I'm very sorry this update took so long. Thank you all for being patient!
My most heartfelt thanks goes to my wonderful reviewers: beth-rodrigues.77 (So happy to hear you still love Dick and Lizzie, there will be more of them in this chapter. And yes, there will be definitely happier days to come for Dick and Easy, I promise. Thanks so much for your support!), ScarletLeon (Hehe, yeah, the Quaker joke, I just had to write that one in somehow... :-) And I'm so happy you liked "Valkyrie"! :-))) There's some Dizzie tension for you to come in this chapter! :-))) Thanks for your wonderful review!), Crazyforkasey (Welcome to the story and thanks for your review! Glad you love and I hope I'll finally be getting there to write them in the war theater. Just hang on!), Jayden (Hehe, so glad you liked Nix in the last chapter, he'll be in this chapter, too. Thanks so much for your steadfast reviews, they always make my day!), ChocAndSnow19 (Hehe, so happy you loved Nix's ribbing in the last chapter, he's also fun for me to write. :-)) I think it's very cool you think that Dick and Lizzie are made for each other. :-))) Makes me all happy and fuzzy. :-))), Semaphore (Welcome to the story and many thanks for your detailed reviews! I really enjoyed them and I hope you'll be reading (and hopefully enjoying!) the rest of the story, too!).
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The rifle was heavier in her hands than it looked. Lizzie studied the weapon apprehensively, feeling more than ever that she had made the right decision by becoming a nurse and therefore positioning herself on the side that healed wounds, not inflicted them.
"Feels good, huh?", Guarnere drawled beside her and gave her one of his toothy grins. Captain Teller had paired them together for the shooting practice, for which she was glad since she really liked the sergeant. At least when he was not in one of his dark moods and threatened to shoot his platoon leader.
"Well", Lizzie answered slowly. "I'm not sure. I've never held a gun before. I'm actually one of those people who feels much safer when they are stored far away from me."
"We're at war", Guarnere answered, slightly incredulous. "You won't win a war by chatting the enemy out of capturing new territory."
"I know that", she replied, irked by him treating her like a school girl. "But wars usually end by chatting the enemy out of continuing his killing and invasion of foreign territory. Ever heard of capitulations?"
Guarnere answered by spitting on the ground.
"Krauts are different", he clarified harshly. "They won't stop their killing until every last of them is dead."
"Most of them got families, too", Lizzie answered carefully. "Many of them probably won't be so eager to let themselves be killed for a lost cause, but want to return to their…"
Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by an imperious voice.
"Was I somehow unclear in my instructions?", Shames barged in, appearing out of nowhere. "Sergeant, you're supposed to teach her the basics of shooting a weapon, not discuss the culture of the Krauts or the finesse of diplomacy. We've got people much more able to discuss these matters than nurses and sergeants."
"Sir", Guarnere answered through clenched teeth.
"No need to get offensive, lieutenant", Lizzie replied coolly. "Sergeant Guarnere was just about to explain me the handling."
"'Just about' is not soon enough", Shames barked and turned to Guarnere. "Your deliberate insubordination has to stop, right now. We talked about this before, sergeant, and I won't tolerate it anymore."
"I wasn't being insubordinate, sir", Guarnere replied with blazing eyes. Lizzie thought she heard an undertone of desperation in his voice. "We were about to…"
"Shut up!", the lieutenant roared, the volume of his voice making Lizzie flinch. "I warned you if there was one more transgression, I'd bust you back to private. My patience is ending here and now!"
"He didn't do anything!", Lizzie intervened sharply. "It was me who started the discussion, it wasn't his fault!"
But Shames just ignored her and advanced on Guarnere, pushing him backwards with flat hands. After the third push, the sergeant planted his feet to the ground and in turn shoved his platoon leader back from him, his face a mask of anger. Lizzie knew that the situation was close to boiling over. Just one more provocation from Shames' part and Guarnere would fly at his throat. She looked around anxiously, but although the other pairings around them had stopped in their instructions, no one made a move to intervene. Neither Lipton nor Captain Teller was anywhere in sight.
"This is the last straw, Guarnere", Shames growled. "You piece of shit don't belong in this company. You hand in your sergeant's stripes right now and get the fuck out of my face."
"Yeah?", Guarnere replied venomously. "Go fuck yourself! You're not my CO, you can't make me."
Shames narrowed his eyes even more, a vein throbbing dangerously in his throat, then he suddenly spit the sergeant in the face. Lizzie, watching everything out of wide eyes, was too shocked to move for a moment. But luckily enough, she recovered more quickly than Guarnere. She had to act now or it would be too late. Just as the sergeant tensed up to retaliate, she did the only thing she could think of to stop them: she aimed the gun she carried upwards and pulled the trigger. The resounding bang was loud enough to deafen her while the unexpected recoil almost ripped the weapon from her hand. She could hold onto it in the last moment.
At least her desperate move had the desired effect, since both Shames and Guarnere had stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her, thunderstruck. While Lizzie still recovered from the ringing in her ears, Captain Teller came running over the field towards them.
"What happened?", he gasped out, breathing hard and giving them all an intent look. "I told you you're not supposed to shoot yet, we're still setting up the targets. Is anyone hurt?"
"I… I don't know what happened, sir", Lizzie replied timidly, in her best imitation of a babe in the woods. "The gun just went off… I was so scared…"
The captain gave her a long look and she batted her eyelashes at him for good measure. She thought about sniffling a bit as if close to tears, but that might have overdone it. Captain Teller sighed, then looked away from her, buying her little show or at least deciding not to comment on it.
"No one's hurt?", he asked again into the round.
"No, sir", Shames replied, frowning deeply. "The shot went up in the air." Then he added scathingly, "This is probably why there aren't any women in the fighting units."
Lizzie narrowed her eyes at him and the derision in his voice, but was wise enough to keep her mouth shut.
"No, Lieutenant Shames", Captain Teller disagreed. "This is why we decided to let them have proper shooting training. They don't know better right now, but they should after they've completed this training."
"Yes, sir", Shames replied through clenched teeth.
"Would you come with me for a moment, lieutenant?", Teller asked Shames. "I'd like to hear your advice on the targets." Then he turned to Guarnes, "Sergeant, carry on, but be careful, alright?"
While Guarnere nodded in response, Lizzie did not miss the heated gaze that Shames sent the sergeant, probably telling him that this was not over yet. Then the captain and the lieutenant walked away.
"Jeez, Lizzie, I didn't know you're such a hazard with a gun", Guarnere told her, obviously already over his anger, and gave her a lopsided grin. "You've got to be more careful, girl."
Lizzie gave him a long look and raised her eyebrows.
"Didn't know my act was so convincing, I could probably make a career on the stage", she told him in a low voice full of sarcasm. "I was saving your ass, you moron."
His eyes widened at that.
"You did it on purpose?", he asked her incredulously, but at least remembered to keep his voice down.
"I'm not so stupid that I wouldn't know what happened if I pulled the trigger", she replied, shaking her head at him. "You got to be more careful, Bill. You realize that fighting with your superior will get you kicked out of the army?"
His wide-eyed stare instantly turned petulant.
"He's an asshole and would've deserved a whacking", he murmured with narrowed eyes. "He spat at me!"
"I know he's an asshole, but Winters told you to do nothing", Lizzie replied fiercely. "This isn't helping."
"Winters isn't here", he grumbled.
"That's obvious, isn't it?", she answered sarcastically. "Don't let yourself be provoked by Shames."
"You saw him!", Guarnere replied heatedly. "He hates me and he won't stop his badgering until I'm gone from Easy company. There's nothing I can do!"
There was definitely a good portion of desperation in his voice, Lizzie noticed. She felt sorry for him, because she saw that this newest confrontation had really not been his fault.
"I know, Bill", she said sympathetically. "You're in a really shitty situation, I can see that. Try and hold on a bit longer, alright?"
"How much longer?", he asked, sending her a pained smile.
"I don't know. Hopefully not too long."
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Lizzie got out of the car and slowly walked to the Barnes' house. Her muscles were sore from running up that hill yesterday, before the ill-gone shooting practice. Groaning a bit, she dragged herself up the short flight of stairs and knocked on the door. No one answered. She looked at her watch and realized that she was more than twenty minutes early. Still, she had expected Dick to be there, since she knew he had the day off. She had been rather anxious to tell him about shooting practice and the clash between Shames and Guarnere yesterday. They had not seen each other in the last two days because either he or she had been too busy for a date.
Sitting down on the stairs, she lit herself a cigarette and waited.
"I know you'll be the death of me next time I have to run that hill", she murmured to her half-smoked cigarette and then, with a sigh, stubbed it out.
"Didn't know you had a penchant for talking to inanimate objects", a familiar voice remarked drily and when she looked up, she saw Dick leaning against the rail at the bottom of the stairs. The weak November sun was setting his hair on fire and a brilliant smile decorated his face. It was so infectious that she immediately found herself smiling back at him. That was, until she noticed the PT gear he wore and the sweat on his forehead.
"What, please tell me, are you doing?", she asked him sternly, getting up and giving him her best disapproving nurse scowl. However, she must have overused it during his time in hospital, because it had no effect on him at all. If anything, his smile grew even wider.
"I'll give you a hint", he replied with a grin playing at the corners of his mouth while he stretched his legs. "It's neither skiing nor swimming."
Oh no, smartass replies would get him nowhere when she was displeased with him.
"It's also neither resting nor taking it easy", she replied with narrowed eyes. "Which is funny, because that's what you should still be doing."
"Come on, Lizzie", he said, trying to look chastised but not really succeeding. "It's been… what?... six weeks? I got to get back in shape. And it feels really good to be doing something again."
She harrumphed, half disgruntled at him for not listening to her, half unbelieving that he could actually enjoy the running around.
"Five weeks. And am I right that this is not your first training?", she asked with pursed lips and saw her suspicion confirmed when he looked away sheepishly.
"My third training", he admitted reluctantly. "But I am taking it easy, only light running for twenty minutes, no sit-ups or the likes."
Running for twenty minutes? Okay, that had been her training yesterday and she had felt pretty beat-up after that.
"You still got the stitches in your side", she reminded him, but already knew that her cautioning was futile.
"Only the ones Dr. Coombs had to put in anew", he replied, giving her a small smile and slowly walking up the stairs towards her. "And they'll be out in an hour or two anyway."
He had reached her on top of the stairs and her nose was suddenly filled with the musky scent of his sweat. Strangely enough, the smell was not at all an insult for her nose, but it was rather enticing, making her heart beat a little faster in her chest. Swallowing hard, she looked up at him, now dangerously close to her, and saw his eyes twinkle playfully. Oh damn it, he knew exactly what effect he had on her.
"Am I getting no kiss?", he whispered lowly in her ear. A shiver ran down her spine and before she just gave in and threw herself at his lips, she remembered she was still supposed to be mad at him.
"No, no kiss", she replied adamantly, tearing herself forcefully away from him and his seductive little games. "I'm displeased and you stink. Go shower first."
It was a lie and he knew it as well she did. When she smiled at him to soften the blow of her words, he just chuckled, then let her into the house while he went for a shower. By the time he returned she was more than eager to catch up on the kissing part, they had not seen each other often enough lately. His hair was still slightly wet when he came closer and the smile on his lips made her all bubbly inside. However, when she leant in for a kiss, he deliberately turned away, making a show of looking for his jacket. She pursed her mouth, because she could clearly see the teasing sparkle in his eyes and the barely suppressed grin on his lips. Okay, he was obviously in a mischievous mood today, making her understand that two could play the game of refusing kisses. Oh, but he did not know yet that she was totally out of his league when it came to struggles of will, she always got her way!
"Are you coming?", Dick asked her lightly, jacket in hand and standing beside the door that led downstairs.
She just stood there and shook her head. It made him grin openly.
"You realize you're pouting?", he asked her, chuckling to himself.
She nodded her head once. Yes. This time he laughed out loud.
"You look adorable when you pout", he told her with sparkling eyes. "I could look at you all day with your lips pursed so prettily."
Damn it, now she had to smile. But she still refused to move, so he came closer and finally bent down to kiss her. God, it felt good! She was still amazed at how soft and at the same time exciting his lips felt on hers, she was sure she could never get enough of it. When kissing her, he shed all his guardedness and tenseness that he was so used to display on a daily base and just opened up to her completely. It stole her breath away. Her heart seemed to have multiplied tenfold, pulsating in every part of her body. Desire rushed through her at the touch of his hands on her body and made thinking quite difficult, almost impossible. They were alone in the house right now, maybe they could just...
She was about to suggest to him (hoping she had still control over her voice) that they took everything to the next level, when he broke away from her. The loss she felt at that was almost bodily painful and left her panting softly. Looking up, she could see that his eyes were hooded and that he was breathing quite heavily. Still, he had broken the kiss, not her. And it was not for the first time he had done so, she noticed, starting to feel irked. Every time things got heated between them, he pulled away from her. She suspected it had something to do with their very first kiss when he had gotten a little overexcited. He was probably still beating himself up over that, although she had made it clear that there was nothing to be sorry about. Either that or he was getting timid when things were becoming physical. However, she heavily doubted the latter, judging from the way he kissed her.
"I... I think it's getting late, we can't keep Dr. Coombs waiting", Dick said in a slightly raspy voice, clearing his throat and taking a step away from her towards the door.
"Yeah, bless you and your rationality", she muttered sarcastically under her breath.
"What was that?", he asked her with one eyebrow raised questioningly.
"Nothing, let's go", she just answered.
They walked downstairs in silence and stepped out of the house. As they walked to the car, Nixon arrived in his jeep and hopped out. Lighting himself a cigarette, he walked over to them.
"Hello there", he greeted them with a grin, but Lizzie thought she noticed an air of rather unusual seriousness about him. "Good that I catch you, Dick, there's some news you need to hear."
No jokes, no bawdy hints at seeing her and Dick together coming out of an empty house. Lizzie was impressed.
"Yeah? What's the matter?", Dick asked, a frown coming to rest on his brow that made him instantly look ten years older.
Nixon's eyes flickered to her and Lizzie felt herself bristle.
"No, no, no, I've had enough of being kept in the dark!", she protested before one of them even had the chance to send her away.
"It's alright, Nix, she'll probably have it prized out of me anyway by the end of the day", Dick replied in a voice that sounded slightly resigned.
"Alright", his friend answered. "Sobel made Bill Guarnere hand in his stripes today. Says it was because of an incident with Shames yesterday."
Lizzie felt her insides going cold. It could not be!
"What?", Dick asked unbelievingly. "Why?"
"I didn't get the whole story", Nix replied, flicking away the stub of his cigarette. "There was an argument of some kind..."
"It's my fault", Lizzie stammered breathlessly. The two men looked at her as if she had grown a second head. "Bill was paired with me for shooting practice yesterday. I... well, we didn't start right away and I stroke a conversation about guns and war in general... Shames caught us and barked at Bill that he had been deliberately subordinate and they almost got into a fight right then and there."
"Why didn't you tell me?", Dick asked her, giving her a look of reproach.
"I was about to", she answered almost desperately. "I... somehow didn't get around to it yet."
He paused at the meaningful look she gave him and she was sure she could see Nixon raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eyes. Luckily enough, he did not start speculating about the reasons that had prevented her from telling Dick about the incident.
"So you were the damsel turned cowboy that shot in the air?", Nixon asked her with a wry grin. "They're already spreading stories about the hazardous pairing of women and guns on the base."
While Dick looked flabbergasted from Lizzie to Nix and back again, she answered slightly miffed, "It was the only thing I could think of to stop them from going at each other's throat. Seems like I've done the wrong thing again if it didn't save Bill from getting busted back to private. I should've hold back, then at least he could've thrashed Shames. Would've been a great satisfaction to Bill and me."
"No", Dick intervened with a deep frown. "You've done the right thing to stop them or Guarnere would've been kicked out of the army." He stopped, then looked at Nixon, "He's still in the army, right?"
"Yes, and he's at the moment still in Easy company", Nixon replied. "But I heard some talk that he's thinking about quitting."
Lizzie could see Dick scowling deeply at that. In whatever playful mood he had been before this news, it was certainly gone now and probably would not come back today, she realized with a mental sigh. In the short time she had known him, she had already found out that he took his brooding very seriously.
In silence Lizzie and Dick got in the car and drove to the hospital.
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Evening of the next day found Dick in the crammed mess hall on the base.
"Damn it, the cook has oversalted the soup again", Harry complained and made a face that remembered Dick of a child being told to eat up his spinach. "Why is every damn thing rationed here in England but the mess cook can still use as much salt as he pleases? Something's wrong here."
Dick saw Nix giving him a small smile over the table at Harry's rant and he minutely shook his head in amusement. Of course Harry was right, the food in the mess hall was awful. Dick found it right now even more awful after he had got used to the tasty meals of Mrs. Barnes. But on the other hand, eating together with his friends on the base again made him feel like everything was returning back to normal. Well, at least as normal as possible despite the fact that he could see the Easy boys from where he sat and knowing at the same time that he had no more ties to them. Heffron was in a heated discussion with Muck, Luz was stealing food from Heffron's plate when the other was too preoccupied to notice and Perconte was waving his fork around in an imitation of a gun maneuver.
A smile crept on Dick's lips at the sight and he hid it behind a spoonful of salty soup. It was only in such moments that he remembered how young they all were, some of them not even twenty years old. When in maneuvers, he had hardly ever noticed their age, but now that he saw them all together like this he noticed that they were barely more than kids. They had their lives before them, he fervently hoped all of them would survive this war with mind and body intact. At the same time he knew that such hopes were futile. When they went to war, there would be losses. It was pure math.
"... wouldn't you say, Dick?", Nix asked him, jolting him out of his reverie.
"I'm sorry, I didn't listen", Dick replied, tearing his gaze from the Easy men and focusing on his two friends. "What did you say?"
"I said that European girls are much more frigid than American girls", Nix repeated in a tone as if he discussed the newest type of tank. "This London girl I dated was alright, but then I always had the feeling I was chipping at an ice block. If she even has a heart, it would probably take some dynamite to heat it up. American girls are much more warmhearted."
"Aw, come on!", Harry exclaimed indignantly. "Just because you screwed one stuck-up city bitch and didn't like it, you can't condemn them all. I tell you, Kitty is the most warmhearted person I ever met, alright? She's Irish and she's not as shallow as your lukewarm run-of-the-mill American gal."
"Dick, tell the leprechaun he's wrong", Nix said and made a pitying face towards Harry.
Dick snorted, then shook his head.
"Leave me out of that game, I'm certainly not getting involved in your crude comparisons", he replied with decision.
"Lizzie's honor is at stake", Nix told him gravely.
"Well, actually she's both American and European", Dick answered with faint amusement, then suddenly realized his friend had tricked him into the conversation and frowned. "Nix, I won't discuss Lizzie here."
"You just did", Harry reminded him with a wicked grin. "So how's it going with her? Has she... ah... seen your etchings yet?"
Dick bit his lip, both trying to keep himself from blushing in embarrassment and from getting annoyed at his friends. The result was some faint red cheeks and a killing glance at both Harry and Nix.
"I'm not talking about this", Dick declared with a scowl.
Harry chuckled in response.
"Ah, so she hasn't let you in yet", he surmised grinningly.
"Harry, shut it", Dick growled lowly. It did not matter that Harry was one of his closest friends, he really did not want to talk about Lizzie in this way. He knew how such conversations went and Dick had a hard time to keep himself from blushing when they talked in very intimate ways about women he did not even know, he certainly would not make Lizzie the object of their discussion.
Just as Harry opened his mouth to say something bawdy in reply, it was Nix who stopped him.
"Leave him be, Harry", Nix threw in grinningly. "What they have is fresh and innocent yet, it's fine if he doesn't want to talk about it."
"What Kitty and I have is fresh and innocent, too!", Harry protested. "It's not like we'd only do dirty things from morning to evening..."
He started a rant about what made his young love with Kitty special, but Dick found his mind withdrawing from the conversation and his gaze inadvertently roamed back to the Easy men. With relief he noted that neither Shames nor Sobel were anywhere to be seen. Instead his gaze found Bill Guarnere, who sat silently in front of his plate and held himself a bit apart from the others, not joining in in their conversations. The ex-sergeant suddenly looked up and caught his gaze. Dick gave him a small nod over the room and Guarnere minutely nodded back, before he concentrated again on the soup in front of him. Poor Bill, it must have been hard to hand in his stripes yesterday. Dick could still remember the day Bill had received them. After all, it had been Dick who had recommended Guarnere as sergeant...
"Lieutenant Winters, sir?", a familiar voice drew him out of his thoughts and when Dick looked up, he saw Lipton standing in front of his table. Dick felt himself starting to smile at the welcome view, before he caught on the lines of worry on Lipton's forehead.
"What is it, Lip?", he asked with slight alarm.
"Could you come outside with me for a minute, sir?", the sergeant asked quietly and Dick realized he wanted to talk to him in private. He was not sure if this heightened or lessened his alarm. After all, there were no more formal ties between them and he had no idea what Lipton wanted to tell him
"Excuse me for a moment", he told his friends, who looked on with bemusement, then followed Lipton out of the mess hall. It was getting dark already, the days becoming shorter and shorter.
"What is it?", he repeated after he was sure they were out of earshot of anyone else and lightly grabbed Lipton's arm to bring him to a halt.
The sergeant looked him into the eyes and drew his brow together with worry.
"Something happened to Lizzie."
-tbc-