" The most beautiful things in life are not things. They're people and places and memories and pictures. They're feelings and moments and smiles and laughter."

- Unknown

✰✰✰

Christmas Day, 1944.

Hazel had woken up, just like any other day, still freezing, still missing home, but feeling better at the moment. The sky was dreary, as per usual, and the forest was dark and cold, even during the middle of the day when it should be the brightest.

The late night barrage had caused a casualty, Harry Welsh, but supposedly he'd be ok.

Tab had come running by their foxhole last night and told them. After Hazel had stared up and out of the tarp and towards the sky for a bit, she dragged herself out of the foxhole, leaving Shifty so sleeping, the boy never got enough rest anyway.

So Hazel headed to the breakfast line, she figured that maybe some of the men and women would be there, and maybe, quite possible Christmas 1944 would not suck as much as she thought it would. Hazel glanced at her watch and saw it read 0800, people most definitely would be there. When she came upon the breakfast line she was right.

She saw Catherine, smiling and joking with Bill and Babe.

Lizzie was even there, sitting on a log next to Bull. Hazel walked towards the group a smile on her face. Tab who standing nearby talking to a few replacements when he noticed the girl trudging through the snow, her nose bright red amongst the wilderness.

" Tiny!" he called, pushing up off the tree he was leaned up against. Hazel looked up with a smile.

" Hey, Tab." she said, as she approached and the man came forward, wrapping an arm over her shoulder.

" Merry Christmas, was wondering when you'd be up." he said as he looked down towards her.

" Merry Christmas to you too Tab," she said with a bright smile.

" I would kill for a warm bowl of my ma's chicken noodle soup." Tab said.

" Or a turkey dinner, my mom always cooked those, especially with mashed potatoes." Hazel said.

" You and your mashed potatoes." Tab said with a snicker.

" You know they're good," Hazel said with a smile up at him.

" You staying warm?" Tab asked her, " Especially with Shifty, you two are tiny." Hazel grinned with a giggle.

" We're doing fine, and we're managing a bit of warmth if you can imagine." she said a laugh leaving her mouth which made Tab grin. A laugh could make anyone's day, especially on Christmas Day. The morning was slow, as Merry Christmas rung around the tiny area in the Bois Jacque, and it was just a bit happier than normal that morning. Catherine was heading towards CP. She arrived and saw Winters and Nixon talking together.

" Hey," Catherine said as she entered and removed her helmet. The two turned at the sound of her voice.

" Hey, Catherine," Winters said, as Nixon beckoned her over.

" What's up?" she asked as she moved in between the middle of the two, and leaned against where she could see a map was visible. Their warmth immediately brought her focus better onto the map and she was glad. Christmas Morning had been freezing.

" McAuliffe said he's expecting opposition from the Germans soon," Winters said.

" Some opposition," Nixon muttered, " we give the answer that we won't surrender and they push back on us again." Catherine let out a sigh.

" Is Harry going to be ok?" she asked them, knowing the obvious tension that circled around them was because of that.

" He'll be fine, like I said, it's just a scratch. He'll heal up." Nixon said looking at her. She looked up at him and bit her lip.

" Was Doc Roe ok?" Winters asked her, and she glanced towards him. She nodded.

" He will be," she said, " it's just a lot, especially for a medic, no wonder Lizzie is sick."

" I was worried for him, worried about battle fatigue." Winters said and sighed to himself.

" That's what I was worried for," Nixon said, " takes a toll. Went up through Bastogne a few days ago, and all those medics looked glazed over. Make sure you just check up on him and make sure he's ok." Catherine nodded.

" I was thinking about doing that anyway." Catherine said.

" How's Lizzie?" Winters asked her. Catherine glanced at him.

" She doesn't look good at all. And she says she's fine, but I know she's not." Catherine said, glancing back at the map again, " She hides her emotions and sickness really well."

" Has Dike been around?" Catherine asked them. Nixon laughed.

" Yeah, right, the guy's been up at Regiment for some time. I told him last night that he needs to stop disappearing, but he keeps wandering around." Nixon said and Catherine shook her head with a smirk.

" He's never where he should be," Catherine muttered. Christmas Day of 1944 drug on. It felt like a boring day, with nothing remotely happening.

That was until Luz, who they had dubbed Jolly Old Saint Luz, came around with a coat, or a pair of gloves, or a pack of smokes. Everyone seemed to get a little something, and it made people's entire days. It was nice to finally feel a bit of hope even if it was in the form of a tiny little cigarette.

Hazel and Joe sat side by side at dinner, laughing hysterically over a past memory from one of the trips to Birmingham, where he had tripped and launched the fresh beer in his hand all over the ground and then had slipped on it and had bruised the side of his leg in the process. Their laughs had filled the dinner area with a bit of Christmas spirit that night, as if they were drunk on joy even in the dark wasteland.

And Joe Toye had even sung that night as the group had finally settled down, a little tune by the name of O Come, All Ye Faithful. Joe had started singing, a soft, yet raspy magic in his voice as he stood in front of the circle of Easy members, a smile on his face, as he sang with such soul. Joe gently crouched beside Lizzie and urged her on.

" O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!" Lizzie sang softly, her voice a sweet and pure sound as if it were honey, a smile on her face, eyes shut, reminiscing, " O come ye, O come yet to Bethleham; come and behold him."

" Born the King of Angels:" Malarkey said and chuckles spread around the group as Joe Toye met Hazel's eyes as she blushed.

" O come, let us adore him," she sang softly meeting Liebgott's eyes from across the tiny group, a smile spreading on her lips.

" O come, let us adore him," Skip sang proudly standing and waving his arms in a motion that would get the group singing together, as he walked over and slung an arm over Joe's shoulders as if he were a drunkard, " O come let us adore Him-im! Christ...the lord." Cheers rose up after everyone finished singing the tune, and there was clapping and cheers as Joe bowed rather dramatically and then offered Skip a bow, clapping his hands as Skip bowed. Hazel felt so warm in such a dreary place. She felt so oddly warm, even if it were just her heart that was warm.

" Oooh Joe, how about Silent Night!" George called as Joe smiled, clearing his throat.

" Silent night...." Joe sang, looking towards the sky as if he were a poet. Hazel watched with gentle eyes, completely entranced.

" Holy night...." Joe sang softly, " All is calm, all is bright...."

" Round yon virgin mother and child." Lizzie sang, her voice gentle as she stood and wrapped an arm around Joe, " Holy infant, so tender and mild...."

" Sleep in heavenly peace...." Malarkey sang as others started to join in all around them, " Sleep in heavenly please." As Hazel sat, listening to the group of men and Lizzie sang, she felt nostalgic.

It was like the Christmas songs on the radio at home, as the sweet smell of cinnamon would waft around the house, and the bright twinkling lights would make the fallen snow glow outside. Hazel's eyes glowed.

" Merry Christmas..." she whispered to herself softly, touching her dog tags, letting out a shaky breath that no one else could hear.

" Hey Hazel, you up for a little I'll be Home for Christmas?" George called to her standing as he brushed off his clothes, " Bringing it back to London?" Hazel blushed. Singing? In front of everyone?

" You can do it, Hazel," Babe said encouragingly from beside her as she glanced his way. Hazel sucked in a tiny breath and slowly stood rubbing her hands together and walking towards George. He smirked at her.

" You know the tune don't ya? It's the Big Ben song." George said, giving her shoulder a shove as she laughed lightly nodding.

" I'll be home for Christmas....." George started, his voice actually quite nice to listen to, a bit raspy like Joe Toye's, but soulful. Hazel smiled softly.

" You can plan on me..." Hazel started gently, looking towards Lizzie who watched her with shining eyes, a grin on her face. George smiled.

" Please have snow..." Hazel sang gently.

" And mistletoe!" George called as Hazel giggled.

" And presents by the tree..." Hazel sang with a smile on her face as George smiled at her.

" Christmas Eve will find you." George sang pointing to her as she laughed lightly.

" Where the love light gleams...." she said as George grinned.

" I'll be home for Christmas....." George sang before everyone looked to Hazel, who smiled shyly.

" If only in my....dreams...." she sang softly and sweetly, as her voice slowly disappeared and warm smiles were present on everyone's faces. She slowly looked towards George as he smirked proudly at her and she grinned.

Then she met Liebgott's eyes, and she felt her heart warm. His eyes were on her, softly watching her every move, gaze steady, his face so full of life. She blushed and looked away from him as George celebrated her standing up there and singing with a hyper good job.

Even that had warmed her heart and made it full, just singing with the men she adored. These songs made her homesick because here she was in Belgium and her mother was on the opposite side of the world, waking up on Christmas morning with only Daisy. She couldn't be with her mother on the day of the year that sometimes hurt the most. Next year though, Hazel wanted to be home for Christmas, in America, and not in the middle of this war torn country. She wanted to be home.

George slowly stepped past her as Bill caught him up in a joyful hug, and Hazel caught Joe's eye again. She blushed, quirking out a tiny smirk as she slowly walked over to him and sat down by his side.

" You didn't tell me you could sing, Parker." he said softly, his knee nudging hers.

" I've never really sung before, I mean, it's just like, I don't know..." she said blushing again. That was the first time she had really sung, even a bit out of tune and silly, it brought her heart joy.

" You sounded good," Joe said as Hazel giggled shaking her head.

" Thanks, Joe." she said softly, brushing hair from her cheeks as she watched his eyes glow even in the darkness. Joe watched her, and she suddenly felt nervous under his gaze and looked away, giggling softly.

" What?" he said, a laugh in his tone, as he nudged her knee again, " What are you laughing at?" Her laugh was contagious.

" I don't know, just everything, it's all so calm, I just wish it could last like this forever." she said and Joe felt his heart swell watching her eyes shine. He wanted this to last forever too.

" Sleigh bells ring, are you listening..." George sang joyfully, wrapping his arm around Bill's shoulder, before poking Bill's ear. Bill swatted at his hand as George chuckled.

" In the lane snow is glistening, a beautiful sight we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland..." Bill sang and George gave a whoop. Hazel laughed lightly before looking back at Joe.

" What?" she said softly, reaching forward to tilt his helmet up from his dark eyes.

" Happy looks good on you." he said with a small smile. Hazel blushed and thanked God for the darkness that night provided. Thank God for the darkness.

" Joe..." she whispered.

" I'm serious, you've been through a lot, and seeing you happy, it's a nice sight to see." he whispered softly to her. Hazel let out a tiny giggle, looking down at her hands, before looking back up at Joe.

He was smiling.

On December 26th General Patton had broken through the German line. Hazel had been freezing her tail bone off next to Shifty as they sat outside the foxhole, when the news broke. After the Christmas singing which had brightened almost the entire Battalion's spirits, it had basically been a snow storm at 0300 and Hazel and Shifty were practically wrapped like a bow, trying to get their tiny bodies warm.

A tiny body and a tiny body never meshed well especially in the cold.

It was said that Patton came to the rescue. Hazel had been pissed off by that mere comment, and so had everyone else.

Some rescue.

Lizzie sat with Gene in the foxhole, humming the tune to Let it Snow, the only thing to alleviate the pain of not being home with her family. She envisioned her home, decorated beautifully for Christmas, the smell of the food, her grandmother's famous Scottish Christmas cookies that were set on each and every platter and the soft Christmas music that her and Brady would always sing to on the radio. Lizzie hummed gently to herself and looked over at Gene who moved through his medic satchel, hands pale.

" Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow," she sang softly, looking towards Gene who looked towards her, a small laugh leaving his lips.

" And the fire is slowly dying and my dear we're still good-bying, but as long as you love me so, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..." she sang softly, bobbing her head back and fourth as she did so. Gene smiled softly up at her.

" Missing home?" he asked her softly. Lizzie tended to hum and sing when she did. She nodded, humming gently.

" Especially the Christmas tree." she whispered softly, her eyes shining as she looked at Gene who watched her, " And the lights, we always went in my dad's car and drove around Grand Rapids, looking at the lights that people put up." Gene smiled. Gene was watching her anxiously tapping against her hand. She did that often now, but she always brushed it off. But she knew it was the disorder, what the special doctor had informed her of back at the hospital in Holland. And she knew Gene was noticing it more often now than ever, but it was simply all her nerves and the inability to focus on anything at once or get sufficient sleep.

So she continued humming, the gentle tune singing in her head. The girl's gentle humming was comforting enough on that day, the 26th of December and comforting enough for many others.

By the 27th, Hazel had looked for Liebgott everywhere but she couldn't find him. So she approached the Lieutenant and Staff-Sergeant ahead of her.

" Hey," Hazel said as she walked up to where Catherine and Bill were sifting through some coats that had come in for the men and women. Catherine had been on a run into town with George, and now they had plenty of coats, even more from Patton's 'rescue'.

" Hey, kid," Bill called.

" Hey," Catherine said turning to the girl," what's up?"

" Where's Lieb? I couldn't find him anywhere this morning?" Hazel asked her. Hazel usually saw him at breakfast; no one had seen him.

" Oh," Catherine said," Winters had to take him off the line." Hazel's eyes widened.

" What?" Hazel asked.

" Yeah, supposedly Lieb was just consumed by the war, battle fatigue, stuff like that. He was real pissed yesterday about Patton's rescue. Made him a runner, Winters wanted to give him a few days." Catherine explained and Hazel felt her heart sink.

" Oh." was the only word the left Hazel's mouth. Joe? Her heart hammered inside her chest and she grew slightly discouraged that he wasn't here.

" Don't worry, he'll be back," Catherine said, " just needs a few days to recuperate." Hazel nodded, biting back her lip. Joe.

" You ok, kid?" Bill asked her.

" Yeah, fine," Hazel said nodding, like she was trying to convince herself. Lieb was taken off the line as a runner, what had happened? He seemed fine yesterday.

" Thanks," Hazel said and walked away, her mind spinning. Joe Liebgott was on her mind the rest of the day.

Slowly everyone fell into a pattern, now with the so called 'rescue' from Patton. Wake up, make sure you survive a shelling or two that happened throughout the day, get breakfast, see your friends, go on a patrol, get assigned for a night patrol, get your lunch, sit by your foxhole, getting caught up on sleep, avoiding another shelling, praying to God sometimes, get dinner, sit around, go on your night patrol if you have to, and then go to bed. It varied that same way everyday. The veterans of Toccoa, the Viragos and even the veteran replacements from Market Garden were battle hardened it seemed at the moment. It was the newest replacements, that clearly hadn't been through the wear and tare.

Catherine did rounds though each night to make sure they were settling in ok. She was worried most for them because they were so young, careless and naive it seemed.

" Excuse me, ma'am?" one of the younger ones had asked. Catherine had stooped down next to their foxhole on the night of the 28th.

" What's up?" Catherine asked him quietly. He glanced back at his foxhole partner and then to Catherine.

" Are we being moved off the line soon?" he asked softly. Catherine bit her lip and slowly sat down by the edge of his foxhole.

" I don't think so anymore, Ike wants the 101st and 82nd both to stay on the line." Catherine softly. The replacement sighed and Catherine looked at him with a sad smile.

" Try and stay warm and get some rest." Catherine said. The replacement nodded with a small smile.

" Is there extra blankets?" he asked her.

" Yeah, we just got resupplied." she said and pulled the extra blanket she carried around out. She gently handed it to him and he smiled up at her.

" Thank you," he said and then sat back down against his friend, throwing the blanket over both of them and shutting his eyes. Catherine smiled. Catherine continued checking in on the men along the line, just like the rest of the NCOs and Lieutenants and what they were doing.

On the 29th, Shifty and Hazel were on OP duty, sitting there, freezing their asses off when Shifty slowly lowered his weapon from where he was looking out. He squinted his eyes again and bit his lip carefully, like he always did when he was focused on something.

" What is it, Shift?" she asked him. Shifty adjusted his white helmet, similar to hers, and then looked out again.

" There's a tree out there that wasn't there before." he said eyes still staring forward. Hazel moved in next to him and brought up her scope as Shifty pointed in the general direction. Hazel squinted her eyes and found on the tree he was talking about. He was right.

" I gotta go tell Lip or Dike or someone." Shifty said as he leaned back and shouldered his weapon.

" You'll be good here?" he asked her and she nodded with a small smile.

" I'll be back." he said and climbed up and out of the foxhole. Hazel kept her eye on that tree and watched it closely. It didn't move at all, but Hazel kept watching it. It was very suspicious. When Shifty came back with Lip, the two jumped in the OP next to Hazel. And then Lip got a good look at it, watching it.

" It wasn't there yesterday Lipton." Shifty said as he looked out again. Lip pulled out his binoculars and narrowed his eyes.

" You're right, Shifty." Lipton said and pulled the binoculars from his eyes.

" That wasn't there yesterday," Lip said, " I'll get artillery on it, probably the Germans creating fake trees or something to spy." Shifty smiled looking at Lipton with a nod.

" Good work," Lip said as he put the binoculars away. When Lip climbed out, Hazel looked after him and then looked at Shifty.

" You couldn't find Dike?" Hazel asked him. Shifty shook his head.

" Lip was right there, said he hadn't seen Dike all the day as we walked back here." Shifty explained and Hazel bit her lip. He always disappeared. Shifty and Hazel watched as the artillery strike was called in and the fake tree was blown up.

It was gone.

But the day was dull after that, well except for the constant shellings they endured.

It was numbing though, they were all so used to it by that point.

✰✰✰

hi! i am back and with these lovely ( yet emotional ) chapters for you all. episode 7 always make me so ungodly emotional :( but i liked this one a lot, especially the singing, it brought some humanity into the war for a moment and i really liked it!! thank you all for reading, commenting and voting!! it means so much!