"Have I mentioned lately… I hate foxhole fucking Norman" Dana said, she was sitting on a cot in third platoons barrack at Mourmelon le Grand. Easy had been pulled of the line and was resting up on the French base.
They had arrived the day before and all the men wanted, was to get some sleep, but their pissed of platoon leader was not letting them.
"He calls me miss, can you believe that? I am a captain for Pete's sake, and he calls me miss" Dana kept ranting.
"With all due respect, Captain, get the fuck out of here and let us gets some sleep" Joe Toye said and threw a pillow at Dana.
"I know when I am not welcome" Dana said and walked out of the barrack.
She looked around for someone else to hassle, and the unfortunate victim was Harry Welsh, who was on his way to the officers barrack to sleep after being in a briefing with Winters.
"Harry, hey Harry, wait up" Dana said and ran up a long side the tired lieutenant.
Welsh tried to ignore her, he knew a pissed of Dana when he saw one and he was in no mood to hear her rant about the incompetent company commander.
"No, No, go away, I just want to sleep" Harry said. And tried to ignore Dana
"Come on Harry" Dana said
They had arrived in front of the officers barrack. Harry looked at Dana and walked through the door and slammed it in her face.
Dana huffed and walked towards the barrack she shared with Camilla and Emma.
She sighed and walked into catch some shut eye as well, she tossed and turned she missed Ron, even though she refused to admit it and she was pissed off at Dike.
He had arrived a head of Easy and was waiting for them at the camp. Dana Had walked in with Winter and Welsh, he had ignored her and only talked to the two men. Winters had discretely, tried to get Dike to talk to Dana as well and when he didn't respond to the hints, Winters had looked at him and told him that Dana was a superior officer and she was to be treated as such.
He had the reluctantly saluted her, but when ever Winters wasn't around, he treated her like a secretary; it was only a matter of time before she would explode and tell him where to put his head.
Emma was already in Barrack sleeping, she was exhausted, third battalion had taken a heavy beating on the island and she had a rough time trying to command the battalion, her Company Co's was a good bunch of guys, however like second battalion, they didn't have enough men and they were waiting for the replacements to get in.
Camilla was nowhere to be seen and Dana knew she was working herself into a early grave at the camp hospital. Lipton had already been over there twice to try to get her to sleep, but she refused there was just too much to do. Dana had told him to get some sleep and then go back and drag Camilla away from the hospital.
Dana eventually fell as sleep, she kept dreaming about someone calling her name and she just laughed at him and turned to take the hand of man whose face she couldn't see, she would walk away with the man, and some how it felt wrong, like she should be with the man who was calling her name.
Dana tossed and turned all night, and eventually woke up and felt more drained than when she fell asleep, she had slept for almost twelve hours and Emma was gone. The door to the barrack opened and Lipton walked in carrying a kicking and screaming Camilla over his shoulder, he threw her on his cot and told her to stay he would be right back, as soon as he was out the door, Camilla got up from the cot and was almost out the door before Dana could stop her.
"Lieutenant, get some shut eye, that's an order" Dana said and pointed to the cot.
"Come on Dana, I am needed at the hospital and I can't just stay here and sleep, while those incompetent nurses ruins everything" Camilla said.
"Look sweetie, remember what's coming up" Dana looked at Camilla; Dana could tell Camilla knew what she was talking about.
"Bastogne" Camilla said and fell back wards on her cot and threw her right arm over her eyes.
"Yes and you will need to be rested and on top of things and start hoarding supplies and warm clothes" Dana said
Camilla looked at her and sighed "yeah I guess" She said
"Camilla, I know this suck big time, but think about what it does to C, when he sees you all red eyed and exhausted, he has a job to do as well and he is the one who has to keep the company together while Dike is in command, so get some rest for him, if not for yourself" Dana said.
"Well, he got you now, so I think he has some help now, keeping those boys in line" Camilla said and smiled at Dana
"Please, I am more trouble than I am worth" Dana said and padded Camilla on the leg "You sleep now" She said to Camilla with a stern look in her eyes.
When Dana walked out of the barrack Lipton walked in, he saw Camilla was almost half a sleep with all her gear on, he smiled, he loved that crazy Doc, she was the most caring, selfless woman he had ever met, and she would work herself to the bone to keep everyman in the Army a live if she had to.
Lipton sat down besides her and pulled her feet up in his lap. He slowly untied her boots and pulled them of her, then he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up and took of her jacket. Camilla smiled, Lipton sat and looked at her, and he tugged a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her head.
Convinced she was a sleep, he whispered "Where did you come from? and why didn't I meet you sooner?"
Camilla opened her eyes, she smiled and took his hand "I came from far away and we weren't meant to meet sooner, because then we wouldn't be the people we are today" she said.
Lipton looked at Camilla "Please tell me something about your past" He said, they never really talked about the past, they had been too busy living in the present.
Camilla sighed " I grew up in a small town and my family lived in a house by the rail road tracks, we didn't have a lot of money and I joined the army to get away from the small town, getting into west point was just luck, I guess" Camilla said
"I was a mechanic, before I joined up and now a doc, so I guess I like to fix things" Camilla said
"What about your family?" Lipton asked her
Camilla didn't like to talk about her family, talk about being fucked up. Camilla had an older sister, who was born when their mom was only seventeen, her older sister had been told she was unplanned and basically unwanted, she was five years older than Camilla and because of her parents telling her she was unwanted, she thought she had to be the best at everything she did, which had caused her to have two major breakdowns.
Camilla's sister had a degree in engineering, she had worked with the army in Iraq when she suddenly disappeared, she had been MIA since then.
"It's complicated" Camilla said and continued to tell Lipton about her screwed up family.
Lipton started to tell her about him and his family, but his soft voice put her to sleep, he smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the head before he walked out of the door.
He looked around the camp and saw Easy company gather around to do some close order drills, he sighed, the men were combat veterans and they didn't need to do drills, they needed to blow of some steam, they had their sleep last night and now they were looking for trouble.
They had all been issued a pass to Reims and with the 82nd in camp, there was bound to be troubles.
Lipton joined the company in time to see Dana roll her eyes and give Dike the one finger salute behind his back. Lipton knew the pretty captain was trouble and the guys would protect her with all they had, she was the one who kept up the morale in Holland and had them all dancing rain dance in the cold rainy weather and the one ready to smile, even though the love of her life was wounded and in the hospital.
Lipton had even noticed how close Dana and Dobie had become after the rescued the Brits.
While Dana was drilling and Camilla was sleeping. Emma had snuck away from third battalions HQ, she was sitting on a couch in Winters office with her feet in his lap and a bunch of papers in her lap.
They were both going through a bunch of paper work and ordering supplies for the men, it was getting colder and the men would need winter clothes soon. Emma was just getting a little edgy, she knew it wouldn't reach them in time and she was starting to hoard everything, just like the rest of the girls, blankets, socks, rations whatever they would need under the siege at Bastogne.
Winter looked up at Emma; she looked tired, but also very content, he wished the peace he felt right now would last forever, he had been thinking about asking her to marry him and he had even found a ring he had been carrying around since Aldbourne.
He looked at her and she looked up at him at that exact moment, she smiled her big bright smile and Dick could feel his heart stop.
He was going to do it, he was going to ask her to marry him, right here, right now.
Winters pushed Emma's feet of his lap; he walked over to his jacket and pulled out the ring from his pocket. He turned around and saw Emma was looking at a bunch of order forms; she was biting her right part of her lower lip and twirling a lock of hair around her finger.
He smiled and walked over to the couch and got down on one knee. Emma looked up and smiled, she sat up straight and looked at Dick with stars in her eyes.
"Emma, you are the best thing to ever come into my life, you are the light, my beacon through this time we are living in, I love you with all I have. Will you please, please marry me?" Dick said
Emma smiled and she was about to burst into tears, all she could do was nod, "Yes, yes, god yes" she said and Winters very gently put the ring on her finger and kissed her.
They got up and kissed and hugged each other. Emma looked at Winters "Can I go tell Dana now" she asked him. Dick just laughed, he knew this is what would happen, he would propose Emma would get all teary eyed and the next minute ready to tell the whole world and he wouldn't want it any other way, he couldn't wait to marry her. This was one time, where he had no problem with the whole world to knowing his business.
Emma came running out of the HQ and ran right into Dana and pulled her away from Dike and his closed order drills.
"What is going on?" Dike yelled after Emma
Emma turned around and looked at Dike "Stand before me at attention" Emma said
Dike jumped into attention, when he saw it was the battalion commander, who had dragged one of his Platoon leaders away.
"I know you have no idea how to run your company and in my opinion you lucked out, if I was up at regiment you would be scrambling eggs right now and Captain Grey would be running this company, so what did you want Lieutenant" Emma spat out at the flustered lieutenant.
Dike just opened and closed his mouth and Emma looked up and down him "Dismissed lieutenant" Emma said making it very clear to Dike his presence was no longer needed or wanted
Emma dragged Dana towards the HQ, she was giggling and when they got in door, she showed Dana her ring.
Dana jumped up and down "I can't believe it, he proposed to you, you are lucky, you know that" Dana said and got all misty eyed "So when is the big day" She asked Emma
"I don't know, he proposed and I ran out the door after saying yes" Emma said.
That night the girls had a little celebration at their barrack. They had found some bottles of fine French red wine and were somewhat tipsy, when third platoon showed up with Liebgott, Toye, Talbert and Luz in tow.
"So captain Hunter, congrats, do we get to be the bridesmaids" Luz asked Emma
"No you Luz get to be my flower girl" Emma retorted and laughed.
The boys had brought some bottles of questionable origin with them and soon nobody was sober anymore. Camilla was glad Lipton had guard duty, otherwise she would be in heaps of trouble after her drunken display when they had saved the Brits, he had told her to stay somewhat sober, because she got a little to hands' when drunk.
Dana was talking to Talbert; the two of them had become close friends and had a lot in common.
Tab looked at Dana "So when are you and Sparky getting hitch?" he asked her
"We are not" Dana said
"Why? Would you rather be with the mad colonel?" Tab asked Dana. Dobie had been nicknamed the mad colonel after having escaped from the Germans.
Dana blushed, she couldn't deny she felt attracted to Dobie, but she was sure she was meant to be with Ron.
"You do like the colonel" Tab said when he noticed her blush, "You are in trouble" Tab said in a sing song voice
"Don't Tab, don't go there" Dana said and nudged Tab.
"I won't pester you, just warn me when you tell Sparky, so I can flee to Paris or something" Talbert said.
While Dana was having her conversation with Talbert, Camilla and Emma was making drunken plans for the wedding. Camilla said they should have right here at the camp and let the battalion chaplain wed them, and Emma had a very strong opinion of them having it in the church in town.
Eventually everybody had said congrats to Emma and they got kicked out of the barrack. Liebgott lingered for a while and so did Toye, they had both been in Emma's platoon and they had both been sorry to see her go.
Liebgott and Toye had their arms slung around Emma's shoulders and they looked at her "We want to be in the wedding and not as bridesmaids" Liebgott said.
Toye looked at Emma "If he gives you any trouble let us know" Toye said referring to Winters.
"Oh I will Joseph, don't you worry" Emma said
Dana and Emma went to bed; Emma was staring up at the ceiling, "Am I doing the right thing, I mean what if we have to go back, you know to our own time?" She asked Dana
"Well, I don't know, we really haven't talked about going back you know, we have all been to wrapped up in this whole war and experiencing the things we all have been talking about most of our life's you know, I mean if we get the chance to go home would you? can you look me in the eyes and tell me you can live without Dick?" Dana asked Emma
"Well, I guess I don't have a whole lot to miss, or anyone missing me really" Emma said
"I guess none of really do, I mean I have my pops but that's really it" Dana said
The reason the four girls had become such good friends was their lack of family, they had slowly become each other's family during basic training, so now they were like sisters to each other.
The only one with an actual family was Camilla, and that family was so screwed and especially after her sisters disappearance five years ago.
"Would you marry Ron if he asked you" Emma asked Dana
"You know what, I don't know, I just don't know, I mean if we do get the chance to go back, I will do whatever you guys do, I can't imagine going back without you guys." Dana said
"I know me neither" Emma said
Camilla was sleeping through this whole conversation and missed out on voicing her opinion.
Two days later Camilla, Emma and Dana was on their way to Reims for Emma's bachelorette party. The men all had passes as well and they couldn't wait to celebrate Emma and try and talk her out of marrying Winters and talk her into marry them instead.
Emma's CO had been reluctant to let her go, but after Dana personally showed up and sweet talked him into letting him go.
Nixon had tried to talk Winters into going to Reims as well, but he had refused. He was a officer in the Army and darn proud of it and he had no need to watch Emma and the girls celebrate Emma's last day in freedom.
So Welsh, Nixon and Lipton stayed in Camp and had a quiet guy's night in.
In Reims the girls was having fun at one of the local bars, Dana was stupid drunk and so was Camilla, they were playing some drinking game with some of the boys from Dana's third platoon.
Emma was trying to stay somewhat sober, it was more fun to watch the two others get drunk and the 82nd was in Reims as well and that meant trouble.
Suddenly some of the Red Devils showed up and Dana peaked up she ran across the room and drunkenly threw herself into the arms of Colonel Dobie.
"David, what are you doing here?" She said after hugging the living daylight out of him.
"Well, we are on our merry way back to England for a month worth of furlough, but we did hear that Easy company was in town and we just had to stop by and see our favorite yanks" Dobie said.
Dana gave him a big smile, David looked around "Where is the other officers?" he asked
"Well this is Emma's bachelorette party and the boys opted to stay in Camp. Moose got shot in Holland and is in a hospital in England, but last thing we heard he will be alright" Dana said
"Emma is getting married? To Dick I hope" David said.
"Yes and that's why your truly is somewhat less than sober" Dana said and grabbed on to Dobie's collar so she wouldn't fall
"Whoops" She said
"Oh I think you are more than pissed" Dobie said
"How about some coffee" He suggested
"No, No I don't want to be sober, because then I start to think about all the crazy things there is happening right now and I want to be happy and drunk and eventually pass out" Dana said and turned around and walked away, staggering over to the bar where third platoon was waiting for her.
Dobie decided to keep an eye on the rowdy Captain for the rest of the night and if he had to he would carry her back to camp himself.
Soon Camilla and Emma joined Dana at the bar; the girls were laughing and having fun, when a bunch of 82nd boys walked in.
At first there were just some staring and angry glances between the 82nd boys and the 101st. Then the boys from the 82nd started to yell, "What does the Eagle scream? Help, Help" and laughed that set of the 101st and soon the bar was in an uproar.
Dana dove in, Emma and Camilla headed for the door as officers they couldn't afford to get busted by the MPs.
Dana felt herself get lifted off the ground and slung over somebody shoulder, "Why do guys keep doing this to me?" She asked the person
Dobie laughed "Because you are more trouble than you are worth" he said and carried her out of the bar.
Camilla and Emma had already left, so Dobie had to take Dana back to the base.
When Dana woke up the next morning she looked around the room, she realized she wasn't in her own room and the man sleeping next to her sure as wasn't Ron, what she had done and with whom?