Okay, so maybe 'flash' wasn't exactly the right word to use. I mean I did still have my bandage wrapped around my chest so he didn't anything. But I was still unmistakably female.
Buck blinked.
George's cigarette fell from his lips.
I figured I had made my point and I pulled my shirt back down.
"Jesus Christ," Buck whispered as he sat down, hard. "Benny, you have breasts."
I couldn't help it. He told me that I had breasts as if he had just discovered something that I didn't know about. I fell to the floor my laughter was so hard. George sat down and cradled his head in his hands his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his own laughter.
Buck glared down at my shaking form and I just laughed harder. It took me a few moments before I was able to regain my composure and crawl back onto the trunk I was using as a chair.
"Any other discoveries, Columbo?" I winced as I felt my wound open more.
"This isn't funny, Benny!" Buck growled. "And who the fuck is Columbo?"
"I'm sorry, Buck." I hissed as I cleaned my wound, raising my shirt far enough to expose the cut but not far enough to flash the Lieutenant and Luz again. Buck just sat there and stared at me as Luz and I cleaned and dressed my wound. "I might have to stitch myself up." I mumbled to George, biting my lip. He knitted his eyebrows together.
"You can do that?" He mumbled back. I shrugged.
"I'm not positive but if it came down to it I think I could." He looked concerned. "I hope to hell it doesn't"
"Benny," Buck finally said in a whisper. "How?" I scratched the back of my head.
"I had help." I answered. Buck turned to George. "Not just him," I trailed off.
"An officer?" He asked. George and I glanced at each other then turned to Buck and nodded. "Who?"
"Nixon." George answered. Buck breathed deep and cradled his head in his hands rubbing his fingers through his short hair.
"Look, Buck," I began. "I told you because I know I can trust you." He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, because you walked in on me, but I've been wanting to tell you for a while now." I bit my lip and looked at George, he nodded. "After everything we've been through in the past month, all the times we talked as we shared a foxhole, I wanted to tell you. "
"I don't know, Benny." Buck sighed.
"Please, just… just give me a chance. I'm still the same Benny you met in England, I'm still the same Jo who trained with E since camp Toccoa, I'm the same person who has fought and bled with each and every man in this company."
"Except you have breasts." Buck stated. I rolled my eyes.
"Seriously? We're still on about that? Well, for your information, sir, I've had them all along and they've yet to get in my way. Trust me, they didn't just pop up out of thin air the moment I decided to flash you." I sighed. "Men and their fascination breasts." I muttered, throwing my hands up in the air causing George had to cover his laugh with a cough and Buck to blush. His face then went from embarrassed to horrified.
"You saw me…" He trailed off.
"What, pee?" I asked. George had a coughing fit as he choked on the smoke from his cigarette, Buck looked even more horrified. "I hate to tell you this, but women don't find men urinating very fascinating. Besides, I'm a trained medical professional, trust me when I say I've seen it all," I grinned. "There was this cadaver I had to cut into as part of my training, not for fun," I clarified. "And he had apparently been having rough sex in the back of a car and somehow managed to get his little soldier stuck in the car door." They both winced. "The girl panicked, and when she jumped out of the car, she kicked the car into neutral and it went rolling down the hill. Well, the man stayed rooted to the spot, so when the car took off it rip-"
"I GET it!" Buck interrupted, his face mirroring the same pain and disgust of George's. I shrugged, a shit-eating grin spreading across my face, I loved how uncomfortable men get when you talk about phallic related injuries. After Buck recovered from the image I had painted in his mind he stood and looked me over.
"What happens if you get hurt, worse than that?" He motioned to the now bandaged wound. I shrugged.
"Then I'll be at the mercy of the medic that treats me. But if whoever that is decides to turn me in, then I will go down alone. Neither your name, nor George's or Nixon's names will pass my lips. You have my word." I stood up and looked imploring at him. "Please, Buck. I've nowhere to go, no one to miss me if I die. I'm lost in time and the only people I have to cling to in hopes of retaining what sanity I have left are here, in Easy. This is my home, Buck. This is my family, you and George are my family… and you're all the family I have." I spilled my heart to him. He looked at me a while in thought before sighing and rubbing his head.
"We're even now… in fact, I'm at least three up on you now." Buck finally said as a grin formed on his lips.
"Wait, wait, wait… This is so not worth five!" I argued. George looked back and forth between us in confusion.
"I told you already, that one doesn't count!" He rolled his eyes.
"And I say it does!"
"It was two feet of air, Benny! I was not in mortal peril!"
"You two are fuckin' nuts, you know that, right?" George threw his hands up in exasperation as he realized we were talking about our running tab of who saved who. Buck and I grinned at him as he stormed out of the room. When he was gone, Buck sighed deep and looked at me.
"You're just full of surprises, kid."
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I was sitting next Bill as we listened to Smokey recite "The Night of the Bayonet," and flashing George the new stripe that signified my promotion to Staff Sergeant. He just rolled his eyes and grinned at my exuberance. We had been basking in our down time in England which afforded us the chance to finally catch up on the sleep we had been missing and regain the weight that we had lost. All in all it had been a good time here in England and I planned on going out with George during the next weekend to unwind. We cheered as Smokey finished his poem and presented Talbert with one of his Purple Hearts.
"Couple of announcements men!" Lipton called out as he stood in front of us. I could tell by the look on his face that what he was about to tell us wasn't going to be good. "First, listen up. First, the training exercise for 2200 has been canceled." Cheers went up around the room. "Secondly…" He raised his hand to quiet the men. "All passes are hereby revoked. We're heading back to France. So pack up all your gear." The feeling in the room dropped dramatically from this announcement. It seemed as if we had just arrived here and we were already having to leave.
"We will not be returning to England, boys," Lip continued. "Anyone who has not made out a will, go to the supply office. The trucks depart Membury at 0700. As you were."
"Well, if that wasn't a punch in the gut, I don't know what is." George mumbled. We spent that night gathering what we could take with us and shipping what we couldn't home or, in my case, to George's home.
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It was September 13 and we were gathered in a local bar in Aldbourne drinking and shooting the shit. Our redeployment to France had been canceled so we were stuck there for the time being. I watched as George and Buck, who felt more comfortable around us enlisted then he did the commissioned, hustled one of the new replacements named Babe and Toye in a game of darts. Buck was shooting lefty and I snorted into my beer as he and George really laid it on thick. Even Bull couldn't contain his grin as he retrieved the darts for the Lieutenant. The game ended with Babe winning, of course, and I walked over to Buck and George.
I raised my eyebrow at the two of them.
"What?" Buck grinned, trying and failing miserably at looking innocent. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.
"Absolutely nothing, sir." I said as I handed him and George their beers. I raised my own in salute. "To the gullibility of young replacements." I toasted. Buck and George chuckled and clinked their glasses with mine. "You better give me some of those cigarette you're about to win."
"I thought you didn't smoke." Buck smirked.
"I don't." I laughed to myself as Babe came back over and Luz and Buck continued with their scam. I shook my head, he and Toye must be dense not to see the thick layer of bullshit they were practically rolling in.
"Lieutenant, are you gonna shoot lefty all night?" George asked casually and it took everything in me not to burst out laughing.
"Hey, come on." Toye complained, finally catching on.
"I'm just curious, 'cause he's right-handed"
"George," Buck said shifting the dart into his right hand. "What would I do without George Luz?"
"You'd probably be saner, sir." I smirked. George glared at me and Buck threw the dart.
"Boop!" George made the noise of a radar blip as Buck hit the bullseye.
"Ooh!" they both exclaimed as if they were amazed. I finally let out my laughter.
"Goodness Gracious." George said, turning to Babe and Toye.
"Two packs, gentlemen." Buck held his hand and made a 'gimme' motion.
"I know you got 'em," George said to Toye. "Pay up." Toye grumbled as he and Babe passed them the cigarettes.
"Should have known better Toye." I patted him on the back. He just grumbled and took a swig of his beer.
"Here you go, for keeping your mouth shut, I know how hard that was for you." Buck handed me a couple cigarettes.
"If you weren't an officer I'd tell you to go fuck yourself, sir." I grinned.
"Well, it's too bad I'm an officer then." He laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Wanna play darts?"
"I couldn't throw a dart to save my life." I snorted and shook my head.
"It's not hard," he tossed a dart and it hit dead center. "See?"
"Thanks, but no. I'm more of a soccer player."
"Soccer?" he and George made a face.
"What is wrong with you?" George asked. I rolled my eyes and knocked him one in the arm.
"Shut up."
"Come on Benny, I'll buy you a beer and I'll tell you everything you need to know about a real American sport." He slung an arm around my shoulder. "Football." I made a gagging noise but he just ignored me. We both grabbed a beer and walked back over to George. "You see, there's this guy, he's called a quarterback…" I blanked out on the rest of the lecture as it turned from a lesson in football to talk about teams I neither knew nor cared about. I glanced up as one of Bull's replacements passed, looking every bit the kicked puppy.
"Shit, Cobb." I heard Bull's slow Arkansas drawl. "You didn't fight in Normandy neither."
"Hey y'all!" Smokey yelled out over the crowd. "Listen up! I got us an announcement to make!" We all turned to look at him as he stood up on a chair and grabbed Lipton's shoulder. "This here is Carwood Lipton."
"He's already married, Smokey!" Malarkey called out. Smokey just ignored him as we chuckled.
"This here is Carwood Lipton, the new Easy Company first sergeant!" We cheered and yelled out our congratulations to Lip. "As befitting this position, he says he has to make an announcement." Lipton cleared his throat.
"Well, hate to break the mood here, boys, but, uh, we're moving out again." And with that, he made his escape. We all stood in shock for a moment, letting the news that we were going back out on the front line sink into our system.
"Well," I turned to look at Luz and Buck. "Isn't he just a ray of fucking sunshine."
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Operation Market Garden.
That ran over and over through my head as Winters and Nixon went over the plan of attack.
Operation Market Garden. One of the biggest airborne operations in history… and one of its greatest failures.
The plan was to take the Rhine, end the war and be home by Christmas.
Things were not going to go as planned.
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"Ready for this?" Buck asked me as I geared up for the drop into Holland.
"Ready for what? To save your huge ass again, sir?" I looked up at him with the best innocent look I could muster. He glared at me.
"You do owe me three." He nodded.
"Two." I reminded.
"It still doesn't count." He muttered.
"Yes it does." I countered. "Well, shit." I mumbled, ending our argument as I watched a jeep pull up.
"What's wrong?" Buck asked.
"Sobel." The man was sitting in the passenger seat of the olive drab army jeep. Buck gave me a look; he wasn't around when Sobel was in charge of the company, so he didn't really understand when silence overtook the Toccoa men. I made my way through the crowd and over to George.
"You seein' what I'm seein', Jo?" George asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am." I sighed deep. "If that isn't a bad omen, I don't know what is." George nodded and I helped him on with his gear. I chanced a glance over at Sobel as he was unloading the medical supplies from the truck. He turned his head to me and gave me a once over then did something I never thought I'd ever see.
"Hey George." I nudged him.
"What?" He looked at the shock on my face. "What happened?"
"I-I think… I think…"
"Well, spit it out!"
"I think Sobel just smiled at me." George turned to look at the Lieutenant who caught George's stare and smiled at him as well.
"Well I'll be damned." George looked over at me amazed. I gave a mock shiver and George grinned.
"I feel like I just got a blessing from the devil."
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The drop into Holland was the difference between night and day compared to the drop into Normandy... literally and metaphorically. There were no flak guns shooting at us, no drop that was too high and too fast. Everything went textbook.
"I don't like this, sir." I murmured to Buck as we sat crouched in a ditch outside the town of Eindhoven. "This seems too easy." Buck remained silent. He motioned for me to follow him as he made his way to Winters, who ordered the company to move through the field due to some kind of roadblock. We made our way back to the ditch and Buck ordered me to prepare the men as our air support flew over us on their way back to England.
We made our way through the tall grass of the field and stomped through the thick mud on the outskirts of the town. There was something weird going on, I could feel it.
As we came upon the town we noticed something out of place.
"Orange banners?" Buck looked at me.
"It's the color of the Dutch royal family." I answered. "You'd know that if you were into soccer." He glared at me and rolled his eyes.
We cautiously made our way into town. Everything was quiet and the streets deserted. As we went deeper into Eindhoven a dull roar started to tickle my eardrums. I looked up at Buck and he nodded in affirmation that he heard it too. We came to a corner where the roar was almost deafening and my mouth dropped open in shock.
Orange flags and banners were draped everywhere and the people of Eindhoven were dancing and celebrating in the street. They cheered louder as they finally caught sight of us and we were rushed into a sea of orange.
By the time the 7th random girl kissed me on the lips I was so over Eindhoven.
"You're a real ladies man, Jo." Luz grinned at me as he was kissed. I rubbed my mouth and glared at him.
"I'm going to go find the officers, try and keep everyone moving." I grumped.
"Yeah, yeah, sure thing, Jo." I had a feeling he didn't hear a thing I had said.
"Keep moving, boys." I called out as I made my way through the crowd. "Come on."
"Benny!" I turned to see Lip trying to make his way through the crowd.
"Hey, keep moving and put that woman down!" I called to one of the men as Lip finally pushed his way through to me. I turned and rolled my eyes at our new 1st sergeant and he chuckled.
"Benny, you seen Winters?" Lip asked.
"No." I shook my head. "I was ju-mmmrrph" I was cut off as yet another woman pulled my face to hers and planted a kiss on me before giggling and running off. "Oh for crying out loud!" Lipton laughed at me.
"That shade of lipstick looks good on ya." I glared at him and wiped it off.
"I was trying to say that I was looking for him too." I turned my head just in time as another woman tried to kiss me, she ended up kissing me on the cheek instead and then planted one on Lipton.
"Alright, keep the men moving." I nodded as he went off in search of Winters and I continued my search.
"Keep moving!" I yelled as I made my way through the crowd, pulling several men from the embrace of Dutch women and pushing them along. I spotted a tall blonde figure in the crowd.
"Buck!" I called, jumping up so he could see me. He turned and smiled as he made his way over to me, each of his arms wrapped around a woman. I rolled my eyes at his gleeful expression.
"Hey, Benny!" He called as we met halfway. "Girls, this is my good friend, Jo Benally!" I glared at him as the two women leant over to plant a double kiss on either of my cheeks. "What, Benny, don't like girls?" I sent a rude gesture in his direction.
"Not at the moment. Have you seen Winters?" I asked him, he craned his neck around looking above the crowd.
"Over there." He pointed with his chin and proceeded to make his way over to the CO. I followed along behind him, using him as a shield against anymore kissing attacks. Buck had lost one of the two women along our way over to the other officers but was still ginning by the time we met up with them.
"What's up, Welshy?" He asked and I snorted as he absentmindedly used one of my idioms.
"Snipers." Welsh said, Buck lost his good mood and we all covered our necks with our jackets trying to keep as much of our vulnerable spots hidden as we could. Nix turned to look at us and nodded to me in greeting.
"We've gotta get to these bridges," Winters said. I followed along as they made their way through the crowd and came up on a group of Dutch civilians who were circled around several women chanting something with voices that dripped hate and disgust. As we got closer we stopped and looked on in horror as several of the men ripped the women's dresses and sheared off all their hair, then drew swastikas on their foreheads.
"What did they do?" Harry asked as he clutched his reserve chute to his chest.
"They slept with the Germans." A balding man with a thick Dutch accent said as he came up behind us acting like the humiliation of these women in public was nothing to be bothered over. I chanced a disgusted glance at him then stalked off in search of Lipton to let him know I had found Winters.
"Hey. Bull." I called as I came up on the big man. His eyes were glued to the women, a look of confusion and worry across his face.
"Benny, what's that about?" I sighed.
"It's about ignorant self-righteous people passing judgment on others." He raised an eyebrow at me but I just waved him off. He opened his mouth to ask me something when a huge cry went up over the crowd. Bull and I looked at each other before finding a lamp post to climb on so we could see over everyone's heads. Winters joined us after a moment and we watched as the British tanks rolled into town.
"Captain." The balding Dutch man called up to Winters. "I'll be happy to show you the quickest route to the bridges."
"I'd be happy to have your help." Winters stepped down and shook the man's hand. "Get scouts to the edge of town in case we're here for the night." He ordered Buck and Welsh. Bull and I jumped down from the post and I made my way over to Buck.
"Gather a team of men and scout out the area." I nodded and disappeared through into the crowd.
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I rubbed my aching back with one hand while holding on to Buck to keep myself from falling off the tank with the other. We had slept on the cold ground of an orchard the night before and my back was telling me about it today.
My attention to my back was broken as we rolled past one of the women from town that had slept with a German. She clutched a small baby to her chest as she watched us pass. I felt my blood boil at the thought of what they did to here as I took in her ruddy clothes and head that had been sliced open from the shears.
"Mother fuckers," I growled and Buck nodded his head as we watched one of the men hand her a K-ration.
The tanks came to a stop just out of Nuenen.
"Lieutenant!" Bull called to the figure that had stopped and stood in the middle of the road in front of the tanks. He turned to look at Bull as a shot was heard and the Lieutenant fell to the ground.
"Sniper!" Buck yelled. I tapped him and pointed as a German halftrack pulled along our left flank. "Get to cover! Clear the track!" he yelled and we all jumped from the tank and took cover in the roadside ditch. One of the Shermans quickly disposed of the halftrack.
"We're sitting ducks, we need to move!" I called out at the same time as Bull yelled at the men to get moving. We made our way across the field and into the town.
"Beat it!" Buck yelled and the men set up the cannons and we covered them from the low wall. There was an explosion as one of the tanks was hit with a round from a Tiger followed by the rapid firing of a machine gun.
"Pull back!" Could be heard being shouted from somewhere in the town as soldiers started running back through the field and the Shermans retreated. Several men jumped over the low wall just as German soldiers poured out from the house in front of us. We raised our guns and fired on them ducking behind the wall as they returned and popping back up to do the same, covering the men who were pulling back.
"We need to take that gun out!" I yelled to Buck and pointed to the MG on top of one of the houses. He nodded at me.
"Rifle grenade!" He called. "Schmidt, MG42. 10 o'clock, nail 'em!" He ordered."Fire!" Schmidt's aim was true and he took out the Kraut MG in one shot. We continued to cover the men as they made their way to safety.
"I think we've overstayed our welcome!" I told Buck as I shot another German soldier.
"I think you're right, Benny!" He grinned and turned to the men. "Pull back, Pull back!"
"Pull back, boys!" I physically pushed some of the men in the direction of the road.
"Go!" Buck ordered as he fired once more and turned to run around the corner of the house with the rest of us. "Pull back!" Buck and I stopped at regular intervals to shoot at the Germans in an effort to slow them down and give the men extra time to get to safety.
"Come on!" I yelled and pushed one of the men into moving faster. "We have to pull back!" After what felt like hours we finally made it to the road and were able to jump into the ditch which gave us a minimal amount of cover.
"Get down!" Buck ordered from in front of me.
It all seemed to go in slow motion… I heard the pop and whiz of a sniper rifle going off. I saw the blood spurt out of Buck in a sickening red haze. I watched, almost seeing the ripple of pain flow through his body and my mind flashed back to Will.
POP!
"Sniper!" yelled someone as he fell face first into the ground mere feet from the shelter of the building.
Buck pitched forward and fell face first to the ground, blood starting to blossom across his hips.
"Will!"
"BUCK!"
He groaned in pain and I was broken out of my trance as I ran forward to the fallen man.
"Medic!" Malarkey yelled as he crawled to Buck and turned him over. I dropped next to my wounded friend.
"Go, get a medic, keep moving!" Malarkey ordered the rest of the men.
"Buck." I grabbed the hand he reached out for me. "It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay." I told him. He just stared at me, a shocked look of pain spread across his face.
"B-Benny." He mumbled.
"I'm here, Buck." I rubbed his hand. Seeing Buck like that blew every bit of medical training I had from my mind. I felt helpless and all I could do was hold his hand and try to comfort him. "Where the fuck is the God. Damn. Medic!" I yelled.
"Right here." Roe answered as he bounded down the ditch and knelt down on the other side of Buck.
"Hey, Doc." Buck mumbled not looking at the man.
"Lieutenant." Roe acknowledged. Malarkey and I rolled Buck so Roe could assess the wound. "It's gone right through, Buck." He said as he pulled out a bandage. "Side to side, both cheeks."
"Malarkey, get them out of here, go." Buck ordered.
"What?"
"I'm not leaving you here, Buck." I told him as I helped Roe bandage him.
"Jus-jus-just go." He stuttered. "Leave me here for the Germans."
"What? Are you nuts?"
"We'll carry you." Roe told him.
"Fuck off with that bullshit, you're not dying" Roe glanced up at me, slightly taken aback, "sir." I added.
"Are you kidding me?" Buck asked. "I weigh more than the both of you two combined." He said, looking from Roe to me. Malarkey and I looked at each other.
"We need a Travois." I thought out loud. Malarkey gave me a look. "A-a-a stretcher we can drag on the ground." I snapped my fingers. He nodded, understanding my meaning.
"Come on." He said to Muck and they both ran off.
"Get out of here, Benny." Buck said, staring at me.
"No way, I'm not getting out of here unless you're coming with me." I told him.
"I'm going to die here." He said, staring up at the sky. I sat up and pulled his chin down so we were face to face.
"Then you're signing a death warrant for the both of us 'cause I'm not leaving you here alone." Roe glanced back and forth between the two of us.
"We'll get ya outta here, Lieutenant." Roe told him as he finished bandaging him. He looked over at me. "We need ta roll 'im so he's not lying on his wounds." I nodded and he crawled over beside me.
"Ready?" I nodded. "Now." With some effort, we managed to get Buck settled on his stomach.
"Where the hell is Malarkey?" I mumbled to Roe once we were done. He shook his head at me.
"I don't know, but he betta get here quick." I nodded and crawled up the embankment to peek over the edge of the ditch.
"Shit." I whispered as I slid back down. I gave Roe a look that conveyed just how much shit we were in without speaking it out loud. He pursed his lips and knitted his brows together.
"Benny?"
"Still here, Buck." I grabbed his hand again.
"Benny, I'm sorry." He mumbled.
"Just shut up, Buck," I rubbed my thumb across the back of his hand. "Just shut up."
"You need to get out of here." He mumbled. "Leave, they're coming. Just take Doc and get out of here."
"Can't do that, Buck. I don't think Roe is willing to leave you here alone either." I looked up at medic. He gave me a firm nod confirming that he wouldn't leave here without the both of us.
"I ain't goin' anywhere, Lieutenant." He told Buck. I managed a smile at the Cajun and he returned it.
"Hey, Buck." I called.
"What?"
"Sorry I didn't save your ass." I grinned and Roe chuckled. "Get it."
"Yeah," he nodded, managing a small chuckle. "It means you owe me four now, kid."
"No, only three… I don't care what you say, that one in France counts."
"It was two feet, Benny." Roe raised an eyebrow at me. I just shrugged.
"It still counts." He managed a small, weak smile for a second before he dropped it and squeezed my hand. "It's okay, Buck, it's okay." Roe and I looked at each other with worry in our eyes.
"Where the hell is Malarkey?"
"You called?" The redheaded Irishman said as he, Skip and Guarnere slid into the ditch dragging what looked like an old door behind them. I smiled in relief as Roe and I rolled Buck so the Malarkey and Guarnere could slide the door under him, then rolled him back. He grabbed the top of the door and Malarkey, Guarnere and I stood in front of him, prepared to lift it once he had a good grip.
"On one." I ordered,"Ready three, two, ONE!" We lifted the top of the door with some effort as Skip covered us and Roe made sure Buck didn't slip off. We huffed and puffed as we dragged the door through the ditch and to the safety of the Shermans.
"Get back to the tank!" Someone ordered as we passed. Soldiers ran past us on the left and right as we gritted our teeth and pulled with all our strength. A shell went off to our left and men scrabbled to get out of the way. When we finally reached the tanks I almost cried in relief to see that several transport trucks had arrived. It took all five of us, plus three more to load Buck on the back of the closest one. Once he was safely on the truck I finally able to breathed a sigh of relief and Roe patted me on the knee and offered a smiled.
"Can you believe it?" Bill asked Lipton, who had wandered over to the truck to check everything out. "One bullet, four holes."
"It's almost a miracle." Lipton joked as he patted Buck on the leg and I fought to contain the smile forming on my lips.
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Night had fallen over Holland and I sat off to the side of the darkened field we had camped out in for the night. I kept replaying the moment when Buck was shot in my mind.
I froze.
I shit-fucking froze!
I was a surgeon for fuck's sake, I could have helped him on my own but I froze and just sat there as helpless as a child.
I rubbed my thumb under my lip over and over again as I replayed the scene in my mind, going over what I could have done differently, seeing different outcomes to each. The worst ones ended in the bullet grazing Bucks artery and him bleeding out as I sat there and did nothing.
I growled and ran a hand through my hair vaguely realizing it was time for another haircut if I was going to maintain my farce as a man. I sighed and lit a cigarette, drawing deep and slowly letting it back out.
"Hey," I looked up to see Roe. He walked over and knelt down in front of me. "I just wanna let you know that the Lieutenant is gonna be alright."
"Thanks," I nodded and took another drag from my cigarette. Roe looked me over.
"Are you gonna be alright?" He asked, a crease forming between his eyebrows.
"Yeah," I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I not be?"
"Well," he looked off to the side, running a hand through his hair. He sighed and looked back at me. "You saw yo' friend get shot today. It can't be easy." I smiled at his concern.
"I'll be fine." I answered. He smiled and patted my knee before standing up and turning to leave.
"Hey Roe." I called out to him. "How do you do it?"
"What?" He asked as he turned around and walked back over. "Do what?"
"You're everywhere at once, treating the wounded one place then the next moment you're someplace else, treating someone else. But then, when we needed you, you were right there like you have a sixth sense or something."
"I just go where I'm needed." He shrugged.
"No," I stood up and looked him over. "No, it's more than that." I looked him straight in the eyes and smiled. "You're a great medic. This company, it-it would fall apart without you."
"They'd replace me."
"No." I shook my head.
"Benny!" Lipton called out. "Winters wants to see you!" I nodded, grabbed my gear and slung it over my shoulder. I turned back to Roe.
"You're irreplaceable, Gene." He stood still and watched me as I walked off.
"Sir," I looked at Winters and Malarky who was standing beside the CO.
"Sergeant," he greeted looking between Malarkey and I. "I called you both here to let you know that Buck is going to be gone for a while."
"Yes, sir. Roe just told me." He looked over at me nodded.
"There's going to be a replacement Lieutenant coming in." We both nodded. Winters sighed and rubbed a hand across his forehead. "Not that I don't have faith in the man they'll be bringing in, but you both have been there since the beginning. You know 2nd better than anyone. I want you to help settle the new lieutenant in, make this transition as easy on the men as you can. Can you do that for me?" Malarkey and I glanced at each other before we both answered with a slightly stunned, 'yes, sir.' "Good, I'm counting on you two."
"Sir?" I asked. "Lt. Compton is coming back, isn't he?"
"Yes sergeant, he'll be back. It'll take more than a bullet in the backside to take Lt. Compton out of this war." Both Malarkey and I chuckled a bit, knowing every the truth behind Winter's words.
"Anything else you need for us, sir?" I asked.
"Yeah, get some rest. It's been a hard day on all of us." We answered in affirmative and Winters gave us a smile, letting us know without words that everything would be okay. Malarkey and I strode away side-by-side, our shoulders a little less heavy then they had been.
"Hey, Jo!" Luz waved me over,. I smiled and told Don I would meet up with him later before sitting down on my helmet next to Luz. "Hey, you hear anything about Bull?" He asked. Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman was confirmed missing as we left the German overran Nuenen. I shook my head. "What about Buck?"
"Roe says he's going to be fine." I sighed. "I should have done something."
"Hey, there was nothing you could have done." George assured me.
"But there was! I'm a surgeon for fucks sake! I could have helped him but all I did was sit there and stare at him. He could have died, George." George sighed and threw his arm over my shoulder.
"But he didn't, Jo. That's all that matters." He rubbed my shoulder. "You can't beat yourself up over this." I sighed and nodded.
"I hate it when you're right." I grumbled.
"Eh, it's a gift." He laughed.
"Really? Because you'd never know it." He shot a glare at me and shoved me away. "You should use that gift more often."
"Shut up, Benny."
"Look at that." I pointed over the ridge with my lips. "The Germans are bombing Eindhoven."
"Yeah." George and I stared at the depressing display of firepower. It was the cherry on top of the crappiest day of our lives… and I thought D-Day was as bad as it could possibly get.
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Bull showed up sometime after dawn with the group of men who went out to look for him all crowded in a jeep. He had been rescued by a couple of soldiers from A and D company and they stopped to pick up the Easy men who were on the way to Nuenen to launch their own rescue mission for the missing sergeant. He took a piece of shrapnel to the shoulder, but Roe patched him up real quick. Seeing Bull safe and sound brought the moral of the company up exponentially after the disaster of the day before.
A moral boost that we were desperately going to need.
"Alright, mount up! Hup hup, let's move out!" was called out from on top of the tanks.
"Grab your gear, let's go."
"Let's move it, second!" I called out as George went over to meet up with First. "Grab your gear! We're moving out!"
The majority of the Company ended up walking behind the tanks and transport trucks as the rest were being used to create a roadblock. We left the places on the operational vehicles for those who were wounded and those officers who felt their energy would be better spent elsewhere rather than walking alongside their enlisted men. I noted that both Winters and Nixon opted to walk with us and I was struck again at how great a leader Winters was. I could only hope that when I returned to my time, I would earn as much respect from my men as he had earned from us.
If I ever got back.
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A great BIG thank you to cHoCoLaTe-RuM mouse and EllieMayy for your reviews, they really helped me out when I was worried that no one was reading this story. I hope everyone takes a page from your book and reviews, as that is the bread and butter for a writer like me!
Amanda
Edited 8/13/17