A/N - I am so sorry it's been so long. I went through some personal problems that I had to work through, but I'm fine now. I'm sorry for such a long absence though, hopefully I won't leave you guys hanging like that for so long again. toomanyfandomssolittletime pointed out that Maddie's rank is higher than it should be, I don't know why I never noticed I got it wrong. She is a corporal though, not a colonel, sorry for the confusion. Thanks to him/her for the review though and telling me what needed work, I really appreciate it. This chapter is a little shorter, so I'm sorry about that, but I didn't want to cram too much into one chapter, I want to spread it out a little. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

I don't think they liked this very much. I knew I'd just gotten lucky thus far, I knew eventually I'd run into the problem of somebody not accepting me. I got dirty looks from some of them, all of them holding different thoughts about me. Some seemed curious as to how I got here without being noticed, some wondered how I got this far, and some just thought the battlefield was no place for a woman and that I should just go home and stay there until this war was over.

I wasn't going home though, I was staying right here. The only way I'd be going home was at the end of this war or in a box, those are the only two options.

I heard them mumbling sometimes.

"Don't worry about them," Chuck told me as he leaned against a pillar and ate on some stale bread.

I was trying. I really was, but I've always been sensitive, I just kept all my feelings bottled up. I guess that's why I blended in so well with all these men for so long.

"How'd they all find out?" I asked him in a quiet voice.

Chuck looked around at all of the men, some of them staring at us, or me. He shrugged, "Somebody's slip of the tongue. Probably got back to Liebgott somehow, he's always had it out for ya."

I grimaced and looked around at all the men looking at me with judgment. Men who didn't seemed pleased: Perconte, Tipper, Toye, and especially Liebgott. Those were just a few. I don't think George knew yet, he didn't look at me funny and he still joked around with me. He either didn't hear or he just doesn't care. Bill and Chuck were being protective, which was a bit annoying. I could take care of myself, the others would get used to it.

"You don't think he'd tell any of the higher ups, do ya?" I asked, looking up at Chuck now as he threw his bread to the side, making a face of disgust.

He wiped his hands off and peered down at me before he shook his head, "No... I don't think so."

I hope you're right Chuck.

"Let's go! First Platoon!" Lieutenant Welsh suddenly called, making me flinch, "Easy's moving out! On your feet!"

I grabbed my helmet and put it on as me and Chuck headed over to stand with the rest of Easy in front of Welsh. I slumped my shoulders as I stood there between Chuck and Malarkey, who by now was getting used to the fact that I was a woman, but he was still a little iffy.

"Listen up! It'll be dark soon, I want light and noise discipline from here on," He said as everyone gathered behind me, "No talking, no smoking, and no playing grab fanny with the man in front of ya, Luz."

"So where we headed to, Lieutenant?" One of the other men asked, and Welsh simply replied with, "We're taking Carentan."

"That sounds like fun," I said, and I felt eyes on me once again, but not in a good way; I brushed it off.

Welsh went on talking about Carentan and I just looked around me. I don't think Lipton or Welsh knew about me, they haven't said anything to me about it at least. Shifty, Blithe, and Talbert didn't know, they just showed up. Bull seemed more worried about me than upset that I was here, I feel like he was one of those 'woman didn't belong in combat' kind of guys. Buck seemed the same way. Muck and Penk had been giving me some side glances, but they seemed too nervous to say anything, and Webster was like that, too.

"Another thing to remember boys," George's impersonation broke me of my trance and it was now that I realized we were moving, "Flies spread disease, so keep yours closed."

Everybody laughed at Luz's comment as we followed after Welsh, but I stayed silent and stuck close to Chuck. Even though I could protect myself most of the time, there were certain times when I needed a little protecting from someone else, but I'll never admit it. Not ever.
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We had stopped in a trench somewhere in the middle of the night so we would be well rested to take Carentan in the morning. I was in a small foxhole by myself, my weapon lying next to me and my helmet fit snugly on my head. I was nervous, I wasn't going to deny it. My first battle ended with me getting wounded, hopefully this next one would go by smoother. I was more nervous for what would happen to my fellow men, though. I wanted us all to be okay, but I knew eventually somebody would be lost, every war has it's casualties.

"Flash," I heard, making me jerk, then I quickly responded with, "Thunder."

Then somebody jumped down into the foxhole next to me and I looked up and saw Bill standing over me, "Hey Bill, what's going on?"

"I was just lookin' for my favorite girl," Bill said as he sat down next to me, our arms smushed up against each other now, "Chuck said ya seemed a little upset, I just wanted to check on ya, make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," I replied simply, crossing my arms over my chest, signaling to him that I wasn't fine.

"Alright, look," Bill said, trying to get comfortable next to me, "So what some of the guys don't like that you're a girl, ta hell with 'em. Why should you care?"

"Because Bill, what if one of them tells somebody in a higher position?" I asked, turning to face him, a bite in my words, "I could get sent home and away from all of you guys, not knowing if you were okay everyday. I can't go home, not until I've done my job."

"You're not goin' home, Maddie," Bill told me, giving me that look he always gave me when I said something stupid, "I'll have a talk with all the guys, I'll make sure they stay in line. Nobody's goin' anywhere."

I was quiet for a minute, stuck in my own head. He'd have a talk with them? He sounded like my father, but Bill would do anything for me, I knew he would. Hell, if it meant putting his own life on the line just to help me, he'd do it. He was a good big brother, even though he was younger than me.

"No," I said, shaking my head as I peered down at my boots laid out in front of me.

Bill furrowed his brow in surprised confusion, "What?"

"No, you don't have to talk to them," I said, my voice even now.

"Maddie, I'm not just gunna let 'em walk all over you like this," Bill said, a scowl on his face.

"They're not," I said, looking over at Bill now, "At least not anymore. I'll talk to them, don't worry."

Bill was quiet for a moment as he softened his features a tad, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Yeah. This is my problem, I'll figure it out, and like you said, who cares if some of them don't like me, not everyone is going to."

Bill smiled then, "Well, good on ya, stickin' up for yourself like you always have."

I smiled back at him, but stayed quiet. He knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to let him tell the guys straight, he knew that's not how I was, he just had to give me a little push. So I'd talk to the guys whenever I got a chance, but right now I had something else to worry about.

Taking Carentan when I woke up tomorrow morning.
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We'd been practically laying on the gravel road for a good five to ten minutes now as Welsh and Winters went back and forth about the attack we were about to execute. Everyone here seemed a bit nervous, but we all tried to hide it. I was rarely ever nervous for myself, I was always nervous for the people I cared about. When I was a kid, if my little brother got into a fight or he fell out of a tree and got hurt, I was always there. I've always had an older sister mentality about me towards almost everyone I knew, even to those who were older than me, like Chuck.

I looked up when I saw Winters move, looking ahead at the town ahead of us. It looked dead, but I knew there were German's hiding in there somewhere. It was too quiet. Then Winters turned back and whispered something to Welsh, then our Lieutenant turned towards us and started motioning for us to get up, "Let's go First, let's go."

He then got up running and we all took action and started after him, Winters giving us a little motivation as he passed us by. I held my weapon to my chest and followed next to Martin, the only sound in my ears was the heavy pattering of our footsteps in the gravel, then I heard a German voice yell and then their was gunfire showering down all around us. I flinched at the suddenness of it and in fear as myself and everyone else quickly dove into the trenches on either side of the road for cover.

I held my helmet to my head in the upmost fear as some of the men still on the road dropped dead, but I tried not to look at them, I had to focus.

Somebody was yelling at us to get up and get moving, and the only thing I thought was 'were they crazy?' That's suicide. But they didn't seem to care, we had to a job to do and by God we were going to do it.

"Go! Go!" I heard Winters voice yelling now, "Move out! Move out!"

He was standing right out in the open. That was one brave motherfucker. I saw him pull Blithe to his feet and get him moving and that's when I gripped my weapon to my chest and breathed in and out a couple of times, trying to prepare myself, but before I could pull myself to my feet I was being pulled up forcefully by someone else. I was on my feet a moment later and I looked up and caught eyes with Liebgott.

"Come on, let's go!" He yelled over the gunfire.

I was confused for a minute, but I quickly listened and followed after him. He might not like me, but I'm still his comrade and we have to stick together.

I followed him down the hill behind the trench and around behind some houses, moving my legs as fast as I could to keep up with the faster man. We pushed through some shrubbery and jumped over a fence before we both took cover behind a wall, me behind Liebgott. He peeked around the corner and as he did that somebody in the street was shot in the head and they fell to the ground. I stared at their lifeless body for a moment, in pure shock, my blue eyes wide, but I was brought back to reality when Liebgott started firing off rounds up at one of the windows of a house down the street. I gripped my weapon tighter in my hands as he fired off round after round after round, then finally he stopped.

He turned to me and then motioned for me to follow after him as he started around the corner, me following after him, putting my rifle at the ready. I heard the cries for medic as I followed after Joe and my thoughts immediately went to Eugene. I hope he's okay.

Two men came from around a corner just in front of us and we both jumped and pointed our weapons, but it was just Tipper and one of the others that I didn't know well. Joe was quiet as he told them to follow after us, but we didn't make it too far when the man with Tipper was suddenly shot dead and fell to the ground.

"Sniper! Up there!" Tipper cried, pointing to the window to my left. I turned and aimed my weapon quickly, finding my target and firing. It hit him dead on and we kept moving.

I could hear English and German orders being barked all around me, and every once in a while one of us would fire at the enemy. There was an explosion somewhere to our left and I looked and saw smoke coming out a window, one of ours having thrown a grenade through it. I continued on with Joe and Tipper, watching men around us get wounded or killed. Now I understand why my father never wanted to talk about his time during world war one, and I'd only grow to understand it more.

A bullet landed right next to my foot and I jumped away from it and cried out, "Shit!"

Joe and Tipper looked back at me in concern, Joe looking me up and down then he nodded, "You're alright, come on! Keep up!"

We didn't go any further because a German came out the door in front of us, holding his weapon up in the air, barely paying attention; he seemed a little dazed. Joe shot him and he went down quickly, all of us a bit startled by the man who was just shot dead.

Joe pointed the large house up the street a little ways and up at the top right window, "There's somebody up there! Tauscher!"

"On it!" I cried, aiming up at the window and firing. I missed the first time and cursed under my breath as I cocked my weapon, ready to fire again and this time I didn't miss.

The gunfire seemed louder now at the center of town and when I looked to my left I saw Luz standing with Welsh and a few other recognizable faces running around. Joe apparently spotted them too, because we took off towards them. We rushed up to Welsh who was peering around the corner up at the window I just shot through. I looked to Luz, who looked terrified beyond belief as he caught eyes with each and every one of us.

"Tipper, take Liebgott and Tauscher and start clearing these buildings," Welsh ordered and Tipper nodded and ordered for us to follow him.

We took off to our right and towards the large building in the center of town. The gunfire was as loud as ever and I heard more explosions going off around me and in the distance, the yelling increasing, but it seemed to be more English voices than German ones, so that was a good sign.

Me, Joe and Tipper stopped outside the door and hid by the walls for a moment, then Tipper moved out and kicked the door in, throwing a grenade inside and then taking cover. A moment later it went off and smoke and debris poured out of the door and Tipper and Joe moved inside while I stayed out and watched their backs. I heard some gunshots from inside and a minute or so later the two emerged again and Tipper ordered us down the street.

I could hear Lipton yelling for us to spread out in the distance and we all shared a look before we heard him yelling, "Get the hell out of the street!"

We turned and ran down an alleyway to the street across it, then we turned a corner and we were on the other street now. We hugged the walls of the buildings as we went down the street as quietly as we could, trying to draw the least amount of attention as we possibly could.

I could see now that we were in a bit of clearing, the road in front of us almost an intersection. I looked across and saw a medic bandaging someone's leg and I took a closer look and noticed it was Eugene. A mortar went off behind us somewhere and he leaned over the body and held his helmet to his head, as if protecting the wounded man before he sat back up with ease and continued his work. He was determined. He was brave.

"Tauscher, let's go!" I heard Joe yell at me and I turned and saw we had begun moving again and I quickly scrambled after the two.

We turned the corner and way down the street we saw a pharmacy, and it appeared we'd be clearing it as we ran quickly towards it. We went under an overhang and took cover under there for a moment before Tipper moved us across the street and to the small building. Me and Joe were on one side of the door as Tipper looked in the window, seeing if it was clear to go inside. It appeared to be as he went to the front of the door and kicked it open, all three of us rushing inside. Me and Joe stayed towards the front and looked around as Tipper made his way to the backdoor. Me and Joe cleared the counter and everything up front and we peered around to look and see how Tipper was doing.

He had kicked open the backdoor and was peering out across at a shed, pointing his weapon at it. Joe motioned for me to follow him out the door and cover Tipper, so I followed him out. I heard Tipper yelling to ask if there was anyone in the shed then a couple of gunshots went off. I peered around the street, but saw only our men, the next thing I know my arm was being grabbed and I was being pulled away from the building and then an explosion went off inside.

I gasped at the sudden noise and light and looked up and saw it was Joe who had pulled me away from the blast, but my mind was on Tipper.

"Tipper!" I yelled, going towards the door, "Tipper! You alright?!"

Me and Joe came to stand in front of the door and Tipper had stumbled out in front of us. Oh God... He was covered in blood, from head to toe. One of his eyes seemed to protrude from his head and one side of his face was all gashed up, his black hair was caked in blood. I looked down further and saw his leg was in shambles, I was actually surprised he was still standings. I could see bone.

"Jesus..." I heard Joe say from next to me.

"Joe? Is that you?" Tipper asked, looking over to me a moment later, "Tauscher?"

"Looking good, Tip. Looking real good," Joe said as he set his weapon down and started over to Tipper, "Come on, you gotta sit down."

I watched in shock as Joe helped Tipper sit down. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and used his other hand to help support the wounded man. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Joe muttered something under his breath as he looked down at Tipper's totaled leg, blood coating the both of them as they lay out in front of him.

"Hang in there, buddy," Joe said, looking down at the man, "We're gunna get ya fixed up. Alright?" Then Joe looked up at me and I've never seen his eyes so calm. How was he so calm? "Wanna give me a hand here?"

I threw my weapon over my shoulder and immediately stepped forward, snapping out of my shocked trance and kneeling down, throwing Tipper's arm over my shoulders gently as I helped Joe get him to his feet. Tipper groaned a little in pain, but we had to get him to cover somewhere. The gunfire was still going, but it had died down a little. Hopefully that was a good thing.

Tipper groaned again as we tried to move quickly and I said, "You're gunna be alright, Tip, just hang in there."

I felt Joe's eyes on me for a brief second, but they didn't feel annoyed or angry this time, I couldn't tell what emotion he was displaying, but I'd worry about that later, right now we had to find cover and a medic.
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I walked into our makeshift aid station about an hour later. We had run the German's out of Carentan and everyone seemed a little uplifted by that. Victory gave us motivation for the next battle. I walked past what seemed like more than a dozen wounded men, one of them being Blithe who seemed to just be staring off into space. I furrowed my brow at him as I passed and then I saw Eugene cleaning his tweezers of blood.

"Hey Gene," I said as I walked up behind him, adjusting the strap of my weapon over my shoulder.

He flinched at the sudden voice and turned to look over his shoulder, smiling a small somewhat shy smile at me before he went back to what he was doing, "Hey Matilda."

I winced at that name and shook my head, stepping around so I could see his face, "Ugh, don't call me that."

I saw him smile a little at my reaction, "That is your name."

"I go by Maddie for a reason," I replied sarcastically and he chuckled a little.

"I'll make a note of it," He said, placing his tweezers down and throwing the rag he was using to clean them with to the side as he stood straight and looked down at me, "So what brings you here?"

"Two things, actually," I said, adjusting my standing position and relaxing, or at least trying to, "First off, Ralph wants to know if you have any scissors."

Gene furrowed his brow as he turned and grabbed the pair off the table next to him, turning back to me and handing them to me, "What happened to his?"

"Who knows," I said, rolling my eyes and shoving the scissors into my bag for the time being.

Gene smiled a small smile and briefly looked down at his boots, wringing his hands together almost nervously, "What was the other thing?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking up at him again.

"The other thing. You said you came here for two reasons?" Gene reminded me, catching my eyes with his dark blue ones.

"Oh yeah," I said, frowning now and avoiding his gaze by looking down at my feet, wringing my hands together now in worry, "It's about Tipper... Do you know anything?"

Gene frowned now too and slumped his shoulders, then he nodded slightly and tried catching my eyes again, "Yeah, I saw him when he was brought in... He looked pretty bad, but... I think he's gunna be okay."

I looked up at him now, a glint of hope in my eyes, "Really?"

He nodded in response, "I heard one of the other guys talking... They said he's gunna lose his leg, and most likely his eye. His war's over."

His leg and his eye. Poor Tipper. But he'd be okay, Gene said he'd be okay. I didn't really even know Tipper, I've never spent any time with him or had any real conversations with him, but he always seemed like a nice guy. I feel bad for him.

"Well, I'm glad he's gunna be okay," I said. I'm glad his war's over. I didn't say it out loud, but I meant it. None of these guys deserved to be here, they should all be at home with their families, safe and happy, but instead they were over here, scared and wondering if they'd ever go home. A lot of these guys signed up for this though, they willingly went into this knowing the consequences, and so did I. We wanted to serve our country, make her proud, make our families proud, keep them safe. So we'd fight until we won.

I slumped my shoulders, actually relaxed a little now and I offered Gene a small, tired smile, "Thanks for the scissors, Ralph will be glad."

"No problem. Just tell him not to lose 'em, cause he ain't gettin' another pair from me," Gene told me.

I smiled wider and nodded, "Will do. See ya around, Doc."

He waved me off and then silently went back to doing his job.
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We only had a little while here in Carentan, apparently we'd be moving out again here pretty soon, so I tried not to get too comfortable. I was sitting on a step on the porch of a house next to Chuck, who was leaning against a wall, trying to rest at least a little before we left.

"You're alright though?" Chuck asked me in concern for what seemed like the hundredth time since we've been sitting here.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm fine, Chuck. There's not a scratch on me. Now would you stop asking me if I'm alright?"

"Well I'm sorry for being concerned," Chuck said sarcastically, holding up his hands in defense.

I rolled my eyes again, but stayed silent. I could feel Chuck's eyes on the back of my head, I could tell he wanted to ask me something else. He knew there was something bothering me.

"You want to ask me something else," I stated more so than asked.

"What's wrong?" He asked me, not missing a beat.

I shook my head, "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine."

I knew he rolled his eyes at that and I felt him scoot closer to me, coming to sit next to me on the step, our arms smushed together, "You're a horrible liar."

I sighed and looked across the street at all the soldiers either relaxing, talking, or getting ready for our next move. I shook my head again and slumped my shoulders, resting my elbows on my knees as I sat sort of hunched over, "Tipper got hit today."

"Yeah... I heard," Chuck said, but he didn't say anything else, he let me speak.

"It was bad, Chuck," I said, still avoiding his eyes, "I've never seen anything like it... There was so much blood. I could see the bone in his leg, his eye was..."

I shut my eyes, almost like I was trying to shut out the image of Tipper, bloodied and battered, from my mind.

"But he made it?" Chuck asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

I nodded, "Yeah, he made it. So far... Gene said he'd live, but I don't know... I find it hard to believe for some reason."

I felt Chuck's hand on my shoulder, comforting me, "If Doc says he's going to be fine, he's going to be fine... I didn't even know you were that close with Tipper."

I shook my head, "I'm not. But seeing him like that... It really got to me..."

Chuck grimaced and squeezed my shoulder, "War's not for the faint of heart, Maddie, you knew that coming into this thing."

I nodded, "I know... I guess I just didn't expect it to be so... So..."

"Real?" Chuck finished for me and I nodded.

"Yeah... That's it," I said, still looking across at all the men.

Chuck was quiet, his hand still on my shoulder, but it only remained there for a moment longer, then he said something else, unrelated to what we just talking about, "I heard you were with Joe today."

Distractions were good.

I nodded, a small almost sarcastic smile appearing on my face, "Yep. Indeed I was."

"How'd that go? I know you two got a rocky relationship," Chuck said, leaning back on his elbows.

I shrugged and finally turned my head to look at him, "Not bad actually. He didn't say anything worth a smack in the face once."

Chuck mocked the reaction of shock, "That's gotta be some kind of record for Joe."

I snickered at that, but our peaceful little moment didn't last long as Welsh started yelling for us to get off our asses so we could move out. I frowned and groaned inwardly at his barking commands, Chuck sort of laughing at my reaction as we grabbed our stuff from the ground and got to our feet.

"Come on, Tauscher, there's no room for complaining in this company," Chuck said and I rolled my eyes at him, adjusting the strap of my weapon over my shoulder.

"Alright Sobel," I replied sarcastically, earning a playful sort of glare from Chuck, making me smile.

"Come on Easy Company! Let's go!" I heard Welsh yell, then he said something to one of the other men who had yet to get his feet.

I sighed as I followed Chuck over to join the rest of our men. Here we go again.