Shadows of the World » Band of Brothers

28: An Almost Infinite Capacity

"Yeah, yeah," Skip brushed her away. "We'll see you tonight."

Juliette giggled at their antics. "Maybe."

"Definitely!" Penkala protested. She laughed once more.

"I said maybe, now leave me alone before I change my mind!"

It was on her way back out of the supermarket that she ran into Floyd Talbert, who was flanked by Shifty Powers and Skinny Sisk, both of whom Juliette had met for the first time back at the pub. Both Shifty and Skinny were sweet boys, though where Shifty was all sunshine and impeccable manners, Skinny was the type of charming that came accompanied by mischief. And Floyd, of course, was an insatiable flirt. It was him who noticed her first.

"Hey! Penny!" He waved her over to them and she approached with a smile and a wave.

"Boys," she greeted them, smiling in the face of their three beams back at her.

"Are you feelin' better, miss?" Shifty asked. Juliette giggled quietly; Shifty was insistent on politeness and chivalry, and even though she'd insisted that he just call her by her (fake) name, he seemed to only feel comfortable using honorifics.

"I'm feeling a lot better, thank you, Shifty. How have you boys been?"

"A lot better for seein' you, that's for sure," Floyd replied with a wink. She laughed; he was just the same as always.

"Always the charmer," she commented.

He grinned. "You know me."

"Are you coming to the pub tonight?" Skinny changed the subject. She laughed lightly.

"Don, Skip, and Alex just asked me the same. I'm sure the others'll come but I'll have to check in with my doctor first," she explained, to which they nodded.

"If he says no just let me know, I'll sneak ya out," Floyd told her with a conspiratorial nod. Jules giggled, shaking her head at him.

"Okay, Floyd, I'll be sure to do that."

The boys allowed her to continue on her way shortly after and Juliette found herself wandering the streets of Aldbourne once more after she had put away all of the groceries, this time in pursuit of one dark-haired, Southern medic. Their paths seemed to cross frequently purely by coincidence but when she was actively seeking him out he was nowhere to be found.

After having checked the medical tent she usually found him in and still coming up empty, Jules resolved to merely wander around the village in the hopes that he would show up at some point. She was looking up at the sky wondering whether rain was due, before deciding that it likely was considering it was both Winter and England, and England loved to do nothing more than rain, when a tap on her shoulder had her whirling around with fright.

"God!" she exclaimed upon seeing George grinning at her. She pressed a hand to her heart in the hopes of slowing its thumping before she exhaled loudly. "Christ alive, George, don't do that!"

"Nice to see you too." He smirked. "What ya lookin' at?"

"Searching for a will to live," she told him with a grin. He just laughed. "Do you happen to have seen Gene?" she then inquired. By this point she had thoroughly exhausted all of her options and decided that it was rather unlikely she would catch him by coincidence now.

"Gene who?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

"Roe! Isn't he your medic?"

"Oh! The doc! Yeah, I've seen him. Why?"

Juliette laughed and shook her head. "No, I mean do you know where he is?"

George's eyebrows shot skyward. "Depends. Why are you askin'?"