Okay, basterds! Time to deal with the remaining issues of this story. Family issues. We'll need to get to the bottom of those... Here's a start. The next one of two chapters after this will clear the air. Then we're done. I do, again, apologize for the wait. Now, read, guys! :)

... ... ...

The basterds walked. And walked. And then they walked just a little more. They made their way undisturbed and Ellie had a hard time believing their luck. After a full 10 hours of walking, she called for a break.

"How's your leg doin'?" Aldo asked her when she sat down with a deep sigh. She poked the bullet wound experimentally and wrinkled her nose, displeased. "Still there, I s'pose", she answered rather diplomatically. Not like she was going to admit how much it hurt. As long as it didn't get infected...

"Well", Aldo said, snorting snuff from his little box, "I guess you know what you're doin'."

She huffed in response, looking around her men and thinking she wasn't the only one who needed the break. Hertz looked terrible. His face was filthy and eyes red and puffed - a fact he would undoubtedly blame on lack of sleep. Ellie knew that wasn't the case, though. She wasn't the only one who noticed the tear streaks on his face, but no one said a word. Hertz was young compared to most of them, and it was the first time he'd had to face such things.

"Okay, listen up", Ellie called. "Last two days have been nothin' short of fucking terrible. Tonight, we're gonna get a couple hours of sleep and continue walkin' just before the break of dawn. Objections?" She shot Dom a challenging look, but the older Raine remained expressionless. Ellie lifted a brow, but decided to take the silence as a good sign. "I didn't think so."

As the soldiers started setting up a modest camp, she allowed herself to lean back and drift into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

…... …... …...

"It ain't your call to make, Dom."

"I can't believe we're just sittin' here, when our ride home is just hours away!"

Dom's voice... He was arguing with someone, Ellie realized through a haze.

"You can't expect us to keep walkin' for twenty-something hours straight after a sleepless night and a loss of a teammate."

That was Aldo. So they were going head to head about their break... At least Aldo got her back. She forced her eyes open and moved to straighten her aching back.

"What the hell's going on?" she groaned, squinting her eyes and cracking her neck. She had fallen asleep in a damn awkward position.

"Go back to sleep, Lieutenant", Dom snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What the... Dom? What's your problem this time?" she asked, exasperated. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but it was dark, cold and a fire was burning strong in the middle of the campsite. No one was asleep, though. How could they? The ruckus had woken even her up.

"I've had enough of your stupid decisions! Here we sleep, in the middle of enemy territory, when we could be on our way home", Dom said. Ellie returned his angry glare with calm, still sleepy eyes. "Yeah, well, I did ask for objections, ya know. It's weird you chose to keep your mouth shut..."

"That ain't a justification for such a stupid-ass decision", Dom snapped back.

"That might be, but I hardly think we have a choice but to rest. And this 'ere spot seemed as good as any", Ellie answered with a shrug. "You're free to go if that's what you want."

And for just a second, she kind of hoped he would just go. He could always find something to complain about, even though her decisions were completely rational and justified. The feeling passed as fast as it had appeared and with an inward sigh, she had to admit Dom was still her older brother.

"Well, how 'bout the Moliere farm?" the mentioned Raine said. "When you lead us into a fucking trap, how 'bout that?"

"How in the hell was I supposed to know?" Ellie asked, getting frustrated. "We all agreed to that!"

"Now, that ain't true", Dom argued angrily. "There was obviously something fishy goin' on and you should've seen it! Liebermann was the first one we lost, but how 'bout Wicki?"

Ellie's stomach lurched. Was her brother saying what she thought he was saying? Ellie could sense the tension his words caused among the men. "What. About. Wicki?" she asked, putting pressure on each word, warning Dom to choose his next words carefully. He chose to ignore it.

"What do you mean, what about Wicki? You know as well as I do, that you should have noticed earlier", he said. His iron eyes flashed and narrowed, and Ellie could only gape. "We could have saved him. Instead, you chose to waste time just resting and sittin' around. All of this, sis, is on you. 'Cause you just had to start playing team leader!"

Before Ellie could even blink, Donny moved. He had been standing on the other side of the camp, arms tightly crossed and the gaze of the dark eyes set to follow Dominick's every movement. Not that Ellie couldn't hold her own, he knew she could. She'd probably defeat the asshole with one hand behind her back, but that was not the point. Donny was pissed and his temper was hard to keep in check, and now Dom had finally chosen the words that made him lose whatever control he had.

It took him exactly three seconds to knock the man to the ground. "You fucking horse dick", he growled, lifting an arm to punch him in the arrogant face. "You're gonna wish you never joined the army!"

"Donny, don't!"

The split second of hesitation those words caused cost him the element of surprise. Dom used the time well, kicking the Jew off himself and leaping into a counterattack. Donny's reflexes were lightning fast as he grabbed the other man's fist before it made contact with his face. Then he twisted the offending arm, eliciting a low grunt from his opponent. Donny was forced to let go when Dom's knee hit his midriff, knocking air out of his lungs. They separated for a second, before making another attempt at each other.

"Donny! Stop it!" someone yelled and gripped his arm to stop him. Through the adrenaline Donny realized it was Ellie, and after letting out a frustrated growl he allowed himself to be pulled back. Meanwhile, Mike jumped in front of his brother in a desperate attempt to stop him. A very bad idea. The second Mike's hands touched his jacket, Dom lifted his hand and punched his brother square in the face. A punch to the gut followed right after, knocking Mike off his feet.

"Dominick Raine!" yelled their father's outraged voice. "What the fuck do you think you're doin'?"

Ellie released Donny's arm and went to aid her little brother. She ignored Dom as best she could. He could wait. And Lord have mercy, when Ellie was done with Mike, he was really gonna get it.

"Mickey? You okay?" she called as the bomber struggled to draw in a breath. From the corner of her eye, he could see Donny moving again. "Don't make a fucking move, Donny! We don't fight our own!" she said in a tone, that left no room for argument, and the mentioned Jew froze.

"Mickey?" she asked Mike again, more quietly this time. She wiped some blood off his chin and turned his face gently to see the extent of the damage. The nose didn't seem broken, which made life considerably easier, but it was bleeding a lot. At least he could finally breathe. "I'm good, Ellis..." he answered, but Ellie could hear his voice shake. Then he shuddered. Ellie ignored it, not wanting to draw attention to how shaken he really was, and proceeded to help him up.

"Utivich, clean him up, will ya?" she asked nonchalantly and sent Mike to the assigned medics almost-capable hands. Then she turned to Dom.

The soldier was currently standing in attention, getting chewed off by their father. She took slight comfort in the fact that he was looking quite uncomfortable, whether it was because he had just punched the hell out of his little brother, or because Aldo was not sparing words with him, she didn't know. It didn't matter. All that mattered, was... What, exactly? Dom hadn't been wrong. Everything he said was true, the exact same thoughts had crossed Ellie's mind. The problem was, that she was his superior office, and talking to a superior officer in that manner was out of question.

"You know, Dom", Ellie said quietly when Aldo stopped talking. "You are my brother and you know, I take a lot of crap from you and what you said... Well, you ain't wrong. But as a lieutenant, I can't let you do that. You realize that, don't ya?"

"Yeah", Dom agreed quietly. Ellie's eyes flashed as the flames of the bonfire reflected from them. "Can't hear ya, brother."

Dom's expression hardened. "Yes, lieutenant", he managed through gritted teeth.

"Good", Ellie said, not satisfied in the least. "Goddamn perfect! Now, sit your ass down and get some rest!"

Of course Dom stayed on his feet. With one more glare toward his sister, he turned his back on the camp and started pacing at its edge. Ellie glared back, before sitting back down and closing her eyes.

…... …... …...

Gunshots. Ellie woke up in a heartbeat, silently sitting up against the tree she had been leaning on. The whole team was awake now, looking equally alert and ready, but the shots had been fired somewhere right outside their range of vision. Aldo, who had been on watch, threw a couple of handfuls of wet dirt on the small fire, successfully suffocating the flame. Now they waited in complete darkness.

They could hear quiet footsteps approaching the camp and Ellie searched around to find Hertz, to send him off for an assassination. The man was already on his way and sure enough, soon they could hear a wheezing gurgle, the thump of a body hitting the ground and a loudly whispered 'Hermann! Was passiert?' from the nearby woods. Then they waited in silence again.

"Miss Ellie", someone whispered into her ear and she jumped a good half a meter. "Hertz", she breathed out and put a hand over her wildly beating heart. "Goddammit..."

"Sorry... But miss, there are more of them, just over that hill. I think they may have fired that shot by accident", Hertz told her. Ellie cursed under her breath. "Behind that there hill? The fuck... Any idea how many?"

"No, miss..."

"The hell they doin' here? Basterds, listen good", Ellie told her men in an urgent whisper, "gather what you can in silence. Then we'll head away from that there fuckin' hill. Y'all get that? Good."

The basterds rolled away their blankets and packed the food supplies swiftly with their experienced hands. A twig cracked somewhere between the campsite and the reported location of their enemy, and everyone froze.

"Hermann? Dietrich? Wo bist du?" someone called among the trees. Ellie's eyes were getting used to the dark fast, but she couldn't see the enemy yet. Fortunately, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and cried out a rather loud 'mein Gott!' when he, by the sound of it, literally stumbled upon the corpses of his friends. Unfortunately, he was not alone. Loud yelling started and even though only Stiglitz could understand their words, it wasn't too hard to guess they were ordered to search the nearby area for the guerrillas.

"Shit", Aldo hissed and loaded his gun. Others followed trait and Ellie signaled for them to remain silent and prepare to attack. Then they waited again. Soon the first enemy stepped into their sight. Hertz moved just like his nick name suggested, like a ghost, and slit the kraut's throat before the poor man had any idea what was going on. Another soldier followed not too far behind, yelling and shooting around blindly. Hertz dodged by leaping forward and kicking the gun off the enemy's hands. Then he stabbed him in the gut.

"Cover Hertz!" Ellie commanded as loud as she dared, without drawing too much unwanted attention. Two more krauts ran straight into their trap, but when a more skilled close-combat fighter kept Hertz occupied for just a little too long, Stiglitz and Donny jumped to his aid, while the rest kept up the covering fire.

When the enemy was finally defeated and no more German soldiers ran into their camp, the whole team stopped to catch their breaths. Ellie had jumped up to her feet, but never left the tree she was now heavily leaning on. "That all?" she asked no one in particular.

"So it would seem", Aldo answered, throwing his pack on his shoulder, his gun still in his hand. "But there might be another one of them patrols looking for us somewhere near. All the ruckus here'll be drawin' them straight to us."

"True", Ellie sighed, glancing up to the slowly lightening sky. "Let's do a quick check up on these poor bastards, we'll be needin' all the fire power we can find." She turned to Mike, in attempt to tell him to pick up anything that could help him build more explosives, but one more gunshot interrupted her. And when she saw Mike fall, she completely forgot her matter.

"There's one more!" Ulmer cried out unnecessarily, and started firing to the forest somewhere behind Ellie. She didn't notice. All she could see, was that her brother was down.

"No, no, no", she mumbled and tried to take a step forward, but the injured leg gave out under her. Not that she felt the pain, but the feeling of the world tilting made her reach for a tree to stay on her feet. Someone ran past her toward the spot Mike had stood on. "Dominick!" she cried out, immediately recognizing the tall form. She panicked momentarily – now another one of her brothers was rushing straight to the line of fire. A bullet flew past Dom's head, before a well aimed shot from Donny's gun hit the enemy square in the forehead.

"Mike!? Mike!" Dom called, falling down on his knees next to his brother and cradling his torso. Mike's face was covered by blood, but it was too dark for Dom to see the bullet wound. His hands started shaking. "Mike, you ain't dying like this, c'mon... You ain't dying on me now!"

Ellie stood there, frozen to the spot, staring at her siblings. Her head was empty. Her heart had all but stopped beating and her stomach had lurched into a tight knot. The silence around Dom and Mike's bubble was deafening. Until the bomber's eyes fluttered open.

"Wha... I ain't dying. Did ya punch me again?" he asked groggily. Dom closed his eyes and embraced Mike, squeezing his slender frame with everything he had. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing out and the shock he had just experienced was easing into uncontrollable trembling.

Hearing Mike's words released the tension among the men and Ellie let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Black dots danced behind her eyes and suddenly she could no longer stay on her feet. The wounded leg protested with intense pain as her knees hit the cold ground. Next to her Aldo was leaning his hands on his knees, apparently going through similar signs of relief as his children.

Utivich was the fastest to recover. He walked over to Mike and Dom, and the latter reluctantly eased his hold and allowed Mike to sit by himself. "What, hell ain't frozen over, is it?" Mike joked, looking at Dom curiously, while Uivich examined his head.

"Fucking bird brain", Dom snapped, lacking his usual malice. "You think you can just go ahead and die? I'll make this real clear to ya now – you ain't dying on me."

"I ain't dying", Mike repeated the phrase, that had almost formed into a mantra. He was still somewhat confused, but Utivich's words cleared the situation a bit. "If that kraut had known how to aim, though... Just a half an inch lower and you would've been done for", the medic said.

Mike placed a hand on his head and noticed that there was indeed quite a scratch. Running his hand a bit lower, he could feel a huge bump forming to the back of his head. "I was shot? I must've hit my head when I fell", he said. Then he snickered. "Gave y'all a scare didn't I..."

"Fuck, Mickey", Ellie said, her voice weak and cracking. Death was real, constantly following in their footsteps where ever they went, as long as they were in the enemy territory. She had always known that. Hell, Wicki had just died, how could she not? But Mickey was her weakness. He wasn't stupid, no, but a sense of reckless disregard for his own life was a feature he had always possessed. As if death was always hovering right above him, just waiting for that one mistake.

Not that Ellie didn't care about Aldo and Dom, and there was no denying her more recently blossomed feelings toward Donny, but they were strong alpha males, to worry about them would be an insult. But Mickey... Ellie's disorganized thoughts drifted to Wicki again. His death had taken its toll. If it was Mickey on that bedroll, pale, hurt, dying...

"Miss Ellie", Donny's voice said quielty. "What do we do?" Ellie looked up and saw the man standing behind her, arms crossed and the gaze of those damn dark eyes directed toward her. She took a deep breath to steady her heart and hardened her expression.

"Sergeant Donowitz", she said evenly, taking distance from the emotional load that threatened to overflow. "I want us movin' the second Utivich is done. This ain't a safe place to stay any longer."

"Yessir", Donny answered. "You heard the lieutenant! We lost a shitload of ammo just now, so start checking them corpses. Ready to leave in one minute!"

Ellie nodded her head lightly, accepting the orders as the team hurried to do as they were told. She waited until everyone was busy, before starting to pick herself up from the ground. As she had expected, it turned out to be a bit of a struggle. Her legs had stiffened from the cold radiating from the ground, but eventually she managed to straighten up. When the minute had passed, Mike was on his feet too, snickering like nothing ever happened. Dom was still by his side, standing with his arms folded tight and face rock hard.

"Basterds", Ellie called, silencing the men and drawing their attention to herself. "We're gonna walk, 'till our feet ain't nothing but blisters and then some. Then we're gonna take a little break. Then we're gonna walk again, until we reach that fucking plane that might take us back home. That's the plan. If any of you mutts have somethin' against this here plan, I want to hear it now. Not when we make camp, not when I'm sleeping; now. I need ya'll to remember, that you had a choice. Ya'll chose to stay and finish what we started. So, let's finish it."

"Seein' as I hear no objections", Aldo continued for her, "I'll just go ahead and tell ya'll the rest of what's gonna happen. When we get to Reims, we gonna find this guy called Adler. See, Adler has a little German plane he'll use to fly us out of here. Now, we gotta assume there are some krauts lookin' over this guy Adler property, so we ought to be ready to fight our way through. That is why that lil' break we're gonna be havin' could mean the difference between life and death, ya hear me? Now, let's get movin'."

Then they walked again, as Ellie had promised, until they started stumbling over their feet and struggling to draw a breath. Their legs ached and the chilly day made sweat feel cold against their skins. They had started their hike at the break of dawn, and when they finally stopped, the night was pitch black and the silver moon high up in the sky.

If Ellie was completely honest with herself, which she could not if she wanted to stay on her feet, she had needed a break for hours. She was limping. The pain had given way to a complete numbness – she couldn't feel injured leg at all and a fear of it giving out nagged in the back of his mind. She pushed it aside and kept placing one foot in front of the other, making sure to stay aware of her surroundings.

Donny and Stiglitz were walking last, making sure no one fell behind and covering for the rest of the team in case they were followed or ambushed. It had once again been an uneventful walk, so the latter part of their job was relatively easy, but keeping everyone together was getting harder and harder. Hertz kept falling behind.

"C'mon, now, Hertz", Donny said in a low voice, clasping a hand on his shoulder. "You don't wanna be left behind, do ya?"

Of course they wouldn't leave anyone behind, but these kind of words mixed in with the occasional encouragements helped the exhausted soldier keep going just a little longer. This time he only whimpered incoherently in response and made an effort to take a couple of longer steps, but it started to look obvious, that he wasn't going to walk for much longer. Donny gave Stiglitz a sideways glance, which the Dutchman answered with a slightly arched eyebrow. Just when Donny was about to head to the front of the group to tell Ellie they would need that break now, the team came to a halt.

"Let's make a camp here", the young lieutenant called, her voice hoarse. "There's a little pond just behind them trees over there, we can wash off some dirt and fill our water supplies. Ulmer, build a fire."

Ellie spent a long time sitting by the pond, soaking her feet in the cold water. The light of their campfire painted the trees with faint orange and she could hear her men talking quietly, even though she couldn't make out the words. She didn't know what she was doing there, when she should have been sleeping, resting her legs and gathering strength. For some reason, she really wanted to just sit there and... Wait.

"Don't freeze your legs off, miss Ellie", a quiet, playful voice said next to her and she let an unintentional smile slip onto her lips. "I guess that would be a little stupid."

Donny sat down, offering her a pair of socks to replace the ragged, blood-stained ones she had already disregarded. She mumbled a thanks and reached to take them, realizing how cold she actually was. When she started pulling her feet out of the water, she realized she could hardly bend them. She groaned in frustration and let them fall back in, clutching the socks in her hand and leaning forward, taking a deep breath.

"Here", Donny muttered, practically pulling her out of the pond and into his arms. Ellie had never felt so warm. When Donny tried to pry the socks from her grasp, she just swatted away his hand and curled shamelessly closer to his chest. He smelled like shit, but she figured she didn't really smell like roses either. Donny chuckled softly at her and closed his arms around her shuddering form. Both knew better than to speak.

Slowly the camp fell silent. Ellie savored the silence and enjoyed the warmth radiating from the man, allowing herself to momentarily forget where they were. The warmth was all that existed. But there was more, wasn't there... There was Donny, she thought sluggishly. Reluctantly she opened her eyes and looked up, pushing just a little further from him. Reaching up, she captured his chapped lips in a soft kiss. The moment was sweet, but soon Ellie had to admit they really needed to get some sleep. She pulled on the, well, less broken socks and the two headed back to camp. Utivich kept his eyes carefully downcast, but Ellie could have sworn she saw a slight knowing smile tug at the corners of his mouth.