Disclaimer: I don't own Band of Brothers. Eve is a character of my own creation. This is based on the characters in the miniseries, not the actual men.
Chapter 25
Field Hospital
Eve was hard at work when Guarnere finally found her after a half hour of searching. He grabbed her by the hand, pulling her to her feet.
"Bill, what are you doing?"
"We're leaving. I found us a ride back to Easy."
"Leaving?!" She exclaimed. "Bill, we haven't been cleared for duty yet. And I'm in the middle of re-organizing their---"
"Whatever it is..." Guarnere interrupted. "...they can take care of it and I don't care if we ain't been cleared yet. We're fine."
"It's against regulation to just leave the hospital." Guarnere grinned at her.
"That's why they call it goin' AWOL, sweetheart."
*** *** *** ***
Mourmelon, France
"How's Lieutenant Dike doing?" Lewis asked, glancing at Welsh.
"Three weeks in Holland and the guys are already calling him Foxhole Norman." Welsh replied with a small smirk and shake of the head.
"Well," Lewis began, settling into his chair. "They're talking about a Mid-March action at the earliest. So we train the guys for three months, we jump into Berlin, we end the war." Winters shook his head at how simple Lewis made it sound.
"The only thing holding together Easy Company are the NCO's; Toccoa men." Welsh and Lewis nodded in agreement as Winters' orderly knocked on the door, opened it.
"Sir, there's a Lieutenant Nixon and a Sergeant Guarnere here to see you." Lewis stood, a grin on his face as Eve and Guarnere walked in.
"Well look what the train brought in." Welsh chuckled.
"Hey." Lewis said to his sister before nodding at Guarnere. "The dare devil."
"Hey, Captain." Guarnere greeted.
"Welcome back Bill, Eve."
"Thanks." Eve smiled.
"Jesus, it's true. I never thought I'd see you behind a desk." Guarnere commented.
"Yeah, some day he'll sit behind it." Lewis quipped.
"Well I just went AWOL from the hospital to get back here, sir. I dragged E...Lieutenant Nixon here with me. She was workin' too hard, figured she could use a break. Hope that's not gunna cause you a problem." Winters glanced at him.
"Would you care if it did?" A slow grin spread over Guarnere's face.
"Not a bit, sir." He pulled a letter out from it's tucked in position on his belt. "Got a letter for you here from Moose--Lieutenant Heyliger, sir." Winters took the letter, glanced at Eve.
"He's recovering but it's gonna be a long haul." She replied to his unspoken question.
"Thanks."
"So, I, uh, hear there's gunna be a football game. Those chumps of the five-oh-deuce. Is that right?"
"Yup."
"Oh yeah. Christmas day."
"Great. Sky-trained boys. Can't wait. Isn't that great, Lieutenant?" Guarnere asked, looking at Eve.
"Oh yeah." She muttered sarcastically. "Great." A slightly awkward silence descended upon the room and Guarnere decided it was time to escape.
"Well, uh, I'll just go find some trouble."
"You do that." Guarnere glanced at Eve.
"I'll catch up with you later." She said quietly. He nodded, turned to go.
"Hey, Bill?" Winters called him back.
"Sir?"
"No more joyriding, right?" Guarnere smiled, shook his head. He took another step to go but then stopped again, pulling a card from his pocket. "Oh, uh, anybody ever heard of a little joint called Lulu's?" Everyone shook their heads.
"Got me."
"I'll just ask around." Raising his eyebrows once at Eve, Guarnere left, the orderly closing the door behind him. With him gone, all eyes turned on Eve.
"Before you ask, I'm fine. Still hurts from time-to-time but it's nothing I can't handle."
"Are you sure you're ready to be back?" Winters asked, fixing her with a searching look. Eve nodded.
"Positive."
"Good. We need you."
"Can't say you just missed her, can you Dick?" Welsh joked, rising to give Eve a hug. "Welcome back." Eve smiled.
"Thanks." Welsh then moved aside so Lewis could greet his sister properly.
"You look good." Lewis said after looking her over for a good minute and a half. Eve smiled.
"You do too." Lewis chuckled.
"Sure I do. How was your vacation in the hospital?"
"Well spent. Almost felt like it was a time of endings. Endings of wound innocence, amongst other things." She didn't need to elaborate; Lewis knew what she meant. He nodded in approval.
"Good."
"Well," Eve said, clapping her hands together. "I've gotta go say my hello's and see what kind of mess Roe and Spina have made of our supplies while I was gone."
"Have fun."
"Oh, I'm sure I'll have loads." Giving them a final smile, Eve left the office.
*** *** *** ***
"Well, well, well, here comes Mr Motorcycle himself." Toye said, rising to his feet to hug Guarnere.
"Yeah, figured I stayed away long enough." Guarnere joked as he greeted everyone else in the room. "I brought Eve back with me too." The guys automatically started looking for her over his head. "She's still talkin' with Winters and the others."
"How's she doin'?" Martin asked. "Bull gave us an update when he came back but that was awhile ago."
"She's doin' fine." Guarnere replied. "And I'm sure she'll be here soon so save all yer friggin' questions for her." Shaking his head, Guarnere headed over to Babe, who hadn't greeted him yet and was currently sitting off to the side, looking downtrodden. "Hey." Guarnere said, falling into the seat next to him.
"Hey." Babe muttered. Guarnere frowned.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Nuthin'."
"Bullshit nuthin'. What?" Guarnere prompted. Babe finally looked at him.
"You know Eve was involved with Speirs from Dog Company, didn't you?" Guarnere had to bite back a smirk at Babe's petulant-like attitude.
"Is that all?" He asked casually. Babe glared at him. "Yeah, I knew. But---"
"Why didn't you tell me?! I asked you flat out if she was involved with someone!"
"I know, Heffron, and I'm---"
"I was this close to making a fool of myself!"
"Babe!" Guarnere snapped. "If you'd let me get a goddamn word in, I'd be able to tell you the good news I got."
"What?" Guarnere grinned, threw an arm over Babe's shoulders.
"Eve called it off with Speirs. They ain't seein' each other no more."
A/N: So I made this chapter a little shorter than planned mostly because the next chapter is probably gunna be filled with a lot of Eve and Babe pre-fluff, because we have to speed things up between them to two of them...lol...hope you enjoyed!!