Women of War - A Band of Brothers Story

Out of Control

A/N: Happy New Year, folks! I wish you all happiness and good health.

So, I was writing this chapter and it kind of went in a slightly different direction than I had originally planned. It sort of just wrote itself and then I had this moment like 'oh no, I made myself cry.'

Anyways, I apologise in advance and hope you still like the chapter.

Louise was checking her rifle for frost damage, sitting cross-legged by the fire, when they heard it. Their heads snapped up and they shared a glance of confused, hesitant hope. To paratroopers, there was no mistaking that sound.

"Those are C-47s." Disbelief coloured her tone. Could it really be?

Mampre slowly nodded his head, staring distantly at the puddle of melted snow surrounding the drying uniforms. "I think we're dreaming", he mumbled.

They weren't dreaming. Just like the men and women out on the line weren't, though at first they couldn't quite believe their eyes either.

The weather had finally cleared sufficiently for the planes to navigate accurately enough. In just over four hours, 241 planes dropped 144 tons of supplies to the besieged soldiers holding Bastogne.

Even many years later, Louise would be able to recall the exact moment it had properly sunk in with her that this wasn't some hypothermia-induced spectre. 11:51 a.m., 23 December, 1944. To her dying day, she would remember the huge bubble of relief swelling in her chest at the sight of hundreds and hundreds of brightly coloured parachute canopies filling the sky over Bastogne.

***

It was easy to get a jeep back to the line. Laden with supplies – mainly ammo and winter clothing – they arrived at Easy's stretch of the line under the cheer of the men.

"Well look who decided to show up!", Luz called.

"What took you so long?", Guarnere demanded, smirk growing as he gave her shoulder a friendly shove. "Got lost on your way home?"

She tsked and shoved back. "Oh ye of little faith." The big grin on her face negated any indignation her words might have held.

After many slaps on the back and jokes about showing up late, Louise extricated herself from the cheerful welcoming party so she could report to Captain Winters.

"Make yourselves useful instead of just wasting air", she said, motioning to the supplies. "This stuff doesn't distribute itself, you know?"

At the battalion CP, Winters and Nixon greeted her with the same air of relief as the rest of the company. "It's good to see you", Nixon said.

"Thank you, sir." She smothered a burst of coughing in the crook of her elbow.

"Are you alright, Fields?", Winters asked, his light eyes studying her intently.

"Yes sir." Shifting her weight and tucking her hands under her armpits, Louise began her report.

They had been sent to scout the terrain, find the enemy line and eliminate the sniper they knew the Krauts had somewhere on that stretch of the line. Preferably without being spotted and while taking out as many enemy soldiers as possible.

"The mission resulted in 9 confirmed kills, sir. Including two snipers", she finished.

Nixon's eyebrows shot up. "Two snipers?", he repeated sharply.

The Brit confirmed. "Yes sir. That's why we were delayed. I couldn't dispatch the first sniper without revealing our position to the second one."

Their intelligence officer grumbled something about unreliable intel under his breath while Winters asked how she had solved that issue.