All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

74: Eve

The pair of them fell silent in the wake of that admission. Posey felt something in her harden as opposed to relax; she'd expected it to be a weight off, admitting it, but she only felt the fire of her hatred increase in fervour. She didn't like to be filled with such bitterness, didn't like to feel hatred, but she couldn't help it. It burned in her constantly, a fireplace people kept poking at whenever they walked past, and with every day spent in the frozen wasteland of the Ardennes she felt it growing steadily hotter and hotter.

After a little while she left the foxhole, navigating through the trees to find somewhere private to relieve herself. As fate had it, she had come on her period the previous day, and she was bleeding something furious today. She had taken to using disposable cloths when in combat - if she couldn't shower, she certainly couldn't wash her sanitary towel everyday - but she was wary that if they stayed on the line for too long she'd run out. She made quick work of changing out her towel and buried the old one in the snow - deep, so that no one would run the risk of finding it - before heading back to the line. Her stomach was starting to hurt and she needed to sit down.

By the time she made it back, she was about ready to collapse. She passed Lieutenant Dike's foxhole, furthest from the line and empty, and all but hobbled towards the enlisted foxholes. She hopped into the first she found, not caring whose it was, and slumped back against the dirt wall, feeling lightheaded and queasy.

"Wells?" Johnny asked.

She cracked open an eye. "Hi, Johnny. I'm suffering."

"What? Why?"

"I don't think you really want to know the answer to that question. Suffice it to say I feel like I'm about to drop dead, as I've been known to once a month." She could tell from the change in his face that he knew what she meant, but he didn't comment. "How's Pat?"

"Same as she was last time you asked. Where's Bill?"

"In our foxhole," she answered. "Bill and I aren't actually attached at the hip, you know."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, could've fooled me."

Posey dutifully ignored that comment. "Happy Christmas Eve."

At this, Johnny cracked a tiny smile. "Happy Christmas Eve."

"Do you think Father Christmas will be able to reach us all the way out here?"

Johnny scoffed. "Even if he could you'd be on the naughty list."

"You take that back right now!"

He laughed, shaking his head.

As Posey sat there, joking around idly with Johnny, her condition worsened. She started sweating, even though it was freezing cold, and her head started to pound. Every now and then her cycle was known to do this, spike and get worse before going back to normal the next month, and she cursed the universe for having it happen to her now, on Christmas Eve out on the line, when it could have happened to her last month when they were in Mourmelon.

She rested her head back against the wall of the foxhole, tugging at the collar of her ODs to get some of the cold air onto her flushed skin and keeping her eyes shut against the brightness of day. The pain in her lower stomach was pulsing, getting significantly worse in sharp waves before it retreated again and left a dull ache in its place. After a particularly bad wave of pain she heard Johnny sigh.

"Let's get you back to your foxhole, huh, Wells?" he said, beginning to get up.

Posey groaned. "Don't wanna stand up. It hurts so bad."

"I know. That's why we gotta get you back to your own foxhole, so Bill can look after you and no one else'll know."

She sighed, nodding resignedly. She knew he was right. Johnny was sharing his foxhole with Perconte and they absolutely did not need him to find out simply because she was having an especially rough period.