Hey dear readers and reviewers, as always a big thank you to you first!

Beth-rodrigues.77 (Hehe, loved that you liked Dick shedding his shyness and seriousness! At the end of the day, he's just a man, after all... :-)) Yeah, he and Lizzie finally had a moment of peace in the last chapter, let's see how they're doing in this chapter... ;-) Thanks for your wonderful review, you always make me smile. :-))), Jayden (Glad you liked the last chapter and wild Dick... Hehe, hope you like this, too, and thanks for the review!), coffee14 (Yeah, let's see if Lizzie gets into trouble by talking to the boys... :-) Thanks for your review!), ChocAndSnow19 (Hehe, yeah, naughty Dick, that's the way I love him... :-))) I think beneath all his seriousness and uprightness, he's just a man and Lizzie is the woman to bring this side out in him. *g* And yeah, I think it's a rather big leap of faith he took by telling her everything in the last chapter. Hehe, the vaccinations, we're going there in this chapter, hope you love! By the way, I wrote Gene in it, too, just to make you happy... :-))) Thanks for your wonderful review, was just so happy to read it!), ScarletLeon (Hehe, so happy I got you reeling... :-) And now to the boys... Loved your review! :-))).

Let's get to the next chapter and see how Dick, Lizzie and the boys are doing... :-) Hope you enjoy!

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Arm or buttocks, Private Malarkey?", Lizzie asked the red-haired soldier sitting on the examination table in front of her, who uneasily watched her draw up the syringe. It took all her willpower not to smile at his wide-eyed stare. So much for the cockiness of these elite paratroopers when it came to tiny little needles.

"I don't care", he replied, swallowing heavily. "As long as it's quick."

"Okay, turn over and pull your pants down a bit", she decided for him. "Try and relax."

It would hurt less in the backside and this way he would not see her injecting him with the needle. She was sure his comrades would never let him live it down if he fainted on her. Malarkey nodded nervously and complied, showing her a bit of his pale backside. While she swabbed the area with alcohol, she could not bite back the smile, but as long as his back was turned to her, at least he could not see her amusement. She decided to be merciful and made it quick, feeling him flinch at the prick of the needle.

"That's it, private", Lizzie said grinningly. "All done. I'm afraid I don't have any candy with me, but you were very brave."

That was mean, she knew it, but there was no way she could have bit back this last comment that earned her a disgruntled look from Malarkey and a chuckle from the medic who would come next. Malarkey pulled up his pants and hopped off the table without a goodbye, probably anxious to get as far away from her as possible.

"Next", she called and watched the medic sit down on the examination table. He was very young, with dark hair and brown, soulful eyes. And he was rather good-looking, she decided for herself, the way she could appreciate a beautiful picture. Her heart, however, had never been more firmly in the possession of another paratrooper.

"Name?", she asked, clipboard in her hand.

"Eugene Roe", he answered quietly and already rolled up his sleeve, while she ticked off his name.

"You're not afraid of needles, I guess?", she asked him while she dabbed at his arm with the alcohol and watched him looking on curiously.

"No", he replied, giving her a small smile. "I think I'd make a bad medic if I were. Don't think it would be a good thing if my hand started shaking only at the sight of a needle."

"True", she agreed with a smile of her own and gave him the shot, while he followed all of her moves with the greatest attention. "It doesn't bear thinking about if someone had decided to make Private Malarkey a medic."

"Yeah, awful", he answered smilingly, then rolled down his sleeve again and gave her a an approving look. "How did you do that? It didn't hurt at all. Last time I got the chance to practice in basic medical training, the others complained about pain and soreness for days."

That question made her smile even more. This medic was a real sweetheart and he seemed very keen on learning more about medical training. There was hardly anything more valuable than a well trained and dedicated medic and she guessed that Easy company would soon enough be very grateful for his presence and commitment.

"Are you trying to wheedle my professional secrets out of me?", she asked with a wink.

"Yeah, I am", he replied, somewhere between charming and bashful.

"There's just one trick to it", she answered readily. "Or maybe two tricks. First and most important is to slip in the needle quickly. Most beginners hesitate and as soon as you inject the needle slowly, it starts to hurt. Quick, steady, but not with too much force. It takes a few times to get the knack of it. Then second you need to get your patient to relax. As soon as they're tensing up, it starts hurting and there can even be some subcutaneous bleeding."

"Okay, thanks", he answered with a grateful nod and got up from the table. "I'll remember that."

"Tell me if you need more practice, it's the two Ranger battalions' turn for vaccinations next week", she offered with another wink. "We're always glad for some help."

"I'd love to", Roe replied, turning somber. "But I'm sure my CO won't allow me to skip training."

"Yeah, pity", she said and gave him a supportive nod. "They would all profit from a more thorough medical training of their medics."

"I know", he just answered, suddenly tight-lipped.

"Take care, Eugene Roe", she said, giving him a last smile before he left the ward, then she focused on the next in line, her eyes coming to rest on Bill Guarnere.

"Hi Bill", she greeted him cheerfully and ticked off his name from her clipboard.

"Hey Lizzie", he replied glumly, sounding subdued and looking quite different from the swaggering soldier she had met a few weeks ago. His eyes were bloodshot and as he came closer to get on her table, she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"You were out partying last night?", she asked him with raised eyebrows and at the same time realized that he must have slipped away without permission, since it was during the week.

"Not really", he answered bleakly. "More like trying to forget the misery that is Easy company."

She immediately realized that Dick was not alone in his desolation and that these men were pretty much forced to bear the brunt of the decision to separate him from Easy. And from the look of it, she already knew one who would soon break under the strain of the situation.

"And trying to forget the treason of our former holier-than-thou leader", Bill added and his hackles rose with scorn.

Treason? Very slowly, a suspicion rose in Lizzie. Wait… did he really think that Dick had left them out of free will?

"Winters?", she asked carefully and saw Bill nod his head. She all but expected him to spit on the ground in contempt. Oh my, things were even worse than she had suspected.

"No offense to your nurse friend who has the hots for him, but for all I care he can go and die in a hole somewhere", Bill replied derisively and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt.

"How come you think he left out of free will?", Lizzie asked slowly while she dabbed his arm with alcohol. She needed to tread very carefully now if she wanted to be any help to Dick.

"Career, better pay, better station", he replied with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah", Lizzie answered, trying to make her voice sound light, and gave him the shot. "He's probably one of those guys who likes to sit at a desk all day by himself, instead of training with you. Maybe he loves writing reports and stuff, some people find these things very exciting."

This made Bill stop and think. Lizzie hold her breath while she tried to give him an innocent look and a shrug of her shoulders, as if she did not have a care in the world. Some people listened to the voice of reason when it was presented to them, others – and she guessed Bill to belong to these kind of people – just needed to figure it out for themselves before they really believed it.

"No", he finally said, frowning deeply to himself. "Winters isn't that kind of person. If I ever saw him show anything like scorn it was when our CO forced him to do company administrations. Winters hates desks and reports."

"Well, then Winters is quite stupid to have accepted an intelligence position", Lizzie replied easily and silently cheered to herself. At least she had succeeded in sowing doubt and maybe Bill would soon listen when anybody told him that Dick had not had any choice about his transfer.

"Wait…", Bill suddenly spoke, looking at her suspiciously. "How do you know he was transferred to intelligence?"

Shit, she had not thought about that. Greta had been wrong, it was not her temper that got her into trouble but her loose tongue.

"Well…", she started, fumbling for words. "Your medic… Roe… he told me about it."

That was the best excuse she could come up with on such short notice and she cringed internally at the disbelieving look Bill gave her.

"He did?", he asked again and raised his eyebrows. "Funny, because our Gene is usually quite tight-lipped when it comes to such matters."

"Yeah, well", she answered with a smile that she hoped was convincing, "medics and nurses get along quite well."

"I see", he just replied neutrally, got up from the table and left the ward.

Sighing, Lizzie shook her head and focused on the next in line, Carwood Lipton.

"Don't let yourself be pulled down by him", Lip told her instead of a greeting and motioned with his head to the retreating Bill. "The last two days he's been in a shitty mood. Doesn't do much more than drink and mope around. It's a miracle MP hasn't caught him yet on his drinking sprees."

"Yeah, I know someone else who's moping, too", she revealed quietly and gave Lip a meaningful glance. Although she had not known the sergeant all that long yet, she knew that she could completely trust him. And he had known about her feelings for Dick almost longer than she had known about them herself.

"So Winters didn't have any say in it?", Lip asked with a tiny sigh of relief. Lizzie could see that there had been no major doubts about it, but still certainty was more than welcome, as it seemed.

"No, they pretty much forced him", she replied.

"Yeah, that's what I thought", Lip said, while she administered the injection. "You have any idea when he's due for his next check-up here?"

"It's all planned already", Lizzie answered with a certain smugness and could not hold back a smile when she saw the disbelief on Lip's face. "In one hour, down this corridor, last door on the right. You'll be alone for about thirty minutes, but I think it should be enough."

"He planned this?", Lip asked incredulously.

"No, he doesn't know about it. Yet", she replied, flashing him a grin. "He thinks there's nothing anyone can do, but I'm not so sure about it. You should at least have the opportunity to talk to each other."

"Thanks, Lizzie", Lip said, then frowned. "But be careful, you're now a part of this, too."

"Sure", she answered lightly.

There were only three more soldiers in her line, then the vaccinations were done for the day. Lizzie went to wash her hands, before she stepped outside to treat herself to a much needed smoke. It was a rather mild November evening and she left her jacket open, lighting herself a cigarette. Turning her head, she suddenly noticed Bill sitting on the stairs of one of the side entrances and she walked over to him.

"Gene said you only talked about professional things, nothing about Winters", Bill pointed out when she sat down next to him, taking a deep drag from his own cigarette.

"My, you're distrustful", Lizzie answered, trying to make light of his rather open accusation about her lying.

"Rightly so, as it seems", he replied, flashing her a small grin that faintly reminded her of the Bill Guarnere she had met two weeks ago.

"Okay, look", she said, deciding to somehow regain his trust. "We're friends, Winters and I. He told me about his transfer, okay?"

"You're friends?", Bill asked doubtfully. "I think you're shitting me again, Lizzie. There's no nurse friend of yours, is there?"

There was not much she could do under his watchful gaze. Maybe she was even blushing a bit. A tiny little bit. Damn it, she never blushed! Maybe she was not only rubbing off on Dick, but he was rubbing off on her, too.

"No, there is no 'nurse friend' of mine, as you put it", she finally confessed. Bill gave a smirk at that and offered her a cigarette from his packet that she accepted.

"My, my, what a happy little romance you're having on this beautiful and scenic military base, just before going to war", he commented drily and the irony of it all suddenly struck Lizzie, too, making her snort.

"You can't tell anyone", she beseeched him, turning serious again. "It's much too early to tell anyone and I don't want him to get in trouble."

"As far as I know, you tried to make me see that he's in trouble already", Bill pointed out, giving her a long look. "You swear he didn't have a hand in his transfer? You swear he wanted to stay with Easy?"

"Yeah, I swear", she answered fervently. "He tried to talk his superiors out of it, but to no avail. He's pretty devastated. You have no idea how much this company means to him, he'd do anything to be back."

"Yeah, we'd be happy to have him back, too", he replied quietly. He stared off into distance, but Lizzie could see that he was much calmer than just moments before, somehow more at peace with himself.

"If you want to see Winters", Lizzie offered carefully. "Lipton is meeting him in fifteen minutes. In case you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself if he wanted the transfer."

After a short moment of silence, Bill nodded, "Yeah, I'll be there."

She gave him a short smile and got up to get back, when his voice halted her again.

"Lizzie, your secret is safe with me, I won't tell anyone."

"Thanks, Bill."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Lizzie waited by the entrance of the hospital, looking at her watch impatiently. Just moments before she had led Lip, Bill and Chuck Grant, who had been invited along, to the examination room she had chosen for their meeting. Luckily enough, Greta had asked no questions when Lizzie had requested that the actual examination would take place half an hour later than arranged.

Just as she wanted to check her watch again, she saw Dick drive up to the entrance in a jeep and stop right in front of her.

"You shouldn't drive by yourself yet", Lizzie rebuked him instead of a greeting, not being able to conquer the nurse in her despite the giddiness coursing through her veins at the sight of him.

"Hello to you, too", he just answered lightly and at least tried to look rueful, when he got out of the car. "Nix had no time to drive me."

The smile he gave her made her forget every other reprimand that might have been on her mind. He looked better, not as downcast and agitated as she had seen him two days ago. When he walked up to her it took every bit of willpower to not jump at him and kiss him. And judging from the way his Adam's apple bobbed when he looked at her, he might experience pretty much the same thoughts. They stood there for a moment, none of them really knowing what to do since they could not touch each other in plain view, before Lizzie motioned with her head for the entrance of the hospital.

"How have you been?", she finally asked, just to keep her pretty imaginative mind from thinking up all possible kinds of naughty scenarios.

"Quite well, I guess", he answered slowly and gave her a small smile. "I rested a lot. Came to terms with everything."

"That's good to hear", she replied cheerfully while they walked down the corridor and came to a halt before the door of the examination room. "Here we are. After you."

He gave her a puzzled look at the rather formal invitation and the big smile on her lips, his eyes narrowing suspiciously, before he opened the door and entered, Lizzie close on his heels.

"Sir", the three sergeants greeted Dick like one man, standing around the examination table in the middle of the room. Lizzie had to suppress a smile at the wide-eyed stare Dick gave them, surprise written all over his face. He finally managed to give them a tight nod in return, before he looked back to her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Could you explain this?", he asked her quietly and Lizzie was taken aback by his sudden coldness. It took a moment longer before she noticed that he was clenching his jaw tightly and she realized he did not like this surprise. At all.

"I thought you might want to talk about what happened", Lizzie replied, somewhere between defensive and disappointed because of his reaction.

"Sir, it's my doing", Lip readily stepped in to take the blame on himself as he seemed to notice Dick's displeasure, too. "I thought it'd be a good idea to talk to you. Lizzie just helped."

This was really sweet of Lip, but she had planned this secret meeting and she would certainly not let someone else take the brunt of it for her.

"That's not true, Dick", she said, his cold reaction hurting more than she wanted to admit to herself. "It was my plan. If you want to be angry with someone, you'll have to focus on me. Though I can't see why you're against this meeting."

"This here is the first step to mutiny", Dick replied lowly. "If someone from division gets to know about this, we're all going to get kicked out of the army. Maybe they'll put us in jail. Or worse."

"No one will get to know about it", Lizzie tried to appease him, watching the three sergeants bob their heads in agreement.

"Sir, I don't care about being kicked out of the army", Bill spoke up roughly. "You promised to be back and you broke that promise, that's why I'm here. We at least have the right to know the details."

"I'm sorry I won't be able to hold that promise", Dick replied, coming a few steps into the room and heaving a sigh. "It wasn't my idea, Sink ordered me to intelligence. I didn't have any choice."

"And we're stuck with Shames", Bill ground out, looking like he was about to kick something. "That's so fucking unfair."

Lizzie hated to see the sergeant this upset and felt she needed to give him some sort of comfort.

"At least Shames is only on a two-month trial period", she pointed out, sending ill a reassuring smile. "With some luck you'll be rid of him soon."

Nothing could have prepared her for the reaction that followed her words. At the same time as the three sergeants gasped in surprise, Dick gave her a long and hard look that made Lizzie suddenly feel very small. Oops. It looked like her tongue had ran away with her again. Damn it.

"Shames is only on a trial period?", Grant blurted out. "Why didn't they tell us?"

"Well, that's changing everything, then", Bill commented with a smirk. "I'll sabotage each and every one of his goddamn moves."

"Sir, you should've told us", Lip remarked pointedly and looked at Dick, accusation plainly written all over his face. "Don't you think we have a right to know?"

Dick, who had been eerily quiet, suddenly burst out, "You want to know why you weren't supposed to find out? Okay, I'll tell you the whole story! They didn't transfer me out of the company just like that, Sink pretty much accused me of fraternizing with the enlisted, with you! Sink has me on his radar because Sobel and Shames said something in that direction. And how do you think this will look right now, me talking to you secretly about how we can get rid of Shames?"

A stunned silence followed in which Lizzie hardly dared to breathe. Ok, she had really botched this one, because she had not thought it through. Dick's dismay about the meeting suddenly made much more sense. He had even told her about the allegations of fraternization, but she had not put the pieces together the right way. Oh god, she might have made everything even worse.

"And this isn't just about me", Dick continued more quietly, suddenly looking tired. "You'll be held responsible for this, too, and I don't want to see you get kicked out of the army. You're fine sergeants and you keep this all together. Think of the boys! You're NCO's, the boys are your responsibility, too. What would they do without you? And on top of it all, Lizzie is drawn into this as well. I didn't want that."

He gave her an agonized look that was quite hard to bear. After a few seconds she averted her gaze and looked down to her hands.

"There are worse things than being stuck with Shames", Dick carried on and gave each of them an intent look. "Second platoon can endure him, but should the three of you be discharged from the army, it'll be crushed. So please listen to me one last time: stop whatever you're about to do, right now."

After another moment of heavy silence, Lizzie watched Bill shake his head in denial.

"You want us to do nothing and watch that piece of shit destroy everything you built up?", he forced out through clenched teeth, eyes blazing.

The look of pain on Dick's face almost broke Lizzie's heart. It seemed to cost him everything to give a single nod and answer tonelessly, "Yes, exactly."

"Fine", Bill spat. "I won't do anything now, but I swear, as soon as the first bullets fly, I can't guarantee for anything. Accidents happen. I swear my first round won't kill any Kraut. See for yourself if it's better when Easy loses two officers on the very first day of combat."

Lizzie was shocked at the pure hatred in Bill's voice and she watched Dick drag a tired hand over his face.

"I didn't hear that, Bill", he said softly. "These words won't get you kicked out of the army, they'll put you up against the wall for that. That's plain murder."

Bill, who had been staring at Dick heatedly, gave a snort of contempt, but finally averted his gaze to look to the ground.

"That's it then, sir?", Grant asked desolately into the heavy silence. "Just endure?"

"Yeah", Dick answered quietly. "What Lizzie said is true, Shames is on a two-months trial period. With some luck he'll botch that one all by himself, without you doing something stupid. As much as I heard, Horton dislikes him, so maybe you'll soon get someone else. Someone better."

"Yeah, and they lived happily ever after somewhere in fucking fairyland", Bill commented nastily. "We'll be made responsible for his blundering anyway, no matter if we actually do something or not."

Dick just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, that's it then", Lip said and sighed. "I'll respect your advice, sir."

"Thanks, Carwood", Dick replied, giving him a sad smile. "You all take care of the boys, right?"

"Will do, sir", Grant answered quietly.

Lizzie watched the three sergeants leave the room silently. As she made a move to follow them, Dick held her back, "Lizzie, can I have a word with you, please?"

Swallowing heavily, she turned back, seeing Lip giving her a small smile of reassurance. She stoically waited until the door was closed, then turned back to Dick.

"Don't do anything like that ever again", he told her gravely, looking at her intently. "I know you meant well, but you can't just plan such a thing behind my back."

"Yeah, I see that now", she replied meekly. Knowing that she might have made everything worse instead of helping him was lying heavily on her conscience. "It's just that it's so difficult to watch everything that matters to you crumble to dust, I thought there was something I could do to help."

"This is my struggle and my problem", he answered fiercely, before his eyes turned softer. "I don't want to see you get hurt because of me."

Somehow that last comment, although meant as some sort of reconciliation, woke her own sleeping temper.

"Look, I can respect that you don't want me to meddle in your affairs", she replied briskly, "but then in turn I expect you to let it be my problem when, where and why I risk myself. I'm no child, Dick, no need to get protective."

"Then stop behaving like a child", Dick retorted. "This is no game, Lizzie."

"Oh no, don't you dare giving me the Don't-you-know-we're-at-war-lecture", she hissed, feeling anger rising in her. "I fucking lost my brother in this war two weeks ago!"

Before Dick could reply, the door opened and Greta walked in. The doctor gave them both a long look, then shook her head and asked long-sufferingly, "Do you know how awkward it is, seeing you arguing all the time? Can't you just discuss the weather or something?"

Fuming, Lizzie decided she had had enough and left, slamming the door behind her. What she would not have expected was Lip and Grant waiting for her outside, watching her stomp out of the room with big eyes.

"I need a smoke", was the only thing she said in response to the questioning look the two sergeants gave her and they took one of the side entrances to get out of the hospital. Still angry, Lizzie accepted a cigarette from Grant, trying to blow out her whole frustration with the smoke.

"Sometimes he can be such a condescending, self-righteous ass", she ground out when none of the other two made a move to break the silence.

Maybe it was just the petulant way she had said it, but despite their tense situation the two sergeants suddenly started chuckling.

"He is", Grant agreed smilingly. "I think he was born this way. Doesn't make it any easier to bear that he's right most of the times."

The comment made Lizzie snort.

"Yeah, that's the most insufferable combination, self-righteous and being right all the time", she replied, making the others chuckle again.

"He gave you hell?", Lip asked with a crooked smile.

"Yeah", she admitted with a sigh. "And was probably right to reproach me, too. It was stupid of me to think I could help."

"Don't say that", Lip told her. "You risked yourself selflessly, I won't forget that."

"Thanks, Carwood", she replied smilingly. "But that's exactly what he couldn't appreciate at all."

"He cares for you a lot", Lip said warmly as a kind of explanation.

"As he does for you and Easy company", Lizzie answered in turn and watched them grow somber. Her anger at Dick had dissipated as quickly as it had come and she made a mental note to make up with him as soon as possible. Until then she was stuck with the realization that her plan had backfired completely.

"Where's Bill?", she asked them quietly.

"Went back to the barracks", Grant answered with a wince. "I hope he'll cool down soon."

"I guess it's your doing that he came at all tonight?", Lip asked her with raised eyebrows.

"I talked to him", Lizzie replied and shrugged her shoulders. "Told him the transfer wasn't Winters' fault. Hopefully he'll believe it now, despite everything."

"He will", Lip said with certainty. "He's angry and disappointed, but I think he'll listen to what Winters said. After all he's not totally immune against the voice of reason that's always right."

Lizzie smiled at that. This day had shown her above all how very close these soldiers were to each other and how deeply they respected Dick in their middle. Only now she could fully grasp the gap that he would leave in Easy company. And only now she realized how hard it must have been for Dick to accept that there was nothing he could do to change circumstances without destroying even more of their team spirit. It took a real leader to comprehend that.

"So you'll listen and won't do anything?", Lizzie asked quietly.

"We won't do anything", Lip replied with conviction. "It usually pays out to listen to Winters. I still hope he'll eventually be back with us."

"So do I", she agreed, taking another drag from her cigarette.

-tbc-