After a day of shooting, scalping, and looting, the Basterds were thankful for the action and were content to sit by the fire and eat what they had taken from the Germans. The haze of dusk settled over the forest and the air felt like it might rain.
Josie shared the happiness, but she sat away from the men, against a large tree. She watched as Aldo animatedly told them war stories from the Great War, and stories from his life back in Tennessee.
Utivich, whom Josie was growing quite close to, saw her from across the fire and joined her at the base of the tree.
"Hello, Smithson," Josie greeted with a smile. It was impossible for Utivich to deny that Josie was a pretty girl, even when she was as dirty as the rest of them. But it was obvious that Donny was the only one destined to take part in a romantic, yet dysfunctional, relationship with her.
"Why are you over here all alone? You should be over there with everyone else." He said as Josie watched the flames dance in the darkness.
"No… I'm not sure where I should be, but I don't think it's here. I'm only a Basterd by accident, by stupidity." She spat. "I should never have bought that knife. I shouldn't have let Donny give me that gun."
Utivich laughed, "There are a lot of things you could have done differently. Not buying that knife would have meant you getting raped by that General. And Donny just wanted to watch out for you, like always."
Josie shook her head. "I hate him."
Smithson patted her knee. "No you don't. Donny argues with everyone. Like he said, he's a moron."
"He also said that nothing would ever be good enough for me. He humiliated me in front of everyone, Smithson. He wasn't being 'Sergeant Donowitz.' He was being Donny, the jackass from Boston. I love both Donnys, but it's… just hard." Josie rested her head on her hands.
"You need to get him alone and just tell him what you want. But one thing you should know is that he's never going to change. Regardless of how much he cares about you. He's Donny. He's a Basterd." Utivich laughed once more. They sat in silence until Josie fell asleep. Before he walked back over to the fire, Smithson covered her with his coat.
Over the next few days, between their Nazi killing escapades, Josie tried to approach Donny several times. But he always seemed to cut her off just as she was about to speak, or he would run off and do some random unnecessary thing.
Josie was getting frustrated and was beginning to think that Donny would never acknowledge her again.
On Thursday, Aldo announced that they would be going into Nadine on the following day. "We're picking up a Brit who's fluent in German. He's taking Stiglitz and Wicki to meet the German spy that'll get them into that movie premiere. That's all we know so far, but he'll give us the rest of the information."
That evening, Josie decided to approach Donny again. He was smoking and playing cards with Hirschberg and Ulmer.
Josie walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Donny turned and gave her a grimace, "Yes?"
Josie frowned and could feel the beginnings of tears. "I-I just wanted to know if you and I could talk. In private."
Donny turned back around and began dealing the cards, "Alright boys, get your bets ready."
Josie spoke again, "Donny, please."
Hirschberg shook his head, "For god's sake, Donny-"
"Alright!" Donny threw his cards and stood up. He walked several yards away, out of earshot of the others, and Josie followed. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Do you want a cigarette?"
Josie nodded, and Donny lit one for her and passed it across to her as they sat down on a couple of stumps.
Josie started, "I don't know how much this is worth to you by now, but I think I'm in love with you, Donny." Donny scoffed, but Josie continued, "Why else would I actually want to put up with you? It's love or insanity."
Donny looked at the ground for a long time, "I don't want it to be like this. I mean, fuck, we had so much fun for the first couple of months. Then I started feeling more serious about you, and I can't fucking control what comes out of my mouth. Or what doesn't come out, for that matter."
Josie smiled, "I know you can't. I'm going to stop being such a little bitch, Donny. I'm Josie Laroche. I kill Nazis for sport. I should be able to put up with your smart mouth and incompetence."
Donny shook his head, "I don't know, Josie. Maybe we should just forget about all of this until the war's over. Then see how we feel about it then, okay?"
Josie started to say that she didn't want to wait. But she didn't want to fight anymore. She thought for a while about how she could answer, but Donny spoke again.
"Listen, kid. You mean a lot to me. And I hate myself for acting like you don't exist. We're always gonna want to be together, but let's just wait until after the war."
Josie forced a smile. "Oui, we can wait." Sometimes Donny could say the perfect things, even when it wasn't exactly what Josie wanted to hear.
Donny stood and offered Josie his hand. As she got up, Donny pulled her into his arms. Josie wrapped her arms around his neck and brushed away the couple of tears that had been stinging her eyes for the last fifteen minutes.
Finally, Donny released her, "I'm going to get back to Omar and Hirschberg."
Josie nodded and walked back over to Utivich and Wicki.
The next day, they traveled into Nadine. Aldo had them hole up in an abandoned house in front of the tavern La Louisiane. Josie was reclining on a dilapidated couch as they waited for the English guy to arrive.
Aldo was getting antsy. "Why the fuck is this Brit taking so long? We need to talk strategy! We need a plan!"
About two hours before the rendezvous with the German spy was to take place, the man of the hour finally walked into the house. With no introduction to his arrival, he was welcomed by approximately fourteen guns pointed at him.
With only a hint of surprise on his face, he greeted them, "Hello everyone. I'm Lieutenant Archie Hicox. I presume you are the Basterds?"