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Courage Under Fire|Pre War 9| Band of Brothers

part 8

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ao3

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Word count: 5,900

@marycorleone

April 1st, 1942

Charleston, South Carolina

Olivia smoothed her hands over the crisp white skirt of her uniform, she was standing in front of the floor-length mirror in her bedroom, studying her reflection, she had been sworn into the Army Nursing Corp late in March by Elizabeth Forbes using the war-torn bible that her great-great-grandfather had carried with him into several battles of the Civil War including Gettysburg made it seem real.

Putting the dog tags around her neck didn't seem real, neither did putting on the uniform but doing that made it seem real.

She and Alice had gotten orders to go report to Fort Benning for OCS on the 2nd of April and it started feeling more real.

And for the first time, she was flattering in her decision to join.

"You good Bean?" Her Uncle Michael's voice came from the doorway, he had been busy in DC, so he hadn't been able to come down for her swearing-in like Helen had been able to come.

"Uncle Michael! What are you doing here?" She spun around to look at him, her green eyes dancing in excitement. "Helen called and told me you were going to Benning."

Olivia nodded her head, "No idea why y'all putting this much confidence in me. I could fail out. Like that." She snapped her fingers causing him to laugh.

"You will do good, Liv, this is what you are meant to do. Does this sudden change of heart have anything to do with you seeing Katherine?"

"Aunt Helen told you about that?"

"Mhm, how did she react to you enlisting?"

"Said she hoped I died." She shrugged her shoulders, "After she got mad at Daddy for signing the papers. They want me to testify for the State against her. Same with my brothers."

"But they are all shipping out or at boot camp, right?"

"Except for Bobby." She motioned to the letter that was lying open on the desk, "He and Bill are going to enlist together as soon as they get out of school. I guess they both were going to have an exemption because of the factory they were working at, but they tore it up and threw it away."

Michael laughed again. That sounded about right for both Bobby and Bill.

"Have you heard from Lewis?" She pointed to the letter underneath the one from her twin, "He is in California. Says I would like it, always warm. Not cold like Philly and here."

"Where are you going with that?"

"I told him after the war if either one of us weren't with someone else I would marry him. I do love him."

"But you aren't in love with him?" Michael asked, unable to help himself.

"I am 18 years old, what do I know about love?" She returned.

"More than what you think. You are a smart girl, Bean; you will figure it out. Finish getting ready, I am going with you and Alice to the train station. And someone from Benning is going to meet you there."

Olivia nodded, "And two other girls are coming, right?"

"From what Elizabeth said, yes, one is from New York and the other is from California."

"Oh great, another damned Yankee." She complained with a small laugh, Fredrick had not been shy about his hatred of the Yankees and called Andrea that to her face and to her kids' faces. Same with Helen but they all took it in stride because of the love and respect they had for him.

Her uncle smirked before leaving the room to let her finish getting ready. He had tried to get out of Elizabeth information about the other two girls that were joining Olivia and Alice, but Forbes said that it wasn't fair for Olivia to have the advantage. It was already bad enough that she was handpicked for this, because of her family and her skills.

And some of these girls could hold that against her and could cause a lot of problems for Olivia. But they had faith in the girl and knew she could handle herself, she just needed to believe that she could do it herself.

Train

From Los Angeles California.

Betsy Michaels glanced out of the window again before she yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She had been on the train for almost three days, and she was tired of it. It had been a mistake, the train instead of the bus or taking the Army up on the offer, to fly from Fort Ord to Fort Benning. But being on the train in her own little compartment gave her time to think and really decide if losing her family in order to serve her country was the best idea. And the more she thought about it the more it seemed like it

was the best idea for her.

Don't get her wrong, she loved her family, but her father was too controlling, and her mother was too weak to stand up for her children or herself. She didn't want to end up like her mother or even her oldest sister who was in the same boat their mother was in.

There was a knock on the sliding door startling her out of her thoughts and she slid open the door on the other side was a dark-haired man with bushy eyebrows, wearing a smirk. "Are you Betsy Michaels?" He asked. "I am. And you are?" "Lewis Nixon. I was told by command to check in on you." She raised an eyebrow and stepped away to let him enter the compartment. "It's been almost 3 days, Mr. Nixon." Lewis managed to look sheepish, he had found the bar cart and spent a lot of time in it.

His way of coping.

"Sorry about that.' He shrugged, he had gotten a letter from Kathy claiming she was pregnant and that he had to make up his mind about either her and their child or the little tart Olivia. He couldn't bring himself to make that decision yet. Sure, he cared for Kathy and wanted to try

and be involved with his kid's life but at the same time, he loved Olivia and the light-heartedness she gave.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She prodded, "You look like you need to talk."

"There has only been one other person that calls me on my stuff like that is Olivia."

"Your girl?" She monitored for him to sit across from her, she could just tell by looking at him that he needed to talk, and she was always a good listener. And after the course was over, they probably would never see each other again.

"Well, you could say that."

Columbia, Georgia

The first three people that Amber Scott met when she stepped onto the train platform were Elizabeth Forbes, a woman whose respect was demanded right from the start, a woman who was in charge of the program they were entering, and the other two nurses like herself both from Charleston, South Carolina. Olivia and Alice. The latter of the two seemed to be nice and Amber could see herself being friends with her, but Olivia couldn't.

There was something about her that she didn't like. She carried herself with confidence and arrogance that it was almost off-putting. Olivia turned her head and muttered something to Alice who swallowed back her smile and nudged her hip with hers.

"We are waiting on one more girl to show up, from California and we will get you to Benning." Elizabeth started. Something must have clicked in the blonde's head because a beaming dimpled smile formed. And the general offered her a gentle smile in return.

"Do you know her outside of this ma'am?" Amber asked, unable to help herself. Elizabeth looked at her and then at Olivia, "Yes, her godfather and I go way back. But that has nothing to do with her being in the program."

Amber turned back to look at Olivia to start Interrogating her, but she had already started moving towards a couple. "Lew! Lewis!"

"Does she know him?"

"Extremely well." Alice laughed, as much as she wanted to stop Olivia from making any sort of decision when it came to her, and Lewis couldn't. Olivia loved him and he loved her. At least that's what Olivia had repeatedly told her.

Hearing his name, Lewis spun around and smiled, "Olivia!”

Betsy, who was walking next to him, paused and smiled when the woman who she had spent the last few hours hearing about darted across the busy lobby and into Lewis's arms. He picked her up in a hug and pressed kisses to her cheeks and jaw. Careful to avoid her mouth, he knew as well as she did that if they saw that she would be sent home, and he wasn't going to be the one to get her sent home.

"I missed you." He whispered before he sat her down on her feet.

"I missed you too." She grinned before looking at the girl standing next to him.

"I am Liv." She held her hand out to her. Betsy studied her for a brief second before returning the bright smile and taking the extended hand.

"I am Betsy. Lewis told me a lot about you."

"Whatever he said, don't believe it. They are half-truths."

"All he told me was that you saved him from marrying a woman that he didn't love." She supplied as the other girls and the General joined them.

"Well, someone had to help him." She paused, "General, this is Betsy."

"Michaels, ma'am."

"Perfect, Lewis." The general inclined her head in the man's direction.

"I am going to meet up with the others, Liv, I will see you there." He pressed a kiss to her cheek, "Betsy, thank you." Betsy nodded her head before glancing over at Olivia who was watching him walk away, a hint of sadness in her smile.

"Are you okay?" She prodded softly.

"Yeah, just the last time someone I cared about walked away in a uniform he ended up dying in Pearl Harbor.' Olivia shook her head and took a breath steeling herself, she hadn't let herself truly mourn for her brother, her uncle, and her great-great-grandfather.

Sure, she had cried in Lewis's arms when she found out, but she threw up walls around herself to protect herself. She had to be the perfect picture of a well-brought-up Southern Girl. Alice grasped Olivia's hand and squeezed it.

Thankful, Olivia squeezed it in return. She had been so thankful for Alice being with her from the time she got back from South Philadelphia with the ring that Bill insisted that he didn't lift from the store underneath the one from Lewis and was fighting to keep herself together to get sworn into the Army Nursing Corp to now OCS. She would have fallen completely apart and not have cared if it wasn't for Alice and her grandparents.

***

The bus was groaning and creaking down the gravel road towards Fort Benning, and Amber was fighting nausea, and it was getting worse the closer they got and listening to Olivia tell a story about her twin brother and someone named Bill to Alice and Betsy.

"That boy is trouble, Livia." General Forbes commented, underlying amusement in her voice.

"Which one? The one I share DNA with or the one I dated?"

"Both." Both Alice and the General answered with a laugh, neither one had actually met Bill but from the stories that Olivia had told them. But Bobby, they knew how much he coaxed his sister into doing things and quickly talked them out of trouble.

There was a sad smile on her face as she twisted to look out of the window at the approaching camp.

"Bobby is Olivia's twin brother," Betsy informed Amber, figuring she hadn't been listening to what she was saying, "From what I understand, this is the farthest and longest they have been separated."

Amber shrugged her shoulders, she really didn't care about any of the other girls' lives before this. She was told that she had to do good and get that pay raise that was supposedly coming down the ranks for the women to help pay off her father's gambling debt. She wasn't there to make friends.

It would be better if she didn't.

All the boys who had exited the bus in front of the 4 nurses paused and stared at them, they hadn't expected to see women in their program. "Ladies, if you will follow me." One of the instructors said cutting off the stares, they knew that the girls being there with them would be a distraction to them, and vice versa, but it was good for them to learn not to act on those feelings.

"I am Lieutenant Harding. You are going to be under my direct command for the next 12 weeks. I am sure you understand how unique this opportunity is."

"Yes sir." They all returned, Olivia and Alice, exchanging a look. they had at least a little bit of understanding of what was going to happen to them during these 12 weeks. Thanks to Olivia's family and Elizabeth Forbes.

Alice liked to joke that Olivia was born right into the Army with how much the Stewart household was run like the Army. "This is where I leave you girls, good luck, I will see you in 12 weeks at Camp Meade.' She shook each of their hands, only lingering for a second with Olivia, squeezing her hand, "Write if you need anything, you got this."

"Thank you, ma'am." Olivia returned softly, squeezing her hand, "Tell Uncle Finn, I will be fine."

"Who is Uncle Finn?" Betsy asked curious as they started to follow Harding towards the barracks. "My grandfather's brother, and my godfather." She answered quietly, "They are worried about me, especially after losing Nicholas and Great-Great Granddad."

"Nicholas was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor." Alice informed for her friend, who looked sad at the mention, "Same with her uncle Thomas."

The Lieutenant who was leading them towards the barracks paused, interested, he had gone to WestPoint with Michael Stewart and knew that he had numerous nephews and nieces, and had kept in touch with him enough to know that he had great nephews now.

"Aunt Helen is having a baby, she is dead set on naming it, Nicholas for a boy and Lydia for a girl."

He turned to look at the girls once they were outside of the small barracks, "Stewart, Michaels, this side.' He pointed to the two beds on the right-hand side of the room, "Scott, Anderson, other side. The roll call is 20 minutes. Good luck ladies." Harding nodded at each one of them before exiting the room.

"Oops! I am so sorry!" Olivia exclaimed as she collided with a solid body, she had wanted to get to formation and she wasn't paying attention.

"It's okay." Dick Winters returned steadying her, "No damage done.' "Still, I am sorry, I should have been paying more attention. I have a bad habit of not paying attention to my surroundings when I am focused on something"

"You will have to excuse her," Lewis's voice came from behind her, "She likes to ramble when she is nervous."

"She is fine." The redhead man said, stepping away from Olivia who he had still been holding upright.

"She also has a name, Olivia.' She cut in annoyance, "And you know that Lewis."

Lewis glanced down at her and smirked, he knew it all too well, the last night they had spent together, he had gotten a hotel room, and whisked her away, much to Bill's frustration. She got good at certain things. Things that he wouldn't mention to a complete stranger, and things that would embarrass Olivia to have known, and she didn't need that, especially after the last series of letters he got from her detailing her visit with her mother at the prison for women in South Carolina, and how she was embarrassed by Katherine for everything.

Little and big.

"It's nice to meet you then, Olivia, I am Dick." "You too, Dick, you too.' She offered him a smile and took a step back to Lewis who quickly threw out, seeing the curious look on Dick's face, "Her uncle is married to my cousin. And she stopped me from marrying Kathy." Olivia winced and pulled a face that led Dick to believe that Kathy was a miserable person to be around.

"Figures you would find Lewis, Livvy," Alice commented as she joined the trio. "He found me." Olivia returned, "Alice, this is Dick, I didn't get his last name." "Winters." Dick supplied just as the music was starting to play throughout the camp, signaling that they needed to go to roll call.

Lieutenants Harding and Anderson started walking up and down the formation, while the Captain, Sanders, was giving orders to them. Olivia oddly felt like she belonged, she had grown up with her grandfather doing inspections of their school uniforms, and their bedrooms every morning before they had breakfast. It was a normal thing in the Stewart household, Alice who started living with them on and off for several months when her parents were struggling had a hard time adapting to it.

Harding paused next to Olivia, his dark eyes flicking over her uniform and then studying her face, "You know, Michael said he had a niece, but he never said anything about how pretty you are." Olivia's green eyes sparked with surprise.

"Sir?"

"Michael and I went to school together. I am Alex." She thought for a second and then she remembered, "I remember him mentioning you sir."

As if the other two girls felt how uncomfortable Olivia shifted a little closer to her. Harding was impressed that two of the three others were willing to step up and protect their fourth member. They were going to need that sense of commandery when things started getting

tough. And with the OCS program, it was going to get a lot more tough.

"You are dismissed!" Sanders announced, causing Betsy to rush up to Olivia's elbow, "Are you okay Liv?" She asked urgently, her heart was up in her throat. "I am fine, Bets, it was nothing. Just saying that he went to WestPoint with my uncle.'

Lewis and Dick who had talked into joining them for dinner, appeared, "Come on Liv, it's dinner time." He slung his arm over her shoulder, relieved that he had already said that they were related by marriage so his touching her wasn't out of the norm. He didn't think he could go 12 weeks without touching or being near her.

The 3 months had been bad enough.

"We got to talk.' He muttered lowly in her ear. "About what?" She returned, stopping their stride, letting Dick and the girls who were pulling him into shy awkward talk.

"Kathy is pregnant." It was short and straight to the point, he knew that he didn't have to dick around with her and he was thankful for that.

"What? Is she sure?" Olivia questioned, her heart dropping to her stomach, "Is, is it yours?"

"The timeline adds up." He pulled his flask out of his pocket and twisted the lid open, "Ladies first.' Olivia took it and took a long swallow off of it before handing it back to him. "What are you going to do?" "No idea. But this isn't going to change anything between us Liv, I meant what I said, I love you."

"I know Lew, I love you too." She started softly, "Whatever you want to do, I will support you. 100%" Glancing around making sure that they were fully alone, he pressed a kiss first to her lips then to her forehead. "Come on, let's go to dinner."

June 5th 1942

Fort Benning, Georgia.

***

Amber Scott had enough of everything that had to do with this stupid school that she got selected for. She was tired of getting screamed out for stupid reasons, like the sheets and blankets not being tucked into a certain inch, 6 compared to 7 that it was at a regular camp. Her boots were never polished correctly nor were they in the proper position when Sanders and Harding came into check. The other three, especially Olivia, seemed to be flourishing. They passed their tests with ease and had gotten stronger with the map reading and physical training. Something that Amber had fought hard against for the first few days, they were nurses they didn't need to know this stuff.

She glanced around the barracks, looking for something to destroy, a habit that she had gotten into thanks to her father. He had a habit of destroying everything in his path when he was drunk and upset. Her brown eyes landed on the letters that were neatly stacked on the end of Olivia's bunk, no destroying letters wouldn't do any good, as much as she hated hearing about the characters in Olivia's life, they were entraining. Even the stories that she, Lewis, and Alice reenacted after a few too many shots at the bar on pass were on par.

Then her eyes landed on the foot locker that was embellished with Olivia's surname and the US ARMY NURSING CORP logo on it. There had to be something in there that she could use that would make Olivia as upset as she was.

Quickly, Amber crossed the room and flipped the lid open, thankful that Olivia hadn't locked it like she had in the past after Harding and Sanders had gotten into it. In the small box was a worn leather diary with the initials FJS on it. It was curious that she had something like that, she had known that Olivia's were OFGS, Olivia Franklin Grace Stewart, don't ask her how she knew, she just did. She flipped it open and the first date written on the page was from 1860. Even more curious, she flipped through the pages skipping over the letters and pictures of her family and of her and Lewis at her debutante ball to the later pages that were dated from 1940 on.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant. this came for you." One of the runners for the HQ for the OCS interrupted handing Olivia a sealed envelope from the Office of the Navy.

"Liv? What is it?" Lewis asked.

"I am not sure, I don't think I can open it.' Olivia returned, "Can you open it?"

Dick who over the last few weeks became a good friend to not only of Lewis and Olivia but of Alice and Betsy as well, came over closer to Olivia, his hand catching hers. Normally doing something like this would make him nervous and make him blush but he felt oddly comfortable with Olivia. Like she was the little sister he had always wanted.

They had been informed the day before that the Navy was making a move on some island in the Pacific and everything was hush-hush about it. All they had been told was that the Enterprise, the boat that Olivia's second favorite brother, James was stationed on and flying from was involved in it. And since then Olivia had been sick with nervous energy.

Lewis had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach as he slid his finger underneath the flap of the envelope.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stewart and family. We regret to inform you that your son James Andrew Stewart was killed in action during the battle of Midway.” He quickly folded the letter back and pulled Olivia into his arms as the news hit and she started trembling. She was trying so hard not to break down. “It's okay, baby, it's okay.” he smoothed his hand over her hair that had come loose from her braid, and down her back. Dick pulled the crumpled letter out of Lewis’s hand knowing that down the line she would want to read the whole thing.

“I need to be excused.” Her voice was coming out in short spurts. “I need you to take a couple of breaths first,” Betsy ordered, worried about how sporadic her breathing was. Not even with all the tests that they had taken over the course of the last 8 weeks had she seen Olivia get so out of sorts.

“Is everything okay? “ Harding asked them to come to a stop. “Just got a letter from the Navy.” Olivia pulled herself away from Lewis and took the handkerchief from Dick to dry her eyes and wipe her nose, “My brother James was killed in Midway. I will be fine in a moment. “ She wiped her cheeks off again.

“No, you won't.” Amber’s voice came as she joined them looking like the cat that ate the canary. “What are you talking about?” Olivia asked. “Meaning you have been sleeping with him.” Betsy grabbed a hold of Amber’s arm and started pulling her away hissing that this wasn't the time or place to announce anything like that.

“It's not true, Lieutenant Harding, not since we have been here,” Lewis explained, quickly lying, in hopes it would stop the two of them from getting into trouble and from Olivia getting kicked out of the program. That was the last thing he wanted after she worked so hard on passing the tests. They all did. Except for Amber, she managed to screw everything up.

"Stewart, is that true?" Harding asked, looking at the girl who nodded her head adamantly, teary fury in her eyes. "What is going on here? This has been going on for far too long. You two are working this out now." "Everything is fine, sir." Amber threw in.

"No, it's not," Olivia said at the same time, causing Harding to turn to look at her.

She never voiced any complaints, she kind of went with everything. They had all figured it was because she grew up in a military household. "Explain Stewart."

"Scott has been trying to get me to quit for the last few weeks, talking badly about my family and how I only got here because of my last name. And I understand that it helped a lot, but I am sure I have proved my worth." Alice, who had joined them, slipped between Harding and Betsy and grabbed a hold of her friend's hand. "Well reading what was in your journal, I know it." All in the instant the grief and sadness were gone, and anger was there.

"Watch you say, next Sergeant," Olivia ordered.

"Liv." Lewis started,the more they went through the training the more Olivia was finding herself and the more Lewis found that he was falling in love with her. It was making that decision of what he wanted to do with Kathy and the baby so much harder than it needed to be.

"What are you going to do? Huh? Ol-iv-ia." Amber taunted, her eyes going to the letter that was in Dick's hand. The familiar typewriter print read out Olivia's name on it.

"I am sure your dearly departed brother is going to be so disappointed in you carrying on after an almost-married man."

"Do not talk about my brothers, or I swear to god, I am not going to be held responsible for what I do."

"Why do you care so much huh?" Olivia closed her eyes and counted to 10 trying to calm herself down but Amber's taunting got worse, she had tried to give the girl the benefit of the doubt. But she could honestly see that it was a mistake.

“About you? Or about her brothers?” Alice snapped for her friend.

“Her brothers.” Amber returned, in the deepest pits of her stomach she was surprised that Olivia would be able to care about her for her how she treated the other three during the 8 weeks they had been there.

“Sergeant, I am warning you one final time, to watch what you say.” This time it wasn't Olivia who warned her, it was Lieutenant Harding who did. He had quickly figured it was going to be better for the girls to work it out now before they were all shipped off to Camp Meade, Maryland. They had to be untied in front of the other girls especially since they were going to be the ones that knew what was going on.

“I am just saying sir, she is a disappointment.” Amber couldn't finish saying anything about Olivia and how her brothers and parents were probably disappointed in her for what she was doing when Olivia’s fist connected with her nose. A satisfying noise like a cigarette pack crumpling and the blood rushing to her ears was the only sound that Amber could hear.

When the ringing stopped and she was able to see through the stars, she saw that Olivia was being pulled back by Lewis and Dick. "I am fine." Olivia said, "I am good."

"Well, I am not! You broke my nose."

"You fucking deserved it!" She spat as Lewis lowered his mouth by her ear whispering that everything was okay and that nothing was going to happen.

"Lew, I will kill her if I have to be in the same room with her again."

"I know, I know." "Nixon, Winters take her to your barracks." Harding ordered, "Sanders and I will come and talk to her after we handle this. Michaels, Anderson stay here."

"Yes sir." Lewis agreed, turning her around and frog-marching her toward the barracks. He knew that she wouldn't do anything else to cause a scene but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Lew, I am fine. I promise I am not going to go back out there and do anything." Olivia said once they were back in the barracks, that momentarily moment of weakness, and she lost her temper.

Dropping his hands from her shoulders, Lewis stood near her, "Liv, I am.'

"Don't please. Don't tell me you are sorry. I can't hear it again." Olivia said hugging her body, "We all knew this was possible right? Dying?"

"Yeah, it's a big chance," Dick added he had been quietly following them into the barracks, and as she protested saying she was fine. She was clearly not fine, and while he felt like he knew her, he didn't feel comfortable speaking that out loud.

"It doesn't make this loss any harder. It's okay to mourn his death, Olivia.'

"She didn't let herself mourn Nicholas' death or Fredrick's death." Lewis directed over her head, she had shifted closer to him for the physical comfort and since it was just the three of them in the room, he felt okay with providing it.

"Have to be the picture perfect of the Southern Lady." She sniffed, fighting back her tears, "Nana and Gigi would have a heart attack if they saw this." She motioned to the trousers that Harding had secured for her and the other three girls. It was hard for them to do the PT in their

dresses.

After struggling through a full day through everything they had to do, Harding took matters into his own hands and got them uniforms that were a little baggy for them but they worked. "Can't have emotions, we have to be steel magnolias, can't dress like a boy."

"But." Lewis prodded, his hand rubbing down her back, his eyes on Dick, he wanted him to know his Olivia. Dick was starting to become important to him and he wanted them to be important to each other. And for that to happen, they need to know everything.

"But, Papa and Granddaddy, they think that I can do whatever I want. Does that make me and Marla a little spoiled and down the road little Katie? Absolutely. Because of them I climbed trees in dresses and chased after all of my brothers."

"James and her twin especially." "Jimmy was very proud, I got a letter from him yesterday actually. Said he was so proud of me for first facing my fears in flying."

Dick nodded his head, Lewis had come back from their last weekend pass drunk and proceeded to inform him about everything that had happened between him and Olivia and how he went down for her debutante ball. Then Olivia stopped his wedding to Kathy and their confessions and he flew with them to Charleston and spent the holidays with her and her family.

"And for joining the Nursing Corp. He would love to hear about that punch. He and Bobby have been on me to come out of my shell more and become who they know me as and who Lewis knows me to be."

The rest of what she wanted to say was cut off by Harding coming into the room and Lewis and Olivia separating, and the latter using the now crumpled handkerchief to wipe her cheeks off.

"You are going to stay in here for the time being Stewart, and Sanders is going to want to talk

to you."

"Yes, sir." She returned. 'Are you okay?" He asked, Michael had written to him once after he found that Alex was in charge of the girls and wanted to make sure she was okay. Like he knew that she was going to do this act.

"If Uncle Michael wants to know, I am fine. Scarlett O'Hara front. He will know what that means." Harding nodded his head, "We will come and get you in a bit.” “Yes, sir.” She returned, lowering her eyes so he didn’t see her sadness and embarrassment. She hated that she lost her temper and took it out on Amber, regardless of if Amber deserved it or not. “Don’t worry too much Liv, this is your first offense.” Lewis assured her, “They won’t throw the book at you just yet.”

“Oh, real assuring Lew, thank you.”

“Come in Lieutenant Stewart,” Captain Sanders said when he heard the knock on the frame of his door, the girl was standing in the doorway, already changed back into her normal white uniform for her nightly rounds in the hospital.

“Sir.” She returned, stepping into the office after saluting him.

“I am sorry about your brother, “Lieutenant Harding told me that you two were close.”

“Yes, sir, he was 3 years older than me and my twin brother, so he was there for everything. Other than Bobby, James was my favorite.” She answered, “I know it’s not your job to care about that. I know I am here for punching Sargent Scott and breaking her nose.”

Sanders had to hand it to her, she didn’t try and skirt around what she did to Amber like she had done. “It was 8 weeks of verbal abuse, she went through my belongings and read letters and journal entries. I warned her twice not to bring James or my family into it. She didn’t listen.’ Olivia shrugged her shoulders helplessly, “So I punched her. And I would do it again.”

He swallowed his smile back, “You are going to have to latrine duty with Nixon and a few others for it, and we will mark it on your file. The next step is getting General Forbes involved and then.”

“We are out of the program. Got it. Best behavior from here on out, sir.”

#ash writes #oc: olivia stewart #oc: alice anderson #oc: betsy michaels #oc: amber scott #series: courage under fire #band of brothers #band of brother fan fiction #band of brothers imagines #lewis nixon #dick winters #winnix #if you blink

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