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( a/n ) buxy04's Small But Powerful band of brother's story inspired me for this chapter of the story, but i am giving warnings of verbal and physical assault and mentions. the italics are also the mentions of a flashback. i hope you all enjoy!
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Her eyes widened.
" Ok." she said, she really didn't have any type of reaction to the news. " What does that have to do with me?"
" Well, Will talked a whole hell storm up about you every single day, and we heard about all the shit you didn't get to hear with your own ears." he said again with his snarky attitude.
" I don't even care." she said, truth be told she stopped caring what other people had to say about her a long time ago.
" If I were you I would, because the entirety of Dog Company knows all the shit he said about you." he said.
" I don't give one shit about what you say about me." she snapped.
" You know, he always said you were a bitch." the second one sneered, as the group of 5 men closed in on her.
" I wasn't the reason he died." she managed to stutter out.
" Are you retarded?" the third on said, " Speak up when you talk, bitch." Both her arms were grabbed roughly, and she tried to break out of the two harsh hands holding her back tightly. She felt someone else kick the back of her legs, and her knees give out as she fell forward, scrapping her knees almost instantly.
" Don't scream." a voice hissed in her ear, as a hand went over her mouth and she was pulled away from sight between two tents to the dank alleyway in between them. She went to scream at first, but the air came straight back into her mouth making her gag.
" He's dead, and now it's your turn too, shithead." one of them sneered at her, as one of the hands pulled her arm sideways from her socket, and a fist flew at her face, pushing her face first onto the concrete. She groaned as her head hit the concrete and she felt a bruise already forming and blood on her nose. She sucked up the bloody from her nose and pushed with her two hands up from the ground.
" You know William always had you goons around him to protect him from the fact that I could single-handedly beat him up. I guess I scared him enough, that alone I could beat him from his own two feet." she spat, regretting it as a fist flew straight at her stomach, knocking all the air immediately from her chest. She collapsed again on the ground, and felt hands pull her to her back, as fists flew at her already weak and exhausted body, each like a slap of familiarity from the person who did the same thing to her before the Airborne. The boy who had beat her up and hurt her so badly that she didn't even want to return to school again because of it. The boy who she thought loved her for who she was, and didn't want to beat her up for fun because of her size. She felt each punch fly towards her stomach over and over, flashes of the painful memories she had endured previously flying through her vision. The vision of the boy before, kissing her then beating her up for fun, then kissing her and saying he wasn't right in the head in that moment and she believed it. The blood poured from multiple areas on her face. Finally, the young medic had enough. She wiggled her toes, and then brought her knee right up into the boys crotch near her and felt him groan out in absolute pain. She wiggled her fingers and reached out blindly for someone, but it backfired as she felt someone grasp her hand and yanking it backwards, a loud crack following that. She screamed, a guttural, low drawl that scared the shit out the 5 men around her.
" Get the hell off me." she spat, trying to move out of the circle around her.
" Yeah, right, sweetheart." one spat, the tiny speckles of spit falling onto her face. But she froze as she continued to feel the punches and the twisting of her arms on the hard ground.
" Yeah, right, sweetheart." Roger said to her as fist after fist of his hands that had held the girl in a warm hug only a few days prior now punched and kicked her harshly and unloving to the ground over and over like she were to be flattened out like a pancake.
" Hey!" a voice yelled, a sharp, quick spit, that sent a chill up the 5 men's spines. The 5 men froze, and Charlotte barely was able to let her head rise up a bit and force herself to look out towards whoever had yelled. The footsteps quick and light hurried over to the sight, and through her blurred vision she saw Speirs, who always seemed to be there at the right moment, standing up the group, peering down at the group, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
" What the hell is going on?" Speirs snapped, his voice low and guttural, making Charlotte curl up in utter fear.
" We-we, were, we were just, playing-"
" Get the hell out of my sight." Speirs snapped, stepping closer, as the boys immediately shoved off and scampered away, smacking each other, and arguing that they'd been caught. Charlotte peered weakly up at the Lieutenant and watched with bleary eyes as he crouched down next to the girl.
" Sir." she whispered, her bottom lip trembling.
" Let's get you up." he whispered, and he adjusted his hands under the girl's armpits and slowly lifted her to her feet. She stumbled and Speirs caught her again in his arms.
" I'm sorry, sir." she mumbled out again, tears filtering her vision again.
" Don't say you're sorry, it's not your fault." Speirs said gently to her, anger leading his words. The girl gripped onto his jacket tightly, her tiny fist, a death grip. All she could remember though was the look of Roger's eyes staring into her eyes and the horrifying look he had given her, that made her terrified completely of him. She never thought she'd be treated like that again, and man handled. Even the men in her first platoon had never touched her once, or seemed to have the thought to beat her up. The memories were like an over flowing waterfall in her head and each time she saw it in her head the more she wanted to disappear. That's when the first sob bubbled over her lips, and she forced herself to suck it back down. Speirs looked over at the girl worriedly as he lead her toward Winter's office. The minute they got inside to actual light, did he see the blood, and the bruises and the black eye as well as her extremely watery, sad eyes.
" Winters!" Speirs called through the room of offices, and immediately Winters' door opened and he stopped in his motion seeing the girl standing there, broken and beaten.
" What happened?" Winters asked, his blood slowly boiling as he looked at the girl, worry filling his eyes.
" Let me take care of it." Speirs said, pulling his gun from his holster and turning in the direction of the night again.
" Speirs!" Winters yelled and the Lieutenant turned to the Captain.
" What the hell happened?" Winters asked again firmly.
" 5 men from Dog Company assaulted your medic, and I'm about to take care of each one of them." Speirs spat angrily.
" You find them, and bring them straight here, Speirs, you understand me? I want them right in front of me." Winters said.
" Yes, sir." Speirs said and immediately rushed out, slamming the door shut behind him. Winters turned to the girl. Charlotte had never seen Winters as angry and mad as he seemed in that moment.
" Here, Charlotte, come inside." he said softly, and she nodded following Winters inside the office. She slowly sat down in the chair in front of his desk, her black eye sealed shut and other eye half opened yet terrified. Winters sighed to himself and grabbed a blanket nearby and wrapped it over the girl's shoulders comfortingly. She looked up at him and smiled sadly, pulling the blanket closer.
" I know it might be hard to talk about, but I need to know what happened." Winters said softly looking at the girl. She glanced up at him and gulped, fear riddling her entire system.
" Sir, I-I was walking back to the barrack, and I turned around, hearing footsteps and there were 5 men from, from Dog, sir, and they told me that the man that had verbally abused me before was dead, and that it was my fault, and then they beat me up. I tried to fight back, sir, I really did." the girl whimpered suddenly, tears flowing gently down her face, " I tried to and I just couldn't get them off. And It felt so familiar."
" Why?" whispered WInters.
" Back, back home I dated a boy for a bit who I thought loved me, and he, um, he ended up abusing me, and his final beating was exactly like that, and I had never felt so much pain in my life time sir and it was so familiar that I froze up and couldn't fight back. I couldn't force myself to. I was too scared of what would happen if I did try to." She whispered, her voice cracking every time she tried to speak. " Speirs found me." Charlotte had never stared into more understanding eyes than Captain Winters. He remained so calm, under all the anger she felt and she couldn't appreciate it more. She was shaking and scared from what Winters could tell and that saddened him even more. Suddenly the door burst open, with Speirs, helmet on his head, gun in hand, the most serious expression Charlotte had ever seen on his face, with 6 MPs behind him, each holding back a man in their hands, with the head MP next to Speirs.
" Charlotte, I'm going to have someone take you back to barracks ok?" Winters said standing.
" We'll take care of the situation. You have nothing to worry about." he said softly. She nodded, and slowly stood, before glancing back at Winters uncertainly.
" Take the blanket." he said with a nod. She nodded, and soon the lead MP, lead the girl back to her barracks.
" Thank you, sir." she whispered to the MP, and he nodded, with complete sympathy towards the girl. Her shoulder kept popping in the most uncomfortable way, and her wrist felt sprained, it pounded and ached. She slowly stepped into the tent, and quietly made her entrance into the room, unnoticed. She went and sat down on her bed, sighing to herself, looking down through the folds of the blanket at the wrist that throbbed painfully. She felt the tears filter into her vision again, and watched, painfully, as the image of her wrist disappeared to a blurry mess and she could no longer see it, only the blurred out image of what she expected to see.
" Charlotte?" a voice asked as the barrack grew quiet. She looked up, and saw that George noticed the young girl sitting there.
" Hi." she whispered.
" What the actual fuck is that?" Bill suddenly, noticing the black eyes on the girl's face. More men looked up, and many of her friends came over to the girl's bed, noticing the shaking girl under the blanket. George was the first to reach the girl, and he went to wrap an arm over her shoulder and she flinched back immediately.
" What happened?" Liebgott said as he neared the bed, his anger almost boiling over.
" Sunshine?" he asked lightly, but she could only stare at him with wide tear filled eyes.
" William Thompson's dead." she muttered. " And then his 5 friends thought it was the brilliant idea to beat me until I was almost dead because that's what they said I deserved." No one said a single thing. It was dead quiet.
" Charlotte." Chuck whispered so softly and broken as he stared at the girl.
" You don't deserve to here that, don't listen to them." Liebgott said rubbing the girl's arm gently.
" Someone want to get her an ice pack?" Liebgott questioned the group and Skinny ran off taking a cue.
" Guys I have to tell you all something." she whispered softly. The men shared confused glances towards each other, concerned and sympathy filled. " When I was in high school, I dated a boy, and it seemed he really cared for me, at least that's what I thought. He would beat me, and then say he loved me, and then do it all over again and I didn't know how to get away. One day, it was the last day he would ever beat me, because my brother's found me, there are the floor, alone, the back door still shutting. That boy was put straight into juvenile detention for what he did to me. And what just had, felt so similar, that I couldn't fight back, I didn't know how. It was like the memories consumed me and what was actually going on, and I couldn't escape from it until Speirs found me." Toye was biting his lip so hard, he thought it'd bleed soon. The girl was a literal ray of sunshine, he couldn't imagine why someone would want to beat her up, more of less harm her in any way.
" The worst part was that when they beat me, I ruptured my uterus entirely, and now I'm not sure if I can even have kids when I'm older because of a stupid hormonal boy." she spat out, angrily. Her eyes were like wild flames, waiting to burst free. Many of the men couldn't stop thinking about how brave she was. She was 19, and was telling the men she'd known since 17 her darkest moments of her life, willingly sharing them with her, and the whole time she sat there with a fiery image of anger and courage on her face. She was scared shitless they all knew that, but she was strong and she was masking that fear with the hope that something better would end up coming out of this. Shifty looked at the girl, exchanging a saddened glance with Tab next to her. Tab walked over and sat on the bed in front of the girl and looked at her with a soft, sad, smile.
" We weren't wrong in naming you sunshine though, Charlotte." he said to her softly. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes. " Despite everything you've been through you still show up with a smile everyday, and remain strong and powerful despite it all. You shine through even in dark moments." She looked up at Talbert, eyes glassy and sad.
" Thank you." she whispered. Talbert nodded with a soft smile. She reached out and grabbed his hand and he let her hold it in hers to calm herself down. She'd never been more thankful. Skinny came back in, seeing the girl, with a soft smile on her face looking at the group of men around her. She looked over as Skinny entered, and smiled. She accepted the arm around her shoulder from him, as he sat next to the girl, and she gratefully accepted the ice pack. She placed it over her eye, and gently let her head rest on Skinny's shoulder as she smiled to herself. Johnny stepped forward, clearing his throat, and he spoke in such a soft quiet voice, that some people weren't sure if it was the same person.
" I'm looking at you now, and telling you right now, that I will never look at you any differently from what you said, and neither will any of these men. We love you, like you're our little sister. We may not be blood, but we are bonded together by this journey and that's what makes this special. And none of these men will look at you any differently either. I know that. We all do. " Johnny said, watching the girl. She sniffled, and a small twitch of her lips released a tiny smile. Luz had been quiet, his joking persona completely gone. He looked at Charlotte.
" We love you, sunshine." he said, patting her foot above the covers. She smiled a little more.
" Winters, and Speirs know, and they're taking care of it for now, but thank you all for being here for me." she said softly with a smile. The men smiled.
" Get some rest, kiddo." Luz said, standing and gently kissing the girl's head. The men trickled away with all their own looks of reassurance and smiles of love and caring, before it was just her and Skinny who stayed next to the girl, who stayed snuggled in his side for comfort. The two were quiet as they sat their listening to the men and their quiet laughs. Charlotte was still snuggled up against him, single arm wrapped him, forgotten ice pack on the floor, and her other hand used as a 'pillow' for her head.
" Skinny?" she asked softly, almost to the point where he couldn't hear her.
" Yeah, sunshine?" he said softly, rubbing her shoulder. She watched him from her position, coddled into his side.
" Thank you." she whispered, reaching over and grasping the young man's hand. She ran her fingers over his knuckles, like it were soothing her that someone was there. So he let her, and it calmed him even knowing that she was there, and safe.
" Charlotte?" He asked, and the girl looked up at him.
" Yeah, Skinny?" she asked.
" Why'd he do it?" He asked, his eyes watching hers intently. She averted her gaze and looked over at the men, watching Liebgott cast his gaze her way, like a need to check her to make sure she was ok. She wiped at her eye and then fiddled with the trim on the blanket.
" I don't know." She whispered. She sniffled again.
" Hey, hey, hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make ya upset." Skinny said reaching up his hand to her eyes. She shook her head, and smiled tearfully up at him.
" You could never make me upset, Skinny." She said quietly, laying her head back against him and grasping his hand for comfort again. He felt his heart rate pick up. He wasn't sure the feeling he felt, if it was relief or anger toward the men, or pure admiration for the Sunshine soldier.
" What are you doing, after the war?" He asked her.
" Probably finish my school at Chincoteague, and then go to college and try to become a doctor, and own some horses." She said with a small smile.
" Do you have horses at home?" He asked.
" Yeah. The family has 10, but I have one for myself. He's brown, with streaks of black in him and his name is Mickie." She said looking up with a childlike grin at Skinny. He had to smile, there was a twinkle in the girl's eyes, and her smile was cheeky and lit up her entire face. He agreed with Easy, she was beautiful, and not just her smile. Everything about her was beautiful.
" What about you?" She asked, settling against him again.
" I don't know." He answered.
" Try to adjust, get my life together. Settle down too." He said. " Are you gonna have kids? Like adoption? Sorry, shit, sunshine, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." Charlotte giggled against him, her chest rumbling lightly.
" I...I want to adopt. If I can't have them, get them from people who can't afford it." She said. Skinny smiled.
" I feel like an ass now, I shouldn't have said that." Skinny said looking down at the girl. But Charlotte looked up at him with a soft smile.
" I'd rather it come for you, Wayne." she said softly with honest eyes, the smile disappearing. Skinny watched the girl, with a dead hard serious expression on his face. " I really do. You're practically my brother, Skinny. And I can't thank you enough." Skinny smiled, a genuinely wide smile at the girl.
" You're like my little sister, Charlotte, and I care about you so much, just like every other man here, and I can't be more thankful to say that." he said, rubbing her shoulder.
" Thanks, Skinny." she said softly. She yawned afterwards widely.
" I think you should get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow." Skinny said, unwrapping his arm and slowly getting up. Charlotte looked up and grasped his hand.
" Can you stay with me? Just for the night, please?" She whispered and the innocent voice cracked his heart into tiny bits. Skinny looked around the room, before smiling shyly at the girl and climbing back next to her. He wrapped his arm back around her, and she snuggled into his side, sighing against him. She was curled into a ball next to him and wrapped her arms around his center. Skinny adjusted the blanket wrapped around her shoulders and absentmindedly brushed a few stray hairs from her face away. She looked at him with a sleepy, soft smile and yawned again.
" Good night." she said softly, a small yawn to follow.
" Good night, sunshine." he answered, adjusting his hold on her, and rightfully resting his head atop hers, and shutting his eyes. The other men noticed the two, and had to smile at the relief she must have felt having a sense of comfort as she slept, and Skinny seemed perfect. Gene came in, after hearing about what had happened from Speirs and Winters, prepared to check up on the girl, but sighed to himself in relief, that she was asleep with a smile on her face.
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thanks for reading!