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Cpt. Sobel still harassed his company but the men and Maggie were determined to defy him. His attempt to abuse Maggie forced them all together just more. They all wanted to be the best paratrooper company and trained as hard as they could. They ran Currahee voluntarily by night and were very attentive during their lessons about weapons, tactics, hand-to-hand combat and everything else that might help to keep them alive.

As to expect, Maggie was an excellent soldier as long as Sobel left her alone. Even the Colonel noticed her great abilities and asked Dick to "keep a close eye on her". Dick could just think 'If he knew…' but promised to look out for her.

Sobel didn't try again to force Maggie into a sexual relationship with him and the men could just make guesses about the reason. Perhaps it was because Maggie was never ever left alone with him because one of the men always found a – very often specious - reason to stick with her. Or it could be because the death-glances his whole company gave him. Even the normally composed Sergeant Lipton and Lieutnant Winters looked at him as if they wanted to kill him.

At the beginning of December they were transferred to Fort Benning. But because they were part of the second Battallion and their commander Col. Sink was ambitious to beat the Japanese marching-record, they had to walk the whole way to Atlanta. The days of marching were hard but the nights were even harder because it was freezing.

But at least they could be proud of themselves because they had beaten the record.

At Fort Benning started the actual jump-training and faster than everyone thought, the day of their jumps out of a C47 had arrived.

Maggie was very nervous and her fear of heights got the best of her. All she could do was hoping that she would get out of the airplane and wouldn't get thrown out of the Airborne because she froze when she should have jumped. She became more optimistic when she noticed that Cpt. Sobel wasn't on her plane and another Captain was their instructor. The boys helped her to get into the plane and she went rigid when the engines started. The guys noticed her nervousness and gave her optimistic smiles.

Dick, who sat beside her, noticed too that Maggie was pretty uncomfortable and took her hand in his. He gave her a smile and squeezed her hand and felt that Maggie became a little more lax. He wanted to comfort her despite the fact that the physical contact increased his own pulse.

Maggie appreciated this gesture and enjoyed the closeness to her Lieutnant. She felt much more courageous now and gave him a small smile. Suddenly the command to stand up and hook up came. Maggie was on the second position, directly behind Dick and started to check his equipment when the command came. She felt that Guarnere behind her gave the equipment on her butt special attention but decided to ignore it because she knew that petting would be a no-no very soon. After the equipment-check Dick went to the exit and Maggie was right behind him. When the green light went on, Dick jumped and Maggie went to the door. When the jumpmaster told her to jump, she jumped out of the plane without thinking. 'At least it'll bring me closer to Dick again' she thought sarcastically and prepared for her landing. She landed relatively soft and elegant, until a gust of wind caught her chute and dragged her irresistibly against Dick. The two of them fell and Maggie came to lie on top of Dick. She tried to stand up but made their situation just worse because they were now both trapped in her chute. When Dick started to chuckle under her, Maggie had to laugh too. Shortly after, they heard Bill, who had landed perfectly, behind them say: "Hey, you finally decided to come close at death's door, hm?"

"Hey, you babbling idiot, it's just the force of nature that conspired against us." replied Maggie although she had to admit that she kind of enjoyed their situation.

"Okay, okay. If you believe it… Should I help you to get out of the chute or should I just throw it over you?"

"Guarnere, be respectful and help us."

"Yes, Sir. But still I don't know what I should do to help you."

Although both thought 'Throw it over', they replied "Help us to get out of the chute."

When Gaurnere had them finally freed, they went back to the runway to absolve the remaining four jumps. Maggie wasn't so frightened anymore because she knew that Dick would be close to her and because her first jump went ok, apart from the landing.

Maggie had to admit that she kind of enjoyed the jumping after she got used to it.

In the evening there was a party for them in the officer's mess because they all got their jump wings. Of course they all wore their class A uniforms. Maggie was grateful that the Army was at least regardful of her gender concerning her uniform. She wore a green pencil-skirt and a green blazer, fitting in with the guys' jackets. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she went to pick up the boys.

"Oh my god, Mag. Naked skin. Do you want me to get a heart attack?!" Guarnere berated her playfully.

"Hey, I'm sure it's okay to wach. Isn't it Mag?" asked Liebgott.

"Sure thing, Lieb. Considering the old rule: Looksies, no feelsies!"

"Does that apply for a certain Lieutnant, too?"

"I don't know what you guys always think about that certain Lieutnant and me. One could think you are obsessed or in love" winked Maggie and hoped that the guys would drop this subject.

"Mag, you don't have to blow smoke. And just in case: If he rejects you, I'm sure one of us could comfort you. I would sacrifice myself, for example." winked Joe.

"That's so cute of you, Joe. But I don't think that your sacrifice will be necessary because I'll not make a move on Di… Lieutnant Winters, so he'll not reject me, so that your sacrifice isn't needed. Apart from that: You heard Cpt. Sobel. I prefer higher ranking officers, so that the next best choice would be Lt. Nixon."

"Why not Col. Sink, Mag?" asked Bill.

"Because I don't like men with greyed hair."

"Yeah, she prefers redheads" laughed Joe and caused Malarkey to grin like an idiot.

"Guys, as much as I enjoy this conversation with you, if we don't start soon, the party will be over before we get there." And finally they went to the mess.