Honor Thy Brother|Band of Brothers.

Chapter Nineteen.

"I'll go with you. You're my friend and partner, Peggy, and you need me." Winters agreed with a small smile and Peggy looked at him thankfully. "We should bring Nix though because...you need as much backup as possible." He suggested, the woman nodded and Winters rubbed her back comfortingly. "How about I get Nix and Lipton and we take a bus to the address, it's not that far based on the letter?" Winters offered and Peggy mumbled a yeah in agreement.

"I promised to look after him, I promised his mother as his family," Peggy muttered suddenly with a sad look in her eyes. "How did I fail that promise so badly, Dick?" She asked with a whisper and Winter's face fell, the man shaking his head. She did not need to put the blame on her shoulders.

"You didn't, Peggy. Trust me, you didn't." Winters reassured her softly, he never realized, until they were set to jump for the first time, that Peggy was returning to that nightmare. And she did a great job of not letting anyone notice how much it affected her. This wasn't like Jamie who had never been in that situation. She had. Peggy was one of his closest friends next to Nixon at this point and he couldn't stand the idea of her feeling like this.

"I wish I could hold off telling them...just to give myself time to grieve, but...I have no idea when we'll be back." Peggy admitted to Winters who quietly nodded. He wished she could've had that time but she was right. They had no idea when they would be back. "You...you better go get Lewis and Lip. We need to get this done, the briefing will be soon, and then we're heading out." She cleared her throat and looked at him, Winters let out a breath of air and nodded.

"I'll be back soon," Winters promised, squeezing her shoulder before standing up and walking away to get Nixon and Lipton. It was quiet while Peggy sat by herself until she noticed the familiar sight of Private Miller. She hadn't the time before now to locate him and return his unit citation to him. And here he was, she didn't even have to come looking for him, the young boy was walking quietly down the road back towards base. Cobb had no right to tell him he didn't deserve that citation, he was going to get it back, even if he didn't openly wear it.

"Private Miller." Peggy's voice echoed, catching the quiet and distracted Private's attention. He came to a slow halt and turned around to spot Peggy, his eyes went wide and he immediately stood to attention and saluted. The actions made Peggy chuckle lightly, no matter how much she told them not to do that, they did it. "At ease, Private. You know you don't have to do that." She assured him with a gentle smile and his face went slightly red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, ma'am, I...I can't help it. It's just what I was taught." Miller chuckled awkwardly and Peggy smiled, shaking her head.

"Come, sit down, I have something for you." Peggy beckoned him, waving her hand while Miller frowned but slowly complied, sitting down next to the woman on the bench. "Listen to me when I say this, no matter what Cobb says, you earned this." She told him, taking the citation out of her pocket and holding it out to Miller, the young man opening his mouth to protest. "I have my issues with Cobb but you both equally earned this, because what matters is that you stepped up willing to fight for your country and your brothers and sisters, not that you got the chance. Bull knows that and he looks after his boys." Peggy softly explains to the young man, pressing the citation in his hand.

"After what Cobb said...I don't feel like I earned it." Miller admitted with a sad sigh.

"Why? Because you haven't been out there yet?" Peggy quietly asks and Miller wordlessly nods. "Fighting a war is more than just charging with guns, Jamie is an example as a medic, there are men who operate radios, men who provide supplies, build tanks, and build bridges. They all contribute and they don't pull out a gun." She pointed out and Miller listened, because slowly but surely, her words were winning him over because they held sense, more sense than Cobb's bitter ones.