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As Hill and Reiben fell into step behind the rest of the squad, Harper took Amrita's hand and pulled her closer to her.

"Stay close to me," she said quietly in French.

Amrita nodded but said nothing. Ten minutes later, the squad had reached the other side of town where they were informed that the Private Ryan that was in that city was named James Fredric Ryan, not James Francis Ryan. Reiben rolled his eyes and said, "Well this is fucking great. We lost Carpy for no goddamn-"

"Reiben!" said Harper glaring at him then at the 4 year old by her side.

"Oh I'm sorry," he said with mock embarrassment. "We lost Carpy for no gosh darn reason."

"Cool it," hissed Jackson. "I swear if the Captain doesn't shoot you, I will."

Harper and Reiben stopped arguing for the time being as Miller and Hill talked about were the squad could rest for a few hours. Hill explained about a church back on the other side of town and that's where they headed.

When they got there it seemed to be the only whole building in the town. In fact it was almost completely untouched by bombs. Hill said his goodbyes at the door and let the team be alone to mourn Caparzo.

Mellish immediately set to work copying Carpy's letter to his father while the rest settled in for the night. Or what was left of it. It was almost midnight. Reiben, Jackson, and Wade sat against the pulpit on the stairs smoking, Upham sat a little way off in one of the benches, and Miller and Horvath sat away from the rest, reminiscing about their last mission. Harper chose a seat against the desk Mellish was writing on.

She tossed her pack down and sat. Amrita, or Rita as Jackson suggested, sat down next to Harper and absently started playing with Harper's pack.

"How old are you?" Harper asked Rita quietly.

"5," she squeaked turning her big, brown eyes on Harper. Then she surprised her by asking, "How old are you?"

Harper laughed and said, "I'm 19."

"My mommy was 22," said the child shivering.

Harper smiled and pulled her into her lap. Rita immediately curled up against Harper's chest and with it 10 minutes, she was asleep. Harper glanced up as Wade started speaking to the circle a few feet away from her. He was talking about his mother and how she would only get to see him when she came home early in the morning. Harper tuned out as the story took a turn for a sad ending and looked back at the child in her lap.

Harper had always loved kids, but had never taken care of an orphan. Rita was really a beautiful little girl. She had brown hair that came down past her shoulders in curly ringlets, and her big eyes matched the chocolate color of her hair. Harper was pulled out of her thoughts by someone sitting next to her. She looked up to see Wade's soft features.

"Hey," she said smiling.

"Hey," he answered. "So were you ever going to tell me about your arm?" he asked pointing to Harper's blood soaked shirt.

Harper laughed. "I forgot about it," she said. "But I'm fine. You don't have to look at it."

Wade scoffed. "That's what I'm here for. I'd be out of the job if every soldier who got shot said 'oh I'm fine…' Come on," he said motioning for her arm.

Harper laughed again and surrendered her arm. Wade rolled up her sleeve, careful not to touch the wound. As Wade pulled a needle and thread out of his pocket, Jackson, who was still sitting with Reiben asked, "So are you going to tell us anything about yourself?"

Jackson was asking a common question, but Harper knew he was wondering about the comment she had made in the field.

"Maybe someday," she said in answer.

Jackson started to push, but Wade shot him a warning glance and he stopped. Harper suddenly realized Reiben had not made a smart ass comment in over 10 minutes. She suddenly felt compelled to bring his Brooklyn, bad-ass attitude back, but she didn't know how without getting into an argument, and none of them needed that right then. Then, out of nowhere he spoke.

"This private Ryan better go home and cure some damn disease or something," Reiben said glaring into one of the candles.

"I wouldn't trade 10 Ryan's for one Caparzo," said Harper absently stroking Rita's hair.

Reiben grunted his agreement and muttered, "FUBAR."

"Damn right," said Wade quietly.

Then everyone fell into silence. Wade worked on patching Harper up for a few more minutes until he noticed a little tattoo on Harper's shoulder. It was a little heart with 'Harp and Cj forever.'

"What's this?" asked Wade, a smirk on his face.

"Well it defiantly wasn't forever," Harper scoffed lightly. Even Reiben broke a smile from across the room. Wade smiled, content with that answer, but to his surprise, she continued talking.

"I thought I was in love with my first boyfriend. When I was 15," she said laughing at herself.

"Everyone thinks their first relationship is the one they will be with forever," said Mellish from his desk.

"I thought I was in love at 15…" said Harper staring at him.

Mellish continued to look defensive about his answer.

"And I got a tattoo to prove it," said Harper driving her point home.

Mellish nodded finally agreeing it was a stupid idea. Harper continued.

"He was 19, and I thought he loved me too, but it turned out I was the other girl. His girlfriend found out that he was seeing me on the side, but I didn't know. One day when he and I were at the movies, she came up to us and literally tired to kill me. When I realized he had a girlfriend, and she had the same tattoo as me, in the same spot and everything, I ran out of the theater. I bummed around in Chicago for two weeks until I got enough money together to go back to live with my… dad in Manhattan." Harper hesitated ever so slightly on the word 'dad,' but every Ranger in the room noticed.

"It was a bad few weeks… but I made it. And now I'm here in this hell hole with all of you," she said adding a bit of humor to the end so there would be no awkward silence to follow. It didn't work. The silence that ensued was not only silent. It was heavy. The room was so quiet that when Miller sneezed, everyone jumped a foot. Reiben even started to go for his B.A.R.

They all looked at each other and suddenly burst out laughing. Harper didn't remember the last time she had laughed that hard, and she missed it. When the joy finally subsided, Harper was in tears. Miller, who was smiling, came into the group and said, "alright you crazy soldiers. We have a little over two hours. Shut up and get some sleep."

He walked back over to Horvath and sat down. Reiben blew out the candles around him, and Wade did the same over near Harper. As Wade blew out the last candle and a shroud of darkness fell over the squad, Rita woke up.

"Mommy…" she whined.

"Shhh. It's ok Rita," soothed Harper.

In the darkness, Rita crawled off Harper's lap and made her way to the cold ground next to Wade.

"You smell like mommy…" she whispered taking in a big lungful of air near Wade.

"Really?" asked Wade picking the little girl up.

She snuggled against his chest. Wade glanced up only able to see Harper's outline, but he got the feeling she was smiling.

"You're going to make a great dad someday," she whispered.

She heard him scoff.

"Yeah, when I get out of this war right?"

"Well your making a pretty go one right now, and we are still in the war," Harper shot back.

When he didn't say anything she grinned.

"Go to sleep," said Miller from across the room.

Harper stopped speaking, but knew she wouldn't ever be able to sleep that night. They had just lost Caparzo, and she still needed time to think that over. She listened to her squad fall asleep one by one. Reiben went first, followed by Horvath, Wade, Mellish, Upham, and the Captain. But she never heard Jackson's breathing change, which meant he was still awake. He seemed to be listening for her breath sounds to change too. Maybe it was their sniper training, or just their curiosity about each other, but for some reason, neither one of them could sleep.

In a few minutes Harper heard movement across the room from her and in a few more seconds, Jackson gently sat down next to her.

"Hey," he said. Though she couldn't see his face, Harper could hear the smile in his voice.

"How's it going?" she asked also smiling.

"Can't sleep. Too quiet," he whispered. "I'm used to sleeping with bombs going off, and gunfire in the distance. Or at least with someone snoring, but tonight there is nothing."

"I know what you mean," said Harper as she scooted closer to him so they wouldn't have to talk as loud. "I don't think I have gotten a decent sleep since I have been here."

"What's your excuse?" asked Jackson.

Harper was suddenly self-conscious and Jackson could tell.

"What? Just tell me," he said, the smile returning to his voice.

"Well, I'm…"

"Yes?" Jackson pushed.

"I'm just used to sleeping next to someone is all. I had an apartment with my cousin before I left, and we only had one bed. I haven't been that close to someone when I am sleeping since almost 9 months ago."

Harper felt Jackson nod, his buzzed hair brushing her cheek

"I could probably help you with that," he said, his tone slightly more devilish.

"Would you?" Harper asked excitedly before she realized he was kidding.

"Oh, never mind," she said embarrassed.

Jackson snickered and gently took hold of her shoulders and lay down on his side pulling Harper along with him. They were lying so close to each other, they could feel the other's breath on their face. Harper smiled at Jackson's sweet breath in her face, and hoped her breath smelled as good. She turned over so her back was to him, and felt him snuggle against her. She laughed quietly, as he settled in. She smiled as his breath warmed the back of her neck and she felt the rise and fall of his chest on her lower back. He then gently laid his arm over her waist. Its weight was the most comforting thing she had felt in the last 9 months. Harper let her arm fall across his, only to have his fingers find hers and lace together. She smiled wider at the roughness of his palms against hers.

At that moment, she didn't care who might see them in the morning, just that tonight, even if it never happened again, she felt safe and comfortable.

The next morning, Harper opened her eyes to stare right into Jackson's. Somehow during the night Harper had turned over to face him and had gotten much closer in the process. Jackson's forehead was resting against hers and her hands were warm in his.

"Good morning," he whispered letting go of one of her hands and snaking it around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Good morning to you," Harper whispered.

"How did you sleep?" Jackson asked a smile that she could feel playing on his lips.

"Better than I have for 9 months," she answered, feeling her own breath bounce off Jackson's face and hit hers.

"Me too," he said letting go of her other hand and moving it to the side of her face.

He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear then returned his hand to hers. Harper would have preferred to stay in his hold forever, but she knew the squad would be waking soon. Though she Captain Miller had no reason to stop a relationship between her and Jackson, Reiben would tease them unendingly, so she sat up.

Jackson looked curiously at her from his spot on the ground.

"Let's go," she said tugging on his hand. "Everyone will be up soon."

She looked around, eyes ranging over Reiben, Mellish, Upham and Horvath. Miller was not by his gear. Harper figured he was outside on watch. Then she turned her eyes to Wade who met her eyes with his. He smiled in greeting and nodded to Jackson. Harper breathed a sigh of relief. She knew Wade wouldn't tattle on them, especially not to Reiben.

Her eyes then drifted to Rita who was snuggled against Wad's chest. Harper looked back up to meet Wade's eyes and smiled. He smiled broadly and looked at the 5 year old in his arms. Just then Miller walked in.

He turned his green eyes on Jackson, then Harper, his expression impossible to read; like always.

"Get them up," he said. "We are moving out in 20 minutes."

He walked back to Horvath and shook him awake. Wade turned to Rita and gently touched her shoulder, talking softly to her. Harper continued to smile at the medic and the little orphan, and the strange bond they had formed until Jackson poked her playfully in the side. She turned and Jackson said, "You want to wake Reiben, or should I?"

Harper's smile turned devilish as she said, "You get Mellish. I'll take Brooklyn."

Jackson nodded and woke Mellish so he wouldn't miss the excitement. Harper crossed the room and carefully knelt next to Reiben, who was still in a deep sleep. She glanced around at her squad, smiling evilly then leaned down so her lips were right next to Reiben's ear. She waited for a few seconds then yelled as loud as she could.

"It's the Germans! Watch out! Ahhhhhhhh, Help!"

Reiben was up in a flash, a terrified expression on his face. He was clutching his B.A.R. with a white knuckle grip.

"Where are they?" he yelled spinning on the spot and tripping over his gear.

He fell flat on his butt, his helmet falling down over his eyes. Harper, Jackson, Wade, Mellish and Horvath were roaring with laughter as Reiben pushed his helmet up furiously. Reiben let out a string of curse words that would have made a sailor blush then angrily turned to his pack. Their laughter died down slowly but when they were under control again, Jackson walked to Reiben and put a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off angrily as Jackson said, "Take it easy there Reiben. It was only a joke."

He was having trouble containing his laughter remembering Reiben's white face. Reiben straightened up and shoved him hard enough to make him take a few steps back, but all it did was raise more laughs from the squad. Miller even cracked a smile as he continued to put his pack together.

Finally all the laughs died, and only snickers and giggles were left echoing through the church; until Upham spoke up.

"So there are no Germans?"

Everyone stared at him, glanced at each other, and then broke into fits of laughter again. Though Reiben was glaring, his face even softened a little at Upham's stupidity.

"No you moron. Just a joke," said Harper going to him and throwing an arm over his shoulder making him flinch. He laughed nervously as he squeezed his rifle harder.

"Relax, Tim," said Harper patting him on the back. "It's just the war!"

They all laughed again. Reiben even joined in at Harper's sarcastic comment.

"Alright, that's enough fun for one day. Get your gear. We are moving out," said Miller shaking his head at the diversity of personalities in his squad.

It was 8:30 A.M. when they were finally on the move again, and Reiben was still sore about being woken up in such a rude manner. All morning he had been shooting Harper dirty looks and icy stares that she had been ignoring with ease. He didn't enjoy being ignored so he had begun making snide remarks, but that didn't get her either.

Jackson, who was walking next to her, was surprised she was able to stand all of Reiben's crap. After a while, the squad started hearing people yelling and shouting orders. The squad approached and finally came out of the tree line right up on a crashed aircraft. As they passed that, the smell of dead and decaying soldier stung their noses.

Upham even had to turn away and throw up before being able to continue.

"Wade," Miller yelled back to the medic.

"Yes sir?"

"See what you can do."

"Yes sir."

Wade set Rita on the ground and proceeded to the first group of wounded soldiers. Rita came to Harper and cowered behind her legs, trying to get as far away from the hurt men as she could. Harper picked her up and walked through the dead or dying men. Wade was already in between two men, working on one while he talked to the other.

"No worries, fellas," said Jackson lighting a cigarette for one soldier. "The docs in town."

The farm boy shot a glance at the medic who returned a smile.

"Don't worry," continued Jackson. "The 29 infantry's breaking through. They'll be here soon."

His statement was met with groans. Weather they were happy or in pain was a mystery to Harper. She continued walking, intending to follow Miller wherever he was going, but someone grabbed her leg. She looked down to see a soldier with a broken arm and no left leg. He motioned for her to get closer seeing as he couldn't speak very loud. Harper cautiously knelt next to him causing Rita to squeak with fear and clutch her field jacket. She reassured the little girl with a quick pat on the back.

"She….. reminds me of….. my little…. Girl….." the soldier stammered, staring at Rita with tear filled eyes.

Harper glanced at her 4 year old charge nodding to the wounded man. She knew Rita understood by the look in her brown eyes, but she looked terrified of the man.

"It's ok," Harper whispered to the child.

By now Rita had drawn the attention of most of the wounded men, and Jackson and Wade. Rita looked back at the soldier, took a breath, and walked toward him. She reached out one of her small hands and took his. She sat next to him and said, in perfect English, "my name is Rita."

Harper glanced up at Jackson who was beaming because she had taken to his nickname. The soldier looked equally happy because she wasn't afraid of him. He smiled at her and she returned it with a soft smile of her own. He laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Thanks sweetie. That's what I needed to keep fighting. Just to see my little girl's face."

Rita nodded, not really realizing what kind of impact she had had on the man.

"Lewis!" Miller yelled from across the makeshift base.

Harper walked quickly to Miller's side, motioning for Rita to stay with the soldier.

"Sir?" she asked as she came into hearing range.

He was standing next to an army issue jeep, with a rather large man sitting in the driver's seat.

"I've found someone to take the kid to the nearest American base," he said glancing over his shoulder at the man who looked like he could bench press a couple tiger tanks.

Harper stared a Miller opened mouthed for a second, then looked back at the man, (who would be terrifying in a 4 year old's eyes) then back to Miller.

"Are you serious?" she yelled, forgetting who she was talking to.

Miller just looked at her, awaiting the appropriate 'sir' that should have been added at the end of that sentence. It never came.

"We can't just hand her off to the first guy with a jeep. I mean, do you even have any military training?" she asked the big man.

He glared at her then to Miller, asking silently if he could punch the insolent private. Miller shook his head slightly and said, "What did I tell you when she first came with us? She wasn't going to stay with us forever. She is a liability. She-"

"She is a child!" Harper shouted.

Miller cocked an eyebrow in surprise. Recognizing her voice Wade, Jackson, Mellish, Horvath, Caparzo, and Reiben looked up from what they were doing. They all glanced at each other and made their way over to the Captain and the Private to try to quell any fight that might ensue. All but Reiben. He was longing to throw a punch at Harper. All he needed was a reason, and her attacking her ranking officer would be the best opportunity he had. Wade nodded to Rita as he went and she ran to him. He picked her up and continued to the Captain.

Harper was in the middle of shouting a sentence at Miller, who was just standing stunned at how loud her voice could be. He finally had enough of it though.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" he roared drowning her voice out. "We are giving the kid-"

"RITA!" shouted Harper matching is volume.

The child jumped hearing her name that loud. Miller glared at Harper then continued.

"We are giving Rita to Sergeant Brinkmen," he said indicating the big man in the jeep. "He will take her to the refugees and-"

"The REFUGEES!" shouted Harper on the verge of tears.

The squad marveled at Harper's boldness. If any of them had talked to Miller like that, he would have kicked their asses, but he was just taking it from Harper. Even Reiben had to give her props.

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