WHEN I FALL IN LOVE, a combat! fanfic

Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc., ABC, Image Productions etc.

Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, this WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction and I am not being compensated in any tangible way for this story.

WHEN I FALL IN LOVE

"I just don't understand it. How in the world did you get involved with a guy like him? Let's face it, you two are like night and day. You are such a sensible girl."

Laura never looked up she just kept checking off all the supplies that they either lacked or were low on. "I was assigned to the Fort Dix Station Hospital. I was getting ready to go overseas. Anyway, that's where we met."

Genevieve was getting impatient because Laura was so evasive. "Okay, you met him there but how did you "meet"? Details girl!"

Laura took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll tell you but it's not what you think. When we met there were no fireworks, heck there wasn't even a fire."

"You mean it wasn't love at first sight?"

"Heck, it wasn't love at fourth or fifth sight."

"I'll tell you how we met but it was romantic at all. There had been a breakout of measles, the men had been quarantined so it wouldn't affect the whole camp. I was one of four nurses who had been assigned to take care of them. One day Marilyn and I were on our way to mess for lunch, were waiting for Colonel McDaniels. It was a very cold and rainy day in November, 1943. I was reading a magazine or something and Marilyn noticed this private digging a ditch."

"He was swaying back and forth and he looked terrible. Marilyn walked over to him. He saluted and almost fell over. Marilyn yelled for me to help her. I looked up and saw her pulling up this soldier's shirt. He had the measles and was burning up. I asked him why he hadn't reported for sick call. He said that he had tried but his corporal wouldn't let him and said he had to dig this ditch. We saw a corporal walking towards us. He told Marilyn and me to step away from the private. I said that we were taking him with us to the hospital, that he had the measles. He told us to let him go and grabbed for the private and tried to shove us away. The colonel saw what was going on and said to the corporal if he touched us again, he would be in the stockade. The colonel yelled at us to take the private to the hospital while he and the corporal and his CO had a long, long talk."

"We put him in the quarantined room with the other patients. He was in a bad way, high fever, coughing and his breathing was labored. Even before the doctors examined him I knew he had pneumonia. We started treating him with sulfonamides."

"I really felt for him. I was constantly checking on him. He was so out of it, he kept talking not making much sense but I would sit next to his bed sponging his face and talking to him softly, it seemed to help. He would quiet down."

"Then one day I went in and he was awake. He was very weak. I asked the private how he was feeling. He just smiled this funny little lopsided smile and went back to sleep."

"I visited him after that and we would have nice talks. He thanked me for helping him. I told him if it hadn't been for Marilyn he might not be here. He said he knew that I came to see him because one of the other soldiers had told him and that meant a lot to him."

"He asked me to call him Kirby, you know it fit him. He said he had never had a friend who was a woman but there was always a first time. He was in the hospital for about three or four weeks. We became very good friends."

"What did you talk about?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"I have to live vicariously through someone and it might as well be you. Besides, I know how much you love him."

"Yea, that's true. What did you ask? Oh right, what did we talk about? I don't know. Stuff. He couldn't believe I knew about baseball and that I liked the White Sox. I did read him Wuthering Heights, he liked the parts about Cathy's ghost. He said that it was hard to believe that a man would get that carried away by love!"

"That's it? I mean where's the romance? Didn't he fall in love with you or you with him?"

Laura laughed. "Kirby loved lots of women but I wasn't one of them. We were just good friends. To be honest, I even got him dates with some of the nurses."

"I don't get you at all, Laura. He's really cute and can be charming, so how come you weren't interested?"

"I don't know maybe it was because I knew that we both were going overseas and long distance romances usually fizzle out."

"By December the troops were getting ready to be sent overseas. I didn't see him for some time after that. I'd write Kirby and he'd write me when the spirit moved him."

"Our unit left on January 25th and landed in England twenty days later. It was one long crossing."

"Yea, us too, they said we had to zigzag a lot so we wouldn't be intercepted. When you got to England did the two of you get together?"

"Yea, I saw Kirby a few times but I was just a friend not a girlfriend. Then one day he asked me to get him a date with a little blond nurse and for some reason I wouldn't do it. I lied and told him she wasn't interested. I was jealous. That's when I realized I had feelings for him."

"Since he couldn't get a real date, he took me."

"We went out that night and he got blitzed. I was getting him back to his barracks and that's when it happened. He kissed me for the first time. It was gentle at first and then I felt like electricity was shooting through my entire body. I looked into his beautiful brown eyes, they were so warm and loving. I wanted him to hold me and to make it last forever. But Kirby being Kirby, he passed out."

"I got him back and he was awake by then. He didn't say anything and I wasn't sure he even remembered kissing me. He gave me a peck on the cheek and said goodnight. That was two weeks before D-Day. I didn't see him after that. "

Genevieve shook her head and laughed. "He wouldn't have seen D-Day if it had been me. I would have killed him that night!"

"We landed in Normandy on June 8th. We both were in France but we never were really close enough to see each other."

"I kept writing him and he'd answer when he had time. His letters were no longer funny. I guess he needed to tell someone and he knew that I would understand. He was like the soldiers we see here every day, scared sometimes, not sure he'll come out of this war alive."

"You know Laura, I never thought of him that way."

"He hid it well, Gen. Most of them hide it very well."

"So when did you meet up with him?"

"It was the beginning of October. From what I learned, the squad had been in a very bad firefight. The Germans had over run them. There were just too many Germans and too few of our guys. The lieutenant yelled for the men to fall back. Kirby and Caje had been trying to flank a machine gun nest. The Germans saw the guys and they turned their guns on them. They both were injured. Kirby had been hit in the upper arm but thankfully, it was a through and through. Caje was in worse shape, he had been hit in the thigh. They were still able to lob in a grenade so they could get the heck out of there."

"They heard the lieutenant so they headed back. Kirby said that they kept going but didn't see or hear anyone. They had gotten separated from the rest of the squad. They must have traveled quite a ways. Kirby said it was getting dark and it was getting harder to see where they were going. Even with Kirby's help Caje couldn't go any further. He had told Kirby to leave him and to come back for him. Kirby knew that Caje wouldn't make it if he left him not that he would do it. They have become so close I'm not sure that either of them would do really well without the other."

"Kirby said he prayed that someone would find them but he knew they needed to get out of the woods and find a road. He said all of a sudden it came to him; it was from all those Cowboy and Indian movies he saw when he went to the movies as a kid. He came up with the idea of building a travois. Heck, I was surprised he even knew what a travois was."

"Laura, you know I speak French but I am not sure what it would mean in English, what is it?"

"I kind of knew what he was talking about. It is built out of wood and it's made into a triangle and it carries heavy loads. It would normally be attached to a horse but Kirby figured he could pull Caje. Talk about amazed, Caje couldn't believe that Kirby would know something like that much less pronounce it correctly. Foreign words can really throw Kirby."

"Anyway, he took out his bayonet and began looking for branches that were about ten feet long. He cut them to size. He took off his tee shirt and made strips and began lashing the branches together. Caje thought that Kirby had finally lost his mind but he knew Kirby would not give up. There was no way he'd leave Caje. So Caje helped Kirby tie the branches together. Kirby tied another branch to the frame. It was about four feet long which was close to his waist so he could hold onto something while he pulled Caje. He added his some more branches across to add stability. He cut down some Pine branches to make it a little more comfortable for Caje. He said he never worked so fast in all his life. He got Caje on the thing and began to pull him."

"He said it was a lot easier on his arm. Although, he said his arm was killing him by that time. It was pretty dark by the time he had finished. He just wanted to get close to their lines wherever their lines were. Kirby said he never prayed so much in his life. Thankfully, they had some rations and water. I don't think they would have made it without it."

"Kirby said he had no idea how far he pulled the travois but he knew he'd been doing it off and on for almost three hours. He knew he couldn't pull Caje much further, his legs were giving out on him. That's when he heard the sound of motors. He put Caje down and swung his B.A.R. off his back. He crept up to the road. He said he prayed one last time. He prayed that they were Americans, then he said he changed it and said he'd take any of the Allies!"

"I guess God heard his prayer. Kirby walked out from where he was hiding and raised his arms. A jeep stopped. Kirby explained that he needed help. He said that Caje was back there and he didn't have the strength to carry him. The captain took Kirby's rifle. He ordered some soldiers to go with Kirby but to take their weapons just in case. They found Caje and carried him back to a truck."

"The captain told Kirby that there was a hospital about three miles up the road. Kirby couldn't believe how close he was to the hospital. It would have been more like a million miles if he had had tried to pull Caje. He knew he wouldn't have been able to go that far."

"There had been so many injured men after the battle. A convoy of ambulances brought soldiers for triage and treatment. The doctors and nurses all worked together to assess the severity of each patient's medical condition. The soldiers and ambulances just kept coming. It was a living nightmare."

"It was quite late when we finished triage. More soldiers came in and I thought, "My God, more wounded; where are we going to put them? But it was only one soldier, I called for Colonel McDaniels. He took one look at the man's leg and had him taken straight away to the OR."

"I heard a familiar voice asking another nurse if she thought he'd be alright. The nurse said that the doctor would do his very best for his friend. I turned around just in time to see the soldier collapse on the floor."

"I called for the orderlies to help me get him up. When I saw him my legs buckled. I had to hold onto the side of the gurney. We started to remove his clothes. He was wearing gloves and I began to remove them until I noticed the dried blood on them. I had to cut them off. Captain Prentiss came over to take a look at Kirby. "

"His wound was infected and his hands were a bloody mess. We cleaned his wounds and wrapped his arm and his hands. We put him on antibiotics. He was completely exhausted, he just slept. He would wake up in a panic looking for Caje. We finally moved Kirby next to Caje so he could see him."

"They both were improving daily. It was sort of nice when Kirby started eating real food. He couldn't handle the utensils so I would help him. He really hated it but it was my favorite time of day. I had him all to myself. It was like old times, just talking and Kirby making me laugh, it was wonderful."

"By then Caje had been transferred to a hospital back in Paris."

"So you didn't have to share him with Caje. That should have made you happy."

Laura smiled wistfully. "Well, yes and no. I was glad he was doing so well. His hands were almost healed, so I knew he would be leaving soon."

"The last few days flew by and I knew he would be released. Kirby came looking for me to say goodbye. I was in my tent. He called out to me and I told him to come in."

"He told me he'd miss me and I told him the same. I remember telling him to stay safe. I could barely put two words together. I didn't want to cry so I kissed him on the cheek and told him to take care of himself. He said he always did. He turned and left the tent."

"I stood there like a fool and thought what did I have to lose by telling him how I felt?"

"He was getting into a jeep and I running in my bare feet screaming his name. The jeep started to leave and I was still yelling for Kirby and crying uncontrollably."

"I guess he heard me because he turned around and told the driver to stop. He jumped out of the jeep and I ran to him."

"Kirby looked uneasy as I tried to get my emotions under control. I stepped on top of his boot so I would be a little taller. I didn't know what to do or say so I grabbed his jacket collar and pulled him towards me. I kissed him until both our lips were beet red. When we came up for air. I had made up my mind to tell him how much I loved him."

"He just smiled that funny smile of his and said that he loved me too. Then he said something that made me want to shoot him."

Genevieve's eyes became wide. "What on earth did he say?"

"He asked me why I never mentioned anything to him when he kissed me that first time! He remembered kissing me. He figured if I had feelings for him I would have said something. Can you believe it? Here I am thinking he was too drunk to know what he did and he was just waiting around for me to say something."

"I was getting really mad at him and he knew it. So he did what he does best. He shut me up by kissing me and telling me that would have to last me for a while. It has but if I don't see him soon, I may hunt him down and hurt him just enough so I can get him back here."

"You know Laura, I think you'd do it too."

THE END