Hey

It's been a while, but here we go

It was the coldest winter Belgium had seen in the last thirty years and everybody was freezing their ass off. The forest was covered in fog. The German and American soldiers wandered through each other's MLR. There were no chances of getting resupplied until the fog lifted.

Immediately upon their arrival in Bastogne 2nd Battalion deployed into the line south of Foy where they had set up their forward positions just inside the woods overlooking the plane southeast of Foy. The men immediately prepared their foxholes and attempted to get a few hours of sleep. Winters established battalion HQ seventy five yards from the forward outpost, so he could be close to the men at all times.

Lane darted between the foxholes and answered the "evening captain" that came from the freezing forest. Blanket covered men hulled up next to their friends in the foxholes.

Lew had to make an appearance at battalion headquarters, so he could catch Strayer who spends the majority of his time there to avoid the cold forest. This left Lane with the task of walking the line most of the evening and at night.

"Psst Captain" Lane heard some call out and she turned to her left and noticed Luz, Muck and Penkala hulled up in the foxhole next to her left foot.

Lane jumped into the foxhole "evening boys" she said and sat down next to Luz and pulled his blanket over her.

"Evening Captain" it came from the men in the foxhole

Lane looked at the men in the foxhole, they had always been her boys, but most of them were men now, hardened by war and the innocent look, they showed up with at Toccoa was gone.

Easy had been out on the MLR for the past two days and Lane could see the men's spirits deteriorate at a rapid speed.

"So you boys heard about Toy's boots being blown to pieces" Lane asked the men in the foxhole

None of the men had heard about the incident "Well, Roe asked him where they were and the answer he got was the boots was up General Taylor's ass"

Penkala looked at Lane "That is where mine would be if I got the chance"

Lane smiled and climbed out of the foxhole and ran out to the outpost, Christenson and Gordon

Christenson turned his head slightly when he heard the captain approach the OP

"Captain, way to be discreet" He mumbled

Lane smiled "Just be glad it was me and not Jerry"

"Captain" Smokey said without looking at Lane. Smokey was staring at the horizon, as if he was expecting the Germans to come pouring at them in the middle of the night.

"Hey Smokey, what's you looking at?" Lane asked

Smokey never answered and after sitting with the two men for a while, Lane left and went back to CP.

As Lane approached CP, she noticed Winters was holding his rifle pointing it at a German soldier, and Doc was crouching waiting for the German to surrender.

Eventually the German soldier raised his hands and approached Winters. The Captain searched the soldier and Lane was ready to walk the prisoner back to regiment HQ.

A jeep drove up and Sink and General McAuliffe jumped out, Lane rolled her eyes, she knew what they wanted to hear. She also knew Winters could not give them the answers they wanted.

By this time, most of first platoon had gathered around the CP and Lane signaled for two of the men to walk the prisoner back to CP.

Amy appeared and stood next to Lane "What's going on?" she asked

Lane looked at Amy and shrugged "I think Sink and the general wants to hear that everything is fine and dandy and that we all are just one big happy family out here"

"Give it to me straight," the General said

Everybody turned and looked at Lane, since Strayer and Nixon wasn't anywhere in sight she was the one with the answers

Lane sighed "Well, we been taking ground in position losing it in another, now it's looking like a stand of, we are digging in on the edge of the forest" Lane turned and looked at Winters for help

"We are under sporadic artillery fire General. We are taking a lot hits and we do not have any aid station. We are running out of food, we have no winter clothing and we have little or no ammo, the line is spread so thin the enemy wanders into our CP to use our slid trenches, we just can't cover the line"

Winters was about to say something more when Nixon's head popped out of the ground. Lane starred at him son of a bitch, the fucker had been sleeping, while she was out walking the freaking line, and wondering when he would be back from HQ

"Good morning Captain Nixon, you got anything to ad for General McAuliffe?" Sink asked the dazed Captain

"General…Yes Sir, ahh…General I took a walk along our line at 03.00 last night" Nixon stopped and looked at Lane; she just nodded encouraging him to continue.

Nixon stumbled out the foxhole he had been in "I couldn't find the 501st on our right flank, I tied it in with a squad from our second platoon, but sir we got some serious gaps in our parameter"

Lane looked at Sink "We don't have enough men, we are spread to damn thin"

The General turned and walk back to the jeep "Hold the line, this fog wont lift anytime soon, so you can forget about air support" the General went to tell them that 1st battalion just pulled out of Foy and that a lot of shit was hitting their way.

Lane and Amy walked towards the line Nixon looked after Lane, he would never had thought Lane would be the one not affected by the hell they were currently enduring, but he had to hand it to her, she never complained, she just carried it on, walking the line in the middle of the night never complaining about the cold .

Amy and Lane walked towards the foxhole. Amy was sharing with Welsh. Lane looked at Welsh, who was shivering even though he was covered with a blanket "You are a brave man Harry, sharing a foxhole with Amy"

Harry looked at Lane "Hey I am not afraid of Speirs"

Lane laughed, "I guess you tougher than I thought"

Amy and Lane jumped into the foxhole and snuggled under the blanket with Harry. Luz and Perconte walked by "Hey Lieutenant you are lucky man" Luz laughed

Amy opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, the shell started to fall. Amy, Lane and Welsh all jumped out of the foxhole to make sure the men were all right and in their foxholes.

Amy darted by Penkala and Skip's foxhole "They peppered my helmet"

Amy smiled, but kept on running, she darted in a zigzag pattern. Amy hated the cold and the snow and by now, she hated the Germans more than anything.

The shelling continued. Amy felt herself lifted from the ground before she landed on her back in a foxhole. She opened her eyes, Speirs was staring back at her "Stay, don't move" he said and then he was gone.

Amy stayed in the foxhole until the barrage stopped, and then she stood up and went to check on her men. Penkala had been nicked on the wrist, but the rest of them seemed all right, they were sitting around shooting the bull. Amy sighed and walked back to CP to check on Lane and Winters.

Lane, Nixon and Winters was all right. Amy sighed and sat down next to Lane and before any of them could count to three, she was sleeping.

Lane looked at Winters "You want me to wake her up?"

Winters looked at the young lieutenant, she had been through a lot and she like Lane never complained "No let her sleep, she needs it"

Lane and Nixon looked at some maps of the area for a while. Lane looked at the horizon it was getting dark "I am going to walk the line, meet me in an hour over by dog CP" Lane looked at Nixon, who looked up at her and smiled

"I'll be there; I'll be the one wearing army green" Nixon kissed Lane and Lane turned and left the CP.

It was cold. Lane wished she had a warm winter coat and a pair of warm socks, she tried not to complain, she knew she had to set a good example for the men.

Lane ran into Doc and Guarnere on her way to CP, Guarnere was complaining about having the itch and how much it hurt when he pissed "That what happens when you visit places like Lulu's" Lane told Guarnere

Buck came stumbling towards Lane. Buck had changed after he came back from the hospital and he had a wild look in his eyes. Buck looked around searching for the foxhole containing Liebgott and Alley, the two soldiers was singing a little too loudly for Buck's liking.

"Shut up, shut up, who the hell is singing?" Buck whistled thru his teeth.

"I get them to shut up" Guarnere said and walked toward the foxhole the two culprits were in.

Lane put a hand on Bucks arm "Come on Buck let's go find your foxhole" Lane guided Buck away from the singing.

Buck looked around the forest and then walked with Lane. Lane knew not to confront Buck about his behavior, they weren't that close.

Lane got Buck tucked into his foxhole and left. Lane shook her head it was only a matter of time before Buck had to be taken of the line.

Lane arrived at Dog CP, Nixon was chatting up McMillan. Nixon turned when he heard someone approach and smiled. "Hey beautiful"

Nixon said goodbye to McMillan and the two officers set out for the line, there were still considerable gaps in the line. They tried to tie them in, but Lane knew it would be impossible to pluck the holes. "Nix let's get back to CP; there is nothing we can do here"

Nixon took one last look around "Ok, just…we need to check on the op"

Lane nodded, and the walked towards Easy OP, Lane slipped into the OP and Nixon crouched down behind Toye and McClung. The two soldiers greeted the officers, they exchanged news and Lane, and Nixon walked away.

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The next day Sisk was wounded, the Jeep driver told Doc that the Germans captured the entire 326th. Roe paled a little, that meant Mia and Katie was captured, this was bad news for Lipton and Winters.

Doc stayed in town and scrounged up some supplies before he headed back out on the line. When the jeep arrived Roe jumped of and walked towards CP. Lipton was there along with Winters and Lane

"Doc, what can we do for you?" Winters asked

Doc shuffled his feet "Ahh... the 326th was captured by the Germans, doctor and all"

Winters sat down and Lipton dropped to his knees.