January 2, 1945
Foy, Belgium
Although Patton didn't save Easy, his Battle of the Bulge did grant them two very good pieces of good news: they were leaving Bastogne and supplies could now come in.
Everyone was excited to leave the crippled forest, even if it meant walking to another forest to sit and hold the line. What everyone was even more excited about were the winter coats that arrived.
"Damn, and here I thought I'd never love anything more than cigars," said Randleman, rubbing the scratchy peacoat against his cheek.
Guarnere agreed. "I don't even mind looking like a pretty boy in this coat."
"Don't worry, Bill. It offsets your ugly mug," said Toye.
Guarnere chuckled before wrapping himself in the long coat. "Damn, I look good. How's yours, sweetheart?" He looked over at Jaclyn, but busted out laughing at the sight of her.
Since these supplies were for American troopers, Jaclyn took what she could. Bloody cheap Britons, she thought scathingly. She attempted to find the smallest coat possible, but as there were no female American soldiers, the coat sizes were made only for men.
"Shut your mouth, Guarnere. I can feel my body for the first time in weeks. I don't care what I look like," she said, sticking out her tongue.
Guarnere, Toye and Randleman laughed together. Jaclyn was completely swallowed up by the thick coat, the collar almost acting like a hood and the sleeves long enough to wrap around her middle. Does make shooting a bit difficult, she thought sourly.
"Hey Mack, lookin' good," said Luz, smirking. His own coat fit perfectly. Of course it did.
She stuck her tongue out again but almost ate wool in the process. They laughed heartily at her expense. "When I have enough coat to act as a second blanket tonight, none of you are invited to my foxhole." She caught Luz's eye before turning away to dig in. Liar.
This time around, Jaclyn swallowed her pride and allowed her friends to help her. Unsurprisingly, the process was much quicker, even though the ground was even harder than that of Bastogne.
At first, their time in Foy was quiet. The only casualty came from an accident. Hoobler was shot by the gun in his pocket, severing the artery in his leg.
Although they were all shaken and upset by the news of such a meaningless death, it was Lieutenant Buck Compton that was the most affected. He went from foxhole to foxhole to make every soldier promise to not do anything stupid.
"Stupid is my middle name, Buck," said Luz, shivering in the large crater with Muck, Penkala and Jaclyn.
"I mean it, Luz. Don't be an idiot," Compton sneered, his once light hearted face was grave.
Luz got the hint. "OK, I promise. I'll be good or you'll kill me."
Compton nodded, attempting to alleviate the tension he caused. "Even if you're dead, I'll still kill you." He walked away.
"Yeesh, can't even joke round here no more," Luz muttered.
Jaclyn shrugged. "Maybe it's your material."
Luz gaped at her, mock hurt. "I'm funny as is, doll. I don't need material. This is natural talent."
She snorted, smirking. "More like natural disaster." Muck and Penkala chuckled at the banter, giving each other a look.
Luz wanted nothing more than to kiss that smirk off her face, but he held back. Like always, he added to himself grumpily. They hadn't kissed since Christmas night.
"OK, keep it in your pants," said Penkala. Luz and Jaclyn immediately turned bright red, but were silent at once. "Now Muck, tell us the stupidest thing you ever did. If we can't be stupid now, at least we can reminisce."
Muck took a moment to think. "Well, I swam across the Niagara once."
Luz scoffed. "What? In a barrel?"
Muck rolled his eyes. "Not down the falls, idiot. I swam across the river about ten miles from it. The current dragged me at least two miles downriver, but I made it across," he said proudly.
"Wow, Muck," said Jaclyn. "That is pretty stupid."
He grinned. "Yeah, my ma ripped me a new one. So did Fay when she found out."
The three of them immediately fawned. "Oh, Fay. Sweet Fay."
Muck blushed. "Shut up. That's my girl you're mocking."
"We ain't mocking Fay," said Luz. "We're mocking you, buddy." They all laughed at that, including Muck. Luz caught her eye and winked.
The next day, a jeep arrived with an interesting pair of battalion soldiers. Each held a video camera and told Easy that they'd be filming them for the folks back home. Smiling was mandatory.
"Everyone home gets cozy and watches a movie about us in this hellhole?" said Toye. "Nice. Very nice."
Perconte shrugged. "Sink said it's supposed to keep up their morale."
"Why the fuck do they need a morale boost?"
"Fuck if I know."
Jaclyn giggled. She could see the reasoning behind it, but agreed with the men. How about a morale boost for us instead?
That night, Jaclyn laid in her foxhole, shivering so hard she thought her brain must be addled. Stupid extra large coat does nothing. She heard a snap of a twig underfoot and opened her eyes a moment before Luz jumped in beside her.
"Your own personal morale boost has arrived, doll. Scoot over," he said grinning.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." But she moved over to let him in. Even after he wrapped his arms around her, still she shivered. The sky was clear and the air glacial.
Luz felt her tremble, and even his ego couldn't mistake it for anything but the cold. "Here," he said. He moved her aside for a moment and unbuttoned his peacoat. He then moved to unbutton hers, but his hands stopped. "Uh, can you do that for me?"
Jaclyn raised an eyebrow. "George Luz, this isn't the way to get me naked. I require a warm bed, or, at the very least, a strong fire by a dry floor."
Luz grinned. I'll remember that, doll. "Take off the damn coat, Mack."
She sighed, but started to unbutton her coat. Putting all my trust in Luz. Now that's scary. She removed the peacoat and started shivering uncontrollably.
He pulled her to him, guiding her arms to wrap around his middle inside his coat. He buttoned up what he could before draping her overlarge coat over her like a blanket. The effect was immediate.
"Oh," she breathed, snuggling in deeper.
Luz smirked, very proud of himself. He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. "Direct body contact, Mack. Then trap it in. Better than a strong fire." He paused, his smirk growing. "But it's gotta be my body, see, or else it won't work so well."
He expected a pinch, or the very least a smack, but she surprised him with a contented sigh. "Yes, sir." He grinned before kissing the top of her head and easily falling to sleep.
The quiet in Foy was short lived. Although Easy couldn't see the German artillery from their vantage points, they knew they were there. Especially once the krauts zeroed in on their position.
"Take cover!" Jaclyn heard Lipton scream. The whistling of shells overhead became deafening.
"Get down!" yelled Compton in her ear. His arms forced her and Guarnere down and into the trench they shared.
Bursts of lights and dirt exploded around them. Trees erupted into splitters.
Memories rushed back to Jaclyn, and she tried blocking them out the best she could. Covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut, she cowered into Guarnere's chest. Make it stop, she begged silently.
And as if the krauts heard her, they obeyed and the mortar attack stopped. She looked up, allowing her eyes to open again. Removing the hands from her ears, she, Guarnere and Compton listened for injuries.
"Maybe we should go see if anyone needs help," she murmured. Luz's face appeared in her mind.
"And get hit by another attack? No, we stay put," said Compton. Guarnere agreed silently, nodding.
Jaclyn bit her lip, torn. She knew it was stupid to leave the cover of the foxhole, but her instincts were telling her that something was up. Yeah, the krauts are trying to kill you, dummy. Stay in the hole.
Suddenly they heard a strangled cry about thirty yards away. Smoke and fog eliminated their visibility beyond their immediate surroundings. They heard the cry again.
"Is that Joe?" Guarnere said, perking up. Jaclyn heard the cry again and froze. He was right - it was Toye.
Before Compton or Jaclyn could stop him, Guarnere jumped out and ran towards his friend. She moved to follow, but Compton grabbed her arm. "No, we stay here." She glared at him, but didn't try and leave again.
Just then, the whistling started again. "Find some cover!" Lipton screamed in the distance.
Jaclyn covered her head, but she didn't close her eyes this time. She scanned the area in front of them, looking for Guarnere and Toye.
A shape emerged from the fog, blasts going off around it. Jaclyn breathed a sigh of relief before she realized Guarnere was trying to drag an injured Toye towards them. She jumped from the hole and got to them before Compton could do more than brush his fingers against her jacket.
She saw briefly that Toye's lower right leg was blown off before attempting to help Guarnere pull Toye towards the hole. Jesus Christ in heaven.
"Buck!" screamed Guarnere.
Yes, get Buck. We can do this together, she thought, tugging with all her might.
"Get her out of here!" Guarnere screamed again. Another shell hit nearby, shaking the ground. Before Jaclyn realized what happened, Compton scooped her from around the middle and brought her back and down into the hole.
She pushed against him, trying to leave again. "Let go of me! We need to help them!"
Compton shoved her to the ground. "Stay here! I'm going to get them now!" She watched as he stood up again to leave. Her eyes locked on Guarnere and Toye a moment before a shell exploded in front of them. Compton was knocked back into the trench.
Dazed for a moment, Jaclyn subconsciously realized the bombings had ceased. She pulled herself from the foxhole and leapt out. The scene before her made her stop short.
Guarnere and Toye laid unconscious on the ground, blood from their wounds staining the white snow. Unconscious, not dead. Please not dead.
Her lips trembled and her teeth knocked hard against one another. "M-M-MEDIC!" she screamed.
In a flash, Roe was there. He quickly assessed them each before getting to work on Toye, who was easily worse.
"Jackie, I need you to elevate Bill's leg for me. Can you do that, cherie?" Roe said, as he tied a tourniquet around Toye's stump.
Jaclyn only stared at Guarnere. "Jackie!" yelled Roe. She startled and nodded before kneeling down next to Guarnere.
Luz arrived, skidding to a stop. "Jesus Christ," he murmured, taking in the scene.
Roe didn't look up. "Luz, radio in for a Jeep. Make that two. Joe needs to get to a hospital immediately." Luz nodded silently and did as he was told.
Jaclyn took off her helmet and placed it under Guarnere's wounded leg. She heard a gasp, and she looked up. He was awake.
"Fuck," he muttered through his teeth. His jaw was clenched hard against the pain.
Jaclyn removed her peacoat and laid it over his body. "Doc. Do you have any morphine?" she asked numbly.
He threw a syrette to her. "Just like I showed you, Jackie. In the thigh. Then sulfa in the wounds. As much as you can."
Jaclyn did as she was told before turning back to look at Guarnere. "You're doing great, Bill. We are getting you out of here in no time." She tried to keep his eyes on her and not to the mess below his waist.
Guarnere grimaced. "Looks like my war is over, sweetheart."
She brushed his hair back, smiling. "Lucky bastard."
He swallowed hard against the pain, but the morphine had started to kick in. He took her other hand and wrapped his fingers around it. "You need to take care of yourself, Jackie. I mean it. I'm not going to be around to keep you out of trouble no more."
She gave him a small grin. "Yeah, you're going to be home watching that god-awful team lose spectacularly."
"They're called the Phillies, doll, and it ain't baseball season."
"My mistake." They smiled at each other, hands gripped tightly. A Jeep arrived for Toye. He was still unconscious, but he was alive. Jaclyn turned back to Guarnere.
Roe moved to them and started looking at his leg while she looked into Guarnere's eyes. His face got very serious. "I don't want to have to worry about you, Jackie."
"Maybe Sink will send another morale booster for you to watch."
They chuckled together before Guarnere looked into her eyes again. Another jeep arrived. "I mean it, Jack."
"OK, I promise. I'll be good."
He was loaded into the vehicle. "And you can't shut down again." She looked at him silently. "I saw how you were back in England. Before you opened up to us. Don't dwell on the past, doll." He chucked his chin towards Luz, who was busy checking on Compton. "Just think about the future."
Their hands broke apart as the jeep drove away and out of sight before she could reply.
She heard Luz come up beside her. His hand reached over and took hers. Her eyes remained on the horizon, still watching Guarnere go even though he was well out of sight.
"Let's go find you another coat, Mack." He tugged on her fingers, trying to lead her away. She hesitated before squeezing his fingers back and following him.