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

A Party and a Realisation

The party wasn't half bad and the brunette actually enjoyed herself. She smiled and laughed, exchanging pleasantries and making small-talk with all the people who had turned up. Her mother's friends and colleagues from work, neighbours and so on and so forth.

Thankfully, Isabel had somehow turned the "welcome home" party into a lively get-together where nobody really was the centre of attention, but everybody was having a good time.

The highlight, though, was definitely when Pat and Johnny Martin arrived.

"Hey kid, get your scrawny butt over here!", Johnny called over to her, grinning.

Laughing, Ella jumped into his arms, hugging him as if she hadn't just seen him a week ago. Then, she got introduced to the love of his life.

"It's so great to finally meet you", Pat enthused. "I've heard so much about you."

Eyes sparkling with sweet mischief, Ella joked: "Only the good things, I hope."

Johnny snorted and tousled her hair while Pat chuckled. "I only chose to listen to that", she replied, leaning in and winking conspiratorially.

"Good, because whatever Johnny's been telling you, he's exaggerating", the young girl said, shooting her friend a teasing smirk.

"Don't need to", he snarked back, grin tucked into the corner of his mouth, "stories are crazy enough as they are."

She snickered, brushing a few locks out of her eyes as a slight blush rose on her cheeks. "Yeah...you might have a point there", she allowed.

***

From where she was talking to Mary and her husband Callum, Isabel watched her daughter interact with the Martins. Ella was beaming radiantly and talking animatedly if her gesturing hands were any indication. She looked at ease and there was a sort of quiet confidence shimmering through. Isabel smiled to herself, happy that her child had found somebody she trusted blindly.

Pat wiped tears of laughter from her eyes as Ella, with Johnny's dry comments, told the story of when she'd had to treat half the company after a barfight had left them with shiners, bloody noses and split lips. "Oh my", she gasped between giggles, "you really had your job cut out for you."

The young girl grinned lopsidedly and, with a sidelong glance to Johnny, allowed: "They didn't make it easy for me sometimes." Feeling her friend's mock-outraged glare, she bumped him with her shoulder and added innocently: "But I still love them", causing Johnny to roll his eyes and loop an arm around her neck.

Despite the cheerful atmosphere and the friendly people, the small brunette eventually needed some space. Excusing herself from the conversation she was having with the heavily pregnant Mrs Oldman from next door, Ella headed outside.

The door closed and she was engulfed in a blissful silence. Sitting down on the porch, she leant her back against the pillar and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Only now did she realise how tensed up her muscles were. Rolling her shoulders a bit, she forced herself to relax. You've run around in artillery barrages and you get freaked out by a little party?, she questioned herself.

***

Ella didn't have to open her eyes to know who had come through the door. A smile played around her lips as a familiar presence settled down next to her. "You know", she spoke, turning her head and blinking her eyes open, "I do have my knife with me, so you don't have to worry."