She woke the next morning to the sun shining through her thin white curtains. She felt for his large form next to her, but she knew he was gone. She opened her eyes and saw his jacket and boots were missing as well. She had expected it though. She knew he would be called back to his unit. She had only hoped that she would get to wake with him.

She turn to the pillow he'd been resting on and found a folded piece of paper laying there. She picked it up and as she did a little silver chain fell from the fold. She reached down and found a silver neckace with a large silver ring on it. She smiled at it and draped it over her head and around her neck, it hung low on her and the ring settled itself between her breasts. She patted the ring then turned her attention to the note he had left.

Baby Doll,

I had to leave early and I couldn't stand to wake you, you looked so fuckin' beautiful asleep like that. I promise last night won't be the last you see of me. I hope you like what I left you, I know it's not quite Tiffany's but it's all I have for now, it was my Grandfather's wedding ring and he made it through The Great War with it, and I figured it must have some kind of luck. Wear it until I can get you the real deal.

I love you, Nili Cohen

Esa

She rose with a smile as she touched the ring again and moved to the bathroom where she washed and readied herself for her rounds that day.

His walk back to the whorehouse was much longer now that he didn't have a truck to take him halfway. He pulled his leather jacket tighter round himself as he finally came into view of the old house.

He clunked through the front door and set down his jacket and pistol. He heard the other men in the kitchen with a few of the girls, and he knew he would have to show his face in there. He stretched a little as he stood back up and marvelled at how rested he felt. He'd gotten the best night's sleep he'd had in months in her cozy little bed last night. He'd only slep a few hours by the clock's count, but it was something about having her warm little form draped across his chest that made it feel like he'd slept for years.

He wanderd into the kitchen to see Aldo, Utivich and Omar sitting at the table while Hirschberg and Stiglitz and Wicki were perched on the countertop. There were working girls littered around the room each one paying special attention to one of the men. Aldo had his plump little Marie stationed on his lap as usual and he was letting her feed him grapes.

"Well, well, well. Looky who decided to fin'lly come back." Aldo whistled low as Donny pulled out a chair and grabbed an apple from the large bowl in the center of the table.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm back." Donny bit into his apple and tried to avoid all eye contact from the other men and giggling women.

Aldo wasn't having that though. He sunk his head down to find Donny's gaze and he smiled his crooked smile.

"So, how was your night with the Missus?" He asked in his same cavalier tone

"She's not my missus..." He grumbled like a stubborn child

"Well, then you won't mind if Hirschberg here takes a trip over to the hospital and asks her on a date now will yah Don?"

Donny knew Aldo was only trying to push his buttons, he was angry at him for not returning earlier. Before the kid could even speak Donny turned to him with a fire in his eyes.

"If you even think of speaking to her I'll fuckin' kill you Hirschberg. She's not my wife... yet, but she is my girl."

Aldo cackled a little and ripped a bump of snuff out of his tin. Donny sat back and chewed his apple glaring at the Lieutenant.

"Well, while you were off doing' God-only-knows-what with your little Missus, Donny, the rest of us less privledged Basterds were gettin' to work. You're behind on the times now Sergeant."

Donny perked up and locked eyes with Aldo, "What'd I miss, Where're we goin'?"

Aldo laughed and sat back slapping Marie on her ass and pushing her up off of his lap. "If you wouldn't mind girls, we need some alone time with the boys See-vo-plays."

The women just shrugged and scowled as they peeled themselves from the men and walked out of the room.

The air in the room reverted to that of business as Aldo planted his elbows on the table and his eyes turned hard to Donny and the other men.

"I've gotten word from one of our lovely little working girls that a group of high rankers are coming in tonight down the Old Clichy Road, and we're gunna be waitin' for 'em, and when they get here, well cousin, we're gonna give 'em one hell of a welcome."

Donny felt a slow smile creep onto his face as he got that familiar tingle in his finger tips. "I guess I better get my bat ready then Leuitenant."

Nili was up to her elbows in blood. The man in front of her was clearly dying. He had a hole in stomach where his intestines should have been and yet he was still awake and screaming. She was trying frantically to calm him and pump him full of enough morphine to take away at least some of his pain so he could die with dignity. He gasped and gurgled and she swore like a sailor and tried to stop the blood. His wounds were bleeding too slow to kill him from blood loss and the organ's he'd lost were not immediately vital, he was caught in a slow and painful limbo between death and hell.

There had been a small skirmish earlier and a German grenade had blown a platoon to pieces and the hospital had been overrun with the casualties. The poor man in front of her had been one of them.

She searched hard for more morphine, but she couldn't deplete the stores any more for this man, he would die no doubt.

She finally could do nothing more and she just took his hand and sat by him, silently staring at the wall. He gripped her hand and screamed and begged for death, she just sat by and knew she was powerless to help him. She looked down at him, he was in his mid thirties, an officer. His left hand had a simple gold wedding band and her heart ached for him. He was probably married, maybe even with children. After what seemed like hours Nili finally felt his grip slacken and his hand grow cold, but still she sat by and held his hand.

"Nili, honey." One of the doctors came up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder "He's gone, he's been gone. We have to move him."

She sat up blind and stiff and moved away from the bed, the doctors covered the man with a sheet and Nili suddenly became aware of how much blood she was covered in. She tried to wipe her hands on her apron but it was just as soaked in blood.

The middle aged doctor just patted her shoulder and forced her out of her daze to look at him

"Nili, I think you should take the rest of the night off, and tomorrow too. You deserve a break girl. Go rent a room for the night and get away from this place for a little while. You're one of our best nurses but you won't be useful to us if you die of exhaustion."

She nodded and managed out a "Thank you" before she turned on her heel and walked back to her room. She needed to get this blood off of her, she couldn't shake the image of the poor man out of her head. She hope her Sergeant would come to her tonight, she needed the comfort of his arms.

Donny and Wicki were tucked up behind a boulder waiting patiently for the sound of the jeep to come down the road. Aldo and Utvich were behind the tree 3 clicks to the left of them and Stiglitz, Ulmer, and Hirschberg were scattered throughout the trees with the other Basterds.

Donny carefully ran his hand over the smooth wood of his bat strapped to his right leg. He stopped when he reached the logo and the name he'd carved deep into the grain of the wood. He made himself think of what would happen if he didn't kill these men.

They would ride into Clichy and they would be one step closer to her. They would be able to find her and hurt her. It was no secret that hospitals were prized targets. He loved and hated having her so close to him. He loved that he could see her, but he hated that she was also close to danger.

His ears perked as his heard the faint sound of turning dirt down the road. He looked at Wicki and both men turned and shared a devious smile. It was business time now.

Donny and Wicki stepped out into the road with Aldo and Utvich next to them. They planted smirks on their faces as the jeep neared closer. The headlights on it had a short range and they knew this. They knew by the time those drunk kraut bastards even had an inkling they were there they'd be down in a hail of gunfire.

Donny raised his machine gun and the only thing on his mind was to stop these men before they moved one foot closer to Clichy.

"Ready on three boys." Aldo said quietly

"One..."

The headlights on the jeep were in view and closing fast

"Two..."

They could feel the dirt at their feet shaking with the vibrations of the vehicle

"Two an' a half.." They would be within the range of the headlights in a moment

"Three" The jeep was right in front of them and they opened up on it.

Donny growled out as he emptied his clip into the car as it came to a screaching halt a few feet from the Basterds.

They stopped shooting once the car stopped and Donny and Wicki went to check for any survivors. Donny walked up to the driver's side door and smirked when he saw the mangled skull drooped on the wheel, but a split second later he heard a gunshot and saw Wicki drop clutching his side. The man in the backseat was shot but not dead and he was fumbling with his gun readying to shoot at Donny. Donny had his pistol before the man could react and he'd shot the revolver out of his hand and grabbed the wounded man by the hair pulling him from the jeep.

"What the fuck do you think you're doin' you kraut lovin' mother fucker?" Donny took a hard swat with his bat at the man's back sending him reeling to the ground and sputtering in the head lights of the jeep.

"Jesus Christ Donowitz, don't start that shit yet, Wicki are you alright?"

Hirschberg and Utvich had already lifted Wicki from the ground and he was holding his side but he managed to give Aldo a thumbs up.

"Alright den." Aldo said spiting a wad of tobacco before he moved in front of the felled German. "Pleased to make your aquaintance" He checked the man's insignias "Major..."

"Weber." The man choked out spitting blood into the dark dirt.

"Right den, Major Weber."

"Vayber, you ignorant fuck." The man coughed out again before Donny's boot collided with his side.

"You really think I'm in this for formalities? No sir, my business is killin'. Now as you can see, or rather as you couldn't see; we're good at what we do sir. Do you know who we are?"

"You're the filthy Savage and these are your Jew hell hounds."

"That sure is one way of puttin' it. I'm Leuitenant Aldo Raine and these are the Basterds. That handsome fella you shot is Wilhelm Wicki and I think you know who the big fucker next to you is."

"The Bear Jew..."

"Damn fuckin' right." Donny said smirking, he could feel his muscles tingling and calling out to feel his bat connect; it was the same feeling he got everytime he used to step up to the plate in baseball.

"I will tell you nothing you fucking kikes." Donny would give him one thing, this fucker was defiant.

"Now that's the type of rudeness I can't abide." Aldo said shaking his head "I'm not even gon' offer trash like you a reprieve. Donny take care of 'im. Then we gotta go find your nurse and get her to take care of Wicki.

"A nurse?" The man on the ground laughed and rolled around spitting out blood as he cackled "You have been shoving your dirty Jew cock into a nurse? I bet she is a real first class Jew whore, does she take all of you at once?"

Donny lost it. His vision went black and he could barely breath through his rage. No one. No. One. Spoke about his girl like that.

"You don't even know what you just did." Donny said deathly calm.

The rest of the bastards turned to watch him. They had never seen the Bear Jew this way before, usually he was all bluster and screaming. Now he was calm and collected as he picked the man up and set him on his knees.

"Is this how your kike whore does it for you, on her knees while the savage fucks her from behind."

Donny stood to the side of the man and he dropped his head and shook out his arms and the bat loosening himself up. The men were entranced, it was like watching Lou Gehrig or Ted Williams step up to the plate.

Donny picked up his shoulders and swung an easy stroke stopping just before the man's head, he flinched and opened his eyes when he did not feel the bat connect "Strike one." Donny said quietly. He picked his bat up again and made another swing faster this time and he stopped a hair's breadth from the man's face again "Strike two." He pulled the bat back again and squared his shoulders for the next hit. The mens' breath hitched in their throat as he swung again, the swing was monsterous. The bat connected hard and the Basterds watched as the Major's head slammed back and they heard the sick crunch of his face breaking and the bones of his skull and neck fracturing.

Donny let the man drop and turned wiping a smear of blood across his forehead as he walked over to the Jeep. "Come on Hirschberg, get Wicki into the Jeep, I'll take him to get Nili, the rest of you boys go get the brothel ready. She'll need boiling water and towels as well as something to bandage him up."

The Basterds were stunned. There was no shouting, no Teddy Ballgame cracks, no running of the bases.

Aldo shook his head and quickly regained control. "Alright then, listen to Donny, let's go. Utivich, Stiglitz, Omar, and the rest of you boys come with me, Hirschberg you go with Wicki and Donny, get the nurse and come back to the house."

Donny was already behind the wheel and Hirschberg helped Wicki to lay down across the backseat. Once Hirschberg was settled in the passenger seat Donny put the pedal to the floor of the Jeep and tore off towards the hospital.

Nili was making herself a cup of tea on the small hot plate in her room when she heard a vehicle stop short outside of her window and someone blare on a horn. She pulled her robe around her as she turned and looked out the window.

Her breath stopped when she saw Donny standing up in a Jeep with another man in the passenger seat and a prone man laying across the backseat. She opened her window and he yelled to her

"Nili, get dressed and grab your kit. We need you."

"What Sergeant? What happened? Get him into the hospital!"

He shook his head and she could hear the fervor in his voice "No we can't we need you to come with us, now get dressed and get down here now!" His voice heald a note of authority she wasn't used to hearing from him when he spoke to her and she knew he was serious.

"Okay, okay. I'll be down in a minute. It was to be her day off and she didn't have her usual nurses uniform ready so instead she pulled on the red floral warp dress she had set out to wear the next day. She pulled on a pair of brown heels and grabbed her medical kit before hurrying out to the car hurriedly pulling her hair up in a comb as she ran down the stairs and out to the waiting jeep.

Donny was waiting for her once she got out of the door and he quickly tugged her towards the Jeep, "This is Wicki, he's been shot in the side, we don't know how bad it is he was awake but he's been fading since we got here."

Nili's face changed in front of Donny's eyes as soon as she saw the injured man. She side stepped him and opened the Jeep door and moved into the back seat with Wicki dropping her medical kit to the floorboards.

"Get in the car Sergeant and drive like hell, we're got to get him to a place we can get this bullet out before he gets lead poisoning. Wicki, can you hear me? I'm Nili Cohen and I'm going to be taking care of you. I need you to stay away with me."

Donny quickly reverted to business mode too and he hopped into the driver's seat. He wheeled the jeep around and took off back towards the brothel.

They got there in record time. Donny and Hirschberg helped move Wicki from the jeep and into the brothel where the girls had set up a makeshift gurney on the salon table. There was a bowl filled with water next to the table and towels stacked on the couch.

"Get him on the table and let me look at him. I'm going to need a lot more water than that," She addressed the working girls as if they were her equal nurses "And I need a burning candle too."

She opened her leather satchel and began pulling out supplies and holding them over the candle one of the girls had brought her to sterilize them. She cut off Wicki's shirt to expose the hole in his side gushing blood with every breath he took.

Donny was transfixed watching her work. He'd seen her at the hospital before, but never in a heated emergency moment like this. Her head was cool and she did everything quickly and precisly. She was in control of everything around her and it was sexy as all hell.

"Good, it's not too bad." She felt around the hole to make sure the organs around the wound were intact. "You're losing blood, the bullet is close to the surface, but you're not out of the woods yet Wicki." She pulled out a syringe and filled it with morphine before injecting it directly into Wicki's neck.

She next moved to her bag and pulled out a large pair of tongs, "Sergeant, Leuitenant, I'm going to need you to hold him down, he's not going to like this."

Donny and Aldo nodded and both took Wicki by the arms, he was barely concious but they knew as soon as he felt those tongs he was going to fight like hell. She took a deep breath and dug the tongs into the bullet hole. Wicki woke right up and roared in pain even with the morphine running through him.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He wheezed as she dug into his wound

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I almost have it." She tried to comfort him but he was trying to writhe away from her and Donny couldn't blame him.

She dug in one more time and came out holding the bullet in the tongs. "There, we're over."

Wicki looked up at the bullet and then down at his wound before promptly passing out.