CURRAHEE , band of brothers imagines

virginia carroll + joseph liebgott

"DOES IT EVER STOP HURTING?"

"NO, YOU JUST MAKE ROOM FOR IT."

Virginia had not been sleeping well for a few weeks and whilst Joe had noticed, he didn't want to upset his wife even further. He knew that she was having nightmares, he was too, but he also knew that they were probably worse than his. Whilst Joe had killed people during the war, he hadn't been told to target specific people like Ginny had. It upset him that Ginny didn't want to talk about it but he understood.

He didn't want to talk about the war to people either, not to anyone at work or to his friends that he'd made after coming home. His reasoning was that they wouldn't understand; whilst they might not have understood it was also because he didn't want to talk to anyone but Ginny.

He knew that she wouldn't laugh at him or make a joke about anything he might say, she understood that it took a lot for him to even mention the war. He was aware that some things might have been ridiculous, like waiting for a shell to hit or waiting for the sound of someone calling out for Doc Roe, but Ginny understood that. What Joe wanted was for Ginny to realise that he understood too - he knew the war took its toll on the young woman. Not just with Easy but alone before Normandy, the people she had to kill after leaving him the first time and the way it could affect women more than men.

She was strong but she was still a human being underneath it all.

That night, Joe had almost fallen asleep when he felt Ginny stir beside him. There were the obvious signs of her nightmare - the kicking of her legs, squirming as if trying to get away from something and the way her brow furrowed. With a gentle voice, Joe attempted to wake Ginny up. "Virginia, wake up."

It was easy enough to wake her up, the woman sitting upright as if something had shocked her. Quickly, Joe sat up himself and pulled his shaking wife to lean on his chest. He whispered to her as he stroked her head as comfortingly as he could. "It's okay, you're okay." He spoke quietly into her ear for a few moments before the two were quiet, only the slowing breath of Virginia to be heard before she spoke.

"I see her, how she looked at me before I put her to bed. I can't get her out of my head." Her voice was small, something that Joe had rarely seen from the woman he loved with every ounce in his body. As she spoke again, his heart broke for the second time that night "Does it ever stop hurting?"

Joe took a breath, wondering whether he should lie to her so that she would sleep easier but he knew that she would find out and hate him for it. Instead, he placed a kiss on her forehead, stroked her hair and spoke gently "No, you just make room for it."