Liebgott caught sight of me a few moments after I saw him. We locked eyes and for a minute, neither of us moved or said anything. But then I felt my feet move forward involuntarily and he moved forward too. We met in the middle, and I quickly wrapped my arms around him, hugging him as tightly as I could. Liebgott's arms tightened around me, holding me close.
"Missed ya, Di," Liebgott muttered. We separated and I caught sight of his neck. A thick, pale pink scar marked where the bullet had hit him.
"I see your neck is all patched up," I said, nodding at it. Liebgott straightened and I noticed that some black stubble had started to grow on his chin.
"Still don't see why I had to go all the way to England to get patched up. This was nothing you couldn't handle." Liebgott said. I found myself straightening at the compliment. Liebgott looked around at the surrounding forest. "So how long have you all been here?"
"A few days," I replied.
Liebgott nodded slightly to himself. "I better check in with Winters and Nixon. See ya, Di." I nodded at him as he walked away. I watched him leave, and right before I turned around to go back into the forest, I saw Liebgott glance over his shoulder at me.
For the next few hours I moved about the foxholes. I tended to small wounds and saw to the frostbite that the men had. Snow started falling again around late afternoon and pretty soon everyone was covered in a fine layer of the stuff. Finally, the sun disappeared and the woods were shrouded with darkness.
"I think I know your secret, Di." Skip said as I wrapped up his fingers in some stuffing I got from a coat. Skip's fingers were tinted blue.
"What secret?" I asked, finishing the bindings.
"You look warmer than I do," Skip said as if it was obvious. "It's because you're running all over the place." I let out a small laugh, letting go of his hands.
"When was the last time you slept, McCall?" Penkala asked from his small corner of the foxhole. He was wearing an extra pair of socks on his hands. I paused, knowing I hadn't slept for the past two days. I told this to Penkala and he shook his head. "Go to bed, McCall."
"I will when I make sure everyone is alright." I replied, stifling a yawn as I said it. Penkala snorted and I scrambled out of their foxhole and into one farther away.
I landed in Liebgott's foxhole where he was the only one there. I sat down beside him and glanced around. "Who's supposed to be in here with you?" I asked.
"Toye," Liebgott said. He had his hands shoved into his armpits. "He left to go take a piss." I thought about how I used to hate hearing about the guys going off to find a spot to relieve themselves, but now I just grunted and said nothing. "You makin' your rounds?"
"Yeah," I said, huffing. I caused a giant cloud to leave my mouth and float into the air. "How're you doing? Are your feet okay?" The feet of the men were getting bad. They'd turn blue and frostbite would set in.
"My feet feel cold," Liebgott said shortly. "My fingers hurt like hell, though."
"Let me see," I ordered. Without waiting for his permission, I grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands out of their hiding place. I made sure to keep my face guarded when I saw his blue tinted fingers. I held his fingers tightly within my own and rubbed them between my hands. Liebgott watched me carefully and moved closer so that we weren't so far apart. Out of instinct, I moved closer to him as well and held his fingers up to my mouth, blowing hard on them, trying to warm them.
We sat close together for a while as I worked on trying to warm his fingers. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the extra pair of socks I had before slipping them onto Liebgott's hands. "Put your hands back up your armpits." I said. "Try and keep them warm as much as you can."
"Yes ma'am," Liebgott said with a slight laugh. Although I still had rounds to do, I stayed in that foxhole with him. We were pressed up against one another, trying to share each other's warmth. After a few minutes, I realized that I had my head resting on Liebgott's shoulder, and I could feel his sock covered hand on top of my leg. Then I heard a huff of laughter from him. "Toye's taking a long piss."
I laughed. "I should probably get back on those rounds." Reluctantly, I separated from Liebgott and got ready to leave the foxhole.
"You're coming back later, right?" Liebgott asked. I looked over my shoulder at him and smirked slightly.
"If I didn't know any better," I said. "I'd say that you'd miss me."
Liebgott snorted with amusement. "Nothing like that, I just don't wanna lose any fingers." He held up his sock-covered hands. I laughed shortly at him and crawled out of the foxhole right as Toye was returning.
"Lovely evening we're having, Di." Toye said.
"The loveliest," I answered before continuing on to the next foxhole. Toye let out a laugh before falling back into his foxhole. I shook my head and continued on my rounds. The next foxhole I ended up in belonged to Lipton and Luz.
"Could you check my toes, Di?" Luz asked right upon seeing me. I nodded and he started untying his shoelaces. Lipton was asleep in the corner, his helmet almost falling off of his head. Luz finished taking off his shoes and looked at my face while I checked his toes. "You okay, Di?"
I glanced at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"Your face is flushed," Luz pointed out. "Did you just come from Lieb's foxhole?" I jerked my head up, narrowing my eyes at him. Luz snorted. "Don't worry; I'm not telling anyone. I just knew that his hole is right next-"
"Liebgott is just another soldier, Luz." I said firmly, ignoring the heat rising in my face. Luz blinked and smirked.
"Whatever you say, McCall." Luz leaned back with that damned smirk on his face. My face was burning even more now. I looked back down to his exposed toes: they were pale but not blue.
"Your feet are fine," I said before pulling myself out of the foxhole. Luz called out a goodbye right as I disappeared from the foxhole.