A/N: Just one more part to go after this, I think. There may be a bit of a delay but it should be up within the next two weeks, enjoy!(:


"Ah, Mr Evans, you're here for your check up?" Kurt glanced around the crowded nursing tent and gathered his papers together, willing himself not to meet Sam's eye. He'd managed to avoid the soldier for a week – hurrying off to help wounded men, or to compare notes with the other nurses and so this was the first time they had laid eyes on each other in seven days.

And, oh, Kurt hadn't forgotten. He hadn't forgotten any of it … how could he?

"Uh, yeah," Sam said awkwardly, sitting down on the stained, make-shift bed. "I think one of the cuts on my chest is infected, there's um … pus."

Kurt nodded once and first began undressing the gash on Sam's cheek with shaking fingers – he'd deal with the simpler cuts first. Sam's eyes darkened as he watched Kurt and Kurt couldn't ignore the way Sam was chewing his lip.

God, this was hard. And, of course, he couldn't say anything – not when they were in a room full of other soldiers and nurses. He couldn't do anything but his job.

Lucky for him, Kurt was very good at what he did and could block out his residing feelings for long enough to finish his job with Sam.

"I'm glad we're … friends Kurt," the soldier said softly, shuddering slightly under Kurt's fingers.

"Don't." Kurt shook his head once, before running his fingers over the puckered skin under Sam's left eye. Despite the violent red of the gash, the skin was quite smooth and it only made Kurt imagine the smooth skin on the rest of Sam's body.

Stop it.

He pressed some antiseptic against the wound, looking away as Sam shuddered underneath him. The soldier's eyes were positively dark now and he watched Kurt with such intensity that Kurt was sure that everyone in the room would know what was going on.

"Kurt, I was wondering if we could um talk later," Sam said in one rushed breath. "I mean, I'm not trying anything but I - "

"Stop it Sam," Kurt took a deep breath, and pressed firmly against the bandage on Sam's cheek as he redressed the room. "There's nothing left to talk about it."

Again, Kurt shot his gaze furtively across the room. No one took notice of the two men in the corner and anyone who did notice didn't have the energy to say anything.

"But there is," Sam insisted, wincing as he tried to sit up. "Ouch, shit."

"Hey, hey," Kurt murmured, gently pushing Sam back down onto the bed. "Stay still." Sam sighed and let Kurt continue dressing his would. "Look Sam," he said gently, glancing around the room again. "I … I said some stupid things last night."

"I don't think they were stupid," the soldier said quietly, watching as Kurt's fingered trailed along the tape on his cheek. Kurt couldn't get over just how intensely Sam was watching him, he loathed and loved how he was shuddering under just the brush of his fingertips – he loved how matter-of-factly Sam was speaking, how simple everything seemed to the soldier. If only everything were that simple. "I don't think anything you say is stupid."

"Then … then what about you? What do you think of um … us?" Kurt blushed hard as he spoke, sending his full concentration into the bandages on Sam's cheek.

He was going to have to make Sam take off his shirt soon and he was buying his time for as long as he could, because … with Sam topless, he couldn't seem to think straight; ever.

Us. It was just another thing he shouldn't have said, another moment when he should've shut his mouth rather than letting the words spill out; why couldn't he get anything right? Why did he have to …

Wait.

Was Sam … was he smiling?

Kurt pressed his lips together as he watched the smile grow on Sam's face. It was subtle at first, a small twitch of the lips but then it grew and Kurt felt his world grow with it. But ... everything else in the room was falling away, it was just him and Sam. For the most part, he just couldn't understand why the whole room wasn't seeing that smile until he realized that the smile was just for him. A secret smile; a smile in reaction to the word us.

Us.

Could there ever be an … us?

"What I think is … that we started off on the wrong foot, Nurse Hummel," Sam was saying slowly that cheeky grin threatened to reappear on his face, but Sam was utterly serious. Kurt fought to listen, because he was still getting distracted by that god damn smile and his fingers were brushing along Sam's shoulders because at some point or another, he was going to have to inspect the gash on the soldiers chest.

"Could you um, take your shirt off, Soldier Evan's?" Kurt asked, giving the room another furtive sweep over. "And, what do you mean 'the wrong foot'?"

Sam held Kurt's gaze right up until the moment he pulled his shirt over his eyes. Kurt let out a shuddery breath, glancing everywhere but the thin trail of blonde hair disappearing down below Sam's tanned stomach and into his shorts.

Oh god, this was going to be hard.

"I think that you're awesome," Sam said slowly, keeping his eyes locked on Kurt's face. Kurt was looking at Sam's chest, hoping that the soldier couldn't see his fingers shaking. "I think that, um, we could be awesome … you know, together."

Kurt pressed his lips together, thinking. As he thought, he began cleaning the wound on Sam's chest. Sam was right, it was infected, but not badly. Just some antiseptic and rest should fix it. But still, the entire situation was made hard due to the fact that Kurt was desperately fighting the temptation to trail his fingers along Sam's flat stomach. He couldn't let himself think about what he wanted because what he wanted was Sam bucking up against his touch, Sam shuddering in pleasure. Kurt wanted his lips on Sam's chest, trailing soft kisses down below. He wanted …

"So, it wasn't just sex?" The flustered nurse asked quickly and quietly, but no one was watching them, no one cared. Everyone was caught up in doing their jobs, or simply not dying, but Kurt … It seemed like Kurt's entire happiness was banking on this one question, which was stupid because, honestly, this was just one man. One incredibly charming, bright, funny and heartbreakingly attractive man …

"Of course not!" This time, Sam blushed and god damn, he still looked as attractive as ever. "Besides, there wasn't much you know, um, sex, so … " Kurt looked down and dabbed some antiseptic over Sam's cut. "Look Kurt, I like you. And I want to get to know you. When this is all over, I want to go home and visit you. I want to take you on dates and take you home. But mostly, I just don't want to die in this war without … knowing you. That's all."


Kurt hadn't cried, thank god, but he'd gotten close.

He sat in the courtyard where he'd first had that conversation with Sam – the flirting, the blushing. It seemed surreal now, almost … trivial. Sam had presented the facts earlier and the facts were, they couldn't have a relationship … not while they were in the army.

That wasn't to say they didn't want to be … something, but not here. Not in this time. Sam had become a distraction of sorts – of course, he was a lot more than that – but, instead of spending his days thinking about the awful things in his life, Kurt instead, thought of Sam Evans.

It was good, he decided, to have a light at the end of the tunnel, perse. It seemed that –

"I knew you'd be out here." Kurt didn't have to look up to know who was speaking, but he smiled as he met Sam's eyes. Sam sat down next to him, sighing loudly. "I couldn't sleep."

"I never do," Kurt said simply.

"I um, I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about you."

"Oh?" Kurt cocked his head, ignoring the way his heart sped up. They'd had many moments since they first met, but this was something different all together. This was … hesitant.

"I was laying there," Sam said slowly, not looking at Kurt, "and I realized … I'm getting better. I could be sent back out onto the field any day now." Kurt swallowed hard because, up until now, he hadn't allowed that thought to pass his mind. He didn't say anything, because, for once, he realized that maybe it would be smarter to keep his mouth shut. "Kurt, I … I like you. You know I like you and you know that I'm not like all the other guys out there," Sam wrung his hands together. He was the happy middle between nervous and awkward and Kurt had never seen anything cuter. "I realized that, if I'm sent away tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that, then I might never see you again."

Kurt chewed his lip, not even bothering to check if anyone was watching them in the courtyard now. Right now, there was only Sam.

"You've been a friend to me, Kurt. You've been a lot more than that, but firstly, you've been a friend. I … I want to thank you. For saving me, for being there, for … accepting me; you were the first person I saw after that bomb exploded and … who would've thought that you would be the person that made my life here worth living … worth fighting for?"

Sam cracked a smile and Kurt looked up. He was used to the intensity of the blonde soldiers gaze now, he was used to the rapid changes of mood, the secret smiles just for him … He was used to it and he loved every minute of it.

"I know that we might never get to see each other again, or if I'm killed - " Kurt made a choked noise but Sam kept talking. "And if that happens, I want you to know Kurt that … I won't forget. I never will. And when you're becoming the world's greatest doctor or whatever, I just want you to remember what it felt like to kiss me. I want you to remember me. Because … Because, I'll remember you, okay?" Sam's voice was shaking and Kurt was desperately clutching at this moment, because he wouldn't remember anything else but this. Not the arguments or the shaky beginning.

He'd remember clutching hands with his friend, finding something beautiful is a dark place. He'd remember the way Sam looked at him – like he was the only person in the world. He would never forget. He couldn't.

"Sam, I - "

Sam shook his head and ran a thumb over the skin of Kurt's cheek. Kurt shivered, watching Sam watching him. For a moment, they sat there in utter stillness, frozen, trying to lock this moment into their minds. But then time starting moving again – moving rapidly, too fast – because Sam was leaning in and brushing his lips against Kurt, and Kurt couldn't quite catch his breath because this kiss was different.

Kurt was falling into a kiss that was … God, it was just something else. It was different than all the other kisses, quite different to anything he'd ever felt before.

Sam was cupping Kurt's face and grazing his teeth over his bottom lip. There was no desperation, no hunger, there was just tenderness and unyielding passion. Kurt's hand was on Sam's cheek and Sam's fingers were trailing behind Kurt's head, pulling him closer, impossibly close. There was a subtle quietness to this kiss, but that isn't to say it didn't knock Kurt completely off his feet.

Well, had he been standing it would have knocked him off his feet.

Sam's tongue was dancing around the entrance of Kurt's mouth, not teasing or asking a question, but sealing a promise. Kurt could only lose himself in the moment, the way Sam's hand moved to rub circles in the back of his neck, the way they were connected with something deeper than he'd ever felt before ... He could only concentrate on keeping himself alive and forcing himself to keep breathing.

He loved this moment, he loved when Sam pulled away to catch his breath before leaning in an capturing Kurt's bottom lip with his teeth. He loved the way the soldier didn't force himself onto him, he loved it when Sam's eyes fluttered open, just for a second, his eyelashes tickling Kurt's cheeks, as if he was making sure Kurt was still there. Kurt loved it all, he loved –

"Cease and desist! Soldier Evans and Nurse Hummel, this is inappropriate action! You are to report to Governor Heins at once!"

The courtyard filled with light revealing three commanding officers with torches and clipboards. Kurt and Sam sprang apart, a soldier and a nurse, caught in the headlights, no longer touching … except for their hands. Their hands remained clasped tightly, a silent promise that no matter whatever happened next, they wouldn't let go of one another.