A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

SIXTY THREE

It took a full day before all of Easy Company knew she was back. Johnny had good fun bugging her about getting shot, and once Bill got wind of his antics, they went on for quite awhile. After dinner, quite a bit of Third Platoon and most of Second were assigned to one of the Island's borders. Five men from First had been sent on patrol including Liebgott and Alley. When Alice walked back into the barn after taking a stroll, she found it quite subdued.

At the far table, Dick sat with George, neither speaking. George had gotten ahold of crackers of some sort and muched away next to his radio. At the table in the center, Dukeman and Talbert had just finished a card game. A handful of other men meandered about, most from First.

Alice spotted Babe Heffron along the wall, sitting quietly and sipping at coffee. She hadn't spoken much to him, as she'd gotten wounded so close to when they'd jumped into Holland. But Bill liked the kid, so she wanted to make an effort to get to know him. Making her way over, Alice took off her helmet and smiled down at him.

"Lieutenant?" He looked up at her in mild confusion.

Alice smiled. "Just Alice."

She gestured next to him. When he shrugged and shook his head, she took up the spot to his right. His red hair looked more brown from dirt. She sent him a small smile.

"Babe." She took a deep breath and nodded. "Interesting nickname."

He let out a small laugh. "Yeah, ain't it."

"So, how'd you get it?""

Babe smiled and shook his head. "I ain't told any body yet. So unless it's an order?"

Alice laughed at him. "No, not an order." She pulled a ration bar out of her pocket and set to work on it. Between bites she just smirked again and shook her head. "Come on, why Babe?"

He started laughing at her. "Well, fine, but if I tell ya' you've gotta keep it to yourself."

"Deal."

Babe took a deep breath. A smile crept on his face. "Right, ok. So when I was a baby, my brother didn't know how 'ta say baby. So he thought my name was Babe. It stuck."

With a small laugh, Alice shook her head. "That's cute. I like it."

He scoffed. "Hey! Don't you be spreadin' that." Babe glared at her but then added a quick, "Lieutenant."

Alice shook her head with a grin. Her laughter wouldn't stop as she started snickering into the darkness of the barn. "Babe! I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Good."

Suddenly the doors flew open. Chaos erupted in the barn as someone started shouting. Alice and Babe both scrambled up. Between Lesniewski and Liebgott, Alley dangled on the edge of consciousness. Blood streamed down his face and bare chest. As Lipton, Dick, and the other men in the barn rushed around him, Boyle shot off to find Doc Roe.

Alice listened to Liebgott, who she noticed was bleeding from the neck, explain it had happened at the crossroads of the dike, she watched Dick Winters. She could all but see him work. His thinking stopped, however, when Lesniewski started blaming Liebgott. Alice wasn't at all surprised to see Liebgott snap back at him, given that Moe Alley was maybe Liebgott's best friend in the company.

"Lesniewski," Dick said, "send for Lieutenant Welsh!"

With a last glance at Liebgott, the man did as he was ordered. With that out of the way, Dick turned to Lipton. "Assemble me a squad."

As he did so, calling for First Squad to grab weapons and ammo, Gene rushed in. The men backed away to give him room. As Gene began to talk to Alley slowly and with care, simultaneously giving instructions to the men staying behind, Alice moved over to Dick.