Their numbers dwindled daily. Of the one hundred and thirty enlisted and officers who jumped into Holland a month earlier, they had only about a hundred left. Easy Company had been spread too thin. They'd lost Buck and Lieutenant Hudson to injury. Dukeman had been shot straight through the heart. Two dozen other replacements had been killed or wounded in action.

Most recently, Bill Guarnere himself had been taken off the line with a bullet wound to the leg and a fractured tibia. Of course, he'd also taken shrapnel to his butt, which the company wouldn't let him live down. He became casualty number three of Easy Company to be "shot in the ass." First Popeye, then Buck, and now Wild Bill, ol Gonorrhea himself.

As Alice lay awake in her bed in the room adjacent to Nixon and Dick, she just snuggled closer to the comforter. Tonight she would be accompanying some of Easy on Operation Pegasus. A few days prior, Colonel Sink and Major Strayer had met with her, Nixon, and Dick along with a British officer Colonel Dobie, to go over a rescue plan for some of the "Red Devils" stuck over the Lower Rhine.

It sounded feasible. Dobie had swum the Lower Rhine just a few days prior in order to make contact with the Allies on the Island. Alice had then managed to get in contact with a few members of the Dutch Resistance and further support the operation.

Moose Heyliger would lead, Harry as the main officer in support. They'd take six boats and make three trips to carry the one hundred and forty men back across. Alice had convinced them to let her come, citing the need for someone who could translate with the Resistance if need be.

A knock sounded on her door. Alice groaned into the pillow. She rotated in bed to face the door but refused to get up. Someone knocked again.

"Alice, get up!"

Nixon. He sounded as tired as she felt. Alice still refused to move.

"Alice, if you don't send some sort of signal, I'm going to have to come in. Dressed or not!"

She rolled her eyes but sat up in bed. Pulling the comforter around herself like a cape, Alice just stared at the door. As he warned her again through the door, she just smirked. Not a moment later, he opened the door and started leaning in the door frame. Behind him in the hall she saw both Dick and Harry standing, talking to each other.

Nixon was pulled on his jacket. He smirked at her. "Least you're dressed. I'd hate to see the scandal that would come out of me walking in on you otherwise."

"You would've liked that, wouldn't you."

At her very pointed joke, he froze in surprise, but then started laughing. It took Alice a moment to realize what she said. When she did, she put her face in her hands. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Nixon still hadn't stopped chuckling even as he put his flask to his mouth.

"Fuck you, Nix," she muttered. As he went to reply, eyes lighting up with amusement, she shook her head. "No! No, I can see you thinking. Stop. That's an order."

"You can't give me orders, you're a rank below me," he reminded her.

Alice just rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed. She slipped the pants she'd tossed on a nearby chair over her shorts. She could tell that Nixon was still there. Her body felt all warm from some mix of embarrassment and something akin to longing. She turned back to him after grabbing her jacket.

"I'm only a rank below you because I'm a woman," she said. Walking over to him, Alice pushed her arms through her jacket and smirked. "Just you wait, someday I'll be giving you orders."

Nixon scoffed with a smile. "Sure." He followed her out and down the stairs. They joined Harry and Dick at the bottom. A small circular dining table had scrambled eggs on plates and orange juice prepared. She looked at it in awe.

"Is that something other than k rations or British stew?" Alice looked between the other three. "And it's for us?"

"Complements of a farmer south of the Island. Apparently his sister spoke highly of you as she left Eindhoven," Dick explained.

"Hurry up and start eating," Harry ordered. "I want some too but the guy insisted you get the first round."

It didn't take anything more for her to slip into one of the four chairs. The fact that she got to use a real napkin and a real glass cup for real orange juice and real eggs almost made her cry. It felt so good, as had the shower she'd been able to use the night before. Mild guilt that the rest of Easy couldn't join her made her pause, but she reminded herself to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Before long, all four of them sat around the table. Talk soon turned to the large stack of reports Dick still had to type up, much to his chagrin. With Heyliger having taken over Easy a week prior, he'd been getting more and more familiar with just how much paperwork a staff officer had to engage in. Nixon and Harry enjoyed teasing him about it.

After breakfast, they split off to do their own assignments. Dick went up to his office. Nixon disappeared to find Colonel Dobie and go over the intelligence of the operation one more time. Harry had to go check on Second Platoon. But Alice just wanted to take a walk.

Her walk from the area near the Schoonderlogt Estate stayed relatively quiet. Almost all of Easy, Dog, and Fox were deployed along the Island, with each rotating their Platoons in reserve every so often. Anyone not working usually spent his time sleeping. Walking around anywhere north of Schoonderlogt could result in a nasty bullet wound, so Alice stuck to the areas behind the line.

After an hour of wandering around, she finally decided to head to the line itself. With Bill recovering in the hospital, Lipton and Joe Toye split responsibility of being Platoon Sergeant. As such it didn't surprise her in the least to run into the latter walking along the line by himself.

"Joe." She flagged him down. Crouching, she waited for him to walk over. "How's it going?"

He moved over to her and crouched as well. Half paying attention to her, and half to the area occupied by the enemy up ahead, he scoffed. "Nice of you to join us out here. If we'd known it would take getting Bill's sorry ass hit, we'd have done it sooner."

She couldn't stop from laughing. Alice shook her head. "I've been a little busy trying to help Dick adjust to not being in command of Easy."

"I bet he's as mad about it as we are," Joe agreed.

"Trust me," she said, "if he could be out here in the field instead of fighting off a mound of paperwork, he would."

"Yeah, I know." He looked around. "Come on, if you're heading to the line you might as well come with me."

She agreed. Following Joe, their guns ready and ears and eyes open for any sort of enemy target, Alice crept along the defensive perimeter. Easy Company was spread so thin, it amazed her that the Germans hadn't managed to infiltrate their lines. But they hadn't, a testament to the 506th.

By the time she and Joe had finished checking on the balance of Second Platoon, Alice decided she needed to head back. Moose and Harry would be meeting with Dobie soon to go over details of Operation Pegasus. So with a last few kind words to the men who would keep holding the line, Alice returned to First Platoon's CP.

She got back to the CP by dinner. Easy's First Platoon sat around the barn with Harry, Peacock, and Moose. They didn't start talking tactics yet, instead focused on food. She slipped past Talbert and George to join the officers.

"Ready, Alice?" Moose asked her.

She nodded. "Eager to get started."

Once they'd all finished their stew, Moose had the men quiet down. He went over the operation, code named Pegasus. He explained that Alice, through Dobie, had been in contact with the Resistance and the intelligence seemed sound. At this, the men seemed to settle down a bit.

After the hour briefing and questions, the men were dismissed to get ready. They would set off towards the launch point around 2200 hours. That gave about five hours to weapons checks, rest, and a bit of food.

Alice spent the time covering the metal pieces of her rifle. The less metal visible, the safer it would be. Most of them prepared in silence. Alice sought refuge in the barn with Trigger. Her arm had improved some in the couple weeks she'd been back on the line, but it still acted up. And since one of the guys had accidentally jostled her, it stung even more.

But with Trigger licking at her face, Alice couldn't help but smile. She gently nudged the dog's muzzle away before fixing her hair away from her eyes. In the quiet peace of that moment with Trigger, she just breathed.

"Alright, everyone up. Time to go," Lipton said. "Meet your squads outside, let's move boys."

The peace evaporated. With a sigh, Alice forced herself up from the ground, trying not to pressure on her left arm. The darkness outside concealed them even from each other.

Getting to the river and across took until almost midnight. Some of Easy Company remained on the far shore ready to assist in covering fire. Others came across in the six boats. As the V for Victory was lit by the red flashlight of the men on the far shore, they prepared for their mission.

Moose gave Harry instructions on deploying their defense. As the man rushed off to do as he was told, Alice just crouched beside Moose in silence.

"So, Colonel, where are they?" Moose asked Dobie.

He pointed forward. After a moment of hesitation, he gave the sign. "Leicester."

"Square!"

With the countersign correctly returned, Dobie beckoned his man forward. A man with a red beret dashed forward until he came to crouch beside the other Englishman. Pleasantries were exchanged.

"Never thought I'd be so glad to see a bloody Yank!"

Alice nearly laughed at the excited Red Devil. But as Moose told Dobie to get his men in order, she just waited for her own instructions. With Liebgott and Bull passing word that the Brits would be arriving shortly, Moose turned to her.

"I'm gonna stay here until all the Brits are across. Harry's in charge of the perimeter. I want you and Peacock to go back across with the first trip, keep the Brits quiet and in line." He nodded to her. Turning back, he hissed for the other Lieutenant. "Peacock, follow Lieutenant Klein's lead. You two are in charge of keeping everybody quiet once they're across."

"Yes, sir."

As Peacock nodded, Alice glanced over Moose to look at the young man. He met her gaze and gave a tiny nod. She liked Peacock well enough. He was kind, but not exactly a good Platoon Leader. She heard First grumbling about him more times than she could count while in the CP. It always started with 'he ain't a bad guy, but...'. She had to agree with their sentiments.

Before too long, Moose stood in conference with three of the British officers. She waited next to Peacock by the boats. On a single cue, the bank became flooded with the red-capped British men. They emerged from the trees like magic. Alice smiled as the evaders began to organize in platoons.

It didn't take long before she boarded a boat with half a dozen Red Devils. Whenever one would catch a look of her face, there was a moment of disbelief. But the men of the British First Airborne had enough sense to keep their consternation quiet. No questions were asked, only glances of confusion.

Along with the paddles breaking through the river water, the sound of occasional mortar fire and 88s echoed around them. The Germans knew something was up. Alice held her breath as the boats glided through the water.

She leapt out onto the far shore and, with the help of another Brit, lugged it further up. It only took a few moments for the British First Airborne to vacate them and the couple men of Easy to head back across. Alice found Peacock.

"Peacock, take the men to the farmhouse a bit up the road. Get them food and water, rations at least. I'll stay here and send them on as they arrive."

At her instruction, he nodded. Alice watched as Peacock spoke in hushed whispers to the men leaving the boats. As they passed her, most did double takes. She just flashed a small smile.

Over the next hour, 138 evaders, mostly Brits of the 1st Airborne, but even some Russians and Dutch resistance men, crossed in the six boats provided by the 506th. It went off without a hitch. By the time the men of Easy came back across, only a few rounds had been traded with the enemy.

Colonel Dobie, Moose, and Harry met up with Alice as the last of the boats were lugged up onto shore. Dobie looked ecstatic. Once she told them where to meet the men, they set off themselves. From the farmhouse, they made their way back to Nijmegen, near where the 2nd Battalion CP stood.

While Harry, Dobie, and Moose went off to the party being arranged, Alice decided to find Dick first. She knew just how stressed he'd been. She took the old wooden stairs to the attic with care. The wood creaked beneath each step. When she reached the rail at the top of the stairs, she found Dick staring at his typewriter.

"You look happy," she said, voice low.

He scoffed, pushing back in his chair. Sending her a tight, half smile, he shook his head. "Don't patronize me, I know I look pretty bad."

Alice chuckled and moved over towards the window. "Well, since you're not demanding to know what happened, I'd guess you got the good news."

"Nix told me it was a success."

"Went perfectly, Dick. Moose is good." Alice turned back into the room. "The men miss you though. You should come to the party."

"No, no it's fine." He shook his head. "I've got too much to do, and they're Moose's men now."

She shrugged. Taking a seat on a nearby wooden chair, Alice took off her helmet and ran a hand through her hair. It had grown longer than she liked. She made a mental note to talk to Liebgott about it. With a small smile, she leaned forward. "You should've seen their faces when they realized I was a woman, though. It was hilarious."

Dick gave a small laugh. "I'm sure."

A few minutes of silence followed. Alice watched out the window as men of Easy and the British evaders filed into the largest of the barns nearby. The lights went on and cheers and laughter could be heard over in the attic work space. Only the sound of footsteps on the stairs nearby pulled her attention away.

"There you are." Nixon pointed at her and then took a drink of his flask. "Should've known you'd try to convince this miserable old coot to cheer up." At their smiles, he nodded down the stairs. "C'mon, the party's starting."

"Go," Dick urged her. "Someone needs to keep him in check."

"I resent that."

Alice laughed. "Of course you do." With a last, long look at Dick slaving over his notebook and typewriter, she sighed. "Fine. But you better sleep, too."

"Yes mother," Nixon chimed in. "Come on. Before they take all the good drinks."

"I'm serious, Dick."

"Alice, go!"

She just threw her arms upwards in protest and followed Nixon down the stairs. Together they strolled across the grass. The noise echoing from the barn made her smile. It was nice to see the men of Easy having fun for a change.

"Market Garden is a failure," Alice said, leaving no room for debate.

"Yes it is."

"So when are we heading out of Holland?"

Nixon shrugged. "We're looking at another month, probably. At least until whoever ends up replacing us in defense is at enough strength."

"We're already spread thin as it is," she grumbled.

He nodded. Nixon knew it as well as she did. There was nothing more to say, though, as they reached the barn door and went inside. At the front, a few of the Red Devils including Colonel Dobie himself stood with drinks in hand. Over the next several hours, the men of Easy and the 1st Airborne shared drinks and laughs. Harry got totally drunk, to the point where both Nixon and Alice had to help him back to bed. After that, she called it a night as well. With dreams of someday soon getting out of Holland, she slept.