Should've Been Born Later, Nix - Chapter 7: The Boys Back Home
Easy Company x Fem!OCs
Chap. Synopsis: What will happen when some of Easy Company's most valuable soldiers disappear?
Words: 2,135
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Author's note: Hey everyone! Apologies for the delay with the chapter lol 🫠 This chapter is the point of view of the men in Bastogne!! Also, because this is my fanfiction and I can do whatever I want, there will be some soldiers who somehow survived their demise in previous episodes (Miller? Dukeman? PERHAPS) Anywho, thank you as always for reading and be on the lookout for Chapter 8! 🥰
"Luz!" Carwood cried over the last shell to drop. He watched the radioman dive into the foxhole - George met the same fate as the nine others who dropped into that hole, none of them came out. Lipton was astonished. At most, a foxhole could fit three of the men comfortably, perhaps four if needed. But ten men in one? Lipton should have seen a dog pile of olive drab stretching above the opening. Instead, he saw an empty hole in the ground. The First Sergeant blinked and rubbed his eyes, making sure what he saw was indeed reality. The foxhole stayed empty when he opened his eyes.
Lipton sprinted from where he was taking cover, desperately searching for Lieutenant Dike. He knew that Dike was the least preferable choice, especially in a situation like this, but the officers Lipton would have preferred to ask for help had disappeared. After an agonizing search mission, Lipton finally found the Lieutenant - Dike was absentmindedly strolling along, looking at the trees around him with a glassy, thousand-yard stare. “Lieutenant Dike!” Lipton called out, scrambling over tree roots and broken branches. Dike snapped back to reality, his posture automatically improving when he saw First Sergeant Lipton.
“What is it, First Sergeant?” Dike asked, trying to be authoritative. The yawn that followed his words worked against him. Carwood began to speak, but his words were caught in his throat… how in the world was he going to tell the lieutenant what just happened?
“Sir… we um…” Lipton tried to force the words out of his mouth.
“Spit it out, First Sergeant Lipton!” Dike ordered, irritation evident in his voice. Lipton paused, taking a breath before responding to the officer.
“Sir… several men are gone…”
“First Sergeant, this is war, we're going to have casualties every day.”
“Not like that sir, I mean… they've disappeared…”
Dike stared blankly at the NCO, wondering if he heard him right.
“Where did they go, Carwood?” Hearing Dike use his first name gave Lipton a feeling he could only describe as ick, but nevertheless, he continued.
“Sir, I saw ten men go into a foxhole, but when I reached them, the foxhole was empty.”
“And you’re sure you went to the right foxhole?” Lipton had to pause and take a breath before answering.
“Yes, sir.” In a flurry of urgency that Lipton had never seen from Dike before, the lieutenant had rounded up Compton, Peacock, Shames, Foley, and Welsh, as well as radioed to Colonel Sink. Lipton hastily repeated his experience to the officers, who were just as hesitant to believe Lipton as Dike was.
“So they’re just… gone?” Harry asked, still skeptical.
“I wish I had more information for you sir, but all I saw was the men go into the foxhole and not come out,” Carwood replied, defeat evident in his voice.
“Shit…” Welsh muttered under his breath. The Irishman stared at the ground in front of him, wondering how he let two of his closest friends just disappear.
“So who all are we missing?” Buck interjected. He stood with his arms crossed, instinctively taking command of the conversation.
“Captains Winters and Nixon, Lieutenant Speirs, and then Roe, Luz, Liebgott, Guarnere, Toye, Malarkey, and Randleman,” the NCO listed off the men he saw disappear, and prayed he would see again.
What Lipton did not see was Skip Muck quickly scrambling back to his foxhole. He had originally made his way to CP to ask Captain Winters a question, but when he overheard the discussion between Lipton and the officers, panic consumed the soldier’s thoughts. Muck all but fell into Penkala’s foxhole, unaware that he inadvertently elbowed his best friend in the face.
“HEY! What the fuck!?” Penkala yelped in surprise, his hands shooting to his cheek.
“Keep it down, Penk! I gotta tell you something,” Muck hushed the soldier, looking to make sure no one else was around. “I just heard Lipton telling Buck that we lost a bunch of men.”
“Like, to a sniper?”
“No, like they fucking disappeared.” Alex rolled his eyes, figuring Skip was just up to his usual mischief.
“Yeah, and I’m marrying Rita Hayworth.”
“Penk, I’m serious. Winters, Nixon, and a few others are gone and they have no fucking idea where they went.”
“Wait, what’d you say?” Muck and Penkala looked up to see that Shifty Powers had joined them in their foxhole. The rifleman looked at his two friends with shock and concern - how could the soldiers just disappear, especially vital officers like Winters and Nixon?
“He said we’re missing half the fucking company!” Penkala’s voice raised again, becoming more distressed by the minute.
“I said keep it down, you ass-hat!” Skip punctuated his interjection with a sharp whack to the back of Penkala’s head. “Look, we all know Dike isn’t gonna do shit. When Colonel Sink gets here, we need to back Lipton up and make sure Sink knows what’s happening.”
“I can go round up some of the other NCOs and tell them,” Shifty offered, gathering up his rifle to go find the rest of Easy Company’s leaders.
“Alright, we’ll come find you once Sink gets here,” Penkala replied before Shifty set off on his solo mission. Before long, the Virginian had gathered up Alley, Christianson, Grant, Martin, McClung, Perconte, Sisk, Talbert, Popeye, and Smokey Gordon. Of course, the trio of Hashey, Garcia, and Miller wanted to tag along as well - even if they did not have a leadership role, they wanted to help their company however they could.
“I really hope Bull’s okay…” Hashey muttered to no one in particular, crossing his arms to conserve the little warmth he had. “First he went missing in Holland, now we lose him in Bastogne…”
“Yeah, we need to keep a leash on him or something!” Miller snickered to his friends before Babe Heffron bumbled up to the group. The redhead resembled a baby horse learning to gallop as he jumped and weaved past tree roots and foxholes making his way to the group of soldiers.
“The fuck is this I hear about Gaurnere missing!?” Babe’s respirations were loud and labored as he attempted to catch his breath. Before anyone could respond, Lipton came across the group of soldiers all congregated near CP.
“Hey fellas, everyone doing all right?” Carwood asked nervously - he loved his men, but he knew they were up to no good if too many were in one place without a good reason.
“We heard about the men going missing,” Smokey replied, Mississippi accent thick in his words.
“We want to help, Lip, however we can,” Floyd Talbert added. He nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, Smokey glancing a look of concern at his best friend.
Lipton was about to express his gratitude to his company before Colonel Sink’s Jeep was seen pulling up beside the rest of the group. Lipton quickly went to grab the company’s officers as Sink nodded in thanks to his driver and stepped out of the car. With a loud, abrupt command to “Ten-Hut!” from Buck Compton, the gathered men snapped to attention and saluted the colonel, who offered a gentle salute in return.
“At ease men,” Sink instructed before turning to the officers, “I knew it was bad when I was getting a call from Dike.”
Lipton and Welsh needed to bite their cheeks to hide their amused smiles. “We’re not sure what to do, sir, or if anything can be done…” Buck replied to the colonel before taking a step back - the blonde gestured for Lipton to step up, an instruction to inform Sink of their predicament.
“Carwood, tell me exactly what you saw.” The rest of the gathered men leaned in as Sink spoke, anxious to understand what was happening.
“Ten men went into a foxhole while we were getting shelled, sir, but the foxhole was completely empty when I went to check on them afterward. There was absolutely no trace of anyone being in that foxhole, sir, and now we can’t find any of the men I saw go in.”
The older man nodded in understanding, silently processing Lipton’s words. “Who all went in?” The NCO repeated the names from earlier, ending with Captains Winters and Nixon. Sink simply looked down at the snow. “And you have no idea where the hell any of them went…”
“No sir,” Lipton replied quietly.
The colonel simply let out a sigh and shook his head, “I’m sorry boys, but since it was during a shelling and they were last seen going into a foxhole, the higher-ups probably aren’t going to authorize a search party,” he sent a determined look to the men, “I’m going to do everything I can to push the request through, but I better not hear of anyone taking matters into their own hands.” Before getting back into his Jeep, Sink turned to Lieutenant Dike, or rather, where Dike should have been. “And where the hell is Dike?”
“We don’t know, sir, we looked for him before you arrived but didn’t find him,” Welsh chimed in. Sink rubbed his forehead in irritation before turning to Buck and Welsh.
“All right, I’m making this an official order. Lieutenant Compton, if Dike isn’t to be found and a decision needs to be made, your company comes to you. Harry, you’re second in command. You kids do what you think is right. You’re good soldiers with smart heads on your shoulders.” Sink nodded to the officers and saluted the men before getting back in his Jeep and driving back to Regimental HQ - the poor man put his head in his hands, his most trusted officers were gone without a trace, and there was virtually nothing he could do to help them.
As if on cue, Dike returned to the company, “What are we all standing around for? We have a line to protect!” Dike crescendoed his voice to try and be more authoritative, but his efforts fell flat. Eyes rolled and voices groaned as the gathered men all dispersed and returned to their assigned duties - well, all except for Babe, Talbert, Smokey, McClung, Shifty, Alley, Grant, and Popeye. As everyone was trying to leave, Smokey grabbed the sleeve of whoever he could.
“Y’all, this isn’t right, we need to do something,” the machine gunner pleaded in a hushed tone.
“You heard Sink, though, there’s no way they’re gonna authorize a search party,” Moe replied, his brows furrowed in confusion.
Popeye took a beat before he chimed in, “...why do we need to wait for authorization?”
“Because only a general can authorize a search party,” Talbert answered the Virginian - while he did not agree with the policy at all, he knew that there was no getting around it.
“But didn’t Sink say that he left Buck and Welsh in charge if Dike isn’t around? They’re not the type to snitch,” Grant offered to the conversation, scrunching his shoulders up for warmth like a turtle retreating into its shell.
“Hell, they might be happy to help out,” Gordon affirmed the NCO. The men looked around at each other with uncertainty - what if Dike found out? Or Peacock? To be honest, it was probably worse for the latter officer to discover the plot. Thomas Peacock tries his best to be a good captain, but these efforts cause him to be rather heavy-handed with the rules. If Peacock were to hear of the plot to find the missing soldiers, he would surely either tell his superior officers or try to stop the soldiers himself.
“What if we get caught?” Shifty asked nervously - while he wanted to help his friends, the poor boy was nervous to hatch a plot like this.
“We can’t just do nothin’! We all know they’d do the same if it were any of us out there!” The man from Philly interjected, earning Babe a smack on the head from Grant.
“Where would we even start?” McClung asked the group.
“Well, best thing to do would be to investigate the foxhole and see if there are any clues,” everyone turned in shock to see Lipton returning to them. “I needed something from CP, and then I noticed all of you still over here, I figured you were up to no good,” the first sergeant said with a smile, earning him a loving slap on the back from Grant and Johnny Martin. The rest of the afternoon was about to be spent brainstorming, at least until one of the men needed to take their turn watching the line.
All of the men felt nervous, but especially Babe. Guarnere is his best friend, it would be one thing if Babe knew that he was wounded, even killed, but not knowing what happened to Bill was eating away at Babe worse than anything he had ever felt before.
Just wanna say...proud of you for working hard in improving your writing. Godspeed!
Might I request a nice letter of encouragement from Shifty? Missing him hours, I fear.
VASI MY DARLING!!!! I HAVE AN ENCOURAGING LETTER FROM ONE (1) SHIFTY POWERS FOR YOU! I LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL!! ❤️💕
3 January, 1945
Vasilisa, my darling,
I just got your latest letter, and I'm sorry to hear things have been going rough. I miss you, as well. I want to be home with you and go about our day like we always do - breakfast together in the morning, a kiss before we leave for work, giving you the biggest hug in the world when you get home. I feel so silly for some reason, but my absolute favorite part of the day is walking our dogs together before dinner. Being out in nature with you and them is the happiest I've ever felt.
It hurts my heart to hear things haven't been going well for you, but you are the strongest, sweetest person I know. You are going to get through this, just like last time, and you will be on the other side, resting and without stress sooner than you think. I'd give anything to be back home with you and support you through this, but if I didn't think you could do this then I wouldn't be saying it.
Popeye and Earl have been asking how you're doing, too. They really want to continue our weekend game nights as soon as we get home. Popeye still teases McClung about the charades game the night before we left! How McClung didn't understand Popeye’s interpretation of Rita Hayworth, I'll never know. Nothing compares, though, to when you decimated all of us in Candy Land!
Please never forget how much I love you. You have lit up my life more than I ever thought possible - you are my love, my Wonder Woman, my light, my home that I cannot wait to come home to. Don’t forget about me before I get home ok? I promise, as soon as I’m home, I’m making your favorite dinner and we’re going to have a picnic with the dogs.
Remember to take care of yourself for me, I love you more than ever,
the ship thing looks like a lot of fun! lets do it!
so my name's blu, and i use "she/her" pronouns! i have dark blue hair and brown eyes, am 5'8", and wear way too many oversized hoodies and sweaters haha i'm your sterotypical enfj- the kind of mom friend who will very forcefully remind you to do some selfcare! i do love to talk about the things i'm into, and aren't afraid to stand up for what i believe in. for hobbies, writing is my first love, but i also love taking long walks and exploring nature or even just the world outside my window! i'm also a big music enjoyer! i'm a part of two bands- one where i play guitar and the other where i do bass! i love singing, too, and get incredibly into all my karaoke performances 😂 i'm not really sure what i go looking for in a partner, but i tend to gravitate towards shyer guys and relationships where i'll end up doing most of the talking as well as people who aren't afraid to talk about the deep things in life.
thanks emily!! can't wait to see what you come up with 😁
Thank you so much for the request Blu!! (also i have blue hair rn too!! 🥰💖)
I ship you with…
(Speirs Voice) Darrell C. POWWWEEERRRRSSSS
A song from my liked songs that reminds me of y’all - Sugar, Sugar by the Archies
How you met
Mkay SO
Your band came to Europe to play for the soldiers because morale boost
So Easy Company is sitting listening to your band and everyone is vibing and having a Lovely Time ™
Shifty looks up at the stage and sees you with your guitar and
He’s sitting with Talbert and Smokey and they see how he’s just staring and start teasing him a bit
Sweet baby laughs but starts blushing when Tab and Smokes talk about meeting her after the show
Like WHAT?? INTERACTING WITH THE MOST GORGEOUS GIRL EVER???
Before they know it though y’all are packing up your gear and it’s Now or Never
So Tab and Smokey being Tab and Smokey they each Grab an Arm and before the three know it they’re next to the stage
You’re still on stage just putting your guitar away when Smokey just goes “YOU DID GREAT TONIGHT!!”
But when you turn around all you see is Shifty all alone and frantically looking beside him
But honestly he's so stinkin cute how could you not go over and talk to him
Sweet baby just blushes bright red and stutters out
“H-how do you do ma’am, my name’s shift- I mean Darrell b-but everyone calls me Shifty,” he just looks down and sticks his hand out
You just laugh softly and shake his hand (asdf there was so definitely a spark but neither of you admit it)
“It’s very nice to meet you Shifty,” you get an idea when you look back at the stage
“Would you mind helping me carry my stuff back to the van?” 🥺👉🏻👈🏻
Shifty’s eyes brighten up and he’s like an eager golden retriever following you up onto the stage to get your things
Shifty’s able to relax a little bit thanks to you being so sweet and lovely and y’all have just the most wonderful conversation
Before you leave he definitely asks you to dinner and of course how could you say no
How he knew he loves you
I picture it happening when y’all are on a hike
You got to the top of the mountain and there’s a beautiful view, absolutely perfect for your picnic!
So y’all are having a lovely picnic just talking about everything under the sun
However you look over and notice that Shifty’s water bottle is almost full
Like siR YOU’RE ON A HIKE YOU NEED TO HYDRATE
“Shifty, you need to drink some water babe,” you say gently, holding out the water bottle to him
When he looks at you… the gentle but concerned look in your eyes, strands of your hair framing your face, the way the sun is shining on you, everything is just perfect
He leans forward and gently kisses you, placing a hand on your cheek
He slowly pulls away and just quietly says, “I’m in love with you…”
The genuine love and tenderness of the moment almost makes you want to cry so of course you say it back
Y’all go on that hiking trail every year now
A conflict that arose and how y’all resolve it
Ok so y’all are out at a bar maybe with friends after the war
Shifty offers to get the next round of drinks, so he kisses you on the cheek before going up to the bar and ordering
You glance over to the bar after a little bit and see Shifty talking to a girl??
It’s clear she’s trying to put the moves on him, the giggling, the Touching His Arm In That One Way
And Shifty just… lets her?
He’s even laughing along with her jokes (which you can hear and they ain’t great)
You could NEVER picture Shifty doing something like this, but you have no other explanation for what your eyes are seeing
The conflicting feelings start to feel overwhelming so you tell your friends that you’re going to the bathroom before walking as quickly as you can toward the restrooms
Shifty notices your brisk pace and gets concerned cuz you look really upset?? What happened while he was gone??
He follows you to the hallway with the bathrooms and gently takes your hand
“Is everything alright love??” he says so gently but also so worried
You debate telling him what you saw
Like on the one hand he’s never given any indication he’s like that
But on the other he was CLEARLY flirting back???
He sees the anxiety in your eyes and his concern just Doubles
“Sweetheart what’s wrong??” he gently places his hands on your arms while he waits to hear your response, praying he can fix whatever it is
“...why were you flirting with that girl?” you asked in a barely audible voice, tears welling up in your eyes
Suddenly Shifty’s facial muscles scrunch up
“Flirting? You mean with that girl at the bar?”
He laughs a little and shakes his head
“I was trying everything I could to get away from her, but I was waiting on the drinks and I didn’t want to be mean…”
You just breathe a sigh of relief and shake your head, relief washing over you
You both start laughing quietly before you plant a kiss on his lips
“I love you Darrell C Powers”
“Why do you always use my full name?” (it’s not because I always hear it in Speirs’ voice idk what you’re talking about)
Your Happily Ever After
Every morning he wakes you up with a kiss on your nose
If that doesn’t work he goes for your lips next
Sweet baby boy just does everything in his POWEEERRRSS Power to make you smile every day
It’s so lovely too because you're his Emotional Support Extrovert
You do all the talking when y’all need to do adult things like buy a car or do tax thingies
Y’all just balance each other perfectly and I would joke about it being gross but tbh it’s just goals
A silly headcanon about your relationship
So Shifty wanted to do something super extra special for your birthday one year
So he found this super cool and delicious recipe for your favorite flavor of cake
One catch - your boy has never cooked a thing a day in his life
So the night before your birthday (sweet boy wanted to surprise you) you come home and there’s smoke everywhere and you can tell it’s coming from the kitchen
Of course you race in and the first thing you see is Shifty standing on the counter fanning the fire alarm with an off-white apron
Which is weird because your apron is blue??
Yeah the kitchen was an absolute war zone
Cake batter everywhere, egg shells on the floor, flour sticking on every surface
Shifty sees you and quickly hops off the counter to hug you before he remembers the discombobulated state he is in
He just sheepishly smiles at you and says, “happy birthday??”
It was the most fun you’ve ever had cleaning up the kitchen
Thank you again for the ask Blu!!! 💙💙💙💙 (I'm sorry if i made too many jokes about how Speirs says his name it just lives in my head rent-free 🤣😅)
guess what lads we goT MORE COLLAGES OF THE BOYYSSS!!!
Find Part 1 (Guarnere, Popeye, Luz) here and Part 2 (Speirs, Roe, Lipton, Winters) here ! I might make a masterlist/place for the links after this post lol
Smokey Gordon - Steel Type Trainer
Companion Pokemon - Empoleon
Joe Liebgott - Fighting Type Trainer
Companion Pokemon - Lucario
Bull Randalman - Ground Type Trainer
Companion Pokemon - Clodsire (no I didn't give him dugtrio to represent hashey garcia and miller idk what you're talking about)
Harry Welsh - Ice Type Trainer
Companion Pokemon - Glalie
Shifty Powers - Fairy Type Trainer
Companion Pokemon - Dachsbun
(Honestly Shifty's and Luz's might be my favorites lol)
Other Collages in the Works - Buck Compton (Rock), Chuck Grant (Steel), Babe Heffron (Ice), Don Malarkey (Grass), Johnny Martin (Ground), Skip Muck (Water), Lewis Nixon (Psychic), Alex Penkala (Bug), Frank Perconte (Rock), Floyd Talbert (Dragon), Joe Toye (Dark), David Kenyon Webster (Psychic)
Other Ideas I wanna work on - Pokemon League Easy Company, Easy Company with non-battling jobs, multi-type/more personalized teams for the Boys (shoutout to @neptunes-blue for the idea!!)
Taglist: @panzershrike-pretz , @neptunes-blue , @dontirrigateme for smokey ✨
If you have any PokeBoB ideas/requests or you want to be added to the taglist please let me know !! 💖💕
