All Things Nice » Band of Brothers

Deleted Scene: Bad News

Gene didn't know how he was supposed to do this. It was one thing to maintain a ruse for the sake of someone's livelihood, but outright lying to help fake a death? That was a different thing entirely.

As he curled in on himself in his foxhole, Heffron and Spina already fast asleep beside him, he pulled out the one remaining dog tag of Wells' he still had now that he'd given the other one to Winters. He felt his heart pang. She was braver than she gave herself credit for for doing this - he didn't know if he could have done it if he was her, any of it. Through her tears she'd kept her chin up and her shoulders back, declaring that she was leaving when she could have fallen to her knees and begged anyone who would listen to let her stay. Gene hoped she made it. She couldn't not make it. She had too much courage, too much life inside her.

He didn't know when he fell asleep but at some point he must have because he woke to Spina jostling his shoulder. "Breakfast," Spina said, and gestured with a thumb over his shoulder.

Gene nodded.

"What ya got there?" Spina asked, offering Gene a hand down as he climbed out of the foxhole. Heffron had already left, probably already standing with Guarnere in the line for food.

Gene felt himself pale, both at the question and at the thought of Guarnere. Wells had never said anything to him about it but he knew there was something between them; the pair of them looked at each other too long and smiled at each other too softly for there to be nothing more than friendship between them. How was he supposed to tell Guarnere what had happened?

Gene cleared his throat to answer Spina's question. "It's, uh, Wells' dog tag."

"Duckie?" Spina asked, his eyebrows furrowing together and his voice jumping in his confusion. "What you got that for?"

"On the patrol -" Gene began, and lost his voice. He'd already had to say it once to Winters but Nixon had been there at the time, encouraging. Out here he was alone to tell the tale, a Talthybius when they needed an Achilles, and he knew it would only get harder each time.

But Spina didn't need any further explanation. "Wells is dead?"

"Yeah."

"But he -" Spina shook his head. "She was a -" He cut himself off but he didn't need to.

A girl, Gene finished the sentence for him mentally. He nodded. A girl but still just as mortal as everyone else, even if she was still alive. He sent up a silent prayer for her safety, letting the sounds of Spina's regretful mumblings wash over him.

When they reached the chow line Gene's hands were clammy, and he tucked the dog tag away in his pocket to make sure he didn't lose it. He tried to brace himself to break the news; now was as good a time as any, especially with almost all the men gathered in one place.

His hesitation was cut short when Guarnere turned to him, his jaw clenched already at whatever the others had been saying - Gene guessed it was something about Wells and the recent revelation that she was a girl, but he didn't ask.

"Where's Wells?" Guarnere demanded, his eyes slitted, his voice gruff. Gene didn't think he was angry at him, he just thought he already knew.

"Wells is -" Where did his voice keep going? It was difficult not to shrivel up under Guarnere's intense gaze. Gene cleared his throat and tried again. "Wells is, uh - the sniper got her."

"What?"

"Out on patrol," Gene explained hurriedly, his hands retreating into his sleeves. "The sniper wasn't in the same place. Got her right when she was gonna take the shot."

"So it's true that Duckie's a girl?" Toye asked. Gene hadn't realised he'd returned after being wounded - really, he should've been at the aid station for another few days, but he'd tend to that matter later.

Guarnere ignored Toye and approached Gene through the snow. "Hold up," he said, shaking his head and holding up a silencing hand. "You're tellin' me that Wells is fuckin' dead?"

"It was painless," Gene told him, his throat tight. "A shot to the head and she was gone. She wouldn't'a felt a thing."

"I don't believe ya."

Gene sighed. He withdrew Wells' dog tag and showed Guarnere, then tucked it away when he saw how ashen the other man's face had become. Shame washed over him like a tidal wave, leaving him all but gasping for breath. It wasn't right to do this - his mother had always taught him not to lie, and this was a whole lot bigger than the white lies she'd been referring to at the time. This was - it was wrong, morally wrong, but he'd made a promise and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to keep it. Wells wouldn't have asked this of him if she'd had another choice. He could endure the shame and the guilt of this if it meant she'd get to survive.

"Where's her body?" Guarnere pressed, his jaw clenching harder by the minute. Gene was sure that if he received another answer he didn't like it would crack.

"Aid station," Gene replied, fighting to keep his voice steady. "That's where I took her. Might've moved her now though."

"If there ain't no body -" Guarnere began to protest, but Martin quickly cut him off.

"Whose body?" he asked in that hard, authoritative voice he often used on patrols, only now approaching the group from his foxhole.

It was all Gene could do to look helplessly to the other men gathered.

It was Toye who came to his rescue. "Duckie," he explained. "Apparently he - she - got hit by a sniper on patrol last night."

"Bullshit," Martin spat. "Wells didn't go on no patrol last night."

"She did," Guarnere said, then shook his head fiercely. "But she ain't fuckin' dead. I ain't believin' she's fuckin' dead 'til I see a body."

"Doc," called a different voice. It took a moment for Gene to register who it belonged to, but when he turned Luz was looking at him with something akin to desperation in his eyes. "Is she really gone?"

Luz's voice was soft but somehow it drew the attention of the entire group. Silence hung in the air as they awaited the verdict. For some reason this felt like the definitive moment. Should Gene continue the lie or come clean? This was the answer they'd believe, he knew it - the one that would overrule all the rest. There was still time to back out.

"Yeah," Gene replied quietly, and cast his eyes down into the snow. For Wells, he reassured himself. He curled his hands into fists in his sleeves and nodded once. For Posey. She would need all the head start she could get. 

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A/N: hi everyone!!! long time no see. here's the first of a series of deleted scenes. if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know in a comment or on my tumblr - pxypeyewynn. hope you love!!! (and happy independence day to all my american readers <3)