So, this is the final chapter before the epilogue. Enjoy!
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
D-Day + 433
Easy Company had had it easy the last few weeks. They had reached Berchtesgaden and captured Hitler's prized Eagle's Nest there. They had been able to relax and enjoy their time together, although it was bittersweet. It had been announced that VE Day was on May 8th, when the German army surrendered. Even with the German army surrendering, their were still casualties. Drunken officers drove vehicles and ended up wounding a young Shifty Powers, who had won a lottery to go home. Another private, Janovec, had been killed due to a drunk officer. These incidents had shaken the company, seeing as they were so close to the end and they were still losing their friends. A few of the men captured, in some cases killed, German officers. But that didn't stop the men from sticking together no matter what.
"How many days?" Evie asked Eugene as she approached the table he was sitting at. Her hair was down in loose curls, looking more feminine than he had ever seen her.
Eugene, a bit mesmerized by her looks, was currently stuffing a small notepad back into his jacket. "Hm?" he asked, placing the small pencil in as well.
"I asked," she sat down at the table across from him, "how many days? Since we jumped into Normandy? I know you've been keeping a book, I saw you writing in it in our foxhole at Bastogne." Evie reached across the table to grab his water and took a sip.
He chuckled and shook his head, motioning for her to have it. "Four hundred and thirty-two days. Can you believe it? Just over a year ago, we jumped into Normandy, and now, we have the possibility to go home."
His words hit Evie like a tidal wave. They could almost go home, they were that close to the end. "Yeah, home." A million thoughts immediately crossed her mind.
"You all right?" Eugene looked at her with crinkled brows and a worried face. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back slightly in his chair as he spoke again, "Evie?"
Eugene's soothing accent snapped her out of her thoughts, and she nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just... We're gonna go home. This whole part of my life will be over. Do you ever think about how awful this whole situation was?" Evie pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. "We were sent to fight these people based on right and wrong. But they're humans too; they felt, they fought, they thought just like us. In reality, we're just like them. Our blood is red, we have feelings, we're all human. And we have to go home, and act like we're the heroes. We're not heroes. We're all just victims in this giant game called hell."
Every word she spoke worried Eugene. He had never seen her like this before, aside from the emotions he had seen after the camp. "I'm gonna say this because I think you need to hear it. Nobody chooses this. Some bastard decides to throw us to the flames and you have to accept it. We're gonna go home, we'll remember it. Us remembering will be enough. You'll never have to pretend you're a hero. You can just be you." Eugene reached across the table and took her hand in his. "You just be you, because that's who I love."
The warm tears slowly rolled down her cheeks as she listened to his words and nodded. "I love you, too, Eugene. I really do, no matter what happens." With her free hand, she wiped her tears away and smiled at him.
"C'mon," Eugene said and stood up, "let's go take a walk." He held out his hand for her and she gladly took it. They walked out of the small building hand in hand, smiling at one another.
"Where are we walking to?" Evie looked up at the sky, noticing that some of the stars had already begun to come out.
He shrugged and grinned. "I'm not sure exactly. I just thought it'd be nice to take a walk at this time. Kinda reminds me of home."
"A bit." A small laugh escaped Evie's lips. "But not nearly as warm as the summers back in Wyoming."
The two were interrupted when Floyd Talbert came running after them. "Doc! Miss Evie! We need your help now... Back at the hangar. There's been an incident and Sergeant Grant; he's hurt."
Evie and Eugene rushed into the building where Grant, Speirs and Winters were located. The two NCOs stood at the end of the table and watched Eugene assess the injury. Grant had been shot point blank in the head by a drunken private from I Company.
"There isn't much I can do here." Eugene said, sticking a needle in to Grant's arm that would provide plasma to him. "You need to find a brain surgeon, and quickly."
"Speirs, Roe, I want you to go into town and find one. The rest of the company will look for the drunken private. And Miss Evie, I want you to stay here in case you're assistance is need." Winters nodded and left the room quietly.
"Lieutenant Speirs, we need to move him to the jeep. Evie hold the plasma while we lift up the cot." Eugene nodded at his commanding officer and at the same time, they lifted each end up and carried to the jeep.
"You two better stay safe. No one hurt. Understand?" Evie smile sadly at the two men as they nodded and drove into town. She walked back to the enormous building where a few of the company members remained. "Hey, Tab." She smiled at her friend ad sat down next to him. "You feeling okay? You don't look too well."
"I just..." Talbert shook his head and looked to the closed door behind Evie. "I just couldn't be in the same room with them. They found the guy from I company and I just couldn't." He shook his head and sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Evie sat down next to her friend and gently rubbed his back, "you don't have to do anything you don't wanna do." While she was comforting Tab, the door slammed open and Speirs, along with Eugene, walked into the room.
"Alright. Where is the son of a bitch?" Lieutenant Speirs demanded with the look of death in his eye.
Talbert used his head to motion to the closed door behind them, and Speirs took off for it with his fists clenched. Eugene walked over to where the two sat and took a seat next to Evie. He placed his head in his hands and shakily ran a blood stained hand through his dark hair. "He's gonna make it. To what extent the damage is, we aren't sure." He muttered barely loud enough for anyone to hear.
"Eugene," Evie whispered and took his hands in his, looking at all the blood caked on them. She gently rubbed her thumb over the palm of his hands in an attempt to rid some of the dried blood. "C'mon, Eugene." Standing up herself, she pulled Eugene up as well. "Let's go get you cleaned up."
Eugene nodded in a daze an muttered incoherent words under his breath. "Yeah, yeah. Cleaned up."
Evie led them back to a clean room, where she gripped his hand tightly. Once they were inside the room, Evie led Eugene to the bed and helped him sit down. She grabbed a rag and ran it under hot water in the sink before bringing it back to him. "Let me see your hands." She softly moved his hands so the palms were facing up. Gently wiping the rag over them, she sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry you had to do all that tonight."
He looked up at her with an eye brow raised. "Why are you sorry? You aren't the one who shot him."
She shook her head and continued to clean his hands. "I'm sorry because you had to go through all that tonight. I wish I could have helped in some way." Evie stopped wiping his hands and instead just held them, "I wish I could have done something tonight."
"I'm actually glad you didn't." Eugene smiled slightly and laced his fingers with hers. "It was better that you stayed. Too much blood for the end."
Looking down at their intertwined hands, she nodded slowly. "We're almost there." Evie looked back up at Eugene with her doe eyes and nodded again. "We're so close yet all this still happened." She bit down on her lip hard enough to almost draw blood.
He let go of her hand and cupped her head. "Nothing else is gonna happen," he whispered to her softly, gently kissing her forehead, "I'll be damned if something does," Eugene chuckled.
A small smile made it's way onto Evie's face. "I love you, Eugene. I really love you," she said barely above a whisper and pressed her lips against his, and placed her hands on either side of his face.
"I love you, too," he muttered against her lips and moved one hand down to her hips. "I love you, Evie. I love you." Eugene said in between placing small kisses along her jaw and neck. He slowly leaned her back on the bed as he ran his hand up and down her side.
"Eugene," his name came out as a slight moan, "Eugene," Evie murmured again.
"Hm?" He stopped his actions and looked at her breathless, "Yes, Miss Evie?"
She licked her lips and took a deep breath, "Love me, please." Her brown eyes widened and her cheeks turned a soft pink.
"You... You sure you want that?" Eugene looked at her, a grin threatening to make its way onto his face.
Using one hand to cup his face, she nodded. "I'm positive about this. Absolutely positive." She took another breath and kissed him softly.
"I love you," He murmured against her lips as he began to undo the buttons on his shirt.
D-Day + 434
Eugene awoke the next morning with the sun shining on his eyes and one arm wrapped under Evie's head. He watched her sleep momentarily before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Morning," he spoke in a whisper.
Evie's eyes fluttered open as she yawned and smiled at him laying next to her, "hi."
"Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are after a full nights sleep?" Eugene teased and kissed her forehead again.
Laughing softly, she shook her head. "Now that you mention it, I don't think anyone's told me that." Evie pushed herself up and off the bed, grabbing an extra sheet to wrap around her body.
Tilting his head slightly, he looked at her confused. "What're you doing now?"
She reached down and began picking her clothes off the floor, making her way to the connected bathroom. "What does it look like?" Evie laughed and shut the bathroom door in order to get dressed. "I'm getting ready for the day!" She called through the door.
Eugene shook his head and got out of bed himself and began to get dressed. In just a few moments, Evie returned, dressed and with her hair loosely pulled back. Smiling, she went over to the bed and plopped down. "Much better." She muttered and watched Eugene finish buttoning his shirt. "About last night..." Evie pressed her lips together and felt the heat rise to her cheeks.
"What about it?" Eugene smirked and sat down beside her.
She looked at Eugene, grinning, but without saying a word looked down at her lap, shook her head and laughed softly. "Nothing at all." Evie leaned back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "What time is it?"
Copying her movements, he checked his the watch on his left wrist and sighed,"a quarter past six."
"I wonder how many people are up, probably not many considering what happened last night..." Evie whispered and rambled on
Eugene rolled his head so he was looking at her and smiled brightly, "You wanna get married?"
Widening her eyes out of surprise, she pushed herself up onto her elbows. "What?" She managed to choke out, her face one in utter shock.
"Oh, you heard me. Get married." Eugene sat back and grinned. "Not now I mean. But when we get back home, when... When all this is over. You can come back home and live with me. Or we could live back in Wyoming. You know, wherever you wanna live would be perfectly fine with me."
"You mean it?" She bit her lip to hold back a smile. "No jokes or anything, you really wanna get married back home?"
Eugene nodded and leaned over to kiss her forehead. "I mean it, Evie. Evie Desseau, I love you with all of my heart. We've been through hell and back, you taught me to be a better person, and for that, I wanna be with you forever."
A single tear escaped her eyes as she nodded with a wide grin. "Then yes, when, not if, when we get back to the states, I'll marry you." Evie leaned over to him and gently pressed her lips against his. "I love you."
"I love you too." He muttered against her lips and stood up. "Let's go see where everyone is." Eugene took her hand and helped her up, "c'mon." He grinned like a young child and lead her out of the room.
It was already past noon when the pair ran into the rest of the company. Eugene had decided to play a pickup game of baseball with a majority of the company while Evie sat with Carwood Lipton. Ronald Speirs and Harry Welsh off to the side. The sun was shining and everyone was laughing; almost as if they were back in the states.
"Lieutenant Speirs," Major Winters called from behind them. "Tell the company to fall in please."
"Easy Company!" Speirs yelled at the men, "Circle up!" As he barked the orders at the men, they immediately ran to Speirs and circled around him. "Major Winters has some things to discuss."
Major Winters folded his arms across his chest and looked to his best friend, Lewis Nixon, before continuing. "As you know, we may be redeployed to the pacific." When he spoke these words, audible groans were heard throughout the circle. "But, that isn't the case anymore. Today's official been declared V-J Day, otherwise known as Victory in Japan Day." Winters looked around at the bright smiles his friends now wore. "War's over. We're going home."
It was D-Day plus four hundred and thirty four days when Easy Company finally received news of the wars end. They had fought long and hard; they'd seen things no person should ever see in a million lifetimes. The war was over, and they were going home.