Warriors (Band of Brothers - Joseph Liebgott)

Chapter 14: Almost

Mariah was standing with a few of the men having a conversation when Joe pushed his way into the middle of the circle.

"Let me see your face." He said sternly.

"You're already looking at it." Mariah laughed.

"No smartass, I heard you got hit. Show me your face."

"Joe, it's just a graze, it's nothing." Mariah said.

"Show.me.your.face." He said through gritted teeth. Mariah sighed and removed the gauze that was covering her wound. As soon as he saw it his jaw tightened and he felt angry.

"Come on." He said grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him.

"Bye guys!" She yelled to the men who were now smirking at the two.

He led her to the side of a building, "Sit." He said pointing at a large wooden box. As soon as she does Joe began to clean around the area with some water and tissues he had found. She could feel his breath on her face and it made her stomach fill with butterflies. That feeling went away when Joe began to dab the actual wound with the tissue. She hissed and without thinking grabbed onto Joe's knee.

"Sorry love, I'm almost done." The name he called her had left Mariah a blushing mess.

"All done." Both of them couldn't help to stare at each other. As he looked in her eyes, he saw everything. He saw them being together, getting married, having children, grow old with her. He wanted to love her. Joe put his hand on her cheek, Mariah placed her hand over his.

"Can I?" Joe asked.

She nodded. He put his other hand on her right cheek and began to lean in. "Hey you two, we're moving out, come on." A voice rang out.

"God damn it." He whispered.

"Come on." Mariah laughed, grabbing his pinky with hers and dragging him along behind her.

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The company was walking through a lush green field, Mariah couldn't stop herself from picking a few of the yellow flowers she was walking past. "Heard you and Liebgott almost kissed." A quiet voice said beside her ear. Mariah jumped slightly and looked to where the voice came from.

"Jesus Christ Luz, where the fuck did you come from?" She asked holding her chest.

"That's not important! What is important is what I just mentioned. So, did you?" Luz asked.

"God you're such a girl." Mariah said rolling her eyes. "But yes, we almost did."

"Hey Perconte! That solider was right; they almost did!" Luz yelled.

"Would you shut all the way up!" Mariah said punching him in the arm. Luz chuckled and ran over to Perconte. Both giggling and shooting glances towards Liebgott and Mariah. She just shook her head at the two men.

A bit later into their walk it began raining. "Oh, for fuck's sake."

"Wonderful weather we're having, eh?" Liebgott asked coming up beside her.

"Just beautiful." Liebgott laughed and moved closer to her, shoulder almost touching hers. He couldn't help himself, he just wanted to be close to her at all times.

As if on cue, his happiness was ripped away when the sound of bullets rang out. He didn't want to but he knew he had to detach himself from her side.

"Get down!" He yelled at the girl.

Mariah was on her stomach and crawling towards the bushes as fast as her legs and hips could take her. As she crawled into the bushes she noticed Blithe; eyes wide, skin pale and covered in sweat, his breathing heavy. She crawled her way over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Blithe, hey, look at me." His wide eyes look down to meet hers.

"I need you to breathe for me, alright?"

"I... I c-c-can't." He said shakily.

"You can. Watch me and follow what I do." He nodded. She took his hands in hers and began doing small breaths in and out. Eventually, his eyes softened and his breathing

steadied.

"That's it, good job Blithe." Mariah said, nodding her head and smiling at him.

"Thank you." He whispered to her. She smiled and squeezed his hand in response.

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As night fell the sound of gunshots had been replaced by the sounds of thunder, lightning, rain, and Luz's talking/singing. Mariah knew she shouldn't have let him talk her into sharing a foxhole.

Slightly annoyed by him she climbed into Eugene's foxhole "Oh hello, what brings ya over here?" Eugene asked with a smile covering his face.

"Luz is starting to get on my nerves. He's my best friend and I love him dearly but holy god." Mariah sighed sitting down and light a cigarette.

"It took you two years to figure out how annoying he can be?" Eugene asked.

"Shut up."

Both were enjoying the others company when it was interrupted by a call for a medic. Both medics jumped out their hole and ran over.

"What happened?" Mariah asked.

"I-I thought he was a Kraut." Smith said.

While Roe and Liebgott were helping Talbert, Mariah jumped into Smith's foxhole. "Come here." She took Smith's helmet off and sat him down. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and leaned his head onto her shoulder. "Shhh, it was an accident, you didn't mean to."

He curled into her. "But i did!" His head shot up. "What if they kick me out? Or what if they shoot me?!"

Mariah lifted her head up and cupped his cheeks. "Hey, they're not gonna dishonorably discharge or shoot you over an accident. You're not going anywhere." For the next half hour Mariah sat with the man, he had stopped crying and told her he wanted to be alone for awhile. She put his helmet back on his head and crawled out of the hole.

"I guess you're not that mean after all." Mariah heard Liebgott say from his foxhole.

"Maybe I could teach you a thing or two." She said laughing as she jumped into the hole.

"Doubtful." He smiled up at her.

All she could do was roll her eyes and sit down across from him. "And who said we were sharing MY foxhole?"

"I guess if you really don't want me here, I'll go." As she went to leave, she felt Joe grab the back of her jacket.

"Get back here." He laughed, pulling her back towards him. She landed with her back hitting his chest and immediately burst out into a fit of laughter.

He loved that laugh; he would never get tired of hearing it. He generally wasn't a big fan of other people, but her? He was big fan of her. He had been ever since her first day at Toccoa when she stood up to Guarnere. Ever since then he'd been pining for the girl.

'Well, I could stop the pining here. I could tell her.' He thought to himself. 'No, not here; not when my friend just got stabbed, not while there were Germans across the way ready to kill all of them. No, he would tell her when it was just the two of them. But what if-" His thinking was interrupted by Mariah moving her body upwards and resting her head right under his collarbone.

"Comfy down there?"

"Not yet." She grabbed Joe's hand and place it over the top of her chest, just under her collarbones. "Now I am."

Joe couldn't help but to put his head into hair. They fell asleep peacefully that night.