Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ １０２ － Ｌｅａｖｅ】

Chapter 102 - Leave

"This better be some kind of joke."

"No. No joke. The 13th head out soon, and this idiot wants to get it over with. Naturally I need to be there to make sure he actually gets to the right place."

Peggy walked out of the foyer of the hotel and out onto the steps where she stopped.

"You can't...you can't leave. The men...the men, they need you. You can't leave them."

You can't leave me.

"Peggy, for once, they don't. They have a good CO, good NCOs, well actually a great CO and brilliant NCOs. It's okay."

She whirled around to face Dick and Lewis and stamped her foot once to emphasise her point.

"No! It's not okay! You can't leave! I won't allow it!"

"Peg, there's nothing you can do about it-"

"I don't care. I don't care! You aren't leaving! Even if I have to slash the tires of every vehicle here!"

The only reason she was there talking to them was because everyone else was on a weekend pass.

"It's going to be alright. We made it through Europe just fine, and I never ever fired my weapon! The Japs will be easy and we'll be home before you know it."

Lewis really was trying. So was Dick, but neither of them were prepared to see her start falling apart on them.

"But it doesn't matter," she whispered, "because I'll be dead before you know it. I'm counting down the days at this point." They could tell she regretted raising her voice above a whisper, as she flinched when it caught in her throat. "My last sunny days, my last days beside the men I love, the men I was willing to give up my country for. And now you're leaving?! I-I-I mean I know everyone...everyone always leaves, but...but I kind of hoped it would never be you."

Her hands shook as she reached for the lighter.

Her hands never shook before.

They knew that, well, they'd never seen them shake.

"If we go now, we can end the war before any of the men have to ship out. Then you don't have to go back early. Then you can spend more time with them. We don't want to leave..."

Dick had managed to get close enough to her to wrap his arms around her. He didn't care about the cigarette, just that his friend was hurting.

"What am I supposed to do, Dick? Ron doesn't want me training with the guys, but there's nothing else for me to do than to go home and to die." She took a deep inhale, needing to feel the burn and the nicotine more than ever. "What am I supposed to do if you leave? I'll be all alone again and by god I don't think I can go back to that. I'd go surely mad."

They all moved to sit on the steps. Should anyone wish to go up or down them the three of them would be in the way. But Peggy didn't think about that. She thought about the men either side of her and couldn't imagine her life without them.

"It'll be okay Peggy. If it helps, think about it this way. I've only applied for a transfer, my application needs to be reviewed first, and then there'll be an interview. I'm not going anywhere for a little while."

Peggy nodded, and then nodded again as if to say she'd understood. She was quiet for a while, running the fabric of her drabs between her finger and thumb.

"Something's wrong with me, no please just let me talk. Something's wrong. Genesis is always there in the background, making so much noise. Whispering and shouting all the same. I can't always hear what she's saying. But she's there." Her voice had dropped to a whisper. Talking about this had made Genesis unhappy, which in turn made Peggy sigh and put her head in her hands. "Maybe she's why everyone leaves. I don't know. But I don't think my head should be as noisy as it is. And I'm so tired because there are hardly any moments of peace, because when Genesis isn't loud the ghosts are there to remind me of all the awful things I've done and all the things I should've done, all the things I couldn't do. It's like hating myself for them isn't enough." She hadn't meant to shout the last bit, and the sudden change in volume made everyone wince. "If there is a God they're a cruel bastard that's for sure. All loving and forgiving my ass. I'm sick of this torture."

Lewis let out a breath of a laugh at the God comment, and said he wasn't sure he believed in a God either. If He was all powerful, all knowing and all loving like they said, there would be no war, no pain, none of it because He'd stop it before it could happen. Right?

_

Not long left until the end now, then a very exciting and angsty sequel. I will upload to the Wattpad drafts in sections, then publish that entire section for your binge reading pleasure.