"Come on, Jemmie. Open the door." I was still pacing back and forth in my own room, the door locked and my own mind was still going on overdrive with the fact that my brother killed somebody. This was not like him, not the brother I grew up with and played with as children. No, he was someone else that I despised and hated. This is what I feared would happen to either one of us, losing ourselves in the war and no longer being the same person that we are when we entered the army. Well, I knew we were going to change, but not like this.

"Jemmie, please open the door. I wanna talk to you." Joe pleaded against the door, tapping it with his knuckles as I was still walking around my couch now in the sitting room. I was trying so hard not to yell at him from what I saw on his jacket sleeve. Since we left the camps, I knew he wasn't the same. He morphed and changed into something that scared me whenever I would look at him.

"Listen, I didn't kill him. That was Sisk, I swear." I froze in my walk on the hardwood floor, the freezing of the vibrations that was giving off with my army boots rang throughout the room and into the hallway, which was why Joe stopped tapping the door and I could hear his own footsteps on the other side of the wooden frame.

"Jemmie, let me tell you what happened, okay? Please let me in." He pleaded in more of a softer manner, and I closed my eyes in defeat and sadness. I knew I owed him enough to hear him out and get some kind of explanation, but I was still hesitant to do so. Slowly I walked over to the door, unlocking it and opening the door slowly. Joe was there in front of me, not moving at all and his hands were fidgeting with his army pants at his sides. I didn't move either, not wanting him to come in yet or try to get into my space. So I kept one hand on the door handle and the other on the frame to block him from coming in, my eyes keeping the same intense stare that I've had on my face for the past hour that I've locked myself in my room.

"You didn't kill him?" I asked though my voice was still low and threatening, seeing him shift uncomfortably in his spot in front of me as I searched his eyes to see if he was going to tell me the truth.

"I tried to….but Sisk took the shot." Joe explained to me, his voice was a bit on the edge of gravel and uncertainty. I eyed him, seeing that this too was making him feel a bit off. I wrapped my fingers around the door frame.

"Who was he?" I asked him coolly, my eyes going back to the jacket sleeve and seeing the blood there and I instantly looked away. It was too much to look at, at least to me it was.

"A German Officer," Joe explained, having me cringe and squeeze the frame tightly in my fingers, "He worked at one of the camps and I was tipped by someone where he lived."

"And what were you doing to prove by killing him?" I asked him carefully, trying so hard not to scream at him at how stupid this was and how he was practically asking to get himself killed. And Officer? Was he out of his mind this time?

"What?" He asked, not getting what I was asking him.

"Why did you go after him, Joe." I asked him again, changing the phrasing but keeping the same question on my tongue. Joe then realized what I was saying, shifting a bit in his spot in front of me and giving me an intense stare. He knew where I wanted to take this conversation, and he was about to be stubborn.

"Because of what he did to those people in those camps. He killed them all, Jemmie." Joe countered with me, his voice was still low enough for just me to hear but I could tell the pain there in his voice.

"So you decided to go and get even with someone who was just taking orders?" I argued with him, seeing him shake his head and I shoved myself away from him with my hand that was on the door and I walked back to the sitting room. Joe followed me this time, but hearing his footsteps give a stomp or two showed that he was not liking how I was talking to him.

"That's not what this was, Jemmie." Joe tried to reason with me, but I whirled around again and I jabbed him with my finger into his chest.

"No, this is exactly what this is, Joe. You are trying to get back at someone who was only taking orders from someone else, maybe he had no idea what the fuck was going on!" I argued with him now, the both of us were close enough where I could tell this was about to be beyond real as an argument.

"You defending him?!" Joe asked with his voice going a bit louder.

"I will always defend you, Joe. You're my brother and I love you to death, but Goddamnit this was the stupidest thing you would have ever done in your life!" I screamed at him, hearing nothing else, but my voice ringing out along the walls of the room and Joe staring at me with wide eyes. I haven't yelled at him this bad since France when I called him out on his attitude to Webster. After I said that to him, I felt myself no longer completely angry with him but now just in more pain that I thought I would, since this was my own twin brother that I was yelling at. I hated this, beyond hating this as the anger was coiling up around me again.

"Joe you're…..you're not the same brother I grew up with. You've changed, and I hate it." I confessed to him in such a sorrowful tone that it sounded like I was being stabbed over and over again in the heart from what he did without telling me a single thing about it.

"Jemmie….I'm still your brother. You know that right?" He asked me, with some hope back in his voice though it was still sounding like he was about to break. From what I told him, how he changed in front of me and I hated it, it sounded like it was making him feel bad from what he was doing to me. I shook my head slowly, seeing the pain in his eyes.

"Honestly, Joe? I don't even know who you are anymore." I confessed back in such a harsh whisper that it felt like I stabbed him in true heart from how I said it, seeing the color on his face fade from what I said and I just sunk onto the couch, feeling it sink in a bit before. I hid my face in my hands, not wanting to see the pain on his face any more from the truth I told him. I just breathed in and out slowly, though my hand started to twitch and I had it rest on my kneecap now. For a second I didn't hear him walk over, nor did I feel the couch dip when he sat next to me, but it was when he grasped my shaking hand in his own that I finally looked up and over at him with glossy eyes, seeing him hold my hand that was riding out the seizure slowly. He said nothing at first, but only sat there with me and I only breathed in and out unevenly.

"I never meant to change, Jemmie," He explained in his more soothing fashion, though I stayed still and said nothing as his thumb that was on top of my hand started to rub the skin there, "I was angry for what he did, what they did, to our people."

"I'm mad too, Joe. But I wasn't going to let it consume me." I replied back, seeing him eye me now with the hurt still in his eyes.

"You think it consumed me?" Joe asked me carefully, no longer defensive but curious.

"I think it was about to," I replied back, seeing him think to himself for another moment or two. I hated thinking about it, how my brother was morphing into someone that I was not familiar with. I then felt him leaned his body against my own, our shoulders touching and there was a softness about the both of us again.

"I was ordered to go and kill him, Jemmie. This wasn't personal." Joe reassured me, having me shake my head against his as we were sitting on the couch together.

"It seemed like it though," I muttered back at him. I didn't want to talk anymore, it felt like it was too much for me to yell and teach him over and over again. It was too exhausting at this point, and all, I wanted him to do, was see what he was doing and see that it was killing him from the inside out. I then felt Joe rest hit forehead against my shoulder, breathing out slowly and having me tense up next to him as he still held my hand. I have missed these times together, Joe and I just being close and not having shame about it. But it was in this moment when I felt him become more vulnerable in front of me, exposing himself in a raw manner that he would never show to the rest of the men.

"I'm so sorry, Jemmie." Joe said into my shoulder, seeing that I was still hurting from what he did and I just leaned my head against his shoulder, no longer angry with him but just glad that he knew where I was coming from. I could only be angry with him for so long and lash out at him for far too long before he would have enough from me. He could take it from the others in our group, but not from his sister. I just kissed his head that was close to me, feeling him squeeze my hand in his.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Joseph Liebgott." I urged him against his skin with my lips, and the conversation was over and down with. I had no energy left with the fight with him, because he knew what he did and he was already breaking down in front of me because of it.

"I promise I won't Jemmie."

More days came and went, and the town was becoming more of our home and less of a place we were occupying. Winters was trying to keep us busy, running drills and getting us all training for when we reach the Pacific and help with those boys. I was still on the fence whether or not I was going on the boat with the men or going on the boat back home. Eugene wanted me to go home so that I wouldn't get hurt anymore, yet I was still holding onto the hope that I would go with the men and protect them some more. It sounded selfish on my end, where I was coming from, yet I didn't want it any other way.

Joe and I never talked about the incident with the Officer, though Webster pulled me aside and told me what happened from his point of view, He could tell Joe was coming from a bad place and this was eating him up inside, though Webster tried to stop him and have him think. Sisk was just reluctant too, though he was the one who pulled the ultimate trigger when Joe only sliced him. Webster reassured me that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Thank God for Webster, and for how he was always trying to be the peacemaker. We both were peacemakers, and I think he needed to be my own moral compass at that point than the other way around.

One of the colder nights in the summer, I was going out on a walk to go and find Eugene and spend some time with him, shoving my book that I was holding my jacket, right on my chest since there was no other place to have it in. The stars were out that night, and we were getting reports of other Companies coming into the other local towns nearby that too were deserted and also being stuck because they didn't have enough points to send them home. We would take jeeps back and forth for supplies and information, not to mention visit other men from other companies since we were getting so bored and restless. I was walking along the streets when I saw Grant pull up in a jeep with one other private in his jeep in the back.

"Sergeant Liebgott, you need a lift to the other Company for supplies?" Grant asked me, having me see him look over at me with his big eyes and one hand on the wheel. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know what I needed since I left my satchel back at the office and I was just in my own uniform.

"I don't see why not. Better than walking around and freezing my ass off." I replied back, hopping into the jeep next to him and we rode off down the paved road.

"Figured you needed some stuff, and I'm bored." Grant explained as I grinned at him, seeing us leave the cool town and going into darkness. As we drove, I looked up at the stars and I saw the trees passing by in such a fast pace as the wind dusted off on my face, having me pull my jacket closer to my chest and close my eyes. For a some reason, I picture I was back at the Bay, the stars there were clouding my mind like a drug and how I could hear the waters of the beaches and bay in my head. I missed home far too much, seeing the colorful buildings around me and hearing the voices of my neighbors, the hot summers and cool winters, warm rain touching my skin and the fog in the early mornings. I wanted to be home.

It was decided.

"Jem, hey, wake up Jem." Grant shoved me gently, having me blink and rub my eyes. I must have fallen asleep on the ride since we were now at a dead stop and he was looking right ahead of us. We were on the side of the road, another jeep was there and two bodies were on the floor. I froze in my spot in the jeep, seeing another soldier standing in front of the other jeep with a pistol in hand and he was obviously drunk. I could see it in his face and how he was standing, Grant getting out of the jeep and I blinked a few times in the jeep, not wanting to move.

"You okay, Mac? You need some help?" He asked the soldier now, who was now looking at him and holding the pistol like it was some kind of celebratory stick, not as a weapon.

"They wouldn't give me any gas. Krauts! I tried to explain….this fuckin' limey wouldn't listen." I looked over to where he was pointing, seeing the dead body and then Grant looking over at me for a brief moment.

"Jem, check him for me." He said in a low tone as he focused back on the drunken replacement in front of me. I immediately hopped out of the jeep, the private staying there as I jogged over to the English soldier. As I walked over to the body, I could see the drunken soldier watch me, giving me the infamous chill down my spine being watched in such a manner that it made me sick. Grant saw him watch me, and as I squatted by the body and checked his pulse, Grant walked to stand in front of me and not have the soldier watch me anymore.

"I think he was a major…" The soldier trailed off, slurring his words.

"Look, private, we got a problem here." Grant stated to him. I looked for another pulse, but there was nothing on the body, he was along dead at this point. I was about to get up when I heard the soldier take a step towards me and I looked, seeing him give Grant big eyes of curiosity and having me get scared for him.

"Do you have any gas?" He asked Grant now.

"Why don't you give me your weapon?" Grant suggest him, reaching out with his hand for the soldier to drop the weapon off in and I watched too. The soldier could either do something stupid or be the better person. But how it was looking, he was about to make a stupid move.

"Well, I guess I'll use his jeep. I don't think he's gonna use it." The soldier replied in a drained out tone, walking away from us as I shot up from my spot. Grant took a few steps towards him now before he could go anywhere.

"Hold on a second, will ya?" He asked. And then it all went to hell, since the soldier shot back around and within a second Grant was shot in the head. Blood spurted from his head, his breath was lost and he went cold within a second after the shot. Grant fell to the floor, having me immediately run over to him and try to reach him.

"Grant!" I screamed out, seeing the blood already pouring out and then another gunfire went off. But it was on me, and I fell to the floor from the impact that it had on my chest. My head slammed into the gravel floor, and I was out cold.

Everything was dark.

"What happened?"

"She went over to help him and he shot her in the chest!"

"There's no blood, where's the blood?!"

"Something's on her chest! Look!"

I could hear voices coming in and out of my head as I was still somewhere in the darkness. But instead of feeling cold, like I thought I would, I felt warm all over. I was inside somewhere musky and warm my instead of outside in the summer cool night. Where the hell was I? Why was my chest hurting so bad? What was going on? Why wasn't I waking up just yet?

"Hold on, get me the scissors."

"Doc, you better know what you're doing."

"Just go check on Spina and make sure Grant's doing okay with the Doctor there, will ya? I'm not leaving Jemima here until I know she's okay." I could hear Eugene's voice in my head, and he sounded concerned. I was shot, but why wasn't I dead. I could feel my jacket being moved to the side and then hands touching my chest and collarbone gently to make sure nothing was broken. I knew those fingers, they belonged to Eugene and it was almost soothing for me to feel.

"Her dog tags and the book blocked the bullet." No wonder it was hard to breathe.

"Give it to me, we need to get the bullet off her chest and the tag or she won't breathe."

"Shit, she's already bruising there." I could feel something being moved off my chest delicately, and once it was off, since it had so much force down on my bone there, I felt my lungs already trying to work again and it felt like someone was trying to push down on my chest over and over. I breathed in, my lungs working again and my eyes shot open from the sheer force of my lungs working on overdrive.

Eugene was looking over me now, scissors in his hand he looked like he was about to cry. Spiers was next to him, looking at me too with concern and he was holding one of my hands in his, rubbing my hand with the other and giving me a soothing feeling. I blinked a few times, though I was breathing in and out like I was in shock and I started to cough. My chest was hurting so bad right now, the same spot that I was shot at.

"Easy, Jem. Take it easy," Spiers explained to me as I was trying to sit up. But Eugene held me down with a bit of force, and I groaned in pain in the chest as he rubbed my hair with his fingers to calm me down. I was still trying to gasp for some air since my lungs felt like new all over again and my chest cavity felt like it was bruising beyond words.

"What…what happened?" I gasped out, looking at the both of them at the same time.

"You were shot at." Eugene explained calmly, though I could see in his eyes that he wanted to rip something apart. This must have been a sight for him, seeing his girlfriend on a table who almost died from a gunshot wound. Speaking of which, who was it that I was not dead yet?

"And I'm not dead?" I asked in a more hoarse tone, Spiers looked over at Eugene, whom then reached down for something on the table next to my body and I saw him lift it up. I sighed in relief and in shock, it was one of my books. The same book that I shoved into my jacket for safe keeping. There was a large hole in the book, the hole went right through the cover and the pages in a clean shot….a hole big enough for a bullet….

"The book?" I asked him in disbelief, thinking how odd it was that a book spared my life from being taken within an instant. What a unique object to protect me. But Eugene shook his head and grabbed another item, dangling it in front of my face and having me look with big eyes. My dog tags, in which the top one had a huge dent within the metal and the bullet was still in there. Not only did the book slow down the bullet or piercing me, but the dog tags protected me from being hurt. No wonder my chest was in fire and feeling like a bitch. Like I was kicked hard in the chest by a horse. Slowly, I got myself to sit up, grabbing the tags from Eugene's hands and Spier's releasing my hand so I can look at the tags some more that spared my life. I touched them with my fingers, Eugene's hands going to my back and helping me stay up on the table as my breathing was coming back to normal, though my chest was still burning in pain.

"I'll get you some aspirin." Eugene explained to me as he was about to move away from me when I shot a look over at him. After seeing the tags in my hands and along my fingers, it all came back to me within a moment like a freight train and I was now shocked and worried beyond words.

"Where's Grant?" I asked him, seeing him freeze and look over at Spiers for some help. I looked at Spiers took, seeing him take in a breath. That was not good, seeing the hesitance on the confident Captain's face.

"He's being looked at by the Army Doctor next door." Spiers explained to me calmly, but I then shot him a concerned look. I then moved to get my legs off the table before the both of them could stop me, having me stand up again and find my balance.

"I wanna go help him." I said to them both, seeing Eugene shake his head to start arguing with me. I felt fine, though my chest still shirt, I wasn't dead or wounded. I was still alive and I had a job to do: to help Grant.

"You need to rest." Spier explained to me, but I looked over at me with determination on my face.

"I'm fine, sir. I saw what happened to Grant and I want to help him." I explained coolly, since I was far beyond done with being coddled or looked after at this point. I watched Grant getting shot in the head and I wanted to be there to see what was going to happen to them. Even though I barely missed death myself, that did not mean that Grant was going to have the same fate. Spiers and Eugene looked at each other one more time, and I would think they got the idea at this point that I was no longer going to be submissive to the pair of them.

"He's over here, come on." Spiers said to me, walking away from the both of us and going out the door. I looked back at Eugene, seeing him watch me up and down and look like he saw almost saw his girlfriend die in front of him. Oh crap, that made me feel worse now. He thought of the worst, and yet here I was being all selfless. I felt like shit then, grabbing his hand in mine as he placed the book on the table and was still looking torn up.

"Eugene…" I started, but he then moved over and gave me a hug, a firm one even though I was still trying to get my own breathing back to normal. I clutched him back, wanting him to feel through my hugging that I was beyond fine and nothing was going to happen to me. This was another attempt of Eugene losing me, another death scare.

"You scared me," Eugene said against my skin as we hugged there for another moment or two before I squeezed him tighter, but at this point, I was wheezing in and out from my breathing. Eugene pulled away from me now, framing my face gently in his hands and having me see how dark his blues eyes were again. I kissed him squarely on the mouth, holding it there and feeling his fingers curl slightly into my neck as he kissed me back and pulled away.

"You okay?" He asked me, having me finally breathe out unevenly and nod my head. WE both then took hands, no long wanting to talk about it at that moment since we had another person to talk about to take care of.

Grant.

Spiers was holding his hand, rubbing the back of it with his fingers as Eugene was holding up the glass tube with the red liquid, IV going and I was standing next to the doctor there. He was examining the head wound in silence as we all waited, having me wish I knew what to do since I was a Nurse. But I didn't have enough experience in that friend, when it came to head wounds. This was far beyond me since I was only a nurse and not a doctor. We all were waiting on pins and needles, but the doctors sighed in defeat as he was looking at Grant's head, who was still unconscious.

"Jesus." He muttered.

"What is it?" Spiers asked him as the doctor moved away from the Grant, sighing as he was about to light a cigarette.

"He's not gonna make it." I looked at him in shock now, since this was not good news. No, this can't happen, not to Grant of all people.

"You can't operate?" Eugene asked from the other side of the table.

"You'd need a brain surgeon. And even if you had one, I don't think there's any hope." The doctor replied in a snort. I cringed, looking back at Grant and placing my shaky hand on his shoulder in hopes that he would feel that and know that we were fighting to keep him alive. I suddenly looked at Spiers, seeing the drive on his face. He then pointed over at Talbert with his finger.

"Find the shooter alive, help me!" He said to Talbert as he grabbed one end of the stretcher and Talbert on the other end. They lifted him from the ground, Eugene staying close with the IV and myself on the other side with my hand holding Grant's. We were now in a mission to find a way to save our fellow soldier, and I wanted to be able to help out in any way that I could.

"We're gonna go find a brain surgeon."

Spiers knocked on the door at leaf three times with his gun in hand, as Eugene, Talbert and I sat with the still unconscious Grant in the back of the jeep. It was in the wee hours of the morning and we were told that a German surgeon was in another town closely, which lead us to his door. I myself was still trying to recover from what happened to me, my berthing was still erratic and my chest was now bruising from the bullet hit, but my mind was now on Grant. However, my breathing was getting raspy and uneven from time to time. Eugene looked over at me then as Spiers tapped on the door one more time, Eugene's face knitted in concern now.

"You okay?" He asked me, though I nodded my head and I breathed out unevenly through my nose.

"It's hard to breathe," I admitted to him, but then the door opened and we saw the German citizen and Spiers talk to each other for a bit. Spiers was on the edge, the gun in hand and looking more like a threat as the man walked over to the jeep now to see Grant's body there on the jeep, face covered in gauze.

"If you're going to shoot, shoot. If not, put the gun away." The doctor wanted him in his thick German accent. Speirs, with much reluctance, placed his gun back in his side but was still giving him a hard look.

"Get in the jeep, now." Spiers ordered to him with his authoritative tone now, though the man was now looking at Grant's face with a knit of concern there in his eyes.

"What happened to him?" He asked Eugene.

"He was shot in the head," Eugene replied.

"Half an hour ago." Spiers added with his voice was less threatening and more sincere. I looked at him in curiosity now as he was analyzing my friend's head wound, "Come on."

"If you want him to live, help me. First, by putting that away," the doctor instructed him, pointing to the gun and I saw Spiers then look at both Eugene and I to see what we wanted him to do. We both nodded our heads then, seeing him sigh and place the gun in his holster and then move to get into the driver's seat of the jeep.

"Let me drive. We'll get there faster," he instructed Spiers, who nodded in agreement, but then looked over at Talbert and I in the jeep.

"Talbert and Liebgott, get back to the town and get some rest." he instructed the both of us, though I shook my head from the thought of leaving Grant behind.

"I want to help." I pleaded with him.

"You took a bullet to the chest and almost died, you need to be resting. That is an order." Spiers said it in such a commandment and I bit my lip, seeing his higher superiority over me now and that I had no choice but to go along with it. He was still a Captain, my Captain, and I had to remind myself that over and over. I reluctantly exited the jeep with Talbert, looking over at Eugene and seeing him give me one nod of the head to show that he too wanted me to rest and calm down a bit from what happened. They had to be right: I literally took a bullet to the chest and survived and the last thing, that I needed, was to push it more and have another seizure. I smiled shortly back at Eugene as the jeep moved down street, leaving me there with Talbert and we were just trying to breathe in and out after what happened. I closed my eyes in defeat.

God, let Grant live.