Women of War - A Band of Brothers Story

A Long and Miserable Night

A/N: Hello everybody and welcome back to another chapter :) Thank you all very much for your votes and comments, I really appreciate them.

I'm quickly posting this chapter before I have to go get the second half of my wisdom teeth removed which, if it goes as well as last time, is unpleasant and leaves me looking like a one-sided hamster for a few days, but isn't that bad overall.

Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas, wishes, requests...

Easy traded fire with the enemy for the better part of the afternoon while they worked on fortifying their position for the night. The distant rumble of thunder that had accompanied them all day developed into an all-out thunderstorm by the time darkness fell, pouring a never-ending curtain of rain onto them, the raindrops falling so quickly that they looked like strings.

Huddled in sludgy foxholes they had dug along the roots of the hedges, the soldiers prepared for a cold, long and miserable night as the wind shook the branches and their soaked ODs clung to their skin.

Catherine shifted as lightening split the sky, a clap of thunder rattling her bones only a few seconds later. Finding a position that satisfied even the loosest definition of comfortable was completely impossible. She was wet, cold and sore. Dirt was itching on her skin and her innards were apparently trying to strangle each other.

Cold mud hit the back of her neck and trailed down her collar as Blithe climbed down from the dyke to settle into their trench.

Johnny Martin, the other occupant of the foxhole, spared the absent-minded blond a short glance before glaring sullenly into the rain-swept distance again. "What have they got to sing about?", he wondered, resentment against the Krauts ringing loud and clear in his clipped tone.

The Germans had started singing in their trenches about an hour ago, each song seemingly more disgustingly upbeat and cheerful than the one before.

The ranking medic blinked rain from her eyes for the umpteenth time, blowing out a frustrated huff. "Don't know", she replied bitterly, asking sarcastically: "Want me to ask Mia?"

He bestowed his unparalleled bitchface upon her to communicate just how unamused he was. She responded with an equally quelling look before clamping down on her own frustration and irritability, grimacing at her intestines' attempt to imitate an anaconda.

Johnny suddenly whipped his head around, his rifle immediately at the ready when he caught sight of movement up on the dyke. Foliage rustled and he snapped: "Flash!"

The dripping wet and outrageously chipper figure of Lieutenant Welsh slid over the crest and down next to them. "Thunder", he drawled with a smirk. "Catchy tune, ain't it?"

Relaxing his stance and sitting back down again, the sergeant bit back a caustic barb. "Hey Lieutenant. What's the news?"

"Same as it was this afternoon", Welsh said, looking pensively over to the opposite line. "They're in their hedgerow, we're in ours."

Catherine heaved a sigh after a glance at her watch, climbing to her feet. "They seem to be having a grand time of it, too", she remarked peevishly, suppressing a shudder as the change in position caused another icy trickle of water to run down her back. "I won't be long, just going to check in with the others."

***

Roe and Mia were doing rounds tonight and she wanted to get a sitrep from them. Already during field exercises in basic training, the medics had gotten into the habit of checking on the men each night when they were dug in.