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Guest: Thanks for the comment on the grammar! I was a little afraid that it might be terrible for native speakers…

And as a little reward for your diligent feedback: Chapter 8, the longest chapter so far.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Then he stepped close behind her and whispered in her ear: "And?"

"Sir, as bad as I feel about bringing that march over the company… I'm no prostitute! So, we'll have to absolve that march." Just when she had finished that sentence, her bad conscious started talking to her. 'Perhaps I should spend the night with him… After all, I'm no virgin… But would he be satisfied with just one night? No, he's the type of guy, that'll always ask for more… And I've already got the feeling that I'm cheating on Dick, because I didn't tell him the truth when Sobel asked me the first time to shag with him.'

"Fine. But I warn you: If the whole company isn't in full gear in 10 minutes, you don't want to bear the consequences, Fox!" barked Sobel. He was a little broken because in his opinion he had offered Fox a great deal. After all he was an attractive man and he was a Captain, for Christ's sake. But he would show that little bitch, what it meant to have him as an enemy.

Maggie ran like a bat out of hell. She stopped at the Winters/Nixon-barrack and entered without knocking. What she saw there took her breath: Both Lieutenants wore nothing but a towel around their hips. Maggie had to admit that Lew might be rightly arrogant. His broad chest with the dark hair that ran in a small line down to his well-defined abs and deeper into the towel fascinated Maggie. But that was nothing compared to the view she had on Lt. Winters: Despite his height from round about 70 inches, his shoulders and his breast were broad and well exercised. There was a small amount of coppery hair on his breast which could also be found below his navel. His abs were very well defined and Maggie could literally imagine her fingers running through this ground of muscles.

When she finally came to her senses, she told Dick about the upcoming march. "Sir, Cpt. Sobel ordered a 10-miles-march for tonight. And we have just 7 minutes left to get ready." Maggie was so nervous and full with adrenaline, that she didn't notice that tears were running down her face.

Dick sprang immediately into action. "Okay, Fox. Go to the guy's barracks and tell the NCOs about the march. Then go to yours and change into your gear. I'll be with you in 5 minutes."

'What did she do this time to piss him off? Oh yeah, right, he doesn't need a reason for his bullying…'

"Dick, have you noticed that Maggie was crying?"

"No, Lew. I was too upset to remark that. Do you think Sobel did something to her?"

"We both know that Sobel's a pain in everyone's ass and that Maggie isn't one of his favourites, but perhaps she just cried because she had a bad conscious towards the men… So please don't go out there and shoot our CO. Although that would solve a lot of our problems. But nah, wouldn't be good for your career. .."

When Lew ended, Dick was fully changed into his gear and went to see a certain female comrade. He wasn't sure if Maggie just had cried because of her bad conscious or if there was more behind all this. He remembered the incident from last night and highly doubted that the Captain had behaved properly.

Meanwhile Maggie had told the guys about the bad news and was really astounded that the guys didn't seem to take it by heart.

"What did she do this time to upset Sobel? Couldn't she keep her trap once again?" asked Skip after Maggie went out of the barrack.

"Hey, don't be unfair, Skip. We all know that Sobel doesn't need a reason to be a pain in the ass! Besides, didn't you see that Maggie was crying?" defended Lip his friend. "And I hope the only reason for her crying was her bad conscious…" he added.

"Mhm, I'm still very clumsy with the grenades. I could imagine that I might cause a little accident…" mused Joe Liebgott. Like most of his comrades he had already accepted Maggie as an adequate comrade and felt for her like for his little sister. They were all willing to do anything to protect her, even if that meant a 10-miles-march in full gear by night.

Maggie was shouldering her equipment when Dick came into her barrack. Maggie anticipated a tirade from her platoon leader and pulled her head between her shoulders. Dick had seemed to be pretty angry with her when she told him about the march; he even called her Fox, which was normally reserved for Sobel. But much to her surprise, Dick just wiped the tears on her face away with his thump and gave her a little smile. "Hey, we don't want to give him the satisfaction that he made you cry, do we?" Maggie sniffed once and nodded bravely. With the hand on the small of her back, Dick led her out of her barrack and - to his satisfaction - could see that the whole company was ready. Dick wanted to talk to Maggie in the morning when they had more privacy.

Shortly after they were finished Sobel came around the corner and told them about the route they'd have to absolve. Maggie could see that Sobel was disappointed that they all made it on time. She really didn't want to know what he would have done to them otherwise.

After they had started to march, Guarnere mumbled: "That fucker even involved Currahee into the route…"

After a while Maggie apologized: "Guys, I'm so sorry that I brought this march on you. But please, you have to understand that the alternative punishment wasn't a real alternative…" Maggie's voice softened with every word.

"And you thought: The more people the more fun, or what?" asked Popeye who was in a foul mood because his girlfriend just broke up with him by one of the famous "Dear John"-letters.

"Popeye, please, try to understand me. I would have done nearly anything to exclude you from his punishment, but I just couldn't do it… He wouldn't have been satisfied with one time…"

Dick and Lip, who both walked nearby to Maggie, could see that she was crying again. She didn't make a noise but the vibration of her shoulders and the tear-stained face gave her away. And nearly at the same time the big light went one for the two men. Lip, which was closer to Maggie, went to her and hugged her.

"Darling, nobody wants you to do something like that. We'd all rather walk through the whole country. Did you get that?"

Maggie nodded and slowly the rest of the guys came to the same conclusion as Lip and Dick.

"He didn't really ask for that, did he? That's a doozie, even for a sucker like Sobel. I'm gonna kill this man. How does he dare to try to touch our Maggie" stated a furious Guarnere.

"Mhm, I'm afraid the grenade-accident might be a little too weak, now that we know about this. I think we should at least castrate him before that. Or we could abandon him on the drill ground and make some mortar-exercises…" mused Liebgott.

Dick knew that he should stop the killing thoughts of his men, but couldn't because in his head were the same scenarios. He was furious as never before: How did Sobel dare to try to force his Maggie to sleep with him? She was his inferior soldier, for Christ's sake!

"Guys, I really thought about doing it…"

"Mag, forget it. Nobody here wants you to prostitute yourself to this pervert!" came it from Guarnere.

Maggie was glad that the boys weren't mad with her and felt much better than before. She didn't notice Lip leading her to Dick until he asked the Lieutenant: "Sir, what are we going to do about this?" "Mhm, the only official option is to lodge a complaint with the Colonel. But that seems pretty mild to me. "Hey, Lieutenant, you're not toying with the boy's ideas, are you?" kidded Lip and Dick just made an indifferent sound.

"Guys, I'm really touched, but we'll not do anything" stated Maggie and earned an "Are you mad? out of the mouths of nearly 40 guys. "No boys but try to imagine what would happen if the higher-ups believed me: They might tear us apart and I don't want this. Furthermore I'm not sure if that might not inspire other people. And I really don't want to imagine what would happen to me if they didn't believe me…"

Dick admired Maggie for her sense of comradeship and her far-sightedness.

"Okay, but you have to promise me that you'll come to me if he ever tries to pester you again."

"Promised, Dick." While Dick was happy that Maggie used his nickname, Maggie was shocked by her disrespectful behaviour. "Sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to disrespect you, Lt. Winters!"

"No problem. I like it when you call me Dick, so it's okay if you do so, when we're alone – or with Lew."

When they came back to the camp, Maggie felt great because the Lieutnant had finally took a step towards her. She couldn't point directly at it, but she felt a certain kind of a connection with her superior officer and was determined to explore it further.