𝙱𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙰𝙶𝙴𝚂, 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴

𝟎𝟏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄. 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

Dorothy had been tasked with deep cleaning the food hall, courtesy of Lieutenant Sobel. The man ordered the cooks to retire for the night, so that the only female in the airborne may 'do her god-given job'. It was degrading and insulting, but she couldn't stick up for herself- otherwise, he'd make the entire platoon clean the building through the night. And the last thing that Dorothy needed was her comrades to hate her even more.

His methods of punishment were beyond reasonable, and his reason for the punishment was almost always inapplicable. Dorothy never truly did anything that no other paratrooper would do. The Lieutenant from Illinois simply hated her existence because of her gender- or that is what she assumed.

"I really pray for whoever that man marries," She mumbled to herself as she used all her strength to scrape a hardened piece of food off the floor. She started the evening out with dishes, moving on to the tables, then organizing all of the plastics and silvers. He ordered her to clean after their nine o'clock training, and it was a lot more than she thought it would be. The medic could've sworn he placed rotten plates of food in storage and pulled them out specifically for her to clean.

She loved the army, she felt invincible. Considering not many women were able to prove their skills in a male-dominated program. The only thing wrong with it was that they allowed someone with such lunacy as Sobel to have such high powers. Having a sigh, she stood up finished with the floor- the last thing she had to do. Moving to pick up the bucket, a male voice terrified her half to death and caused her to kick the bucket filled with water.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Lewis Nixon announced from the doorway, with his usual flask in his hand. He took a swig as she rolled her eyes at him.

She picked the bucket right side up, placed it on a table, and grabbed herself a towel. "How long have you been standing there?" She asked him, throwing the towel onto the ground and using her foot to move it around.

He leaned on the door frame, "Long enough." He then moved his flask towards her, to which she put a hand up to say no. "Sobel's really got you on the shit list," He stated nonchalantly, mostly to himself, as he had yet to see the kitchen so clean.

Dorothy picked the towel up, "You're quite the observant one." She took a turn to scan the room, feeling accomplished for all that she had cleaned. If you had not seen the mess hall before, you would've thought it was not clean.

"Thank you, I am an intelligence officer after all," He chuckled, taking another drink. "Winters sent me to retrieve you from the dog house," Nixon informed her. Dorothy stopped looking around the room, smiling and giving a half-laugh. It was then that she noticed he was fully dressed in uniform, either he had never gone to bed or it was earlier than she had thought.

Her brows furrowed, "Mr. Nix, exactly what is the time?" She questioned him. She had placed her watch with her things in the barracks before training, not believing she would be cleaning up two years of grime and hardened gunk.

An amused smile found its way onto his face, "Well, Missy Lane, you'll be surprised to find that it is 04:50." He reached for the towel in her hand, "It's time we get ready to board the train."

Her jaw dropped slightly, "I've been cleaning all night?" Exhaustion suddenly fell upon her once she became aware that she never actually slept. "Asshole," She angrily murmured to herself.

"Yeah, I know. I will deal with him if he tries to say your work is inadequate. You go pack," He excused her, using one hand to place his flask into his pocket.

She began to walk past him, stopping just as she went out the doorway, "I've got to say, Mr. Nix, I think five in the morning is a new record for your drinking."