Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Band of Brothers. I only own Aurora.

I'm really sorry for the long delay guys. I had a lot going on so anyway, I'm trying my best.

Please forgive me and I hope you like this new chapter~

Chapter Seven

~December 22nd, 1944.~

Ardennes Forest, Belgium.

On December 19 Easy went into the line south of Foy as one part of the ring defence of Bastogne; wagons in the circle and inside were the 101st Airborne, Combat Command B of the 10th Armoured, plus the 463d Field Artillery Battalion. Against this force the Germans launched as many as fifteen divisions, four of them armoured, supported by heavy artillery. The fighting was deadly, costly and furious that caused the medics to be on hands every second which wasn't enough because supply is really low right now. It had been days since they entered Bastogne; Aurora is sitting in her foxhole trying to keep herself warm while Eugene and Spina had gone off to look – or in Winter's own words 'beg' –for supplies. Just hours earlier, Eugene was suddenly against the idea of her being in the front lines much to her dismay. She wanted to help but having him be against pretty much everything was ruining it for her which luckily enough for him, he doesn't have to hear her complain about it. The mute blond was so annoyed that she stomped off into her foxhole in a fuming state which was really quite unlike her at all.

"Hey Aurora, I see you're behaving yourself." She perks up and stretches her neck like a cat on guard but immediately relaxes when the voice was none other than Lipton's. Smiling radiantly at him, she climbs up the foxhole to sit on the edge.

"I heard that Doc is being hard on you?" Of course Lipton didn't really hear about it till Joe Toye told him and also because Aurora had ran to her 'big brothers' Toye and Guarnere regarding this matter. Eventually it reached the Lt's ears and he was worried about his dear mute friend.

Aurora nods at this, crossing her arms with puffy, pouty cheeks that would make any man fall towards the sympathy train, even Lipton but then again, Easy Company's Carwood Lipton is a good man who is gentle to the ladies albeit shy. "Judging from your behaviour I think Doc should hurry and work this out huh?" A soft chuckle escapes his lips, reaching out his hand to pat her head.

She rolls her eyes at this, there was a high chance the Eugene has no desire to work things out because he's always telling Aurora to not get herself into any dangerous works lately, more so than usual. The blonde then glances at Lipton with a frown.

"What is it?" She reaches up to caress his cheeks, they were icy cold and it was coming from the constant walking he's doing to make sure everyone of his men were okay. "You're worried about me, aren't you? Don't worry about it. It's the others we should worry about, the next supplies would come soon so maybe we'll have more luck then."

He smiles warmly and tries to reassure her but in all honesty, Lipton has no idea how they were going to get through this with the little supplies that they have at the moment and it was worrisome because he had to make sure that his men didn't die from the cold. It was about ten minutes or so when they heard a gunshot and without warning; Lipton pushed Aurora into the foxhole while raising his gun in preparation for an attack somewhere. The blonde landed on her buttocks with a frown but she had no time to complain – not that she could since she's a mute, much to her annoyance – Lipton's eyes adjusted themselves in the distance, the gunshot fired again a few rounds then stopped.

"I think we're safe now and I'm really sorry for pushing you in there Aurora so please don't look at me like that or Guarnere might bite my head off." He sighs softly, catching a glance of his gypsy friend frowning at him with her arms folded across her chest.

"I'm going to check it out but I don't want to leave you here on your own so you're coming with me." He offers his hand to her to help her out the foxhole. The annoyed gypsy took his hand and scrambles out the foxhole, keeping close to him though making sure he would not be burdened to protect her too much while they are out here.

"Come on, let's go."

The mute nods obediently, moving silently at his pace as the two of them moves towards the direction of where the gunshots were heard. Oddly enough there didn't seem to be anyone about and even Aurora could see that there were no footsteps. If there was someone around here then they should have left footsteps regardless of how fast they skedaddled out of there.

"How odd. Very odd. Maybe we took a wrong turn somewhere." Lipton looks around them. No foxholes to hide in either but he wasn't about to let his guard down until Aurora was safely placed somewhere. "I'll get you back to Winters where you'll be safe for the time being, how's that sound?"

Aurora hated staying safe and secured because all she wanted to do was help the men of Easy Company when they need her the most. Especially since they entered Bastogne. Everything in this forest just felt wrong and all of them were losing morale so as Easy Company's healer, it was her job to keep them sane and she knew that if she gets hurt or killed it would be worse for them. Lipton escorted her back to Winters who was shaving at his foxhole and head back into the forest to check on the men.

"Are you still having a row with Doc?" Winters asked her but she only shrugs her shoulders when she sat down beside him. "He's just looking out for you so forgive him or you two might start a different sort of war."

She gave him a reassuring smile that she'll be alright even if she didn't believe it. The blonde missed Eugene greatly but ever since they entered Bastogne, all they did was ignore each other or argue about something – without any words of course which is probably a good thing for Eugene – and she needed to apologize. The longer it took for her to apologize, the harder it was for the both of them to go back to normal.

"So why did Lip bring you here?" He asked her while shaving and she was about to tell him about the gunfire they heard earlier when they heard someone coming their way and it was Eugene.

"Aurora?" He was quite surprised to see her with Winters since he was sure left her at the foxhole before scrounging for supplies.

There was another cracking of twigs to the right. "Doc, Doc, Doc." Winters whispered and puts aside his bucket and had to stop shaving for now. Eugene did as he was told and crouched down, Aurora stayed where she was when Winters took hold of his rifle then gestures the both of them to follow.

"Stay close to me." He says quietly to Aurora and the mute gypsy nods her head before tugging at Eugene's sleeve in worry.

They crouched down while sneaking quietly behind Winters, there was a figure just up ahead and Winters raises his rifle. "Kommen Sie hier." He spoke clearly. "Kommen Sie hier, schnell!" He says again with a commanding tone. "Schnell!"

Aurora notices that the figure stopped crouching and stood up properly; a man from the looks of it and he staggers his way to them. She senses that he was scared and hopes to any God up there that he isn't an enemy and that the higher ranking officers wouldn't be so hard on him. Winters had a few officers with him as he inspects the German civilian who looks less frightened now though he didn't seem to take any chances.

"Doc, bandage." He hands Eugene what seems to be a cloth rolled up tightly in a bundle then fixes the German man's coat. "Take him back to Regiment." He orders the other officers and returns to his foxhole, Aurora was still standing next to Eugene but since he didn't say anything to her she trots on after Winters.

Just then, a jeep pulled up with Sink who came with a higher ranking officer to brief them about their next orders as well as get an update. "As you all know, General McAuliffe, Acting Division Commander."

"Give it to me straight." His voice has a tone of command in it, he wasn't playing around and Aurora has a feeling he may not like her all that much so she tries to keep a low profile, luckily she was in her uniform.

"We've been taking ground in one position General, losing it in another. And now it looks like a standoff. We're digging in on the edge of the forest." Strayer replies to the General.

"We're under sporadic artillery fire, General." Winters adds as he joins in on the discussion, his chin still covered in dry soap due to being interrupted before he could have shaved clean. "We're taking a lot of hits and we have got no aid station. We've run out of food, we have no winter clothes and we have little or no ammo."

Aurora watches them discuss though her eyes were also focused on Eugene who seems to have something on his mind. He was also trying to listen to the high ranking officers' talk about their current status.

"The line's spread so thin, the enemy wanders into our CP to use our slit trenches, sir." Winters finishes off his report.

"We just can't cover the line."

It was then that Nixon comes out of his foxhole just as he was awake from his sleep. "Good morning, Captain Nixon." The General greeted the groggy Nixon.

"You got anything to add for General McAuliffe?" Sink asks him and gestures to introduce Nixon to the General.

"General. Uh, yes sir." He looks around and climbs out of his foxhole, finally waking up and alert. "General, I took a walk along the line about 0300 hours last night. Couldn't find the 501st on our right flank. I tied in with a squad from our 2nd Platoon. But, sir, we've got some considerable gaps in our perimeter."

"I don't have enough people, sir. We're spread too damn thin."

"Hold the line, Colonel." The General replies back as all three of them gave him their report. He glances at each and every one of them before heading back to his jeep. "Close the gaps. This goddamn fog won't lift any time soon." He climbs into his jeep, Sink follows along and sat behind. "So you can forget about air cover. Your 1st Battalion just pulled out of Foy, Krauts on their tail. Tanks, artillery. Got no backup. There's a lot of shit heading this way."

And with that they drove off, a sign of the rest being dismissed so Eugene walks up to Winters whilst keeping the bandage he's got into his bag. Winters walks back to his hole where Aurora was sitting to finish up with his shaving and glances up at the medic for a moment. "Doc."

"Can I scrounge a bandage from your aid kit, sir?" Aurora finds it odd that he was being a little timid but she knows that Eugene holds a lot of respect for Winters.

"How are you fixed?" The red head turns to him.

The Cajun medic didn't really know how to answer that he barely has enough medical supplies and it worries him. "No plasma, couple of bandages. Practically no morphine and no I will not ask you to use your healing abilities, Aurora." He adds quickly and turns to her when she was about to protest.

She crosses her arms, shaking her head at him when Winters sighs at the both of them. "Are you two still fighting? Try not to create another war that we can't win if it's you." He tells them which made the blonde roll her eyes. Winters hands Eugene his extra bandage from his aid kit.

"We're not fighting, just have our differences. In fact, I tried my way up to 3rd Battalion looking for supplies." He tries to ignore the dagger stares that Aurora was giving him. "But lost my way. Spina is back at the foxhole or at least I think he's making a new one."

"If you can't get over to 3rd, hook up with Doc Ryan. He'll fix you up with what he has to spare."

"Thanks, Captain." He smiles at Winters and keeps the bandages. Aurora stands up to follow Eugene back to their hole or wherever it was that he was heading to, they needed to talk and settle their differences anyway.

"Eugene, get everything you can. You're gonna need it." Winters speaks up before the two of them left. "And try not to murder each other in silence."

"Right." He nods and left where he came, this time with Aurora.

The journey back to the foxhole was a quiet one and he tries to think up of a way to say something to her. Their argument has gone far enough and he knew it was his fault she's a bit miffed at him. Ever since they entered Bastogne, he's been having this fear that she would get hurt one way or another because of their lack of supplies. He didn't realize till later that's been telling her to not use any more of her abilities and pushes himself to look for supplies even if it meant he had to beg. Her hurt expression was still carved into his memory when he told her to just stay put and not do anything stupid and that was a few days ago when they first entered Bastogne.

"Hey Aurora, listen." He grabs her arm and stops her before they reach the foxhole. "I'm sorry about… the way I acted…" He manages, it was evident that the gypsy was surprised by his sudden apology though he was not aware she intended to apologize as well. "I just didn't want you getting hurt and I especially don't want you to experience any more pain that's not yours here. We don't have any supplies but it'll get better."

She continues gazing at him with an unreadable expression. "I would hate it if you felt their pain and I can't do anything to heal you because you don't have their injuries since it's the pain of what they're going through so please, for my sake don't use your abilities." He takes off his helmet and leans his cold forehead against hers, his eyes flutters close.

Aurora finally understands that he's just really worried although she's still a bit miffed at him. Reaching her hands up to gently cup his face, the blonde smiles softly at him and mouth the words. "I forgive you, Eugene. I always will but you're still on my list."

He felt her cold hands against his cheeks yet there was warmth as well, his lips also curls into a smile of relief. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. If you promise not to use your abilities then I'll promise not to nag at you all the time. I mean I would be in trouble with Guarnere and Joe Toye." He chuckles softly.

She nods in agreement, the two of them seem to have been teasing Eugene ever since they fought and it's most likely their way of showing how much they care for Aurora. "Come on, let's head back to our hole." He puts his helmet back on and the two of them reached the hole where Spina was digging.

"Spina."

"Doc, Aurora." The other medic replies with a breathy gasp.

"What's happening?"

"We're digging in right along the line." He stops digging for a moment and stands up straight.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah this is it." He grunts and returns to digging again. "So uh, what'd you get?" Glancing at Eugene and rests the shovel on his shoulder once he stops digging again.

"I got uh, I got this." Doc rummages through his bag and hands Spina a box. Aurora watches him curiously, there can't be many things in his bag that's for sure. "And I got myself a Kraut bandage." He hands the bandage as well to let Spina inspect it and keep it.

The two of them move to sit down, Aurora sat next to Eugene and fixes her hair which was such a mess since its long. So she had to tie it back up to keep it out of her face. Eugene unconsciously helps her with it using the ribbon he gave her back in England.

"What? This is it?" Spina asks him, he's quite used to seeing the two of them doing affectionate gestures towards one another by now and was secretly relieved they made up.

"Yeah that's it, that's all you got." He replies and Aurora thanks him for tying up her hair with a kiss on the cheek as he takes out his morphine and checks it, a little flustered from her kiss. "You know, 1st Battalion's pulled out of Foy. Heavy casualties."

"So if they're pulling back, then what the hell are we doing sitting here?"

"We need morphine, this is all I've got." He ignores Spina since he didn't have the answer to that at all. "You got extra scissors?"

"Uh-Uh, just the one." The other replies and takes a gulp of his drink.

Aurora was already settled in nicely when she hears someone walking their way and groans in silence; it was Norman. She doesn't exactly hate him – okay maybe a little – but the feeling is mutual between the two. He's even worse than Sobel in her book. Eugene notices her expression and turns to where her eyes were fixated upon.

"First Sergeant Lipton!" He calls out as he walks towards the medics.

"Sir." Lipton replies and follows behind after him.

"What's this?" His voice seems surprised and a bit panicky. "Two medics and a child in one hole." Norman ignores the glaring blonde for calling her a child, Eugene places his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Yes sir." Spina replies, nodding at Eugene for keeping Aurora in check or who knows what the scrawny healer would do to 'Foxhole Norman'.

"What's gonna happen to us if you take a hit, huh?" He says with a breathy voice from walking, his hand on his hip. The two medics and Aurora weren't really paying attention to him as Lipton came over.

"Sir?" He asks, standing beside Norman now with a concerned expression.

"First Sergeant, where's my foxhole?" Norman asks with an irritated tone that Aurora picks up. She really wasn't liking this man at all.

Lipton gazes at him, catching his breath due to the cold and points to the direction of Norman's foxhole. "It's back here sir, maybe you uhh… maybe you missed it huh." He examines Norman's expression to better use his words. "I'll walk you back, sir. You're a little close to the line here." Lipton looks from Norman to Eugene then back to Norman.

"Goddamn it." Norman curses then turns to walk away.

"I'm never going to understand him." Spina suddenly remarks as they watch their officers walk away.

"Aurora seems to dislike him with a passion ever since they first met. It's quite interesting to watch her play pranks on him back at the base." Eugene chuckles from the memory as though it was yesterday and pats her head.

"Careful you don't get caught, eh Aurora?" Spina tells her. He was more interested to see these two interact than Norman getting what he deserves any day but he'll never say it out loud.

"I'm going to go look around for some supplies." The Cajun medic stands up when Aurora grabs his hand with a gaze that tells him she wants to follow him. "If you're going to follow me, don't ever leave my sight, got it?" Her lips curls into a bright smile and she stands up as well while nodding her head quickly. "See you later, Spina."

Spina laughs with a shake of his head, telling the two of them to go ahead while he deals with their foxhole for now. It wasn't even half a foxhole since it wouldn't cover the three of them from anything coming their way as it wasn't deep enough. Eugene left with Aurora to scout around for some supplies from the men as well as checking up on them. On their way there, bombs were dropping from above and they had to quickly run for cover. Eugene grabs hold of Aurora's hand and pulls her along faster and much to her surprise she even got pushed out of the way by him. There was a yell for a medic coming from up ahead, Aurora gazes at Eugene and nods at him. The two of them needed to act swiftly but at the same time they needed to be careful so as to not get hit. Aurora is light on her feet, running is her forte after all and Eugene watches after her as he follows from behind. He watches as her small figure runs and all he wanted to do was grab her and hold her in his arms to keep her safe from any harm. He wasn't sure as to why he was thinking that, brushing the feeling aside they finally reach an empty foxhole. Aurora didn't want to stop running in order to quickly reach the person who yelled for help but he hooks his arm around her tiny waist and pulls her with him inside the foxhole. She squirms and kicks around to be released from his hold but he was stronger than she was even if he doesn't look the type.. Eventually she stops trying to get away because she understood why he did that when the sound of the bombing continues on and no one was yelling anymore.

His arm was still around her waist, keeping her close and tries to catch his breath. "Aurora, you okay?" He's quite sure she was going to be furious with her again even though they just made up but all she did is sigh and nods her head in reply. "Sorry, I had to make sure we both won't get hurt, no one was yelling for us anymore and you kept on running to them."

She turns to glance at him with a saddened expression and he didn't want to see that, anything but that expression. "Once the bombing stops we'll go look around for who it was that got hit alright? Don't look so disheartened."

He tries to comfort her, it was times like these that the two of them look to each other for comfort; whilst alone together. He gently strokes her hair as she hides her face in his chest to cry for the wounded, a gesture only he has seen once at Normandy when she saw all those people. After a few minutes she calms down and the two of them climbs back out the foxhole to continue their journey around 2nd platoon to check for the wounded. So far there weren't many that got injured, Buck seems to have gotten a scratch from avoiding the bombs earlier so Aurora bandages him up. Eugene notices that Buck seems a bit distracted at times but he didn't question it. He was bandaging a few wounded soldiers but they weren't all that bad, just minor scratches here and there that came from the tree shards after the bombing.

"Thanks, Aurora." Buck smiles a little and pats her head.

"You got any scissors?" Eugene asks Buck after Aurora finishes up and goes to Shifty. Miraculously, Shifty didn't look that bad – it was like he's protected by some unknown force or something – there was not a single scratch on him.

"Sorry Doc, I don't have any. What about you Shifty?"

"Oh I haven't used my morphine so you can use it for now." He replies softly and hands Aurora his first aid kit that has a few morphine, some bandages and a chocolate bar. It wasn't a large chocolate bar, just a small one that he's gotten from one of the civilians before he came to Bastogne.

"Thanks Powers. Do you think I can leave Aurora with you to go along 1st Platoon and get some supplies?" Actually, deep down inside there was a voice in his head that didn't want Shifty anywhere near Aurora but he ignores it. He knew that Shifty would be able to protect her as his vision is sharper than most men.

"1st Platoon? Where will you go?" Buck asks, a little worried.

"I might go around to 3rd Platoon to see Doc Ryan, see if he could help out with a bit of supplies. I'm running really short and I don't want to rely on her powers." He says softly, Buck understood and nods in agreement.

"There you are Miss Aurora. I was looking everywhere for you." A voice came from ahead as Junior walks up to her. Eugene notices and his expression darkens but of course he wasn't aware of it himself. Buck seems quite interested in these turn of events.

"What is it Private?" Buck asks the younger soldier.

"I heard she was looking for some medical supplies. I got a few extra morphine that was taken up for contraband." He replies, rummaging his bag for the few extra morphine before quickly adding. "I thought perhaps the medics would need it more than we do for now."

Aurora smiles kindly and relieved to see it as she takes it from him then proceeds to handing it to Doc instead of keeping it for herself. "Thanks Junior." He manages without snapping, Buck was trying hard to hold in his laughter.

"It's no problem, sir, ma'am." Junior tips his helmet. "If I find any more I'll make sure to give it to you straight." His beams sheepishly at the blonde. Aurora walks up to him to check his temperature which made him blush. "Ma'am?"

Her smile turns into a frown, he was having a fever and there wasn't anything to lessen his fever. "Are you sick, soldier?" Roe asks as he understood why Aurora was frowning.

"Not so much, I can handle it."

"Get something warm to eat and bundle up to reduce the fever. Change your socks every four hours so that your feet won't get frost bite. Move around a lot." Eugene orders him while checking his pulse and eyes, it was just a fever but still dangerous since Bastogne is pretty cold.

"Why don't you and Aurora head back to the foxhole? She'll fix you right up." Buck suggests, Junior seems thrilled to be alone with Aurora even a little but it was Eugene's expression that got Buck to burst out laughing the moment the two left.

"What are you laughing for?" He asks after the two left.

"Geez Doc, I didn't think you were jealous over Junior over there."

"I'm not jealous." He protests though it was probably no use to make Buck stop teasing him.

"That's not what your face was saying, Doc." He stops laughing though there was a bit of chuckling going on and pats Doc on the shoulder. "It's not like you're forbidden to stop feeling the way you do, you know."

At first Eugene didn't answer but simply sighs, shaking his head. "I'll go see to the other men first. I still have to look for scissors."

Buck raises an eyebrow at the medic. "What do you need scissors for? Try asking around the men, one of them has to have it with them or something?"

"Oh speaking of which, Aurora and I heard someone yell for medic earlier during the bombing. Have you seen anyone injured sir?" Now he was a bit glad that Aurora wasn't with him because he didn't want her using her abilities at all or having a sad expression whenever someone dies.

"Not in my platoon. Sorry, Doc."

"I'll keep looking." He nods then heads off to look for his scissors along with medical supplies.

He's trying to brush aside the image of that annoying soldier in his head that's having Aurora's attention right now. For the first time in his life, he really wanted to shoot someone and deep down he knew that Buck and Spina were right, he was indeed jealous of someone else getting Aurora's attention. He didn't want to admit whatever feelings he had for her, not now when he needed to be alert more than ever so he couldn't afford to think of anything else but that and yet it's a nagging feeling tugging at his chest. He sighs and heads back to his foxhole for the night, relieved to see that Aurora was talking with Spina instead of staying with Junior who was sick. Spina heads out to let them two be on their own while he does the rounds tonight. Eugene was grateful but he would never admit out loud or he'll never hear the end of it since Spina likes to tease him for some reason. He enters the foxhole and begins to make something warm for Aurora and himself to eat before they rest for the night.

"You're not feeling too cold are you?" She shakes her head at his question and held his hand, asking him the same question. "I'm not cold either, well maybe a little but you don't have to worry, Aurora. I'm hoping there'll be a drop soon so the two of us can head to town and grab all the supplies and maybe get proper food."

Aurora and Eugene had never been to the town compared to Spina because so far no one is badly injured since they mainly die instantly from all the bombing. Aurora however, was looking forward to heading to the town as she's a bit tired of seeing the trees so she wants a bit of civilization if possible for morale. He notices the sparkle in her eyes and pats her head before handing her the stew thing that he made from whatever they had with them. She thanks him and quietly takes a sip, it was an odd tasting stew but she didn't complain. At least there's warm food for them to last the cold night other than snuggling up to one another with a blanket. It was a cold winter night, as a child Eugene was told stories about Jack Frost bringing in the frost and cold. He was hoping that tonight Jack Frost would be on holiday or something because he didn't want Aurora to freeze to death, he watches her as she slept after eating and leans her head against his chest. His arm slowly wraps around her shoulder, pulling her close to keep her warm. Eugene gave her forehead a gentle kiss as he whispers a good night in her ears before falling asleep with his cheek against her head. For the first time since they entered Bastogne, both Eugene and Aurora finally slept soundly in each other's arms, safe from the nightmares that usually haunt them. If only time would stop then they could stay in their dreams where they're safe but by the time dawn comes they would awaken from their dreams and back to the nightmare that has become a reality. The next morning, they awoke before anyone else so as to start their rounds and had to split up for a whole. Eugene goes off to one end while Aurora the other, along the way he notices Guarnere walking and heads up to him.

"Sergeant Guarnere." He calls up to the other who glances over his shoulder. "Did you uhh… did you keep your morphine from Holland?"

"No." He replies softly as Eugene walks ahead. "Hey, hey, Doc I gotta talk to ya."

"How's that leg?" Doc asks while pointing to Guarnere's leg while walking ahead.

"To hell with the leg, I'm pissing needles." He answers with a grunt.

"Later." Doc moves ahead though he did catch Guarnere cursing. Unfortunately he's unable to help with the pissing needles problem even if he wanted. He carefully heads over to Gordon who was fixing up something warm while his partner was digging a hole. "You seen them?"

"No but they're out there." He answers while gazing out into the distance. "Depend on it. Cup of joe, Doc?" He asks while stirring the contents of his helmet.

"Gordon, I… I need scissors." Even Gordon notices that Doc has trouble asking people for some items such as scissors let alone morphine but he manages to ask around anyway. "You got scissors? Sharp scissors." He looks ahead before glancing at Gordon for a bit then looks ahead again.

"Scissors?" Gordon finds it odd.

"Uh huh."

"Well let's see uhh…" His lips curls into a playful smile as he places the spoon down to shake his helmet a little. "I'll have to check in the sewing room. Might be upstairs in the study. That skinny old drawer in the middle of the desk." He looks to Eugene while pouring the contents into the cup.

Eugene knows he was teasing him and cracks up a smile, rewarding Gordon to give out a chuckle. "Alright, well what about an extra syrette in your first aid kit huh?"

"Hide your morphine, guys." Gordon wanted to tease Doc again when a bomb lands nearby causing an explosion. They ducked down in reaction as a tree breaks and falls down near them.

From the distance Eugene could hear yelling, even Muck had to yell to Malarkey if he was alright. The Cajun's quick on his feet as well so he quickly scrambles to check up on them. "Muck, Malarkey take cover!" He yells at them and no one would question the Doc's orders, replying to Eugene that they're alright so that he could head on ahead.

"Hey Doc, Doc, morphine." Muck manages to stop Doc for a bit to throw him his extra morphine. "Here take it."

"Where's Penkala?" Doc catches the morphine.

"Christ knows." Malarkey answered and looks in the direction of the bombing.

Eugene heads off again the moment someone yells for medic, trying his best to avoid any shards from the trees to cut him and often drops to roll on the ground. In times like these he's a bit grateful to Sobel for torturing Easy Company with training that made them physically – and emotionally of course – better than most soldiers; especially the new recruits. He hides behind bushes before heading up front to where Babe and a replacement were firing on enemies and tumbles into their foxhole.

"You guys hit?" He lets out a breathy gasp and tries to properly settle himself so he could move out when needed.

The replacement was a bit astounded to see Doc all of a sudden. "What are you looking at him for? Watch the goddamn line!" Heffron scolds him, making the kid watch the line.

"You got a Syrette?"

"No." Babe shakes his head, holding up his gun to shoot any enemy coming their way. There was another yell for medic so Babe taps Eugene and signals him he'll cover for him. "Go."

Eugene nods and dashes for it, tumbling along the way while hearing Penkala yell for him. "Penkala!" He finally made it to the foxhole and sits next to Penkala.

"Doc! It's the artery, I can feel it!" He replies with a painful grunt in his voice.

"Penkala let go—"

"It's the artery!"

"Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it!" Eugene snaps at him, clearly he doesn't want to have to deal with this the hard way. "Loosen them now!"

"I'm going to bleed to death." He whimpers and did as he was told.

"It's not the artery." He checks as Penkala was told to relax his arm.

"I ain't going back, Doc."

"What?" Eugene glares at him, albeit confused at what Penkala meant.

"I ain't going nowhere, not in this shit."

"You don't want to go out in this shit and you yell a medic?" He angrily retorts while trying to fix up Penkala's injured arm.

"I don't need to go back to no aid station." He tries to explain.

"Well you're in luck, Penkala because we ain't got no aid station." He bandages up Penkala's arm, ducking from another bombing nearby which luckily enough didn't hit them. The bombing seems to have stopped as the three of them tries to catch their breath and they hear someone yelling out if anybody's hit. "Penkala, scissors. I need scissors."

"What the hell do I need scissors for?" He answers with a confused expression.

"You got your aid kit?" Penkala feels his pants for his aid kit and hands it to Doc. "Alright well you don't need this." He gestures to the aid kit at Penkala. "Not yet. I do." He tells him and gets up to return to his foxhole.

The journey back was better now that there was no bombs coming at him but he still had to be cautious. He heads back to his foxhole where Spina was waiting for him, Aurora didn't seem to be around and that worried him a little but he tries not to show it for now.

"Who got hit?" Spina asks as Eugene jumps in the foxhole.

"Penkala." He settles himself and goes through his belongings in his bag. "Alright here, this is what I want you to do." He hands Spina the stuff he got from his rounds earlier. "I want you to take someone and work your way over to the 3rd Battalion. Alright? You know what we need; bandages, plasma. Whatever you can beg, you beg alright? And get me some goddamn scissors. I can't get any. And you get yourself a hot meal too, huh. Go." He finishes briefing Spina.

"You got it. Oh yeah, Gene. I couldn't find Aurora. She hasn't return since the bombings started." Spina tells him as he climbs out the foxhole.

"I'll look for her later." He nods in thanks for telling him that and takes off his helmet. Leaning against the wall of the foxhole to catch his breath. It's hard to breathe while you're running around in this cold weather so he had to control his breathing.

~About an hour earlier. ~

Aurora splits up with Doc to cover the grounds wider and searches around for anyone who could supply her with some medical supplies, especially morphine. She works her way around the foxholes and notices Shifty talking with Tab so she heads of over to them. Tapping Shifty on his shoulder to get his attention and smiles at him, they seem relieved to see her unscratched and Shifty especially seems happy to see her.

"Hey Little Missy." Talbert ruffles her hair. "What's up?"

"I heard that you're in need of some morphine and the likes?" Shifty asks her and she nods. "You've been a busy little bee, try not to get hurt in any way."

She smiles softly at the both of them, reassuring them that she'll be alright. "Sorry Little Missy, but I used up my morphine back in Holland." Talbert tells her though Shifty has quite the supply, it wasn't a lot but it's mainly what he's been keeping hold since he landed in Normandy. He hasn't been hit once. "You know Shifty, you're one lucky bastard."

"Oh I don't know about that, I'm sure I'll get hit someday. Those stars is what will make us go home or so I heard." He did want to go home but at the same time he didn't want to leave Aurora alone.

Aurora frowns, she didn't like hearing about them getting hit or anything like that as it just breaks her heart. Tab then pats Shifty's shoulder. "Hey why don't you follow Aurora on patrol? She could use someone to protect her." He suggests, knowing full well of Shifty's feelings and hopes he uses this opportunity.

"If you don't mind my company, Aurora." He tips his helmet and she beams happily at him and the two of them heads off, leaving Tab on his own. "How are you holding up, Aurora? Still fighting with Doc?"

She shakes her head at him and smiles, linking her arms around his to show how happy she is that they made up. "I see so you two made up huh? That's really great, Aurora." Although he's happy for her, he couldn't help it that his heart sank a little.

"Hey Aurora, I have to tell you something." He stops her, she gazes up at him with her usual smile and before he could tell her what it was, the bombing has started again. The two of them fell forward, Shifty had moved to shield her and lands on top of her by accident.

His lips brushes softly against hers and the two of them stares at each other in surprise.

~End of Chapter Seven~

How was Chapter Seven? I'm re-watching Band of Brothers and I'm trying to centre Bastogne a bit more so it might be a while before they meet up with Webster again. xD

I'm also looking forward to doing a meeting between Rene and Eugene.

Anyway, I'm really sorry for the delay, please forgive me. Have fun, reviews are appreciated. uwu