Returning...(Dan/Addie/Open)

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

Country: Hospital, Allied France
Current Time: 18:20
Weather Conditions: Darkened sky, rainy

The hospital was full of patients like many hospitals as a matter of fact in this time of the year and in a war. The beds held people with wounds so horrific that they were not allowed out for days, at least these hospitals were more humane and healthy than in the Great War for those were far, far worse. Allied France was the place, near Paris in fact as in the last few months; the city had fallen to the allies.

A new patient had been submitted to the hospital, Corporal Joe Claude, he had just been captured by the Germans and had been released by the man who had tortured him, he now had bandages over his toes in which three had been broken, one with it’s toenail taken off, a bullet in his stomach and scarring on his face not to mention his back which had been beaten while he had hung from the ceiling so he was now in great pain even when he was just lying there, staring up at the ceiling.

It had been three days since he had been rescued or rather handed back over to the Americans, he had been having nightmares of the times in Germany, he now wished to go no where near any Germans again, and he was extremely frightened of them. His whole body was slightly stiff as he remembered the time when he had been in the hospital bed when Strumfelder had done the cuttings to his face which had been sown up now. A hand went to the bandages, feeling them, wincing and sighing.

Oh how he now had hatred running through his body for that Erhard Strumfelder that man was going to die and Joe was going to be the one to do so, beat him until he begged for mercy like he had done and then kill him, slowly and painfully, that was the only thought that had ran through Joe’s head for the whole time, finding painful ways to kill someone…

A nurse came up to him, smiling. ”Hello there Mr Claude, let’s take a look at your cuts shall we.” he was being treated as a baby now by these nurses, they thought they knew everything about everything…he let her check them and then she looked down at him sadly, ”Those scars aren’t going to heal completely, I’m afraid…” she trailed off and Joe opened his mouth to butt in, ”I know, they will be there for the rest of my life…” she nodded sadly and walked away, Joe lay there, feeling awful.

[Daniel Brennan]

The white walls of the French hospital stared at Daniel as he slowly hobbled past. It seemed to Daniel that they were staring accusingly at him; they hated him for bringing even more poor victims of war into the already crowded hospital. The burning pain in his stomach assured him that he was one of these victims. But, it was because of him that another man was in a much worse condition. It was he, Daniel, who’s actions had brought Private Teal in here with at least half a dozen bullet holes in his chest, while Daniel got away with just a couple. Daniel averted his gaze to the floor.

He had just been to see the young Private Teal and now he was slowly walking back to his own room, lost in thought. Teal was in a bad condition; it was lucky that he was even able to exchange a few words with Daniel. He was a pathetic figure, wrapped up in bandages and barely able to move because of the pain. His missing ear which he had lost in a previous confrontation with German forces only made it harder not to feel pity for him. If the German’s had taken over the hospital right then, Daniel doubted they would be able to kill the helpless private. Teal didn’t accuse Daniel out loud, but Daniel knew what he was thinking. He was thinking that it was all Daniel’s fault that he was in so much pain.

The nurse had ushered the Staff Sergeant out of the room, saying that they didn’t have the proper facilities to treat the Private’s wounds and they were moving him to a hospital in Paris. Daniel walked glumly back to his room with one hand resting over the bandages on his stomach. He glanced into rooms as he past by, wincing as blood soaked bandages met his eyes. Nurses and doctors pushed past him constantly, heading to and from their different patients. Some of them looked at the state that he was in, thinking that he wasn’t fit enough to be walking about, but nobody stopped him.

His eyes lazily scanned the inside of one room as he past and he jolted to a stop as he thought he recognised a figure inside. A nurse came out of the room, giving him a disapproving look as she walked by. He was sure he knew the figure lying on the bed, he just couldn’t remember who. He stepped into the room. ”Jesus Christ, Joe” he said, remembering the name. He stepped over to the bed. ”What the hell happened to you?!”

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

Joe really was feeling awful, his head was hurting, he felt so hot and flustered in the bed, the sheets were so overpowering and stuffy that he didn’t like it, the nurse had gone, good he was on his own now for a little while, now he could think – or not.

He heard a voice say his name, and saw a figure coming towards him, speaking with shock in his voice as he looked over the Corporal. Joe couldn’t think who this person was…had he met him before? His mind wasn’t too good so he stared with a confused stare mind you, at the man who seemed to know his name and wanted to know what had happened to him. He just stared, thinking as hard as he could, silence was now present between the two men, an awkward silence. Finally Joe remembered and his face brightened up.

”Daniel Brennan?” his voice was weak but it could be heard, ”I remember you!” the memory came back, this man was the guy who had been slightly drunk in one of the only times that Joe had gone to one British pub, and they had talked at the bar! Oh yes, he now knew who he was, his attention now turned to the question posed by Daniel. How could he say what he had been though?
”Got tortured.” he said simply, ”By Fritz.” it was simple but Joe didn’t know how else to say what he wanted to say, he pointed to his face, ”Scars.” and then pointed to his feet and then to his stomach, ”Broken toes and bullet in stomach, I’ve never been in such pain in my life…” he said, lying back on his pillow and wincing slightly as he moved up towards the end of the bed a bit more, he did feel slightly sick now, for he hadn’t eaten in days because of the bullet wound.

He lay there, waiting for Dan to speak, he wondered what Daniel had been doing here, by the look of his bandages he had done something wrong to his stomach like Joe.

[Heidi]

Adelheid really wasn't supposed to be in here.

From her hiding spot behind a desk, she watched as two nurses ran by, slightly frantic and calling out her name. Onkel Stephen had been called out somewhere, the girl only told by yet another German-speaking soldier that the gentle man was going out to do soldier business, and that a nice nurse would be taking care of her. Even better, the girl now had a couple of toys to play with: one was a squishy horse toy, purely grey-white in colour, and a wooden train that rolled across the ground. Onkel Mac had given them to her.

As soon as the nurses ran by, still calling out her name, Adelheid bolted. In one arm was the toy horse, which she proud named "Silber"; her trusty slingshot was still in her pocket, along with plenty of pebble-ammo to create a distraction. There was also a chocolate bar still left that she could eat, but truth be told, the rich treats from before were still weighing her stomach down. She was all ready to go...well, as ready as a child in a foreign hospital would ever be.

Another nurse ran by, and Adelheid ducked into a room, just escaping the notice of a nearby wounded soldier, half-asleep from being drugged. She dove under a bed, watching with ink-black eyes as two more people walked down the aisle in front of her. Voices came from the other end of the room - the only voices in the room, actually - and Adelheid's curiosity was caught.

One of them sounded German.

Crawling quickly across the floor, the young girl paused for another moment as another nurse trotted by, murmuring to a couple of nearby soldiers in that language everyone was using. When the nurse was gone, Adelheid quickly scooted forward, pausing when she was but two beds away from the voices.

From there, Adelheid watched, her eyes round and wide with awe as she saw the owners of the voices. One had a face that was brutally scarred - it scared her a little, since it reminded her of Sister Burr, who had a nasty scar running along the side of her face. The other had a deep, booming accent, and his stomach was wrapped snugly in gauze.

+++++++++++++++++

Translations:

-Silber = Silver
-Onkel = Uncle

OOC - Not my best post, I think. Sorry.

[Daniel Brennan]

OOC: Hehe, booming accent. =D

At first it appeared that the American paratrooper didn’t recognise Daniel. His eyes were a little glazed and he didn’t register Daniel’s face. He stared harshly at the Staff Sergeant for a few seconds before remembering the face in front of him with a smile. Daniel smiled and nodded silently as Joe spoke aloud the fact that he had recognized Daniel. The corporal proclaimed in a weak voice that he remembered Daniel, but it drifted off towards the end. Before Joe spoke again Daniel looked him up and down, taking in the horrific injuries that the young man had received. Daniel took a guess that he had been peppered with shrapnel from a shell landing close by. He had obtained injuries over a broad area on his body. His foot was wrapped up tightly, his stomach bandaged up and there appeared to be a bit of dried blood on his face.

Daniel’s mouth opened wide as Joe answered his question in just two words. ”Tortured? ...” he said in disbelief. ”Just torture... nothing else?” Joe’s had a lot of injuries and it seemed so horrifying to Daniel that they were all from some... deranged Nazi lunatic. Joe explained his injuries further to Daniel. Daniel took a few steps further to the bed and peered at Joe’s face. He recoiled as he realised the cuts on Joe’s face were obviously deliberate. Straight lines cut straight down his face... Big, straight lines. ”Sorry... “ he muttered, hoping his reaction hadn’t offended his friend. ”Well, I hope you’re pumped full of morphine now?” He added in with a weak smile.

Daniel’s legs were getting tired after walking around in his weak state. He plopped himself down on the end of Joe’s bed with a groan, being careful to avoid the Corporal’s wounded leg. ”Mind if I sit down?” He said with a grin, trying to get Joe’s spirits up. ”I got shot in the stomach and chest while on a scouting patrol,” He said grimly. ”But, it shows you the accuracy of the Germans these days. The guy that shot me missed my point-man that was way ahead of me and randomly hit me” He said with a cheerful laugh. He suddenly stopped laughing; it hurt his chest.

A movement to the side caught his eye and he suddenly turned his head, expecting to see some patient rudely listening in to the conversation. Instead he was surprised at the sight of a little girl standing there looking slightly scared. He glanced to Joe, confused. ”Uh, is that little girl really there, or did they give me too much morphine?”. He turned back to the girl and once he was certain she wasn’t going to burst into a cloud of smoke he studied her carefully. How she got in here, he didn’t know. She didn’t look very injured to him so she might have snuck into the hospital from the town outside. In that case, she was probably French and would be the excellent person for him to practise his French language skills on. He had learned little words and phrases from various people over the years, but he wasn’t so good at pronouncing them and the recipient usually looked at him strangely for a few seconds before backing away. ”Bonjure!” (That’s how he pronounced it) He said enthusiastically while smiling.

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

Joe was accepting the look on Daniel’s face to show what it showed, horror, he know thought that would be the expressions he got from everyone in the street…bloody Strumfelder. Bastard.
”Yes, torture, well…it was more integration, with me not wanting to answer the questions put to me so…yeah…” Joe said, remembering and wanting to forget what had happened.

Daniel now came closer to look at the scars and he recoiled, they were pretty horrific scars to tell the truth, they had been bloody painful when Joe had had then cut into his skin. He had been told by one of the German doctors after the first questioning that the scars were of a German company and the ones of his forehead were the mark of the SS, two “S” symbols.
”Apparently they are two symbols of the Nazis.” Joe’s voice now held hatred with a hint of sadness. ”Have morphine now, not when I got all these injuries, I now have three broken toes and one toenail missing on my right foot, do you know what those bastards did? Do you want me to tell you?” he didn’t wait for Daniel to answer, ”First time round, I was in this bed and this Nazi put like this sort of drug into my body to make me paralysed and then cut into my skin cause I didn’t answer the questions that he wanted answering, and then, second time round, got strapped to a table, having to answer questions while having my toes broken and toe nails removed and then tied to the ceiling and beaten on my back and stomach…next thing I know, this man is holding a gun at me…” he stopped, his eyes starting to well up with tears as he stared past Daniel at something in the distance, remembering. ”Jesus, sorry.” he said after a few seconds of silence, ”Yeah, sure you can sit.” Daniel in the meanwhile had asked to sit down and Joe moved himself carefully so that the Staff Sergeant could sit properly on the bed, he now told his story about why he was in the hospital and Joe listened, he could tell by the way the man was grinning and smiling that he was trying to raise his spirits up but Joe’s weren’t going anyway.

Joe turned his head as Daniel spoke about seeing a little girl, ”I think you are seeing…-“ he trailed off as he too also saw a girl, he stared at the girl like Daniel did, the two men just stared, Joe with a look of confusion on his face. Daniel then tried to have a go at French, saying “Hello” in a very poor accent.
”Good accent.” he said, a half smile now erupting on his face, ”What about German? It probably won’t be German but it’s worth a try,” Joe leant forward slightly to the girl, ”Umm…Hallo.” he said in a half German, half American accent.

[Heidi]

Round black eyes stared back at the men, curiosity and fear mixed in them as the little girl ducked down behind the bed. Beneath her left armpit, poor Silber was ever-so-slightly crushed, the plush horse's head tilting slightly to the side. Adelheid looked down at her toy, face adorned with an expression that belonged to a child seeking comfort.

The two men were just staring at her, doing nothing, one looking curious and the other confused. Adelheid blinked twice, hesitant, but then boldly peeked out from behind the bed. She did not move from the crouching position she was in, though, just in case she wasn't wanted in the room -

"Bonjure!"

The girl squeaked, and whipped back behind the bed, her heart pounding. Nearby, another half-asleep soldier snorted, and rolled around in his bed. Adelheid glanced over in that man's general direction, then turned her head back, waiting for a minute. Like a kitten, she grabbed the edge of the bed, and pulled herself up until she was kneeling. Her eyes and nose were juuuuust visible over the side of the mattress.

"Umm...Hallo."

It was from the man who sounded vaguely German. His accent was slightly distorted, a foreign element present amongst the lilt that accompanied Adelheid's mother tongue. Her mouth formed a little "o" of surprise, and she smiled shyly, raising a hand to wave at the man.

"Guter Nachmittag, Herr Soldaten," the little girl said quietly, suddenly dissapearing behind the bed again. There was the sound of cloth rustling, and then, a hand would reach up, something clenched tightly in the little girl's fist. It would then be pitched towards the two soldiers, and with Adelheid's excellent aim, land at the feet of the one with the booming accident.

The thing was a chocolate bar, left over from earlier.

A few seconds later, the girl peeked out from the side, seeing if her peace offering could prove satisfactory enough to these...somewhat scary soldiers.

++++++++++++++++++++

Translations:

Good after, Mister Soldiers.

[Daniel Brennan]

Daniel grinned as Joe trailed off from his sentenced, confused. Well, if both of them could see the little girl then they couldn’t be hallucinating? Or could they? Maybe Daniel had only hallucinated seeing the girl at first and then Joe had been given too much morphine or something, so that when Daniel spoke about the girl he also believed she was there. Daniel frowned to himself; why was he thinking these things anyway?

He winced sheepishly as the girl jumped back in fright because of his over-enthusiastic greeting. ”Well that means she probably doesn’t speak French...” He muttered to himself. Which was probably good really; it saved her from having to try and figure out what he was saying in his terrible accent. ”Yes, it was a good accent wasn’t it!” Daniel said, playing along with the Corporal’s joke. He looked guilty a second later as the girl peered fearfully out from behind the bed. ”Ah, sorry about that...” He said, but knowing she wouldn’t be able to understand him. Daniel started looking around for the nearest nurse to hand the girl over to, but he stopped as Joe tried German on the girl.

”What would a German girl be doing all the way out here? ” Daniel started to ask, but stopped halfway through as the German girl replied with a quick stream of German. ”Well, what’dya know!” He said with surprise apparent in his voice. He searched through his head looking for one of the couple of German sentences he half-knew. ”Hallo. Hi-sa Daniel!” He said, not as enthusiastically as last time; completely murdering the German language. Daniel looked in surprise as an item was lobbed out from behind the bed, landing right against his foot. As he bent down he realised it was a chocolate bar from the girl. Whether it was an offering or the girl was just terrified out of her wits that they were going to eat her, Daniel didn’t know.

Daniel chooses to think that the girl was just trying to be friendly and he picked up the half-eaten chocolate bar. He certainly had no need for it, so to show the girl that he meant no harm to her, he took a few slow steps forward, before gently tossing it back at her chest. He returned to the bed quickly and looked at the Corporal beside him. ”So, what did she say, anyway?”

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

Joe jumped back in surprise as the girl did so, he looked over at Daniel who had started speaking, ”Or she does and she can’t understand what you are saying.” the Corporal gave a soft smile as he turned back to the girl, awaiting an answer. She replied in German and Joe nodded, understanding perfectly. God it was nice to have someone who spoke German…someone who spoke German with out any horrible words and who was male and frightening.

He smiled at her, ”Yeah, what you know. You really need language lessons” Joe said, grinning over at Daniel as he watched the girl who, suddenly, disappeared and threw something towards them, Joe ducked, suddenly terrified that it was a bomb or something dangerous. But no, it wasn’t anything dangerous…it was a bar of chocolate, half a bar of chocolate at least because it looked like it had been half eaten…Joe hadn’t had chocolate in a long time, but he wasn’t going to eat anything as he would do harm to his stomach and that chocolate might be drugged with something.

Daniel had disappeared from his side and was walking over to the girl, giving the chocolate back to her, he smiled at the young girl as best he could without looking scary and saw that Daniel was coming back, asking him if he knew what she said.
”Good after, Mister soldiers.” Joe translated without looking at Daniel, still looking at the young girl, trying some more words on her – ”was ist Ihr Name? Was tun Sie hier? Sie werden nicht bedeutet, um hier zu sein Sie wissen” he lay back on his pillows, feeling tired but still watching her, he wanted to know why she was here before any one came and took her away, maybe she was looking for someone or just looking around…

Translations:

was ist Ihr Name? Was tun Sie hier? Sie werden nicht bedeutet, um hier zu sein Sie wissen -What is your name? What are you doing here? You are not meant to be here you know

[Heidi]

The chocolate bar was accepted by the booming-accent man, who had completely botched a sentence of German beforehand. If Adelheid was correct, the man had tried to say his name was "Daniel"...Herr Daniel. The title seemed to fit his name quite nicely, and for some reason, Adelheid suddenly thought of Daniel in the lion's den. It was ironic, seeing how she was in a lion's den herself, what with being where she wasn't supposed to and with a couple of wounded men she didn't know...

The sudden sound of feet against the floor caught Adelheid's attention, and she dove under the bed with a near-silent squeak. Herr Daniel's feet stopped a little ways before the bed, and there was the sound of something being thrown onto the bed. Adelheid waited for a moment, watching as the feet moved backwards and pulled themselves up. The rustling of sheets told Adelheid the man had sat down, but she waited a minute or so more before coming out of hiding. She crouched, wanting to seem smaller, and trying hard not to seem threatening.

Herr Daniel had thrown the chocolate bar back onto the bed. Adelheid's hand quickly snatched it up, and the girl pulled it back towards her. Black eyes flickered towards Herr Daniel, then the chocolate bar, then back to Herr Daniel again. He had tossed the treat back to her...was it not satisfactory enough?

”Was ist Ihr Name? Was tun Sie hier? Sie werden nicht bedeutet, um hier zu sein Sie wissen.”

Adelheid gave a little gasp, and looked over at the soldier with the scarred face. Perhaps the chocolate bar wasn't good enough; like before, with Onkel David and Onkel Mac, she would have to give them answers. She was more then willing to comply.

Coming out from behind the bed, Adelheid slowly walked over to the pair, coming to stand in front of them. She kept her distance, however, and nearly pinned herself against the side of the bed in front of them. As politely as she could, the girl cleared her throat, stuffing the chocolate bar back into her pocket.

"Mein Name ist Adelheid, Herr Daniel und Herr Daniel's-Soldat-Freund. Ich schaue gerade herum, Herherren, kein bedeuteter Schaden. Onkel Stephen musste auf Soldatgeschäft herausgehen, und ich hatte nicht noch etwas, zum zu tun, und Onkel Mac ist nicht irgendwoanders auch nicht…"

Placing one foot behind the other, the girl picked up her long white skirt a little and curtsied, smiling. She then turned slightly, focused solely on Herr Daniel, and pointed at herself with her index finger. If he was like Onkel Stephen, and he didn't speak much German, then he would need help understanding...right?

"A-D-E-L-H-E-I-D," the girl said slowly, nodding. "A-del-heid. Adelheid."

+++++++++++++++++

Translations:

My name is Adelheid, Mister Daniel and Mister Daniel's Soldier Friend. I am just looking around, Mister sirs, no harm meant. Uncle Stephen had to go out on soldier business, and I did not have anything else to do, and Uncle Mac is not anywhere else either...

[Daniel Brennan]

OCC: Sorry about the delay. I’m sure you’ve seen my poor excuses in the c-box. Also, when does the hospital explode?

Daniel shook his head and smiled at Joe’s comment about him needing to get language lessons. ”Nah, don’t worry about me! I have enough to get by... sorta.” He grinned. He was smiling and grinning a lot now, trying to cheer Joe up and make him forget about what had happened to him. Well, he would never fully forget what had happened, but Daniel could help vanquish the memories for a couple of hours. ”Well... Not really in all honesty.” he admitted after a few seconds with a tight laugh. ”I can’t say the words right at all and I definitely can’t write them. Kinda useless aren’t I?” He said, still being considerate and getting Joe’s spirits up.

Daniel felt very sorry for the fellow American beside him on the bed. Although they had only met once before – and Daniel hadn’t been entirely sober – he had gotten on well with the young paratrooper. Now, it looked like Joe Claude was going to be scarred for life; mentally and physically. His stomach wound would heal in time and it would be forgotten and he could the fact that he had broken his toes as well. But, it would be impossible for him to forget what had happened fully. It looked to Daniel that the scars – the letters- on his face would be staying there for quite a while. Everywhere he went people would be staring at the man with the disfigured face and he wouldn’t be able to avoid the inevitable questions that would follow; “Oh my god - that looks so sore! How did it happen?” Yes, Joe would probably have a hard life.

Daniel looked on in interest as the little German girl cautiously came out of hiding to see the chocolate he had tossed back and he waited for her reaction. To him it seemed she looked confused by her gift being given right back to her and he wasn’t entirely sure she had gotten the right message from him. He tried to catch her eye and give a reassuring smile, to show that he wanted her to have the chocolate. Maybe she had thought he didn’t like it, or something like that? Who knows; Daniel usually wasn’t very good with children and he didn’t have any of his own. They were a whole different species to him.

The little girl who had been so unresponsive to him brightened up suddenly at the sound of her own language being spoken from the mouth of Joe. Daniel had a small grin on his face after hearing Joe’s translation of the girl’s message, but that changed to a dumbfounded expression as Joe spoke. If Joe had been talking slowly Daniel might have possibly understood a couple of the words, but with him speaking normally, Daniel didn’t have a hope. The little girl responded back quickly with a few sentences of her own, which left Daniel even more lost in terms of conversation. ”’Nother translation please.” Daniel said to Joe with a grin. The little girl turned to Daniel and spelt out each letter of her name. Daniel looked confused for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to pronounce the name, but then the girl pronounced her name for him and he smiled and nodded.

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

”I’ll give you language lessons then…only in German however, don’t know any other language.” he said, laughing slightly. Daniel had perked up quiet a bit and so had Joe, he felt much happier now then he had been, in actual fact it did make him forget about the pains in nearly his whole body. ”You’re not useless Dan, you just need a few practices and you would be able to get there…” he stopped, ”in time…” he added, laughing and looking over again at the little German girl.

To be honest, the paratrooper hadn’t thought about his life out of the army, out of the hospital even, he had wanted to go back to his old job back in New York, but now he wasn’t too sure about that, what with his face, the thought struck him suddenly and a cold shiver went down his spine as he thought about it, what the people would say, how they would react to a man with a disfigured face and letters that meant no meaning to them but to Joe and other German speakers, they would be the marks of a bad man, a terrible era of history that would have to be destroyed. He imagined himself alone in some remote part of America, not to be disturbed until he died…he imagined himself doing that but that wasn’t necessary what he was going to do however.

Joe glanced over at Daniel, he wasn’t good with children, the American could see that but nor was he either come to think of it, Joe wasn’t good with children what so ever, but the little girl began to introduce herself and Joe nodded, understanding. Joe listened to the girl, glancing over at Daniel a couple of times to see his expression changing and he smiled softly. The girl had now come right up to the bed, looking up at the two men with soft and gentle eyes.

"Mein Name ist Adelheid, Herr Daniel und Herr Daniel's-Soldat-Freund. Ich schaue gerade herum, Herherren, kein bedeuteter Schaden. Onkel Stephen musste auf Soldatgeschäft herausgehen, und ich hatte nicht noch etwas, zum zu tun, und Onkel Mac ist nicht irgendwoanders auch nicht…"

Joe smiled as she curtseyed, Das war sehr netter Adelheid, mein Name ist Joe, kann Sie erklären uns, die Onkel Stephen und Onkel Mac sind? Sind sie Soldaten wie wir? he asked her, and then looked over at Daniel as he spoke, ”She just said that her name is Adelheid,” he pronounced the name with a slight German hint to it, ”and that she was just looking around, she meant no harm and that Uncle Stephen has gone away on soldier business and she does not have anything else to do and Uncle Mac is not anywhere else either…” he trailed off, ”I’ve just asked her who Uncle Stephen and Uncle Mac are and are they soldiers and told her my name.” Joe finished off translating for Daniel and then looked back at Adelheid, awaiting an answer.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure enter the ward in which the three of them were in and place a suitcase on a chair and then left, of course Joe thought nothing of it and turned back to the girl.



Translations

Das war sehr netter Adelheid, mein Name ist Joe, kann Sie erklären uns, die Onkel Stephen und Onkel Mac sind? Sind sie Soldaten wie wir -That was very nice Adelheid, my name is Joe, may you tell us who Uncle Stephen and Uncle Mac are? Are they soldiers like us?

[Heidi]

"Das war sehr netter Adelheid, mein Name ist Joe, kann Sie erklären uns, die Onkel Stephen und Onkel Mac sind? Sind sie Soldaten wie wir?"

"Ja!" Adelheid said enthusiastically, a great big grin breaking out on her face. "Sie sind, Herr Joe. Onkel Stephen mag Pferde und er ist wirklich süß, wie Schwester war Kiel, und er kaufte mich mein weniges Silber!"

The girl pulled out her beloved grey horse plush from beneath her arm, and showed it to the men in front of her with a giggle. Adelheid then put the toy in the same pocket she kept the photo of Rhys in, and then pulled out her trusty slingshot. Her face shone with pride as she held it up hgh, for with her slingshot, she rarely missed; she could hit the centre of a bully's nose from ten feet away with a piece of gravel.

"Und Onkel Mac sagte, dass ich wirklich bin, wirklich gut mit meinem Slingshot! Er kaufte mich einen Zug, und geholfener Onkel Stephen wählen diesen hübschen Rock aus, den ich habe! Er kann ungerader wenig sein…weil er an den Gewehren ziemlich ungewöhnlich anstarrt, aber er so viel Spaß ist!"

If it wasn't apparrent now, Adelheid truly did love her Onkel Stephen and Onkel Mac. Although there had been many kind people that she had met, none had been as kind as those two. They were sweet as sugar, and so very gentle, and they treated Adelheid like she wasn't bad, even though she had stolen something from time to time to feed herself. She liked people like that.


+++++++++++++++++++++

Translations:

Yes!

They are, Mister Joe. Uncle Stephen likes horses and he is really sweet, like Sister Kiel was, and he bought me my little Silver!

And Uncle Mac said I am really, really good with my slingshot! He bought me a train, and helped Uncle Stephen pick out this pretty skirt I have! He can be a little...odd, because he stares at guns quite oddly, but he is so much fun!

[Daniel Brennan]

Daniel smiled at Joe’s half-joking offer to teach him proper German some time. It would be something new and it might prove very helpful in the field of battle sometime. ”I might well take you up on that offer, someday.” Daniel said thoughtfully. ”I know you were joking, but I really would like to learn the language. You’ll never know when knowing something like that might come in handy!” He mused. ”Once we get out of this hospital we can start. Well, that’s if you are OK with it?” Daniel asked. Daniel chuckled as Joe tried to defend Daniel from himself, claiming that Daniel wasn’t useless at all. ”Don’t worry about it. I was only joking anyway. Just trying to get out spirits up.” he said chirpily. Daniel had noticed Joe too was laughing at a few of Daniel’s bad jokes and he guessed that he was succeeding in cheering the Corporal up.

Joe replied to Adheleid’s words first with a stream of fluent German before he attended to the helpless Irishman’s needs. Daniel was now beginning to doubt that he would even be able to be thought how to speak the language. It sounded so… confusing compared to English. Everything sounded unpronounceable and there were many words that seemed to have twenty letters! Daniel snorted happily: ”Well, I kinda guessed that that was her name, alright. I’m not entirely stupid you know!” Daniel couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the innocent little girl’s words coming –second hand- from Joe’s mouth. ”I’ll take a good guess that ‘Stephen’ and ‘Mac’ aren’t actually related to her,” he said wryly. A thoughtful look came on his face. ”I think there’s a new guy in the third infantry that goes by the name ‘Mac’, actually. It’s not a very common name…” he said, trailing off thoughtfully at the end of his sentence.

”I suppose they would have to be soldiers to have names like that over here. France isn’t exactly a holiday destination now-a days!” Daniel proclaimed loudly with a grin. The grin stayed on Daniel’s face as Adelheid said a string of words in German and then proudly showed the two men her toys; a little toy horse and a slingshot, which Daniel raised his eyebrow to Joe at. He wouldn’t exactly trust a little child with that thing…
Adelheid gushed out another stream of words as she gestured with the slingshot. Daniel just sat there and nodded, not having a clue what she was talking about.

A movement out of the corner of his eye caused Daniel to look over to the door as a man in a brown trench coat entered the room carrying a large suitcase. Daniel looked at him strangely as he left the case against a chair just inside the door and then started to leave. ”Hey, you!” Daniel called out to the man, who didn’t stop moving or even look back. ”Is that for one of us?” he called out the door after the man, but getting now reply. Now he was confused; why didn’t the man answer him? ”What’s up with that?” Daniel asked Joe with a quizzical expression on his face.

[Cpl. Joe Claude]

Joe raised an eyebrow at Daniel, ”Really? Well, I’d be happy to teach you if you did want to learn.” he said, smiling at the Irishman, in actual fact, Joe was cheering up a lot more, he had even forgotten the pain in his toes or stomach or even the scars on his face seemed to not feel like they were there.

Joe smirked a bit at what Daniel said about not being stupid, ”You asked me to translate stuff and that’s what I’m doing!” he said, a hint of a joke in his voice as he listened again to what the little German girl would say next. The girl was smiling and her face seemed bright.

”She just said that Uncle Stephen likes horses and is really sweet, like Sister Kiel who ever she is, and Stephen brought her that horse thing she is playing with…” he pointed to the little, toy horse she had in her hand.
Next thing the girl pulled out of her pocket was a slingshot and Joe stared at it, ”No, I don’t think “Stephen” and “Mac” are related, their names sound too English to be related and she said that yes, they are soldiers…I don’t know who is who around here, only in E Company, I’ve never heard of someone called Mac or Stephen.” he paused to hear the girl speak again, after a pause, he translated to the poor Irishman once more.

”She said that Uncle Mac said that she is really, really good with her slingshot and he brought her a train and helped Uncle Stephen pick out this pretty skirt she has, he is a little odd…I take it that Mac is a little odd, and that he stares down guns quite oddly, but he is so much fun…” he trailed off, thinking what the girl had said…not really understanding.

He turned as he heard Daniel shout at the man who had walked in, but the man didn’t reply as he went out. ”Oi!” Joe shouted as well but the man had disappeared before they could say anything else. Joe stared at the suitcase. ”I don’t really know…” Joe muttered, ”You know of anyone sending you clothes or anything cause I don’t!” he said, frowning. A cold shiver ran down his spine, the man in the coat didn’t look familiar at all, and nor did the suitcase. ”Do you want to go and see what’s in it?” he asked the Irishman, turning back to the little girl.

” Wo leben Sie?”

Translations:

”Wo leben Sie?” – Where do you live?


OOC - When do you guys want the bomb to go off?