A/N - Hallo! Thank you for reading and reviewing, I love it when you guys review, it just makes my day. I hope you guys enjoy, this chapter is a little shorter and I'm not a huge fan of the way it turned out, but here it is. I hope you guys enjoy. :)

Disclaimer - Read the first chapter's.

I woke with a start. My heart was beating fast, my forehead was covered in sweat, my palms the same. My blue eyes were wide as they started across the field we were in, seeing the other men either sleeping or sitting up talking and eating. We were fine for the moment.

"Matilda?" I heard from beside me and it was now that I realized there was a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned my head and saw Gene looking at me with concern in his eyes, "Are you alright?"

I slumped my shoulders then, realizing what had happened. I nodded and ran my hands over my face, wiping away the sweat, "Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine... I just had a bad dream, is all."

"What were you dreamin' about?" He asked, his voice low and quiet.

I looked at him for a minute. I couldn't tell him, no. I couldn't. What happened that night is between me, that jackass from the other company, and Liebgott. So I lied and told him something else, something else that was bothering me. He deserved to know this at least, I needed to open up a little more.

"My... Brother," I said, still a little hesitant, but I told him, it actually felt good to tell him, "He went missing in France a few days ago. I got a letter from my parents when we were still in England."

"Oh," He said, a little at a loss for words, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's alright," I said, "You had no way of knowing."

It was quiet for a minute, then Gene asked, "What was his name?"

I looked over at him and smiled slightly, "Matthew... Matthew Charles Tauscher. Everybody called him Matt, except for me, I called him Mattie."

"Is that why you-"

"Why I called myself Matthew when I came here? Yeah," I said, nodding, "He was... He was great."

"What was he like?" Gene asked, and I smiled a little more.

"He was the nicest guy ever," I said, avoiding Gene's eyes and instead looking at my feet, "He was funny, smart, sweet. He was my best friend. We were as close as two siblings could be. We used to play basketball all the time, we played poker on the street with our friends, Bill used to play too. Mattie was kind of shy though, which is rare for a city kid. Everybody in Philly is all up in everyone's business, we don't care. But Mattie... He only had a handful of friends... He had a girl back home, Monica. They were perfect for each other. Opposites attract is what they always say."

Gene smiled a little, "He sounds great."

I wiped at my eyes now, not wanting to cry in front of Gene. I rested my hands in my lap and looked down at them, picking at my fingers as I sniffled, trying to keep from crying. Then, to my surprise, Gene grabbed my hand. He squeezed my fingers gently, trying to comfort me. I smiled and sniffled again, curling my fingers around his and squeezing back. I looked up at him and said, "Thanks."

He smiled back, "Just doin' my job."
0-0-0-0-0
We'd been riding on the tanks for a couple of miles, all of us fairly relaxed. We had yet to meet any kind of resistance in Holland, but we all knew all this joy and open arms was too good to be true, their had to be resistance somewhere, and we were about to find it. Operation Market Garden was a risky operation, and it was being overlooked by the British, which we didn't like too much, but that's how it was.

None of us really said too much, we all remained quiet as we rode on the tanks down the gravel road. We didn't see many people outside of Eindhoven, and the people we did see looked scared and hopeless. As this war went on the more angry I became. All these poor people, their lives ruined by this war. Before all this happened they were living normal, happy lives. People had families, friends, lives. Now, all that has been taken away from them. People were alone, they were scared, they were without hope. My mother and father are safe back at home, but they're still suffering. My brothers are gone, and I'm all they have left. I'm making it my duty to come home to them in one peace.

We passed by a sign, alerting us on where we were and Webster suddenly called out, "Vincent Van Gogh was born in Nuenen!"

"Yeah? So what?" Cobb replied, making me roll my eyes.

"They sure teach you a lot of useful things at Harvard!" Hoobler cried over the rumbling of the tank engine and wheels.

We all had smiles on our faces, but they immediately turned into frowns when we saw a woman on the side of the street, her clothes old, torn, and ragged, her hair shaven and patchy in areas, and in her arms, in an old ragged blanket, was a baby. We all gave her sympathetic looks as we passed, and one of the men even gave her some food. We knew what she had done, we knew why her head was shaven and we knew who that baby was a product of. But she was still a person, and she didn't deserve to be treated like that. I felt bad for her.

As we rolled past her, the men walking ran into the trenches on the sides of the road, a small town now visible up ahead. This was it.

"Hey, get a load of General Patton!" Hoobler cried, pointing to the Lieutenant up ahead, walking right out to the middle of the road and pulling out his binoculars.

"What the hell is he doing?" I asked, looking ahead at him with a look of curiosity and concern on my face. Was he stupid or something? He was going to get shot out there in the open.

Bull suddenly crawled down the tank a little and called out to the man up ahead of us, "Lieutenant!"

Then, just like that, he was on the ground, blood pooling around his neck. Somebody yelled sniper and then we were all off the tanks and into the trenches for cover. Bull was up after the wounded Lieutenant and we were all taking cover in the trenches, all of us pulling up our weapons and readying them to fire. We watched as our tanks fired at a German one, they missed the first time, but the second time was a direct hit and the thing went up in flames. We all began shooting at the German's who got out of it, one of them on fire and trying to pat it out.

I heard Bull yelling for a medic and one ran past us, but it wasn't Gene. Thank God, I don't want him out there in the open.

"Keep moving! Get up! Keep moving!" Bull ordered us and we all got up and followed his orders after he came over and pulled the replacement ahead of us to his feet.

We ran towards the town, I followed Bull as we ran around to the side of a building, taking cover behind it. Hoobler was by his side, Bull telling him something. Hoobler then waited for Bull's order and about four of us ran around the side of the building and onto the porch. Hoobler was ahead of us and he ran to the far end of the porch, leaning over the railing and peering around the corner, aiming his weapon at any enemy that might be there.

"Go," Hoobler said to us quietly and we got down off the porch and ran around to this low baring wall and took cover behind it. I stopped behind Web and felt Hoobler kneel down behind me, then I felt him tap my shoulder and then we took off over to this wheel barrel filled with hay and took cover behind it. I was practically squished between Webster and Hoobler, my weapon pressed to my chest.

I heard a man shouting in a different language now, and I furrowed my brow, looking around. Where were they? "What did he say?" Van Klinken asked Webster.

"He's saying away, away," Webster translated. There must be a civilian around this wheel barrel, "That either means the German's have gone, or he wants us to go. I don't know."

We stayed where we were for a moment, Hoobler was looking around, trying to get a good view of the area, then he patted my shoulder, "There's a wall at the house across from here."

I nodded and patted Webster on the shoulder, "Wall, straight ahead. Go."

Webster nodded and stood, turning around the wheel barrel and towards the low bearing wall where we all took cover again. We stayed put for a moment, Hoobler peered over the wall to see if he could see anything, then he ducked back down quickly. He looked between all of us and explained, "There's a few Krauts over towards the left. Tauscher."

He knew I was a good shot and I nodded before me and him both peered over the wall at the German's frantically going over something. Me and Hoobler aimed our weapons quickly and then fired at the four or so German's. We got all of them, but there were a few shots fired at us, but they all missed their targets.

"Alright, on me," Hoobler said, jumping over the wall and running towards another building, standing behind the wall. I could hear extremely loud explosions from the distance, they sounded like they were coming from tanks, but I didn't know whose tanks. Hoobler quickly directed us down between some houses and we stopped at the street, Hoobler peering out to see if there were any German's around, then he directed us up onto a porch, and that's when we saw a couple of our tanks destroyed.

"Shit..." Hoobler said, looking out at them. We all had the same reaction. He turned towards us and then looked across the street, then he pointed back where we came, "Let's go back around there, if we go this way we'll get ambushed."

We all nodded in understanding as we turned around and headed back around to where we came from. I made sure everybody was over the porch railing before I got down, and as I was climbing over the railing a tank shell hit the porch on the other end and I went flying.

I hit something hard, possibly a wall? All I know was that I was on the ground and I felt in pain. I coughed and tried opening my eyes, but their was something in them causing them to burn.

"Tauscher!" I heard Hoobler and Webster calling, then I felt hands on me, trying to help me sit up.

"Am I hit?! Am I hit?!" I cried out. There was pain, but I couldn't tell if I had been hit or if it was just from being launched into a wall.

It was quiet for a minute as they looked me over, but then Hoobler said, "No, no, you're just shook up. You're alright."

I then brought my hands up to wipe whatever it was out of my eyes and when I pulled my hands away I realized it was just dirt. I spit some of it out of my mouth and then looked around frantically for my weapon, "Where the hell's my rifle?!"

"I don't know! Just use your pistol!" Hoobler said, his hands under my arms, pulling me to my feet, "Come on, we got to move!"

I got to my feet and ran after the four still with me, pulling my pistol out of it's holster. I followed the guys back around the house I was just launched into and we ran a few yards before we found a hedgerow of bushes. I was still spitting dirt from my mouth and coughing, the impact effecting my breathing a little.

"You alright, Maddie?" Hoobler asked me in concern.

I nodded and cocked my pistol, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just shook up, is all."

He nodded in understanding and then peered through the bushes, "There's a ditch on the other side. Follow me through."

Hoobler then quickly crawled through the other side of hedgerow and into the ditch, we waited a minute and then Van Klinken made the mistake of standing to go through the bushes and was hit with machine gun fire. He fell into the ditch beside Hoobler and me, Webster, and Cobb quickly crawled through to the other side. Hoobler had flipped Van Klinken onto his back to check him, he was still breathing, but he was unconscious.

"Come on, Hoobler! We gotta go!" Cobb said as the German's fire down at us, hitting the hill just above this ditch.

"But-"

"Come on, Hoob! Move!" Cobb yelled as the bullets were shot at us closer.

We crawled through the ditch, trying to make our way up to this building up ahead. I crawled behind Cobb, Webster was behind me. The bullets continued to spray the hill above the ditch, making me duck my head every once in a while, but I was never hit. We made our way to the house and very quickly each and every one of us jumped up and went over the wall, kneeling down on the other side of it.

Hoobler sat back against the wall, a look of guilt covering his face, "We had to leave him, Hoob," I told him, "It's okay-"

"He was still alive!" He cried, grasping his weapon in his hands tightly.

"Who was hit?" I heard beside me and I turned and saw Gene kneeling next to me.

"Van Klinken," Hoobler panted out, "He was shot over that hedge."

"Alright," Gene said, then, to everyone's surprise, he got up and ran around the wall, towards the hedge we just came from.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled and Hoobler cursed as me and him both got up and followed Gene.

Was he insane, just getting up and running into enemy fire? He wasn't armed, but all that seemed far from his mind right now as we made our way to the ditch. Me and Hoobler fired at any German in sight, trying to keep our medic safe. Gene was not making this fight easy at the moment. He hopped down into the ditch and made his way over to Van Klinken, me and Hoobler providing covering fire. Gene looked down at Van Klinken's wounds and saw a brief look of grief on his face. He wasn't going to make it. He was shot all over his chest. I broke my gaze away from the scene and turned towards the firefight before me. It took a few moments, but Gene got Van Klinken as bandaged up as he could and then he turned to us, "Hoobler, help me out here!"

Hoobler lowered his weapon and ran around me quickly as I continued firing away at the German's. I could hear somebody yelling 'fall back' in the distance. Great. Hoobler and Gene started dragging Van Klinken forward out of the ditch, I stayed ahead of them, making sure they were safe from enemy fire. We made our way back to the house up ahead and when we returned I saw Webster and Cobb giving us very surprised looks.

I just gave them a look. I'm surprised we all made it out alive, too.

"Web! Take him!" Hoobler cried as he ducked back down behind the wall.

Webster got up and grabbed Van Klinken, helping Doc along as I too took cover behind the wall with Hoobler. I peered over the wall a little bit, trying to see what was going on. The German's were closing in on us.

"What are we gunna do Lieutenant?!" Hoobler asked the taller man, who seemed to be stumped. Now was not the time to be stumped.

"I'm not sure," The Lieutenant said.

"Sir, we gotta get out of here!" I yelled to him, peering around the corner.

Then we heard it, the whistle, "Mortar!" Hoobler cried and we all jumped up and ran as the explosion went off behind us, missing us by just a few yards. We ran a few steps, then I realized we were missing somebody. I turned to look and saw Cobb still sitting by the wall, his knees drawn up to his chest, his weapon clutched in his shaking hands as he gazed into nothing, his eyes looking lost.

"Cobb!" I yelled after him, running back towards him.

"Tauscher, let's go!" I heard Hoobler call after me, but I ignored him. I don't think he realized Cobb was still over here.

"Come on, Cobb, you're alright," I said, grabbing him under the arm and helping him to his feet, "Come on, let's get out here."

He sensed the urgency in my voice and I guess that's what pulled him out of his stupor. He followed after me now and we quickly caught back up to Hoobler and our Lieutenant. We started towards the front of town, mortars flying down all around us, blowing up buildings and killing our men. We had to move faster. We ran down the street, in between building, jumped over fences, crawled through trenches, did everything we could to make it out of this alive.

We eventually made it towards the front of town, our tanks on retreat. We jumped down into a ditch on the side of the road, finding better cover in there. We could see up ahead our men being loaded into the back of some trucks. I didn't like the sight of them jumping up into them things, urgency in their step, fear in their eyes. Retreating was horrible.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Hoobler cried from ahead of us. We crawled up out of the ditch and onto the road, behind our tanks and towards our trucks.

We saw Winters up ahead, yelling for us to keep moving and to hurry up. We ran past him and then we were at our trucks. Hoobler got up on it first, then he leaned down and helped me up. I ended up sat between him and Smokey as the rest of the men piled on. I saw Webster sit at the end of the truck, wiping blood off his hand onto his pants, a distant look in his eye.

As the trucks started up and started down the road, that's when it really sunk in. When I was sitting there watching the mortars continue to go off in that town, I felt a sense of defeat wash over me. I was starting to get angry, everything was just piling up on me now. My brother going MIA, what happened in the alley that night, and now this. It was all becoming too much and I didn't know what to do with it all.

I saw Smokey next to me, trying not to cry, and I put a hand on his shoulder, trying my best to comfort him. I turned to look back at the town and felt tears stinging my eyes as well.

This was all too much.
0-0-0-0-0
It was dark now and we still hadn't heard anything about Bull. I didn't have high hopes, as I've said before, MIA cases usually go horribly wrong. I was sitting down, leaning back up against a hill, munching on some bread that Hoobler had given me. I didn't feel hungry, but I knew I was. I hadn't eaten anything since this morning, so I forced myself to eat. Me being weak would help nobody.

We lost four men today. It didn't sound like a lot, but it was to us. We had a lot of men wounded, too. Van Klinken ended up passing away about an hour ago, but we all knew he wasn't going to make it, we knew it earlier when we saw his wounds.

"Hey," I heard, and I recognized it as Chuck's voice.

I looked up at him, not even attempting to smile. It had been a rough day, "Hey."

I looked away quickly and went back to eating my bread, and I heard him sigh and then he sat down next to me, "You alright?" He asked as he got comfortable next to me, his voice lower than usual.

I nodded slightly, "I'll make it."

He nodded in return and looked down at his boots. I cast a slight glance towards him, trying to see his face. I wonder how he was holding up? I may have some other problems building up behind this, but everybody had a rough day today. Defeat wasn't easy. I saw his face and he looked frustrated, a pained expression on his face. Chuck usually didn't try to show what he was feeling, he liked to be the positive one, he tried to keep the men's spirits up. I began to look away, but I caught sight of some red splotches on his jacket sleeve and a few holes on it.

My eyes widened and dropped my bread to the ground and grabbed his arm gently, "What happened?"

He looked over at me now, looking down at my hands on his arm. He shrugged, "I got hit with some shrapnel after trying to take out an 88. I'll be fine."

I examined his arm and my eyes caught sight of some blood on his pants, too, "How much did you get hit with?"

"I'm fine, Maddie," Chuck reassured me, grabbing my hands with his and pushing them away from his wounds, "Doc said it wasn't even enough to come off the line."

I nodded, though I was still worried. I hated seeing my friends in pain. I didn't like the fact that he got hit and I didn't even know about it. I could've been there. I could've helped him. I sighed and looked back down at my feet, seeing the bread that I had dropped in between them. I picked it up and started picking at it, I could feel Chuck's eyes on me, curious.

"I heard what happened to your brother," Chuck said quietly.

I sighed in irritation, "Who told you?"

"Spina," Chuck said.

I shook my head, "That man just can't keep his mouth shut."

He snickered quietly, "You can talk to me. You know that, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah... I know."

"I'm sorry about your brother," Chuck said, sadness in his voice.

I hated pity.

"It's fine. I'm fine," I said sharply, not wanting to talk about this anymore.

"I heard you two were close," Chuck went on.

I clenched my fists now, "I said I'm fine, Chuck. Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Maddie, I'm just trying to-"

"I know!" I snapped harshly, but quietly, not wanting anyone to overhear this as I glared over at him sharply, "Everybody's trying! Everybody's trying to tell me it's okay and everything will work out in the end! But from where I'm sitting, things aren't looking so hot! I've had a very shitty week, Grant, and I'm getting tired of everyone's pity. I get it from you, I get it from Bill, I get it from Ralph, I get it from everybody! I'm tired of being treated like I can't handle myself, I don't need protecting, okay?! Just leave me alone!"

Chuck was taken off guard. I don't yell at him, ever. Except for that one time when he was being an idiot and trying to get himself killed, but other than that, I don't yell at him. I don't yell at anybody. But right now, I was just so upset and angry. I've never felt anger like this before. I dropped my food and grabbed my weapon, standing and stalking away.

"W-where are you going?" Chuck called after me, standing up, but he didn't go after me.

"I'm going to find Bull," I said, a determined look in my eye.

"What?" I heard Bill say, jumping up from his spot on the ground.

"I'm going with you," Hoobler said, standing and grabbing his weapon.

"You're goin' where?" Bill asked, stepping over to me.

"I'm going to find Bull," I said, no falter in my voice.

"That's suicide, Maddie, are ya tryin' ta get yourself killed?" Bill asked, then he went on, "I'll go, you stay here."

He started to step away, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. I looked him in the eye sharply, my jaw clenched as my blue eyes held anger, "I'm going."

He looked at me, his dark eyes searching mine. He knew I was serious, he knew when I was serious. He usually didn't hold me back, but he was concerned about me with the week I've had, he knew how much was on my shoulders right now, but he knew I was going to do this, whether he liked it or not. He nodded, "Okay."
0-0-0-0-0
It ended up being me, Hoobler, Hashey, Garcia, Cobb, and Webster that went back up to that town, looking for Bull. We weren't going to leave him behind. He might be dead, but we were going to find a body. We weren't leaving him. We walked all night looking for him, the town was full of German's though. We'd never make it in and out alive, but we didn't care. We kept going towards there, determined to find Bull. We could heard the bombs in the distance and yellow light that lit up the sky. They were bombing Eindhoven. The town where we were welcomed with open arms, we were their saviors. We let them down.

We were tired by morning, we barely spoke during the night, afraid a German might hear us and jump out from the bushes to attack us, so we kept quiet and focused on finding Bull.

I was early the next morning we were making our way down a hill when we heard an engine in the distance. We all fell onto our bellies, readying our weapons for a firefight, but that never came. It was one of our jeeps, and when they spotted Hoobler with his weapon in the air, they stopped and it was none other than Bull Randleman in the passenger seat.

We all followed Hoobler to the jeep, smiles on everyone's faces, including my own. I can't believe it, he's actually alive, "Where the fuck you been?" Hoobler asked as he stopped in front of Bull.

"I'm glad to see you boys," Bull said, then he looked over at me and said, "You too, Tauscher."

I smiled at him and slumped my shoulders, relieved he was alright, "Glad to see you're alright, Bull."

"I bet you thought we had given up on you, eh Bull?" Cobb said, leaning against the front of the jeep.

"Shut up, Cobb," I said and he looked over at me with a confused look on his face.

"I think we should go back now," Webster said.

Bull smiled at us and nodded, motioning to the back of the jeep, "Hop on."

We all smiled and hopped up on the back, making as much room as we could for each other. I squeezed in between Hoobler and Garcia, a little bit of joy flooding my heart. I needed some of that right about now. The jeep went right on with it's path a moment later, and we got back to where we came from a lot quicker on this damn thing than on our feet. I smiled at the sight of the rest of our men and I smiled even wider when I saw the beams on their faces when they saw us all back here safe and sound.

Bull got off first and went to shake Johnny's hand and me and the rest of the guys got off the back of the jeep. I watched as Bill came over, a smile on his face as he shook Bull's hand, "I don't know whetha to slap ya, kiss ya, or salute ya. I told these scallywags you was okay."

"They didn't listen?" Bull asked with a smile as him and Bull looked over at us.

"Ah, these salty bastards, they wanted ta go on a suicide run and drag your ass back," Bill said and Bull scoffed, looking over at us almost proudly.

"Is that right?" Bull asked.

"Yeah, I told 'em don't botha," Bill said, still smiling as we all sort of chuckled at him.

"Never did like this company none," Bull said, then he walked away.

As he left a few of the men came over to us and started shaking our hands, welcoming us back.

"Maddie, you're alright," Chuck said, smiling slightly as he came over to me, grabbing my hand as if he were going to shake it, but he just held it.

"Did you ever doubt me?" I joked, my smile a little brighter now.

Chuck snickered and shook his head, looking down at his feet. I looked up at him for a minute, seeing a look I'd never seen on his face before. I sighed a little and frowned, "I'm sorry."

"What?" He asked, looking up at me again.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you last night," I said, shaking my head, "I shouldn't have done that, I was just frustrated and I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you, you didn't deserve that. It's not your fault."

Chuck smiled a little and nodded, "I know. It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay."

I smiled up at him again then we heard, "Alright, we're moving out! Grab your gear, let's go!"

Chuck finally released my hand and gave me one last smile before he turned and went to find his stuff. I adjusted my helmet on my head and slung my new rifle over my shoulder. This was Van Klinken's weapon, I had to take it. I couldn't go on with just a pistol. I headed up the hill towards the tanks, patting my breast pocket and making sure I still had my deck of cards, making sure I didn't lose them in the battle yesterday. I didn't, they were still there.

I saw some of the men getting loaded into the back of one of the trucks and I headed over there, adjusting the strap over my shoulder. I hiked up the hill quickly and made my way around to the back of the truck. I grabbed the railing on the side and started to climb up, but I heard, "Tauscher."

I looked up and saw Gene holding out his hand for me. I smiled in appreciation and took it, letting him help me up onto the truck. I sat down next to him and looked over at him, a small smile on my face. He smiled back at me, sort of shyly, then he turned his head to look out at the scenery of Holland. The smile remained on my face as I caught sight of Ralph across from me. He gave me a knowing smile and blew me a kiss teasingly, making me roll my eyes, but I felt the blush rise to my cheeks. I turned my head down so no one saw it though. I hated Ralph sometimes.

I looked up again when I saw Bull being helped onto the truck. I looked over at Gene again and knew he needed to sit here so he could work on Bull's wounded shoulder, so me and him swapped seats. I now sat between him and Hoobler, and I looked up from Bull as he took off his jacket and revealed his bloody wound, I didn't want to look at it. I instead watched the black smoke fly up into the sky from the town of Eindhoven. I didn't want to look at that either, it was too depressing. It reminded me of our defeat yesterday, and it reminded me that we weren't riding away in victory, but retreating.

I looked down at my hands in my lap, they were covered in dirt and a little bit of blood where I helped with Van Klinken yesterday and from where I grabbed Chuck's arm. I tried wiping it on my pants, but it was dry. I sighed and looked up at the scenery around us. Holland was a beautiful place, maybe I'd come back and visit when there's no war going on.

My eyes were heavy with sleep, I've been up all night and I haven't been sleeping well lately anyway. I could fall asleep right now if I wanted to under the warm morning sun. I sighed and rubbed at my eyes, then I felt a nudge on my shoulder, prompting me to look up.

"You alright?" Hoobler asked me, a look of concern on his face.

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah... Just tired."

Hoobler scoffed, "Aren't we all."

I looked away and back to the town of Eindhoven up in flames. The war wouldn't be over by Christmas like we had all hoped, but the German's better not think they've won this thing. This was just a little slump in the road, we just had to find another way into Germany. And we will find another way into Germany, mark my words.