Disclaimer: I own nothing of Band of Brothers and the images I used, just my characters and story. In addition, I meant no disrespect to the real soldiers of Easy Company and I apologize for any mistakes whether it be historical inaccuracies or punctuation/grammar.
Thank you MelissaBarringer, SolomonReed, KellanFictionAuthor, BadBanshee, KarinaJensen0, Czemu_Nie_, and theroroz for voting!
And thank you Czemu_Nie_ and emmazetx for adding La Vie En Rose to their Reading List!
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Aldbourne, England: 1943
It was past midnight when Eliza arrived at the Watson's cottage after a night filled with music, drinks, and dancing. Eliza had the time of her life, celebrating with her comrades and the people of Aldbourne since she rarely had the chance to have fun back at home, being preoccupied with taking care of her family. However, what made this particular night so precious to Eliza was dancing with Winters. The night filled with the bright stars beneath them cast a beautiful glow, while a breeze swayed along them as they dance to the tune of Eliza's angelic voice. With her mind replaying the scene, Eliza realized that she has fallen for Winters. Falling in love would result in most women being relieved to acknowledge such a deep affection they have for someone. However, Eliza was not just any woman, since at a time of war, falling in love would be severely agonizing. With a sigh, Eliza made her mind to suppress her feelings, hoping to disappear. Oh, how fate was cruel to Eliza, since how can someone love a soldier, for fear of their untimely death at the hands of the enemy.
Eliza wasn't the only one to discover her feelings that particular night. After dropping her off, Winters walked alone in the silence of the night. During his trek, Winters couldn't help but think about the brown-haired medic that captured his heart. The moment that Eliza stepped into the hall, looking so lovely in her dress made Winters realized that she was the woman he only had eyes on, for no women in that dance hall would compare to her beauty and grace. It would be a lie if Winters admitted that he wasn't jealous at seeing Eliza dancing and having fun with the men. Though, Winters felt so damn lucky to be the man to dance with Eliza in the field because dancing under the stars with her left him breathless for her beauty shines among the stars. Not only was Eliza gorgeous, but her kindness and strong-willed personality made Winters fall in love with her even more. However, Winters knew that he couldn't accept his feelings since as a lieutenant, he couldn't have any attachments to his comrades. With a sigh, Winters continued his walk, damning fate for having to fallen for Eliza in the midst of war.
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Easy Company's stay in Aldbourne soon came to an end. Eliza was currently packing her belongings away, saddened that she would have to leave Aldbourne. She would miss the picturesque cottages surrounded by the greenery landscape, the nice townsfolk that would always nicely greet her, and the field that promptly became her haven. But most of all, Eliza would miss Mr. Watson, who would kindly make her delicious pastries and Mrs. Watson, who became a mother figure to her.
When Eliza finished packing, she went downstairs to say goodbye to the Mr. and Mrs. Watson. As she neared the last steps, Eliza saw the couple at the front door, with Mr. Watson's arms around Mrs. Watson's shoulders, comforting her as she wiped her tears. With a smile, Eliza quickly went to hug the couple who had kindly taken care of her. At first, the Watsons were surprised by her action but immediately reciprocated, as it may be the last time they saw the woman they've grown to see as a daughter.
"Thank you so much for your kindness and hospitality," Eliza stated after hugging the couple.
"You're very welcome, Eliza. Be very careful out there," Mr. Watson stated with a sad smile, which Eliza nodded in gratitude.
"My dear, may God watch over you. I've lost my daughter to this damn war, and I do not want to lose another one," Mrs. Watson expressed with tears rolling down her face. At the sight of her tears, Eliza couldn't help for her eyes to water.
With a final hug and goodbye, Eliza walked away from the cozy cottage that became her home for a year, and into a jeep that drove her away from the town that stole her heart.
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Upottery, England: 1944
Two full years of severe training had quickly gone by, and Easy Company settled in another English town, Upottery. During their stay, Easy gained another comrade, Lynn "Buck" Compton, who became an assistant leader for Second Platoon. Everyone in Easy grew to befriend Compton, especially Eliza as they became acquainted through Guarnere and Toye and their friendship grew due to their love of baseball. Meanwhile, the lieutenants rigorously taught Easy their objectives, which Eliza and the men were currently listening to a lecture from Lieutenant Meehan.
"---Linking Omaha and Utah into one continuous beach-head. Each trooper will learn this operation by heart and know his and every other outfit's mission to the detail." Meehan exclaimed.
"Lieutenant Meehan?"
"Yes, Dukeman?"
"Sir, are we dropping tonight?" Dukeman asked a question that was all in the minds of Easy's soldiers.
"When it is time for you to know, we'll let you know. In the meantime, study these sand tables, maps, and recon photos until you can draw a map of the area by memory. Now, we will drop behind this Atlantic Wall five hours before the 4th Infantry lands at Utah. Between our assembly area and the Battalion's objective, there is a German garrison. Right here in this area, Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. Easy Company will destroy that garrison."
Several days have passed, and the moment had finally arrived for Easy Company to jump. Eliza was busy packing her medical pouches with dressings, sulfur, morphine, and other necessary materials. Meanwhile, Perconte and Toye who occupied both spaces beside her were busy packing their weapons and rations.
"Three-day supply of K-rations, chocolate bars, candy, powdered coffee, sugar, matches, compass, bayonet, trenching-tool, ammunition, gas mask, musette bag with ammo, my webbing, my 45, canteen, two cartons of smokes, Hawkins mine, two grenades, smoke grenade, Gammon grenade, TNT, this bullshit, and a pair of nasty skivvies!" Toye shouted while throwing his skivvies, scaring the crap out of Eliza since she was preoccupied, making sure she had a decent amount of supplies.
"What's your point?" Perconte asked while Eliza glared at Toye.
"God! This stuff weighs as much as I do! I still got my chute, my reserve-chute, my Mae West and my M-1!"
"Where are you keeping the brass knuckles?"
"I could use some brass knuckles..."
"Hey Toye, you can have mine," Eliza stated as she threw a pair of brass knuckles to him.
"Where'd ya get these?"
"Just found them laying out, plus you would have more use of it than me."
"Thanks, Stardust."
As they continued to pack, Private West shouted the names of Easy's men, to deliver letters and packages.
"Sergeant Martin!"
"Hey, Vest, anything for me?" Toye asked when West neared them.
"Nope, but Eliza does." After a minute of ruffling through the many envelopes, West handed Eliza two letters.
"Thanks, West." With a smile, West continued his way to deliver the rest of the mail.
"Who are those from?" Toye asked as he finished packing his gear.
"My siblings and my friend, Jane," Eliza answered while ripping the letter from her siblings.
"Well, then I'll leave you to it. I'm gonna ask Guarnere how the fuck we're supposed to strap this on," Toye stated as he looked at the leg pouch, given unexpectedly to the paratroopers.
"Okay, if you find out how, please tell me."
"Will do." And Eliza was alone, left to read the letters from her siblings and Jane.
After a couple of hours, Eliza was looking for Toye since she still didn't know how to attach the leg pouch. From a distance, Eliza saw Luz, Malarkey, and Guarnere; so she decided to join them.
"Why are they springing these things on us now?" Malarkey stated with a grumble.
"It's just an extra 80 pounds strapped to your leg. Does anybody have any idea how the hell this thing works?" Luz responded while clutching a buckle of the pouch.
"Huh, I was gonna ask you the same thing. I'm guessing the rest of you guys don't know how to strap this stupid pouch," Eliza stated, making her presence known, while the men smiled at her.
"Colonel Sink," Vest stated to the group, whose attention diverted to him as they received a piece of paper.
"Soldiers of the regiment: Tonight is the night..." Luz stated, perfectly imitating Colonel Sink, as the group red the letter.
"..Of nights. Today, as you read this, you are en route to the great adventure for which you've trained for over two years," continued Luz, however in his normal voice.
"So that's why they gave us ice cream," Guarnere pointed out as he lifts a bowl of vanilla ice cream, which earned a laugh from Eliza.
As Guarnere continue to eat his ice cream and Luz and Malarkey tried finding a way to attach the bag, Eliza sat on the pavement floor and unclasped her necklace, staring at the bright star pendant. It would be a lie if Eliza stated that she wasn't afraid or hesitant to jump into Normandy, but staring at her mother's necklace gave her some relief and comfort.
In the midst of her thoughts, Meehan shouted, "Easy Company! Listen up!"
And so Eliza placed the necklace in her pocket and ran with the men to listen to the orders from the Lieutenant.
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After several days, the skies of England became brighter, so Easy Company was set to make their jump. Eliza was currently buckling her various bags and parachute, while the men around her were smearing the black paste on their faces or tightening their straps. When she finished, she went to the others at Second Platoon to wish them good luck.
"Oh hey Stardust, What are ya doing here? " Muck exclaimed as she neared the men of Second Platoon.
"Hi, Skip. I just wanted to wish you all good luck," Eliza stated with a smile. At her statement, the men smiled back and greeted her with luck, as well.
"Thanks, Stardust. We'll see you on the other side," Penkala expressed.
"Liz, stay safe out there," Liebgott stated with worry as he firmly gripped Eliza's hand.
"I'll try my best Joe," Eliza replied as she shook Liebgott's hand.
"Well, I'll be on my way. I still have to give First Platoon motion sickness pills."
After bidding Second Platoon goodbye, Eliza turned around to make her way to the plane that would carry First Platoon. However, when Eliza turned around, she accidentally bumped into someone's shoulder. When she looked up, Eliza saw that it was Winters.
"Oh sorry, Lieutenant Winters," Eliza muttered quietly, damning her nerves.
"It's okay, Corporal Clark. W-Well good luck," Winters mentioned as he shook Eliza's hands. But when both Winters and Eliza held each other's hands, they felt a spark.
Quickly pulling her hand away, Eliza with a blush uttered, "Umm, good luck Lieutenant, I'll be heading now to join First Platoon."
"Of course, goodbye Clark."
And so Eliza and Winters went their own way. Meanwhile, the men of Second Platoon were grinning since it was apparent to anyone that they had feelings for each other, so the men began placing bets on who would confess first.
After a couple of hours, Easy Company were ready and set to go. With final greetings of luck, Eliza and the men entered the planes that would fly them into battle. When Eliza was finally seated in between Blithe and Webster, she silently prayed for the safety of herself and the men of Easy. Minutes in the plane turned into hours, and Eliza tried to take her mind away from the jump by humming the tune of La Vie En Rose, the same song Eliza sang when she danced with Winters. Eliza learned the song from her mother, who would always sing it as a lullaby when she was younger. However, the song couldn't suppress her worry-filled thoughts of jumping out of a perfectly functioning plane, while facing the chance of dying from enemy fire or a malfunctioning parachute. Not only was she afraid of dying, but Eliza was worried about her siblings, who would suffer more from her death since they already lost their mother and their father was in a coma. With a sigh, Eliza reminded herself that it wouldn't do good to dwell on her fears since it would get in the way of what she was supposed to do, for it was her duty to jump and aid her comrades when wounded. But the hardest thing for Eliza to accept was that if she died, she prayed that God would help her family and friends to continue living.
The hard rocking of the plane and the loud rumblings waked Eliza from a nap, she desperately needed. After rubbing eyes, Eliza saw the dark sky filled with bursts of light, which became a clear sign that the plane was nearing the drop zone. When the light turned red, Eliza and the men quickly stood up and hooked their buckles. After going through equipment check, the plane suddenly jolted, causing Eliza and some of the men to lose their balance while the bursts of light became clear that it was enemy fire. As the plane flew further, Eliza hoped that the damn light would turn green since the aircraft kept jolting and bullets were ricocheting. Unfortunately, the airplane had taken so much damage that the pilots decided to drop Eliza and the men much farther from their drop zone.
Once the light turned green, Eliza was out of the plane and falling onto the battlefield. As she hovered, Eliza saw flames blazing in the dark sky and bullets shooting towards the paratroopers. Not only was enemy fire concerning, but high winds were directing the landing of the parachute. The wind carried Eliza's parachute into part of the field where trees were abundant and cursing her luck, Eliza landed into the thorny branches. As she fell into the trees, Eliza acquired many splinters, a deep flesh wound on the side of her abdomen, and a sprained ankle. The pain from falling into the trees took all the will-power of Eliza not to scream so that she wouldn't attract any more enemies.
When she finally reached the ground, Eliza quickly took off the straps of her parachute and limped to a shrub. As she sat on the grass, Eliza checked the gash on her stomach, grunting in pain, as she moved to grab some sulfa and gauze. In the midst of tending her wound, Eliza heard two German soldiers nearby, so she stopped what she was doing and cowered further into the bush. As they neared her hiding spot, Eliza placed her hand onto her mouth to mute her grunts and heavy breathing. Fortunately, after several minutes, the German soldiers turned around and went on their way.
"Oh thank God," Eliza stated with a sigh of relief. However, relief was short as she whimpered from moving her stomach and putting weight on her sprained ankle when standing up. Eliza decided to go the other way of the German soldiers since staying in one place wouldn't be safe.
After limping for several minutes, Eliza made it into a clearing and spotted two soldiers. As she closely walked to them, Eliza saw the familiar paratrooper uniform.
"Flash!" Eliza shouted, gripping her wound as blood was seeping from the bandages.
"Thunder!" The two soldiers replied, walking closer to Eliza. When she saw that it was Winters, Eliza was glad that he made it safe and unharmed.
"Lieutenant Winters," Eliza greeted with a smile, even though she was in immense pain.
"Corporal Clark, it's nice to see you, this is Private Hall," stated Winters as he pointed to Private Hall, who was currently taking his parachute off.
"Given the circumstance, It's nice to meet you, ma'am," Hall stated as placed his helmet back on.
"Likewise, Private Hall," Eliza responded, as she fell to the ground since she couldn't bear the pain of her sprain ankle.
"Eliza, are you okay?" Winters asked as he quickly went to her aid. As Winters helped her up, he felt something wet. When he brought his hand up for inspection, he saw that it was blood.
"I landed in those trees, so I got a deep flesh wound on my stomach and a sprained ankle," Eliza informed as Winters brought her left arm around his neck, to help steady her.
"Thank you, Dick," Eliza whispered in his ear, which Winters blush from how close she was. He was thankful that it was dark and his face covered with the black paste, so she wouldn't see him blush.
"It's not a problem, Eliza. Hopefully, we can get to the assembly area, so your wounds can be treated," Winters replied with a small smile.
And that damn smile made Eliza realize that she was doomed because, at the sight of Winters, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat.