A/N: I'm glad that people enjoyed Chapter 20. Onto Chapter 21, where the drama continues...lol...

Disclaimer: This is based on the characters in the miniseries, not the actual men. I don't own Band of Brothers. And I was asked by my muse to point out that she has co-ownership of Eve Nixon, so I can't even lay ownership claim to that!!

Chapter Twenty One

Eve awoke to a splitting headache and pounding on the door.

"Beatrice, what is it?" She groaned, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"Open the goddamn door!" Eve frowned, turning her head to look at the door.

"Lew?"

"Yes! Now open the door!" With another groan, Eve got to her feet and shuffled to the door, squinting her eyes at the bright sunlight that was pervading the room. Lewis continued pounding on the door right up until she actually opened the door.

"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked, frowning in concern. Lewis pushed past her into the room. Still frowning, Eve closed the door before prompting, "Lew?"

"Mind telling me what the hell this is?" He demanded, shoving her cross necklace at her. Eve frowned deeper, taking the cross from him.

"My necklace. I wasn't even aware it was missing."

"I found it outside of Lieutenant Speirs' quarters!" Lewis exclaimed. Eve, despite her hangover and being surprised at the sudden entrance of Speirs into the conversation, remained calm.

"It must've slipped off while I was walking by--"

"I saw you leaving his place last night, Eve!" Lewis shouted so angrily that Eve jumped and took a couple steps back. "What the hell were you thinking?! Or is the problem that you weren't thinking?!" Eve, now angry herself, glared at him, crossed her arms.

"What I do and who I spend my time with is my business."

"Not when it's against army regulations!" Eve narrowed her eyes.

"Are you-of all people-really lecturing me on army regulations?"

"How long has it been going on?"

"That's none of your business."

"How long, Eve?!"

"I said that it's none of your business." The two Nixon siblings glared at each other intensely, neither willing to back down. Finally, Lewis stomped to the door. Opening it, he turned to Eve.

"End it, Eve, or else." Then he left, slamming the door behind him. Eve sunk down onto her bed, her head falling into her hands. A soft knocking at the door only served to remind her of the hangover headache, which had been momentarily forgotten in the heat of the fight.

"What?!" She snapped.

"It's me, Beatrice." Eve sighed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Come in." The door opened and Beatrice gingerly walked in.

"I heard raised voices. Is everything alright?"

"No but it's nothing for you to worry about. Did anyone else hear?" Beatrice shook her head. "Good. I've got to get ready." Eve got to her feet once again. "Is there any aspirin to spare?"

"Of course. You just get a bath going and I'll fetch you some." Eve gave her a grateful smile.

"Thank you."

*** *** *** ***

Briefing

The last thing Eve wanted to do was sit in the same room with her brother but she had no choice. She was required to attend the briefing. And, honestly, she did the information. She arrived around the same time as the rest of Easy Company but she was in no mood to make small talk so she fell into the first seat she came across. Which happened to be in front of Babe and Perconte.

"Mornin' Eve." Perconte greeted. "How ya feelin' this morning?"

"Fine." She replied shortly. Perconte frowned and glanced at Babe, who flushed slightly but shrugged. Perconte glanced back at Eve and tapped her on her shoulder. She turned her head sharply, glaring at him, "What is it, Sergeant Perconte?" She snapped. Perconte sat back, blinking in surprise. Eve had never snapped at any of the men in Easy like that before.

"Nothing, Lieutenant. Sorry for bothering you." Eve turned back around in her chair, focusing on the briefing which was being called to order.

"As you can see," Winters began once everyone had stopped chatting. "...This is called Operation Market Garden. In terms of airborne divisions, this one's bigger than Normandy. We're dropping deep into occupied Holland." Winters waited for the initial information to sink in before continuing. As he began talking again, Eve lit up a cigarette. "The Allied objective is to take this road here, between Eindhoven and Arnhem, so the two British armored divisions can move up to it toward Arnhem. Our job is gonna be to liberate Eindhoven, stay there, wait for the tanks." Winters stepped aside to let Lewis take over. Eve's teeth clenched around her cigarette. Lewis made a point of not looking in his sister's direction.

"The entire European advance has been put on hold to allocate resources for this operation. It's Montgomery's personal plan, we'll be under British command." Everyone groaned, not at all wanting to be under command of the British. For Eve, however, it was nothing new. She'd be under British command since most of these guys had been in boot camp. "The good news is, if this works, these tanks will be over the Rhine and into Germany. That could end the war and get us home by Christmas." There was some quiet cheering at that. Once again, Eve didn't join in, simply remained silent as she smoked her cigarette. Since she was in a crappy mood, she wasn't inclined to believe that the war would be over by Christmas. "It'll be a daytime job. Intelligence doesn't expect much opposition. They think the Krauts in Holland are mostly kids and old men. And we should take them by surprise. In any case, say good bye to England. I don't think they're gonna call this one off." After that, the briefing came to an end and Eve got to her feet as Lewis made a beeline for her. He reached out, grabbed her elbow. "Eve." She wretched her arm away from him with a glare.

"I don't want to fucking talk to you." She growled to the surprise of all those around her. Even Lewis looked surprised, but only briefly. His eyes narrowed after a moment. He opened his mouth to say something but Eve was already walking away. Babe rushed after her, more worried about Eve than about what had happened last night between them.

"Lieutenant Nixon?" Eve whirled around, glaring at him.

"Why is everyone after my attention today?! What, Private Heffron?" Babe, surprising them both, didn't back down, he didn't even flinch as she continued glaring at him.

"Are you alright? You seem upset." Eve exhaled, ran a hand through her hair. When she looked back at Babe, there was something about the way he was looking at her, with such a soft expression, that she had a flashback to a dream from last night. In it, she had kissed Babe...or had he kissed her? Well, it didn't matter because it was just a dream. At least, she was pretty sure it was a dream.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking. It's just a little family spat." She gave him a small smile. "Are you nervous about the jump?" Babe shook his head.

"No, not really."

"Good. It doesn't pay to be nervous." Just then, Eve glimpsed Perconte walking past them a ways off. She turned back to Babe. "Look, I have to go apologize to Perconte for biting his head off back there, but thank you again, for asking after my well being. I appreciate it." Giving him another smile, Eve dashed off after Perconte. Beaming at having made Eve smile once again (he did love seeing her smile), Babe shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking away, whistling.

"So care tellin' me what that was right there?" Guarnere asked, smirking as he came up next to Babe, who glanced at him.

"What was what?"

"That moment right there, between you and our nurse."

"It wasn't anything." Babe replied, though he couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. "I just wanted to make sure she was alright." Guarnere nodded, his face suddenly serious.

"Yeah, I tell you what, I ain't never seen Eve react like that before. She don't use language like that."

"Is she, uh..." Babe cleared his throat. "...involved with someone?" Guarnere raised an eyebrow. "I'm just asking because maybe that's what her and Lieutenant Nixon were fighting about." Guarnere didn't respond right away, choosing instead to look off into the distance. "Sarge?" Babe prompted.

"Involved?" Guarnere repeated, scratching his head. "It's not really my place to answer that." At Babe's barely concealed crestfallen face, he rushed to continue. "I mean, what with her bein' an officer and all. But, you know, say we were back in the States, I think you two would make a real cute pair. But that's back in the States. If you get what I'm sayin'." Babe frowned slightly, nodding slowly.

"Uh, I think so."

"Good." Guarnere slapped him on the back with a large grin. "You ain't the only one interested in Eve. Hey, you got a cigarette I can bum?"

*** *** *** ***

With her apology to Perconte out of the way, Eve decided to seek out Speirs. It didn't take long. He was speaking with two "D" Company sergeants nearby. Eve waited politely off to the side while he finished up his meeting and called his name the minute the sergeants walked away. Speirs turned to her with that small smirk of his.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Nixon." He greeted as they saluted each other.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Speirs. Do you have a few minutes?"

"For a fellow officer, always." They began strolling along, keeping a respectable distance of course. "You look a little pale. Are you feeling alright?"

"Hungover." Eve admitted.

"I'm guessing you had a good time last night."

"I always enjoy spending social time with those in Easy Company. They're good guys." They continued in silence for a minute or so before Eve said, "My brother knows about us." Speirs' face didn't change a bit but he give a quick nod.

"I figured as much when I met up with him last night just outside my quarters." Eve's eyed widened in surprise.

"What?!"

"I got the phone call about the jump and left the house just after you left. Your brother was standing outside."

"That must've been when he found my necklace." Eve mused. "He's angry. Warned me to end it or else." Speirs glanced down at her, face free of emotion.

"What do you want to do?"

"What do you want to do?" Speirs shrugged.

"He's your brother." Eve frowned.

"You're not worried at all?" He shook his head. "Not even a little?"

"No." Eve halted.

"Do you even care?" Speirs turned to look at him.

"Of course I care but what to do you want me to do about it? Challenge him to a duel or something? He's your older brother; of course he's angry that we're involved." Eve glared at his casual tone of voice.

"I'm so glad you find this situation so inconsequential." She snapped, stalking past him. He reached out to grab her elbow as she passed but Eve side-stepped him. "I've got work to do." With a frustrated sigh, Speirs watched her walk away.

*** *** *** ***

Eve always hated getting ready to jump. Mostly because all of the equipment was extremely heavy. Granted, she was lucky, not having to carry as much as the others, and she knew she was lucky. Didn't make it any easier to wear.

"Need anyhelp Eve?" Roe asked after watching her struggle with her gear for a few minutes.

"That obvious, huh?" She joked lamely as he walked over. He gave her a brief smile before beginning to "work".

"There. All better." He said a couple minutes later, stepping back to look her over.

"That's Gene. You're a lifesaver."

"That's why the Army made me a medic." He joked. Eve grinned.

"At least they gave you a reason." Spina muttered, glancing up from his last minute check on his pack.

"Look's like Popeye's back." Roe commented, looking past Eve, who turned to follow his gaze. Popeye was indeed jumping down from an army jeep and being greeted by Lipton.

"And look who's with him." Spina added darkly, getting to his feet. "Sadistic Sobel himself."

"Still looking as miserable as ever." Eve remarked, shielding her eyes from the sun. "And it looks like he's marked Mal as his latest target."

"Probably has something to do with that motorcycle he and More "borrowed"." Roe said. Eve looked at him, smiling slightly. He frowned. "What?"

"I just love the way you say 'motorcycle'." Roe flushed. "Should I go rescue Malarkey from the wrath of Sobel?"

"No." Muck said, appearing out of nowhere. "Let the Mick fend for himself."

"Some friend you are." Eve teased.

"I try." Muck grinned. Eve shook her head with a small smile.

"Alright, well I'm ready to go. Anyone need help getting their stuff on?" She asked, looking around.

"From you? No thanks." Muck replied, grinning. Eve gave his shoulder a shove. "Sorry but I've seen the way you help with packs and--" Eve placed a hand over his mouth.

"Thank you Skip, you can shut up now."

"Yes ma'am."

*** *** *** ***

Holland
September 17, 1944

Eve couldn't help but compare this jump to the one she had made in Normandy. But there simply was no comparison. The jump into Holland went as though it was merely a practice jump, not a single shot was fired at them. Which was more than fine with Eve. Still, she landed with a thud and jumped to her feet just as quickly, throwing off the chute and running towards the others. Silently, Easy fell into a ditch to await further orders. Eve found herself sandwiched between Toye and Liebgott.

"Howdy boys." She greeted them with a small smile. "I think I like jumping into Holland; what with no one shooting at us."

"Are you gonna bite our heads off if we answer that?" Liebgott asked. Eve narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, I get it, I was a bitch earlier. I had a bad morning."

"You hear the mouth this girl's got on her?" Toye asked pointing with his thumb at Eve as he shook his head. "Such language."

"Ha ha." Eve remarked dryly as Peacock came along.

"We're going in through this field here. Wait until my signal and then go." Peacock said before moving along down the line.

"Think we're gonna run into any resistance at all?" Eve asked.

"Your brother didn't seem to think so." Toye replied. Eve made a face.

"Ugh. Don't mention him." Toye and Liebgott exchanged a look.

"You, uh, wanna share or something?" Liebgott asked, looking decidedly uneasy at the thought.

"Not really." Eve replied. Liebgott exhaled in relief. "Anyway, I, for one, would be thrilled if we didn't run into any resistance. If not a shot is fired, it would mean the end is definitely in sight.

"Here here." Toye muttered in agreement.

"Move out! Easy Company! Let's go! Move out!"

A/N: So, um, the relationships in Eve's life, yeah, not going so well right now...lol...ah well, she's a big girl, she'll figure everything out. I gotta admit though, it's hard for me to pull Eve away from Speirs...I was startin' to like them together...friggin' muse...lol...anyway, hope you enjoyed and the more reviews, the merrier...