Last Time: Easy goes on the patrol and loses Jackson.

"Your peace is more important than driving yourself crazy trying to understand why something happened the way it did. Let it go." - Mandy Hale

Now: Rebecca moves on and so does Easy from Haguenau.

Chapter 32 - Moving On

Dick laid in bed, his mind dizzy with thought as he heard every explosion outside of his window from the patrol. He hated the idea of sending Easy Company men out on such a risky mission this late in the war, but it had to be done. Dick knew in his heart if any company could get it done, and well, it would be Easy Company. He said a prayer for the guys on the patrol, hoping everything went well.

Unfortunately, the patrol wasn't the only thing on Dick's mind and every time he thought about it, it made him cringe. He had never intended to hurt Rebecca and he showed a very shameful side of himself. Dick allowed personal feelings to get in the way of his better judgment and he hated himself for it. Truth be told, he would be devastated if Rebecca went through with the transfer, even if it meant she would be safe. Dick was torn between wanting Rebecca to be safe and needing her to be by his side.

Two things were certain, however. Dick knew he was wrong in how he treated Rebecca, and tomorrow, he would go see her and apologize for behaving like a buffoon.

Sleep had nearly fallen on Dick's eyelids until a frantic knock sounded at his door. His stomach dropped as he got out of bed and hoped to God nothing terrible happened on the patrol.

When Dick answered the door and saw Rebecca, a weeping mess before him, his heart dropped to his feet.

"Becca, what's-?"

Before he could even get the rest of his words out, Rebecca wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest.

"Jackson," Rebecca gasped between sobs, "He didn't make it."

A mixture of guilt and despair sucker-punched Dick in the gut as he witnessed Rebecca in such distress.

"We couldn't save him, we tried, but we just couldn't," Rebecca muttered as she pulled away from Dick's embrace. "I felt so useless, I couldn't do anything."

The more Dick looked at Rebecca's grief-stricken and red face, the more regret he felt. He should've convinced Sink to let her go. "I'm so sorry, Becca."

Rebecca wiped away some stray tears, trying to pull herself together. "It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. I should've convinced Sink to let you go on the patrol." He confessed, sitting Rebecca down on the bed with him. Dick clutched her hands like it was the last time he would ever touch her.

"I let my emotions get the better of me."

Her sorrowed head rested on Dick's shoulder, trying to find an inkling of comfort for the pain she felt. "I know why you didn't. You didn't want me to end up like Jackson."

Casualties on such a high-risk operation were to be expected, but that didn't make Private Eugene Jackson's death any less regrettable. It only made the risk of combat more tangible. It could've been anyone one of the guys on the patrol who could've died choking on their blood in a dank basement.

All Dick could do right now was sit down with Rebecca and comfort her as best he could. Nothing could change what happened on the patrol, so Dick held Rebecca closer.

XXX

Awakening with squinted eyes, Rebecca rose, her mind fuzzy. Sleep hadn't even begun to make its way off of her eyes before all the horrid scenes from last night slammed back into Rebecca's subconscious. It all seemed like a dream, or rather, a horrible nightmare. But, unfortunately, there was no waking up from it, no escape from the events of last night's patrol. Jackson was dead.

Crawling out of bed posed to be quite a difficult task for Rebecca, nonetheless, she dragged herself over to the crumpled pile her uniform was sitting in on the desk chair and got dressed. She still had a job to do, plus, Lipton would be getting his battlefield commission as 2d lieutenant. No one deserved it more than him, and Rebecca couldn't possibly miss such a happy occasion for him.

Pulling on her uniform, a distant explosion caught Rebecca's attention. Peering outside the window, she noticed the building Easy stormed on the patrol was up in smoke. Watching its destruction brought Rebecca no solace. Blowing up a building wouldn't change anything.

XXX

The hustle and bustle inside of the CP only made Rebecca's head pound. Webster and Skinny were hawking around the piles of supplies, no doubt trying to scam some highly coveted items off of Luz. Their back and forth only made Rebecca's head hurt and she wasn't in the mood, to be quite honest. It was getting harder and harder to put on a brave face. Only the return of a certain curly redhead who managed to give Rebecca cause to smile.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, embracing Lieutenant Welsh.

Harry scanned over Rebecca's exhausted form, noticing her disheveled OD's and weary eyes. The difference in her appearance since the last time he saw her was unmistakable.

A smile with traces of concern fell upon Harry's face. "Jesus, kid, you look like shit. How have you been?" He commented, pulling no punches.

Harry's bluntness rolled right off of Rebecca's shoulders. She was just happy to have the charismatic redhead back. "Well, we're not sleeping in ditches in the middle of the Ardennes anymore, so, I'd say, pretty good."

His jovial demeanor only faltered for a moment. "Nix told me about your father. I'm so sorry, Becca."

A dull sadness befell Rebecca for a moment, thinking back to how quickly everything went to shit after Harry got taken off the line. "Thank you," Rebecca replied. "I don't think I would've gotten through Bastogne if it weren't for the guys."

Looking over Welsh's shoulders, Rebecca spotted soon to be Lieutenant Lipton with Nix, Dick, Jones, and Speirs. Dick caught her gaze and motioned for both of them to come over.

"First Sergeant Lipton," Dick began, pulling some papers from his OD jacket pocket.

"Sir," said Lipton, his happiness almost bubbling over.

"Your honorable discharge as an enlisted man and your battlefield commission as a 2d lieutenant. Congratulations, Carwood," Dick congratulated, handing over the paperwork to Lip.

It was a strange feeling for so many officers to gather in a group to celebrate. There wasn't much to celebrate lately and this was a welcomed change of pace. Everyone went around to shake Lipton's hand and congratulate him, smiles and laughs all around.

"Lip, congratulations," Nix beamed, shaking his hand.

"Congrats, honey," Rebecca bubbled, taking her turn to shake Lip's hand.

"Thanks," exulted Lip with a huge smile. "Welcome back, sir." He said, shaking Welsh's hand.

"It's Harry to you," smiled Welsh, accepting Lipton's welcoming gesture.

Bashfully, Lipton glanced back and forth between his friends and the battlefield commission papers.

"Hey, Harry, I didn't expect to see you this soon," chattered Nix, "I figured you'd be nursing that scratch for another month or two."

"Did you miss me, Lewis?" Harry joked, walking over to Nix to speak.

The mood in the room was palpable and it appeared there was more celebration to go around. Rebecca parted off from the group as she noticed Dick pull Lieutenant Jones to the side to speak.

"Lieutenant Jones. Regiment has seen fit to promote you to 1st lieutenant," Dick began, "They want you on staff up there."

Lieutenant Jones stood before his superior, pride beaming off of him as Dick handed over his papers to him. Jones glanced down at the papers almost surprised. Rebecca, however, wasn't at all. He performed exceptionally well for such a green lieutenant and won the respect of the men.

"Congratulations and good luck," Dick said again.

"Thank you, sir," Jones resounded.

"Way to go, Lieutenant," Rebecca added, offering a sincere smile.

Celebrations aside, Rebecca quietly excused herself and headed for the door.

XXX

As Lew stood, catching up with his good friend, Harry, he spotted Rebecca on her way out of CP. He was thrilled he was back with them, but Nix knew he had to intercept Rebecca or find Dick before they wandered too far off.

"Harry, I'll catch up with you in a second," Nix spoke to Harry, cutting him off, "I just remembered there's something I gotta do."

"Yeah, sure, Lew. Wouldn't want to bore you with all my hospital stories," Harry grinned, sarcastically.

"Don't worry, we'll sit down tonight with a bottle of Vat 69 and you can tell me all about it." He promised.

Nix stepped away from his friend, noticing Dick was off on his own, going through paperwork. His mind raced. Dick had no idea he knew about him and Rebecca. Nix didn't know if he should go to Dick or Rebecca first and ask about last night.

Quickly deciding, he started out of the OP's entrance and jogged toward Rebecca who hadn't gotten too far out of sight yet.

"Becca!" Nix called out after her.

The exhausted woman looked behind her shoulder, scanning her eyes for whoever called her name. She spotted Nix jogging through the streets, pushing past some troopers in the process. Rebecca's eyes rolled, slightly grinning at his graceless effort to chase up to her.

"What's the word between you and Dick?"

Embarrassment flooded onto Rebecca's face as she remembered spilling her guts to Nix last night. "After Pvt. Jackson died, I went and talked to him. We're fine."

Nix's eyebrows furrowed. "Just fine?"

"Yeah, just fine. And if you're my friend, you'll forget about what I told you last night."

As Rebecca began to turn around to walk away, Nix grabbed her arm. "What's going on with you?"

"I'm fucking tired, okay?" Rebecca sniped, agitation rising in her. She snatched her arm back from his grasp. "I'm tired of this shit," she admitted, tears threatening in her eyes.

Looking at his face, Rebecca could tell Nix was concerned. She didn't want him worrying about her any more than he should. "I'm fine. I just want to be alone right now."

"You know, Sink wanted Dick to send Easy on another patrol tonight. I'm about to write up a report saying he did."

Shock floored Rebecca. She would've never thought Dick would be one to disobey orders. Incredible relief flooded Rebecca.

"Really?"

"Really," confirmed Nix.

God, she loved that man, Rebecca realized as a smile broke out on her face.

"You might wanna get your things together, I've heard from a reliable source we're moving out tomorrow and heading back to Mourmelon."

At that moment, she swore she could have kissed the man. Easy was finally being pulled off the line.

XXX

The next morning, Rebecca packed her belongings in her billet and headed outside where Nix, Speirs, Welsh, and Dick were waiting for her. She took one last look at the room and sighed. They were finally being pulled off the front and rumor had it Easy was heading back to Mourmelon. A strange feeling, almost a gut feeling, led Rebecca to believe she was actually going to make it out of the war alive.

She was greeted with another cloudy, cold, and dreary day as she exited the officer's billet. The mud squelched under her boots as Rebecca walked over to the Jeep where Nix and Dick were. When they caught sight of her, she offered them both a cheer-filled smile, something she hadn't donned on her face in a while.

"Well, someone sure is chipper this morning," noted Nix.

"I'm just glad to put this place in my rear-view mirror." She confessed.

Despite being mostly away from danger, Rebecca held a hatred for Haguenau that came near to rivaling her resentment towards Bastogne. Hopefully, Mourmelon will treat Easy a little better. God knows they deserved it.

"Oh," Nix started, facing Dick, "before I forget. Col. Sink's a bit unhappy with the appearance of your uniform. He says it's not befitting to your rank."

Nix pulled a small black box out of his pocket and tossed it at Dick. Rebecca stared, confused, but then it hit her.

Dick opened the box, staring at its contents. "Oak Leaves."

It was about damn time. Rebecca thought to herself.

"Congratulations, Major," approved Nix, giving him a salute.

"Congrats, Dick," Rebecca bubbled with a smile.

"Becca, I got something for you too," Nix started again, "Col. Sink wants to know if you've reconsidered his offer."

Rebecca's heart dropped for a moment and she quickly looked at Dick. Much to her surprise, he smiled and gave her an approving look.

"The answer's still no."

Nothing left to say, the three climbed into the jeep, ready to pull out of Haguenau, for good.

- End Chapter -

A/N: Wow, I haven't updated in a while. I'm so sorry for you leaving you guys hanging for so long! I know I said I would come back in June 2020, but given the current COVID-19 crisis, I'm home from school, my classes are online, and I have more time on my hands. I'm going to hopefully, use this time to write! Although, I'm not promising updates on a consistent basis since I'm still in school, technically.

Also, I noticed in my previous chapters about Haguenau, I botched up the timeline a bit. However, there were many conflicting dates between the BoB book, Dick Winters's book, and the show itself, so I did the best I could.

Nonetheless, I hope this chapter finds you all in good health, you're all taking care, and listening to the advice of medical professionals at this time. Please, be safe and responsible! This is the perfect time to stay home and read fanfics! With that being said, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thank you so much for all the support, follows, and comments. They mean the world! :3