"Pornography, contraband." Dick was standing with the other officers of Easy Company, watching their CO ransack the barracks of Easy's men. "Non - regulation clothing, contraband." Sobel sounded exasperated at what he was finding. He continued to tear apart the men's belongings until he reached a certain bed. Dick noted the gleam in Sobel's eyes as he bent down and yanked open the bedside drawer. As he pulled something out, Dick recognised a familiar shiny object as the light caught it. "Lieutenant Winters!" Sobel turned sharply, the object swinging in the air in front of him. "Why do you suppose this is in your wife's bedside drawer?" Dick inwardly cursed. Dangling between Sobel's fingertips was Jess' pendant, the small star twinkling in the light along with three rings. "Does she like to keep a collection of rings that she coins' the men out of?" Sobel drawled. It took all of Dick's willpower to not punch Sobel in his smirking face.
"No sir. That is not what the pendant is. I imagine that she took it off to avoid losing it. It's a family heirloom." Dick gritted his teeth to remain calm as Sobel stalked over to him. He scoffed and dropped the pendant which Dick caught and held close to his chest. "You better look after it for her then."
"Yes sir, I will." Sobel started to criticise the men again but Dick chose to ignore him. Instead, he carefully tucked the pendant into his trouser pocket and made a mental reminder to find Jess and return it to her as soon as they were freed from Sobel's scrutiny.
"Come on J!" Guarnere yelled with glee as Jess managed to pin down Luz's arm. The look of shock on his face made Jess laugh heartily. "Shoulda' learnt that not all broads are flimsy little dolls, eh J?" Malarkey smirked at Luz's embarrassment.
"Pay up then Luz," reminded Jess, holding her hands expectantly in front of her. Grumbling, Luz pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and placed it in Jess' awaiting hands. "You don't even smoke J," Malarkey said.
"Yeah but I know a bunch of fellas who do." Jess smiled slyly. "Besides, I like to have a means of getting what I want." At this remark the men around her started to laugh and cheer. "That's our J!" laughed Guarnere. Footsteps approached and Jess looked around to see Nixon walking towards her with a grin on his mischievous face. "What's made you unnervingly happy?" asked Jess as she pushed herself away from the table and rose to meet her friend. Nixon didn't reply, instead he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the officer's barrack. "Seriously Nix, what's happened?" Jess tried again but failed to stop herself from giggling.
Dick was sitting on a hard wooden chair reading his book and just trying to catch a few moments of rare peace. That peace was shattered when the door flew open and Nix came marching in with Jess right beside him. "Nix, what -?" Jess started to speak but Lew interrupted her and gestured to Dick who suddenly felt rather self - conscious.
"You notice anything Jez?" Nix smirked. Dick felt himself flush as Jess' stormy eyes trailed up and down him searching for what Nix was talking about. "Nope, just seeing my husband looking slightly less composed than normal," she remarked eventually.
"Look a bit closer to that new shiny bar on his collar.." Nix trailed off as Jess' eyes snapped straight onto the new addition to Dick's uniform. Her gaze then travelled upwards and met Dick's eyes with her mouth slightly agape. "You got promoted?" Jess asked, her voice just above a whisper.
"Jez, meet your new First Lieutenant," Nix smiled with hidden pride in his dark eyes. Dick gave a small smile to confirm that what Nix had revealed was in fact true. Jess' face lit up and she launched herself at Dick, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Dick could practically feel the love and pride in her embrace as he hugged her back. "I think I'm gonna be sick," joked Nix. Jess stepped back and playfully slapped her friend on his arm. Nix laughed and slipped out, leaving the couple alone.
"When did you find out?" Jess wondered as she sat onto the chair beside Dick.
"After the inspection. Sobel called me outside and told me that Sink had promoted me. I thought for sure that he'd found a way to get me in trouble." Jess smiled at her husband's joke.
"How was the inspection?" she asked with a wry smile on her face. She knew how much Dick hated the invasion of privacy that Sobel instilled with these random barrack inspections from the letters he had written to her. Dick sighed and shrugged. "It went about as well as can be expected. Private Parks has been expelled from the airborne for 'stealing United States Army property' and we've all lost our weekend passes again."
"That son of a bitch," Jess scowled and Dick couldn't help but nod in agreement. Then he remembered the pendant. "Also, he took this out of your drawer, used it as a way to make you appear.. well as less of a loyal wife. He told me that I should take it to keep it safe for you but I know you would much rather keep it yourself." As Dick spoke he pulled the silver chain out of his pocket and handed it to Jess, her eyes sparkling with indignation as the words he spoke sunk into her brain. She stared at the pendant for a few moments and then placed it around her neck, the star and rings glinting in the sunlight before she tucked them under her shirt. Dick noticed a brief flash of pain in her expression and placed a comforting hand on her own two pale ones. "You ok?" he asked softly.
"Yes, I'm fine," Jess' reply was rather curt and Dick squeezed her hands gently.
"No one ever believes a word that idiot says and nothing worse happened during the inspection you know that?" Jess nodded and briefly closed her eyes before reopening them and turning the conversation back to his promotion.
"So what do you do now that you're a First Lieutenant?" Dick smiled wryly at the memory of his conversation with Sobel.
"Well Sobel has decided to test my 'command potential' by making me Mess Officer for fourteen days. Starting today I have to be in charge of dishing out the substances that the airborne think it is safe to call food."
"You are joking?!" Jess stared at him, disbelief written all over her face. Dick shook his head. Jess rolled her eyes in irritation. "So whilst you serve food the rest of us are saddled with pure Sobel for the next two weeks!" Jess stood abruptly and began to pace the dingy space.
"I'm sure you'll survive, besides being mess officer doesn't mean I am excused from the training the rest of you have to do. I'll still be there with you all."
"Well that's alright then." Jess looked up at him and her features softened into a smile of pride that sent Dick's heart swooping. Then she glanced at the watch on her wrist and cursed. "We're gonna be late for lunch now."
"Sobel's not going to be happy," joked Dick as he stood and together the two left the room and made their way to the mess hall where Dick left her to enter the kitchen.
"This ain't spaghetti, this is army noodles with ketchup." Jess wandered over as Perconte ranted about the sudden change in the airborne's meals. As she slid onto the bench next to him Guarnere sat down opposite her, his plate piled with what did look like noodles and ketchup. "Ah signor, is it not living up to the famous Italian spaghetti?" she joked at Perconte's disgruntled look.
"Oh, c'mon, Gonorrhea, as a fellow Italian, you should know that calling this crap spaghetti is a mortal sin." Perconte addressed Bill and Jess laughed.
"Why are they serving us this anyway?" she asked Perconte but it was Malarkey who answered.
"Apparently we're having the afternoon off due to the rain. Sobel asked Dick to serve us a 'special meal' as a change of pace or some bullshit." Jess frowned thoughtfully.
"None of you find that a bit strange?" she addressed the rest of the boys around her who all shrugged or shook their heads. "Seriously? Sobel acts like the biggest jerk in existence, hates all your guts just as you hate him, yet the second he seems to act nice you all just blindly follow?!" Jess' words seem to strike close to home as most of the men around her put down their forks and looked at each other uncertainly.
"Maybe he's just happy that he has been promoted?" Perconte spoke but Jess scoffed.
"Perconte, Sobel may have been promoted but a leopard never changes its spots. Dick was also promoted and I don't know about you but I would believe that would make Sobel furious."
"She's got a point there," chipped in Guarnere. "Sobel hates anything or anyone that makes Winters seem like a good soldier and a better leader than himself." Jess' gaze roamed over to where the cooks were still dishing out food and saw the unmistakable tint of red hair as Dick patrolled up and down the kitchen. She agreed wholeheartedly with Bill and was proven correct when the doors suddenly burst open and Sobel came storming in, yelling about a change of plans. "Easy Company is running Currahee! Three miles up, three miles down!" The men grumbled and scraped through the chairs and tables. Jess followed after but not before she caught Sobel glaring with such ferocity and smugness at Dick it made her blood run cold.