Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ８８ － Ｂｏｙｆｒｉｅｎｄ】

Chapter 88 - Boyfriend

Babe walked her back to OP-2 and tucked her up. Peggy made him promise to be safe, promise to get her if anything happened.

She cried into the early morning.

But quietly of course. She wasn't going to disturb the guys' sleep with pain. No no no. They needed the sleep just as much as she, if not more.

Peggy was up with the sun, and standing by the window wrapped in her blanket. She placed Joe's back on him, and made herself some vile coffee to drink as she looked out across the river. Her boots sat tucked under her bed, and she almost regretted it with how cold the floor was but she didn't want to be stomping around whilst everyone else was sleeping. So she sat up on the window sill, to get her feet from the cold floor. The windowsill was just brick wall really so was also cold. It was a precarious place to be actually. But she was just so tired. Too tired to care. Too done with life to care about her well being anymore. She'd surely die if it weren't for her friends, her brothers.

"If you aren't going to sleep you should go down to the mess and eat."

Turning from where she stared blankly out over the bleakness of Haguenau, she saw Don Malarkey.

Don offered her a hand, and she offered him a smile as she took his arm. As they walked past her bunk, she laid her blanket on it and scooped up her boots.

Her sharp intake of breath at the temperature of the stone steps led Don to drop her arm and just scoop her up. She was light as anything, and he was used to lugging around mortars and such. Peggy squealed as he did, but he just shushed her until they were by the door where he put her gently down again. He waited for her to pull on her boots and then took her arm again as they went to the mess to see what was for breakfast.

Peggy nibbled plain toast as she tried her very best to not squirm in Don's stare.

"Don, everythin' okay? You're starin'."

"You don't talk like you used to."

She shrugged and took another bite of her now cold toast.

"It's what happens when you spend like 9 months with Americans." He nodded absentmindedly. That was not what he'd wanted to ask. "Seriously, what's on your mind?"

It was quiet for a while, and she finished her toast.

"I'm worried about you, hardly eating and sleeping."

"It's just hard at the moment...I'm scared that if I take the time to do that that'll I lose someone else. I'm scared Don."

And finally it made sense. Sort of. She'd lost so much. Was so sick of losing that she'd risk her own health to make sure she didn't lose anything else.

Peggy was not left alone that day. She was always with someone. And she ate meals, albeit small ones, and everyone was proud of her. Not that they said that. No one breathed a word about it.

She was fairly quiet until she found out about the second patrol. Then she was very vocal and they had to keep her from CP and anyone important. That resulted in her being kept with the guys preparing for patrol.

In that room she seethed quietly, not getting involved in any conversation, just glaring off into space. The men knew to just leave her to work through it.

Someone was passing out cigarettes, so she took one, wondering if the nicotine would quell her rage.

It didn't really do that much.