A/N Two in two days. Let's see if I can keep this momentum going!

Sixteen Years Earlier

Running and hiding was what I did best as I made my way up the beach, the thought that I could get shot disappeared. I had already had my first brush with death today, and the fear I could have another one was long gone. Adrenaline mixed with the desire to find Daniel made me faster than I had ever been in my life. However, even with this to aid me I was slowed down. My body was still unstable. It forced me to slow. To add to my frustration I was penned down more than a few times. I was losing the ground my speed had first achieved, and quickly I fell behind. It was absolutely infuriating. I had to know what happened to Daniel. For now I knew Irwin was okay, but what of Daniel, what of my best friend? These bastards had almost killed me. What if they had killed him to? The thought made me absolutely sick.

Yes the three of us had accepted the fact that we could die, but I realized something when I came to. I didn't want Daniel to die not knowing the truth about me. Hell, I didn't want to die without both of them knowing the truth. Irwin had been so close to finding my dead body. What would he have thought if he had found out then that I was a woman? Would he have been disgusted? Would he have been angry that I never told him, and what would he have told Daniel? They would be friends even after I had died, so surely they would have talked. Daniel…I had no idea what he would think other than that he would feel so thoroughly betrayed, no that just wouldn't do. That is what gave me the strength to run up that beach against all the odds.

Finally, I dived into the raised part of the sand. I could see that part of a company had already been through here. There had been a break in what seemed like an impenetrable wall. So far that seemed to be the only one in this section of the wall, and the men around me were using it to get it to the trenches beyond.

However, this part wasn't completely without peril. The bunker I had pointed out to Irwin was still active and raining bullets down on the men below. It wasn't perfect pickings, like it had been out on the main part of the beach, but was still lethal. Yes the shooting had died down, but now I had to tread more carefully here than I had on my mad sprint up the beach.

I slipped through the opening with a few other men being careful to hide behind any cover that I could find. I got lucky for the second time that day when stopped behind what was left of a wall. Unfortunately, the man in front of me did not. The air became pink mist as his body was riddled with bullets. Then seconds later the nearby bunker went up in flames. This distracted the gunman so that he didn't see another solder rounding the corner. The German died a second later. Then my attention turned towards the bunker. The first thing I noticed was men were falling out of it to escape the blaze. The men around me began cheering. My own voice soon joined theirs. I didn't even raise my gun to end their misery. My heart hardened, there was no sympathy left in me. I even felt glad to see them suffer after all they had put us through. Honestly, it almost felt too easy for them to just fall out of the window like that. They needed to burn for much longer in my opinion.

The joy I felt was only momentary. Shots were still ringing out everywhere. There was still more than just this bunker that needed taken out, one small section of the wall didn't mean victory.

Several men and I continued into the trenches. It was a few moments before we were joined by a face I recognized or more specifically a body I recognized. It was the man who had gave me my beating back in England. I didn't even realize until now that he was actually a sergeant. He looked directly at me and I could see his eyes widen in recognition.

"I didn't expect to see you alive," his gruff voice said, "figured they'd pick you off already."

"As you know I'm quite agile on my feet," there was a slight smile on my face.

"So you are," he cracked a small smile that was not entirely unpleasant. Then he nodded at my rifle. "I hope you're as good with that as they say."

I looked him straight in the eye. My smile was gone. "I'm better."

He just grunted in acknowledgement, and then looked at the other men. "Our boys have that bunker but 'nother one close by. We still have men on the beach and they deserve a break. I intend to take that other bunker."

Nothing more needed to be said. We all knew that we would follow him. It was time for us to get into the fight. He led the way as we made our way to our target. I was starting to admire him. It's not every day that a person is not only willing to order a charge but be in the front of it. We rounded a bend at the same time as two Germans did. They didn't even have a chance to register what had happened as he mowed them down with fierce determination. However, he didn't see the third one come after him. He didn't even register there was one until after my shot rang out, dropping the guy like a leaf.

He looked at me slightly surprised, "I think having you around might not be such a bad idea."

I just shrugged and we continued on through. I was slightly stunned myself. Up until that moment the largest thing I had ever killed was a deer, and that was for survival. Never had I killed a living, breathing person, but when I thought about it, it didn't bother me all that much. In my brain it boiled down to simple survival here too. I wasn't going to starve at home from a lack of will to kill an animal, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let someone shoot me or mine from a lack of will here. Besides they were no longer human in my mind. They had turned into animals that stood in the way of my survival.

We ended up getting out of the trench. It would be safer than getting surprised in the tunnel. They couldn't bottle neck us up top, and I could shoot more freely without the concern of hitting my own men. Later Daniel and I would describe it in much the same way. It was like flushing out rats, you'd shoot one and the others would scurry on down the trench. I believe a few tried to surrender, to give themselves up, but we just weren't having any of it. All of us were so angry, and the fact that these were people wouldn't catch up with us until much later.

I killed my fair share as we went, either with my rifle (if they were far enough away), or my pistol. By the time we reached the bunker and finally flushed it out, other sections of the wall had been broken through. Many bunkers were going up in flames, but it wasn't that which was the most profound. When I finally looked at the beach the enormity of this day washed over me. There were bodies littered up and down the beaches. Screams were still in the air. The stench of death was so thick it made the air feel fowl. Birds circled overhead, waiting for the meal that was soon to come. However, it wasn't this that struck me, it was the sea.

Before we arrived I'm quite sure it was a different color. The sand would have been yellowish and the sea, perhaps it was a blue or a blue green color, but that was before when it was uncontaminated by people and their war. Overlooking it all I could see was red. Blood stained the sand and filled the water. It was like it was thirsty and eager to drink up what we had offered it, and the day wasn't even over.

I turned away, no longer wanting to see the horror's that laid on that beach. Besides, I still had to find Daniel and Irwin. If they had made it, I would tell them the truth about me as soon as I could. If they hadn't, well I simply refused to acknowledge that possibility.

I looked at the bunker I had told Irwin to meet me at. Though I doubted he would be there, he would be busy with the injured, I would still wait for him there. It would also give me a chance to look for Daniel.

I began to make my way to over to it. Shots were still ringing out everywhere, but as I got close I could hear several. A group of men were shooting into a trench. I could hear an individual calling for a cease fire, but it took the men a few moments to stop. Then they started walking away in different directions.

I could see a smaller individual following after a taller one. Immediately I knew who it was.

"They surrendered Daniel! How could you just keep shooting at them like that?" the smaller one protested.

"Stop harassing me!" Daniel had shouted. He pulled away as Irwin attempted to touch his shoulder. "How can you defend them when you know what they did?"

"What they did?" Irwin asked shaking his head, "They are just people!"

Daniel looked like his friend had grown two heads.

"They are not just people! They are not like you and I!" then he paused and looked his friend in the eye. Even from a distance I could see him close his eyes in pain, maybe even anguish. "Look I get that you're a doctor, and your job is to help people, but they killed him!" He gestured violently out towards the bunker as if that signified the whole German army.

Irwin shook his head again, "No they didn't."

"Yes they did!" Daniel shouted again. At this point I was close enough that I could see tears running down his cheeks. "I saw it happen. I saw Antony's landing craft explode right in front of me! It was still full, no one got off of there, how could they in time? They killed my best friend and I watched and could do nothing! Nothing except kill every single one of these bastards that I could in the hopes that I could have the pleasure to kill the one that killed him! Besides why should I give them a chance to surrender? They didn't even give him a chance to get off that damn boat!"

Irwin had put his hands on Daniels' shoulders and shook him a little. This time Daniel didn't pull away, he just looked down at his feet. "He didn't die in the craft."

Daniel's head shot up. "What do you mean he didn't die? How could you possibly know?"

"I must have been closer to it than you were. He was in the water when it happened. Antony was just staring at it when another shell went off. He went, he went under and I went after him. I pulled him to shore. He wasn't breathing at first, but I got him to."

"So where is he now? Is he okay? Take me to him!"

Daniel was about to take off when Irwin stopped him. "I don't know where he is Daniel."

Daniel looked at him in disbelief. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"Shortly after he came too he took off and ran up the beach. He said he had to find you and that there was still a job to do."

"You let him leave?" I could see Daniel getting angry. Before today I had never seen him truly get angry. "After he was injured, you let him come after me?"

"He wouldn't stay with me and I had to take care of the injured. He was okay, more than okay. I've never seen anyone run that fast."

"You let him come after me. Oh God, you let him come after me and he's probably down there dead somewhere! How could you?" He gestured wildly towards the beach.

The situation was getting out of control quickly. I could see Daniel getting ready to punch Irwin.

"Stop!" I shouted. This served its purpose and got them to both look at me. "I'm right here, I'm still alive!"