Humanity of the Broken [ Band of Brothers ] 2

FORTY-NINE

July 25, 1945

Going to bed at 0300 when he had to be up at 0630 had not been Nixon's brightest idea. Why Sink had seen it necessary for him to sit in on a briefing about the Pacific Theater at 0700, he didn't know. All he knew was that Sink had never specified a need for a dress uniform, so he'd rolled into the meeting in basic fatigues. No one said anything. Nixon decided that was good enough.

He hoped Alice got to sleep in. Even if she was more inclined to get up with the sun than him, four hours of sleep wasn't enough for anyone. Besides, he felt a little bad he would probably be the cause of a hangover for her. The case of Vat 69 he'd gotten had been too tempting.

Once 0800 rolled around and the briefing ended, Nixon had planned on going back to bed. But clearly the war had other plans, because not five seconds after he'd walked into the lobby of Hotel Zell and Zielinski flagged him down.

"Sir, do you know where Major Winters is?" he asked.

Nixon sighed. He shook his head. "Not off the top of my head, private. Why?"

"Package came in for him. He'd been asking about it," Zielinski explained.

Looking at the package in the orderly's arms, he frowned. Dick hadn't mentioned anything about expecting a delivery. He shrugged. "Here, I'll track him down."

Zielinski nodded. "Thank you, sir. I'll see if I can't find you something to make it worth it," he added, smirking.

Scoffing, Nixon took the package with a small smile. As the private hurried away, he took a deep breath. So much for going back to bed. He checked his watch. 0810 hours. Dick was probably getting ready for a swim, or down at the lake already. With another yawn, Nixon headed outside.

He found Lipton outside. He'd been talking to Talbert it looked like, but as the sergeant walked away, he just stood quietly. Nixon flagged him down. "Hey, Lip, you seen Major Winters?"

"He's down by the lake, sir." With a tiny smirk, he folded his arms and waited for Nixon to join him. "How was your briefing?"

Nixon rolled his eyes. "About as informative as usual. It told me nothing."

With a small laugh, Lipton nodded. "Well, at least we're in briefings and not battle."

"The one small victory," he agreed.

Leaving Lipton to do whatever it was he was doing, Nixon began the trudging, slow walk down the road to lake level. Lip's words rang in his ears. Briefings, not battles. The briefing on the PTO had told him one thing; they were going to win at some point. Rumors had been flying around intelligence of the paperwork being drawn up by the Allied governments for terms of surrender for Japan. The Potsdam Conference continued to see developments for that for Germany, too.

That meant the return home was one step closer. As excited as he was to finally get to marry Alice, the looming threat of his family's condemnation hung over the joy. It didn't help matters that his family didn't even know Alice existed. He had no interest in showing up only for her to get screamed at by his father.

If he was honest with himself, he didn't want to deal with Stanhope Nixon either. He'd much rather live out the rest of his life with the friends he'd made in the Army. They meant more to him than any blood relation.

Well, except for Blanche. His sister needed him. That's why he stayed. That's why he put up with the drama and the drinking and the yelling of their father. Convincing her to live with their mom in San Francisco had helped some. But based on Blanche's most recent letters, their mom had been more and more upset with their father. The tension couldn't be good for any of them.