A World on Fire[Band of Brothers]

Chapter Two

"You look like a goddamn mess, Wells! Like you got chewed up and thrown outta a fuckin tornado or something."

"Morning to you too, asshole."

It was Larkin's third day in England and she had already found a fast friend in Lieutenant Lewis Nixon. The two had met her first night in Aldbourne, when she had laid in bed sleepless for hours before finally giving in to her insomnia and heading outside. She had found the man sitting on a stone fence, sipping VAT 69 out of a flask and singing an off key rendition of Pistol Packin Mama. He was higher ranking than she, so Larkin had been hesitant to approach him, but had no choice once his tone deaf song became too unbearable.

She'd told him to shut his god damn pie hole. He'd told her to stop talking and drink.

It was safe to say that Larkin had immediately liked him. They'd hung around each other the following days, cracking sarcastic jokes as she drowned in paper work and interviews. The Colonel had ordered her to get all her records in order and meet with the press before she could even think about training. She'd finally gotten everything done yesterday, after hours and hours of dreary paperwork, only to receive a letter from the hospital refusing to clear her for combat. It had taken four phone calls and plenty of threats before the idiot doctor back in the states would finally relent.

Lewis had found her shortly after, and knowing seemingly everything about her despite their two days of knowing each other ("I'm an intelligence officer, sweet cheeks, its my job to know everything."), had brought her to his happy place- a well stocked bar in downtown Aldbourne. Larkin hadn't skimped on the alchohol that night. She had thrown back beer after beer, meddling with her mind to try and forget the occasional pain in her neck and the ever constant pain in her heart.

However, ridding herself of those pains only amplified the burn in her brain.

"Seriously, Lark, you look like shit." Lewis grunted, closing the door behind him as he walked into her room. It wasn't much- a small cream colored section of an elderly womans house in Aldbourne. As opposed to placing her in the barracks with the rest of the soldiers, Colonel Sink had offered her the opportunity to board with English families as the officers did. After spending months in sandy foxholes and dirty tents, there was no way Larkin was going to turn it down.

"Seriously, Lew- fuck off." Larkin grumbled, curling deeper into her blanket. Her head was rumbling, a sharp pain stabbing her temples everytime that goddamned Lieutenant spoke.

"I would and all..." Nixon stopped by the oak dresser on the far side of the room, fiddling with a delicate hairbrush that was definitely not Larkins. "But you have your first meeting with Easy Company in twenty minutes."

"Wha- ah, fuck!" The blonde shot out of bed, only to be immediately knocked down by the force of the crushing headache she had sustained from downing glasses and glasses of hard liquor. "Do me a favor and never let me ever, ever drink Vat 69 again. That shit is not my friend."

"More for me." Lewis shrugged. He found his way over to her unpacked duffel back, rooting through it before pausing with a shit eating grin. He turned slowly, his hands behind his back and Larkin immediately grew suspicious.

"What are you holding." She stood up, ignoring her headache as she cautiously surveyed his proud face. "Lewis Nixon, get your goddamn hands out from behind your back right now."

"I was trying to find your uniform for the meeting, but instead..." He smirked, pulling a silk chemise from behind his back. It was white and small, a gag gift from some of her friends on the First Front. They had put aside their cash just to buy Larkin- who seriously disliked dresses and slept only in t shirts- an obviously oppulent gift to annoy her. Still, she could never find the resolve to throw it away, especially after the ones who bought it for her hadn't been lucky enough to escape that fateful day. "I'm sure wearing this would definitely get the boys approval!" Nixon guffawed.