"Dear Soldier"

Note: Credits go to Nevermore_red who's amazing story 'Written In Ink' on AO3 has greatly inspired me to write this story of my own and who graciously permitted me to publish it with those parts I borrowed from her story. Check out her story, you find it in the fandom of Game of Thrones.

Again I'm sorry for the major delay in publishing another chapter. Real life is very busy these last few months and I only find time to write very little. But I still haven't forgotten about this story and will see this through to the end, no matter how long it will take me.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own 'Band of Brothers' – mini-series or the book, nor do I mean ANY disrespect to the men of Easy Co. All that is mine are the OCs and a deep, profound respect for the real heroes.

As soon as she stepped out of the headquarters building and walked alongside the sidewalk, intent on finding her cousin, every soldier who spotted her couldn't take their eyes off her. For once Judy thought they weren't looking to check her out but because they were wondering about the woman in uniform.

"Hey toots are ya lost? I'll show ya the way, just tell me how ya like your eggs in the morning!", or maybe not, she added with an eye-roll to her thoughts as a soldier standing among his friends on a patch of grass next to the sidewalk called out to her.

At first she thought to just ignore him and his laughing and hollering friends, but then thought that maybe she should make a statement and stopped walking. Turning her head in the direction of the soldier she raised her eyebrow and called back, smirking, "You want to know how I like my eggs?", the soldier was momentarily stunned that she reacted to his sleazy pick-up line but nodded once he realized she was talking to him, "Unfertilised!", she called to him and her smirk grew at the confused expression of the soldier.

She continued on her way, hearing the soldier get laughed at by his friends. She isn't sure if they really understood what 'unfertilised' meant, but they at least understood that their friend just got rebuffed by her. She didn't see the smoking and dark-haired soldier standing in the shadows against the wall of the headquarters building witnessing the whole scene with a scowl directed at the sleazy soldier and also didn't see his scowl morphing into a crooked smirk at hearing her response.

Funny as it is the bad pick-up line of the soldier made Judy think how she really liked her eggs in the morning. You know, the ones actually laid by a hen. She liked her eggs scrambled, the only one in her family who preferred her eggs that way because she didn't exactly like the taste of the egg yolk alone, but mixed together with the egg white she didn't mind it too much. This in turn made her think about how Lew liked his eggs, fried and with the yolk still runny and slimy, and how she always has to fight gagging when he eats them in front of her and she sees the yellow yolk dripping down his fork. This thought makes her direct her steps to the mess hall as she thinks that if there is one place Lew will be this early in the morning, it would be somewhere he gets something to eat and loads of coffee.

Upon reaching the mess hall and entering it she looked around the tables, ignoring the looks she got and the few catcalls and whistling that were sent her way. She was looking for only one person and when she spotted his dark and messy haired head Judy walked with steady steps to his table. Lewis sat with the back to her and Dick, a blonde-haired and a curly-haired soldier were sitting with him at the table. He didn't see her coming and Dick and the curly-haired soldier, who were sat facing in her direction, seemed to not tell him of her approach if they saw her.

Sliding onto the bench next to Dick who looked at her with a smile, Judy stared at the surprised face of Lewis, saying flatly, "Don't do that again."

Lewis gaze wandered to Dick and the other two soldiers before settling on her again, "Good morning to you too, Judy."

She knew that it probably isn't the nice way to confront him in the presence of his fellow soldiers and friends, but Judy could care less in this moment. All she wanted to do was get this whole matter out of the way.

"Morning. Don't do that again.", she repeated.

Lew raised his eyebrow, mirroring the blonde-haired soldier next to him and the curly-haired soldier sitting next Dick. Though while their brows were raised in curiosity, Lew's were raised in feigned cluelessness. Only Dick watched the exchange with a neutral expression, no doubt already knowing what this was about. "What do you mean?", Lew asked, trying to sound innocent.

She bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from retorting in anger, "Don't play stupid, Lew. You know exactly what I mean."

He sighed and his shoulders slumped, "And?"

"What do you think?", she returned the question.

"You're staying."

"I do. And I would appreciate it if you accept that and not go behind my back and try to get me send home again. It's not your decision to make.", she told him, ignoring the curious glances the two to her unknown soldiers were casting between Lew and her.

Lewis sighed again and glanced at Dick who still watched the exchange silently. "I worry about you. It's dangerous, you being here, Judy."

"I know that. I worry about you too, Lew. We talked about this yesterday. So, can you accept and respect my decision to do this or not?", she said kindly, feeling a bit guilty at his defeated look.

Rubbing his face Lew sat back, "Well, it's not as if I have a different choice now, do I?"

Judy shrugged, "Of course you do. You can either decide to at least try and make this as easy as possible for us and accept and respect me being here, or you can continue trying to get me send home and in doing so put a strain on the good relationship we have and make this harder for both of us than this has to be.", she paused, "You're choice. And I'm telling you now that I would prefer if you choose the first option, but if not ... well, then I'm sorry."

Lewis frowned, "Why would you be sorry?"

"For making you make me feel resentful towards you, when all you do is worrying about me and wanting to know I'm safe and nothing's going to happen to me.", Judy said, her posture relaxing and voice taking on a kinder tone, "You're like a third brother to me, Lew, and I know that you think of me like another little sister next to Blanche, but that doesn't give you the right to make decisions for me. I'm a grown woman and I make my own decisions now. I'm not longer the annoying little girl that trails after her big brother and older cousin who likes to be carried on their shoulders or who needs you to defend her from other children who pushed her into the dirt or stole a toy from her. What I need now from you is for you to support me in my decisions and if need be a shoulder to lean on and if you can't do that, than I at least need you to accept and respect the decisions I make, whether you think they are wise or utterly stupid and foolish."

For a moment Lew was looking at her deep in thought, "Alright. I don't know if I can fully support you in your decision to be here, though I understand why you want to do this. What I can't see is why it must be you who has to do it. There are plenty of other photographers who could do it. But I can try ... no, I can accept and respect your decision, even though it's difficult. And you'll always have my shoulder to lean on, no matter what."

Relief coursed through her and she smiled brightly at her cousin, "Thank you. That's all I ask for.", and then she crimped her nose and added, "There's one thing your wrong about though. There is no other photographer who could do what I want to, because they're not as good as I am."

Lewis laughed, shaking his head and Judy chuckled with him, glad that everything was okay between them.

When they got quiet again Judy turned to Dick, "Now, that I got that out of the way, I can finally greet the rest of you. Good morning, Dick!", she smiled at him.

"Good morning, Judy. Did you sleep well?", Dick replied calmly and with a smile.

"Yes, the family I'm staying with are very courteous and accommodating and the room and bed they provided for me are quite cosy."

"That's good to hear.", he replied and then introduced the other two soldiers at the table, "This is Lieutenant Harry Welsh, he's Easy Company's 1st Platoon leader.", he motioned to the curly-haired soldier next to him and then to the blonde-haired soldier next to Lewis, "And this is Lieutenant Lynn Compton, he commands Easy's 2nd Platoon."

Smiling, Judy reaches her hand passed Dick, "Hello, I'm Judy. Nice to meet you!"

"I'm Harry. It's a pleasure to meet you after we heard so much about you this morning.", Harry shook her hand, answering her smile and Judy saw that he had a oddly adoring gap between his front teeth.

"Only this morning?", she retracted her hand with a smirk and Harry chuckled.

"Well, it seems Nix wanted to keep his pretty cousin all to himself.", Lieutenant Compton quipped and offered her his hand over the table, "I'm Buck. Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Judy chuckled, "Call me Judy, Buck. And you think I'm pretty?"

Buck gave her a wide smile, flashing his teeth, "Very much. Can't believe you're in any way related to Nix."

"Hey, are you saying I'm ugly?", Lew threw Buck an offended look, "And I did not keep Judy to myself. I told Dick plenty of her!"

Judy laughed as she saw Lew looking to Dick for help and told Buck, "Too bad not everyone can be as blessed with good looks as you and me, huh?!"

Judy stayed for a while with her cousin, Buck, Harry and Dick in the mess hall, making jokes on Lewis' expense and talking with them over the reasons why she is here and what she hopes to accomplish with it. She liked them. Harry reminded her of an Irish leprechaun, always a quip or joke on his lips and up to no good and Buck was like a poster-college-boy, good-looking, easy-going, fun to talk to and always willing to flirt. And Dick, well, Dick was quiet and calm, courteous and always ready to help. He was easy to talk with and was an attentive listener and his answers were always well thought through and to the point. Every now and then he made a dry joke nobody expected and had the whole table cracking up in laughter, but what she liked probably most of him was that he seemed to be a really good friend to Lew.

Judy was quite serious the other day when she said to Dick that Lew needed someone to look out for him. Not because she didn't trust Lew to be able to take care of himself, but because Lew tended to ... oh well, let's just say not everybody's perfect and where Lew has some 'imperfections' or rather lacks in behaviour, Dick complemented him. Judy thought Dick and Lew were good for each other, where Lew is more extroverted, Dick is introverted and together they make a perfect match, one pushing the other to be a little more daring, to come out a bit more and the other to keep the one from going too wide and to sometimes tune it a bit down.

By the time Judy parted ways with her cousin and his fellow Lieutenants they had moved from the mess hall to the local pub, had enjoyed a typical British lunch as much as the rationing admitted, shared some stories of their lives back home and indulged in a bottle or two of beer for Buck and Harry, a water for Dick, a Whiskey for Lew and a Gin and Tonic for herself.

Content with herself and how the little strain between her and Lew was solved Judy stepped out of the pub into the early evening air, looked up into the dimming sky and started to walk in the direction of her billet. Now, she finally had a letter to read.

After a slow and easy day Ron left the local pub where he had enjoyed a Whiskey in quiet. In his breast pocket the folded piece of paper with a message from Judy, which Private Vest had given him when he saw him in the pub, was burning into his chest.

Ron still couldn't understand why he felt so strongly about getting letters from Judy, or any kind of message really. Even more so now that he had seen the person who was behind the delicate and feminine script on paper.

Back in April when her first letter came he had it soon after reading almost forgotten, not a thought was spent on the words she wrote – until D-Day. After D-Day he carried the letter of this unnamed woman in his breast pocket, reading it once a day, if he had the time. At one point Ron could have recited it from memory. Somehow her words made Normandy more bearable. After her second letter he was curious about her and he felt a connection to her simply because he felt like she understood him. The third letter revealed a lot about her personality and then Ron was sure that he had to get to know her.

From what Judy wrote he gathered that she was a strong and kind woman, compassionate and caring, full of life and passionate about her beliefs and yearning to experience life to its fullest, away from restrictions her upbringing brought with it. In his eyes she was a young woman who took her first resolved steps into independence. And he admired her for that. Ron has seen so many young women who went from being their parents protected and mollycoddled daughter to being the well provided for wife of a husband without ever standing on their own feet and facing the world with all its difficulties. True, in some way Judy's parents had played a small role in her getting the job with the Signal Corps, but it was her skill and her determination that made her get the offer in the first place and in the end she had stood her ground and convinced her parents to let her do this. He still thought it was stupid and foolish to risk her life for it, but also brave and truly admirable because she wanted to do this for all the right reasons. He also couldn't deny that he felt ... joy to know she was here, because now this strange connection he felt towards her felt more real – tangible.

Judy was no longer an unknown figure behind some ink on a paper, but a real person, within his reach and someone he felt it would be easy to talk to and to share his concerns and worries with, or to simply talk about his beliefs and things that interest him, or even just the weather. He no longer was just curious about her but intrigued ... after seeing how beautiful and stunning she is and how savvily she rebuffed the Corporal of Fox Company this morning – dare he say it might even be infatuation? She certainly warranted such emotion and not only because of her looks.

Ron shook his head and put out the cigarette he had been smoking as he reached his billet – he shouldn't feel that way. Not at this time and this place. He was fighting a war and didn't need distractions of that kind. His focus should be on being the exemplary soldier he trained to be, but Ron could do nothing against the image of Judy walking down the sidewalk with her fiery red hair bouncing gently up and down with every step coming unbidden before his minds eye. He still wondered if he would burn his hand should he run his fingers through it.

R.S.

I am so so glad to hear from you and know that you are back from France well and safe. And I am happy that you decided to stay in contact with me, even though I admit that I would have liked meeting you in person. But what not is can still come to be, right?

Private Vest informed me of the arrangement you made and as long as you want me to I will make use of him as our personal mailman. I had, however, to reassure him that I am alright with you sending me letters, even though I don't know who you are. He seemed quite uncomfortable with the task of giving me letters from a stranger, but I explained to him that we exchanged letters before and he visibly relaxed. So I think there should be no problems with this arrangement.

I know it is not easy to put up with a Nixon and Lewis is a particular stubborn one. I love him dearly, but even I sometimes want to hide my face in my hands when someone learns we are related. Take comfort in the knowledge that there is absolutely no trace of Nixon-blood in me as Lewis and I are related through our mothers who were both born a Ryer ;-)

I too, wish you a good day.

Judy