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Webster didn't feel quite as welcomed as he had hoped to feel. Most of the soldiers ignored his return to the company. The ones who didn't, kept on asking why he came back so late, why I took him so long to escape the hospital and help. The reactions he got after saying that he didn't even try to get out, that he stayed there until they let him go, it was horrendous and many of his old friends were upset that he had done nothing. Toye had escaped three days after getting shot in the arm, so did Popeye and Guarnere. Some really paid the price for escaping, most of them never returned to the battlefields after Bastogne, but their help and determination to be there for the rest of Easy really brought the rest in shame.
Even Riley was upset with Webster. She was the person in Holland who had taken the bullet out of his leg. Riley knew everything about the wound and staying in the rehab wasn't necessary at all for him. Yes, the wound did hurt but others with shots much worse didn't even hesitate to walk out of the hospitals and completely back to the front. It was so strange to see Riley disliking someone for their actions, that being in the same room and noticing the upset frown on her face, made Webster's heart ache in his chest.
"Luz, I've got some blankets for Lip," he heard her say at the other side of the hall leading to the living room were the first sergeant was forced to rest.
"He won't get cold anymore," Luz replied with a laugh, cigarette sitting between his teeth.
"Is this where I have to be for the company's CP?" Riley hummed as a response to the person's voice that Webster didn't recognize. Probably another replacement who got shipped in and didn't know where to go.
"Who are you?" George asked.
"Lieutenant Jones, I've been told that I could find captain Speirs here."
"We're all waiting for him, lieutenant. It would be best if you'd wait with sergeant Lipton, the sick man sitting in the couch." Riley opened the door towards the living room and followed the new soldier inside. She spotted Webster in the corner of the room and didn't even greet him with a smile or the lovely hello that she used to say to everyone.
"How you doing, Lip?"
"I'm okay, Riley. There are people waiting here for Speirs, have you seen him?" the sergeant grabbed some of the papers that he had taken with him and unfolded them one by one.
"He's on his way, don't worry. I also need to talk to him, so I'll help you handle the new ones."
"Webster's not new."
"No, but he's been so long away, I almost didn't recognize him anymore." The soldier noticed that the simple joke she made wasn't the one that he should laugh to, it was directed towards him and the words hid most of her anger. She wasn't the one to scream at people, she truly wasn't to one to even show it, but Riley had tried so hard to push away her medicine and become her own again. That meant not being able to compress her emotions as well anymore, and that was a difficult price for her to pay. People got more easily on her nerves, especially Webster who sat there, not bothered by the losses or the fact that he returned thinking that he would get treated just the same.
"Captain Speirs, this is lieutenant Jones –"
"Listen, you're sick! Will you go back and sack out? There's beds with fresh sheets," Speirs interrupted Lipton, who was clearly not doing so great. He had been sick for a while and him trying to keep on working really didn't help. Multiple people had told Lipton to get some sleep, but he didn't listen and kept on doing what he expected from himself.
"I will, sir. Just trying to make myself useful."
"Wilson, I think these are for you." The Captain took three envelopes from the inner pocket of his jacket and handed them to the girl.
"Thank you, sir."
"Winters said you wanted to ask me something."
"Yes, but only if you've got the time. I really need to write some letters back, I just have to know what things I shouldn't forget. I've kept a list, could you take a look at it and maybe add anything if it is needed," she asked, her voice softer than what it was minutes before that.
"I'll try my best, Wilson. But I won't be able to do it immediately," Speirs responded.
"That's alright, take your time with it."
"Listen up. Regiment wants patrol for prisoners," Winters stated the moment he entered the large house were multiple important people were discussing different things.
"This one comes straight from Sink, it's not my idea," Nixon added.
"Since the river is the main line of resistance, we have to cross it to get to them."
"What do we need to do?" Speirs turned against the piano and placed whatever he held on top of the instrument, freeing his arms from all the heavy objects he carried around.
"There's a three-story building on the enemy side. We know it's occupied. You can have fifteen men, think about it very hard who you want on the patrol."
"I can help you with that, Speirs. Only if you need me to, of course."
"No, Riley, you can sit this one out. We're going to need every medic to be ready if it goes wrong. Luz has the things that Doc Roe had asked for, so collect those and be prepared for tonight," Winters said, before she could even try and help with the mission. Riley didn't really mind that she didn't have to anymore. For the last couple of weeks she had been an advisor for every patrol, attack, mission that Easy was sent on. Her help as a medic had been shoved to the side, she was more needed at the front than in the hospitals. Colonel Sink had even suggested that she would lay down that white band and officially become a part of the officers-team, but she had declined. Riley didn't want to stop being a medic, she felt that the soldiers needed her comfort and she simply couldn't ignore that feeling.
