December 1, 1944

Mourmelon-le-Grand, Marne, France

One month. It had been one month since friend and commanding officer Moose Heyliger had been shot repeatedly by one of his own allies. As Alice stood at the window in the room she occupied in the Camp de Châlons, in Mourmelon-le-Grand right outside Reims, she sipped at a glass of wine to calm her thoughts. She hadn't been with Dick and Moose when it had happened, but she'd been with Harry and Dick after the fact. The former had spent hours drinking, the latter had spent hours in conference with Colonel Sink.

After Moose's emergency evacuation to the hospital, Harry had been in charge of Easy in the interim. Alice had found herself trying to aid him as much as possible, as in addition to the two of them, they only had Shames and Peacock. Down two officers, nerves frayed.

Then, in mid November, they'd gotten their new CO. Lieutenant Norman Dike, formerly of Division Headquarters company, had come in fresh from off the line. By the time they'd left for France, the men had already started calling him Foxhole Norman. Alice had shut George up real quick when she'd first heard it, but she knew they'd spread it around.

It didn't help the Company's opinion of him when, not two days after getting off the line, Alice had been reassigned to aid Dick and Nixon at Battalion. As much as she tried to assure the men that it hadn't been Dike's idea, she knew a large part of the reason she'd been removed was, in fact, the new CO.

He hadn't made it a secret that he didn't quite respect or trust her. For the first time since early training, Alice began to hear the whispers of 'Nazi' behind her back. They received dozens of new replacements and with a CO who didn't support her, it had been up to herself and the NCOs to discipline their idle gossip.

Unfortunately, the quick removal of her to Battalion staff, although being framed as a promotion by Colonel Sink, didn't help the new men's opinions of her. So as Alice stood in her warm bedroom, sipping wine and watching what looked to be F Company lining up as the sun rose, she just sighed. She closed her eyes. The sunlight flooded her room, warming the skin on her face.

She was home again. And not just on the soil, on the ground of her home. But her home was free. France was free. The words that Charles de Gaulle had spoken at the liberation of Paris reared through her ears. "...liberated by its people with the help of the French armies, with the support and the help of all France, of the France that fights, of the only France, of the real France, of the eternal France!"

The real France. Alice smiled, opening her eyes, and gazing out at the tarmac of the Camp de Châlons in the early morning. And more than that, being back in France and on R&R meant she was within arms reach of Paris.

Alice turned away from the window. She looked down at herself. Still clothed in her sleeveless top and sleep shorts, she realized it was about time to get dressed for the day. Placing the glass of wine on her wooden side table, Alice pulled off her shirt and shorts and changed into clean fatigues. She left her sleepwear on her bed before downing the last of the wine and heading out.

Once she reached ground level, Alice moved past the gathered Fox Company. Able, Baker, and Charlie Companies had been sent on leave to Paris, but the rest of the 506th still roamed around Mourmelon or in the nearby towns. With so many men around, they'd set up plenty of places for socializing like cinemas and bars.

As she strolled along the paths of the military camp, Alice tried to locate anyone she knew. Dick and Nixon had been holed up with their various commanders and staff since returning to friendly territory. And thanks to his recent promotion to executive officer of HQ Company, Harry took most of the day getting to know his men and fellow officers.

More and more, when Alice spent time with the enlisted, the more she saw them withdrawing into themselves, especially the Toccoa men. Not that it kept her from their ranks. If anything, the more time she ended up apart from the enlisted, the more fun she had when back with them.

"Want a cigarette?"

Alice felt her heart jump into her throat at the sudden voice. She whipped around. "Ron Speirs, do not sneak up on me."

The man suppressed a smile as he stood, smoking, not far from her. He leaned against a brick wall, his arms over his chest and fog from a combination of his breath in the chill air and smoke wafted around him. She moved over to him and accepted the proffered smoke.

"How do you like being in Battalion," he asked.

Alice rolled her eyes as she turned her head to face him. "You know the answer to that."

"Well, at least you don't have to deal with Easy's new idiot commanding officer."

"Keep your voice down," she hissed.

But Ron just shrugged. He looked around. No one was nearby to listen, and even if they had, frankly he didn't care. "Mark my words, he's going to screw something up." He shook his head again and took out his cigarette. "It's the men who trained in Toccoa who are going to hold Easy together. Your NCOs are fantastic."

"Yeah. They are."

They fell into silence again. Puffs of smoke filled the air around them. Before getting to France, she hadn't seen Ron more than in passing in well over a month. Having him as a smoking buddy again was nice.

Her mind wandered back to Lieutenant Dike. Even though the Colonel told her she answered to Battalion, he hadn't told her not to spend time with Easy. Peacock didn't mind having her around, and neither did Shames. The new First Lieutenant Jack Foley, he didn't seem to mind her either, which was nice. Just Dike, he was the issue.

When she and Ron split ways a little while later, she continued on her search for more familiar faces. Several Toccoa men from Dog nodded her way, even a few saluting, as she passed. She returned the gesture.

Half an hour later, Alice found them. Easy Company stood at attention before Lieutenant Dike, looking decidedly annoyed. The fresh faces of the new replacements contrasted starkly with the genuine annoyance of the veterans, especially Toccoa men like Liebgott, Toye, and even Talbert. Lipton looked to be doing his best to keep his cool despite the obvious disregard the others showed.

Alice stood a ways behind Dike. It only took a few minutes of quiet watching as the CO spoke before the men started to notice her. Bull noticed her first, a small smile tugging at his lips as she made eye contact with him and rolled her eyes. It didn't take long before most of the men had stopped their half listening of Dike's speech and instead looked to her.

He dismissed them five minutes later. Peacock, Foley, and Shames all turned around immediately, trying to see what the men had been looking at. Alice just smiled back. Dike, however, had no idea they'd even not been listening. Once he'd walked away, she moved towards the men.

"I can't fucking tell what he's saying, ever," Liebgott muttered. "Words are flooding out of his mouth and they don't mean anything."

"Lieb," Alice warned.

But he just let out a light laugh. "You're lucky you don't deal with him."

Alice sighed. She shook her head. "Trust me, I'd rather be back in Easy than with Battalion. Even if it meant putting up with him."

More and more of the guys meandered over. After a moment, she caught sight of Moe Alley and grinned. "Alley! When did you get back?"

"This morning, just in time to meet the new joke," he said, moving over. When Liebgott started snickering, he just shrugged. "He isn't Sobel... but he isn't much better."

They all heartily agreed. Alice looked around in concern. They still stood in the open, closer than she would've liked to a lot of the brass. Not that she disagreed with them.

Their lack of decorum brought Bill Guarnere to her thoughts. Easy felt a lot less loud with him still in the hospital. Ever since their arrival at Mourmelon-le-Grand, she'd been formulating a plan to make right on the trip to Paris she'd promised back in training. But she needed Bill back to do it.

That night, Alice decided to get the ball rolling and just hope that Bill got back in time to participate. She, Harry, Nixon, and Ron sat around a circular wooden table in Dick's flat while the man in question sat reading. Five card draw the game of choice, the bets kept getting higher and higher. Having already won about forty dollars, now losing fifteen of that if she didn't win, Alice decided to fold.

"I'm out," she muttered. Alice threw down her cards, Taking her cigarette from her mouth, she downed a drink of wine. "Good luck."

Nixon and Ron faced off with each other. As they continued to play, both the epitome of cool, calm, and collected, Alice just stepped away from the table to get another drink. As she walked back, standing next to Nixon's chair, Alice sipped at it.

"So, Nix," she started. "If I wanted to go about getting, oh I don't know, four forty-eight hour passes to Paris, who would I talk to."

He glanced up at her, away from his cards. "Depends. When do you need them by, and when do I start packing?"

Alice laughed and shook her head. She sat back down. "You're not invited."

"Nixon, match the bet or fold," Ron said.

He turned from her to the man across from him. He threw another four bucks into the center of the table. "I call." When Ron showed a full house, he cursed and sat back.

Ron took the money with a small smile. "Thank you very much."

"Nix. Passes."

He turned to her, throwing his cards to her for her to deal. "When do you need them by?"

"Within the next week or so."

"I'll talk to Colonel Sink," he told her. "We might be able to get you some. Why don't you just go ask him yourself?"

She sighed, shuffling. "Honestly? I'm sick and tired of dealing with people who outrank me."

Everyone in the room started laughing, even Dick from where he sat with his book. But she wasn't lying. Alice didn't have the patience for the red tape of the Army, she never had. And the longer she had to deal with it, the more she hated it.

"I'll get you the passes," Nixon said. He looked at his new hand. With a sigh, he shook his head. "And next time, deal me some decent cards."