Currahee part 4

September 1942

Edward wasn't surprised to see his younger brother waiting for him by the barracks, he had just come in from town from his weekend pass and seeing his wife and son.

"Hey Bobby, how was your weekend?' He smirked, he couldn't help it, he enjoyed seeing his younger siblings squirm and stay on base. They didn't need to be in town raising hell and that's exactly what they and their friends within Easy Company would do. Raise hell, get into fights at bars, and get arrested and he knew that Olivia would be jumping in to stop her twin and Bill from getting arrested. She had done it once before. He personally wanted to see his sister stay as innocent as possible. The younger Stewart brother shook his head not wanting to talk about their long weekend marching and practice jumps, "Your sister." Edward groaned and dropped his chin to his chest, normally when conversations started with your sister, it never ended well.

"What did she do?"

"She is pissing off Sobel."

"That's not hard." Ronald Speirs commented, he had followed Edward back into the barracks area and decided to listen in. Even being in a different company than Sobel was, they had all heard about the chicken shit CO. And if he was being honest, he was interested in the Stewart twins.

Edward and Lily both spoke very highly of them both.

"If Winters and Nixon wouldn't have been right there Friday when Olivia stepped in and said she told Christenson to drink the water so he wouldn't get sick, he would have decked her. He was trying to tell Liv that she didn't have any say in the men's care."

"That's her job." Edward was furious, he wanted to have Olivia switch from Easy to Dog but from what he had seen and heard, she was finally finding her place and herself. Something that she desperately needed. "Like that, this is the whole reason why they are here. Other than to help the medics out."

"I know, Eddie, I know, he is gunning hard for her. He tried to put her on duty with Cobb.' The name sounded familiar but either Speirs or Edward could place. "Blond is angry a lot. Like how Daniel is angry. He wants in Olivia's pants badly."

Bobby held his hands up seeing how angry the oldest brother was getting. "I put a stop to it." He tilted his head in the direction of 1st and 2nd platoons, the man in question was visible and the blond man was almost front and center, his eye blackened and his nose swollen.

"Where is Olivia?" He asked not seeing his sister in the group. The other nurses were visible. "She is with Liebgott and Talbert in the hospital. I think they offered to help her with the paperwork."

Speirs raised his eyebrow, there was no way that the men were just "helping" with her paperwork, a lot of the boys flirted and tried to get into girls' pants. And from what he had heard, Joe Liebgott and Talbert were the two biggest man whores in the company.

"I am going to go check on her.' Edward muttered, clearly on the same wavelength as him, 'She doesn't need to be messing up her career for a romp.' He walked off towards the hospital muttering angrily to himself. Bobby smirked, he knew that he couldn't stop Olivia from flirting with Joe and Talbert, she would never listen to him but Edward, she would. Something about him being the oldest brother carried more weight than her twin did.

Edward paused at the door of the hospital, his sister was sitting at the desk, her eyes were on the loose leaf papers, and as Bobby said, had two men sitting on either side of her. Talbert was telling her a story about how he, Liebgott, and Shifty Powers went on a run with Smokey Gordon so he didn't have to do it by himself, while the skinner man traced a pattern on her shoulder blade.

"Hey, Bean." He greeted causing her to look up and smile brightly at him, "Hey, how was your pass? Did you see Sammy?"

"Yeah, her and the kid." He returned as she pushed herself away from the desk to come and hug him, 'Talbert, Liebgott."

Both men nodded in greeting. The displeasure in Liebgott's eye made him happy, he had seen bright and happy that his sister was being with Liebgott but she needed someone like Lewis who could take care of her and handle her out of her worst and he didn't think that Joe could handle Olivia.

At least not yet.

"I heard that you are causing some trouble." He said as she returned to her desk back to the paperwork that she had to do. "Me?" She pointed the pencil back towards herself,

"Cause trouble? Never."

"You stopped Sobel from punishing Christenson?'

"Yes, I did, and I would do it again. And it stopped me from going on guard duty with Cobb. So it all worked out." "Just try and keep your nose clean sis, that's all I am asking."

"I will try but I am not making any promises." He nodded his head and pulled out a bundle of letters from home for her.

"Dick Best sent home James' letters and pictures. And Dad sent them with Sammy for you and Bobby."

Seeing that Olivia couldn't reach out and take the letters from him, Liebgott took them from him, his dark eyes going to Olivia.

"I can't read them not yet." She admitted softly.

"You don't have to.' Joe muttered, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. An odd show of emotion, something that if it had been any other girl including Mary, he would have ignored it all. But Olivia was different, he wanted something more with her. The more time he had spent with her, the more that he wanted to be with her. He could start seeing her more and more as the girl that he settled down with. Not even his last girlfriend who he had been serious with made him think or feel like this.

"EJ insisted you had the drawing too," Edward commented, tamping down on his need to lash out at Liebgott and Talbert for being around his sister.

There was a folded-up piece of white paper on top of the letters which Olivia picked up and unfolded. The little boy had drawn an airplane with people in uniform jumping out of it, one of the people had blonde braids much like what his aunt had at the moment. Her sister-in-law wrote on it Never Not Be Afraid.

Even at 3 years old Edward Junior knew that his aunt was terrified of flying and that she was jumping out of planes like his daddy and godfather and thought the picture would help. She smiled softly and traced her fingers over the lettering, "I am sad that I missed seeing them."

"Us too. He kept asking for you and for Bobby, he tried to climb on the bus to come back."

"Oh, Sobel and Sink would love that." She returned with a sad laugh, "A 2-and-a-half year running amok and trying to jump off of the jump platform." Edward was like Steven and Katie, whatever the older Stewart kids, especially the twins and Marla, wanted to do. The sad laugh turned into giggles and she covered her mouth. "What is so funny?" Her brother questioned pulling one of the chairs from the other desk to sit in front of it. "Just imagining Sobel, trying to chase after EJ. He has almost tripped half a dozen times going up Currahee."

Every time Sobel stumbled, they had all hoped he would drop and hurt himself so they would be free of him. But every time he straightened himself and finished the run.

"Maybe, you will get lucky and he won't pass his PT test in a couple of weeks." Edward mused, his eyes never leaving the trio, he was studying them to see how they acted together and if the two boys were going to change their ways.

'Not gonna hold our breaths. He is like a roach that won't die." She paused and fell quiet seeing the awkward frame of Sobel coming into view.

"What?" Edward questioned before following her gaze and laughed, "You know, I will see you later Liv. Fellas."

"Bye Eddie." She giggled before dropping her head down into her folded arms. "Lieutenant Stewart. Is there something funny?" "No, not at all sir."

Sobel had been looking for a reason to attack not Olivia but Dick Winters but he couldn't. Not even Amber who lived with Olivia was finding it hard to find anything to ding her with. That was until Colonel Sink pulled him into his office, prompting him to Captain and Winters to 1st Lieutenant. That was his ace in the hole, finally something was going right.

First it was Dick then Olivia.

One step at a time.

There had been one rule since the nurses came to Toccoa and that was their barracks were off-limits. But now that he was technically the superior officer over Easy Company including the nurses, he could do whatever he wanted. Sobel followed closely by Evans, Nixon, Winters and several others went into the barracks. He wanted to have Olivia in there with them but the girls were in the hospital and Olivia had been pulled into a meeting with General Forbes and Captain Fitzgerald.

"Sir, we aren't supposed to be in here," Winters said, finally speaking up, his heart was in his stomach, this wasn't right and they all knew that Sobel was taking it too far.

The familiar smell of roses and lavender attacked their senses. It was a far sight better than smelling the cigarette smoke and stale BO that came with being in the men's barracks. It almost made Dick miss having Olivia in his barracks with him and Lewis. There was a sense of calm about her that he enjoyed, he didn't miss constantly walking in on them in compromising positions. The last weekend pass they had in OCS and seeing her on Lewis's lap lived rent-free in his head. Lewis had already picked out Olivia's bed and saw the letters sitting on the end of her bunk. His dark eyebrows knitted together and he slid a couple of them into his pocket. Dick raised an eyebrow in question causing him to mouth James causing him to nod his head.

From what he had seen Olivia was barely hanging on and if Sobel destroyed the last links she had to her second favorite brother, it would push her over the edge and Amber would be the next in line to be in charge of the nurses, and things could only get worse. Once Sobel got his bearings around the barracks, he turned to where Lewis was standing by Olivia's bunk and proceeded to pull the lid up the footlocker and dump the contents of the tray onto the bed.

His greasy hands paw at the loose pictures that hadn't been stuck in the journal that she carried in her medical bag with her everywhere. After Katherine and Amber had gone through it Olivia started carrying with her everywhere. Lewis' almost wedding had been the only place she hadn't.

Sobel studied the picture, it was of Olivia, Robert, and an older boy who must have been the one to die in Midway, before he ripped down the middle and then putting the two halves together he ripped it again and then scattered the fourths on top of the letters and clothing he had pulled out of her footlocker.

"Liv, you don't want to go in there," Lewis commented, catching her around her waist and stopping her from going into the barracks. "Why not?" She returned, and all she wanted to do was gather her OD's and shower, she had been pulled to meet with General Forbes and her second in command Sarah Fitzgerald after the classroom instruction instead of going to rounds like the other girls. A major part of her was jealous but honestly part of her was thankful for that, she was exhausted, and sweaty, the last thing she wanted to do was deal with the men's crap and she really didn't feel like dealing with Lewis' shenanigans.

"Sobel went in there.' She went dead still in his arms and she craned her neck to look at him, "What? Why?"

There had been a long-standing rule that the men weren't allowed in women's barracks mostly out of respect for them. Cobb had gotten caught in there once and all hell broke loose.

"Contraband." He freed his hand to pull the list of over 100 items out of his pocket to show her and the other nurses that were gathering, " Dick, Edward, and Speirs are in there right now with Horton and Strayer."

"How bad is it?" Amber asked having finally joined them, her dark eyes glinting, she had known all about this, Sobel had told her all about it after he ranted about how he had to promote Winters and how the one idea he had come up with was trying to catch Olivia with contraband.

"Bad for them, good for you."

"How bad is it?" Olivia repeated Amber's question, her heart in her throat, Lewis sounded absolutely murderous and it scared her. She had only heard him talk like that twice before and it was directed towards Kathy and the other time was at her mother, Katherine.

"Lew?"

"He found the picture that Dick Best sent from James' bunk."

The day before Olivia had gotten a letter from Dick Best, her brother James' wingman, he had included the pictures that James had up in his bunk to her. The pictures were of their family and of the two at her sweet 16 and right before he shipped out to sea after she returned back to Philly.

Dick had said that he had wanted her to have him.

"He didn't, Lew, Tell me, he didn't." Quickly, Lewis looked down at the girl in his arms, the sound of hurt and desperation in her voice brought him back from the edge. The pictures and letters were all she had left from James and Sobel, possibly destroying them broke her heart.

"He got one picture that was taken of you, him, and Bobby and a letter." Edward's voice came from the door, "It wasn't the last one, that one was still sealed."

If Lewis hadn't been holding her up, she would have crumbled to the ground, the handle she had on her grief of James' and Nicholas' deaths slipped. Edward stepped out of the barracks and pulled into his arms to hug her. He hadn't handled his grief over losing their brothers well at all and he knew that Olivia hadn't mourned at all, she had just pitched herself into her training head first. Lewis and Dick had informed him of what happened when they found out about James and how she had broken Amber's nose. She had only cried for a few minutes and then was back to using the Scarlett O'Hara mask.

"We will clean up," Betsy whispered, she wanted to offer up her comfort but she knew that Olivia didn't want to show emotion around anyone who wasn't Lewis or related to her and they understood it. She had been glad that Lewis and Dick had been with her when she got the telegram and been the ones to put her back together, she didn't know how they would be able to put her back together like that.

Edward nodded his thanks over his sister's head before leading towards the small opening that had picnic tables at, he could feel her body trembling and he hated that he couldn't bring any peace to her. He could bring back their brothers and he couldn't heal the hurt from Katherine, "Why did he do this Eddie?" She questioned, her voice muffled but the material of his uniform, "I never did anything to him."

"Except maybe show him up.' Bobby's voice came, he had stopped by to gather the nurses before going to the mess hall for dinner and were informed of what happened and how bad things were compared to their barracks. His twin pulled away from their oldest brother and wiped her cheeks off, 'You may not have meant to but you came in here like a wrecking ball more or less.'

He pulled his pack of Lucky Strikes out and lit one for her not caring about Edward's scoff of displeasure. He hated that Olivia picked up the nasty habit of smoking and drinking. But it was a surefire to calm her down. "Thank you." She muttered softly, taking the smoke from him before sitting on top of the picnic table, her twin quickly joining her.

"Give them a minute fellas." Lewis started seeing the boys turning to go up to where Olivia and her brothers were, "It's best to let Bobby and Edward handle this. They usually are the only two that can get through to her and calm her down."

"What happened, sir?" Joe Liebgott questioned his dark eyes on Olivia, every ounce of him calling out for him to go to her side and comfort her. "Sobel went into their barracks and destroyed some of their belongings. He got a hold of one of the letters from James and a picture of them on their 16th birthday."

Bill cursed wildly and went to push around Lewis but was stopped by Bull Randleman's heavy hand landing on his shoulder, "Listen to the Lieutenant, Bill." The smaller man glowered at them before muttering agreement, he knew it wasn't his place, not anymore to go to her aide. Instead, he turned on his heel and went to the nurse's barracks and to Evie who was trying to piece together the torn-up picture. She and Bill both knew James and knew how much he loved the twins and how much they loved him in return. Hoping he could help repair this.

Joe stepped into the showering area and frowned when he heard the sniffling coming from one of the closed shower stalls, he knew that Olivia had come in before going to dinner to shower and change. When she didn't reappear he got worried. "Princess? Are you okay?" He questioned, his hand itching to reach out and pull open the curtain.

"Joe?" The tears in her voice broke his heart, "What are you doing in here?" The water shut off and she appeared a second later wrapping one of the Army-issued towels around her.

"What's wrong?" He returned, not wanting to ruin this womanizer image he had going, if she knew he was worried then it would get around to the other nurses then it would be ruined.

"It's silly." She went to reach around him to grab the extra towel to dry her hair with. He moved quickly to stop her, his hand catching hers, their fingers falling between each other.

Almost a perfect fit, her eyes went from his face towards the joined hands and back. "If it upset you, Liv, it's not silly."

Her cheeks tinged pink, that was the first time he had ever called her anything other than Princess and it was surprising that he even knew her real name. She found that she preferred him calling her by the nicknames instead.

"Sobel tore up a picture that was on my brother James' bunk on the Enterprise." His free hand stole to her waist pulling her into him, his fingers rubbing against the softness of the towel, wishing it was her skin. He didn't want to scare her off just yet.

"The one with you, Bobby, and James a couple of years ago?"

She nodded her head as he brought their joined hands to rest on her lower back as well.

"I am sorry baby." There he went with the pet names again, it was odd hearing it from someone other than Bill who had called her everything but Princess. With Lewis, it was few and far between.

"Evie and Bill got it back together right?" She nodded her head, "See why I am being silly?"

"Nah, you have every reason to be upset. He broke the unspoken rule of not going into your barracks." He returned his hand that wasn't holding hers, reached up, and cupped her face, his thumb rubbing against her cheekbone.

The blush returned and a smirk formed on the corners of his mouth, he knew this was his moment to say something or to do something. To prove that he wanted to do something more than just flirt. "Joe?" She prodded softly, green eyes studying him. Instead of answering her, he tipped his head and captured her mouth with his.

Finally kissing her.

It surprised her at first and then she melted into it, her hand fisting into the uniform blouse, and pressed herself against him. He smirked against her mouth and spun them around and hoisted her to sit on the rickety bathroom counter. It creaked dangerously and caused her to pull away from his mouth.

"Careful, Joey. We don't want to break anything." A warmth spread through him when she called him, Joey. He nodded his head and fused their mouths back together before pulling her towards the end of the counter, his growing erection pressing against her damp center.

It surprised her how quickly she had become desperate for a man's touch. It had been weeks since she had been with Lewis and it was almost too long. It was even more surprising she wanted Joe Liebgott. He wasn't the type girls like her were supposed to go with. She was supposed to be with someone like Lewis or even Dick or Floyd. Maybe that's why she liked him so much.

Her hands dragged down his neck and chest to his belt to start undoing it to help free him from his trousers before slipping her hand inside and gripping his cock in her hand.

"Fuck, princess." He hissed against her mouth, he was surprised that she was bold like this but then again, if the stories that they had heard about Nixon and Bill were true, they opened Olivia up to this kind of stuff. Whatever was true, he was okay with reaping the rewards.

She nipped at his bottom lip and ran her hand up and down his length.

He pushed his trousers and skivvies down enough to free himself. Just as he was getting ready to push into Olivia, the door slammed open and Mary's now familiar voice.

"Fuck." Olivia whined against his mouth, they had been so close, her whole being was crying out for his touch, for him to be inside of her.

"Joe! Are you here?" He didn't have any time to pull away from Olivia or to fix himself as the woman came around the corner and her dark eyes landed on the couple. Anger and hurt flooded her, she knew that Joe had wanted Olivia but she never thought that they would sneak around in the bathroom to be together. "What is going on?" Her voice raised as Joe tucked himself back into his pants and Olivia fixed her towel around her naked body. "Nothin'," He returned not turning to face Mary, his eyes were on Olivia's bright red face, he smoothed a hand down her cheek to try and calm her embarrassment down, his free hand going back

underneath the towel to her hip. "Doesn't look like nothing." "It really is nothing," Olivia said, her voice trembling from her embarrassment.

"I wasn't talking to you." "You are talking about me! So yeah you are talking to me." She was glad that Joe was still between her legs and his hands still on her hips, she would have flown off of the counter and been in Mary's face.

She had enough on her plate with Amber and all of her duties that didn't need Mary acting like a fool because she and Joe were in an almost compromising position. Joe's fingers started rubbing a smooth circle against her bare hip.

"Sweetheart, it's nothing," Joe repeated, his own frustration clear in his voice. He had been so close to getting what he wanted, Olivia had been occupying his thoughts and fantasies since the moment that Bobby introduced them. Mary folded her arms under her chest and glared, unable to help herself. "Then why aren't you looking at me?" He squeezed Olivia's hip in silent question in which she nodded her head and he pulled away from her and turned to face Mary.

"Nothing is going on." He assured her as Olivia slipped off of the counter to go back into the stall to get dressed again, " I just came to check on her, Sobel destroyed the one picture of her and her brothers. That's it." "And you started having sex?" She prodded angry, she knew that she

shouldn't be angry, that she and Joe weren't anything but she couldn't help it. She cared for him and wanted a relationship outside of this with him. But he didn't want the same thing she did, at least that's what he had told her but this was showing him differently.

"Isn't Tab and Nixon enough?" She spat at the blonde who came out of the stall dressed in the OD's.

"What are you talking about? I have known Lewis since I was 12, he is practically family." Olivia was thankful that no one knew about their fib about being married to save her and Marla from marrying Davis. All they knew was that Lewis's cousin Helen was married to the Stewart kids' uncle Michael, "And Talbert is just a friend, nothing less nothing more.'

"Doesn't look like it. The way you carry on."

"What's that supposed to mean?'

'Meaning that you are easy is all." Mary's mouth curved into a smirk, 'Everyone knows it. Amber has told us stories about OCS.' At first, she wondered if she went too far because Olivia didn't react but she started taking steps towards her. Joe caught her around the waist and pulled her back, "Calm down babe, it's not worth it. She didn't mean it." He turned to where his body was between the two girls. "I did mean it."

"Mary, just go, we will talk later." Her mouth opened and shut quickly watching the two, "Her brother is looking for her.'

'We will be right there." He returned as Olivia pulled away from him and started braiding her hair back so she wasn't out of uniform. Shooting them another glare, she went out of the bathroom to where Bobby was with Talbert, "Liebgott and your sister will be right out.'

Bobby raised his eyebrow in surprise, he knew that Joe liked his twin but he didn't think he liked her like that. He took it upon himself to check on her and for once Bobby started thinking that Olivia would be good for his friends. Before he could react the two came out and over to them and he enfolded her into his arms hugging her. "I am okay, Bobby, I am okay." She assured him softly. He squeezed her knowing that she wasn't okay but for the men she had to take care of and for her fellow nurses.

She needed to be strong and fearless, and showing these emotions wasn't it. It was the exact opposite.