The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

41: Here and There

"I don't get it," she said when Mabs' laughter had started to fizzle out.

"Which part?" George asked.

Mabs adjusted Charlie's uniform beret affectionately on her head. "You'll get it one day, Charlie, darlin'. When you meet a very special man who loves you very much."

Charlie scowled and batted her hand away. "Can you explain it?" When Mabs just grinned, she turned to George. "What's the joke?"

George squinted his eyes in confusion. "The train was comin' and so was Skinny," he explained, tilting his head to see if she'd understand.

Charlie shook her head. "I still don't get it."

"What part don't ya get?" Before Charlie could reply, Boo rose up on her toes and whispered something in his ear which made his eyes go wide. "Oh," he said when she pulled away. He turned to Charlie in surprise. "How the fuck are you and Tab best friends?"

"They're not best friends," Mabs said, linking her arm with Charlie's to make her point. "We're best friends. Talbert's just a nuisance."

George laughed. "You'd know."

"George Luz!" George only cackled as Boo swatted at him before bidding Charlie and Mabs goodbye and steering himself and Boo towards the bar.

Mabs watched them go for a moment and scanned the rest of the bar, probably looking for people she knew. All the while, Charlie sipped her drink and decided to let the joke go; if no one was going to explain it then she didn't care to understand. She was sure it wasn't that funny, anyway.

Suddenly, Mabs turned back to Charlie and pointed at her drink. "Quick, drink that. There's a new bartender goin' on shift and he likes me."

Charlie laughed. "Everyone likes you, Mabs."

Mabs just grinned. "Come on. Drink up."

Their next round of drinks was also free of charge, courtesy of both Mabs' beauty and her uncanny ability to manipulate men, and Charlie felt her shoulders began to relax as the second shot and next double vodka lemonade began to make their way into her system. The room felt warmer now, the lights shined brighter, and everything was starting to get just a little bit funnier.

They stayed at the bar to drink their second round and then, after getting their third, they took the shots at the bar and carried their drinks to a table which had recently been abandoned in the corner.

Charlie thought she recognised the two replacements on the table next to them from when she'd asked Bull to help her find Lipton and Winters. One was tall and kept sipping his beer with shifty eyes flitting around the pub, as though he was expecting someone to appear out of nowhere and punch him in the face, and the other was shorter and glancing around awkwardly, probably looking for some of his other friends.

"Les Hashey and Tony Garcia," Mabs said, gesturing to the tall one first and the shorter one after. "Replacements in Bull's squad. They're friends with Miller."

Charlie looked at her with raised eyebrows. "How do you keep tabs on everyone?"

With a smirk, Mabs tipped her drink back. "I just know people, I guess." After slamming her glass down with a decisiveness which made Charlie wary, before Charlie could stop her Mabs was leaning across her and calling over the noise, "Hey, Hashey, Garcia! Where's Miller?"

Charlie groaned but said nothing lest she draw attention to herself.

Hashey stared at Mabs dumbly for a moment before answering, "He went to get a drink about a half hour ago."