The northern Italian air was cool as it whipped about the Sergeant's face. He laughed like a madman as his Leuitenant took the jeep to the reaches of it's speed over the cobblestone road.

"Fuck Aldo are you trying to kill us both!" Donny was yelling like he was mad, but really this was better than the time he took his brothers to ride the roller coaster at Salisbury Beach

"Clearly you've never been co-pilot for a 'shine runner before. My ol' Studebaker could hit 60 easy. Sure as shit boy, she could fly." Aldo just let out another Apache whoop before they came to a screeching halt in front of the group of young men infront of the barracks

Aldo and Donny hopped down from the truck to stand in front of their new men. They were a rag tag lookin' group, Donny would admit. But, they were hand selected from hundreds of dossiers.

There was Pfc. Smithson Utivich, a second generation Polish Jew from New York, seeing him standing before him Donny would admit that the little fucker was just that, a little fucker, stood maybe only a little past Donny's shoulder. But, that little fucker had gone headfirst into a German barrack in Egypt and killed 7 soldiers with no more than a revolver with 4 shots and a bowie knife. Kid didn't come out with a scratch.

Then there was Omar Ulmer, another Private First class, this time from Chicago. He'd ambushed a brigade just outside Aldo and Donny's fight in Sicily and cut the throats out of 4 officers before the others even had time to draw a weapon.

Corporal Wilhelm Wicki was their tie to the German language. He was the only other ranking member of their platoon. He'd taken an entire regime hostage and brought 23 captives to his C.O. with the aide of only one other man. That was not what got him into their select group though, it was when his comerade finally admitted to their C.O. that there had been 30 captives originally, and he'd castrated and left a man to die for every half mile they walked back to camp.

Andy Kagan was from the boons of Maine, a good Northeast Boy, Donny had fought for him. He'd only killed three, but he made them count. He just so happened to be in the same Parisian whorehouse as 3 high rankers. When he found out he snuck into their rooms and disemboweled all three men.

Hirschberg, he was young. But he was somethin' else all together. He'd held 6 shot down Luftwaffe pilotes captive for 3 days cutting off fingers each day. When he finally got the information he wanted out of one of 'em he shot each one in the knee caps and then slit their throats.

Each other Basterd had just as distinguished of a resume. Donny grinned wide as he stood before them to the right hand of their fearless leader Aldo "The Apache" Raine. Donny listened with a smirk as Aldo went through the paces with the boys.

Nili expertly stiched the large shrapnel wound on the screaming man's arm. He was delusional with fever and she was covered in his blood, amoung others.

"Shhh..." She tried to comfort him but he only screamed and screamed.

The fighting was picking up like never before. More and more wounded men were coming in every day and more and more were dying. Nili was up to her ears in suffering but she dealt with every man with a steady hand a calm word. Each one of these men deserved the best care she could give and she would run herself to hell and back to give each one what he deserved.

Her back was aching and her hands were cramped from stitching when she finished her shift and made to return to her small shared room. On the way she was stopped by Marilyn, the older nurse who was often her companion during her breaking hours.

"Nili sweetheart, I've just gotten back some pictures I had developed, and I believe I have some that you would like." Nili's face brightened even through her sheer exhaustion as she knew exactly to what photos Marilyn referred. "Come with me dear, we'll get them from my room."

Nili followed the head nurse to her little apartments at the back of the nurses' barracks. She entered the small quarters she had been to a hundred times before, the nurses often played cards together before bed to unwind and keep their minds from what they had seen during their waking hours.

Marilyn moved towards her desk where she took out a small envelope with Nili's name printed on it in Marilyn's pretty font. "Here darling, take them with you, I know you're eager to go start your letter for tonight."

Nili just nodded giving her a kind smile "Thank you so much Marilyn, you're too kind."

"It's nothing, when I left my husband bought this for me and told me to take pictures of everything I could so that he could see what I was up to while he was gone..." A pained look crossed her eyes "Now that he's gone for good... I guess I'll be taking a lot more photos..."

Marilyn's husband Fred had been shot during one of the first raids, but still she served dilligently, never letting any of the other nurses see the cracks in her venear.

Before Nili reached the door Marilyn's voice stopped her "Tell me darling, he's been gone near two weeks, have you recieved any letters from him?"

Nili felt a little pain in her chest when she asked that, "I've only gotten one so far, and that was just after he'd landed on the mainland..."

She felt Marilyn's hand on her shoulder "Don't fret my girl, mail is slow to get here."

"I'm not worried. If something were wrong with him I would know it."

Marilyn smiled sweetly at the girl "Yes my dear, you would. Believe me."

Donny sat hunched up leaning against a tree holding the small stack of envelopes in his lap. Omar had just gone to the whorehouse to get the mail. Aldo had struck a deal with a prostitute in Clichy to recieve and hold all the incoming mail. As soon as it arrived he had removed himself over to the tree to sit and read. It had become an almost weekly ritual.

He turned over the three envelopes in his lap, he knew there must have been more. He knew she wrote him everyday, she'd promised, but the mail was anything but reliable. He wondered how many of his letters she'd actually gotten. He opened the most crinkled envelop first, it looked the oldest.

My Sergeant,

She always began her letters to him like that. He smiled to himself.

It's been 8 days now since you left, and I'll admit I miss you. I am sick however of the other nurses coddling me, they've been inescapable ever since you caused that ruckus scene.

He let himself smile again thinking how it felt to hold her up against him and kiss her like that.

I've barely had a moment to myself between them offering me sweets and wine and an ear to talk to. I want none of it though. You know as well as I do I'm terribly stubborn.

The hospital is quiet without you, and I admit I get a certain pang in my chest everytime I pass by the window and see the bench we used to sit on.

It's close to light's out time though, and I feel as though I need to say what I mean. I miss you, and I would trade a thousand and one petty fights with you than not having you here for a moment.

Keep yourself safe, Sergeant. I'm waiting for you.

Yours,

Nili

He carefully tucked the letter back into it's envelope and moved on to the second one in the pack. This one felt a little heavier than the last and as he unfolded the paper 3 photos fell out. His mind wandered to the proposition of her sending him smut and he wondered if maybe, just maybe... Then he shook his head and laughed at himself. Of course she wouldn't.

He studied the first picture, it was the photo Marilyn had taken of them together. He was standing tall and looking a hell of a lot cleaner than he was now. She looked gorgeous though, as beautiful as he remembered her. He traced his finger down the line of her body and remembered how holding her that morning had felt.

He set that one down carefully and picked up the next one. This one he didn't remember being taken. Marilyn must have snapped it after they'd thought she was gone. Donny was holding her close and leaning down to kiss her. He chuckled when he saw that her leg was popped up in the back, just like those girls in the romance movies he'd taken all the silly girls back home to. He'd have to remember to thank Marilyn for that one.

It was the third picture that really got to him. This one was one that he had definately never seen before. It was a close up of her, it looked like it was taken just before she was set to go to bed, her hair was down and he could see that she was wearing only a spaghetti strapped slip. It looked like there were other girls around her but the photo was too close to tell. She was smiling in earnest and looked as though any moment she would laugh her little silver chime laugh. She was beautiful. This was what he was fighting for. He traced the line of her cheek then her lips with his finger

He was broken from his thoughts when the picture was snatched out his hands. He felt his rage flare up.

"Whoa shit Donny, who the fuck is this?" Hirschberg was holding the picture up to his face and studying it hard. "Where did you find a pin up like this girl?"

"Give me that back Hirschberg, or you're going to have Louisville splattered across your big fuckin' forehead."

"Easy Don," Aldo's attention was now shifted from his sandwich to the two standing men

"Is this your girl Donowitz?" Donny was on Hirschberg before he could get in another word and he'd snatched back his picture smoothing it out to make sure it hadn't gotten bent.

"Fuck Don" Hirschberg was standing up and dusting himself off.

"Don't you ever fuckin' grab anything out of my hands again boy." Donny dropped himself back down to the ground and eyed the rest of the men with a fire in his eyes "My private life stays fuckin' private. Got it?"

The rest of the men just shrugged off Donny's temper, they were used to it by now.

"You wanted to see me Dr. Horvitz?" Nili stood before the desk of the stern old doctor.

"Yes Miss Cohen, I did. I've gotten word from the brass that supplies and nurses are needed in France. They've asked me to nominate my best and brightest for the transfer and you are one of the names I felt confident in putting on the list. You'll ship off in 2 days, and you'll be stationed in a hospital outside Clichy."

Her heart raced, France. He was stationed in France

"Miss Cohen... Miss Cohen did you hear me?" She snapped back to her surroundings, she cleared her throat.

"Yes Doctor, I'd be honored to go. I'll start packing immediately." The old doctor smiled at her for what she deemed the first time. "Good girl, you're one hell of a nurse." He nodded at her dismissing her and she moved quickly to her room. She sat on her bed and rubbed her hands over her face trying to hold back the swirling emotions.

She was going to Clichy, for the first time in nearly 6 months she had the ghost of a chance at seeing him. She quickly sat down at her desk and wrote out a quick note telling him when she would arrive. She knew he would come to her. He had to.

She settled into her bed but she knew she would not sleep, not just yet. She quietly lit a candle and brought out Donny's latest letter that she kept tucked under her pillow.

Baby Doll,

Have I told you lately that I love you? I just wanted to start out with something to make you smile. I miss you, I look at those pictures you sent every morning as soon as I wake up and every night before I go to bed, especially before I go to bed. I'm thinking the way I'm making short work of these Krauts we'll be at home in Boston for the New Year. How do you feel about catchin' some Sox games with your man this summer?

Thinkin' things like that is really what keeps me goin'. You're what keeps me goin' sweetheart. I love you.

Always,

Your Sergeant.

She read over his letters at least once a night. She ran her fingers over the big messy scrawl he wrote in. She missed him, she missed his bluster, she missed his over inflated ego, she missed the way he looked sideways at her with the crooked grin. She sighed and gently folded the letter up again before she laid her head down.

That letter was from 2 weeks ago. She was always nervous when she didn't hear from him. She wondered how she would even know if the worst were to happen. They weren't engaged, they weren't married, she didn't even know if he'd told his parents about her. She could very well be waiting on a dead man as she laid there. Her heart started to beat fast and she held her breath to try to keep herself from sobbing. She looked to the picture on her desk, the one of he and her standing tall and smiling outside of the hospital. She would always have in him that picture, just like she had Abe.

At the thought of him her eyes shifted to the family photo in the next frame. Five smiling faces stared back at her but it was the one coming from the boy in the airmen's uniform that made her beart ache. He looked like he always did, a little too tall, a little too at ease in his stance. His smile all crooked and a little goofy, but still endearing and handsome. It was the day he'd shipped off.

He'd worked for months to get his pilot's license and now he was ready to ship off to Europe. He'd be flying bombers over England and France and he was fired up to go.

"Nil," He'd always called her Nil even though one pronouced her name "Nahlee", he liked it because it meant zero and he always said when they were kids that he was one when she was zero so he was a year older than her "I've been training for this for years. I've always wanted to be a pilot, and now I got the chance to do that and serve my country."

"I know Abe, but I'm worried about you, you're my big brother."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one worried about you? You're going off to nursing school all by yourself."

"I'm not going to be shot at, besides what about baseball, that was your dream too. You just got the Yankees, Abe. Training camp starts in a month."

He laughed and ran a hand through his dark curly hair "Baseball's just a game, kid. This is for keeps." He eyed her hard and then his face turned serious "I've heard things Nil, things about what they're doing to our people over there. I can't let it happen without doing something."

She nodded and hugged her brother. "Then I'll follow you, as soon as I'm done with nursing school. I'm elisting. If you're fighting I'm fighting with you, just like Frankie Giambunco in 2nd grade."

He laughed as he rubbed his sister's back

"I know better than to try to stop you Nili, if you want to do it then do it. I could never be anything but proud of you."

Her eyes stung with tears. Seven months later they'd had a knock at the door. Her mother opened it to find 2 dressed officers and a folded flag.

Nili had finished nursing school a few months later and as much as it killed her mother, she enlisted. She had to finish out what her brother started, she had to continue on for him, his fight was her fight.