At two in the morning, Major Strayer ordered the 506th to stop for a rest. They'd been marching nearly straight through since noon. Through swampland and forest, dodging flaming barrels and broken trucks, the men had at last reached some dry space in a forested area. Light discipline became paramount, and noise discipline after. But with so many men, it became impossible to keep everyone silent.

Alice crashed to the ground, letting her packs slip off. She propped herself against a tree. Her eyes closed. Around her, she could hear the other members of Easy Company doing the same. Groans sounded all around her.

"Fucking Christ," Bill muttered. He sat himself to her left. With a loud groan, his helmet hit the tree trunk. "Jesus, my legs hurt."

"Keep your voice down," Alice muttered. She kept her eyes closed. When she heard someone settle on her right, she turned. "George, can I have a cigarette?"

"Don't you have your own?" he objected.

Alice pouted. "Yes. But you've already got yours out."

George snorted, but nodded. He took a second cigarette from his pack and handed it over to her. After lighting his own, he did hers. She mumbled a thank you. Slowly, others joined them. Skip, Alex, and Malarkey settled right near them. Alex Penkala lay on the ground with his head on a pack. The other two sat back to back. Before long, Joe Toye, Johnny Martin, and Bull Randleman joined them too.

Several minutes of silence followed. Only the smell of the cigarettes and cigars wrapped around them. Alice slipped off her helmet, placing it in her lap. Her hair caught in her fingers. Suddenly, she started snickering.

"What's the matter with you?" George asked.

She shrugged, her eyes still closed. "Do you remember when we played Truth or Dare?" Her smile just grew as she thought about it. Small snickers from a few of the men around her told her they did remember. "I still can't believe that happened."

George chuckled through his cigarette. He shook his head. "You mean when you kissed Lieb?"

"Okay, that was your fault, George. Don't play innocent!" When she opened her eyes to glare at him, she saw Alex, Johnny, and Bull watching them in surprise. Alice sighed. "Listen, it's not what it sounds like. George gave two impossible choices and the least embarrassing was kissing Liebgott."

Alex started snickering. Beside him, Bull and Johnny just rolled their eyes. The other men who had all been present for that fateful game tried to keep their laughter low. But Alice just shook her head. It hadn't been her shining moment.

"Wanna go again?"

Alice looked at George in surprise. They had all gone quiet at the suggestion. The smirk on his face only grew as the tension built.

"No kissing," Alice ordered.

George leaned over. His voice fell to a whisper. "Lieutenant Nixon isn't here, so."

Alice's jaw dropped. "I should smack you!" Thankfully, she looked around in the darkness and realized no one else had heard his insinuation. "Goddamnit, George. Shut your mouth."

"Come on," he said to the others. "Let's do it."

In the end, they all agreed. Even Johnny and Bull were persuaded to play. At first the questions stayed rather harmless. They agreed that since no dares could be effectively done in the middle of Normandy, France, that instead of a dare, any time someone refused to offer up a truth, they would then owe the other person a favor at any unspecified later time. Somehow that made them even more likely to answer truths. After a while, though, the questions became a bit deeper. Instead of a way to trick the other into giving up a favor, they turned it into a sort of way to explore their inner thoughts.

Joe turned to his right, looking over Bill to Alice. He paused before asking. "Alice, what do you miss most about your life before the war?"

She fell quiet. Pushing herself up to sit better, she stared out in front. What did she miss most? So many thoughts crashed through her mind at once: flashes of Bernadette's golden hair when she danced, Robert's card playing, Marc's art, her parents' singing, playing beside the Elbe river, her synagogue in Hamburg, and in Paris, the lights along the Seine. But what did she miss most?

"That's hard," she said quietly. Alice shifted again. Her face scrunched up. "I think... I think I miss me. The person I was before all this." Alice waved with her hand around at the forest in Normandy. "You know, before I had to learn to fight. Not just physically, but mentally, emotionally. I mean after I had to leave Paris, everything changed. Sure, I'd been fighting the Nazis in my own little ways, but that... that changed everything." Her frown deepened as she thought about it. "I learned what I learned in order to survive."

Malarkey spoke up next, finally breaking the silence that had fallen around them. "Why'd you leave Paris in the first place?"

"Do you know what we do to Germans who betray the Fatherland?"

Alice straightened up. The German accent of the man who had attacked her rang in her ears. It would never leave. He haunted her everyday, even more so since the Samaria. With a sigh, she shook her head. "I killed a member of the SS. We had to get out."

"We have to go! We need to move, now. Are you listening? Look at me, Adélaïde!"

She barely registered a couple of the men commending her on her murder. Beside her, she could feel both George and Bill tensing the more the men who didn't understand kept talking. Finally she cut them off. "Stop. I didn't mean to kill him."

Questions turned back to the others. Alice stayed quiet, sitting against the tree. It brought her a lot of comfort that she could feel George to her right, his shoulder and arm against her own. After awhile, many of the men had drifted off to sleep. Alice couldn't sleep, though. And evidently neither could the men to either side of her. She could smell cigarette smoke coming from both George and Bill. Her breathing slowed to match them.

"I've got a question for you," George said a bit later. He turned his head to look at her. "You don't have to answer though." After she nodded, he continued on. "Would you rather go back to what happened and change that day in Paris but never get here, or leave things as they are?"

Alice looked at him. She straightened up. Of the men around them, only Bill and George seemed awake. With a sigh, Alice rubbed her forehead. "Honestly? I don't know. Right now, Easy is all I have left. If I went back, I'd never have that. But maybe I'd still have my actual family." She sighed. "I don't know. This isn't something I ever asked for. Life has... it's taken and taken and taken, and given me almost nothing."

"Yeah," George agreed. He breathed in his smoke, looking forward.

Bill finally spoke up, too. "Family is everything."

"Family means more than blood, though," she murmured. "And at least life gave me you guys." Her eyes stayed closed. Alice willed herself to sleep. But she couldn't.

An hour later, after trying to convince herself to sleep, Alice stood away from the men of Easy she'd camped out with. They had all drifted off to sleep. But she couldn't. Her brain wouldn't quiet. Looking down at them, she found herself smiling ever so slightly at their peaceful, sleep expressions. Alice turned and walked away.

"Where are you going?"

Alice glanced to her left. Harry and Nixon walked over. The latter, who had spoken, tried to keep his voice low. She joined them.

"I was going to check on everybody," she said.

"Almost everyone's asleep. Lipton, Hoobler, and Perconte are on guard, though." Harry gestured back behind them. "Dick went to go talk to Strayer. We'll probably get moving in another hour or so."

"Did you two grab some sleep?"

Nixon nodded. "A bit. You?"

Alice shook her head. "No. But it's alright. I'm not that tired. I slept well in bed last night."

They walked a bit away from Easy's enlisted. Picking their quiet way around trees and fallen branches and leaves, none of them spoke. They passed several groups of Easy's men. At last they came to where Harry and Buck had set up for the night. The latter sat with his head against a large boulder.

"Comfy?" she asked, amused.

He opened his eyes. "Very."

Alice chuckled. She, Nixon, and Harry all sat down with him. Nix pulled out his flask. After downing a large drink of the Vat 69, he passed it to his left, to Alice. She took it gratefully. The whiskey coated her mouth and throat. Harry declined, saying he had his own good stuff.

"I should've known neither of you would jump without alcohol," Alice muttered. But she just smiled at them. "Guess it's a good thing, though. It means I know who to go to when I want some."

"Alice, you overestimate how well liked you are," Nixon said. He shook his head. "The fact that you think you'll be getting any meaningful amount of my stash-"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought we were friends?"

Nixon snorted. But he shook his head. With a smirk, he and Alice both started snickering as they made eye contact even in the darkness around them. Both Buck and Harry just shook their heads.

"How far are we from our rally point?" Buck asked a few minutes later. He stretched his arms. "I know Major Strayer talked about being there by noon?"

"Yeah, hopefully earlier," Nixon said. "It's probably another five hours. Depending on how long we stay here, we could be there as early as mid morning."

Alice settled down with them. She listened to their quiet chatting, keeping to herself. Mostly they talked about strategy, about war news Nixon had gotten in battalion. He let them know how the others were faring, how the invasion progressed thus far. In the end, it was clear that the taking of Carentan would be pivotal to the overall success of the landing at the beaches.

"How are they doing?" Harry asked. He had turned to Alice when Nixon quieted down. At the confusion on her face, he clarified, "The men, I mean. You're closer to them than any of the rest of us."

Alice shrugged. "They're alright. Tired. But they're in good spirits. I think they're all trying to stay focused on now, and not one tomorrow, if you know what I mean."

All three of the others nodded with her. Again, they quieted. Harry and Buck decided to both grab some sleep while they could. When Dick came back a while later, he found Nixon and Alice sitting in silence.

"You two should both sleep while you can," he whispered. Dick settled down to the right of Nixon. "We're moving in another hour."

Nixon just nodded. He let himself fall back against the ground, still smoking a cigarette. He looked up at the forest above him.

Alice looked back at him in amusement. Then she turned to Dick. "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged. "Fine."

"Did you get any sleep last night, Dick?" When he shrugged, she sighed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Dick let out a small scoff. "No more than you want to talk about yourself," he pointed out.

"Point taken."

They settled into silence again. After a few more minutes of sitting and staring off into the woods, they both settled down to sleep. Nixon had put his cigarette out a few minutes before. Together they all rested and tried, desperately, to sleep.