Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ４９ － Ｓａｆｅ】

Chapter 49 - Safe

"Hey! What's the matter!"

It was too late. She'd already run off.

Guarnere turned around, searching the crowds for a familiar face, or even some ODs. He no longer felt so happy. Something was so wrong, and seeing Watkins like that, and then those women, made his stomach turn.

"Luz! It's Watkins. She...I don't know. She freaked out, saw that," he nodded his head backwards, and Luz looked over his shoulder, "and she ran off."

He knew this was serious the moment the radioman's eye widened to the size of dinner plates and the colour left his face.

"Shit! Oh god, fuck. You- I'll- You need to go find her, I'll go find Captain Winters or someone!"

Luz started to leave, but Guarnere caught his arm, he needed to know.

"What happened?"

Luz looked back to the circle of people, to where he knew women were being shawn like animals.

"That happened. To her. She had to, for information, but no one else would believe...You have to go and find her!"

And he was disappearing into the crowd, leaving Guarnere with more questions. Turning from where he'd watch Luz go, he watched the circle for a second before he couldn't bear it. Then he was charging in the direction Watkins had run in, hoping to God that she was ok, and that she'd run in basically a straight line in her distress.

Guarnere shoved through the crowds, he didn't bother to apologise or to ask for them to move. There was one thing on his mind, and that was finding Margaret Watkins. So he didn't care about what he was doing to get there, wherever there was.

He ran and ran through the crowded streets as they gave way to quieter and quieter roads. Then on the edge of the town he wondered had she really gone this far?

Slowing right down, he walked down the road, listening.

A sharp cry of Arrêtez! stopped him in his tracks. It was her voice alright, but she was so panicked. Bill started to look around, and found her in a ditch by the side of the road, curled up tight. She was shaking so much. So bad.

Slowly, he slipped down beside her, and went to put his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there.

That was a big mistake.

Her head whipped round, her helmet swivelling, eyes wide and shining. It was like looking at a frightened anima-

Margaret lunged at him, rifle in hand, trying to get him off her, screaming.

"Ne me touche pas! Lâchez-moi! Va te faire foutre!"

She was trying to hit him with the rifle. Christ, this was such a mess. Guarnere could never have imagined that he would have to wrestle a rifle out of her hands. But he managed it.

"Dammit Watkins! It's me! Fuck. It's Guarnere!"

"Ça fait putain de mal!"

He paused for a moment. What did that mean? He'd heard her say it befo-

"Fuck!"

...She'd just punched him. And it was a good punch too. He rubbed his jaw, before dodging another blow. Margaret really had no idea what was happening.

"Come on, Margaret, it's me. Can't ya see me? It's...It's Gonorrhoea."

"Je suis désolé. Je ne voulais pas, je ne voulais pas. Je devais..."

She was slowing down, just shaking, the fight leaving her. All she could do was repeat over and over that she was sorry, that it hurt. But Bill didn't know that.

He held her against him as she shook, as she cried and cried and sobbed, and he begged her to come back from whatever dark place she'd been drawn into.

"Please, Peggy, please. It's Bill, Bill Guarnere. Come back to me doll, please."

Something in her eyes began to clear when he called her doll, but he didn't see the rest of her coming out of her head as she buried her face into his shoulder and let it all out. Crying until she couldn't cry anymore, sobbing until she couldn't breathe. And then he helped her to slow it all down just by being there, grounding her, holding her close and still, breathing. For the first time in what felt like too long she could breathe, and she took in air in large gulps until he told her to try and breathe normally.

"Je suis désolé..."

"I don't know what that means, Peg. I don't speak French, I'm jus' an idiot who can hardly speak English."

After that, he took off her helmet, and threw it beside them, before doing the same with his. Then he went to stroke her hair to keep her calm.

It had the opposite effect.

She was screaming again.

"Tu l'auras pas! Non! Vous ne pouvez pas! Arrêtez!"

So he did just that, he stopped stroking her hair, and held her to him as she shook and sobbed and gripped his ODs tight.

They sat there for a while, her in his lap trying her hardest to keep it all in, and him gently rubbing her back as he quietly told her it was ok.

"We ain't gonna let that happen. I ain't lettin' it happen to ya again. We'll keep ya safe. You're safe now, 'kay? So just breathe. I'll keep ya safe."

Throughout that, her breathing slowed but he could still feel that her heart rate was through the proverbial roof.

And they sat, the sun began to begin its descent, and the air began to cool. The pair exchanged quiet words, him mostly reassuring her that she was safe – that she was okay – and her mostly apologising over and over.

"Dammit, will ya stop apologisin'! It's fine."

She went to apologise for apologising and he shushed her.

"Th...thank you Guar-"

"Bill. And anytime, doll. Anytime."

She giggled. The sound made him smile, and he thought that she'd be alright.

"That's not my name. I know you know it, I heard it earlier."

She was looking up at him now, face all red and blotchy and tired. Margaret looked exhausted really, no fight left. But she got off of Guarnere's lap, and flopped down beside him. She lent into him once she'd gotten herself situated.

"So ya knew it was me when ya punched me?"

"What?!"

She sat up and away from him, studying his face. A bruise was forming. She had indeed punched him.

"I'm so sor-"

"Cut that out," he smacked her hand away from where it was reaching up to fuss over him.

Margaret looked away, but didn't lean back into him.

"I...I could hear you. I don't know it...no. I wasn't sure if it was you. I...I couldn't really...see you."

Ah, he understood now.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he drew her into him, and gently ran his hand up and down her arm a few times. And they stayed there. She stayed in his arms, where it was safe. Where the hands couldn't reach her. Where the smoke couldn't reach her nose. Where the ink and the scissors couldn't reach.

_

Ngl, I'm seriously proud of this chapter and the last. I think they were one of my favourites to write.

Translations
Arrêtez - stop
Ne me touche pas! Lâchez-moi! Va te faire foutre! - Don't touch me! Let go of me! Fuck you/off!
Ça fait putain de mal - It/That Fucking hurts
Je suis désolé. Je ne voulais pas, je ne voulais pas. Je devais - I'm sorry, I didn't want to, I didn't mean to, I had to
Tu l'auras pas! Non! Vous ne pouvez pas! Arrêtez! - You can't have it! No! You can't! Stop it!