𝙱𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙰𝙶𝙴𝚂, 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴

𝟎𝟎. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐒𝐈𝐗. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧

Eugene was pulled away from Dorothy's side by a man in the third platoon asking for medical advice, so she stuck beside Luz who was more than welcoming to her. She felt comfortable by his side and somehow received less death glares and less whispers just while walking from the cafeteria to the platoon bunks. They talked like old friends, him throwing in some flirtation and her throwing in sarcastic comments. He enjoyed her presence, it was as though he had a best friend on a different level than the ones he had with the men. He had a feeling as though he needed to protect her from the other men's comments.

"Oh do you mind waiting outside my changing tent for me?" She asked him as they came to a stop in front of the first platoon's bunks. "I don't know any of the guys in my platoon," She excused, and that was the partial truth. But the other part of the truth was that she was scared to be left alone with them for more than a minute and didn't trust them to wait outside for her. Winters, Roe and Luz had been kind to her but everyone else avoided her and spoke about her in every sentence. Hell, even Perconte was hesitant to even talk to her.

George looked behind her at her platoon, "Be quick. I don't feel like receiving hell from Sobel today. I'll change fast and meet you there." She smiled at him gratefully, it was then that Dorothy decided he would be her closest friend in the airborne.

"Thanks Georgie," She said quickly, walking away from him. He tried to hide the smirk forming on his face due to the fact she called him Georgie. He didn't particularly like it, but he didn't mind her being the one calling him that. He sure as hell wouldn't let any of the guys call him that, it was a nickname that he only let his sisters call him.

Upon entering the cabin labeled E2, the loud laughter stopped and it went silent as all of them turned to see the intruder. Dorothy ignored their disgusted glances and judgmental eyes, focusing on grabbing her pt gear as fast as she could and getting the hell out of there. It wasn't that they intimidated her, but the fact that she didn't know any of their names and there were ten strange men in a tiny cabin with her.

It didn't take much to realize that the only bed with no one near it was hers, she quickly made her way to it. Avoiding all eye contact, she reached her footlocker and thankfully found a shirt and shorts folded neatly. Lucky for her she had worn her training bra to camp, of course she had normal ones and nice clothing with make up for weekend endeavors. The men had begun to start talking again in hushed tones.

A man with a longer nose and brown eyes somehow completely different than George's watched her while folding his uniform to place it into his footlocker. "So you're the new medic," He asked her, more like stated, but nevertheless he sounded nearly casual.

"Yes," She said wearily, looking down at the clothes in her hand. All the guys in the cabin had turned their attention onto her as she answered.

The man let out a breathy laugh, "I'm not going to bite. I'm Joe Liebgott." He nodded in greeting, placing his folded pants into his footlocker. Her lips pursed as she gave a tight smile and she nodded back, glancing around the room at all the men who had begun to stare at their interaction. They jumped back into folding their clothes when she looked at them.

"Dorothy Lane," She introduced herself. He nodded, not saying another thing after receiving a death glare from a man with crystal blue eyes. "See you around," She mumbled, hurrying out of the room. The slam of the door was painfully loud, she cringed but it went away when she saw George Luz standing outside of Second platoon.

His mouth formed into an over exaggerated frown as he jokingly hit the watch on his wrist, "Took you a little long in there huh?"

She walked past him and rolled her eyes, "Joe Liebgott was introducing himself to me." She said with uncertainty, Luz stared at her cabin for a moment longer, hurrying after her.

"Leib? Jeez," He said, heading to the tent with her. She gave him a curious glance.

"Why'd you say it like that?" She stopped abruptly just near the tent, causing wide-eyed George to bump into her. "You close enough there Georgie?" She teased him, crossing her eyes amused.

He rolled his eyes, "Not my fault you can't walk like a normal person. And Lieb is just a little unpredictable, good guy, but I've not seen him interact with the idea of a woman in the airborne."

Dorothy nodded, understanding where he was coming from, "Right, fair enough. Stay right here."

She went into the tent, changing into her pt gear quickly so that they weren't late. Luckily, the bunks were on the way to the meeting spot and the men were just leaving as she entered. So, the both of them weren't late. They walked in a comfortable silence, surrounded by the other men who gave her sideways glances.

Growing up, she never was one to care what people thought, that was why she became so popular- she just didn't give a shit. But, for some reason she valued these guys' opinions more than she thought. She didn't want them to be all sunshine and rainbows around her, she wanted to earn their respect and she would.

The lot of the company met at the bottom of Currahee, Dorothy close beside George Luz who kept poking her just to be pesky. He quickly stopped when Sobel came into view, "Alright you men of Easy company. Three up, three down."

And there they were, running up terror hill with their breathing louder than explosions. All the while, Sobel couldn't stop yelling things like, "How do you expect to live if you can't run", "Why am I moving faster than you, private."

It wasn't until a mile in did he seem to remember the new member, "You going to keep up Lane? Or should I send you back to help your mommy in the kitchen?" And that triggered her, she quite literally shoved past him, he stopped mid run and watched as she pushed to the front of the group. George Luz was pacing himself beside her and pushed himself to keep up, running up beside her. This motion set a sudden motivation through the group, a woman had put Sobel into his place twice already. She was the push they needed.

"Holy damn Lane," Luz muttered through his breath as they pressed on. She let a breathy laugh escape her mouth, she was excited to start a friendship with Luz, she appreciated his kindness and even if she didn't want him around, he seemed to want to be around her.