Hello There, Soldier

Ardennes: December, 1944

The next time the 82nd was needed for a combat jump, Joe was there. He had been cleared by doctors and allowed to rejoin his unit. They were currently dealing with the freezing winter weather in Belgium. The front lines were now in the Ardennes forest where, with every explosion, the trees themselves became deadly weapons. Falling trees and splinters of wood became deadly shrapnel. The cold was almost unbearable and very few of them had the proper winter weather gear to handle it. That didn't stop them of course. They all kept going and pushing forward because that was what they were there to do.

Joe and a few others had been sent up to scout out a road. They were still hidden in the trees when a German jeep came barreling through. Joe and the others took aim. It was easy pickings for them as the driver was hit and crashed the vehicle. They quickly ran over to see if there was anything useful in the jeep before heading back to their lines to report.

"Hey, check this out, this guy was a courier." One of the guys declared as he took a quick look over the papers in the German's possession.

"Grab the papers and let's head back to the others. Maybe there's something useful in them." Joe told them as he kept an eye out.

Grabbing what they could, the men headed back to the rest of their unit. Joe went and found First Sergeant Craine to give him a report on what they found. The other men with him followed behind as they found Craine talking with another soldier. As Ed saw the group approach he excused himself and met them half way.

"What do you have there?" Craine asked as he took note of the German briefcase.

"German papers. Got anyone who can translate?" Joe said quickly.

"Bring Stevens over here." Craine called out and soon someone was running off to find the man requested.

"Probably just useless but worth a shot." Joe shrugged it off. He was more interested in reporting about the road they scouted out then a bunch of papers. They pulled out the papers and scattered them across a nearby table to take a look.

"You wanted to see me?" The quiet voice was barely noticeable. Craine turned to see the short brunette man that had been translating for them. His glasses were perched perfectly on his nose as he looked around a bit unsure.

"Got some papers taken off a dead German courier, can you take a look and see if anything of use is here?" Craine said gruffly as he moved aside to let the man get to work.

"Yes, First Sergeant." He whispered already reading documents and placing them aside. The others were still crowded around the table looking too. They didn't know German but curiosity had them all still looking as if they did. Joe walked over casually not understanding why they were all so fascinated with a bunch of papers when something caught his eye. A single name that seemed to appear on most of the documents in front of them. He grabbed one of the sheets and held it closer just to be sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Shit!" He said out loud.

"What is it, Callahan?" One of the guys asked but Joe ignored him completely.

"First Sergeant Craine?" Joe called out as he walked over to him quickly.

"Yes?"

"These papers were addressed to Christoph Mueller." He said already feeling his heart rate increase with every second at the possibilities of what this discovery could mean.

"Is he someone I should know?" Craine raised an eyebrow not understanding what was making Joe so worked up.

"He's the German officer that Josie was involved with." He told him and watched as the understanding settled in.

"What would he be doing in Belgium?" Craine questioned.

"I don't know but...what if she's with him still?" He had to ask. That was all his mind could think about since he saw the bastard's name written on the paper.

"Joe, that is a very big if. If he did turn and run from France, I highly doubt he would have brought along his French girlfriend." Craine shook his head trying to dismiss the growing hope in Joe's eyes.

"You don't understand he was obsessed with her like she was his property. I don't think he would have left without her even if he didn't have permission to bring her along." Something in his gut was telling him that he was right. He just knew that Josie was still alive and she was still with that man.

"Or he found out what she was really doing and she's long gone." Craine said with sad eyes. He let out a sigh as he saw the hurt cross Joe's face at the possibility of Josephine being gone. "I don't want to be the one to say it but that is a very real possibility you need to consider especially after everything she said to you." He was trying to be the voice of reason for his friend but he felt like the bad guy that just kicked his puppy.

"But if there is a chance that she's alive and she's with him now, we have to do something about it." Joe straightened up as he was filled with a sense of determination.

"It's chaos out there. The front lines are constantly shifting and the Germans keep pushing us back. I can't authorize the man power to go on a wild goose chase for a girl we don't even know is there."

Joe was about to argue more when a quiet voice interrupted them. "Sorry to interrupt but he might be on to something. This letter here is denying Mueller's request to send his French companion back to Germany." Stevens said having walked over to join the men. He pushed up his glasses as he held the paper in his hands.

"Does it give his location?" Joe asked as his hope continued to grow.

"Yeah, he's situated in an estate about 5 miles from here." Stevens told him.

"After everything she's done and everything she's been through she deserves to be brought home. She saved both our lives and countless others, isn't it about time we returned the favor?" Joe looked at Craine with pleading eyes.

"I can't authorize you to do this, Joe. But I won't stop you either." Joe's eyes widened as he realized what he meant and smiled. "You do realize that going there on your own is a suicide mission."

"He's not going alone." Murphy said standing up to join the men. He had been sitting nearby and heard the exchange. If Callahan was going after his girl then Murphy planned on helping him.

"You don't have to..." Joe started but was cut off.

"She saved my life too, Sarge." Murphy wasn't going to hear any of it. His mind was made up, he was going with Joe whether he liked it or not.

"Oh, if you're going to have a party I'm joining in. Besides I have money riding on if this broad even really exists." The heavy New York accent called out from the table. Montaruli was one of the men that had been out scouting with Joe. He was a short guy but filled with enough attitude to make up for his smaller stature. His dark features gave an intimidating edge to his face even when he was smiling.

"You're all a bunch of fools for risking this but good luck." Craine said shaking his head.

"Thanks for this." Joe said knowing his friend was not happy with the idea.

"Just don't get yourselves killed." He told Joe seriously before turning and walking away.