Easy was back in Aldbourne, it was time to rest, and take the ten day leave, they had been promised.
The first two days was spent resting and take inventory. The officers took inventory of the men and put in orders for replacements.
Winters had been tasked with reorganizing the company, he chose to stay in Aldbourne to write letters to the parents of the men he lost, and to spend time with Katie, who was busy at the hospital and didn't have any leave.
The first thing Lane did was head to the hospital to see Amy, when Lane walked in to Amy's room; she saw a worried Speirs and a sleeping Amy.
Lane walked over and put her hand on Ron's shoulder.
"How is she doing Lieutenant" Lane asked him.
Ron looked at her with tears in his eyes "Captain, she keeps drifting in and out of consciousness, and when she is awake, she refuses to speak about what she has been through" he said.
"But she was doing so well in France, what happened?" Lane asked
"They wouldn't let Katie treat her, she panicked when one of the doctors tried to treat her, so they sedated her and she didn't respond well to the drug" Ron said
While they talked he had held Amy's hand in his and Lane noticed a tear rolling down his face.
Lane sat down on the chair next to Ron and looked at Amy "You really do love her don't you" Lane asked him.
Lane was surprised to say the least, to see the rough and tough lieutenant sitting in a hospital in England and cry because of a woman.
"She is the love of my life, she is the one, I need her to come back to me. I can't be without her" Speirs said
Lane almost cried as well, she was tremendously touched by Speirs display of vulnerability, she was speechless, she had always thought that Speirs would just push on no matter what happened.
Ron got up "I need to get back to my men before they leave, will you sit with her while I am gone?" he asked Lane.
"Yeah sure, and if I have to leave, I will find Mia" Lane said.
Lane sat and held Amy's hand, she talked to her "I need you to wake up, we need you to be alright, your boys needs you, Ron will absolutely die without you" Lane said begging for Amy to wake up.
Mia walked in to the room and sat down in chair Ron had just vacated "I thought he would never leave, he scares the shit out of me, all he have done is stare at the nurses and doctors with those cold eyes" Mia said.
"He is actually not that bad" Lane said, she was quite surprised; she was still stunned by the way Ron had acted.
Lane looked at Mia "Why are you not in Scotland with Lipton?" Lane asked Mia
"Because I didn't get any leave, that's why" Mia said
"Well that's the burden of being the best" Lane said and nudged Mia
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, holler if you need me ok?" Mia said and got up and walked out of the room.
Lane sat and stared at Amy, she felt like she should have done something, she should have tried to save her, just done something, and maybe Amy wouldn't be here, but out and about somewhere in England with her man.
Lane sat with Amy and waited for her to wake up, or for Ron to return, she fell asleep on the chair she was sitting in, she woke up when someone kicked her leg and handed her a cup of coffee, she looked up, it was Nixon looking down at her.
"She still out" Nix asked
"yeah Ron left about" Lane looked at her wrist watch "An hour ago, he should be back soon" Lane said and took a big gulp of the coffee "This is my fault" Lane said, not looking away from Amy "I should have done something, I was right there, I should have tried to save her, I should have done something" Lane said
Tears started to fall down her cheeks, Nixon just watched Lane carefully, he knew she needed to get this of her chest.
"It's my fault, I should have protected her" Lane said
"You couldn't have saved her, even if you tried, and if you had there would be two officers in here praying to god instead of one" a voice from the door said
Lane turned her head, Ron was back, and he looked even more tired than when he left.
Ron walked over and pulled Lane up and hugged her, "It's not your fault, it's those Germans that did this to her" Ron said.
Lane walked over and put her arms around Nixon's chest and leaned in to him, "I still feel guilty" Lane said.
Mia walked back into the room, she saw the tired officers gathered around Amy's bed, and she knew they were about to keel over.
"Ok out, all of you, I will send someone for you, if you are needed here" she said
The officers started to protest.
"Do not make me pull Captain Hendrick out of surgery, because I will and you will be the ones to feel the wrath of the Hendrick" Mia said with a smirk on her face. She knew the threat of Katie coming in here after being pulled of surgery, would be enough to get the officers moving.
"In the words of Sink, now get" Mia said
Walking out of the hospital Lane put her arm around Speirs shoulder "You need me to get McMillan" Lane asked, she knew the two men was close.
"No that's ok, I will manage, go get some sleep" Speirs said and headed towards the D. Company's Barrack.
Nixon looked at Lane "you need to rest, because we are going away tomorrow and when we get back, we will be extremely busy"
"I can't, I can't leave Amy, not now" Lane said and shook her head
"Its ok, I talked Katie, it is ok, we won't be far away and she will let us know if Amy needs us, or if she wakes up" Lew said.
"Well I guess it is ok then" Lane said and yawned
"Ok, let's get some sleep" Nixon said.
Lane was curled up next to Lew, gradually she drifted in to sleep, but she kept having a dream about someone taking Lew from her and she couldn't find him no matter how hard she tried.
Nix pulled her closer and kissed her head, he knew she would have a hard time for a while and he just hoped he could help her through it.
Mia sat down on the chair next to Amy's bed; she took her hand and tried to get her to wake up.
"Come on Ames, wake up, we need you, Talbert is miserable and Perconte really misses you, well not right now they are in London raising hell" Mia said
Amy opened her eyes and looked at Mia "Tab?" she said and closed her eyes again.
Mia sighed "Of course she wakes up and ask for the wrong guy" Mia said to herself.
Mia looked at Amy and thought about her family, how they would respond and feel if it was Mia in that bed?
Her parents had already lost one son, how would they feel about losing their only daughter, her two brothers was in the 82nd, it had become a tradition for the MacKall children to be in the airborne.
Mia was the only girl in her family and she had been treated as such, she was always happy and go lucky, some of that happiness had disappeared after Normandy and seeing Lipton get wounded had almost killed her and for a brief moment, she had considered going AWOL just to go with him to Scotland.
The door to the room opened and Katie walked in she had a cot under her arm and a blanket and pillow "I am sleeping here tonight, so you go do, whatever it is you do when you are not here these days" Katie said and dismissed Mia.
Mia looked at Katie "Ok, she was awake for about thirty seconds and asked for Talbert" Mia said
"Funny she woke up last time I mentioned him" Katie said.
"well goodnight, captain" Mia said and closed the door to the room behind her. Mia missed Lipton like crazy and she needed him more now than ever, she hadn't really seen him since Carentan and they didn't get to be alone together, so she hoped things would slow down and they would get some time, some alone time.
She shook her head and headed towards her ward, to hand over her charts to the night shift.
Katie was looking at Amy, she needed her best friend to wake up and to be ok, and without any permanent brain damage, or at least with the only amount she had before she went into a coma, there had to be something seriously wrong with your head, if you would fall head over heels, with a man like Ron Speirs.
…
Mia walked back to the officer's billet, it was on the village green and in the back there were some lovely staples, the men had cleaned out the stables and used them as barracks, there was plenty of room there, for them to store their gear and still have room to play poker and craps.
Mia threw her stuff on her bed, she didn't even bother to take of her clothes off, she just fell on her bed and slept.
She dreamt of the battle of Carentan and she kept seeing Lipton get wounded over and over again.
She had been having the nightmares for weeks and she couldn't wait for Lipton to return again.
She was excited to hear about what he had seen and experienced in Scotland, she was happy for him that he had the opportunity to see the country, she just missed him and couldn't wait for him to come back to her, she needed to see he was alive and well.
In Scotland Lipton was missing Mia as well, and wished she could be there with him, he had bought her a present and couldn't wait to give it to her, he hadn't realized what it would be like to live without her, before their extensive separation, he just hoped they both would live through the war, so they eventually could go home and live the rest of their lives together in peace.
Because of the extensive loss of men the battalion had suffered in Normandy, Winters was faced with the task of reorganizing Easy company, he had been hesitant to perform the task, because of Amy still being in a coma, and them not knowing the extent of her injuries yet.
However, he needed to get the job done, there was a lot of promotions coming up, Buck, Harry and Amy all moved from second to first lieutenants.
Guarnere was made staff sergeant and Malarkey, Muck and Ranney jumped from privates to sergeants and Christenson and Gordon moved to Corporal.
Welsh was now Winters XO and Buck was in charge of 2nd platoon, a replacement officer Peacock was in charge of first, and Amy still had third, Winters just hoped she would wake up soon, so she would be fit to go back to service when the men returned from leave.
Winters also hoped Amy would be ok for Katie's sake. Katie had been staying at the hospital and Dick hadn't seen her other than a few times in the hospital.
Lane and Nix had set it up so Lane and Katie shared a room at the officers billet and Nix and Winters shared a room, so they could switch rooms without anyone knowing.
But it hadn't come in handy yet since Katie was staying at the hospital, it also meant a sleep deprived Katie, since she was woken several times during the night by nurses and doctors who needed her help.
Katie would need her rest; they would more than like be shipped back to France soon.
Winters looked at the clock it was dark out and almost midnight. Winters decided to take a walk over to the hospital to see what was going on and to see if there was any news about Amy.
He walked across the camp; he was stopped by Welsh who was out taking a walk, probably to the nearest Pub.
"Hey Harry, I thought you would be in Ireland" Dick said
"I just stayed a few days, any news on the lieutenant" Harry said referring to Amy
"No, I am on my way there, by the way I spoke to Colonel Sink earlier and he told me that General Taylor was very pleased with Easy holding the line in Normandy" Dick said
"Great, that's why I went to France, to please general Taylor" Harry said, he smiled and walked off.
Harry turned around "Oh Dick, if there is any news about Amy, let me know" Harry said and disappeared.
Winters walked towards the hospital he hoped there would be some good news to report to Harry.
When he walked into Amy's room at the hospital, he first noticed Katie on a cot next to Amy's bed lightly snoring; the next thing he noticed was Amy looking at the sleeping Katie.
Amy looked up and saw Winters standing in the door; she put her fingers on her lips, to keep Winters from waking up Katie. Winters just shook his head he knew Katie would never forgive him if they didn't wake her up.
Amy just shrugged and looked at Katie again, she looked tired and worn, working at the hospital had taken its toll on her.
Winters walked over and kneeled besides Katie's cot "Katie, sweetheart you need to wake up, Amy is awake" Winters said and shook Katie lightly.
Katie opened her eyes and looked into Winters bright blue eyes "What, what time is it?" then she realized what he said and turned and looked at Amy, who smiled at her.
Amy looked pale and like she been through hell and back, but she was alive and awake.
Katie looked at Winters; "Go find Speirs and wake up Mia, while I examine Amy, go and come straight back here after ward" Katie said and pushed Winters out of the door.
Winters hurried back to the officer's billet, but Speirs wasn't in his room, so Winters went searching for him at the local pub, he found him there along with Harry.
"Great you are both here, Amy is awake and you" He said and pointed at Speirs "Are needed at the hospital"
Speirs got up and ran out the door, Winters and Welsh looked at each other and followed him.
The three of them arrived at hospital and ran straight to Amy's room, here they were stopped by a sleepy Mia, "They are not done in there so please wait here"
Welsh and Winters could tell Speirs was about to say something very unpleasant and not so nice to the nurse, so they both put a hand on his chest and pushed him up against the wall and held him there. Mia went back in the room and the three men waited for the nurse to come back out.
In the room Katie was listening to Amy's lungs, she appeared to be ok, the ribs had healed and Katie guessed the semi-coma had been caused by the drugs and Amy's body needed to heal itself.
"You are, as far as I can tell, ok and in perfect health, more or less, you will be weak for the next weeks, so take it easy and you will stay here for the next couple of days.
Katie looked at Mia "You can let the masses in now" Katie said and helped Amy back to bed.
Mia opened the door and let the three officers in, Speirs went straight over and hugged her, and he kept whispering comforting words to her. Amy cried her heart out, the one thing that had kept her alive, while she was with the Germans, was the thought of Ron and her men.
Speirs pulled back and took her head in his hands, "Oh god, you scared the shit out of me, don't ever get captured again" He hugged her again and then let go of her.
Amy smiled at him and just nodded.
Then she got a hug from the rest of them, before Winters looked at her "So what happened Amy? can you talk about it?" he said.
"Dick please…" Both Amy and Speirs started.
"No, its ok" Amy said
"after I was caught on D-Day, they took me to the commander, they asked me all sorts of question and when I refused to answer the locked me in a basement. After a day or so, they dragged me out and blindfolded me and took me to Carentan, there the interrogation began and when I still refused to answer they beat the shit out of me many, many times, and when I fought back, they tried to strangle me, an officer stopped them and then they tied me to the chair I was sitting on and the next thing I remember is Luz rescuing me." Amy said
Ron had been holding on to her while she told her story, he was horrified about the way she had been treated. How could they do it to her?
Mia had tears in her eyes "Don't cry Mia, I have been through worse when my dad was drunk" Amy said and smiled "I will live through this as well, at least they didn't assault me, that I wouldn't have been able to live through" Amy said.
Katie and the rest of them looked at Amy, none of them could believe how well she dealt with what she had been through, if it had been any of them, they didn't think they would have been able to talk about it without any show of emotion.
With Amy's back ground she had been used to being beat and just take whatever there was thrown at her and just ignore what was said about her and to separate herself from her body whenever she was beaten it was like it wasn't her but someone else that had been tied to the chair and left to die in the American assault on the town.
Amy was glad it was one of her Easy men, who had found her in that room.
The men returned from leave and Amy got better day by day, a few days after Amy was released from the hospital, the men was gathered in the barn they had adopted as their mess, the replacement was there as well.
Nixon and Lane had returned from their trip, Lane had been upset at first, that they hadn't let them know immediately that Amy was ok, so she could come back, but when Mia explained Amy wanted Lane to have some time with Lew to make up for the shitty leave they had, had back home, she had forgiven all.
Amy and Mia was in the mess, at first the replacements had been a little skeptic about having so many women attached to their company, but after a stern look from, and a talking to from Bull and Johnny Martin, they had accepted them.
Martin and Guarnere had gotten tattoos, they figured since they lost almost half of first platoon why not it, wasn't like they had a china man's chance of ever getting out of the war alive. Amy chewed out their ass and told them they needed to stop thinking negative thoughts, of course they would make it back home.
Malarkey walked in to the mess and noticed Tab and Smokey was back, he asked why they were in such a hurry to come back, but didn't really get an answer
Smokey got up and tried to get everyone's attention and started to recite the night of the bayonet.
The night was filled with dark and cold,
When Sergeant Talbert the stories told,
Pulled out his poncho and headed out,
to check the lines dressed like a Kraut.
Upon a trooper our hero came,
fast asleep; he called his name.
"Smith, oh Smith, get up, it's time
to take your turn out on the line."
Private Smith, so very weary,
cracked an eye, all red and bleary,
grabbed his rifle and did not tarry,
Hearing Floyd, but seeing Gerry.
"It's me!" cried Tab. "Don't do it!" and yet,
Smith charged tout de suite with bayonet.
HE lunged; he thrust, both high and low,
and skewed the boy from Kokomo.
And as they carried him away,
our punctured hero was heard to say,
"When in this war you venture out,
best never do it dressed as a Kraut!"
Talbert's only response to this was "I could have shot the little bastard six times as he lunged toward me, I just didn't think we could spare a man at the time" he said
While Smokey was reciting his poem, Nixon and Lane walked and found Winters in a corner, they were moving out again.
Nixon and Lane got the attention of Buck, Welsh, Lipton, Amy and Mia and explained what was going on.
The replacement of course had zero idea of what the night of bayonet was and one of the replacements got up, he was stopped by Guarnere, who had spotted the man's thick Philly accent right a way
"You Heffron?" Guarnere said and put a hand on the man's chest
"yeah, who is asking?" He said
"where you from?" Guarnere asked him
"Philadelphia" Guarnere asked him
"South Philly" Heffron said
"I could tell, 17th street" Guarnere said
"Front street" Heffron said
Guarnere told Heffron to sit down and just like that Heffron was in with the Toccoa men.
After finishing his poem Smokey said a few words about how Tab wasn't wounded by enemy and didn't qualify for a purple heart, so he would be awarded with one of Smokey at a little get together with third platoon "And at the same time we will celebrate the fact that our lovely platoon leader is back with us" Smokey said.
Lane and Nixon had finished briefing the officers and Lipton; Lane could tell Lipton was a little vary about having to tell the men, they were moving out again.
"You want me to do it?" she asked him
"No it is ok it's my job" He said.
Lane patted him on the back and the officers left the mess, Lipton took a deep breath and got up
"A couple of announcements, first, listen up; first the training exercise scheduled for 22.00 has been cancelled,"
The men cheered and clapped their hands.
"Secondly all passes are here by revoked, we are heading back to France, so pack up all your gear boys, we will not be returning to England, anybody has not made up a will, go to the supply office, truck departs for Membury at 07.00. As you were" Lipton said.
Mia walked over and took his hand and together they walked out of the mess, when they got outside Mia hugged Lipton and they just stood there and held each other for a while, "I guess I better get to the hospital and pack up supplies" Mia said
She kissed Lipton, she couldn't believe they were heading out again, she wasn't really looking forward to it, but she had a job to do and she would do it, so no one would have to die on her watch.
….
They didn't move out the mission got scrubbed, when Patton over ran the drop zone.
Easy stayed in England and had a rigorous training program, Amy was back in almost ship shape and was back with the men.
Winters had smuggled back some live ammunition from Normandy and used it to get the replacements the feel of advancing in an attack under covering fire, the training was necessary almost half of the company was made up by replacements. They needed the feel of life fire and it helped them integrate them into the company.
During the summer the 101st had sixteen scrubbed missions and the only thing that kept the morale up, was the fact that they could spend the summer in England, instead of Normandy or the pacific like a lot of other soldiers.
The long stay in England had some of the wounded men thinking about permanent disability.
Lipton had been promoted to Company first sergeant, he was also starting to worry about the future, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to play college ball after the war, he was being a complete bear about it and snapped at Malarkey at the mess, when he called him crip.
Mia was sitting with Lane and Nixon, when she heard Lipton snap at Malarkey.
Lipton had him by his throat and lifted him from his chair and declared he could take him down anytime, anywhere.
Lipton put Malarkey back down and stormed out, Mia followed him "Hey Lip wait up" Mia yelled after him, Lipton just kept walking.
Mia put her hands on her hips "First sergeant Lipton, I order you to stop and talk to me" She said and stormed up to him and grabbed a hold of his sleeve and pulled him into a empty tent.
"Now what the hell is wrong with you? why you snap like that?" she asked
Lipton paced around the tent, not knowing what to say, if he couldn't play Football after the war he had nothing to offer Mia once all this was over.
Lipton knew that Mia was an old fashioned girl deep down, she would want a family and a house some day and how could he give that to her if he had a permanent disability?
"I am just worried that I won't be able to play college football after getting wounded and that made me think about the two of us, I know you want a family and how will I be able to give you all the thing you and a family need, if I can't play ball to get a scholar ship and get a good education" He said
Mia looked at Lipton "I don't care if we live in trailer park, I can still work as a nurse back home, so don't worry, as long as we are together everything will be fine" she said.
Lipton studied her face, how could someone be so selfless and give so much of herself and still be able to give to him as well, he couldn't phantom it.
"I guess, I should go apologize to Don then" He said
"Yeah, you should" Mia said and took his hand.
The men needed to blow of some steam and one night they had all gathered at a local pub, Amy, Lane, Katie and Mia was all there.
Amy was more or less wrapped around Speirs the whole night; they had been almost inseparable since Amy's release from the hospital. Speirs had thought about asking for a transfer for both of them back to the states, but had let go of the idea, after asking Katie if it would be a good idea. Katie had told him to go ahead if he wanted to die in England all alone in a place where no one would ever find him; once again Ron decided that Katie was the scary one of the two of them.
Katie spend most of the night talking to a surgeon from the 326th, while Lane and Mia watched Luz and Buck hustle Toye and Babe at darts.
"All right lieutenant, nice and easy we still got a shot" Luz said
Buck threw the dart and missed the bull's eye by a mile.
"it's a though break, you are having a though night, people have though nights" Luz said
"Sorry Luz" Buck said
"It's alright" Luz said.
Bull took the dart of the board and handed them back to Buck "Nice shot sir" He said
"Thank you Bull, Heffron" Buck said and handed the darts to Babe
There was some commotion and Babe threw a double seven followed by an oooh from Toye.
Guarnere looked at Babe "You are embarrassing the lieutenant here, have a drink" He said.
"Don't mind if I do sarge" Babe said.
Mia and Lane just laughed, they had seen this trick a million times, by now Amy had untangled herself from Speirs and had joined Bull, Guarnere, Babe and Martin, drinking a beer, she winked at Luz, and she knew exactly what they were up to.
They looked at the table behind them where some replacements was sitting, Guarnere decided to go and introduce himself,
"Be careful what you say now, don't take a lot to set my guys of" Bull said
"Yeah, you got some wild eyed killers right there Bull" Johnny Martin said.
"Just don't mess with them too much" Amy said and laughed
At the same time Buck shook hands with Babe and said "it a good thing we didn't gamble" he said
Mia rolled her eyes; she couldn't believe that Babe and Toye would be that easy to take.
Babe looked at Buck "You want to bet?" he said
Buck pretended like he didn't gamble, but finally they decided, that the first one to hit the bulls eye would win two pack of smokes.
Amy had moved closer to Luz. He looked at her "You want to say it this time" He said
Amy looked at him "why not"
"Lieutenant are you going to shoot lefty all night? just curious, because he is right handed"
"Amy Hunt, what would I do without Amy Hunt" Buck said and put the dart in the bulls eye.
Luz and Buck gloated and told Toye and Babe to hand them over.
At the replacement table Guarnere was busy telling the story of Babe and how he avoided getting back into old Doris.
Guarnere told them that they should listen to Randleman, because he was the smartest man in the company and got up.
Cobb started to harass the replacement about the unit citation and the replacement ended up taking of his uniform.
Mia looked at Cobb "Well, you didn't fight in Normandy either" She said and picked the citation of the table and handed it to Bull.
Lipton came in and announced they were heading off again and to pack their gear, the pub went quiet, all the Normandy veterans knew they had to face their demons again.
