The Soldier of Stars [1] - Band of Brothers

19 | the strength of ncos

" Not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies."

- Thomas Pane 

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Catherine eventually left the barn, on a mission to see the one and only Lieutenant Lewis Nixon. Catherine had only talked to Lewis Nixon on a handful of unfortunate situations, that put her in a position of 'oh I know geography' and 'wow Sobel's being stupid again', and she'd stepped in numerous times to try and clear the air between Nixon and Sobel. Supposedly, Sink had caught on, as well as Strayer and Sobel. 

So there Catherine was, on her way up to Strayer's office, where Nixon was supposed to end up meeting her, with new information for her. Catherine slowly stepped inside the huge home that had been converted into officer's offices. It smelled musty. 

Catherine slowly headed up the stairs towards where she had been told Strayer's office was when she nearly walked straight into Lieutenant Speirs, a mysterious, dark-haired man who ran a platoon in Dog Company and had been fiercely competent when it came to respecting the women of Easy Company, drilling the men of Dog Company about the importance of respecting all soldiers in the field. Whatever he had said to them seemed to stick because Catherine had yet to hear high nor hair from a Dog Company member.

" Sorry, sir." Catherine said as she stepped down a step to let the Lieutenant pass by. He offered a small smile, which might've been forced, but the exhausted look in his eyes said otherwise.

" Lieutenant Nixon up there?" Catherine asked him.

" Yeah he's up there alright, getting an earful from Strayer." Speirs told her, as she nodded, putting her tongue in her cheek.

" Right, sir, I would've suspected. Thank you." she said, and then turned and hurried up the few sets of stairs towards the office. As she approached, she could hear Strayer's voice clearly loud, overwhelmed and angry. As she stepped inside, she saw Lieutenant Nixon, leaned up against a sand table, fingers pressed tenderly to the bridge of his nose, looking rather stressed out as well. Nixon finally looked up when he saw the woman enter the room.

" Thank Christ," Nixon muttered through a smoke as she gave a salute and walked over to the two.

" Glad you're here, McCown." Strayer said looking back down at the map. Catherine nodded. She didn't have a clue why she was here, but she considered just going with it at this point.

" Let me grab something real quick." Strayer said, as he turned and moved towards the wobbly desk that was fixated in the corner of the room. Nixon pushed up from his bent position against the desk and approached her with a smirk. She raised a brow.

" What, sir?" she asked, a sarcastic tone flooding her voice.

" Get ready for this when you see it." Nixon said to her, as he placed the cigarette back on his lip.