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: immortalrmy, FireIsLove, Liliesshadow and the everchanging.

And thankyou to the guys who've given me a little info about themselves! I think loving Doc Roe is pretty much a prerequisite to the Band of Brothers fandom! Thanks again and please let me know what you think!

Previously on 'Angels with Dirty Faces'

George felt cold as the commemorative medal in the shape of a cloverleaf was pinned onto his lapel and as Major Eisenhower finished his speech with

'…there is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs,' George could see the Toccoa men around him start to nod slightly. All the victory that they had achieved came at a high price and George was beginning to wonder if that price came at too high a cost.


What else, what else can I do?
I said I'm sorry, yeah I'm sorry.
I said I'm sorry , but what for?
If I hurt you then I hate myself
Don't want to hate myself, don't want to hurt you
Why do you chew your pain?
If you only knew how much I love you, love you

Your Winter by Sister Hazel

Chapter Fifty

George had never been to Paris, hell, he'd never even been in one of the big cities back home. He was from a small country town and to see the tall buildings that reached as far as the eye could see, was a little startling for him. When Captain Spiers had offered him a two day pass to Paris, George had jumped at the opportunity.

He found the address of the hospital that Rose was being treated and he set off, outfitted in his dress uniform. He had to take an underground train that rocked and rattled so much that he wished for the big C47 aeroplanes; he'd never been so glad to see sunlight when he emerged from the tunnels, two blocks over.

As his boots tapped on the polished floor of the hospital's long hallways, George wondered what kind of state Rose would be in. It had nearly been a month since that devastating night across the river and the image of Rose's white hand clutching Tab's jacket as the sergeant covered her bleeding body with his protective weight, sprang painfully to his mind and George faltered in his step slightly. Would she even be the same Rose or had she been damaged beyond repair.

An empty bed greeted George as he entered the trauma ward. Had she been sent home? Or, George flinched at the thought, had she not even survived and the reports that she was healing were wrong.

As George stood rooted to the spot, he jumped in surprise as someone called his name from behind him. Someone decidedly male.

Spinning quickly, George reeled backwards at the sight of Joe Toye grinning at him as he leaned heavily on his crutches, his hospital pyjama bottoms pinned up against his thigh, clearly displaying the empty space where one of his legs should have been,

'Joe Toye' George's face split into a wide grin at the sight of his friend again, 'thought you'd gone Stateside by now.'

Joe laughed and held out his hand, balancing expertly on his crutches. George immediately took a step forward, clasping Joe's hand in his.

'You're looking good Luz' Joe spoke in his trademark rasping voice and George's grin grew a little wider.

'I could say the same about you' he laughed.

'You looking for Rosie?' Joe asked, nodding his head at the empty bed behind George.

'I thought I'd stop in and say hello, been given two days leave.' George answered casually and Joe just raised an eyebrow

'Well, she's out in the gardens with Bill' he spoke, equally casual, 'yesterday was the first day they've let her outside.'

'Bill?' George asked, his brows creasing, 'Bill Guarnere's here?'

'Bed next to her' Joe winked, 'I'm on her other side…us Easy guys need to stick together.'

'Good,' George struggled with his next question, 'how is she doing?'

The smile immediately slid from Joe's face and he almost looked fierce as he replied

'I don't know what the hell you boys are doing out there, but she was a near goner when they brought her in.' Joe's eyes softened at his next words, 'She's healing…Bill's been good for her.'

That didn't sit right with George…he didn't like how easily Joe had put Bill and Rose together and he twisted his cap in his hands distractedly.

'She'll sure be glad to see you though, been going a little stir crazy.' Joe continued before making his way slowly to his bed. As he lowered himself on to the mattress he called over his shoulder to George.

'Garden's behind the building, it won't be hard to miss them.'

George lifted the corners of his mouth in a less enthusiastic smile and said goodbye to his friend as he walked out the door in search of the garden.

Leaving the stark whiteness of the hospital, George was deep in thought as his boots crunched on the fresh crisp grass of the gardens. He missed his family; he missed his mother and his sister. It had been nearly two years since he'd been home. Missing his family was something that he was unfortunately used to. Rose, though, he had seen her almost daily for nearly two years. He felt strangely off balance without her, and he hated thinking about her alone in a hospital. In his moments of weakness, mostly as he was drifting off to sleep, he allowed himself to think about her and the joy in those blue eyes when she looked at him, the way her tears had stained his shirt, the way she'd reached for him that horrible night that she'd been shot…the way she'd tried to cling to him tightly, even as the strength drained out of her slowly. He was filled with regret over nearly losing something so precious.

As he walked slowly out through the garden archway and along the path towards the main courtyard, the sound of murmuring voices caught his attention and George looked up and his heart skipped a beat. Rose was seated on a low stone wall, a small, slight figure, her pale features framed by a mass of dark curls. On her side sat Bill Guarnere, who was very still, listening to her intently as she gestured animatedly with her hands, white against the stark red of the hospital dressing gowns that they both wore.

George stood there and watched the pair for a moment. Neither of them had looked up from their conversation to notice him and George could see the way that they were both turned towards each other almost unconsciously.

Just as George was about to call out in greeting, Bill let out a roar of laughter and slapped his thigh which was all that was left of the limb and Rose let out a giggle.

For some reason, George felt like the wind had been knocked out of his lungs and as he watched Rose place her head to lean it against Bill's shoulder.

Reeling as if slapped, George turned and melted away as quietly as he had come, not noticing the way Rose's eyes saddened nor the way her hand went to her wrist which had a small gold watch clasped to it.

As George disappeared, he missed the way that Bill patted her knee reassuringly and spoke gruffly in her ear.

'You'll see them all soon Rosie girl.'


'Come on chicken.' Perco coaxed, trying to move the bird. George rolled his eyes. He didn't really know how he'd been cajoled into this. He was standing on a wooden crate in the middle of a barn trying to 'acquire' some eggs because Perco wanted to make himself an omelette.

After George had returned from Paris, Easy had been moved out and mobilized to a place called the Ruhr Pocket which was situation on the banks of the River Rhine. The Company had been ordered to take up a position opposite the town of Düsseldorf to help contain German forces that had been captured. It was more of an occupation position than a front line. Speirs ordered some outposts be manned down on the river bank while the rest of the men were billeted in the German homes around the village. It was like being back home as most of the houses had running water, flushing toilets, electricity and coal for the stove. It was luxurious.

Because Lip was now a Lieutenant, Sergeant Talbert had been promoted to Easy Company's 1st Sergeant. George himself had been promoted to platoon runner for the whole company and was afforded the rank of sergeant. He didn't really know how he felt about the promotion; he didn't feel like he was any more qualified or skilled than Perco or any of the other radio guys and he felt like a rift had been placed between them, invisible but a barrier none the less. He tried to ignore the nagging feeling of loneliness, that although he was surrounded by people day and night, hardly ever able to get a moment to himself, the one person who he had wanted to share the news with the most was miles away in a different country, in a hospital somewhere with her new best friend.

In an effort to try to convince the boys that he was still one of them, George had grudgingly agreed to go with Perco to collect eggs at a larger village Sturzelberg, a mile west from where they were stationed. Unable to find anything in town, the soldiers had been forced to search outlying farms and eventually they had found this property with an abundance of chickens, therefore, eggs.

'All right, this one's got some George.' Perco said as he opened the crate that was holding the chickens. 'You grab the chicken, I grab the eggs.'

Rolling his eyes again, George nodded reluctantly, 'great, fine.'

He was craving a cigarette.

'I'll just grab him by the foot.' He muttered as he reached in and grabbed the tawny hen who started to panic at his touch.

'come on' he grunted, dragging the chicken out. He flinched as he held the bird, who was flapping its wings wildly, trying to escape him. George flinched at the sight of its vicious looking beak that was trying to twist to face him.

'If this thing bites me, Frank, I swear I'll shoot it.' He said to Perco who was placing the brown eggs carefully into his helmet. Perco just laughed and the sound of the barn door opening made them both jump and turn towards the noise.

It was a young German woman; George noticed the curling blond hair that was pinned half-up. He could see the slender frame even underneath her heavy and well-worn farm clothes.

'Guten tag Fräulein' he said, a smile stretched uncomfortably across his face. Perco just looked at him confused. Technically what they were doing was stealing and battalion had cracked down heavily on the scrounging from the locals. Perco didn't understand why George was standing there saying hello to this woman when they should be getting the hell out of there.

'Guten tag' she replied softly, backing out of the doorway slowly, her laundry basket balanced in her hands.

'Hey wait' George protested, dropping the chicken and jumping down from the crate. There was something about this girl. He didn't know what it was…maybe it was her hair that curled softly to her shoulders that in the shadow of the barn, made it look dark. Or maybe it was the bright blue eyes that looked at him curiously.

Ignoring Perco's calls of alarm, George raced out of the barn calling after the girl. He just wanted to talk to her. He followed her into a small building that housed a cow and a small barrel of hay. She finally turned to face him and George held up his hands to show that he meant no harm to her. Her eyes weren't afraid…more curious than anything.

'I just want to talk to you…I just want to talk, that's all.' He tried to talk to her but she asked him something in German and he didn't understand. Girls liked presents; maybe he could give her something. George cast his eyes down and patted his pockets; he had nothing of worth to give her except…

'Chocolate bar. You like that?' George held out a small Hershey Bar that he had had on him since Mourmelon. 'You like chocolate?'

The sound of footsteps behind him alerted him to the fact that Perco had followed them in here.

'Hey Luz, why don't you leave her alone.' Came his voice, tinged with concern.

'Chocolate?' he repeated ignoring his friend, holding out the bar further to her, she took a small step forward towards him hesitantly.

'What about Rosie?'

George spun, hearing her name had hit his nerve. 'Frank, why don't you just leave me alone, okay?'

'You don't like chocolate?' he turned back to the woman, and threw the chocolate bar to the ground, almost in a temper, 'forget it, I don't like chocolate either.'

Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair and he could see the girl follow his movements with her eyes. He was filled with this overwhelming need to get closer to her.

'How's this? Cigarettes? Camel?' he asked, pulling his packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and he saw that her eyes lit up at the sight of them. 'yeeeah..you like that?'

'oh Luz!' protested Perco and George shot him a glare. The shorter man was standing in the doorway with a confused and indignant expression on his face.

'Frank, please..why don't you go make your omelette!' he finally yelled

'Well, you ain't getting any of my eggs…' Perco muttered as he swung around and George thought he heard 'blockhead' before the soldier disappeared out the door, his helmet of eggs cradled in his arms.

'Jeeeeze, my friend just keeps talking' He looked back into the startling blue eyes and tried to smile but he found himself swallowing thickly. Maybe..just maybe..this strange German woman would make him forget about her…forget about the hurt and pain she'd caused him, forget the way her eyes lit up when they landed on him…forget the way his heart clenched everytime he heard her name. Everytime he closed his eyes, he could still see her, laughing with Bill, smiling in amusement.

He sighed as the woman just looked at him with wary eyes. What the hell was he doing?

George pulled another packet of cigarettes out of his top pocket and glanced up again to find that she had moved to stand in front of him. As her hands reached out to grasp his jacket, George opened his mouth to ask what she was doing and unexpectedly felt her lips against his. George froze and jerked his head back. What was he doing? He couldn't do this… not to Rose. Rose...his mind flashed back to the gardens in Paris with her head resting intimately against Bill's shoulder, a comfortable smile playing upon her lips and George felt his resolve slipping.

The girl captured his lips again and moved her hands up into his hair and held him still for a deep hungry kiss. George felt his hands slip down to her waist and he pulled her closer, a soft groan escaping his lips. She was so tempting, so willing and she was right there in front of him.

'Yes, yes' she murmured, her accent thickening her words as she moved her body against his and George felt his breathing become ragged as he began to lose all sense of reason.

Suddenly the sound of a vehicle passing snapped George back to reality and he pulled away putting distance between them, hating himself for not just being able to take what was offered. The girl looked at him confused and took a step towards him.

'Yes, yes' she repeated before pressing her lips to his and George closed his eyes and tried to ignore that deep down, he didn't want this kiss. He didn't want anyone but Rose.

'No,' he forcefully broke from the embrace with all of the self-control that he had. His mind was screaming at him to get the hell out of there but his body wanted to pull her closer, to feel the press of her soft body against his.

'I'm sorry,' he babbled, stepping backwards with his hands outstretched as if to ward her off. 'Keep the cigarettes…here, have another packet…Dankeschön.'

George had time to meet her furious eyes before the sting of her hand slapping his face sent him reeling backwards and George turned and walked out of the barn without another word.

As George stepped back into the sunlight he was filled with self-loathing. He felt like he had betrayed Rose somehow, even though they had no official hold on each other.

Spying Perco walking back towards town, George broke into a jog to catch up with his friend.

'Hey Frank hold on,' he called, 'Perc!'

Not seeing the man slow, George quickened his pace and he could tell by the set of Perco's shoulders that the smaller man was angry.

'Jeesus, come on!' he called again, accidentally kicking a chicken that looked suspiciously like the one he had been holding.

Perco finally slowed; allowing George to fall into step with him and Frank glared at him over his helmet full of eggs, his eyes taking in his mussed hair and swollen lips and the stark red handprint on his cheek.

'What?' George asked defensively but Perco just looked down and shook his head, his eyes flashing with disappointment.

The sound of a horn beeping behind them made them step off the road to allow a jeep to race through, George thought he recognized one of the occupants and turned to Perco.

'that captain Nixon?' he asked

'I think so' Perco answered slowly as they resumed their slow walk back to the village.

'What the hell's he doing in his harness?'

'I dunno' Perco replied, 'maybe we jumped into Berlin, the wars over.'

George rubbed his jaw tenderly, almost revelling in the feel of the sting still echoing on his skin. He was an idiot and there was no one to blame but himself.

'So what happened?' Perco asked a moment, glancing up at him concerned, 'No dice with the fraulein?' he guessed wryly, raising an eyebrow.

'No dice,' George muttered, ashamed of himself, 'she smacked me in the mouth.'


'Here's your personal effects Sergeant' the nurse spoke as Rose laced up her boots.

'my effects?' she asked, looking confused, 'I didn't realise that I had any.'

The nurse handed her a small knapsack which Rose took curiously.

'These are just the items that came with you when you arrived.'

Rose pulled out a small notebook and turned it over in her hands carefully.

'Oh..' she said, her eyes held a thoughtful look as she inspected the journal. As she ran her fingers over the well-worn cover, Rose had thought she'd lost this when she'd been wounded in Bastogne, left in her old foxhole that she had shared with Skinny.

As the nurse moved away to give her privacy, Rose sat on the edge of her bed and started to leaf through the pages, her handwriting filling the lines. She skimmed through her accounts of training at Toccoa, Aldbourne, D-Day and her horrific night spent trying to find Easy Company. As she skipped over the pages about Carentan and Holland, Rose flipped towards the end which was where she had begun to write while dug in her foxhole in Bastogne.

As she turned the page containing her last entry, Rose was surprised to see a familiar untidy scrawl filling the page and Rose started to read and her eyes widened in astonishment as they flew over the page.

Flower,

My wish for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it,
for your dreams to stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this is my wish.

You deserve to smile. You deserve to laugh. You deserve happiness.

And I'll do what it takes to give that to you.
I love you to the furthest place possible and back
Yours, Radioman

This was the last entry that was written, and Rose remembered sitting in the dingy basement of Haugenau waiting to go on the patrol and watching George writing in the corner. She was surprised that she hadn't recognized it. But she was confused…he must have had it on him since Bastogne. He had written in it when he had thought she was dead. The entries that he had written in it, addressed to her as if she could read them, were filled with anguish and pain…and regret. The entries that were written after she had rejoined Easy were lighter…talking about small things and held an element of hope to them.

'Rose?' Bill called from where he was sitting and Joe looked up from the newspaper that he was bent over. She had never understood why Joe had insisted on reading the paper every morning because it was all in French but Joe said that he liked to look at the pictures.

'What's the matter?' Bill asked, seeing her expression change.

'He…' Rose stopped as her voice cracked with emotion. She'd never even suspected the depth of his feelings for her. She remembered all the glances, all the touches, all the laughs that they'd shared. Could it be real? A small smile spread across her face in wonder as she remembered the way he had held her when they'd kissed, rightness of their bodies moulding together. She remembered the way his hands had held her softly as she struggled to breathe, her chest pressed tightly against his, it was like his heart was trying to beat for her as their hands stained crimson with her blood. She flinched at the memory of the hurt look in his eyes when he had caught her and Bill together in the woods of Bastogne…all of these images played in front of her eyes like it was on a cinema screen with her being the heroine and him the hero of her story. The images of him winking at her in the barracks of Toccoa, the clink of their beer glasses as they shared a drink after being presented with their jump wings, his eyes crinkled with mirth with a cigarette tucked behind his ear as he popped up from a bunk below on the transport ship and the way his eyes were dark with concern as he stroked her blistered cheek as they waited to take the town of Carentan. He was always there, looking out for her and she didn't know it. He was always there to crack a joke when things were tough, he kept her warm in Bastogne and he had tried to keep her safe. She remembered the conversation in a dark barn in the middle of Holland somewhere where he had tried to convince her that she shouldn't have to fight with them, that she deserved better than that. Rose hadn't listened to him, he had tried to tell her how he felt even back then. She remembered his words 'What happens to me if you get hit?' and his anguished eyes but Rose had just pushed past him, she had walked away from him every time.

Looking up with wide eyes, she glanced around the room seeing Joe and Bill watching her.

'I have to get outta here.' She said, stuffing the precious diary into her rucksack and she got to her feet determinedly, she had to find Easy…she had to find George and tell him…tell him the truth.

Bill shot a quick look at Joe before turning back to say goodbye to his friend. He could tell by the way her shoulders had straightened and the fierce look of wonder on her face that she had just discovered something that the rest of the men had been observing months, years before. Smothering a grin, he pulled Rose into a hug and let her go…releasing her to find the war and the man she loved.


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