Love You Till The End (Robert Zussman x Reader)

50 - Ronald "Red" Daniels

Past Midnight
Early Morning of December 27, 1944
The Ardennes, Belgium, Luxembourg

The cold air was really gettin' to us tonight. Even though it's there every single day of this damn European winter, we can handle it some days better than others. I could feel an ache in my bones since our clothes aren't much help against the cold. It's not that I ain't thankful for what we've been given, but I often feel like these few extra layers I have on aren't there at all.

Thanks to Zussman translatin' the intelligence I found a few days ago on that Kraut POW who tried runnin' away, we learned that the Krauts have vehicles with explosives drivin' towards one of their nearby airbases. They want to use those explosives to destroy the last standin' bridge that goes across the Rhine. We believe that they already have explosives at the airbase so our mission is to not only stop the explosives headed our way from reachin' the bridge but destroy every explosive they might already have at the airbase.

We had walked a few miles today in order to reach a position closer to the airbase we would be ambushin' soon. We have to wait for the enemy vehicles to pass on through our position before we can move forward. By stealin' one of them vehicles, we can sneak our way into the airbase without alarmin' the Krauts immediately.

Zuss and I were standin' around together, waitin' for Howard or Pierson to give us more information about the mission or of any orders they might have. I hadn't spoken much with Zuss since yesterday mornin' when we learned that L/N was kidnapped. He's said a few things about the mission, but other than that, you can easily tell he's in no mood to talk up a storm or joke around like he usually is.

The rest of the boys and I have been pretty careful about not sayin' anything about L/N unless he brings her up which he hasn't done much of. The most he's talked about her was when he asked Stiles if he could hold her belongings for 'im since Stiles won't be goin' too far into the airbase durin' the ambush.

I may not fully understand how Zuss must be feelin', but it still hurts to see 'im so silent. It's hard to look him in his saddened eyes and know that there's only so much you can say to try makin' him feel better because no matter what I say, the thought of the possible danger L/N could be in will come back to bother him. It's even harder knowin' that I'm not too sure that we'll find her at this German airbase. It's possible, but we just don't know. All we can do is hope she's there and that the Krauts are keepin' her alive.

As I glanced at the time on my watch, I heard a chuckle come from Zussman.

"What's got you laughin', bud?" I asked and he looked at me with a small grin on his face. I couldn't help but grin back, happy to see him showin' some emotion after bein' down since yesterday mornin'.

"I can't help but think that if L/N were here, she'd be tellin' us to keep ourselves moving to avoid freezin' to death." He rubbed his gloved hands together.

"Yeah, I can definitely hear her sayin' that." I let out a chuckle this time.

"Dammit, I hope she's okay," he said in a low voice, lookin' down and rubbin' the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"Zuss-"

"Enemy trucks with explosives will be coming through here soon." Howard suddenly walked up, makin' us quickly turn our attention to him. "We can't let them get to the Rhine. Pierson's ordered us to block the road by bringing down these trees."

"Where the hell is Pierson?" I asked, not botherin' to look where Howard was pointin'.

"Probably in some hidey-hole with the detonator," Zussman said. "And his whiskey."