Epilog

I woke up to Kirby laughing. A hearty, belly-deep laugh followed by a series of nonsensical words. The more I listened, the better a bird's eye view I got. It sounded like Kirby's magic tricks that he did with a coin, or sometimes with cards. The two softer voices I heard had to have been Gabrielle and Emil.

After a while the talk shifted and I could tell that Kirby was teaching one of the kids how to do the trick. Probably Emil. The language barrier didn't seem to matter. Kirby's childlike fascination usually connected him pretty quickly with the kids we met in the towns and villages. There was no exception here.

I felt myself smile while I lay there, once more surrounded by that warmth and calm that reminded me of Christmas mornings. I could remember the surgery, and that horrible pain, but my body was blind to it so long as I lay still, and knowing there wouldn't be any kind of painkillers any time soon, I just let it be.

I dozed in and out for a few hours. It was Tibbs, stomping his way into the cabin that woke me up for good.

"Ambulance is here." He said, brusquely. He was followed by two medics with stretchers that looked around the inside of the cabin like it was the Taj Mahal.

"Don't know why you fellas wanna leg it all the way to the aide station. You got nicer digs here." One of them said.

They took me out last. Francois, Jean and Philippe threw their hands in to help tote the guys into the waiting bus. One of the medics had come with antibiotics, blood and morphine, and they plugged a glorious cocktail into my arm before moving me. I was out before the legs of my stretcher left the floor of the cabin.

When I came to again we were still in the ambulance. The roof was swaying over my head, along with the bottles of medicine suspended on poles. Thanks to Tibbs they'd brought a little something for each of us, including wraps for Kirby's knee, antibiotics for TJ, Topher and I, and a better splint for Tibbs' hand. We were all covered in blankets and the back of the ambulance was warm and quiet. TJ and Topher were up on supports that suspended them off the floor of the ambulance. Kirby and I were on the bottom level. I could tell Kirby was awake. Even with a bit of morphine the rocking of that ambulance had to have been torture on his knee.

His face was pale and strained and his arm was down, his fingers tight around his leg just above the joint.

"Kirby." I called.

His eyes came open and he looked over at me, then smiled, some of the pain easing from his face.

"Hey Doc. Long time no see."

"You need a break?" I asked, nodding toward his leg.

Kirby pushed up on his elbows, guiding his head away from the stretcher above him before he could knock himself out. He looked down at his leg, and I could see the wheels turning.

"Nah. Best we get where we're going. How you feeling?"

I smirked and pointed up at the bottle, half full of liquid. "Got me a line straight to heaven right now."

"You got you a black eye, too, thanks to ol' Tibbs." Kirby groused, easing himself down onto his back again.

I thought about my words carefully, turning to look up at the taut canvas over my head. "Maybe it wasn't the kindest way to do it, but he did me a favor, knocking me out like that, Kirby."

Kirby shot me a glance, and I caught the tail end of a flash of guilt when his eyes danced away. I wanted to head that guilt off at the pass, but I couldn't think of the right way to do it. I went quiet, thinking maybe Kirby would ask a question, or try to apologize. Kirby went quiet as well and the silence was heavy with the sounds of the ambulance creaking, and the bottles knocking lightly on their poles.

"He regretted it...when Jean said you was losing too much blood, and we thought maybe you wasn't going to survive. I could tell, Tibbs' felt bad about hittin' ya."

I wasn't expecting that response. I blinked and said, "Huh."

I heard the sound of cloth shifting on canvas and met Kirby's eyes again. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips. "Tibbs thought maybe he'd hit you too hard. Jogged something loose inside. I feel kinda guilty lettin' him believe it was true, but it felt kinda good at the same time too."

I grinned and resisted the urge to laugh. "You're a bit of a rat, Kirby."

"I know." Kirby admitted, throwing his arms behind his head. "I'll make it up to him. Buy him a drink sometime, or somethin."

"If we ever see him again."

"He said he wants to join the infantry. Jump in where the fightin' is." Kirby said, closing his eyes.

"Wanting to and getting to are two different things." I said cautiously. I closed my eyes too and the moment I did all the energy I'd built up over the past few hours seemed to drain out of me.

"You know how...how he smokes. I told him we don't get cigarettes like that out on the line." Kirby mumbled, sounding suddenly as tired as I felt.

I murmured agreement, starting to drift back to sleep. I heard Kirby start to snore, and joined him shortly after.

We made it ok to the aide station and from there I knew I would be sent back to a hospital for my recovery. Kirby and TJ and I would go together once a truck was available. We had a brief visit from Lt. Hanley, and Little John and Caje came by to show off minor wounds they'd received since we'd seen them last.

Kirby was quick to tell about our ordeal, and the circumstances got more and more drastic each time, but it was the outlandish version that we needed to remember most. The real details had been scary enough. We made sure we remembered the guys we'd lost. Hanley promised to write the letter to Yancey's parents, and I said I would write a letter to Pete's parents.

Then we went our separate ways. The guys went back to the front lines and us litter cases headed further away from the war. We knew we'd be back though. And I wondered if I would see Tibbs, Emil, Gabrielle, Bette, Jean, Francois and Philippe again.