Band of Brothers || To Hell And Back

Chapter Eight: More Lies

"What?" Elle asked in shock and looked at Nixon who looked obnoxiously pleased with himself.

"Come on, do you really think you were hiding the fact you're a woman from me?" he asked grinning and Elle could not think anything reasonable.

"What?" she said again and Nixon laughed at her dismay. Elle stared into his eyes and wondered how long he had known her secret and more importantly, did he know who she really was. Nixon was grinning and Elle reasoned he wouldn't be so amused if he knew her real identity.

"You're not really as good actress as you think you are", Nixon kept chuckling and Elle frowned. She felt slightly irritated Nixon had not bothered to tell her that he knew until now. 

"Does anyone else know?" Elle asked. She was anxious and definitely not so confident anymore. If Nixon had figured out her secret, it meant Elle had done a whole lot worse job with pretending than she had thought. 

"I don't think so. I realized it after the first week", he shrugged.

"How?" Elle asked curiously. If she knew how Nixon had known, she could have a shot to keep her secret from the others.

"I'm smarter than you think", he said lightly. 

"That's not an answer", Elle frowned and glanced angrily Nixon who still seemed amused. Elle, for one, wasn't amused even the slightest bit. 

"I just knew it. You know, it was pretty easy to figure out based on the way you look and talk", Nixon explained and Elle nodded. She had hoped Nixon would have given her something more concrete, something she could have done differently but there were simply some things she could not fake. Elle had accepted it when she had first joined the military.

"Why do you think Sobel knows I'm a woman?" Elle asked suddenly when she remembered where this whole conversation had begun. As long as Elle knew, Sobel had absolutely no clue that she was a woman and she wanted it to stay that way too. She was interested in finding out why on earth Nixon thought Sobel knew. 

"He stopped hazing you", Nixon said, looking now very serious and straight into Elle's eyes, "it just makes everyone wonder why he all suddenly decided to stop it unless something happened."

"Don't you think he would've just get me discharged if he had found out? I'm not exactly his favorite", Elle sighed. 

"I was just wondering if he thought it as an opportunity. You know, all this lonely nights here in the base", Nixon said looking uncomfortable. Elle wasn't entirely sure what exactly he meant.

"Are you saying you think I have sex with Sobel and in return he keeps my secret and leaves me alone?" Elle asked confused. 

"Well, yes. What he's doing is really wrong, you know, to put you into that kind of position. So I just wanted you to know if you need help, just ask it and we-", Nixon started but Elle stopped him before he could continue any further.

"I'm not having sex with Sobel", she said firmly and let her disgust be shown in her face. The whole idea was outright disgusting and she thought if Nixon really kept her as that kind of a woman. Though, he had looked and sounded worried rather than judgmental and it was quite touching.

"Then why has he left you alone?", he asked and when Elle did not answer straight away, he continued, "come on, what could be worse than having sex with him?" Elle thought if she had any possibility to lie her way out of this but considering the fact she was associating with Nixon, she was running out of choices. Though, would telling the truth be that bad? Nixon had known her secret for a long time, proving he was capable of keeping secrets. He was also probably the most laid-back person Elle had ever met.