October 4, 1944

Nijmegen, Gelderland, the Netherlands

Busting out of the field hospital with Eugene Roe maybe hadn't been her smartest move, but after two weeks of off and on panic attacks, her body had somehow managed to convince her brain that if she stayed in the hospital any longer, she'd never, ever get out. So though Gene had protested at her going with him, she hadn't listened.

That wasn't to say her arm didn't hurt. Too much movement too quickly still made her cringe back in pain. But Gene had looked at it and agreed it wasn't infected. The stitches looked good, the drainage almost nonexistent. Alice knew that would be as close to approval of leaving as she would get from the medic. The muscles would take months, but the skin looked good, so with that in mind she got into the jeep heading for Nijmegen.

When the jeep pulled up to the base set up in Nijmegen, the daylight had faded to night. Alice couldn't stop herself from smiling though. Finally, finally after days and days of cloud cover, she could see the stars. She could see the Moon. While Gene moved off, she stood looking at the sky.

"Boy oh boy, is that who I think it is?"

Alice looked to the right. Her smile widened when she saw Floyd Talbert walking over with an arm full of what looked to be a crate of K Rations. At his side, a beautiful Shepherd dog had what could only be described as a smile on its face.

"Holy shit it is." Talbert laughed and walked over to her. He dropped the crate to the side. "Welcome back, Lieutenant," he said, falling back on his go to tease.

Alice laughed at him and pulled him into a hug. When she pulled away, her attention fell on the dog at his side. "Hey there, baby. How are you?" Alice held out her fist for the dog to smell. It did so without fuss. Confident it wouldn't bite, Alice ran a hand through its fur. "Aren't you a cutie."

"Thanks," Talbert said.

With another laugh, she stood back up. "You don't look too bad yourself, Tab. Could use a shower though."

Something between a laugh and a scoff escaped him. He shook his head. "Come on, girl. The others might kill me if you spend all your time with me."

"You flatter yourself."

He just shrugged. "Come on. You seen the officers yet?"

"No. I just got here. Gene wandered off somewhere before you showed up."

"Well, Dick- Lieutenant Winters- has the company housed in and around a barn outside of town," he said. Talbert picked his crate of rations back up. Setting off in the direction he'd pointed to, he just grinned. "He's probably there with Welsh, at least."

Alice walked alongside him. "What's the puppy's name?"

"He's not a puppy. He's a dog." Talbert just smirked when Alice sent him a dissatisfied frown. "I don't have a name for him yet. Any ideas?"

"Not off the top of my head."

He shrugged. "I'm sure I'll think of something."

They continued walking through the dark, around the edge of town. Nijmegen wasn't particularly huge, but it wasn't small either. Alice remembered reading that Nijmegen was the oldest city in the Netherlands. Hopefully the war would be kind to it. After crossing to the far side of the Waal River, they saw their base camp.

A large, dark wooden barn stood not far from the city walls. Large trees grew up around it. Their leaves fluttered in the gentle wind. Light flooded out below the doors at the entrance and the few windows along the sides. It looked oddly cozy. Certainly better than the field hospital. Alice shivered when she thought about it.

Talbert pushed a side door open. In the center of the barn, a large wooden table sat with a few men playing cards on it. Another two tables were pushed against the walls. The lights were low, only a few casting shadows around the barn. She looked up. In the loft, sleeping soldiers snoozed away. At the far end she saw George and Skip sitting on a bench, comparing letters. At their entrance, both looked up.

"Holy shit." George said. He took his cigarette out of his mouth.

At the same time, Skip Muck just started laughing. "Ay! She's back!"

The dozen soldiers sitting around the bottom floor looked from them to Alice and Talbert in surprise. It was all smiles. Hoobler started clapping with a huge grin while Liebgott and Alley started heckling her for being missing. A few heads popped over the edge of the loft. Alice recognized Garcia and Hashey from Bull's squad. Alice reminded herself to talk to them later about rescuing him.

From around a corner, Buck, Harry, and Dick appeared. Harry and Buck were grinning, and Dick just shook his head with a smile. He walked over through the crowd and looked at her. "You're not supposed to be back yet."

"What are you going to do? Send me home? Germany isn't looking too good right now." Alice shrugged, looking past him to Harry. She winked at the other officer before turning to Dick again. "Besides, Gene left today, too. He was hit just as bad."

"Just be careful," he said.

Alice forced a smile. Turning away from Dick, she waved to Harry and Buck. As the officers drew away, the enlisted swarmed her. After a moment, Alice shied away. Someone had touched her left arm. Alice hissed in pain. At this point it had turned from a party over her return to just an excuse to be happy with each other.

"Jesus Chirst! Give her some space." Bill Guarnere's grumbling sounded from nearby. He grabbed two of the guys and pushed them away.

"Back the hell up!" Joe Toey said next.

Everyone backed up as Alice grabbed at her arm. But she just nodded. "It's fine! It's fine. Really. Just don't touch the arm." She pointed to her left side.

As the group broke off to go back to sleep or cards, Alice stood watching them. It felt good to be back among the men, away from the hospital. As she moved away, someone popped up next to her. She gasped, but George just started laughing.

"How was the vacation?" he asked her.

She followed him back over to the table where he'd been sitting with Skip. It didn't take long for Bill and Joe Toye to join them.

"Vacation?" Alice scoffed. "Please."

"Better not getcha self fuckin' shot again, sweetheart. You're heavier than you look," Bill told her. He squished in next to her. "Me and Johnny nearly dropped ya."

As both George and Joe started laughing, Alice just shook her head. She rolled her eyes. Before she could respond, Talbert came back over and stuck a coffee cup in front of her. She thanked him. With a nearby crate, Talbert sat at the end of the table next to her and Joe.

"You all look..." She trailed off. They looked tired and dirty and quiet, now that the immediate excitement had worn off. Every one of them had a thin layer of dirt or grime across their faces. "Like hell," she decided on.

Joe snorted. "Hit it right on the nose."

"No need to insult us," Bill muttered back. "I will say, you're a sight for sore eyes though. You look fucking fantastic. Enjoy a couple showers at the hospital?"

She nodded. "One or two." Lifting the coffee to her lips, she let the lukewarm drink flood her mouth and coat her taste buds. Alice closed her eyes. "This isn't bad, Tab."

"I do my best to please," he teased.

"So," she said with a pause. She looked around at the four of them and lowered her voice. "I know things aren't going well. How's Easy?"

"Fuckin' Krauts ain't old men and kids," muttered Bill. "That's for sure."

Joe agreed. "They got a helluva lot of fire power. And they ain't backing down."

"Right."

While Bill, Joe, and Talbert started chatting, bringing her up to speed on what Easy Company had done for the past two weeks, Alice could feel George watching her from straight across. No matter how much she pretended to be paying attention, she knew it didn't fool him. Still, sitting and listening to her friends lifted her spirits.

Soon enough they had to turn all but a few gas lamps off. Bill and Joe moved off to sleep. Leaving the table, Alice took up an empty spot along the wall. She accepted a handful of rough blankets from Talbert and settled in.

A few hours later and Alice still hadn't been able to sleep. Tiptoeing through the mostly silent barn, she left by way of the side door she'd come in from. Outside the stars and Moon decorated the sky. She settled down at the base of a nearby tree and took out a cigarette.

Before too long, she heard panting and footsteps. Alice took out her cigarette and twisted to try and figure out what it was. She forced a small smile when Talbert crouched next to her, his dog coming to sit in front of her.

"Not sleepy?" he asked.

"Not particularly."

"Eh neither am I." Settling down on her left, he grabbed a stick that had fallen from the tree. With a smile, he showed it to the dog. "Here buddy. Go get it!" Talbert tossed it away.

Alice smiled after it as it bounded away. When the dog came back and dropped the stick at Talbert's lap, she chuckled. She ran her fingers through its fur. The dog turned away from Talbert and stuck its face in her own. Alice laughed, tears forming as the dog nuzzled her. She grabbed it around the neck and buried her face in its fur. It felt softer than she had expected.

"He's a great dog, ain't he," Talbert said as she drew back. With a smile, he ran a hand through his hair. "That's why he needs the perfect name. He's German. Got any good German names?"

Alice shrugged. "Might not want a German name, Tab."

"Yeah, why's that? He's German, isn't he?"

With a sigh, she ran her hand absentmindedly through the dog's fur. He lay on her leg, calm, sleeping. The warmth of the dog's body brought her more comfort than any cigarette could. She turned back to Talbert. "We aren't a very popular group around here."

"We?" With a small laugh, Talbert shook his head. "Listen, you're no Kraut. The person who shot you made a mistake."

"I know," she assured him. "But I do need to be more careful about who knows I'm German. This is only going to get worse before it gets better, Tab."

He looked at her closely. Alice met his gaze. After a few moments he nodded and turned back to the dog between them. "What about Trigger? I've been thinking about that for awhile, but I thought maybe I'd find a good name unrelated to the war."

"I like it. Trigger. It's cute."

Talbert let out a light laugh. "Great. Cute's what I was going for."

Just as Alice went to defend herself, she found Gene Roe walking up to them next to Spina. He stopped in front of them. With arms folded, he glared down at both of them. "What are you doing? You need to sleep!"

"Gene-"

But he wouldn't hear it. Shaking his head, he pointed down at her. "No! You shouldn't even be back from the hospital. Talbert, stop keeping her awake."

"Says the one with a limp," Alice bit back.

But she knew when she was beaten. Spina looked about as put out with her as Gene. As she grumbled and got up from the tree, she and Talbert went inside. She caught the tail end of Spina yelling at Gene to do the same. A yawn escaped her. Grinning at the way Spina told off Gene, she joined Talbert, George, and Trigger with the blankets inside.