Hey my dear readers! You people are absolutely awesome, I'm so happy to see how many of you took the time to review the last chapter. I didn't know how many people were actually reading this story and caring about what happens to Lizzie. Ah, warm and fuzzy feeling! :-) You totally made my day and help me keep up my motivation!
Beth-rodrigues.77 (Hehe, you really are a Shames-hater, are you? :-)) Then I think you'll probably love this chapter. ;-) Yeah, I would've liked Guarnere to thrash Shames, but I couldn't let it happen, unfortunately.:-) Thanks a lot for your review!), Ophelia (Sooo happy you like both the Dick-Lizzie relationship and the Shames subplot, I'm somehow trying to get both plots together. :-))) Hehe, and the cliffie, well, I couldn't resist. :-) Loved your review so much!), Crazyforkasey (Very happy to hear you liked the last chapter. I hope this update comes soon enough for you. ;-))), Anon (*lol* Yes, I know the cliffie was mean. Hope you like this chapter!), coffee14 (Hehe, hope the wait wasn't too long for you! Thanks for the review!), ScarletLeon (Oh yes, Shames is definitely getting on my nerves, too. ;-))) That's why I think you'll like this chapter. ;-) Hehe, and Dizzie, yeah, they're just cute. :-))), MelBizz (Hehe, yeah, I confess the cliffie comes rather out of the blue (since they're not even in the war theatre yet). Very much loved to hear that you like Dick and Lizzie! Thanks a lot for your review!), ChocAndSnow19 (Hehe, yeah, the cliffie, I just loved to write that one. So cool that you liked the character description of Bill, I only found out during writing that I absolutely love him. He's also always fun to write. *g* Yeah, Kitty, I love her, too. :-))), ForFriendsForLove (Thanks so much, I'm absolutely thrilled to hear you love this story! :-))), Jayden (So glad you liked last chapter, despite the mean little cliffhanger! :-)) Yeah, Bill is one of my favs, too, and Lip is just great. Love them both! Thanks for your review!), Semaphore (So glad you liked Chapter 3, too. Yeah, it's always better when the NCOs decide to take matter in their own hands, especially when their superior has taken a liking to playing deaf to their reasoning. :-))) So happy you liked the conversation between Nix and Dick and I'm absolutely thrilled to hear it made you laugh! :-)) Despite this story being a drama (mostly), I don't want to leave out the humor completely. Thanks so very much for your detailed reviews, they are always making my day!).
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Dick marched across the base at a fast pace. He desperately clung to the shreds of his self-control, which was the only thing holding him back from just breaking into a mad run to the military hospital.
A car accident.
Lizzie had been involved in a car accident. His thoughts were spinning around the words that he had heard from Lipton barely five minutes ago. The sergeant had not known what had happened exactly or how bad it was, he had just picked up the story from a group of nurses that had been talking about it. Somewhere in the back of his mind Dick wondered about the fact that Lipton had known he cared so much about Lizzie and had searched him out to deliver the news. However, in the forefront of his mind Dick battled mental pictures of a bloody and horribly mangled body, stuck between two twisted iron sheets. It took every bit of will power to keep the panic from filling him from head to toe.
Why had not Dr. Coombs let him know? She at least should have known about his connection to Lizzie, but he had not heard one word from her. Thinking about informing others brought to mind that Dick had failed to notify Nix and Harry about what had happened, he had just taken off as soon as he had heard from Lipton. But then again, the sergeant would probably have the presence of mind to tell his friends that he had needed to be away.
The hospital came into view and Dick felt his pace quicken even more, jogging up the last few steps to the entrance and then restraining himself back to a walk again. The emergency ward was rather quiet, no buzzing of doctors or nurses. When Dick walked down the row of beds, he saw only two or three soldiers occupying the cots.
"Jean, stop fussing", he suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the only bed in the room that had its curtain drawn shut. The sound of Lizzie's exasperated voice made Dick almost faint with relief. "I told you nothing's broken, I need to get up and..."
He tore open the curtain and was met with the sight of a rather battered looking Lizzie being held down by tiny and mousy Jean, who displayed an unusual amount of determination in her task of restraining Lizzie. Both women stopped dead in their tracks at his appearance and he had time to muster Lizzie from head to toe. She had a large gash on her forehead that was still bleeding sluggishly, ice bags were wrapped around her right wrist and she had small cuts and smudges of mud everywhere. She looked beat-up, but overall, she did not seem grievously injured. A pent up breath that Dick had not known he had been holding rushed out from his lungs.
"Dick!", Lizzie exclaimed, looking at him wide-eyed. "You're here? I just wanted to..."
She did not get any further because he was wrapping her in a tight embrace and her words were coming out muffled against his chest. She felt real in his arms, warm and breathing, and only slowly he truly believed that she was fine and alive. Despite Jean's presence, he kissed Lizzie's hair, her forehead and, finally, her lips. He could hear a small sigh escape her mouth, but it took only a few seconds until she struggled herself out of his arms. It was only with reluctance that he let it happen.
"Lizzie, you really scared me", he told her fervently. "When I heard about the accident..."
"Dick, listen to me", she interrupted and he noticed for the first time that she was very agitated. "There's so much I need to do... Greta's hurt, you know, she might lose her baby... I got to get up and ask Paul... then we need MP, now... it was Shames, Dick, it was him!"
He could only make sense of half of her ranting, but it was enough to worry him both about what had happened and her state of mind.
"Calm down, take a deep breath", he told her in a voice that could be used to cajole frightened cats from trees. "Tell me what happened first. But nice and slowly, okay?"
Lizzie obviously did not like his efforts in calming her down and she shot him an angry look.
"We don't have time for this, we need to act now!", she exclaimed, then again started struggling against Jean, who was still standing beside her bed.
"Damn it, let me go!", she suddenly exploded.
"Jean, I think it's fine if you let her up", Dick told the young nurse. It would not serve at all to keep Lizzie restrained, it would only make her struggle harder.
"Sir, she has a head wound, it could be dangerous", Jean protested in a small voice, but then finally let go of Lizzie, who immediately scrambled up to a sitting position.
"Thank you, Jean, it's fine. I think we got it under control", Dick said in an effort to convey some sort of normalcy. Beneath the surface he was burning to find out what had happened, but it would obviously do good to bring some sort of calmness into this chaos. "Could you maybe let us alone for a moment? I'll call you if there's a problem."
Jean narrowed her eyes, but then gave a tiny nod and left. Dick fetched one of the visitor's chairs and sat himself down next to Lizzie, who had gotten up to sit on the edge of the bed and cradled her right hand.
"It was him...", she muttered again in a more subdued voice, then visibly braced herself. "We were walking to Aldbourne village, Greta and I", she finally began in a trembling voice that was still coming out fast, but at least it was schooled into a pace that could still be understood. "We wanted to go to the pub for a drink and a quiet chat. It was getting dark already when a car approached us from behind at a fast pace and honked. We were about to get down from the road, but he didn't even slow down a bit. I realized he was about to hit us and I pulled down Greta with me... I wasn't fast enough!"
Her voice had taken on a desperate edge and Dick could see tears shimmering in her eyes. Very slowly he took her uninjured hand and caressed the back of her fingers soothingly.
"I need to go see her", she suddenly declared, voice distraught, and made a move to get up, but he held her back.
"Please, tell me all of it", he requested quietly.
"Dick, I swear it was Shames behind the wheel!", Lizzie exclaimed and looked at him with blazing eyes. "He missed me because I was walking on the roadside, but he caught Greta. Her leg is badly broken and she hit her head very hard. She was still unconscious when they brought her in... her child, Dick!"
Though he really felt for the doctor and the fate of her child, he could not bring his mind to focus on anything else than the information that Shames was the cause of the accident. The thought of the other lieutenant almost killing his girl made the blood rush in his ears.
"Lizzie, this is very important", he told her through clenched teeth. "Are you really sure it was him? And did he do it on purpose?"
Only a few weeks ago he could have sworn that no officer in the US army would be capable of running over two women with a car purposely, but now he was not so sure anymore.
"It was him!", Lizzie insisted in a shrill voice. "I... I don't know if he did it on purpose, but he didn't slow down at all. And he didn't stop after the accident!"
"Okay, okay, I believe you, alright?", he told her soothingly and drew her again into his arms, making an effort to stay calm despite the storm raging inside him. He would take Shames to task, tonight, as soon as possible.
"I need to go and see Greta", she said again more quietly, in a voice that had lost its edge. At least she was starting to calm down.
As he was about to suggest they go and find out how Dr. Coombs was doing, Dick noticed Nix entering the ward and looking for them. Seemed like news traveled fast this evening.
"Go on", Dick told Lizzie in a low voice. "I'll be with you in a moment, alright?"
She nodded gingerly, then got up. When she swayed a bit, he grabbed her and held her close for a moment longer. Worry suddenly surged up again in him. How badly had she been hurt? He had not even asked her about it since he had been so relieved to find her in one piece.
"Are you alright?", he inquired gently and guided her chin up with his hand so she had to meet his gaze. Her soft brown eyes looked a dull grey and dark circles were forming under them. The skin around her head wound was swelling already, it would be a rather big bulge by tomorrow.
"I'm fine, Dick", she sighed, sounding all of a sudden weary. "I'm feeling a bit banged up, but it isn't serious. I'm just really worried about Greta..."
"Yeah, sorry, I'm keeping you from her", he answered, relieved at her answer, but still determined to keep a watchful eye on her in the next few days.
She gave him the tiniest of smiles, as a kind of reassurance, then left through the back door of the ward to get to intensive care. When Dick turned around, he already found Nix beside him.
"What happened?", his friend just asked, frowning.
"Shames happened", Dick replied briskly. "Lizzie said he hit them with a car. She could get herself out of the way, but the doctor who treated me is seriously hurt."
"The pregnant one?", Nix asked somberly and Dick nodded. "Bastard son of a bitch!"
"Yeah", Dick replied, feeling his anger sharper than before, now that Lizzie was gone and he did not need to restrain himself for her sake. "Can you do me a favor, Lew? Can you search him out and bring him here? Then inform regiment and MP."
His friend raised his brows doubtfully.
"You sure that's such a good idea?", he put in carefully. "We should just let MP handle this from the start."
"No, I want to talk to him before MP gets him", Dick replied in a voice that came out rougher than he had intended. "He should see with his own eyes what he's done and I don't want to leave Lizzie alone right now. Look, if you don't want to, I'll go looking for him."
His voice had risen without him noticing and Nix lifted his hands in appeasement.
"Easy, okay?", his friend told him with a frown. "I'll do it. But Dick? Don't do anything stupid, alright? You've depleted your store of rashness for the months to come with that appendix story."
With that, Nix turned his back on him and walked out of the ward. Dick did not wait to watch him leave but went after Lizzie. He found her in intensive care, standing beside the bed and talking lowly to Dr. Coombs, the husband. When Dick came closer he could see his wife in the hospital bed, hooked up to all sorts of machines. Her head was wrapped tightly and the broken leg was in a thick cast. She was still unconscious.
"... I'm so sorry, Paul", he heard Lizzie apologizing tearfully when he came to stand beside her. "It happened so fast!"
"It's not your fault", the doctor murmured slowly, his eyes not leaving his injured wife.
"Dr. Coombs?", Dick spoke up, making the doctor look at him. He tried to sound as reassuring as possible when he said, "We'll find the one who's done this."
The doctor just nodded absent-mindedly, but Lizzie immediately turned around to face him.
"You called MP?", she asked.
"Nix is on it", he replied vaguely. His decision to talk to Shames before MP was not actually the standard procedure in a case like this. "Will Dr. Coombs be alright?"
"We don't know yet", she answered in a quivering voice. "If she doesn't wake up in the next few hours, we'll need to get her to another hospital that is better equipped for head injuries. But she shouldn't be moved more than is absolutely necessary."
"What about the child?", Dick asked quietly.
Lizzie bit her lip, then replied, "We don't know yet about that, either. It's... it's difficult to hear anything with our instruments here. The gynecologist is on his way here. We'll know more soon."
Silence followed her last words. Dick held himself in the background while Lizzie and Dr. Coombs checked the injured doctor's vitals every few minutes. It seemed to do them good to be able to do something, while Dick felt absolutely useless. His head was swirling with so many different emotions that he found it difficult to hold on to one train of thought for longer than a few seconds. Whenever he tried to tell himself that Lizzie had been lucky not to be hurt more seriously, he was reminded that her friend might lose her child or worse, not wake up again. As soon as he thought of that, he felt himself getting angry at Shames. Had he done it on purpose? And if yes, why? If somehow Dick's connection to Lizzie had made her a target for Shames, he would never be able to forgive himself. Then again, she was more or less unhurt, no thanks to Shames. Sighing, Dick tried to stop his circling thoughts, they were making him dizzy.
Seeing that he was no help to Lizzie or the doctor, Dick decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air. Just as he was stepping out of intensive care, he saw Nix coming in, steering a weaving Shames with both hands into the ward.
"Are you out of your minds?", Shames snarled as soon as he saw Dick and shook off Nix's hands on his shoulder. "What is the meaning of this? Is this your doing, Winters? You realize you can't just cite me here like this?"
"I can, obviously", Dick replied icily. When he got closer to Shames, the pungent smell of alcohol on the other's breath hit his nose.
"He's drunk as fuck", Nix explained as if he had followed Dick's train of thoughts.
"You know drinking on duty is against regulations?", Dick pointed out sharply.
Shames snorted in response.
"Yeah, you're one to talk with a friend like him", he replied with a sneer and pointed an unsteady hand at Nix. "You could report him every damn evening. So what's your fucking problem?"
"The problem is, asshole", Nix replied angrily, "that I don't run over people with my car when I'm drunk."
Shames hesitated for the blink of an eye, then answered through clenched teeth, "I didn't run over anybody."
He was lying. Dick knew he was lying.
"We have a witness who saw you behind the wheel", he answered and narrowed his eyes. "And there's a gravely injured woman in intensive care. You realize that she might die? Go and have a look."
Shames' eyes widened at that and he made a move to fight off Dick, who tried to maneuver him into the sick ward.
"I have nothing to do with that", the other lieutenant denied, coming close to stammering.
"Yes, you do", Dick replied fiercely. "You run them over and let them lie in the ditch."
He still had a hand wrapped around Shames' arm and tried to drag him through the door of intensive care. The other should see with his own eyes the damage he had done. A gravely injured expecting mother, her desolate husband and a desperate friend hanging on to every sign of life from her.
"It's not my fault they didn't get off the road!", Shames suddenly roared and pushed Dick away from him. "Stupid chicks should watch where they're going!"
The abrupt confession took Dick aback, but he did not ponder on it too long, because Shames' tone of voice and choice of words made him instantly battle the strong urge to hit the other man until he was whimpering at his feet and begging for his mother. It took every bit of will power not to give in to that impulse.
"You will be held accountable for this", he replied, feeling his voice getting hoarse from his restraint on his temper. "MP is on it's way. Regiment won't tolerate your actions."
"Dick?", a sudden voice interrupted and only then did he notice that Lizzie had appeared in the door and was watching the unfolding scene with big eyes. However, her gaze instantly turned sharp when it came to rest on Shames. "What is he doing here?"
Dick had never heard so much derision in one word. Before he had truly registered it, she was already advancing on Shames.
"You bastard!", she yelled at Shames. "You stupid asshole, you almost killed her!"
She raised her hand to slap him, but despite Shames' state of drunkenness, he was quick enough to catch her hand in his own before she could touch him. A cry of pain escaped her lips as he crushed her sprained wrist. Before Dick knew it, he was on Shames and forced open the other's grip on Lizzie. Shames immediately let go and Dick shoved him against the wall for good measure.
"You won't touch her again", Dick growled lowly, keeping the other lieutenant immobile between himself and the wall. He was tempted to smash the other's head against the hard surface, to drive the message home.
"Dick", Nix interrupted quietly, appearing beside Dick. "Let him go, MP will be here shortly."
As if on cue, Dick could hear the sound of heavy-booted steps coming closer and he gave Shames another hard shove against the wall that elicited a low moan from the others' throat before Dick let him go.
"What's going on here?", a new voice demanded thunderously and when Dick turned around he was surprised to see Colonel Sink at the head of five soldiers from MP. "Someone explain this quickly!"
"Drunk-driving and hit-and-run, sir", Nix put in smoothly. Dick had never been more grateful for the quick-wittedness of his friend, since he himself was still ringing for composure when thinking about Shames' words and actions against Lizzie. "Lieutenant Shames was involved in a car accident with two injured that happened about two hours ago, sir."
"It wasn't my fault!", Shames blurted out and pointed a weaving hand at Lizzie, who had turned white as a sheet and cradled her right hand. "They should've gotten out of the way!"
Sink frowned, then asked pointedly, "Who is they? And who is this woman?"
"One of the two injured, sir...", Nix tried to explain, but Shames interrupted him viciously.
"She's Lieutenant Winters' fling. That's why he tries to cover her foolishness in not getting off the road by accusing me."
That was the last straw, the fury was making Dick's ears rush and drowned out everything else. Including reason and good sense.
"Shut your goddamn mouth, Shames!", Dick roared. "You stupid..."
"That's enough!", Sink's sharp voice cut through the air like a bullet. "You calm yourself, Lieutenant Winters."
Nothing was farther from Dick's mind than the intention of calming down. Quite the contrary, he would have liked nothing more than to just throw himself at Shames. He did not see Lizzie's shocked face or Sink's expression of disapproval. The only thing he saw was Shames starting to sneer.
A sudden hand on his shoulder was the only think keeping him back.
"Dick", Nix talked at him in a low but insistent voice. "You're about to ruin everything, so calm down and take a deep breath. You're not helping anyone by starting a fight."
"He started it", Dick replied fiercely. His heart was beating madly in his chest and he could feel himself shaking slightly out of sheer fury. "It's only fair..."
"No", his friend disagreed sharply. "Just shut up and calm down, for Christ's sake!"
Surprisingly enough, Nix' pointed words helped and Dick took several deep and calming breaths. His anger was retreating and he could feel his thoughts growing sharper as the cloud of fury was retreating. He had been only a hair's breadth from losing it completely.
"This woman", Dick said to Sink slowly and clearly, pointing at Lizzie, "is a victim of Lieutenant Shames' ruthless behavior, that's what happened here. Another woman, a doctor, was also hit and might not recover again. Sir, Lieutenant Shames has violated a dozen regulations and I ask for further investigation."
"He's lying!", Shames spat out with eyes that blazed madly. "He's lying because he's fucking her!"
"Shames!", Sink's voice thundered. "I won't tolerate such language!"
That was the moment Dick realized that Shames had lost the game. Although the other lieutenant's insult, as much towards Lizzie as towards himself, was still making Dick want to lash out, he was able to wrestle it behind a barrier of cold-blooded self-discipline. It was as if he had raised some kind of curtain between himself and the hateful words of Shames.
"Everything that Lieutenant Winters states is true, sir", Lizzie now butted in in a carefully leveled voice. "I clearly saw Lieutenant Shames behind the steering wheel of the car that hit Dr. Coombs. He neither slowed down his car nor stopped to help after the accident."
Dick gave Lizzie a subtle nod from afar and he received one back from her.
"She's lying, they're both lying!", Shames still denied, his slurred voice beginning to sound crazed. Sink's thunderous countenance told Dick a lot about the colonel's disposition towards Shames.
"You're on duty and you're drunk, lieutenant", he said in a dangerously low voice. "You're right now going with MP and you'll spend the night in a cell, to sober up. We'll discuss your case tomorrow."
While MP led away a protesting Shames, Sink turned towards Lizzie.
"What's your name, lieutenant?", he asked her, voice turning gentler.
"Second lieutenant Elisabeth Weiss from the ANC", she replied formally, but Dick thought he could see hope flicker in her eyes.
"Lieutenant Weiss", Sink said. "I'd like to hear your report about everything surrounding this incident tomorrow morning, at ten o'clock in my office."
"Yes, sir", she answered and bowed her head respectfully.
Sink then turned to Dick and Nix.
"Lieutenant Winters, Lieutenant Nixon, accompany me to headquarters."
"Yes, sir", Nix answered, but Dick hesitated. He looked over to Lizzie, saw her still cradling her hand. He was loathe to leave her right now, after everything that had happened and after Shames' insults. They needed to talk in private about the accident and he wanted to be there for her as long as Dr. Coombs' fate was still so unsure.
"Lieutenant Winters?", Sink queried with raised eyebrows. Dick could make out the beginnings of a new frown on the colonel's forehead and he did not miss Sink's furtive glance to Lizzie and then back to himself. Still Dick hesitated.
"Just go, Lieutenant Winters", Lizzie prompted slowly and gave Dick a look of understanding from warm brown eyes. Although her formal address sounded rather cold in his ears, her eyes told him that there was nothing to forgive if he left now. Although it was still not an easy thing to do, Dick finally nodded.
"Yes, sir", he said to Sink, whose frown had deepened in the mean time.
A cold and harsh wind was blowing in Dick's face when he walked out of the hospital with Nix and Sink. The colonel stayed eerily quiet while he drove them back to headquarters and led them into his well furnished office in one of the big stone houses on the base that reminded Dick of a medieval castle. If this house was a castle, Sink lost no time to show Nix and him who was the master of it. He let them stand in silence before his massive, dark-wooded desk while he poured himself a drink.
"So", Sink finally began, "I have to confess these happenings put me into a rather uncomfortable situation. Don't think I haven't noticed the unrest in some of the Airborne companies. Soldiers struggling against their superiors, officers behaving in ways that is unbecoming of them" – at this point he looked rather sharply at Dick, who had the grace to let his gaze drop to the floor abashedly – "I can't hear it anymore and I just want some sort of calm to return to my companies."
He paused and Dick risked a short side glance to his friend. Nix stood there rather stoically, with an air that could almost be called boredom. Only slowly Dick realized that he had dragged his friend into this whole mess, Nix had not had anything to do with Shames before Dick had asked him for help. At least Nix' current display of indifference soothed some of Dick's bad conscience. If there was one person even less concerned about career and army hierarchies, it was his friend Nix.
"Of course I'm relieved", Sink continued, "that you called MP to inspect this latest misbehavior of the Airborne, but all of this could have been dealt with in a less... well, let's say 'dramatic' manner. Lieutenant Nixon, start with your account of the events of this evening."
First Nix reported his part of the whole story (leaving out bits here and there, of course), then it was Dick's turn to give his account. Sink listened intently, only interrupting once or twice, before he nodded after Dick had stopped speaking.
"Alright", the colonel said, "I want you to write down the accounts you've just given, I expect them on my desk by tomorrow ten o'clock. I want you out of the court-martial that will undoubtedly follow today's events. There are enough Airborne officers involved as it is, no need to mix in your names as well."
"Yes, sir", Dick and Nix replied in unison. It burned on Dick's tongue to ask what would become of second platoon of Easy company, now that Shames would most likely face court-martial, but he knew that it was not the right time to ask. Obviously Sink was still displeased with him right now.
"Alright, that's it for tonight", the colonel declared. "Lieutenant Nixon, you're dismissed. Lieutenant Winters, you'll stay for a short word."
"Yes, sir", Nix replied and shot Dick a fleeting look of curiosity, before he left the room.
Silence ensued and Dick noticed Sink mustering him intently. He felt rather uncomfortable, but forbid himself to fidget under the intense stare of the colonel.
"Have a seat, Dick", Sink finally said to him and gestured with his hand to the chair standing before his desk. Puzzled, Dick did as he was told. "I know it must be hard for you young people to face this war when you've got so much time still laid out in a bright future before you. I can also understand that you're rushing to have what other men your age have, too, just in case you won't have the chance for it later."
Every word that Sink spoke made the confusion in Dick more and more complete. He had really no idea what the colonel tried to tell him.
"Nights out with your friends, some nice place to stay, good payment", Sink continued, then paused before adding meaningfully, "Women."
Slowly but surely Dick realized what the colonel was driving at. There was no way he could have prevented the warmth from rising in his cheeks. God, please, he really was not in the mood for such a talk! With his colonel, of all possible people!
"Sir", he replied hesitantly, close to stuttering, "It.. it's not like that. Sir."
"Don't think me a fool, son, it's always about women", Sink exclaimed in a rather good-natured manner. "As soon as a man is losing his focus, it's because of a woman. When there's trouble, it's because of a woman. I guarantee you, the reason is always the fair sex."
Dick told himself to take this discussion stoically and stared at an ornament in Sink's desk in an effort to shake off his embarrassment. If Lizzie could hear this discussion she would probably laugh out loud.
"You met Lieutenant Weiss when you were in hospital, I take?", Sink asked suddenly.
Dick did not think it wise to lie or play the fool.
"Yes, sir."
"She took care of you?", the colonel asked on,
"Yes, sir", Dick replied again, keeping his eyes cast down on the floor.
"Oh, son", Sink said, rather amiably, and leaned back in his chair. "This is pretty clichéd, don't you think? I can explain you how such attachments happen: you're lying in hospital, sick and hurting, and along comes this damn nice nurse who is tending to you with great care and soothes you when you most need it. She was trained to cheer up wounded soldiers, it's her job. You fall in love with her and since you're an officer, she'll like to be seen with you. It happens very often."
Dick listened to the colonel with raising indignation. How dare Sink judge his relationship with Lizzie? It was not in the least the way the colonel described it, but decorum forbid Dick to talk back to Sink. So he chose to grind his teeth and just let the lecture wash over him.
"Sir", he replied as non-committal as possible, since Sink was looking at him with raised eyebrows, expecting some sort of an answer.
"Your case is not the same as the enlisted with their gals", the colonel continued. "They can do whatever they want, as long as they comport themselves at least half-decent. But you're an officer, Dick, and a damn fine officer at that. I expect you to deal with this in a way that is befitting an officer in your position. You're losing your focus and this can't happen right now. You owe it to your country to give your best and you can only give your best if your mind is freed from any distractions."
Dick swallowed heavily, his heart rebelling against the very thought of Lizzie as a distraction. How could the colonel be so wrong?
"This is just a good piece of advice I'm giving you", Sink continued, voice turning sharper. "But I strongly recommend you get this issue settled. I won't have a repetition of today's happenings, just because of a woman."
"Sir", Dick replied through clenched teeth.
"That's all, then. See me on Monday morning, in three days."
"Yes, sir."
-tbc-