Alice woke from her nap to the sound of pounding rain. When she'd reached the barracks with Ron, Gene had insisted she rest. She looked at the ceiling. The lights were on. Cigarette smoke wafted through the air, filling their sleeping quarters. Alice took a deep breath and let it calm her.

Looking right, she found Malarkey, Muck, Penkala, Luz, and Perconte sitting on a cot playing poker. Guarnere, Toye, Martin, and Randleman seemed to be playing their own game of cards, the latter two dripping wet. To her amusement, Gene sat in George's cot to her right, dozing off. They all seemed to be staying relatively quiet, to her surprise. 

Alice glanced at her watch. "Scheisse," she muttered. She'd slept right through lunch. Her stomach hated her for it.

Half the guys looked over at her, including Gene. He sat straighter, shaking himself from sleep. "Je ne parle pas allemand, Alice."

She laughed. No, he didn't speak German. She needed Liebgott for that one. Then she remembered why she'd cursed. "I slept through lunch. You didn't wake me!"

"You needed sleep."

"Yes, well now I need food."

Suddenly Muck threw a paper airplane at her. Alice dodged it at first, not realizing what if was. "What the hell?" She grabbed it. A cigarette was inside. Her eyes brightened. "Thanks!" Then she looked af Gene again. "You're not taking this one."

He rolled his eyes. Now that Alice had woken up, the group talked more. Groaning, the boys playing cards threw their hands down as Muck won the round. He grinned like a maniac.

"Pass the money, come on. Pass it." He collected his winnings and then moved off the bed.

Malarkey glared at him. "You can't win and quit!" 

"I'll give you a chance to win it back later. I have to write a letter." Skip Muck settled down and grabbed a pencil and paper. He used a book as a table and set to work.

Penkala rolled his eyes with a smile. "Who to? Faye Tanner?"

"Sweet, sweet Faye," George added with a grin. "Is that who you're writin', Skip?"

"The one and only, boys. The one and only." 

Alice cracked a smile at their antics. Every time Muck talked about Faye, he blushed. The sweetheart he left back home would be lucky. Any idiot could see how much he loved her.

"She ain't as good as Frannie." Guarnere looked over from where he'd folded in his poker game. Getting up, he stretched his arms and walked around. Finally he plopped down next to Alice. "Frannie could even give Alice a run for 'er money."

"Thank you Bill. I don't think I've given you one of these before unless it was for a cigarette." Alice leaned over, pressed her cheek on his and kissed him. With a tiny wink, she turned to where the boys were hollering. 

Gene sent her a tiny smile. She returned it, not even wincing at the slight pain in her side as Guarnere put his arm around her as he was chatting about his girl, Frannie.

"Maria is still the love of my life." George had finally stopped shuffling the cards. With a last puff of his cigarette, he put it out, and wandered back over to his vacant bunk. "At least, until Alice falls for me."

"Your sister is cuter than I will ever be," Alice argued with a laugh. "Every letter from her that you've shared is precious."

Guarnere got up from her bedside and walked over to his cot. While he fished around in his footlocker, he turned. "We know you ain't got a man now, sweetheart, but I find it hard to believe no one's ever been sweet on yah? Anybody your brothers had to fight off?" He winked her way.

"Only one," said Alice. She yawned. "Alain Dufont. He was a couple years older than me. We hit it off when I started working in the Underground." She shrugged, and smiled a bit. "We ended it when the Resistance became more of a target for the Nazis. We disagreed on how far we could go in putting up a fight."

"What was he like?" 

"Smart. We were both students when we met. He studied Maths and I studied English and Dutch." With a shrug, she breathed in the cigarette smoke. "He helped organize the student resistance groups. But when we started committing sabotage, he flipped. Said not to use violence."

Joe Toye scoffed. "Because that worked so fucking well."

Alice hummed in agreement. "Needless to say, we disagreed. We broke it off, and a month later Robert and I ended up on the run and joining the Maquis. I haven't heard anything about him since."

"When the war's won, do you want to live in Germany or France?" asked Frank Perconte.

Stiffening at the question, she looked at them all. "Let's win the war first, no? Then we'll see what's standing in the ashes."

 The dinner bell sounded. Gene was nowhere to be seen, having slipped out earlier. Hesitating as the others hurried out the door, she stood slowly and put on her jacket. The room emptied.

"Need help?" George poked his head back around the door. Then he started impersonating Gene Roe. "If she hurts herself again, you're all in trouble." 

She grinned and thanked him. "Please. I should be all right, but I want to avoid falling if possible."

As George waited for her by the door, he crossed his arms. "Hey, listen. I want to say something first."

She tilted her head. With absolutely no idea where it was going, Alice waited. She saw him take a deep breath.

"If the flirting makes you uncomfortable, let me know. The boys all find it hilarious," he said. Then he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm tryin' to make them laugh. But I mean it-"

Alice laughed. "You're all right. Marc was just like you, remember. I can handle myself. And they do find it quite funny. Seeing them laugh is nice. Better than seeing them ready to murder Sobel."

George agreed, doing a Sobel impersonation as they walked out the door. The sun came out. A terrible stickiness filled the air as the water rose from the ground. They took the walk slowly. When they walked inside, the Mess Hall was mostly empty thanks to all the companies who had weekend passes.

"I think I'll sit with the Lieutenants," she told George. "I'll bet they're wondering what I've been up to."

He nodded. After they stood in line for food, she thanked him and split from Easy Company. She spotted Nixon and Dick at their usual table. Alice sat down carefully. She hissed in pain as she bent to sit next to Dick.

"Hey look who it is." Nixon smiled at her, and Dick followed suit. "Hey Dick, does she look… I don't know. Older?"

Alice just scrunched her nose. "What?"

"Nix…"

"You've got this fierce look. Like a fighter." He grinned as she narrowed her eyes. "All roughed up now."

"I'll show you roughed up when I break your damn nose," she said, "again." Alice carefully started on her food as Nixon laughed. It tasted worse than usual.

Ron Speirs walked over to them. He nodded and sat down next to Nixon, across from Alice. "E Company going crazy yet?"

"Honestly they could use a weekend pass," agreed Dick. But he shrugged. "Not much to do about it though."

Alice scoffed, playing with her food. Of all the members of Easy Company, she remained the only one who had yet to be allowed a weekend pass. Sobel always found a way to restrict her, leaving her on base. Usually it wasn't so bad. She had yet to be the only one at a single time, so a few men were always there too. 

"Still no weekend pass for you?" Ron asked. He shovelled some food into his mouth.

"To be honest, I don't think I'll ever get one," she told him. "Not since I went over his head."

As Nixon grinned and Dick nodded, Ron looked confused. He asked her what she meant. But Dick jumped in.

"You mean the beret incident?"

Alice nodded, trying to suppress a smirk. Then she tried to explain. "A few weeks ago, Sobel went through my stuff for contraband. I had a few things, since I don't have a home anymore. I would've let it slide, but he tried to confiscate my beret." She saw Ron still looked confused. "Maquis wear them as a sign to others in our organization. I went straight to Colonel Sink and all but told him that if I didn't get my beret back, at least, I would up and quit right then and they could find someone else to fill my position. Sink saw my point and agreed in my favor."

Nixon outright giggled. Dick proceeded to calmly eat, a smile tugging at his lips. But Ron just covered his mouth with a napkin to hide his grin. 

"You've got guts, Alice," Ron then continued, eating. He ate more like Dick than Nixon, taking his time with his food. He seemed deep in thought.

She just shrugged. "He wasn't going to take that from me."

They finished up their meals relatively quickly. Alice finished first, starving from missing lunch. Nixon, ever the fastest eater of the little group, offered to walk her back. She went to object, but all three of the men insisted she wasn't to walk alone.

"Fine. If I punch him in the face, that's not on me." She stood from the table with only a little pain. With a quick goodbye, she started out the door.

Nixon jogged to catch up, so she slowed down right outside. They strolled along the gravel paths, the grassy areas muddy from the large rainfall. The stone crunched with each step.

"So. Roe told me about what happened."

Alice's head whipped around so fast she almost hurt her neck. "He what?"

"Relax. I made him tell me. I could tell something was up when he gave us a progress update on the cut." He paused before continuing. "Have you been better since?"

"I was able to sleep this afternoon," she said. To her own irritation, she could hear her accent getting thicker with her increasing anxiety. "I hope it does not happen again tonight. It was… unsettling."

Nixon hesitated. "You really think they executed your teenage sister for being Jewish?"

"I hope they did." Alice stopped, and turned to him. She saw his surprise. "If they did not, then I am sure worse is in store. I have heard stories of the Nazis raping female prisoners, and then they disappear."

"You don't think they could release her?"

"Release her?" Alice felt herself getting more worked up. "Lewis, I thought you are supposed to know things. Jews do not get released. They disappear. Every time." She started down the path again, her body trembling. The cold, dull ache of the trauma hit her again like a brick wall. Her very heart hurt, chest constricting.

Nixon hurried to catch up with her. "I'll try to find out what happened, see if I can pull some strings," he said. "Maybe we can at least get a definitive answer."

Studying his expression, she paused. Alice decided he was being honest. She nodded. They walked the last dozen yards to her Easy Company barracks. With a heavy heart, she sighed. "I better sit down before Gene gets too angry with me."

Nixon laughed. "Good idea." As she walked up the last step, he said her name again. "Alice. I found this. It was addressed to you." He held out an envelope.

She took it. The handwriting that had scrawled her name across the front looked equal parts proper and messy. Someone who knew who to write well, perhaps, but didn't want to take the time to be detailed. 

"Odd. Thank you." Alice stuck it in her jacket pocket. "Good night."

"Bonne soirée," he said, winking. 

Alice watched him walk away. Her hands tensed as she took the letter out of her hands. The door fell shut behind her. All the envelope said was Alice Klein.

She used her finger to push up the flap. It tore open. Alice meandered over to her bunk as she took the paper out. Unfolding it, she felt the smooth paper against her skin. It hadn't been in the mail long. To her shock, the writing was in French, with some grammar mistakes.

"Dear Alice Klein,

"Or, I should preface that with Lieutenant. It's Lewis Nixon. I bet you're surprised. Private Roe seemed to think you might be a little upset at not having anyone to send you letters. He asked a few of us to do it for you. And since I figured you might get bored without training, I agreed. 

"Sobel's being a son of a bitch as usual, and it's only been a couple days. Be sure to keep this away from him so we both don't get in trouble. I still have hope of getting a weekend pass at some point in my life. Maybe I should give up on that dream though. My wife sure thinks I won't.

"Dick is dreading Currahee tomorrow without you. He wouldn't admit to that though. But he seems to think the men do better when you're around. Also you better be back to training by Friday night because I'm sure we're all going to need your singing. And I think Ron secretly enjoys the two minute interactions we all have at the showers. But he'd never admit to that, either.

"Speaking of Ronald Speirs, I don't think you understand how unbelievable it is that he likes you. Because he does. He doesn't like very many people at all but he thinks you're smart. Not sure how good of a judge of character either of us are, but for what it's worth I think he's right. Which brings me to my next point.

"Remember that advice I gave you over a month ago? I don't think you took it. You need to open up to the men in your platoon, at least. When you get into combat, they're going to be the ones who matter. They need to trust you as much as you need to trust them. So, I'll say it again. Take my advice.

"Good luck avoiding our jackass of a CO. Have fun not running Currahee. 

"Lewis Nixon
Second Lieutenant - Easy Company."

Alice hadn't even sat down. She stood next to her bed, flipping through the mostly well-written French script. A tiny smile graced her features. She had to thank Gene, and Nix. Suddenly she felt bad about snapping at him.