Alice woke gasping. Her chest tightened. All around her, darkness filled the room. Only a few of the beds were occupied, just the ones of her friends who had stayed. As she struggled to catch her breath, Alice slipped into her boots and hurried out the door.

The sun had started to rise. Alice hurried away from the barracks, not sure where her feet were leading her. It didn't take long for her to realize she'd forgotten her jacket. She stopped. All around her, a quiet stillness filled Fort Benning. Alice clutched her arms around her body as a gust of wind hit her.

As she ducked her face away, a slew of German curses left her. Her bare arms had quickly lost the warmth they'd felt from time indoors. Alice wanted to scream. She'd had another nightmare. The Nazis had infiltrated her old Parisian flat, grabbed her, and dragged her screaming down the hall.

Alice looked at her hands. In the dream, she'd broken her nails trying to hold onto the wood, to stop being dragged away. They'd hit her. One had drawn a gun. She'd woken up, gasping, when the bullet had pierced her shoulder. 

Her hand quickly went to the ugly scar over her left chest. She could feel the texture of her skin  change as she reached it. Smooth, but tight, it felt like it'd been pulled across something too far. A few indents betrayed the one-time presence of stitches. Alice shuddered. From the cold or the memories, she couldn't tell.

"What are you doing?"

Alice turned around to see Joe Toye walking over, cigarette dangling from his mouth. He had remembered a coat. She almost scoffed at herself as another wind blast hit her in the face. When he had joined her, she shrugged. Joe seemed to study her.

"You forgot your jacket?" He had to suppress a laugh. 

Alice rolled her eyes. "No, Joe. I decided to take it off and enjoy the freezing cold."

He scoffed. "Want mine?"

"What?"

"I mean, with the way you're standing out here you're probably not going back in any time soon."

Alice looked at him. "Yeah? What's the way I'm standing?"

"Like you're thinking." Joe smirked. "Guarnere would hound you about it."

She hummed. Looking across the complex, she didn't move to accept the jacket. Her thoughts took her far away, to winter in the shadows of the Galibier. She'd had Robert then. He'd kept her warm. Their anger had kept them warm together.

"Take the goddamn coat. Your face is bright red." Joe held it out to her. "Or, go back inside and get your own."

Alice accepted it a moment later. She shifted the heavy coat over her shoulders and used it to hide her hands as well. She looked at Joe. "You don't have to answer this. But I have a question."

"We playing truth or dare again?"

Alice smiled, huffing out a laugh. "No."

"Right." Joe shifted his feet and folded his arms. "What's the question?"

"Are you afraid?"

He didn't answer right away. She turned her head so he could think without pressure. Alice closed her eyes. The faces of the resistance fighters she'd lost, and the faces of her family, flooded her mind. She could see them so clearly.

"Yeah, of course I'm scared." He blew a deep breath out. Arms folded, he shrugged. "I grew up working in the coal mines. They paid me to do the heavy lifting, and when I was younger, I'd squeeze where the bigger guys couldn't. I saw cave ins. Fucking terrifying they are."

"I didn't know that's what you did."

"Well let's keep it between us, yeah? Anyways, they scared me to death. But I still did my job." He paused again. Then he turned to look at her. Offering her a cigarette, which she accepted, Joe followed up. "Are you afraid?"

Alice didn't respond at first. She took a few deep breaths of the warm smoke and sighed. It didn't take long for her to feel her body warm and relax. Finally she turned back to look at him. "Yes. When I close my eyes, they fill my dreams."

"Who? Your family?"

"The Nazis." She took the cigarette out and fumbled with it, thinking. She broke eye contact. "I have seen many people I care for die. The number I have left, I can count on my fingers, and most of them are back in the barracks. Which makes matters worse, because you are all here for the express purpose of going into combat."

Joe didn't respond at first either. He let a deep breath out. His warm breath mingled with the smoke spectacularly. "Yeah it's fuckin' hell, isn't it. But I guess, we just need to remember we're fighting for something bigger."

She agreed. "The most damning thing, is I still want us to go back to France. It seems a free Europe is more important to me than your survival. Which I feel terrible about."

Joe shuffled again. He turned from her, and glanced over his shoulder at the barracks. His cigarette bobbed as he spoke. "Well. Big picture, I guess we don't really matter-"

"You do!" Alice snapped. She folded her arms across her chest again. Joe's coat enveloped her easily. "That's the thing. For fucks sake." She rubbed her face. When she pulled her hands away, she sighed. "It's why I never wanted to befriend you. But then Ron gave me that fuckin lecture on me not relating to people and Nix told me I was going into combat and needed to know all of you and…" With a grunt of anger, she rambled on, tears forming. "I knew it. I knew from experience that all that happens is people get hurt. That's what the Nazis do- they hurt people."

"Ok, slow down. No one's gotten hurt-"

"Yet!" Alice rounded on him. "Yet. You know as well as I do, Joe. We aren't all surviving this war."

"We're not going anywhere for awhile."

Alice let out a long breath. "Yeah. Yeah. Not yet." She sighed. 

Looking over at her, he looked at her in concern. "You're on a first name basis with Lieutenant Speirs?"

"What?" She paused, looking at him. Then she laughed. "Ron? So?"

"Alice he's dangerous."

She laughed again. "You're all dangerous… more or less. Even Gene and Shifty. Ron's not that bad."

"He shot-"

"Oh for fuck's sake. The rumor? That he shot the two men who attacked me? So what if he did. They attacked a superior officer, could've killed me."

"Yeah, but to kill them?"

Alice shrugged. "Not necessarily what I would've done. But Ron's the kind of person we're going to need to win the war. And he's got a really dry sense of humor that I love. So yes, we're on a first name basis."

Grumbling to himself, Joe just shook his head. His long sleeved uniform shirt didn't stop the wind like his coat. "Are you done thinking yet?"

"Cold?" 

"Of course I'm cold. It's fucking windy today." 

Alice snickered. Together they walked back to the barracks. She shifted the coat off and handed it back to Joe gratefully. When they stepped inside, they found all the men awake and packing.

She changed into her red dress and pulled her tight black trench coat over it. With black Mary Jane heels and her beret, she completed the look she'd use for traveling. The less she was seen in uniform by the public, the better. A trained eye would be able to see the difference between her dress uniform and the WAAC uniform.

After seeing the men off with a thank you, Alice wandered back to her barracks. She'd yet to see the Lieutenants. As she packed her bag, Alice stayed quiet. The room felt eerily empty. The beds had been made, everything cleaned up. Both overhead fans were still. She heard nothing as she sat on the edge of her footlocker.

A knock at her door made her turn. She stopped her slow, controlled breathing. The door opened. Nixon popped his head in. He wore his dress uniform, including hat. "Ready to go?"

"Yes." Alice stood. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulders. 

Before long, she stood out in the cold. Ron and Dick both stood there quietly, the former smoking a cigarette. They looked as put together as Nixon.

"Right. There's a jeep waiting for us. The name of Alice Klein opens doors where Colonel Sink is concerned," Nixon joked. "Come on."

They walked in relative silence to the entrance of Fort Benning. Mostly deserted, the walk felt almost eerie. Alice lit herself a cigarette. She could practically feel her cheeks reddening with every gust of wind. Her nose hurt. Thankfully she had gloves, or she knew her hands would be hurting just as bad.

They approached a jeep. A private stood waiting for them. When they approached, he snapped to attention and saluted. The Lieutenants returned it.

"Private Lorraine is the Colonel's personal driver," Nixon explained. 

"Yes sirs." He took their bags. Piling them in the very back, he went around front. "The drive won't take long, sirs."

Nixon pointed to the shotgun spot. "Ladies first."

"I'm the smallest. It makes no sense for me to sit up there," she argued. "I'll sit in the back. Lieutenant Winters, you're the tallest. You can have the front."

Dick went to object, but Alice wouldn't listen. She climbed into the back gracefully, smoothing her dress down and taking the middle of the row. Nixon chuckled at Dick's expression. It only took a moment for Ron to heave himself up next to her, and Dick to take the front.

"Come on, Lieutenant Nixon, you're keeping us here." Alice sent him a smirk. "Afraid to squish me?"

Nixon scoffed and heaved himself up. He didn't give her the benefit of a response and instead sat down. She actually appreciated sitting between Ron and Nixon, as it kept her warm. She offered Nixon on her left a cigarette. He accepted. Their warm bodies squished together in the back of the jeep as Lorraine got the engine started.

The private told them it would take about seven minutes to Columbus' train station, and that's exactly what it took. Soon they'd pulled up to the station, and Private Lorraine jumped out to get their bags. Alice groaned internally as her warm companions jumped out, leaving her exposed to the chill wind again. 

Dick offered to take her bag, and this time she didn't spurn the chivalry. She adjusted her beret and followed Nixon and Dick up the station, Ron to her right. As Nixon bought the tickets, she shuffled in place. 

"The train for New York City leaves in six minutes," he said. "We can board now."

They made their way to the aforementioned train. The cars were huge, dark on the outside with several windows per. Suddenly a wave of memories washed over Alice. The last time she'd been taking a train for any real meaningful amount of time it had been from New York to Toccoa. As they walked through the cars, they found it divided by small four person compartments. It took a few minutes to find an empty one. Alice scooted in first and took the window seat facing forward.

She unbuttoned her coat and let it hang more loose at her sides. Ron took the spot next to her, Nixon across on the other window seat. Dick took the corner. She felt herself trembling. Instead of talking with the Lieutenants, she watched out the window. Outside on the platform, a few men walked around checking equipment.

Her stomach lurched along with the train. As it began its northward path, she forced her breathing to slow down. I stead she closed her eyes. Fatigue crashed into her, a combination of the alcohol from the night before and waking at such an early hour from the nightmare. While her head rested against the window, she drifted off.

Author's Note:

Merry Christmas! Both to you, my dearest readers, and to the men of Easy! This is the first time in eight years of writing fanfics that a chapter for Christmas has ever matched up exactly with MY Christmas. What are the odds!

So anyways, I showed my dear boy Joe Toye some love in this one. I feel like I short change him a lot because he's not as vocal as Guarnere, who he's often with, or the other boys like Luz, Liebgott, Malarkey, Muck, and the Lieutenants.

So anyways, New York City here we come!