Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ７０ － Ｉｎｉｔｉａｌｓ】

Chapter 70 - Initials

The next few days were very much the same, and in terms of activity levels, fairly relaxed. Once a day, Lieutenant Dike made the company parade around in the freezing cold. But after that, the men of Easy Company were left mostly to their own devices. And so they gambled, and they watched movies when they were on, and most were getting quite excited about being on R&R for Christmas.

Peggy didn't recognise many of the Christmas songs, and she wasn't particularly looking forward to Christmas. It wasn't that she didn't like Christmas, she just hadn't been able to look forward to it or celebrate it for so long, it just wasn't natural to get excited anymore.

In the days that followed the 10th of December, Peggy was quiet and withdrawn, leaning on her closest circle of friends more than ever – though this was a fairly large circle. Anyone who even cared an ounce about her showed support and tried their very best to cheer her up or at the very least, distract her. The men weren't world class secret keepers, so by the time Captain Winters returned from Paris, the majority of the men had an idea what had happened.

Buck Compton and Lewis Nixon returned on the evening of December 12th and 13th respectively.

Peggy was very happy to see Buck.

She said hello, and hugged him tight – surprising him – before he had a chance to report to Dick. Later that evening, Buck saw her again and she could tell he knew. It was in his eyes. He felt sorry for her. She didn't like it but had grown used to it pretty quickly as many of the others had only been able to be sorry for her. It wasn't the end of the world, and he hugged her tight – surprising her – and said he was glad she was alright after Holland.

Lewis Nixon came bearing a gift for her, wool as promised. Peggy sat and knitted him a scarf right away in Dick's office, but only so that Lewis would stop loudly complaining about how cold it was. The men she shared quarters with were glad to hear the gentle click clack clicking of her needles once again. A replacement or two complained, but were shut down by the others, telling them that Peggy's makin' those for you, so you don't get so cold – if you don't want one, complain away.

The quiet noise from her needles was very familiar, and felt almost safe. They knew that they were making something for a member of the company, that Peggy was doing something for them, to try and protect them from the cold. And never did they think they'd be so thankful – no winter clothing had arrived thus far and everyone was freezing their arses off whenever they went outside.

She decided to surprise Alex Penkala with a new scarf, using the last bits of red wool to attempt to stitch his initials into one end. It was a thank you because he had been there for a lot since he first found out, more than she could have ever expected as she hadn't really interacted with him much as anything other than a part of a trio. It also meant that his old scarf could go to a replacement.

He loved it. Even though the A.P. was very messy. She had to give it to him privately or everyone would clamour for them. They still did. But she couldn't do it, as there was no more spare little bits.

Unfortunately, she ran out pretty quick, and decided that when she could get permission, she'd head to Reims to buy more so that every replacement would have a scarf before they moved out again in March.

It had been decided that, on the 18th of Decembe, Peggy would be introduced to Lieutenant Dike. She wasn't told this, but the date was originally going to be the 12th, and the reason it was pushed back was to give her time to process and try to get her head on straight. It would be in a controlled environment, with, at the very least, Captain Nixon there as well as Captain Winters. Welshy couldn't be there as he'd very recently been transferred to HQ Company, and Peggy already missed the brightness of his smile.

But it was not to be.

On the 16th of December 1944, German armoured divisions broke through the American lines in the Ardennes Forest, and the division were being sent to defend the town of Bastogne.

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In my Google Docs, the initials are in red, but that didn't work in Wattpad and I am sad because of it. Sorry I forgot to update yesterday, I was fighting the big sad by obsessing over Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves