Christmas

As 1942 was coming to an end the men and Flo started to become giddy waiting for their Christmas day off.

"Hi Ho Silver"

"If he says that one more bloody time I am going to push him all the way down this hill" Floss grumbled.

"Now that is something I would love to see" Malark laughed.

"I'd help you Floss" Skinny said seriously

When they arrived back at their barracks all their personal possessions were on the floor, including Flo's pads, she could have died of embarrassment. She could feel a dark blush rising on her cheeks as all the boys looked over to her bed to see why she had stopped dead in the middle of the room.

"Guys look away" Lieb shouted as Floss snapped to her senses and ran over to put everything away.

What really got to Flo was one of her letters from James that her parents had passed on was ripped in half, for all she knew this could have been the last letter she ever received from him.

The boys noticed her change in demeanor, but knew she didn't like them to see her weakness. They left her alone till tea,

"Fizz, you coming to the mess Hall?" Joe asked tentatively

"No"

"Aren't you hungry?" Babe said

"No"

All the men looked at each other, this was not the Florence they knew, something had happened.

"Do you want to talk about it Fizz?" Chuck asked

"No, guys just go to tea, i will be fine tomorrow"

"Okay, if your sure" Bill said

By the time they came back Flo was sleeping peacefully, although she had tear stains on her cheeks.

The next morning was Sunday. She got up early, met Speirs but was silent the whole run up. He noticed and understood she didn't want to talk.

When they reached the top, she sat down next to the stone and he sat next to her waiting for her to talk.

"I've never been close to my older brother, he used to ignore me and we would argue all the time. He was close to our little brother and sister but with me, our mum used to have to tell him to say sorry to me at least 10 times a day. When the war was announced he immediately enlisted, a day before he left he said to me 'I hope a bomb gets rid of you so I never have to see you again'".

Speirs looked shocked and held her hand tightly as she went on

" 2 years he had been gone, he's my brother and even if he doesn't like me, I still love him, that's when we heard he had been taken to a prisoner of war camp. I won't go into details but we all had our ways of dealing with it. He's still there now and I pray every night that they are not hurting him. Anyway, before he was captured he had sent me a letter saying sorry, sincerely for the first time in his life he was apologising to me and he told me I'm his little sister and he loves me"

Flo let out a little cry then but didn't let the tears fall as Speirs kept holding her hand.

"That letter is one of my most precious possessions and last night I got back to my bunk and while looking through my private things he has torn the letter in half, I just, it could be the last thing he e e ever says t t to me and n n now it's r r ruined"

Floss stammered out as she finally broke down crying. Speirs was the only person ever who had seen her cry. He held her to his chest until she calmed down and then he said

"Florrie no one can ever ruin the feeling you had when you read the letter, that memory will last a lifetime. You can sellotape the letter or just hold the two halves up together, I'm sure it's still readable, don't worry Florrie. Material possessions can be broken and chipped but memories can't be broken" then Speirs kissed the top of her head gently, as Flo got to her feet and quietly said "thank you Ron, please don't tell anyone I cried over something sobel has done, I don't want to loose my reputation"

He smiled at that, "Of course not Florrie and if you ever tell anyone how nice I was you will ruin my reputation as well, so let's keep this a secret between ourselves, as we do our runs"

And with that they headed down the hill both in much better spirits than they were before.

When she reached her bunk, the boys were all awake and she said she'd just been for a run to blow off steam.

The boys didn't pressure her to tell them what was in the letter. But Flo knew they wanted to know, she quickly gave them all a sum up of it and they each gave her a warm hug.

A couple of weeks before Christmas Sobel had given the company a day off and had even ordered spaghetti for them to eat.

"This is good."  Lieb said surprised

"This stuff is orange. Spaghetti ain't supposed to be orange" said Muck

" This ain't spaghetti. This is army noodles with ketchup." Perco complained

"

you ain't gotta eat it." Guarnere replied

"Gonorrhea, as a fellow Italian, you should know that calling this crap spaghetti is a mortal sin." Perco said

Hoobler then reached over and tried to get his food. Flo started laughing and had to hold on to Penk to calm down.

Perco then started shouting "Nonononono I'm eating here!"

A whistle blows. Sobel enters the mess hall.

"Orders changed! Get up!" Sobel suddenly shouted

"Lectures are cancelled, Easy Company is running up Currahee! Move, move, move!"

" Three miles up, three miles down. Hi-Ho Silver! Let's go, let's go." Sobel screamed

Floss then watched as Hoobler threw up, she tried to help him before Sobel came running up to them.

"You're a washout, Private Hoobler! You should pack up those ears and go home!"

"Looks like Gordon's done! Come on, Gordon, you finished? You do not deserve to get your wings!"

"Private Randleman, you look tired. There's an ambulance waiting for you at the bottom of the hill, it can all be over, right now! No more pain, no more Currahee, no more Captain Sobel!"

"We pull upon the risers-" Luz started singing

Just then the rest of easy company and Flo joined in- it was the hardest thing she had ever done to hold in her laugh at Sobels face as Winters ran past.

We fall upon the grass

We never land upon our feet we always hit our ass

Highty tighty Christ Almighty who the hell are we

Zim-Zam goddamn we're the Airborne Infantry!

We pull upon the risers

We fall upon the grass (Winters goes past Sobel)

We never end upon our feet we always hit our ass

Highty tighty Christ Almighty who the hell are we

Zim-Zam goddamn we're the Airborne Infantry!

"WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP" shouted Flo on the morning of the 25th December 1942.

"Fizz shut up or im throwing you in the lake" Bill rumbled from his bed

"I'd like to see you try" laughed Flo

Bill then got half out of bed which made Flo yelp and pull Chuck up and use him as a shield. This made all the men sit up and laugh as they all said 'Merry Christmas' to each other.

With that Flo got dressed into her army uniform and ran out to see the rest of her boys. She first ran into 1st platoons barracks where she came across skinny in just his underware

"Fizz! Can you knock next time please" Skinny said trying to hide his blush

"Aww don't be embarrassed skinny, its only me, anyway merry christmas everyone i'll see you t the party later" laughed Flo

There were mumbles of "bye Floss" as most of them were asleep

She ran to 3rd platoon and sent the same message and then she speed walked to currahee and met Speirs at the bottom.

Speirs looked up as she arrived and had to do a double-take, "Florrie, you look so different in your skirt"

"I'll try to take that as a compliment" she laughed as they started their walk up the hill.

Once they reached the top, Speirs took a little box out of his pocket as Flo did the same.

"Happy Christmas florrie," Speirs said as she opened the nicely wrapped gift. When she had torn of the wrapping paper she found a little black box, when she opened it and found a gorgeous silver necklace with a small daisy charm dangling off it.

"You remembered" Flo whispered

Flashback

Sat at the top of the hill Speirs and flo were getting to know each other better.

"What's your worst habit?" Speirs asked

"Biting my lips and inside cheek when I'm nervous, I barely have any skin left on the inside of my cheek, what's yours?"

"Clenching my jaw when I'm angry, gives away my emotions to easily" Speirs replied

"You can show your emotions, it's not a weakness" flo said gently

"Not in front of the men, I'm their leader" Speirs said looking at her with soft eyes

"And what am I?" flo almost whispered

Speirs didn't answer her instead he asked "What's your favourite flower?"

Flo frowned for a minute before brightening up and answering "Daisies"

Speirs looked amused "That's a very random choice"

"No it's not, daisies are happiest and most friendly flower, they remind me of happy things, like blue sky, the sea, family, friends"

"I'll keep that in mind" Speirs smiled gently

End of flashback

"I said I would keep it in mind, now where ever you are, whether you are at home, in a foxhole or in the North Pole you will always remember that there is good in the world and a reason to keep going" Speirs smiled.

"Ron its beautiful, its one of the most beautiful gifts I've ever received, thank you so much" Flo laughed as she jumped into his arms. He froze for a second before embracing her and wrapping his warm arms around her, they stood in each others arms for about 5 minutes before Flo pulled away.

"Well it can't beat your gift, but here you go" Flo smiled

"Florrie you didn't have to"  Speirs said but he was smiling.

As he opened it, he saw a silver ring with Camp Toccoa 1942. From Florrie ingraved on it. Flo looked up at him hopefully.

"Do you like it?" She asked hopefully

"Florrie I love it, thank you my darling" he said quietly, almost like he was quite choked up.

"Now when we're in the war and separated we'll remember that one day we'll see each other again and the world will be happy" Flo smiled

"And you'll never forget me" she laughed as she started making her way down the hill

"I'll never forget you" Speirs whispered as he put his ring on and followed her down the hill.

The mess hall was buzzing with men (and Flo) enjoying their Christmas feast.

"Thank goodness, I thought we would be getting spam" Flo exclaimed.

"What's Christmas like in England fizz?" Gene who was sitting next to her asked

"Well there's usually snow, a Christmas tree, a roast dinner, presents, Carol singing and church on Christmas morning--it's perfect really, everyone's happy" Flo smiled

"What do you miss the most?" asked Babe

Flo laughed "A roast dinner, ahh I miss my mum's chicken, veg, roast and mashed potatoes with Yorkshire puddings and gravy, but at Christmas she adds pigs in blankets, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and for dessert Christmas pudding. And I miss Carol singing, me and my friends and family with a cup of mulled wine in the blacksmiths shop with everyone from our village, its magical"

All the men were imagining the Christmas Flo described, it sounded like heaven.

"What town do you live in Floss?" Lip asked

"I live in a very small village called Alfriston in East Sussex, near the coast, all the old ladies are scared that we'll be invaded first" Flo smiled at the memory.

"I can't wait to visit when we move over to England and have leave" Malarky smiled

Flozz laughed "My mother would be over the moon to meet all of you, you must come"

All the men in easy cheered.

The party put on by the officers was in full swing. They had invited the nurse corps over and flozz was enjoying chatting to some women for a change.

"Here you go fizz" Joe said as he slid over a coke to her

"Ta Joe" as she sipped it before boogie woogie bugle boy came on, when she grabbed the nearest man near her who happened to be Niz and dragged him to dance.

Well once she was on the dance floor, she couldn't stop. She danced with pretty much all the men in easy, Perco, Don, Bill, Skip, Penk, Chuck, Tab, Shifty, Smokey, Lip, Buck, Gene, Web, Skinny, Chris, Joe, Lieb and even Winters to name a few.

She danced once with one of the men in fox company but he got a bit hands and the team of chuck, Martin, Babe and Shifty quietly moved him outside and said a few things to him, well maybe not said as much as expressed.

As she was at the bar, Speirs came up beside her and next to him a nurse.

"Hey Florrie" he said smiling

"Hi Ron, who's this" Flo smiled as she held out her hand to the women.

"I'm Lizzy white, it's a pleasure to meet you, Ron here has told me all about the first female combat medic" Lizzy said as she gazed up at Speirs.

Flo didn't really know how to feel, on the one hand lizzy seemed nice and Ron deserved a nice girl but on the other hand she was thinking 'I should be the nice girl' and that thought scared her. A lot.

"oh really" Flo smirked up at Speirs as he shook his head laughing.

"I know lizzy from home, our families are friends"

Ahhh, Flo thought as relief washed through her surprisingly.

"Well it's nice to meet you lizzy, we have to chat later, it'll be nice not chatting to men for once" as both girls laughed. "Now Lt Speirs I believe you are one of the men I have not danced with tonight and I think we should rectify that" Flo smiled

"Of course Pvt Hilton, how could I refuse you" He said as he led her to the dance floor laughing.

Half the men stood shocked at the change in one of the most feared men in toccoa. It seemed their little medic truly did bring happiness to whoever she met.

"Well that's something you don't see everyday" Luz said quietly as Bull nodded in agreement, while watching the handsome young couple dance the night away not noticing anyone in the room.

Winters watched in fascination after he watched them dance 4 songs together before Floss walked off to go chat to a few nurses and Speirs wondered over to him at the bar.

"Got anything to tell me?" Winters smiled.

Speirs laughed and said "Dick you're reading too much into that, it was a dance, friends are allowed to dance together, come on you've danced with Florrie tonight as well"

Winters smirked and said "Yeah, but I don't call her Florrie"

Speirs gave him a push and they both laughed and decided to hit the hay.

As Flo lay in bed that night she decided it had been one of her best Christmases yet and it was mostly due to the man who gave her the daisy that was resting around her neck.