A/N: Hey guys! Chapter fifty!

Over the next two weeks I will probably either get zero writing done or a BUNCH done. I work for Disney World, who closed, and we still don't know what they're going to do with us in terms of work/pay/etc. If I have the next two weeks off, I'll move forward on this full steam ahead while hiding out in my apartment! But there is a decent chance that I'll be deployed to clean the parks or work at what is left open. If I can't get any writing done, I'll probably reduce updates to 2 times a week until I can get another 5-10 chapters built up. Right now I've got 6 ahead. Stay safe and stay calm, friends!


Chapter Fifty


Alice looked at her watch and saw it was nearly five o'clock. After reaching the first town, they'd taken a two hour rest and marched on until past dinner time. They'd now come to a town that looked to be mostly still in tact. A few broken, crumbling buildings lined the perimeter, but overall, the place seemed welcoming. Or, it would've been welcoming had it not been entirely deserted.

The three platoons of Easy Company mingled together. While Dick disappeared, no doubt looking for Majors Strayer or Horton for orders, the men took the opportunity to lounge about and chat. For only two days since the jump into Normandy, it felt relatively calm. Alice didn't trust it.

She found a covered archway into a large building. Across from it, she could see many members of Easy laying on the warm stone of the town square or sitting on steps near a statue. She wasn't exactly hiding, but Alice didn't feel like chatting with really anyone. Watching them would be enough. Her body ached as she settled down.

With her helmet beside her, she let her head rest against the stone of the archway. She closed her eyes. The shade offered a welcome relief to the heat of the summer sun. The steady murmur of the soldiers around her droned on in the background. Alice propped up one knee. She let her other leg lay flat against the ground.

"Comfy?"

She opened her eyes at Harry's comment. He also had removed his helmet, holding it dangling at his side. Dirt and grime covered nearly all of his exposed skin. She guessed she didn't look much better than him. Alice didn't respond. She just scooted slightly to the right to let him sit beside her.

"France is nice," he muttered. Eyes closed, he lay his head back and took steady deep breaths. "I could get used to this."

Alice smiled to herself. She turned to look at him. "When the war ends, you should visit the south. Nice and Provence are beautiful places, well worth your time."

"Yeah? Think Kitty would like 'em?"

"Definitely."

They fell back into silence. Both kept their eyes closed, heads against the wall. Small talk increased around them as the men continued to settle. Not far away, Alice could hear George and Lieb joking around. Liebgott had pulled a Nazi flag from a dead officer and seemed incredibly proud of his find.

The Nazi flag hadn't been the only find of Easy Company's trek since D-Day. Frank Perconte had been obsessive over his collection of watches he'd taken from the dead Germans, and most of the men had picked up trinkets here and there. Alice generally found it in bad taste, and had been relieved to find out George at least felt the same.

"You two enjoying yourselves?"

Alice opened her eyes again. This time, Buck stood in front of them. He seemed tired, but had a small smile on his face. It didn't surprise her when he sat across from them against the other wall.

"Any word from Dick?" Harry asked him.

He went to respond, but a commotion from the square drew away their attention. Most of Easy had rejoined the 506th over the past two days, but based on the voice they heard, the last of the NCOs had finally shown up. They all grinned.

"Thank God," Alice murmured.

Floyd Talbert's laugh sounded from the other side of the square. As they all looked over, they found Tab, Shifty, Smokey, and Blithe weaving between their fellow soldiers of Easy. Skinny clapped Shifty on the back, and Liebgott and Talbert held a game of whose souvenir was cooler. Based on what she could see, Alice thought Talbert held a German raincoat.

"Dick wants us up and moving," Buck told them. As they turned away from the little reunion, he nodded back to Alice and Harry. "We're to follow F Company."

Harry sighed. Closing his eyes again, he let his head hit the dark brick behind him. Alice felt about as enthused as him. But moments later, they both stood. Buck nodded. Leaving Harry to wrangle the men into formation, Alice went to find Talbert.

He stood with Bill and George, exchanging cigarettes and lights. Something had them all amused. Moments later, Harry's call for First Platoon to form up had George leaving them alone. As the defacto head radio op, he had to stick with the CO, or in this case with Dick nowhere to be found, Harry Welsh.

"What the hell took you so long, Sergeant" Alice demanded.

At her voice, Talbert turned. He grinned around his white cigarette and gave a tiny mock salute. "Ey, Lieutenant! Glad you haven't died yet." Then his smile fell a bit. He looked at her cheek and pointed to the cut. "What the hell happened to you?"

Bill scoffed. Taking his cigarette out of his mouth, he used it to point at her. "She took a piece 'a exploding C-47 in the face!"

"Dramatic, but yes." Alice chuckled at his statement. She turned back to Talbert. "Cobb got hit in the plane, and I took a bit of what got him."

"Would you all shut it," Johnny heckled. He pushed past them and pointed up towards Harry, tapping Talbert on the helmet as he went past. "Noise discipline."

Alice rolled her eyes, but shot him a small smile. Up ahead, FIrst Platoon had begun to move off. Behind them, Buck worked to get Second and Third up and ready to go. Returning to their squads, Talbert and Bill left Alice standing with her hands on her hips. She pushed past Johnny on her way up to Harry, and he scowled at her as she tapped his helmet as he'd done to Talbert.

The men of Easy marched in relative silence. Alice fell into step beside Harry. In front of them, Hoobler led as lead scout followed by Blithe, Perconte, and then Bull with his squad. High in the sky, the sun beat down on them. The heat and the bugs as they trekked through swampland did absolutely nothing for morale.

As the sun set beneath the horizon, the men grew grumpier by the minute. After only three hours of marching, they'd lost F Company twice. The other Company didn't seem to know how to maintain a steady pace and keep in touch with E. With all the halts, everyone had short fuses, especially the officers.

Alice had drifted back through Easy Company. The darkness around them only broke when they came upon burning wreckages of trucks or planes, or half burned oil drums. Every so often they had to pick their way over and around German and sometimes Allied corpses. The stench of death wove its way through the air and combined with acrid smoke and gasoline.

When they stopped a third time, Alice had had enough. She heaved a sigh and began pushing her way up the ranks until she found herself with a glaring Harry Welsh and equally annoyed Dick and Nixon.

"Yeah, I've got Hoobler and Blithe out there now," Harry snapped as she approached.

"We lose F Company again?" Alice asked.

They all turned and nodded to her. It didn't take long before Dick and Nixon decided to go off and look for F Company themselves. Alice didn't even hesitate to follow. There was no way she'd let them wander off and get themselves killed without being there too.

"Stay back there," Dick told her as she started to follow. He pointed to Harry. "Keep the men from doing anything stupid."

"Stupid? You mean like you two marching off into the darkness?" Alice huffed and shook her head. "No way. Besides, this is France. You can't tell me what to do when I'm in my own country."

Dick didn't respond. With a long look back at her, he just sighed. Nixon, however, could stop a small half hearted laugh from escaping. Together the three of them crept through the swamp until they reached a forested area not far away. They stayed quiet until they heard a gasp. Alice and Nixon both raised their guns, but Dick just shook his head. He led the way into a small cleared space and pointed to Blithe.

"He's dead, Private."

Alice looked past Dick. Blithe had stumbled back from a figure looming against a tree. But as she focused on the figure, she realized the German was, in fact, quite dead. Albert Blithe had been more jumpy than usual since he'd returned that evening, and it worried her. But as Alice went to look at him more closely, the deceased German pulled her attention away. Nixon moved past her as well, and the two of them looked more closely at it.

"Fallschirmjäger."

Paratrooper. Alice only half listened as Nixon explained what she already knew to Blithe. Instead, her attention remained on the small, white flower pinned over the man's heart. It gleamed in the low moonlight, its petals mimicking the stars themselves. Like a tiny drop of snow on the coat of coarse grey, Alice felt herself transported back to Germany. Edelweiss, the star of the Alps. A drop of snow in summer. Purity.

Alice hesitated, her fingers stopping mere centimeters from the petals. War had even tainted the Edelweiss. "Doch einmal werden wir wieder frei; wir werden die Ketten schon brechen."

"Come again?" Dick asked. He'd sent Blithe back to Harry, and so just the three officers stood together around the dead German.

"Edelweiss. Many groups took it as their symbol," she said. Sighing, Alice shook her head. "One of them is the Edelweißpiraten, the Edelweiss Pirates. They're kids, adolescents who try to combat the Hitler Youth. My cousin Wilhelm was a member. I haven't heard from him in years." She shook her head. Then she tried to explain the German. "'But one day we will be free again; No more to be restrained.' Part of one of their songs."

When Hoobler and a couple of F Company men joined them a little while later, Dick, Nixon, and Alice led the way back to Harry and the front of the advance of Easy. Alice didn't talk much. Sudden longing for the Alps consumed her. One step at a time though. Alice knew that step one was secure Normandy. Step two would be secure Paris. From there, she could only hope the Allies would free all of Europe.