Shadows of the World » Band of Brothers

10: All Sunshine, All Shadow

"Some people seemed to get all sunshine, and some all shadow." - Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

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Aldbourne was quiet upon their return, but it was quiet in a much different manner to how Paris usually was. In Aldbourne, there was life, there was love, and there was hope. In Paris, you could tell that the city had lost some of its soul with its unwanted visitors. It was a shell of what it had once been.

Juliette envied the paratroopers in some ways, and pitied them in others. They were so green they had no idea what was ahead of them, and still dreamt of a life in peacetime, a life beyond the war. She could not say the same of herself. However, it was for this very reason that she also pitied them. When reality hit them, it would hit them hard. She knew this from experience.

William held the front door to their house open so Juliette could precede him in entering, and she smiled at him as he did so. The pair tried to be as silent as possible upon making their way through the porch, though halted in place when they found Alexis, Thomas, and Martin all sitting in the living room anyway. Juliette smiled as William came to stand beside her; they had been waiting for them. For her.

Thomas was the first on his feet, grinning when he saw her in one piece. "Guess you don't need us anymore, then, huh?" he teased, coming to stand before her to look her over for injuries properly. "How was it?"

Juliette produced the envelope from a pocket of her jacket - it was impractical to jump out of a plane in an evening gown and thus she had changed into her jump gear upon leaving the city - and offered it to him. Thomas took it and handed it straight to Alexis, who was lingering just behind him with Martin.

"Good work, Juliette," Alexis told her, and she smiled and nodded to him.

"Jules." Thomas pulled her attention back to him again. His eyes were soft, his eyebrows drawn together. "How was it?"

"Sumptuous," she replied through a grin, and he laughed, leading the group back to the living room where he took the arm chair, Juliette and William shared the sofa, Martin leant against the doorway leading to the kitchen, and Alexis stood before them all.

Alexis opened the envelope carefully and nodded his approval when he drew out the contents. Juliette had succeeded in replacing two photographs, one of Thomas and one of Alexis, as well as a physical description of Martin with fakes - photographs of special operatives who had already died and a skewed physical description of what could have been anyone.

Alexis looked to Juliette and kept his expression reserved, but nodded again. "Well done. Now we can work again in Paris."

"Lucky us," said Thomas, earning a chuckle from Juliette and William and a snort from Martin. Alexis was professional as ever, but Juliette thought that she may have seen the tiniest of smiles tugging at his lips. Perhaps, however, it was a mere trick of the light.

"I think," began Martin, pushing off from the doorframe and turning to the cabinet behind him, "this calls for celebration." When he turned again he brandished a bottle of whiskey, and Juliette groaned whilst William cheered and Thomas let out an "Ay!"

William raced into the kitchen faster than she'd ever seen him move before returning with wine glasses, and Juliette shared an eye roll with Thomas, though they both laughed. William was wicked smart when it came to equipment and anything mechanical, but with common sense? The lights were all off and no one was home.

"No," Martin groaned, taking one of the glasses off of William with a look of contempt. "Will, mate. Really?"

"What?"

"Lets use them anyway," Juliette decided with a grin. "They're fancy."

Martin took it upon himself to pour the whiskey, not trusting William with the task, before he delegated each glass to his companions. Alexis accepted his rather reluctantly, but he accepted it nonetheless, and Juliette smiled at her friends as they all stood and gathered into a circle in the centre of the floor.

"To the lady of the hour!" Thomas announced, nudging Juliette so hard she almost spilled her drink. She shoved him back with equal ferocity.

"To Jules!" everyone echoed (aside from, of course, Alexis, who never called anyone by anything other than their Christian name) and downed the contents of their glasses in one.

William looked positively giddy, Martin exceptionally proud, and even Alexis' hardened expression had softened. She looked to Thomas who slung an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him, and she positively beamed. She would do anything for these boys.

Their glasses were quickly refilled, though after the second time Alexis resolved to go to bed, taking the retrieved intel with him. By the fourth the remaining four were in fits of giggles.

Juliette sat back and watched as Thomas attempted to show William how to jitterbug whilst Martin heckled them from where he now leaned against the liquor cabinet. She laughed when William fell once again. All of a sudden, however, her giggles turned to sobs and she found herself shaking as she gripped onto Thomas, who had rushed immediately to her side.

That man had had a wife, and presumably children. He was a Nazi, she reminded herself harshly. But, she thought, he was also a man.

Whilst the killing had gotten easier over the years, how each of them came to cope with it varied immensely. Sometimes Juliette found that she was relatively unbothered, which was sickening. But sometimes it tore her up inside. Either way, processing what she'd done so easily never really did seem to get easier.