Half Sick of Shadows » Band of Brothers [2]

23: Lilacs in a Storm

"Some words are doomed like lilacs in a storm." - Alejandra Pizarnik, Night, The Poem

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In the hour before loading onto the planes for Operation Market Garden, the airfield was buzzing with energy. From where she was checking over Tom's jump gear Jules was listening in on Babe and Bill's conversation.

"And you're sure she's a spy?" she heard Babe say. She laughed to herself.

"God damn it, Heffron, yes," Bill replied, his voice full of exasperation. "She jumped on D-Day with us. Came back to camp in a fuckin' kraut uniform. Ain't no doubt about it."

"She don't look like a spy," Babe muttered. When Jules felt his eyes on her she shot him a smile. "Wait -" Babe then said, looking back to Bill. "A kraut uniform? What was she doin' in a kraut uniform?"

Bill shrugged. "Hey, Jules!" he called. As she approached she already knew what was coming. "Why were you wearin' that kraut uniform on D-Day?"

Juliette shrugged. "I used it to go undercover."

"Undercover where? There were krauts all over the damn place," Bill pressed.

She rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "German intelligence outpost about half a mile from Utah Beach. Don't tell anyone I told you though." She sent Bill a grin and Babe a wink and made to turn back to Tom, but Bill's voice pulled her back.

"See, Heffron, what you gotta understand about these spies is that they're fuckin' nuts. I found Will on the ground re-wiring a fuckin' radio as if there weren't krauts shootin' at him a meter away. Fuckin' nuts, Babe, I'm tellin' ya."

Jules grinned. "It's one of the requirements for the job. When a man you've never seen before pulls you aside in a hallway and asks you if you want to train to do something you're not even allowed to know about, you have to be absolutely insane to say yes. Off-your-head mad."

Bill laughed. "And she can sure chuck 'em back in a drinking contest. You ain't never seen anythin' like it."

Juliette laughed and then smiled sadly, because she would never do that with them again. Never again would she have a night out in a pub in Aldbourne with her favourite yanks, and that was so sad she could hardly bear it.

Before she left Jules patted Babe on the shoulder and shot him a smile. "Don't worry, Babe. Bill'll look after you. Make sure he tells you everything he knows."

"Hey, which plane you in, sweetheart?" Bill called after her.

"I'm with Welsh," she told him with a small smile and a shrug. "Sorry."

"Tom?" he asked.

"Winters."

Bill nodded, and as she went to walk away, his voice called her back yet again. "Hey, see ya on the ground, sweetheart."

She laughed and sent him a smile. "See you on the ground."

When Jules got back to her boys, she found Will struggling with his webbing. He always hated the webbing he had to use when they jumped with the paratroopers because his equipment was so much better suited to his normal, specially-designed jump gear, but that was black and therefore unusable in such circumstances. She laughed to herself before going over to adjust it for him.

Will looked around at the airfield as she fiddled with the webbing and adjusted the straps, her lips pursed in concentration. After a small while, she heard him let out a small laugh in the form of a puff of air. "Gene's watching you," he said simply. She paused.