A new medic

Chapter 12

"I ought to have you all shot!" Dick heard Sink's voice ring out of the old building that was being used as the offices of the regimental staff whilst they were staying in England. He turned his head slightly towards the voice but either it stopped talking or it had lowered because he could no longer hear. Dick shrugged to himself and then sighed as he turned back to the task in front of him; unloading metal containers of army rations and ticking them off of a clipboard. He was so bored.

Crunching boots on gravel made Dick look up again and he saw the NCO's of Easy Company. They were walking out of the building in a pack whilst placing their hats on top of their heads. Dick frowned slightly and turned, holding the clipboard by his side to face his men. Guarnere, Grant, Talbert, Martin, Lipton and Ranney moved into a single line and each one saluted Dick as they passed him. Dick, still with the confused frown on his face, saluted them back until Ranney had passed. Then, with one last look at his men, Dick turned and studied the clipboard once more.

"Here they come!" cried Luz from where he was standing next to Jess. She turned her head and saw Guarnere and Lip walking over towards the chair where she was sitting. "Where have you been?" Jess rose and hugged the pair as they neared. "You ok Bill?" she asked after noticing the solemn expression on her friend's face. Lip and Guarnere looked at each other before sighing and explaining what had transpired in Sink's office earlier. Jess and Luz listened attentively with their mouths slightly agape.

"Let me get this straight," Jess shook her head slightly as she tried to understand. "Every NCO from Easy banded together, signed letters of resignation, handed them to Sink, risked being shot for mutiny and managed to all come through alive because of Sobel and Richard's feud that led to a completely unjust court martial?! Are you mad?"

"We had to do something J, Sink would never have considered replacing Sobel but at least now he'll be thinking about it," explained Lip. Jess shook her head once more but grinned before giving Guarnere a sisterly kiss on the cheek. "I shoulda realised you idiots would do something like that," Lip and Guarnere laughed along with her before Lip left to meet Martin and Bull.

Guarnere and Luz were still with Jess when Nixon came to find her. The pair were playing a game of cards whilst Jess acted as a spectator and peacemaker. "There you are Jez," Nix greeted her with a smile and his brown eyes shone with excitement. Jess stood up again and, with a curious expression on her pale face, followed Nix outside where the sun was shining once again after a period of heavy rain. "What is it, Lew?" Jess asked once her friend had stopped walking and turned to face her. Nix's face seemed to glow with mischief and Jess felt apprehensive about what his answer was going to be. "I've just been informed that Easy's leadership crisis has finally been acknowledged and resolved by Sink." Jess tilted her head in curiosity and waited for Nix to continue. "Sobel has been reassigned to some jump school near here, Easy is now under the control of Lieutenant Meehan from Baker Company."

"Seriously?!" Jess couldn't believe it. "Is Sobel really gone?" Nix nodded and Jess grinned before launching herself and giving him a huge hug. "Whoa Jez," Nix laughed at her response, gently hugging her back before pulling away and looking into her eyes. "That's not even the best part," he continued. "The court martial was resolved and Dick is no longer a mess officer. He's back as Easy's first Lieutenant." Nix grinned even further at the triumphant gleam in Jess' stormy eyes. They shone with pride and love and Nix knew, no matter how bad things in the war got, as long as those two had each other then they would make it through anything.