" A friend is one who overlooks your broken fence and admires the flowers in your garden."

- Unknown

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" Hey! Hazel!" a voice said and Hazel glanced over her shoulder to see it was Shifty.

" Shifty!" Hazel called, turning excitedly and jumping up and down before pulling him into a hug into her arms, a grin spread on her face.

" I'm so glad you made it." Hazel said as she pulled back from Shifty.

" Yeah me too, Lizzie's the one to thank for that." Shifty said and Hazel glanced over her shoulder toward Lizzie who offered a tiny mock salute with two fingers. Hazel smiled.

" You feeling okay? You need water?" Hazel asked him, she figured they'd been gone for as long as they were and that they needed some sort of water or liquid by now.

" Yeah, that'd be great." Shifty said. Hazel waved to Tab and Lizzie before leading Shifty over to her things and bending down to hand him her canteen which was filled with fresh water.

" I heard about Catherine." Shifty said as he took a gentle sip of water. Hazel smiled sadly.

" She'll be okay though, I've seen her around Aldbourne and in training. She'll find a way." Shifty said and Hazel smiled with a nod.

" She always does." Hazel agreed and Shifty smiled.

" So how was using that thing for the first time in combat?" Shifty asked, " You took the garrison right?"

" Oh yeah!" Hazel exclaimed, taking hold of the Springfield and holding it up in the morning light, " I can thank my training for the shots I was able to take." Shifty grinned.

" What was it like?"

" Well," Hazel said as she sat down and held up the scope to her eye as she sat criss-cross applesauce, " I just felt a wave of trust, ya know, like you and your own gun, and I knew I could look straight down the weapon and through the scope and just know that it would be guide me to what I needed to do. Even my dad's weapon never made me feel that confident." Shifty smiled and glanced down at it.

" You're one of the best I know with it anyway, I had no doubt, you'd be good with it." Shifty said and Hazel grinned.

" Thanks Shifty." Hazel said and Shifty smiled.

" You doing okay with Catherine not being here, I know she's special to you." Shifty said and Hazel glanced up at him with a sad look in her eyes. Many people had been asking Hazel making sure she's okay just because well this was the first time ever during her training and war time that Hazel and Lizzie would not be accompanied by Catherine who was in a way like the ring-leader. But Hazel knew that she could handle things by herself as well, even with Catherine not around; Hazel just knew she'd miss her.

" Yeah," Hazel said. Shifty gave her a quiet look. It was the same look Liebgott had given her last night when he had asked her how she was doing.

" It's just, it didn't fully sink in yet, but it's war and people are going to get hurt and injured and have to be evacuated. I was just with her for so long and to see her so ready for war, it's just, it's sad. I feel bad that she couldn't be a part of the fight." Hazel said. Shifty slowly crouched beside her and smiled at her.

" She'll still be here." Shifty said, and glanced out at the guys, " In a way she always is." Hazel smiled. Shifty was right. It was like her spirit in a way always moved throughout the men of Easy Company. It was a nice thing to feel sometimes.

" Let's go 1st platoon!" a voice, by that of Harry Welsh, started calling out for the men and women to get moving.

" Easy's moving out! On your feet!" Welsh called. Shifty gave Hazel back her canteen and she pocketed it before hauling up her rifle and helmet and pieces of gear she used. Hazel and Shifty retreated towards where Harry Welsh stood, sipping from the canteen that George had suspected had absolutely no water inside of it, which had made Hazel laugh.

" Listen up." Welsh called as Hazel gently placed her helmet on her head.

" It'll be dark soon. I want light and noise discipline from here on. No talking, no smoking. And no playing grab-fanny with the man in front of you, Luz." Welsh called as the group laughed.

" So where we headed to Lieutenant?" a soldier asked walking up.

" We're taking, Carentan." Welsh said.

" That sounds like fun." someone called out.

" It's the only place where armor from Omaha and Utah beach can link up and head inland. Until we take Carentan, they're stuck on the sand. General Taylor's sending the whole division." Welsh explained, as he geared up. Hazel glanced over at Tab, and saw him grabbing at his lip nervously, something she noticed he'd done a few times before.

" Remember, boys..." Luz called out behind them, " Give me three day-ays and three ni-ights of hard fighting, and you will be relieved." Chuckles rang out around the whole of the group as Luz's impression.

" Lieutenant, Lieutenant, I'll take point." Hoobler said walking up to Welsh with a nod.

" Corporal Hoobler will be lead scout." Welsh said, before stopping and looking out into the group, " Blithe, glad you could join us."

" Thank you, sir." Blithe said softly.

" 1st platoon, fall in behind Fox Company. You people from 2nd and 3rd platoon, follow us. " Welsh said with a nod. " Let's shake a leg." 1st platoon continued forward as Luz called out again.

" Another thing to remember, boys...flies spread disease, so keep yours closed." Luz laughs rung out about the group, and Hazel couldn't help but laugh at it.

They retreated out of Coup-de-Ville that morning and began their move towards the town of Carentan, towards the outskirts where supposedly Germans were holed up at. Their supplies were on the beaches of Normandy but to truly get this war moving, they needed to be moved up on land. Taking Carentan was the only was to get that done.

Hazel and Liebgott trudged side by side through the marshy lands of Normandy, the water soaking their boots a bit, but acting as a way to cool them off because it was cool water and not the blistering hot and heavy sun that loomed overhead, baking them like fresh baked cookies. Hazel would enjoy a cookie right about now.

Liebgott managed to lighten the mood, of the miserable walk through the boiling sun in heavy OD gear and weapons, by telling her stories and such that got her laughing. It made the experience not as miserable as it actually was.

Hazel wasn't sure how long they had been walking. It had grown dark out after a while, and every so often gun shots rang out in the distance darkness, signaling someone's final moments. Fire burned around a forgotten swamp, filling the air with smoke and the dingy smell of death and dankness. On both sides of the lake walked Easy and the remains of other companies. No one talked, or even attempted to talk. Easy had lost F Company again currently. It had been multiple times even in broad daylight where F Company had gotten skittish and disappeared. The group stopped, and was currently waiting for them to be found, sitting amongst the rubble and remains of whatever had happened here. Hazel didn't realize it as Winters and Nixon eventually made their way through the group of men toward the front where Welsh and First Platoon was.

Hazel thanked God for Thermes in this very moment, and she wasn't sure what it was. Desperation, fear, the list could go on. The man had been like the devil to her, but in this moment she thanked him so much for preparing them for night marches through the darkness with no light, whether it was 100 degrees in North Carolina or -15 degrees in the mountains at night with all that snow.

Liebgott had told her stories from Toccoa about some of the night marches with Sobel and she knew Sobel had been somewhat like Thermes, preparing them for those nights whether it be cold or hot, in a battle zone. Even in England, those long 3 day practices that no other company would perform except for Easy, had helped. It had prepared them for this, 2 days into the Campaign. Thunder suddenly cracked loudly over top of them in the sky above Normandy.

They spent a majority of the night waiting for Fox Company to connect with them before finally getting on the move again. They bedded down that night Eturville, just on the outskirts where people could set up their foxholes. Hazel and Liebgott were just beginning to dig out their foxhole when Lizzie came around.

" Hey," she said crouching beside them in the humid night as they shoveled dirt out, " you two doing ok?"

" Yeah," Hazel said, " you doing rounds?"

" Yep, Gene just sent off the rest of the medics for rounds." Lizzie explained, scratching the back of her neck and then slapping it, " Damn bugs."

" I got about 4 on my hand." Liebgott said shoveling out a bit of the soil onto the ground.

" What I'd give for my mother's homemade bug repellant." Lizzie said.

" Homemade?" Hazel asked.

" Yeah, yeah, the bug's are always bad in Grand Rapids in the summer, especially near the lake and she'd always make her bug repellent homemade, it repelled virtually everything." Lizzie explained and Hazel smiled.

" Tell her to send some over when she gets the chance." Liebgott said and Lizzie snickered as she stood.

" Will do, Joe, now keep drinking water as well, even through the night, your body dehydrates quicker when it's hot." Lizzie said as she began to walk away.

" Will do." Liebgott called, as Lizzie disappeared.

The Easy Company medics were some of the bravest and toughest members of Easy, including that of Spina, Oates, Pepping and Gene, and of course Lizzie. Mampre, who was their 6th Easy Company medic, could not make the jump into Normandy; he'd caught an infection, a nasty sickness. But the medics remained strong even without their final member. The 6 medics always trained together and in a way they had their own language for each other, without really even needing words to communicate sometimes.

Hazel always told them, even back in training, when she saw one moving along the streets of Aldbourne, how much she appreciated them and their work and how hard they were training for this.

They deserved it.

They were taking Sainte-Come-du-Mont in the coming days, at least that was the anticipated plan in the coming days before they reached Carentan, where the main offensive would be held. Within that morning, they were moving again, down the long highway that seemed to run straight into Carentan stopping at little villages along the way.

The 101st had lost a lot of men, between the 501st, 502nd and the 506th, and there was anticipation that when they took Sainte-Come-Du-Mont, there'd be even heavier casualties. Night fell yet again, and they had to rest and prepare for the oncoming attack tomorrow of the small town, which from far away didn't look too incredibly difficult, but they knew, once they got up close that there would be difficulty found within. Hazel had managed to tally the amount of people she had shot, for her vivid memory of each shot from her weapon he encased her entire mind.

The one German with the green eyes, early in the morning of D-Day and then the 25 she took out while battling the garrison.

26.

In a matter of days she had a total of 26. Even if it truly was war, she knew that number, plus who ever else she managed to add to her list, would eventually settle like a trap of guilt in the pit of her stomach. But for now, they were people dead and they were closer to the ending of this war.

It rained that night, a downpour, but she remembered what Catherine had told her, France's weather was either hot and muggy or hot and rainy, there seemed to be no in between of just overcast which was preferable.

Lizzie did her rounds in the rain, stopping by each and every foxhole she could, making sure the men were dug in and that they were set for the night and of coursing drinking water to keep them hydrated.

Hydration was key for a soldier.

She even advised that the one's with empty canteens leave them out of the foxholes to fill up with water; you had to be resourceful in war. Lizzie went to Tipper and Chuck's foxhole which was more near the outskirts of foxholes, but she managed to make sure the two men who carried their Bazooka's around were feeling okay with all the heat.

" Hey boys," Lizzie said as she crouched by the foxhole as the rain pelted down on her helmet, falling in front of her face, as she looked at them through the rain.

" Hey, Doc. How's it going?" Tipper asked her.

" Not too bad," Lizzie said glancing around, " I just love downpours."

" Don't we all." said Chuck as Tipper snickered to himself.

" You two staying as dry as you?" she asked.

" If dry is, my feet are soaked, then yes we're staying dry Doc." Tipper said as Lizzie smirked at them.

" Right," Lizzie said and glanced over her shoulder, " by the time this rain stops it might even be tomorrow morning so I suggest you wake up and take your boots off to air dry everything with these heat and dry your feet off. You don't need trench foot a few days into this campaign because of rain."

" Will do, Doc." Chuck said and Lizzie smiled at him.

" You staying dry, Doc?" Tipper asked him.

" I'm trying, Tip, but I have to make sure you all are okay first." Lizzie said with a nod.

" Alright," Tip said.

" Make sure you rest tonight as well." Chuck told her with a narrowed brow.

" I will don't worry, need to prepare for tomorrow anyway." Lizzie said and Chuck nodded.

" Get some rest boys." she said before standing and trekking through the rain again. She continued through most of the foxholes before heading back towards the one she were to share with Gene like she had the night before. It was a muddy foxhole, no dry area since they were both out on rounds, but Lizzie just eased herself into the mud as the rain continued to pelt down and relished the feeling of sitting down and not moving her legs for once.

" That you, Lizzie?" a voice said and Lizzie cracked open an eye to see Oates in front of her.

" Hey, what's up?" she asked adjusting herself.

" Nothing, just doing rounds on the medics. Spina's in the foxhole now and Pepping's there too. Gene's heading this way now." Oates explained.

" Thank you, get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow." Lizzie said.

And a big day they had.

Casualties were as expected.

Heavy, but they took Sainte-Come-Du-Mont which got them closer to Carentan and its outskirts.

Carentan was scheduled to be taken within 2 days, the 12th of June, so Hazel was sent on solo patrols those 2 evenings leading up to it. She was generally sent out to spy on the town, see if she could get a good look at any Germans that seemed to be moving about, how many would stand near the entrance where Easy would enter.

Hazel usually headed out when it was darkest, around 2300 and stay out for a few hours, before taking a few calculations down in her tiny notepad where the letter to her mother sat before crawling back towards where Easy was camped out for the night. Winters had decided that he liked giving Hazel the ability to go out and do that simply because she had a trained eye that picked up even the slightest bit of movement and was highly accurate compared to some of the other members of Easy. Virago training, that's what Hazel had to tell herself.

She wasn't born with this talent to be able to do this, training and hard work had gotten her here. And she appreciated that, because sometimes the best things in life come from hard work and hard training.

As Hazel crawled out the night before the attack, she had just left the foxhole she shared with Liebgott, where a few guys had sat on the edge and they all talked about the attack. Everyone was overwhelmed it seemed.

Their first, really official battle as a full company together. It was just what war came with, unwanted anxiety and nerves that weaved its way through the body system. Hazel crawled out towards where she had gone the best few nights to overlook Carentan and remained scoped out, taking in observations, such as different things the Germans set up through the border of the town, just little things like that.

The process was lonely sometimes, as Hazel stayed completely and utterly quiet, covered in a dark, army green poncho, with only her eyes sticking out looking through the scope of the rifle, but she usually shoved that aside and relished the peace and quiet that came equipped with being a sniper in the middle of the night.

She would always stalk quietly, her scope following a few people every so often. She could see certain buildings where more people went inside than others and knew they were officer's cabins or offices where they were currently leading and working from.

It was just little things Hazel was able to pick up on, and of course she'd always make sure to note that down on her pad of paper. By the time it grew to be the next day though and about 0200 she would slowly crawl back under the cover of the dark poncho and then approach the foxholes again. And she would check in with Winters usually.

Hazel slowly approached where Winters stood talking with Nixon, Harry, Buck and Moore as well as Lip. Most likely about the invasion tomorrow; they'd be up late most nights, just discussing everything.

" Good early morning, sir." Hazel said as she approached. Winters turned and saw the young girl coming towards him, the large poncho, especially large on her.

" For 3 hours no one came outside of Carentan like last night, but I've scoped out where officer's barracks could be and where intel and information could possibly also be, maps, radios, things like that." Hazel explained, and ripped the tiny page from her booklet before handing it to Winters.

" Thank you, Hazel." he said.

" You're welcome." she said brightly and then cast a smile at the rest of the group who gave exhausted, yet reassuring smiles. Easy's officers were some of the best, staying up until 0300 just to ensure the safety of their men tomorrow, risky health and sleep and rest, but willing to do so, so that their company could move through smoothly and understand the plan they were about to execute.

Hazel admired that.

She had always admired all of them from the day she met them.

" Go get some rest, we'll be moving early tomorrow." Winters told her as he put the piece of paper in his front pocket. Hazel saluted.

" Yes, sir." she said and he saluted her back. She then turned and trudged away with her rifle on her shoulder, ready for a few hours of much needed sleep. When she slid into the foxhole, she found that Liebgott was still awake. She slid in next to him, and pressed her sweaty back up against the wall, staring up at the stars.

" They're pretty neat, aren't they?" Liebgott asked, as he pulled the pack of smokes in his front pocket out and pulled a cigarette out and put it on his lip. He lit it up and let out the bit of smoke. Hazel sighed with a smile. This is how most nights were spent when she'd come back. They'd admire the stars together and talk a bit, before they grew tired. It calmed the nerves, something that usually was never calm in war.

" I don't know why but I've always admired the stars, Lieb" she said and bit her lip.

" You see that?" Liebgott said, and Hazel watched as he withdrew his hand and pointed up towards a constellation that seemed so vast and huge even in the French wilderness.

" Yeah." Hazel said as her eyes grew wide in amazement.

" That's Orion." Liebgott said, " Always thought he was the coolest constellation. Used to think he protected me from nightmares when I was a kid." Hazel glanced towards him, surprised.

" Really?" she asked. Liebgott smirked at the playful glint in her eye.

" Yeah, yeah," Joe said, " another thing you can make fun of me for."

" Oh Joe come on," she said giving him a shove, " I don't entirely care." She looked back up at the stars again.

" Cassiopeia I always thought was pretty cool." Hazel said as she leaned back again with a smile to Joe.

" Did you think you'd be here?" Joe asked her, " You know after you joined the WAC?" Hazel glanced at him and let out a tiny sigh before glancing at the sky again.

" I believe in God, Joe." Hazel said softly and then looked at him. Joe watched her softly.

" God believed that he could put me through something like this, and I believed I could to," Hazel said softly, eyes shining with stars in them, " so when the flyer came I signed up." Hazel looked at him with a sad shrug. He didn't know about her dad. But she didn't want to gain all his trust and then show him that she really feared trusting people so much. But the thing was, she trusted Joe, a lot. They were best friends.

" My mom always said I could join up, in the WAC, she always believed in me and said I could. I could fire a weapon from when I was 5, and it has just always been like that. I never really believed I could though until I really joined up. Then I finally believed I could. I trusted myself enough." Hazel admitted, " It was hard." Joe sat up a bit and looked at her.

" What'd your dad think?" he asked her. Hazel hadn't mentioned her dad saying anything about her going off to war. Hazel bit her lip and looked at him.

" I haven't seen my dad since I was 8." Hazel said as looked away from him to look back up at the stars. Joe stared at the girl in front of him. But he wouldn't push or ask her even more questions. He wanted to let her get to the point where she felt comfortable telling the rest. That didn't have to be now. He didn't know why she hadn't seen him since she was 8, if he was dead, if he left, if something had happened.

" Hazel, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..."

" Joe, it's fine," Hazel said stopping him with placing a hand on his kneecap and gently patting it, " you are one of my best friends, and I trust you." She'd said it. She trusted him. Hazel trusted him with her life. Joe looked at her and she smiled slightly.

" Trust is hard for me," Hazel said as she retracted her hand and sat back admiring the stars again, " but Catherine and Lizzie showed me I could trust them, and you showed me I could trust someone like you." Hazel glanced at Joe. He showed her that she could trust males again. Joe smiled slightly.

" I'd trust you with my life, Hazel, I hope you know." Joe said quietly glancing at her. Hazel quirked a smile his way, and listened in, as she picked at a piece of clover from the side of the foxhole and played with it.

" Me too." Hazel said as she looked at him with soft blue eyes. Joe smiled.

" Only because I always bring the best chocolate." Hazel said with a small smirk on her face, as she plucked off another bit of the clover in her hand.

" Yeah right," Joe said and playfully shoved her shoulder. Hazel laughed, as she threw the clover at him, and he dramatically shoved it away. Hazel proudly smirked at him, and shrugged her shoulders before sitting back and staring at the stars.

Chocolate was always a crowd pleaser.

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hey friends!! i hope you enjoyed this chapter with the bit of easy heading through sainte-come-du-mont, which was actually crucial in taking carentan, even with the heavy losses endured. i just decided to include that bit in there. i really enjoyed the end of this, solidifying the trust between joe and hazel, it was pivotal, especially under the stars with what they represent to hazel. and as i have said, i ADORE this episode so much, it has to be one of my favorites for so many reasons!!

thank you for all the love and support you've shown this book, it means so much!