" Trust yourself. You survived a lot, and you'll survive whatever is coming."

- Robert Tew

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When Hazel awoke on D-Day plus one, there was a warm breeze coming in through a nearby open door and there was a hint of sunlight shining on her face. And she was a bit sweaty in her uniform. Hazel slowly sat up, her head heavy, eyes struggling to remain open as she looked around and saw she was on the cot Gene had told her to sleep in last night. Hazel groaned as she swung her feet over the edge and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. As she stood, all her bones and muscles seemed to crack and stretch together, and she couldn't contain the yawn that slipped past her lips. Hazel glanced over and saw her helmet, pack and weapon lying by the side of her cot. She slowly reached down to grab her weapon and shoulder it before, swinging her pack on her back and then grabbing her helmet in her sweaty hands. She slowly stepped out of the building where the cot was and into the bright sunshine, and the pale blue skies that encased the morning of June 7th. It was beautiful, even in war.

Hazel looked around and noticed a church nearby, a bit bombed out, the roof caved in, but she assumed that the door would be open. Hazel slowly approached the church, looking up towards the church bell that once run so gleefully. Hazel gently pushed open the door and stepped inside. The gentle wind pushed the door open a bit as Hazel looked around with wide eyes. The roof had fallen in a bit and there was rubble pretty much everywhere, but the statue of God at the end of the isle was still there. And there was a person in front of it. Hazel gently walked forward and as she neared, she clearly saw it was Gene.

" Gene?" Hazel asked quietly. The medic slowly turned at the sound of her voice.

" Hey, Hazel." Gene said.

" Hey," she said as she slowly knelt down beside Gene and glanced at him.

" I came in here to pray." he said softly.

" Can I pray with you?" Hazel asked him softly. Gene nodded. Hazel turned forward and listened to Gene's quiet prayer, his voice soft and gentle, as he spoke. Hazel shut her eyes gently, praying to God. When Gene finished, she cleared her throat.

" My prayer for you dear friend is that the Lord will turn your weeping into dancing. He will give you a reason to not just smile but laugh again. The Lord will see you through this difficult situation and comfort you on all sides. Amen." Hazel whispered through shut eyes, her mind going out to both Lizzie and Catherine, and each and every man still missing from Easy Company. Gene and Hazel continued to pray for a little bit until they were left in a soft silence, where some chatter from the men were heard, as well as the wind blowing into the church through its open windows.

" Thank you Gene." Hazel said and Gene looked over at her with a smile and a nod.

" Catherine's going to be ok." Hazel promised the medic, because even medics needed some reassurance sometimes, they were still humans.

They were all humans a part of this war.

Gene gave her a tiny smile.

" Yeah, she's strong." Gene said nodding and looking up towards the statue of God. Hazel smiled. She knew that Gene and Lizzie never really grew emotionally attached to people in fear of having to watch them eventually take their last breaths, but she knew they still cared, deep down in the pits of their chests, it was human nature.

" They have some coffee." Gene told her, " A bit watery, a bit tasteless, but it's something. Came off those ships out in the English Channel." Hazel felt a smile brighten on her lips.

" Thanks, Gene. You make sure to get some in you as well, ok?" Hazel said quietly. She worried for the medics greatly, they experienced more pain than anyone in war. Hazel approached the stand where the coffee was being handed out and Gene was right, it was rather watery, and sort of tasteless, but it was liquid and Hazel was grateful for something that actually had a bit of taste. Liebgott shared his K-ration with her for lunch and the two sat side by side as they listened to a story from Bill.

" So, I'm running through the forest alright? It's 30 minutes after the jump, you hear me?" Bill said.

" Loud and clear, Bill." Malarkey muttered.

" Shut up." Bill said, " Anyway, I'm moving through, and I start hearing footsteps and stuff and I'm thinking about what Lizzie already warned me of, ya know the dehydration and shit like that, and I think I'm hallucinating now. So, I push up against the tree, I got a knife out with me, cause I'm thinking it's some stupid Kraut bastard moving around in the trees."

" Which is wasn't." Malarkey commented as Bill shot him a look.

" You gonna let me finish the story?" Bill said back.

" Go on." Malarkey said motioning him on.

" Anyway, the footsteps come closer and so I jump out from the tree and shove a knife to the guy's neck." Bill said.

" My neck to be exact." Malarkey said holding up his hand.
" Shut it."

" In short he yells 'Who's side are you on?'" Malarkey said breaking into chuckles.

" You serious?" Liebgott asked through a laugh looking at Bill who rolled his eyes.

" Real fucking serious, Joe, I thought I was about to be ambushed." Bill said.

" But the first words you say is who's side are you on?" Toye said looking at Bill from the ground, chuckling quietly to himself.

" What else would've have said, huh, Joe?" Bill said leaning towards the man.

" I would've taken one right across the wind pipe." Toye said flipping around his knife.

" Hazel did that." Liebgott said as Hazel looked at him quickly, " Pretty badass."

" No way." Toye said sitting up, " Is it like I described?"

" I guess." Hazel said with a tiny smile, " I just kinda did it in the moment."

" Man, Viragos." Bill said shaking his head, " These Kraut guys, call themselves Nazis, they won't know what's coming for them when we go marching through the front doors."

" Catherine told me once that she sparred a guy for the last drink of beer in the cup back in her SPARs days, some bar fight. She said she won, and had knocked out a few teeth." Malarkey said.

" I'd believe that in a heart beat. Did you see her have Cobb practically in tears when we were doing close-combat?" Toye said.

" Ooh-hoo, yes I did," Bill said, snickering to himself, " Cobb was icing his back every night for a week."

" Really?" Hazel asked with a slight smirk on his face.

" Oh hell yeah, Tiny," Malarkey said sitting forward, " the guy couldn't face the fact he was beaten by a girl."

" Let's not forget when Catherine did in fact out-drink the one and only Bill Guarnere though." Toye offered up.

" It wasn't out-drinking, Joe, it was simply my stomach couldn't take it." Bill countered.

" She's got a stomach of steel." Hazel said with a nod, " Back at Benning, she downed 4 things of beer and then did the jitterbug." The group broke out in laughs.

" Did someone say jitterbug?" a voice said and the group turned, to find a smirking George Luz standing with his heavy radio begging to be pulled from his pack.

" When the fuck did you get in!" Bill called as George smirked proudly. Hazel felt a smile broaden on her features.

" Just now, I would've have my radio off if I were here longer." George said as Hazel slowly stood, and hugged him gently. George accepted the warm hug from the sniper, rubbing her back.

" Where's Catherine and Lizzie?" George asked Hazel who's features saddened. George looked to the group.

" Cath was injured in her jump." Bill told him and George's smile fell.

" She got evacuated." Hazel said quietly glancing at George gently, " But Gene was the one that got her here." George nodded.

" Lizzie?" George asked.

" Still not here," Toye said. George frowned.

" She's probably with another group of people by now, she'll be here." Hazel reassured him. The 3 women had grown on George, just simply from their highly lovable personalities. George nodded.

" Here, sit down." Liebgott said patting the spot next to him.

" Thanks, Joe." George said, as Hazel helped him remove the large battery on his back and place it to the ground again. George sat down next to Joe with a huff.

" Cigarette?" Malarkey offered and George took it.

" Going all day and night with that fucking thing on my back," George said with a groan, " I was glad when I saw all you guys here."

" Anymore show up?" Hazel asked him gently placing a hand on his shoulder as she sat down beside him.

" I saw Chuck back there with Alton." George said as Liebgott lit his cigarette, " Moe's there, with Bull and Johnny, as well as Perco, Hoob, too." Hazel nodded with a small smile. Thank god for small mercies, otherwise known as the presence of George Luz.

" You hear about Lieutenant Welsh?" George asked the group. The 5 pairs of eyes looked his way and George began chuckling.

" I met up with him last night and the only thing in that canteen is liquor." George said. Bill blinked. But then the group broke out into laughs.

" You serious?" Liebgott asked through his laugh.

" Dead serious, he offered me a sip, and the minute I got a whiff, it hit me. And it's the hard stuff too. I was wondering why he wasn't walking straight this morning." George said as the group snickered.

" He got a supplier?" Toye asked him.

" God-Knows, Joe, but the guy'ss got a few canteens on his belt, and who knows what's in that pack of his." George said as Bill cackled.

" How's he dealing with all that hangover?" Bill asked, leaning forward with a smirk.

" You think I fucking know," George said, " he's gonna be living off alcohol for the rest of the campaign."

" Hey, if I was to die knowing the last thing I did was spend my campaign drinking alcohol from a shitty canteen, I wouldn't be too upset." Toye said. And with that, the group was filled with much needed laughter.

By that night, there was still no sign of Lizzie, as well as some other beloved members like Tab, Shifty and Smokey; Hazel just hoped they were alright. But it was nice to have a few faces around that hadn't been there the day before, and dinner was fun because by that point Skip and Penkala had shown up, back together with Malarkey, giving Hazel big hugs as they did so, and proceeding to tell of their rather hilarious story of getting where they were now.

It was a lighter atmosphere, which everyone needed.

Hazel got around to cleaning her weapon thoroughly that night, scrubbing against the hard, outside layer and watching as dirt, blood, sweat and whatever else happened to be on there fall off. Hazel gently cleaned all the little nooks and crannies of the weapon, being extra careful around the barrel of the weapon and the fragile scope that sat atop it.

The same Redfield scope model that she'd been firing with ever since her day back with Lieutenant Wilson on the field in Camp Athene. She hoped that whatever he was doing now for this war was going well and that he was leading his platoon in the 82nd with pride, just as he had trained the women of Virago's 2nd platoon.

Lieutenant Wilson in a way was similar to Winters, in it that he led with power and pride and confidence, but remained humble when speaking to the members of his company or platoon and remained calm, not acting frazzled and worried to stress out the group. And he was reliable.

Hazel scrubbed up the butt of the rifle, noticing the evident scratches that made its way against it by this point, and hoped that she could smooth them over the best she could. She would've used Shifty's special shining cream he always had lying around, which he had supposedly brought from Toccoa.

But Shifty wasn't here.

Hazel slowly continued cleaning her weapon, her hands becoming covered in grease as she did so. LIebgott had come over and checked on her, after he had shared a smoke with Malarkey.

He had given her one of those soft, sympathetic looks that Hazel wasn't sure Joe Liebgott was capable of.

Shifty was more likely the one to give her that look.

But she had reassured her friend, but she knew Joe was just looking out for her, like the rest of the guys were, which she appreciated so much. Hazel slept under the stars that night, a tiny prayer for Lizzie following, hoping she'd find her way soon enough. Carentan and the battle that was to ensue there was just around the corner. But Hazel knew Lizzie, more than any of the other men that were in Easy Company. E

lizabeth Elliot was an intelligent woman, with a quiet-strength and a witty, humorous side that gave her an even more mysterious aura.

But she was also loyal and trustworthy and so gentle and caring.

Hazel knew that if it were anyone that could find their way back to Easy even without a map, it'd be Lizzie.

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hey! episode 3 has started and can i just say that i ADORE this episode so much, for too many reasons. so i've been very excited to post this and start updating it for you all. thank you for being with me on this journey so far and sticking with hazel, catherine and lizzie, i appreciate it more than you could ever imagine!! <3