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

Changes

A/N: Hey guys. As you can tell, we are reaching the end of episode 10. I do have several more chapters ready that follow Ella as her story continues. But if you say "Oh gosh, no!", I won't post them and let the story end with the series, so...let me know what you'd like?

Easy Company was breaking up. Most of the guys who had enough points were getting their papers in order and travelled to England, from where they would be transported home via troop ship.

Those who didn't have the required 85 points were stuck in what felt like basic training all over again.

Daily close-order drills, PT, marches, rifle drills, hand to hand combat, squad tactics, map reading and orienteering, inspections of anything and everything that could possibly be inspected. Military curtesy and discipline were enforced again, even though all the veterans knew that would fall by the wayside again as soon as they were back in the field.

Ella once again held the first aid courses, mostly for the benefit of the latest batch of fresh-faced new kids, but with mandatory attendance for the entire outfit. As the battalion's ranking medic, she did most of the lectures and supervised the practical parts of the classes, but there were always a couple of her colleagues there to help and provide additional input.

The medics even presumed to deviate from the handbook when they knew from experience that a certain technique or treatment didn't work in the way the Army guidelines said they should. Often, they illustrated why something had to be done – or how it shouldn't be done – with anecdotes.

But in the end, the brunette boiled it down to one bit of advice: "You do what you can and you keep shouting for us until we show up so we can do what we can."

For the veterans, who had all these skills down pat from years of training and combat, going over everything for the umpteenth time, was unspeakably boring. And frustrating, since the newest replacements somehow struggled with things that the Toccoa guys could do with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their backs.

***

The days went by and August neared. The company was now billeted in tents they had pitched on a vast meadow. As usual, NCOs bunked together, Toccoa men bunked together, survivors of Bastogne bunked together.

Ella shared a tent with Johnny and Bull, despite having been offered her own private tent. She had discovered that sharing a bed, or a sleeping space, helped keep the nightmares – no matter if old or new – at bay.

After Grant had been shot, she had had trouble sleeping for days. She would jolt out a dream with her heart racing, terror clamping her throat and the sickening sound of the bullet penetrating Chuck's skull ringing in her ears.

She had visited him in the hospital numerous times before his evacuation to an Army hospital in England and while he had been weak, tired and unable to speak, his friendly smile had assuaged her worries. He had a long road ahead of him, but he would recover. After that realisation had finally sunk in, she had been able to sleep easier again and with the stress fading, she had returned to her cheerful, amiable self.

The young girl had also inadvertently started a company-wide prank war when she had put quark into Perconte's toothpaste.

The feisty Italian had never found out who had been behind the small practical joke and therefore, he had retaliated against the entire company by merrily switching duffel bags, causing utter confusion among the men as they tried to find the owner of the bag they had assumed to be theirs.