A Woman in the Ranks

by explorer1996

Easy Company's new field nurse has the ambition to help the best the army has to offer. It is easy to tell what a person thinks of her, except for one. Speirs/OC (Awful at summaries but please read!)

10. Chapter 10

A/N: I do not own any of the characters from Band of Brothers, only the character of Katie Millard. I mean no disrespect to the real men of Easy Company, these characters are based on those from the TV series.

I don't have much knowledge of army etiquette and am trying my hardest but if there are any mistakes my apologies. Also if there are any historical mistakes my apologies again but I have taken some artistic license. Some events may also be far fetched but hey this a fan fiction so when aren't they?

The build up to Speirs and the OC is going to be a bit of a slow burner because I want to put equal emphasis on the relationship between the OC and the men of Easy Company to that of her and Speirs.

Please review! I would love to know what people think!

Just as a warning, this is a long chapter. I decided to get the episode 'Day of Days' done all in one go.

I attempted to sleep most of the plane journey with my head on Grant's shoulder. The noise kept me awake but I didn't open my eyes, not wanting to see the fear on the men's faces. There mumblings of prayers, people asking for lights for their Lucky Stripes, nervous tapping's and people playing with their clackers. I was jolted from my fake sleep by the noise of artillery fire in the distance. That was the problem of being by the front, you could see what we were flying into.

The tension picked up at the new noise and the plane started to rock. As we got closer the pilot flipped on the red light, prompting Winters to stand.

"Stand up! Hook up!" We all stood and clipped onto the wire above us. I tried to focus solely on getting out of the plane while fear flooded me. "Equipment check!" Grant started tugging on my equipment to make sure it was all good. "Sound off for equipment check!"

Shouts came down the line, strong and confident, the adrenaline must have kicked in, until it got to me and Grant thumped me on the shoulder and I shouted "Two okay!"

The plane jolted to the side, sending all us with it. The rest of the men caught themselves on the benches but I was too far forward but luckily Winters grabbed me by the arm. We righted ourselves as best we could. There was a clatter further back in the line and I caught the end of a cry of pain. I wanted to go back and help but it was impossible with everyone ready to jump. I looked to the door and could make out pieces of the ground, indicating we were fairly low. Shards of light flew everywhere, aiming at the aircrafts and those who had made it successfully out of their own planes.

The green light came on and Winters jumped. I surged forward and followed him quickly. I had no fears about the jump itself, it was about what I would find when I made it to the ground. Falling to the ground with artillery shells flying past me was terrifying and distracting. I was too busy looking at what was going on around me and worrying about the guys that I didn't notice I was heading for a tree.

As I fell into it, I felt scratches across my face and a particularly deep one on my neck which had blood trickling out of it, warming my skin and soaking into my jacket. I hit the release button on my parachute and feel ungracefully to the ground, landing on my side with such force that I bruised my ribs. I didn't have any time to dwell on the pain, immediately looking round my surroundings. There were no land marks to help guide my way but with the planes still flying overhead, so I began to walk in the direction they were flying, my logic being they were flying towards the DZ that I had quite obviously missed.

I got my knife out from my bag, my only protection if I came across the enemy. I stayed low, treading carefully with my ribs protesting at every step.

I walked for about ten minutes without any issue. That was until a kraut managed to sneak up behind me. He had been so quiet, I didn't notice him until his arm was around my neck.

He smelt dank and dirty, he must have been in the woods for a long time now. He bought his mouth to my ear, his breath puffing across it. "Krieg ist kein platz für eine frau. (War is no place for a woman.)" He muttered in my ear. Him knowing I was a woman made me, if possible even more alert.

I grabbed hold of the arm that was covering my neck and used his weight to throw him over my shoulder. I went to cut his throat but he grabbed onto my wrist painfully and attempted to make me drop it. He tugged on my wrist harshly while bucking his body which made me fall to the side dropping my knife as I went and he was instantly on top of me.

I was beginning to panic as his hands closed around my throat. The lack of oxygen was making my brain fuzzy but as I kicked my legs in struggle, I realised he hadn't secured them well enough. I hook a leg around his waist and used the last reserve of my energy to roll his weight off of me, scooping my knife up as I did so and bringing it down across his throat before he had a chance to react. His warm blood spilled over my hands as he released my throat. His eyes were filled with fear and I had to look away. He gargled random words in German that I couldn't translate in his last seconds before he stopped moving all together.

I got off of him, unhooking his gun from his shoulder and his ammo from his waist before I carried on moving. I wiped my hands as best I could on my jackets that was already covered in a mixture of my own and the soldier's blood. For five minutes I thought of nothing but the fear in his eyes as I took his life, feeling guilty. He was so young yet his life was over.

I hear a twig snap to the right of me. "Flash." I muttered, holding the kraut weapon in the direction of the noise. I wasn't going to be caught out again.

"Thunder." Came back as a whispered reply before Winters and another soldier popped out from behind a tree. Relief flooded my senses.

"Sir, you have no idea how glad I am to see you." I told him honestly.

Winters smiled softly. "And me, you."

"Are you ok, Lieutenant?" the nameless soldier asked, looking over my blood stained uniform and cut up face.

I nodded. "It's not all my blood. I fell into a tree and then got into a fight with a kraut, you know just every day invasion shit."

The soldier looked impressed while Winters chuckled. "You haven't been in Normandy an hour and you've already got yourself into trouble." He looked to the soldier briefly. "This is Hall, Hall this is Lieutenant Millard. Come on we need to keep moving"

We started walking, keeping low and scoping our surroundings. I offered my kraut weapon to Winters but he refused. The walk was uneventful until we got closer to the machine gun. The gun was pointing at the sky but we moved slowly to make sure we didn't become its new targets. Even in the darkness I could clearly make out the forms on the soldiers.

We were a bit close for comfort. "Wait until they reload." Winters ordered.

I could make out the figures, I could shoot them and save the planes being shot at any longer. I raised my gun and took aim. There were four of them, I would have to re-aim fast if I didn't want them to target us. I took a deep breath and on the release, I shot and re-aimed four times, them all falling milliseconds after I pulled the trigger.

I put down my gun and guilt swamped me again.

"How did you do that?" I turned and looked to Winters who was to the left of me.

I shrugged. "I used to hunt back in England."

Hall was watching me impressed again. "I'm going to suggest that you are rifle trained when we get back to England. If it was up to me you would be Easy's new sniper." Winters told me. He took off beginning to walk on again. I smiled widely and followed.

Hall and Winters chatted as we walked, talking about Hall being a radioman. I was too trapped in my own thoughts to join in. I was thinking of all my friends and where they were. If they had landed safely, if they had met up with someone, if they had had any run-ins with any Germans. I also was thinking about the fact I had killed five people in under an hour. Five families that were now one member less.

We made it onto a river bank when we heard twigs snapping across it. The three of us crouched down and watched to see if we could decipher whether they were friend or foe. Winters got out his clacker and clicked it three times. There was a splash of water and Lipton came into view along with two new faces.

"Who's that?" Winters asked, squinting in the darkness.

"Lieutenant Winters? Lieutenant Millard. Is that you?" Lip sounded happy to have met up with someone from Easy.

We ran down the river bank to flat land and the other three joined us, we all crouched down.

"Any weapon?" Winters asked.

Lip shook his head. "No, sir. I got hit by the prop blast, so long leg bag. All I've got is this knife and some TNT." He pointed to the new faces. "These 82nd guys have got their M-1's though." It now made sense why they were looking at me so oddly, the 82nd had never met me.

"Man 82nd! Where the hell are we?!" Hall exclaimed.

"You're in Normandy." I told him in a teasing tone. He rolled his eyes at me which made me smile.

"Sir, I saw a sign back thataways. It said Sainte-Mère-Église." Lip told Winters.

Winters looked around before stabbing his knife into the ground and he began to mess with his fly. "Whoa there sir, if you need to relieve yourself there is no need to do it in front of us." I told him earning myself a wry smile from him as he held up a tiny compass. "You couldn't just put it in your pocket could you?"

"Flashlight?" He asked Lip who held out one for him. "Raincoat?"

"Either of you got a raincoat?" Lip asked the 82nd guys. The one on the right opened the one on the left's bag and held out the raincoat to Lip.

Winters took the rain coat and made a shelter to shield the light before going under it. "Millard get under here, you probably know these maps better than me." I put my head under the raincoat and immediately pointed where we were on the map. I had got a bit obsessive when the order was given to study the maps.

Winters studied the maps for a few moments longer before taking the raincoat off our heads and handed back to the 82nd soldiers. "We're about seven kilometres from our objective and only four hours away from when we need to have it secured. We've got a lot of walking ahead of us. You men will stick with us until we find your unit."

We started walking again, Hall and I taking point. I talked in whispers to Hall about his home life and why he joined up just to distract myself from my thought of my friends. We found the railroads that would lead us most of the way to the meet point but heard voices as we approached them. I listened hard to decipher whether they were American or German.

"Because I studied the sand tables, all right?" a harsh voice whispered. A smiled, knowing that voice anywhere. I turned to Winters who was crouched behind me.

"That's Joe Toye, sir." I told him not even attempting to hold back my smile. One of my friends was safe and a couple of metres in front of me, I was so glad.

There was silence form the tracks and then I heard another voice I knew well. "Probably a friggin train or a…"

Winters cut Malarkey off but calling "Flash."

I heard the rattle of their guns as they swung round and called "Thunder" back. Winters stepped forward out of our covering of trees and I didn't hesitate to run forward, throwing myself at the form that I identified as Toye. He immediately wrapped his arms round my waist and squeezed me tight.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you we were glad to see me Duch." He muttered to me.

I released my hold on him. "Whatever gave you that idea?" I smirked.

I was enveloped in another hug that I returned quickly. The height of the man and the way he held me told me it was Bill which caused me to feel another wave of relief and happiness. "You have no idea how worried I was about you." He whispered to me, quiet enough so only I could hear.

"Considering I have thinking nonstop about all of you, I think I do."

We let go of one another and I gave a hug to Malarkey and Popeye too, pleased to see them alive and well. Everyone was greeting one another and checking they were ok.

Popeye caught sight of the bandage on my neck and nodded towards it and the blood on my uniform. "What happened to you?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Got into a fight with a tree and lost."

Hall walked past. "Not to mention a fight with a Kraut." He added. I shot him a glare when Toye and Bill turned their attention, obviously having heard what he said.

"Katie, what the fuck?" Bill demanded, stepping forward and surveying me for injuries. The use of my first name meant he was on edge, he never used it.

"Look, I'm obviously fine, it's his blood not mine." I assured him. Winters was watching the interaction with interest.

Toye stepped next to Bill. "You killed him?" I nodded, averting my eyes from theirs because of the guilt.

"Him and four machine gun operators." Hall chipped in again obviously not getting the glare from earlier.

Malarkey and Popeye were looking at me impressed. "Aren't you full of surprises?" Malarkey muttered.

Bill and Toye were eyeing me strangely. "Guarnere."

Bill looked at Winters. "Sir?"

"You and Hall up front." Winters ordered and Hall started forward.

"Who the hell is Hall?" Bill asked confused, making me smile.

We all started walking again, keeping quiet as to not draw attention to ourselves. I felt more relaxed than before, knowing two of my best friends were safe. Toye continued to throw me weird looks as he was standing next to me and I frowned each time, not knowing why he was doing it.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I whispered after the tenth time.

"I'm making sure you're ok."

My eyebrows drew together. "I told you I'm fine, the cut is fine." I reassured.

He shook his head. "You killed five people, Duch. You weren't trained to kill, you were trained to save and now you feel guilty even though there's no need to." He knew me too well, he knew it had bothered me more then I cared to let on.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Of course I feel guilty, I saw how Bill reacted when he found out his brother was dead. I've just caused people to feel like that."

"Don't think about it, it's a necessary part of war."

I didn't have chance to reply as Hall stopped us and we all crouched, guns at the ready. When I listened hard I could hear horses and German voices. Winters ran forward, making no noise and he looked over the left of the bridge. He ran to the right where it was open and I could see a little hill that would let us get to the bottom.

"Lipton! Go!" He instructed Lip to the left of the bridge and then called Bill to the right. I followed Bill down the right of the hill and positioned myself behind him and then Popeye behind me.

"Wait for my command." Winters whispered from the left. I held my gun firm as the voices got closer. Bill's shoulders were set, ready for a fight.

The Germans came under the bridge and I could now see them. There was about twenty on a cart with two horses pulling. My heart dropped when I realised the horses would be caught in the fire but I didn't have time to dwell on this. Bill stepped out and started firing rapidly before Winters ordered us too. Not wanting him to be stood out there, a perfect target, I stepped out too, pulling on the trigger gently until it fired and repeated the action. The others followed our lead and started to fire. My ears were swamped with gun fire and the whine of the horses. The soldiers dropped either dead or injured, none of them even managing to fire their weapon in retaliation. Lip shouted grenade followed by a loud bang and a scattering of debris. I didn't stop firing until all the soldiers stopped moving. I was surprised I hadn't run out of ammo. Everyone else ceased fire but Bill continued. I was about to stop him when Winters charged over, grabbing him on the arm and swinging him around so that he stopped firing.

"That's enough Guarnere!" Winters shouted his order, obviously annoyed that Bill had disobeyed him. They glared at one another and I found it really awkward. Winters was in the right but I sensed Bill's behaviour was about his brother.

They continued to glare at one another. "Everyone ok?" Winters asked, and everyone gave positive replies. I walked off, not being able to watch them any longer. Toye was at my side and we walked to the carnage we had just caused.

One of the horses was dead while the other continued to whine in pain. I looked at it, sadness swelling within me at its state. "Toye?" I asked. He looked away from the horse to me. "Kill it please. I can't."

Joe nodded, pulling out his handgun and shooting it in the head swiftly. He looked back at me, bringing his hand up and wiping the tear from my cheek I hadn't realised had escaped. I wiped my cheek hastily and turned away. "I'm fine, I'm just tired." I told him before he had a chance to ask.

I heard Bill mutter "Fine Quaker" as he walked past me, referring to Winters.

"What's that guy's problem?" I heard Hall ask.

"Gonorrhoea." Malarkey answered, getting up from the body he had just been searching.

Hall's eyes bulged. "Really?"

I sighed. "His name, Guarnere, Gonorrhoea. You get it Hall?" my tone came out sharper than I expected because I didn't like someone who didn't even know Bill question him.

"So besides having a shitty name, what's his problem?" Hall continued. This guy did not know when to stop talking.

"None of your fucking business, cowboy!" Bill barked at him, his stance aggressive. Hall looked scared of him and I couldn't blame him for it.

"All right, let's move out. Quietly." Lip ordered, obviously referring to Bill's loud tone.

I wanted nothing more than to go and talk to Bill but he was point and I was told to stay in the middle. We walked for miles, reaching a river that was near our meet point on the map, and by this time the sun was rising. We were walking confidently at this point, out of the German's territory enough to not have to worry as much as before. Winters reshuffled the formation and I was now walking with Toye and Bill, the perfect opportunity to get Bill to calm himself.

"You see him? He just sat there." Bill bit out, referring to Winters during the brief fight.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, whatever the reason for his behaviour that point was ridiculous. "He didn't have a weapon. What's he gonna do? Shout at them?" Toye voiced my thoughts perfectly. His tone was softer than I had ever heard it, he was obviously treading carefully.

"No, you should have given him your brass knuckles, then he could have strode into the firing line and punched them." I added on, trying to make Bill see his own stupidity.

"Shouts at me for killing Krauts." Bill chuntered, ignoring what Toye and I had said. We looked at one another and shook our heads, he just needed time to rant.

"He just wanted you to wait for his command." Toye commented.

Bill stopped walking and looked at Toye. "Joe, he don't even drink!" He cried incredulous.

I couldn't help but laugh. "That isn't the worst thing in the world Bill."

"He don't gamble either."

Toye shrugged. "So, that just means he ain't dumb enough to."

Bill sighed. "Do you just want me to say that he is perfect or summit cause it ain't happening." Bill grumbled, looking annoyed that his two best friend's weren't just agreeing with him. We couldn't though because he would just continue with his behaviour.

"No, just don't act like you did again, that will do us." I teased but my tone was firm enough for him to know that he couldn't do it again. The way his shoulders slumped slightly told me we had got to him and it put him into a bit of a sulk that he would come out the other side better off.

The group came across a barn with the field around it strewn with dead bodies, both American and German soldiers. The American soldiers saddened me, thinking about their friends who were dotted around Normandy hoping they were ok. One body was tangled in a tree and I couldn't help but think how easily it could have been me.

Winters sent Lip and Popeye in to survey the area while the rest of us stayed crouched down waiting for the all clear. Once we had got it, Winters went and removed the gun from the soldier in the tree while the rest went to stock up on ammo from the bodies while Malarkey said something about a Luger for his brother.

I tugged an M-1 from one off a soldier's body and unravelled the ammo pack from his body. The body was stiff and ice old, already attracting flies but I tried to move it with as much care as possible. His dog tags caught the sunlight, catching my eye. I started to take them off him and the moved to the next American soldier to do the same. I collected them all until there was only the body left in the tree. I surveyed the tree and thought that I could climb it. I put my foot on one of the notches and started to hike myself up until I was in the branches.

"What are you doing?" I heard a soft voice ask from below. I was close enough at this point to remove the dog tags without having to cut down the body, not wanting to hear the sickening thud of dead weight as it hit the ground. I jumped from the tree and landed gracefully but the landing reverberated through my bruised ribs and made them twinge in pain. It was Winters who had called up to me.

I held up the dog tags as my answer. "Their families should know they have gone at least." I added the dog tags to the collection in my satchel.

Winters was watching me with pitying eyes, as if he knew this was hard on me but I could already feel myself hardening to the bloodshed. He pointed at my neck. "You're bleeding again."

I felt my neck and felt the fresh blood that was flowing. I untied the bandage and retied it tighter than before to apply some pressure. A deafening noise flew overhead and I ducked instinctively. I looked up to see it was planes, Navy planes.

"The landings have started. Let's go." Winters ordered beginning to walk away.

"Let's move it out!" I called, liking that everyone jumped to follow my instructions.

I waited for Toye and Bill to join me when Hall looked at his watch. "Right on time."

"Yeah? Tell that to him, cowboy." He gestured to one of the dead soldiers. I smirked at Bill's tone, it was sharp but it was his normal sharp tone that he used to joke with people.

Hall looked like he didn't know what to reply so just muttered, "My name's Hall." I felt bad for the guy, Bill had already bitten his head off once and now he was too scared to reply which would get Bill to leave him alone.

"That so?" Bill teased, standing while holding a grenade.

Malarkey started to walk next to Hall, ducking his head to talk to him quietly. "You just gotta learn to return his fire, that's all." He advised.

Toye walked towards me, passing Hall and Malarkey. "You just gotta realize it ain't about you." He added on. When he got to me he slapped me on the arse to which I smacked him on the arm. "I needed cheering up, Duch." He clarified, as if that made it ok.

"I just heard his brother…" Malarkey started his voice too loud if I could hear him.

"Malarkey, shut your yap." Bill snapped, coming to walk on my other side. I glanced at him and smiled causing him to nudge me. "You look good with a gun."

I shrugged cockily. "I look good no matter what."

Bill laughed heartily while Toye snorted. He flung his arm around my shoulder dragging me till our helmets clunked together. "That you do."

It didn't take us much longer to get onto the path that lead directly to the meet point. By now my blisters had their own blisters, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep standing up, I was hungry, my ribs were aching like mad, my neck was bleeding on/off and I was on edge about my remaining friends wellbeing. But I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with any of these problems because of the numerous injured men waiting for me at the end of the muddy road I was walking. Malarkey started mocking a bunch of POW's but I couldn't be bothered to listen to him. The others slowed their walking to wait for Malarkey, yelling things at him but I kept up my pace, desperate to see who else had made it back.

As I came to the end of the road, the mud became red. There as a pile of horse carcasses, heaped together. I looked away, unable to bear it. There were soldiers milling everywhere all with different emotions on their faces; some weary, some relieved, some scared, some angry. Each emotion depending on the drop they had had. I rounded a corner where a huge tree was blocking the view and saw Buck stood by a jeep. I started towards him, feeling another piece of anxiety disappear but I was side tracked by someone yelling "Duch!"

I turned and perched on the slight incline behind the tree was Liebgott. He was looking at me like I wasn't real and I found myself speeding towards him, smiling widely. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed, with his hands quickly finding my waist.

"Are you ok?" I held him away from me scanning him for injuries.

He gave me one of his snarky little smirks. "Shouldn't I be asking you that, you look like you've been rollin' in blood."

"I'm fine." I looked around when I heard a moan of pain coming from close by. "That the aide station?" I asked, nodding towards the building that the moan came from.

Liebgott nodded and sighed. "I have a feeling you're about to ditch me for a bunch of bleeding men."

I shrugged. "Duty calls." I patted Petty and Ranney on the back and smiled at them before walking off.

I had to pass the Buck to get to the aide station and he noticed me immediately. "Looks like you've been fighting the invasion single handed."

I smiled. "Well you lot have been slacking." I walked into his open arms and hugged his huge frame. "It's good to see you."

He let me go and pushed me towards the aide station. "Show 'em what your made of."

I walked towards the aide station, the groans of pain getting louder. I started to put up the barrier I had developed in London, the one I needed to not be bothered by the blood and the teared skin, the moans of pain. I walked into to it, greeted by the metallic smell of blood. The room was half full with injured men ranging from superficial shrapnel wounds to gaping wounds. There were four other medics, but it was complete chaos. Medics were treating those with minor injuries first while those in desperate need of attention were left on their own. I put my gun and ammo in a corner and continued to watch the mayhem, making a plan in my head.

I heard someone exhale loudly to the side of me. "I'm glad to see you, ma cherie." I turned to see Doc Roe looking relieved.

I smiled lightly at him. "Same goes for you. Doc who's the superior officer here?" I asked talking quickly so that I could fix this mess.

"You are." I was so happy to hear this.

I turned back to the room and quickly took stock of the injuries. "Ok, you go deal with the man over there." I pointed to the solder whose leg looked as though it was going to need amputating. "Shout if you need help."

"Yes, ma'am." He left to do my bidding.

I instantly went to the next medic in sight who was fixing a minor arm wound. "Private, apply a pressure bandage to this and go and help that man there." I point to a man whose stomach wound was bleeding profusely.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" The medic questioned in a sharp tone, continuing to clean the pitiful cut.

"I am 2nd Lieutenant of Easy Company and your superior officer. Now go and do as I say." I ordered, my voice stern and hard while keeping my posture rigid. The medic looked scared of me as he slapped a bandage on the cut and scurried of. I gave the soldier who the medic had been treating a small smile before moving onto the next medic.

One by one I directed the medic's to where they were needed most. More injuries floated in as well as medics looking shell shocked at the mount of blood flowing in the room. It was for many, their first time actually treating serious injuries so it came as a shock to them.

"Serious injuries to the back, minor to the front." I yelled to the room. Those carrying the patients moved quickly, organising the room in the way I had told them. I turned to the white faced medics who had just come in. "Pick a patient at the back and move through the room. Work efficiently, keep bandages tight, look out for shrapnel and remember to mark them with the morphine syrettes." I told them in a stern voice but I could see them slipping into the medic role they had been trained for.

"Yes ma'am." The saluted and went to work.

There had been no fatalities yet. This was probably because those who were injured enough to die were out in a field somewhere, already dead. The men in the aide station had been lucky enough to get back to us, their injuries only becoming serious due to time and exposure.

After an age, I finally managed to treat a patient myself rather than just ordering people around. It was a young soldier who looked terrified of the place he was in with a gushing head wound. It probably wasn't that serious, head wounds just tended to bleed a lot.

I strode towards the soldier, putting on my nurse smile. "Hello, I'm Lieutenant Millard but you can call me Katie." I took the bandage from his hand and continued to hold it to the cut.

"Mitchell from Fox Company, ma'am." His voice shook with fear when he spoke. He winced as I began to remove the bandage slowly. I was right, nothing more than a cut that wouldn't stop bleeding. I tilted his head back and sprinkled some sulpha onto it, only using half a packet because we were running low on supplies. I wrapped a bandage around it and patted him on the shoulder.

"You can go, make sure you eat something to get your blood sugar up again." I directed before moving onto another patient with a piece of shrapnel in his leg.

"Lieutenant Millard!" Rang through the room and I looked up from the leg I was treating. I told the soldier to hold a bandage on it before making my way to the front.

"Yeah?" I asked the scrawny little man who was obviously a runner.

"They've managed to find some medical equipment, ma'am." He told me, not knowing who the 'they' were.

"Do you know where supplies are?" I asked.

"Yes ma'am"

I nodded and looked round the room until I found Doc Roe. "Doc, keep everything in order here for a few minutes." He nodded his agreement as I left the building.

I collected some soldiers together and got them to stand in front of me, with the runner next to me. "You lot follow this guy here…" I patted the runner on the shoulder "… and bring the supplies to the aide station. When you get there put the to the left of the room." I ordered.

"Yes, ma'am." They all replied. It was weird being this in charge, usually I took a back seat not out of laziness but because my expertise were not needed and I didn't want to get in the way. I was in my element now.

"Off you go." They all saluted me and I returned it and they all fell out, following the little runner.

Without the congregation of soldiers in front of me, I saw Easy looking like they were getting ready to leave. "We're going to take German artillery that is firing at the troops coming into Utah." I turned at the soft voice to see it was Winters.

I wanted nothing more than to go over and wish them all luck and tell them to be safe. Hell, I wanted nothing more than to go with them, to keep an eye on them all but I knew I was needed here. As if to prove this point I heard a medic shout behind me. "Lieutenant, your needed over here."

There was a soldier lay on a stretcher, blood gushing from multiple bullet wounds. I ran over, yelling to Winters to tell them all to be safe and that I didn't want to see any of them near this aide station. I slapped my hands over the bullet holes, feeling the hot blood rushing over my hands. The man was screaming in pain. I looked to his jacket to see there were no syrettes on his jacket or a mark on him to say he had had any morphine.

"Someone stick him with some morphine." I ordered as he was carried into the aide station, mine and the other medics hands the only things stemming the blood. I told them to put him down once we had rushed to the back of the room. "Bandages and sulpha, get plenty of both." I ordered to the medic that had appeared at my side, while I started stripping his uniform from his chest. Bandages were handed to me and I started to push them to the wounds. A syrette was pushed into the man's neck and his cries weakened.

Packets of sulpha were handed to me and I lifted each bandage slowly before tipping some sulpha into each one, pressing the bandage back to it when I was done. We tilted his body to the side, seeing that there were no exit wounds, tying the bandages tight around his body yet his position in life was still precarious. I looked to the medic who had been helping me. "There's nothing more we can, if one of his vital organs was hit then it's only a matter of time." I pressed an ear to his heart and heard a faint but steady heartbeat. "His heartbeat is faint but steady so I'd say that was missed. If a surgeon rears his head, this man needs help first."

I looked around the room to see that all those with serious injuries were wrapped and ready to evacuate as soon as possible with only minor injuries left to treat. That would change quickly when there was another influx on injuries but for now we were ok.

For ten minutes I circled the room, treating a few minor injuries and sending the soldiers off. A soldier came up to me to give me warning of an influx of causalities. I told the rest of the medics before going to the supply boxes and sorting them so each had a bit of everything, beginning to place them round the room. I had just finished putting the last box down when someone grabbed my arm.

"What is…?" I began to ask but my eyes clashed with deep brown ones and my heart stuttered. "You're alive."

Speirs's eyes were as hard as always, his face stony. "So are you though from what I hear, barely."

The large niggling of anxiety I had been feeling slipped almost completely away. I hadn't allowed myself to admit that I was as worried about him as I had been about my friends and seeing him in front of me, as arrogant and stern as ever made me feel one step below euphoric.

I let a smirk cross my face. "I didn't do anything reckless or suicidal." I assured him.

He shook his head, pulling me a little closer as if he didn't realise he was doing it. "You just attract trouble." He took my chin in his hand and turned it, eyeing the dirty bandage around my neck. I had forgotten about the cut but now that his eyes were on it, I felt that my neck was moist indicating it had started bleeding again recently. "Why haven't you had this seen to?" he asked, his voice taking that edge that usually made people do what he wanted.

"I've been busy, sir." I told him, which had been the truth.

"You need to get it treated." He kept my chin in his fingers so that I was forced to look in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes. "No time, sir." I replied simply, not wanting to get into a big argument with him.

I could hear groans of pain approaching, which told me the new casualties were on their way. I pulled my arm out of his hold and started towards the door, ready to direct the casualties to where they needed to go. There was plenty of space since minor injuries had been discharged. "Everyone on your feet, new wave coming in!" I yelled to the medics but I could hear heavy boots behind me.

A hand on my shoulder pulled me round. "Get it looked at now, Katie." He demanded. For some reason I found him even more attractive when he get like this and I felt myself blush at the thought. His eyes dipped to my lips before returning to my eyes, glaring.

I pushed his hand off my shoulder as the first of the wounded entered the aide station. "There are people's lives at risk and you are still only trying to get me to follow your orders."

He looked spitting mad at my words but I didn't have time to dwell on it. Instead I started barking orders, telling people where to go and to start treating people. I watched Speirs's back as it retreated, his posture rigid with anger. Soon there was at least one medic to each critical patient and I found myself helping Doc with a man whose leg was half off.

"Lieutenant, help please!" Someone shouted form the other side of the room. I looked at Doc and he nodded, telling me he had this under control. I wiped my hands on a rag and rushed over to where I was called.

The man who had shouted was a particularly young medic who I had already assisted a few times. He didn't seem to believe in his ability and constantly wanted reassurance. He was currently working on a man who looked like he had walked into a grenade explosion, with his body mangled. His skin was torn and burnt and he was going into shock. The medics hands were shaking and I gabbed them, placing them firmly on a bandage to apply pressure.

"Has he had any morphine?" I asked softly. The medic shook his head, looking at me like I was going to reprimand him. I quickly got a syrette and stabbed him with it, hoping the reduction in pain would stop him going any further into shock.

I started doing what I could to his wounds but it was no good. I could see it happening, I could see he was going to be the first person to die here, under my care. I looked at the medic and could see he knew it. Blood started bubbling out of his mouth and he choked on it. There was nothing I could do. I let my hands slip from his body and I looked to the medic over the deceased's body.

I nodded. "Get some men to take his body into the other room. Find out what Company he is in and take his dog tags to the CO." I ordered, patting the medic on the shoulder. I moved onto the next patient, blocking the death from my mind.

Fifteen minutes later, all the critical patients had been treated again, two more had died. It seemed to shock all the medics but I could see it had also hardened them, they started working with a cool efficacy they hadn't before. The losses, though terrible, had made them better medics.

A new stretcher was brought in, containing Popeye on it. I rushed over. "Popeye, I told you I didn't want to see any of Easy in here."

He sighed heavily as the soldiers carrying him placed him down, he was lay on his front which was odd but I followed he trail of blood and realised he had been hit in the bum. "I didn't mean to fuck up." He muttered in his southern accent.

I smirked. "I'm gonna have to cut your trousers a bit so keep still." I warned him.

"You just want a glimpse of my ass, don't you Duch." He teased as I took my pair of scissors and started to cut away his trousers.

"Who'd want to look at you scrawny arse." I countered. I was looking at his arse and it really was scrawny. It wasn't too bad of a wound, the bullet was lodged deep in his muscle and was stemming the bleeding but it was going to hurt to dig out.

"I've gotta dig out the bullet so try and stay as still as possible." I cleaned the area around it and took out my tweezers. "So how are everyone else?" I asked, nervous about the answer but wanting him to talk about something else to keep his mind off of it. I begin to dig and he winced.

"They're all good, taking the guns by storm." He told me, as he squeezed the material underneath him. He started to tell me how they were taking each gun while I dug to get the bullet out. He winced and groaned but never stopped talking, he was a good patient. Finally I got it out and I was right, it was stemming the blood. I quickly put a bandage on top of the wound, pressing down while I opened a sulpha packet with my teeth. I sprinkled it on before getting ready to tie the bandage. I wrapped it around him and tied it tight.

"Your all good Popeye." I patted his thigh and went to the next patient.

I worked non-stop for eight hours. Everything would settle and then a new wave of injuries would come in, adrenaline would pick up and then it would settle again. There was even a point that I had time to get Doc Roe to check my neck and get it patched up. There were enough medics that I sent groups off one at a time to eat and rest for two hours each before they would return and another group would leave. Finally, a medic of a higher rank turned up and he came straight to me. We had lost six men by this point.

"You've been in charge here, Lieutenant?" He asked, eyeing the bodies around me.

"Yes, sir. Critical patients have been going to the back and when there is a large number of them, it's all hands on deck to get them sorted and then we go back to the minor injuries while two medics keep watch of the criticals. There are boxes of supplies around the room, all with a bit of everything in. We also managed to get pots of water boiling so we are cleaning bandages as we speak. All of the medics have had rest and food since they got here." I rattled off the information to him and then went on to tell him which critical patients needed to be evacuated first.

"I'm impressed. I thought this place would be a shambles when I walked in." He complimented. "You're dismissed." He added, turning to walk towards a patient.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"We have enough medic's and like you said they have all been rested and fed and a good protocol has been put in place and will continue to be used. Besides, Easy are moving out in five minutes to Culoville so restock your bag." He turned away and left me.

I was so grateful yet felt guilty to be leaving the aide station. I did as he had ordered, restocking my bag with supplies and grabbed my helmet, gun, and ammo. It was getting dark outside by this point and we were all on noise and light discipline. My adrenaline levels dropped instantly as I left the aide station and weariness and hunger took over. I rushed to find Easy and I heard my name being shouted. I turned to see it was Nix sat atop a tank with Winters.

"Thank God you found us Duch, we all thought we were going to leave without you." Nix called.

I smiled. He held his hand out to me and I scrambled in-between him and Winters. "Please tell me we're not going to meet any resistance, intelligence officer Nix." I pleaded, thinking my weary body would not be able to put up with another fight.

He shook his head, his helmet shaking. "None at all. It's not too far either, about 45 minutes."

"How's Wynn?" Winters asked from the other side of me.

"He's fine. He's going to have to go to hospital though and make sure there's no muscle damage, the bullet was in there pretty deep."

Winters scanned my face. "Have you rested at all?"

I gave a small smile. "I couldn't let the aide station go back to the mess it was when we turned up."

Winters shook his head while Nix looked at me with and amused grin. "Seriously, you fell into a tree, fought a kraut, sniped some machine gun operators, killed some more krauts, walked how far to the meet point and then took over the aide station for eight hours. You are unbelievable."

I laughed. "You think I'm not aware of how awesome I am?" I joked. All I did today was do my job, I didn't need to be commended for it.

Nix patted his shoulder. "Get some sleep." He ordered softly so I placed my head on his shoulder, our helmets knocking together and shut my eyes. I was asleep in moments.

I slept the entire way to Culoville and Nix was right, there was no resistance. Nix woke me up gently and I felt no more refreshed than before I slept. I jumped from the jeep, saluting the two of them and went to see if I could find the rest of Easy. I was walking down the street when I saw smoke billowing out the top of a stationary truck. I then heard laughter which I recognised instantly.

I walked to the back of the truck and lifted the material flap. Inside was Liebgott, Bill, Lip, Malarkey, Toye, Buck and Petty.

The smell hit me before they could even notice me. "What the fuck is that smell?" I covered my nose, trying to protect myself from it.

They all looked at me, smiling broadly. "That would be Malarkey's cooking." Buck told me.

"You coming in?" Liebgott asked.

"Well, I don't have anywhere better to be." Liebgott lowered the back and Toye held out a hand to me, pulling me inside and sitting me next to him, while Liebgott closed the back again.

Toye held out a bottle for me, which I gladly took, swigging it back to find it was whiskey. I enjoyed the slight burn in my throat, taking a second hit before handing it back to him. "God it's been a long day."

"You can say that again." Petty murmured.

"Popeye said you all took the guns by storm."

"Of course we did." Bill grinned. "Is he gonna be alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I do feel bad for him though." I told them with a sad voice.

"Why?" Toye asked.

"He's got one scrawny arse, it must be uncomfortable to sit on it even without a bullet hole." They all burst out laughing.

"I swear Speirs is one crazy son of a bitch though." Malarkey commented from over his pot of whatever the hell he was cooking, instantly getting my attention.

"What did he do?" Bill looked at me and smirked, obviously hearing the interest in my voice.

"He came running out of nowhere with ammo all around his neck and asked if D-Company could take the next gun. Then he runs at the next gun like a mad man and got out of the trench putting himself under full fire." Buck told the story and my heart was in my throat.

"Did he get hit?" I asked, my voice sounding strangled.

Toye shook his head. "Not even a graze, the lucky bastard."

"He seemed angry as hell about something. Like he needed to kill someone to calm down." Lip muttered.

They were all watching me for my reaction to what Lip had said. He was angry about me and he had nearly got himself killed because of it. "Why are you looking at me? I didn't do anything."

Liebgott scoffed. "He said he was coming from the aide station when he heard we were low on ammo."

I raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't mean I pissed him off." I countered

Malarkey smirked. "Why else was he at the aide station if not to talk to you?"

I shrugged. "There was some of Dog Company injured. Maybe he came to check on them."

Petty shook his head. "I spoke to Doc about the casualties. He said D-Company had had no injured soldiers come in." They all continued to stare at me to see what lie I would tell next.

"Who the hell are you lot, Sherlock Holmes?"

Liebgott smirked and then grimaced as another wave of the foul smell wafted over to the end of the truck. "I'm out of here." He complained.

"Come on, what?" Malarkey grumbled, watching as Liebgott stood to leave.

"I don't want to die in the back of this damn truck, that's what!" Liebgott went to step over Toye's legs but caught his ankle with his boot before kicking me in the shin.

I smacked him on the back while Toye groaned "Come on, your stepping on my legs."

Liebgott lifted the flap and gifted us with some sweet smelling fresh air. "Jesus, let me outta here."

He jumped out but didn't close the flap out him letting the glowering amber light from the fire seep out. "Light discipline guys. Bill close the flap." I ordered.

He scooted over and grabbed the flap, pulling it back into place. "Let the krauts cook their own goddam food." He griped. I smiled at him. He seemed back to good old Wild Bill again and I was happy to see him. "How we doing Malark?"

Malarkey lifted the spoon he was using to stir whatever was in the pot and tasted it. He nodded his head. "We're doing good."

Buck leaned over to look in the pot. "Yeah? What the hell do you know about cooking; you're Irish."

I leant over Toye and smacked Buck in the arm. "I'm half Irish!" I scolded.

Buck raised an eyebrow. "And can you cook?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Not even a boiled egg." The guys all laughed at my response. It was true, I just couldn't cook for the life of me, I burnt everything or it tasted awful.

"Sir…" Malarkey started, addressing Buck. "…if you have a reservation someplace else, I'd be happy to go with you."

Malarkey picked up the pot and tipped some onto Toye's waiting plate getting a gruff "thank you" in response.

"Come on Duch, get your plate out. I heard you haven't eaten all day." Malarkey told me.

I shook my plate out of my bag and held it out, smiling my thanks to Malarkey as he tipped some of the, what I guessed was stew onto my plate. I put a spoonful into my mouth and found it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.

The truck was stifling, with almost no air coming in. Bill stuck his head out the flap, gasping. "Jesus Christ, give me some air."

I kept my eyes on my plate. "Light, Bill." I told him again referring to the strict light discipline we were under. He immediately put his head back in and lit a cigarette. They started telling me the story of Malarkey running out to find a Luger which had me laughing until I was crying, their laughter surrounding me.

Winters head popped under the flap just as the story ended and the laughter started to die down.

"Evening." He greeted, looking round the tent at us all.

"Hello, sir." Bill replied before taking a drag from his cigarette.

"Did something die in here?" Winters asked, wincing when the smell hit him.

We all sniggered while Petty answered with "Yeah, Malarkeys ass."

"Any word on Lieutenant Meehan, sir?" Buck asked. For some reason I hadn't even noticed Meehan was missing, too preoccupied with other things and other worries. I was still worried for those not yet accounted for especially Luz and Tab.

Winters shook his head. "No, not yet."

"Doesn't that make you our commanding officer, sir?" Bill questioned, looking quite pleased at the notion. Meehan would have been good but Winters would be great. He had more respect than any other officer I had met and had proved himself to be more than competent on numerous occasions.

"Yeah, it does." Winters answered softly. Bill gave him a nod showing his approval. He looked to me and then to the plate I was holding. "Oh good, you got something to eat."

I nodded. "Yeah and as disgusting as it smells, it ain't half bad."

"The Irish." Buck muttered with and eye roll, earning himself a glare from me and Malarkey.

Toye held out the bottle of whiskey to Winters. "Sir?" he offered.

"Joe, the lieutenant don't drink." Bill reminded, gesturing to Winters.

Winters took the bottle and nodded his thanks to Toye. "Today as been a day of firsts." He took a tentative swig, grimacing at the taste that made us all smile softly. He held the bottle out to Bill. "Don't you think Guarnere?"

I couldn't help but smirk at Winters. "Yes, sir." Bill answered, taking the bottle and taking a drink. I held my hand out for the bottle and he passed it to me. I took a healthy draw, again enjoying the burning feeling.

"Carry on." He gave a nod to me while everyone said good night to him before going to leave but he returned a second later. "Oh, sergeant?" He was looking at Bill.

"Sir?"

"I'm not a Quaker." Winters whispered before leaving. This cracked us all up, laughing loudly.

"He's probably a Mennonite." Bill stated.

I shook my head still laughing. "What's a Mennonite?" Toye asked before drinking some more of the whiskey.

I finished my food while we all laughed and talked. Once I had finished my plate, I twisted so that my back was against the back of the truck and my knees were drew up. I rested my head against the trucks side and shut my eyes, weariness overtaking me. I felt someone's hands on my ankles and it was Toye, pulling my legs so that they were stretched out and I was more comfortable.

We had survived D-Day, I couldn't have been more grateful for the warm food in my belly, the chance to go to sleep and my friends around me. I just had to see what tomorrow bought.