Hinkle and Pingwings

Dec 23rd 1944

A few weeks earlier, we'd been sent to the Ardennes, as the last line of defence against the Germans. We were being shelled like fuck all the time, the aid-station had been blown to shit and we were on bare min of rations. The weather was wank too.

As I wandered through the snow, I kept my eyes out for Dike. Dike was our new company commander; poor Moose had been shot by a replacement while we were in Holland and was shipped back to the US to recover. Now we were stuck with Dike, being labelled as Fox-hole Norman after just 3 weeks with us.

Still, I didn't have to write any bloody reports. Party on my dudes.

"How are you not cold?" Taylor asked, her hands shoved into her pockets and teeth chattering. We were just coming back from the town of Bastogne, her, me and Hall on a supply run.

"It's my Norwegian blood." I shrugged as we walked along. "You know we used to go snow bathing."

"What the fuck is snow bathing?" Hall shivered.

"When it snows in Norway, you get nekkid and jump in the snow."

"What the fuck Norway?" he snorted.

"Well, we used to go swimming in frozen lakes too."

"Again, what the fuck Norway?"

I looked at Tay, "Is it that weird?"

"For a non-Nord, I guess it would be."

"Well, anyway." I huffed. "That's why I'm not cold."

As we got closer to the foxhole I shared with my husband, I could hear him and our friends cackling at something… sounded like Hinkle?

I found Don, Skip and Penk sitting around the edge of our fox-hole, eating something with Babe and Julian. Gene was sitting on an ammo box not far away and Joe Domingus was dishing out food to Babe and Jules.

"Hey, Little Mouse! Just in time for food." He grinned. Bless him, he was still trying to keep me fed.

"Ah, I'm okay, I ate."

Taylor glanced at me, sending me a questioning look. I ignored it, as well as the one from Hall, as Joe came to feed Tay and Hall.

"You sure?"

"I'm sure, I scrounged something in town." I nodded, coming to a stop just behind Jules. He shrugged and went on his way.

"Hey, Joe, be honest; what's in these things anyway?" Don asked, while Skip eyed his… I don't know, it looked like the sole of a shoe.

"Nothing you won't eat Malarkey." He replied, turning 360.

"I won't eat Malarkey." Skip remarked. Taylor and Hall said they were going to find the others and said they'd see me round, then Lt Foley came over, asking if anyone had seen Lt Dike.

"Try Battalion C.P sir." Don replied. I had no idea where he was either and it was my job to know, seeing as Danni wanted to know where he was at all times.

"Try Paris." Skip snorted, when Foley left.

"Try Hinkle." Don burst out laughing, along with the others. Penk, in an awful German voice said something like 'Hinkle sveetie I'm home' and went to hug Babe.

"Okay… what on Earth are you lot on about?"

When they finished telling me about Babe falling into an occupied (in all senses of the word) fox-hole, I was trying my hardest not to smile, because I knew if I did, I'd be in stitches. Babe stared at me for ages, with that sort of look that said go on, laugh and I pursed my lips together, a smile still forming regardless. I couldn't stop it, almost like when your mum absolutely has to go to the bathroom, just as you get your key in the door.

"Oh, Edward! You poor thing!" I laughed, wiping the tears from my face after semi-recovering from my laughing fit. "You're okay though, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Just great." He rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic reply, but I caught the smile on his face.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. I'd be sad if something happened to you." I chuckled. Don and the others looked disappointed.

"What about us?"

"Well obviously I'd be sad if something happened to you lot too, I'm just trying to make him feel better!" I huffed, "Honestly, so shellfish."

"Don't you mean selfish?" Jules asked, looking a bit confused.

"Flubbed my line." I shrugged, catching Gene glancing at us from where he sat. I could tell he was brooding, but I couldn't tell if he was distancing himself on purpose. I had a sudden flashback to my time at school, where I'd sit and watch the other kids laugh and play together from a distance. Then I remembered my supplies. "You cold Jules?"

"Isn't everyone?" He asked, looking up at me as I unzipped the top of my jacket. It was like watching a clown pull out a trail of hankies, pulling out this scarf from inside my jacket.

"Hey, why does he get a scarf?" Don protested. I rolled my eyes, wrapping the scarf around Jules.

"Donald, five minutes and you'll have a human hot water bottle curled up with you." I replied, pulling out the other scarf. "And besides, if I gave you a scarf, they'd think it was some kind of special treatment."

I wandered over to Gene, scarf in hand, as Jules asked if Don and I really were married. Bless his little army issue socks, he couldn't tell if we were having him on or not. As I heard Penk tell him that yes, we really were married, I stood in front of Gene, leaning to the side as I looked at him.

"I brought you a scarf."

"I'm okay." He shook his head.

"No take backs. Take the scarf or I'll be sad." I pushed the scarf under his nose, encouraging him to take it. He wasn't going to win me and he seemed to know it, so he took the scarf and wrapped it around his neck, while I looked on as if I'd won top prize at the fare. "Come on then, come sit with us. We can huddle like pengwings."

"Don't you mean penguins?"

"I flubbed my line." I shrugged again, as he followed me back to the fox-hole. "Shifty up Tedward."

"Mouse, why do you keep calling me weird names?" Uh-oh. It seemed I'd annoyed him.

"Beklager…" I mumbled, shuffling into Don's side. It always made me nervous when someone got annoyed with me for being… well, me. The friends I had at primary used to get annoyed, call me weird and then I wasn't allowed to play with them anymore.

"I didn't mean… I ain't annoyed, I was just askin'."

"Pwomise?"

"Don't you mean… never mind… I'm not annoyed…"

I breathed a sigh of relief, "Det er godt å høre. I thought you were going to say I'm a weirdo and never speak to me again."

The boys, even Gene all looked at me with an odd expression, until Penk finally said, "Who hurt you?"

I shrugged, "I told you, I didn't have any friends until I got to college…"

"You got us!" Skip replied, reaching over Don to pat me on the head. "And Hinkle."

We all laughed and Gene even seemed to crack a smile. It was nice to be like this, while we still had the chance… or at least, while the Germans weren't shelling shit out of us. I felt Don shift a little closer.

"Why are you so warm?"

"Because I am a human ray of sunshine." I turned to look at him, noticing the four day stubble on his face. "Are you growing a beard?"

"It's too cold to shave."

"Ew." I wrinkled up my nose and shuffled over to Julian. "Julian doesn't have stubble." I put my hands on his face, squishing his cheeks. "He doesn't have any facial hair…" I paused and looked at him. "Are you even old enough to get facial hair?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ewww! No, don't call me that! I feel so o~ld!" I whined, hugging Julian. "Ma'am is for like… I don't know, but don't call it me!"

"What's wrong with facial hair anyway?" Don asked, rubbing his spiky chin. I cringed.

"Å, Fionn when he was growing his beard used to rub his chin on my face. Ugh, gwoss."

"Gross."

"Yeah that too."

Don rolled his eyes and scratched his chin.

"Well, if you don't like it, find another fox-hole."

"I will." I huffed, pretending to be mad at him. "I'll see if Hinkle's got any room in his fox-hole for me." I told him, getting up and wiping my bum of snow. I had to go find Dike and report to Oh Danni Boy.

"Fuck you Mouse." Babe grumbled as I walked off. I turned back around and threw them all a wink.

"Not with a beard he won't!"

Oh shit, piss and cock. Dike had sent me all the way to Dog Company, because Winters needed to know about supplies and I had to get the list of what they had, as well as ours. I'm sure all he thought I was good for was fetch, carry and stock checking… mind you, I'd heard Dike had been pretty brave before he came to us… Danni was sure that he was suffering from PTSD… well, he wouldn't be the first and wouldn't be the last… at least no one was going to shoot him.

I met up with Spiers and got their supply list and was making my way back, when I bumped into Miller and Hall.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked, not expecting to see them this far out.

"Looking for you."

"Me? Why?"

They glanced at each other.

"What? What's up?"

"Well, they sent a patrol out about 5 minutes ago."

"Shit." I rolled my eyes. Of course that was my other job, leading patrols, as per my role as Section Leader. "Which way?"

Hall pointed off somewhere behind them and I got a bad feeling about it.

"Did Julian go, by any chance?"

"Julian? That replacement friend of Babe's?" Milly asked and I nodded. "Yeah, he went. Said you'd be okay with it."

That little shit. Only yesterday I'd told him not to go on any patrols without me and to tell me where he was going at all times, even if it was just for a waz.

Now, I had a very bad feeling. Just like the bunker in Brecourt with Hall, just like Nijmegen with Miller. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. I took off running, hoping I would get there in time.

It was almost like my body knew where to go without me even knowing, like a homing pigeon. I could hear my heart beating madly in my ears as the adrenaline started to kick in, the mist of clarity drifting over my mind. I knew exactly where I was; the German line. I crouched down behind a stack of conveniently placed lumber, my senses heightened, listening for even the snow crunching under foot.

That's when I heard Martin. He seemed to say something and then I saw Julian moving towards me. He didn't know I was there, I don't think anyone did. But then I heard something across from our line, coming from the German line and I felt like a voice in the back of my head said move.

"Julian! Get down!" I hissed at him. He looked up blankly and looked back at the others. There was no more time; they knew we were here and they were going to open fire. He'd get killed out there. I made a mad dash, shoulder barging into the skinny boy, knocking him back over to Babe, just as an MG opened up on us. I was sure one of us was going to bite the dust (or snow). There was a sudden searing pain in my shoulder, the two of us falling over to where Bull, Martin and Babe where.

"Where the fuck did you come from?" Martin yelled at me. "Fall back!"

Bull pulled me to my feet and the whole patrol, with me and Jules at the rear, ran as fast as we could back to our side. Someone got hit as we ran, and Gene was soon there, trying to help.

"I'm sorry Section Leader." Julian mumbled as Gene patched up my shoulder. I was lucky that a bullet had just grazed it, but it still hurt.

"Sorry isn't good enough, Julian." I scolded. I wasn't angry at him, but I was cross. He'd disobeyed my orders and fibbed about being able to go on patrol. He'd betrayed my trust in a way. "I specifically told you, you do not go on a patrol without me and you tell me where you're going at all times. We follow our orders to the letter in the ACS and you didn't."

"Yes Section Leader."

"Now Roe has to patch me up again and I'm starting to look like a rag doll…" I looked at the boy, who was looking at his feet and I sighed. "Julian, I'm going to give you one last chance. If you do not do as I say, you'll be kicked out of the ACS. I let you in, because Babe asked, so you go and apologise to him for letting him down. Then I want you to go and apologise to Sergeant Malarkey for getting his wife wounded."

After getting patched up for the second time since we'd been here, I made my rounds, checking on the rest of the ACS, checking in with Tay, Danni, Bill and Joe and Buck, before going back to Skip and Penk's fox-hole, where Don would be waiting for me. Gods know how I managed to find it in the dark; I must have had a magnet for Don. The 3 Stooges were joking around, still talking about Hinkle. Don spotted me first, of course.

"Lith! Are you alright?" he got up, hopping out of the fox-hole to come to me. I told him it was just a graze, but he still fussed. Gods, he's adorable!

"I'm fine, love, really. See?" I rolled my shoulder, hoping it would convince him that I really was okay. He studied me a little more, but relented in his questioning. I was just about to say good-bye, when I saw Penk shaking like leaf in a tornado.

"I'm s-s-so c-c-cold." He hissed. Ah, my supplies! I unzipped my jacket again, fishing around on the inside for a pair of fingerless gloves I'd acquired while in town.

"Here Pinky… it's not much."

Penk took the gloves and looked down at them, then up at me, as if I'd just offered him my kidney.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

I laughed, "Funnily enough, you haven't."

"Well I do."

I let out a satisfied huff and tucked my face into the collar of my jacket. I was so tired and I just wanted to get back to our fox-hole and sleep, but I was that on edge it was keeping me awake. Rightly so too. Yet another bombardment began as we made our way back to our fox-hole. Trees splintered around and above us, orange and reds lit up the forest and dirt sprayed us from a few too many close calls. I wasn't afraid to admit I was petrified. I could feel my heart race and my chest started getting tight and I felt like I was shaking just as bad as Penk was a few minutes ago. Don took my hand and pulled me along, the two of us racing back to our empty den. He threw me in first, jumping in after me. I felt a pair of warm arms encircle me, as Don huddled over, pressing my tightly against his chest, his hand on my head in an attempt to comfort me.

The shelling stopped after what felt like forever, but we waited a little longer to move, just in case they started up again.

"Are you okay baby?" Don whispered, his icy cold hands cupping my cheeks while he stared into my eyes. I felt like I was wheezing, the tightness in my chest not going. I nodded and threw myself against him again. He made me feel so much better, just being in his arms, I felt that little bit more protected, even though he'd never be able to stop a shell. "It's okay baby… it's going to be okay."

"Don?" I wasn't sure if he heard me; my voice sounded tiny, even to me.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."