A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

SIXTY FIVE

Their numbers dwindled daily. Of the one hundred and thirty enlisted and officers who jumped into Holland a month earlier, they had only about a hundred left. Easy Company had been spread too thin. They'd lost Buck and Lieutenant Hudson to injury. Dukeman had been shot straight through the heart. Two dozen other replacements had been killed or wounded in action.

Most recently, Bill Guarnere himself had been taken off the line with a bullet wound to the leg and a fractured tibia. Of course, he'd also taken shrapnel to his butt, which the company wouldn't let him live down. He became casualty number three of Easy Company to be "shot in the ass." First Popeye, then Buck, and now Wild Bill, ol Gonorrhea himself.

As Alice lay awake in her bed in the room adjacent to Nixon and Dick, she just snuggled closer to the comforter. Tonight she would be accompanying some of Easy on Operation Pegasus. A few days prior, Colonel Sink and Major Strayer had met with her, Nixon, and Dick along with a British officer Colonel Dobie, to go over a rescue plan for some of the "Red Devils" stuck over the Lower Rhine.

It sounded feasible. Dobie had swum the Lower Rhine just a few days prior in order to make contact with the Allies on the Island. Alice had then managed to get in contact with a few members of the Dutch Resistance and further support the operation.

Moose Heyliger would lead, Harry as the main officer in support. They'd take six boats and make three trips to carry the one hundred and forty men back across. Alice had convinced them to let her come, citing the need for someone who could translate with the Resistance if need be.

A knock sounded on her door. Alice groaned into the pillow. She rotated in bed to face the door but refused to get up. Someone knocked again.

"Alice, get up!"

Nixon. He sounded as tired as she felt. Alice still refused to move.

"Alice, if you don't send some sort of signal, I'm going to have to come in. Dressed or not!"

She rolled her eyes but sat up in bed. Pulling the comforter around herself like a cape, Alice just stared at the door. As he warned her again through the door, she just smirked. Not a moment later, he opened the door and started leaning in the door frame. Behind him in the hall she saw both Dick and Harry standing, talking to each other.

Nixon was pulled on his jacket. He smirked at her. "Least you're dressed. I'd hate to see the scandal that would come out of me walking in on you otherwise."

"You would've liked that, wouldn't you."

At her very pointed joke, he froze in surprise, but then started laughing. It took Alice a moment to realize what she said. When she did, she put her face in her hands. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Nixon still hadn't stopped chuckling even as he put his flask to his mouth.

"Fuck you, Nix," she muttered. As he went to reply, eyes lighting up with amusement, she shook her head. "No! No, I can see you thinking. Stop. That's an order."

"You can't give me orders, you're a rank below me," he reminded her.

Alice just rolled her eyes and stood up from the bed. She slipped the pants she'd tossed on a nearby chair over her shorts. She could tell that Nixon was still there. Her body felt all warm from some mix of embarrassment and something akin to longing. She turned back to him after grabbing her jacket.

"I'm only a rank below you because I'm a woman," she said. Walking over to him, Alice pushed her arms through her jacket and smirked. "Just you wait, someday I'll be giving you orders."

Nixon scoffed with a smile. "Sure." He followed her out and down the stairs. They joined Harry and Dick at the bottom. A small circular dining table had scrambled eggs on plates and orange juice prepared. She looked at it in awe.