YAY for snow day/early release from work/now writing day!

Thank you for all the reviews! This is definitely a filler chapter while they are on leave, so it's nice and fluffy. Thank you to Higgles123 for letting me bounce off some ideas! It's these fluffy filler pieces that are always the hardest for me!

February 18, 1945

Mourmelon - le - Grand, France

Finally, the 506th was on leave. The last time Easy was here in France, they were carefree, relaxed, and eager to find as much mischief as possible. Now, they only focused on rest and food.

Meals were one of the only things that would get the soldiers out of their bunks - that and Speirs. The man had a secret source of energy, and he was keen to keep them training. It didn't help that they received more replacements and they needed to learn a lot before they went out again.

Evelyn crashed into her bunk hard. "Wake me up in a few days."

Shifty hummed in agreement, along with a few others. O'Keefe, their newest replacement, sat up in his bed alert and eager. "Does anyone need anything? I was thinking of taking a walk, maybe observe another company's line up. Who knows what we could learn from the others, maybe some tricks that work for them before we head out."

Martin snorted. "I'd like to see how Speirs feels about that."

Evelyn grinned, her eyes still closed. "Patrick?"

O'Keefe turned to her and smiled. "Yeah, Evie?" After his initial shock of a woman in his company, he was very pleasant and respectful of the sergeant.

"I'm really happy that you're a part of our group. I'm especially thrilled that you're assigned to this tent."

Even with an arm over his eyes, Luz could picture the sarcasm dripping off her. He grinned.

"Thanks, Evie. I'm really excited to be here. You know, I tried to sign up when…"

"And Patrick?" she added, cutting him off.

"Yeah?"

"You can't know this yet, but I can be a real bitch if I don't get enough sleep." The others scoffed and declared it to be untrue dramatically. If she had the energy, she would have thrown anything she could grab at them.

O'Keefe stood up, his expression sheepish. He got the hint. "I'll see you all at dinner then."

When he was gone, Evelyn chewed on her lip, unable to sleep now. She felt guilty. "Sweetheart," Luz called next to her. "Quit it. I can hear your teeth from here. He's fine. Needs to grow up anyway."

She immediately stopped chewing, snapping her mouth shut. Martin snorted again. "And when are you gonna grow up, George? Christ, I never saw anyone so excited for a baseball and glove. I swear you pissed yourself a little when you found them."

"That's it, Johnny. You're off the team."

"Break my heart why don't ya?"

"Christ, shut up, the both ya. How am I supposed sleep with you two yammerin' on and on?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes but grinned, staring up at the ceiling of the tent canopy. Great to be back.

It wasn't meant to be for them to get in an extra nap that afternoon. Welsh, who was recently back from the hospital, seemed to have caught up on his own rest while he was away. The distinct sound of a whistle was heard before his yell for them to line up. All of them groaned together before rolling out of bed.

Welsh bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet, watching as they gathered around him. "Look at all those bright and cheerful faces!"

Evelyn narrowed her eyes at him grumpily, and she wasn't the only one. Luz yawned beside her, playing with his baseball lazily. Heffron had yet to open this eyes, but he was on his feet, swaying.

"Listen up," Welsh called, smiling. "Major Winters asked me to keep you all busy in between Captain Speirs' training schedule."

More moans rang out through the soldiers, but they only seemed to encourage Welsh. His grin widened. "Over the next few weeks, Easy will compete individually in a poker tournament."

That got the men's attention. Heffron even opened his eyes. Welsh continued. "I was able to acquire a variety of prizes for the top three participants while I was off the line in England."

Someone snorted in the back and muttered, "Yeah, when he wasn't busy boning his fiance."

Evelyn smirked and looked at the CO. He definitely had a pep in his step. But if she was honest, the tournament was a great idea. She knew after the men had rested enough, they were bound to cause trouble. With nerves on edge after Belgium, it was a risk the officers couldn't take.

"What are the prizes, sir?" she called out, encouraging him.

Welsh turned to her and smiled. "Why, since you asked, Evie, I'll show you." He leaned down and dug them out from his pack. "For third place, an unopened bottle of the finest Vat69." Murmurs rang out through the soldiers. "Just don't tell Nixon."

Evelyn laughed with everyone else, eager to see what else he had inside. "For second place," he continued. Out came two bottles of Vat69. He gave them all a look. "Really, don't tell Nixon. I just got back."

They laughed harder, finally awake, and she could feel the excitement in the air. It was nice to smile so much that it hurt again.

"And for first place…"

"Three bottles of Vat69, sir?"

"No, Malarkey, but good guess." Evelyn turned to him, and she was pleased to see Malarkey looking better than he had in days. Almost like his old self. Almost. She turned back to Welsh.

"First place gets…" He slowly pulled the winnings out. "The finest bottle of French champagne, a bottle of Vat69 - of course - and $200 bucks to spend as you see fit."

Whistles rang out through the crowd and the excitement was palpable. "When do we start, sir?"

Welsh grinned, waving the cash. "Tomorrow after training. Best get to practicing. That will be all."

The crowd broke up and they went back to their tents, chatting excitedly. "$200 bucks!" cried Heffron. "As soon as I get it, I'm headed to Paris. Somehow, some way, I'm gettin' there."

"You'll have to beat me first, Babe," Evelyn said, giving him a wink. "I kicked your ass last time we played in Holland, you bet your cute butt I'll do it again."

Heffron stopped and grinned. "You think my butt is cute, Evie?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "Luz! Hey Luz! Evie thinks my butt is cute."

Luz sunk down on his bed and rolled his eyes. "Get in line, Babe. She's been admiring my ass since Toccoa."

Evelyn scoffed, but couldn't get a word in while the two of them argued whose ass she liked more. Rolling her eyes, she caught sight of O'Keefe, who was quiet and looked taken aback by the conversation. Grinning, she settled back into her bed, a wave of happiness going through her for the first time in months.

Easy took Welsh's words to heart. That night they practiced playing poker. The next morning before training, they practiced. Hell, they even played during lunch. By the time the afternoon training had begun, Evelyn was already sick of the game, but that didn't stop her from playing. Winning was too important, and not just for the prizes, but for the bragging rights.

Heading towards the tournament, Evelyn turned a corner and almost ran into a young woman there. She held out her hand in an effort not to hurt her. "Oh! I'm so sorry. That was my fault completely."

The woman shook her head, her long auburn hair dancing around her face. "No matter, love," she replied, her French accent thick. She studied her for a moment. Evelyn gave her a smile, before turning to go. "I got in."

Evelyn turned back, confused. The young woman smiled shyly this time. "Nursing school. In Paris. I begin in a few weeks. I'm headed there now to find an apartment."

Evelyn's eyes widened. "Jasmine?" She hardly recognized the girl with her clothes on.

She nodded. "It's actually Gisele, but yes, it's me."

A wide smile broke across Evelyn's face. "That's fantastic news. You're already a natural with a needle, you'll be ahead of the pack."

Gisele blushed. "Thank you - Evie, right?" Evelyn nodded. Gisele leaned forward to kiss her on both cheeks. "Thank you for putting the idea in my head. Au revoir."

Evelyn watched her go down the lane and towards the waiting cab. Luz came up to her side, head cocked. "Was that…?"

She nodded. "Jasmine. Well, her real name is Gisele. She's off to nursing school."

Luz's jaw dropped a moment before he wrangled an arm around her neck and ruffled her hair hard. "Makin' dreams come true every day, aren't ya?"

Evelyn laughed, pushing him off. "And what dream of yours did I make come true, George?"

He wiggled his eyebrows. "Takin' her place at Lulu's?"

She smacked him before they began walking together towards the mess, that was holding the games. "Sorry, George. That one will only stay a dream."

They entered together to see several table pushes together to create four large ones. Welsh was already briefing everyone on how it would go. "The four winners from each table will play in the next round. Two winners each from those games and then a final game. First round will happen tonight, second round next week, and the final round week after that. Everyone understand?"

Even Winters, Speirs and Nixon came in to watch, although the intelligence officer was still in the dark about the prizes. They grinned and chatted together, happy to see their soldiers up and animated.

Evelyn found her name on a list and went to sit at her table. There were ten of them in total. She looked at all their faces circling around her. Webster. O'Keefe. Garcia. Randleman. Cobb. Ramirez. Popeye. Janovec, a new replacement. Malarkey. She grinned, rubbing her palms together. "Watch out, boys. Cassidy is here to play."

Evelyn couldn't remember a time that she laughed so much. Her memories of doing so were still fuzzy, but it didn't matter in that moment. She was having the time of her life with her friends.

She, Cobb, Janovec and Garcia moved forward from their table. Currently, the entire company was giving Webster a hard time for losing after getting a Harvard education. She nudged Heffron with her boot in the read end. "Come on, Babe, lay off him."

Webster turned to her and smiled. "Thank you, Evie."

She grinned wickedly. "If Web leaves us, who else is going to give us a bunch of useless information?" She made sure to give him a wink.

Webster scowled at her but then smiled, knowing it was in good fun. "You will all miss that useless information if I transfer out of this damned company!"

Liebgott came up and slung an arm around Webster's shoulders. "Don't worry, Web. Cassidy is all bark and no bite." He looked back at her and smirked.

She smirked back. "Wouldn't you like to know, Joe."

The men oohed and aahed, but laughed. This was nothing new. Again, O'Keefe seemed taken back, but Janovec wasn't deterred. She had yet to see anything sway the man into an emotion beyond a pretty face of a young, French woman. They felt back to normal and it felt good.

The next few days passed joyfully. Evelyn had to hand it to Welsh; the plan to keep them occupied and happy was working. The next round of the tournament was due to start tonight.

She sat down at one of the two tables with seven others. Having already played with Cobb, Janovec and Garcia, Evelyn strived to get to know how the other four bluffed and called. They were Martin, Luz, Shifty and Heffron.

To no one's surprise, Luz was terrible. No one knew how he made it to the second round. He laughed or frowned at every hand, depending on what he got. Evelyn shook her head as he was the first out, grinning when he whined.

Her biggest competitor turned out to be Shifty. His quiet and shy persona helped him immensely, and he was easily the leader at their table. He was conservative with his betting, but he bluffed like no one Evelyn had ever seen. In the end, she came in second to him.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good game, Shifty. I look forward to kicking your butt in the finals."

Shifty blushed and grinned shyly. "Thanks, Evie. You put up one heck of a fight." They turned together to watch the other game, taking in as much as they could of their competitors. It took another hour, but Liebgott and Randleman came out on top. The four of them would play next Saturday.

Luz wrapped an arm around her waist. "Well, sweetheart, that's a one in four chance now."

Evelyn smiled, mirroring his movements and hugging him to her side. "That's right. I hope to at least get a bottle of something out of it."

"So, would you say your chances are more like three and one?"

She turned to give him a look. "Another betting pool?" He shrugged innocently. "I'm pretty sure you asking me is against some sort of rule."

Luz cackled. "But they'll never know, sweetheart."

"Unless I tell them."

He scoffed. "You wouldn't." She silently raised an eyebrow and he gave in. 'Fine. I'll give you a cut if I win, but I'm tellin' you right now, I'm puttin' all my money on you, so don't blow it."

Evelyn giggled laying her head on his shoulder. "And maybe I'll even share some Vat69 with you."

"Now that's a deal."

March 1, 1945

March arrived wet and gloomy, but the soldiers could smell spring in the air. The fresh, humid scent wafted throughout the camp, bringing a new wave of excitement to them. Winter was finally over.

The soldiers had something else to look forward to in the coming days besides the poker finale. General Eisenhower was presenting the entire regiment with a Presidential citation for holding the line in Bastogne. Although this honor would be given to the entire 101st Airborne, he decided to make a personal visit to Easy and the other companies.

Evelyn was walking with the others back to the mess for the final round. There was mixed conversation about the tourament and Eisenhower's visit.

"I bet he's well over six feet tall. He's gotta be for such a badass."

"My money's on Shifty. He's got the eyes, man."

"Nah, no way. Bull is the dark horse."

"I heard Ike crushed a soldier's hand once when he offered a shake. Crushed it."

"You really think anyone can beat Evie? She's got us all twisted around her finger."

"That's why my money is on Joe. He's not affected by her at all."

"Do you think we will even be able to see Ike's uniform? He's covered in medals and citations!"

Finally, they marched into the mess. When she got to her seat, a few cheers erupted for her.

"You got this, Evie!" yelled Heffron, waving his cash in the air.

She gave him a wink before watching the other three sit down at the small table with her. Welsh was acting as final dealer. He handed them their chips and began to pass out cards. "The game is five card draw…"

A few hours passed, and it was down to the final two. Shifty had just gone out, taking with him his third place prize. The guys jostled him playfully, sucking up. They knew he didn't drink and was likely to share.

Evelyn stared at her cards for a moment before signaling to Welsh to trade two. He dealt them out and took her discarded ones. She turned to look at Liebgott, his face impassive. It hadn't changed the entire game, but she was picking up finally on one tell. His trigger finger twitched ever so slightly whenever he was going to bluff. He looked at Welsh and threw down one card. He then met her eyes and smirked. "Your play, Cassidy."

She looked down at her cards and silently slid a pile of chips forward. "I'll bet."

Liebgott assessed everything before pushing a majority of his chips forward, about a third more than what she had total. "I'll raise," he drawled.

Everyone in the room turned to Evelyn. She would have to go all in to call. She took a moment to study Liebgott - from his face, which still told her nothing, down to his cards, and finally his hands. The trigger finger moved minutely.

With her eyes still locked on his, she smirked and pushed the rest of her chips forward. "I'll call."

The entire room erupted in murmuring, and the tension in the air was thick. Still, Liebgott and Evelyn stared one another down. With a tip of his hand, he gestured with a grin for her to show her hand. She did, smiling wide. A full house, kings full of jacks.

She could hear Luz whistle excitedly behind her. He almost shook her chair he was bouncing so much. They all waited on Liebgott, who was still. And then he laid it down. Straight flush.

The room got loud very quickly, filled with cheers and groans, depending on the bet. After gaping for a moment in shock, Evelyn looked at Liebgott again, who smiled smugly back at her. She couldn't help it; she laughed, shaking her head.

Welsh placed her two bottles of Vat69 on the table before handing Liebgott his own bottles of booze and two, crisp one hundred dollar bills. "To the winner!" he cried. Even those who lost money congratulated Liebgott, cheering him on.

It took awhile, but they all began to scatter out of the mess, the night getting late. Man after man patted her on the back, telling her it was a great game, thanks for the entertainment. She grinned and waved, watching them go. Luz was busy still in the building, paying out the winners from the pool.

Behind her came a rowdy crowd. Liebgott was in the middle, being clapped on the back by Perconte, Martin and Cobb. She grinned at their blatant joy, money in their hands.

Liebgott looked at her. "Good game, Cassidy."

Evelyn nodded back. "Congrats, Joe. That was quite the hand you had."

He smirked, even as the group passed her by, walking backwards. "Yeah, but you thought it was a bluff." He twitched his trigger finger in front of his face and laughed when her jaw dropped. "Got you that time, doll."

Evelyn recovered and laughed, shaking her head. He turned back and jogged up to meet the others, his grin still wide.

March 5, 1945

General Eisenhower's arrival brought both good and bad tidings. Everyone felt exceptionally honored by his visit, but with it came news that they would be headed out again in the morning. Germany was calling.

Evelyn decided to take a walk around town, to clear her head. The ceremony had ended over an hour ago. She should be packing up to leave, but she just needed a moment to prepare first.

The war was coming to a close. Everyone knew that, but still she felt a tingle of fear inside her that they were headed into another Bastogne or Foy or Haguenau. Her muscles seized up with the tension she was feeling, and nothing, not even Vat69, seemed to make it ease.

With her head down and deep in thought, she didn't see the men in front of her until she almost ran into them.

"Ah, Sergeant Cassidy."

Evelyn looked up to see Sink, Strayer, Winters and a last man, who she now recognized as General Eisenhower, his dress uniform was decorated so much. Snapping quickly to attention, she saluted them all.

With a grin, Sink saluted her back, the others following his lead. "At ease." He motioned to her while looking at the head of the United States Army. "General, Sergeant Cassidy is Easy Company's lead medic. She is due to receive the Silver Star for her work on Christmas Eve during the Bastogne bombings. All the damn paperwork has tied it up."

Eisenhower turned to Evelyn before holding out his hand. She tried not to look foolish as she shook it, his grip strong, but by no means bone-breaking. He smiled. "Sergeant, that's a pity. I would have loved to have taken the honor of presenting it to you myself from Colonel Sink. Thank you for your service."

Evelyn put all of her energy into not stuttering in her response. "Thank you, sir." That felt like it wasn't enough. Say more, idiot. "It's not every day that the General of the Army says he'll fight my company commander over me." She flushed instantly, mortified. Too much! Shut up!

But the men laughed, Eisenhower even clapping a hand on Sink's shoulder in good fun. She briefly met Winters' eyes and he gave her a look as if he didn't know if he should laugh himself, or roll his eyes, but he smiled, sensing her horror. Evelyn tried not to melt into the ground.

Sink gave her a wink. "As you were, sergeant. I'm sure you have a lot to do before we head out again."

Evelyn took the opportunity gratefully. "Yes, sir." And with another salute and a return from them, she hurried on her way, not stopping until she reached her tent.

Luz looked up when she entered, immediately jumping to his feet at her white face. "Sweetheart, what is it?"

She shook her head, trying to tell him without speaking she was fine, only shocked and embarrassed, but he didn't seem to understand. Finally, she found her words, the rest of her tentmates waiting to see what was going on. "Eisenhower."

Luz gave her a look, utterly confused. "Eisenhower." She nodded. "Is there a punch line I'm missing?"

Evelyn shook her head before sinking into her bed, her hands in her hair. She moaned when she finally was able to realize what she had really just done. "No. I just met Eisenhower."

Luz and Martin exchanged a look. "And?" asked Martin, losing patience.

She gave him a miserable look. "And I sassed him!" she cried.

It took awhile, but eventually she told them the entire story, word for word, until they were rolling on the ground laughing. A few more men came in to see what was going on, and before Evelyn could stop them, the story was shared. Within minutes, the entire company knew.

"Christ, Evie," drawled Randleman. "I don't know if I should be impressed or slap you silly."

Liebgott shook his head, his hands in his pockets. "Slap her, Bull. I'll pay to watch. Jesus, Cassidy, the General?"

Evelyn only rolled over, keen to make them all go away, but Luz was outside the flap, encouraging more men to come in and hear what happened. "Go away, all of you!"

Luz reappeared, his smile wide and chuckles still popping up from time to time. "No can do, sweetheart. Hey, there's Lip! Lip! Come here and get a load of this!"

Evelyn groaned again, burying her head under her pillow. Suddenly, moving out to Germany didn't seem so bad afterall.