a/n: just a reminder that I love and respect all of you regardless of your race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. If you're a good person, I got your back. You can always message me.
Have courage and be kind....but also punch a nazi if you have to (Liebgott would be proud).
When Evangeline heard the boys had rigged the lottery so Shifty would get to go home, she couldn't stop smiling. Sweet Shifty was always far too pure. And Evangeline was beyond relieved that he would get to return home to Virginia nice and safe. She ran into him on her way to find Winters as he was saying goodbye.
"Oh Evangeline," He twanged in that soft sweet accent that Evangeline admired so fondly. He was looking down at his shoes. "Didn't reckon it would be this hard to say goodbye to you." He spoke softly in almost a whisper. Evangeline smiled at him and lifted his chin so his eyes would meet hers.
"stay good, Shifty." She said trying not to well up. It was the first bittersweet goodbye she had to have, so happy to see him get out of there, and yet she was going to miss him dearly. She kissed his cheek and hugged him. He chuckled softly and hugged her back before walking away rubbing the spot on his cheek where she kissed him.
"They don't make 'em like that anymore." Evangeline said gesturing towards Shifty as she sat down across from Winters. She was seeking his company far more frequently in Austria. Their talks comforted her in a way she couldn't explain. Winters nodded in agreement and stared at Evangeline as she closed her eyes and felt the breeze on her skin.
"Have you decided if you were staying or going?" Winters asked taking a cue from Evangeline and allowing himself to stretch out more. She opened her eyes.
"Well I really don't want to leave Easy. But I also feel like I could be of use over there, right?" She asked looking for some conformation. Though she toyed with the idea, staying was never an option, she couldn't. Could she?
Winters wasn't much help deciding. He too was suffering from the same internal conflict. He said as much.
"I don't know. I'm having a similar problem." He stated. Evangeline jerked up at his words and faced him.
"What!?" she began, "You want to leave Easy Company?" She asked exasperated. Winters smirked at her bewilderment.
"It's not that I want to. I just- I'm good at what I do," He began. Evangeline interrupted.
"One of the best." She confirmed.
"Right well, if I'm good at it don't you think I should transfer?" He was genuinely asking her. She twitched her nose as she thought about it and tilted her head to one side. Winters found it very charming.
"I don't know. Ya know my Uncle Jimmy used to have this saying," She began but realized who she was talking to. "well it's kind of rude" she added sheepishly. Winters chuckled.
"I'm a big boy, I'm sure I can handle it." He remarked leaning forward. She blushed and laughed.
"Yeah well, he used to say 'I'm good at waking up early, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna start fucking chickens'" She was embarrassed she even brought it up, but Winters laughed at the oddity of it. "I don't know. He was kind of weird. But the point is, you don't have to do something just because you're good at it." She felt herself blushing as she explained.
"Well your Uncle Jimmy sounds like an interesting guy." Winters said leaning back in his chair a little. Evangeline chuckled and nodded.
"yeah he was."
"Was?" Winters asked leaning forward again.
"Well. I don't know. Last I heard he was at Pearl Harbor. I could never bring myself to find out what happened to him." She answered looking down at her hands. In her mind the state of Uncle Jimmy's life often fluctuated, sometimes she was sure he was dead, but sometimes she held a slice of hope that he was still out there. Though she knew it was more likely that he was gone.
"but if he's alive..." Winters started but stopped. Evangeline nodded.
"yeah but if he's dead, then that will be it. I'll have no family. I don't know how I would handle that. Especially him. Growing up, I felt like I could always talk to him. Ya know, he didn't have a wife or kids so he was always free to be my pal. I remember this one time, I must've been 9 or 10, and I had my first crush on this boy in the neighborhood- who by the way was way too old. So I learned the hard way why they call them crushes." Evangeline began her story, not entirely sure why she was even telling it to Winters in the first place. But he listened intently, genuinely curious about the story.
"Anyways I was so upset, and I just so happened to run into my Uncle Jimmy on the street. He asked me what was wrong and I told him. So he took me out for ice cream and he told me -and I'll never forget this- he asked me if I knew why he never got married. I said 'no, why?'. and he said 'because the day you were born and the very second that I met you, you stole my heart. I'm madly in love with you. So I really don't see why you're even worried about some dumb kid not liking you, because you know that you'll always be my girl.'" Evangeline was smiling with tears in her eyes remembering the story.
Winters was mesmerized by her, unable to take his eyes from her. His heart swelled at the sweetness of her voice. And he melted at the fact that she was sharing this with him.
"and you know, I knew that the real reason that he never got married is because he didn't want to sleep with the same woman for the rest of his life. But it didn't matter. For him to say that to me, someone whose love and attention I constantly craved and desired...I don't know. Ever since that day, I just didn't care about the boys in the neighborhood or what they thought of me." Evangeline finished the story smiling as she looked into the sky. Then she looked at Winters to see his reaction. His emerald eyes smiled back at her in admiration.
"What was his name? Your Uncle Jimmy?" Winters asked, curious if he could hatch a plan. Evangeline hadn't noticed anything suspicious about the question since she was trying to compose herself. She took a deep breath and dried her eyes.
"James Murphy O'Connell" she answered with pride. Winters only nodded, committing the name to memory. Evangeline looked as though she was about to open her mouth to speak but O'Keefe appeared and interrupted. He was out of breath.
"Major sir, sorry to interrupt but there's been an accident." He puffed out. Winters and Evangeline both sprang to their feet and followed him.
It was Janovec. Killed in a car accident on the road. Evangeline knelt by him and kissed his big lips gently before they covered him back up. The car drove away with him inside of it as Winters and Evangeline stood side by side watching it leave.
"Imagine that. Survive the war only to get killed in a car accident." She said breathlessly in disbelief. Winters winced slightly at the thought of it.
~~~
Evangeline slipped off her boots and rotated her ankle. 6 years of wearing those boots and she was ready to never wear them again. She thought longingly about her tennis shoes and the way they were always about to be scuffed up at this time of year. The kids in the neighborhood would be starting to play baseball. Evangeline always usually played third base.
"hey." Ron announced himself as he entered the room. He sat down on a chair in the room as Evangeline sat on the bed.
"...hey." Evangeline mocked his somber salutation. She looked at him and watched him biting the inside of his mouth. His leg began to bounce and it perturbed her to see him so anxious. "What's eating ya?" She asked taking down her hair to shake it out.
"well I don't know you tell me." He said. She furrowed her brow. He continued. "Today when I told everyone we would be training to go to war you looked like you saw a ghost." He stated slouching back in his seat. Evangeline put her hair back up and sighed.
"well it didn't know it was such a crime to not want to go to war." She said. He rolled his eyes.
"Well I've been thinking....I've been thinking that I'm gonna stay in the army for good." He said looking down at his feet but with a confident voice. She jerked her head at him. She felt nauseous all of a sudden and dizzy, like she was going to faint. She tried not make it obvious on her face. When he said it she suddenly realized what was bothering her lately. She didn't want to leave Austria, not just because all the boys were here, but because it was so beautiful there. The wide open spaces, the trees, there was room to stretch her legs, and room to breath. It was so jarring for her to realize this, because she had always thought she wanted to live in the big city and have an exciting life. She wondered what made her change.
But what she did know was that if Speirs was going to make a career out of the military and she was going to be with him, either she would have to go with him or be one of those girls back at home who go crazy with the thought of losing their husband. And then she would end up like Buck's girlfriend or Nixon's wife. She wanted to explain this all to Ron but she knew if she did he wouldn't want to go through with his plan anymore. And she didn't want that, she wanted him to do what would make him happy, and in a strange way being in control during a war or battle made him happy. Evangeline didn't share that same sentiment, now even less than ever.
"That's great, Handsome." She eventually said swallowing. And she began to put her boots back on, not sure where she was planning on going. Ron watched her and he knew she was upset but he didn't say anything about it.
"Where are you going?" He asked and stood up when she did. She shrugged.
"I think I just need some air." She stated. She was starting to feel claustrophobic even in the big room. Ron scoffed and flicked his eyebrows up at her, but she had already left the room. He flounced on the bed and rested his arm over his forehead.
Evangeline nearly sprinted outside to catch a breath. Grant looked at her suspiciously and cleared his throat.
"Oh." She gulped in some air. "Hi, Honey." she stated trying to sound casual.
"You okay?" He asked approaching her and putting a hand on her back. She nodded. "you sure?" He asked again, it was dark so he couldn't quite read the expression on her face. She nodded again. "Well, listen, I was about to go take a ride. You want to come with?" He asked jerking his thumb in the direction of the car.
"yeah. yeah okay." Evangeline agreed, maybe it would help her.
It didn't. In the worst way possible.
Grant and Evangeline pulled up to the site of the accident. Evangeline was squinting unable to see, let alone process, all that laid before her. She got out of the truck and jogged lightly to the scene. Two bodies lay dead in the mud. A replacement, who she didn't notice was standing there drunk or delusional or both. Grant approached from behind her, asking what happened. He called him Mac, though Evangeline still couldn't place him in her mind. Evangeline kept staring at the dead German.
"He wouldn't give me any gas." He repeated. Evangeline looked up at him. "Kraut!" He spat out and looking at the German.
"Look Private, we have a problem here." Grant said moving forward.
"Do you have any gas?" He asked, his eyes were glazed over. Evangeline's heart was pounding in her chest and she was breathless.
"Alright just take it easy. Why don't you give me the gun?" Evangeline spoke slowly and calmly moving forward slightly. He looked at her with unexplained repugnance. He turned away to take the German's truck. "Just wait." Evangeline called out to him. And when he turned around he fired. Evangeline ducked at the last second and nearly hit the ground as a reaction. Then she saw Grant.
"Grant!" She yelled and rushed to his side. He was shot in the head and Evangeline felt like she was suffocating not knowing what to do. "Oh Jesus, oh God." She said over and over again her hands wet with blood when she pulled them away from his head. She ripped off her bandana, the green one that Christensen had given her. And tied it around his head. She knew she shouldn't move him, but she didn't want to leave him. She was beginning to panic.
Luckily some of the boys heard the shot and came running. They picked him up together, being able to keep him still and managed to get him back to a medic. Evangeline wiped the sweat from her brow and unknowingly smeared blood across her forehead. She breathed deep breaths before throwing up on the side of the road.
When she finally entered the room that they were keeping Grant in, Ron was already there holding his hand. Talbert was there also and he wrapped his arm around Evangeline when she moved closer to Grant.
"He's not going to make it." The medic announced. Ron looked back at Evangeline.
"who was he?" He asked her, his heart breaking at the sight of her. She looked distraught to say the least. Blood on her face, hair in disarray and white as a ghost. She swallowed.
"I- I don't know. I couldn't recognize him. b-b-but I think Grant called him 'Mac'" She managed to squeak out. Talbert rubbed her back as she spoke. Speirs looked back at Grant, still holding his hand and rubbing it tenderly. Evangeline could see him thinking intensely "...Ronnie." she began again. He looked back at her. "I was trying to get him to give me the gun.. and.. oh God." She felt like puking again when the thought dawned on her. "I don't think he was aiming for Grant..." She finished looking at Grant's face. Immense guilt flooded her body and she wished that she could trade places with him.
Suddenly Speirs let go of his hand and moved about hurriedly. He was angry enough knowing some sorry son of a bitch shot Grant, but to find out it was one of their own, and that he was intending to shoot Evangeline. It all sent him over the edge, he wanted to track down the asshole himself but Grant's life was more important. He turned to Talbert.
"Find the shooter. I want him alive!" He ordered. He picked up Grant and Talbert picked up the other end and they left to go find a surgeon.
Evangeline wished Winters was there to say something to her, or say nothing at all.