Thank you for reading! I love you all so much! Pleas review and thank you.

Again, I own nothing but Adriana!

Adriana was cold, wet, tired and just all around miserable. The rain was coming in harder torrents now, making her field jacket soaked to the skin. She swore as she pulled her collar up as high as it would go.

"Sgt. Roosevelt," Winters' cool voice came through the trees.

Adriana spun around and in doing so, slipped and fell forward. Hands came out of the darkness and grabbed her shoulders. Winters steadied her on her feet then found her eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his blue eyes smiling.

"Yes sir, sorry sir," she said flustered.

"It's alright," he said still holding onto her upper shoulders.

She stood straighter and took her hands off his arms and he released her shoulders.
"So you wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes," he answered. "S2 says the Germans only left a company to defend Carentan. The rest pulled out sometime last night."

"Damn. I knew that town was too easy," Adriana said sighing.

"They regrouped south of town," Winters said as they started walking. "They may have been on their way to a counter attack when we encountered them here. Their strength is unknown."

Adriana looked up at Winters who was looking out at the German hedgerow.

"They want the town back and we are in their way. If they don't come before, we are attacking at first light. 0530."

Adriana let out a growl and said, "I'll tell my men to fix bayonets."

She looked down as they continued to walk then she smiled.

"Not much of a limp," she said smiling up at him.

"You either," Winters said stopping and looking at her.

"How is your leg sir?" she asked.

"It hurts," he said. "You?"

"I'm fine," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Winters nodded and smiled.

"Get some sleep Sgt."

"You should take your own advice sir," Adriana said smiling.

"Don't trip over anything on your way back to your foxhole," Winters said nonchalantly with a grin on his face.

"Yes sir," Adriana said and with a shake of his head, Winters was gone.

Adriana laughed to herself and began her cold journey back to hers and Martin's hole. When she got there however, Martin was asleep and Blithe was in her spot. She sighed as Blithe turned his green eys on her. She nodded and trudged off to find an open hole. As she passed a sleeping Muck, Penkala and Malrkey, she thought about throwing herself in on top of them, but continued walking.

The Germans were still singing as the rain continued to pour, and Adriana continued to get soaked. The wind was blowing harder and there was not much shelter for her. Even the thick trees in the hedgerow weren't stopping the wind and rain. She saw Talbert on his watch and decided to see how he was doing.

"Thunder," she said just to let him know she was there.

"Flash," he answered and turned to her. "Hiya Rosie. Jesus you look cold."

He held his new German pancho open to her. She smiled and slid in next to him. She immediately soaked up his dry warmth and was awakened. She hugged Talb's waist and said, "Thanks Talb."

"Not a problem. This damn rain is going to kill us."

"Better rain than the Krauts right?" Adriana asked looking up at him.

"Yeah I guess," he said. "So do you know what we are doing?" he asked.

Adriana sighed.

"We attack at 0530," she said. "If they don't attack first."

"Well shit," Talb cursed. "I better get myself some sleep. Want me to walk you to your foxhole?"

"Naw thanks Talb. I have to go check the positions before morning anyway. Thanks for the warmth."

"No problem. Night Rosie."

"Night Talb."

Adriana darted out from under the warm pancho and almost at once she found a foxhole. It was being shared by Perconte and Luz who were talking quietly and trying to smoke.

"Heya boys," Adriana greeted them.

She knelt at the edge of the hole and looked in on them.

"Hey Bell!" Luz said smiling up at her. "You look cold. Care to share a foxhole?"

"God yes," she said happily and jumped in with them.

Perconte slid under her and pushed her to the middle so she would be warmer. She snuggled down between them and pulled them toward her. Luz spread a blanket across them and Perconte did the same with his army green.

"It's much warmer down here," she said as a particularly large gust of wind howled across the top of the hole.

"Well of course! Perco and I are down here!" Luz said throwing his arm around her then immediately pushing her away. "Jesus Bell you're soaked!"

"Yeah I've been walking around for awhile," she said, her teeth now chattering.

"Well get that shit off," Perconte said leaning away from her.

Adriana gladly rid herself of the soaked field jacket and button down green shirt. That left her in her white crew neck. It was only slightly damp and that would soon be fixed by Luz and Perconte's warmth, but she was still shivering slightly.

"So how the hell are you Rosie?" Perconte asked offering her a cigarette.

"Tired," she mumbled.

Perconte looked down at her and realized her eyes were closed and her head was leaning against the dirt wall. Perconte nudged Luz who was trying to light his cigarette but having no luck. He glanced up and a smile worked its way across his face. Perconte laughed and Luz leaned forward, stripping down to his white t-shirt as well and pulling Adriana against him.

He enjoyed the feeling of her pressed against him more than he would ever let on to anyone. He was pretty sure all the men would enjoy Adriana sleeping against them, but not for the same reason Luz did. Most of the men thought of Adriana as their little sister, but Luz wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about how much she meant to him and how terrified he was of not having her in his life. Luz was only just older than Adriana, and had certainly never been 'in love' before, but as he sat their with his arm around Adriana, he couldn't think of another way to define how he felt. Luz wasn't thinking about the war, or all the deaths and injuries in only the few days they had been there. He was thinking about the young woman who he knew he loved from the very first second he met her at Taccoa. Now, as he sat in a foxhole in the rain with his best friend and the woman he wanted to be with forever, everything didn't look so glum after all. She mumbled something against his side he didn't understand but gently put a strand of auburn hair behind her ear and shushed her.

"Go to sleep," he coaxed. "You're going to need it."

She softly uttered something that sounded like 'you're right' then nodded off peacefully. Perconte threw Luz's blanket over them both and scooted in close on the other side of Adriana.

"You're one lucky son of a bitch you know that?" Perconte said grinning.

Luz cocked his head and gave his friend a questioning look. Perconte shook his head and laughed.

"You idiot."

"So I'm not the only one who thinks so?" he asked smiling.

"No," Perconte confirmed. "Any man would be stupid not to like her. She is like our little ray of sunshine in this war. Although, it may take some coaxing and sweet talking to get her to admit it to herself."

"What do you mean?" Luz asked looking down at Adriana's sleeping form.

"She is a US Army Sgt. On the way to becoming so much more. There is probably a rule somewhere that won't let her get involved with her men," Perconte said following Luz's gaze to her.

"Come on Perco. This has never happened before. There has never been a need for a rule like that," Luz countered.

"Well then I'm sure it's a rule in her own personal rule book," Perconte said, pulling a thick paperback book out of his pack. "Either way, it can't be a good idea to get involved with her. I mean what if she dies? What will happen to-"

"Why would you even say something like that?" Luz asked anger flashing through his dark eyes.

Perconte met Luz's eyes over his book.

"What would happen to you?" Perconte asked, finishing his sentence. "How would you go on?"

"It… it would be just like losing any other man," Luz faltered.

"You and I both know that is not true," Perconte scoffed, then he looked down at their young Sgt. "She is more than that to all of us."

Luz was lost for words, and eventually he admitted defeat.

"I can't help how I feel about her Perco."

"I know. I'm not saying you shouldn't love her. Lover her with all you have, but know, she is just as apt to die as the rest of us, and if you live and she dies, you have to be able to go on. Without her. Just like if any other man died."

Luz searched Perconte's face and he was completely serious. He raised his eyebrows at his friend just as a scream echoed through the trees. It came again a few seconds later. The next one woke Adriana.

"What happened?" she asked still groggy from sleep but reaching for her rifle.

"That came from our side," Luz said tightening his grip around Adriana.

"I'll go check it out," Perconte said jumping out of the hole before either of his comrades could say otherwise.

"How long was I asleep for?" Adriana asked rubbing her eyes.

"Few minutes," Luz said releasing his tight grip on her upper arm.

At that moment she observed where she was. Her head was in the crook of Luz's neck and her hand was pressed against his chest that was bare of anything but his white t-shirt. When she looked up and realized how close their faces were, she sat up immediately. He looked at her confused. She cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes again.

"Well it was a nice nap," she said with a fake grin.

Luz suddenly felt very awkward and retracted his arm from around her shoulders. She leaned back against the dirt a little ways from him and sighed. There was an awkward silence that lasted a few seconds until Adriana looked at him.

"I never got a chance to ask how your jump was," she said.

"Nothin' out of the ordinary," he said not wanting to re-live the events with the French woman.

"Come on," she prodded scooting closer to him. "You know what happened to me and Talb."

He looked down at her face. Her eyes were full of anticipation, so he sighed and got more comfortable in his hole.

"I landed near a house, and a French woman, Lenore, hid me from the Germans. There was an 88 somewhere around and I wouldn't have gotten very far without her help. Then the Germans showed up at her door and they were yelling to let them in so Lenore hid me under her house. That's where I found Perconte. He and I waited there for the Germans to leave but-"

He stopped and took a breath.

"They didn't leave. They got rough with Lenore and started throwing things. Then I… I-I left. Perconte and I just crawled away into the woods."

Luz might have had tears in his eyes, but they were gone before Adriana could see them clearly. Adriana put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. He clutched her shirt and buried his face in her neck for a few moments.

"I mean how could we just leave her?" he asked looking up at her face.

"You couldn't have helped her. There were probably too many Germans for you and Perco to take care of."

"That shouldn't be an excuse," he hissed. "We are the fucking United States Army! We shouldn't have just left!"

"Shhh Luz. Is alright," Adriana said into his hair.

After a moment together, Luz pulled away.

"Sorry," he said embarrassed.

Adriana just laughed and burrowed her way under his warm arm once again. She couldn't believe what she was doing. She wasn't sure what was going to happen with her and Luz, but she was entirely sure how she felt about him. As much as she thought she would've had a few crazy nights with a few of the men when she first walking into the barracks at Toccoa, she had been wrong. She fell for one man and she fell harder than she ever thought she would. And that terrified her. She pressed her shoulder into Luz and forced herself to believe he had to feel the same way for her. The way he'd been acting the past few days told her he cared about her in the same way she cared about him.

"Luz," she said leaning away from him.

His eyes held confusion and a little bit of hurt. She smiled and touched his face with a few fingers, pretending she was wiping dirt off his cheek.

"This is no place to tell you this but…"

Luz leaned in and took her hand in his, his slight grin expectant. She shook her head and looked down.

"I love you Bell."

She snapped her eyes up to meet his.

"Luz, I… I'm not…"

"Its ok if you're not ready," he said hurriedly. "I am and I need you to know. I love you."

"George Luz how do you know that?" she asked shaking her head.

Luz caught her chin between his thumb and pointer finger.

"I love you."

Adriana's breath was coming in hurried gasps.

"I've got to go check on everyone else," she whispered.

She forced her lips into a smile and put a hand on his shoulder, then pulled herself out of the warm hole and back above ground.

"Adriana wait," Luz said; not quite a beg.

"Get some sleep radioman," she said not looking back in the hole.

Luz watched her go forlornly. He knew she didn't have to check on anyone. She was going to find an empty foxhole, or god forbid a foxhole with Shifty in it. The exchanges between the two had not gone unnoticed by Luz, but it didn't look like she was getting the subtle hints the sharpshooter was leaving. Something Luz was glad of, but he wasn't going to lose her that easy. Perconte had been right. She just needed a little convincing that it was ok to love him as much as he loved her.