The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

79: In the Midst

"Frank," Charlie said, plastering on a sombre, sympathetic expression, "I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you weren't even in the race."

George immediately burst into jeers and heckles at Frank's expense while Boo gave him sympathetic pats on the back.

"She goes for Talbert but not me?!" Frank exclaimed, feigning outrage.

"I was feeding Floyd all the right information," Charlie informed him while Floyd only smirked. "You should've come to me, Frank."

"Even then, I'm not sure it would've worked," commented Boo.

Charlie shared a smile with her. "Probably not," she conceded. "Was that all?" she went on to ask.

George didn't cease in his heckling, nor Frank in his complaining, so it was Boo who informed her that that was, in fact, all. Just as soon as Charlie and Floyd returned to the dresser, however, Captain Winters entered to give the order for the men to gear up and head to the river.

Charlie gnawed on her bottom lip as she watched Floyd pull his pack on and check over his gun. All around her was the sound of soldiers complaining to each other, yawning and groaning about their tiredness or else worrying about their friends who had been picked to cross the river on the patrol. As she listened to them, Charlie waited in silence for Floyd to turn back to her. When he did, he was wearing a half-hearted smile.

"You'll be okay?" she asked him quietly.

Shouldering his rifle, Floyd nodded. "Covering fire is the safest place to be."

"Good." She didn't know how she'd fare if she had him on the operating table in front of her, couldn't imagine how shaky her hands would be, how wobbly her vision. "Then I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "I'll see you back at OP-1."

"Right."

She wanted to hug him or at the very least squeeze his hand, but the physical contact felt like it would be clunky and awkward, would leave them with more uncomfortable stuttering than it would solace about the night ahead of them. So she did nothing. She stood back from him with her hands hanging limp at her sides, gave him a tight-lipped smile and a quick nod, and wondered whether it would ever eventually become easy to hide her feelings for him, whether she would ever be able to say or do anything in his presence and not worry he was going to figure her out and have to let her down gently.

When the last of the men left, Charlie, Boo, and Autumn all shared a sigh in unison.

"We should head over to OP-1," Boo said, looking between her two friends. "If we stay here any longer Henry will come looking for us."

Henry had told them she'd be over at OP-1 with the men gearing up for the patrol - to check them over, she'd insisted, though secretly Charlie wondered whether it was because that was where Don had told her he'd be, serving food to the men who were heading out. When Charlie led Boo and Autumn into the basement of the OP, down rickety steps which disturbed dirty walls and sent dust raining down on them with every step, she got her answer.

There they were. Don and Henry. His hands on her cheeks, her hands on his waist. Staring at each other like long lost lovers reunited only now.

Perhaps, in a sense, they were.

Charlie froze on the stairs, not knowing how to go about manoeuvring her way back up without making a sound, then decided there was no choice but to interrupt the moment and pretend she was oblivious.

"What time do you think they'll be back?" she wondered loudly to the two nurses behind her. She glanced back at them to complete the ruse and found that neither of them wore any sort of expression that hinted they'd seen the scene she had, though Autumn did furrow her brows at Charlie, likely wondering why she was speaking so loudly.