Work Text:
Eliza was sicker than a dog. She had gotten sick right after Noville, and was somewhat sick during Rachamps. But it was on the way into Hagueneau where her pneumonia got worse. And Ron was on her ass during the whole time, telling her to rest and basically be useless. All Eliza wanted to do was her job as a medic and help people out, but you can’t necessarily do that when your superior, is telling you to rest all the time. Eliza also didn’t mind Speirs caring for her and asking her if she was alright, but it was getting too much, especially now that Lipton was sick also. They had just arrived in Hagueneau and Eliza and Lip were both sitting on the couch in the house that the Battalion C.P. was held in. Webster had just returned and was waiting for Speirs, then a new lieutenant walked in looking for Speirs also. Lip had told them both to wait, and then the walking war criminal himself came in with a handful of loot under his arms and a cigarette in his mouth. Ron caught sight of Eliza and Lip sitting on the couch, covered in the blanket Luz laid on them. Lip went to introduce the new lieutenant, and before he could get his full sentence out Ron cut him off, “Listen, Christ's sake, will you go back in the back and sack out? There’s some beds with fresh sheets.” Lip responded back saying that he would and that he was just trying to make himself useful, which had Eliza chiming in to agree with him, “Yeah, we’re just trying to make ourselves useful Captain.” This prompted Ron to turn and look at Eliza with an incredulous look, and responded with “for the love of God Lizzy, go back there and get some sleep, you’re sicker than a dog.” Eliza then mumbled “just trying to help”, but there was something that Ron said that had the E company veterans all look at each other: he had called her “Lizzy”, and they all knew that no one called Eliza that unless they wanted to die, and the fact she didn’t get mad at him for calling her that made them all even more curious. But before any possible questions could be asked, Winter’s walked in and talked about the patrol for that night. Winters had asked Speirs to discuss the choosing of the men for that night's patrol, even though they were right behind the couch, Eliza could barely hear them, more focused on finding out more about the new lieutenant. What Eliza had found out was that he was a West Point graduate, and he graduated on D-Day last year, besides that he wasn’t that interesting. Speirs was talking to Lip about his conversation with Dick about the patrol, when the new lieutenant asked to be a part of it, Ron had told him no and told him to tell Babe, Ramirez and McClung that they were going. Ron was about to leave when Webster reintroduced himself, and Eliza could tell Ron was getting ticked, but she had to know if he wanted to go and be the medic for the patrol. “Capt. do you need me to be the medic for the patrol since we’re down one.” Eliza referred to Marselle's un-impromptu leave during Bastogne very gently, Ron walked back over to the couch and leaned down to whisper to her, “No, you’re sick, you don’t need to be out there, and besides we have Roe, Spina and Ollie to take care of it if something goes wrong. Everything’s taken care of Lizzy.” and then he left. Eliza let out a huff, she hated sitting there and feeling useless, and she could also feel Lip staring at her. “What?” Eliza huffed out, Lip had a small smile on his face and shook his head, “nothing Eliza, nothing,” Eliza knew it was nothing, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue, and glared at Luz when she heard him let out a chuckle. Eliza decided she was gonna get up and go to the back rooms that Ron had mention, she thought “well if I’m not able to do my work, I’m gonna sleep.” Eliza was surprised to see Ron there making sure the beds were good enough to sleep in. “Well, it’s a shock to see you here, I thought you’d be looting another house” Eliza commented snickering, Ron let out a small chuckle, replying while gesturing to the beds “Just wanted to make sure they were good enough to sleep in, and clean.” Eliza found him caring about they’re comfort cute, “Honestly, I don’t give two shits if the bed is covered in dried blood, as long I can sleep in it, I’ll be fine” Ron showed a rare small smile at Eliza's comment, that damn smile caused Eliza to grin like the biggest idiot ever, but Eliza was tired and confused about why Ron was being so concerned and talkative towards her. The confusion and exhaustion caused Eliza to ask “Ron, why are you being so caring and talking a lot more to me?” Ron looked confused by her question, he asked “what do you mean?”. “Ron, all you ever did was glare at me and call me by my last name. But when we were in Bastogne, you started talking to me more and started to act like you care about me” Eliza said, Ron looked down, to Eliza he looked sad just standing there in the middle of this room, and then he looked up at her with those fucking eyes and she knew she was done. “You never seemed to mind me talking to you, I’ve been calling you Lizzy and you haven’t tried to kill me yet. I’m not the only one with rumors around them.” He had her there, Eliza was flustered at the mention of her common outbursts when someone would call her Lizzy, most of the time it ended with a death threat. But Speirs had a point, she didn’t mind when he called her Lizzy, and she didn’t exactly know why. Eliza was ripped from her stupor when Ron spoke again, saying “And I never didn’t care about you. I’m not acting like I care, because I do care about you Lizzy. I just never realized it until you got your nose broken back in Holland”, that shocked Eliza into just standing there with her mouth open like a fish. Ron looked at Eliza’s expression and mistook it for the worst, “It’s fine if you don’t feel the same, just ignore what I said. I think the bed should be fine.” He made a move to leave the room and let Eliza be, but she stopped him, “I didn’t say I wanted you to leave Ron” he stopped dead in his tracks, “what?” he replied. “I said, ‘I didn’t say I wanted you to leave’, now I’m gonna go lay down and you’re gonna join me, ok?” even though it was said like a demand, that last question was there to make sure he was comfortable, and boy he was. Eliza laid down on the bed, holding her arms out for him, Ron joined her seconds later, he put his arms around Eliza, enjoying the embrace. Eliza was falling asleep in his arms, he was somewhat warm and smelled like nicotine. Eliza mumbled “I care about you too Ronnie”, and Ron felt his heart swell. Maybe he should talk to her more.