The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

33: So Little Fanfare

Mabs smiled sadly back at her. "It sure does," she agreed. "But I'm sure it'll feel normal again soon."

Charlie nodded, hoping she was right, and turned her back to the bar to drink in the atmosphere of the room around her. The lighting was warm, the blackout blinds still up as the daylight flooded in, and each table, whether high or low, was full with people both sitting and standing crowded around it. The dark wood panelling was familiar, as were a lot of the patrons, though Charlie noticed some unfamiliar faces in the uniforms of the British military here and there, likely home on leave after D-Day. One of whom, she quickly realised, had noticed Mabs and decided she was the only woman worth going after tonight.

Charlie smiled to herself and rolled her eyes as she turned back to the bar and her drink. Back here, nothing had really changed at all. Maybe all it really would take was time for her to readjust, and then it would be like Normandy had never even happened.

That was, until they were sent out again, of course. But hopefully that wouldn't be for a good long while yet.

As Mabs was pulled away by the British Naval Officer and Boo disappeared with George, Autumn and Charlie were left to themselves. They chatted idly for a while about this and that before Joe Liebgott found them when he came to the bar to buy another drink and insisted they go with him back to some of the tables Easy had commandeered in one of the corners.

Making sure to take her still half-full pint with her, Charlie shared a small laugh with Autumn before they followed Joe through the crowd, weaving in and out of rowdy drunk people until they came across four tables' worth of American paratroopers.

"Hey, fellas!" Joe called when they arrived. "Look who I found!"

Charlie and Autumn's arrival was met with cheers and clapping, and Charlie flushed and ducked her eyes. She didn't know a lot of the faces gathered before her very well but perhaps that was why it had been a good idea to come; she knew the name, rank, and blood type of every man in the company and yet couldn't match a name to almost three quarters of the faces gathered before her now. She supposed it was about time that changed.

At first, Charlie tried to stick close to Autumn. As much as she was willing to meet all of these new people, unfamiliar men were still unfamiliar men and she still didn't really know what to do with herself around them - that was, if she wasn't otherwise occupied with cleaning wounds and wrapping bandages.

Joe Liebgott, however, had other ideas.

Joe slung his arm around Autumn's shoulders, leaning his head close to her as he talked - clearly already quite drunk - and attempted to lead her over to where he'd been sitting. Autumn pushed his arm off of her almost as soon as it made contact with her shoulder and rolled her eyes as she walked ahead of him, on her own and without his guidance.

Smiling to herself, Charlie turned back to the four tables at large, looking for a seat.

Shifty appeared out of nowhere to come to her rescue. "Here, Charlie, you can take mine," he said, gesturing to where his vacant seat was.

Charlie considered declining and insisting on standing but when she looked into his eyes he looked so hopeful, genuinely wanting to be helpful, that all of her words died on her lips. Instead, she smiled and thanked him and sat down in his seat as he went to find another.

"Hey, you're Charlie, right?" asked the man on her right the instant she'd sat down. "Tab's friend?"

As Charlie nodded, the man across from her barked a laugh. "Tab don't got female friends. He's got dates, and that's all."

Charlie frowned. "Floyd and I are just friends," she told the man with a polite, though guarded, smile.

He scoffed and opened his mouth to say more but the man to his left cut across him. "Shut up, Lesniewski, alright? Runnin' ya damn mouth all the time."