December 26th, 1943

Aldbourne, England

"Here we go, a small little token for you," I grinned at my fellow nurse, Diana, whom gave me a small wrapped parchment that was about the size of my hand now while we were sitting at the front desk and a little bit more snow falling over the little pub we were in down the street from the hospital. I was glad to get away with her and have some time away from the hospital and not talk about anything to do with the war, since most of the time now was practice and regular routines and rounds. To be honest, it was getting boring for me to even stay awake though I knew I was once of the higher ranked nurses there at that hospital and I had to be a good example for the new recruits that we would get every day.

"You didn't have to get me anything," I erased her as I started to open the parchment on the table between us. Diana was a sweet girl that came from Washington, young enough for me to soldier her as a younger sister but old enough to hold her own since she was a bit on the feisty side and very much an independent child from the Pacific Northwest. She was a breath of fresh air for me around the halls of the ward, being there just as long as I have been and already having the spunk and spitfire as someone's grandmother who had more wisdom within her years than anything. Everyone else would steer clear from her, but I didn't, she kept me on my toes.

"You kidding me? You've been saving my ass from getting in trouble plenty of times and I have to return the favor for you," Diana explained to me in a cocky manner now as I saw what was hidden in the parchment and chuckled. One thing that I loved about her and she was no even close to being afraid of showing, was nail polish, wearing them on the weekends or on days that she had off before she would even take them off because of the strict nurses code of uniform.

"You had to get me the blood red nail polish, didn't you?" I asked her, holding up the nail polish in my hand and seeing how dark red it was in the dim pub light.

"Either that one or the back one that I wore the other day, I didn't know which one would be complimenting ya," She said in a grin to me as I placed the nail polish back on the table now and I grinned widely at her.

"Way to be a true friend and give me a gift, Diana," I thanked her kindly and she waved me off.

"It was something I had to do since you gave me that new notepad for the nursing program, hat and have cost you a leg or two," She explained to me and I shrugged with my own shoulders.

"I had some money left over from my other gifts I got so I got you something I thought you would need," I tried to reason with her now as she then eyed me like she knew some kind of secret about me. I eyed her back, hearing her chuckled now as she then reached over to grab her coffee cup that was next to her hand.

"Don't act like I don't know what you got for that LIebgott boy yesterday," She explained to me and I was about to cut her off when she held her hand up to me, "I know I know, you're not one to really flaunt that whole thing about it."

"I was just paying him back of getting me something on Christmas Eve, since he got me that journal that seemed a bit on the expensive side," I explained to her kindly as I took my now sip from my coffee, giving me the eye that I think I would get from a teasing sibling of some sort.

"But does that explained how you got your hands on some Lucky Strikes and a new lighter for him, sounds like a great gift for a guy you claimed to be your friend. Let's be real honest here, one girl to another, you are swooned by him," She informed me now as I rolled my eyes at her now since that last thing I really do need is for her to find out about Joe and I. We both were still testing the waters with our relationship and how we wanted to proceed with it. I was still hoping that it would be something that I would not regret later in the future because of what was going on in the world. Joe and I knew that what we were doing with each other, that we were trying to take it slow and not making it a huge deal, which was all that I wanted.

"Admit it, 1st Lieutenant, you have it bad for the cocky kid from Easy Company," She said it like it was set in stone and ready a fact more than fiction or even a fairy tale. She was still grinning at me like a mischievous cat and I did not want to even give into what she was doing to me or was about to do to me. I was about to answer her back with something to squash the conversation when we heard the pub door open and we both looked over. Soldiers were piling in, all in their winter attire and laughing from some kind of joke that was said by one of them. I knew some of them ready, having em in wide now as they recognized me from the moment they saw me there against the window at the table.

"Hey there! it's Georgie! How's it going?"

"Heya Georgie!" I grinned at all of them, seeing the great faces of Easy Company and some from other companies too. They were all kind to me and some of the other nurses that I was friends with, Diana looking at the scene in awe as some of them moved over to the pub counter and others were sticking by me. I saw the faces of the comedian George Luz, tall and stature Bull, smooth talking, and scholarly man David Webster, and the kind-hearted Shifty.

"What brings you lot into the pub? Shouldn't you be running a drill or shooting a gun at a tree?" I asked them in a joking manner as I could hear others in the background ordering a beer or two. I couldn't help but look over though the men and pass them over to the bar, and I did see none other than Joe there talking to a couple of the other guys, grabbing a bottle of beer before briefly looking over at me with a big grin on his face. Dammit, he was going to make me plus beyond compare from that one smile he had against me.

"We need a beer, and what brings two of the finest from the nursing hospital over to have a drink here with this God Forsaken heathens?" George Luz asked the both of us in a mocking British accent, the group snickering at his remark now as Diana rolled her eyes at him with a smirk on her lips.

"You make us sounds like angels," She commented to him, and in return some of the guys raised their eyebrows at how bold she was and confident in her tone.

"Gentleman, this is my good friend Diana who hails from Washington," I explained to them all, seeing George grin at her and the others smiling and waving, "And sad to say, this is only coffee and not beer."

"Shame to hear, I would love to see you drink us all under the table," Johnny Martin said in a smooth tone now as Diana snorted next to me.

"I don't know about Georgiana here, but I think I can take any of you boys on." She said in a challenging manner now as I slipped up from my table while they were still talking to her about where she came for and what made her become a nurse. I moved away from the group, getting a few "Hey there" 's from the others that saw me walking away from them and over to the counter where Joe was alone, sitting on the stool and taking a long drink from his beer. I slipped onto the stool now, not saying anything now for a moment before Joe finally spoke up.

"Thanks again for my gift, never got to properly thank you last night when you gave it to me," he voiced to me, the smoothness of his voice rang between us as I smiled at him.

"It's fine," I replied, seeing him smirk and then look over at me with his lanky but handsome face and his brown hair falling in front of his face.

"Let me very clear, I did want to thank you another way other and shaking hands with ya," I blushed there, trying not to look at him since I knew we might have been under someone's radar then and Joe still smirking at me.

"And what would you have been, other than shaking my hand?" I asked him, almost carefully since it felt like I was walking on an ice lake and the tension of the ice was about to crack underneath me. Joe leaned over to me a bit now, our shoddier touching and I saw him turn his head a bit towards me like he was going to directly talk into my ear now and have no one else around us listen or hear.

"Kiss you into oblivion," I grinned almost innocently at how he said it. It wasn't brash or some kind of outburst, but gentle and sensual really since we heard a rousing chorus of laughter from the boys by the window and Joe immediately moved away from me now and we were just smiling next to each other like we were friends. We were friends, that much is, of course, certain, but it was not something else that developing.

"You doin' anything tonight?" He asked me now, having me think about ti for a moment or two about it.

"Finishing up paperwork at the hospital and then probably going back to my barracks…unless you want to have another rousing walk around the town again?" I asked him in suggestion.

"I would, but I'm on patrol night and Captain Sobel has been breathing down our necks and asses about us slacking off while we go on patrol." Joe explained to me in a grumble no, having me chuckle and was him give me a confused look.

"That explains some of the reasons why we have to speed up our walks from time to time," I said back to Joe, seeing him then eye me with a hint of annoyance. I had to grin at him, almost like I caught him and was about to tease him for all its worth.

"Admit it, you didn't want to be seen on the arm of a nurse and get the hot gossip about you," I said to him in a low but chuckling manner as he shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I didn't want to get ya in trouble," He tried to explain.

"What a chivalrous knight you are," I replied back like I was being swooned.

"Fine, don't believe me," He said in a low manner now, almost agitated as he looked ahead against and I got up from the stool and moved my hair away from my eyes now as I knew we had to go back to the hostile soon to start the paperwork. I was about to walk away from Joe now when he hopped out of his stool and stood next to me again, towering over me by mere inches now and then looking down at me with that hint of adoration that he would always share with me with our talks and conversations, and also when we would hold hands and stare at each other under the night sky when we knew we had the chance to play ti safe with one another.

"I wanna see you, tonight." He said to me under his breath.

"I thought you were on patrol?" I asked him now with a side smile on my face.

"Since when do I follow the rules?" he asked nonchalantly now as he shrugged his shoulders and the smirk was back on his own face. I saw some of his teeth in that smile, which was a rare commodity about him since from hearing from the other in his company, Joe was never really a likable kind of guy. He always had his guard up in all he did, from talking to others and from being a soldier in training, there was never one shred of pure joy he would show on his face that would be appropriate. I must have brought it out of him, which was odd to think about.

"Never, I guess," I replied back to him, seeing him still eye me with almost an alluring kind of stare that made me roll my eyes now and sigh, "You can come by the hostile tonight and see me, I'm gonna be there from 1900 to 2300."

"Perfect, that's when I'll be walkin' around and actin' like a soldier," He replied back to me, having me feel him then reach down between us without anyone else looking. I felt him touch our fingers together, a featherlight touch that sent a shiver down my spine now as I watched him with intrigue as to what he was doing.

"I'll be honest, this is as close to a kiss that I can give you," he admitted to me then, almost having me lose my breath now as our fingers were still touching and giving off such a spark that it was having me get dizzy in the head. It sounded romantic, I can admit to that. But it was another case of me trying to make sure that this was a good thing that was going to happen between us, not something we were going to be rushing into this. I only hoped that he was thinking the same thing, hoping for the same thing since I wanted this to be slow, slow and good.

December 22nd, 1944

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

After I woke up that morning, still getting used to the small cramped cot that I was forced into with my own room, I was being walked over to what would have to be the medical wing, the officer right behind me again and having me feel like he was about to breathe down my neck now and having me already shiver a bit in my jacket that felt like I was wearing thin already. I was already starving from what they were giving me, having em sit away from the other men in case they thought the other prisons were going to do something wrong to me. It was not the case since the others were pretty much moving away from me like I was some kind of disease.

"In here," The officer said to me now as I was about to open the door, but he beat me to it as he opened it for me within an instant. I felt a gush of warmth come through, but not enough to make me feel better as I walked down some kind of walkway now, the hollow concrete walls that were already making me think back to when I was training to be a nurse back in Washington D.C.. The one thing that made me remember, in a bad way really, was the stench.

The stench of death.

I was then placed into another room now, where I was instantly in shock from what I was seeing. There was the infamous operation table, the one they made me look at some days before to tell me about my ultimate, to heal the Germans on this table, or die by luger. But this time, someone was on the table.

A wounded soldier.

I was frozen solid when I heard the door closed behind me and the officer walking over to stand next to me now and watching my reaction as I was looking at the soldier there on the table and how he was wounded in the leg. I looked over at the wound now, already knowing that this was the first one I was going to have to try and save and the first one I was going to have to since I could die at any moment of hesitation now. The soldier on the table was gasping for air, but he didn't look like he had anything critical done to him as I slowly looked over to the officer now, his gun pointing right at me.

"Get to it, Fräulein." he said to me now, having me nod at him and then look back at the soldier now. He heard the officer talk to me now and he stared at me with wide eyes. I took a shaky breath and walked over to the table now, getting closer and closer with every step and then finding myself in front of him on the table now. I didn't know what to do, not at first now since he was looking at me like he was petrified to says emoting, anything to me now. I had to think of something to say to him if I was going to work on him, I doubted the officer would want me to take the longest time to help this man.

"I'm here to help you," I said to him now in a sincere manner with my German. He eyes me then, almost like he was less petrified and more curious since I was am American talking to him in German.

"Are you going to kill me?" He asked m in a worried manner, almost like a gasp as I sighed and shook my head. I knew what it meant to have bedside manner, I was taught to show kindness to the patience to the patient whether they were going to live or not. But this time, I knew my own ass was on the line so I had to play the nursing part once again.

"I'm here to help heal your leg," I explained to him calmly, watching him breathe in and out now and trying to drink in that I was an ally, not the enemy. I sighed and walked over to the leg now, seeing the wound there and how it looked like it needed some kind of stitching there. I looked behind me at the officer now in hopes that we would where I was going to find the needle and threading to get this done.

"Where are the supplies?" I asked him politely, seeing him hesitate there now as if he had no idea I was going toadies him here in the process. The soldier looked at the officer now in order to know what was going on.

"Supplies?" The officer asked, almost dumbfounded now and I wanted to really yell at him at the moment now since if I didn't treat his leg within a few moment he could very well lose it.

"I need to have supplies to heal him, not just with my hands," I explained to him, trying to watch my tone now since he was still pointing the gun right at me chest now and he then gestured with his head, his eyes never leaving me, over to where the shelf and cabinets that were against the wall. I walked over to the cabinet and threw it on, looking to see what I could use for his foot and trying to find the right tool. There were a few things here and there. and they desperately need some more gauze and tape to help with any healing processes that are going to be happening in the future. I grabbed the small first aid kit that I knew would have some kind of stitching material there and walked back over to the table, placing it on the open area that was not occupied by the wounded soldier. As I opened the box, I heard the gun cock behind me to show that I was still being watched and observed by the officer. He was going to shoot me if I should one ounce of boldness or one ounce of hesitance on this man.

I had to be a nurse now, even it meant it was going to be used on the enemy.

"I need you to hold still and breathe, it will sting a bit," I reassured him now as I got the need ready with the thread I was going to use on his leg. He watched with worry there on his face now as I was about to inject the needle into the skin, breathing out slowly and trying to remember that I have to do this slowly and carefully. His wound didn't look too deep, but deep enough for an injection, and if not treated then an amputation.

He grunted out in pain now as I was threading his leg back up, the officer behind me shifting a but now as I felt like I was about to be sick from all that was happening within that room. My life was hanging on the pure notion that his leg must be saved, and one false move could end my life and all that I wanted for it. He almost screamed out in pain now as the officer was about to point his gun right at my head and I threw up my hand to stop him. He stopped, not moving an inch now as I found my voice again.

"I need morphine to dull the pain," I said to him calmly looking at the wound now and seeing that this was going to hurt real and for him on the table.

"We don't have morphine," He replied from behind me.

"Shit," I said under my breath. If he was going to make this kind of noise while I was working, then the officer would think I was trying to kill him then and there and that would be dangerous for me since the officer would then think I was harming him, and in return would get me killed. I had to keep going to make sure his leg was going to make whether or not he had morphine. I wondered if they did this on purpose for me, to have me feel the suffering of seeing another person in pain under my hands, wanting to make it hard for me to work for them. Was this some kind of test? If it was, it was really going to push me.

I had to go on.

I walked out of the media ward and though the snow again, after feeling the blood still on my hands and the sleeves of my jackets. it was still snowing then, getting heavier by the minute now as I was trying to breathe in and out from what I just did within those walls for the past hour or so. It was still so cold that I was shuttering with my jacket and pants. But as I was walking to the ward I was saying in, I couldn't be able to breathe enamor because something was about to come over me and make me sick. I fell to my knees and over to the fence where I started to vomit. It was all hitting me all over like I was drowning underwater and with no air to help me and save me. I was so sure that I knew what I was doing, but I was wrong.

Once I finished, I was getting back up from the ground from my knees and I breathed in heavily again, trying to contain all that I thought I lost now as I placed my hands on the fence there in hopes of holding me up. I had to fight in order to stay alive, even with shitty tools and mediocre excuses to help the ones they are giving me. I knew they were also going to try and break me, but I had to carry on.

I had to survive this.