so subtle raised eyebrow.

Ten minutes passed on the fairly empty field and relief washed through Stella as the nausea left her. "Be a gentleman and give me a hand will ya?" she asked, holding out her arm, still shaking, but her voice held no amusement, just exhaustion. He stood up, rolling his eyes in amusement and took her cold, but oddly clammy hand and swung her arm over his shoulder, all of her small weight hanging on him.

"Do we need to get you to the Med tent?" he asked through the comfortable silence that settled as they walked, or to put it more correctly Malarkey holding her up with ease.

"No, I think those damn 'army noodles and ketchup' are well and truly out of my system" she managed to chuckle. "Sorry if I reek" she added rather lamely.

"I've dealt with worse, believe me".

A few seconds later Stella piped up "Not going to elaborate then?"

"Well one fond memory sticks out for me when my kid brother Bob got too excited on his birthday, eating all the damn cake. Think it was the best thing he'd ever devoured. Y'know cause cake is such a treat he'd never had it before, but he chucked it all up soon after. Now the smell of icing has me runnin' the other way" Don chuckled, lost in his own thoughts so Stella didn't bother to add anything for a short while before laughing to herself.

When he turned giving her a questioning look she replied with a wide smile "It's like the time my sister Dorothy- well 'Dot'- decided she wanted to steal all the damn oranges my Pa had brought home as a treat. She'd snuck five and then went on the swing we'd set up on a willow tree by the creek, swinging so damn high that before you know it the oranges are being upchucked into the creek" she cringed, the story earning a hearty laugh.

"What is it about kids having eyes bigger than their stomachs?".

"Beats me" Stella fondly replied. "And why couldn't they do it eating cabbage instead of a fine delicacy? Dot got the biggest scolding from my Ma for a week straight" she laughed, but stopped, her stomach dropping, making her pause from walking.

"Do you feel more coming up?" Don asked, suddenly stopping with her.

Stella shook her head, her face shockingly pale. "No" she muttered, softly releasing her grip from Malarkey's shoulder, not looking him in the eye. He could only stand there, perplexed by her sudden change in mood.

She didn't want to talk and that was how Don knew to leave it. So he caught up to her slow pacing and moved onto another question that was niggling at his brain.

"When we had that inspection two days ago you came in looking real bothered by something" she turned backwards to him at this point with a baffled expression "Don't look at me like that, it's easy to tell when something is bothering you".

"I don't know what you're on about" she replied, looking down at the ground.

"Do I need to beg it out of you?" he sighed. "It surely wasn't because I bumped into you... y'know, less dressed" he added, with an embarrassed tone, rubbing the back of his neck "Because if that's it I apologize for not looking where I was goin-"

"No don't be silly, it isn't that" she said, trying to stifle an unexpected laugh from erupting. His face heated up in shame, because he wasn't too sure why she was laughing. Well at least she was smiling now. She gave him an apologetic look and was now sobering a little, so she stopped walking, noticing they were nearing their cabin.

"It was before that" Stella sighed, wiping her hair out of her face as the wind blew it. "Sobel just came barging in when Doc and I were stocking. Decided it would be a bit of fun to interrogate me" shrugging as if it were nothing.

"What does that mean?" Mal asked, hesitant to know her answer. She met his gaze with an ashamed glance.

"You're not going to throw a fit, capiche?" his response was a frown in confusion. "Plain and simple he's accusing me of and I quote 'spreading my legs' and that's the only reason I'm still here. Any whiff of fraternization and he won't be hesitant to pull the 'treason' card. He already thinks it's fucking treason having a woman in his regiments".

"Jesus" was all Don could say. But Stella wasn't finished.

"He's suspecting that because I don't possess the same 'bits' as males that I can't do my job properly. Naming my gender as if it were filth, only good for cooking and cleaning, not to save lives when this country needs it most. You can bet your ass that I've seen more gunshot wounds, more people bleeding out on the table than he has ever witnessed!" she spat, making sure to keep her voice low, but with no less conviction. "Not once in all my life have I felt so ashamed as I did then! I know half of the Officers are thinking it but it's another thing being scolded in my face for false accusations purely based on my gender" she added, after taking a few deep breaths.

The way she said it, almost sounding helpless really struck a chord in Malarkey. But there was no use getting angry over a situation that cannot be mended. She really was stuck because there was nobody that could stop his harassing. One whiff of her going higher up and she would have hell to pay if Sobel was concerned.

"We don't have to talk about it, Stel" he said quietly, noticing her distress as she pinched her nose. She turned back to him, this time with a thankful smile on her face. "As much as it is a popular topic talking about how much we all hate Sobel, there's no use".

"You're right".

"You know what you're doing, you have all of Easy backing you up, so one opinion doesn't matter and shouldn't bother the likes of you. You're too smart for that and because of that you'll get through" he said rather sheepishly. He wasn't a man who was poetic with words per say but he liked to think he knew what to say to Stella to cheer her up. He walked ahead to the cabin, Stella just stared at him, a questioning gaze but she didn't speak.

He'd known her for four a mere four months, but being attached by the hip day-in, day-out does that to you. All the runs up Currahee, all the night marches, the talks late into the evening when Easy were settling for bed. He'd never learnt so much about a person so rapidly as he did with Stella. It was always at the back of his mind that he would be propelled into a war-zone with her in the midst of it. By the rate this war was going it wouldn't be long. It didn't sit well with him but he knew he was being silly and he cared way too much for all his friends. In a different world this wouldn't be happening. But he knew in a different world he never would have met her.

The latest news they were receiving was that with 1943 rolling on soon, they'd be heading to Fort Benning to complete their jump training, meaning the likelihood of entering enemy territory was forever impending on some minds. The days were shortening and becoming cooler in Georgia but that didn't shorten the onslaught of Sobel's drills of torture.

The great rumor spread that a Japanese Army battalion had set a world record for marching 100 miles in seventy-two hours and it had caught Colonel Sink's attention. It was seen fit for Sink's prided 2nd battalion to crush that record with a planned trek from Toccoa to Atlanta.

All 118 miles of it.

The news was told while all of Easy was on a rare break in one of the unoccupied cabins, smoking and what not, before light's out. Even Lipton presenting the plan didn't sound very eager about it all.

"And I was just startin' to get excited leaving this goddamn place" Skip sighed, wedged in-between Malarkey and Stella as Easy dispersed from the meeting.

"Heard that the Japanese are trained rough as they get. Think ten times worse than Sobel, if you can stomach that kind of thinking" Stella piped in, giving Skip a small nudge.

"I was here thinking those 12 mile marches were bad" Don added, choosing to ignore the worry he had for his shins. They'd been killing him lately but hadn't even said a word to Doc, worst of all Stella. He thought he might be pulled out if they caught a whiff of any of his pain and the last thing he wanted was to be shifted from this Battalion or pulled out all together. As much as he hated Sobel, he could never leave them all. Pessimistic Liebgott, cranky Perconte, wisecrack Luz, annoying Skip.

Or Stella.

"Malark?" Stella jabbed, once again. This time he actually snapped out of this small trance he was under, cheeks flaming and an impish grin on his face.

"Fantasizing about Veronica Lake once again?" Skip asked cheekily, and when Stella walked slowly ahead Malarkey didn't hesitate to pull him a strong middle finger.

See Skip thought it was all quite hilarious teasing Malark like this. Especially when Don had been the one to note that his friend Stella looked like Veronica Lake... if Victoria Lake had caramel hair and green eyes. It happened when Don was in a drunken state one weekend when Sobel didn't actually take away their weekend passes. He doesn't remember ever saying it but Skip was adamant. He apparently went off on quite a tangent about his friend, like a lovesick puppy. Over his dead body. But ever since then Stella's codename had been Veronica Lake.

"What is this obsession you boys have with Veronica Lake? For all you know she could be a complete ditz. All after maintaining her good looks for you stupid boys to swoon over" she inquired, spinning around with her hair falling wildly around her smiling face. Her smile was so wonderful to spectate. Even being drunk I certainly wasn't stupid or wrong.

Oh, cut it out Malarkey.

"If I didn't know any better my dear friend, I'd observe that you're quite jealous" Malarkey said, catching up to her.

"Oh please. It's easy for any dame to look pretty and pathetic in front of a camera. 'Oh Don, catch me if I fall as my skinny legs can't hold up my big egotistical actress head'" Stella teased, imitating her best southern belle voice before fainting all for Malarkey to catch her. He stumbled slightly but was proud that he caught her in time.

"Oh come on, it's okay to admit you're a little jealous of the attention divided Miss Lake's way" Malark said with a cheeky grin on his face. Stella proceeded to push off him in an effort to get out of his grasp, winding him in the process.

"I can clarify that I'm not jealous" she bit back, shooting him a wicked grin.

"Just kidding!" Malarkey sighed. "Us Easy men like a woman with brains and one who doesn't faint at the sight of mud and blood. That's why we recruited the best dame there is in our midst" with a wink.

"Sweet talk will get you nowhere" Stella scoffed, but shooting a wink back. She wasn't sure why she did.

"Well aren't you two sweet" Skip chimed from in front of them, folding his arms. "Now if you don't stop lolly-gagging like some ol' married couple we'll be running laps if we're late for lights out".

"They can't make us run laps. We're already marchin' 118 miles" Don protested, giving Stella a playful shove in the process.

So at this stage the story will most likely be a Malarkey/OC plot and Liebgott/OC is purely platonic. Writing ahead keeping myself busy but updates will be less frequent as the first four have been as I want people to get a grasp of the story quickly. Let me know your thoughts and all the rest in the reviews as it's greatly appreciated by me! Thanks guys!