Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ４４ － Ｃｏｃｏ】

Chapter 44 - Coco

When you're loud and boisterous, you don't always notice the quiet ones getting quieter.

But they're usually ok with that.

Bull had noticed that since their last near jump, Margaret had grown quieter again. More withdrawn. And he decided to broach the subject with her when she was setting up a game of Patience for him. He was getting quicker.

"I'm fine, really," is what she'd said. Then she swiftly turned the conversation around.

"You're getting good, much quicker. You can see the board, so to speak, as a whole." She smiled as if he hadn't just questioned her. He couldn't know that everything was bothering her. That everything felt wrong. How could she express her desire to both run away from everything and to never be alone again ever?

It was fine.

She'd be fine once they jumped.

Luz had raided her footlocker once or twice and started distributing scarves for her.

The guys had grown used to the gentle click of her needles, and Bull was listening to the steady sound as he turned cards over and moved them around her bed.

September had rolled around, but no one had told the weather yet. It was still warm and sunny, though the breezes held hints of an autumn chill.

It was on the 2nd that she felt the first note of autumn. At least that's what she remembered.

But she was absolutely pissed and toddling back to barracks in the middle of the night.

That night, Bull had dragged her out. Yes. Bull. He was still concerned. But they got her absolutely smashed.

Man, her feet hurt in the morning and she could not remember why. Surely she hadn't danced that much.

Oh. Oh god.

Someone let her on a table again.

Why?!

Absolutely pissed, she was whirling round the pub, mostly dancing with herself. There was no music really, but it was fun. Then Roe was practically lifting her off of a table. How'd she even get up there?

Tab was charged with keeping her on the ground for a bit, so to humour her, he danced with her and asked her repeatedly how she wasn't dizzy and how she still had the energy to keep going. All Margaret could do was laugh.

But soon she wore Tab out and he had to switch with someone else.

At least she was starting to slow down.

Bill Guarnere got pushed in her general direction and he had to hold her arms to her sides to get her to stay still for a minute.

"Why're you so grumpy all the time?"

He didn't mind her so much when she was pissed. She was less bitchy and just...kinda free.

And she danced like a dream.

Yeah, she wasn't so bad.

"Hey! Tell me! Why're you always got Grumpy Pants on!"

That made no sense.

"What the hell're ya even sayin'?"

"Stop being so grumpy! Take off the Grumpy Pants! Smile! No. Don't. I bet you've got a nice smile and that's not fair."

He stopped her there, and started heading for the door. However Margaret had other ideas, she dug her heels in – well tried to – and she whined and pulled and did everything you'd expect a child to do except throw an actual tantrum though she looked close to it.

But Guarnere won in the end and managed to get her out the door. He was taking her back to sleep it off.

The night air hit her full force and boy it was cold.

Margaret wandered after Guarnere, before she looked up at the sky and saw the moon. A full moon. Big and round and pale and beautiful. It was so beautiful that she was halted. Her feet would not move, and all she could do was stare at that moon.

It made her sigh.

"Oh, Coco. They'd've given you the world once, had you asked it. They would've fetched you the very moon, plucked it from amongst the stars. Now look at us. It's that same moon. From that night. Would you remember? How could you forget?"

Margaret was just muttering to herself really, and she felt as though she'd been transported to another world by the pale and soft moonbeams.

A voice broke her out.

"Who's Coco?"

Oh. She had thought Guarnere would've just continued on, not really bothering to check if she was there. Apparently she was wrong. But his question. She'd have answered him any other question, just not that one. Suddenly she wasn't floating anymore, and it was a lot less fun. It made her throat tighten and her chest squeeze. Margaret turned from the moon to him, and then back again to the moon before she answered.

"I...She's...was...someone I knew once."

Still she gazed at the moon, and she heard him come closer.

"You're Coco, ain't ya?"

Shaking her head, Margaret took a deep but shaky breath, and willed herself to remain neutral.

"I...How-? No. No, we're...she and I are different. She is yet to see what the world, what the war can really do, what it really costs. She's sweeter, more..." her voice dropped to a whisper for one word, but he didn't hear it. "Hair was longer than mine was befor-"

"Hair can be cut."

Clenching her fists and biting her tongue before something she'd regret slipped out, Margaret wrenched her gaze from the soulful moon to stare at Guarnere. And she stared hard.

"We are not the same."

Her voice shook and she hated it. So that was all she said before she walked past him and into the barn, into her bed where she'd stay well into the next day.

The rain on the roof was soothing, though not really for her head. For her heart.

_

Hello! So if Genesis is in your library you will have noticed that I published a load of chapters today. I logged into Wattpad this morning and saw that some of the chapters I'd published were saying they were drafts sonI had to republish them. Xx