This was just what she didn't want to happen. She hated herself for falling for him, but how could she not? She had never met a man that could make her laugh like he could, infuriate her to the point that she wanted to kill him herself yet still not even be mad at him at all, or even leave her speechless. But, he was just leaving again; going off to run headlong into a hail of bullets and she didn't know if she could take that kind of loss again.

"I can't answer that."

She felt him drop her hand. He stood up stiffly and began his clunking walk back into the hospital. She tried to go after him but he shot her a look that told her not to follow.

"You talk a lot about me being the stubborn and pig headed one, but I think you need to take a look at yourself."

"Sergeant... I... Let me help you" She got up and took a step towards him but he held up a hand to stop her.

"I told you how you could help me." He said fiercely "But you're too fuckin' stubborn to admit to anything, even your own heart, and that's a stupid way to live Nili Cohen, real stupid. I'll be gone in the morning, and you won't have to trouble yourself with me anymore."

He hobbled himself back to his room as fast as he could, angrily pushing off orderlies and nurses as he went.

He packed what few things he had into his rucksack: his copy of the Old Testament that his mother made him take, his razor that had once been his father's and still held his monogram, the baseball cards his brother Joshua had made him take, and last but not least the old Louisville Slugger. He moved his hand over the smooth well worn wood. He'd broken his high school's and hell, even the state's home-run record with that thing. He ran his fingers over the signatures, tracing everyone from his neighborhood, his father, his mother, his brothers, everyone had signed this bat when he'd shipped out. Each signature held a prayer and he knew the power that lay inside that old wood.

She lay awake that night tossing and turning on the small bed in the nurses' barracks. She couldn't sleep at all, it was useless to even try. She'd been crying quietly to herself for the past hour, trying not to wake the 3 other nurses that shared her room.

He would be gone after tonight, and she wouldn't see him again. He would go off angry and scorned and she would be the cause. Why? Because she was a scared little girl who didn't want to get her heart broken. Instead she was hurting him.

Her small alarm clocked ticked 3 AM and she watched it with weary eyes. Her head was turning and she had no idea what to do. Finally she took in a deep breath and sat up quietly. She grabbed her robe and slid out of her bed.

She padded down the hallways of the hospital in her bare feet. The nurse on duty was sound asleep at her post and Nili had to stifle her chuckle as she snuck by. She stopped short in front of room 513 and took a deep breath. She turned the knob slowly and held her breath as she stepped into the room.

He was sleeping lightly when he heard the faint sound of a door opening, his eyes shot open and he was shocked to see who stood at his door.

"Hello," her voice was faint and quiet as she moved from the doorway to the side of his bed, as she reached him she stopped just short of his bed and he could tell she was searching for words as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and nibbled while she wrung her hands together.

"Hiya" He replied as he sat up to look at her.

"I..." Her eyes were wide and soft, in them he could see everything she was trying to say but couldn't get out. But he needed to hear it, from her. "I was wrong."

He just nodded and still kept up his stony face "About what?"

She took a step closer and perched herself on the side of his bed shaking out her loose curls and trying hard to put into words what she was feeling. He fought the urge to take her up in his arms and kiss her again like he had those few days ago.

"I was wrong about needing you." She moved her hand over one of his and her eyes were honest as she spoke. "I need you to stay safe when you go"

"So you only need me to stay safe, nuthin' else?" His accent was still thick, even when he spoke soft.

She turned away from him and shook her head again "I need you to stay safe so you can come back to me."

At this he hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him on his lap, "You want me to come back to you?"

She just nodded.

"You'll wait for me?"

Another nod, her eyes were filling with tears

"You'll write to me?"

She shook her head again

"Everyday?"

"Yes," Her voice broke a little as she let a few tears slip out

"And send me pictures? Some of 'em smutty?"

She let out a huff of laughter and whacked him across the shoulder "You've pushed your luck with that one." He just chuckled along with her and pulled her head into his chest stroking and tangling his fingers in her dense curls and grabbing her small feet and rubbing her legs with his other hand.

"Come on baby, I'll be away from you for a while, you gotta take care of your man somehow. They can be classy nudes."

She just tangled her hands in his undershirt and curled more into his lap, laughing at his earnest tone. "You haven't even seen me nude yet, Buster Brown."

Saying that could have been a mistake as she heard him rumble in his throat, his hands slid up to her shoulders where her robe lay, "That could change tonight." His voice was husky and his breath was hot by her ear.

She gently pulled away from him, "No, I have to save something for you to come home to Sergeant."

He moved her close again and ran his big calloused hands up and down her arms "Oh believe me, I'll come to home to you no matter what, Baby Doll."

"Sarg, I'm a good Jewish girl, I'm no zonah."

He growled in frustration but still held her "Well at least my ma's gonna love yah."

He picked up her little chin in his hand and pulled her in for a kiss. His lips moved over hers smoothly and he ran his hands down the small of her back and rubbed at the tense muscles there. She moved her hands over his shoulders and up his neck to rake her nails through his hair. After a moment they both pulled apart him smiling like the rogue he was and her biting her lip with a smile in her eye.

"I swear to god if I'm not back here in 2 weeks I'm going to kill every kraut with my bare hands to get back to you."

"Yeah well, just don't end up back here in pieces." She tried to sound light but they both knew that possibility was very, very real.

"Don't you worry baby, your man will be back to you in one piece. I swear it."

"I believe you." She wanted to, she really wanted to, but she had heard that all before; and she knew how it ended.

They held eachother close for the next few hours, alternating between sharing kisses and the warmth of each other's embrace. Just before 5 she gently pulled herself away from his arms. "I have to go Sergeant, I have to start my rounds soon and the other nurses will be waking soon."

"You have to leave? Can't you just stay? I need help getting dressed in a little bit..."

"Sergeant you're incourigable."

"Yeah, but you fell for me because I was a pig headed bastard." He scooped her closer once again and laid little kisses all over her face.

"I did, and I'll never hear the end of it now will I?" She stroked his cheek and down to his lips where she kissed him again.

After a moment and a very sweet kiss she scooted off his lap careful of his injured leg. She leaned down once more to kiss him lightly before she turned away from him and made for the door.

"Wait," He called to her "I need you to do somethin' for me before you go."

She turned back to him with a quizical look "What?"

"Go into my suitcase and grab me my bat." He gestured to the corner of the room.

She just shrugged and did what he asked without question. As he took the bat from her he turned in his hands feeling the soft wood.

"Sign it for me, and say a prayer when you do."

He handed her the bat and she took it from him along with the black marker from his bedside table. She moved her hands down to grip the bad at the handle feeling it's weight and the smoothness of the grain. She hadn't held a bat in years, not since Abe had enlisted... She shook her head a little reminded herself of where she was.

He pointed to an open spot righ underneath the Louisville Slugger logo. "Right there, that's the sweet spot, the spot right where you want to land the pitch. I've been savin' it for someone special..."

She took the pen and wrote her name as neatly as she could. After she was done she place her hands over the bat and said the prayer she had recited so many times...

"You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked."

Donny watched her as she wrote her name, clear and neat right on the sweet spot of his bat. Once she had finished she bent her head in prayer and she spoke so low he couldn't make out the words. She was heavily entraced by her prayer though, her brows were furrowed and her mouth moved like wildfire as she reapeated the prayer several times.

She was quiet for a minute after she was done.

She lifted her head and looked up at him handing his bat back to him and allowing him to gently cup her cheek.

"You give them hell Sergeant, and you come back to me"

He smiled and kissed her again.

"I leave at 8 sweetheart, you better be there to see me off."

She cocked a grin at him but he could see that she was trying not to cry. "Of course."

"We'll make all those other nurses jealous, baby." With a wink he let her up and she walked out, gently closing the door behind her and scampered back to her room before the other nurses woke.

A few hours later saw Sergeant Donny Donowitz and his little nurse standing outside the hospital waiting for the jeep that would take him back to combat. The staff had let the young girl have a few hours leave to see off her soldier.

The other nurses had all watched with bated breath as the relationship had unfolded before them. The older women had fawned over them and the younger women were jealous, but they had all paid close attention, like one of their romance novels come to life.

She looked up at the man to her side trying hard to commit evey detail of him to memory. He looked so handsome as he was readying to leave. He stood tall even though he leaned a little on his cane, the doctors had cut off his cast earlier and replaced it with a metal brace that he hid under his pantleg. He was dressed smartly in his khaki airmen's uniform, his dark hair slicked back under his cap and his eyes covered behind dark aviator's glasses. His shirt was starched and his pants were pressed and his insignias glinted in the bright sun. She thought that if this would be the last time she saw him she would want to remember him exactly as he was now, dashing and handsome and ready to take on the entire Third Reich.

He gripped her hand tightly as they both looked down the road towards the small town. He let loose a deep sigh and turned to face her, he slid his arm around her waist and slid the other up into her dark hair. "I'm going to miss you, sweetheart." His voice was rough and low and she looked up at him with large shining eyes. "I'll miss you too, you promise to come back to me?"

"Of course, like I told you, fuckin' cockroaches. I'll always come back."

She laughed again and knocked him on the chest "Real romantic."

"You're stuck with me now, baby." He leaned down and kissed her gently once more before they heard a set of footsteps come up behind them.

It was one of the older nurses holding a large camera. She smiled kindly and stepped up to the young couple, "Thought you might want a picture to remember this by."

Donny smiled down at his little woman and pulled her close to his side snaking his arm around her back. "Thank you Marilyn, you're a real sweetheart."

"Oh it's nothing Sergeant Donowitz, we try to get pictures of all the boys we send off healthy." She smiled kindly and he could almost see tears brimming around the lined edges of her eyes "This one just happens to be extra sweet for us. Stand together now you two, let's give you one to send home."

Nili sidled up close to his side and wrapped her arm around his broad back, both stood still and smiled at the older nurse and the large camera. They heard the machine click and a bright flash broke through the air.

"Perfect" The nurse said as she lowered the camera to smile sweetly at the young lovers. "I'll let you two get on now, we had a radio that your jeep would be here soon Sergeant." The older nurse nodded her head and turn back towards the hospital.

As soon as she had turned back Donny took Nili up in his arms again and moved his hand to stroke her cheek. He was the luckiest bastard in the world to have this girl waiting for him.

She looked beautiful today, her hair was loosely tied, so he could still run his hands through it and her face was sunkissed and flushed as he held her. They were so wrapped up in what could be their last moment together that they didn't notice the older woman turn back and quietly snap a photo of him bending down to press his lips to hers as her back foot gently lifted off the ground as she let herself fall into him.

They broke their kiss when they heard tires ripping up the rough gravel of the hospital road. The tan jeep rolled up quickly, but Donny didn't let go of her hand, he intertwined his fingers with hers and held them tight. The swift talking Southern Leuitenant hopped out of the jeep before it had stopped moving and sprang over to stand in front of the tall Sergeant.

"Why hello there Donny muh boy," he nodded towards Nili "Missus." He spat a lump of tobacco out and looked back up towards Donny over his aviators "Ready boy?"

Donny just nodded and tossed his suitcase into the back of the jeep. He turned back to Nili and just looked at her, she thought he was going to give her a small peck but when she caught sight of the grin he broke into she knew that he had something planned.

"Time for the show I promised." With that he grabbed her up and dipped her so low the tips of her hair almost touched the gravel and he kissed her with a fury that she would have never expected with the audience they had. She didn't hear the whoops and hollers from the other men standing by, she didn't see the smirks on their faces or the points and jests. She didn't see anything or hear anything or feel anything except the strong arms holding her up and the warm lips on her own. When he raised her back up she finally came back to reality

"Sergeant." She tried to sound reproachful but it only came out as breathless, and he took notice smiling wide and toothy before he squeezed her hand one more time and hopped into the jeep. The servicemen waved and chuckled at her as they sped off, leaving her standing alone in front of the large hospital.

Almost immediately Nili was swarmed by the other nurses cooing and trying to comfort her, she could stand none of it. She brushed them off as politely as she could explaining that now was not the time to be worried about him. He was fine for the time being. She moved quickly passed the others and jumped head long back into her routine. She thought of nothing but what she needed to do until she had finished every task she was assigned with the type of fanatic attention to detail only a mad woman would posses. It was only after all of that that she allowed herself to curl up in her bed and cry very, very, quietly.