My dearest readers,

once again I have to sincerely apologize. I just don't find the time to write, because I'm still drowning in work…

But thank to all your lovely reviews and support, I was at least able to write a small chapter in between tending to my household. I'll try to update again as soon as possible and would be very, very grateful if you kept reviewing!

Kisses and cookies, Julia.

Shortly after leaving Lip with Tab, Maggie saw that the Germans were retreating which meant that somebody must have been able to position a MG. Her satisfaction allowed Maggie to get over her initial shock at Lip's injuries and to function as expected.

After everything had been cleared, Maggie went to the aid station to look for Lip and let Doc Roe tend to her wound because the gauze was already soaked in blood again. When she stepped into the house that served as provisional aid station, she froze with shock at the sight of Roe treating Dick. Although she knew that he couldn't be severely wounded, because he was still seated, her heart skipped a beat. Before she reached Roe and Dick, Dick hopped from the table and went to Blithe, who Maggie hadn't noticed as of yet. Roe explained to Maggie that Blithe was temporarily blind – probably due to the physical and psychological stress. But after his talk to Dick he seemed to be fine, because he stood up and went outside.

"Wow, you're even better than I thought, Lieutnant."

"Oh, Mag. Well… Thank God, you're okay. You are okay, aren't you?"

"Sure, that's why I'm here. I'm totally fine, but my wife-to-be-senses told me that you were injured…"

Dick looked a little taken aback for a moment but recovered quickly because he was used to Maggies sarcasm right now.

"Please tell me you're not severely injured."

"I'm not severely injured, it's barely a scratch. I'm only here because my wound started to bleed again and I'm a little afraid it might infect. But what's more important: What about you? What's wrong with you're leg?"

"How do you…"

"You're limping a little."

"Oh…"

"Hey, you don't need to cover it up. Even if there is certain evidence against it, we know that you're a human being as well…"

"Grmpf" was all she received for an answer. Dick was seriously worried about Maggie although she told him she was more or less okay and was still able to bring him up.

"Lieutnant, please let me finish tending to your wound, so I can look after the others." Roe interrupted their little encounter and Maggie went away to look for Lip.

Thankfully his injuries weren't too severe so that he would soon be able to join the company again.

Shortly before Maggie went away, Lip saw the blood on her side. "Oh Maggie, hell, what's wrong with your side? Has Roe seen it? Are you severely injured? Does it hurt much?"

"Lip, please calm down. You're behaving like the legendary mother hen. I'm fine, it's only a little scratch. I had that little nasty encounter with a german officer, but it's nothing serious and it doesn't hurt. At least not much…" Now that her adrenaline decreased, it hurt like hell to be honest, but she wouldn't tell "her" boys about that. They were worried enough as it was.

They spent the night outside of Carentan. Everybody was nervous, because they knew that the Germans would try to take-back the town, so that nearly all comrades had problems to get to sleep. Smith, who was particularly nervous, even stabbed Talbert with his bayonet because he thought Tab was a Kraut. Thankfully Tab wasn't lethally wounded and could be evacuated after Roe had tended to the wound.

The next morning the Germans started to attack them. Both parties more ort less stayed at their positions and hoped for a certain advance that would allow them to overpower the enemy, which reminded Maggie pretty much of what she'd read about WWI.

Unfortunately for Easy the Germans received the hoped-for advance in form of a tank, which heavily attacked Easy's position and forced them to stay in motion. Maggie tried to reach the nearest tank with hand-grenades, but she couldn't throw far enough. Just then, she saw Harry and McGrath running across the field, preparing to attack the tank next to them with a bazooka. Maggie ran around and told her comrades to give Harry and McGrath cover before she ran for Harry to tell him to target the base, because that was where the tank was most sensitive. In the back of her mind, Maggie knew that Harry himself knew about that, but she couldn't contain herself because she felt so helpless. Apparently, Harry and McGrath were a pretty good team, because they hit the tank just where they were supposed to and thereby hindered it from coming closer to them.

Thanks to the second tank division, the Germans finally retreated. But their victory was only a small comfort, regarding all the fallen and wounded comrades.

Dick found that he would never be able to completely cope with the fact that people died under his command, but he swore to himself that he would do everything in his might, to keep the number of fallen low. He prayed that neither Maggie nor Lew would be taken from him, because he didn't know if he could live without one of them. Dick wondered how Maggie had been able to get so close to him in such a short period of time. He guessed he fell for her due to her beautiful in- as well as exterior and the fact that he always had whished for a family with a reliable wife. But he knew that this was not the right time to fantasize about the future, because they all had still a long way to go, before they should think about family and home again. Still, he could not suppress the memory of the night after D-Day when Maggie had come to find him and allowed him to hold her hand. He hoped, that they would find some time together this evening, because he wanted to tell – or at least show – her what she meant to him. He knew that he couldn't wait for the end of the war, because he was too afraid that one of them might die and he didn't want that to happen without her knowing how he felt about her.

At the same time, Maggie went from comrade to comrade to check, if they were okay. With Lip, she stayed a little longer, because she wanted him to know, how important he was to her. She silently thanked god, that he didn't take Lip from her, when he was hit in Carentan. While she was at it, she also thanked god, that Dick was still alive. She didn't know, if she could live without her best friend or without the love of her life. She decided to see Dick this evening and tell him about her feelings for him, just in case one of them wouldn't make it out of the war alive.

Unfortunately, their wishes for an evening-meeting weren't fulfilled, because both of them had a lot of administrative stuff to do.