My first BoB fic: I seem to be calling it "Blue"
Okay, this is my very first BoB fic, and my first fanfic of any kind in something like two years. I am terrified! Obviously, this is a work of fiction based on HBO's movie-version of Band of Brothers. No disrespect to real people or their families is intended.
Oh! Timeframe notes. This is Roe/Renee and takes place during "Bastogne." The middle scene appears to replace the scene outside the church, after the fun game of find-the-artery, and cops at least one line of dialogue from that scene. I do believe it also qualifies as Roe/Babe buddy fic.
He collects things as he skids through his days--things Gene knows he'll need sooner than they will accumulate and weigh down his bag. Perconte squawked some about the scissors, but he'll be glad enough when it's his clothes getting cut back from a wound.
Gene keeps other things, too, that add no weight to his gear but set his heart winging above the clouds. He takes them out and looks them over, puts them back for another day, when he'll need them more.
Some things can pull his heart into the earth. These he tries to bury, but the ground in Bastogne is frozen, and the digging is hard.
He asked for her name but he never used it.
Babe's watching the line, stealing sideways glances at him and looking like he has a joke he wants to tell but can't remember how it ends.
Gene dozes, thankful for the numbing cold and Babe's regular breathing, which has less wheeze to it today.
~~~
They sit on an empty cot in the cathedral, stars wheeling across the ceiling high above. The soldier is gone, but most of his blood is still here. Gene's jacket is dark with it past the elbow. Renee's hands are the only part of her that move.
"Your touch," he says, "it calms people. That's a gift from God."
She doesn't believe him, he can tell from her eyes. Gene lays his hands over hers, stilling them. She slides one of hers from under, smooths it over his fingers. Their hands lie together on her knees and the calm spreads, enveloping them both.
Renee's palm on his jaw feels like the most natural thing in the world, and when she folds her hand and strokes her fingers over his brow, he feels the skin there heat and cool at the same time.
"Tu peux m'embrasser," she tells him, adding after a pause, "If you like."
He opens eyes that closed under her touch and shakes his head. "Je dois pas," he tells her. Her mouth flattens, and he tries to find words for why he mustn't kiss her.
Outside, someone calls her. She starts to stand, and he squeezes her hand and hopes she understands. He thinks she must--her apron is streaked with the same blood.
"Tu reviendras," she says and touches his hair.
Gene nods. He'll be back. Krauts aren't going to stop lobbing shit at his boys any time soon. He'll come back.
"Next time," he says. Renee smiles and hurries away to help more broken men.
~~~
Heffron sniffs and chuckles to himself, his mouth bent up into its lopsided smile.
Gene shifts against the icy earth behind and beneath him, cocks an eyebrow at Babe.
"You got a girl back home?" Gene asks, surprising himself and Babe in the same question.
Babe's cheeks go red. "Ah, shit, is Gonorrhea running his mouth again?"
"Nah, he didn't say nothin'."
Heffron takes a read, looking for the ribbing he gets from Guarnere. "Not anymore," he allows.
They're silent for a minute, until Babe can't take it anymore. "You?"
Gene looks at Babe's hand, wrapped in her kerchief, as he shakes his head. "I met... Met a girl here, though."
"No kidding! Here?"
He can tell Babe's about to crack wise, and Gene can feel the crystals of ice burrowing into his heart as Bastogne closes around it. "In town," he mumbles.
Heffron is quiet. There's a weight on Gene's shoulder, and he looks to his right, where he sees a chapped, grubby hand resting.
"What was her name?" Babe asks, and as Gene speaks it, he can feel the frozen earth give a little. "That's pretty. Was she pretty?"
"She had pretty hands," Gene says, and he stows them away for later.
xx the end xx
Notes on the French... For unknown reasons--because in the actual episode, they don't speak much French to each other--I really felt like Gene and Renee would have this exchange in French. Perhaps it's because Gene reverts entirely to French as he's digging around for the artery... I dunno. I tried to offer contextual translations, but offer a full translation here:
Tu peux m'embrasser You can kiss me.
Je dois pas I shouldn't or I mustn't
Tu reviendras You'll come back
Huge hugs and thanks to cunien for her beta read and for helping me work out some of my questions. And while I'm thanking her--how about for luring me into the fandom to begin with and being my muse for all things Roe?
Oh! Timeframe notes. This is Roe/Renee and takes place during "Bastogne." The middle scene appears to replace the scene outside the church, after the fun game of find-the-artery, and cops at least one line of dialogue from that scene. I do believe it also qualifies as Roe/Babe buddy fic.
He collects things as he skids through his days--things Gene knows he'll need sooner than they will accumulate and weigh down his bag. Perconte squawked some about the scissors, but he'll be glad enough when it's his clothes getting cut back from a wound.
Gene keeps other things, too, that add no weight to his gear but set his heart winging above the clouds. He takes them out and looks them over, puts them back for another day, when he'll need them more.
Some things can pull his heart into the earth. These he tries to bury, but the ground in Bastogne is frozen, and the digging is hard.
He asked for her name but he never used it.
Babe's watching the line, stealing sideways glances at him and looking like he has a joke he wants to tell but can't remember how it ends.
Gene dozes, thankful for the numbing cold and Babe's regular breathing, which has less wheeze to it today.
~~~
They sit on an empty cot in the cathedral, stars wheeling across the ceiling high above. The soldier is gone, but most of his blood is still here. Gene's jacket is dark with it past the elbow. Renee's hands are the only part of her that move.
"Your touch," he says, "it calms people. That's a gift from God."
She doesn't believe him, he can tell from her eyes. Gene lays his hands over hers, stilling them. She slides one of hers from under, smooths it over his fingers. Their hands lie together on her knees and the calm spreads, enveloping them both.
Renee's palm on his jaw feels like the most natural thing in the world, and when she folds her hand and strokes her fingers over his brow, he feels the skin there heat and cool at the same time.
"Tu peux m'embrasser," she tells him, adding after a pause, "If you like."
He opens eyes that closed under her touch and shakes his head. "Je dois pas," he tells her. Her mouth flattens, and he tries to find words for why he mustn't kiss her.
Outside, someone calls her. She starts to stand, and he squeezes her hand and hopes she understands. He thinks she must--her apron is streaked with the same blood.
"Tu reviendras," she says and touches his hair.
Gene nods. He'll be back. Krauts aren't going to stop lobbing shit at his boys any time soon. He'll come back.
"Next time," he says. Renee smiles and hurries away to help more broken men.
~~~
Heffron sniffs and chuckles to himself, his mouth bent up into its lopsided smile.
Gene shifts against the icy earth behind and beneath him, cocks an eyebrow at Babe.
"You got a girl back home?" Gene asks, surprising himself and Babe in the same question.
Babe's cheeks go red. "Ah, shit, is Gonorrhea running his mouth again?"
"Nah, he didn't say nothin'."
Heffron takes a read, looking for the ribbing he gets from Guarnere. "Not anymore," he allows.
They're silent for a minute, until Babe can't take it anymore. "You?"
Gene looks at Babe's hand, wrapped in her kerchief, as he shakes his head. "I met... Met a girl here, though."
"No kidding! Here?"
He can tell Babe's about to crack wise, and Gene can feel the crystals of ice burrowing into his heart as Bastogne closes around it. "In town," he mumbles.
Heffron is quiet. There's a weight on Gene's shoulder, and he looks to his right, where he sees a chapped, grubby hand resting.
"What was her name?" Babe asks, and as Gene speaks it, he can feel the frozen earth give a little. "That's pretty. Was she pretty?"
"She had pretty hands," Gene says, and he stows them away for later.
xx the end xx
Notes on the French... For unknown reasons--because in the actual episode, they don't speak much French to each other--I really felt like Gene and Renee would have this exchange in French. Perhaps it's because Gene reverts entirely to French as he's digging around for the artery... I dunno. I tried to offer contextual translations, but offer a full translation here:
Tu peux m'embrasser You can kiss me.
Je dois pas I shouldn't or I mustn't
Tu reviendras You'll come back
Huge hugs and thanks to cunien for her beta read and for helping me work out some of my questions. And while I'm thanking her--how about for luring me into the fandom to begin with and being my muse for all things Roe?