" There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

- Edith Wharton

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When Hazel sat up the following morning, she blinked her eyes awake and found that she was staring at a blue sky, a soft blue, and there were the biggest fluffiest clouds overhead, and there was a slight, warm breeze that seemed to brush across the open soldiers in the field where a few large trees were. Hazel slowly sat up from the ground and looked around through squinted eyes as she saw some of the NCOs moving around, trying to get some people up and awake.

Hazel glanced over and noticed Joe still asleep at her side, soft snores coming from his mouth. His back was to her, and his snores were loud.

" Joe." she said. He barely even shifted at the sound of his name.

" Hey, Joe." Hazel said. Hazel watched as he didn't move, instead letting out another snore. Hazel gently shook his shoulder.

" Joe, wake up." Hazel said, shaking his shoulder again.

" What?" his gruff voice asked, sounding exhausted and wanting nothing more than to fall asleep again.

" I think we're moving again." Hazel said softly and she watched as Joe shifted on his side a bit and then slowly sat up, groaning, rubbing his head, running a hand through his hair and then yawning.

" Hey sleepy heads." a voice said and Joe and Hazel looked up to see Catherine crouching down in front of them, her helmet strap swinging a bit in the breeze, a smirk on her features, and a wild look in her eyes. She was ready for war it looked like.

" What time is it?" Hazel asked her. Catherine glanced at her watch.

" About 0800, they want us moving though, they just briefed the Lieutenants not too long ago." Catherine said, eyeing Joe yawning again and lying down again rubbing his eyes.

" How long have you been awake?" muttered Joe.

" Longer than you clearly." Catherine said, glancing around and then smiling at Hazel, " I'd heat up a K-ration real quick because it looks like we'll be on the move within the hour, we're heading towards Arnhem."

" Where the fuck is that?" groaned Joe.

" Are you always this grumpy?" Catherine asked him and Joe shot her a glare.

" No." he groaned. Catherine smirked.

" Seems the only person you never are grumpy around is Hazel." Catherine said with a playful smirk watching as Hazel blushed furiously and Joe glared. Hazel looked to Catherine again.

" You doing ok?" Hazel asked Catherine with a small smile.

" Yeah," Catherine said glancing around the sky, " just thinking about what sorta opposition we might run into."

" Hopefully not a lot, you did say there were just old men and kids here." Hazel said with a slight smirk as she brushed hair from her face as it blew lightly in the wind. Catherine smirked.

" Let's hope that's the case." Catherine said as she slowly stood, " Wish me luck. I have to wake up George, snoring like a foghorn."

" Yeah have fun with that." Hazel said and Catherine smirked.

" I'll see you two." she called before moving down towards where George would be sleeping. Hazel smiled softly to herself before glancing at Joe who looked like he was falling asleep again.

" Hey," Hazel said, softly shoving his shoulder watching as he closed his eyes again, " don't close those eyes again."

" I'm exhausted." he complained. Hazel smirked as she pulled out a K-ration and peeled it open.

" Aren't we all?" she muttered as Joe sighed as he sat up.

She was right. They all were. And it was only the start.

Catherine moved through the groups of men spread around everywhere, back towards HQ as the sun slowly began its rise higher into the sky. Catherine approached the tent that had been set up for the night, and pushed back the flap to step inside and give it a look around seeing a group of officers surrounding the nearby table. She saw Winters and Nixon, she saw Harry as well as Buck and she noticed Speirs from Dog along with his CO and then Fox's Co and a few Lieutenants. Strayer stood, pointing at different points on the map, going over locations his voice muffled by all the men standing around him.

" Ah, Lieutenant McCown didn't expect to see you back so soon." Strayer stood once he noticed her walking over towards the table as the officers turned to look at her. She gave a smile as she removed her helmet, shifting her shoulder a bit.

" The men were up quicker than I thought, sir, figured I had time to come back." she said as she moved to stand next to Winters.

" Good, good," Strayer said, clearing his throat to begin again.

" So now, as I've explained, Nuenen is the town we're moving through today, we're expecting that there's Krauts in there, alright, a bit of resistance, but not much. As we've talked about there's only supposed to be old men and kids here, so we suspect an easy fight, understood?" Strayer said. A chorus of yes, sir's followed.

" Lieutenant McCown, you've done a few presentations on the land, care to give some insight?" Strayer asked her. Boy did Strayer just turn to her for anything at this point. Catherine smiled.

" Of course, sir," she said, " Holland. Located in the Western Upland sits on the jagged cliffs, sorta like the ones Northern France and Normandy provided. Fun fact, they were cut out by glaciers, just like the mountains that run through all of Europe. It's considered an ancient landscape from times during Augustus' rein of Rome, for example. The land's hilly, forests are dense and there's no real large landscape except the ocean that borders the country and the flat landscape. There shouldn't be any large incline in any area, sir." Strayer nodded and then looked to the men.
" Thank you, Lieutenant." Strayer said and Catherine smiled softly with a nod.

" Now, if you remember what Lieutenant McCown said, it's a fairly flat landscape so we should be able to move through pretty quickly, get these tanks over the Rhine through Arnhem and get this thing done by Christmas." Strayer said, " That understood?"

" Yes, sir." the chorused response came in answer to him.

" Good, get back to your men and women, and we'll start the load up on the tanks and push Northeast." Strayer concluded before he dismissed them. Catherine turned and followed after Easy's officers and their CO.

" War done by Christmas, count me in." Harry muttered as he clipped his helmet strap together. Catherine smirked.

" You said it, Harry." Catherine said smirking and clipping in her helmet, " This lands flat as hell, we'll move through quickly, we have to." Harry grinned.

" Alright," Winters said checking his watch, " its 0900, we're moving at 0930, so I'd start prepping the men and women, let them know we're moving. The tanks pulled through late last night so we can move with them."

" You think this war's gonna be over by Christmas?" Buck asked as he adjusted his helmet. Winters glanced at him with a small smile.

" We'll see," Winters said, " we have yet to make it to Arnhem and we have to get through Nuenen."

" He's saying it's up in the air if that's what you're asking Buck." Nixon said as he adjusting his map, " Could be good or bad, we just gotta see."

" Yeah well, they thought Refer Madness was gonna be best film of the year, and you never saw something flop harder." Catherine said as a few snickers ensued.

" Okay but that was bad." Harry said snickering.

" I act better than that even when I'm drunk." Nixon said.

" Oh we know." Buck said and the group laughed again as Catherine glanced towards Winters who smirked, shaking his head a bit.

" So what are you saying, Mack, you think we're really gonna get through this and it'll turn out worse in the end?" Buck asked her. Catherine smirked at him.

" Europe's crawling with Nazis, I won't be at all surprised if we find a group of SS members." Catherine said.

" How long you've been conjuring up that one, McCown?" Nixon asked her.

" Long enough," Catherine said with a smirk, " who's come to Europe in the past 5 years, and in all their time never ran into a single Nazi, let's be real."

" Well, technically if you're in Switzerland-"

" They're neutral Harry, not completely broken off from this war though." Nixon said and Catherine snickered.

" This is what I get for trying to talk with a bunch of Ivy League nerds, right?" Harry said grumbling as he looked at Winters, as if waiting for an answer from the man.

" You get used to it after a while." commented Winters as he adjusted his ODs a bit more.

" Get used to it?" Buck said, snickering, " I'm numb to it." Catherine laughed. The officers moved out to the field of men and women and began moving them towards the large Shermans tanks that had plowed through the bridges that left Eindhoven. Hazel slowly approached the tank, admiring it's rather massive beauty that composed it, before allowing Bill to help her up the side of the tank.

" Thanks, Bill." she said as she slowly settled in beside him, her hand burning a bit from the hot metal of the tank they sat atop of. Bill gave her that signature smile, the one where his eyes twinkled a bit more than normal.

" Sleep well?" he asked her. She smiled softly.

" Yeah, it's quite lovely having his snoring in your ear." Hazel said nodding to Liebgott who slowly climbed up onto the tank and took a seat lower than her.

" You chose to sleep beside me." Liebgott said back with a playful smirk and she shoved his foot at her knee and he swatted her leg.

" Children." muttered Joe Toye as he climbed on next. Hazel kicked out again at Liebgott.

" Hey, children, focus please. If I can't have coffee, please allow me to wake easily." he said passing by them.

" Don't worry, Joe, just watching these two go at it is enough endorphin to wake you up." Bill called back to him.

" No it ain't." Toye called back sitting up near the top. Bill cackled to himself. The ride Hazel felt was fairly smooth; she enjoyed the breeze that blew from in front of them as the tanks slowly rolled forward, and she enjoyed the chatter of conversations that swung around the top of the tank where part of 2nd platoon sat.

" Next time Babe, next time I see that dart board, we're winning, alright? We're not letting George Luz egg us one anymore." Hazel heard Toye say to Babe as 1200 rolled closer.

" You sure about that?" Babe asked him.

" Hell yeah, I mean we know now that Buck's right handed and gets it perfect every time, I mean, we just gotta practice." Toye said.

" Yeah and there's just dart boards everywhere out here." Babe muttered.

" You taking lip from him, Joe?" Bill asked looking at him.

" Not from him, I'm not, maybe from you though." Toye muttered. Hazel smirked.

" Hey Hazel, you play don't ya?" Babe asked turning to her.

" Yeah, I do, I guess." she said.

" We've already clarified Babe, she's already on our team." Toye told him.

" Right." Babe said and then offered a smile.

" You really think you're gonna outsmart George?" Bill asked the pair.

" What? And you think you can?" Toye asked him.

" Nah, Joe, that's not what I'm saying, you ain't listening. I'm talking about you two." Bill said.

" Momma always said you can try until you can't no more," Babe said.

" Hey, you sound like Tiny over here, with those philosophical verbs." Bill stated.

" Proverbs." called Liebgott from where he was currently asleep next to Hazel's legs, curled up and near snoring.

" Right, right, proverbs." Bill said with a nod.

" I am the one who says you can always try, I guess." Hazel said and the trio smiled.

" It's settled then, the next time I face that stupid fucking dartboard we're winning okay, you two?" Joe Toye said meeting both their eyes as if prepared for battle, which he sorta was.

" I admire your confidence Joe, but I wouldn't be boosting that ego much more." Bill said.

" Like yours hasn't already been kicked into high gear." muttered Joe and Bill just chuckled to himself.

" Shut it Joe." Bill said and the group laughed. Lizzie laid back against the tank, beside George Luz who was currently sunning himself, like the ladies Lizzie would always see at the Grand Rapids community pool. The ones who gave her the best candies as a kid. The sun was bright and it was fairly warm outside, but there was no humidity which was nice, compared to the entire campaign of Normandy.

" Oh man you know what? I hate eggs!" Bull said glancing at his K-ration and looking to Hoobler. Lizzie sat up a bit to glance at the two. K-ration talk.

" Hey, Sarge, you can have this one." Van Klinken said handing Bull his own.

" Vincent Van Gogh was born in Nuenen." Webster said, as Lizzie glanced towards him.

" Yeah? So what?" Cobb said as Webster smiled with glee. Lizzie smirked a bit.

" Sure teach a lot of useful stuff at Harvard." Hoobler said.

" You should talk to Lieutenant McCown more often, she can sight the entire periodic table." Cobb said.

" Really?" Webster asked glancing back at Cobb.

" Yeah, the one time I can't tell the difference between two of the elements used in gunpowder and she starts reciting it. Never again." Cobb said and Lizzie laughed sitting up.

" I'm pretty sure she didn't recite the entire thing, but it was the more complicated route." Lizzie offered.

" What she said." Cobb muttered as George groaned sitting up, stretching his back.

" Oh man," George said, " tell me more. Attention: captured." Lizzie smirked.

" Not me, idiot, Catherine. She's the one in multiple chemistry courses." Lizzie said.

" What's her major?" Webster asked.

" Okay, stop, we're not doing college talk now Mr. Harvard." George groaned, rubbing his tired eyes as Lizzie smirked before glancing out towards the fields. Her smirk slowly fell from her lips.

A person stood on the side of the road, standing out amongst the picturesque landscape. She held a tiny bundle in her arms, gently rocking it and shaking it, and her hair seemed haphazardly shaved from her head, little patches of dried blood in certain areas. Lizzie's heart plummeted deep into a nook in her chest as memories from yesterday came rushing back into her mind. Lizzie glanced towards Bull who was looking at her. Lizzie licked her lips as the tank slowly rolled closer. Everyone was looking at the person.

As they neared, Lizzie noticed it was in fact a woman with a child in her arms. Lizzie automatically jumped from the tank, sliding down it until she hit the ground, her feet touching the rock swiftly.

" Lizzie!"

" Doc!" calls from a few tanks rang out as she walked forward towards the woman and the baby. Lizzie stopped in front of the woman, having to hold back any emotion she felt. The woman looked at her and then her baby. Lizzie felt anger rise up in her; this baby was most likely the product of this woman and some stupid Kraut who took advantage of her. Lizzie felt Mellet stop beside her for a brief moment to pass over a care package with food, but Lizzie quickly took it in her hands. Lizzie looked at the woman and slowly pressed it into her hands with a nod. It said it all. Lizzie looked at the child, and gently tucked in the blanket around the child, as the mother watched her.

" Danke." the woman whispered and Lizzie nodded.

" Elizabeth!" came another call, and she knew she had to go. Lizzie immediately turned and walked away, fighting back the emotion she felt inside of her. The anger, the pain, the grief and the sympathy. Lizzie then slowly backed away and moved to walking beside the tank, the smirk that had once taken over her entire face now completely gone, and the joy that filled her heart moments ago, shattered into any icy pond that covered her heart. She didn't sleep last night, again, what a surprise, and she had a lot of time to really think about everything, which sucked even more because thinking and then overthinking was a downfall of hers.

But when her and Gene did rounds at 0500, she acted tired in front of him, so he wouldn't question whether she had slept all night or not. She did not need to have him worrying for her, when he had a company to also worry about. Lizzie slowly walked beside the tank as it rolled forward, focusing on the way the cobblestone road they moved alone, had it's rocks shoved together, their sides seemingly to perfectly mesh together. She remembered Catherine saying that most of the roads in Europe were from the times of Ancient Rome.

Their story still lived on.

She wondered if Easy Company's would as well.

They came upon Nuenen and Lizzie moved up the side of the first tank again as men moved into the trenches on the sides. She watched as their Lieutenant, Lieutenant Brewer, rather confidently walked forward ahead the rest of the tanks. She raised a brow rather skeptically at that. What was he doing? What if there were a sniper?

" Hey, get a load of General Patton." Hoobler said as Lizzie glanced up at him, pushing her helmet a bit up from her eyes.

" What the hell's he doing?" Bull muttered out, leaning back to look at the site.

" Makes quite a target, don't he?" Hoobler said. Bull slowly moved down closer to the front of the tank, as the Lieutenant moved forward.

" Lieutenant!" Bull yelled. The Lieutenant merely turned around as a single shot fired, knocking the Lieutenant to the ground.

" Sniper!" someone yelled.

The battle had started.

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hey! i'm back - finally. i was super busy yesterday and just did not have the time to update, but i'm hoping to finish out episode 4 today, i really liked how this entire episode went :)

i can't thank you all enough for the support you've given this and for all the comments, votes and reads, i appreciate them so much!!