Alright, here is probably the last chapter following the series.

This went much too fast- but I loved every minute of it.

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The War is Over?

"I've made up my mind, guys. I've got the points; I'm going home to Kitty."

A Lucky Strike smoldered between Nixon's fingers, "Harry, do you really think Kitty hasn't run off with some 4-S by now?"

Welsh let out a defeated groan, "Son of a bitch… that's not even funny."

"Harry, ignore it," Winters quietly walked down the stairs of the balcony.

"How am I supposed to tell her I had a chance to go home, but decided to jump on Tokyo instead?"

"Alright, just don't tell her then." Winter turned to listen to Lewis' reasoning, "Besides she's waited for you for three years, right? We'll be out of Tokyo in two years, three tops."

"It'll probably be over before we even get there. The reality is you'll stay in Austria here for six months waiting to go, and I'll be back in Wilksbruy… making babies."

Richard looked down, "You didn't tell him?"

"Nah, I couldn't get him to shut up…"

"What? Tell me what?" There was a sense of urgency in Harry's voice.

Nixon blew out a draw of smoke, "Guts and glory here applied for a transfer…"

Harry whipped his head to question, "What?"

"13th Airborne is heading out to the Pacific right away." He paused, reading Harry's puzzled face. "If I'm going… I wanna get it over with."

"Are you in on this too?" Harry noticed Lew's smiling face.

"I can't let him go by himself, he doesn't know where it is," smoke puffed out of his mouth with every word.

Harry let out an uneasy chuckle, "You're leaving the men?"

Richard jerked his head, the words hurting, "They don't need me anymore." They all stared of into the distance, the news affecting them each in a separate way.

B.o.B.

Taletta stubbornly crossed her arms, sitting in the backseat with Webster with her eyes narrowed on the back of Liebgott's head.

"Liebgott, I fucking hate this."

"Ah, Jeezus. One of those fucking Polacks, at the slave camp said that he lived here."

Webster protested, "What camp?"

"Whatever camp," hate was thick in Joe's voice. "I'm under direct orders and I'm happy to follow it." He catapulted himself out of the jeep, Skinny sheepishly following him up the road.

Taletta couldn't believe her eyes when she saw his cock his pistol. Webster, trying to stop the madness pulled himself out to. As he jogged towards them, he continued to protest. Tala clambered out, wanting her moral opinion to be heard too.

"Is this a personal thing, Joe." Webster was out of breath.

"What?"

"Is this… personal? To you?"

"No, it's a goddamn order," he spat out.

Their pace quickened, "Does Major Winters know about this?
Liebgott continued to push off the issue, "Doesn't matter."

"Aw, the fuck it doesn't! What if this guy is a soldier, what if he is an officer with no ties to the SS? What if he's innocent!?"

"You know what, what if he's a fucking Nazi from the slave camp?!"

"Which one?" David pointed his finger in Joe's face, "Which camp? You don't have any proof!"

"Joe, I agree with David. I don't think you understand this… you're doing it out of hate," Taletta walked up to their tense bodies.

Joe lashed out at their souls, "Were you at Landsberg?"

"You know I was," the concerned pair breathed out in unison.

"You think he's a soldier like you and me? A fucking innocent German officer? Where the hell you been for the past three years…?"

He calmly walked further, and Tala knew his hate was beyond repair. Essie also wasn't here to translate and she felt as though control was slipping away. She stayed loyal at Webster's side as furious shouts escaped the shack.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PEOPLE!?" Joe bellowed, making Tala's heart plunge. This was personal to him…

It escalated quickly as Liebgott shoved the tip of his handgun into the fleshy Krauts neck. Feeling sick, she left the building and sat down uneasily on a crate.

"We gonna stop this?" One hand held her stomach while the other gestured to the shouts.

With no answer, Webster pulled out a cig and lit it with shaking hands. Skinny emerged from the door, worriedly running his hand through his hair.

"He's guilty… Liebgott says so."

"He probably is…" a near shot rang out, making Taletta jump from her sheet white skin. The man held his bleeding neck as he tumbled from the doorway. He ran up the hill as Joe's pistol jammed.

"Shoot him!"

"No," Taletta stubbornly answer, holding her M1 firmly in her arms.

"SHOOT HIM!" A bullet ripped into his back, sending the civilian flat on his face. Tala and Webster looked over to find Skinny with a rifle pressed against his shoulder. He slowly lowered it down, his eyes glazed over.

Instinctively as a field nurse, Tala tore off in the man's direction, praying his was still alive. Hot tears grew in her eyes as she fell to the ground, rummaging through her pack. She struggled as she flipped him over. His face had a ghostly expression, no breath escaping his yelling lips. Tala mindlessly patted his blood soaked back, standing up.

The three men watched her intently, worried for the weak nurse. Gritting her teeth, she stomped down the dew covered hill, rage burning in her heart.

"You nasty BASTARD! That was an innocent man! Officers don't run!" She lashed out at him, her nose nearly touching his. Webster and Skinny's eyes grew wide with shock- Tala never swore.

"Just another Kraut dead…" Joe snorted, angering her further.

"Goddamn it… I don't know if you knew this, but the war is over, Joe. Europe is for once filled with peace. That poor man wanted to go home and stay home… just as bad as we do."

He looked deeply down at her, watching as the frustrated tears rolled down her cheeks. Webster held her back as they walked towards the parked jeep. As they winded through the spindly roads of the Alps, Tala wouldn't take her eyes off of Liebgott. An awkward silence hung in the air.

Essie was leaning against the trunk of a tree, chatting happily with Floyd. Through her blurred vision Tala saw her, and before the jeep could stop she jumped out. Taletta sprinting to her friend, and Essie became alarmed.

She comforted her, "Tala, Tale what's wrong? Where's Joe and David?"

She wiped away cascading tears, "Liebgott was heartless bastard and told Skinny to kill an innocent German!"

"Taletta Roselle, he was NOT innocent!" Joe neared her, hating to see her cry.

A smile played on Essie's lips, "A Kraut you say?" The revenge she seeked for everybody's death still burned strong.

"Yea," Liebgott grinned, catching on. Essie reached around Tala and nonchalantly gave Joe a high-five. Taletta tore from her embrace, furious.

"You are supporting him?" She spat out, disbelief in her voice.

She scoffed, "C'mon, Tala. You know how I feel about Krauts…" With a mouth wide open with disgust, Tala turned on her heel. She searched for Grant, needing somebody to be on her side.

Essie watched her leave and turned her voice to Joe, "That girl… doesn't know how much it hurts."

"She'll be fine," Liebgott clapped his hand to her back, leaving her to Tab's questioning.

B.o.B.

"J-Janovec… is dead?" Essie fisted her hand, frustrated. The war was over, but somehow men were still getting killed. Pfc. John Janovec was on patrol, in charge of letting civilians pass. When Webster had come to take his shift, John got in a jeep as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. A barrel had fallen from the bed of a truck, standing as a dangerous obstacle to John's jeep. The driver saw it too late, and the intense swerve caused the jeep to flip into the nearby ditch. Janovec was killed during the tragic incident.

Talbert explain all of this to Essie as his hand firmly gripped her. With tear twinkling eyes she looked up to him, the late afternoon sun highlighting her tear stained cheeks.

"75 points. He had 75 points… ten points short," Talbert was trying his best to hold back his own tears.

She stood from the bed springs, "Dammit. Why are men getting hurt or killed, even though the war is over?"

He fumbled for words, trying to calm her, "To much time? Alcohol? Everybody just wants to go home…"

She paced, her bare feet pattering against the floorboards. "I'm sorry for complaining… but I want to go home. More than I ever have before, Tab. I'm homesick. My sister needs me now. Christ, she's probably already had her first period… and I missed it." Floyd's face flushed a deep red, but she continued, "I don't want to go to the fucking Pacific. I have had enough. Of. War."

Essie furrowed her brows together, the pain of homesickness racking her body. Something about Shifty leaving and going home made the agony worse. Floyd held his hand on the small of her back, guiding her dizzy body to the leather love seat.

"Shhh…" He soothed, brushing pestering tear soaked strands of hair from her face. "Look. Look at the sunset." The sky was lively and looked as if God had decided to paint a masterpiece. The dark sun looked like an egg yolk, deep red rays spinning off of its edge. The orange merged into purple, the rays kissing the summits of the mountains. For a moment, Essie felt like she was home.

B.o.B.

Night had fallen over Austria and it was time for Grant to patrol the crossroads with 2nd platoon. Taletta was also in 2nd. She sat tightly against Chuck's warm side as a misty rain spat down at her. She hugged his arm as he steered the jeep smoothly across the glowing gravel. His baby was growing inside of her; with the thought she smiled into his sleeve.

"So he shoves a trench knife up against his throat and screams, 'Who's side are you on?'. " Grant smiled broadly, remembering his great comrade.

"I don't get it," a naive replacement questioned.

"It's D-Day… second platoon's good ole Bill Guarnere. Old Gonorrhea himself; just landed in Normandy and was like I don't know, what? Who's side are you on? What a fucking character!" Tala giggled, remembering Bill and his brother. She felt a ping of pain reminiscing about the two.

A replacement laughed, "What happened to him?"

A set of jeeps lay before them, dead soldiers scattered on the muddy road. "Got him leg blown off in Bastonge. Wait here," he mindlessly said, pushing down on the emergency brake of the rumbling jeep.

Taletta grew fierce with terror as a stumbling man approached Grant. Chuck's pace quickened when a new German Major's corpse developed into sight. Taletta's heart was pounding ferociously against her ribs, but her body told her to stay still.

"You okay man? Need some help?" Grant kept his voice level, his hand hovering over his sidearm.

The man sickeningly chuckled, "They wouldn't give me any gas. Krauts!" Grant slowly followed him as he paced around. "I tried to tell them, but this fucker wouldn't listen! I think he was a major…" he carelessly swung his handgun in the air.

"Private, we have a problem here…"

An idea struck him, "Do you have any gas?"

Grant stuck out his hand, "Give me your weapon."

"I guess I'll just use his jeep. Looks like he won't be needing it," he ignored Charles' order.

He reached for his gun, coming up behind the drunk, "Hold on there, alrig-"

Blood splattered from the side of Grant's head and he fell into a heap on the unforgiving ground.

"CHUCK!" Tala deafeningly shrieked, sprinting to her beloved's side.

Sorry, I had to give you one more cliffhanger before it was over!

I love any feedback you have to offer! :)