I bet you can't believe your eyes that there's already a new chapter :D

I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up the pace of the last two updates, but I'll try my best to update on a regular base.

Special thanks goes to Guest S for the lovely review. Enjoy the next chapter!

Before she could confirm, that it was actually her former CO molesting and trying to rape her, she heard the voice of Ron Speirs behind her attacker, asking him what he thought he was doing. Maggie had never seen the person she thought to be Sobel running so quickly and presumed, that he had heard some of the stories about Ron as well. Granted, somebody who was supposed to have shot dozens of german POWs and a drunken soldier for disobeying an order was pretty terrifying and Maggie might have ran away as well if she didn't know Ron better by now. Since their days in Normandy they had become closer; Maggie would even call him a friend. She knew he had a hard shell and was pretty intimidating at first sight, but he was a good guy on the inside. Maggie even admired him a little for the fact that he had married a widow just to make sure she got along.

"God, Ron. I've never been that glad to hear your voice."

"Maggie, are you okay? Did he...?"

"No, he didn't. You were right in time." And with that Maggie realised what had nearly happened to her and started shaking. Ron took her into his strong arms and murmured comforting words to her, which calmed her down rather quickly. She knew, if she was reasonable, that nothing serious had happened to her - thanks to Rons intervention.

"Do you know, who attacked you? I couldn't identify him in the short time."

Maggie, who wasn't so sure anymore if it had really been Sobel, shook her head no and stayed in Rons embrace for a few more seconds. Before she could step back, they heard Lews "soft" voice calling from behind them:

"Ohhh, wait until I tell Dick about you cuddling with another man..."

Because Maggie still seemed to be rather perturbed, Ron told him in short what had happened and Lew was suddenly completely sober.

"Oh shit, Mag. Are you okay? We have to tell Dick."

"Are you crazy, Lew? We can't tell Dick. He would never stop blaming himself."

She could see that the two men weren't happy about her refusal to report the incident, but she didn't want to wrongly report Sobel. The men grumpily accepted and saw to it, that she made it home safely. After having arrived there, she took a long, comforting bath to calm her nerves. She tried to remember the face of her attacker, but couldn't for the life of her. Regarding the height and build it could have been Sobel, but the man definitely smelled like he had drunk quite a lot and she didn't know Sobel for a drinking man. Perhaps her mind had played her a trick due to her – mostly negative – experiences with the Captain...

Shortly before their meeting regarding Operation Market Garden, Maggie met Lip and couldn't contain herself. She jumped right into his arms and cuddled him until it seemed, that he didn't get enough oxygen into his lungs.

"Oh, Lip, I'm so proud of you. You really deserve that promotion!"

"Thanks, love!" Although Lip knew that Maggie was a very extroverted person and always showed her emotions – at least to the people close to her – he turned red facing these warm and sincere congratulations. But he wasn't the only one, whose facial colours had changed. Over Maggie's shoulder he could see Captain Winters who had turned rather pale – Lip's guess was that he was jealous. Maggie, who hadn't noticed Dick's and Lew's arrival, kept cuddling him like he was the dearest thing in her life. Meanwhile Dick was fighting the emerging jealousy. On a purely rational basis he knew that Maggie and Lip were (only) best friends, but he still didn't like the picture they were setting out. On the one hand he was glad that Maggie had such a good friend in Lip but on the other hand, he wanted to be the only man she cuddled with. And to make it even worse, she congratulated Lip with nearly the same words she had used when she had congratulated him on his promotion yesterday. Lew could see the wheels turning in his best friends head and couldn't contain an amused snort. He understood that Dick didn't like seeing his girlfriend in the arms respective on top of another man, but he was pretty sure that Dick was the only man in Mag's life despite her very good relationship with certain male members of Easy Company.

"What, Lew?!"

"Nothing. I just never took you for a jealous person."

"I'm not."

"No, of course not, Dick. You're only starring diggers at your First Sergeant for fun..."

"Grmpf."

"Perhaps you should spend more time with Maggie. That way you could make certain, that she has amorous feelings for you – and only for you. Oh look, she's seen that you've arrived. And one, two, three. There it is – the "Dick special"."

"What are you talking about Lew?!"

"She was rather happy a few minutes ago but now she smiled like she had seen the best thing in the word. She only ever wears that smile when she looks at you."

Dick wasn't sure if his best mate was right, but he decided to believe him for now and gave Maggie a timid smile in return before they entered the building the briefing would be held in.

During the briefing Maggie had serious problems to concentrate on the information Lew and Dick were providing on Operation Market Garden, because she had the strongest desire to be held by Dick. Although nothing serious had happened yesterday, she still wanted to be held and comforted by him. It didn't help that he looked good enough to sink your teeth in either. Apparently Bill who sat next to her had noticed that she wasn't completely attentive and nudged her with his elbow.

"Hey doll-face, you're okay."

"Sure."

"Okay, I see, my attention is not wanted. Go and keep admiring your lover and I'll tell you the details about our mission later..."

"You jerk. I promise, I'll pay close attention from now on. Since when are you so strict?"

"I'm not strict. I'm just worried about your pretty ass. Were going to jump deeply into occupied territory. Not to mention that it's going to be a day-jump..."

"But Lew said, intelligence doesn't aspect much trouble, because the Wehrmacht consists mainly of kids and old men there."

"Hey, you were actually listening."

"Sure, smartass. I'm female, I can do two or more things at one time."

They immediately shut up when they realised, that their bickering had caught the attention of several comrades, including their CO who stood in the front with raised eyebrows. Maggie didn't like that look on his face and was once again reminded of his natural authority which was one of the reasons she admired him so much.

Before they boarded the plane, they had the "pleasure" to meet Sobel – now Battalion S4 and as such responsible for supplies – and Maggie could only smirk at him for lecturing Malarkey about the motorcycle which everyone knew he had "borrowed" from the Army. Now that she heard his voice for a longer time, she was relatively sure that it hadn't been him, who had tried to rape her. But when she saw his smirk, she wasn't so sure anymore and decided to just forget the incident.

The jump went as promised and before they knew it, they were running through Eindhoven getting kissed by various women celebrating their liberation. Maggie had taken her helmet off, hoping the women wouldn't try to kiss her the whole time once they realised that she was a woman as well, but to no avail. When she saw a woman kissing Dick right onto the mouth, she felt a pang of jealousy, especially when she realised that he seemed to be kissing back. Lip, who had seen her look, just shook his head and tried to usher the boys together. That wasn't an all too simple task, because even his fellow NCOs – notably one Sergeant Talbert – were obviously enjoining the attention of the just liberated women. Maggies mood had just re-improved due to Lew's clumsiness dealing with the attention of the dutch women, when one of them was pushed into the crowd to get her head shaved. Maggie who didn't understand what was going on at first, wanted to step in but was held back by Bull.

"We would only make it worse for her. I guess she collaborated with the Nazis and is not well liked because of that..."

"Yeah, I'm afraid you're right, but I still don't like it. I'll help you fetch your

boys, if you'd like to. I've got the impression, you could use some help."

"Definitely. One would think they've let off steam in Aldbourne but apparently they are insatiable..."