Alright, this will be the last chapter for a couple of days! My classes officially start tomorrow so unfortunately, I have to focus on those. All the usual disclaimers apply, and please review!

xoxo

Saint-Marie-Du-Mont had been taken by nightfall, securing a way to move men and materials inland. The men had an hour to rest and secure food before they had to move south and secure the town of Coup De Ville.

Charlotte had stolen a box of k-rations from battalion, batting her eyelashes at the private guarding the food before swiping it from under his nose. She made her way back to the truck where the majority of the men were eating, sticking her head under the flap of fabric next to Winters and handing the box into Guarnere.

"Should I ask where that came from, Clark?" Winters nudged her, handing the bottle of alcohol he had just sipped from over to Bill.

"I don't think so, sir. I'd hate to lie to my CO." Charlotte grinned, earning a laugh from the men.

"Well, carry on." Winters helped Charlotte into the truck and she took a seat next to Buck, taking the cup of stew Malarkey had been making that was offered to her. "Oh, and sergeant?"

"Sir?" Bill looked up, and Charlotte looked between the two of them, gulping down the stew as she knew there wasn't a lot of time left.

"I'm not a quaker." Winters grinned and ducked back under the flap. The men broke out into raucous laughter, chiding Bill. Charlotte rolled her eyes at him, washing the rest of her stew down with the alcohol that had made its way to her.

"If he's from Lancaster county, he's probably a Mennonite." Guarnere called after him, grabbing the bottle from Lottie when she was done with it.

"I told you he heard you, Gonorrhea." Toye shook his head at Bill, leaning forward to grin over at him.

"Yeah, well, at least it's not Sobel. And Curahee is nowhere in sight." Lottie nodded, lighting a cigarette and putting her feet up on Guarnere's lap.

"If he were here, he'd probably make us run all the way to Georgia and back." Malarkey muttered, stirring the stew in his mug.

"Well thank God he's not." Lottie grabbed the bottle of what tasted like whiskey from Petty who sat at the opposite end of the truck, lifting it in cheers before swallowing another mouthful.

"Hey, has anyone heard from Luz yet?" Charlotte looked around, and the men each shook their heads. She huffed, letting her head fall back against the tarp that surrounded the truck bed.

"He'll get here, princess. And when he does, he's going to laugh in your face when he finds out you were worried." Lipton spoke up, grinning over at her.

"He better. If not, I'm finding him and bringing him back to life just to kill him my damn self."

"Well, we all do not doubt that. Crazy woman. Yow!" Buck rubbed his side where Charlotte had jabbed, pouting. "No need for violence."

"Psh, violence is my middle name."

When morning broke, and after Coup De Ville had been secured, Charlotte had officially begun to worry. "He's dead right? Oh god, what if he's dead? He can't be dead." Lottie looked between the men sat around the fountain that had long since run dry. She had been chain-smoking since first light, a pile of cigarettes sat in a small puddle of leftover rainwater. "We'd know if he was dead, wouldn't we? He can't be dead. He just can't be." She repeated herself, quickly lighting another cigarette and puffing at it anxiously.

"Jesus, princess, will you pull yourself together?" Liebgott had become so exasperated after listening to her mutterings. It had been going on for hours at this point.

Charlotte flicked her cigarette into the fountain and turned in the direction of the entrance to the town square, spotting several men came walking through the wrought iron gates. Her eyes flitted in several directions, landing on each face, trying to spot George's familiar grin and dark hair.

Then suddenly he rounded the corner, coming into view. He hadn't noticed her at first, until she was in his arms, wrapping herself around him, afraid if she let go he'd disappear.

"Oh god, George, I thought you were dead." Charlotte's whispers were barely audible above the loud conversations from the reunited soldiers.

"Nah, you can't get rid of me that easy, princess." Luz hugged her tightly, his face resting in the crook of her neck.

"Where's my welcome like that?" Frank muttered sourly as he dropped his pack beside them.

"My apologies Frank, come here." Lottie grinned, walking over and hugging him tightly.

"That's much better." Perconte winked.

Charlotte finally let herself fall from his grip, standing at arm's length in front of him. She raked her eyes over his form several times as he did the same, each inspecting one another for injuries. There were none to be seen on George, but of course, it was not the same for Lottie.

"What happened to your neck, princess? And your voice? And your nose?" George scrutinized, reaching out to brush his fingers against her cheek.

"It's nothing, Georgie. Ran into some krauts that gave me a hard time, that's all." Lottie brushed it off. Liebgott scoffed having already heard the full story and nudged her with his elbow.

"No way, princess, you know he'll find out soon enough." Lieb raised an eyebrow down at her. She knew he wouldn't let this go. And if Liebgott, or any of the other men, told the story she didn't know how many details would become embellished.

"Okay fine, fine. But promise you won't freak out." Lottie held up her pinkie expectantly.

"Now you know that's a promise I cannot make." George grabbed her hand, pulling her over to the steps.

"Georgie," Lottie whined. "I am fine, I swear. Doc says I'm good to go. Scout's honor."

"I'm still waiting on the story."

"Okay, okay, fine." Charlotte briskly retold the events of that night, leaving out a few small details that she knew would only make him worry. "And that's all." She pulled at her uniform for imaginary lint and dust, refusing to make eye contact.

"That's all?" George nearly shouted. His hands instantly moved over her shoulders, her chin, her throat, inspecting her wounds for himself.

"George! Doc cleared me yesterday, I've been fighting all day and all night. I'm fine!"

"Fine, my ass." Perconte snorted, and George nodded in reply. "Yeah, what he said."

"George Luz! Look at me!" Charlotte commanded, her hands grasping his. "I promise you, I am fine. I'm fine."

George finally nodded after a moment, hugging her tightly. "Don't scare me like that, chickadee. I thought you broke our promise."

"Well, I didn't. I thought you broke our promise too. I was ready to go AWOL just to find you, and here you were too busy touring the countryside." Lottie joked to hide the worry and fear she had felt mere moments before his arrival.

"That's why we traveled to France after all, isn't it?"

June 8, 1944

News had spread that more members of Easy were shortly arriving, which meant anyone who hadn't shown up then probably wasn't going to. Lieutenant Meehan was still missing, as was everyone from his plane. Nobody wanted to admit they feared the worst.

Charlotte sat wedged between Perconte and Dukeman, passing a cigarette between the three of them. They knew they would be moving out to Carentan any moment so they were taking the time to relax when they had the chance.

"Hey fellas." Charlotte looked up, the familiar voice catching her off guard. She jumped up, handing the cigarette off to Frank and hopping over the small chain that was supposed to protect the monument from people like them.

"Floyd!" Lottie hugged him tightly before pulling back, inspecting him for any injuries. "Where in the hell have you boys been, huh?"

"We've been fighting with the 502nd." Smokey spoke up from behind the group, Shifty appearing beside him and confirming what was said with a nod.

"Well, look who decided to show up." George appeared beside Lottie, smirking and shaking each of their hands.

Liebgott appeared beside them suddenly, welcoming them by pulled out his Nazi flag, waving it in front of Talbert. "Get a load of this."

"Lieb, put that shit away. You've been shoving that in everyone's faces within a 5-mile radius." Lottie giggled at Joe's scowl, but he reluctantly shoved it back into his pack until Tab pulled out some memorabilia of his own.

"Yeah that's nice, but check this shit out." He pulled out the kraut rain poncho, unfolding it and turning in a small semi-circle to display it.

"Alright, enough of the pissing contest." Charlotte smirked, shaking her head. "I'm happy to see you made it, Floyd."

"Me too, Charlie. Me too." Tab shoved his poncho back into his pack, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and walking with her toward an empty set of steps.

"You didn't run into Meehan, did you?" Charlotte asked hopefully. She waved George over to sit beside her and then snatched the cigarette Martin had just lit. She grinned at his protest, thanking him before turning back to Tab.

"No, yours are the first familiar faces we've seen. Besides Blithe, but we just ran into him." Tab shrugged.

"Well, guess that means Winters is officially our CO." George shrugged, happily accepting the cigarette that had been offered by her.

"This day just keeps getting better and better."

"First platoon!" Charlotte looked up as Welsh's voice echoed across the square. "Easy Company's moving out!"

Charlotte stood as she heard calls for second platoon shortly after, rearranging her pack and slinging her rifle over her shoulder.

"It'll be dark soon, I want light and noise discipline from here on." Welsh commanded as the group came to a stop in front of him. "No talking, no smoking, and no playing grab-fanny with the man, or woman, in front of you, Luz."

Charlotte laughed loudly at that, elbowing Luz with a grin. "Here that, Georgie? Hands to yourself."

"Man, you are just breaking my heart." Luz winked, moving to stand beside her in their lineup, ignoring as Talbert grumbled under his breath beside them.

"We're taking Carentan. It's the only place where armor from Omaha and Utah beach can link up and head inland. General Taylor's sending the whole division." Welsh further explained their objective.

Luz scoffed, "Remember boys, give me three days and three nights of hard fighting, and you will be relieved." That earned a mirthless laugh from the men as they remembered the promise that had yet to be kept.

Hoobler took point and they soon fell into formation, first platoon leading the pack followed shortly by second and finally third, walking in the general direction of the town. Charlotte kept her position beside George, unable to leave his side just yet.

"Another thing to remember boys, flies spread disease. So keep yours closed." Luz winked at Lottie, earning another giggle from her.

"Hear that, Tab? Hope you remembered those condoms." Lieb nudged him, and soon the rest of the boys were chiding each other. Talbert began to laugh along with him but soon his eyes traveled over to Lottie, pausing to see her reaction.

Charlotte waited to feel the usual pang of jealousy from hearing about Floyd's sex life, but it never came. Instead, she laughed along with the men, truly happy for the first time since her plane had left the tarmac. Tab frowned as he noticed her lack of reaction but recovered quickly, hiding his confusion and hurt with laughter. Charlotte was moving on.

As they walked the sun slowly began falling, in time dipping behind the horizon. Fires from nearby downed planes and mortar strikes lit the way, casting shadows along the still water. Each fire they came across caused shivers to go down Charlotte's spine, and she stepped off the path each time one came close, her boots becoming soaked as she stepped into the water.

Charlotte's eyes were concentrated on a proximate fire, too focused that she hadn't realized the group had stopped yet again. She ran full force into Luz's back, causing him to stumble forward as well.

George grunted in surprise and put his hands out in front of him to stabilize himself. "Princess, as much as I'd love to feel your body against mine, now is so not the time."

Charlotte flushed and nervously stepped closer to him, away from the nearby flames. "Sorry, Georgie, fire makes me nervous."

"We lost fox company again, everybody take a knee." Perconte walked down the line and repeated this several times, his eyes focused on the watch he was attempting to clasp around his wrist.

"Frank, another damn watch? Don't you have enough?" Lottie grumbled, plopping down on the sandy path. He didn't look up, seemingly not paying enough attention to hear her, and continued his journey down the line.

"Since when have you been scared of fires?" George asked after a moment, moving closer so they wouldn't have to speak so loud.

"I'm not scared. I told you, they make me nervous, that's all." Charlotte spoke around the cigarette between her lips, lifting her lighter quickly before stashing it away.

"Alright, fine, they make you nervous. You wanna fill me in there?" Luz questioned.

"Not particularly." Charlotte grinned, effectively ending that conversation. Soon after they were moving again, accompanied only by the sound of breathing and the buzz of the mosquitoes.