" People are never really gone because they live on in the hearts of those they leave behind."

- Mary Louise Wright

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The day was spent fortifying foxhole covers that had been blown up or for Lizzie, resting in a foxhole as Gene spoon fed her some of Joe Domingus' soup. Lizzie watched as Gene slowly brought the food to her lips, his eyes sunken in still, his gaze rather far off, and his hand shaking slightly. Lizzie had reached the stage of sickness with her fever where by this point she was more pissed off she was still dealing with it then by the fact it had been almost a month since the bullshit started.

" You're doing it again." Gene whispered softly as he lifted a spoonful to her mouth. Lizzie looked down, the tapping. The nervous tapping on her leg. When she fixated on something she couldn't move from it or she tapped anxiously. Yay.

" I sick of this, Gene, feeling like utter shit." she said, as Gene slowly scooped the spoon to her mouth and she took it.

" I know you are." Gene said, " But if we keep trying, we can hopefully get you feeling better real soon."

" I hope you're right Gene," she said, frowning as she swallow, " I'm just, I feel horrible, lying here in the cold, miserable and angry that I'm sick, even with the penicillin shots." Gene gently reached forward and placed a slightly warm hand on her shoulder.

" I know you're upset, but if you think about it," Gene said, as she took another spoonful of food," you don't have to feed yourself." And Lizzie watched to her surprise as a small smirk fell on Gene's face. She swallowed her food, grinning.

" Gene Roe, you're getting smart with me aren't you?" she said, gently shoving his shoulder and Gene chuckled to himself.

" I guess that's what I get," he said.

" You calling me a bad influence?" Lizzie said as she took another spoonful, sniffling a bit.

" No," Gene said, " a good one at that." Lizzie grinned proudly.

Catherine's run to CP that afternoon was uneventful but she got to see Nixon chugging coffee at 1600 so it did brighten her day to say the least.

" How is your throat not burning, Nix?" Catherine asked him.

" Well, drinking your coffee in one sip with Sobel, back at Toccoa, because he would pull that sorta shit? Runs up Currahee, as I'm sipping my coffee? You chug that thing and then move. You get pretty damn good at it." Nixon said and Catherine laughed lightly.

" Yeah, well, you didn't always fare well." Winters said stepping into the CP. Nixon chuckled.

" Dike shown up?" Catherine asked.

" Nope," Winters said, " not even a foot print."

" Am I surprised, not entirely." Catherine said, before she stood and lit up another cigarette with a sigh.

" You've been thinking about Foy?" she asked, looking out and watching Lip move from foxhole to foxhole, gently bending down to talk to Tab. Her mind racked all possibilities of what they could experience in Foy with Dike as a leader, as someone who was supposed to lead the company forward, to victory.

" I have," she heard Dick say and Catherine let out a shaky sigh.

" What happens if he freezes up? Or doesn't even show up?" she said, her worry getting the best of her. These men were their company, her original company and she loved them. Seeing them be led in by an incompetent leader that could get them all killed hurt her more than she could even imagine.

" I'm going to talk to him, enforce it in him, because if he freezes up I might just run out there myself." Dick said and Catherine turned to look at him.

" You'd do that?" she asked him.

" They were my company a few months ago," Dick said looking up towards her from his map with a smile, " I'd do anything for them."

" Ah, the good general himself." Nixon said raising his coffee in the air. Catherine rolled her eyes with a smirk.

" Captain, but sure Nix." she said as Nixon laughed.

" You finish that report?" Nixon asked her.

" Begrudgingly enough." she commented as Nixon laughed.

" You Ivy Leagues done yapping?" Dick asked them turning to look at them.

" Whoa there Dick, is that sarcasm?" Nixon said as Dick smirked shaking his head.

" My only defense against you two." Dick said and Catherine laughed.

" You say it like it's a bad thing." she said. Dick met her eyes and she laughed.

" You make a good point," she said as she slowly sat herself down.

" The reports been given to Dike, I forced it into those hands of his for Regiment, hopefully he listens." she said.

" That would be a nice turn of events." Nixon commented as she smirked. It sure would be. The rest of the day was spent in the quiet of the snow falling and a cold dinner.

And by the next morning, there were no early morning barrages, which was a relief many members of Easy were thankful for, especially since many were able to obtain a bit of sleep. Catherine knew she could be sad about Bill, Buck and Joe, but she knew that they would want her to remain strong, and level headed and continue to embody what it meant to be a good combat leader even in the face of fear. And that's where she felt she found the strength she did in the days they were taken away.

The memories of them kept her going, all the fun times in the bars, the jokes, the drinking games, the hugs, the moments of banter that settled deep into her brain. She was thankful for them and what they had taught her.

How they had loved her for who she was. She never appreciated those men more.

The day was dark and cold, like many others, and many people just spent the day in their foxholes, numbly counting down the hours until it was time to sleep again.

Hazel was one of those, huddled in her foxhole, curled against the rocky soil, snoozing as best she could as Shifty sat beside her, staring up through the trees with a soft gaze. The two sharpshooters had done a patrol that morning, on request of Winters, and had come back exhausted. It was a simple lookout to Foy, where the attack would soon be leading to, considering how long they'd been looking down on the town. The attack would hopefully let them then go back to Mourmelon, to showers, to hot food, to a warm bed, to a full nights sleep. To normal human necessities that you were deprived of out here.

Dinner that night was rather hilarious. Tab and Lizzie were having one of their funnier arguments about the movie Arsenic and Old Lace which the group had seen when it first came out back in September.

" The quote was, Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops," Lizzie told him, " Not that it ruins your family." Tab scoffed.

" I think I know the quote to one of my favorite movies." he argued back and Lizzie raised a brow.

" You thought Bambi was about the most innocent little dear turning into a savage." Lizzie said, " Of course it was about tragedy in life, Tab, but I won't fight you on it anymore."

" Elizabeth, come on, you were putting up a good battle for it." Tab said shoving her shoulder as Lizzie narrowed her eyes.

" I have a 101.3 fever, if the battle seems it is coming to the end I might end it." she said as Tab chuckled.

" It was ruin," Tab said to her as Lizzie shoved her shoulder into him, with a laugh as he shoved her back.

" You're ridiculous." she said.

" I think you mean amazing but go on." he said as Lizzie rolled her eyes.

" Maybe you just don't want to admit you're wrong." she said and Tab smirked.

" Yeah right," he said.

" Alright then, when we get back to Mourmelon, you request Arsenic and Old Lace and we'll settle this once and for all." Lizzie said, holding out her elbow to him. Tab raised a brow.

" I think this is where we shake on it, Elizabeth, not nudge elbows together like those old folks." Tab said.

" I'm sick, I don't want you sick from shaking my hand on a bet." she said looking at him with a nod.

" Ah, right, right," he said and nudged her elbow, " It's a deal."

" You two still on about this?" George asked approaching the two as he scooped out food from his tin.

" You quote movies all the time, George. It's insanity runs in my family, not runs my family right?" Lizzie asked him innocently. George chuckled.

" Yeah you're right why? Did this guy think it was ruins my family?" George asked looking towards Tab who rolled his eyes.

" Quite possibly." Lizzie said as George laughed.

" I think we might have to head out Tab and rewatch some movies. Allow me to educate you on analysis." George said taking a bow. Tab groaned shaking his head.

" You get me fixated I won't let up, you knew I was right." Lizzie said with a winning grin. Tab rolled his eyes again.

" I still think I'm right even if Mr. Hollywood right here thinks different." Tab said as George chuckled.

" You humor me, Floyd." George said as Lizzie laughed, finally peaking out from the fever and cold for the first time in a while. Both men looked at her.

" Don't look so surprised boys, it's called getting better because I'm actually taking time for myself." she said with a wide grin, " And I'm tried of lying in a foxhole."

" I'd be tired to." Tab commented and the trio laughed together joyfully that night. Maybe things were looking up.

" You sure you two are staying warm?" Catherine said softly to Hazel and Shifty who were curled into each other, exhausted looking but with small smiles on their faces.

" We're fine, Mack, promise, you go and get some rest, okay?" Shifty told her and Catherine smiled softly.

" I knew I could always count on you, Shift." Catherine said and Shifty smiled proudly.

" I'll see you two." she said, standing and giving a tiny wink to them before heading off through the foxholes again.

The lovely Lieutenant meeting, was different without Buck, and his usual comments filled with sarcasm, but Dike was not mentally there, even if he stood with his two boots in the snow. Catherine had barely managed a coherent answer from him for her reports and finally just shoved them in his hands before he left for Regiment.

She saw fear in his eyes.

Good.

Then a whistle exploded through the sky and Catherine's eyes shot up to the darkening sky that lie above her. An explosion went off right beside her and Catherine picked up her pace, racing forward as the imagination of fireworks left her mind and she was just escaping death's grasp by that point. She pushed a hand to her head, her helmet pressing into her skull, as an explosion caused her to turn off course and then stumble into the snow. Her face slammed straight into the icy snow and she inhaled dirt, debris and ice. The ground shook and she forced herself up from the snow, coughing out whatever particles were in her throat, hacking and hacking until it left her system.

" Get moving! Find a foxhole!" she heard someone yelling as she pushed herself, struggling to her feet, her legs shaking beneath her as through her blurred vision she could make out what she assumed to be Skip and Penkala's foxhole from a distance.

" Incoming!" a voice yelled, and she watched Penkala and Skip jump straight into their foxhole. She moved towards them and then stumbled and landed on her stomach, a coughing fit ensuing again shortly afterwards, as the air left her lungs.

In the haziness, she could see George through it all crawling towards the foxhole as dirt and debris and snow fell on him. Skip and Penkala were yelling for him.

If it meant she died and George got there she didn't care.

She needed to get him in the foxhole and continue down the line. Catherine slowly pushed herself to her feet, and continuing to stumble, seeing double vision all at once until she fell over her feet again, groaning as she landed in the freezing cold snow.

Skip and Penkala continued yelling for Luz, and then all the sudden they weren't.

Catherine's eyes widened as she landed on her stomach again, and began hacking. Smoke billowed up from their foxhole, with flame and sparks, and she watched in fear as it cleared. They were gone, as explosions continued off in the background.

Her heart stopped beating, her eyes went spotted black and she felt she couldn't get oxygen to her lungs.

She felt suffocated.

Skip and Penkala, who she promised to take them to the race tracks.

They were gone.

They were completely gone.

Her eyes welled with tears as she lip quivered, staring forward to where they had just been. Now, they were gone. They were gone. Those words would never make it to her heart completely, they'd hover around it like a bee, but never fully imprint on her heart that they were gone. Someone was calling her name. She felt a hand on her arm and vibration in her ear, but she couldn't hear, everything was so quiet.

But she could feel the ground shaking. She forced her eyes open and saw George looking at her as explosions went off around them. She looked at his lips. He was telling her to move and come on. But she couldn't hear him.

What was going on?

She and George grasped onto each other as they stood and Catherine faintly began to hear things again. George was yanking her along as they ran through the hell storm of German artillery.

Suddenly, George tripped and she fell next to him. He got desperate and began yanking her as her lungs filled with smoke and debris and she began hacking. She couldn't seen, she could barely hear, she was disoriented. Then she felt hands on her coat, pulling her towards whoever it was. She was smooshed against a body or maybe two. She began to hear things again, louder and she could feel her eyes opening. She was shoved against George with Lip's arm holding her close around her waist.

Explosions continued rattling off around them, and she felt so small, like on D-Day. She squeezed her eyes shut and burrowed herself into Lip's arms, curled in a ball, praying it would stop. Praying that what just happened wasn't true. Tears crawled down her cheeks, realization hitting her brain, her entire being.

They were gone.

Skip and Penkala, the two boys who always had a compliment, a joke and a smile.

Her heart went to Don and she let out a sob, but no one heard over the explosions that shook the world with such force. Another 2 souls lost to this war because they couldn't come to terms. Another 2 that wouldn't make it home.

" Muck and Penkala!" she heard George yell.

" What?" Lip yelled back.

" Muck and Penkala got hit!" George yelled to him and Catherine shut her eyes more.

It was a dream, it was all a dream she had to tell herself.

But it wasn't.

And there were explosions and death and injuries and fear and snow and biting cold. It was all real. Suddenly, as explosion blew over them, knocking Catherine backwards from Lip, which she hit her head roughly against the cold ground. She let out a cry, as her hands grasped at the back of her head quickly.

" Catherine!" George yelled, as he reached forward and pulled the girl who had lost her weapon and helmet into his arms, pulling her head into his chest, before covering his own with his hands, Lip and his body over hers.

Catherine was shaking beneath the two of them, as she grasped tightly onto George's jacket, her hands weak and trembling. It was a dream. It was all a nightmarish dream. Suddenly, it seemed to all stop, until there was a whistle. The trio glanced up and saw a dead bomb, smoking and lying there.

It didn't explode.

George was quick to put a smoke onto his lips and light it as Catherine lay feeling frozen against him watching the explosion with wide eyes. Lip took the cigarette from George's lips and placed it on his own. He didn't smoke.

" Thought you didn't smoke." George told him.

" I don't." Lip whispered. George muttered an, uh-huh and put another on his lips. Catherine was watching the dud. Skip and Penkala.

They were dead.

They were gone.

Catherine's heart was racing furiously inside her chest. She could remember it perfectly. She hated that she remembered it perfectly. Catherine just slowly let her head rest against on George's chest, gripping the front of his coat tightly in her numb hands and shutting her eyes. It had to be a nightmare. Lip eventually moved out of the foxhole; he had to check and make sure everyone was okay.

But Catherine couldn't move, she couldn't force her body to as she gripped onto George's ODs. So they stayed glued to each other. George didn't move as his eyes still watched the dud, and Catherine gripped the front of his coat curled against him. George slowly brushed at Catherine's hair which was a tangled mess as she laid against him. It soothed her, his surprisingly gentle touch on her head.

" Thank you, George," Catherine whispered, " you saved my life."

" You saved mine." George whispered back. She cuddled into him, praying for it to be a nightmare and for her head to stop spinning.

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hey, so yes another horribly sad chapter that pained me to write :( my heart just ached as i wrote it. thank you all for reading, voting and commenting, it means so much to me, and i know you all know that because i always say it :D