Airborne All The Way - Dick Winters x OC
Summary: Memories are fleeting. Charlie knows if she doesn’t get them all down, and soon, they’ll be gone. War, love, loss... she wanted to write it all down for future generations to come.
Charlie Finnegan had been a nurse before the war. After Pearl Harbor, she felt the same call to arms that many men felt. When Elanor Roosevelt started a program where women could join the Army on a trial basis, Charlie jumped on it. She became an officer and volunteered for the Airborne. Along the way she met Harry Welsh and the ever calm and collected Richard Winters. Through trial and error, Charlie gains the respect of her men, but can she gain the eye of a certain red haired officer?
A/N: So, I haven’t posted anything original in a long time. But I’ve had a really good idea for a story and I wanted to share it. I hope everyone likes it. It’s gonna be multi-chapter, this is just chapter one. Lemme know what you think!
Tag List: If you’d like to be tagged, lemme know!
“Why would you want to join the Airborne?”
It was a question I was asked frequently. In the early days, I would answer by saying, “It’s new!” or “It’s exciting!”
The answer changed over time though. When I was in the 82nd, I told people that it was to prove that girls could do it too. When they shipped me over to the 101st, I found a new answer. One I didn’t expect I’d find. But I found it in Easy Company.
“Because they’re my family. I would do anything for them.”
Of course that answer came more easily after D-Day. I hadn’t truly earned the respect of the men until that day, even though I grew to love them before then.
It all started one warm, wet afternoon.
Lieutenant Harry Welsh and myself had just been sent over from the 82nd. We were going to fill the positions of platoon leaders. Harry would be taking over first platoon and I would be taking over second.
As we walked by all of the soldiers, they were sitting around in their dress uniforms, waiting for the train. Their initial training and airborne training had been completed. Now they were going to be shipped off to either Europe or Asia to fight in the war. Battalion Intelligence hadn’t told anybody where we were going or which war we would be fighting. It was all a surprise, but for good reason. If word slipped out to the wrong people, it would be devastating.
Harry and I were told to find First Lieutenant Richard Winters. He was the Executive Officer of Easy Company. I’d heard of Dick Winters from friends of mine, he was good at his job and cared for his soldiers. I would be glad to be working under somebody like him. But I had also heard rumblings about the company’s Commanding Officer, Captain Herbert Sobel. He was sadistic towards his company and from what Harry and I heard, he was jumpy in the field. Too eager, not patient, and got people notionally killed in training exercises.
After walking down the line of barracks, and catching more than one lingering glance from the soldiers, Harry and I found the officers barracks. We walked inside and were met with two lieutenants.
Richard Winters was tall, lyth, pale, and had the brightest shock of red hair I had ever seen. His eyes were a soft blue and he held himself properly. Like he was important, but not stuck up. He looked over at us and I gave him a soft smile from behind Harry.
Lewis Nixon was behind him. His hair was thick, black, and styled perfectly. There wasn’t a single thread out of place on his uniform and he gave us a sly smile.
“Are we interrupting?” Harry asked.
“No, not at all. Lieutenant Lewis Nixon, Lieutenant Harry Welsh and Charlie Finnegan, just in from the 82nd,” Winters introduced.
Harry went to shake Nixon’s hand and I followed suit behind him.
“Not a day in my life,” I smiled cheekily.
“Alright then. Well you’ll learn him pretty quickly,” Nixon said, smiling at Winters. “No flaws, no vices, no sense of humor.”
I smiled and looked at Winters who gave me a quick side look and smirked, “Just like your chums up at Battalion Staff?”
“So what’s up?” Winters asked.
I sighed heavily and scratched the back of my neck, “We’ve been hearing a lot of rumblings…”
“We were just talking about that,” Nixon said.
The four of us moved closer together so as not to be overheard.
“He gets a little jumpy in the field?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, he gets jumpy and you get killed,” Nixon said.
“Oh, that’s nice,” I chuckled.
“I think if we talk about it, it should just be amongst ourselves,” Winters interjected.
“Alright, absolutely,” Harry said.
From behind us, I heard a heavy foot slam on the wooden step of the barracks. As if in slow motion, I watched Winters turn and snap to attention. Harry and I turned around fast and snapped to attention too. Standing in the doorway was Captain Sobel.
He stood there for an agonizing moment, just staring at all of us, like he knew we were talking about him. His eyes continued to linger on me when he started talking.
“Second Platoon ready?” he asked.
“Ready, Sir,” Winters said.
“Then get them ready, we’re moving out,” Sobel ordered.
“Yes, Sir,” Winters said.
Harry moved first, walking quickly past Sobel who didn’t move from the doorway, Winters followed, and I moved after Winters. Sobel shifted towards the open space so I had to turn more sideways to get out of the door. I felt his eyes burning into me and cleared my throat when I was outside. I glanced back while following Winters and caught Nixon’s eye. He winked at me and gave me a soft smile but quickly lost it when Sobel turned back to him.
“Finnegan, make sure your men are good to go,” Winters said.
“Sergeant Lipton!” I called out as I saw the man walking by the cattle trucks.
“Yes, Ma’am?” he asked as I jogged up to him.
“Everyone is good? We’re about to roll out,” I told him.
Staff Sergeant Carwood Lipton was a nice guy. He had been kind to me since I first addressed their platoon and I assume he made the men keep their comments about a female platoon leader at bay. I wasn’t particularly popular at the moment, due to the fact that I had boobs. I didn’t blame them, I had to prove myself to them as a leader. That I could do everything they could do as a female.
“Yes, Ma’am. We’re supposed to be loading the train by platoon but, well, you know how it goes,” I smiled.
“Of course. Just try to keep them in line as much as you can. Captain Sobel is walking around,” I smiled back.
I watched him walk off and I started in my own direction, but slowed down next to a group of men who were sitting in a small circle.
“Who? Sobel?” I heard Joe Liebgott ask. “He screwed up one manuever.”
“Well, you know I’m always fumbling with grenades. It would be easy if one went off by accident you know,” Liebgott said, smirking darkly.
“Well, now they must have put him in charge for a reason,” Shifty Powers said.
I smiled at his innocence.
“Yeah, cause the army wouldn’t make a mistake like that, right Shift?” Liebgott asked.
The group chuckled and I cleared my throat, standing behind Joe Toye with my hands in my pockets. Their heads snapped up to look at me.
“Now gentlemen, I do believe if you’re gonna say things like that? Maybe you shouldn’t do it out in the open. The Good Captain is out and about,” I said the last part sarcastically and smirked.
They all looked back at each other. I could tell that they were embarrassed to have been caught. I gave them a quick, “Just be careful” and walked off.
The train was uncomfortable. I sat next to Winters at an angle that had my head against the window and my feet on the other side of Harry who had his feet half on my lap and half on the seat between me and the wall.
“How’s your time in Easy going?” Winters asked me quietly so as not to wake up Harry.
“Well, it’s certainly not Easy,” I giggled. “It’s just gonna take the men some time to get used to taking orders from a girl. It was an issue for a short amount of time at the old unit too. I’m not too worried about it.”
“How did you get them to respect you?” Winters asked, putting his letter down and giving me his full attention.
“It was a training jump that went bad. I had dropped close to the injured soldier. He was screaming and screaming and screaming. It’s a sound that doesn’t quiet leave you. Anyway, he had landed wrong and broken both of his legs. I did my best to splint both of them with what I had and carried him to the rendezvous point.”
“You carried a broken soldier, both of you in full pack, four miles?” Winters asked, a look of amazement on his face.
“Ah, don’t give me that much credit. I dropped our parachutes and most of the gear we were carrying. Just our packs and weapons went with.”
It looked like he was about to say something else, but Nixon came up behind us.
“Goin my way?” he asked Winters.
“Wherever the train takes me,” Winters answered.
“Yeah, c’mon, take a guess! Atlantic? Pacific? Atlantic?”
“I think Nixon is saying without saying we’re going to the Atlantic,” I smirked.
“Well, we aren’t intelligence officers,” Winters said.
“Mmm, as such, I know, of course,” Nixon said, smiling.
He moved from his seat behind Winters to the seat next to Harry. I crossed my arms and watched him. He looked like the cat who caught the canary. A wide, mischievous grin on his face, and a spark in his eyes.
“If I told ya, I’d have to kill ya,” he said quietly.
“Then don’t tell us,” Winters said.
Nixon leaned in close and smiled again, “New York, troop ship, England. We’re invading Europe my friends.” Nixon pulled a flask from his back pocket and raised it in a toast style. “Fortress Europa!”
Nixon offered the flask to Winters who raised an eyebrow at him, “Since when do I drink?” he asked.
“If I knew you’d take it, I wouldn’t have offered,” Nixon smirked. “You?”
He offered me the flask and I shook my head no.
“Two non-alcoholic officers? That’s not good karma,” Nixon said.
“Hah, it’s not that I don’t drink, I just prefer mine mixed in soda, or in the fermented fruit variety,” I laughed.
“Uh-huh,” Nixon said, taking a pull from the flask.
“Nix?” Winters asked. “What are you gonna do when you get into combat?”
“Oh, I have every confidence in my scrounging abilities,” Nixon said, looking out the window. “And I have a case of Vat 69 in your footlocker.”
Nixon leaned back and laughed. Winters smiled for a minute and then it fell from his face when Nixon didn’t say anything to counter what he had said.
Before Winters could say anything, Harry popped his head up from the seat and looked at the three of us. He had one eye closed and the other squinted, barely coming to.
“Morning!” Nixon said, handing Harry the flask.
“Mm, ya’know, this could turn into a real nice trip,” Harry said, drinking from the metal container.
I scoffed a little bit and shook my head. It was going to be interesting to say the least.
