Chapter Two – Back to Square one

Disclaimer – I only own Anne-Marie, and a few other minors…that is all. Any way I hope you enjoy! Please comment, I love to hear what everyone has to say lol, as for current reviews…I appreciate the criticism very much! smiles Keep it coming cause I love to hear it. And no, that does not make me crazy…okay just a little

Note- I see that some people (you know who you are) were anxious to see some interaction between Anne and Eugene so I bumped it up just a tad, nothing big, nothing major. Enjoy!

She was nervous, okay nervous hardly cut it, terrified was more like it. She was already taken out of Company B and put into a new environment with new faces and new personalities and the same old bull crap; she was now in Easy Company and things were going just as planned; And not planned in the good sense.

She had been introduced to the company previously that morning in the Mess Hall. Things had been okay in the first two seconds but after that it was typical. First it was quiet and the there was the snickering and the nudging of elbows between two men, then there was whistling and then there was the OH so familiar grunts, groans and smug remarks of disbelief. She'd seen and heard it all before, the most common of remarks she heard was 'you've got to be kiddin' me' or 'No fucking way!'. She heard pretty much everything from Easy Company in the 10 seconds it took her to enter the mess hall and take her place next to Winters. She stood there her arms at her side and her head up high, waiting for everything to settle down. Once it had Winters spoke up, his tone was calm and full of respect. He was a man of stature and the men knew it. Once his mouth had opened the floor was his.

"This is Anne-Marie Contier, one of France's finest medics; she has spent years in aid stations and a year on the field. Now I Know, this is different and I know you probably would have never expected to work a women medic, but you're just going to have to make it work. You will be on your best behavior and you will treat her with decency." A few of the men in each section had laughed at Winter's request for 'decency' towards Anne-Marie. The plain expression on Winters face had faded into a frown. Anne-Marie was sure he didn't like it as much as they did, but she had heard some good things about Richard Winters so she knew he wouldn't say anything about any of this. However, she wasn't so sure about Easy Company.

One man had spoke, rather loudly, making it quite clear that she was unwanted in his opinion. "No woman has any right to be in the same ranking as us, ain't no way in hell I am sharin' my foxhole with some French broad" The rest of the men laughed along with him, well except for one. He sat at the third table from her left in the front row with his arms crossed and his face stern; He didn't laugh, he didn't joke, He just sat there. She didn't know quite what to think, or weather to think anything of it at all. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention or maybe he didn't care. But soon she didn't really care either. She just stood up there for a few more minutes and took the insults and smart remarks, soon it was all over. Winters had left Anne standing there, by herself. He hadn't done much except get straight to the point…frown and then leave. That was it.

No one said anything after Winters had left; it seemed that they were out of things to say or people to nudge so she had left it at that and just went to the back of the mess hall towards the kitchen. She saw Mrs. Erickson, one of the cooks she had known ever since she started working as a nurse. She was no taller than Anne, about 5'6, light brown hair and grease splattered on her apron. She was grinning, ear to ear with her arms folded, a wooden spoon in one hand and a napkin in the other. Anne knew that grin, she was enjoying her suffering.

"Not Funny" Anne said to her as she grabbed a bowl of watery soup and a slice of bread.

"Well I think it is. Anne you've now gone to hell and back…and back again" Mrs. Erickson laughed…again. She always laughed at Anne's suffering just because she could. She was a nice woman though; she had always been there for her since day one of joining B Company. Anne kind of owed her everything from a new level of temperament to a new level of confidence.

"Yeah yeah yeah, got any milk that isn't like cottage cheese" She looked at the containers behind the counter, they didn't look like milk anymore.

"Nope, the ice box is on the fritz again. Everything is spoiled. I have coffee though, will that do?"

"Yeah, coffee's fine." She handed Anne a tin cup filled with the same old watery coffee. Anne smiled and took the cup; mmm nothing beat the sweet smell of caffeine mixed into water.

"Merci Madame Erickson" She nodded and continued preparing the rest of the food for the next group that would be coming in for breakfast. Anne took her plate and looked to find any empty spaces. There was one, at the end of a table in the corner of the Mess Hall. Half of it was full and the other end was almost empty except for three men who sat all bundled at the empty side. If it was her to guess, they were replacements so thus, she'd start there.

She moved slowly over to the table, glancing left and right seeing the looks on the men's faces. She sucked in a breath and tried to keep her head on straight. Mentally she was preparing herself for what could happen; she could be kicked out, given the cold shoulder…anything.

"Okay…" she whispered to herself "Here we go." She set down her tray and gave a quick nod to the three men and sat down on one of the stools. They hadn't said anything, they just kept eating. Anne didn't say anything either, she just wanted to finish her soup and bread as fast as possible and get out of there. She planned to keep her distance from easy for a few hours, or at least until they shipped out later that night. In those few hours was all the time she'd have to herself in her own little world, before she'd have to step into 'their' world.

About five minutes had passed and the Mess hall had already started to clear out, the table she had been sitting at was near empty now and she didn't mind. The three men she had sat with were gone as was the other half of the table. After a few more minutes there were about ten people left. By now she was done with her breakfast and ready to start packing up her things. She still had plenty to do like pick up her new uniform and pack her supply bag and stuff every pocket and spare bag she could with medical supplies, just the typical.

She picked up her tray and set it on the steel counter of the cook's station. She nodded good bye to the staff and gave a warm smile to Mrs. Erickson and that was it, that's the last time she knew she'd see her. She didn't want to make a huge deal out of it or make it a sad good bye, she had learned not hang onto something for to long in a time of war. It only made matters worse. The only things she had ever truly held onto were her family but they weren't there anymore, so from them she learned that being attached wasn't a good thing in war. Sure she could make conversations with people but she wasn't to keen on being 'buddies' especially after Evans and Garrison. She didn't want to be any ones friend but she did want the idea that people trusted her enough to have her back; that was probably the closest thing she'd ever get to friendship. It would be a miracle if she could have one friend. That thought almost made her laugh aloud sometimes she cracked herself up. (.)

Anne had made her way outside. Rows and rows of green tents and passing soldiers was all that she could see nothing more nothing less. It never took her long to point out her tent. She always thought that she was lucky to have a tent that was right between the Hospital tent and the medical supply tent and right across from the mess hall, such convenience and so easy to see. It took her a matter of seconds to walk into her tent. Once inside she immediately began collecting her things which wasn't hard. Her cot was in the left corner, sitting on it was her new uniform and a large bag which she had guessed was full of her new equipment. Next to her cot was a box of items her grandfather had sent her and next to that box was her medic's bag, which was now completely empty. Her tent was simple, not stands for writing letters and holding family photos, no record players, no small bookshelf, just a cot and a hamper.

She reached for the larger bag first. She loosened the ties on top just to pier in. It was just the basics, shovel, gas mask, blanket, etcetera etcetera. All the stuff that was supposed to help you but you never used, except a shovel for digging fox holes, but everything else just either ditched because it was to much weight or went to the wounded who needed things for than you did.

She didn't bother fishing through the whole thing, seemed pointless. She closed the bag back up and went straight for the uniform. It was much, MUCH nicer than her last one. The sleeves weren't taped together, there weren't moth holes or blood stains and the Red Cross arm band wasn't falling off, all of it was actually in one piece. There was one thing missing, one thing she knew she'd never get in her life time. There were no insignia's, no pins or symbols that showed she was even in the army. She didn't really care though, the only symbol or insignia that she needed was the Red Cross on the right sleeve. That's what mattered, that's the only thing that mattered. She had picked up the jacket and gleamed at it for a moment before she put on over her grey T-shirt. It fit rather loose over her figure but that didn't bother her either. She grabbed a hair tie from the pocket of her pants and pulled her blonde hair up into a loose bun, she figured she should have cut her hair a long time ago but she never got around to it.

She then grabbed the pants from off her cot and gave a good look at them, they looked like they'd fit rather loosely to…but oh well. She put the pants down and moved over to her Medic's bag and picked it up. It was emptier than London after a Blitz. There was nothing in it, not even lint. She didn't think that refilling her medic's bag was the only thing she had left to do, but it was. She didn't think they'd bring her uniform to her tent or her supply and mussette(SP?) bag.

Anne had left her little tent and went to the Medical Supply tent right next door. She knew the routine; Stuff her pockets as full of morphine, iodine, and penicillin as much as possible and fill any spare space in her supply bag with bandages and plasma and of course fill her Medical bag until it is ready to burst like a thanksgiving turkey. Medical shipments had come regularly and for medics it never really mattered how much you took as long as it was never wasted, and of course it never was.

Outside of the tent the sounds of someone digging through boxes and cursing aloud could be heard, probably even by people from the Mess Hall. Anne gave a soft chuckle as she peered in slowly catching the site of a medic who was furiously fishing through boxes to find the supplies. He had hardly even noticed when she entered; he just kept throwing stuff around. Anne just ignored it as best as possible and tried not to laugh out loud, which was turning out to be rather difficult. She set her bag down on the counter next to his and pulled a box off the top shelf that was full of morphine. He stopped fishing though boxes; obviously she found what he was looking for. She poured about half of the morphine into her bag and handed the box over to him. He took it form her slowly and nodded his thanks. He poured the rest into his bag and set the box aside. Anne figured he'd start fishing though more boxes but he didn't. She grabbed a few more boxes and set them between the two of them.

"Thank you mam. I just can't seem to find anything in here." He spoke with an accent that wasn't too familiar to Anne but she had guessed it was a southern accent. She looked up from the supplies that lay in front of her, she was almost in shock. He said thank you…and mam, now that was unexpected. No one had said thank you to her other than when she had saved some ones life, and no one had defiantly ever called her mam. She had no choice but to respond with the same amount of respect.

"You welcome Sir" She said calmly.

"Please" he replied back, now she felt like she was being thrown for a loop. "Don't call me Sir, its Eugene. Eugene Roe." He had turned to face her with his hand held out. She looked at him suspiciously for a moment but then didn't bother to pass up this opportunity.

"Well then Your Welcome Eugene." She shook his hand and flashed a warm smile; she had noticed when she looked at him who he was. Not only was he Easy Companies medic but he was also the only man in the mess hall who hadn't laughed…at all.

He smiled back, and she smiled even wider. Finally, the first person who hadn't treated her like she was any lesser than he was.

She pulled her hand away and went back to over stuffing her bag with the bandages, syringes, anti-biodics, and bottles of plasma. They both finished practically at the same time and it seemed like he knew the routine pretty well to. Stuff the bags and stuff the pockets until they're about ready to burst.

"It's Anne-Marie, right?" He spoke up again out of the blue. Anne swung her bag over her shoulder and turned to face him again.

"That's right, you may call me Just Anne though. Or like everyone else which would be Doc…or Doll Face, but I'd like it if it was just Anne" She watched as Eugene laughed as he swung his bag over his shoulder and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Anne sounds good." She smiled again, but deep down she was a bit curious. Not everyone was just 'nice' to her off the bat; that had never actually occurred. Okay so maybe she was being a little suspicious, but she had a right to…right? She had the right to over react and be as suspicious as possible. It was just who she was now.

Anne-Marie would have loved to carry on but the small talk had been interrupted by the sounds of someone, probably Sergeant Winters, shouting for Easy Company.

She was right, it was Winters. He had given them the news that they were leaving within the next ten minutes and that a large group of Krauts was stationed in a village up by the border of France and Belgium and that they needed to secure the village before they invaded Belgium. Anne and Eugene had left the Supply tent and headed straight for the Jeep. To no ones surprise she sat on the floor, the again she was now back to square one and it still was going to be hell. And sitting on the floor of a large jeep was nothing compared of what to come. But it wasn't so bad yet, within half and hour she had been mocked and pointed at and nudged about, had half of a new uniform on and actually had real conversation. But the worst was yet to come, just wait. Trust is the most important thing and lack of it in her direction was bad news.

But as always…It didn't bother her. Nothing did anymore.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 3- On step at time

OMG I know it was long and slow and nothing supper exciting happened but that's just the first chapter thing lol. I'll try to make them not so long and boring, then again once Easy Company gets into battle well you can only guess. And please do cut me some slack; this is my first BOB fic…ever…and to think the first chapter was 5 pages…giggles

Sorry it ended kind of the way it had…kind of short but it had to end. It just went on and on and on….and on and on and on lol. And don't worry, things will start to get more emotional and personals and intense…points fingers at readers you just wait and see…WAIT and see.

If you saw me right now you'd probably be laughing right now cause I am...I have to stop drinking red bull when I write things.

Character note- With Anne you've probably noticed the whole 'it didn't bother her'. It's being repeated for a reason, so try not to get annoyed lol.