The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

19: A Pile of Helmets

Mercifully, Charlie didn't wake up with a hangover the following day. What she did wake up with, however, was very sore hands and knees. She didn't remember getting home or going to bed all that well but she remembered tripping on her way out of the dance clear as day. She could only thank God that Floyd had been the only one to see it, otherwise she'd surely be much more embarrassed than she was.

Charlie found Autumn in the kitchen and smiled guiltily as she held out her hands to her, displaying the dried scabs and dirt she'd unfortunately not washed off before bed. Autumn laughed and wordlessly retrieved the first aid kit from one of the kitchen drawers, then sat Charlie down and began to clean not only her hands but her knees as well, which were looking a little worse for wear.

"You fell over again?" Autumn asked as she wiped down Charlie's palms.

Sighing, Charlie nodded.

Autumn snickered but, to her credit, didn't push for more information on the event.

"Did you have a good time with Don last night?" Charlie asked. She only winced a little when Autumn started to clean the cuts on her knees.

Autumn smiled at the memory. "Yeah, I did. He was fun."

"Do you like him?"

Autumn laughed under her breath. "I'm not looking to get involved with anyone at the moment," she said prosaically.

"Because we'll have to save their lives once we get deployed?"

Autumn smiled, shook her head, then pulled a face. "I guess that's part of it. The other part is I'm just not interested."

"That's a good way to be, I think," Charlie replied. "It's all very stressful, this romance business."

"You don't seem to be doing too badly," Autumn pointed out.

"Well, if it appears that way then I'm glad, but I'm actually a walking disaster."

"You don't like Chuck?" Autumn seemed genuinely surprised. Her eyebrows pinched together as she looked up from her work on Charlie's left knee.

Now it was Charlie's turn to pull a face. She really did feel bad about it, but she had to admit it now that she'd been asked. "I like him, but I don't like him, you know?" She tapped her fingers against the arms of the chair she sat in, taking her mind off of the sting of the antiseptic on her knee. "The corsage was so sweet of him but... well, when I went outside for some fresh air I didn't miss him at all, and I'm quite certain he didn't miss me either. I think he's handsome and kind but I don't think we're a good match."

Autumn smiled knowingly as she moved on to the other knee. "Still stuck on Eugene Roe, huh?"

Charlie blushed. "I still haven't spoken to him more than once. It's all I can manage to do to watch him discreetly from the other side of the room."

"Discreetly," Autumn repeated, nodding with faux-seriousness. "Yes, that's certainly what you were. Discreet."

"Autumn," Charlie groaned. "Please don't give me anything else to be embarrassed about from last night."

"Getting drunk is nothing to be embarrassed about," Autumn said, uncharacteristically serious. "We were at a dance where they were serving alcohol and the entire purpose of the night was to have fun. And you did. Where's the harm in that?"

Charlie smiled a small smile and looked down at Autumn with lighter posture. "I think," she confessed quietly, "I needed to hear that."

"Glad to be of service."

Mabs and Violet joined them just after Autumn finished applying the final sticking plaster to Charlie's cuts.

"How ya doin', Charlie darlin'?" Mabs asked. She all but threw herself down in the chair opposite Charlie's at the table, looking like she hadn't slept a wink.