The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

88: Anythings

Charlie and Floyd both acted like nothing had happened the night they'd arrived in Stürzelberg because, really, what had happened?

Nothing, Charlie told herself repeatedly, every time she saw him. Nothing had happened at all. And if she'd been stupid enough to give away how badly she'd wanted him to stay then he hadn't mentioned it since, so that had to be counted as a success.

The men all joked that Germany was the best country they'd been to so far. They listed reasons such as the food and the beds and the showers but what they all meant was the women. They would wink at each other and laugh as they spoke about how Germany was 'good fraternising territory', and Charlie could only imagine what they were all getting up to - though, in all honesty, she tried her best not to.

And, now that she was looking out for it, Charlie could see exactly where Floyd had gotten the idea that Mabs and Speirs were... involved. Whenever they were in the same place their eyes could hardly stay away from each other, and certainly Charlie had never seen her friend smile like that just because of a man.

And Speirs. Well, when he spoke to Mabs he was a changed man. All of them had seen the change in him as he'd gone from one of Dog Company's officers to the commanding officer of Easy, how he'd become less scary as they'd gotten to know him more, but nothing changed him quite like the presence of one blonde Southern bombshell. She had him twisted around her little finger and Charlie was sure she knew it.

But she didn't know whether to ask her about it. They told each other everything about every other aspect of their lives, but they'd never really spoken all that much about their romantic lives. Indeed, Charlie had found out from Floyd that he and Mabs had gotten what they'd wanted from each other, and, on her side, she'd only told Mabs details about her relationship with James after he'd died, and even then only when Mabs had asked.

It eluded her why they never let each other in on these parts of their lives. And she wanted Mabs to be in on every part of her life.

But she didn't want to tell her about her feelings for Floyd. Not yet, at least. Just now her affection was too overwhelming to try to convince anyone it was going away, and Charlie was still struggling with the unrequited aspect of her unrequited love. Every time she saw Floyd she felt that she loved him more, impossible as that seemed, and it felt to her like she was ripping her own heart out and stamping on it every time she reminded herself he didn't love her in the same way.

And he was a flirt. And Stürzelberg was nothing if not flirting territory. Fraternising territory. Mabs would surely only look at Charlie with pity as she had to tell her of all of his recent adventures in love-making to local women, and that would only break Charlie's heart further.

So, until she was ready and willing to confess all to Mabs, she wouldn't ask Mabs to do the same with her. It was only fair to be just as willing to give as she was to take.

There was little to do in Stürzelberg while acting as an occupation force. They had the field hospital set up in the house the nurses were staying in, out of convenience, and though Henry had them remain there in shifts, ready and waiting for something to happen, nothing did. Which was good, of course. If they were busy then that was bad. But it was also boring.

"Boo, truth or dare," Mabs said as they all sat around in the living room one day. While technically only Charlie and Autumn were on shift, Mabs and Boo had decided to hang around to keep them company - there was little else to do - and Henry had joined them, too, which was rare but did happen on occasion. And since there was little else to do, she allowed them to play their silly little game.

"Truth," Boo said.

Autumn groaned. "Wimp," she teased, and when Boo stuck her tongue out at her she only grinned.