Thank you so much to everyone who have followed and favorited this story.
I love writing Chris and Harry, but they are quite stubborn, so it takes a while to get it right.
Christmas 1943
"I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me, please have snow and mistletoe and presents under the tree, Christmas Eve will find me where the love light gleams" I sang while I decorated the mess hall.
It was Christmas time and Easy Company celebrated the holiday with a mixture of emotions. On Dec 13th the company had made its first night jump and they lost Dittrich, due to a parachute failure.
I was so caught up in what I was doing. So I didn't hear the door opening and closing. Suddenly I felt someone grab my leg. I kicked the attacker and I heard someone mumble "son of a bitch",I looked down and saw Grant grabbing his nose.
"Oh god Chuck…oh I am so sorry…let's get some ice for your nose" I opened the door and scooped up some snow. The village looked like an old fashion Christmas card covered in snow. I loved Christmas and I wanted this last Christmas before the big jump to be a memorable one for all the men. I packed the snow in a towel and gave it to Grant who placed it on his swollen nose.
The door opened once again and Doc and Talbert stepped in "What happened here?" Tab asked and sat down next to Grant.
Grant removed the towel from his nose and scrunched it a bit to see if it was broken "Chris decided to kick my teeth in"
"Oh" Talbert said and watched as me put up mistletoe over one of the tables.
"Hoping for a surden Lieutenant to stop by?" Grant asked I. Talbert punched Grant on the shoulder and shook his head
"What?" Grant looked at Talbert
Talbert just shook his head. Welsh and I was fighting again and this time it was the lieutenant that had fucked up
Aldbourne November 1943
"Mail call" Private Vest walked thru the officer's mess handing out mail. I walked in behind Vest and slid into a seat next to Welsh.
Welsh was reading a letter from his parents and I picked up a letter from the table and read the front. 10 second later I wish I had just left the letter on the table.
The letter read To Lieutenant Harry F Welsh
Easy company 506th/501st PIR
On the top left corner, it read From Kitty Grogan
Luzerne County, Penn.
I dropped the letter like a hot potato. Harry noticed my shocked expression and grabbed the letter and stuffed it in his shirt pocket.
"Harry…Who is Kitty?" I asked Welsh who was biting his bottom lip. Kitty was his fiancé…ex fiancé, Welsh had meant to break things of with Kitty for months, he just hadn't figured out how he was going to end things with Kitty.
"Chris…I" Welsh started, but he didn't get to finish what he started. I was out of the mess and I slammed the door after me. I kicked the door outside of the mess and started to sob, how could I be so stupid, I knew I should have kept my heart stuffed away and just wait for her crush on Welsh to fate out. I started to run away from the mess
"Chris…Come on, please don't make me chase you" Nixon came running up behind me
I stopped and when Nixon wrapped his arms around me, I fell apart, I only loved two men in my entire life, my brother and Welsh, I learned at a young age that love was dangerous.
"Chris please don't…Harry is absolutely bunkers about you. Kitty is just a bump in the road, he has been meaning to break it off with her for months, he just don't know how to break it off with her, he doesn't want to hurt her, but he doesn't realize that he is hurting you instead" Nixon kissed the top of my head.
"You knew about her and you never told me" I sobbed and started to cry even harder, this just proved that men couldn't be trusted.
I sniffled and let go of Nixon, I turned and walked away from Nixon. I walked past the guard and headed towards the cemetery, all I could think about was that I had been foolish to think, I finally found someone who loved me for me and not for what they wanted me to be, but never again. I opened the gate to cemetery, said a quick prayer and sat down on a bench. I didn't notice the officer who sat down next to her until he let out a small cough.
"Lieutenant Speirs, sir, I didn't realize you were here" I blushed. Speirs was a handsome devil.
"I guess you found out about the fiancé" Speirs looked at me. Christ she was young Speirs thought to himself, but she was tough, brave and more than once she had been on the receiving end of a rant from Sobel, well Sobel was gone now and Meehan had replaced him.
"I did, guess I am a fool," I mumbled
Speirs looked at the innocent young girl in front of him. He wanted to tell her that it would all be ok and that everything would work itself out and that her and Harry would live happily ever after, but he knew different. They were going to war and the only way to get thru the war was to accept you were already dead. However looking into Chris big eyes all he could do was smile.
"No he is the idiot" Speirs held out his hand to me. I took it and they walked back to camp together.
Welsh had been waiting outside my barrack. I stopped a few feet away from him, I didn't know what to say to him.
"Chris I am sorry, I should have ended things with Kitty. I should have thought about how this would affect you,. I am sorry Chris, please forgive me" Welsh stepped towards me.
"Goodbye Harry" I said, kissed him on the cheek and stepped into the barrack. When I reached my cot I pulled her blanket over my head and willed myself to sleep.
Since the day in November, I had avoided Harry
…..
On Christmas Eve I arranged for the men to share a meal with the nurses. Karen, the Captain I shared a room with in the states, was the head nurse at Aldbourne and she was prepared to do anything to spend some time with a special company commander. Meehan and Karen had taken to each other from the first moment they met.
I looked around the room for Welsh, but he wasn't there. Nixon walked up to Chris and nudged her "Lauren… I am sorry, I should have told you"
I knew Nixon was serious since he used my real first name. "You should, but I forgive you, you weren't the one with a fiancé"
Nixon hugged me "No, I am also not the one drinking myself stupid at the pub"
I let go of Nixon and looked up at him "He broke it off with her after your fight and he received a telegram today that confirmed she got his letter and that she was letting him go"
A door slammed and Nixon took a sip of his whiskey, to be that young and in love.
I ran to the pub and opened the door. Harry was sitting at the bar; he looked like he lost his best friend. He turned his head when he felt someone sit down next to him. He looked into the face of the woman he loved.
Harry smiled and then frowned when he saw the look on Cmy face "What? What is it?"
"Is it true, did you end it with Kitty" I asked him
"Yes, yes I did a month ago," Harry, said
I kissed Harry softly on the lips "Merry Christmas Harry"
Harry pulled me into his arms and kissed me with all he had, with all the pent up want and need he had forced to keep to himself for a month. When he let me go, I rewarded him with one of my big smiles. I took his hand and let him back to camp and into the company mess.
When the two of them walked into the mess, they were met with a bunch of "Finally", "Thank good things are right with the world again" and "Better not fuck up again Welsh" Well that one came from Nixon and Matheson. Only Talbert wasn't happy to see the couple. Pat walked by Talbert "You need to let her go Floyd; it's not going to happen. I know my sister. Harry and Chris need each other"
Talbert knew Pat was right; Chris never looked at him the way she looked at the lieutenant. Grant walked up to Talbert and slapped him on the back "Plenty of fish tab, plenty of fish"
The mess served up all the Turkey a man could eat. Harry never let go of my hand and two hours after they arrived Harry and I snuck out of the mess. It was cold, but neither of them wanted the night to end.
Harry stopped and took my hand "Lauren Christenson, I am utterly and irrevocable in love with you, I need you as much as I need my next breath"
I smiled "I love you to Welsh, but I know that look in your eyes, I am not going to sleep with you"
Harry just shrugged, that wasn't why he had told her he loved her, but Chris was right, this wasn't the time to start a physical relationship.
Harry escorted me back to my barrack and kissed me goodnight. I sighed, I was in love and in my experience love never lasted.
New Year's Eve was a quiet one, most men wondering how many of them would live to see 1945.
