My dearest readers,

I know it's unbelievable, but I'm still alive!

I'm very sorry that you had to wait this long for the next chapter. But unfortunately I'm still very busy, so that the next chapter is ridiculously short, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless!

"Say, Dick, does your order mean that we're going to share a cabin?"

Maggie was totally excited by the thought of being so close to Dick but she highly doubted that she'd be permitted to share a cabin with Dick.

"No, I'm afraid we don't. But perhaps we could change our roommates?" supposed Dick and Maggie had the vague feeling that Dick's roommate was their CO.

"It's Sobel, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid that nobody would be so stupid to exchange whomever against Sobel."

"Bad luck" winked Dick and took her to the huge troop-ship. Maggie was impressed by the number of soldiers that were boarding the ship. She doubted that she'd be able to find anybody from her Company if they didn't stay close together.

Maggie's privilege of a little privacy seemed to come to an end now because she was bunked together with all the enlisted men from Easy. It was a good opportunity to get used to being so close to the men. Maggie knew in combat, they'd share the most intimate and compromising situations and appreciated the opportunity to get used to them step by step. She guessed it was also better for the boys to get used to her presence while they weren't in combat so they could become calmly accustomed with her habits and female peculiarities.

When she sat on her bed, she heard a great rumour from the floor and went down to look what was going on. She saw Liebgott and Bill eying each other like dogs shortly before they start fighting. Before she realised what she was doing, she stepped in between them and tried to prevent a fight. Unfortunately, the fight had already started and Maggie was hit in the face. Her cheek burned like hell and her vision was blurry. She didn't even know who had hit her and lost her consciousness. When she regained consciousness, Dick was leant over her and watched her face. He looked very concerned and Maggie was grateful that he was so protective about her. Later the boys told her how he had given Bill and Lieb hell for hurting her and she was kind of embarrassed because she didn't want the guys to be angry with her.

Because Dick had to leave to join a meeting with Sink and Sobel, he ordered Lip to keep an eye on Maggie who had a severe headache. Doc Roe had given her an aspirin and some ice for her face but she had still the feeling that she had nasty little men stomping around in her skull… Lip was very conscientious with his task and took Maggie to her bed and cuddled her until she fell asleep. When she awoke, she could just look trough one eye because the other one was pompous.

When they arrived in Aldbourne Maggie looked like a human being again and could see through both of her eyes. She was billeted at a nice and shockingly young widow's house. Maggie would have liked to talk to her more, but she was just there to sleep because they had one exercise after the other.

After Sobel had fucked up one drill and cut down a fence just because he wasn't able to read a map, he was so angry that he tried to wreak his anger on Dick. He accused him to have made a fault with his latrine duty but Dick didn't know about a new order. But Sobel punished him nonetheless and Dick required trial by court martial. Maggie was absolutely shocked when she heard about this but she was even more shocked about the mutinity plans of the non-coms Lip had told her about. She admired the boys for their courage; they risked their careers because they were fonder of Dick than Sobel.

After that incident, Sobel got transferred to Chilton Folliat and Easy got a new CO – Lt. Meehan. He was a very good leader and got along with the Easy members really quick. This way, Col. Sink could see that the problem before weren't the boys but Sobel - and just him. Maggie was glad that she didn't have to watch her back continuously. With Meehan she even enjoyed the drills. Besides she could feel that Dick was relieved that they wouldn't go into combat with that chickenshit called Sobel. Not that Dick would ever call him that…

Some weeks later Easy got instructed about the Operation Overlord in Uppottery. Maggie was rather uncomfortable in their tent because her "roommates" were pigs; apart from Lip of course. In addition, she never liked camping and started to doubt that she was a hood soldier. But now it was too late and Maggie was sure that she wouldn't mind such trivialities once they were in combat.

Everybody learned the sand tables and maps and all the stuff that should help them to survive and hoped the best.

At the afternoon of the jump, Maggie was pretty nervous. All the fuzz around her didn't do her any good and she grew even more nervous because she didn't have her fear of heights under control. And then the hole thing got postponed for the next day.

When she sat in the movie-tent, Maggie couldn't relax and chewed her nails. She was so worried about her friends' and about her own life. She feared that she'd never ever get to see her family, especially her sister, again. And she was so worried about Dick, she didn't know, what to do with them. When she felt another warm body next to hers, she knew instantly that it was Dick. He took her hand into his and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. When he noticed, that she didn't stop shaking, he took her by the hand and led her out of the movie. They went to the tent Lew and Dick shared and cuddled on Dick's cot which wasn't made for to grown people, but they got along. Maggie enjoyed having Dick so close and started to relax against his body. After round about half an hour she fell asleep and Dick finally allowed himself to get some sleep too. It was a nice felling to have Maggie close to him and to feel her breath against his neck. He prayed they'd be able to get to know each other better and perhaps spent more nights together.

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