Healing the Breach
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you would recognize, just the plot.
Notes from the Author: For the purposes of this story Anthony didn't die but he did suffer
from a head injury during the mission. There is some romance in this story, so far the
pairings are Rafe/Evelyn and Anthony/Sandra.
The next few weeks passed by fairly uneventfully for Evelyn. She continued to work at
the hospital, treating some of the patients that had sustained gruesome injuries from
recent attacks at other bases. All of the patients in Ward Three took a liking to the gentle
and quiet nurse who could seemingly waddle, as fast as her seven-months pregnant frame
would allow her, to their bedsides before they had a chance to ask for something. She
became their own Florence Nightingale, writing letters, adjusting pillows, and serving
them their meals. In fact, there had been a few of the younger patients who had developed
something of a crush on the elegantly beautiful woman.
Evelyn lived for her shifts at the hospital. The perfectionist in her liked to see all of the
blood and bruises disappear, with barely visible scars left in their places. However, she
found herself being able to work less and less as the days passed. Her stomach grew
everyday and sometimes Evelyn thought that she would explode before having the
chance to give birth.
One day after her shift was over she returned home to find Barbara sitting on the couch,
knitting as fast as her slender fingers would allow. Evelyn was concerned. Barbara wasn't
domestic in the least and there she was, staring at her work and murmuring "Knit three,
purl one," like it was a mantra. "Barbara, hon, are you okay?" asked Evelyn.
Barbara looked up, startled, like a deer caught in a car's headlights. "Yeah," she said,
shaking her head. "That kid of yours is gonna need some clothes isn't it? No one is gonna
want to see it naked, especially if it looks like its Dad."
Evelyn smiled, stroking the soft green yarn. "You're right. I love this color. It's one of
my favorites."
Barbara put her knitting down. "It was Billy's favorite color too!" she sobbed onto
Evelyn's shoulder. Evelyn patted Barbara's hair, not trying to calm her down, for this
was the first time she had seen Barbara cry.
Rafe, Gooz, Red, and Anthony all lay on their bunks in the barracks. Rafe had been
transferred there after their return from their mission in China. The four men had quickly
become the best of friends. What brought them together was the mourning of their fallen
comrades, and this allied mourning had brought them into a brotherhood.
Each of the pilots added their own dynamic to the group. Rafe was the oldest and was
serious most of the time but was always up for fun. Red, even though he was the
youngest, was the one the men always went to for advice. Gooz was the jokester, always
good for a laugh. And Anthony was the smooth talker. If the boys found themselves in
any sort of trouble Anthony was the one who came up with the best excuse.
Anthony stared at the ceiling fan, which was doing nothing but moving the hot Hawaiian
air around. "I wonder what Sandra's doin," he asked no one in particular.
"I told you!" Gooz said, lazily. " Ladies cloud the mind. You'd better be careful buddy."
Rafe grunted from his bunk. He turned on his side, looking Anthony in the eye. "You
really like her!" It wasn't a question. Rafe saw all of the signs. He had acted the same
way when he first met Evelyn in New York last year. It seemed like a dozen lifetimes
ago.
"Yeah…" Anthony said, sounding surprised to admit it. " I do!" He jumped off his bunk
and grabbed his jacket. "I gotta find her!"
"Try the hospital," offered Red.
"Man," Gooz said. "What is it about pilots and nurses?"
Sandra sat at her desk in the hospital, reviewing the inventory that one of the new nurses
had done last week. She found herself think about Anthony. She couldn't believe that she
had kissed him at the hospital when he had come back. Sandra was the most proper out of
all the nurses and kissing Anthony was something that she never would of thought herself
capable of.
In the weeks that had followed the pilot's return home they had seen each other
frequently, sometimes planned and sometimes coincidentally. One time Sandra had been
walking past Battle Row, which was still recovering and the place that Sandra would
always associate with the smell of death, and had seen Anthony standing at the railing,
gripping it so hard that his knuckles were white. She had walked up beside him and had
silently taken his hand in hers. They had stood there, watching the waves splash against
the sides of the ships, for at least a half an hour without either of them uttering a single
word. Suddenly, Anthony had turned to her and whispered "Come on," They had walked
back to the nurse's quarters hand in hand. Once the screen door to the porch had shut
Anthony had turned around and started to walk back to his barracks.
Sandra sighed. Anthony was more confusing than she had thought he would have been.
One minute he was a sweet and gentle man, the portrait of a gentleman, but the next he
turned back into a typical Army pilot. Cocky and extremely self-assured. Anthony never
talked about what happened in China. Sandra wasn't sure but she thought that that might
have something to do with his behavior, which could change faster than he could make a
plane switch direction.
She looked up, hearing a sharp knock at the door. Anthony stood outside, shifting his
weight from side to side. She laughed to herself, never having seen him look this nervous
before. Sandra opened her door and backed up to let Anthony by her. He didn't come in
right away, though. He stood in the doorway, swallowing and nervously running his
hands through his hair.
"Is everyone okay?" she asked, Anthony's behavior starting to make her nervous. "Is
Evelyn alright? The baby?" She wasn't due for another two months and Sandra wasn't
sure that Evelyn's delicate frame was ready to give birth.
"Yeah, Evelyn and the baby and everyone else are okay." Everyone had been keeping a
close eye on her, even the pilots. They tried to do it nonchalantly but nothing had escaped
Sandra's eyes. Evelyn's pregnancy hadn't exactly been low-stress." Except for one," he
added mysteriously.
Sandra's heart plummeted. "Is it Barbara? She didn't do anything crazy, did she?" All of
the nurses had been worried about Barbara. She had changed since Billy and Betty had
died.
"It's not Barbara. She's fine. It's me." Anthony said, his eyes on the floor.
"Oh lord! What's the matter? Are you hurt?" Sandra asked, her hands automatically
going to his forehead.
"No…I'm not hurt…it's-it's just that…Christ!" he muttered. "I like you Sandra. A lot!"
Sandra stood there for a minute, and then threw her arms around Anthony's neck. "I like
you a lot, too!" she laughed. She drew back from their embrace and smacked his
shoulder. "Now don't do that to me ever again! I thought someone was seriously sick!"
She laughed again and kissed his cheek.
"Yeah, well I think that I may have a bad case of lovesickness," Anthony whispered into
her ear, her curls tickling his lips.
Evelyn and Rafe drove along the coast in a car that he had bought from a civilian family
that had decided to leave the island. Rafe looked over at Evelyn, who was being
unusually quiet. The sight of her, with her long dark hair blowing in the wind caused
Rafe's heart to start to beat abnormally. He truly did believe that she was even more
beautiful at seven-months pregnant. He had never understood why people described
pregnant women as "glowing", until now.
"What are you worried about?" he asked, seeing her chew on her bottom lip.
"What makes you think that I'm worried about something?" Evelyn asked, angry at
herself for ruining what could have been a nice day away from everything with Rafe. She
was worried about everyone. People had changed so much since the attack at Pearl. She
was thinking about Danny. She was almost glad that she hadn't told him that she was
pregnant, that he had died thinking that she loved him. Evelyn knew that she would have
had to marry Danny if he had come back but she wasn't sure if she could love him or
make him believe that she did love him.
Evelyn had tried not to think about Danny but thoughts of him crept into mind at the
oddest times. She thought of him whenever she wrote a letter for a young patient of hers
who wrote poetry that was almost as beautiful as Danny's. Or when she looked into Dr.
Hamilton's eyes, they were the exact same shade of green as Danny's.
"That thing that you're doing with your lip, that's what," Rafe chuckled. "Honestly,
what's the matter?"
It amazed Evelyn at how well Rafe understood her behavior. He knew that when she
massaged her temples she was tired, if she kicked off her shoes and rolled her ankles than
her swollen ankles and feet were sore, and when she put her hands on the small of her
back and sighed the baby had been kicking. "Nothing important," she said. "I'm fine."
She looked down at Rafe's hand, which had been massaging the inside of her wrist and
sending an electrical current throughout her entire body. "Let's just go to the beach."
"Sounds good to me," he answered, resting a hand on the top of her stomach to feel the
baby's heart beat. Rafe did this all the time, telling Evelyn that it made the baby seem
like a reality. "When I feel it's heartbeat then I know that it's gonna be alive in this world
with us soon," he had told her.
Evelyn rested her hand on top of Rafe's. "Soon Rafe. I have this feeling that it's gonna
happen really soon."
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you would recognize, just the plot.
Notes from the Author: For the purposes of this story Anthony didn't die but he did suffer
from a head injury during the mission. There is some romance in this story, so far the
pairings are Rafe/Evelyn and Anthony/Sandra.
The next few weeks passed by fairly uneventfully for Evelyn. She continued to work at
the hospital, treating some of the patients that had sustained gruesome injuries from
recent attacks at other bases. All of the patients in Ward Three took a liking to the gentle
and quiet nurse who could seemingly waddle, as fast as her seven-months pregnant frame
would allow her, to their bedsides before they had a chance to ask for something. She
became their own Florence Nightingale, writing letters, adjusting pillows, and serving
them their meals. In fact, there had been a few of the younger patients who had developed
something of a crush on the elegantly beautiful woman.
Evelyn lived for her shifts at the hospital. The perfectionist in her liked to see all of the
blood and bruises disappear, with barely visible scars left in their places. However, she
found herself being able to work less and less as the days passed. Her stomach grew
everyday and sometimes Evelyn thought that she would explode before having the
chance to give birth.
One day after her shift was over she returned home to find Barbara sitting on the couch,
knitting as fast as her slender fingers would allow. Evelyn was concerned. Barbara wasn't
domestic in the least and there she was, staring at her work and murmuring "Knit three,
purl one," like it was a mantra. "Barbara, hon, are you okay?" asked Evelyn.
Barbara looked up, startled, like a deer caught in a car's headlights. "Yeah," she said,
shaking her head. "That kid of yours is gonna need some clothes isn't it? No one is gonna
want to see it naked, especially if it looks like its Dad."
Evelyn smiled, stroking the soft green yarn. "You're right. I love this color. It's one of
my favorites."
Barbara put her knitting down. "It was Billy's favorite color too!" she sobbed onto
Evelyn's shoulder. Evelyn patted Barbara's hair, not trying to calm her down, for this
was the first time she had seen Barbara cry.
Rafe, Gooz, Red, and Anthony all lay on their bunks in the barracks. Rafe had been
transferred there after their return from their mission in China. The four men had quickly
become the best of friends. What brought them together was the mourning of their fallen
comrades, and this allied mourning had brought them into a brotherhood.
Each of the pilots added their own dynamic to the group. Rafe was the oldest and was
serious most of the time but was always up for fun. Red, even though he was the
youngest, was the one the men always went to for advice. Gooz was the jokester, always
good for a laugh. And Anthony was the smooth talker. If the boys found themselves in
any sort of trouble Anthony was the one who came up with the best excuse.
Anthony stared at the ceiling fan, which was doing nothing but moving the hot Hawaiian
air around. "I wonder what Sandra's doin," he asked no one in particular.
"I told you!" Gooz said, lazily. " Ladies cloud the mind. You'd better be careful buddy."
Rafe grunted from his bunk. He turned on his side, looking Anthony in the eye. "You
really like her!" It wasn't a question. Rafe saw all of the signs. He had acted the same
way when he first met Evelyn in New York last year. It seemed like a dozen lifetimes
ago.
"Yeah…" Anthony said, sounding surprised to admit it. " I do!" He jumped off his bunk
and grabbed his jacket. "I gotta find her!"
"Try the hospital," offered Red.
"Man," Gooz said. "What is it about pilots and nurses?"
Sandra sat at her desk in the hospital, reviewing the inventory that one of the new nurses
had done last week. She found herself think about Anthony. She couldn't believe that she
had kissed him at the hospital when he had come back. Sandra was the most proper out of
all the nurses and kissing Anthony was something that she never would of thought herself
capable of.
In the weeks that had followed the pilot's return home they had seen each other
frequently, sometimes planned and sometimes coincidentally. One time Sandra had been
walking past Battle Row, which was still recovering and the place that Sandra would
always associate with the smell of death, and had seen Anthony standing at the railing,
gripping it so hard that his knuckles were white. She had walked up beside him and had
silently taken his hand in hers. They had stood there, watching the waves splash against
the sides of the ships, for at least a half an hour without either of them uttering a single
word. Suddenly, Anthony had turned to her and whispered "Come on," They had walked
back to the nurse's quarters hand in hand. Once the screen door to the porch had shut
Anthony had turned around and started to walk back to his barracks.
Sandra sighed. Anthony was more confusing than she had thought he would have been.
One minute he was a sweet and gentle man, the portrait of a gentleman, but the next he
turned back into a typical Army pilot. Cocky and extremely self-assured. Anthony never
talked about what happened in China. Sandra wasn't sure but she thought that that might
have something to do with his behavior, which could change faster than he could make a
plane switch direction.
She looked up, hearing a sharp knock at the door. Anthony stood outside, shifting his
weight from side to side. She laughed to herself, never having seen him look this nervous
before. Sandra opened her door and backed up to let Anthony by her. He didn't come in
right away, though. He stood in the doorway, swallowing and nervously running his
hands through his hair.
"Is everyone okay?" she asked, Anthony's behavior starting to make her nervous. "Is
Evelyn alright? The baby?" She wasn't due for another two months and Sandra wasn't
sure that Evelyn's delicate frame was ready to give birth.
"Yeah, Evelyn and the baby and everyone else are okay." Everyone had been keeping a
close eye on her, even the pilots. They tried to do it nonchalantly but nothing had escaped
Sandra's eyes. Evelyn's pregnancy hadn't exactly been low-stress." Except for one," he
added mysteriously.
Sandra's heart plummeted. "Is it Barbara? She didn't do anything crazy, did she?" All of
the nurses had been worried about Barbara. She had changed since Billy and Betty had
died.
"It's not Barbara. She's fine. It's me." Anthony said, his eyes on the floor.
"Oh lord! What's the matter? Are you hurt?" Sandra asked, her hands automatically
going to his forehead.
"No…I'm not hurt…it's-it's just that…Christ!" he muttered. "I like you Sandra. A lot!"
Sandra stood there for a minute, and then threw her arms around Anthony's neck. "I like
you a lot, too!" she laughed. She drew back from their embrace and smacked his
shoulder. "Now don't do that to me ever again! I thought someone was seriously sick!"
She laughed again and kissed his cheek.
"Yeah, well I think that I may have a bad case of lovesickness," Anthony whispered into
her ear, her curls tickling his lips.
Evelyn and Rafe drove along the coast in a car that he had bought from a civilian family
that had decided to leave the island. Rafe looked over at Evelyn, who was being
unusually quiet. The sight of her, with her long dark hair blowing in the wind caused
Rafe's heart to start to beat abnormally. He truly did believe that she was even more
beautiful at seven-months pregnant. He had never understood why people described
pregnant women as "glowing", until now.
"What are you worried about?" he asked, seeing her chew on her bottom lip.
"What makes you think that I'm worried about something?" Evelyn asked, angry at
herself for ruining what could have been a nice day away from everything with Rafe. She
was worried about everyone. People had changed so much since the attack at Pearl. She
was thinking about Danny. She was almost glad that she hadn't told him that she was
pregnant, that he had died thinking that she loved him. Evelyn knew that she would have
had to marry Danny if he had come back but she wasn't sure if she could love him or
make him believe that she did love him.
Evelyn had tried not to think about Danny but thoughts of him crept into mind at the
oddest times. She thought of him whenever she wrote a letter for a young patient of hers
who wrote poetry that was almost as beautiful as Danny's. Or when she looked into Dr.
Hamilton's eyes, they were the exact same shade of green as Danny's.
"That thing that you're doing with your lip, that's what," Rafe chuckled. "Honestly,
what's the matter?"
It amazed Evelyn at how well Rafe understood her behavior. He knew that when she
massaged her temples she was tired, if she kicked off her shoes and rolled her ankles than
her swollen ankles and feet were sore, and when she put her hands on the small of her
back and sighed the baby had been kicking. "Nothing important," she said. "I'm fine."
She looked down at Rafe's hand, which had been massaging the inside of her wrist and
sending an electrical current throughout her entire body. "Let's just go to the beach."
"Sounds good to me," he answered, resting a hand on the top of her stomach to feel the
baby's heart beat. Rafe did this all the time, telling Evelyn that it made the baby seem
like a reality. "When I feel it's heartbeat then I know that it's gonna be alive in this world
with us soon," he had told her.
Evelyn rested her hand on top of Rafe's. "Soon Rafe. I have this feeling that it's gonna
happen really soon."