The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

39: Says Who?

It was just a shame about the replacements surrounding him, but she was sure he'd keep them in check. She'd seen from the lists that his squad was now entirely composed of replacements, so they'd listen to him if not because they wanted to then because they had to, because he was their platoon sergeant.

"Bull!" Charlie called as she neared him and his group of ducklings.

Bull turned at the sound of his name and smiled easily when he spotted her. Removing the cigar from his mouth, he inclined his head to her in greeting and waited for her to approach. As he waited, he said to the replacements, "Now, this here's Lieutenant Lancaster, she's one 'a the company nurses. She saves a lotta lives in combat - you treat her nicely and she might just save yours."

Charlie couldn't help but smile at the introduction. "If I'm in a good mood," she said, an attempt at a joke that had heat flooding her cheeks even when it got a few laughs.

"What can I do for ya, Lieutenant?" Bull asked as she came to a stop.

Charlie noticed, and appreciated, how he addressed her by her title in front of the replacements, teaching them to respect her rank.

"I'm looking for Captain Winters and First Sergeant Lipton," Charlie said, holding up the files in her hands which she prayed weren't wet with her sweat. "Have you seen them?"

Bull leaned forward and craned his neck this way and that, trying to spot them from where he stood as though Charlie hadn't already thought to look. "I ain't seen Cap'n Winters but Lip's around here somewhere, left barracks a few minutes 'fore me. Anythin' I can pass on for ya?"

Charlie shook her head. "I have to deliver these personally, I'm told. Blood donors lists again," she explained.

"Ah," he acknowledged. "Well, we got chow in a half hour if you wanna stick around. I should think Lip and Winters'll both be around for that."

"Oh, really?" Charlie nodded as she considered this. "Yes, I think I'll do that. Thanks, Bull."

He nodded, sticking the cigar back in his mouth. When he spoke, he spoke around it, "Ain't nothin'." He gestured with his head back into the barracks. "Tab's in there, since you got a half hour to kill. You're welcome to stick with me, but..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. Charlie gave a quiet laugh and thanked him for the information.

The barn serving as barracks was filled to the brim with veterans, which Charlie supposed explained why seemingly all of the replacements were flooding the streets. It was George she heard first, doing an impression of someone with a comically deep voice talking about 'hi-yo silver' and 'five miles up, five miles down', and then Bill heckling him for it. Skip she saw sitting on his bed, writing a letter, presumably to his girlfriend back home, Faye, while Don, Alex, and Alton were all so immersed in a game of poker with a few of the other men they didn't notice as Charlie picked her way past them.

Finally, she came across Floyd lying back on his bunk, a pencil in one hand and a book in the other as he held it up over his face and wrote in it.

"Floyd Talbert," she said, in as good an impression as she could manage of how her old school teachers had addressed the girls in her class who got into trouble, "are you writing in my book?"

Floyd jumped at the sound of his name and at first he looked like he'd been caught red handed, a deer in headlights. When his eyes settled on her, however, and caught the tiny smile on her face, he let himself grin.

"Your book?" he asked, pushing himself to sit up. "I thought you gave it to me as my D-Day present."

"Ah, yes, your D-Day present. How could I forget one of only three holidays in the year when it is commonplace to give and receive gifts?"

"Y'know, you can be a real smartass when you want to be," Floyd said, pointing at her with his pencil, but his smile remained on his face. After a beat, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

Charlie sat down on his bed with a dreamy sigh. "You always know how to make me feel so welcome."

"Shut up, Freckles," he said, laughing.

Charlie held up the two folders she was holding and actually answered his question, "I was looking for Lipton and Winters but I couldn't find them, so Bull told me to wait around for dinner because then they'll both be in the same place."

"What do you need 'em for?"

"The blood donor lists."

Floyd groaned. "Not this again."

"It's military protocol!" Charlie exclaimed, starting to laugh at his antics. Last time, he and the other NCOs had taken issue with the fact that Charlie needed to give the enlisted folder to First Sergeant Evans to give to them, but it wasn't for her to choose to overrule that order just because it was easier to give it to the NCOs straight off the bat.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Floyd brushed this fact aside with a noncommittal wave of his hand.

"You know," Charlie started, a poorly concealed grin already sitting on her lips, "you may not care about military protocol, being a measly staff sergeant and all, but a first lieutenant such as myself has to be much more -"

"You got promoted?"

Charlie nodded and showed him her insignia, grinning wildly all the while.

When his eyes first locked onto the silver bar pinned to her hat, his own smile brightened tenfold. "That's great, Freckles," he told her, all earnestness and sincerity. He looked so genuinely happy for her it made her heart ache. "No one deserves it more," he told her, just to twist the knife.

Suddenly bashful, Charlie's smile turned soft and she looked away, unsure what to do with herself. "Thank you," she told him quietly, then set her eyes on the book he'd discarded, left open face-down on the bed. "So, what were you writing in the book?"

"In my book, you mean?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Yes, in your book. I thought you'd finished it. I've been meaning to ask you whether you wanted to try something else."

Floyd closed the book and set it behind him, under his pillow, and tucked the pencil into his pocket. "What book do you think I should read next?"

Charlie was so busy willing the red in her cheeks to die that she didn't notice his sidestepping of the original question. Instead, she started rattling off all of the books she had recently read and enjoyed or otherwise could remember reading back home and thought she'd seen in the local bookstore. By the time they'd finished going back and forth, discussing which one might be a good choice, the half hour was up and it was time for dinner.

Charlie's stomach rolled again as she imagined waiting outside the mess hall as man after man poured in, waiting for Lipton and Winters to appear.

"What's the matter, Freckles?" Floyd asked as he stood from his bed.

Charlie followed suit and looked to him, surprised he'd noticed the change in her. "Nothing." He gave her a look that told her he didn't believe her one bit so she sighed and admitted, "I don't like the idea of having to stand outside while everyone goes in just so I can wait for Lipton and Winters."

Floyd frowned. "Why don't you just come in with me?"

"What?" Charlie shook her head as though the idea was absurd. "No, I can't. I'm not allowed."

"Says who?"

"Well, I don't know, but surely it's a -"

"So you're just guessing that you're not allowed," he surmised. "Y'know, if the Army's gonna have a problem with you being anywhere it's my bed, which didn't seem to bother you a minute ago -"

"Floyd!" He never ceased to shock her with his crudeness.

Floyd only laughed. "Come on, Freckles, it'll be fine." He shot her a smirk. "You outrank anyone who'd say anything to you anyway."