Last Time: Easy Company was forced to retreat after the disaster of Market Garden.

"Experience is simply a name we give our mistakes." - Oscar Wilde

Now: Rebecca and the company continue to lick their wounds from their first crushing defeat. Dick leads his men at the Crossroads.


Chapter 20 - Defeated

It had taken a week for Easy Company to lick the wounds they received from the crushing defeat of Market Garden.

It was a high-risk operation that epically failed. Easy Company lost 180 men with 560 injured. Out of the 101st Airborne, 750 were killed, and 2,100 were injured. The British Airborne lost 8,000 men. It was safe to say that no one would be going home for Christmas.

Easy Company and the 101st had accomplished their portion of the deal by capturing the bridges and the roads for the armored to come up. For some reason, however, and a contributing factor to the failure of Market Garden, was the British had taken forever to bring the said armor up. Easy Company and the British then soon found out that the Krauts were well armed and trained, a far cry from the old men and kids they were promised.

The Germans successfully pushed the Allies back and cut the road they had just taken. It was a continuous cycle that Easy had to deal with until Market Garden was over.

The mission might not have been a failure if it weren't for the botched intelligence. Why they even promised Easy old men and kids was beyond Rebecca. They couldn't get a damn thing accomplished. Easy would retrace their steps and try to retake the towns, but couldn't keep them open long enough to get their armored up. They were unprepared, unable to hold the bridges, and couldn't hold their ground under the German resistance.

By October 2, 1944, Easy Company had completed its tasks on Hell's Highway and was moved to the Island. The 101st Airborne was assigned the left side of the Island's defenses, relieving the British. For now, Easy Company was tasked with defending the bridge at Nijmegen that Germany desperately wanted back.

XXX

Captain Winters sat at a makeshift table in a dingy barn, cleaning his weapon. He anxiously waited for Sergeant Youman and his squad to come back after they were told to keep an eye on the South bank for any enemy movement.

Winters's platoon was sacking out for the night in a barn found in Randwijk that, fortunately, provided the perfect place to set up barracks.

He sat, listening in on his men's conversation, enjoying the small moment of peace they were allotted.

"This is it, boys. Get across the river, across the field and over the dike," Dukeman proclaimed.

"Well, that's a lot of territory to cover." A replacement doubtedly pointed out.

"Where do you want us to go?" Hashey asked.

"You Hashey, you get the penthouse," Dukeman sniped.

Deeming the interaction between veteran and young replacement harmless enough, Dick chuckled to himself. Of course, the straight-laced Captain wouldn't allow the rivaled nature to get too hostile. In some ways, he agreed with the veteran's animosity towards the new guys. Although they had been with them through the disaster of Market Garden and Hell's Highway, the replacements still had a long way to go before they could prove themselves. Having their first taste of combat made the bright eyed and bushy tailed replacements get a little too big for their britches. They needed to be knocked back down a few pegs, sometimes.

"Well, that's a lot of territory to cover," Talbert mocked, imitating the replacement.

"A couple of regular G.I. Joe's, huh?" Dukeman affirmed.

"You said it," Talbert answered, guiding his prized German shepherd with a huge stick, "C'mon." he coaxed, taking a seat next to Winters.

"I swear one of them's never shaved," Talbert sighed.

"Yeah, kids," Dick chimed in, looking up at Talbert from his meticulous gun scrubbing.

Luz who sat with the two admired the German shepherd Tab adopted into the company.

"This is a hell of a dog, Tab."

"Thank you, there you go," Tab grunted as he threw the stick for the dog to retrieve.

The faithful German Shepherd pranced after the stick, proudly taking hold of the stick, and brought to Talbert, earning him a scratch on the head.

"What'd you call it, Tab?" Dick asked, continuing with his work.

"Trigger," Talbert replied, ardently scratching and praising Trigger for his obedience.

"That's good," Luz made known, "I like that, Trigger."

"Got anything on this?" Tab asked Luz, gesturing towards the radio.

"No, it's all quiet." He answered.

Almost like a jinx, the brief lull was abruptly interrupted. The quiet atmosphere quickly tensed as Youman's squad burst through the barn doors struggling to keep Alley's comatose weight in their arms.

"We've got penetration!"

Everyone in the barn leaped at the sudden disruption.

"Alley's hurt, we need the docs," Liebgott yelled.

The table Dick was sitting down at was quickly swiped of all its contents and made into a makeshift gurney for Alley. He was laid down, a body full of frag from a grenade, luckily unconscious to the pain.

"Boyle, get Doc Roe and Captain Clark!" Dick ordered.

XXX

Rebecca and Roe were camped out in the off the cuff aid station the company had set up. It had been unusually slow since the company arrived on the Island. Most of the time, Easy was out on patrols or defending scraps of land close enough to CP that medics weren't needed out of the battlefield. This left the two medics with a lot of time on their hands.

Rebecca sat on one of the boxes of supplies, her elbow propped up on a taller adjacent one, eyes closed in a light sleep. The wane of activity left her bored, giving her plenty of excuses to nap, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Her counterpart, Roe laid across the way on an open table, his arm strategically placed over his eyes, sleep having long caught up to him.

Rebecca was on the edge of falling off into a deep sleep when Private Boyle came bounding into the aid station.

"Doc! Captain!" He yelled.

Rebecca jolted up, her eyes snapping open at the cry of her name. Fatigue fleeting from her eyes, she sat up, scared half to death. She held her hand to her heart, in an attempt to get her bearings.

"It's Alley! He was hit on the patrol!" Boyle gasped, out of breath from running.

In no time flat, both Rebecca and Roe were up and out of the aid station allowing Boyle to lead the way.

The three sprinted the short distance from the aid station to the barn, bounding through the door.

"Give us room!" Roe yelled as the two approached Alley.

"Boyle, get the boots off the leg. Liebgott, use the sulfur," Roe ordered.

"Alright, let's get this done quickly, we gotta move," Rebecca ordered checking Alley's pulse and pupils.

Lipton took to action yelling for his men to get moving. He swiftly assembled a squad for Winters, and just like that, the men once peacefully relaxing in the barn left in a commotion out the doors, leaving Roe and Rebecca to their work.

Alley's eyes slowly cracked open, his eyes washed with confusion. He was out cold and the only thing he last remembered was being at the crossroads. Now, he woke up to an immense panic and two medics in his face.

"What happened? Where am I?" He mumbled as Rebecca and Roe continued to work on him.

"You're gonna be just fine, Alley. Just a few scratches," Rebecca cooed to him, trying to get her work done.

Roe and Rebecca managed to get Alley stable in quick fashion, thanks to his calm demeanor. The poor man was so out of it, not knowing whether to shit or wind his watch. Eventually, he was taken away, leaving Rebecca with confidence in his retaliation.

The two medics, having finished their work, went back to the aid station, not knowing what was to become at the crossroads.

XXX

"When do you think we'll know how it went?" Roe asked, assuming his prior position.

Rebecca looked up from Alley's file she was updating. "I'm guessing when they call us in to take care of casualties. That's when we'll know." She guessed leaning back in her chair.

The men in the barn assembled and left Rebecca and Roe to aid the station, waiting on pins and needles. They had no idea what was going on, leaving Rebecca on edge. She was looking over Alley's chart, but nerves getting the best of her, made it impossible for the woman to even read one sentence clearly.

"You think Alley is gonna make it, Cap?"

Rebecca knew in her heart that he would be fine. It was nothing come battalion surgeons couldn't handle.

"I think he'll be okay, but it never hurts to pray."

Roe turned his head to face Rebecca, intrigued. "You're Catholic?"

"Mmhm," Rebecca hummed, going over the same sentence for the fifth time.

Rebecca had always been religious. She grew up a strict Catholic at home and seldom found a Sunday where she wasn't at church with her family. Rebecca and her mother used to get dressed in their Sunday best, and her father in a sports coat and tie. Soon, however, after her mother died, her father and God weren't on speaking terms anymore. Another good memory tarnished by the death of her mother.

Rebecca swatted the old thoughts from her mind. thinking it a good time to put her nerves to rest with some much-needed sleep.

"Roe, I think things are set here. Go to barracks catch some sleep. We'll be no good to them tired," Rebecca ordered.

"Yes, Captain."

Rebecca waited until Roe left before she got up, put her work away, and made way to her quarters. It was going to be a long while before her help was needed at the crossroads.

XXX

It felt like it had been minutes between the time Rebecca's head hit the pillow, to the time she was woken up.

The sun hadn't even crept into the sky when she was pulled from sleep by a runner. Rebecca quickly sprung out of bed, anxiety making her fingers stumble and quiver over her belt buckle. Barely mustered, Rebecca left like a whirlwind and grabbed her helmet, her bedhead an unsolved problem from her angst.

The same runner met her at the entrance of the officers quarters. "There's a jeep waiting to pick you up, ma'am."

"Status, Private?" Rebecca asked, still struggling to do something with her hair.

"They overpowered the Germans at the Crossroads." He stated, resolutely.

Finally able to get her hair up and out of the way, Rebecca felt a sudden rush of relief. It was always hard watching behind the sidelines while the Company engaged in battle. This was a victory the men needed. After the disaster that was Market Garden, everyone needed a little morale boost.

The jeep sped down the road, only stopping when they arrived at the crossroads. Rebecca hopped out of the jeep, slinging her bag around her shoulder, preparing herself for the work ahead of her. She crossed the dirt path and climbed down in the dikes, not knowing what to expect. Her eyes however quickly widened in shock. The number of German casualties was astounding.

"Jesus." She whispered.

There was so damn many.

Collecting herself, Rebecca scanned the scene for the nearest medical personnel. Catching sight of private tending to a wounded man, she made her way over.

"Private, what's the situation?" Rebecca asked.

The young medic loaded the injured man on the back of the truck and gave off a quick salute. "Twenty-two wounded, ma'am. We're still waiting on more medics to arrive and help out. The wounded men are over there." He stated, pointing towards an area off the road.

She nodded leaving the young medic to his work.

Rebecca swung her med bag off her shoulder and squatted down next to a wounded man. She instantly became enveloped into her work as she jumped from one man to the next accessing wounds and getting all casualties evacuated.

XXX

The sun had fully risen in the sky by the time Rebecca was finished.

She smacked the side of the truck assuring the driver the man was safely loaded and ready to be evacuated. Rebecca pulled out her canteen from her belt and took a swig trying to replenish her energy. Twenty-two wounded took longer than she would have thought, Rebecca was exhausted.

She prepared her weary body for more strain and sought Captain Winters for more work. A medic's work was hardly ever done.

Climbing out of the dike and back on the road, Rebecca spotted Sergeant Talbert sitting on the side of the road, drinking from his canteen. Judging from the size of the bags under his eyes, the man was up all night. His face was wrought with fatigue.

"Tab?" Rebecca called to called.

Talbert got up from his relaxed position, saluting Rebecca. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Do you know where I could find Captain Winters?"

"Yes ma'am, he right across the dike by the German prisoners."

Rebecca nodded and headed over the dike, finding Dick ordering Liebegott to take the German prisoners back to CP. As she approached, she saw him unload Joe's rifle, leaving only one round. It seemed Dick was attempting to tame Liebgott's aggressive behavior he tended to have towards the Kraut prisoners. The fiery Jew was notorious for being overly cruel towards prisoners and even more notorious for dropping prisoners on the way back to CP.

"You have one round," he said, loading it back into the rifle, "Johnny, how many prisoners do we have?"

Across the way, Johnny called out to Dick in the ditch where the prisoners were. "We got eleven, sir."

"Okay. You drop a prisoner, the rest'll jump you. I want all the prisoners back at battalion CP, alive."

Dick made especially sure to put stress on the "alive" part.

"Yes, sir," Liebgott growled.

Dick turned around catching eyes with Rebecca as she approached him.

"I gotta hand it to ya, that was some smart thinking. Joe does tend to get a little hot-headed around the Krauts."

"What's up, Becca?" Dick suspired, no doubt exhausted from last night's fight.

"I just finished triaging our wounded, just looking for more to do."

"There's some more prisoners I'd like you to take a look at. We didn't want to move them until they were looked at."

Dick lead Rebecca over to the remaining prisoners. Their wounds weren't too critical, but most had open wounds that needed to be looked at before they were sent to CP.

One by one, Rebecca looked over the prisoner's wounds. Despite the Germans being detained, Rebecca was still on edge. It was nerve-wracking being so close to the enemy. However, she didn't have anything to worry about, Bull Randleman and Johnny Martin were just across the field keeping guard.

Rebecca got into a comfortable rhythm taking care of each prisoner. Comfortable enough she forgot it was the enemy she was treating. Comfortable enough that she let her guard down. One by one, The prisoners who were looked at were taken back to battalion, and pretty soon, only one remained.

Rebecca approached the last prisoner and offered a slight tip of her helmet before she began cleaning the wound on his neck. The prisoner glared up at her with a ferocious malevolence in his eyes, making the hair on the back of Rebecca's neck stand up.

Discarding the look as the Kraut's soreness from being captured, she began her work.

Letting Rebecca get close enough to pour sulfur on his wound, the German prisoner out of nowhere, leaped on her, slamming Rebecca to the ground.

Before she had time to process the pain from the hard whack her head took, her breath was quickly stolen as the prisoner pinned Rebecca down by the neck, digging his fingers in her windpipe. The immense pressure caused Rebecca to panic. She thrashed under the Kraut, struggling to push him off and call for help.

"Fick dich, du schlampe!" His eyes burned with emptiness and anger.

He pressed harder making sure to keep Rebecca quiet so he could finish her off.

Rebecca clawed her fingers at his hands, eyes watering. Her arms failed her, falling to her side as the energy escaped Rebecca. The further he dug his fingers in Rebecca's neck the more the stars burned into her skull. A sour taste grew in her mouth and her eyes bulged out of their sockets. She gulped and gasped uselessly trying to find any air to fill her burning lungs. The fire in her chest washed into ice that traveled to her arms and legs that stuck her like pins and needles.

Just as Rebecca was on the brink of unconsciousness, the darkness and the intense cold about to overtake her, the immense pressure was lifted from her almost lifeless body.

When the prisoner was off her, Rebecca lied motionlessly, eyes still wide with shock. Ever so slowly and painfully she felt the life pour back in. Then, a strong urge to fall asleep overtook her. Everything went black.

XXX

October 17, 1944

Dick sat back in his chair, looking back at his finished work. The twelve-day late battalion report took much longer to write than necessary. It should've been a routine job. However, Dick couldn't put into words just what happened to Rebecca.

He and Nix couldn't believe it was her lying down on that stretcher that approached them. Just thinking about how dead she looked brought chills down Dick's spine, making him want to forget the whole damn battle.

The awful image was shaken from his mind as a knock sounded at the door. Dick sighed. It was probably Zielinski with more papers to sign.

"Enter."

Dick was more pleased to see Rebecca enter the attic gone bedroom, hair down, dressed in her OD's. She was still recuperating, having just ended her two weeks rest and pushing through her month-long light duty sentence. Col. Sink was more than generous, allotting her next to no work until she was fully recovered.

"Hey," Rebecca rasped out, "How's the report coming along?"

The damage done by the Kraut prisoner would have been fatal if it weren't for Johnny Martin and Bull pulling the bastard off of Rebecca just in time. However, there was significant bruising to her trachea and a visit from the battalion surgeon guessed it would take up to a month before it would heal.

Completely ignoring her question, Dick sat up in his desk chair, getting up. "How are you feeling?"

After the attack, Dick and Nixon were relentless in making sure that she was constantly doted on and resting, despite her constant efforts to speed up the recovery process. The awful finger marks left on her neck triggered something in their heads to begin fawning all over her whenever they saw her.

It was bad enough having those two. Roe too was the same, if not worse. The medic was constantly clucking over Rebecca despite the fact she was still a nurse and knew how to take care of herself.

"I'm alright, pain's not too bad today," Rebecca croaked out, "Plus, the bruising is almost all gone."

At first, the bruising was absolutely ghastly. It's dark purple color stretched from her windpipe to her carotid artery. Just the sight of it was enough to make anyone in a room stop what they were doing to stare. Now that two weeks had passed, the dark purple turned into a yellowish-brown, making it look more like a coffee stain birthmark rather than the result of a brutal attack.

"Good to hear," Dick smiled, "You hear about the rescue mission the company's going on?"

"Yeah, Moose will do a great job, don't worry."

Dick had been promoted to the Battalion XO after the battle of the Crossroads, a promotion he wasn't fully able to enjoy after Rebecca's attack and recovery. Easy Company wasn't Dick's priority anymore, so he left them in the hands of Moose Heyliger. It was hard for him to make the adjustment, and Rebecca knew it. Easy Company had a special place in Dick's heart. She reminded him every chance she got that Easy was in good hands with Moose.

"I know, I know. I just wish that-,"

"You were going with them?" Rebecca continued, finishing his sentence.

"Yeah, yeah, I do," Dick admitted, looking up at Rebecca. "Hey, uh, why don't you sit down. Rest for a bit?"

Rebecca sighed. "Dick, I'm fine. Please, stop doting on me." She said plopping down on the cot.

Despite her best efforts to show otherwise, Rebecca was still having a hard time breathing and got winded easily. She could barely walk from her quarters to where Dick was without getting tired.

Dick held his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright, alright."

She sat for a few moments, feeling the throbbing in her throat pound away. The pain was still pretty significant.

"Well, uh, I could go for a glass of water," Rebecca admitted.

Dick smirked at her, reveling in the fact that he was right. Rebecca still was recovering. So, to oblige her, he walked over to the shelf hanging on the wall and poured a glass of water from the pitcher. As he handed the beverage to her, Zielinski entered the room with more papers to sign, dampening their light-hearted mood with more work.

The short, rotund man began shuffling about the room, going to town on his paperwork. Rebecca eyed the man as he vigorously accomplished his tasks. She didn't hate Zielinski, it just fascinated her that he would probably go through the whole war and never see a second of combat. He seemed so content being surrounded by paper all day, having no real impact on the outcome of the war. War-hardened veterans often took to men like Zielinski with much enmity. The man's soft features didn't strike Rebecca as someone who could be in the infantry anyhow.

Another knock on the door stirred Rebecca from her thoughts.

"Hey, Dick, finish your novel yet? That's a lot of homework." Nixon said.

"And I thought executive officer was supposed to be a fun job," Moose joked.

The two jokesters ducked into the slowly crowding attic, probably having come all this way just to bust Dick's chops.

The close quarters of the room made it very easy to see Rebecca lying down on the cot, faltering Nixon's light-hearted mood as he felt the urge to fawn over her.

"Hey, Becca, how're you feeling?" Nixon asked.

Instead of answering, Rebecca simply waved him off, letting him continue on with Dick. Accepting her gesture, Nixon went right back to his jesting mood.

"Who are you?" Nixon asked Zielinski.

"Zielinski, sir." He answered, seeming a little insulted.

"Who is he?" Nixon asked Dick this time, not really caring to hear from the short man.

"Zielinski, my orderly," Dick said.

Nixon whistled falsely admiring the product of Dick's new promotion.

"Well, rank does have its privileges," Moose added.

"Orderly, huh?" Nixon began, already formulating a plan to abuse Zielinski's services. "I suppose you do stuff like get coffee?"

"Can do, sir."

"Black no sugar," Nix ordered, "And a bacon sandwich. What, you want something?" Nixon asked, turning to Moose.

"Bacon sandwich!" Moose called out.

Rebecca sat up from her resting place, taking advantage of the moment. "Make that two." Her voice still a croak.

"And another coffee!" Nixon called out after Zielinski.

Dick smirked and gathered up the finished papers. "You can give this to Colonel Sink with my compliments," Dick said, handing over the battle report.

"All that for two pages, huh? Well, I guess you did have some distractions," Nixon said gesturing towards Rebecca.

"Shut up, Nix," Rebecca rasped out.

"Guess that means it's gonna take a while," Nix continued.

"Yeah, it is. You want a job?" Dick scoffed, getting increasingly frustrated with the two's antics.

"Ah, there it is. I think somebody wished he were back in charge of Easy Company, Moose." He said taking a seat at the edge of the cot next to Rebecca.

"Are you two just here to gloat?" Dick asked, unamused.

"No, just rub it in a little bit."

Rebecca chuckled to herself. She knew how much it killed Dick to sit behind a desk while Easy went on without him. Of course, Nixon just had to rub salt in the wounds and make it worse.

"Moose is gonna lead his first mission as company commander," Nixon continued.

"Operation Pegasus is set to go off. I thought I might give you the heads up." Moose said.

"Pegasus," Dick said, getting up, "Yeah, yeah, great. Everybody knows their job?"

"We drilled with the boats all day. Lieutenant Welsh is coming along, and the Canadian engineers. Colonel Dobie knows his stuff," Moose explained.

"Know how many times you wanna cross the river?" Dick asked.

"If there really are 140 Brits in hiding over there, three trips."

"Speed is the key, what time's jump-off?"

"We'll be at the far side of the Rhine at 0100," Moose answered.

"Speed is the key," Dick trailed off. "Keep moving and lead the way."

"Dick," Nixon began, getting up, "Easy's in good hands."

"Yeah. Yeah, right, well hang tough."

"I could say the same to you," Moose laughed, offering a hand to shake.

It was painfully obvious that Dick did not like being this high up in the chain of command.

"Good luck, Moose." He said, passing on his duties to Moose.

"You run into any bacon sandwich you do the same, alright?" Nixon joked, before leaving.

Nixon and Moose left, ducking out of the attic leaving Dick and Rebecca alone.

Dick sat back down in his chair and Rebecca got up from the cot, chuckling.

"What?" Dick asked sighing, resting his head on his hand.

"It's kinda funny. You act like the father of the Company, very protective."

Before Dick could even open his mouth, Rebecca spoke again.

"I know they mean a lot to you, but Moose is a great leader. It's good that you're moving up."

XXX

It was late in the night when Easy came back with all the British soldiers. Dick remained in his quarters, still mulling over paperwork, while Rebecca remained on the cot, out cold.

Dick heard the boisterous celebration coming from the bar just across from his window, and walked over. He pulled back the curtain on the window, smiling at the sound of his former company's celebration.

XXX

Easy Company remained in Holland for the rest of October, trying to keep whatever ground they had. But time and time again, Easy was forced to retreat forcing them into Driel.

The constant defeats were harrowing on everyone. The Company thought things couldn't get much worse. Now, they had to now get used to a new CO.

Moose Heyliger was to be Easy Company's new CO. He was a great leader and very smart on the battlefield. Even though he was from another company, the men took a liking to him. Maybe it was because his leadership in battle reminded them of Winters.

XXX

It was another slow evening for Roe and Rebecca. They were once again hulled up in the aid station, waiting for something, anything to happen just to lessen the boredom.

However, when both medics got the news that Lieutenant Heyliger was shot by one of his own, Rebecca felt such guilt for wishing for something interesting to happen that night.

Rebecca and Roe raced out of the aid station and met Winters, Welsh, and the private that shot him. Moose laid out on the back of a jeep in shock, bleeding out.

Rebecca felt bad for the private. The poor guy was just doing his job. The thick fog that constantly rolled in at night in Holland made it very hard to see who was who. Guilt and panic were clearly etched in the young man's voice, worrying about what would become of him.

"We got him, Harry. You give him morphine?" Roe asked quickly.

"Yeah," Harry replied.

"How much?" Rebecca asked.

"I can't remember, two three syrettes maybe." He guessed, helping Rebecca and Roe get Moose of the jeep.

"Three syrettes, maybe?" Roe retorted, anger beginning to lace his words.

"Yeah," Dick confirmed.

"Jesus Christ! Were you trying to kill him?" Rebecca snapped.

Morphine was often a very helpful tool in the battlefield, but at high doses it was lethal. Every soldier was trained on how to properly administer morphine on themselves and others in a safe manner. This was a huge blunder on Dick and Harry's part.

"I think it was two," Harry said, trying to calm down the two angry medics.

"You don't think it might be important to let us know how much medication the man has had, huh?" Roe yelled.

The four of them worked to load Moose onto the gurney and load him into the ambulance.

"I don't see one syrette on Moose's jacket!" Rebecca continued yelling.

"I'm sorry, guys," Dick apologized.

"Sure is a good thing he's a big man. Maybe he'll stand a chance," Roe continued venting.

"He was in a lot of pain, Doc, we didn't know what to do," Harry defended.

"Yeah, well you oughta. You are officers, you are grownups, you oughta know!"

Rebecca had never seen the even-tempered Cajun so angry before. Of course, she was infuriated too, but Roe just flat out yelled at two high ranking officers. But, If he hadn't of let them have it, Rebecca sure as hell was gonna.

"Roe, you go with him. I gotta stay here and do damage control," Rebecca seethed, looking furiously at Welsh and Winters.

Roe nodded head and climbed in on the back of the ambulance.

"Alright, let's go, C'mon, move it!" He yelled.

The engine revved up, Dick closed the doors to the vehicle and smacked the glass with his bloodstained hand, signaling for the vehicle to move. Then, they were gone. Moose's fate now lied in the hands of the good Lord.

"Jesus," Rebecca mumbled.

"Becca," Dick started, "We weren't thinking."

She held her hand up, commanding Dick to stop. "It happened. There's nothing you can do about it now." She said sharply

Easy Company was now down another CO, leaving the leadership of Easy Company up in the air again.

XXX

A few days after Moose's accident, Dick knew he needed to visit Rebecca to make amends. It was going to be hard to confront Rebecca after screwing up so bad. She was fuming mad and could barely bring herself look Dick and Harry in the eyes.

Dick approached the door of her quarters and gently knocked bracing himself for what was to come.

"Enter."

Rebecca sat at her desk writing and looked up to see her visitor. Seeing it was Dick, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Yes, Richard?"

That was how Dick knew for sure she was upset. Rebecca never called him Richard. She was just like his mother when he used to get in trouble as a boy.

"I uh, wanted to know how Moose made it."

"He made it, luckily."

Dick sighed in relief. If it wasn't the bullet that killed Moose, it would have been the morphine. Thank God it was neither.

"Good, that's great."

"Anything else?" Rebecca asked, perched on her high horse.

"Yes, I'm very sorry about what happened that night. It was unacceptable."

Rebecca got up and walked over to Dick. "Alright, we all make mistakes."

Dick quickly hugged Rebecca, tightly.

"Alright, alright," Rebecca gasped, "You've made your point."

The two let go from their embrace and smiled at each other.

"Well, I'm sorry too," Rebecca began, "I shouldn't have held a grudge, you are obviously very inexperienced with medicine," she joked.

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be," Dick chuckled.

"That's how it's gonna be," Rebecca affirmed.

Despite Dick and Rebecca working out their problems, one problem still remained: who was going to lead Easy Company?

- End Chapter -


A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I know it was pretty intense but I guess that's a good segue for what's to come. Bastogne is approaching and it's going to be a wild ride for Rebecca and Easy. I'm trying my hardest to post weekly but I don't know how long that's going to last since my revisions are beginning to catch up with what I last wrote. The number of pre-written chapters is getting lower. Anyways, I hoped you liked this chapter if you did please let me know how I'm doing!