It Never Rains, But It Pours

by Blossoms and Babies

Anything and everything is going to go wrong for the Black Sheep in this multi-chapter story from romantic problems, to illness and injuries, a Japanese invasion, Meatball is even going to cause some dog mischief and the Black Sheep find themselves proving their innocence when they are accused of committing a serious and violent crime, plus the usual problems caused by Colonel Lard

10. Passion in the Pacific

It was only 1030 hours, but already Greg was drinking scotch, which even for him was unusual. The morning patrol had been hair raising, to say the least, and they'd limped back to Vella La Cava with two planes damaged, one so severely it had to have been a miracle that it made it in. It'd been Casey's plane and although he'd managed to make it back to Vella La Cava the plane had been smoking worse than a bon fire made with wet, green wood. The damage was so bad that even from their planes the others could tell he'd been fighting with everything he'd had to keep from going into the water. Casey barely made it onto the flight line at Vella La Cava and it was only by divine intervention that he avoided crashing into the maintenance shed, causing Micklin, Hutch, and several of the other workers to scramble to get out of the way. When he finally landed he was shaking so badly that it'd taken Gutterman and French to get him out of the plane. Then TJ had sat talking softly to him to keep him calm, while Jim went to get a jeep to take him to the hospital and the maintenance crew worked to push his plane off to the side of the airstrip and see if whatever was wrong with it was repairable. That was where he was now, with TJ and Gutterman, getting checked out by Dr. Pendleton. Greg thought back over everything that had had happened the past few weeks and sighed. Their luck was going to have to change sooner or later, he thought. Everyone was drained especially after that legal issue involving the 666th that'd almost gotten everyone of the Black Sheep stripped of rank and behind bars for a long time or worse facing a firing squad.

"At least," Greg said to himself. "We have no assignments for the next week, unless something major happens militarily, since the Pacific Pirates will be taking over our patrols for a training mission on the new photo reconnaissance procedures that I went over with the Black Sheep last week, and I think under those circumstances I'm going give everyone a chance to sleep in, if Colonel Lard doesn't like it he can kiss my sweet aunt."

Greg then had another idea, but he was going to have to talk to some people about it first before he could finalize anything.

"And I can take care of two things at once," he said to himself getting up to go over to the hospital to see how Casey was doing, since it'd been several hours and the three of them hadn't returned yet. Meatball, his white bull terrier, jumped off the cot following him.

"Okay, you can ride over with me," Greg said scratching him behind the ears. "But, you'll have to wait outside while I go in and see how Casey's doing."

The ride to the other side of the island was relaxing. Tropical flowers bloomed along the road through the jungle filling the air with scents from delicate to exotic as well as breaking the greenness of the jungle with their vibrant reds, blues, purples, pinks, yellows, and oranges. The birds called from deep in the trees and occasionally brilliantly colored butterflies would flutter across the road. Meatball looked at Greg, giving him what could be considered a canine smile. He was clearly enjoying the ride as well.

"Having fun," Greg asked as he reached over and patted his head.

When they reached the hospital Greg parked the jeep off to the side of the main building, hoping that Meatball wouldn't see any of the nurses that he was extremely fond of and decide to go visit them. Once inside, Greg smiled as he noticed Lauran at the front desk.

"How's Casey?" he asked.

"Dr. Pendleton just finished checking him over and he's fine other than when Gutterman and TJ brought him in he was shaken up to the point he was almost ready to have a mental breakdown, but we gave him a mild sedative and he's considerably calmer now. Father Patrick was here visiting some of the patients and Casey wanted to talk with him about this morning, the things that were going through his mind during the attack, and how scared he was all the way back to Vella La Cava that he was going to die. He's talking with Casey now and as soon as they're done Dr. Pendleton said that Casey can go back to your base."

Greg looked around trying to see where TJ and Gutterman were and finally decided they were talking with some of the nurses and he hoped that all they were doing was talking.

"Are you free this weekend?" Greg asked leaning on the desk giving her a playful look.

Lauran checked the assignment schedule. "As a matter of fact after I leave here Thursday night I'm not on duty until Monday evening. Becky and Marlita are covering the day shift this weekend and Melinda and Wendy are on for evenings, with Claire and Penelope on standby in case of an emergency and we need to call in additional nurses. Why?"

Greg gave her a mischievous smile.

"Just be ready Friday at 0900 and don't worry about bringing anything. I have to make some arrangements, but as long as you're free that's all I need to know," Greg told her giving her a quick kiss as Casey, Jim, and TJ appeared from around the corner.

After arriving back at camp TJ went to read a letter from his mother and father and Gutterman went to talk to Hutch about his plane and a squealing noise it'd made when he'd landed after the patrol that morning. His concern for whether or not Casey was okay had caused that to slip his mind until now and he'd much rather talk to Hutch about the problem than Micklin, since he knew Micklin would push him to the point that a fight would be the end result. All his talk about his planes and how those "college boys" as he called the Black Sheep couldn't take care of them for anything really got on Jim's nerves.

"Who did he think he was anyway? He'd never experienced any form of air combat or a dog fight in his entire career with the Marines," Jim thought. "Hell, I'd like to see him go through some of the things we do and return a plane in the same condition we took it up in. Sometimes, like today, it took everything we had to just get the plane and ourselves back in one piece and even that didn't always happen."

"Casey, I want to talk to you in the Ops Shack," Greg said.

Casey got a scared look on his face.

"Pappy, I'm sorry if I did anything stupid up there this morning."

"It has nothing to do with this morning," Greg said hoping that what he was about to ask would also help to take Casey's mind off of the events of a few hours ago. "I need you to do me a big favor."

In the Ops Shack Greg pulled out a sheet of paper that he'd made some notes on.

"What's the trading situation look like?" he asked.

Casey looked at a piece of paper on which he had written out a copy of the chalkboard where the items they had to be traded, who owed them, and who they owed were recorded.

"What are we looking at specifically?" he asked.

Greg handed him the piece of paper he had taken from his pocket.

"I need all of this by Friday at 0900."

"Two bottles of champagne, two champagne flutes, two very soft blankets, cheese, crackers, strawberries, chocolate…..Pappy, you're asking for an awful lot here!" Casey was not certain he could pull this off by Friday.

"Casey, you have five days to get these things. Since your plane's not in any shape to fly and probably won't be until the first of the week you'll have plenty of time. I don't care what you have to trade in exchange. This is very important."

"I'll try," Casey replied staring at the list Greg had given him and the list of tradable items they had on hand and wondered how in the world he was going to accomplish this.

"Good, let me know what you find out," Greg said giving him an encouraging pat on the shoulder as he left.

Casey began looking over the list again. The USS Westpoint owed them for some caviar and he thought that there might be a chance he could also get the champagne out of them. He knew that Arval, who was in charge of the trading deals made by the USS Detroit, was good friends with the kitchen staff at the Officer's Club on Espritos Marcos and maybe he could get the strawberries, chocolate, cheese, and crackers as well as the champagne flutes through them and maybe they'd take some silk stockings in trade plus a couple bottles of rum to sweeten the deal. The blankets, well that was going to take some doing and what did Pappy mean by soft blankets anyway. He'd have to check that out with him before he looked into those. This was going to be very time consuming, but as his plane definitely wasn't going to be in any shape to be flown any time soon it would give him something to do. Sitting down he started contacting the other ships and squadrons in the area to see what he could do about getting everything on the list by Friday.

By late afternoon, Casey felt as though he had made some headway on the list. The USS Westpoint could trade them two bottles of champagne for a case of silk stockings, a case of two ply toilet paper, a box of cigars, and two cases of scotch. Arval was going to check with one of his friends on Espritos Marcos, but he felt they could get him the champagne flutes and food items and would appreciate a case silk stockings, a case of scotch, and two cases of rum in trade, if they could get the rum, as well as a few of the Japanese hand painted fans and parasols, providing they had any of those left. If they could Casey said that they'd probably throw in a few extra items to the USS Detroit as well to say thanks for helping out, he was just waiting to hear from Arval and then it was the matter of the blankets. As luck would have it Greg walked past the Ops Shack.

"Any luck getting those items on the list?" He asked.

Casey nodded.

"It didn't take as long as I thought at first it was going to. I've made arrangements with the USS Westpoint for the champagne; the USS Detroit can probably help us out on the food items and champagne flutes since Arval knows several people on the kitchen staff from the Officer's Club on Espritos Marcos, but I'm waiting to hear from him to confirm that's going to be 100% possible."

Greg nodded.

"I do have one question though?" Casey replied.

"What?"

"I haven't looked into getting the blankets yet because I have no idea what you mean by soft blankets."

"All I'm asking is that they be soft enough to wrap a baby in, not these scratchy military issue things we use. Does that help any?" he asked smiling.

Casey grinned back nodding; he had a fairly good idea now what Greg had in mind to use them for although he hoped an actual baby wasn't going to be the result.

A few days later Casey found Greg in the Sheep Pen with Bragg and French talking about an upcoming mission.

"Pappy, can I see you in the Ops Shack if you're not too busy? I've got a big problem on my hands."

Greg told French and Bragg they'd talk about the mission later with the others, but if they thought of any other questions to write them down.

"What's going on?" Greg asked once they were at the Ops Shack.

"There's no problem, I just didn't think you wanted anyone else knowing about what you asked me to look into and I wanted to tell you I got the blankets from Koala, he says all he wants in return is some of that perfume and one of those kimonos that we still have from that last trade deal we made a few months ago to give to Roo as a surprise."

"Okay, go ahead and get those ready and I'll throw in some chocolate bars for them and a case of scotch for Koala as well."

Casey nodded.

"So, where are you taking Lauran…or is it any of my business?" Casey asked.

Greg looked through the door making sure no one was outside or in hearing distance before he replied.

"You're not to tell anyone else what I'm about to say, alright," he whispered to Casey.

"Sure Pappy, I won't say a word to anyone," Casey said.

"Okay, on the farthest side of the island is this hidden grotto. I never would have found it if I hadn't seen the sun glinting off what turned out to be a waterfall a few weeks ago when I was checking out my plane after Hutch made those repairs to the aileron; I made a note of the coordinates, and hiked over there through the jungle one afternoon a few days later. Casey this place is unbelievable, a waterfall drops several hundred feet from the top of the cliffs that surround it in on three sides forming a pool at the bottom, white sand covers the bottom of the pool, it looks like there's a small cave or cluster of rocks behind the waterfall, and it appears to only be accessible either by air or through the jungle. The ground around the pool is covered with moss and growing nearby are bushes of tropical flowers in every color imaginable."

Casey's eyes grew big.

"Greg, she's going to be surprised," he told him.

"I know and we'll be there from Friday morning until late Monday afternoon so there'll be plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. I'm giving you the coordinates to locate the area, but I only want you to tell the others if I radio you that there's a problem and we need help. This is going to be my special place where I take Lauran when I want to be alone with her, okay?"

"Sure Pappy, we have our places that we take our girls and you and Lauran need a romantic location of your own," Casey agreed. "I'll have everything packed and ready for you in a jeep on Friday morning. What are you going to tell the others?"

"I'm going to tell them the truth, Lauran and I are going away for a quiet weekend together and I want everyone to behave themselves," Greg replied. He was really looking forward to this and hoped nothing happened to spoil it.

Greg was up early Friday morning and he couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the humidity was low, only a few clouds were in the sky, and a soft breeze was blowing. He decided that this weekend he was going to go very casual and decided to wear only underwear, shorts, a T-shirt, socks, and his boots. Of course he intended to get out of those as quickly as possible once they got to where they were going. After getting dressed he headed to the mess tent with Meatball following next to him. No one else was up yet and everything was quiet, which was unusual since normally they'd be getting back from the morning patrol by this time. That meant they'd either be celebrating the fact that they'd encountered no enemy planes or ships, or if they had none of the planes had sustained any major damage. Of course, there were the times when they limped back, planes damaged, sometimes barely able to stay in the air and the pilots suffering life threatening injuries. Then the agonizing wait at the hospital as Dr. Pendleton and the nurses worked to save the injured, unless they were lucky and only minor injuries were sustained. Today, though, the rest of the Black Sheep were sleeping in so Greg fixed a quick breakfast of toast, bacon, powdered eggs, and coffee. Casey walked in a few minutes later and sat down with Greg.

"You're up early," Greg commented.

"I thought I'd get up and see you off. Everything's in the jeep and it's parked outside," Casey told him.

"Thanks and you have the coordinates for where I'm going to be at?" he asked.

"They're in the top file cabinet drawer in the very back. There's no way any of the other guys will find out unless something happens and I need to tell them," Casey assured him. "Oh and Pappy here, I think you'll be using a lot of these," he added handing Greg a small paper bag containing several packs of condoms.

Greg looked inside and then back at Casey. "Just how much fun do you think we're going to be having?" he asked with mischievous grin on his face.

"A lot," Casey replied.

"You better believe it," Greg exclaimed.

Just then the rest of the Black Sheep started arriving and having seen the jeep parked outside with a couple of laundry bags filled with the supplies in it began to question Greg about what it was doing there. Greg explained that he was leaving for a few days with Lauran and Jim would be in charge. He wasn't going to say anymore on the subject. There was only one person who did know where he was going and that individual would only inform the Black Sheep if an emergency arose. No one questioned Greg further as it was obvious that it was none of their business where Greg and Lauran were going. They did tell Greg that he hoped they had a good time and not to do anything they wouldn't do. Greg just smiled at that statement, he had a feeling that there wasn't much that, collectively, the Black Sheep and their dates hadn't done at some point or other. He gave them a few final instructions mostly related to keeping out of trouble and watching Meatball. Before he went to the hospital to pick Lauran up at the nurse's quarters Boyle and Jim gave him some suggestions about things they'd found their girls enjoyed that he might try with Lauran and Casey whispered that this little romantic weekend might be a good idea for him and Lauran to try some new things intimacy-wise.

"You all do realize that I maybe older than you, but I do remember how to get a woman turned on and I have a few ideas of my own as to how Lauran and I are going to spend this weekend," Greg said to them with a very suave look on his face, before he got into the jeep and headed towards the nurses quarters.

Lauran was waiting outside dressed in olive green shorts, a tan colored T-shirt, green socks, and tennis shoes. She had run the bottom of the T-shirt up through the neck hole making it into a halter top. Her hair was pulled up in a loose pony tail and a few strands framed her face in soft curls.

"Ready?" Greg asked.

"Since you told me not to bring anything I guess I am," she replied giving him a kiss as she climbed in beside him. "Where are we going anyway?"

Greg gave her a playful smile.

"You'll have to wait until we get there to find out, because I'm not telling. I want this to be as much of a surprise for you as it was for me when I located it," he told her as they drove away from the hospital.

It seemed to Lauran as if the ride through the jungle went on for hours. She'd never been this far from either the hospital or the Black Sheep's base and she was beginning to wonder how much further it was going to be until they got to wherever it was Greg was taking them. Finally, after he'd driven for about another 10 minutes Greg pulled the jeep off into the brush before stopping.

"We'll be walking a little way ahead, as the jungle starts to get thicker and it will be difficult to drive through it from here," he explained.

Lauran nodded although she wondered what he had in mind taking her so far into the jungle.

Greg had made a path through the brush the first time he was there and although it was starting to become overgrown again he could still make it out fairly easily. He and Lauran walked for about another five minutes before Greg told her to close her eyes.

Curious, Lauran did so and Greg led her a few more feet before stopping and she felt him set the two laundry bags that he had taken from the jeep on the ground.

"Okay," he said. "Open your eyes."

Lauran opened them and for a few minutes couldn't speak she was so intent on taking in everything around her the waterfall, the bright colored flowers, the white sand pool, the sounds of the colorful tropical birds, delicate butterflies, and the moss covered shore line.

"Greg, how did you find this place, it's beautiful?" she asked.

"A few weeks ago I was checking out my plane after Hutch made some repairs to it and as I was flying around the island a flash of light caught my eye. I circled in for a closer look and saw sunlight glinting off the waterfall. I made a note of the location coordinates and a few days later, when I had a free afternoon, I hiked into the jungle and after walking for several hours I finally broke through the vegetation and discovered this place," he explained. "I knew I had to bring you here as soon as we both had enough free time to make it worthwhile for both of us."

Lauran continued to look around and then a thought crossed her mind. She looked at Greg worriedly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Do any of the Black Sheep know about this place?" she asked.

"No, the only one I've mentioned it to is Casey. I gave him the location coordinates in case something should happen and he'd need to send help for us, but I don't foresee that happening and I made him promise that unless it's an emergency he won't tell any of the others. This is going to be our special place where we can be alone and I want you to know that I am looking forward to these next few days, just the two of us."

"So am I," Lauran replied as some very delicious thoughts ran through her mind.

It didn't take very long for them to set up camp. Greg had wisely brought a roll of mosquito netting and previously had hidden some wooden poles nearby. After spreading one of the blue colored blankets on the ground he arranged the poles around it and secured the mosquito netting around and over those. He left one area unsecured for the time being so they could use that for a door.

Lauran sat on a nearby rock watching him and wondering what else he'd brought, the two laundry bags were off limits as Greg had told her she'd find out what was in them when he was ready.

After he'd set up the mosquito netting around the blanket and set the other, still folded, blanket inside Greg walked over and picked up one of the laundry bags and carried it over a large rock with a flat surface that was in the shade, next to it were two smaller rocks that made it seem like someone had arranged them as a table and chairs. Greg took out the strawberries, chocolate, cheese, crackers, and champagne flutes and set them on the rock. Then he went over and reached down into the water and pulled up another sack that he had slipped there when they'd first arrived. He looked inside and was relieved to see that the contents hadn't been damaged by the water.

"Lauran, come over here," he called.

Curious as to what he was doing now she walked over and sat down on one of the smaller rocks.

"Greg what are you up to now?" she asked

Her question was met with Greg giving her a look that told her she'd find out soon enough and then before she could say anything else he had her close her eyes and taking a piece of cloth out of his pocket blindfolded her.

"Greg, what are you doing?" she asked.

Her question was met with him taking one of the strawberries and placing it on a piece of chocolate held it to her lips. She hesitantly took a bite not sure if she was dreaming.

"Mmmmm," she whispered as the flavors melted together in her mouth.

Greg let her finish before removing the blindfold and while she had been savoring the unexpected taste he'd set out the rest of the strawberries, chocolate, cheese, and crackers. Lauran wondered how many other things Greg had up his sleeve for their weekend together. He made a big production of removing the champagne from the bag that he'd had Casey put it in along with some ice to help it chill faster under water. Then as if he were a waiter in a five star restaurant he opened the bottle with a loud pop and handed her one of the champagne flutes.

"To a romantic weekend," he said.

"And one we'll never forget," Lauran added.

Little did they know how true that was going to be in more ways than one.

I couldn't believe it when I found out what Greg had brought, chocolate, strawberries, cheese, crackers, and champagne. He must have called in some big favors or made several of those black market trade deals that he and the Black Sheep were notorious for pulling off. Although I didn't approve of them doing it, it was times like this that I had to appreciate their skill and ingenuity when it came to the under the radar trading practices. As we sat there eating I wondered what other intimate surprises he had in store for me and little did he know that I had a few in store for him as well.

After they'd eaten and cleaned up the remains of their romantic picnic, Greg recorked the champagne bottle, stuck it back in the bag, and placed it back in the water to keep it chilled. There was enough left that they could probably have one more romantic toast later that evening and he hoped the ice didn't melt too quickly. He then walked over and sat down next to Lauran who was gazing out over the water.

"I just can't believe how beautiful it is here," she whispered.

"I know," he replied. "It seems odd to think that we're in the middle of a war zone that at any moment could turn this peaceful scene into a hellscape of bombs and gunfire."

"Well, aren't you mister romantic," she said giving him sour look.

Greg responded by giving her a passionate kiss to show her just how romantic he was and then he got an idea, what, in his opinion, was going to turn out, for both of them, to be a very, very good idea. Taking off his boots and socks, he got up and walked barefoot down to the water and stuck one toe in. It wasn't too warm since the leaves filtered the sunlight as it shown through them. Greg looked over his shoulder and noticed Lauran was watching some butterflies that were floating around a vine covered with bright orange tropical flowers. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto what remained of a fallen palm tree nearby. Lauran was still watching the butterflies and so he continued undressing until he was standing by the water completely naked. It was at that moment that Lauran happened to glance in his direction and blinked in disbelief.

"Greg," she squeaked not quite expecting to see what she was seeing.

He turned slightly giving her a very provocative look, one that clearly indicated he knew the thoughts that were going through her head at that moment. Everything else seemed to fade into a soft blur as all Lauran could focus on was his body. The sunlight was hitting him at just the right angle that the play of light and shadows brought every inch of him into detailed focus. Of course, she'd seen him undressed many times in the past both in medical and intimate settings, but those had always been tempered by professionalism or the fact that it was in a dimly lit area where they'd had to focus more on the tactile rather than the visual sense of lovemaking. That definitely wasn't the case now; as she was looking at every inch of him in broad daylight and unlike when Meatball had left him standing before her and Diana in the same condition, this time she refused to look anywhere, but at him. The soft breeze had blown his chestnut hair over his forehead as if enticing her to jump up and run her fingers through it. His piercing blue eyes intently watched her, her taking in her reaction to what she was seeing. She let her eyes travel from them to his enticing lips and stubbled jaw. Her breathing became slightly faster as she took in his scruffy chest, the light glinting off the fluffy hairs, and then his tight abs. Lauran could imagine her hands slowly enjoying every inch of him, not that she hadn't before, but for some reason this time she felt like it was going to be different. Her gaze drifted lower following the line of hair that lead to….to…to, her breathing nearly stopped as she took in the sight of his impressively well developed penis and her thoughts drifted to the two of them on the blanket slowly exploring each other as if for the first time. Just then, Greg turned and she got a very wonderful view of his strong back, tight butt, and muscular legs. Lauran couldn't think of any other way to describe him other than perfect. She was overcome with anticipation knowing that that night and for the next few days and nights she was going to be enjoying every inch of him in every way she could think of and that he'd be doing the same with her. Her thoughts were interrupted by Greg diving into the water with a loud splash followed by him remaining under for a few minutes before surfacing. He stood waist deep in the water, his hair plastered to his head, watching her.

"How's the water?" she asked.

"Why don't you come in and find out," he replied playfully.

"I would, but I don't have my bathing suit since you told me not to bring anything," Lauran teased.

Greg swam closer to the shore and stood up in the water giving her a much closer view of his naked, wet body.

"Do I look like I brought a bathing suit?" he asked his voice trying unsuccessfully to sound exasperated.

Lauran knew that it wasn't going to do any good to prolong this and the truth be told she really didn't want to. She removed her shoes and socks and then standing up proceeded to take off her T-shirt and shorts, and then very seductively removed her bra and panties.

Greg hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath as he'd watched her undress until the sight of her standing there with nothing hidden from his gaze caused him to slowly exhale. She'd undone her hair and the wind blew it in an auburn halo around her, the sunlight picking up the golden highlights in it. Her blue gray eyes sparkled with, what he knew was, a sense of what was going to happen later and her soft lips were parted in a demure smile that gave her a sexy innocence.

His eyes slide downward from her face, taking in her firm breasts and taut nipples the color of soft berries encircled by slightly darker areoles. Greg was starting to feel warm and it wasn't just from the sunlight. His gaze slipped lower over her trim waist and stomach to the soft triangle of auburn curls at the apex of her legs. Already he was thinking of gently gliding his fingers through them, parting her folds and exploring her slowly as if it were the first time they'd made love. He forced himself to take in her stunning legs before looking into her eyes.

"Lauran," he whispered.

Slowly, she walked towards him her hips doing a little sashay, teasing him with a foretaste of what he was going to enjoy later that night. When she was close enough to the water Greg playfully splashed her, but before she could react he swam out of her reach and into the middle of the grotto. Lauran swam after him and for the next several hours they swam and splashed as if they were children in a swimming pool. The sky was a beautiful tropical blue with several white clouds that looked like puffs of cotton. Birds flew overhead in an aerial display of colors and the air was scented with various tropical flowers, including frangipani, orchids, hibiscus, and white ginger. Near the shore, the white sand that made up the bottom of the lagoon was soft under their feet where the water was shallow enough to let them touch the bottom. The waterfall was directly in the center of the horseshoe shaped cliff that rose on three sides from out of the jungle with trees and other vegetation growing out of its rock and earthen surface which rose several hundred feet into the air. It wasn't a very turbulent waterfall, but enough water fell from the river or whatever its source was above to make a fine spray as it hit the water below creating a rainbow as the sunlight passed through it. The two of them stood in the water, under its spray, the soft mist covering them. Greg reached out and pulled Lauran towards him, his hands encircling her waist, moving slowly up her back to press her against him.

"You know," he said softly. "When we get back I'm going to have Jim take the guys up on an extended training mission and pay for them to have dinner at the Officer's Club and you and I are going to spend a very long time in the shower together followed by an even longer time in my tent wearing absolutely nothing."

"Oh Greg," she whispered thinking about making love uninterrupted in his tent. Her thoughts were brought back to intimate things of a more immediate nature as his mouth claimed hers in a passionate kiss. Closing her eyes she arched back as his lips moved from hers, to her shoulders, her throat and back to her lips, before drawing away from her and allowing his eyes travel to her breasts, water droplets trailing down them, beading on her nipples. He lightly ran the tip of his finger over first one then the other as Lauran watched him looking at her with an expression of utter desire on his face.

"We can go back," she whispered her hand slipping downward to encircle him and noted that he was already starting to grow hard just from her touch.

The sunlight was sinking behind the cliff and in a few hours twilight would fall and then night would spread her velvet blackness over the earth.

"That might be best," he agreed not sure how much longer he could stand it before things reached the point that he'd have no other choice, but to make love to her there on the shore, something he definitely didn't want to do.

As they neared the shoreline, Lauran suddenly found herself in Greg's arms as he picked her up out of the water and carried her towards the blankets. He carried her through the doorway he'd left in the mosquito netting and laid her gently on the blanket.

"I'll be right back," he promised giving her a quick kiss.

Greg quickly built a fire and grabbed the bag with the champagne bottle and the two champagne flutes before returning to the tent. He sat the bag and flutes down beside the other blanket that was folded in one corner before he lay down beside Lauran.

"What's wrong with Boyle?" French asked as he entered the Sheep Pen and grabbed a bottle of Greasy Dick before sitting down beside Bragg and Casey. "I just stopped by his tent; he nearly bit my head off, and practically threw me outside."

"He and Kathlynn aren't seeing each other at the moment," Casey replied.

French nearly choked on his beer upon hearing that.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He won't say, but he's been in a foul mood for days. I told him to talk to Pappy before he and Lauran left, but he told me to mind my own business, so I haven't said anything to him since then," Casey answered.

At that moment, Boyle entered the Sheep Pen, grabbed a beer as well and sat down off by himself.

"You're welcome to join us," TJ offered.

Boyle looked over at them and shook his head.

Anderson got up, walked over, and sat down across from him.

"WHAT!" Anderson exclaimed a few minutes later.

"Keep your voice down," Boyle hissed. "I don't want it announced to the entire room what's bothering me."

Anderson said something that the others couldn't hear, but it must have put some sense into Boyle because a few minutes later the two of them got up and joined the others.

"I know I've been treating you guys like crap the past few days and I'm sorry about that, but I'm scared because I've got a problem and I don't know what to do about it," Boyle admitted. "Kathlynn and I are on the outs because a few weeks ago she found out I've slept with Roxanne Delago, several times as matter of fact."

That statement caused everyone's mouths to hang open in shock. Roxanne "Roxie" Delago was beautiful enough to have been a pin up model with her dark brown hair, brown eyes, large breasts, and trim waist. She was a civilian nurse assigned to the area on temporary duty and floated between the Vella La Cava Base Hospital, the Espritos Marcos Base Hospital, and the hospital ship the USS Florence Nightingale. She was also easy enough that she'd earned the nickname Rendezvous Roxie, due to the fact that it wasn't uncommon for her to have relations with several enlisted men or officers in one night and if anything she was the perfect example of a woman who was Khaki -Whacky. The fact that she was a civilian caused Major Normantle and Major Townsend the Director of Nurses at the Espritos Marcos Base Hospital and the on the USS Florence Nightingale to cut her a little slack as far as following regulations went. Lauran however didn't and when she was on Vella La Cava she was expected to behave according to all rules and regulations the same as the military nurses.

"I also think she gave me something, since for the last few weeks I've had excruciating pain and burning when I go to the head, there's this white, thick, foul smelling discharge from my penis. I've got these white places all over it, it's also got a painful red rash on it, and I've had these pains in my side and lower back," Boyle continued. "I asked Kathlynn what she thought thinking she'd be professional about it, but she slapped me across the face, called me a two timing whore mongering bastard and said that if I'd given her anything she'd talk to Greg and Lauran and file a complaint against me for nondisclosure of having a sexually transmitted medical condition."

"Didn't you use protection?" Jim asked.

"No, Roxie says that she likes the feel of a man's natural member inside of her and says that when a man's got his prick covered it doesn't feel right.

"So, you said that you haven't told Greg about this, but have you even thought about seeing Dr. Pendleton to find out if you do have cupid's itch?" Jim asked. As the acting CO he hadn't expected nor did he want to deal with a situation such as this, but if Boyle had gotten something from Roxie he needed to know so that he could make sure that Boyle got treated and handle the fallout that was certain to occur, once Kathlynn was made aware of his diagnosis, until Greg and Lauran returned.

"No I've been too scared to and I don't want to chance running into Kathlynn at the hospital here, nor do I want to run into Roxie on Espritos Marcos, so I've been trying to decide which is the lesser of the two evils."

Jim looked at Boyle and said "You're dumber than I thought if you haven't got the sense to use protection and avoid Able Grables after watching those Mickey Mouse movies in basic training and sitting in on Greg's lectures about the dangers of unprotected sex and sleeping with loose women. Then waste valuable time getting checked out and delay treatment when you think you may have gotten something because you're too scared to face your so called girlfriend or the whore you were seeing behind her back," then he added. "I'm taking you to see Dr. Pendleton and get you checked out right now and I don't care if Kathlynn's the nurse who checks you in and takes down the reason you're there. If it embarrasses you tough, if you'd kept it in your pants except when you're with Kathlynn or used protection with that Dirty Gertie of Bizerte you wouldn't be in this mess." Jim said with not one hint of sympathy in his voice for Boyle and the situation he was in. Although, he really wanted to tell Boyle that he deserved whatever he had, if anything, after he'd messed around behind Kathlynn's back.

Just as the two of them were about to leave, Casey, who'd left earlier to go to the Ops Shack, ran in and handed Jim a piece of paper.

"This just came in from Captain Sam and I've confirmed it with Koala as well as General Moore. Colonel Herb Eveready has also verified that he's heard it too so we better be on our toes and General Moore suggested we increase the patrols for the next week or so until we hear otherwise or something happens."

Jim read the paper and the words practically screamed at him.

REPORTS INDICATE THAT THE JAPANESE ARE PREPARING FOR POSSIBLE INFILTRATION OF AN AMERICAN HELD ISLAND IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC. EXACT LOCATION UNKNOWN, BUT COAST WATCHERS INDICATE MOST LIKELY AREA IS SOMEWHERE IN THE SLOT. ALL SQUADRONS AND UNITS ARE INSTRUCTED TO BE ON THE ALERT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

"Great," he thought. "Why do these things always happen when Greg's not here?" Then after reading the message aloud told them that when he and Boyle got back from the hospital they'd set up a patrol schedule for the next few weeks and discuss what do in case they were invaded. He also instructed Casey to get word to the orphanage about the possible attack, so that they'd know what was going on and take precautions to keep the children safe including, if necessary, evacuating them to a safer location.

The sky was a deep shade of violet and the first stars were making their appearance in the sky. Lauran lay on the blanket, stretching her arms over her head which gave Greg another idea.

"Don't move," he whispered getting up and going to the bag that held the now empty champagne bottle. They'd finished it shortly after returning from their swim and had lain in each other's arms talking after that. Now things were progressing towards something of a much more intimate nature between them. He reached into the bag and was glad that there were one or two unmelted ice cubes nestled in the corner of the mostly water filled bag. He lay down next to Lauran propping himself up on one elbow, looking at her with those incredibly blue eyes that made her heart beat faster.

"Close your eyes and just relax," he whispered.

Lauran looked at him questioningly.

"Trust me, Lauran, I promise you're going to enjoy this."

Curious as to what he was going to do she closed her eyes and waited.

Greg slowly lowered the ice cube to her breast, brushing it around the areola and nipple. Lauran arched upward as unexpected coldness startled her and her nipple hardened in response to it.

Greg began gently massaging her other breast, stimulating the nipple until it was as taut and peaked as the one he was stroking with the ice cube. He could tell she starting to become aroused, but this was only the beginning. He stopped what he was doing with the ice cube and lowered his mouth to her. Taking the hardened peak into his mouth he gently began running his tongue around and over it as he resumed running the ice cube over and around her other nipple and areola. Lauran was unable to speak as the sensations of hot and cold, his mouth and fingers doing extremely pleasurable things to her nipples nearly sent her over the edge. Her fingers tangled his hair holding him against her as the pleasurable sensations began to spread from her nipples to between her legs.

"Greg," her voice was barely a whisper, but there was no doubt in his mind what she was wanting, however he wanted to build up the sensations that she was experiencing a little more and continued what he was doing. He switched the ice cube back to the other nipple one more time, his mouth moving to take in the opposite nipple, both of which were now hard points rising from her. Lauran's pleasured sighs had now turned to cries as she was begging for release. Not wanting to prolong things to the point of torture, Greg moved the hand that was holding the ice cube downward to her spread legs and slowly stroked it over and around her clitoris in tiny circles, the water dripping between her folds as it melted. She didn't how much longer she last as every part of her body, but especially between her legs seemed to be extra sensitive. His fingers slid into her gently stroking her until she was begging for release. He lightly stroked around her moist folds and then slowly, just barely touching her he let his fingers skim upwards until he stroked over her clitoris applying gentle pressure as he did so.

Lauran had never experienced an orgasm like the one she did then as Greg's fingers glided over the sensitive, moist tip. If the sensation his warm mouth on her taut, chilled nipples had been enough to bring her over the edge this was 100 times more powerful.

"Oooooohhhhh, mmmmmm, aaaaaahhhhh," she murmured unable to say anything more coherent as one explosive wave after another spread through her. She arched her hips upward pressing against his hand not sure of what was happening, but wanting it to continue as long as possible.

Greg continued to massage her intimately paying special attention to her clitoris and the area around it until the last waves of her climax subsided and she lay there looking at him curiously through half closed eyes.

"What was that?" she asked breathlessly.

Greg gave her a seductive little grin.

"A little trick Gutterman read about and passed on to the other guys. I didn't know about it until Anderson told me one night in the Sheep Pen. Apparently, he'd tried it on Annaliese and she reacted about the same as you did now. As a matter of fact, he said she wants him to do that on a regular basis."

Lauran just lay there too breathless to reply, her damp body glowing in the firelight, her legs spread, nipples still taut and peaked. It was enough to send Greg over the edge and he knew things would soon reach a point he was going to be very uncomfortable. Placing his hands gently on her knees he spread her legs farther apart before reaching over and taking a condom from the package that he'd placed nearby rolled it over his penis.

"I'll be damn glad when this war is over and I won't have to worry about wearing these things," he said his voice strained.

Lauran realized what he was going to do and for some strange reason the events of a few weeks ago crossed her mind and fear replaced the pleasure that had been spreading through her.

"Greg…no," she whispered.

He stopped confused as to what was bothering her.

"Lauran was what I just did too much?" he asked "I should have told you what I was planning."

"No…not that…," she said quietly.

"Then what?" Suddenly it became clear to him. "Are you remembering the trial?" Greg could have kicked himself for thinking a romantic weekend in the middle of the jungle so soon after listening to the sordid and horrific details of what the 666th had done was a good idea.

"Yes, I keep telling myself to get it out of my mind, but for some reason I can't let go, but I want you…I want this weekend with the two of us alone."

He leaned over her brushing a soft kiss across her lips.

"I know that hearing about what Jeanette, Nadine, and all those women went through was probably enough to scare you to the point of never wanting to be intimate ever again, but I promise you we'll go slow and if at any point you don't like what I'm doing or you get scared tell me and I'll stop, okay"

Lauran nodded.

"For some reason, I feel like I felt my first time," she said quietly.

"It's our first time since returning from spending what felt like an eternity in hell," Greg replied referring to the trial and the days leading up to it.

She felt him brush the tip of his lusciously hard penis along her folds easing himself into her, as her body stretched to accommodate him. Once he was fully settled within her he braced himself on his arms allowing her to adjust to him.

"Okay," he asked.

"You feel wonderful," she said softly.

She didn't think she'd ever felt anything as good as having him inside of her, the fullness of him creating a delicious ache that only intensified the longer he stayed in her. He pulled out slightly before thrusting into her being carefully not to be too forceful. She wrapped her legs around him and he took that as a sign that she wanted him to increase his thrusts. Soon the only thing he heard was her sounds of satisfaction as she felt her climax building once more. Sensing her body was about to the point where she was nearing sexual release he pulled out almost completely and Lauran made a soft disappointed sound as she felt him leave her body. He thrust into her once more, this time angling himself so that he brushed her clitoris as he entered. Lauran gasped as her climax overtook her not as explosive as the earlier one, but the way her body was acting told him that she was still sexually excited. Her inner muscles squeezed him until he came as well, the two of them riding the crest of their fulfillment.

They lay in each other's arms still breathless from their recent lovemaking. Lauran's head was resting on Greg's shoulder, his arm around her holding against him as her fingers lightly brushed through his damp chest hair. The night breeze blew over them as warm and tender as a lover's kiss. Lauran brushed her fingers over his nipples.

"Greg," she said softly. "What did you mean earlier when you said you'd be glad when the war was over and you didn't have to use protection?"

Greg turned his head slightly so that he was almost looking right at her before replying.

"We're going to be married after the war, or at least that was the plan and I figured we'd start a family right away, which we won't be able to do if I'm wearing one of those, now can we? That is if you want to start a family."

Lauran smiled at him, her fingers sliding along his jaw line.

"Of course, I want children and I hope the boys are exactly like you."

Greg was silent at that statement.

"Do you realize what you're saying? I exasperate you enough sometimes and you want our sons to be just like me?" he asked.

"Maybe not act exactly like you, but look like you, have your blue eyes, chestnut brown hair, and she ran her finger down his cheek, that cute dimple that you get right here when you give me that incredibly sexy smile, but just how many children are we talking about, anyway?" Lauran asked.

Greg gave her a playful look before answering.

"Oh I don't know 20 sounds like a nice even number."

"Twenty! Who do you think you are Johanne Sebastian Bach?" Lauran exclaimed. "I was thinking four, hopefully two boys and two girls, at the most."

Greg pulled her close kissing her. "I was just teasing you about wanting 20 children and four sounds about right especially if it's two of each.

Lauran nuzzled his neck and turned so that she was lying directly on top of him.

"I know I'll love taking care of our children, but you know what I'm going to love even more?" She asked.

"No what?" Greg replied as he ran his hands down her back and gently squeezed her tempting little bottom. He was enjoying having her naked body stretched out on top of him and by the way she kept pressing against his, she was clearly enjoying it as well.

"What we'll be doing when we create them," she whispered with a naughty sexiness in her voice.

Jim and Boyle entered the hospital although in Boyle's case it was not without a few choice words directed at Jim, which he ignored.

"Hi Clarissa," Jim said as they walked up to the front desk.

"Don't tell me you were injured in a run in with some Zeros and is anyone else hurt?" Clarissa asked looking up from some charts she was working on.

"No, luckily we haven't tangled with any Tojo planes and we're here because Boyle needs to see Dr. Pendleton as he thinks he may have contracted something."

"I see," Clarissa replied glancing at Boyle with a look that although not icy clearly indicated that she'd talked to Kathlynn and knew exactly what type of a condition it was that Boyle was afraid he'd contracted as well as what he'd been doing and who he'd been doing it with. "If you'll come with me I'll get you into an exam room and then someone will be in to take your vitals and other information before Dr. Pendleton examines you."

Jim and Boyle followed her down the hall and into one of the exam rooms. Clarissa handed Boyle a hospital gown, told him to put it on after removing every stitch of clothing, and have a seat on the exam table. After she'd left, Jim turned his attention to the pictures on the wall of various places around the world, the pyramids in Egypt, the Parthenon, the Eiffel Tower, Edinburgh Castle, Big Ben, and the ruins of an old monastery in Ireland, while Boyle undressed and got into the gown. A few moments later there was a knock at the door and Kathlynn walked in. Jim had to really make an effort not laugh; the expression on Boyle's face was priceless.

"Lt. Boyle what is the reason for today's visit?" Kathlynn asked her voice professional without a trace of sympathy.

Boyle looked over at Jim his expression begging him for help in explaining to Kathlynn why he was there. Jim, however, just gave him a look that said you got into this mess now take your medicine and Boyle quickly realized that Jim was going to be absolutely no help in this situation and he was going to have to bite the bullet, put on his big boy pants, tell Kathlynn everything, even what he'd purposely neglected to tell her the other day and face the music, even though he wasn't going to like the tune.

"I've had sex with two nurses in the past two months, you, who as you know I've been seeing for awhile and the other, Roxanne Delago, I've just started being intimate with and we've had sex about three times a week for the last two months, usually when you have to work the evening shift," Boyle began looking anywhere, but at Kathlynn who, although remaining professionally calm, was not the least bit happy at hearing that news and Jim had to give her high marks for not knocking the crap out of Boyle. He'd told them in the Sheep Pen that he'd only been with Roxanne one or two times and now he was admitting to two timing Kathlynn on a regular basis.

"Anyway, about two weeks ago I started having intense burning pain when I'd go to the bathroom, there's been this bloody, pus-like discharge from my cock, as well, and my lower back and sides hurt like crazy. Plus my cock is bright red and there are these white patches on it."

Kathlynn gave Jim a look that said she'd like to murder Boyle and if he'd given her a social disease she was going to. Then she after she'd finished taking his weight, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and adding that information to the notes she'd been making sat his chart on a nearby table, washed her hands, and put on a pair of gloves.

"Okay Casanova," she said. "Let's take a look shall we?" She pulled the gown up enough that his private area was completely exposed.

Jim decided to wait out in the hall and give them some privacy during the examination and he quietly slipped out the door.

"Hmmm," Kathlynn remarked as she examined him. "You definitely have something and from the looks of your genitalia it's a good thing Jim brought you in, although it would probably have been a good idea for you to have gotten it checked out sooner." She wasn't kidding either although she hoped this wasn't a serious communicable condition, from what he'd just told her and the looks of his genitalia there was a chance that he'd contracted something of that nature from Roxanne, however until they cultured the moist, white patches covering his penis and the pus like discharge as well as taken a urine sample, it could be almost anything from a common fungal infection up to and including something as serious as gonorrhea. "Dr. Pendleton will be here in a few minutes to look at you and then probably order some tests," she said lowering the gown and leaving the room.

After she left Boyle just sat there trying to remember exactly why he'd let himself get into this mess. A knock at the door startled him out of wishing he'd never gotten involved with Roxanne and Dr. Pendleton entered followed by Kathlynn, who still showed no trace of sympathy for Boyle's predicament. Dr. Pendleton looked over the notes Kathlynn had made earlier, washed and dried his hands, and put on a pair of gloves.

"We'll do a lab culture of these white places and I want to get a urine sample and run a few more tests," Dr. Pendleton replied after he'd examined Boyle's genitals. "I'll have one of the nurses come in and take care of that and from the looks of things I'll make sure they get the results to me as soon as they're completed so we should know something in an hour to an hour and a half."

Boyle nodded he was in too much pain after Kathlynn and Dr. Pendleton had examined his already sore genital area to say anything and little did he know it was going to get worse. Dr. Pendleton left the room and Boyle was left alone for the time being. He lay back on the table staring up at the white painted ceiling, out of the corner of his eye he could see that the sun had set and darkness was starting to fall over the island. The rash on his dick was burning and itching worse than ever and he wondered how in the Sam hell he was going to give them a urine sample as when he'd gone to the head that morning it'd been so painful he'd almost gotten sick. He glanced over at the pictures on the wall that Jim had been looking at earlier and wished that he was at any of those locations right now. Hell anyplace was better than being on this God forsaken island in the middle of a war faced with the possibility of being diagnosed with a sexual disease that would in all probability disfigure him at the worst or take his chances of ever getting married down to nothing at the best.

A knock at the door caused him to sit up and he was relieved that it was Claire that entered.

"I need to take a few samples," she said washing and drying her hands, putting on gloves, and removing some microscope slides and cotton swabs from one of the cabinet drawers. "Now just relax and I'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible," she told him as she took a sample of several of the thick white areas that covered his penis.

Boyle pressed his lips together and willed himself to keep from screaming as the air hit the raw skin under where she'd taken the samples.

"Done," he asked through clinched teeth.

Claire gave him a slight smile.

"Not quite I need to get a sample of the discharge and then you'll need to give me a urine sample. Then before he realized what she was doing she gently squeezed the tip of his penis forcing some of the thick discharge onto one of the slides. Boyle did scream at that point and he was loud enough that Jim stuck his head in the door.

"Need me to hold him down," he asked Claire.

"I'm almost finished, but thanks," she replied.

Jim closed the door and Claire put the prepared slides into test containers and labeled them to be sent down to the lab.

"Now you know what to do with this," she replied handing Boyle a specimen jar.

He nodded and getting up walked over to the bathroom wondering how in the hell she expected him to piss when it hurt just to walk. Several minutes later Claire, who was waiting in the exam room, was an audience to screams, moans, and more cussing than she'd heard in quite awhile or ever expected to hear in her nursing career, before Boyle emerged looking very white and shaky as he handed Claire the specimen jar containing several inches of blood and pus tinted urine.

"That enough?" he asked weakly.

"Yes that's good, now you can get dressed and go sit in the waiting area. Dr. Pendleton will let you know when we have the results," she replied.

Boyle just nodded he was too drained to say anything else.

Greg hadn't realized that he'd fallen asleep until he awoke a few hours later. The fire had burned down to a few glowing embers and he carefully slide out from Lauran's arms and put a few more logs on the fire. The last thing he needed was for some animal to come visiting. He lay back down and propped himself up on his arm watching Lauran sleep. The firelight gave just enough illumination to see by and he let his eyes slowly travel down every inch of her. He wanted to wake her up and make love to her at that moment, but he didn't want to disturb her either.

"Greg," Lauran stirred in her sleep reaching out for him and he ran his hand along her side resting it lightly on her hip.

"Shh, I'm right here," he whispered.

"I was having the most wonderful dream," she said sleepily. "We were making love and you were touching me so slowly it felt like tiny butterflies were fluttering their wings against me."

A sensuous smile played at the corners of his mouth as he imagined what that had felt like to her. She moved closer to him pressing her body against his as she laid her head against his shoulder. The stars, tiny points of light, shimmered softly overhead and other than an occasional animal moving through the jungle the only sounds were the soft tropical night breeze stirring the leaves and the gentle splashing of the waterfall as it hit the pool below. Lauran stretched and comfortably nestled herself in his arms. She had never felt as contented as she did at that moment curled against him, enveloped in his scent a mixture of Lawson's scotch, Old Spice aftershave, the jungle, Meatball, airplane fuel, Corona cigars, and something that she'd never been able to place, but that she had come to regard as being pure Greg and would always associate with him.

"What was the scariest moment of your life?" she asked quietly.

He turned over placing his hands behind his head and looked up at the star filled sky.

"I don't know, I've never really thought about it," he replied. "Although there've been many moments in combat situations, both now and when I was with the AVG, that I've been scared to the point I thought I'd mess my pants. The earliest one I that I can remember though was when I was about five years old and fell out of the upstairs window of the apartment in Spokane, Washington where my mother, her boyfriend, his sister, his mother, and I were living. I fell out of the second floor window and landed on the wooden sidewalk below. I was uninjured except that the impact of hitting the sidewalk popped one of my eyes out of its socket. My mother ran downstairs screaming and a nurse, who also lived in the building, was summoned. Right there on the sidewalk she worked my eye back into the socket with just her fingers, as it was still attached to the optical cords. I remember my eye was so bloodshot for six or seven months that I looked like something out a Halloween story, but eventually it cleared up with no permanent damage. Apparently, that was the second time I decided to tumble out a window. The first was when I was two years old and was in my mother's bedroom playing with her comb and brush set. I must have gotten tired of those because I apparently went over to the open window and climbing on the window sill looked down at the ground and decided I was going to fly. Her room was on the second floor and of course, I was too young to know about, much less understand the law of gravity and landed stunned in my mother's flower bed, where she found me. After she dusted me off I was fine, but as you know I've been a daredevil ever since."

Lauran looked at him in disbelief. Her fingers brushing against his temples, trying to see if she could tell which of his blue eyes he was referring to, Greg remained still watching as she gazed into his eyes with a concentrated look as if she were examining a patient to see if they had something in their eyes that was causing them irritation.

"You can't see any difference in them," she said finally. "If you hadn't told me I never would've known that had happened to you."

"And I've never told anyone during my physicals either so don't let it get out or…,"

"Or what?" Lauran asked.

"I'll think of something," he replied with a mischievous grin. Then pulling her close softly kissed her, moving to her neck and shoulders. "Maybe, I'll kiss you until you beg for mercy."

"That would be heaven, I can't think of anything I love more than your kisses," she whispered.

"Hmm is that so, in that case."

And before she knew what was happening Greg was placing soft, breeze-like kisses all over her body as she sighed with contentment.

The clock in the waiting room area chimed midnight, Boyle glanced sleepily over at Jim who was dozing in a chair next to him. These weren't the most comfortable chairs for sitting, let alone sleeping, in and now not only was Boyle's back, sides, and private area hurting his butt wasn't feeling so great either.

"Jim, you can go back to camp if you want it shouldn't be too much longer," he replied.

Jim shook himself awake. "No, I'll stay with you we don't have to go on patrol this week so everyone's sleeping in and once we find out what's going on with you then we can both rest, hopefully."

Just then Allison walked up.

"Boyle, Dr. Pendleton will be with you in a few minutes, he's with a patient who's having complications following surgery earlier today, but I'm to take you to exam room 2," she told him. Then seeing Boyle's scared expression she added. "Yes, Jim can come with you if he wants."

Boyle and Jim followed her down the hall and into the room where Allison indicated for them to sit in the two beige colored chairs that were next to the metal military issue desk. Much to Boyle's relief she didn't have him change back into a hospital gown. She assured them that Dr. Pendleton would be with them shortly and then left the room closing the door behind her. After she left, Boyle and Jim sat silently staring into space. Boyle sensed that Jim wanted to tell him that he deserved whatever social disease Roxanne had given him and he wished that he'd just come right out and tell him that. He knew he'd been stupid in playing with fire by messing around with a woman like Roxanne, hell everyone in this area of the South Pacific knew what kind of a woman she was, he'd known better, but he'd done it anyway and now he'd not only lost Kathlynn, but probably ruined his health for the rest of his life in the process. "Bobbie old boy, you've screwed around with the wrong woman and from the way things are looking she's royally screwed you for life," he said to himself.

Someone knocked on the door causing Boyle and Jim to look up as Dr. Pendleton walked in. It was impossible to tell by the look on his face if what he was going to say was good or bad. He leaned against the desk and flipped through Boyle's chart.

"Well I have good news and bad news," Dr. Pendleton said finally which caused Boyle to wonder which was the most important of the two, the good or the bad news, and to his surprise Jim placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The good news," Dr. Pendleton continued is that you don't have any form of a sexually transmitted disease. You are, however, suffering from a yeast infection on your external genitalia, which you probably contracted from Miss Delago and I've informed Major Normantle to that fact so that she can see to it that she is examined and treated immediately. The causes of your other symptoms, however, are the result of a very serious bacterial infection that has spread to your kidneys and bladder. I want to admit you for 24 hours to start you on a round of IV antibiotics and insert a urinary catheter to help empty your bladder as well as get the infection out of you. Your white blood cell count is extremely elevated, and your urine sample showed definite cloudiness, the presence of blood, and the presence of high levels of bacteria and yeast. In addition, your urine output is definitely decreased and your temperature is 102.5, those two things are a good indicator of how severe the infection has progressed, but I think we've caught it before any significant damage was done to your kidneys and bladder.

Boyle breathed a sigh of relief and then looked worriedly at Jim, who, as if reading his thoughts, replied. "I'll let Kathlynn know what you've got and maybe she'll agree to give you another chance, but I'm warning you, if she forgives you, next time you might not be so lucky both relationship wise and health wise, so you better keep it in your pants unless you know who you're with and are protected."

Boyle nodded this incident had really been a wakeup call for him and one he wouldn't soon forget.

"I'll have Allison take you to your room and we'll start the IV antibiotics and get a catheter in you to start draining that infection from your kidneys and bladder. Then tomorrow, when your dismissed to go back to your base I'll give you some penicillin tablets to be taken four times a day for a week, as well as some antifungal cream for the yeast infection, and I'll see you again after you take the last penicillin tablet to run another urine test and do some blood work to make sure the infections are cleared up," Dr. Pendleton said.

It was almost three in the morning by the time Jim got back to base. Everything was dark and quiet and it seemed strange not hearing the usual sounds coming from the Sheep Pen, the maintenance shed or the mess kitchen. The only exception was the Ops Shack where there was a light on. That seemed strange to Jim as Casey should have been in bed also and drawing his gun he slowly made his way across camp to the building.

"Whoever's in there come out with your hands up. I'm going to count to five and then I'm going to start shooting," Jim yelled.

"Jim it's me, Casey, come in here," a voice answered from inside.

Jim entered the Ops Shack and found Casey standing in front of a map of The Slot, holding various pieces of paper and making marks on the map as he looked at them. The desk and area around the radio were filled with more pieces of paper some with Casey's handwriting and others that had come over the telegraph.

"I've been here since about 15 minutes after you took Boyle to the hospital," Casey said. "Those riceballs are up to something, but no one seems to know what, where, or when it's going to happen. I've been getting messages, reports, and updates almost continuously from coast watchers, other squadrons and units, The USS Detroit and Westpoint, as well as Colonel Eveready's unit. They've been patrolling the area around Ganongo Island and over the orphanage on a regular basis, and there's been information coming in from Espritos Marcos at least once an hour. I don't know if I should've done it or not, but I had the rest of the guys go up with the Pacific Pirates and they made several lengthy patrols up and down The Slot, but everything was quiet at those times. I told them we'd do that until this either blows up or blows over, I hope that's okay," Casey said.

"Thanks Casey that was a good idea to send everyone else up to help patrol The Slot and tomorrow tell the Pacific Pirates that we'll plan on continuing patrols with them for the foreseeable future. Boyle's been admitted for 24 hours. He doesn't have any kind of social disease, but he does have a yeast infection and a severe kidney and bladder infection, so Dr. Pendleton wanted to start him on IV antibiotics and put a catheter in him to get the infection under control. We need to get some sleep and then you and I will go over all of this in the morning and start planning what to do if they do attack any islands in this area," Jim said as he helped Casey straighten things up, turn off the lights, and lock up the Ops Shack.

The eastern sky was just turning a pale pink as the sun began to inch over the horizon. Lauran and Greg were watching several purple, blue, and, pink butterflies fluttering around some hibiscus and frangipani blossoms. As they watched them silently hovering over the flowers Greg's mind went to the dream Lauran had told him about the night before and he leaned over and brushed a kiss across her lips. Lauran turned sliding her arms around his neck, in response to the kiss.

"I'd love to wake up to that every morning," she sighed.

Greg placed his fingers against her lips.

"No talking, you and I are just going to enjoy lying here in each other's arms for awhile." Then to himself he added. "Among other things."

Lauran had a feeling that she knew what he had in mind and although she wasn't planning to talk, there was no guarantee that she'd be completely silent either.

He resumed the kiss this time letting his fingers brush down her back and over her hips before returning up to her shoulders. He repeated this several times and then let his hand drift between them to caress her stomach, slowly trailing upward until his fingers grazed the underside of her breasts. Lauran shifted slightly so that she was lying on her back. She gazed up at him with heavy lidded eyes that weren't from just having woken up a few minutes ago. His hands gently cupped her breasts as his thumbs brushed across her nipples, then taking one finger slowly circled her areola until he reached her nipple again and lightly teased it until it hardened into a swollen bud. Then he repeated the same teasing strokes with her other nipple.

"Ooooohhhhh, mmmm, aaaaaahhhhh, yeeesss," Lauran gasped.

Greg responded by lightly brushing his tongue over the sensitive pink tip, alternating with softly blowing kiss-like breathes of air over it. That simple little movement caused Lauran to sigh contentedly and stretch her arms over her head, in response he placed his palms against her breasts and gently massaged them moving his fingers until they were flat against her nipples and then continued massaging them in slow, small circles. Lauran's body was completely aroused and from the sounds she was making she definitely didn't want him to stop anytime soon. Greg wasn't sure who was enjoying this more and he considered continuing for awhile longer, but then a thought crossed his mind of something that would, in all probability be equally satisfying; he circled the dark areola with his tongue before drawing her nipple into his mouth and gently massaged it between his lips. Lauran could feel an aching need already building between her legs and although she was thoroughly enjoying what Greg was doing, at that moment more than anything she wanted him to touch and explore her much more intimately. She spread her legs slightly hoping that would be all the encouragement he needed.

Greg, however, was in no hurry to stop what he was doing and began to give her other breast and nipple the same amount of attention. This wasn't going to be a fast paced proverbial roll in the hay they were going to go very slow and enjoy every sensuous moment.

Lauran's fingers were entangled in his hair, her body flushed, and her breathing was now short pants combined with passion filled sighs. Greg could tell she was very aroused and he let his hands slide back down her stomach resting just above the nest of auburn curls that covered her

"Greg please," Lauran whispered.

He slid his hands along her thighs slowly parting her legs and then back up her inner thighs.

He parted the soft curls and gently stroked her before letting his fingers slip between the moist folds. Lauran gave a small gasp of pleasure as he stroked his fingers inside her, his thumb brushing over and around her clitoris intermittently applying gentle pressure to the head.

"Ohhh…ohhh…..ohhhhh…yes, oh dear god yes," she panted. She could feel the sensations building within her a little more each time he brushed his thumb over her or gently squeezed her clitoris. She spread her legs wider and although the hadn't wanted to rush things it was clear by the way her body was responding that she wanted him inside of her and he quickly rolled on a condom. He entered her with a firm thrust, quickly pulling out and then back into her again. This time, neither of them cared about being gentle as they were over taken by a primal animalistic sexual urge. Their passion filled cries and moans filled the jungle air as their bodies were overtaken by desires as old as time itself.

Lauran awoke lying comfortably against Greg, his arm across her waist. As she lay there in the darkness listening to him breathing as he slept she thought that this had been the most romantic few days that they'd experienced since they'd met. He'd made good on his promise that one day he was going to explore every single inch of her body and there'd been no part of it that in the last few days he hadn't touched or kissed. She turned over on her side; a slight breeze ruffled his hair and sleepy smile played at the corners of his mouth causing her to wonder what he was dreaming about, as if she couldn't guess. The blanket had slipped down and she ran her fingers along his shoulders, down his strong arms, and across his chest, brushing through the thick brown hairs that covered it.

"You should be asleep," he remarked slightly opening his eyes.

"I'd rather be watching you or…," she let her voice trail off lost in the multitude of sensations he was creating within her.

"Or what?" he asked turning over and placing is hands behind his head, giving her that smile that was even more sexy due to the fact that it he wasn't fully awake.

Lauran didn't finish her sentence instead she began tracing her fingers across his lips and along his jaw line. Then she leaned over and kissed him, her lips following the path her fingers had just traced and then drifted to his neck and shoulders. Her hands slid down his arms and back up, then across his chest and down to his stomach, she moved upwards her fingers skimming over his body until she reached his chest again and her fingers lightly touched his nipples.

"Umm," he grunted as she gently pinched first one then the other.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked.

"No, I just wasn't expecting that is all," he replied. "But it feels good when you touch them."

Lauran continued gently stroking his nipples and then lightly flicked her tongue across first one then the other as he'd done to her many times. Then she slowly drew each one into her mouth and gently sucked on them. As she resumed slowly kissing her way down his chest and stomach Greg felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Was she about to do what I think she's going to," he thought. "They'd talked about trying out some different things during lovemaking, but after the incident with the 666th the subject hadn't been mentioned and Greg felt that when or if she was ready to move in that direction Lauran would bring it up again.

She stopped just below his belly button and looked up at him for a moment, a teasing expression on her face. Then taking his firm length in her hands she slid her fingers down it, gently caressing the head before reaching below to give his testicles a squeeze and stroke the underside of his penis with light teasing strokes. Then still stroking and caressing him she leaned over and starting just under his belly button began lightly kissing his stomach until she reached his penis and looked up at him with the most sensual look on her face. Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint and her lips were parted in a smile that clearly stated that what she was about to do was less than innocent. She gazed at him for a moment, and then she kissed the length of his manhood running her tongue over the velvet tip before gently sliding it between her lips and sucking on it.

"Lauran," Greg panted his voice rough with the sexual need that was building inside of him. "What, where did you?" he couldn't believe that she was actually orally pleasuring him, that was something neither of them had discussed or shown the remotest interest in trying, but if she felt comfortable doing it that was fine, he certainly was enjoying it.

Lauran responded by running her tongue over the soft tip again and then brushing several kisses over it before she began kissing her way up to his belly button again. She repeated kissing the length of him as well as kissing and sucking the tip, a few more times alternating with stroking and caressing him with light strokes that were just about to drive him over the edge. She reached over and took one of the condoms from the box and as expertly as a woman of ill repute rolled it over him. Then standing up she straddled him, her spread legs and giving him a very unobstructed view of her most intimate region now moist with the evidence of her arousal.

Greg was too stunned to say anything; it was all he could do to keep himself from laying her on her back and swiftly entering her. Slowly she lowered herself onto him, guiding his hardness into her and slowly stroking the tip against her clitoris several times before she let the full length of him sink into her, his fullness stretching her to the point that there was a pleasurable ache between her legs. Greg couldn't have taken his eyes off of her if he'd wanted to and he definitely didn't want to, she was facing him, a very sensual look on her face, her firm breasts and swollen nipples begging him to touch them. His eyes moved over her firm stomach and tiny belly button to the soft triangle of curls that now surrounded his thick, hard penis nestled inside of her. As she watched he ran his fingers through them and sliding one finger between her folds stroked the moist tip of her clitoris.

"Ahhh yeeesssss,"Lauran moaned.

Much to her displeasure he removed his finger and she leaned back resting her hands on the ground on either side of him. Her legs were spread wide open, with his penis inside of her, and she noted that the look on his face was one of utter amazement at what he was seeing.

"Oh God, Lauran," he groaned his voice rough with desire. He couldn't believe that she was actually willing to expose herself in so intimate a position. As if that wasn't enough, she stroked her breasts and squeezed her nipples with one hand while she slide the other one down her stomach and between her spread legs to lightly stroked herself a few times. Greg was too stunned to say anything as he watched her fingers moving over her breasts, nipples, then lightly stroking her clitoris and what little of his penis that was visible, a very sensual look on her face. After allowing him a very up close view of her most intimate areas she sat up and leaned forward so that her breasts grazed his chest and she let him slip almost completely from her until his tip just brushed her opening. She rose up a little and moved her hips letting him brush against her folds as well. Her fingers explored his chest as she continued moving her hips in tiny circles so that his tip was continuously coming in contact with her clitoris causing her to cry out with pleasure each time it stroked against her, her breasts swaying against him intensified the sensations that had begun to build within her and undoubtedly Greg as well, by the guttural, animalistic sounds he was making . He placed his hands on either side of her hips and gently lowered her onto him until he was completely inside of her. Then he carefully turned her onto her back and braced himself on his hands. Lauran wrapped her legs around him, his hot thickness stretching her; even inside of her he seemed to grow bigger creating a pleasurable aching sensation between her legs. He very slowly pulled out of her and she felt the sensation of fullness diminish for a few minutes, only to return as he slide into her again. She arched her hips upward to meet him, her hands squeezing his tight butt and then running her hands up his back, her fingernails grazing his skin to the point that she left several long scratch marks.

"Ohhhh Greg, yes, mmmm, Ohhhh, please don't stop, whatever you do don't stop!"

Greg had no intention of stopping and she held onto his shoulders as he thrust in to her until with a husky primal growl he sent his release spurting into her.

Greg was still inside of her as they lay in others arms, the soft breeze blowing over them cooling their damp bodies, brushing her damp hair off her face and he kissed her forehead.

"I wish we didn't have to go back," Lauran whispered. "I want to lay here in your arms while we make love several times a day forever."

"That would be nice and I promise you, we'll come back here soon, because I feel the same, especially now that I know how brazen you can be when it comes to lovemaking."

Lauran turned so that he slid out of her and snuggled against him stroking his chest.

"I wasn't planning on doing that," she admitted. "But, I hoped you liked it."

"Lauran, words can't begin to describe I felt having you do to me what you did, I was surprised, but yes I liked it," Greg replied as he softly kissed her.

DAMN, DAMN, DOUBLE DAMN, CAN ANYTHING ELSE GO WRONG AROUND HERE?" Jim yelled at no one in particular.

"What's wrong?" Casey and Bragg asked running into the Sheep Pen, they'd heard him clear over at the Ops Shack and when Jim sounded like that it could only mean that somebody or something had really made him angry.

Jim looked up as they walked in.

"I came in here to eat my breakfast, read some letters that I got in yesterday's mail call, and work on pulling together those plans Casey and I made earlier in case those riceball's decide to try and retake any of the islands in this area so we could go over them once Boyle gets back this afternoon. I walk in and what happens? I find some animal has chewed a big hole in the wall," Jim said indicating a large shaft early morning sunlight coming through the wall behind the bar as well several boxes and bags that had been torn into, the contents of which were now scattered on the floor.

"Jim, you just sit down, eat, and let me and Bragg take care of this," Casey replied. "It shouldn't be too difficult to replace the board and I know there're some pieces of metal over in the maintenance shed that we can put between the replacement boards so that if whatever's done this tries it again it won't be able to gnaw through the wood."

"Okay, if you two need anything just yell at me," Jim told them as he walked over and sat down at one of the tables, while Casey and Bragg went over to the maintenance shed to get the pieces of wood and metal to replace the wall.

Jim had finished his sandwich, read through his mail, and was now looking over the plans that he and Casey had worked out.

"I wonder what's keeping those two," he thought.

It'd been over an hour and Casey and Bragg still hadn't come back from the maintenance shed. Jim was just getting up to go see what was keeping them when Casey stuck his head in the door.

"Jim can you come out here, quick?" he said quietly.

Jim got up, stepped outside, and stood by Casey. What he saw made him wonder if he were dreaming and if he were he sure as hell wanted to wake up pretty damn quick. The entire camp was overrun with at least 10 to 12 Japanese soldiers!

"I don't think it was an animal that made that hole in the Sheep Pen," Casey whispered to him. "They came out of the jungle from behind the Sheep Pen and overtook us. TJ managed to convince them to let me get you as long as neither of us tried anything funny."

Jim eyed the soldiers with a menacing stare and quietly told Casey that he was probably right regarding the hole in the Sheep Pen.

The sound of a plane invaded Greg's thoughts, but he turned over placing his arm around Lauran, loving how she felt against him, and despite looking forward to an early morning swim followed by more love making tried to go back to sleep.

"You're dreaming," he thought to himself. "No planes should be flying at this time of the morning."

The sun wasn't even up yet and the only sounds to be heard were Lauran's sleepy breathing and an occasional contented sigh, the nocturnal animals scurrying around making their way back to their nests or dens or wherever it was they spent the day sleeping, and the waterfall. The stars were pale points of light and the moon, a waxing crescent, hung low in the western sky, and the eastern horizon was just starting to lighten as beginning of the new day began to slip across the sky. Just then he heard the sound of planes again, this time they were closer and it sounded like a couple of them. Greg lay still, his brain too sleep fogged to really comprehend that he wasn't dreaming; suddenly he realized what type of planes he was hearing.

"Oh dear god, no," he thought. "It can't be."

Greg was fully awake by this time and he looked up to see two Zeros fly almost directly overhead. They were coming in low enough that it was a good possibility that they were going to land, however the two closest islands to Vella La Cava were Kolumbangara and Ramongga and they were still too far from either of them to have been flying as low as they were. He didn't think in the dim early morning light that they'd been seen, but he certainly wasn't going to go back to sleep, reaching over he pulled his pistol closer so that if necessary he could grab it, hopefully without being seen. Silently, he lay there listening for the sound of anymore planes. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't hear more and after awhile his heart rate started to go down and he began to feel a little calmer.

"Teishi shimatsu," a voice barked from the jungle.

Greg raised himself up on one elbow and looked in the direction he'd heard the noise and immediately a sick wave of fear crashed over him, not even 20 feet from them were two Japanese soldiers, and before they had a chance to notice him, he quickly lay flat on the ground pulling the second blanket over him and Lauran. Greg listened praying that they didn't come any closer and more importantly that Lauran didn't wake up.

"Asoko?" One of the soldiers asked the other.

"Ie," the second one replied shaking his head as if indicating uncertainty.

The two stood there in silence and one took a few steps closer to where Greg and Lauran were. The jungle was eerily, deathly quiet, with the exception of the waterfall hitting the water in the pool below, nothing moved, not even the wind was blowing. Greg held his breath as fear gripped him making him want to puke. The second soldier started to say something, but the first one held up his hand as if signaling him to remain silent.

"Shizuka, ugokanaide kudasai," he said and the second soldier stopped where he was.

The two of them stood listening for what seemed to Greg like forever. Finally, the first soldier, whom Greg had a fairly good idea was the leader tilted his head in the opposite direction from where Greg and Lauran were.

" Watashitachiha iku kochiradesu," he said and the two of them headed into the jungle.

Greg lay there for a few minutes too afraid to move, then after several more minutes had passed with no sign of them returning or more soldiers showing up he crawled out from under the blankets and quickly got dressed. He left one of the laundry bags out to put the blankets in, but the other one he folded up and stuffed behind a fallen log. He'd come back for whatever they left later, if nothing prevented him from returning. The sky was starting to lighten up and Greg wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. He had no idea why those two soldiers were on Vella La Cava and he gave a prayer of thanks that the blankets were a dark enough shade of blue that they'd blended into the shadows, the jungle had masked the scent of the fire, and the smoke had blended in with the morning mist that hovered over the jungle and the water.

"Lauran, wake up," Greg gently touched her shoulder.

She turned over and made a contented sound as she stretched in her sleep.

"Lauran, come on wake up, please," he gave her shoulder a small shake.

"Hmmm, Greg, again, we've made love what at least eight times since we got here," she let the blanket slide down and placed his fingers against her nipple although she really would have liked them massaging between her legs. "Greg you're insatiable when it comes to love making you know that?" she asked giving him a very seductive smile. The truth was she loved having him touch and explore her sexually just as much as she enjoyed touching and exploring him.

"Lauran, right now there's nothing I'd like to do more than make love to you several more times before we have to get back, but the truth is I need you to get dressed and we need to leave, now."

Greg then told her about the two planes that had flown over as well as the two Japanese soldiers that had been nearby earlier. Lauran's face took on a look of surprise, but she didn't panic. Calmly, she got dressed, put the blankets in the laundry bag that Greg had placed nearby, while he rolled up the mosquito netting, stuck it in the laundry bag as well and put the poles under some vines and branches. Once they'd made sure everything was in it, he placed the bag with the other one and piled brush on top of them. Something moved in the jungle and Lauran turned thinking it was just a curious animal, but what or rather whom she saw made her gasp in shock. Hearing her, Greg turned around as well and the two of them were staring straight at a Japanese soldier. Since it had still been too dark to see clearly, Greg wasn't sure if he was one of the soldiers that had been in the area earlier, but he wasn't going to stay and find out either. They stared at each other for several seconds before Greg slowly started moving backward until he was next to Lauran.

Then to Greg's surprise the soldier turned and headed off into the jungle.

"That way," Greg indicated for them to go around the edge of the grotto and behind the waterfall. He hoped the vegetation would provide enough cover for them. Once they were in the cave like area behind the waterfall, he could think about what to do next.

Lauran nodded and they made their way through the undergrowth. The ground was covered with moss and water making it almost like wading through a shallow stream, but it also meant that they weren't leaving any footprints to mark the way they'd come either. As they reached the waterfall the mist covered them with a fine spray of water. Water droplets clung to them and dampened their clothes and hair. Then Greg saw a small opening between the cliff and the waterfall and indicated for them to head that way. Just as they did the soldier appeared with another one on the other side of the water. Seeing that they had a chance to get a clear shot, one of them took advantage of the opportunity to fire again.

"OH!" Lauran cried as she felt something slam into her shoulder.

"You okay?" Greg asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I feel…." She didn't have time to finish her sentence as Greg took one look at her and pulled her into the space behind the waterfall. Quickly he looked at her shirt and seeing the red stain that was spreading rapidly across the front of it sat her down and ripped it off of her.

"GREG!" she cried then looking down at her shoulder began to feel dizzy.

"Am I shot?" she asked feeling silly for asking such an obvious question.

"Yes, but it doesn't look too bad," he replied not wanting to worry her. The truth was that he couldn't tell if the bullet had grazed her shoulder or if it was embedded in her. "I'm going to tear your shirt into strips, wrap those around you for a bandage, and have you wear mine. Then as soon as we can we're going to head that way," he pointed towards the northeast. "That should take us straight to the base; the thing we need to worry about is how dense the foliage is."

"Couldn't you just radio for Casey to send some of the Black Sheep to get us?" she asked.

"I don't want to chance that with those soldiers out there, I don't know how many more of them there are and they could be listening in," he explained. "We'll rest for a little while and then start out again. This isn't a very big island so we should make it back in a few hours even if we have to go through dense vegetation," he continued as he pulled off his shirt and then cutting hers carefully off her he folded part of it into a compress and placed it over the wound, tying the strips of material that he'd cut from the rest of her shirt around it to hold it in place.

An hour later, they hadn't heard any more shots and they couldn't see any sign of the two soldiers, although there were no indications that they'd left either. Greg decided to chance them heading into the jungle as it was still early enough that, hopefully, they'd make it back to camp before darkness fell. Greg had another reason for wanting to get back as soon as possible, although she hadn't said anything he could tell that Lauran was in a lot of pain and he wanted to get to the hospital in case the wound was worse than it looked.

They made good time the first few hours as it seemed that as they walked the vegetation was thinning out, almost as if a path were being made for them, but Greg told himself that was nonsense and his imagination was playing tricks on him. What was clear, however, was the fact that Lauran wasn't looking very good, although she was keeping up and not complaining he noticed that she wasn't saying anything only if he asked her questions and most of the time kept her mouth in a tight line as if trying to mentally escape the pain, he was certain she was experiencing. She was bathed in sweat and Greg knew that it wasn't just from the heat.

Finally, after they'd been walking for about three hours he stopped and checked her shoulder.

"How is it?" she asked her voice barely a whisper.

"It's still bleeding a little, but not as much as it was earlier," he replied not wanting to alarm her.

The truth was that although it had slowed down some it was still bleeding enough for him to be concerned and the sooner they got to the hospital the better.

"Okay," Lauran replied quietly not sure whether to believe him or not. The way she was feeling and had been for the last hour made her think that her shoulder was worse than he was admitting.

They continued through the jungle for another few hours, by this time the bugs and flies were starting to congregate around them and they encountered a few animals although they were both thankful they were only a few monkeys and small lizards that quickly retreated from them as they passed by. The jungle canopy made it hard to see the sky, but Greg could tell by the way the light was changing that it was getting close to being late afternoon and a quick glance at his watch confirmed he was right.

"We should be getting close to home," he thought.

Just then he heard a noise and what he saw sent a wave of fear through him and made him thankful they were concealed by the jungle foliage. They were just a few feet from VMF-214's camp and he saw Micklin, Hutch, Stan, Amos, and Henry sitting on sandbags against the maintenance shed, their hands on their heads and two Japanese soldiers standing over them with guns trained on them. Although, Greg noted that Micklin looked very pissed and one side of his jaw looked bruised as if he'd been hit with one of their guns. Hutch's lip was bleeding and one eye was starting to turn black. There appeared to be a large gash on Stan's forehead and his jaw appeared swollen as if he'd been struck as well. Henry and Amos were in similar shape although Greg thought maybe Amos's nose was broken, but from where he was it was hard to tell. Bragg and French were sitting on the ground between the maintenance shed and the Sheep Pen, their hands on their heads two Japanese soldiers had guns trained on them as well. TJ, Anderson, and Boyle, who had been discharged early and arrived shortly before the Japanese invaded the camp, were standing silently by the Sheep Pen and TJ was holding onto Meatball's leash. The dog was growling softly at the two soldiers that had guns trained on them. Jim and Casey were in the doorway of the Sheep Pen and two more soldiers came over and motioned with their guns to stand over with the other three Black Sheep, while two more walked among the captives. It was obvious they were waiting for more soldiers to show up before killing or torturing their captives.

"Don't do anything stupid, Jim," Greg muttered under his breath. He felt Lauran move beside him from where she'd been resting against a tree and he put his arms around her whispering for her to be quiet as he indicated what was happening. Lauran glanced through the leaves and leaned closer against him, shaking. Greg didn't know whether her condition was worsening or if it was from fear, but he quietly told her it would be alright.

"Teo dashimasu, ikimasu, ugoki, ima," the soldier barked at Jim and Casey as they walked over to TJ, Anderson, and Boyle as if picking up on the fact that at the first opportunity, Jim wanted to beat every one of those Tojo cowards into an unidentifiable mass of organic matter. The two of them of obeyed and the five of them were then instructed to sit down, it was only then that Jim and Casey were allowed lower their hands.

Suddenly, Meatball broke free from TJ somehow unhooking his leash and lunged at the soldiers.

"Meatball no, get back here," Boyle called.

"Inu o uchimasu, sorenera o uchimasu!" one of the soldiers yelled at the two who had guns trained on Boyle, TJ, Anderson, Jim, and Casey.

Although Jim didn't understand a word of Japanese, TJ and Anderson did to some extent and the looks on their faces told him all he needed to know.

"DON'T!" he screamed.

As Greg and Lauran watched the soldier walked toward Meatball who was growling and barking. The soldier said something to the dog and then drawing his leg back kicked him hard in the side. Meatball went flying across the camp landing with a thud several feet away. He lay there yelping in pain. Jim, without thinking, started to run to him.

"Yameru ugokanaide kudasai!" one of the soldiers yelled pointing his gun at him and Jim stopped where he was and sat on the ground. It was all he could do not to cry. The rest of the Black Sheep stayed where they were too frightened to move and not believing what they'd seen.

Two other soldiers walked over to Meatball and stared down at him. They made some remarks laughing and making motions with their guns like they were going to shoot him as he lay there helplessly yelping. Then one of the soldiers picked him up and tossed him in the air and before he could land the other soldier kicked him harder than the first. He landed a few feet from where Greg and Lauran were hiding, whimpering. Lauran couldn't believe it and buried her face in Greg's shoulder.

"No," she sobbed. "No, no, Greg help him."

Greg looked Meatball and then back at her tears forming in his eyes.

"There's nothing I can do now, if I move those soldiers will know where we are and then they'll kill both of us" he said quietly feeling like a monster for not doing anything to help Meatball as soon as he said the words.

All hell seemed to break loose in the camp at that point. French and Bragg managed to somehow overtake the two soldiers that'd been holding their guns on them and that began what could only be described as a turning of the tables. Greg used that opportunity to go see if Meatball were alive. He was breathing, but it was shallow and he was obviously in pain.

"Don't worry, Meatball," Greg said quietly as he petted the dog. "We'll get you taken care of."

Lauran crawled over to them and with tears running down her face talked softly to him. Somehow, he managed to stick out his tongue and lick her hand. Then he shuddered and blood seeped from his mouth and nose, followed by a small amount of blood tinged vomit from his mouth. Lauran reached over and felt for a pulse and was relieved to find one although it was faint. Greg looked up just in time to see one of the soldiers aim his gun at Micklin who, before the soldier had a chance to fire a shot, smashed him squarely in the head with a large wrench. The soldier dropped like a sack of potatoes as blood oozed from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. French and Anderson had their hands full with one very persistent or stupid, depending on one's point of view soldier, who thought he could take both of them on at once. He quickly found out that wasn't going to be the case and before he realized what was happening the two of them had him tied to a nearby palm tree. Hutch, Stan, and Henry had managed to subdue another of the soldiers and he was now hogtied on the ground where Hutch and Henry had prevented him from hitting Stan with a well placed shot to the chest. Just then one of the soldiers fired a shot at TJ, who ducked just in time. Before Greg realized what had happened the bullet that had missed TJ slammed into Lauran's chest and she fell over onto the ground.

"LAURAN…. NO!" Greg screamed pulling her into his arms. He held her close, but he could tell this time things weren't looking good. "Don't leave me, please don't leave me," he said to himself. Her pulse was weak and she was very pale and he knew that he needed to get her to the hospital and fast.

"Greg, help me, don't let me die," she said her voice sounding far away.

"I won't, Lauran, I promise you I won't, you're going to be okay," he told her although he wondered if that was a promise he'd be able to keep.

"Greg, I love you, remember that," she whispered and then she was quiet.

"NO!" Greg screamed not caring if those Tojo bastards heard him or not in the span of less than an hour they'd taken two of the most important things in his life from him, so they may as well kill him too. It was better than living without Lauran and Meatball.

Jim heard Greg's screams and running in the direction they were coming from he stopped just inches away from stepping on Meatball. He looked at the dog and then at Greg, who was holding Lauran, covered in as much of her blood as she was and screaming like an insane man.

"Oh God no," he whispered.

"Jim what is…," Bragg and French ran over to see what Jim was looking at and French immediately turned around and yelled for Casey to send for an ambulance when he was done radioing Espritos Marcos to send MPs to collect the eight surviving Tojo prisoners. The one that French and Bragg had tied to the palm tree, the one Hutch, Henry, and Stan had hogtied on the ground as well the other six that at various points had been captured in one sense or another by the Black Sheep or the maintenance crew. The four Tojo soldiers that they'd managed to kill were laid out near the airstrip covered with a tarp to keep the flies off of them to keep the flies out of the camp more than a final act of compassion towards those riceballs.

"Jim, I called Dr. McCollum and he's flying up from New Georgia to see about Meatball, but," Casey lowered his voice. "He doesn't hold out much hope based on what I told him."

Jim nodded; he'd had the same feeling in his gut.

As soon as the ambulance arrived Jim led them over to where Greg, Lauran and Meatball were. Greg was still holding Lauran and petting Meatball as tears streamed down his face and whatever he was saying to them was so incoherent it was doubtful that even he knew what he was saying.

"Greg," Jim said quietly as be bent down next to him. "Ollie and Bruce are here and they need to take Lauran to the hospital."

"No you think she's dead," Greg replied his voice distant.

"We didn't say that, but we need to get her to the hospital or that might happen," Jim replied.

"I SAID NO YOU WANT TO TAKE HER FROM ME AND I WON'T LET YOU!" Greg screamed.

Jim looked at Greg and then at the Black Sheep, Micklin, and Hutch who were standing next to Ollie and Bruce. He'd never felt so unsure of what to do in his life.

"Greg," he whispered. "It's going to be okay."

Greg clung to Lauran screaming that they were lying, she was dead, Meatball was dead, and they'd better kill him because he'd kill himself otherwise. It took Micklin, French, Jim, and Hutch to hold Greg and allow Ollie and Bruce to get Lauran onto a stretcher and get her into the ambulance. Then Bruce came back with a mild sedative for Greg and once that was administered he calmed enough that they were able to get him into the ambulance as well. As it pulled away in the direction of the hospital everyone looked at each other not sure what to say.

"Everyone, but Casey go on to the hospital to be with Greg. That includes Micklin, Hutch, and the rest of the maintenance crew. I want everyone of the maintenance crew to get your injuries checked out and if they're serious enough that you have to be admitted don't worry about it, the main thing is getting you taken care of and back on your feet as quickly as possible. Casey and I will be there as soon as Dr. McCollum and the MPs are done here," Jim said finally.

"I ain't going to be admitted to no damn hospital," Micklin said. "Those damn Japs need to be made to pay for what they've done to that poor dog and Lauran and I aim to make sure they get what's coming to them even if I have to do it myself."

Everyone looked at Micklin not quite believing what they were hearing. They knew he liked Lauran and often requested her when it came to treating various injuries sustained by himself and the other members of the maintenance crew, but they didn't realize that he felt that way about Meatball, hell he'd constantly brought it up to Greg that it was against regulations for him to even have Meatball on base, which from Greg's perspective was none of Micklin's business."

"All right," Jim said not wanting to start anything with Micklin in light of what they were still going through. "You can stay as well, but as soon as those riceballs are turned over to the MPs and Dr. McCollum arrives to see about Meatball, you will go to the hospital and get checked out and…." Jim raised his voice on the next few words. "THAT'S AN ORDER UNDERSTAND!"

"Whatever you say college boy, but understand this I ain't gonna like it."

"I never asked you to," Jim said sharply. He wanted to say more, but just then two Douglass C-47 Skytrains landed on the flight line and several MPs got out looking around to see where the prisoners were. Jim and several of the others walked over, introduced themselves, and showed them where the prisoners were as well as where the bodies of four who'd been killed were lying. While most of the MPs were loading the prisoners and the bodies of the dead soldiers onto the planes Jim and Casey talked with two others and gave statements as to what had happened. One of the MPs took pictures of Meatball as evidence and said he hoped that Meatball would be okay. He loved animals and when the war was over he planned to return to the United States, attend a university, and major in Veterinary Medicine. The MPs wanted to talk to someone about what had happened to Lauran as well and after Jim told them what he knew as far as what had just happened he added that Lauran and Greg had been taken to the base hospital on the other side of the island. The best thing for them to do in that case would be contact one of the nurses at the Vella La Cava base hospital and see if Dr. Pendleton would be able to talk to them about her condition. The MPs agreed and said they'd contact him in a few days after Lauran's condition was stabilized. Just then another plane landed and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Dr. McCollum got out and walked toward them.

Casey, who'd been sitting with Meatball, waved him over.

"Can you do anything for him?" Casey asked.

Dr. McCollum bent down and made a quick examination of Meatball.

"From the way things look now, if he lives it'll be a miracle, but I'll do my best," he said before standing up and motioning for his two assistants that had accompanied him to bring the padded board he used as a stretcher over. Then the three of them and Casey carefully slide Meatball onto it.

The dog whimpered slightly, but was too injured to do anything else. Then Jim and Casey gently petted him and told him to get better. Even Micklin told him to get better and patted his head before Dr. McCollum and his assistants boarded the plane with him and took off for New Georgia.

When Jim, Casey and Micklin arrived at the hospital, Micklin went with Wendy to get his injuries looked at, although not without a lot of griping and complaining. Jim looked around and saw Greg sitting with Father Patrick. He was bent over with his head in his hands still sobbing, Father Patrick was whispering something to him, but it looked to Jim as if he wasn't having much success in comforting him. He also noticed that Greg had gotten most of the blood cleaned off of his face, arms, and hands and was now wearing an undershirt that Bragg had grabbed from Greg's tent before they'd left, although there were still some blood stains on his shorts. Casey went over with them and bent down talking quietly to Greg as well. Anderson was standing by the nurse's station and he waved Jim over to him.

"What blood type are you?" Anderson asked once Jim was standing next to him.

"O negative," Jim replied. "Why?"

Anderson lowered his voice and leaned closer to Jim.

"Lauran's not doing a bit good, she's lost a lot of blood and they're having trouble controlling the bleeding. She's O positive and those of us who can are donating blood for her," he held out his arm showing Jim the bandage that covered the inner crease of his elbow. I'm O positive as well, and so is TJ and he's donating now. Bragg, French, and Boyle wanted to as well, but they're not compatible types."

"Does Greg know?" Jim asked.

Anderson looked towards Greg and shook his head.

"No he's in no shape to hear what's going on."

Jim sighed. "Was this nightmare ever going to end," he thought.

"As soon as TJ gets back I'll go donate and then we can find out Casey's blood type as well," he said after a few moments.

It turned out Casey was O positive and he and Jim went down the hall to the room where Anderson said that Marlita had set up as a donation area. Micklin, Hutch, and Stan were just leaving after having donated themselves. Luckily none of the maintenance crew's injuries were serious enough that they'd had to be admitted, but Melinda and Diana had given them a list of things to watch out for such as dizziness, lightheadedness or for those who'd sustained cuts any sign of infection. Like Bragg, French, and Boyle; Henry and Amos had wanted to donate, but they were incompatible types as well. Jim told them the same thing he'd told the three Black Sheep and that was not to feel bad they could pray and that would help just as well as giving blood. After talking with them for a few minutes Jim sent Micklin and the rest of the maintenance crew back to the base to get things cleaned up after the events that had happened earlier.

The next several hours seemed to everyone like some strange dream, Father Patrick had taken Greg to the chapel so they could talk more privately and the rest of the Black Sheep sat quietly, their minds trying to make sense of everything that had happened, or paced around the waiting area too anxious to do anything else. Greg and Father Patrick returned a few hours later although if whatever Father Patrick had told him in the chapel had helped Greg they couldn't tell it. Casey'd returned from base where he'd been for the last two hours after leaving the hospital to go see if there was any word from Dr. McCollum on Meatball. He was still alive, but it was too soon to know if he'd survive. Dr. McCollum had him sedated and from the cursory examination he'd been able to make it appeared as if he had several bruised, cracked, or broken ribs. There was extensive swelling on his left side and belly that could be obscuring internal injuries, but so far he hadn't brought up anymore blood flecked vomit or had anymore blood come out of his nose and as a result Dr. McCollum was cautiously optimistic that if there were any internal injuries they were minor enough that they'd heal on their own over time.

Greg had finally fallen asleep, the events and stress of the last few hours as well as his anguished crying had finally taken its toll. Father Patrick sat next to him and he planned to stay until they got word on how Lauran was doing. Everyone else was walking around mindlessly or sitting quietly lost in their thoughts. The sound of footsteps approaching made everyone look up to see Dr. Pendleton standing by the nurse's station his face strained with the stress of the last several hours. The only thing he said was. "I need to talk to you all in private."

Everyone looked nervously around and Father Patrick gently awakened Greg and told him Dr. Pendleton needed to talk with them. They followed the doctor down the hall to his office where Greg sat down in one of the chairs and Father Patrick stood beside him, his hand on Greg's shoulder. The rest of the Black Sheep stood near him or sat in one of the other two chairs in the room.

"Lauran's out of surgery although honestly it's a miracle that she survived the 14 hour procedure. There was already infection where she was shot the first time and the second shot was at such close range it did quite a bit of damage as well as tearing up the areas affected by her getting shot the first time. It also made it harder for me to remove the first bullet. The second shooting also caused extensive damage to her shoulder and if it would have struck a few inches over it would have gone straight through her heart and she'd have died instantly. The three things I'm worried about at this time are her fever, the infection from the first bullet wound, and the fact that she's lost a tremendous amount of blood. I will say that the donations you all provided were a big help in saving her life, without those I'm 100% positive she would have bled to death during surgery."

Greg looked up at that moment his face white and it wasn't just from hearing that Lauran had almost died in his arms.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Father Patrick leaned down and told Greg about everyone who was a compatible type for Lauran donating when she had first been brought in and it had become apparent she was in serious trouble due to bleeding. "We didn't mention it to you as you were in bad shape yourself physically and emotionally," he added.

Greg looked at Dr. Pendleton worriedly.

"Will she need more blood transfusions and if so I'd like to donate since I'm the same type as she is?" he asked.

"We're going to keep giving her blood for the next few days so , yes, if you feel up to donating I can arrange it with Marlita," he replied.

"I want too, I can't do much else for her right now, but I can do that," Greg said. "I know it's probably too early to ask this, but will she have to give up nursing?" Greg knew that if that happened Lauran would be devastated.

"Greg at this point I can't say, it's going to depend on how her shoulder heals and right now it's hard to say how quickly or," he paused not sure if he wanted to say the next few words, but at the same time as a doctor he had a duty to be honest in his estimate of the patient's chances. "If she recovers," he said.

Greg was silent for few moments letting the hard truth that she might not survive sink in.

"When can I see her?" he asked finally.

"She'll be in recovery for a few hours and then we'll move her to a private room where it won't be as noisy and she can rest better. I'll have someone let you know when that happens and then you can see her for a little while, but Greg, I need to warn you that she's probably not going to know that you're there," Dr. Pendleton told him.

"I understand," he answered. "If it's all right could you see if Marlita has time for me to donate while I'm waiting?"

"If you're sure you're up to it," Dr. Pendleton replied. "I can find out and let you know in a few minutes."

"I need to do something," was all Greg said.

Everyone went back to the waiting area and a few minutes later Marlita came and told Greg that she was ready for him. After they left Jim and Father Patrick went back to the waiting area until he returned, hopefully by then they'd know if Lauran had been moved to a private room yet. As they waited Jim talked with Father Patrick about some things that had been weighing on his mind since all this had transpired. Never a very spiritual person although his family had attended a country church in the small Texas town where he'd been raised every week, he'd quit going once he got into high school. Jim figured that with all the things he was doing that went against the words Reverend Kellogg preached from the pulpit on Sundays he was destined for hell anyway so why go and feel out of place.

Jim had to admit that even he was surprised by the things he was asking the young priest about, but Father Patrick didn't seem to mind answering Jim's questions and explained things in a way that Jim could understand.

"Jim some things we won't understand this side of heaven," he said when Jim asked how things like this could happen to innocent people, like Lauran. "I don't even understand why Lauran, Meatball, all of us, are going through this, but I know as difficult to understand as it is I have to have faith that God knows what He's doing, that He has a reason for allowing this to happen, and it will all work out in the end, even if we don't understand why it turns out the way it does."

Jim knew that Father Patrick was referring to the possibility that Lauran and/or Meatball might not survive, but he didn't want to come right out and say it.

"I think I know what you mean," Jim replied not knowing what else to say. He was about to ask Father Patrick something else, but saw Greg and Dr. Pendleton walking towards them.

"Lauran's been moved to a private room and I can go see her for a few moments, Father Patrick if you don't have to be somewhere else, would you mind going with me, just in case….."

Father Patrick knew what Greg was going to say and got up telling Jim he'd be glad to talk with him if he had any more question. Jim thanked him, but said that he wanted to think about some of the things they'd already discussed and he'd wait while Greg went with him to see Lauran.

Clarissa walked with them down the hall and opened the door to a room at the far end. Greg thought it had been the same room he'd been in when he'd had dengue fever a few months back, but he really wasn't certain.

"Greg, I'm here if you need me," Father Patrick said as they entered the room.

The shades were open and through the window the first light of a new day was visible. Slowly, he approached the bed and looked down at Lauran. She was so still that for a moment he was afraid that she wasn't alive and a brief coldness spread through him. Then she moved her head and made a small sound as if in pain.

"I'm here," Greg whispered taking her hand. "I'm here."

He pulled the nearby chair closer to the bed and sat down. Her right shoulder and chest were covered in bandages and her face was pale. He could tell just by looking at her the she was feverish.

"I'm sorry, Lauran, I'm so sorry," he said quietly.

He didn't even hear the knock at the door or Father Patrick open it and talk briefly with Melinda, who handed him an envelope. After she left Father Patrick walked over to Greg.

"Melinda just brought this for you, they found it around Lauran's neck when she was brought in and she thought you'd want to keep it for her," he said.

Greg opened the envelope and pulled out a silver necklace chain on which was the sapphire and diamond ring that he'd given her for Christmas along with a matching necklace, bracelet, earrings, and a brooch. The ring had also been his way of saying that if they both survived the war he wanted them to get married. He remembered the look in Lauran's eyes when he'd told her that and the way she'd kissed him saying that yes…yes..yes…a hundred times yes she'd marry him. Although after what they'd gone through as a result of the actions of the 666th and the fact that she'd given him the ring and other pieces of jewelry back and told him she hadn't wanted to see him again, it hadn't looked like that was going happen. Things had started looking up for them and these last few days alone and been just what they'd needed to further heal the wounds caused by that incident and now…..and now…Greg looked down at the ring and then over at Lauran. Something inside him snapped and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Why, why, God, why?" he asked tears falling onto the ring. "She didn't do anything, she's sweet and kind and the gentlest person in the world." He leaned over his head in his hands shaking. Father Patrick came over and standing beside him placed his hand on Greg's shoulder. He didn't say anything he just let Greg know he was there by his presence. At last Greg cried himself out and looked up at Father Patrick.

"We talked about having a family once the war's over and we're married. She told me she wanted four children and hoped that the boy's looked liked me," he said quietly. "Now I wonder if this isn't a sign that's not how things are supposed to be."

"Greg I don't know what the future is going to hold for either of you, but I do know that both of you are strong people and you're both going to fight with everything you have. The two of you survived that recent incident with the 666th, you've survived so many dog fights and air attacks that I doubt if you even have an exact number, Lauran was in the same place you are now when you had dengue fever and you lived. I know there's going to be some hard days ahead, but just the fact that you're here is going to give her even more incentive to fight."

"You're right Father," Greg replied. "She's going to be okay or at least she's not going to give up without doing her best to fight and survive this. I'm going to be here for her even if I have to force myself, since I don't want to see her like this."

"I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy because you already know that," Father Patrick replied. "I will say that I'm here for you and if you need anything don't hesitate to have Casey radio me at the orphanage or leave a message for me here at the hospital."

"Thanks, I think I'm just going to sit here with her for a few more minutes," Greg told him.

"All right, I'll let Jim know and I'll come back for you in about 15 minutes or so."

After Father Patrick left Greg sat talking quietly to Lauran, memories of the past few days came back to him, how she'd looked standing in the spray from the waterfall, her body naked and covered with shimmering droplets of water, a look of pure enchantment on her face. How her hands had moved over his body as they made love, her fingers tracing his skin and then placing kisses along those exact same paths as if sealing her touch to his body. He thought of her pleasured sighs and the way her body had responded as he'd intimately explored her. Then there'd been the times they'd spent just talking about the future and their dreams of life together. Greg leaned over and brushed a kiss lightly across her forehead. "I love you and you're going to get better and be a great mother to our children no matter if it's four or," he gave her a teasing smile even though he knew she couldn't see it before adding. "or 20. I need to go see how the rest of the Black Sheep are doing, but I'll be back tomorrow so you rest okay."

When Jim and Greg arrived at the base everyone crowded around wanting to know what was going on, Jim however realized that Greg probably didn't feel like answering a lot of questions and took him back to his tent and got him settled before he went back and told them what was going on.

"Jim, about an hour ago I received a message from Dr. McCollum. He was able to examine Meatball a little more thoroughly and he definitely has several cracked ribs, serious internal bruising, a piece of one of the ribs may have broken off and scratched or pierced something internally, which would account for the blood from his nose and mouth earlier, but he hasn't brought up anymore blood so he's hopeful that there's no serious damage done there. He's stable and his breathing is steady and he's in some pain even though he's sedated. He said he'd let us know how he's doing first thing tomorrow," Casey said.

"Thanks Casey, I don't know if Greg's emotionally able to deal with hearing that news now or not. He and Father Patrick went into see Lauran after she was moved into a private room, Melinda brought the ring he gave her as part of her Christmas in, apparently it was on a necklace chain she was wearing and when he saw it he lost it; started shaking and crying. He eventually cried himself out and Father Patrick talked with him. He was better after that, but."

"But I wouldn't risk telling him about Meatball," Casey said knowing what Jim was thinking and agreeing with him completely. "I think we ought to see what Dr. McCollum says in the morning and then decide what to tell Greg."

"Hopefully, he'll have some more optimistic news regarding Meatball's chances, but now I think all of us need to get some sleep."

"Oh and Jim I also got a message from Colonel Lard."

"Oh God now what?" Jim asked not liking the sound of that.

"Actually, it's good news those 12 Tojo soldiers that were responsible for all of this were a scouting party and were waiting for the rest of their unit to arrive so that they could attack this island and retake it. However, thanks to our men, the MPs were able to get the 8 that we captured to admit what their plan was on the way to Espritos Marcos, they'll be kept there overnight and then they'll be transferred to a POW camp in Cowra, Australia for more intensive questioning. They immediately had the pilot radio the Pacific Pirates as well as the Fly Deuces and together they were able to bomb the crap out of them on a small island off coast of Buka Island so I don't think that, for the time being at least, anyone in the area is going to have to worry about Tojo taking over any of the American held islands."

"Nice to know that at least something good came out of this," Jim replied. "Now we'd better get some sleep since we have to fly the morning patrol as usual and then I know Greg will want to go see how Lauran is doing."

Rain beat steadily on the roof and against the walls of the hospital. It had been raining proverbial cats and dogs for the past four days with no sign of letting up anytime soon. Greg was sitting in Lauran's room as he'd done for the last several days praying that she'd be okay. The only time he'd left was four days ago, before the rain started, and that was when he'd flown to New Georgia to visit Meatball, who was doing much better although it would be a few days still until he could return to Vella La Cava, at least he was no longer under heavy sedation and was being spoiled by Captain Leslie Joan Carlisle, who was Dr. McCollum's nurse and veterinary assistant. Greg felt a little better knowing she was giving Meatball a lot of attention although he felt bad that he couldn't be there with him as often as he wanted to. In an effort to keep Colonel Lard from breathing down his neck under the circumstances, Greg was flying the morning patrol of The Slot and Jim took over leading the evening patrol, under the pretense that he was training the Black Sheep in some new flight maneuvers that he'd come up with, so far it was working and as a result, Greg had the chance to spend more time at the hospital with Lauran.

He sat there holding her hand and telling her about the weather, the problems they were having getting aviation parts, what else was new there, although by some miracle they had 20 planes that were in good enough shape that they could takeoff with some assurance that both the planes and the pilots would arrive back on Vella La Cava safely, not counting run ins with any riceballs. He'd just finished telling her about Bragg and French's attempt to make fruit juice using some kind of native fruit, which had looked to Greg to be a bit over-ripe, the juice had tasted good, but Greg had only had a small taste as he still thought the fruit was spoilt and he had been right apparently as several of the Black Sheep, who had drunk several cupfuls, had suffered digestive consequences a few hours later resulting in some very quick trips to the head or into the jungle, if the head was already occupied when a burst of lightening lit up the sky outside, followed by a loud crash of thunder that rattled the hospital windows causing Lauran to stir and make a small frightened sound.

"Shh," Greg said softly as he reached over and taking a wash cloth from the bowl of water on the nightstand, wrung it out, and wiped her face.

Her eyes fluttered open and her face took on a confused look that turned to panic.

"Where am I….Greg where are you…. help me…Why am I in so much pain?"

Greg reached over and stroked her cheek causing her to turn her head towards him.

"It's alright, you're at the hospital and I'm here. Do you remember what happened?"

Lauran closed her eyes trying to think back. They'd been having a romantic weekend just the two of them and then something had happened, she remembered something striking her shoulder and then pain, followed by them walking through the jungle….Then….Then. Suddenly, it came back to her the camp, Japanese soldiers, the Black Sheep being held at gunpoint and then…..Meatball…Oh dear God, Meatball, she saw them kick the poor dog, throw him in the air and kick him again. Then the last thing she remembered was a loud noise, an even more intense pain in her shoulder and hearing Greg scream…she remembered that she'd grown cold, felt her body weakening and then blackness had drifted over her causing her to lose all sense of what was going on around her.

"How's Meatball," she whispered.

Greg couldn't believe that after all she'd been through her first concern was for his dog and he began to cry.

"Greg is he?" tears formed in her eyes realizing the sweet dog must be dead.

"He's okay or I should say he's doing much better. Dr. McCollum took him back to New Georgia and kept him sedated for several days. He was very lucky, internal bruising and some broken and cracked ribs, but he should be back with us in a few days," Greg said.

"And what about me…I mean it, Greg, don't you leave anything out," she said.

"You want to know everything?" he asked.

"Everything" she insisted.

Greg told her about the two Zeros flying over the morning of their last day at their secret spot and then the soldiers approaching, her getting shot and the walk through the jungle until they'd made it outside of the Black Sheep's camp, where they'd hidden watching as the Black Sheep and maintenance crew were held prisoner, Meatball getting brutally kicked by two different soldiers and then her getting shot a second time. He admitted that after that he was such a psychological mess that he had no idea what had gone on, other than what he'd later been told by Jim, Father Patrick, and Dr. Pendleton. She'd lost a lot of blood and had almost died. Himself as well as several of the Black Sheep, nurses, and maintenance crew had given blood for her and had saved her life. Her shoulder was in a mess and if the second bullet had gone a few inches over she would have been killed instantly. Lauran took that news better than he expected, but then as a nurse she was probably well aware of the damage that chest wounds from bullets could inflict and the fact that all too often death was the result. Then seeing the questioning look on her face replied. "I don't know if you'll be able to continue nursing or not, we'll have to wait and see what Dr. Pendleton says after he examines you and I probably ought to go tell someone you're awake." He gave her a kiss as he got up.

"I'll be right back so don't go anywhere," he said smiling.

"Just where do you think I'm going to go, Greg? I really don't feel up to going anywhere at the moment in all honesty."

He gave her an understanding look before going down to tell whoever was at the nurse's desk that she was awake.

A few minutes later, Greg returned followed by Annaliese and Dr Pendleton.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Pendleton asked.

"My right shoulder and arm hurt, the pain's not too bad if I don't try and move it, but if I do; it's excruciating," she answered.

"Considering the extent of the damage that you suffered compounded with the infection that had set in that's completely understandable. Are you feeling alright otherwise?"

"A little weak and lightheaded, but I imagine part of that is from the amount of blood Greg tells me I lost."

"I would say that's probably the case, plus now that your awake we can take you off the glucose IV solution and start giving you soup and if you can tolerate it plain toast or crackers as well as applesauce to help you get your strength built back up," Dr. Pendleton said agreeing with her as to the cause of her being weak and lightheaded. "I'm also going to lower the amount of IV antibiotics you're getting and start having you take tablets every four hours or as you need them."

Lauran gave Greg a knowing look she was all too familiar with the semi-liquid diet, it was a little bland and lacked variety, but most patients were only on it a few days and then were able to eat regular food.

"Well, at least I can tell the patients I've firsthand experience being on it," Lauran replied. Then a thought crossed her mind and she looked at Greg and Dr. Pendleton almost afraid to say the next few words. "I'll be able to continue as the Director of Nursing, won't I?" she asked.

"Lauran, I can't be certain of that at this point. Let's get you examined and once I see how things are looking as far as your injuries, maybe I can give you a better prognosis as to what the future holds for you," he said as he went to the sink and washed and dried his hands before putting on gloves.

Greg moved to the other side of the bed to give Dr. Pendleton and Annaliese more room to examine Lauran. She kept her eyes fixed on Greg's face, but he had that unreadable look he got when he was playing cards and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking or how things looked from his point of view. She flinched as Dr. Pendleton gently touched the stitches, checking for oozing or swelling, and applied more antibiotic ointment to the area, before applying new gauze and fresh bandages over the area. Greg noted that the bandages weren't as large as what had been applied earlier and he gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

Dr. Pendleton washed his hands again and made some notes on her chart before he finally spoke. "The infected areas are healing nicely and there're no signs of any further infection. In a few days I'll do some tests to see how you do as far as your physical range of motion is concerned. That will give me a better idea of whether or not I can clear you to resume nursing duties, but as of right now I would say that there's a better than average chance you'll be able to continue as Director of Nursing with no problems."

"Thank you," Lauran said. Then turning to Greg told him that she was tired and wanted to rest so if he needed to go take care of anything or see what kind of trouble the rest of the Black Sheep were getting into he didn't have to stay, but she'd like it if he could come back later to help her with her lunch and they could talk more. Greg gave her a kiss and told her to have a nice nap. It was still pouring down rain so he told her that he was going to see if he could use the phone to call Jim and check on how things were going. If everything was fine he'd see if it was okay for him to visit with some of the patients and cheer them up as best he could until it was time for lunch and then he'd be back to see her.

Greg was helping Lauran with breakfast, it had been a week since she'd awakened and recovery-wise was making excellent progress. She was eating a regular diet now and in spite of the pain from the internal damage and infection caused by the shootings, she'd been working to strengthen her arm and shoulder muscles and although she wouldn't be able to assist with surgeries or other procedures that required fine dexterity right away, she would be able to perform enough of her duties that Dr. Pendleton had told her he was going to allow her to continue as the Director of Nursing in a few days. Although it would be on a restricted basis for a few weeks and then she'd be cleared to fully perform all duties as she had been doing before the attack.

The window in her room was partially open and warm breeze was blowing in filling the room with the sounds of birds and the voices of the nurses and patients talking as they went to the garden area to enjoy the clear weather as well as the scent of tropical flowers. Greg had brought in some tropical flowers in shades of pink, white, purple, and yellow and they were sitting in a vase on the nightstand next to Lauran's bed. Their scent reminding Lauran of her and Greg's romantic weekend in the jungle and she smiled thinking of what they had done during those few days. Greg noticed the look on her face and was about to ask what she was thinking about when the sound of voices in the hallway caused them both to look at each other and then at the door.

"I told you to hold onto him,"

"Me you had the leash,"

"And I told you all to take that dog outside and be quiet. There are patients trying to rest,"

The voices came closer and the door, which had been partially shut, burst open and Meatball ran into the room as fast as he could despite still recovering from his injuries as well followed by the Black Sheep with the exception of Boyle who was still trying to talk to Kathlynn in the hope that she'd forgive him for his romantic indiscretion with Roxanne. Jim's attempt to talk to her for Boyle had been unsuccessful and it looked like Bobby was, as of now, having the same results. Meatball slowed to a stop and somehow managed to jump on the bed, curl up against Lauran and make himself comfortable before licking her hand and looking up at her with his soft brown eyes. The look on his face clearly said that he hoped she felt better because right now he was in a lot of pain after all that running and jumping.

"Meatball!" Bragg said approaching the bed. "Get down."

"Down, Meatball," Greg repeated.

Meatball stuck his tongue out at Greg and laid his head on Lauran's stomach. He wasn't going to move one inch.

"What is that dog doing on the bed?" Mare asked walking into the room. She was out of breath from dashing all over chasing after the Black Sheep and Meatball. "I told you all to take him outside."

"Ummm lying there," Anderson replied giving her a look that clearly said what do you think he's doing, playing checkers?"

"2nd Lt Anderson I will not tolerate that kind of smart mouthed reply from you or anyone else," Mare said clearly letting him that, at least for the next few hours, she was in charge of this area of the hospital and wouldn't put up with any smart aleck behavior from him or any of the Black Sheep for that matter.

"Sorry Nurse Chapman," Anderson replied with what he certainly hoped was a penitent look on his face. "He's here to visit with Lauran."

"He doesn't belong on the bed. I doubt if he's had a bath in who knows when and he's probably filthy."

At the mention of a bath Meatball gave a low growl of disgust and gave her a look that left no doubt what he thought of baths or people who suggested he needed one.

"It's okay Mare. Penelope said she'd be in to change the bedding after she's done helping Dr. Pendleton with his rounds. I have Dr. Pendleton's okay to go out to the garden area in a wheelchair and we'll go out there while Penelope changes the sheets," Lauran told her. "I agree he has no business being in here, but I've been worried about him and I think the Black Sheep just wanted me to see for myself how he's doing."

Although Mare loved Meatball, she still didn't think he had any business in the hospital, but perhaps under the circumstances it might be best to make an exception.

"If any high ranking brass show up I'm going to say I have no idea how he got in here and let you all deal with it," she said smiling as she shut the door and went to check on a patient a few rooms down the hall.

Lauran reached out and gently placed her hand on Meatball's side. It was still swollen and Greg could easily see where he was still severely bruised as the green, purple and yellow areas were clearly visible under his fur. Everyone asked how Lauran was doing and Casey handed her a box of assorted hard candies. They were from Micklin with wishes for her to get better quickly. Lauran was both surprised and delighted that the curmudgeonly line chief had thought of her and told Casey to tell him that she appreciated him thinking of her and that she'd thank him in person once she was discharged, hopefully in a few days. She was just about to ask what was going on with Boyle since she just knew that he and Kathlynn were having some problems when Marlita arrived with a wheelchair and said that if she was ready they could take her out to the garden area and Penelope would get her bed changed. Meatball had just woken up and looked at her as if asking do you really expect me to get up I'm quite comfortable where I am thank you.

"Thank you Marlita," Lauran said.

Greg gently lifted Meatball off the bed and although he wasn't too enthused about having to get up, sat quietly beside French as Greg and Marlita got Lauran settled in the wheelchair.

"You don't have any ideas about taking her back to your base without an official discharge from Dr. Pendleton, do you?" Marlita asked giving Greg a look that said she wouldn't put it past him to do that very thing.

"Now why would I do something like that?" Greg asked with that angelically innocent look on his face that never seemed to fool anyone.

"Hmmm, maybe because your past record speaks for itself," Marlita told him with a knowing look.

"What are you talking about?" Greg said feigning that he had no idea what she was referring to,"

"Think about it and I think you'll figure it out," she said. "Lauran, if they try and make off with you just scream and we'll come rescue you," Marlita said giving Greg and the Black Sheep a teasing wink.

"Well with someone as handsome as Greg is I'll have to think about that especially after what he did to me on our romantic weekend," Lauran said.

That statement brought a round of whoas and several very graphic comments from the Black Sheep insinuating what must have occurred between Lauran and Greg over the weekend while they were away. Marlita too wanted to hear all the details and told Lauran she and the other nurses would be stopping by once Lauran was back in the nurse's quarters to hear about everything that had gone on…and Lauran was not to leave out a single detail. Lauran and Greg were spared from undergoing further questioning about what had happened when Becky came up and told Marlita that she was needed to help Dr. Pendleton stitch up a Seabee from the USS Detroit, who had a large gash on his head from raising up and hitting his head on a low beam while working in the ship's engine room. Lauran gave a thankful sigh that, at least for the moment; she and Greg were spared the usual post sexual interlude questioning that the nurses and Black Sheep were famous for.

Greg pushed her out to the garden with the rest of the Black Sheep and Meatball following behind them. As soon as they were seated in the shade of some flowering tropical bushes Anderson resumed trying to find out the details of their weekend, but quickly shut up when Greg gave him a look clearly said one more word out of you and you'll be spending the next few weeks in the hospital in a fully body cast. To change the subject, Lauran was about to ask where Boyle was when he ran up to them with a very relieved look on his face.

"Kathlynn and I have been talking and I think we've worked everything out. She's willing to forgive me for fooling around behind her back with Roxanne, but from now on if I so much as even give her one reason to think that I'm seeing someone else without telling her…..well that's it."

"I hope you've learned your lesson," Greg said sternly.

Boyle looked down at the front of his pants and indicated that he had, he'd finished the antibiotics a few days ago, but there were still a couple of places on his genital area where the redness hadn't quite completely healed yet and where those places rubbed against his skivvies was a reminder of how close he'd come to messing up big time, both health and relationship wise. This was a mistake he was never going to repeat again as long as he lived.

"What's going on?" Lauran asked. Since this had all happened while she and Greg had been on their romantic weekend and then her recovering from getting shot she had no idea that Boyle and the rest of the Black Sheep had been dealing with an STD scare.

Boyle embarrassingly told her about how he'd been cheating on Kathlynn by intimately seeing Roxanne Delago several times a week and how shortly after he'd experienced symptoms that were similar to those of a common social disease because she'd refused to allow him to use protection and he'd been too afraid to stand up for himself and do so, even though he knew it was the safe thing to do. Luckily he'd only contracted an external yeast infection and a severe bladder and kidney infection, but he admitted that he wasn't going to do anything that stupid every again.

As Greg expected Lauran would, she went into full blown head nurse mode and lectured Boyle for several minutes on the dangers of unprotected sexual relations, not getting checked out immediately if a social disease was suspected, and having multiple partners without disclosing that fact each of them. The consequences of his recent actions could've had a disastrous and lifelong effect not only himself, but on Kathlynn as well. By the time she was finished Boyle was seriously thinking of talking to Father Patrick about renouncing all intimate contact with women, becoming a priest, and living on an isolated mountain devoting the rest of his life to prayer and fasting. Lauran then went on to say that she was going to report Roxanne to the Red Cross board and the hospital where she'd signed up as a civilian volunteer. She clearly wasn't following the standards that were to be followed by nursing personnel both civilian and military and her promiscuous actions were endangering the health and safety of the troops. Furthermore, she was going to make a notation that Roxanne wasn't to be scheduled to work at the Vella La Cava Base hospital effective immediately and she was going to inform Majors Normantle and Townsend of that fact as well and why. She was certain that once they found out they would take do the same thing regarding her working at the Espritos Marcos Base hospital and on the USS Florence Nightingale. Although not stationed in this area of The Slot, the hospital ship the USS Angel of Mercy did make occasional stops both at Vella La Cava and Espritos Marcos and, at Greg's suggestion, Lauran also planned to contact Major DeLaurentis, who was the Director of Nurses on that ship, and inform her of the situation in case Roxanne tried to get assigned there.

Then looking at each of the Black Sheep she stated that every one of them was going to have to get checked for all social diseases and if necessary undergo a precautionary bayonet course. They would also have to listen to a mandatory review lecture on preventing social disease, safe sexual practices, and hygiene procedures. The examinations would take place as soon as Dr. Pendleton could schedule them and the lectures would be scheduled in the Sheep Pen once she'd had a chance to see if there were any updated lecture materials available or if the ones she had at the hospital were still current.

This news brought a general outcry from everyone and several comments were made to Boyle for getting them involved in his mess.

"If you'd kept it in your pants, Boyle, we wouldn't have to have ours checked."

"Thanks a lot Boyle, nothing like getting a pecker check to brighten our day."

"I can think of a hundred other things I'd rather be doing than sitting through lectures and getting my privates examined."

"Pappy, do something, Lauran's your girl and you can talk her out of it,"

Greg shook his head indicating that he was completely, 100%, in agreement with Lauran's decision and even he was going to undergo the examination and sit in on the lectures. That statement brought a few lewd comments regarding Greg being examined personally by Lauran and how she'd make sure it was a very thorough one, from Boyle and Anderson, but the look Greg gave them quickly made them leave anything else they'd wanted to say along those lines unsaid.

"Let this incident with Boyle be a lesson to all of you," Greg said sternly as he looked directly at each of them. "He dodged a very serious bullet, but next time he or any of you, for that matter, might not be so lucky. I think a review lecture on safe sexual practices and the prevention of social diseases as well as hygiene procedures is needed after this. You all need to remember the risks you take when you sleep around with loose women. Now, I'm going to take Lauran back to her room so she can rest and I want all of you to go back to the base and think about what we've just talked about. When I get back we're going to discuss this further in the Sheep Pen whether anyone likes it or not."

I really hoped every one of the Black Sheep, but especially Boyle was going to take me and Lauran seriously as the last thing any of them needed was to have the rest of their lives ruined because they chose to have intimate relations with women of questionable virtues or decide that using protection wasn't necessary for whatever reason.

Lauran had been out of the hospital for a week and now she and Greg were sitting on the steps of the Sheep Pen with Meatball curled up between them enjoying Lauran scratching behind his ears and gently petting his side. His injuries were almost completely healed although a few of the more severely bruised places still bothered him when they were touched. Greg had been worried that he'd remember what had happened to him and be leery of returning to the camp and at first he hadn't wanted to get out of the jeep. Jim, Casey, and TJ had finally coaxed him out with some rib bones, he'd grabbed those and sat down by Greg's tent happily chewing on them, then he went into Greg's tent and with some effort made it onto his cot and curled up for a nap. After that he seemed to forget what had happened to him or at least he realized the Japanese, for the time being, were no longer a threat and the Black Sheep were the only ones in the camp. The rest of the Black Sheep were playing baseball after having returned from a mission off the coast of the Shortland Islands. It was supposed to have been a simple photo reconnaissance mission to take pictures of the location of a large weapons storage facility as well as a hidden airfield. The plan had been that once the pictures were developed and they knew what they were dealing with as far as the size of the airfield and the number and type of planes they'd possibly encounter, a twofold bombing mission would be planned to take out the weapons facility and then the airfield would be strafed and bombed. If everything went according to plan those two areas would be reduced to nothing but ruins.

Things, however, hadn't gone as planned as no sooner had Casey and Bragg taken pictures of the areas that Greg wanted to focus on from an altitude of 23 angels, he'd radioed for French and Anderson to drop down and take several more from an altitude of 18 angels and that was where the trouble had occurred. As if they were waiting for them, the sky was suddenly filled with at least 50, if not more, Zeros, Kates, Vals, Betties, Bogies…. "You name it," Greg thought. "And it was shooting at them."

They'd sustained major damage several of their planes in that surprise attack, although no one had been seriously injured. Bragg had a cut on his arm where he'd been hit by a piece of his canopy when a piece of metal from an exploded Zero had shattered the canopy. Once they'd landed TJ'd cleaned and bandaged it telling him that Clarissa would kiss and make it better later that evening, which sounded like a great idea to Bragg.

Greg, Lauran, and Meatball were sitting on the steps listening to Micklin gripe, complain, and otherwise raise a stink about those "college boys" and the condition that they constantly brought "his planes" back in. He was yelling orders at Hutch, Amos, Stan, and Henry and the four of them were running around trying to be in six places at once. Greg wanted to go over and say something, but that was certain to cause Micklin to start throwing punches, if he did. Greg didn't feel like fighting, physically or verbally, with him at the moment so he decided to stay where he was.

"You okay?" he asked Lauran.

"Yes," she smiled at him. "My shoulder's still a little stiff and sore, but it's improved to the point that Dr. Pendleton said that I'm going to be able to resume all my duties, but transferring patients and heavy lifting. He wants my shoulder muscles to get a little stronger, but my dexterity is back to where it was before I was shot so I'm going to be able to assist with surgical procedures now. I think I'm perfectly capable of the lifting and transferring patients, but I know that Dr. Pendleton wants to be cautious."

"And I agree with him," Greg replied kissing her. "You don't know how I felt thinking that I'd lost Meatball and you in a few minutes time." He reached over and petted Meatball who wagged his tail and licked first Greg and then Lauran.

"We don't need a bath, Meatball," Greg said laughing.

The three of them turned their attention to watching the baseball game, with Meatball joyfully barking when someone made it to home plate or growling when he thought an unfair play had been called.

"Watch where you swing that bat," Jim yelled. "I SWEAR ANDERSON THAT'S THE SECOND TIME YOU'VE ALMOST HIT ME IN THE HEAD WITH IT. ONCE MORE AND I'LL…."

"You'll what?" Anderson countered.

"This," Jim replied as he punched Anderson squarely in the jaw. The impact spinning him around like a child's top. Anderson rubbed his jaw for a minute and then landed his fist squarely in the middle of Jim's nose, blood spurting from it and running down his face. It was clear that neither of them was going to forgive and forget, this was going to continue until one or the other indicated they'd had enough. As was to be expected the game ceased as everyone began taking bets on whether it would be Anderson or Jim that held out the longest.

"Are you going to break it up?" Lauran asked.

"Nah, this has been building up between them for a few days and I'm going to let them get it out of their systems, unless it gets too out of hand and then I'll put a stop to it," Greg replied.

For the next several minutes the only sounds were of the other Black Sheep yelling out bets and encouragement to Jim and Anderson and of fists connecting with various body parts, followed by taunts, insults, or cursing.

"More trouble," Greg commented seeing Micklin walking towards The Sheep Pen.

"Afternoon Sarge," Greg greeted him.

"Major, I need to talk to you about what them "college boys" is doing to "my planes," Micklin said.

"Flying them I would imagine, what are they supposed to be doing? Taking them out to dinner and a USO variety show," Greg replied drily.

Micklin gave him a look that would have killed a dead man, if that were possible, and for a moment Lauran thought another fight was about to break out between Greg and Micklin.

"If I've warned ya'll once, I've warned ya'll a thousand times, parts don't grow on those palm trees. Wiley's engine's so gummed up because he won't watch his mixture that it's on its last legs. That plane Bragg flies has got major problems with the fuel pump, his aileron's starting to go bad, and I cleaned rust from around the cables on the brake pedal, but it's only a matter of time before it's going to have to be replaced. That bird I let Anderson use has got a snubber that's about go bad and that's only one of many things it's got wrong with it, Then if I were Boyle I'd be sayin prayers each time I went up because it's a miracle that bird can even get off the ground let alone fly around the island and…."

Greg held up his hand for Micklin to calm down.

"I know we need parts, hell we need new planes, but you and I both know that we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of either one of those things happening."

Micklin pointed his cigar at Greg.

"Well, I'm just warning you that I can only do so much and I'm nearing the limit as to what I can do to keep my birds in the air. I'm to the point that some of those planes are such a mixed combination of American and Japanese parts that if they were ever shot down, whoever found the wreckage would have one hell of a time trying to determine which side it belonged to."

"What are you talking about?" Greg asked confused and wondering if Micklin had gotten so angry he'd popped a blood vessel and suffered a minor stroke.

"When we took this rock from those Tojo bastards back in 43' they left a lot of airplane parts behind, as you know, and I've been having the crew use them whenever we can, in place of American parts that we don't have, along with beer cans, wire, and duct tape. I also can tell you that there're several wires and cables on your bird that are spliced together with chewing gum."

"How long have those been been like that?" Greg asked his voice trying not to sound as shocked as he felt. Even Lauran's face had a look of surprise on it.

Micklin thought for several seconds mentally figuring out when those repairs had taken place.

"About four months ago," he said finally.

"Thanks for the head's up, Sarge," Greg thought. That was all he needed was to have old chewing gum crack apart while he was in the middle of a dog fight with several Tojo planes and something malfunction sending him into the water or give them the advantage they needed to blow him out of the sky. "I'll talk to the Black Sheep and stress to them to be more careful with "your planes." I'll see what I can do about the parts situation and if you can help it try and use something more substantial than chewing gum." Greg replied.

"You do that," Micklin grumbled as he turned and headed back to the maintenance shed.

By this time the fight had broken up and everyone had either gone to their tents or were standing around talking. I had no idea what I was going to do since the chances of Colonel Lard agreeing to sign off on a parts requisition of any kind was next to nothing. I glanced at Lauran who gave me an encouraging smile.

"Something will turn up," she said optimistically. "You and the Black Sheep are as adept at getting out of trouble as you are getting into it."

I hoped she was right, but at that moment I had my doubts.

Greasy Dick – Griesedieck Brothers, a brand of beer that was popular with troops stationed in the South Pacific.

Dirty Gertie of Bizerte – A woman who slept around and more than likely had any number of social diseases

Khaki Wacky – Described women who were overly enthusiastic for men in uniform.

Able Grables – Overly promiscuous women

Mickey Mouse movies – Instructional films shown to soldiers that covered such topics as personal hygiene and how to avoid social diseases.

Johanne Sebastian Bach – Not slang, but used in the story because the composer is said to have fathered 20 children.

Bayonet course – Hospital treatment for venereal diseases, bayonet referred to the shape of the male sex organ.

Pecker check – Examination by a doctor of the male genitals to check for venereal diseases.

Cupid's itch – Another slang term for venereal disease.

The following are Japanese words and there English translation used in the story. I looked these up on Google so I can't say for certain whether or not they are correct.

Yameru – Stop

Teishi shimasu – Halt

Asoka – Over there

Ugoki – Move

Ugkanaide kudasai – Don't move

Teo dasimasu – Put your hands up

Shizuka – Quiet

Ikimasu – Go

Ima – Now

Sorera o Uchimasu – Shoot them

Ie – No

Kochiradesu – This way

Watashitachiha iku – We go

Inu o uchimasu – Shoot the dog