Nobody had wanted to return from their week of leave passing out as paratroopers. Nobody had enjoyed leaving their families and friends for what they all knew could potentially be the last time they would ever see them. And nobody was enjoying being back in the clutches of Herbert .
"Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut, Sylv, and let him chew you out?" Martin growled angrily. "Now we've lost our weekend passes… again."
"He would have found a reason to make us lose them anyway, Johnny," Guarnere tried to fight her corner.
"She might have lost hers but the rest of us wouldn't," Johnny argued, glaring at Sylv. "Ever since we got back from visiting home you've had a real chip on your fucking shoulder. And you know what, Sylv? If you wanna piss off Sobel then be my guest, but find a way to do it that doesn't involve the rest of us."
"I'm not trying to piss him off," she glared back, squaring her shoulders and stepping closer to him to show she wasn't intimidated by his bark. It didn't matter that he was half a head taller than her.
"Then why aren't you keeping your mouth shut? Huh? And why are you walking around acting like a bitch to everyone? Just this morning, Liebgott bumped into you by accident in the breakfast line and you bit his head off."
"Nothing I can't handle, Johnny, don't worry," Liebgott winked, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room. "Besides, I like when the bitch bites. Reminds me she wants a piece of my ass."
"You wish," Toye muttered.
"I wish," George added with a tense grin. "Now why don't you two hot headed hooligans hug it out and make it up… and take a moment to appreciate how good all that alliteration was."
"Alliteration?" Muck smirked. "You trying to give Webster a run for his money, Luz?"
"Would you all just shut up," Johnny growled. "'Cause I wanna be able to hear what the fuck Sylv has got to say for herself."
"Here's what I've gotta say to you, Johnny," Sylv poked him in the chest, her eyes blazing with fury. "Fuck you."
The men's faces were a mixture of shock and amusement as Sylv turned and stormed out of the barracks, slamming the door shut behind her so hard that the entire building rattled.
"It's probably her time of the month," Perconte muttered.
"For three weeks?" George narrowed his eyes at him.
"What other explanation could there be?" Perconte shrugged.
"God knows but I'm gonna go find out," Johnny muttered.
"I'll go," Bill put a hand on his chest to stop him. "Last thing we need is you shouting at her again and the two of you getting into a real fight. 'Cause I don't fancy watching her beat you to a pulp, which I have no doubt she could. Did you see the colour of eyes then, Johnny? Black as coal they were. Nah, you wait here and chew Frank out for stealing your extra bread roll at lunch."
"I knew that was you Perconte!"
… … …
Bill had a weak spot for hearing women crying. He hated it; detested it, in fact. It probably stemmed back from all the times his mother used to turn on the waterworks when he was a teenager and getting into all kinds of scraps with other kids in the neighbourhood. And damn if Mama Guarnere's tears hadn't tugged at his fucking heartstrings… a bit like the sound of Sylv's was doing now too.
Sylv was a tough nut to crack. Never spoke all that much about home and never really let anything get to her. Which was why her behaviour the past few weeks hadn't gone unnoticed by him either, but he figured she was just struggling with being away from home again like a lot of them were. And in typical Sylv fashion she wasn't talking about it with anyone and instead letting it eat her up.
"You ok, sweetcheeks?" he stepped inside the toilet block and paused outside of the cubicle she was in.
"Go away, Bill," she croaked.
"Why? You about to take a shit? Not like anything that comes outta that beautiful ass of yours could stink. Definitely could never be as bad as anything that comes outta Malarkey's ass anyway." He heard her choke out a laugh and his lips tilted up slightly. "Johnny didn't mean to upset you, you know."
"He didn't upset me," she answered immediately.
"Then why you sitting in here crying, huh? 'Cause the Sylv I know don't cry about nothing."
"Then you don't know me as well as you think, Bill," she sighed. "But Johnny does apparently 'cause he was right about me trying to get Sobel pissed at me."
"Doll, we all know about that," Guarnere snorted. "What none of us know is why you've got such a death wish all of a sudden? Your legs not hurting from all that running up and down fucking Currahee before leave? Keep up this attitude, doll, and Sobel'll have you running all the way back to Georgia just to do it again. Now I know ain't always the sharpest tool in the shed, but ever since we got back from leave you've had a real bee in your bonnet, so I'm guessing something happened when you went back home?"
"That's just it, Bill," she said softly. "I didn't go home."
"No?" he frowned. "But Liebgott said you were on the same train back from San Fran."
"I went back to Frisco, yeah, but I didn't go home," she explained. "I don't have a home. Not anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been lying, Bill," she choked out. "This whole time I've been lying about my mom and dad and my two little brothers. It's all just one great big fucking fabrication."
Bill didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. He was too confused.
"I don't have a dad or two little brothers, and I had a mom until I was nine but then she threw herself under a train and I wound up in a kids home. Of course, nobody wanted me; they only wanted the babies and the cute little kids who would never remember anything other than the people who adopted them," she said bitterly. "Not that I would have wanted to be adopted anyway 'cause all that shit, lovey dovey families and what not, it's just lies. No, I'm better off with just me anyway."
"That right?" Bill tried to keep his tone light even as his heart ached for Sylv. "Then why you been in such a funk since you came back from there? I mean, did you even have anyone to visit?"
"No," she muttered. "Just wanted to see the place one more time in case I… in case, you know? It wasn't until I was at the train station waiting to come back here; when there were wives and parents and stuff crying over each other saying goodbye that it hit me. There isn't a single fucking person that would miss me if I was gone, Bill. Not one. Not even a friend. No one. I don't have a home, I don't have a family, no one or nothing."
Bill swallowed down the thick lump sticking in his throat and didn't know it was possible to feel such emotional anguish for someone else that it could physically hurt.
"Come out here, Sylv," he hated that his voice cracked.
He heard her sniffing and then he heard her shuffling about before the lock clicked and the door opened slowly.
His mouth tilted in sympathy when he saw her puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks. Without asking, he pulled her against him, rubbing his hand up and down her back when she started crying again.
"There's plenty of people who would miss you if you were gone, Sylv," he kissed the top of her head. "And you do got a family. A fucking dysfunctional one but one nonetheless. Why do you think Johnny went off on you the way he did?"
"'Cause he's fed up with me getting all of you guys in trouble with Sobel."
"That's just what he says out loud, doll," Bill smirked. "What he doesn't say is that he loves you just as much as the rest of us do, and none of us wanna see you like this. You've got a family, Sylv. A family who will love you and care about you forever. Hell, when we're done kicking Hitler's ass, I'm gonna make a Philly girl outta you. My mom'll fatten you up and we'll marry you to good South Philly stock so you can't ever leave again."
"Promise?" she laughed even as she continued to cry.
"Cross my heart."
