The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

38: I Might Just

After her birthday, Charlie's world felt a little bit more stable. She wasn't entirely sure why but even thinking back on the events of Normandy didn't bring with it a leaden weight in her stomach. All of that felt a long way away now, if not in time then in distance. Whenever she next went overseas she felt she'd be better prepared and, besides, that was likely a long way off yet. Just now she could allow herself to revel in the quiet, comfortable life she had in Aldbourne which she had come to love so much.

Days working at the hospital were slow, closer to how they'd been when they'd first arrived in England back in March (which felt like much longer than a mere almost-five months ago now) than to the intensity of pre-D-Day. Charlie and the other nurses were tasked with small, mindless jobs - inventory, reorganisation of storage, cleaning floors, and various other bits of ward maintenance.

The first hint Charlie got that anything was about to change was when Henry (it was a little easier to refer to her with her first name now, after trying for so many weeks) pulled Charlie aside and handed her two files.

"I know you memorised each of the men's blood donors before we went to France. I've got the updated lists now -" Henry handed them over with a small smile, "- and I thought you might like to get a head start on them before we make copies for the men."

"Replacements?" Charlie asked, running her fingers over the label on the front.

Henry nodded. "There've been some officer change arounds too. First Lieutenant Winters, formerly of First Platoon, is now Captain Winters, the company commanding officer. Second Lieutenant Compton is now Second Platoon's platoon leader, and Second Lieutenant Welsh is now First's. Uh, who else?" Henry began to count the names off on her fingers. "Second Lieutenant Roush is now leading Third instead of Second. Oh!" She smiled brightly for the next one. "Staff Sergeant Lipton is about to become First Sergeant Lipton!"

"He's back from the hospital?" Charlie wondered, beginning to smile herself. She recalled the state Floyd had brought him to her in back in Carentan, the various patches of blood seeping through his uniform and the huge scar cutting his face in half. She'd always known him to be gentle and the thought of him being hurt that badly hadn't sat right with her. She was glad to hear he was fully recovered.

"He got back yesterday evening, right before dinner," Henry confirmed. "Just in time for the replacements. Rumour is they're arriving tomorrow around midday."

Charlie's eyebrows hopped up as she looked up from the files. "Really? So soon?"

Henry offered a sympathetic smile. "This doesn't mean we're moving out again. The replacements need to train with the company before they can go overseas - the training stateside isn't as intense these days as it was for the veterans. I'd say we've still got a good long while to go yet."

Charlie's shoulders, which she hadn't even noticed creep up to her ears, fell back down with the impact of her relieved sigh. She felt like they'd barely been back, even though it had been two weeks by now which she supposed would be considered more than enough of a break by the army.

"Anyway," Henry said, clasping her hands behind her back and straightening up, right back to business, "the replacements are set to arrive tomorrow and we're getting them in for inoculations the day after that. Pass the word on to the others that everyone needs to be in at 0600 on Friday."

Charlie nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

With that, Henry gave her one last smile - Charlie wondered when, if ever, it would stop being strange to see Henry smile - and turned on her heel to head somewhere else, wherever it was she went to do her mountains of paperwork, Charlie assumed.

"Oh! One more thing!" Henry returned just before she rounded the corner, though as she approached Charlie saw she now held something in one of her hands. As Henry came to stand before her once more, standing up straight and military formal, she gave Charlie a smile which looked almost proud. "You're getting a promotion. Congratulations, First Lieutenant."