Hello *looks ashamed around the corner*

I'm so sorry that it took me so long to publish this rather short chapter, but my job is driving me crazy…

I have to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews and you continuous support! I hope you'll keep it up

Love and cookies to all of you!

When they had finally reached the HQ again, everybody was exhausted but too excited to go to bed.

Because Dick and Nix were at Col. Sink's office at the HQ, Maggie had decided to join the boys who sat in a truck and tried to cook. Maggie nearly fell from the back of the truck when the smell hit her, but after a few moments she was okay. She sat down between Lip and Guarnere and was immediately embraced by the two of them. Malarkey served his "Malarkey Special" and Maggie tried it but had problems not to spit it out. Whatever he called it, can-food was never a delicacy…

Shortly after their "Dinné" like Bill called it, Dick joined them and asked what died in the truck. Bill replied "Malarkey's ass" and everybody laughed. Maggie was sure that she even saw Dick's lips twitch a little, but she wouldn't swear to it…

Guarnere offered Dick some of the liquor the boys had found and to everybody's surprise Dick accepted. His facial-expression could lead one to conclude that he didn't like it any more than Maggie had liked the dinner.

Dick was on his way to… wherever, when he turned on his heel and addressed Bill:

"Oh, Sergeant?"

"Sir?

"I'm not a quaker"

And with that he went away. Maggie and the boys laughed tears at that.

After they calmed down, the boys tried to convince Maggie to take a drink, too.

"Hey, you heard our new CO, Mag. It's a day of first!" Malarkey tried his luck.

"No boys, thank you very much. But you know me, I don't drink. And you should be happy to have talked one teetotaller into it today…"

"Oh Mag, be a man and take a drink!" Malarkey said and received several raised eyebrows. After a few seconds he realised his mistake and started to laugh until he nearly pissed himself.

After Malarkey could breathe again, Bull stated: "Come on, Maggie. Even the vice- and flawless Lt. Winters took a drink, so I guess one sip wouldn't kill you."

"Oh, Bull, believe me, I have more vices than any of you! And that's definitely enough."

Now that Maggie had realized that Lt. Meehan was probably dead and that that would make Dick their commanding officer, she was a little worried about him. Because of that she decided to go and look if she could find him. She was sure that he might need somebody to tell him that he made a great job and certainly would do so in the future.

After Maggie had jumped off the truck Guarnere asked fake-innocently "What could she have meant?" and the others laughed until tears were running down their faces. Lip had a fat blush on his face but laughed nonetheless. He loved Maggie by heart, but he loved her like a little sister and imagining her in a sexual intercourse wasn't decent in his opinion. Though he had to admit that the thought as such would be quite appealing, if he didn't have a wife…

Maggie heard the laughter from the truck as she went away and she was glad that the boys could still laugh after what they had seen today.

Maggie went through the town and searched for Dick, but was quite unsuccessful. She didn't find him at the CP or at HQs, but she ran into Lew who was in search for Dick too. So the two of them went together and chatted amiably. Maggie had lost her prejudices against Lew because he was "a rich jerk from yale" – his words, not hers – and really got to like him. She could see why so many women were after him: He was definitely handsome, he had a very good sense of humour, he was charming and he had that ease of handling people. If she hadn't fallen head over heels for Dick, she might have a crush on Lew by now.

Her luck, after all Lew had a kid and a wife and Dick was a bachelor. But Maggie sincerely hoped, he wouldn't be for too long...

Finally they found Dick at the roadside outside of the town. He looked deeply lost in thought and unconsciously still tried to open his can of food.

"Oh, you should never get a cat, my friend!"

With that Lew got Dick out of his thoughts and back into real life. He had thanked god that he and the persons he deeply cared for, especially Maggie and Lew, had survived the day and he prayed that he'd live to see life after the war. But the day had shown him how short life could be, so he was very tempted to loose at least a little up. But shortly after that thought came the notion of Guarnere's words from earlier. He was now Easy's CO and that meant a lot of responsibility. So he had abandoned his earlier thought by the time Lew and Maggie reached him.

He shared a few words with Lew while Maggie watched the bombardment. Lew had to go back to HQ to make sure that… Dick didn't really know and with that he realised that he was deeply exhausted. So he sat down on the small wall next to the road. A few seconds later, Maggie sat down next to him.

"Dick, are you okay?"

"Sure…"

"Dick… You don't have to lie to me. I know that you take the loss of Halls to heart. And I'm sure you know that leading Easy means a lot of responsibility and that you take it too seriously."

"Grmpf… I'm afraid Halls'll not be the only man I lose. And I'm afraid that people might die because I made a wrong decision…"

"No, he won't be. But you did what you could to get us all safe through the day. And you did a hell of a job. I bet under Sobel we'd all be killed!"

"Maybe…"

"Dick, I have every confidence in your leading-abilities and you should too. You were the one who got us to where we are now. Without you, I'm sure; none of us would have made his jump-wings! You were the one preparing us for combat, not Sobel and definitely not Meehan."

"Thank you, Maggie. I'm glad that you have confidence in me."

"Sure I do. Remember, I'm the "chosen one". And if your wife-to-be doesn't trust in you, who should?!"

Dick was touched by Maggie's declaration and couldn't help but smile.

They sat together in silence for some time and after a few minutes of silence, Maggie grabbed Dick's hand. He immediately tensed up but relaxed after a few seconds. Maggie was glad that Dick allowed some intimacy and smiled to herself. A moment after that, Dick's thump started to draw small circles on the back of Maggie's hand.

Maggie just felt how exhausted she was and slowly fell asleep. Her head landed (again) on Dick's shoulder and he couldn't help but smile for the second time since she had arrived. He enjoyed Maggie's proximity and thanked god for the gift that Maggie was for him. He knew that she had just made a joke when she called herself his wife-to-be, but he had to admit that he really liked the idea. And after what she had just done for him, he could start to believe that she returned his feelings…

Lew had done what he had to do at HQs and went back to where he had left Dick and Maggie earlier. When he came closer, he saw two shadows, one leant against the other and it seemed those shadows where holding hands. Lew smiled to himself and turned on his heel. He was really glad for his best friend that he had Maggie's support (and her love, by the way, but he was sure that Dick still didn't believe it).