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Title:"Point of View"

Author: Darkover, a.k.a. TheQueenly1

Disclaimer:I do not own "Band of Brothers," the miniseries. Neither I nor anyone else owns the men upon whom the miniseries was based, as they were and are real people, and ones whom I admire greatly. No infringement of copyright is intended or should be inferred. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so please do not sue.

Rating: T

Summary: Sgt. Floyd Talbert speculates on the motives for Captain Speirs' behavior towards the man who shot Sgt. Grant in "Points."

I should put a stop to this. It's not that the guy they're beating the hell out of doesn't deserve it—he deserves worse, if Grant dies from that shot in the head. But sitting by, doing nothing, while somebody gets beaten—that's too close to being like an ordinary kraut when the Nazis were setting up places like Landsberg. George Luz doesn't see the problem—"Just play cards," is what he says, but still….

Oh, shit—it's him. Captain Speirs. So mad, he won't even tell us if Grant's okay—he just wants to know where the son-of-a-bitch who did this is. Speirs will kill the guy—

Furious as everybody is, they all shut up when he comes in. Even though just seconds before they were all beating the shit out of the s.o.b., most of them flinch when Speirs backhands him. Oh, Christ, the Captain has his .45 trained on the guy—bastard is a goner for sure, Spiers is a killer. Perconte and Martin both step back, fast; Malarkey closes his eyes, doesn't want to see this. I don't blame them.

Speirs' hand is shaking. I wouldn't believe it, if I wasn't seeing it. But the guy…hell, the guy is crying. Sniveling. Speirs is looking at him. I can't read Speirs' expression. He seems to notice for the first time that he's got some of the guy's blood on his hand. He wipes his hand on the loser's shirt. Takes off his own cap. "Let the M.P.s handle this piece of shit." Walks out of the room as if he wasn't just a heartbeat away from executing somebody.

"Grant's dead?" I ask him.

"No. Kraut surgeon says he's gonna make it." He sounds almost matter-of-fact as he re-holsters his handgun. That's Captain Speirs for you. Killing never bothers him, at least I always heard it doesn't. But this is a man who has accomplished things that would have made Patton faint, so I know his hand couldn't have been shaking from fear. Unless…

Maybe, just like me a few minutes ago, he was afraid of what he might have turned into. That he might have become the kind of man who would shoot an unarmed, completely helpless guy. Then the loser started to cry, and Speirs realized what he was about to do. Maybe the thought made him sick…or sick with fear of what he might turn into, and that stopped him.

Or maybe…could this all have been a big act? I mean, when Captain Speirs came in, he was like a mad dog. Had his .45 in hand, ready to shoot the guy on the spot. Storming in there, taking charge in a way he never could have if he'd tried a calm, reasonable approach, or even if he'd just issued an order to cease. Sure, this is Easy Company, and we obey orders, but the noncoms were enraged. They were a mob. Did Speirs do all this on purpose, to defuse the situation? To keep the men from beating the loser to death, and being court-martialed for it?

That doesn't seem too likely. Speirs is no bleeding heart. But still…Captain Speirs thinks highly of the men. I know that. If nothing else, he wouldn't want to waste "a valuable resource" like us on a court-martial. Hell, that's the thing about Speirs. You never know what he's thinking, much less what he might be feeling. But one way or another, he always gets the job done.

Times like this, I'm glad I'm not an officer.

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