22. Something After All
Bernadette Noel
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The half of Tare that had come to England first—Berni's half, as the girls had taken to calling it—arrived in Aldbourne six days before the 101st Airborne. They settled in as best they could, antsy to see their comrades again, and made preparations to welcome Polly's half home. When Fiona asked if they should do anything for the Americans, Berni laughed and told her the paratroopers could fend for themselves. Besides, they probably wouldn't appreciate a secondhand pair of heels or a new set of bath towels as much as Venus or Rosie would. Still, she compromised and helped Fiona, Délia, and—to her surprise—Ellis make up the paratroopers' beds in the handful of cabins allotted to Easy Company. Not that they'd admit to playing favorites, of course—Colonel Sink wouldn't have approved, and it was only by his good graces that they'd be allowed to remain friends with the paratroopers in Easy.
They prepared as well as they could, but the waiting still took a toll. Even the chance to fly in new skies did little to distract the antsy pilots from the countdown of the days. The small runway at Aldbourne seemed almost pitiful compared to what they'd had before, but it would have to do for the time being. When they had the time, they made the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Upottery Airfield to the southwest to get some real practice in, but with the iffy weather and the common feeling of stagnation among the women, they only went to run their drills there twice that week. But finally, the day did arrive, and the ship came to shore, and the Tare girls who'd been in England all that time without their comrades were the first there to meet it.
The sun shone brilliantly over the docks; the transport ships gleamed in the midday glow. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and it would have been a perfect day for flying if they hadn't been otherwise committed. A crowd quickly formed as the soldiers disembarked, bringing vehicles, artillery, and other wartime supplies with them. The cranes on the docks had to work full-time just to keep up. Nearly an hour passed before any sign of Easy Company appeared, and the women scattered, looking half for their friends and half for their fellow pilots, who still had yet to arrive.
"Why's it gotta be so hot?" came a complaining voice from somewhere near to Bernie. "I thought England was s'posed to be cold and rainy."
"I'd know that griping anywhere," Berni said, turning around with a grin. "How've you been, Frank?"
He matched her smile as they shook hands. "Never better, Cap. Looking forward to seeing what merry old England has to offer."
She laughed. "So now you know I'm listening, that's when you change your tune, is it?"
He winked. "Yep. Shamelessly."
They spoke for a few minutes, catching up on whatever they could remember to ask about, until George Luz and Joe Toye came over to say hello. Berni shook their hands as well and greeted them like friends, and they seemed pleased and flattered by the warm welcome. She heard Fiona's voice come over the crowd and quickly redirected Frank over to her friend. They'd been writing frequently over the past few months. Berni knew Fiona had missed Frank, and she'd be willing to bet her left bootstrap Frank had missed her, too. As she, Luz, and Toye unabashedly spied on the pair from a few yards away, Frank asked Fiona about how she was healing from the broken wrist she'd received two months back. She said she'd been well, and hadn't had any pain from the injury in quite some time, and had been about to say something else when Johnny Martin ever-so-casually bumped into Frank. It was more like a shove than an accidental push, and Martin hurried away, laughing to himself as Frank apologized awkwardly to Fiona, who he still stood all but collided against. She interrupted him with a kiss, and Berni had to clap her hand over Luz's mouth to keep him from cheering too loud and spoiling the moment.
"Hey, Captain," Thelma said, appearing out of the crowd with Addie close on her heels. "Any sign of our girls?"
Berni scanned the area, standing up on her toes to try and get a better look. She caught sight of a familiar smirk and crop of brown hair but quickly looked away, suddenly filled with nerves she wasn't accustomed to dealing with.
"Nothing yet," she said, but she'd squeaked over her words and had to clear her throat before repeating it.
Thelma shook her head and grumbled something to herself before asking, "Where in the flying fuck are they?"
She grinned.
"Geddit? 'Cause we're pilots."
Addie and Berni uttered a dramatic sigh as one while Luz and Toye snickered behind them.
"Hey, look! There's Lieb!" Toye exclaimed, gesturing past Berni. "Why don't you go say hello?"
She pretended not to hear him and involved herself in asking Addie to keep an eye out for the rest of their squadron while she searched further into the crowd. Before she could make her escape, though, Luz grabbed her by one shoulder and Toye took her by the other, and they started to guide her in the one direction she didn't want to go.
"I don't- George. Joe. Stop. Stop."
They slowed, glancing at each other with surprise, and Berni wriggled out from their grip, turning around to face them.
"I'll see him on my own time, alright? You hear me?"
"We hear you," Luz said, blinking at her with some level of concern. "You okay, Cap?"
"Just peachy," she grumbled, then hurried off into the crowd before they could try something else stupid. Only a few feet into her escape, she caught sight of Joe Liebgott again and stopped in her tracks, staring at him from a distance. He looked well. Had he gotten a bit taller, in her absence? No, that wasn't likely. Maybe he'd gotten new shoes. Maybe a new hair gel.
Maybe he'd missed her. Maybe he hadn't.
She turned away and went looking for people that were certain to cause less confusing emotions in her.
At last, Earl appeared out of the crowd, followed by the others in a clump, and Berni hollered for the waiting crew to get their asses on over here. They scurried over as quickly as they could, and for the first time in months, the whole of Tare had come together as one. The reunion came with tears and hugs and cheers of delight as the girls embraced and chattered and started to share stories of their time apart. Fiona showed off the scar on her wrist and the marks on her legs from where the bruises had once been, and Thelma demonstrated how she could only bend her fingers half as far as she used to. Polly looked a little younger than she once did, a little happier. Leadership had suited her well. Hennessy appeared, then, and hugged Berni before Berni had even realized she was there, and it was odd, for something as simple as a hug to make Berni tear up, but there she was, blinking the wet away from her eyes as she squeezed her friend's shoulders and told her how happy she was to see her.
In the general commotion, Berni didn't notice Joe coming up behind her until she turned to say something to Earl and nearly walked right into him. They both stopped where they were, her mouth half-open, his half-closed. She didn't know what to say. Neither did he. Frank appeared at her side, her savior, and stole her away, letting her know through a murmur that Sink had shown up a minute ago and was very closely watching the reunions. She asked in a low voice if he'd seen Frank and Fiona, and Frank couldn't help a smile as he said no, he was fairly certain the two of them were in the clear.
"Good," she said, waving to her girls to gather them all together and go to greet Sink, as would be expected of them sooner rather than later. "Better safe than sorry."
He made a face at her. "Since when are you the cautious one?"
She looked at him, her smile fading slightly. "Since some of my girls nearly got killed over here."
Frank's teasing expression dropped, and he squeezed her arm before letting her go.
"You'll have to update me on that tonight."
"Tonight?"
"We're all goin' out tonight, you didn't hear? Out to the pubs. We're gonna celebrate the 5-o'-6 and Tare Squadron coming back together." He managed a smile and a wink. "But mainly, it's just an excuse for all us assholes to get skunk drunk."
"We'll be there," she promised, "just give us the time and place."
"Will do," Frank agreed, then left them with a warm smile and a tilt of his cap to allow them to prepare to see the colonel.
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That night, they did go out drinking, as promised, and met up with Easy Company and a number of other soldiers from various regiments and companies out at the best pub in town. Berni led the way through the streets to the pub but fell into the middle of the pack as they drew closer to the music and laughter inside. The chatter around her seemed to disappear as she watched a familiar figure hop up the steps and head into the bar, shaking the hand of someone he knew as he went in. The door swung shut behind him, and Berni stepped up to open it for her crew, who all thanked her one by one as they went inside. She went straight to the bar and got a cold pint, taking a deep breath as she readied herself for a long night.
She danced and drank and played darts like she usually would, but all evening, she could feel eyes on her. Joe's eyes. He'd always turn away once he saw her looking back, and a few times, he caught her looking first. She flushed and pretended she hadn't seen him at all. It was better that way. She didn't really believe it, but she didn't know what else to believe. They hadn't parted on good terms. They hadn't parted on any terms at all. Whatever they'd been back in America couldn't have carried over to England—could it? She shook her head and focused on the darts board, hearing Frank cheering her on in the muted background, muffled by the droning of her thoughts and worries. Whatever they'd been, if it had been something to begin with, had been spoiled the night she walked out on him.
How cruel, life could sometimes be.
In some inevitable fashion, a fight broke out by the bar, and Berni went over to check that none of her girls were involved. They weren't, but of course, Joe was, and when he looked up at her, out of breath and bleeding from the lip, she steeled her fists and jumped into the fray. It wasn't a fair fight, and when the barkeep came out yelling bloody murder, they made a run for it out the pub door and into the cold night air. Sprinting down the road as fast as they could, they could hear their pursuers shouting after them. Joe spun around as if to continue the fight, but Berni, in a rare moment of self-control and clarity, grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her. He went along without protest, and that's when she knew things just might be alright between them despite their shared stubborn pride.
Maybe they could be something after all.
They slipped into an alley and held their breaths, trying not to pant or gasp and give themselves away. The angry men chasing them passed them by as easily as missing a shadow in the night, and once the footsteps and yelling faded away down the road, they started to laugh, Berni first, then Joe. They tried to hold it in, to keep quiet, and she pawed at his chest, warning him to shush through muffled giggles, and then the pawing became clutching, and her breathing became uneven for reasons other than how fast they'd run.
"So... how do you like England?" she asked in a low voice, risking a tease, but Joe didn't respond.
"Joe?"
"I, uh..."
"Christ, Joe, say something."
Her voice cracked under the pressure of the tension between them, and it was the sound of it that seemed to snap him out of his anxious trance. He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her forehead, and as she sucked in a breath, he sighed and buried his face in her neck.
"Fuck, Berni, I missed you."
He didn't call her Flygirl or sweetheart, he called her Berni, and then he was kissing her, hard, and she didn't want him to stop. His lips felt hot on hers and he tasted like cigarettes and blood, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. They stayed there against the wall, kissing, putting their hands all over each other, until Joe took charge and swung her around so her back was to the brick wall instead of his. She gasped and kissed the corner of his mouth, and he groaned.
"If you don't come home with me tonight," she said, panting, "then Joe, I swear–"
She'd meant to warn him to stop playing with her feelings that instant, but he didn't let her finish, just kissed her fast and searing and agreed immediately.
"Hell if I'm turning back now," he mumbled against her lips.
"I mean it, Joe," she insisted, tugging on his shirt, keeping him near enough to feel his breath on her neck, "if you break my heart-"
"I won't, sweetheart." He kissed her jaw, reverent. "I swear it, I won't."
A few more kisses against the wall before they heard the men searching for them coming back around, calling for them like they might a stray cat, but with plenty more taunting.
"Motherfuckers," Joe swore, stepping back and wiping his mouth with his sleeve, and Berni leaned in to kiss the battered part of his lip. He took her by the hand and started to back away towards the street, jerking his head as if to ask her come with me? and she followed at once. They sped up and burst out of the alleyway, nearly knocking over the men they'd fought with at the bar, and sprinted in the direction of the army base not far over the hills. The men gave startled and angry shouts and began to give chase, and Berni, riding the high of all that was Joe Liebgott, flipped them off over her shoulder and hollered as loud as she could.
"Fuck off, you bloody wankers!"
"Mmmm, you kiss me with that mouth?" Joe teased as they ran, and Berni clicked her tongue at him.
"You're no better."
"Fuck. If we weren't running- fuck."
"If we weren't running, what?" She winked at him although they were both starting to lose their breaths again. "I'm starting to think you're saying 'fuck' for more than one reason."
"Berni," he groaned, and she giggled and kept on running.
Their pursuers gave up eventually when they got too far from town and lost sight of their prey in the gloom of the night. The dirt road circling around to the back of the base wasn't well-lit, and Joe and Berni kept tripping over loose stones and lumps in the dirt, but nothing could stop them now. With bruised toes and an ache in her shins and her heart, Berni skidded to a stop outside her billet not twenty yards away from the base's front gates. She checked the windows for lights and saw none, which meant her hosts were probably out on the town with everyone else, and so she let them in. As soon as they were inside, she shoved him up against the door and kissed him like she'd been wanting to for ages longer than she'd care to admit.
"Fuck," he swore, "we shoulda done this months ago."
"Yes, we should've," she said through a shaky sigh, feeling his lips nip down her neck, "now shut up and kiss me senseless."
He swung her around and kissed her so profoundly she nearly fell over. She clutched at his shoulders, and the noise she made against his lips brought a smirk to his face.
"What was that?"
"Shut up," she complained, leading them in a stumble, lips still locked, towards her bedroom down the hall. "Or is that all you're gonna do all night? Nothing but talk?"
"Sweetheart, I'll do a whole lot more than-"
Berni grabbed him by the collar and tugged him into her room, slamming the door shut behind him with a practiced kick. She pulled him back until the back of her knees hit the top of her mattress and she fell back, letting him go but making sure he didn't go far. She gave him a look through lowered lashes that made him suck in a breath and eagerly crawl on top of her. She giggled and kissed his cheek, and when he opened his mouth, she squeezed his hip and reminded him:
"Less talk, more action, Joseph."
He grinned and pulled her flush against him, pressing his lips reverently to her collarbone.
"Yes, ma'am."
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*Eight months later since the last update, here's the next chapter of There Goes My Flight. Now that was one hell of a delay. Finally getting back into the swing of fanfic writing so hopefully that will continue throughout the summer months and I can update all the fics that have been abandoned for far too long. Thanks for your patience and I look forward to hearing what you think of this chapter!
