Chapter 19

"Were you excited when they asked you to lead the patrol?"

Nora's weight shifted from one foot to the other, and she crossed her arms, studying the ground diligently so that she wouldn't have to look into the camera that had been set up just to her left. To the journalist standing in front of her, she appeared to be thinking. In reality, she was attempting to hide her annoyance - she'd answered this question more than a dozen times in the last three weeks.

"I don't think anyone was excited to go on the patrol, but it was certainly a surprise for me, yes." She answered, amending the ridiculous question as gracefully as she could. Winters had reminded her many times in the last few weeks that doing a few interviews was a necessary sacrifice if she wanted to stay on the brass's good side - it was supposed to be morale-building for the folks back home, but it felt silly to Nora, who was chafing in the new role. Luz and Lipton stood a few yards away, watching from their position leaning against the grill of a jeep.

"I'm tellin' ya, she's not gonna make it much longer," Luz said with a smirk, a cigarette bouncing between his lips, "Look at 'er. Any minute now."

Lipton, arms crossed, shook his head as he watched Nora fidget with unreleased energy, "she's dealt with people more annoying than this guy," he argued, throwing Luz a pointed look.

"Who would you say has become your most valuable ally on this journey?" The man asked Nora next. Nora raised her head to look at him - his smile didn't reach his eyes, and it made him look condescending. They had made it into Germany, for goodness sake - weren't there more important things for a war correspondent to be doing? Apparently, he thought so, too.

"All of the men have been very accepting - I got lucky with easy company. They've all been tremendous allies to me," she answered, sensing that it wasn't wise to single out any men specifically. Besides, it wasn't really anyone's business.

"Of course - how could you not be close, after spending so much time together? You're living in the same conditions, facing the same threats, wearing the same clothes," the man continued. The expression in his eyes changed, as if an idea dawned on him, and Nora didn't like it. "Is that a standard issue uniform you're wearing?"

"It sure is," Nora replied, forcing a close-lipped smile.

"So you really have to wear the same standard-issue clothing as the men?" He asked. His eyes glanced down and back up, and though it was quick, it was far from subtle. Nora bristled. "All of it?"

"What's the question here?" She challenged, her expression darkening.

"Alright, there it is," Luz piped up, pushing off of the jeep and walking over. He threw a friendly arm around Nora's shoulder and attempted to guide her away, "Let's walk it off, you've had a long day. Come on, now."

"Can you believe that guy?" She asked, glaring over her shoulder as she was led away. Lipton had also stepped in, and she thought she heard him ask the journalist what the hell his problem was before Luz pulled her out of earshot. "I'm not doing anymore of these. This is the last time."

"Come on, it's not all that bad," Luz insisted, "It'll give your parents back home a chance to see your crazy mug again."

Nora sighed, looking up at her goofy friend and finding that the thought did make her feel a little bit better. The photographer who had come along with the journalist approached them.

"Could we just get a couple more still photos of you?" He asked, his tone at least a little bit sympathetic, "then we'll be done."

"Sure," Nora replied, ready for the whole ordeal to be over. Luz stepped out of the shot, and she stood for a few photos, following the man's instructions.

"That's great, thank you," he said, "could we get one of you with your CO? Is he around?"

Nora cleared her throat and looked to Luz for confirmation.

"Beats me," he said, before calling over his shoulder, "Hey Lip! We need the Captain over here!"

The photographer gave her a few more instructions about where and how to stand, and Ron, who had been drummed up pretty quickly, appeared next to her. The two of them maintained about a foot of distance between them, and, after a painfully long moment of indecision, clasped their hands behind their backs in an at ease stance for the picture.

"Geez, Nora, you want me to introduce you?" Luz muttered as he watched the stilted display, and Nora could've strangled him for acknowledging it. She hadn't told Luz about the kiss for obvious reasons. The photographer snapped a photo and then paused to adjust something with the camera. Nora took the opportunity to glance up at Ron, who remained frozen in position, staring intently ahead of them. Nora swallowed as unbidden thoughts of the conversation they had a couple weeks ago came flooding back to her.

It had taken a couple of days after the kiss for Ron to finally catch her alone and pin her down long enough for a conversation. Nora wasn't proud to admit that she had been avoiding him, but when he finally caught up with her and asked if they could talk for a minute, she obliged, knowing that the conversation would need to happen eventually.

"How are you doing?" He asked casually, his eyes searching hers as if he were trying to gauge how she would want him to proceed.

"Full stomach and washed hair - can't complain," Nora replied, scratching the back of her head uncomfortably, but forcing herself to retain eye contact. She had led a patrol into enemy territory just days ago. She should be able to have an adult conversation with a man who kissed her. Still, it wasn't coming easily, and she felt a little bit sick to her stomach. Ron nodded, his expression turning a little bit wary as he noticed her reluctance.

"I think we should talk about…" He trailed off, and Nora nodded earnestly to let him know that he didn't need to finish.

"Yeah." She agreed. There was a long moment where neither of them spoke, and then they had to start all over again.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped-" Ron began, but Nora cut him off swiftly.

"No! No, don't apologize. Please. You didn't." She said. She noticed him straighten a bit at the reassurance. She continued. "It's not that I - it isn't-"

She stopped for a moment and collected her thoughts, starting over. Ron waited silently.

"I really can't afford to break any rules right now." She said finally. She watched Ron's adam's apple dip down and back up as he swallowed and nodded. When she looked back up at his eyes, though, they were just as composed as ever.

"I understand," He said. "I don't have any expectations - I just wanted to make sure we were okay."

"Of course," She replied, nodding. "We're okay."

They certainly weren't okay. At least, not by Nora's approximation. She and Ron still worked well together, and he was still mindful to include her in officer business, but being around him now reminded her a little bit of their interactions on D-Day, when she'd first met him. They were a well-oiled machine by necessity, but always looking for the first opportunity to go their separate ways. One such opportunity presented itself now in the form of Dick Winters, who approached Nora after the photographer finished snapping his pictures.

"Can I borrow you for a minute?" He asked, gesturing for her to step away with him. Nora followed his beckoning, glad to be away from both the photographer and the tension that prickled like static electricity between her and her CO.

"What's wrong?" Nora asked, noting the concerned crease between Dick's eyebrows.

"Nix is back from his jump with the 17th Airborne." He said, running a hand through his hair and then back over it to smooth it down.

"Is he okay?"

"His plane went down; he was one of the only men to make it out."

Nora's face fell, and her brows knitted together in worry. "Oh."

"Yeah," Dick continued, "he's not handling it very well." He didn't need to say more on the matter - Nora knew how much Nix was already drinking and could imagine how an event like this would affect him. "Anyway, I was thinking since you've been there…"

Nora swallowed, nodding. She wouldn't say that she had fully processed what happened to her on D-Day, and maybe she never would, but she at least knew the feeling. "Of course. I'll talk to him."

"Thanks," Dick said, his lips quirking into a grateful but reserved smile. "And help me keep an eye on him?"

"Always." Nora assured him, turning in the direction of the house where Nix was lodging.

"Oh, and Nora?" Dick called, causing her to stop. He pulled a folded sheet of paper from his breast pocket and held it out to her. She grabbed it from him, raising an eyebrow. "Stars and Stripes wants you to write a response to these questions for an article they're running."

Nora sighed, unceremoniously stuffing the paper into her own uniform pocket and turning on her heel.

Nora knocked gently on the open bedroom door. When all she got in response was a grunt, she poked her head in and saw Nix laying on his back, horizontally across the bed, staring at the ceiling. He was on top of the covers and hadn't bothered to take his boots off.

"Mind if I join?" She asked, stepping in. The house was lavish with silky green linens and dark mahogany furniture. Nora came to sit next to him on the bed. His eyes stayed glued to the ceiling.

"Dick send you in here?" He asked after a long silence.

"Yes," She told him honestly, "He's worried."

"No need," He said dismissively. "I'm alive. I'm here. Lucky me."

"Yeah," Nora said, biting the inside of her cheek. She sat there for a few moments, listening to the ticking of the clock on the mantel - a number of things came to mind that she could say, but they weren't the kind of things that actually make someone feel better. They were the kind of things people say to make themselves feel better and less helpless. Instead, she fell back onto the bed next to him and stared at the ceiling, too.

The clock on the mantel continued to tick loudly.

"Did you see it go up?" He asked after a few minutes. Nora thought about the explosion that had painted the night sky with fire. The heat that had pressed in on her from above as she fell to the earth. The reflection of the orange glow in the water below as she plunged into it.

"Yeah."

It came out as a whisper.

"I have to write their parents." He said after another long pause. Her head rolled to the side, and she looked at the profile of his face. She desperately wished there was something she could say to make this better, but she knew that no such words existed. Nothing Winters or Lip said had many any difference to her. She thought hard, trying to remember the thing that helped her the most.

"I'll help you write them," She said. She remembered the way she'd felt when Ron had helped shoulder the burden. When he'd slid the paper right out from under her hands without hesitation and began writing. He never needed the right words to help her - never even bothered trying to find them. He just saw a need and met it.

"What will I even say to them?"

"We'll figure it out."

"The Cooperative for American Remittance to Europe food care has been assembling food packs to assist those European families in dire need. Presumably all of them. So notes to all your family reminding them to donate whatever they can would be much appreciated," Nixon read as he stood in front of the assembly of men, glancing down at his clipboard.

She and Nixon had managed to get the letter-writing done in the last two days, and she had been conspiring with Dick ever since to come up with any and every reason to keep Nix focused on something else and not drinking himself into oblivion. Today, she had helped him prepare a report on current events that he was now sharing with the men. She stood next to him on the platform, laughing dutifully at any commentary he added to the news, funny or not.

"I'm sure that you'll all be happy to know Oklahoma! is still playing on Broadway," He continued, flipping over to the next page on the clipboard. Nora resisted the urge to groan - some of the men, particularly Luz, had gone through an Oklahoma! phase back at Toccoa that she thought would never end. For a while, not a day went by that she didn't have a song from Oklahoma! stuck in her head. Nora nodded and held out a hand in Luz's direction, as if she were presenting him, in anticipation of his outburst.

"Ooooklahoma," he belted out, right on time, "where the wind comes sweeping down the plain,"

"And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet" The other men joined in, and Nixon smiled, raising his hand and waving it around like a conductor. Nora took note of the improvement in his mood and suppressed her own smile. Luz signaled with his hand for everyone to cut off, and O'Keefe, who was sitting in front of him, was the only one who didn't catch it.

"when the wind comes right behind the rain!" He sang with fervor. The men erupted at the high pitch of his voice, and O'Keefe shrank a bit, clearly embarrassed.

"O'Keefe, are you sitting on your bayonet?" Christenson asked, eliciting more snickering.

"Hey, O'Keefe," Luz added, "if you did Surrey with the Fringe on Top, Nora could be the Curly to your Laurey."

The men laughed, and Nora sent him a look that could kill. The men's laughter died down when her unamused expression didn't budge. She glanced to her right to see that Nix was trying to hide his laughter, head tipped down and a hand at his mouth. The sight was such a relief, and she decided she'd like to see more of it. A smile pulled at her lips.

"Chicks...and ducks...and geese better scurry," She began, pitching her voice low for the part of Curly. She started off slow and then picked up the pace. The men erupted again, howling and cheering, "When I take you out in the surrey," she continued, giving Nix a devilish smile, "When I take you out in the surrey," she continued, doing her best impression of a tap routine and tapping toward him, "With the fringe on top."

The men began to clap in time, Luz and Babe jumped to their feet, and Luz used his pinkies to whistle loudly. She tried to remember what the next notes sounded like and failed miraculously to find them, "Watch that fringe and see how it flutters, when I drive them high-steppin' strutters,"

O'Keefe was clapping and cheering along in the front row, seemingly recovered from his public humiliation. Nora danced around Nix in a circle like a suitor trying to catch his attention, "Nosey pokes'll peek through their shutters, and their eyes will pop,"

She forgot the next verse and skipped to the next lines she could remember, "for that shiny

little surrey...with the fringe on top!"

She ended with a flourish and attempted to go high, her voice cracking. The men clapped and cheered wildly, still surprised by the silly display, and Nix shook his head, shaking with laughter. Nora glanced out at the crowd and caught sight of Speirs, Winters, and Lipton, standing across the street where they had stopped to witness the display. She made eye contact with Winters, who wore a tiny, questioning smirk. His eyes flicked toward Nix and back, and he gave a small nod of thanks, which Nora returned.

Nora sighed, laying her hand of cards facedown on the glossy wooden tabletop.

"Again?" Harry asked, snickering. Nora peered at him through narrowed eyes, but didn't respond. She hated playing cards with the men - when they had decided to have an officers' poker night in the house that they were quartered in, Lipton had been sure to invite her. She had immediately refused, knowing that it might be uncomfortable for Ron and seeing that she didn't like the game anyway, but Nixon had needled her into going.

"Aren't you like my keeper now, anyway? You have to go." He had said, raising a playful eyebrow. And so that's how she'd ended up here, pouting and growing poorer by the minute. The men continued to lay bets and call each other's bluff, and Nora watched quietly as Nix threw his cards down and excused himself from the table.

"I can't believe we're not gonna drop into Berlin," Harry was saying. Nora half-listened as she leaned back in her chair to see through the doorway to the bedroom, where Nix was rifling through a footlocker. He was in search of whiskey, and he seemed to be getting more agitated by the moment.

"Right, Nora?"

Nora's head snapped back to attention to see that Ron had been the one to say her name. She straightened a bit, and, without even meaning to, snuck another concerned glance at Nix as he re-entered the dining room. "Uh," she murmured, unsure what the men had been talking about, "yeah."

"Deal me out of the next hand," Nix said, heading for the door. Nora sighed and exchanged a knowing look with Lipton.

"Are we waiting on him again?" Harry complained.

"Yeah," Lip answered. Nora pushed her cards toward the center of the table and pushed her chair out.

"Nora, he'll be fine." Lip said quietly, "You don't need to."

"I'm not, I'll just be one second." She insisted, earning a sigh from her friend. Nora hurried to the foyer and out the door after him. The room was silent for a few moments after the door slammed shut.

"What's going on there?" Harry finally asked, biting the bullet. Lipton glanced at Speirs, who was silently rearranging the cards in his hand.

"Nothing," Lipton said. "She's just trying to help keep him out of trouble."

"Well, good luck to her." Harry snorted.

Nora practically jumped out of her skin as a shadow moved against the brick wall of a nearby building, and Lipton stepped into the streetlight's glow.

"Lip, you scared the daylights out of me." She muttered. It had taken her a little while to track down Nix, and when she did, she had walked with him all over the village in his search for Vat69 before convincing him to go back to the house. Well, after she had ushered him away from the man who was yelling at them in German about the broken window of his pharmacy. When she finally got him back to the house they were quartered in, she insisted that he go inside, and waited at the bottom of the stoop as he disappeared behind the door. The lights in the dining room didn't appear to be on anymore - she was hoping to slip in only after the rest of them had gone to sleep, and she had stayed back a minute just to be sure. She hadn't seen Lip leaning against the wall nearby.

"Sorry - wasn't trying to scare you," Lipton said, coming over to sit on the stoop. Nora got the sense that he had been trying to catch her, so she sat down on the stairs next to him, resting her elbows on her knees.

"Win any money?" She asked.

"Nah," Lip said, "They cleaned me out. How's Captain Nixon?"

"He's...gonna make it." She replied with a shrug. She didn't want to say he was okay if he wasn't. But he would be eventually. They sat in silence for a moment while Lip considered what to say next.

"You would tell me if something was going on, right?" He asked finally. Nora thought she knew what he was asking, but didn't want to assume.

"Something?" She asked.

"Something." He said, giving her a pointed look. Nora's eyebrows raised, a little bit surprised that Lipton had the temerity to bring it up with her.

"There's not something going on with Nixon." She assured him.

"Oh, I know." Lip replied calmly. "That's not what I asked."

Nora straightened a bit but said nothing.

"You wanna tell me about it, or…?" He pressed.

"There's not much to tell." Nora said, shrugging a shoulder. "It was one kiss."

Lipton nodded, thinking. "Do you like him?"

"Does it matter?" She asked.

"Yes." He said with certainty, "If you like him, you should stop avoiding him."

"Lip, do you know what people would say if they thought I was going out with my C.O.?" Nora asked, propping her chin on her arms, which were still folded over her knees. He didn't answer, so she continued, "They would say 'I knew it.'"

"Knew what?"

"It doesn't matter. Whatever ridiculous things they've been saying while they wait for me to fail - they would use it as confirmation. Not to mention I could get kicked out of the army." She explained, trying to stay calm and keep her voice down.

"Look, I'm not saying you have to date the man." Lip replied, his tone placating, "I'm just saying that you shouldn't burn bridges if you like him. The war won't last forever."

"I highly doubt he's looking for something that serious," Nora insisted. Lip's eyebrows furrowed at that, so she continued, "things are winding down, and all the men are getting antsy. I'm not blind. I know they're fraternizing."

"I don't think this is like that." He told her.

"I don't even really know him."

"You could get to know him," Lipton said. "Instead of avoiding him and following Nixon around."

"I have to keep an eye on him," Nora said, defensive.

"Do you?" Lipton challenged her, "Or do you just need someone else to focus on and take care of so you don't have to deal with your own emotions?"

"I don't do that," She replied.

"Bastogne?" Lip reminded her. "You burn yourself out doing it."

Nora's jaw worked back and forth as she considered what he was saying. She knew Lipton cared about her and that he hated confrontation - he wouldn't say it if he didn't think it was true and that it needed to be said.

"I'll try to be normal around him," She said finally.

"Please," Lip replied, getting up and holding out a hand to help her up. She accepted it and reluctantly allowed him to pull her to her feet. "For all of our sakes."

"Do me a favor and don't mention this stuff to Luz?" She added, "Even ignorant, he's already doing enough damage."

"He knows." Lipton said, causing Nora to groan.

"How?"

"Your discomfort hasn't gone unnoticed." Lipton told her. "Also, Babe is telling people that something happened."

Nora stopped following him up the steps, her tongue shoved into her cheek. She shook her head, her anger building. "I'm gonna kill him."

Babe Heffron had been in the middle of a peaceful dream when he felt a weight on his shoulder, shaking him. He groaned and rolled over, swatting the hand away.

"Up," a voice demanded. Babe rolled back to face the person sitting on the edge of his bed, and his eyes fluttered open blearily. The lights in the room were off, but there was some light trickling in from the hallway, where the midnight visitor had left the bedroom door open.

"Nora, it's the middle of the night. Get lost," Frank Perconte called sleepily from one of the other beds. Some of the other men bunking in the room groaned their agreement. Nora ignored them, yanking Babe's blanket off.

"Get up," she repeated. When he still didn't move to get up, she grabbed his ear, tugging.

"Ah!" He called, sitting up, "Jesus, Nora. Alright, I'm coming!"

Nora released his ear, but grabbed his arm and led him out into the hallway, shutting the bedroom door behind them so they wouldn't disturb the others.

"What the hell?" Babe asked, running a hand through his sleep-tousled hair. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know," Nora whispered fiercely, "I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop in and see if maybe you're telling everyone rumors about me."

Babe blinked a few times, clearly not fully awake yet, before responding "This is about the Speirs thing?" He asked. He didn't bother to keep his voice down.

"Why are you saying that something happened with Speirs?" She asked, exasperated. He couldn't have seen - he was in the cellar with the rest of the patrol members when the kiss happened.

"He did the thing," Babe said, gesturing vaguely with his hands.

"What thing?"

"You know, the back thing! Where you put your hand on a girl's lower back and try to guide her."

Nora's eyebrows rose in an incredulous expression, "except he didn't."

"Maybe he didn't, but he was definitely hovering. There was intent to touch. I saw it."

"Who did you tell besides Luz?" Nora asked. Babe thought about it for a moment.

"Roe." He answered, nodding as if to reassure himself that it was the right answer.

"That's it? Just Roe?" Nora asked, hopeful. That wouldn't be so bad - Roe wasn't the gossipping type and didn't care enough about her business to repeat it anyway.

"Yeah. And Bull." He added, causing Nora to sigh. "Oh, and Martin was there when I told Bull."

"Is that all?" She asked between gritting teeth.

"Yes, that's all." Babe insisted, "Look, I didn't tell them you were with him or anything, I just told them that Speirs was carrying the torch for you. And just a few select guys, that's all. I thought it would be good to have a few Toccoa men in on it, just in case."

"In case what?"

"You know," Babe said, looking at her expectantly, "in case he missteps. Causes a problem for you."

"You expect Eugene Roe to beat up Ronald Speirs?" Nora asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, no, that's why I also had to tell Bull and Martin."

Nora took a moment to compose herself, rubbing the growing ache in her temple. Though she would never admit it, she was a little bit touched that Babe and the other men considered it their business. She couldn't very well punish Babe for caring. "Just don't tell anyone else, okay? Please?"

"Alright, I won't. I promise." Babe insisted. "Does this mean something happened?"

"Just go back to bed." Nora replied, walking away.

"Okay," Babe called down the hallway, "Oh, and Nora? I might have mentioned it in my last letter to Guarnere, too."

Nora sighed as she climbed down from the jeep with a hand from Winters. All of these Bavarian towns were starting to look the same. The morning after she'd pulled Babe out of bed to question him, they had heard the news that 300,000 German soldiers had surrendered and the Waffen S.S. had retreated into the Alps. The thought of going after the S.S. had ignited something in Easy Company's blood, and Nora was grateful to find that the commotion around her and Ron had died down in the following days. As far as she knew, the news hadn't spread, and she had even managed to act more normal around him as time passed. It was now a few weeks since they left Sturtzelberg, and things were finally getting back to normal. Ron and Lip converged around Winters for orders, since they'd just pulled into town.

"I think this one right here is a boarding house, so let's get as many men as we can in here and then see where that leaves us." Winters said, gesturing to a large home on the corner. Nora was disappointed to see that the lights inside were on - many of the places they'd stopped had abandoned homes that they could stay in, but it wasn't always the case.

"Yes, sir." Ron said before jumping right into organizing the men. Once they were readied and translators were ushered to the front of the group, they entered the home with rifles at the ready. Multiple families were still living inside, and it appeared that at least one of them had just settled into the dining room for dinner.

"Tell them they have five minutes," Ron ordered Liebgott as they moved through the house. The noise in the house quickly escalated as the men began shouting orders, and the people inside panicked and pleaded with them. The family sitting at the dining room table sprang up, and the men tried to contain them, ushering the kids into their parents' arms and trying to guide them toward the door. A woman, presumably the mother of the children, refused to budge and was shouting at Liebgott.

"Sir, she says they've got nowhere to go," Liebgott began translating back to Ron, who was busy sizing up the house now that they were inside. Nora stepped forward to try and help usher the mother to the door, and, seeing her as another woman and not a soldier, the mother began appealing to her desperately in German.

"You have to go," Nora said, trying her best to look indifferent. She reminded herself that their intel had told them this town was almost exclusively home to members of the Nazi party. The woman continued to plead, and Nora shook her head, "You can't stay here. You have to go. You need to take your children and go."

The woman was growing more desperate and more frustrated as Bull appeared behind her and gently pulled her toward the foyer. She resisted, grabbing Nora's forearm and pulling while she continued to shout appeals that Nora couldn't understand.

"Hey!" Ron's voice cut through the room. He pushed past Nora, and grabbed the woman's hand, prying it from Nora's arm. "We're only gonna be here one night," He continued, voice raised. Nora didn't think she'd heard him shout before, unless it was to be heard over gunfire. "You've got four minutes."

Bull managed to pull the woman away, and Nora clutched at her arm, rubbing it a bit.

"You alright?" Liebgott asked, eyeing the scratches the woman had inadvertently left.

"Yeah," Nora said. After a few more chaotic minutes, all of the residents were out of the house and things began to settle down as the men went through and claimed their rooms. Nora stayed in the dining room with Luz, who was setting the room up as temporary CP. They wouldn't get settled in too much, as they were only stopping here for the night, but they needed to at least be prepared to take radio calls. Lipton and Ron came back down after a while and rejoined them.

"We saved you a room on the second floor with a lock on the door." Lipton told her.

"Who am I bunking with?" She asked.

"Nobody," Lip replied. "It's yours."

"Don't be silly," Nora said, "there's not enough space for me to take a whole room just for myself."

"Just take the room, Nora." Ron said curtly as he looked through and arranged some reports that Luz had spread out on the table. Luz sent Nora a look that said yikes, and she bit the inside of her cheek, choosing not to push it.

"Alright."

Nora groaned and rolled over, turning on the lamp at her bedside. Someone was knocking urgently at her door, and that was never a good sign. She climbed out of bed, now fully awake, and bolted toward the door. She was so caught up in images of crisis and disaster, that she didn't even stop to consider that she was still wearing the short, silk nightgown that she'd borrowed from the wardrobe. It was silly, she knew, but she'd enjoyed the feel of it on her skin after months of wearing army drab and didn't think that one night of luxury would hurt. She swung the door open to see her CO leaning heavily against the door frame.

"Why can't I kiss you?" He asked, his tone indignant. Nora's eyebrows rose, and she crossed her arms over her chest, looking past him into the hallway to see if anyone was with him.

"Ron," She greeted tersely, "Are you drunk?"

"Answer the question." He said, his words slurring just enough to confirm her suspicions. Lipton, Luz, and Speirs had all still been working when she left them downstairs, and they were supposed to finish up just a few more things and go to bed. Apparently, Ron hadn't.

"We've already talked about this, Ron." She replied.

"I like the way you say my name," He murmured, his eyes fluttering closed as if he was going to fall asleep right there against the door frame. Nora sighed. There was no point in trying to explain anything to him right now.

"Let's get you back to your room." She said, pulling the dressing gown off the back of the door and tying it around herself.

"I don't want to go back to my room. I need to talk to you." He replied, seeming to regain a bit of focus.

"Well, we're not going to talk."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know what you're saying."

"I do, Nora. I do." He insisted as she ushered him into the hallway and closed the door behind her. "I've been thinking this through," he continued, swaying as he stepped away from the door frame. He fell into the opposite wall with a thud. Nora grabbed him before he slid to the floor, cursing.

"Alright, soldier. On your feet," she grunted, throwing an arm around her shoulders and grabbing his waist to stabilize him. "Let's go."

"Marry me." He continued, and Nora nearly dropped him on the floor again. "If you marry me, they can't tell us what to do."

"You are really going to hate yourself tomorrow," she murmured, ushering him up the narrow set of stairs to the third floor.

"It's a good idea," He slurred, tripping on a stair and nearly bringing them both tumbling down. Nora wondered how long it had taken him to make it up the first set of steps to her door and was thankful that he hadn't broken his neck doing so.

"It's not a good idea." She replied after righting him, "They would send me home, and then Lip would have to look after your sorry ass alone."

They'd finally made it to the door of the room he was staying in, and she knocked on it, despite his insistent mumbling that she 'just wait a minute'. There was some shuffling within before Luz swung the door open.

"Woah, hey. What's wrong? Is he okay?" Luz asked, seeing his CO leaning heavily on Nora's shoulder.

"As you were," Ron muttered almost incoherently. Nora rolled her eyes.

"He's fine. He's had too much to drink." She replied. Luz's look turned from one of concern to one of mischief far too quickly. "A little help here?"

Lipton appeared at the door, pushing past Luz and swinging Ron's other arm over his shoulders.

"Let's get him to his bed." He grunted. They dragged him in and managed to flop him down on the bed - he was almost completely dead weight by now. Nora took a moment to adjust her robe once she'd deposited him on the bed.

"Don't go," he groaned, his voice muffled by the mattress. "I'm not done yet."

Lipton shot her a questioning look, and she could practically feel Luz's smirk behind her.

"How much has he had?" Lip asked.

"I don't know. He just showed up at my door like this." She answered. On the bed, Ron was pushing himself up into a sitting position. Nora stepped away from him, not wanting him to say anything else he would regret in the morning with the men standing right there. Luz sensed her discomfort and made himself useful, going over to help Ron get his boots off. We need to talk, he mouthed at her as he worked on Ron's laces.

"You okay?" Lipton asked quietly when he saw the way she was watching Ron with a worry wrinkle in her brow, arms crossed. She nodded, clearing her throat and then heading for the door.

"Get some sleep, Captain." She ordered Ron, not using his name for fear of getting the same reaction as last time.

"I don't love you, y'know." Ron called resolutely as she reached the door.

"Good," She called back over her shoulder. "Let's keep it that way."

Lipton closed the door behind her and sighed.

"I don't love her." Ron murmured again.

"Of course you don't, you poor bastard." Luz replied, yanking off his boot and letting it drop to the floor.