Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ２０ － Ｋｉｎｄｎｅｓｓ】

Chapter 20 - Kindness

The Normandy veterans had been given a two-week pass. Not to go anywhere, but to rest and recuperate. There was a lot of quiet reflection, some gambling and drinking to take their minds off of everything, and of course time to be thoroughly annoyed at the replacements.

Bull Randleman had done all of those. Winters had told him that he'd be assigned a squad – made entirely of replacements – once that pass was up. He wasn't sure he was looking forward to it.

In the evening, over the quiet noise of the barn, Bull could've sworn he heard something. He was hearing a lot of somethings but this particular something wasn't something he'd heard before, at least he didn't think so. Curious, he got up from his bunk having finished his cigar, and went outside. When asked where he was going, fora walk is what he told them.

There that noise was again.

It was still light enough to see, though the sun was stooping low.

Bull searched around the barn first, moving quietly so as not to startle whatever was making the noise. It sounded strangled so he couldn't make out what it was. But there was nothing to find. Then he investigated one of the smaller barns that had been dubbed Easy's mess. Still nothing.

So he decided to take a wander down the road, maybe then he'd find the source of the sporadic noise.

It went quiet for a while, and Bull nearly gave up.

But then he came upon a crumpled body in the road. They were sobbing uncontrollably to the point that they were in danger of hyperventilating.

Sergeant Randleman crouched by the body and found a girl...a woman?

"Hey, can y' sit up for me? Hey now, s'okay. S'okay."

He decided to pick her up, to move her to the side of the road, but when he went to set her down, she wouldn't let go, clutching at his shirt. So he sat, and positioned her so she sat in his lap, side on to his chest, and began to gently rub her back.

"Now y' gotta breathe, do y'think y' can? No? We'll do it together. Now we're gonna breathe in, yes, that's ri- no no. We're not gonna sob, we're gonna breathe in, and then we're gonna breathe out."

He softly coached her through breathing, and they were there for a long while but she'd managed to calm her breathing.

But she was shaking like a leaf in a tornado.

And it wasn't long before her chest was heaving and she was gasping for air again and he didn't know what to do.

"Hey, hey, it's ok. Come on, y' gotta breathe like we practiced. Think y' can do that?"

She nodded, and he smiled down at her. It was clear that she was really trying, that she really wanted to breathe – whether that was for herself or him he didn't know. Whilst her breathing was calming down, Bull tried to place her age. She could've been his age, 24, but also easily a few years younger.

Eventually she was breathing normally and hadn't relapsed into hysterics again. She was just quiet.

"Wanna tell me what's up?"

She looked up at him, and he swore she looked familiar but was distracted from trying to place where he knew her from by her apologising for crying on him

"Oh don't worry 'bout that sweetheart, you need t' cry, you cry. Y'up to walkin'?" He kept looking down at where she'd curled up against him, and she ducked away – shy – with a mumble of I don't want to.

He didn't know it then, but him telling her to cry if she needed to made her want to trust him more than anything. And there in his arms felt safer than safe, just like it had with her brother.