The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

106: A Little More Alive

"I'll go and find him," Charlie declared. She gave Mabs a final smile and glanced back at Chuck, checking he was still alright, before she made her way out of his room and subsequently out of the hospital.

The jeep Mabs had taken to get there was, true to her word, waiting outside for Charlie. The driver gave her a salute when he saw her, which Charlie thought was nice of him since most of the men never had, and he pulled away the second she was safe in the jeep.

It was getting light outside by now and Charlie realised for the first time how long she'd been in there, concentrating too hard to properly realise her own lethargy.

Neither Charlie nor the driver spoke for the entirety of the journey. Now that Charlie had nothing to focus her attention on except the road ahead of her and the chill of the night air on her cheeks, she felt her eyes start to droop. Chuck was going to be alright and Mabs was there with him so he wouldn't be waking up alone and the men had found the man responsible. Everything was going to be okay.

Outside the hotel, Charlie hopped out of the jeep immediately and gave the driver her thanks. He called a, "You're welcome!" after her but she didn't turn back, only held up a hand to let him know she'd received his reply before continuing on her way to the basement. When she got there she found all of the men still awake and milling around, many of their hands bloody and bruised as they stretched them out, not even attempting to be discreet about it.

"Charlie!" Don exclaimed when he saw her, jumping to his feet from where he'd been sitting at one of the tables. "How's Chuck? Is he alright?"

"He's okay," Charlie assured him. She assumed Speirs had already informed them all that he was alive and was going to stay that way. "He's sleeping at the moment. Mabs is with him." She looked around for Floyd and went to ask where he was, but Don spoke again before she could.

"We found the guy who did it. The MPs took him."

"That's good." She looked past him, searching the faces scattered around the room. "Where's Floyd?"

"Tab?" Don asked. "He's back there." He gestured to a corner of the room concealed by all of the men standing in front of it. "You should probably go check on him," he added.

Charlie withheld an eye roll and smiled at Don instead. "I will. Thanks, Don."

"Sure thing, Charlie."

It took a bit of work to navigate through the clusters of bodies, especially when so many of the men kept stopping Charlie to ask after Chuck, but eventually she put her head down and ignored the questions thrown her way until she made it past them. She found Floyd sitting at a table by himself, his back to the rest of the room, while he stared at the blank wall ahead of him. He was tugging repeatedly on his bottom lip, a habit Charlie had long since come to recognise as a tell tale sign he was nervous or stressed or both. She sighed silently when she saw how hard he was pulling on it and how red it had become.

With a small, concerned frown, Charlie closed the distance between them and leaned down by his shoulder. Still he didn't look away from the patch of wall he was glaring daggers at, lost inside his own head. Gently, Charlie pried his fingers away from his lip and pressed a soft kiss there instead.

Finally, Floyd turned away from the wall. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were far away until he recognised her and saw her smile. The tension in his face gradually started to loosen.

"You were making it sore," Charlie said quietly, explaining the kiss. She uncurled his fingers and tangled her own in them, then gave his hand a squeeze as she lowered herself to the chair beside his.

"Hm?" Floyd asked dumbly, his eyes tracking her.

"Your lip," Charlie explained softly, shifting her chair closer to his. "You were tugging on it so hard you were going to make it sore, and if you do that then I can't kiss you. So I'm taking away your hand privileges." With that, she reached over and grasped his other hand, too, then brought it across his body so she could hold both in her lap, forcing him to face her. Once she was sure she had his full attention, she told him firmly, "Chuck is going to be okay. He's sleeping now and the surgeon is confident he'll make a full recovery."