We had learnt that Major Horton had died. It was hard to deal with but not as hard to deal with as Captain Winters promotion. He was made the new Executive officer of 2nd Battalion. He wasn't going to be fighting with us. The strongest, bravest and most tactical of all our leaders wasn't going to be fighting with us. He was going to be stuck in an office and far off the line. Naturally, I was pleased that it almost ensured Winters safety through the rest of the war, but we knew as much as Colonel Sink knew that Winters wanted to remain with his Company. He was that loyal to Easy that he almost refused the promotion but of course he had to take it, no one would refuse Colonel Sink unless they were an idiot.
Moose Heyliger took over Easy Company in Winters place. He was a good enough guy but no had a patch on Winters. Heyliger lead us through Operation Pegasus. It was nothing like any operation. There was no jump, no mass opposition, no months of preparation and no studying of endless sand tables. It was a quick and fairly straight forward mission. Collect the trapped English Soldiers from across a river and get them across to our side. It sounds straight forward but maybe a little too straight forward to what it was actually like. But, never the less, three trips across the river later, we had rescued 140 Brits.
The whole operation was both a thrilling and annoying experience. It was great to see the looks of the Brit's faces when they saw me. Of course, I had forgotten about my new found fame until then. A lot of Easy weren't exactly thrilled with the idea of saving 'Bloody Brit Boys'. But they had a job to do and by God they did it.
A few of the men made little snide comments about the British security signal of "Leicester" "Square" as soon as they emerged from the tree line in their khaki uniforms and red berates. I got a little defensive about the whole Brit v American rivalry and told them that our call of "Flash "Thunder" was far more stupid since it had no real meaning. Or at least that's what I thought.
The British weren't all exactly pleased to have to be saved by us but never the less they were grateful as anyone would be. They wore their English 'stiff upper lips' and bloody well got on with it. One of them even said that he had 'never been so pleased to see a bloody yank'.
When we got all the Brits safely across the river and back to our base, the rivalry seemed to have completely halted.
The British 'Red Devils,' (hence the red berates), and Easy Company had gathered in the large barn to celebrate. Everyone was swopping war experiences and gloating about how much each country had done but it was all done on the friendliest of terms.
I had got along well with a particular young English chap called 'Tommy'. Oh the irony. He was a great laugh. He made me feel guilty, almost like I had betrayed my country. He didn't do it intentionally of course. When he told me about how long and hard the war has been for the British, it made me feel like I should have helped sooner. England had been at war since 1939 whereas America only joined in 1941. It had been a long war for us both but especially for my own people.
"Wahai Mohammed!" shouted one of the Red Devils, standing on a box.
I had no idea what the hell that meant and neither did any of Easy but we joined in with our Allies and shouted back.
"Wahai Mohammed!"
Whatever the hell it meant.
Another, presumably a higher rank, stood next to the guy on the box.
He tilted his bottle of liquor and said "Moose Heyliger and the American 101st have done the Red Devils a great service"
Everyone nodded and shouted in agreement. Lieb smirked at me from across the room and arched his eyebrow as if to say "Plus a Brit".
The Red Devil continued "Making it possible for us to return and fight the enemy another day"
Everyone cheered and I took a large gulp of my liquor much to Tommy's surprise who was gaping at me. He grinned sensually at me, making me feel a little uneasy. He was clearly fairly drunk because he could barely stand.
"To Easy Company, victory and Currahee!"
My ears pricked up at Curahee and we all shouted back as loud as we could "Curahee!"
"Boo" I heard Tommy randomly shout in my ear causing me to splash my liquor all over my chin.
"Shit" I wiped my mouth "are you ok?" I asked.
Tommy was staring at me. He was swaying slightly from side to side, his liquor sloshing around in his bottle with the motion of his gentle movement.
"I'm great" he slurred "I'm perfect" he stumbled towards me and placed his clammy hand on my cheek.
"Wow" I tried to pull his hand away "Tommy, you're stinkin drunk"
His grasp tightened as he said "Give us a kiss love"
I couldn't push him off, despite all the training that had vastly improved all aspects of my strength. I dropped my head and screwed my eyes shut as his lips drew closer to mine. But our lips never met.
When I opened my eyes, I could see Tommy on the floor, hands clutched to his face. Knelt down beside him was a concerned comrade and stood beside me was Liebgott with quacking fists.
"I'm so sorry, Miss" Tommy's Red Devil comrade called out to me apologetically "he isn't normally like that I can assure you"
I blinked a few times, trying to make sense of it all, it happened so quickly.
I shook my head thoughtfully "Uh, don't worry about it" I managed to say.
Lieb was frowning at the ground but it wasn't in anger.
I stoked Lieb's shoulder gently and the sudden contact made me flinch a little.
"I'm so sorry" he said "I don't know what came over me"
I laughed a little "Really? Not as if you've always been a little fiery"
He raised his eyebrows at me, rolled his eyes then smirked.
"Here you go buddy" Lieb said as he reached down to assist Tommy back to his feet. Tommy's comrade placed Tommy's hand in Liebs and they both yanked him off the ground.
Tommy swayed from side to side a lot more uncontrollably than before which was understandable considering he had just received a hell of a knuckle sandwich from Lieb. Without a fuss or without creating any commotion, Tommy was escorted out of the barn to rest his probably throbbing head.
When Tommy was safely outside of the barn I turned to Lieb and said "Thank you"
Lieb's eyes immediately fell from mime and he said to the floor "You're welcome"
I nudged him in the side "I mean it"
He stared back into my eyes this time. I was so transfixed that I could have sworn I saw constellations in his cappuccino brown eyes.
He leant his face slowly towards mine. I could feel my breath becoming more and more uneasy as he got closer and closer.
We were so close, so close...but the Luz came charging over and hip butted me. His sudden collision with my hip nearly knocked me to the floor. My liquor poured out all over my uniform leaving me with sopping wet clothes.
"Good evening chaps" Luz said as snootily as he could manage.
Liebgott sighed "Hi, Luz" he drawled.
"You idiot" I moaned and patted down my uniform as best I could. Luz and Lieb laughed outrageously. I rolled my eyes and smirked "Okay, ha ha very funny"
Suddenly music started playing from somewhere in the barn. One of the Red Devils had found a dusty old phonograph. The music was a little crackly and distorted but it was sung in Dutch anyway so no one could really understand it. I believe that it doesn't matter if music is written in a foreign language because music speaks to us all one way or another.
The song was fairly up beat with a consistent rhyme. I started to tap my foot and swing my hips slightly from side to side while Luz pranced about like a baboon. A lot of the men were dancing on the spot, clicking their fingers and taping their feet on the hay riddled floor. The taps turned to loud stamps as the men got more and more in to the song. The stamps caused such a vibration in the wood that the hay started to dance too.
I caught Lieb's eye, he smirked, held out his hand to me and turned his head to the circle that already forming around us. I could only wonder why a circle began to form around Lieb and I even before we had started dancing but maybe the Easy men had turned everyone's attention to me because I usually took it in turns to dance with them all. I didn't mind, I didn't mind at all. I wasn't the best dancer but no one seemed to care.
I placed my hand in Lieb's and he pulled me in closer. I placed my other hand on his shoulder and he slipped his around my waist. Everyone began to cheer as we started to dance. Lieb swirled me around and around like he usually did but unlike London I had no pretty skirt to twirl with me.
"You go girl!" Skip shouted as Lieb spun me into his arms. His outburst made me blush a little but i laughed it off.
Back home, I hated dancing, but when you're at war the littlest things make you happy and for a brief moment you forget.
Little did we know, at that very moment when we were all dancing and laughing, Moose Heyliger was shot by a nervous replacement and quickly whisked off to hospital with Doc Roe, while we were all busy trying to forget about the war.
Webster went to Hospital a few days prior to that night. I didn't anticipate how long he would be away.
I had danced with almost every single man in that barn. My feet throbbed and my head swooned out of control. I plonked myself down on one of the boxes as soon as I got the chance. I let my weight flop all over the chair not that I actually had much choice, my body seemed to do that bit on its own. I could feel my forehead clamming up in a cold sweat. I clasped my aching head with my hand and the heat immediately radiated into it. God, I felt rough, but there were still some men that I hadn't danced with and it was the least I could do for them.
Skip and Penkala spotted me and waltzed over.
"Geezus Christ" Skip laughed "You look terrible"
I scowled "Oh gee, thanks"
"Come one" Penkala hoisted me off the box "let's take her outside"
"Okay" Skip said patronisingly "let's go cupcake" Skip took my other arm and they lead me outside, much to my displeasure.
"I'm fine, really" I said, trying to make them stop. I had to dance. I let my weight take me to the floor, making it harder for them to assist me out.
"Don't make me carry you" Penkala chuckled.
"Okay Okay!" I yelled, giving in.
They lead me through bustles of men, all staring at the hopeless mess that I was. Those men hadn't seen females for so long and all they had to show for it was me...poor poor sods.
The barn door creaked as Skip used his butt to open it.
"You see what that was Skip" I began but paused as soon as the cool night air hit me "You know what that was?" Skip and Penk looked at me like I was mental as they set me down on a pile of medical boxes a little down the road. "That was the door screaming because you have such a fat ass" I slurred.
Skip laughed outrageously "She is stinkin drunk!"
"Not as drunk as she was when we got our jump wings" Penkala said, shaking his head and smiling at the memory.
"Shut up-" I began but bile started to build up in my throat. I gagged and clutched my hand with my mouth and stared at them with wide eyes. They stepped back awkwardly to try and avoid getting sick all over them. The bile subsided and I whispered "Okay, I think that was a false alarm"
Just as I said that the sick charged up my throat, out through my mouth and all over my shoes.
"Okay let it out" Skip said calmly and patted my back as I threw up continuously.
Once I was sure that all the sick had made its way out, I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. It was a huge relief to get all of that out of me. I hadn't realised that I had drunk unimaginable amounts of liquor that night and so I had to pay the consequences.
"There we go" Penkala smiled and patted my back "Better-"
Skip interrupted "-Out than in"
I gave them both a suggestive look "You know you two could be a thing"
Penkala raised his eyebrow "What?"
I smirked "Well if you two keep finishing each other's sentences like that you might as well get together" I nudged them both suggestively.
Skip winked at Penkala and moved up next to him with one slow slid of his feet. Penkala winked back.
"I love you Penkala" Skip said sarcastically.
I laughed at their little display "Alright alright stop you're killing me"
Penkala poked me in the side and said "So are you feeling better now? After taking our advice"
I rolled my eyes and smirked "Much better"
"I hate to say we told you so" Skip said smugly.
I kicked them both in the butt "Shut up you smug bastards"
"Oi!" Skip protested, rubbing his behind.
"Sometimes, it's hard to believe that you're a lady" Penkala said patronisingly.
"Sometimes, it's hard to believe that I don't care" I replied.
"Ohh" Skip laughed "she's smart this one"
"Shut up Skip" I said and pulled out a smoke and lighter.
"Love you too, Shorty" Skip batted his eyelashes at me, clearly hinting to get a smoke.
"Love you three" Penkala added, batting his eyelashes at me as well.
I sighed, shook my head, reached into my pack, handed each of them a smoke and said "Love you four...but don't think you're getting that for free!" I shouted "You owe me"
"Rose?" I could hear Lieb's voice calling me from the entrance of the barn "Shorty?!"
"Lieb!" I stood up and called him over "I'm...we're...we..." I could feel the bile rising in my throat again. I gagged and held my hand to my mouth.
"Oh god" Penkala sighed and he moved back "here we go again"
I threw up all over my shoes again. I'll spare the grouse details but it wasn't pleasant. Lieb ran over when he saw my throwing my guts up all over my feet and Skip's.
Skip rubbed my back again and whispered "Okay, let it out let it out"
"Oh Shit" Lieb said when he reached us. I didn't want to look up because I knew I must have looked like shit and I didn't want Lieb to see me like that..
"Guys?" Luz called from over by the farm door.
"Just following the smell of Shorty's sick!" Skip yelled cleverly "You should find us"
"Oh shut u-" I snapped back angrily but I was stopped by a further current of sick. Luz had run over just in time to see it, joined by Malarkey. They all laughed hysterically at me.
"Oh Geezus Christ" Luz cried, trying not to laugh anymore "Well this is delightful"
I lifted my head, wiped my mouth and pushed my hair out of my eyes "Okay" I said slowly "I think I'm fine. I think that was it"
"That really does smell beautiful" Malarkey said sarcastically, screwing up his nose.
"Oh gee, I'm sorry I don't have Rose scented puke!" I snapped but managed to smile.
"Yeah, you should be" Malarkey nudged me and I nearly feel in my puke pile.
"Why the fuck don't you have Rose scented puke, Shorty?" Skip raised his eyebrows at me and winked.
"Oh piss off" I moaned and stuck my tongue out at him.
Lieb put his arms around my shoulders and gave me a cute little hug from behind.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Wonderful" I whispered.
Luz caught my eye. He was exchanging suggestive glances with the others. I think Lieb must have noticed it too because he broke our perfect hug and slouched casually.
"So" I said suddenly, trying to avoid any of Luz's conspiracy theories about that hug which was obviously just innocent. "Do you guys want to go back in?"
Malarkey screwed up his nose "No, but I do want to move away from your sick"
Luz chuckled and we all side stepped as far away as possible from my puke pile. Gross.
"Better?" I asked Malarkey, when we had found a new spot.
He nodded "Better"
"Well, you could go and brush your teeth" Skip suggested.
I suddenly started to taste the sick in the back of my throat.
"Oh" I said "Yeah that would be a good idea"
"Mhmm" Luz nodded his head enthusiastically "Well you know where to find tooth paste"
They all chuckled. I had no idea why.
"Have I missed something?" I asked.
They all looked at me like I was stupid, like what they said was so obvious.
"Perconte..." Luz said.
"Oh god!" I shouted and hide my face in embarrassment "That was stupid of me"
"Mhmm, it was" Skip agreed and I slapped him on the back of the head playfully.
Perconte had an obsession with cleaning his teeth. He would pull out his tooth brush and tube of paste at any random moment and start cleaning his already pearl whites. Once he even pulled out his toothbrush during a movie that was showing at Camp Taccoa.
Luz yawned really loudly and stretched his arms out to the sky.
"I'm sorry, are we keeping you up?" I asked sarcastically.
"By a matter of fact, yes" Luz stated and winked at me.
Malarkey rubbed his eyes and mumbled "I'm kind of tired too"
It was so adorable how Malarkey rubbed his tired little eyes and I really wanted to just hug him. I had gotten so used to acting like a man and constantly making jokes out of everything that I actually got surprised by my feminine emotions.
"Aw twinkle toes" I said patronisingly "Do you want us to take you to bed, tuck you in and read you a story so you can go nu-nights?"
They all laughed, including Malarkey, but like usual Luz's laugh was by far the most dominant.
Malarkey pouted like a little boy "Yes please mummy"
"Hey Malark, you want a bottle of milk with that story?" Luz cried.
"How about a pacifier, to go along with that?" Lieb added.
Malarkey screwed his "Okay, too far boys, too far" I kicked him gently in the shin "and girl!"
I suddenly remembered that I had lit my smoke. I patted my pockets furiously, desperately trying to find my precious smoke.
"What?" Lieb asked.
"Skip, Penkala did you see where I put my smoke?" I asked impatiently.
They both shrugged.
"Maybe you left it back over there" Lieb said and ran over to the unsanitary part of the path were I had thrown up about four bottles of liquor "Ugh!" Lieb cried out "You might want to lit a new one"
"Why?" I asked.
"It may be a little..." Lieb paused "well it's kind of drenched with your puke"
Luz laughed outrageously "Now that is beautiful" he nudged me "I know smokes are precious but Geezus Christ Shorty don't smoke that"
I screwed up my face and stared Luz down "Do you really think I'm that disgusting?"
Luz nodded then winked.
We heard slow approaching footsteps from behind us. We all turned quickly to see who it was. I could see a dark figure walking towards us. He had his hands behind his back and he was walking slowly. I knew it was Winters even before his face came into sight.
He smiled awkwardly at us "Hello"
We all straighten ourselves up and replied "Hello, Sir"
He blew a short rush of air out of his nose before saying "At ease men"
"Is everything okay, Sir?" I asked. He didn't look like his usual self. He seemed to be somewhere else entirely, somewhere in the clouds. He might have smiled but I could see straight through it.
He shook his head briefly then hesitated "Lieutenant Heyliger has been injured"
We were all already silent but when he informed us everybody stopped any sort of shuffling. It was so quite that you could hear a pin drop.
"Sir, what happened?" Malarkey asked, asking the question we all wanted to know the answer to.
Winters looked at the ground and sighed "Nervous replacement. He shot Heyliger and he is in the hospital" Winters swallowed "Doc Roe went with him"
No one spoke. I think we all needed a moment to digest the news.
"Get some sleep" Winters smiled falsely at us before turning away.
Naturally, we all obeyed our most respected Winters. Not one of us spoke about it to any bar each other. The moment we reached our barracks, the conversation stopped and we went to sleep.
...
We remained in Holland for about three weeks under the leadership of our new C.O Norman Dike. We had already nicknamed him "Foxhole Norman" because he never did any fighting. He constantly stayed back and hid in his foxhole while the rest of us did all the dirty work. He was in no way fit to command our company.
Moose Heyliger was ok. He was still injured and to our understanding wouldn't be back to command us during this war. It was Foxhole Norman or nothing.
A/N
Kaitsu Himaru thanks for the review! I wanted to make sure that I included some of the important parts from both the book and the tv show.
As usual, thanks for reading! It means a lot! Keep reading and reviewing :)
