April 1943

Camp Mackall, North Carolina, USA

Alice decided in that moment that if she ever had the chance, she'd punch Sobel in the mouth once for Easy Company and twice more for herself. Then she'd put gallons of starch in his undergarments. After that, she had options. She considered a knife in his back, or a bullet in his temple, or a grenade in his shorts.

She had plenty of time to decide on the method of execution as she lay in the middle of the forest surrounding Camp Mackall, bugs scurrying under her body and twigs digging into her hair. Blue skies mocked her through the trees. Somewhere to her left, Christenson also lay on the leaf litter, and to her right, Perconte. Somehow when Sobel messed up a maneuver, it ended with her and a few other members of Easy lying pretend dead in a ditch.

"Hey Pat?" She stayed on her back, watching the new growth on the trees flutter in the wind. "Pat."

"What?"

"Over under on how many times Guarnere's going to plan Sobel's murder tonight."

There was a pause. She heard a small shuffle to her left. She could practically hear Christenson thinking.

"Six."

"Are you taking over or under?"

"You choose."

Alice hummed. She considered it. In the end she looked his way. A few leaves brushed against her cheeks and she grimaced. "I'll take under."

They fell into silence again. The only noises around them were birds and tree rustles. Her mind wandered back to the topic of Sobel's ineptitude. For the past month, the paratroopers of Easy had been working on much more intense training. The men had received their specific jobs. Lieb had been given a machine gun. Luz was made a radioman. Malarkey, Muck, and Penkala had been grouped as a mortar team. With each passing day, the men trained harder and harder.

Her place had been solidified more as well. Alice spent a lot of her time when not in maneuvers helping train specific groups of soldiers in both French and German. She didn't help only Easy, but the whole 506th regiment. Her talents also lent themselves to aiding the members of regimental and battalion intelligence. They'd call her in once and awhile for opinions on war news related to her countries of origin.

But on most days, she found herself next to Captain Sobel, out in some training course. And inevitably it ended with her, dead, in a pile of similarly dead leaves and sticks. 

"Hey Frank."

"What?"

"Over under how many times George mocks Sobel tonight?"

"You serious?"

"Pick a number."

Silence reigned. Alice waited for him to respond. Part of her was hoping he'd say something like five, and she'd take the under. But Frank was good at these.

"Three, and I take over."

Alice groaned. That was a good guess. "Fine, I'll take under."

Another ten minutes passed. Her helmet had started to cause neck pain. Alice wanted nothing more than to get up and leave, but she knew it wasn't an option. Finally after almost forty five minutes of lying on the hard ground in Camp Mackall, footsteps crashed through the undergrowth. The sun had started to set.

"Right, get up." Sergeant Evans, ever the personal pet of Captain Sobel, walked up to them. "Lieutenant Klein, you're wanted by Lieutenant Winters. You other two are dismissed for the day."

Alice sat up quickly. She looked Evans in the face and waited for him to salute. He did so begrudgingly. It made her smile every time she could actually pull rank. 

Grabbing her gun off the ground, she didn't spare Christenson or Perconte a second glance. As she trudged through the undergrowth, her fury only continued to grow. Alice glared. When at last the large regimental buildings for Camp Mackall came into view, she took off her helmet and hurried forward.

"Corporal, have you seen Lieutenant Winters?" she asked, approaching a man unloading a truck. 

He nodded. "Lieutenant Winters is showing Lieutenant Welsh the barracks, sir. Ma'am."

With the sun setting in the distance, Alice set off towards the enlisted side of camp. She wondered who Lieutenant Welsh was. It occurred to her that maybe Nixon's replacement had already arrived, even though the man had only been transferred to Battalion Intelligence that morning. Her mud caked, leafy gear seemed to weigh more the more she wore it. A shower sounded extremely attractive. Alice tried to block it out of her mind.

As the last bit of sunlight shined over Camp Mackall, Alice caught sight of Dick Winters. He and another, much shorter man appeared from her own barracks where she roomed with a third of Easy Company. The Camp Mackall barracks somewhat annoyed her because these had bunk beds.

Dick noticed her coming over. He stopped what he was doing and they waited for her. When Alice came up, she pulled off her helmet again and looked from Dick to the new officer. He stood a little taller than her, but not by much. He wore his dress uniform just like Dick, and suddenly she felt a bit self conscious to be in a dirty combat uniform.

"Lieutenant Alice Klein, Lieutenant Harry Welsh." Dick made introductions immediately. "Harry's taking over First Platoon from Nixon."

"Hi," she said. 

"I told him a bit about your job," Dick explained. "He just transferred from the 82nd."

"So you really do exist." Harry chuckled and gestured to a group of enlisted men. "The 82nd had heard rumors. But no one could confirm anything."

"Yes. I exist." Alice eyed him warily. She shuffled where she stood, running a hand through her sweaty, matted hair. "Much to Sobel's annoyance, I might add."

With a laugh, he nodded. "I'll bet. I've heard a lot of rumblings about him, too." He paused and looked between her and Dick. Their faces said all he needed to know. "Well. I'm more eager to get to know you than our CO, that much I know, Lieutenant."

Alice smiled. "Oh you'll learn Sobel quick enough, I'm sure. Mean, bitter, generally a poor sport. He also likes to leave me lying dead in ditches when he screws up."

"How long did you get left there today?" Dick asked. He eyed her uniform. "Haven't had a chance to change?"

"Nope." Alice shifted from left to right. Then she glanced at her watch. "He left me there for almost an hour, today. One more hour I'm going to spend planning his execution."

With a snort, Dick shook his head. "You'll learn her fairly quick, too." He smirked. He turned back to Harry. "Smart, kind, liked by pretty much everybody."

"Not Sobel."

"Not Sobel. But Colonel Sink likes you."

Alice smirked. She readjusted her weapon and helmet. "That's my best weapon in this war. The one at the top seems to think I'm valuable in some way."

"In some way? Dick said you speak four languages fluently," Harry pointed out. "That's pretty valuable."

With a grin, she turned to Harry. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Lieutenant."

"Call me Harry."

"Then I'm Alice."

They shook hands officially. Dick seemed pleased. The sun had mostly disappeared as they stood under the bright light of the barracks entrance. With a huff, Alice turned away.

"Right, I look terrible and I smell terrible, and I missed dinner thanks to Sobel. So, unless you needed me for anything else?" She glanced at Dick and he shook his head. "Great. Then I'm going to make one of my bunk mates stand guard while I shower."

"Oh, Alice!" She turned back, and Dick continued. "Nix talked about us all grabbing drinks tonight. To celebrate his promotion."

"You don't drink," she pointed out.

Harry sent her a lopsided grin. "Do you?"

As Dick just huffed, Alice laughed. She winked at Dick and then turned to Harry. "Do I drink? Of course I drink. I'm from France."

"Good. Then we've got one thing in common already!"

A big grin spread across her face again. She turned back to Dick. "What time?"

"Be at the club by 2100."

"Right."

When she walked into her barracks, Guarnere stood around ranting to the five members of Easy currently in their room. It didn't surprise her in the least. All the men looked up when she walked in. Alice grimaced.

"Shit, they left you out there longer 'an usual," Guarnere muttered. "Did you think of a new way to murder Sobel?"

Alice huffed. She moved down to where she had a top bunk above Gene. The medic lay reading. When she reached their two footlockers, he looked up.

"Right now, I just want a shower and some food." Alice stripped off her excess combat gear and stowed it away. With a grunt, she sat on her footlocker and laid her head against the wood wall. She closed her eyes. "Gene?"

"Hm?"

"Can you pass me a cigarette?"

"After you shower."

Alice sighed but nodded. She opened her eyes again. It took significant effort to slip back on her combat boots. In the end, she was accompanied by Gene to the showers.

Having clean hair had never felt nicer when she stepped out of the enlisted showers. Gone were the twigs, pine needles, and mud. She wore a fresh dress uniform, as the officers were expected to wear them on off hours in Mackall, and she gratefully took the offered cigarette from her friend. With the gentle, warm breeze of the end of April on the back of her still damp hair, she smiled.

2100 hours rapidly approached. Alice brushed her hair and stashed her shower kit before heading to find the on base bar. Camp Mackall stretched a lot longer than even Fort Benning, and it took her a good twenty minutes of walking. She passed several different companies on her way, not all of the 506th.

Lighting up a cigarette as she approached the bar, Alice looked around. She didn't see anyone outside, so she went in. It didn't take long to spot Nixon sitting in a corner with both Dick and Harry. She sideled over.

"There she is," Nixon said, grinning. He raised his glass. "Thought maybe you weren't going to show."

"I had to track down some food. Since Sobel saw fit for me to miss dinner," she muttered. Alice slipped into the fourth seat, across from Nixon. Then she sighed. "Nix?"

"Hm?"

"I really don't want to get up again."

He looked at her unamused, but Dick smirked where he sat between them. In the end, Nixon stood and went to order her a glass of wine. When he came back, she smiled and thanked him. 

"See, Harry, she may not actually be in charge, but watch out. She still has plenty of power around here." Nixon put his glass to his lips. "She has one weakness, though."

"Really?" Harry turned to her, amused.

Alice looked confused. "Weakness?"

"Cigarettes. She'll do anything for them."

"Ok, listen here, Lewis Nixon." She sat up straighter, taking her cigarette from her mouth. "I will not do anything for cigarettes. I just happen to be smart enough to know they're good leverage."

Dick shook his head. "Who's idea was it to give out kisses in exchange for cigarettes at Toccoa?"

Alice turned to him in surprise while Nixon just laughed into his shot of whiskey. Quickly, Alice turned back to Harry. "Listen, that's not what it sounds like."

"Oh, it sounds quite entertaining. Tell me more."

Alice groaned. "Dick I did not expect this from you! Nix, sure. But you just stooped to a new low." With a sigh, she took a drink of her wine and then settled back in her chair. She turned to Harry on her right. "Ok, listen. George Luz, who you'll quickly realize is the Easy Company class clown, decided to see if I would be willing to give him a kiss on the cheek since I'm French."

She went on to explain what had happened in Toccoa with the cheek kisses. Attempting to salvage some of her dignity, she spared nothing. Harry listened in amusement as he drank his beer.

"Luz sounds like quite a character," Harry commented.

Alice grinned. She took another drink. "To be honest, and I think these two will agree with me, Luz is one of the reasons the company hasn't actually killed Sobel. Yet. He manages to keep everyone entertained enough to distract them."

Dick agreed. "Sergeant Lipton, he's another one."

Harry nodded. With a quick drink, he continued, "Anyone I need to watch out for?"

"Oh, many." Alice smirked to herself. "Sergeant Guarnere, for one."

Dick and Nixon both agreed immediately, but neither looked upset. Dick nodded and turned to Harry. "Guarnere likes to talk trash. But he's a good leader, and extremely smart when he needs to be."

"Alice does a good job of keeping him reined in," Nixon added. 

"I try."

"Corporal Liebgott," Dick continued. 

Alice chuckled. "He's another one who's likely to break someone's face for a bad look. Don't worry though, he'll listen to you as long as you don't look weak."

"Watch out for the mortar squad of Muck, Penkala, and Malarkey," Nixon added. "They're known for causing trouble together."

Dick agreed. "If they didn't work so well together, we would've separated them."

Harry took another drink and nodded. "So, those are some names to remember. I will do my best."

"Don't worry too much about the enlisted," Nixon added. "Honestly, Alice keeps them reined in through sheer force of will. It's Sobel you have to watch out for."

"Right."

Dick sighed. "Again, let's keep the Sobel talk between us. The last thing we need is for the enlisted to hear us complaining, or the brass for that matter."

They all agreed. The next few hours were spent drinking and chatting, sharing stories of Toccoa and of Harry's time with the 82nd. Alice found herself really enjoying his company. She'd lucked out with getting a replacement officer who didn't see her presence as a nuisance. By the time the four of them left the bar to walk Alice back to barracks, she was thoroughly buzzed.