Joe Liebgott's POV

I was running as fast as I could over the field and under the hills to not get shot. It was the first bit of our war, taking over this one small spot of land that the Krauts had their hands on. I had no problem getting in there, shooting at all of those Bastards and seeing them die. Then again, I doubted anyone in our Company had a problem with that. Well, all of the soldiers at least. I knew the Medics were still on the fence with the whole killing thing, but I didn't blame them. I would be too if I was a Medic, seeing all that blood and wondering if I would ever be clean.

I know I will never be clean. Not me.

It's already a freaking burden being out here as the Jew in our Company. I'm technically a Jew, thanks to my parents and then fleeing Austria. But I'm also a practicing Catholic too, praying day and night and knowing that God is there to watch over me. It still stung though, in more ways than one, that I was a Jew in this Company and that already got me in trouble on the ship. Me and my stubbornness and the need to be on top. I was already stubborn, too much for my own good. That's what my old man told me all the time, when I would come back from a fight over my heritage with a black eye or a crooked shoulder blade. It was a shame, I was used to it being from the streets of Frisco. But now, a young ass man in the army, I could never escape it. But none of the other Company members cared that I was Jewish, not now at least. All they cared about was that I was a good soldier and combat fighter, in this case I was. Sure I was beyond sore to Krauts; hating them beyond words. But none of them saw me as a shameful stain.

Not even Marley La Noux.

I hopped into a foxhole, dodging fire over my head as I crawled through to get to a machine gun. Her face was in my head, again. Over and over I saw her face and how it made me day less gloomy and more of a bright light. From the moment I saw her at Camp Toccoa, I saw that she was different. It wasn't that she was so pretty that it made my heart hurt to look at her. She was and still is pretty, beyond that to be fair. I like a girl with meat on her bones and a stern look about her. Marley can put any man in their place without breaking a sweat, not afraid to call you out on your own shit and then still look like a dame doing it.

But that wasn't it. What got me was the way she carried herself in front of the men. She didn't have one ounce of fear inside of her, as if she wore armor that was going to keep us away from her. She had a sunny disposition on her. Maybe it was the sun hitting her red hair in the right angle that made me think of summertime at the bay, or even those green eyes that reminded me of the trees in the park. I also like her hands, how they were both made to help the sick and injured, but to also use her Sign Language. I loved her hands, and I wanted to touch them every chance that I had. Slowly she was sinking under my skin.

And I was letting her.

I shot down one more Kraut that was getting close to killing another Company member as I was about to get under another main tent where their gun was. I felt the dirt hitting my skin as the bullet hit the ground, having me run faster. This was no place for her, for Marley. She was too good to be in some kind of war like this, where there was death knocking on every man's door. Marley should be home, back in America and away from here. I almost wanted to tell her that before we got on our separate planes for the invasion, asking her to leave the plane and find another way, any other way. Because the smallest thought of her dead from the jump, or even killed by a Kraut, that would haunt me forever.

Why was she doing this to me? Why was she on my mind constantly like a drug? I've met dames before, real pretty ones, and not one of them has held onto my attention as much as Marley did. The air of mystery around her and the sheer strength it took for her to be in this Company, to be so close to death but run towards it as a Medic, that's what drew me to her. She knew what she was doing, she was smart enough. Hell, she was a damn good nurse, not to mention a fierce friend. Doc was the closest to her, which made me jealous every once in awhile when they would speak French to one another and would hug in a way only true friends would. There was a small though in the back of my mind if she liked Doc, but it didn't seem right with the two of them. They acted more like siblings to one another: with fierce hugs and protectiveness for one another. This was all I knew: there is not one person in Easy Company that wouldn't take a bullet for her and protect her.

We all saw her as one of us, as a sister really in our band of brothers here in the war. She was smart, had a bit of a quirky mouth, confident in her knowledge of medicine, knew how to speak whether it was in French to English, and how she can put her foot down and hold her ground when it came to a fight and what she thought was right. I loved hearing her talk about her home, damn could she paint a picture with her words and have me see it in front of me, as if I was there. Marley was our moral compass in the company, I needed that.

I needed her.

"Let's kill those bastards!" I hear next to me as I grabbed the bullet line, seeing them fly over my hands as another soldier shot with the machine gun, having the ringing sound of the gun flood through my ears. Would she be out there at the moment, finding someone who screamed out for a medic? A part of me want to find her and protect her, make sure no Kraut was going to touch her and or make her bleed. One of my worst fears of this war was of her being dead, away from me. Cold, no longer warm and being able to give me her smile that could melt my own stubborn heart to the floor. The thought of me no longer being able to kiss her, feel her lips against my own, that killed me on the inside.

I never once regretted kissing her, since I saw her sitting in the chair after I made her long locks short. To be completely honest, I've been wanting to kiss her since the moment she gave me that snide comment about Army men being Easy: our first meeting in the mess hall at Camp Toccoa. She was so broken in front of me, thinking that she was not good enough for anyone of us in the company, not good enough for me. Bullshit. I was the one and still am, not good enough for her. Hell, I doubted in my mind for a split second that she would want to be with me after all of this is over. A Catholic with a Jew? It didn't seem right or fair. There were plenty of others guys out there who were beyond better than me when it came to being with her.

Would she even want to be with me? How she smiled at me compared to the others, when we were close enough to touch our fingers against the others fingers, she never pulled away. She even was glad to see me when I saw that the drunken bastard at the bar trying to fool around with her. That turned something inside of me, something strong and vile. To see another person, that was not me, touch her in such a way. No one should be touching her like that, it seemed like a sin. After that moment, I felt something for her, something deep and rooted that wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

"Malarky!" I heard over to my left, having me see Malarky run over to a dead German's body to find his brother's beloved Luger. This was a shitty way to fall for someone, in the middle of a war and having death so close to you. But who was I to fight it, really? Of all people in this Company, I had to be the one who would fall for a pretty face with a prettier mouth and a hot spirit. It was getting to the point that she was slowing morphing a siren for me, something I cannot escape nor do I want to. Marley was someone I would dare to even keep alive for the time after the war, where we would go to each other's home since we promised we would. As Malarky ran back to our group, not one bullet on him, I saw another person running along the grass over to a fallen soldier who was crying for help. This person was fast, too fast for a soldier with a gun in hand, since they had to weapon. I saw the red cross on their arm, having me freeze and see the one long strand of hair that was escaping from their helmet. It was her.

Marley. Running in line of fire.

I grabbed my rifle and fired for any of the living Krauts who was aiming for her. I shot at one when she pulled the man back into our foxhole. Another one who was aiming at her arm was gunned down before he could even pull the trigger. It brought me joy to both see her safe and see those Krauts dead before they could touch her. Protectiveness was seeping through me when it came to her since she hardly had any combat time. She could protect herself with her words, but with her fists, not so much. However, I wouldn't mind being her muscle. It was funny: a lanky Jewish kid from the bay getting feelings for a redheaded nurse from the Big Easy. It sounded so unreal to others, but it was fitting out fine for me. My God, I was falling for her hard.

Way to go, Liebgott: you had to like a girl when you are in the middle of a war and you could end up dead, and her as well. What was I going to do now? How was this going to work? Wait, why was I hoping this would work between us? What in the hell was wrong with me? Get it together, Liebgott, get through today and you came figure out what you'll do with Marley tomorrow. She would want that, not wanting my head in the clouds and forgetting why I was here. I was here to fight: to help win a war.

Nothing more or less.


Marley's POV

I walked over the pebbled stones of the town once more, having me breathe out from the battle that happened today. My hair was down and back in a french braid again, having my head breathe for once since it was hidden underneath a helmet all day long. I helped Doc with at least five soldiers who were injured, though we lost a few ourselves to the battle. It was a but successful for us, having me be engulfed in darkness and see the stars over us. Doc was off with some of the other medics, getting things together before we would move to the next town that was on the list. I wanted to find the boys and make sure they were okay, not being able to see most of them because of the battle when they were all running around and shooting the Germans. I thankfully wasn't hit, not once. Though I knew that my luck would run out sometime in the future, and this was merely the first taste of battle that we would have this war.

I saw a large combat vehicle with a cover over the back, the sound of men chatting in there was heard as I walked alongside it, having me hear the familiar voices of my men. But even before I could get close to opening the black flap of the vehicle, I heard a voice and the flap reopening, the voice sounding irritated.

"Jesus! Get me outta here!" I smirked at the voice, knowing whom it belong to since it was Joe who jumped off the vehicle in a huff. As soon as he landed on the graveled path, I walked over to him with my hands shoved in my pockets, seeing him looking a bit annoyed from something that happened in the vehicle as I saw him fish out a cigarette from his front jacket pocket.

"Damnit." He muttered, grabbed a box in his pants pocket and got out a matchbox, lighting the cigarette and taking a long drag out before I piped up.

"Have a rough night with the boys, Joe?" I asked him in a light tone, seeing him turn around and look at me with a small look of fascination. I smiled at him, finally being able to be with him at least once this whole day with the battle. His smoke escapes through his opened mouth though he said anything at first. A small smile was on his lips then, going back to his cocky self. Something about the both of us shifted ever since we reunited in the town, it made the both of us somehow need each other more and more.

"You know the guys, Marley. They're all rough around the edges." He replied in his cocky grin, having me hear a small laugh from him. I then saw him give me another stare, the stare of intensity as we we both alone in that small area of town, still next to the vehicle and having me hear another round of laughter from inside. He flicked his cigarette away from him, still long enough to be used another three times before it was done, having me wonder what he was about to do. I then felt Joe gently take my arm and pull me with him in a walk.

"Where are we going?" I asked him as he ushered me away gently, taking us down the street past a few house before he found an alleyway that was hidden in darkness. He pulled us in there, having me see only a sliver a light from the moon and I was about to ask him what was going on. But I was stopped, having me see him push me gently against a wall and lean in to give me a sweet kiss on the lips.

My mind was blank: this kiss was bolder than our first one back in England and I close my eyes within moments. I leaned my head back, hearing it hit the brick wall behind me gently as he kissed me again, one of his hands on my hip and the other on my neck to hold me there. I placed both of my hands on his arms to hold him there as my heart was bursting again. I sighed in the kiss as I kissed him back, hearing him intake a breath as our lips collided for a minute or two. They were soft kisses, nothing demanding or fierce. We weren't there yet. Hell, I didn't even know we were at a place together. But we must have been since he kissed me out in the open in England.

I pulled away from him, seeing him smile at me and look down with loving eyes at my own. I smiled back, not regretting that kiss once as I reached up to push his brown locks away from his forehead to see the beads of sweat there. He smelled like cigarettes, gunpowder, sweat and grass. But it suited him as I heard him speak for the first time since we kissed in the darkness.

"What in the hell…" I trailed off, still having my heads in the clouds from that one kiss.

"I've wanted to do that to ya since I saw you yesterday." He said to me in a sheepish tone, having me grin from ear to ear from hearing how vulnerable he sounded when he confessed that to me.

"You're not the only one." I admitted back to him. It was true: just seeing him alive after not seeing him for hours made me want to kiss him hard. I pulled him into me once more, hugging him close and feeling his rest his head against my own and breathing into my hair. I wrapped my arms around his back, drumming against his back and army jacket as I tried to calm down my own heart.

"I'm glad you made the jump, you had me worry for a moment there," Joe said against my red hair, having me grin against his shirt as we just held each other there, "I didn't know if a Kraut got to you.."

"And you don't think I thought the same?" I asked him, hearing him go quiet and his fingers in my hair stilled, "I was more worried about you, Joe."

"You don't have to be." He reassured me, but I shook my head in his embrace.

"But I'm choosing to. Because you're one of the closest men that I have here, and I don't want you to get hurt." I said to him in a hushed tone, having me see him pull away from me and give me a small smile on his face.

"You worry about me, now? Oh, come on, that's a true first." He said back in a cocky tone, having me smack him and the both of us laugh from the sheer playfulness we had with each other. I was loving this moment between us, having me see him in my arms and giving me love in a time of war. It seemed so morbid that we would do this in the middle of a grave time, but it almost seemed to make sense. I had Easy Company for certain, whom I knew loved me as a friend and comrade, I had Doc who saw me as his sister out here and would help me in any way he could. Now, I had Joe who saw me in such a way that I never knew would be possible. He framed my face in his long-fingered hands gently, having me feel the warmth compared to the chill of the night.

"Don't worry about me, Marley." He said to me in a serious tone, having me look back at him as if I wanted to start at fight, but Joe beat me to it, "I can handle myself with anything that's coming. You know I can."

"As can I," I said back to him, "I might be a nurse, but I can take care of myself." Joe raised his eyebrow at me, still framing my face in his hands.

"Yeah, when I'm not around to protect you." Joe commented to me, having me smirk at him and want to lean in to kiss me once more. But we heard shouting coming from the main road, having the both of us look. We were moving out again and we had to head back. This small moment I had with him was now broken as I sighed. Joe moved his hands from me, automatically making me miss his hold on me.

"Come on, we need to head back before Winters bites our heads off." Joe said to me as he quickly kissed me on the forehead before we both started to talk. I followed suit, holding his hand for a bit before we would go out into the open and I would have to let him go. We would have to keep what we are doing under the radar, since I doubted Winters would like two of his soldiers going at it in the middle of the war. I wouldn't like it if I was in his position, having me try to place my mind back onto what is important. That meant hiding from the rest of Easy Company too, though they were already convinced we were together.

"You know this means that you can't kiss me out in the open right?" I asked him as we were back out in the main road, the both of us now standing side by side, not touching each other and seeing our men by the vehicle and getting ready to move out. I looked over at Joe, seeing him smirk from his spot and having my inside go insane again.

"What a shame."