Thank you so much for the reviews! I appreciate them so much - keep them coming!

My husband will be away on a trip this weekend, so I hope to write a bunch in the quiet time to come!

May 1943

Spring seemed to warm into summer as if overnight. Although the hot Georgian sun wasn't exactly a welcome addition - especially during their time on Currahee - with the change in climate came jump training.

After several weeks of classroom and practice training into a hay mattress, the soldiers were left on their own as the officers went up in the planes to complete their real jumps. Their tests would begin tomorrow.

"A flock of geese in the parachute," said Perconte.

"Nah, sun right in the eyes. Can't see the ground and hits too hard," added Malarkey.

Liebgott shook his head. "You fellas got it all wrong. It's gonna be the chute strings. Right around the neck."

Luz snorted. "You guys are thinking too hard. It's gonna be simple." He waited a beat. "Propeller blades."

The men roared with laughter as Evelyn walked up to them in the barracks, sitting down next to Luz. "You guys are going to jump fine tomorrow. Quit dreaming up ways you could fail."

Malarkey chuckled and shook his head. "Not us we're dreamin' about, Evie."

Perconte nodded, agreeing. "We're thinking about ways Sobel could."

Liebgott raised an eyebrow. "Or accidentally on purpose get killed."

She laughed loudly at that for a moment before realizing they were all looking at her in wonder. "What? It was funny. Just because Liebgott was placed on this earth to torment me, doesn't make me immune to a joke of his."

He threw her a wink. "My mistake. I'll get back to tormentin' then."

Evelyn rolled her eyes before ignoring him and turning to the others. "But really, guys, we're all going to do beautifully."

They murmured their agreement, but she could still feel the nerves in the air. "Anyone up for a round of poker? Keep your mind off tomorrow?"

They all groaned. "With you, doll?" Luz said. "Never. I haven't gotten my dignity back since last time."

She mock surrendered, holding up her hands. "It's not my fault that you all didn't take a woman seriously."

"It is your fault for distractin' them long enough to lose everything."

The laughter ceased almost immediately as Evelyn turned to Liebgott. They glared at one another until she looked away and stood. She squeezed Luz's shoulder as she passed. "I'll keep your dignity safe for another day, George." And then she walked out of the hall and outside.

The men turned towards Liebgott, their expressions sour. He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"You need to lay off her, Joe," said Luz in an uncharacteristically angry voice. "I mean it."

Before Liebgott could open his mouth again, Malarkey beat him there. "You don't have to like her." He held up a hand, noticing the snarl on Liebgott's face. "Just remember, if you get hurt out there, it will be nice to have a medic to get you through it, eh?"

"She isn't even a goddamn medic. What's she gonna do? Kiss it better?"

Luz stood then, his jaw set. He pointed at Liebgott. "The only reason why she isn't a combat medic with the title of an officer is because she has tits rather than a stick." He walked by Liebgott, but paused, his voice low. "But she has bigger balls than you ever will." He followed her out.

They watched him leave. Liebgott snorted, trying to push down a tight feeling in his chest. "Well that just about confirmed they're sleepin' together."

The other two were silent. Perconte shook his head. "I might not have been happy when she first joined us, Joe, but even you have to admit the girl has shown she's made of tougher stuff. She deserves to be here like any of us."

Malarkey nodded. "And I wouldn't go shouting about them doin' it. Luz might just kill you if she doesn't first. Besides, I don't think it's true."

Liebgott snorted again, but was silent.

"Evie! Wait up!"

Luz jogged up to her side, finding her at last taking a stroll on the trail behind the showers. "Don't listen to Liebgott. I don't know what his problem, but you just keep…"

Evelyn placed a hand on his arm and smiled. "I don't listen to Liebgott, George. I admit, he may have gotten to me last year, and I frankly don't care what his problem is, but he doesn't get to me anymore. At least I hope he doesn't."

He frowned. "I don't like how he looks at you. It's like he wants to eat you alive and spit you back out again."

She laughed as they continued to walk. "Probably to shut me up good and proper."

"Maybe he's in love with you."

They paused in silence before both busting out in laughter, leaning on one another. Evelyn wiped her eyes. "The day that Joe Liebgott professes his love for me, George, I promise you that I will do... well, I'm trying to think of something so completely outlandish."

He grinned wickedly. "How about something just a little outlandish then? The day Joe declares his undying love for you, you need to finally let go and come out for a night on the town with me."

Evelyn winced. He had been trying to get her to sneak off base one weekend every week for a year. He had a very detailed and extravagant plan that she knew would end up with her in jail or worse. "Fine. No risk of it happening anyway."

"Oooh, guess I will have to get the idea in his head then. That would be a day I wouldn't want to miss."

Although Evelyn's predication that Easy would do well in their jumps rang true for the most part, there were a fair share of mishaps, but she wasn't about to let anyone fail after training hard for a year.

Actually securing her own parachute, she scoured the field until she spotted Shifty cradling his arm awkwardly. Before he could get back to the truck and alert the officers of an injury, she hurried over.

"What happened, Shifty?"

He grimaced. "I landed hard on my elbow. Hurts like a son of a gun." He paused, biting his lip. "Do you think they'll fail me for this, Evie?"

She grinned. "Not on my watch."

Quickly, she rolled up his sleeve and gently prodded the red skin. "You're in luck. Probably just hit the funny bone, but you may have bruised the bone. It's going to hurt awhile, but this should help." Her hands dug deeply into the stolen medical pack she hid at her side. It took awhile to tear away the first aid emblem, but she had done it. She produced a frozen bandage and a roll of tape. Quickly, she wrapped it around his elbow before hiding it again with his sleeve. "Any better?"

Shifty straightened his arm and smiled brightly. "I can hardly feel it. Thanks!"

She threw him a wink before looking for anyone else in need.

Over the course of three jumps that day, Evelyn helped a handful of men with minor injuries and sprains. No one knew what Sobel might think was an inexcusable reason to fail. She didn't want to take any chances. Their final two jumps were to happen the next day. If they completed them, they would graduate as a paratrooper of the United States Airborne.

"Jesus Christ," Liebgott muttered, livid with himself. He tried to stand, but his ankle gave out from underneath. He had just finished his fifth and final jump, but had landed incorrectly when he didn't prepare. "Fuck!"

Evelyn was by his side before he realized she was even close by. She looked around to make sure there weren't any officers nearby before digging around in her medical pack.

Liebgott looked at her in dismay. "What the fuck you doing, Cassidy?"

She gave him a look as if it was obvious. She then pulled a compression bandage from her pack. "Fixing your ankle, Liebgott. But I thought even you would get that."

He pulled away just as her fingers tried to unlace his left boot. "Fuck off, I don't need ya." To spite her, he tried to stand again, but it was no use. He couldn't put any weight on it, and he couldn't limp back to the truck without alerting Sobel. He was doomed to fail.

Evelyn watched him with a single raised eyebrow. When he hit the ground again on his ass, she smirked. "You were saying?"

He huffed, and before he could curse her again, her fingers quickly unlaced his boot and got to work on his ankle. To his surprise, her touch was gentle. If their positions were reversed, he didn't think he could have trusted himself not to tweak her injury a bit, just for the hell of it.

In a matter of a minute, his ankle was wrapped and she was placing his boot back on. Grabbing the laces from her, he snarled, "I'm not a goddamn child. Take your motherin' somewhere else."

She sat back on her heels, taken aback. She cursed herself for being surprised; this was nothing new from him. "You could use some goddamn mothering. Maybe make you into a decent human being." And before he could retort, she was on her feet and heading back to the truck.

What Evelyn told Luz about not being affected by Liebgott and his snarky comments was true - for the most part. As of this moment, she was pissed as hell. Fucking Liebgott. Goddamn egotistical bastard. Can't take a goddamn woman in the Army. She thought about this as she walked back to the truck. No, that isn't true. He had no problem with Angie and Matilda when they were here. Her head started to hurt and her anger hadn't abated. Worse than Sobel, I swear to God.

Roe waved to her from his seat in the vehicle. She grinned and forgot her internal argument and ran up to him. With a hand, he helped her in.

"How did you do?"

Evelyn grinned. "I think I was born to fly."

He chuckled before his eye caught the pack on her side. "That looks familiar. Except it doesn't have the medic cross on it." He had the pleasure of watching her blush before chuckling again. He pulled his own pack from his side, the loose threads from the missing emblem still strewn about. "Great minds and all that."

The ride back was filled with excited chatter. Tonight, they were to earn their jumpwings. Companies A through C earned theirs last week. D and F completed their tests along with Easy this week. Colonel Sink was throwing a party for the new graduates that very night.

The men finished quickly in the showers, for which Evelyn was grateful. She had to wrangle into her dress uniform tonight, something that took a little more effort than her ODs. Once she was finally clean and entered the barracks to change, the majority of men were heading out to the party.

"Want me to wait for ya, sweetheart?" called Luz from the door.

Evelyn smiled and shook her head. "And miss the opportunity to change in private for once? Absolutely not. I'll be there momentarily." He smiled back before leaving with Talbert and Martin.

The silence in the hall was inviting. She was almost tempted to stay there and nap without interruption, but something better laid at the party, even more so than the beer - Sobel was the one who would be presenting their jumpwings.

The thought sent flutters throughout her entire body. The one man that promised her that she would fail would be pinning a symbol of how wrong he was to her uniform. Every last step from those double marches were worth it. Hell, tonight was what got her through those Friday nights.

She entered the large auditorium and scanned the crowd for her friends. Just as she was about to make her way towards them, they were called to attention to line up in order of their company. She tried to hide her smirk when she spotted Sobel.

Evelyn didn't have to wait long to receive her jumpwings. Although at home she might tower over many women, in Easy company she was standing near the front. After Perconte, Shifty, and a few others, Sobel was in front of her.

At first, it didn't seem like he said her name at all. If she didn't see his lips move, she would have sworn that he didn't even breathe. Winters soon changed that.

"Jumpwings for Private Cassidy, sir," he said loud and clear, presenting the pin to Sobel.

With a grimace, he took it and quickly attached it to her uniform. She saluted him. Unable to move on without Sink noticing, he saluted her back. He moved next to Toye. Winters gave her a smile, which she returned, before he also walked to Toye.

The pin's slight weight felt like a badge of honor over her heart. Evelyn swelled with pride. I'm a goddamn paratrooper.

"Hey D," called Adrianna, walking over to her. Her own pin shined brightly on her chest.

Evelyn winced at her Dog company friend. "Shut it, Anna. You're practically screaming."

Adrianna grinned and leaned up against the bar with her. They scanned the crowd of companies together, the vast majority being men, but peppered with a few women soldiers here and there. Four women total had earned their jumpwings so far. There was one soldier left in I company. If she passed next week, the 101st Airborne would have five women on the front lines.

"Christ, no one really has given you a hard time about that yet? Not even that Sobel you keep bitchin' about?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I think he thinks I'm stupid or something whenever I'm up for roll call. No one else has thought twice."

Adrianna grinned evilly. "Doris Evelyn Cassi…"

"That's not it, asshole. You'll never guess it, so quit it."

Adrianna only laughed gleefully. "Maybe not, but it's fun trying." Evelyn chuckled with her.

Evelyn and Adrianna were the only two women with jumpwings from Easy and Dog, and, as such, stuck together when their groups were nearby. Even now, when only five women remained, they were only close to one another.

"Jesus, is it possible your men got more handsome in the past year?" Adrianna whistled. "I'm left with the yokels no one wants."

Evelyn's grin broadened. "Last time you had a few too many, you admitted that your CO was easy on the eyes."

Adrianna immediately hit her in the stomach hard. "Christ, keep it down. Speirs may be nice to look at, but the man is damn scary."

"Can't be any scarier than you."

"Fair enough."

Evelyn giggled as they watched Luz drag a group onto the dance floor, beer sloshing in his hand. The women had fired him as bartender when he got too distracted, which was often.

Just then, Liebgott stepped up to the bar. Looking only at Adrianna, he asked, "Any more beer back there, beautiful?"

She gave him a wink before producing a pint from under the counter. She slid it to him. "You got it, handsome." He gave her a wink back, but as he turned to go, he made sure to give Evelyn his token combination smirk/sneer that he seemed to keep especially for her.

Adrianna's eyebrows rose. "Well, shit. That was a look."

Evelyn sighed, but wasn't surprised. "That's just his face."

"Fuck-me eyes are just his face?"

Evelyn turned to her, wide-eyed. "How did you miss the blatant hatred made especially for me just now?"

Adrianna chuckled. "That isn't what I saw."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Here. Watch this." She turned towards the crowd, Liebgott's back to them. "Hey! Joe!" He turned towards them, an expectant look on his face. She put on her sweetest look and waved. "Congrats on the jumpwings."

"Fuck off, Cassidy." He turned back towards the entertainment in front.

Evelyn looked at Adrianna. "See? That was actually nice for him."

The girl only laughed, wrangling an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Oh, Deborah Evelyn Cassidy…"

"Wrong again."

"…whatever are we going to do with you?"

Evelyn tried to change the subject, sick and tired of Joe Liebgott for one day. She chucked her chin to the other corner of the room. "Check it out, those wily bitches are staring at us again."

Adrianna turned to look, and sure enough, both Fox company women were glaring at them, their faces pinched and sneering.

"Jesus, I hope their faces freeze like that."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "I dunno. I'd take their nasty faces over the I company broad." They shuddered together. If Evelyn had to describe the woman, an unnamed soldier that neither had ever heard a word spoken, she would best try and compare her to Randleman - just bigger. Rumor had it she made her CO cry once.

Luz eventually wrangled the both of them onto the dance floor. Seeing as they were the only two women in the room that smiled - those wily bitches still sneered in the corner - they became very popular very quickly. Between the beer, music, friends, and the reason why they were celebrating in the first place, Evelyn couldn't remember a better night in her life.

It was close to midnight when the crowd finally began to disperse. Tomorrow the soldiers would begin a one week leave before heading to their next destination further east. Although no one wanted the party to end, the allure of getting up early enough to catch the first trains from the station was too enticing.

After bidding Adrianna goodnight, Evelyn walked slowly back towards the barracks alone. She was eager to go in the morning as well, but her journey wasn't far seeing that she wouldn't be able to go all the way to the west coast. She enjoyed the warm night air and her solitude for just a moment longer.

Hearing quick footsteps behind her, she turned to see Liebgott making his way to pass her by. Trying her best not to roll her eyes, she watched him go, but she seemed unable to help the medic inside her from jumping to the surface. "How's the ankle?" she asked him.

He stopped short and narrowed his eyes. "How long can I expect you to hold it over me?"

Evelyn threw up her hands in frustration. Why do I even bother with him? "I don't know, Liebgott. How about never? I'm only just doing my job. Believe me, I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't need to."

She turned to go past him but stopped at his voice. "Ankle is fine." She nodded silently without turning and began to walk away again. At the last moment, she swore he then said, "Thanks."