Disclaimer: I own nothing of Band of Brothers and the images I used, just my characters and story. In addition, I meant no disrespect to the real soldiers of Easy Company and I apologize for any mistakes whether it be historical inaccuracies or punctuation/grammar.
Thank you Spiral-Of-Fools for following and nette0602 for reviewing!
Camp Toccoa, Georgia: 1942
When Eliza finished stargazing with Winters, she went back to the cabins and immediately took her uniform off. When her head dropped onto the pillow, Eliza quickly fell asleep due to exhaustion. As the sun rose, its bright lights immediately woke Eliza since her window didn't have curtains. However, when Eliza slowly opened her eyes, she saw that the cabin was empty. An empty cabin in the morning meant that everyone was eating breakfast at the mess hall, so Eliza quickly jumped out of her bed and changed into her uniform, not giving a damn about her appearance. When Eliza entered the mess hall, she saw the men beginning to eat, and with a sigh of relief, she went to grab what food was left. After waiting in line, Eliza sat next to Liebgott.
"Hey, sleeping beauty finally woke up," remarked Liebgott with a smirk.
"Shut up Joe, you try marching 24 miles in the dark without drinking any fucking water. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" retorted Eliza as she harshly punched his shoulder.
"Calm down, Liz. No need to get all violent, I thought you needed more sleep so I left without you," Liebgott stated while rubbing his shoulder as if it would ease the slight pain.
"Morning Stardust, you look like shit," commented Luz as he sat down next to her.
"Why thank you, Luz," Eliza commented back with a sarcastic tone.
"You're welcome," Luz replied back with a smirk and the trio started eating breakfast.
Because she was so tired, Eliza only ate a little and went back to sleep on her crossed arms which supporting her head, while the men around her talked or complained. After a while, Liebgott saw Eliza fast asleep and smiled at the sight, he would later wake her up and hopefully not face her wrath a second time.
Meanwhile, Nixon and Winters were having a conversation about last night's march.
"So, what did you do?" Nixon questioned while his tray was being filled with what the military deemed "food".
"Picked six men and gave them latrine duty," answered Winters, while both men walked to a table.
"The lucky six?"
"McDonald, Toye, Perconte, Lipton, Muck and Guarnere."
"Why them?"
"It was their turn. However, Eliza wanted to take part in it." When Winters mentioned Eliza, he smiled.
"How come?" Nixon asked curiously while he sipped the bitter coffee.
"Eliza thought it was her fault that Lieutenant Sobel issued infractions. But I assured her that she wasn't at fault. She even marched with Private Christenson." When Winters answered, Nixon, smiled. His brown-haired friend was always looking out for her comrades.
"From what I'm seeing, Sobel's a genius. I had a headmaster just like him in prep school; I know the type."
"Lewis, Michelangelo's a genius, Beethoven a genius…"
"You know a man or woman in this company who wouldn't double-time Currahee with a full pack, just to piss in that guy's morning coffee?"
And with that notion, both Lieutenants continued eating their breakfast.
After breakfast, Easy Company had a day long of training and lecture ahead of them. From this thought, Eliza had to wipe off the tiredness from her face after being woken up by Liebgott. Eliza initially gave him a murderous look for being woken up a second time.
"Damn Liz, no need to be giving me that look. I just woke you up since we gotta go to training," Liebgott defended himself.
"Sorry Joe, I'm just really tired," Eliza replied with a yawn.
"Yea I know, now let's go, so you don't fall back to sleep and have Sobel shouting at your goddamn ear off." And so, Eliza followed the rest of Easy Company to a day full of training and lecturing.
It was a nice sunny day as Easy Company was training to properly jump out of a plane, however, Lieutenant Sobel was shouting at every soldier due to their inaccurate positions.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Lieutenant Sobel shouted, alerting Eliza that it was her turn.
"Go!" Another soldier shouted and with that, Eliza jumped out of the plane in the position that she was meticulously taught. However, her position wasn't correct to Sobel.
"Not only did you manage to break your legs, you also broke your arms. Are you trying to kill yourself, Private?" Sobel shouted at Eliza as she stood up and dusted away the dirt on her uniform.
"No sir," Eliza replied with a grim face since she thought her stance was correct.
"Stand in the door," Sobel ordered her with the same expression.
"Shit!" Bill muttered under his breath as he tripped over the rope course that Easy was currently training on. Eliza, who was near him, offered assistance and he gladly accepted. As the pair raced to the towering wall, Winters shouted encouragement to his men.
"To the wall! To the wall! Over as a team! Come on! Against the wall!"
The wall had once been the enemy of Eliza because she couldn't reach the top unlike most of the men in her company. Her struggles had almost cost her being sent home, however, with the motivation and assistance from Winters, Eliza currently was able to conquer the wall with ease. Not only did Winters support Eliza, but it was the first time he used her nickname.
Camp Toccoa, Georgia: 1942
Eliza was sore, sweaty, and tired from attempting to reach the top of the wall for the seventh time. It was now evening and most of Easy were eating dinner. Meanwhile, Eliza decided to train all day and didn't take any breaks because Sobel warned her that if she couldn't reach the wall for tomorrow's training, she would be sent home. Eliza was lucky that Winters reasoned with Sobel. Unfortunately, her luck was running out because she couldn't reach the wall, even if her hands and knees were scraped and bleeding. Eliza didn't care for her state since she was focused on reaching the top of the wall because if she couldn't, she would have to leave the men, she considered as her brothers. Not only were the men counting on her, but Eliza's family was depending on her.
"Eliza, you need to take a break," Winters stated as he saw Eliza fall down from the wall again.
"I can't Dick, if I don't reach that goddamn wall, I'll be sent home," Eliza reasoned as she once took another stance to run at the wall.
"Even if you tried again, you wouldn't make it because you're tired and sore," Winters rationalized with Eliza. However, Eliza ignored him and tried to reach the wall again with all her might. However, she fell again, just like the numerous times before.
"I should've known you'd be so stubborn. How about you take a break and I'll teach you a trick to jump over the wall." Winters smiled as he knew that Eliza would accept. He was right, of course, as Eliza nodded her head in agreement.
After getting some dinner and bandaging her wounds, Eliza and Winters were at the wall again. She glared at the wall because it could be the reason she would be sent home, however she had faith in Winters. He told her to jump at the wall about a pace away and that her foot should drive downward. Acting upon Winters's advice, Eliza almost reached the top of the wall with her fingers barely brushing the edge. As she slid down to the ground, Winters saw that Eliza was giving up.
"I can't do it, Dick. Lieutenant Sobel was right, I'm not fit to be in Easy," Eliza stated with a tone of dejection as she sat down with her head resting on her crossed arms.
"Eliza don't give the Lieutenant Sobel the satisfaction that he was right. You almost made it, just give it another try." Winters sat down next her.
"I can't do it anymore. Even if I try again, I'm just going to fall down," Eliza responded as she kept her head down.
"C'mon Stardust, I know you can do it." Winters rose up and reached his hand to help her up.
At the mention of her nickname, Eliza's head rose and looked to see Winters's hand out to her. Eliza accepted his assistance and whispered, "Okay."
From Winters's encouragement, she ran to the wall and followed the steps Winters taught her. As she neared the wall, her fingers firmly gripped the edge and successfully hauled herself over the wall. When she landed on the other side, Eliza cheered and ran to the other side.
When she neared Winters, Eliza hugged him tightly. Initially, Winters was surprised, but he hugged Eliza back.
"Thank you so much, Dick!" Eliza responded with a laugh.
"No problem, Stardust, " Winters replied with a laugh of his own.
Days at Camp Toccoa continued on with rigorous training and lecture. Easy Company had to run Currahee numerous times and go through other drills that Lieutenant Sobel seemed fit, even to the point of crawling through pig's guts under a fence in full uniform.
As her time at Camp Toccoa lengthed, Eliza couldn't help miss her family and friend. She was thankful to receive letters stating that her siblings and friend were okay. However, letters weren't enough to suffice her homesickness. Eliza missed the conversations with Jane during their breaks (even though Jane mostly informed Eliza of the gossip she heard from the other nurses), the times she would braid Evelyn's golden hair just as their mother did for Eliza, and reading to Daniel during his bedtime. Hell, Eliza even missed the way her father would call her "Stardust".
She was grateful that the men took upon calling her "Stardust" because it reminded her of home. Just the simple "Stardust" from the men made Eliza smile since she was reminded of having a family in Easy Company. From that thought, Eliza was brought to the memory of how her men called her "Stardust."
Camp Toccoa, Georgia: 1942
"Private Clark," A soldier exclaimed with a letter in hand. When she heard her name, Eliza quickly finished lacing her boots and ran to the soldier. As she neared him, the soldier gave the letter and Eliza whispered a thank you. From the elegant handwriting, she immediately knew it was from Evelyn. With a smile on her face, Eliza quickly tore the envelope and unfolded the letter. In the midst of reading the letter, Muck decided to disturb her with a question.
"Hey Eliza, is that a letter from your fella? Because from the way your smiling it seems that you're reading a love letter."
From Muck's question, the men around her seemed to be curious as their heads turned towards Eliza and looked curiously at the letter in her hands.
"Hell, he even calls her Stardust," Penkala stated to the men as he looked at the letter and from that, the men were coming to pester Eliza to tell them about her suitor.
"Calm down, I don't have a man writing me love letters. This letter is from my sister, Evelyn and the nickname came from my father," Eliza answered.
"It fits you, Eliza, from now on we're gonna call you Stardust," Luz stated with a smile.
From there on, "Stardust" was commonly used by the men of Easy. They agreed that Stardust perfectly fitted Eliza because her smiles, brighten their dark days.
After Winters returned from being promoted to First Lieutenant, he saw Eliza walking to the mess hall, so he decided to join her.
"Hello Eliza," Winters greeted with a smile, which Eliza couldn't help but smile back.
"Hi Dick, congratulations on being promoted!"
"Thank you, but how did you know? I just got back from Lieutenant Sobel several minutes ago," Winters curiously asked.
"I was around the area and got curious why Lieutenant Sobel and the officers were in the cabins, so I stayed a while. Fortunately, I hid my stuff away. However, it's unnecessary that Sobel assigned you to be mess officer for 14 days," Eliza replied back.
At her statement, Winters gave Eliza a look conveying that she needed to watch her words because someone could hear her.
"Eliza, it's part of my duty to be Lieutenant Sobel's executive officer. If I have to be a mess officer for 14 days to prove my skills and potential, so be it." Winters reasoned with her.
"You don't have to prove anything Dick, you're already a great leader just by how you lead us in training. If anyone deserves to lead Easy Company, it would be you. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you're promoted to Major by the end of the damn war." Eliza stated with her infectious smile.
"Thank you, Stardust."
It was the second time Winters used her nickname and Eliza loved the sound of it.
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter and not updating for a while, I've been busy with school. However, I'll try my best to update on Friday or the weekends. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
*Edited on May 25, 2018.