The Way Back

- 2 -

Piper smiled, sending a small wave to the curious eyes. Lia stood rigid, taking in each member of Easy. They seemed like a fine group of soldiers for the most part. 

A low whistle emitted from one of the men. "Now who the hell are you two fine ladies." A cocky smile plastered onto his face as his eyes dragging the length of Piper's body. Winter's head snapped towards the soldier, ready to reprimand him. Lia picked up on this, and tucked it to the deep pockets of her mind. From what she could already see, Winters' was a good man.

Lia's eyes darkened at the comment, whereas Piper quickly stepped forward. "Piper Rivers, Vitale Company." 

"Never heard of it." Another man spoke quietly. 

Winters stepped around the small cluster of men. "Vitale Company is an elite trained airborne group. They've been here since the beginning of this war and will be joining up with us and the other companies." He walked forward until he was in-between Bailey and Lia. "Lieutenant Creed will be joining command of Easy as well." 

A scoff fell from the soldier who eyed Piper as he eased him self to sit down on the table, crossing his arms. "Sir, a girl taking command of Easy? That's not going to work." 

Lia's jaw clenched, her fist gripping tighter onto her rifle. Winters made a move to speak and defend the girl, but was quickly cut off by Lia. 

"Is there a problem, Private?" Her voice pierced through the tent, the sharpness of it set every man on edge. It reminded them of their mothers back home. The soldiers bustling by even slowed their pace, tuning into the situation.

The man cocked his head to the side, a small smirk playing on his lips. "A girl doesn't belong here. You haven't been through what we've been through." 

"Barlowe." Winters voice warned. 

"You're right. We've been though a hell of a lot more." Lia jutted in. Barlowe made a move to speak, but was quickly shut down. "You haven't seen war, Private. I've seen three years of it." 

Lia kept her voice even. "Stand up." She made slow steps until she was directly in front of him, dropping her rifle to hang off her shoulder as she went. Barlowe only stared back up at her, a lazy look on his face. 

Her patience always wore thin with soldiers like this one, and she already had enough. Her arms shot out, grasping onto the clothing on the mans body just under his collarbones and pulled him to a standing position. Barlowe gasped in surprise, moving to bark something back at her. Lia was quicker.

"When an officer tells you to do something, you do it." Her voice held even and low with each word, and her hands held firm onto his uniform. Barlowe's eyes shifted quickly between her and Winters. 

"Stop looking at Dad over there like he's going to help you, Private." Lia spoke, eyes never leaving his face. The men around Barlowe struggled to suppress their laughs. Even Winter's ran a hand down his face to conceal his growing grin. 

It was her turn to cock her head to the side, a lazy look on her own face. The grip she held on the soldiers uniform relaxed. "Enlighten me. Why are you here, fighting in this war?" 

Barlowe blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in her tone. Lia raised her eyebrows encouraging the Private to answer. "I came to fight for my country. My father did. It would only be right to make him proud and do the same." 

Lia's mouth twitched up with the hint of a small smirk, satisfied with his answer. It was exactly what she was hoping he would say. She released the hold on his uniform completely, backing away a few steps. 

"Well, then I hope your father won't be too disappointed when you get sent home for insubordination. I mean, that would be really awful wouldn't it? You go through all that training just to get sent home before actually fighting for you country? You haven't even the chance to fire your weapon yet. And for something so incredibly simple."