A/N – Hello again…so this is my chapter 4, EXCITING, though I must say, this chapter turned out MUCH larger than I had initially anticipated. Its also not my favorite chapter, but still was fun to write. Maybe some slashy stuff in the next chapter as well. thank you to everyone who has left me messages and lovely comments… they are much appreciated and highly enjoyable to read. Hope you like this chapter
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Disclaimer: I do not own anything and mean absolutely no disrespect to the real men of East Company. The situations portrayed in this chapter are highly fictionalized.
Heffron to the Rescue.
"Heffron…Heffron….HEFFRON!"
A pair of hands roughly shook me awake, though I kept my eyes shut as if to tell whoever it was to piss off. Where was I? All I know is wherever I was before I had been shook awake was a hell of a lot warmer than where I was now.
"Babe" the voice spoke again, my mind and body still did not respond.
" Babe, are you alright buddy?" the voice now accompanied by hands shaking me, this time more gently with a hint of genuine concern. An odd and rare thing. I decided against better judgment to open my eyes, or at least one of them, and reply.
"What the hell do you want?" I asked the man, who I now recognized as Buck staring down at me with a rather confused and concerned expression.
"Well, you where muttering about something in your sleep, and then you started to have a conversation with yourself about something..."
Buck spoke tentatively, as if there was something he wasn't sure he should tell me or maybe something he felt the need to keep to himself. By now I was awake and wondering what the hell was wrong with me and how awfully embarrassing this situation was, while keeping in mind my present feelings for a certain medic, hoping that they hadn't spilled carelessly out of my mouth while I was away in the land of sleep! "What?" I asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Well, you started talking to yourself about- , well, about Gene"
He almost seemed embarrassed to say it," oh shit" I thought. Buck just stared at me, I could tell he wasn't finished, though I wish he was, I had no idea how to reply or what kind of ridiculous excuse to make up, I just sat there, slumped in my foxhole with my mouth gaping. At least it was Buck I was dealing with, someone whose sanity was already going out the goddamn window. Oh, and to think what old Gonorrhea would say, let alone do.
"Well you said something like, 'go eat your dinner Heffron, I don't love you…'" he trailed off. "And then you replied to yourself and said 'but I love you'" Buck stopped all together and looked at me, "then you started yelling Doc Roes name…"
My cheeks flushed pink and I pulled my army blanket close to my face.
That's when I tried to wake you up" he finished. Then as odd as this whole situation was, Buck began laughing, quietly at first, as if trying not to offend me, it was eminent that after saying this whole thing out loud he realized how terribly amusing he found it and he walked away laughing heartily to himself.
"Glad I could amuse you" I whispered a little confused but glad I didn't actually have to explain this mess to him. What I had said in my sleep must have been a reaction to the way Gene and I last parted. I can t believe I said 'I love you'. I don't think I love Gene, I don't know what to call this, well, maybe I do love him, or maybe that's just another misconception known to soldiers on the frontlines. Anyways I had to fix how we parted. I jumped out of my foxhole into the night air. I wondered what time it was. Probably around 4am or so. I began making my way to-, well I don't really know where I was going, sometimes you just wander until you find someone to chat with about the cold for a while, pass the time until another artillery barrage hits us. Secretly I knew who I was hoping to find.
Walking by Muck and Penkalas hole I heard a rumor that was less than appealing, though it shouldn't be. Muck was talking to Penkala in his usual loud voice; I slowed my steps and listened closer.
"Yeah, I heard Spina talking about the how the other day when him and Gene where at the Bastogne field hospital, some local nurse had taken quite a liking to Gene, and him to her. Maybe it would be good for the guy, he never talks with anyone here..." Muck trailed off. Penk just nodded, probably not that interested in the rumors about a non relational medic.
"Yeah well, he talks to Babe" Penk said tiredly trying to prove to Muck he was still listening.
"Yeah whatever…im just thinking Penk, what an honorable shame it would be if Gene, our quiet, solitary, no fun medic found dice in a place like this, and no one else can" Muck and Penk laughed together.
"The last damn thing you should be thinking about in a time and place like this is dice Muck. What in Gods named would sweet Fay Tanner say now?" Penk teased.
Muck just snickered and nudged his friend telling him to shut up with a smoke pressed between his lips.
My ears, a mere 10 seconds before had been so frozen it hurt and now, within those short seconds they had managed to ignite into fire. ' Heffron there is nothing between Gene and you, stop it you are being an idiot, so what if he has a girl, fuckin good for him' I sneered to myself. Without noticing I began walking faster, my rifle swung across my chest, I carefully dodged foxholes, not really having a conscious clue where I was headed, I was just moving, trying to get away, the snow was impending, and my rage became greater, why? I needed to end this, "nothing, Nothing Heffron, stop obsessing like a fucking child" I muttered to myself. I don't know how far I walked but there were suddenly no more foxholes. I must have begun walking outside of our area. Just as quick as my rage had come to me, I found myself no longer above the snow; I had fallen in a foxhole, but what damn foxhole? I was in the middle of the Ardennes; no where close to my damn platoon, I looked every which way in surprise, wondering if I had lost my mind and was still sitting in my own hole, when suddenly a foreign voice made its pestilent presence known.
"Wer ist da? wer da ist, kann ich nicht atmen runter von mir!" the voice was yelling,
"FUCK" I growled, I had landed in a German foxhole which was most likely going to mark the end of my tragic, loveless existence. I scrambled out as the Kraut yelled, struggling beneath the snow and tree branches that had now been piled on top of him. I got out of the foxhole but couldn't seem to get my footing; I threw my rifle out in front of me to get a firmer grip on the icy snow, when I felt a tug on the back of my jacket. Fear coursed through my veins, my heart took a dive into my stomach.
"verdammte amerikanische!" (Fucking American) The German soldier yelled while tugging me backwards. As a soldier, this was the first time I had ever been forced to engage in hand to hand combat, now that this time was facing me, and my stupid life hanging in the balance, I didn't have a clue how to fight anymore. All the things I was taught so quickly in basic training failed to exist in my mind. I began to panic. Especially when I was pulled back into the German soldier's foxhole, which is where I anticipated a rather untimely death. I grabbed onto the Germans jacket and tried to pry his hands of off me in order to escape. Somehow I gained my consciousness back and pushed him hard into the wall of the foxhole, he yelled out in pain as my fist connected with his face, unfortunately to my dismay, his fist came flying back at me and knocked my to the cold snowy floor. The soldier was much larger than I was, he probably had a good 100 pounds on me, his features where dark, his shoulders broad, he had a luger tucked into the side of his jacket and a bayonet hanging on the other side. When I figured all this out I realized I was no match for his superior strength and physic. He had basically won the fight before it started. This is when I began to yell, yelling for anyone in range, I couldn't be that far away from the platoon. Someone would hear me. Anyone, hopefully my yelling was in favor of myself and not the German currently hindering any movement in my body, hopefully I hadn't actually walked into a whole goddamn German platoon!
"HELP, HELP ANYBODY!" I called out before receiving a strong blow to the left side of my jaw; the German straddled me, rendering the use of my legs impossible, I tried in vain to wiggle my body out from beneath his overpowering constraint, but was unsuccessful. A thousand thoughts racing through my mind, as if I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to feel and to know each and every one of them. Gene, where was Gene, where was anyone? After receiving numerous clouts to the face, my consciousness was beginning to fade, the Germans visage swayed back and forth, as if engaging in a slow dance above me, the pain in my face began to numb. I cried out again. "EUGENE! HELP ME ITS EDWARD!"
"Klappe du dumme amerikanische!" (Shut up you stupid American) the German hissed.
The next thing I saw happen in a blur, was the German soldier reach to his side and pull out his bayonet, the weight of his body lifted slightly as he shifted his weight to one side, I didn't know how far I would get if I tried to move, but I did it anyways. I wiggled my lower half from beneath him and my boots instantly connected with his chest. The soldier went flying back with an angered cry. I began to struggle my way out of the foxhole and onto the soft ethereal snow. I crawled a few feet and yelled again "HEL-"I tried before my face was pushed violently into the snow and I felt cold metal dig deep into the left side of my abdomen. I screamed out in pain, cursing and yelling as the Germans bayonet pulled out of my side sharply and without any remorse. Cool blood streamed down my side like the tears on my face. "I don't want to die" I wept "I DON'T WANT TO DIE" I cried again. A loud piercing shot interrupted my grief stricken cries. I watched as the bayonet the soldier was holding dropped from his hand, blood from his chest trickled down his jacket and mixed with my own. He fell. And I began to cry again. Looking around desperately for whoever had come to my rescue, it was shifty of course, followed by Guarnere, Luz, the two Joes and a few others.
"Shit Babe, what the hell are ya doin getting ya-self all beat up like this?" Guarnere tried to sympathize but it came out more as an accusation. He knelt next to me eying the blood that had now created a small pool around me, George called for Gene. Who arrived moments later.
"I, I was just walking, I didn't see the foxhole until I was in it and-"I sobbed as Guarnere lifted my head and placed it in his lap. My eyes lifted to see Gene appear above me, for some odd reason winters was here as well, he was always up at battalion CP, but he was here now and knelt next to Gene. My sobbing lightened with the presence of Gene so close. But he wasn't helping me. He just sat there, staring blankly my body as if it where a foreign object he didn't exactly know what to do with.
"Doc, DOC" winters ordered with an authoritative tone. Looking at my wound with concerned eyes, he then reached over and began to pry my jacket off. I cringed as winters cold hands where placed on the cut in my side. With the sight of easy companies only medic, frozen like he was. The other men began dressing my wounds then bandaging. Trying to stop the bleeding any way they could. I looked at Gene wondering what was wrong; it was like he was in a trance. Another world. His eyes met mine for a moment.
"Come on doc whata ya doin let's go, my buddies dying here!" Guarnere broke in urgently.
"Eugene" Winters pressed. I reached for Genes hand and took it in my own. He trembled. Wasn't he supposed to me comforting and healing me, what an odd change in roles?
"Gene…" I shakily whispered. His eyes turned to mine again, this time, those deep brown eyes no longer frozen, now held tears. It was like cracking ice. My wound was now under control, the bleeding had stopped and now everyone stared in awe as our quiet and controlled medic began to sob. He simply hung his head with both his hands now in his lap, and cried. His shoulders shaking.
"Jeezus fucking christ" George muttered to himself..
My shaking had ceased though my confusion ensued. In one night I almost died and Gene was absolutely beside himself in tears, about what? Medics weren't supposed to break, they where supposed to stay strong. I let out a groan as the men lifted me gently carrying me back to the platoon. my eyes stayed fixed on the image of Gene, still sitting in the snow weeping as Winters now tried to consol him.
A/N - Please feel free to correct me on any of the German in this chapter, that way I can change it if nessesary..THANKS a bunch! lots of love.