" Always be a little kinder than necessary."

- J. M. Barrie

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" Yahoo!" called Lizzie excitedly.

" This is great!" called Malarkey as Lizzie felt the wind finally hit her face. She reached up a hand to brush her hair back from her face. She shut her eyes in complete glee at the feeling of freedom that surrounded her. More drove the motorcycle with ease as Malarkey and Lizzie, like two children called out joyfully as the sun beat down on them in their Class-A uniforms. They came upon Aldbourne and Lizzie held on to More's waist as the breeze picked up and she smiled wide. They all laughed joyfully together as they went along through the town where men dressed in their own Class-A uniforms were.

" Currahee!" the trio called out all at different times with equal excitement to no one in particular.

" She fancied me, Alton." Malarkey said as Lizzie rolled her eyes.

" In your dreams, buddy." More said and Lizzie laughed. Suddenly a loud beeping echoed from in front of them as a large truck came around the corner and screams and yells escaped their mouths. More swerved the motorcycle immediately and Lizzie laughed wildly it seemed.

" Jesus Christ!" Malarkey yelled glancing back at the truck, as the three then began laughing manically. Malarkey turned and raised his beer in the air like a drunk man and Lizzie laughed more. More drove them through an open barn where other soldiers were and into the clearing by the designated mess hall for Easy.

" It's good to be alive!" Malarkey called. More pulled the motorcycle around and parked it.

" That was a hell of a ride, Alton." Lizzie said as she turned and slid off the motorcycle with a smile.

" You said it." More said as he parked it and hopped off as well.

" Jesus Christ, that sure was close." Malarkey said sipping the beer and then handing it to Alton.

" Nah, missed him by a mile." More said confidently and Lizzie snorted. The mess hall was rather chaotic. Men gathering food, calling out to one another, clapping, cheering, people getting up and speaking.

Chaos.

Catherine sat next to Harry, having been provided a leather army jacket similar to the ones Nixon and Winters both had. She had missed the Normandy campaign and had been upset about that for a bit while she had been evacuated but she focused on healing and getting better as quickly as she possibly could. So there she sat, laughing at something Harry had said to her as they sat atop the lunch table, snickering quietly like a bunch of school children. Catherine looked back towards the group of men and a small smile slowly set on her face.

Her eyes caught Hazel who walked through the slew of men, with a cup of water in her hand, as she stopped by Chuck to give him a hug before heading back over to her spot which was next to Liebgott and Tab. Lizzie had yet to show up, but Catherine knew about the rendezvous that More and Malarkey managed to rope her into. Catherine spotted the crew coming in and gathering their plates, just as Smokey Gordon freshly returned from the hospital stand up in front of the group, 3 purple hearts pinned to his chest. Hazel slid into her spot next to Liebgott with her water, letting out a grateful sigh, as her hair fell out around her face, and her collared beige top was loosely unbuttoned from the heat inside the mess hall.

" The Night of the Bayonet." Smokey started, " The night was filled with dark and cold, when Sergeant Talbert-" Smokey fumbled, as More nudged him and everyone laughed, " the story's told, pulled on his poncho and headed out, to check the lines dressed like a Kraut." Hazel had initially been upset about Tab being bayoneted, but now it was quite the story to tell, even if she did hold a soft spot for Tab because of it all. Cheers rose up through the group and clapping ensued as Catherine chuckled as Winters walked past her and gave her a smile.

" Why is everyone in such a hurry to get back, huh? Hospital food don't suit ya?" Malarkey asked as he shoved at Talbert's head.

" We don't need ya anymore Tab, we got all the fucking replacements." More said as Liebgott and Hazel shifted over and him and Malarkey sat down.

" Lizzie!" George called and shifted over for her to squeezed in between him and Skip with her food.

" You look wild." George told her.

" Yeah, it's called a joyride." Lizzie said as a wide smile possessed her features.

" No way," George said, " you managed to snag one?"

" Oh hell yeah." Lizzie said smirking.

" Upon a trooper our hero came, fast asleep, he called his name." Smokey said as Catherine watched the blur of a figure enter the room to her left. She turned slightly and saw it was Nixon.

" Oh, Smith!" Smokey cried as Hazel laughed lightly. She could see Smith shaking his head in regret.

" Get up, it's time, to take your turn out on the line." Smokey said as cheers rose up. Tab licked his lips as he turned and glanced toward Smith who glanced nervously back. Hazel laughed. " Do you guys have any idea what he's talking about?" Les Hashey asked his friend group.

" The Night of the Bayonet." Antonia Garcia said, " Whatever that is."

" ...So very weary, cracked an eye all red and bleary," Smokey continued as Catherine felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Nixon. He guided her to the circle of Harry, and Buck, before they brought in Lip. Her eyes widened at what Nixon said.

" Grabbed his rifle, he did not tarry. Hearing Floyd, but seeing Jerry." Smokey said and the whole room erupted into laughter.

" Way to go, Smithy!" someone yelled.

" It's me, cried Tab." Smokey said, " Don't do it, and yet Smith charged, too sweet, with bayonet he lunged, he thrust, both high and low, and skewered the boy from Kokomo." Hazel let out another laugh as Tab smirked to himself, Malarkey rubbing his shoulder as he laughed.

" I'm heading back to barracks." Babe Heffron said standing as he turned and a man stopped him.

" You Heffron?" Bill asked the red head replacement. Lizzie glanced up at the red head and smiled.

" Yeah." the man answered.

" Where ya from?" Bill asked as Skip held out his hand in waiting.

" Who's asking?" the man asked Bill.

" You from Philadelphia?" Bill asked him.

" South Philly, yeah." Heffron said.

" Ah, I could tell. 17th street." Bill said as Heffron smiled.

" Front street." Heffron said and held out his hand to shake as Bill smiled.

" Come here sit down." Bill said as Lizzie shifted over, and Luz followed.

" What?" Lizzie asked in exasperation. " How?"

" Since you weren't wounded by the enemy, and thus didn't qualify for a Purple Heart, we've taken matters into our own hands." Smokey said. Catherine nodded to Lip before leaving with Nixon. This was a whole new set of responsibilities.

" Tab, this is for you." Smokey said holding up a Purple Heart from his chest. Cheers erupted all over the mess hall, cheering for Floyd. Everyone loved him anyway and they loved seeing a makeshift ceremony for him put together.

" Yeah, Mr. Talbert!" Liebgott called out as Luz gave him a smack on the back.

" I could have shot the kid a dozen times." Tab called confidently.

" Yeah, right!" Liebgott yelled back, as everyone laughed.

" I just didn't think we could spare a man." Tab said with a smirk. Everyone started bantering with each other and shoving each other and people were laughing and cheering; it was a good time.

" Couple of announcements men and women." Lipton called as he stood in front of the group.

" First, listen up." Lip called, as everyone settled down.

" First, the training exercise scheduled for 2200 has been cancelled." Lip said and smiled as cheers and blessing of God surrounded people.

" Oh thank you god." Lizzie sighed.

" Oh, yeah." called Skip after he had a moment. Luz had never looked so happy clapping to what Lip had stated.

" Secondly," Lip said holding up his hand, " all passes are hereby revoked." It got silent, as people's faces fell at that notion.

" We're heading back to France. So, pack up all your gear. We will not be returning to England, boys and ladies." Lip said. " Anyone who has not made out a will, go to the supply office. The trucks depart for Membury at 0700. As you were." People looked at each other, and sighed or shrugged or let out a breath of air. No one could do anything about it at this point.

" What's this whole thing about?" Catherine asked Nixon as she walked next to him leaving the loud mess hall.

" British Command has some crazy ideas at the moment, so be prepared when you hear this." Nixon said with a smirk as he opened the door for her into Battalion Headquarters, and was followed by Winters, Peacock, Welsh and Buck.

" Lieutenant McCown, great to see you. How's that shoulder?" Strayer asked her. Catherine smiled.

" Never better, sir." she said smiling and saluting him. Catherine looked back at the rest of the leaders for Easy and Nixon smirked. After news of the current situation and why exactly they were heading to Membury was 'interpreted' per say, Catherine found herself out of the officers' quarters pretty quickly and found Skip moving down the road as well, heading towards their billets as night slowly fell, laughing and joking with each other.

" Catherine?" she heard a voice say, as her and Skip stopped walking. Catherine turned her head to see that it was Gene coming up to her. She hadn't seen Gene since that fateful night in Normandy.

" Wait for me." Catherine said as she turned and headed towards Gene.

" Right, I'll be over here." Skip said and smiled at the two before turning and walking off. Catherine looked back to Gene and walked up to him with a smile. Gene had a small smile on his face as she approached him.

" Hey, Gene." she said as the smile on her face grew. She stopped in front of him and looked up at him.

" Lieutenant." he said nodding to her pin on her collar. She smiled.

" It's Catherine to you, Gene, I promise ya." she said, smiling at him.

" You look great, how's the shoulder?" he asked her.

" Healing up, took about a month. It's doing well though, I almost have full range of motion back." she said. Gene smiled at her.

" I, uh, wanted to say thank you for what you did for me out there." Catherine said, crossing her arms in front of her, slower than normal with her shoulder, " I was scared, I had never been more terrified in my entire life. You helped me a lot out there though, and I can't thank you enough for that." Gene smiled again, and it made her smile.

" I wasn't lying when I said I would never leave you behind." Gene said looking down at her. Catherine smiled and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

" I mean you dragged me across Normandy, who couldn't thank a person for that?" Catherine said and Gene laughed.

" It is my job." Gene said and the two laughed.

" Seriously though, Gene, thank you." Catherine said before walking up and wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him tightly. Gene gently wrapped his arms around her waist, after a moment of surprise and hesitation and hugged her tighter.

" I really can't thank you enough, Gene, I was so scared. I had never felt like that before." Catherine said into the hug.

" I was doing my job, Catherine, I would do the same for any man or woman in the company, but I hope it helped with everything." Gene said softly. Catherine smiled as the two pulled back.

" Skip's waiting for me." she said and nodded her head in the direction Skip had gone.

" Yeah, go ahead, I need to get to the aid station anyways." he said.

" Right, I'll see ya around." Catherine said, giving him a tiny wave before turning and hurrying off to where Skip had been. Gene watched her go before turning and moving towards the aid station. Winters had become a Captain in no time and many people in the company were happy for him to finally get the promotion he deserved.

Life went back similar to what it had been before the Normandy jump, as practices and weapons training continued as well as PT. Winters was CO at the moment and even though he was tough when he needed to be, no one would ever be Sobel, but everyone believed Winters had the best intentions. Many of the new replacements started to get a taste of Toccoa veterans as well as the Viragos, and what they really were about. Bull's squad became all replacements, he was the only squad that was made up entirely of them. Other replacements were spread out everywhere else. Bill began introducing Edward, who everyone ended up calling Babe, to the men and the ladies. Bill had walked up to Hazel who was cleaning her sniper and chatting with Chuck next to her and was cleaning his own.

" Tiny!" Bill called as he approached and her head shot up and over.

" Bill." she said softly as she approached with grease all over her fingers, as she attempted to wipe it off. Babe was standing next to Bill fiddling a bit.

" This is Heffron, Babe if you will." Bill said. " This is Hazel Parker, our sniper."

" Nice to meet you." Hazel said shaking his hand, thank god he didn't mind the grease.

' Nice to meet you, too." Babe said.

" Babe lives in South Philly," Bill said, " Good ole Philly folks." Hazel smirked with a smile.

" Right." she said.

" You know where Mack is?" Bill asked her.

" No, she was with Nixon earlier though." she explained.

" We'll see ya around, kid." Bill said as Babe shyly waved at her and she waved back. Hazel walked back over to Chuck and sat down who was staring at her with a raised brow.

" What?" Hazel asked. Chuck smiled and shook his head. She just chuckled to herself. Hazel said bye to Chuck with her weapon and headed back towards a nearby barn.

Easy was called on for a jump, but then it was called off, and so was a second jump that was then called off and Membury was pushed from the picture as they hunkered in Aldbourne. It was a mess.

The replacements were a bit antsy because of it, but the Toccoa NCOs had calmed their nerves, offering an invite to a pub a few nights before another planned jump. Hazel hoped that with a fear instilled in the replacements that they would eventually calm down and get out their nervous jitters, but Hazel knew that wouldn't happen until their first combat jump just like herself.

Since the company had gotten back from the Normandy Campaign, they went to the pubs regularly on their nights that weren't designated for training purposes. Hazel usually went some nights, and would take a Coke and chat with a few of the guys, sometimes with Lieb or Bill and Joe, and she was getting to know Babe better as well. Or she'd hang with Shifty or sometimes Malarkey.

It changed all the time, Johnny was even teaching her and helping her to play darts. Catherine had shown up and wandered over to where Johnny and Hazel were with the dart board. Hazel looked frustrated. She had discarded of her Class-A top to the beige button up underneath and her hair was becoming undone. Catherine, even with the Lieutenant rank, she was a lot like Buck, hanging out with the enlisted. Hazel attempted to throw another dart but missed.

" For a sniper I sure have bad aim." she sighed out and passed the dart to Johnny.

" You're giving up?" Johnny asked defeated.

" I've tried too many times." Hazel said.

" I'm not allowing you to give up." Catherine said stepping forward.

" Mack!" Hazel said a smile lighting up her face. Catherine smiled.

" C'mon shoot the dart, you'll get it. There's a reason you became a sniper." Catherine said. Hazel sighed and took the dart from Johnny's hand again and lined up again.

" Never took you for one to play darts." a new voice said and the trio looked over to see Liebgott there.

" Shut up, Joe." Hazel scoffed. Joe raised a brow but Catherine gave him a look with a smirk.

" I have a dart in my hand, Joseph." Hazel hissed, eyes focused on the dart board, " And the ability to focus on multiple things at once. I see the face you're making."

" Shut up," Joe mumbled as he leaned back and watched sipping his beer. Hazel lined up the dart and aimed again.

" Remember what I said." Johnny offered.

" Just take a deep breath and throw it." Hazel said, launching the dart from her hands. It clattered to the ground. Hazel looked at it glumly.

" You'll get it, I don't doubt it." Catherine told her.

" Doubt has a lot of grey area, Catherine." Hazel sighed as she walked forward to get the dart from the ground.

" Let me show ya." Joe said as he pushed from the counter and walked to her side. She glanced at him.

" No." Hazel said, a small smirk on her face.

" Good luck Joe, she's rubbing off on you." Catherine said leaning back to watch. Hazel laughed.

" No?" Joe said a smirk on her face, " Come on, I wanna help you." Hazel pulled the dart back shaking her head. Joe stared at her, a smirk on his face.

" What? No best friend privileges?" he said. Best friend privileges; a cute little phrase that Hazel and Joe had started tagging onto the end of things, when they would play around and they couldn't get what either of them wanted, or just to annoy the other.

" Not on this one." Hazel said turning and facing the dart board, taking aim.

" Bring your hand back more." Joe told her. Hazel glanced at him.

" Huh?"

" Your hand, bring it back more," Joe said, " like this." He walked up to her and pulled her hand back to a bit past her eyes.

" Try now." Hazel let the dart leave her fingers and watched as it hit the dart board this time. Hazel's eyes widened.

" See," Joe said and leaned down to whisper in her ear, " what are best friends for?" Hazel turned with a smirk and punched his shoulder.

" Asshole." Hazel murmured.

" Hey you hit the dart on the board didn't ya?"

" I did, alright." Hazel said as she shoved Joe leaving him laughing. Hazel was only this sarcastic because her period had surprisingly returned. It had all but disappeared for a while, but it came back from falling to a less stressful routine. And she was moody, angry and cranky, but Lieb knew that. He managed to bring her some chocolate, her favorite, the other day. He had shown up on the Burnett's doorstep, with a box of chocolate after hearing that the girl wasn't going out with the guys to the local pub because her cramps kept her curled into the tiniest little ball on the couch, with a sad frown on her lips. The chocolate had taken away most of the immediate pain.

But Hazel couldn't get herself to bed at night anymore. She had dreams about what might've happened in that German she almost ran into on D-Day had gotten to her. It upset her. She was upset that she couldn't sleep because of the stupid dreams.

One night, after a fun dinner with the Burnett's, watching the sunset with Grace and Henry, and feeding the chickens, she managed to fall asleep. But she heard the German voice in her head, and the gunshots and explosions and she could see Lip getting hurt, and the pain on his face, every ounce of it. It scared her and haunted her, deep down inside of her. She envisioned Tab, lying there, bleeding out; what scared her was that in the dream, he died.

Tab had died.

But what terrified her was imagining how Catherine had been hurt, how she had been injured. She remembered seeing Gene dragging her into the town under the darkness. She watched the horrors repeat over and over again in her brain. It was all she could see. Over and over with gunshots in her brain, echoing in her ears until it propelled her awake. She was sobbing, she was sweating and she felt blind as the rain poured down entering her ears.

Hazel shot up out of bed, staring straight forward, tears crawling down her cheeks, as the rain poured heavily above her. Hazel slowly put a hand to her mouth, and squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a sob, an anguished one.

Her cries were in fits of emotions, like water falling.

Hazel's cries were so weak and vulnerable sounding; her heart ached. Hazel let herself fall onto her back in the bed and turn on her side and let herself just cry, get out all her horrible emotions. She cried softly, but her heart just hurt too much to try and make them actually soft. Then suddenly, it was quiet, except for the rain coming down hard. Hazel stared out the window; she couldn't see any stars like she usually could. She felt she had cried all she could out of her system as she lied there.

She felt so empty, like there was a pit inside her chest. Hazel shut her eyes as a tiny tear trailed down her cheek, and she let it stay there. She didn't have the heart to wipe it away.

The next morning, she woke up and it all came rushing back to her and her heart sunk. Hazel slowly stood up and swung her legs over the edge as she recognized that her clothes were filled with sweat. She slowly stood up and left the room, heading downstairs. Her footsteps were quiet and slow, as she managed to get downstairs. She turned down to step into the beautiful kitchen, that opened up towards the field for the farm behind them. She found Grace was awake, and bustling around the kitchen in the morning, as the sweet smell of fresh grass and rain washed in through the open window above her sick which overlooked the field next to their house.

" Good morning," Hazel said softly as she entered the kitchen and slowly took a seat at the table in what had been designated as her spot over the past year.

" Good morning, honey, how are you?" Grace asked with a smile, turning to the girl with two cups of tea.

" I'm ok." Hazel said quietly with a nod as she took the cup in her hands. Grace watched Hazel with motherly eyes, caring and warm, trying to figure out what was bothering her.

" Is something wrong, dear?" Grace asked Hazel, looking at her, in the dim light of the bulb in the nearby lamp. Hazel felt tears well up in her eyes, and she looked down, as she closed her eyes hoping it would go away.

" I had a dream," Hazel said quietly. She would always talk about her mom bad dreams at home with her mother, and her mother would listen and give her a cup of her favorite tea at home and they'd sit out on the porch and watch the sun rise over the mountains back at home.

" If you want to talk about it, love, I'll sit here with you for however long you want." Grace said. Hazel smiled sadly at her.

" In my dream, I could see Tab, my friend, getting hurt," Hazel said and looked at Grace, " and in the dream instead of living, he died, right in front of me." Hazel felt tears slowly fall down her cheeks.

" I couldn't do a thing, in the dream, it was like I was frozen there, stuck in this time warp where all I could do was watch." whispered Hazel. Grace slowly reached forward and took Hazel's hand in hers, like her mother would.

" I know I can't do much to change the dream you had, but Tab is ok, remember that. You told me yourself. God made sure of it." Grace said with a smile to Hazel. Hazel nodded.

" It scared me, because it felt so real," Hazel said, biting back her trembling bottom lip.

" I know," whispered Grace, gently rubbing the pad of her thumb across Hazel's hand, which soothed her, " they always do. But bad dreams do that just to scare you. It's why they're called a bad dream." Hazel looked toward Grace with a small smile.

" Thank you." Hazel said and Grace smiled.

" I haven't really told anyone this, only Harry knows, but I served in the Great War." Grace said, and Hazel's eyes widened.

" Really?" Hazel asked.

" Yes, I did. And I used to get dreams. Bad ones. I was a married woman, to Harry, and I thought I was the toughest lady anyone would ever know. I worked to make sure that nurses that were sent to the front lines had supplies, a Head Nurse if you will, and I had to make sure that men who died, got their tags back to their families and that their families knew. It was a sad thing to do, but the flip side of helping people to save them was always something that put things into perspective. I got terrible dreams," Grace said, and Hazel looked at her."

You did?" Hazel asked her and Grace nodded.

" Terrible, my god, I remember waking up in the middle of the night as a 30 year old woman back in 1920, crying, in hysterics basically, imagining the soldiers that had survived dead. It was terrible." she said.

" How'd you get through it?" Hazel asked her, as Grace handed her a handkerchief for her watery eyes.

" I tried not to think about those bad things, sure they would always be a part of my life, and of course that's part of accepting it all, but I didn't let it rule the person I was." Grace said.

" If I'd let it do that, I probably never would've been where I am now, helping out at the local pharmacy with medicine prescriptions and such." Grace said. She noticed Hazel's youthful eyes searching hers, her wise ones, for answers still.

" Hazel, look at me," Grace said, and Hazel watched her, " you are one of the most beautiful young women I've ever seen in my life, and you will be very successful in your future, I can already tell. It reminds me of my younger self sometimes, seeing you around and helping and smiling and laughing. I know you have quiet determination, and courage inside you, I've seen it." Hazel smiled wide at Grace as she wiped at an extra tear.

" It's accepting that these things have happened and moving on, you can't let bad moments ruin your time on Earth, like that dream. Think about the fun times, the happy times, the celebratory times; times like that are better and more memorable than any bad moment." Grace said.

" Bad moments, even though they are crucial in life to have, I tend not to worry about them." Grace said with a wise smile.

" Why?" Hazel asked.

" Bad moments are temporary, happy moments are immortal." Grace said, and Hazel felt her heart warm. Hazel looked at Grace with a small smile.

" Thank you." she said, squeezing Grace's hand tightly, "For everything."

" Come here." Grace said and Hazel stood and the two hugged each other. Hazel felt like she were back in her mother's arms. They were warm and comforting and she felt safe with a mother's touch. Grace pulled back and looked at her.

" You can always make something good out of a bad thing, no matter what it is, remember that." Grace said and Hazel nodded with a smile.

" Now, let's start making some breakfast, I'm famished." Grace said and Hazel nodded with a smile. Grace was right; good, in her mind, always overpowered the bad.

By the time Easy Company was pulled off the line on June 29, they had lost 65 men. Albert Blithe never recovered from the wounds he received in Normandy. He died in 1948. ( < I knew this wasn't true, but I quite like adding these blurbs at the end of the episodes :))

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hey! last chapter for the day! i hope you enjoy it and grace here :) i adore her as a character i really do. thank you all for reading and for all your support, i truly appreciate it all!