" Friends are medicine for a wounded heart, and vitamins for a wounded soul."
- Steve Maraboli
***
Charlotte hurried up the stairs, her achy legs prevailing will no relief as she grimaced with each step. She came into the blast of warmth, and smiled when she saw Luz there.
" Hey Luz." she said gently, her hoarse voice coming out, and making Luz look up quickly.
" What the hell you doing out of bed, sunshine?" he asked, unloading a box of sweets. She eyed them, her eyes wandering to the Hershey bars.
" Nothing important." she mumbled.
" Hey look at you, Sarge. " George said, pointing with a Juicy Fruit packet to her chevron. She smiled brightly, and held her head up high.
" Like it?" she asked.
" It's a beauty, Charlotte." he said, and she knew it was genuine. " And you're a beauty in that beanie, sunshine." Charlotte's cheeks flamed as she suppressed a smile to Luz.
" Thanks, I try." she said back, smirking lightly in his direction. Luz winked as a pair of footsteps traveled in and the two turned from the stockpile of candy to see that it was Johnny, with Cobb on his tail.
" George what the hell you doing with all that candy?" Johnny exclaimed, taking off his helmet and ruffling his hair a bit, still wet from the shower.
" Inventory. Not for you, Johnny." Luz said, smacking a group of candy into the box.
" One bar." muttered Cobb.
" Just a bar, George." Johnny said, as Charlotte sighed, and took a seat on a chair nearby, suddenly exhausted.
" Godammit, Johnny, you're breaking my heart." Luz muttered, placing the packs of candy into their appropriate sections. " I'm telling you." Charlotte pulled a small box of medical supplies into her lap on the comfy chair next to George's sorting station and began sorting through it.
" Come on, George, just give me, I don't know, 10, 15 bars. " Martin urged again, casually leaning against George's 'sorting station'.
" Here you go." Luz said, smacking a small package in front of him, as Vest came in with another box, " Juicy Fruit, happy?" Martin willingly took it.
" We just got a report of movement. 1st Sergeant Lipton wants you to lay a few bazooka rounds into a house across the river." Vest explained.
" You'd think we could get at least one Hershey Bar from the-"
" Come on Luz, you're 1st platoon at heart." Cobb gripped at the radioman.
" Jesus, Cobb, there's not enough." Luz quipped back, frustration backing it. Charlotte looked up quietly from her seat, and sniffled again, looking for a tissue or cloth to wipe her nose on. Her fever had lessened in the shower slightly, but was now back if felt, and she was either shivering or sweating.
" Whoa, Hershey Bars!" came an excited voice, which belonged to non other than Liebgott himself, with Webster on his tail.
" Jesus Christ." muttered George, who's frustration was only building.
" Wait your turn, Liebgott." Cobb hollered back at the man, and Charlotte only grumbled under her breath. No one had really noticed the young medic in the corner going through the small box of medical supplies, all too focused on the fact that there was candy in front of them.
" Yeah, who are they for?" Liebgott asked, leaning forward between Cobb and Martin.
" Not you, Lieb." Luz stated back to him. Lieutenant Jones appeared as well, and he gave a small nod to the girl, having noticed her in the corner, hair down with a bright red nose. She nodded back.
" Oh come on, George, one bar." Liebgott groaned.
" No," George said, frustration only growing more and more, " There's not enough to go around!" Charlotte felt her head pound, and Webster finally noticed the small girl, rubbing it slightly, probably from the child like chocolate bar argument.
" Cap'n Speirs here?" Jones asked.
" Down by the river, sir." Luz said calmly to the man.
" Hey, big mouth, give the kid a Hershey Bar, huh?" Charlotte looked up and a small smile spread on her face at the sight of Frank Perconte who'd gotten shot in the butt back in Foy. A few joyful chuckles rang throughout the man, and Charlotte had to smile wide.
" You gotta be shittin' me." Luz said, laughing comically.
" Look who it is." Liebgott said, sitting down comfortably.
" What's up, guys? Hey, sunshine." he said, noticing the quieter than normal girl in the corner on a chair.
" Hey, Perco." she called back.
" I like what you did with the place, George." Perconte said looking around.
" Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did good, huh?' Luz said smirking, as Johnny pushed towards the returning Toccoa man. " How you feeling?"
" As long as you keep your hands off my ass I'll be fine." Perconte said smirking back at the group.
" Have a Hershey's." Luz said, throwing the small bar of chocolate towards him.
" Hey, he gets a ****ing Hershey bar?" Liebgott said whining slightly.
" Lieb." she muttered under her breath.
" Well, he got shot in the ass." Luz answered back to the man.
" Did I tell you to stick your big ass out in the wind?" Martin asked Perconte.
" No," Perconte reasoned, muttering sarcastically back, " but I expect a little sympathy from you. Right?"
" Should I rub it for ya?" Martin chuckled back.
" Hey, can you believe this guy? Try to get him out of the fucking war, he comes straight back." Martin said with fake disbelief at the returnee.
" Yeah, well, that's not what I heard." Perconte reasoned with him. " I heard the Krauts are finished." Charlotte snorted.
" Yeah, well, just to make sure. We've gotta row across the fucking river tonight. grab a few and ask 'em in person." Liebgott said lowly.
" Are you kidding me?" Perconte asked with a titled chin.
" Wish I was, welcome back, Frank." Liebgott muttered sarcastically to the man.
" Yeah, oh, Jesus, that reminds me, Web. I need you to run these to OP two for me. Grenade launchers for the night patrol, huh?" Luz said holding up the box to the dazed Webster.
" Any day now, Web," Luz waiting for Webster to put on his helmet, " there you go. Hey you know what, send there too." Luz threw a few bars of chocolate in there.
" You've been working out?" Liebgott sarcastically said to Webster as he held the box, Webster merely rolled his eyes.
" Hey, hey, hey. Did you hear what happened on D Company's patrol last night?" Vest spoke up, with wide eyes.
" What?" Webster asked.
" Replacement Lieutenant blew his foot off. Stepped on a shoe mine. Fresh in from West Point. Had to come back empty handed." Vest explained with earnestness.
" No, shit." Luz said to the Private, with a duh tone. " Maybe he was a friend of yours, Lieutenant." Charlotte stood, pushing her way to stand next to George, and peering up at him softly.
" Can I have a candy bar, George?" She asked softly. George softened almost immediately at the girl's voice and the way her sickly features hurt him inside.
" Yeah, your sick as it is." George said, pulling a chocolate bar from the stack and handing it to her.
" She gets a Hershey bar?" Cobb asked.
" She's sick, asshole." muttered Liebgott.
" You don't see me looking to hot either." Cobb said a bit snappily as Charlotte glanced at George again.
" I don't think any of us are looking to hot, so let's just drop it and let her have the Hershey Bar. She's been through a hell of a lot more than the rest of you." George said, ending the discussion immediately.
" Why'd you get so defensive Liebgott? You ain't sick and you ain't getting a Hershey bar and look like crap." Cobb questioned.
" Because she's been through hell, and deserves it." Liebgott snapped coldly back glancing at the girl and the small smile on her face. Liebgott smiled softly only in her direction. She opened up the chocolate bar and took a bite savoring the flavor inside.
" Charlotte, why's Speirs such a big softie for you?" Cobb asked her with a raised brow. She looked up at him confused.
" What do you mean?" she asked.
" He only really acts calm and controlled whenever he's with you. So what's up?" Cobb asked as her cheeks flamed slightly. She didn't even know.
" I don't know." she said softly. She shrugged her shoulders and took another bite of her chocolate not that the only thing on her mind, and then men saw it bothered her. Speirs just was protective of her, and the fact she was the only girl so it only made sense that way she figured to herself. Plus he knew he cared, and would take care of her and she trusted him with her life.
" Hey, Vest what you got in there?" Cobb prompted, making Charlotte look up from her bar,
" More Hershey bars and lucky strikes for your rear-echelon fucks to hoard huh?"
" Hey, ey, Cobb, with the mouth, please. You got a lady in the room." Luz said motioning over to the quiet medic, slowly eating the bar of chocolate. " The kid's just trying to do his job, alright?" Vest raised his eyebrows in a power stance towards Cobb.
" Jesus Christ. You know what, to hell with it. Count 'em up, Vest. I gotta go blast this house." Luz said, slamming all the candy in his arms to the table, leaving Vest to curse at himself.
" You happy now?" Vest called to Cobb.
" You coming, Perco?" Luz asked his friend.
" Nah." Perconte said, as Luz shouldered his gun.
" Make yourself useful, watch this shit for me. Web, you're coming with me." Luz said to the man, trying his best to adjust the box of supplies slowly falling from his grasp.
" Sergeant, is Captain Speirs gonna be where you're headed?" Jones asked Luz.
" Same vicinity, yeah." Luz answered the man, the cigarette hanging from his lips.
" Alright, then I'll join you." the Lieutenant said, with a nod to Luz.
" Where are you going?" the oblivious as always Webster came up to Luz and Jones.
" To the house I gotta blast." Luz exclaimed, with a sigh.
" Captain Winters gonna be with him?" Vest asked the Sergeant.
" Jesus, look, I don't know, maybe." Luz whined.
" Then I'm coming too." Vest said, pushing past the men and towards the group of three.
" Alright, come on, guys, please." Perconte pleaded. Charlotte stood with her box of sorted medical supplies and looked at the men, scramble like 5 year olds for the candy that Luz had left unattended. She actually laughed lightly to herself at the scene. She then turned, a small smile on her lips as she left the man to scramble. She placed her helmet back on her head and scrambled towards the medic hut with the box of supplies in her arms. As she was walking towards the medical hut, she noticed Jones with Vest on his rear walking away from Winters and Speirs, who were out by the river. She pivoted her foot, and walked slowly over to the two, who noticed the young medic's presence and her exhaustion and heavy sickness.
" Charlotte." Speirs said, noticing the girl first with the heavy box in her hands. " Why aren't you resting?"
" I.. sir, I was, I don't know," she mumbled, her words mixing together. Winters saw her knees wobbling, and she was pale.
" I was going to the medical hut." she said nodding.
" How about you go there and then go straight where Lip is and rest ok? Don't worry about coming back into the cold until the briefing." Winters said to her softly. She opened her mouth to speak, but she began coughing so much so the medical supplies crashed to the ground as she hacked into her arm. Her throat screamed in pain as she turned from the two and hacked until mucus came up and she hurried over and spat it into the snow. She coughed a few times more spitting out more mucus, until she was cleared up. Charlotte turned and came back with watery eyes from the pain and looking worse. She felt weak and sick to her stomach, as she walked over wrapping her arms around her stomach. Speirs held her box of medical supplies, as she approached the two.
" I'm sorry," she said quietly.
" Get some rest, Charlotte, ok?" Speirs said softly to the girl, and Winters noticed how gentle Speirs had become compared to how he'd been with Jones a few moments either. Speirs gently placed the box in the girl's arms as she groaned under the weight.
" Thank you, sir." she said before turning and moving back towards the aid station. Speirs and Winters watched the girl go, worry seeping into the pits of the stomachs.
___
thanks for reading!