I would like to state that I do not own HBO's Band of Brothers nor do I intend any disrespect. I am basing this story on the HBO mini TV series.

Please keep reviewing, I love hearing what you think about the story. Good OR bad. Suggestions are always welcome!

Big thankyous to all my readers but especially to the wonderful reviewers: Lift the Wings, Corrupt Blossom, immortalrmy, Volleyball Babe22, Aleciaa and gothique4

Previously on 'Angels with Dirty Faces'

Finally feeling Bucks hold slacken as a shell burst in the tree above them, Rose lunged towards Bill.

Bill looked back over his shoulder again as Rose took her first steps and she could see the terrified expression on his face.

Suddenly, he was gone. The ground where Joe and Bill had exploded in a series of explosions. The blast knocked Rose clear off her feet and she curled herself into a tight ball, feeling the dirt and debris fly over her. She heard Buck scream from behind her before he was thrown back into his foxhole.

Rolling over carefully, Rose got to her feet shakily, not believing what she was seeing. She bit back a sob and looked at the bodies of the two men in front of her. Bill was rolled onto his side, his leg a bloody mess. Propped up against him was Joe, his face pale and bloody. Hearing a groan from behind her, Rose turned involuntarily to see Buck drop his helmet and fall to his knees.

'me-mee-MEDIC' she screamed, turning back to the tangle of limbs that was her closest friends.

All that I'm after is a life full of laughter

as long as I'm laughing with you.

I think all that still matters is love and the laughter

after the life we've been through

Life After You by Daughtry

Chapter Thirty-Six

Bill was screaming. Rose wanted to cry, she was sitting behind him with her arms wrapped around his torso, trying to keep him with her. She couldn't believe that only hours ago, he had been kissing her, holding her in his arms. But now his leg had been blown away…all that was left were thin strands of tendons and muscles attached to his boot. The bone and flesh were gone. Rose couldn't bring herself to look at it anymore. One of her best friends was hysterical with pain…Bill was squirming and his breathing was ragged. Rose had been finally able to get through to him through the pain and stop the screaming. It killed her to see a man who had always been so strong and proud, reduced to this.

His face should have been familiar and it was…in a way, because she recognised the face of her friend. But the features that she knew almost better than her own were distorted in pain. Tracks of sweat through the dirt and blood only emphasised the tightness around his mouth. When he tried to smile at her…to let her know that he was okay even when half of his leg had been blow off, she could see an echo of some undefined emotion.

Rose was shaking as she stared at the blood staining the white snow beneath his leg. And when he tried to move it slightly with a grunt of effort, Rose physically felt the pain shoot through his body. At his choked off exclamation, Rose inhaled so sharply that it sounded like a gasp. A flash of distress crossed his face and he tried to smile at her through chattering teeth. He was in shock and the shakes had set in.

'Come on now,' he tried to joke but it came out as a strained whisper, 'I'm not that ugly to look at, am I?'

Rose tried to laugh but the tears only dripped faster down her cheeks, freezing as they reached her jaw. She felt like she was in a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. Any minute now, George or Bill was going to shake her awake and tell her that they were running Currahee and to stop being such a lazy bastard. But she never woke up.

Moments after her frantic call for a medic, Eugene had burst into the clearing and had immediately gotten to work to stop the bleeding from Joe Toye's thigh.

Joe was leaning back on his hands, watching the Doc work with an almost bewildered look on his face, as if he couldn't believe that his leg was gone. Noticing Rose watching him, he gritted his teeth and attempted to smile.

'Guess I don't need to worry bout trench foot now, eh Doc' Eugene didn't even look up from where he was trying to bandage the appendage.

Bill let out a strangled bark of laughter, Rose could feel the tenseness of his body in her arms, she couldn't even imagine the pain that he was going through. That they both were going through.

'I don't think we can go dancing anymore Rosie girl.' Bill said haltingly, his words punctuated by gasps of pain.

'Oh Bill.' Was all Rose could say, pressing a kiss to his temple. 'You stay with me, Guarnere.'

She looked up to see Malarkey fall to his knees next to Joe, his face white.

'Doc…what can I do?' he asked Eugene helplessly.

'Here, hold this.' The medic said urgently, motioning at the bandage as Joe grunted in pain.

'Gotta smoke Malark?' Joe asked, his face screwed up in pain.

'Jeesus' Bill muttered as he started to shiver, Rose tightened her hold on the Philadelphian man as Joe spoke up.

'whats a guy gotta do to get killed around here.' He asked no-one in particular.

'you're going home Bill…home' Rose murmured in his ear, trying to comfort the man.

'Home?' Bill looked up at her confused, with his jaw clenched as Eugene looked up at the pair sitting in the snow.

'Bill, you go first' he said, motioning for the stretcher bearers to come forward.

'Whatever you say Doc' Bill said, looking down at his mangled limb, 'whatever you say.'

'Over here!' Eugene yelled, 'take this man.'

Rose started to disentangle herself from Bill to help him onto the stretcher, but he caught her hand tightly.

'They got ole Guarnere this time.' He said quietly, Rose blinked back tears and smiled reassuringly at him.

'I'll visit you Bill… you take care of yourself...' she let out a weak laugh as Bill brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her fingers…his fingers shaking violently from the shock, pain and cold.

'take care of yourself Rosie girl' he murmured before releasing her, letting out a deep groan as the orderlies lifted him onto the stretcher.

'no-more joy riding okay Bill?'

But Bill didn't hear her and she heard him tell Joe that he'd always known that he'd beat him back to the states before disappearing; he was being taken back to the aid station.

As Bill disappeared from view, her shoulders slumped and tears streamed down her face. Rose's hands clenched tightly as she brought them down to look at them, the look of disgust clear on her face at the sight of Bills blood blemishing her skin. Looking at her coat, she saw the blood and gore and for a split second, she wondered if she'd been hit and hadn't felt it because of the adrenaline and the cold. Forcing herself to focus with a small shake of her head, Rose realised that the blood wasn't hers and she sucked in an unsteady breath. Noticing her helmet lying in the snow close to where she and Buck had tussled, Rose wandered over and picked up the helmet, her body screaming at her in protest. Not for the first time, she wondered how long her body would hold up against the constant beatings she subjected it to. She wondered when her time was up...when her clock ticked down to zero just like it had for Bill and Joe just now.

'Flower?' she heard from behind her and she whirled around to see George staring at Joe withering on the ground with a horrified expression on his face. As he dragged his eyes up to meet hers, Rose felt her body sag in relief. George was immediately by her side.

'Are you okay?' he asked, grabbing her by the shoulders and hugging her tight. His strong arms embraced her small body, pulling her tightly to him, her head rested on his chest and she listened to his heartbeat. It was a steady soothing beat reminding her that they were still human. 'When I passed Bill on the stretcher I-I didn't know…' He released her and squeezed her hand. Rose blinked fiercely and turned back Joe Toye who was demanding another cigarette from Malarkey. George lit himself a cigarette and they passed it between numb and shaking hands in silence. There was nothing for them to say. Nothing they said could make anything better.

None of the men reacted well to the news of Bill or Joe Toye but there was a lot of talk about Buck Compton who had been taken off the line with a supposed case of trench foot. Everyone knew that something had changed him when he'd been shot in Holland but seeing Bill and Joe torn up had caused him to unravel. Rose had tried to talk to him before he was taken off the line, but he blocked her out and she didn't have a lot of patience for him, with her grief for the loss of her friend making her unable to even think straight.

It was close to dusk when she stumbled upon a group of men, made mostly of replacements, sorting through Bill's knapsack, dividing up his belongings. She watched the men for a moment, unable to believe her eyes and when one man pulled out a picture of a dark-haired woman in a grass hula skirt from Bill's bag and whistled appreciatively, something in her snapped. If Bill was here, Rose knew that he would have kicked those soldiers all the way back to England. She stalked up to the small gathering and was disgusted when she realised that she recognized a few faces. Ripping the photograph of Bill's sweetheart Frannie out of the soldier's hands, she whirled on the men.

'Have some fucking respect!' she cried furiously as she grabbed the rest of her best friend's belongings. The men yelled in protest at their finds being taken away.

'What the hell are you doing?' Cobb screeched before looking across the clearing. 'LUZ! control your woman!'

George looked up curiously from his game of cards with Muck and Tab to see Rose descending angrily on a small group of men. Shrugging, he looked across at Tab who raised an eyebrow.

'think we should save the boys?' he asked. George just shook his head, dealing out the next hand. 'nah, they probably deserve it.'

Tab and Malarkey just chuckled and turned back to the game but George continued to watched Rose out of the corner of his eye. This wasn't just a regular tantrum about a prank, or an inappropriate comment; Rose looked genuinely distressed as she held a ragged backpack in her trembling hands.

Dusting his hands off, he got to his feet and waved off the protests of Malarkey and Tab. Heading towards the group of men who were starting to scatter and muttering about women and that time of the month, George walked up to Rose.

'What's going on?' He asked the small woman in front of him, he could see a smudge of dirt on her cheek and underneath her helmet, her dark curls were falling out of her bun.

'Here' she thrust the bag at him furiously 'look after this for me.' She said before whirling around and stalking out of view. George looked down at the bag in his hands and finally understood. There, embroidered on the front, was the name 'William Guarnere.'

George, sensing that she needed some space to grieve, let her go and she eventually found a small clearing away from the main camp. It was kind of peaceful, she noted, letting the silence of the white forest engulf her.

She needed some time to be alone. She didn't understand why Bill had been hit and she had been saved. They had been standing so close. She was a soldier but she was horrified at the pure waste of human life that the war sacrificed everyday. Rose was also disgusted at the casual way that the men could go through a man's belongings like he was already dead. She pulled off her helmet and let it drop to the ground silently, reminding her of Buck, another casualty of war; but of a different kind. She ran a hand through her hair and stood quietly leaning against a tree with her forehead pressed against the cold trunk.

Rose scrubbed a clenched fist over her eye. There was nobody left. Bill was gone. Joe, Buck, Skinny..they were all gone. As she rubbed her face, she realised that the coarse wool of her gloves, the fingers long gone, scratching into her skin. She had cut the material of the fingers away as soon as she had discovered that they hindered her ability to handle weapons and fire her rifle. A risk that she was not willing to take. She was overcome by a wave of exhaustion. She felt her throat tightening and she near that she was moments from tears. But the tears never came. She was so sad.. the sadness was overwhelming. She was so tired. She yearned for one blissful moment for death..for her aches and pains and cold to be taken away, before shaking herself.

After a moment, footsteps crunched in the snow behind her and Rose's body jerked in shock. She whirled around, expecting to face Bill…because only he would follow her to make sure she was okay, ignoring her demands for space. Just like he had the morning before his leg was blown off. But as she turned, she knew that it wasn't Bill..it wasn't possible for him to be there. He was at some aid station or even back in France at some hospital by now. Her heart sank as her eyes landed on George who stood with his hands pushed deep in his coat's pockets. His hair hung long in his face, almost hiding his eyes.

'Are you okay Rose?' he asked intently, staring at her. She just nodded, noting in the back of her mind that he hadn't used her nickname…not this time.

'you're trembling' he said simply.

'don't worry, I'll be alright.' She said, bringing a hand up to rub her eyes wearily. She couldn't believe it had been only three days since Bill and Joe had been hit; it felt like a lifetime.

'C'mon buddy.' He closed the distance between them and tucked her hand through his arm and began to lead her back to the clearing where the men were gathered. 'Grub's up.'

'you fella's know I got no reason to bullshit you, right?' Rose grinned, George had told her this story last night, and she thought it was more pathetic than funny. Dike was disappearing more and more often, and someone was always looking for him. Rose missed the days of Winters and Heyliger and even Meehan. She had experience pure terror in combat…take Normandy and Carentan and Holland. Everyone in Easy had. But it was only when she met Dike as the company commander that she felt genuinely fearful for herself and the rest of Easy. He was no leader and as much as the rest of men made jokes about him, Rose was terrified of Dike. Terrified of the power he held over her and her brothers.

'Look, this is what I saw, it was so unbelievable, you might not believe me.' George had Muck, Penkala, Rose and Malarkey all huddled around him, he had a cigarette clenched in his teeth and his eyes were bright, excited by the prospect of a good story. Rose was trying to sidle as close as she could to Malarkey who was, according to her and George, a freak of nature. Although he got cold, he let off a ridiculous amount of body heat and Rose was trying to get close enough to feel it.

'You-know-who comes running up. He's got no helmet, no gear, nothing.' George talked excitedly, getting to the punch line of the took a smaller step sideways, so that she was leaning discreetly against Malark's arm. Sighing with the bit of warmth she got from him, she looked up slyly and seeing that no one was paying any attention to her actions, she took another small step towards the red-haired man.

'arrgh 1st Sergeant Lipton, you organize things here…and I'm gonna go for help' George drawled in a perfect impersonation of their company , Malarkey and Penkala all burst out laughing, and spurred on by their reaction, George continued

'I need to go polish my oak leaf clusters'

Rose, realising that the men were laughing, chuckled loudly, her attentions focused on getting closer to the warm man. She was shivering so badly that her teeth chattered. Malarkey was so engrossed in the story that he didn't even notice that Rose had worked her way close to him so that she was huddled under his arm, pressed against his side. He only noticed the small person tucked in next to him when George looked down and then back up at Malarkey and gave him an odd look. Opening his mouth to say something, George was interrupted by Lipton who had caught the last few sentences of his story.

'Hey.. Luz'

Turning to look at the group, George raised his eyebrows,

'Fellas, Ladies' he said nodding in farewell before heading over to where Lipton was waiting.

Malarkey looked down and was surprised to see Rose pressed so close to him. Noticing her, he could feel the shivers from her body through his thick clothing. He tightened his arm that was around her slightly, before sighing and releasing her. He knew that he'd get all kinds of hell from George if he'd offered to share a foxhole with Rose, even if it was to keep her warm. He met her eyes regretfully and quirked a smile apologetically.

'Well, Goodnight all' said Malarkey as they all turned to go their separate ways.

'Yeah, seeya Luz' called Muck giving his friend a quick wave before heading off to find his foxhole, Penkala trudging grumpily alongside him.

Rose walked past George and Lipton where she could hear him being told off. George caught her eye and winked at her before turning his attention back to the first sergeant. Rose had just heard that Skinny was back from the aid station and she was dying to see him, she had missed her foxhole buddy and still felt guilty for not being there with him. Perconte was sharing his foxhole now and she grinned, thinking of the short man who she teased mercilessly about his almost obsessive oral hygiene. Perco's scrounging abilities were almost as good as George's and she hoped that they had an extra blanket to spare for her. It was so cold, and Rose shivered against the icy wind, trying to huddle herself into her coat.

She had gotten almost halfway there before the ground exploded behind her. Letting out a small cry of surprise, Rose dropped, looking around wildly for any sort of cover. The air was full of light and explosions as the ground around her was torn up. Rose yelped as she felt herself being dragged upwards and thrown forwards into a foxhole. She landed heavily and flinched as her rescuer threw himself on top of her, protecting her from the debris. Twisting her head around she gasped as she came face to face with the company commander of Dog Company, Lieutenant Spiers.

'Stay down' he ordered, pushing her head back down underneath the cover of his torso. Rose gulped and all thoughts were drowned out by the sound of artillery and splintering trees. Suddenly, it was over and Rose felt the weight of Speirs' body lifting off of hers. Rose started to climb out of the foxhole when a hand was thrust in front of her face. Taking it uncertainly, Rose felt herself being lifted up and out of the hole. Not knowing what to say, she looked at the officer in front of her, who appraised her curiously before giving her a curt nod and disappeared into the trees.

She stood there standing beside the foxhole for a moment before the sound of her name being called came from behind her and she swung around to see Lipton looking at her with a strange expression on his face.

'Rosie…good to see you're okay' Rose looked at the man carefully and she could see that he was upset, but trying to hide it.

'What is it Sarge?' she asked

'I think you need to see Luz' was all that he said looking at the debris littering the snow around them, looking up he opened his mouth to say something else...words of comfort maybe? Lip didn't really know but Rose was gone. Running in the direction of the foxhole that she and Luz shared.

She found him sitting in their foxhole, a cigarette dangling from his lips, burned down nearly to the butt staring unseeing into the dirt in front of him. She slid into the hole next to him but kept a space between them. She didn't know what was wrong with George and she wanted to tread carefully. Looking at him, he didn't even notice her and she followed his eyes to where he was looking and she let out a cry of terror. Sitting in the dirt on the slopes of their foxhole was an unexploded artillery shell, still smoking. Rose felt her eyes widen, it had been a dud. She turned towards George inquiringly and he handed her a small object with shaking fingers. It was the cross of a rosary. His fingers shook so much that it slipped through her fingers into the dirt. Rose picked it up gingerly, praying that it did not belong to who she thought it did.

'Muck and Penkala got hit.' George whispered, his voice thick with emotion.

Rose's mouth fell open and she closed the distance between them. Looking down at her, George blinked rapidly, rubbing his unshaven face with an unsteady hand. In that moment Rose saw the courage in his hands stained with old scars and his humanity in the tears that he so desperately tried to hide. Grown men…soldiers…they don't cry glistening tears that turned cloudy as they mixed with dirt and blood. George's grief was written all over his face and his desperation was the four half-moon crescents on his palms where his short nails had gouged the callused flesh.

'You know, it could have just as easily been one of us,' He spoke again quietly.

Rose shuddered at the thought as her eyes flickered towards the dud shell.

'at least they were together.' His voice cracked on the last word and he closed his eyes tightly, as if trying to block out of the world.

Rose didn't say anything. There wasn't anything to say. Her heart broke for the man in front of her. Muck and Penkala were his closest friends and she could see it had hit him hard. She wanted to tell him how strong he looked. She wanted him to hold her, just hold her in his arms. She wanted his warmth and she wanted to feel safe, even if it was for just a tiny fraction of a second. Rose wanted him to look at her and never look away. She slipped her hand into his, and his hand tightened instantly over hers, drawing comfort from her touch. Together they sat on the log, surrounded by death and destruction, trying to make sense of the world around them.

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