Greetings. My deepest, most sincere apologies for the delay. July was a crazy busy month and I pretty much had to lock myself in a small room with no window to get this one done. I almost published it a few weeks ago, but I just wasn't satisfied with it and I just couldn't seem to make it any better. So after watching the entire Band of Brothers series again for the tenth time and reading a very good, unrelated novel, I was finally inspired to write again. Once again, I'm so sorry for the wait. Even I was getting impatient with myself, but I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if I published something that wasn't worthy of you wonderful readers. :)
"I was going to be a ballerina." Rose said as she and Dick walked past the brilliant, ornate opera house where a group of young girls wearing matching jumpers filed out the door in perfect rows.
Dick looked down at her and the corner of his mouth curled up in that crooked smile of his.
"Really?" he questioned doubtfully with narrowed eyes. He pictured her as the tomboy type as a child, and the image of her in a pink tutu just didn't seem right.
"Oh yah, I was obsessed." Rose looked up at him and nodded curtly. "I saw those ballerina paintings in a book and I pestered the heck out of my entire family until Ma finally found me a place to take lessons, which, how she ever did in the boonies of Wisconsin I'll never know."
Rose smiled fondly, remembering those days when, even despite the depression, life seemed so much more peaceful and easier. Rose never really knew her grandparent's until they showed up a day after her mother died. They lived a few hours away in southern Wisconsin. Her father was determined to make it on his own as a farmer, so that's why he found his own place in his own part of the state. After he died and her mother remarried, Rose's stepfather wouldn't allow them to see the children because he was that kind of son-of-a-bitch.
Karl and Lena Beyer were extraordinary people who'd worked very hard and made it through some very tough times. They'd married when they were only seventeen and by the time they were 20 they had Rose's father, Joseph, twin daughters and 89 acres of untamed land to cultivate.
Lena was a typical farm wife. She could milk the cows, castrate a boar, hitch a team of horses, and shoot a shot gun better than most men. And yet, she did the most beautiful crocheting and embroidery and made the lightest and fluffiest pastries one had ever tasted. However, she was also the one who gave Rose her inability to keep her mouth and temper in check. Rose may have had her mother's looks, but her head was every bit her Ma's. Some people were downright scared of Lena, but she wasn't an ornery woman in general. Lena had a heart of gold underneath her stern exterior, but crossing her was more dangerous than pestering a rattle snake.
Karl Beyer was a short, lean man with not many hairs left on his head. He was very strong for his size and worked twice as hard as men half his age. He'd cleared every field and pounded almost every nail of every building on the home farm. Besides his Sunday suit, Pops never wore anything else but the same ensemble of a light blue, long sleeved shirt, denim overalls with a pocket watch tucked in the front, and a brimmed cap. Karl was a loving, easy going kind of fella who always had a piece of candy in his pocket. For the most part, he was a quiet man who liked to sit in the corner of the room and just listen to everyone else jabber on. He was a man of few words, but when he did say something people listened very carefully; whether it be an intelligent opinion on a situation or the latest joke he'd heard.
When the Beyer children suddenly became orphans, they weren't exactly keen on moving in with people they barely knew. Their maternal grandparents were dead and her mother, Mary, was an only child, so they had absolutely nowhere else but an orphanage to go. All three of them weren't exactly the best behaved children either. They'd had adopted a rebellious nature towards their stepfather, and several other related behavioral issues stemmed from it. Carlye lost quite a bit of his childhood due to everything that had happened and often acted like he was all grown up and didn't like being told what to do. Henry had one foot in the jail house due to his illegal antics of theft and vandalizing. And Rose, well, she was ever the smart mouthed, unruly, little firecracker of a girl who had a mind of her own.
It took some time before the Beyer clan settled into their new life. They were all a bit wary to trust their new guardians; they just weren't used to so much unconditional kindness. There were a few moments where it seemed things weren't going to pan out. Luckily, they did. Karl and Lena were able to give the three kids, who'd been through hell and back, a stable, loving, disciplined home.
The Captain and the Lieutenant came to a stop and looked up at the magnificent building that towered over their heads. Dick let out a sigh, but it wasn't a sigh of boredom, frustration, or weariness, for first time in a very long time, it was a sigh of contentment. The unusually warm sunlight beat down on their faces and the warmth only added to pleasantness of the situation. They stood there for a minute gazing up, both smiling for no particular reason.
"So," he asked still squinting up at the tall, gilded pillars "whatever happened with that plan?"
Rose's mouth twitched ever so slightly and her eyes followed his gaze up to the ornate sculptures at the top of the pillars. She placed her hand on her cap as she tilted her head up so it wouldn't slip off. Several moments passed before she answered.
"Did a twirl in the kitchen after the first class. Broke two glasses, Pop's favorite mug and sprained my ankle." She finally answered in a flat, emotionless voice. "I never went to another lesson."
Dick glanced down at her for a second before looking back up to the sculpture she was focused on. He didn't say anything at first, but a tiny hint of a smile graced his features and his eyes twinkled in amusement.
"No tour then?" he asked, trying his damndest to hold back a smile.
"No." she said impassively with narrowed eyes as she shook her head. She turned away from the magnificent building and started walking back down the steps, her heel clicking against the cobblestone. "No tour."
Dick didn't move a muscle as she walked away. He just stood there, with his hands lazily resting in his pockets, still craning his head up to towards the amazing structure. Suddenly, he closed his eyes and laughed. He gave the opera house one last glance before following her down the steps…
Crash!
Lieutenant Rosemary Beyer opened her eyes and instead of busy, Parisian streets and the bright sun warming her back, she found herself looking across a stack of crates to a dark, dirty, green, canvass truck canopy.
Ba-Boom! Crash!
Rose cringed as her already sore tailbone met the hard, wooden truck bed again for the millionth time.
Rose's outfit had been enjoying another quiet afternoon making Christmas decorations and gifts when suddenly a serious voice came over the loudspeaker and told the entire camp to start packing immediately. Tents were torn down and supplies dumped into crates in record time. Captain Naverson nearly had another mental breakdown as everyone did so. Rose had to give her the usual pre-moving out 'everything will be put in its proper place when we get there' pep talk. Lieutenat Clarke ran around pretending she knew what she was doing and gave Rose the stink eye every time June called for Rose.
The nurses threw on their winter gear, what little they had, and packed everything else into their footlockers they knew they probably would see again for some time. They were ordered to only take the mandatory essentials. They had everything they would need in their packs around their shoulders, and those only held so much of even the mandatory things. They were then very hastily stuffed in the nosy, drafty trucks and been on the road ever since, stopping only once to refuel and relieve themselves.
The Chief Nurse wore every layer of ODs ever issued to her and already Rose was frozen stiff. Just the other day, Rose had gone around and collected her nurses clothing sizes so they could get issued their heavy winter wear. Up until the day after Rose returned from Paris, it had been a very mild European winter, so no one had give much thought to long-johns and mittens until the mercury started dropping. Rose left the form with Captain Kent's orderly, who said they'd probably get their stuff in about two weeks. Rose distinctly remembered commenting about how soon that seemed.
Now there they were…two days later in the freezing cold with only a scarf, a thin pair of gloves and their light fatigue jackets (the same jackets they'd carried off the boats in Normandy), and one extra pair of socks. Some nurses were lucky enough to have gotten a fatigue sweater, but Rose was in Paris when they were handed out. Rose didn't know if Kent's orderly had sent the form for their much needed warm clothing or not, but Rose had a feeling they wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. The irony of that remark she made to Kent's orderly still ate away at Rose's conscience.
Rose snuggled her face deeper into her scarf and scooted her knees closer to her body as she swayed with the rocking truck. The tip of her nose had long ago lost feeling and her stiff, tingling toes were headed for the same fate. Her fingers saving grace weren't the paper-thin gloves she wore, but her armpits which they were stuffed under. She would have loved to have been able to go to sleep, but the non-stop bouncing and banging, kept her painfully awake.
"Rose, where on earth are we going?"
Annie, the only other person in the supply filled truck, readjusted her helmet and scooted closer against her friend. The rest of the nurses were riding a bit more comfortably in personnel vehicles and ambulances. Rose had been too busy making sure that everything else had transportation that she had forgotten to save herself a seat. Captain Naverson offered Rose a spot in the Jeep she and Lieutenant Clarke were riding in up ahead of them. It would have been more comfortable than bouncing around in the supply truck like a rock in a tin can, but Rose chose the latter over enduring Lieutenant Clarke's icy glare the entire time. Thankfully, Annie was gracious enough to give up her spot in an ambulance so her friend wouldn't suffer alone with the bedpans and IV bottles.
"Rose? Did you hear me?" Annie asked, elbowing her fellow frozen nurse in the arm.
Annie practically had to shout to hear even herself over the roar of the convoy.
"Somewhere in Europe." Rose answered after freeing her mouth from the confines of her warm scarf.
"Oh, ha-ha." Annie replied snidely to the shivering woman. "Aren't…" she was interrupted as the truck flew over another bump, sending the two woman a good foot off their seats.
Both Rose and Annie reached out and grabbed whatever purchase they could find as the truck clattered and banged over a series of ruts and potholes. Rose felt like she was thirteen years old again and riding in the back of her grandpa's Chevy flatbed truck with her brothers. It was always quite an event to go into town. Pop would usually go every few weeks to run errands and buy or sell livestock and grain. Ma usually came along and would sit up in the cab with Pop. She'd do her best to coax Rose up to the front where the 'ladies' should sit, but unless it was raining, Rose refused to give in. The three kids had too much fun bouncing around back there. There was a nasty bump in particular that they looked forward to every trip. Rose and her brothers would stand at the back of the bed and hold onto the stock racks while Pop sped up. They'd go flying up in the air and it was a miracle that none of them ever flew right off the vehicle and onto the road. Usually, the only casualties were the ice-cream cones they picked up at the general store.
Annie reached up and strapped her helmet around her chin after the road finally flattened out. She would have just taken it off, but it did seem to be keeping her head warm.
"Aren't you supposed to know these kinds of things Chief?" Annie finished asking with an extra, snide emphasis at the end.
Rose screwed up her face and shrugged like she had no idea what Annie was talking about.
"I'm not an intelligence officer." She shot back with a devious glimmer in her eyes.
She followed Annie's lead and tried to buckle the strap of her helmet. Her numb fingers could hardly handle the thin nylon strap. It was like trying to thread a needle while wearing oven mitts.
Annie rolled her eyes in exasperation and hugged her legs against her chest with her arms.
"You know, I am really happy that you had a swell time with Captain Frosty…" Annie took notice of the suddenly fierce glare Rose shot her, but ignored it and continued anyway. "But I've about taken all I can stand from you, missy."
Rose looked at her for a moment and the corner of her mouth curled up. Even she couldn't deny that her jolliness was starting to even annoy her own self. She just couldn't help it, and she knew Annie was absolutely right about whom to blame. While sitting on that bench by the river, Dick was telling Rose about Easy Company and he made a comment that there were a few men who always seemed to find humor in even the grimmest situations. He said most commanders would find those moments distracting and unnecessary, but he was always grateful for them. Dick said it was amazing how a well timed smart-ass comment could boost the morale of an entire company.
"My goodness Nurse Sunshine…" Rose feigned a look of dismay and clapped a hand on her chest as she mocked her friend. "am I took much for you?"
Annie shot Rose a look and shifted her sore body, trying to ease the torture to her poor, battered backside.
"I'm just saying that at least I didn't have to endure so much mockery in order to get a straight answer out of the Rosemary I sent to Paris."
Rose's eyes twinkled as her lips curled into a smile. Annie did have a bit of a point there.
Rose suddenly had a violent shiver ripple through her body. The kind that made her entire body convulse like she'd just stuck her finger in a light socket. She then realized precious warmth was escaping from her loose scarf. Rose's numb fingers tucked the ugly, green wrap back around her neck, trying to contain whatever body heat she had left.
"Well, that's your …" Rose started to say.
Ba-Boom! Bang!
The truck hit another pothole so hard Rose swore she could see parts bouncing away behind them on the frozen, dirt road
Ba-Boom! Dink!
Both Rose and Annie yelped and let some unladylike phrases slip from their mouths after their helmeted heads smacked into one another.
Rose's face contorted into a painful grimace as her fingers gingerly rubbed the forming goose egg above her left ear. Damn thing, she cursed internally. About the only thing their helmets were good for was as a wash basin or a cooking pot. Rose could hardly do anything while wearing that stupid tin can, let alone comprehend how soldiers fought in them. They weren't bullet proof and they traded protection for the ability to hear. Dick admitted to her that most the Allies knew the Germans had a much more practical and effective helmet. However, not only was it a matter of being able to tell friend from foe, but the Kraut cover had become an infamous identifier of evil in the rest of the world's eyes. The good guys couldn't very well run about wearing that same thing, even if it would have saved thousands of Allied lives.
"You were saying…" Annie asked after her teeth quit vibrating.
"I said that's what you get for putting my name in that lottery!" Rose yelled over the roar of engine downshifting.
Annie's green eyes bulged.
"I did no such thing!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, who else would have done it?" Rose cried out with an accusing glare.
Annie's face twisted into a shamefaced grin and she shrugged innocently. Annie should have known better than to go on thinking Rose was still oblivious to her well intentioned misdeeds. It had actually been Charlie's idea to rig the raffle, and Annie did the sweet talking. Charlie swapped out the helmet full of other people's names for one filled with slips of folded paper with 'Lt. Rosemary H. Beyer' written on them while Annie kept the pimple faced private, tasked with guarding the helmet, occupied. After that it was just a matter of praying nobody inspected the rest of the slips too closely. That's why Charlie fought tooth and nail with Rose about going after she refused the prize. He knew if they tried picking another name, they'd be found out.
"Hey…if it hadn't been for us, you'd a' never had the most romantic experience of your life!" Annie shouted and nudged Rose in the shoulder.
Rose wrapped her arms around her legs and glared at an innocent box marked in large stenciled letters 'Rubber tubes'. Annie had many vices that annoyed Rose, but the one that aggravated her most was that if Rose happened to be wrong about something, Annie would never let her forget about it.
"Are you going to hold this over my head for the rest of…" she started to ask, but her brow suddenly furrowed when she thought about what Annie had just said. "Wait…what do you mean by us?"
"…what?"
"Who is us?" Rose repeated.
"Us?" Annie declared, seemingly taken aback. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Annie tried to act totally innocent, but her eyes got freakishly round and her lower lip protruded so far it was in danger of falling off. She turned her head away and looked around the truck, knowing she couldn't look in Rose's eyes without breaking out in laughter. Rose stared her friend down with narrowed eyes for several seconds, like the bad cop in an interrogation room, waiting for the blonde woman to crack. But after no confession came, Rose just turned away and shook her head.
"I'm going to kill that man…" Rose glowered, knowing exactly who Annie's partner in crime had been, even without her confession.
Annie turned back towards the Lieutenant with a scolding smirk on her lips.
"Oh…Charlie did it because he knew you needed it." Annie defended the Captain. "Besides, you should be thanking him…remember?"
There Annie went again, but she did have a point. Rose was trying really hard to be mad, but if those two meddlers hadn't done what they'd done, she would have just sat around the base last weekend. Instead, she got to spend it in Dick's warm embrace. Rose finally admitted defeat and shook her head with a smile on her lips. How could she stay mad at Annie and Charlie when they gave her those two incredible nights? She turned towards Annie and the two women shared a look, making Annie giggle.
She loved it when she was right.
Rose pursed her lips, trying to look annoyed again, but it only made Annie's smile grow. Rose dropped her chin to her chest, making her helmet slip forward and cover her eyes. Rose was supposed to forget Dick, act like they'd never met, but the warm, fluttery feeling the thought of his crooked smile and soft kisses gave her was addicting.
She sighed and pushed her helmet back and leaned her head against the side of the truck. They seemed to be on a much smoother stretch of road and without constant, bone-rattling jarring, Rose was beginning to notice the heaviness of her eyelids. Rose lolled her head to the side and noticed Annie was thinking the same thing. She'd nuzzled her nose down into her scarf and jacket and her green eyes had that sleepy, blank look about them.
Rose shifted her body so her side was leaning up against the metal wall of the truck bed. It eased the pressure on at least one side of her aching backside. She pulled her scarf back over her face and hugged her torso with her stiff arms. She drifted off into a fitful sleep, imaging her head was tucked against the warm, muscular shoulder of a redheaded Captain…
"Looks cozy…"
Captain Winters looked up from the frozen dirt he was chipping away at with his tiny entrenching tool and squinted against the brightness of the snow. The extreme difference in values between the black soil and the white blanketed forest made it hard for Dick's eyes to adjust and make out the face under the frost covered helmet. At least he could tell from the silhouette and shape that it wasn't a Kraut looming over him; which honestly wouldn't have surprised him. However, Dick didn't need visual conformation to know who the man was. Dick could recognize that nasally voice anywhere.
"Harry." He acknowledged to the Lieutenant as he squatted down next to Dick's half done foxhole.
Dick tossed another scoop full of what might as well been concrete over his shoulder and jabbed his entrenching tool down into the dirt the best he could. He grimaced as he took a deep breath. The cold air stung the inside of his lungs like he'd just inhaled acid fumes. It made his whole neck and chest ache painfully and it felt like he had glue stuck in the back of his throat. Digging a fox hole was already a strenuous task as it is, but the cold air made it ten times more so. Dick was top physical shape and in normal circumstances could have a regulation foxhole done in twenty minutes or less. But their current situation was far from normal.
Then again, what the hell was considered normal circumstances in war?
They'd been in Bastogne for what had been the longest, coldest, and most stressful two days of the war for Dick, and probably the entire 101st. It was almost certainly one of the most aggravating battles of the entire war thus far. Every day they were engaged by the enemy. They'd gain some ground, only to lose it a few hours later to the Krauts. Dick felt like they'd been abandoned on a leaky ship. They'd plug up one hole only for it to spring another leak, and they were running out fingers to stick in the holes. But at least, they'd held onto Bastogne and its roads that were vital to the German's advance. They finally seemed to have a solid position around the town and where digging in to keep that line.
Adding to the aggravation was the lack supplies. Even though he couldn't do a thing about it, Dick couldn't shake the feeling that it was somehow his fault for how unprepared the men had been. Of the three companies in the battalion, Easy was the worst off. They already were only one crate of beans a few loaves of stale bread away from running out of food, and the unusual winter fog made it absolutely impossible them to be dropped supplies. Lieutenant Dike hadn't heeded Dick's advice and some of the men didn't even have gloves or a full clip of ammo
Norman Dike…the name was almost becoming a curse word. Dick was raised not to judge people he didn't know very well. When he first met the man, Dick hadn't been impressed. He had this smug look about him, and not a confident smugness. It was like he was looking down his nose at everyone around him. However, Dick tried to give the man the benefit of the doubt; he knew not everyone made good first impressions.
But, Dick had yet to have an encounter with the man that changed that first feeling of dislike. Somehow Dike always managed to make himself look like an idiot and denounce the people around him.
"Can you believe that? We're going to the front. The front! And our CO isn't even in the same damn country!"
Dick had to hold back every impulse in his body in order to keep his mouth shut while the man whined about Strayer's absence. As he stood there next to that fire, the XO wanted to say something like 'Well, gee Lieutenant, I'm so flattered that you have so much confidence in my leadership abilities' or 'Oh, he's not back yet? That is a problem because they never told me what Executive Officers are supposed to do'.
Or something along those lines of sarcastic and snide; something that Rose would probably say in a moment like that. It probably would have made Buck's and Peacock's night.
None of the other officers liked Dike. He wasn't put in charge of Easy because he was a brave, hard working tactician with excellent leadership potential. Better qualified officers were passed up because Dike was chummy with the right people in the right places who knew he needed some dirt on his boots to make it up the ladder. Dick assumed the plan had been to let him play soldier for a few months before they promoted him somewhere else. Unfortunately, his attempt to spruce up his resume couldn't have come at a worse time for Easy.
Foxhole Norman had an authoritative sounding voice. That was about as far as his leadership abilities went. Dike never did anything that directly involved interacting with the men. He probably didn't even know any more than a handful of their names. He never did anything himself either. He'd just let the word roll down the ranks, just like he did that same night they headed into Bastogne. Instead of overseeing it himself, Dike passed the task of finding supplies along to the other officers. Buck did the best he could, but Shames and Peacock weren't exactly the most resourceful people in the world.
If Dick had still been leading his Company, he would have searched every building himself and scrounge every last scrap of food on base. But Easy wasn't Dick's Company anymore. Nonetheless, it didn't stop him and Nix from setting up the Battalion CP near Easy's position. It wasn't the most advantageous plan, but at least Dick could keep an eye on them.
"Well," Harry commentated as he looked around the wintery landscape and grimaced. "pretty sure we'll have a white Christmas this…"
Dick slumped back against the side of his foxhole and let out a lone laugh. The breath that expelled from his lips plumed in front of his face was so dense it almost obscured his view of Harry.
"Santa gonna know where to find yah this year, Harry?" Dick quipped as he wiped his runny nose with the sleeve of his fatigue jacket.
Harry rocked on the balls of his feet and chuckled. He shuddered as a sudden chill coursed through his body
"Eh, wouldn't matter anyway. I've been on his naughty list since I was four years old." His gapped-tooth smile beamed down at the Captain.
Dick chuckled as he pulled his jacket tighter around his body and shivered. He got sweated up digging his fox hole and now that he was standing still, he was quickly getting very cold.
"What's the word?" he asked.
Harry just shrugged and squinted as he looked out into the misty grove of trees.
"Same as it was yesterday…" he sighed, his lower jaw trembling from the cold. "Still surrounded, still no air support, still freezing our asses off…"
A smile that probably could have been more believably classed as a grimace crossed Dick's face. It was a vague description, but there was no other way to sum the predicament they were in up. He tried swallowing that lump of unknown gunk in the back of his throat and he tucked his fingers under his armpits.
"The Kraut's are still pushing west, but there's rumors floating around that the bastards are running out of fuel for their tanks…" Harry continued. "I guess Old Adolf didn't think that far ahead."
Dick's eyes flickered over to Harry's face. His brow quirked up and he bobbed his head.
"It don't seem like there was a whole hell of a lot of planning about any of this, Harry." Dick replied, turning his gaze back to the bottom of his foxhole. He absentmindedly kicked a chuck of tree root with the toe of his boot.
The entire attacked seemed nothing more than a last ditch attempt of desperation. The German's were being squeezed on either side and it was only a matter of time before the Reich crumpled into pieces; either from outside forces beating down on them, or from within. The only thing Hitler had going for him was that he had taken the Allies by complete surprise with this sucker punch. It was a brilliant idea, but they didn't have the man power to support it.
Harry nodded in agreement and sniffed loudly.
"Yah, just had to get one more dirty swing in…" he commented.
Dick's mouth pulled to the side in contemplation and he shifted his weight to his other foot, only to be reminded that it was his bad leg. The bullet wound in his shin had healed months ago, but every now and then it would get stiff and painful. Sometimes, he only had to turn on it a certain way and a sharp pain would shoot up his entire leg. Rose said it was probably because the ricochet hit him close the nerve that ran down his shin.
The sudden thought of Rose caused a hitch in Dick's breath. He wondered if her hospital had gotten dragged into this mess as well. They couldn't evacuate the wounded anyway, so Dick had no idea what hospital was even the closest. The past few days had left Dick with hardly a moment to breath, but he always found a moment to think about Rose. Her brown eyes and warm smile was always the last thing he saw just before he dozed off, huddled under a thin blanket, leaned up next to a skinny tree, or down in the frozen dirt. Sleep wasn't something that came by often or easy for the Captain. Sleep since entering this frozen hell was defined by short, restless cat naps, usually interrupted by tree bursts or bone jarring coldness. Sometimes, Dick woke with frost on the inside of his helmet. He prayed to God every night that Rose was somewhere warm and safe.
A tiny smile formed on his chapped, wind burned lips and he suddenly felt warmth spreading from the center of his chest, relaxing his stiff, frozen limps. It was the same feeling he got every time he thought of Rose.
"Speaking of dirty swings…" Dick suddenly said to Harry. "You been behaving yourself?"
Dick's blue eyes twinkled as he raised an eyebrow towards his feisty friend. Harry had come a long way since he'd first enlisted. Back then, Harry would knock a guy's teeth of for so much as blinking at him funny. Before he joined the Paratroopers, Harry was promoted to sergeant…several times. He kept getting himself busted back down to private every time that Irish temper of his got the best of him. But Harry was a born leader, and luckily the people around him knew so. He eventually straightened out and got sent to Officer Candidate School. He and Dick became good friends after Harry was transferred from the 82nd.
They bunked together in the tiny room at the top of the stairs above Mr. and Mrs. Barnes post office in England. After Dick was given official command of Easy, Harry was Dick's first choice as Executive Officer. Things were perfect there for a while in Easy Company; it ran like clockwork, until Dick got bumped up to Battalion and Moose got shot by that sentry with a nervous trigger finger. If Harry hadn't of went and gotten himself promoted too, he would have been leading Easy instead of Dike.
Harry stared at the Captain for a few moments with evasive eyes before his face broke out into a sly, knowing smirk.
"Been keeping it under wraps..." he shrugged while clearing his throat and repositioning feet in the snow and dirt. "Just might take it out on that idiot Dike though…"
Dick rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Wouldn't blame yah…" he answered softly.
Dick watched a few men mosey around with their arms stuffed under their jackets, stamping their feet into the ground. There weren't many people around, mostly just Battalion staffers. Most of Easy was out on patrol or out at the OP. Lewis was still passed out under a tarp in his foxhole, recovering from his late night spent piecing the line back together.
"The little prick is always hanging around the Regimental CP…I don't think he even know why he's there…" Harry complained.
"That's an understatement…" Dick muttered under her breath.
"Huh?" Harry asked.
"Nothing…" Dick brushed off.
He sniffed back his runny nose and scratched an itchy spot under his chin. He could feel the sandpaper like scruff under his cold fingertips. He cringed at the thought of shaving in the frigid weather. Dick had never gone more than a few days without shaving in his entire life, and less so since joining the military. Besides being a matter of Army regulation and image, Dick couldn't stand letting his face get scruffy; it was itchy and uncomfortable for him.
However, the damage he'd done to his face by hastily shaving with little or no lather and a dull blade in the field was probably more uncomfortable then not shaving at all. Coronel Sink always stressed to his officers the importance of looking sharp in front of the men, no matter how dire the situation was, and Dick maybe took it a bit too seriously. Except, Dick truly believed in Sink's words. If the people, who were supposed to keep the rest of the soldiers' hopes up, looked like they'd given up, how were the men supposed to keep going?
"Well…" Harry grunted as he stood back up. "Think I might go catch some shut eye."
Dick craned his neck back and squinted up to look at Harry's face. He couldn't help but chuckle at the rarity of the situation. Normally, the vertically challenged lieutenant was the one looking up at Dick.
"Good luck…" he offered.
"Thaaahhhnks." Harry said in a long, enormous yawn and stretched. "Jesus…Oh, Sink is giving General McAuliffe a tour, so don't be surprised if they swing through."
Dick liked McAuliffe. He wasn't the typical, jeep riding, golf playing general with stars clouding his eyes. He was the soldier's general. He wasn't afraid to go out to the line and get down in the dirt with his men. He was no nonsense kind of leader who didn't pussy foot around with politics. He got the job done the way it needed to be done, when it had to be done. Honestly, Dick wouldn't have minded if General Taylor stayed in Washington the rest of the war.
"Okay," Dick nodded. "thanks for the heads up."
Harry waved in acknowledgement as he turned and shuffled off towards his foxhole. Dick watched his fellow Pennsylvanian's retreating back for a few moments before he looked down at his foxhole.
"Oh," Harry's voice made the captain turn his head back towards the man. "I never got the chance to ask…how was Paris?"
A shy, lopsided grin grew on Dick's face as he reminisced over his stay in the City of Lights. He'd forgotten Harry had been Lewis's co-conspirator for Dick's little excursion. Harry hadn't been back on base more than an hour when they got the word about the German offensive in the Ardennes.
"It was great…" Dick answered honestly. "I enjoyed it. How 'bout you? Did you get Marlene Dietrich's autograph?"
"No…" Harry answered and lowered his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets like a pouty little boy. "Her body guards wouldn't let me get close enough…"
Dick stifled his laughter and he turned his head away, trying to keep Harry from witnessing his amusement. Dick's shoulders shook he was laughing so hard inside. It was several seconds before he could take a calming breath and compose himself.
"Well, I'm sure kitty would understand." he reassured.
Dick turned his head back towards Harry with his mouth pulled to the side, concealing the smile on his lips. However, his blue eyes twinkled and gave away any attempt to keep his delight covert.
"Yah, yah, yah…" Harry grumbled as he turned back around and walked away.
Dick silently chuckled and shook his head. Poor guy, he thought. Dick reached up and rubbed his chin, almost like he was making sure the stubble was still there…and it was. He sighed and sat down heavily on the earthen side of his hole. He reached in his pack and dug for his razor. He figured he better take care of his fledgling beard in case the Sink and McAuliffe did happen to show up.
As he retrieved the necessary supplies, Rose's face suddenly popped into his train of thoughts. Dick froze for a moment and let the memory play out in his head. It was the morning of their second night together. Dick had brought a few of his toiletry items from his room so he didn't have to leave so early to get ready. As he shaved in front the bathroom mirror, Rose scooted in next to him while she brushed her teeth. There was nothing significant about the moment. Rose had toothpaste dribbling from her mouth and Dick had yet to comb his hair and half a face full of lather, but the simplicity of it was what made it so beautiful. It felt so right to have her there next to him, getting ready for their day. They caught one another's eye in the mirror on accident, and they smiled at each other like two people who knew something that no one else in the world knew.
For a brief moment, Dick thought about how great it would have been to have mornings like that every day…
The tiny, tender smile that had formed on his lips while he fondly recalled the moment suddenly fell into a frown. He couldn't be thinking about things like that; he and Rose made a promise they wouldn't. All that would come of that kind of thinking would be heartache and disappointment. The warmth that Rose's memory gave him was slowly and painfully conquered by a frigid, encroaching chill that crept up his body like some sort of sudden affliction. A despondent sigh escaped his chest and his shoulders slumped as he glanced around the frosty landscape of the Ardennes forest.
He was a long way from Paris and Rose's arms…
"Welcome to Verviers, ladies."
Rose pushed her helmet back with her index fingers and squinted as she looked around the small town. It was a typical European village with its timber and plaster covered buildings, a lifeless fountain in the middle of the town square stood proud and empty and smoke curled up out of the chimneys on the rooftops. It wasn't like the many other war ravaged towns Rose had seen, because everything seemed to be intact. The only indication that war had even touched the place was the fact that it was now teeming with green, military vehicles and American Army personnel running about like worker bees buzzing around a hive.
Rose reached up and readjusted the straps of her heavy pack that were pinching her shoulders. She and the rest of the nurses of the hospital crowed around a short, husky Lieutenant who stood on top of a garden wall so he could see over group of woman. Captain Naverson and Lt. Clark stood below him facing the rest of the group. They'd arrived early that morning after the longest, bumpiest truck ride of Rose's life.
"As you all know, Hitler launched a surprise attack through the Ardennes. They've completely overrun our troops and are continuing to push west." He announced.
As Rose watched him talk, she noticed that his chest puffed out and he stretched his neck towards the sky, trying to make himself appear taller. He was probably very self-conscience about his size and by the looks of his croaked nose and chipped tooth that flashed every time his lips moved, she guessed he probably made up of for his shortness by brawling.
"You will be setting up the hospital in that building over there." He pointed and all the nurses turned their head in unison towards the large, brick building down the street.
Rose squinted as she sized up her future place of employment. It had one large main hall, then several smaller additions surrounding it. A large bell was perched on the peak of the roof and she could just make out an outline of metal swings and see-saws in the snow blanketed lawn.
"It's a school…" she muttered to Annie, who was standing next to her.
Annie flickered her eyes away from the Lieutenant, who continued his briefing, and looked at the building.
"Its huge." She commented, shifting her bag in her arms.
Rose nodded. Annie was right; it was enormous for a small town.
"Probably a boarding school…" she whispered.
"Helmets will be worn upon exiting a building. No exceptions; fines will be issued if you fail to comply." The man continued. "As of two hours ago, the I SS Panzer Division was 10 miles away and still coming."
A flurry of whispers and gasped erupted from the females. Rose stood there silently and eyed the worried looking woman around her and Annie. Rose thought their alarm was a bit of over reactive. They'd been in worse situations…
"So don't get comfortable…always be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice"
Rose watched a look of panic wash over Naverson's face.
"We will be receiving a majority of the wounded from the northern forces, so expect lots of casualties…" The short officer nodded to indicate the conclusion of his briefing. "Mam…" he saluted Captain Naverson before he jumped of the wall and made his exit with shoulders back and chin held high.
In other words, there were going to be 18 hour shifts and blistered feet in their future. Rose's cheeks puffed out as an already weary sigh escaped her lips.
"Well…" June said with an overly chipper voice and clapped her hands together. "We have a lot to work to do, so…um," she turned and looked at Lt. Clarke.
Mildred cleared her throat and straitened her back, awaiting June's orders.
"Rosemary…" June suddenly veered towards Rose.
Mildred's nostrils on her large flat nose flared and her beady eyes shot towards Rose.
"Yes mam?" Rose answered, ignoring the feeling she was being hexed the XO.
"You will be in charge of directing personnel. Work with Captain Kent and the orderlies." The tall, slender woman nodded.
"Yes mam…" Rose replied.
What June pretty much meant was 'you handle it'.
"I will, um…I have to go speak to the Coronel." With that she turned and headed down the cobble stone sidewalk with Mildred following like a lost puppy.
Rose's pursed her lips and shook her head. She wasn't one bit surprised. June knew she didn't know how to handle things and she knew Mildred couldn't either, but she knew Rose could organize things. Rose guessed she at least have to give the woman that much credit. Rose suddenly realized the rest of the nurses were hovering around her, waiting for orders.
Rose took a deep breath.
"Okay…"
Several hours later, Rose dragged the last box of gauze pads out from the back of the truck. She set the box down heavily on the end of the bed and instead of jumping out; she eased herself down next to Annie, who'd sprawled her body out on the wooden floor.
"I'm beat…" Annie's muffled voice said from behind the hands that covered her face.
"It's just the beginning, hun…" Rose reminded her.
Rose rubbed her sore shoulders and winced, finding a painful knot. Her body had been already bruised and beaten from the 16 hour truck drive, only then to spend the entire day caring heavy boxes and moving desks out of the classrooms. The school really was the perfect place for a field hospital. It had plenty of large rooms, a kitchen, a large lecture hall that they made a recovery ward, and the dormitories had soft beds and real bathrooms. Things still weren't completely set up, but hopefully they'd be done just in time for the wounded to arrive.
"Don't remind me…" Annie growled as she pulled off her helmet. She too was also nursing a sore body.
Rose almost chastised her about the helmet, but she was too tired to care. The two sat there in silence, knowing it was probably the only break they'd see in the next 48 hours. The ambulances had already been sent out and were on their way back with their first round of wounded. They couldn't lollygag for long, but the two women couldn't bear to stand on their feet anymore. Rose copied Annie and laid back. She rested her hands over her tummy and closed her eyes. She could have drifted to sleep right then and there.
"I heard they sent the 101st Airborne to Bastogne." a male's voice suddenly said after a few moments from somewhere around the truck.
Rose's eyes shot open and her heart felt like it quit beating. Her body jolted up and her ears strained to hear the conversation. Annie turned her head towards Rose and looked at her friend's face with her brows furrowed.
"Rose," Annie whispered. "Wasn't he in the hundred and…"
Rose's index finger shot up and pressed against her lips, making Annie snap her mouth shut. Annie sat up and listened as well.
"They're completely surrounded and cut off. No supplies, no air support because of the shitty weather …" the voice continued.
Rose could hear the sound of a lighter and the smell of cigarette smoke met her nostrils.
"Yah, but they're paratroopers…shouldn't they be used to that?" a higher pitched voice with a Brooklyn accent chimed it.
"Yah, but still…" There was a pause as the man took a drag on his cigarette. "Shit, that's gotta be a sickening feeling, knowin' you're all alone with no ammo and an entire army of Krauts bearing down on yah…"
"No shit…" the other voice answered. "Poor bastards…might as lined 'em up in front of a fuckin' firing squad…"
With that, the men walked away, boots crunching in the falling snow.
Rose couldn't breathe; her hand clutched the front of her jacket over her pounding heart. Dick was smack dab in the middle of the worst of it, with no support. She furiously chewed her bottom as she replayed the conversation she'd just ease dropped on over and over again.
Maybe it wasn't the entire 101st…maybe the 506th had been sent somewhere else, maybe they left the second battalion in reserve…
But, Rose highly doubted any of that. After all, they'd been involved in almost every major battle since D-Day. Just the thought Dick being out in that cold, snowy forest, cold and hungry with no way to defend himself made Rose sick to her stomach.
"Oh god…" Rose breathlessly whispered and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Rose…" Annie said in a soft voice. She put a comforting arm around Rose's shoulder. "I'm sure he's okay…"
Rose took off her helmet and smoothed back her hair with a trembling hand. Dick probably wasn't scared at all, and that's what worried Rose the most.
"You said he was an XO of a Battalion." Annie ducked her head down so she could look into Rose's face. "They're not going to let him run around, chasing Germans. They'll keep him safe."
Rose smiled sadly. Annie made a good point, but she didn't know Dick. They'd have to tie him down and throw him in a foxhole to keep him from grabbing his riffle and running out there with his men. Rose picked up her helmet and set it back on her head. She jumped off the end of the truck and fixed her OD's, which had gotten askew from laying down. Annie's green eyes watched her friend with concern.
"You okay?" Annie asked as she too jumped down.
Rose looked at the nurse and sighed.
"I'm fine…" she lied. "It's just…just I was afraid of this…"
"Afraid of what?"
Rose leaned up against the side of the truck and crossed her arms. She shivered in the cold evening air.
"That I'm going to spend every moment of the day wondering if he's still alive…" she answered and pinched the bridge of her nose before dropping her hands limply to her sides. "We promised each other we wouldn't let our relationship get in the way of our duty…" Rose's voice was hardly above a whisper.
Annie looked at the sullen woman sympathetically as she returned her own helmet on top of her platinum curls. She wished she knew how to help Rose, but Annie had never been in a situation like that.
"Well, don't let it get in the way then. Simple as that. You're the best nurse and the strongest woman I know, Rose. You'll do your job just fine." Annie told her. "Besides, I'll bet you bedpan duty for the next month that he's been thinking about you too…"
Annie eyes twinkled and her rosy lips curled into a sly smile. Rose's head turned towards the 2nd Lieutenant and a tiny smirk did find its way to Rose's lips. Normally, Rose was the one handing out wisdom and word of encouragement. Annie was right. Rose just had to push Dick out of her head for the time being. Rose closed her eyes, let out a heavy, shaky sigh and breathed in deeply. The cold, crisp air seemed to clear her head and awake her tired body.
"You're right, Annie." Rose reached over and tenderly squeezed the former cowgirl's shoulder. "Thanks…"
Annie smiled brightly and shrugged.
"I know I am." She exclaimed, quite boastfully.
Rose couldn't help but laugh. Typical Annie, she thought.
"Come on." Annie said as she grabbed the box off the back of the truck and hoisted it into her arms with the help of her knee. "Let's go get some dinner. God knows it will be our last real meal for a while."
As the two nurses walked towards the school turned hospital, their boots crunched in the freshly fallen snow. Rose stuffed her hands the large pockets of her fatigue jacket and craned her head as far back as she could without her helmet slipping off. The sky was completely covered with snow heavy clouds. As the soft, cold flakes fell on her face, Rose said a little prayer for a certain, brave, redheaded officer.
At that moment, that officer was hunkered down in a frozen foxhole just outside of Bastogne, Belgium, imagining himself in a soft bed in Paris with a beautiful, spunky brunette named Rosemary…
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