The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

106: A Little More Alive

Speirs didn't even put up a fight. He just nodded and gestured with his head back down the hallway.

Kneissl gave Charlie a nod of farewell and she gave him a small, grateful smile in return. With that, he and Speirs turned away from her and made their way down the hallway. She watched them until they turned the corner at the end and disappeared.

Charlie spent the next hour sitting in a chair at Chuck's bedside, holding his hand and speaking to him in hushed tones, just to give herself something to do. She told him about how worried Floyd had been when the surgeon back at the hotel had told them all there was no hope Chuck was going to make it, how Floyd had gone from looking so full of life he'd been bursting with it earlier on in the night to looking like all of it had been drained from him with one sentence. She told Chuck how good Kneissl had been, how thorough, and how glad she was that he would be going home as soon as he recovered. There would be no going to the Pacific for Chuck, not now, and while she knew she would miss him - and told him as much - she was glad another one of her friends was leaving the fight early and heading home to begin the rest of their life in peace.

It was when she was mid-sentence, talking about how glad she was that Chuck had asked her to the dance in Aldbourne all those months ago - for even though they'd never shared anything more of a romantic connection, they'd forged a friendship that was very important to Charlie - that Mabs knocked lightly on the door. After a moment she entered the room without waiting for a reply.

"He looks better already," Mabs remarked as she closed the door quietly behind her, as though afraid she would wake Chuck. As though that would have been a bad thing.

Charlie gave Mabs a small smile and looked back down at Chuck. She supposed it was harder for her to see, since she'd been staring at him for hours during surgery and been keeping a close eye on him since, but now she was looking for it she thought she agreed. His skin was less pale and the bags beneath his eyes less pronounced. He looked a little less dead, a little more alive. An extra bit of good news Charlie would be able to report to Floyd when she got back.

"How was it?" Mabs asked, wandering further into Chuck's hospital room. "The surgery?"

"Intense," Charlie replied on a long exhale. "But Doctor Kneissl, the brain surgeon we found, he was great. Really thorough, and he clearly knew exactly what he was doing. He says we won't know whether there will be any complications like paralysis or memory loss until Chuck wakes up, but he's confident there won't be. All he said was that Chuck might have problems with his speech."

"I'll watch out for that," Mabs promised softly with a relieved smile.

Charlie quirked a brow as she turned back to Mabs, not realising she was doing it.

Mabs breathed a laugh. "I left my driver waitin' outside the hospital so he can take you back to the hotel." Closing the final stretch of distance between them, she rested a delicate hand on Charlie's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Come on, darlin', let me take it from here. You've done enough for one night."

Charlie stared back at Mabs for a long moment, processing her words and considering them, before, at length, she smiled. "You're too good to me," she said, pushing herself to her feet.

Mabs laughed quietly. "I know," she agreed. Then her smile faltered. "They found the shooter, by the way. Turns out Chuck wasn't the only person he shot tonight. Word is he killed a German captain and a British major, shot at five more people, and they found him tryin' to rape a local girl."

"Oh my goodness," Charlie breathed.

"I know," Mabs agreed. She looked past Charlie and down at Chuck, then shut her eyes resignedly. "Tab ain't doin' too well. The fellas started roughin' the guy up when they found him, dragged him into a room and all of 'em were takin' turns beatin' him to a pulp." She sighed. "When I left him, Tab was sittin' outside playin' cards with George, lookin' more than a little agitated. I don't think he knew what to do."