All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

47: Lake

"So what's your brother like?"

The question was met with groans all round.

"Luz, would you stop with the questions? Jesus," Johnny grumbled, resting his head against the window with a bang which must have hurt.

"What? I'm just wondering," Luz defended, and slumped back in his seat.

Posey, sat opposite him, couldn't fight her smile; whilst it was true that he'd done nothing but talk since they'd left Aldbourne, he was doing wonders to ease her nerves without even knowing it. As they pulled away from London and back into the countryside, Luz's chatter was almost as constant as the low rumble of the train beneath them and the gentle shaking of the glass on the windows.

"He's, um," Posey began, and had to clear her throat before continuing, "he's not very well right now. Obviously, because he's in hospital. But I also mean that he's not really himself. I'd thought that after I'd experienced some combat he might loosen up a bit but he hasn't, not really." At the hard stare Johnny was wearing as he watched her, she rushed to add, "He means well, though. He's lost everyone in his crew as well as a limb and all of his toes, so he's got a lot to be down about. I think he just wants me to be safe, really."

Luz nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." He turned his eyes out of the window, where the sun was already setting and bathing the train compartment in a saturated orange light, before turning back to face her abruptly. "Say, -"

"Luz, you are gettin' on my last fuckin' nerve," Guarnere hissed from beside Posey. "You ain't even supposed to be here so can it with the questions, alright?"

Posey hid her smile in the collar of her ODs. As much as she didn't mind Luz's chatter, what Guarnere said was true; the only reason he was there at all was because he'd refused to stay behind. Even when he hadn't been able to wear any of them down into letting him come, he'd followed them. Posey had no idea why he was so determined to make the trip but she guessed it had something to do with making sure he wasn't being kept out of the loop anymore - he hadn't been pleased to discover he'd known nothing of Posey's visits to her wounded brother, so perhaps this was his way of ensuring that nothing of the sort could happen again.

Posey twiddled her thumbs once they had lapsed into silence once more, her mind racing a mile a minute as she considered how many rules they were breaking by doing this. Unable to help herself, she spoke up abruptly. "Do you think the others will be alright?"

"You two are just as fuckin' bad as each other," Johnny huffed, but he didn't look all that rattled.

"They'll be fine," Guarnere asserted, and his tone left no room for argument. "Long as Heffron can keep his mouth shut if one 'a the officers stops by the barracks."

Posey nodded, more to reassure herself than in response to the question. With every meter they progressed closer to Wiltshire she seemed to become increasingly conscious of how much trouble she could be in if anyone found out. Not only would the lot of them likely be court martialled - and she couldn't stand the thought of getting her friends into trouble - but if anyone found out who she was going to visit, it wouldn't take very much to unwind her great spiral of lies from there. All of a sudden she had the overwhelming sense that this had been a terrible, terrible idea.

"How long's the journey usually take?" Luz asked, looking between Posey and the sunset outside of the window in turn.

No one berated him for asking the question. Posey thought the others had likely been wondering the same thing themselves.

"Around an hour, generally," she replied, grasping onto the seat underneath her tightly. "Though at this time of day it'll probably be a bit quicker - they don't tend to run so many trains during the night."