The Soldier of Stars [1] - Band of Brothers

54 | a medic's return

" The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rate and beautiful of all."

- The Emperor, Mulan

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Liebgott was being pulled from the line and he was angry it was him and not the sick and crippled Hazel Parker.

Hazel never got the chance to say good bye when he left, because after the hug, he had gone to the aid station and Gene had come and been the one to tell Hazel he was being evacuated back to England to heal for a bit and Hazel felt her heart sag, knowing her best friend wasn't by her side. The days after the battle at Crossroads were growing shorter, colder and everyone was irritable and Hazel's sickness progression had taken quite the turn. She woke up hacking up mucus one night in the barn, and then proceeded to cough for the rest of the night every few seconds.

Hazel eventually stood up and walked outside the barn and sat her bottom down in the early morning, before the sun was even up and stared glumly out at the slightly dark, but slowly growing light sky. She slowly reached in to grab the Star of David and gently brushed against it's warm surface, heated up even more from the persistent fever and gently pressed her lips to it, as her bottom lip trembled.

No.

She refused to cry because she were miserable. She felt it was the numbness by now. Crying was too vulnerable and too weak for a war like this. In all her time of being sick and feeling horrible, she had refused to cry and put up the strong facade that she lived by. Hazel coughed again and then let out a tiny whimper, just wanting to stop coughing for 5 minutes.

" Thought I heard you out here." a voice said and Hazel looked over to see Lip there. She knew he'd be the one to follow her out here. He always was making sure she was ok.

" Hi, Lip." she said as he slowly moved over to sit down beside her up against the barn. Lip looked out at the sky which signaled the sun would be rising soon. He glanced over at Hazel who was struggling on too many levels right now.

He knew.

Everyone did.

War was horrible.

There was no way around it and he had seen her brave face through Normandy, but it seemed her breaking point was nearing. Between seeing Lizzie get injured, getting sick, going through Holland with low morale, watching her best friend get evacuated and now a turn on her sickness, she was miserable.

That's when she broke, and a tiny sob escaped her lips. She put a shaking hand to her lips and she let Lip pull her into his warm side in the darkness of the morning as she coughed again. Her cries were so weak sounding and she felt so ungodly horrible and upset. Lip's arm over her shoulder was warm and comforting and she had never felt more secure in his arms. Lip's tight squeezes made more tears well up in her eyes as she grasped onto the front of his ODs.