Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own any of the franchise of Band of Brothers. I have the utmost respect for the men of Easy Company and all those that have served. I mean no disrespect to those men. This story is for entertainment purposes only and is based only off the portrayal of the actors from the miniseries. Only Anna Cohen and any other original characters that may crop up in this story are mine.

Till the End of the Line

Chapter 20: Thoughts of the Worst

"Fuck me, think that's the worst bombing we've had since we first got to this hell hole!" I shouted over the noise of the blasts raining down on us. I was back with Chuck a couple of metres away from the frontline in a foxhole.

"You can say that again!" he shouted back crouching further down into the walls of the hole. I spotted a figure moving just slightly in front of us, they were crouched low to the ground and shuffling fast in our direction. I spotted the medic armband meaning it was one of two people Val or Spina, the only two medics here that hadn't been sent on errands to the town. Hopefully that place wasn't hit as bad as here, hopefully Annie was safe. As the figure got closer, I realised it was Val.

"Hey! Val!"

"What's wrong? You get hit?" she asked as she slid into the foxhole crouching between Chuck and I. She reached for her medical bag but I waved her off.

"No, but…" I began as another bomb exploded in the distance lighting the forest up once more, I waited a moment to see if another would go off, but it seemed the worst of the bombing had now passed.

"Is Anna ok? I don't know she was back in the town earlier today, hopefully they haven't been hit as bad." Val cut in which didn't fill me with the most confidence in the world, no one knew what was happening back there.

"Damn."

"I wouldn't put much hope on the town not being hit." Spina suddenly appeared behind us making all three of us nearly jump, Chuck and I had to lower our rifles upon realising it was Spina. Val climbed up onto the side that Spina had appeared from and promptly hit him over the head knocking his helmet into the snow. "Hey! What was that for?"

"For being a fucking idiot, read the goddamn conversation before putting your fucking boot in it." She hissed as he picked his helmet back up rubbing the side of his head. "And for Christ's sake don't sneak up on your own soldiers in the middle of a warzone."

"I'm going there." I'd made up my mind, I'd get back to the town and make sure she was alright. I pulled myself up out of the hole and slung my rifle over my shoulder.

"You can't, you're not a medic nor are you injured." Val grabbed my arm pulling me back to stop me from leaving. "Not to mention preferential treatment of a female medical soldier could get the both of you discharged."

"I'm not leaving her there."

"And what if it is getting bombed? What are you going to do that she can't do herself?" She questioned and I hated to admit it but she was right, sure if it was just armed Germans, I could take them, but bombers weren't exactly something that my rifle could take down. But I needed to make sure she was fine.

"Something."

"Wow, you hearing this Chuck? Liebgott's been holding out on the frontline, can take on the bombers all by himself." She was joking but this really wasn't the time for this sort of joke.

"Val!" Spina hissed finally able to read the mood of the conversation.

"What?" She questioned before she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Listen, the next jeep out of here I'll go, leaves you in this schmuck's hands…"

"Hey!"

"This schmuck's capable hands, but I'll make sure she's alright." She continued while Spina still looked somewhat offended, he was less offended by the fact she'd called his hands capable.

"Can take on the bombers by yourself?" Chuck joked which caused a large smirk to appear on Val's face.

"Hon, they'd wish they'd never even decided to fly over here." And with that Val and Spina parted ways, knowing if they spent anymore time chatting together Dike would appear to shout about how two medics couldn't be in the same place if the bombs were going to be raining down. Chuck managed to get me to sit back down in the foxhole, but my mind was still racing thinking through every single scenario that could happen.

"Lieb, calm down she'll be fine. Val has gone out and she'll make sure they are all ok." Chuck reassured but all the thoughts running through my mind told me I should be worried.

"Yeah sure, none of them are armed." What if the Germans had stormed the town, none of the medics were armed enough to take them on and survive.

"Not that, that would make a difference." He replied which really wasn't the statement I needed right now. It just made the thoughts even worse, what if she did end up in a firefight with no help whatsoever and she was hit? I couldn't save her and God was that the worst feeling.

"Not helping."

"Lieb, she parachuted into a warzone successfully in a full fire fight. She managed to the regrouping zone untouched and she has only taken a scratch this whole campaign." Chuck reasoned and all those points were valid. From the first time she set foot in Camp Toccoa, I believed she wouldn't make it through training, that her, Val, Marie and Matron would not last through a week let alone the whole damn training. And yet here we were they'd parachuted along with the rest of us into France and Holland, and Anna had only gotten that scratch in France so far. But that could all change now, she could end up like Marie.

"And now you're jinxing it."

"Look she's tough as nails, she's proven that constantly she isn't going to suddenly be a damsel in distress."

"I guess you're right." I finally accepted there was nothing I could do, only pray that everything was fine and she would be back with us.

"Now get some sleep, while you can." Chuck ordered throwing me a blanket while he wrapped himself up in his own. I sat for a while staring out into the snow, thinking at some point the bombs would come back down but they didn't or at least they didn't long enough for me to drift off into a semi form of sleep.

"Rise and shine." A distinct female voice called as the owner gently shook me awake. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes trying to focus on the person who was waking me up.

"…Anna?" I mumbled as her face became clearer, I thought I might be sleeping but the hand on my shoulder made it more real.

"In the flesh." She replied a beautiful smile on her face. I pulled her into the foxhole, Chuck helped out having been woken up as well. "I heard a little rumour that someone was worried about little old me."

"Annie, this isn't time for joking. Are you hurt?" I grumbled looking over her face for any sign of injury, she was covered in soot and dust, but it didn't look like she was injured.

"Joe, Joe." She was laughing as she grabbed my hands. "Joe! I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Thank God!" I muttered leaning closer in and kissing her, in this moment it felt like we were the only two on Earth, that there was no war or anyone we needed to hide from. I wanted this moment to last a lot longer than it did.

"Hey, you two heads up stop with the affection for two seconds, Dike is on the move this way." Val interjected as she slid to the side of our foxhole quickly hitting me on the shoulder and grabbing Annie, dragging her up to sit on the side of the hole.

"Lieutenant." We all saluted as the man came up on our position, without his helmet and looking rather flustered.

"Why are there two medics within metres of each other? What if we lose both of you in a bombing? There will be no one!" he yelled from the start of his stint as our lieutenant here, he had been fixated on making sure the medics were not close to each other, he'd continuously call them out if he'd find them having the smallest chat together or even updating each other on the situation.

"Sir, I was just moving on through, I'm heading over to your sector sir." Val quickly responded handing over some supplies to Anna and standing fully up.

"Good as you were then." Dike agreed before carrying on his way to God knows where, if he continued on his path for longer, he could end up running into the German line. Val winked at us before disappearing off back towards where Dike would have come from.

"You're ok?" Anna asked after a couple of seconds, sliding back down into the foxhole and cuddling closer into my side. I wrapped my arms tighter around and her and sighed contently.

"I'm completely fine now."

Author's Notes:

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and the story so far. I'm hoping to be able to continue to update it regularly. All your support is greatly appreciated and I am so happy so many are enjoying the story. Hopefully all of you are safe and sound with the current pandemic happening. I think there will probably be another two chapters surrounding the saga of Bastogne and Foy and then it will be onto the last couple of chapters of the war. I may do one or two after the war showing what could happen, maybe a reunion with Matron living her new life without all her limbs. Thank you again for the support and hopefully you will be reading chapter 21 shortly after reading this one. I'd like to thank SleepyHeather for the idea to switch up the POVs and write from Joe's POV, hopefully it has worked out well, I might do a few more POV changes later on if that is something people would like to see more of.