February 9th, 1945

Haguenau, France

Alice sat on the edge of a bed in the CP. Setting her mud-caked boots to the side up against the wall, she sighed. Alice rolled her shoulders back in an effort to release some tension. All she really wanted was a nap. Just as she took off her coat and tossed it to the floor, a knock sounded outside.

"Go away!" she muttered back, loud enough to be heard. "I'm asleep!"

"Jesus Christ, Alice," Ron said through the door. "Would you listen to me."

She groaned, glaring up at the ceiling. But she moved over to the door and opened it. "What?"

He looked down at her with half a smirk. "I outrank you now, you know."

"So do Dick and Nixon, doesn't mean I listen to them," she pointed out.

"Fine, if you don't want a shower, I'll just tell the men to use all the hot water."

Alice straightened up immediately. Her eyes lit up. "If you're lying-"

"Just get your damn boots on."

She nodded and flashed him a smile. As Ron moved back into the main area of the CP, she sat back on her bed with her boots and laced them up. Her movements were sluggish. After a harsh cough, Alice stood from the bed and closed the door. 

Ron fell into step with her as they moved out of the CP. He lit a cigarette. With a long exhale of the smoke, he turned to her. "Sergeant Kiehn's dead. Shot by a sniper a few minutes ago."

"Mon Dieu," she muttered. Alice rubbed her forehead. "It never ends."

"No," he agreed. 

They walked in silence for a while longer. Alice folded her arms over her chest for self protection and for warmth. Haguenau felt warmer than Bastogne, but the snow that had been falling that morning spoke to how cold it still was. She sighed. 

"Lipton is letting Malarkey know about the patrol picks," he said. Ron looked at her. "Cigarette?"

Alice shook her head. "You know Gene would kill me if he saw me have one," she muttered. Then she sighed again with a shake of her head. "I feel bad for Malarkey."

"We all do," Ron agreed. "But we also all agreed he's the best choice."

She frowned. "I know. That's the worst part of this. If Don gets hurt, or loses someone else..."

"That's not on you," Ron argued. "I'm their Commanding Officer."

"Do you have any reservations?" She turned and looked at him. They stepped around a corner through the cold. In front of them, men had begun gathering around the showers. She stopped Ron. "About sending him, I mean."

Ron took a deep breath through his nose. He blew the smoke and glanced around. Eventually looked back at her and gestured over to the showers. "Come on. Before they take all the hot water."

She watched him walk a few feet forward before following. With her clean underclothes in hand, Alice hurried to catch him. A few of the men exited the showers pulling on pants over their boxers. She saw Malarkey and a few of the men from Second looking downright depressed. She supposed they'd gotten the news.

"Luz." 

Alice turned as Ron called over to him. She saw George walking over, pulling on his undershirt over his head. It stuck to his body from the shower water. With a nod, he walked up.

"Sir?"

Ron gestured to Alice. "Watch the area while she showers." Once George had nodded, he turned back to her. "They set up a screen for you inside the far one. Best we could do."

"Thanks. I'll manage," she assured him. 

Ron nodded. He went to walk away but then turned back. "Oh, Luz. I need you on Supply when you've finished up. We've got a couple shipments coming in. It'll be in the CP."

"Right," he said, nodding. 

Ron gave them both quick nods before moving back towards the CP. With Ron gone, George groaned audibly and stuck a cigarette in his mouth. He hated standing in for Supply. Everyone always wanted something from him.

"Sorry," Alice said. But she couldn't help but smile.

"Why the hell are you sorry?" he muttered. 

They moved over towards the far end of the showers. As Alice shifted her coat off and handed it to him to hold on to, she just shook her head. She looked at him with another smile. "Ron knows I like you. So he trusts you."

"Jesus Christ, then stop liking me," he bemoaned. He shared a glance with her as she undid her boots and placed them on the side. He couldn't help but smirk.

"I'll keep that request in mind." She scoffed. "Here, hold my clothes."

She thrust her change of clothes into his arms. In the past, before the war, she never would've imagined stripping down to her underclothes in the middle of a broken down town surrounded by paratroopers, but the cold weather necessitated not getting her outer gear soaking wet, and the shower was a constant. She couldn't turn it off to change inside. With that in mind, she left on her underwear and tank top, but slipped off her bra under her clothes. She stuck it inside her boot. Then Alice slipped inside. She pulled the outer tarp over the door and took off the rest of her last two pieces of clothing.

"You're a good doorman," she said.

George responded in his best interpretation of Humphrey Boggart.  "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Rolling her eyes at the Casablanca quote, Alice let the warm water wash over her body. It took a good deal of effort to get the layer of grime from her body. She'd been itchy all over for a couple weeks once she'd been taken out of combat and had time to think of such things. Using the soap and a washcloth, Alice went to town on her skin.

"Your Humphrey Boggart isn't as good as your John Wayne," Alice called through the shower. "You need more practice. Why don't you go annoy Lipton with it."

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that you don't want me around." When she didn't respond right away, he added, "How's my Claude Rains?"

"Worse. Stick to Boggart."

Alice laughed to herself as George just grumbled something she couldn't make out. With her skin clean, she had to work on her hair. It took serious effort. She had to scrub it with soap three times over just to get the dirt out. 

Oh how she wished she could stand under the shower head forever, letting the warm water wash over her worn out body. Looking down at herself, her breath caught at scars she'd acquired. Her left arm had scarred over from the bullet in Holland. At the end of long days it still ached from overuse. The scar she'd acquired from her time in the Maquis still contrasted smooth and pink on her left chest. Her legs had a few small white scars from minor scrapes. 

Alice sighed as she stuck her face into the stream of water. She didn't want it to end. But it had to. After rinsing her hair one more time, Alice stepped into the corner out of the water as she could. She stuck her hand out and asked for her towel. Then she took her clean clothes. After jumping around trying to put her underwear and shirt on, Alice pushed out into the cold. She cursed.

George glanced back at her. "You sure do clean up good." He smirked as she tried to slip on her paratrooper pants. He tried his Humphrey Boggart impression again. "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine..." Placing a hand over his heart he pretended to be wounded. 

She just rolled her eyes. After pulling her pants all the way up, she put her hands on her hips. Then Alice grabbed her coat from him. "When it comes to women, you're a true democrat."

George started laughing at her use of Casablanca against him. Once she'd managed to get herself fully situated they both moved back to the CP. They both had work to do. George had the supplies to inventory. For her part, Alice needed to nap. She knew the officers and the medics would throw a fit if she wasn't at least hanging around in the CP.

As she walked into the CP with George, he split to go to the side room where he heard Vest. But Alice stopped in her tracks. Spina and Gene were both standing around Lipton who was back laying on the couch. Part of her wondered if she'd be able to sneak past them, just to avoid any sort of inspection. But as fate would have it, Lipton saw her.

"There she is," he said quickly. 

Alice didn't miss the small, knowing smile that Lip flashed her as both the medics turned her way. Sneaky bastard had gotten them to look over her instead of him. She would've been mad if she hadn't so impressed at Lipton for pulling such a stunt. The medics must've really been driving him mad.

"Where you been," Spina quizzed her. "We been lookin' for yah."

"Showers," she said. 

Gene nodded. Walking over to her, he said, "Cough for me."

She hated that order. But Alice didn't complain and gave him her best cough. Still definitely a chest cough, he frowned, but nodded back. "Right. Ain't that bad. You need more rest though, more time off your feet."

"Whatever the doctors order," she muttered back.

Spina laughed. "Damn right."

"Just try to stay indoors, cherie. In the CP. The less in the cold you are, the faster you'll be back to normal."

"Lip, same for you, then," Alice said, looking past the medics. When he frowned in her direction she just smirked. "I saw you outside, Sergeant."

Gene and Spina both turned around. Chuckling under her breath, she left them to argue with the First Sergeant. It didn't take much skill to sneak away back to the bedroom she'd claimed and soon she was laying on her back with her legs off the bed. Too much effort to take off her boots, she just closed her eyes. Half a bed was a hell of a lot nicer than a foxhole.

She lay there for a while, staring up at the damaged ceiling. Paint peeled back in several spots and the small chandelier definitely didn't work anymore. Alice practiced her breathing. But it didn't take all too much time for her to grow restless again. She decided to find George.

It didn't take long to find where in the CP they'd set up for inventory. Skinny had been conscripted into carrying boxes with Vest, so she followed him. She found that George had managed to scrounge together a decent little spot in the very back of the mansion they used for command. Some organization had clearly been done with the various boxes and crates. George himself stood behind a dresser turned table, his clipboard on his right and a dozen packs of gum on the left. He pulled them in sets out of a small crate, counting them, before transferring the Juicy Fruit to a new box.

"Rumor is, if you glare at the supplies long enough, they'll count themselves," Alice joked. She leaned in the doorway. "Got anything good this time?"

"Well, we got Hersheys and Baby Ruths. Vest thinks there may be some Butterfingers in there somewhere, too, but he ain't sure." George looked up at her and then back down at his inventory. "I gotta count, so if you're gonna be in here, don't mess me up."

Alice had to suppress a grin at him. Seeing George get bitter about his work never ceased to amuse her. She had to admit, though, he got through the work remarkably quickly. Setting along the wall on a couch, she sat down and closed her eyes. Gene couldn't get mad at her for that.

It only took a few minutes for the delicate peace of George's work to be interrupted. Johnny wandered in from somewhere, and behind him, Cobb. They eyed George's work like vultures. It took all her self control not to laugh as George got more and more irritated with their presence. He had moved on to counting the Hershey bars, a disastrous development given the company he'd acquired. 

"Come on, George. Just gimme, I don't know, 10, 15 bars?" said Johnny. He leaned himself against the end of the dresser where nothing else took up the space. 

George sighed. Leaving the chocolate for a moment, he reached over and grabbed two of the Juicy Fruit he'd yet to inventory. "Here. Juicy Fruit. Happy?" George slammed it down in front of him.

At the same moment, Vest brought in yet another crate of supplies. While Johnny begrudgingly pocketed the gum, Vest spoke up. "We just report of movement." He turned to George. "First Sergeant Lipton wants you to lay a few bazooka rounds into a house across the river."

Alice couldn't help but wonder if Lip had asked for George knowing he'd be fed up with inventory. She smiled at the thought, but as soon as Cobb started hounding George about the Hershey bars again, she rolled her eyes. Johnny's pestering, though annoying, was somewhat funny. Cobb's tone just screamed punch me in the face.

"C'mon Luz, you're First Platoon at heart!"

"Jesus," George groaned, "Cobb. There's not enough!"

"Woah! Hershey bars!"

Liebgott slid into the room between Johnny and Cobb. Alice stifled a short laugh at how excited the man sounded. But with every new person to enter the room, first Liebgott, then Webster, and finally Lieutenant Jones, George just inched closer and closer to his boiling point. Alice wondered if she'd have to step in.

"Jesus Christ," George growled. 

Cobb jumped in. "Wait your turn, Liebgott."

"Yeah, who are they for?" He leaned closer. Eventually he pushed in between Cobb and Johnny, sitting on a stool. 

"Not you, Lieb!"

He scoffed. "Oh come on, George, one bar."

George, still with a few Hershey bar between his fingers, raised his voice. He glared at Liebgott, and then at everyone. "No! There's not enough to go around!"

Before anyone else could respond to his outburst, Lieutenant Jones stepped in. He glanced over the shoulders of the enlisted at George. It took a bit of a raised voice to get their attention, but eventually he got George. "Cap'n Speirs here?"

"Down by the river, sir," George said back.

A voice from the other entrance to the room pulled everyone's attention away from the impending Hershey bar coup. "Hey, Big Mouth, give the kid a Hershey bar, huh?"

George grinned like a kid in a candy store at the sight of Frank Perconte standing in the doorway, helmet at his side, smirking like nobody's business. Alice started smiling too and laughed a little as everyone share greetings.

"Yeah, what's up guys? I like whatcha did with the place, George." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did good, eh? How ya feelin?"

"Long as you keep your hands off my ass, I'll be fine."

Alice snickered. "Frank, that goes for everyone, not just you."

"Ey! Feelin better, Lieutenant?" he grinned.

"Mostly."

George, now in a much better mood, called to him. "Here. Have a Hersheys!"

As Liebgott bemoaned Frank getting Hersheys while he didn't, Johnny Martin moved his way through the crowd of enlisted to Frank. Alice watched in amusement as they teased him over his wounded ass. Before long, though, talk turned to more pressing matters like the night patrol. In a matter of thirty seconds and a single comment from Liebgott, the mood of the whole room darkened.

"Oh, yeah, Jesus, that reminds me, Web." George reached to the area behind himself and grabbed a small crate. "I need you to run these to OP Two for me. Grenade launchers for the Night Patrol." Once Webster had taken it, he grabbed a few more items and tossed them on. "Hey, you know what, send these too."

Vest launched into a story about Dog Company. Gossip always ran rampant in 2nd Battalion. Anything that happened in one company would be heard about by the others in a matter of hours. Alice listened as Vest talked about the new replacement Platoon Leader getting his foot blown off by a mine. She didn't miss Lieutenant Jones' pained expression. Her smile fell. So caught up in her thoughts over Jones, she didn't catch what Cobb said. But evidently George had had enough with him, as had Liebgott which said even more perhaps.

"Hey, hey, Cobb! With the mouth, please." George snapped. "The kid's just tryin' to do his job, alright." He shook his head and muttered under his breath. Finally he snapped. "Jesus Christ. To hell with this. Count 'em up, Vest. I gotta go blast this house."

Vest muttered to himself before turning to the others. "Ya happy now?"

As George strapped on his weapons, he shook his head. "You comin' Perco? Make yourself useful and watch this shit for me." He moved towards the door. "Web! You're coming with me."

As Webster turned to follow, Alice hopped up too. As much as being near a fed up George Luz wasn't anywhere near as enjoyable as a not fed up George Luz, it certainly beat trying to help control the desperate paratroopers. Even as Perco called after her begging for help, she just ducked out to follow George, Webster, Vest, and Jones. 

When they reached OP Two, Webster, Vest, and Jones veered right. She managed to fall into step with George and just sighed. Then he glanced at her. It made her laughed that through all the arguing and stress, his cigarette still dangled from his mouth.

"Oh," he said. He rustled through his pocket. "Happy birthday."

Alice looked at him in confusion. But when he whipped out a Hershey bar, she just grinned. She didn't wait to enjoy it. Splitting off a piece, she passed it to George when they went to grab the bazooka. "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."