Pitschen ma en gamba - Small, but powerful [A Band of Brothers Story]

Hinkel, Scissors and Boots

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for all your brilliant character suggestions. I have put them all on my list and I'll try to work them into the story. I won't be able to stick to the character descriptions 100 % (especially if they end up in other companies etc.), but I will do my best. Also, I cannot guarantee that all of them will survive... It's war, people die.

The story is far from ready for posting, but I just thought I should say this upfront. If you would still like to add a character or story-line suggestion, feel free to do so. As they say: Prompts / Requests are open.

Now back to the story at hand.

As they made their way back to their foxhole, Gene looked over at his young friend.

Her normally sun-tanned skin was pale, only a few shades darker than the snow. The bruise colouring her cheekbone was turning purple, the new scar on her temple fading to an irregular pink line. Her lip had healed. She had her arms wrapped around her midsection. Her cheeks were red from the cold and she had dark rings under her eyes.

Worst of all, she had lost weight. Albeit slim and wiry before, Ella was now hovering on the edge of being seriously underweight. But despite all that, her deep green eyes held their usual spark of life. Not for the first time, he admired her gift to smile in the face of adversity.

"Are you okay?" Her light, friendly voice pulled him out of his musings.

He nodded. He didn't need to vocalise the terror he had felt, the helplessness, the frustration. He was sure that Ella knew those feelings just as well, even if she didn't let it show.

Gene settled into the foxhole with a grunt.

"Who got hit?", Spina inquired.

"Penkala", he replied, shifting around to get a little bit more comfortable.

Ella gave Spina Colonel Strayer's aid kit. "Right, here, this is what I want you to do: I want you to take someone and work your way over to 3rd Battalion, alright?", she said.

The Philadelphian nodded.

"You know what we need", she continued, "bandages, plasma, whatever you can beg, you beg. Okay?"

"And get me some goddamn scissors, I can't get any", Gene chimed in.

Spina hummed to indicate he had heard his colleague and got ready to climb out of the foxhole, when Easy's ranking medic caught his gaze again. "And get yourself a hot meal, too, huh?", she added.

"Yeah." He hoisted himself up and went to find somebody who would accompany him.

As Spina's footsteps faded away in the distance, Ella turned to Gene. He had taken off his helmet and was running a hand through his hair, breathing heavily. She simply put a blanket over him. His dark eyes watched her, a silent question in them.

The brunette gave him a warm smile that by rights should have been able to melt the snow surrounding them. "Sleep, Gene. I'm taking over your shift."

Closing his eyes, he listened as his friend started humming a quiet tune, the melody lulling him to sleep. The last thing he heard before he dozed off was a soft whisper. "Dors bien, Gene."

***

Gene was woken by a small hand shaking his shoulder. Prying open his eyelids, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Ella was crouching at the edge of their foxhole, lips quirked up into a smile.

"Rise and shine", she said with a cheerful sing-song in her voice. "Dinner time."

He wiped a hand over his face, eradicating the last traces of sleep, and scrambled out of the hole. Absent-mindedly, he noted that their hole was now covered with a tarp.