A/N just a warning, there is talk of injuries in here, though nothing specific and lets face it, if you managed to watch the Hurt Locker then my little fic isn't going to destroy your sensibilities. I don't think…

She stirred in her sleep, her hair brushing his cheek as she moved. He opened his eyes to see the room still in darkness. Not morning yet.

He smiled, still time to do that again.

His hand slowly pulled out from underneath her body and flattened against her stomach. Moving very slowly he ran his hand down her thigh to her knee and back.

She moaned and shifted back, her ass pressing against his already hard arousal. He lifted his head and kissed her neck, running his lips over the skin and tasting her.

She was so responsive to him. He moaned as he saw her bite her lip in her sleep. A gesture that was so simple but that made him even harder. He ran his hand over side and down her hip.

She gasped and moaned his name.

She was awake.

He laughed against her throat as he pressed a kiss to the soft skin where her shoulder met her neck. She shivered as his hands moved over her body. One of his hands travelled over the small swell of her stomach and caressed her intimately.

Will let out a throaty chuckle as his fingers brushed her sex, drawing another moan from her lips. Moving quickly so as to catch her off guard he lifted her leg and thrust into her again. She cried out in pleasure at his body's invasion of hers. He began a slow, strong rhythm, making her breath slowly quicken until she was panting.

Her hands reached back to his body and gripped his hips urging him to move faster, harder, anything to slacken the need in her. He did as she asked, his thrusts becoming harder and deeper. She felt his hand slide over her stomach to her centre; sliding over her clit and causing her gasp and tremble.

The combination of everything pushed her to the edge and over, before she could prepare herself she was spiralling with pleasure and could think of nothing but the sensations she was feeling. She didn't notice when he tensed and met his release with her.

She lay there panting for a moment as she came back to herself. It was almost too much. She felt his rough hands on her again as he pulled her back into the curve of his body. He inhaled her scent slowly as he held her small fame tightly, she smelt like strawberries and sex, far too edible in his opinion.

"Will," she managed before he interrupted her with a hushing sound.

There was no space for talking here. He was enjoying the after-glow and the soft girl in his arms. He didn't want to analyse this tryst. His mind knew it was wrong but it felt right. At least it did right now and that was all he cared about at this moment.

She sighed and pressed herself against him harder. She fell back to sleep enveloped in his arms as he breathed her in, storing it all up. He wouldn't be forgetting this night in a long time.

Why do all the weight loss pamphlets given out always have skinny women chasing their kids up a hill looking happy as a lark about it? If you're in a position to be handed one of those pamphlets the chances are you're not going to be chasing anyone's kids up a hill. If they wanted to go for reality they'd put a picture of some poor chubster, crawling the last feet up a hill, red in the face and sucking air in laboured gasps.

At least that was Cassie's reality in high school. She can admit it, and she's not ashamed of the fact that if you were to look at her junior year picture you'd find a round faced girl with braces and glasses. She's proud of how far she's come since those days. Sure, the taunts still haunt her but her self-esteem in there to catch her when she feels vulnerable.

Summer of junior year changed her for the better. She spent the summer on the beach with her cousins, swimming everyday and eventually learning to surf. By the time school started she was a new woman. Her braces came off that spring and she finally convinced her father to get her laser eye surgery as a graduation gift. By college she felt like a million dollars.

Now it wasn't a fairy tale, not another teen movie story about a transformation that came apparently overnight, she'd achieved her current state through blood, sweat and tears. It made her all the more proud of her appearance. After college she had to admit she'd gotten a little arrogant. Well, she didn't admit it, her mother told her straight out before handing her a pamphlet about volunteering. Granted, her mother hadn't planned for her to use her nursing degree as a way to help out in a war zone. More fool her on that one.

Pamphlet pictures had done it again. One look at the pictures of children, hooked up the drips and covered in bandages had Cassie packing her bags and heading for Iraq. Her father was very proud, her mother was horrified but that was them in one stark contrast. Her father was an action man, loved to hunt, did his military time as a young man and now ran a hardware store (a rather profitable one) in California. Her mother was practically a Stepford wife… that pretty much summed her mother up.

So Cassie found herself in the middle of a combat zone, listening the explosions and gunfire on a daily basis. She'd struggled to sleep through the noise at first but exhaustion saw to that issue. It took her a month to get over the fear that she was going to be shot. By the time her team got to the scene the shooters had fled or the bomb had already gone off, logic eventually dampened her fears. After two months she was numb to blood and gore, the only thing that still tugged at her was the children.

Any injured child was one too many.

She wondered if that's why she'd been so open to Will's interest in her. She'd spent the day cradling a little boy that they'd found buried under rubble after an explosion. They'd been unable to find any relatives and the little boy didn't want to let Cassie go so she'd held him. For six hours she held him until the surgeons were finally ready to take him into theatre. He'd gone to sleep in her arms after the anaesthesiologist had put the mask over his face and she'd planned on being there when he woke up.

That was not going to happen, looking at her watch she realised she'd missed his wake up time by now. It was already dawn. Thank you very much, Will, with your bottle of scotch and teasing words.

She slipped out of Will's bed, searching around for her clothes until she realised that not only were her panties no longer in one piece but her shirt was somewhere by the remnants of their camp fire. She huffed out a breath, pulling her shorts on and gripping her torn panties in her closed fist. She pulled on her bra then looked around for something to put on.

She found one of his shirts on the table and pulled it on quickly. She was enveloped by the smell uniquely him, a heady mixture of cigarettes, sweat and cologne, which she shouldn't find arousing but, damn it all, she did. She sidled up the bed, placing her destroyed underwear carefully on the pillow beside him before she crept back.

With one last look at his sleeping form she slipped out of his barracks and headed for the Red Cross camp, praying no one stopped her.

Will awoke to find himself alone in bed. Well, alone aside from her panties sitting right in front of his face. He blinked against the light coming in the window above his bed. He picked up her underwear smiling at the memories before stuffing them under his pillow. At least he wasn't hung over, couldn't say the same of his team though.

He found them all in the mess hall, all different shades of green and none of them appeared ready for action. Good job that today, baring any calls, was an on-base day.

"Well ladies," he smiled, dropping onto the bench between them. "Are you feeling a little delicate this morning?"

He received grunted replies from his men. "I'm gonna go check on Smyth over in medical. You boys need to be checking your equipment today." He leant in closely, "and by that I mean laying in your barracks catching some sleep. If we get a call you two need to be capable of coherent thought."

He stood, leaving them to make their way back to their barracks, and marched from the tent to the main through-fare. He hitched a lift on the back of a truck on its way to the medical centre and arrived outside the Red Cross tent first. He needed to talk to a certain nurse about the proper morning after protocol.

"What can we do for you, Sergeant?" A little woman with a mousy face and glasses asked him from behind her clipboard.

His lip twitched as he tried not to smile. "I wanted to check on one of your nurses, she was pretty shook up by what happened at the market yesterday."

"Oh, Carrie." Mousey said, pushing her glasses back up her nose with her index finger. "She's back there in recovery with the boy." Mousey leant in and added, "They don't think he's going to make it."

Will straightened, he didn't know what to do with that piece of information. From his very limited knowledge of Cassie he knew her weakness was injured children. She'd been pretty upset that the boy was injured with no one to look after him, Will could totally understand that.

"Can I go back there?" He asked.

Mousey nodded, pointing to the bed at the very bottom of the tent.

He approached her cautiously, seeing how she was leant over the boy talking to him in whispers.

"Does he speak English?" Will asked quietly, still managing to startle her.

She looked over at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears before she shook her head. "But I think the tone of my voice is helping just as much as the words as I say. He's coming round more and more."

"Are you alright?"

He heard her mirthless chuckle. "That's not really important right now." She turned to look at Will once more, "What are you doing here, Will?"

"I wanted to check up on you, maybe grab some breakfast and talk. I get you're busy." He glanced at the boy lying on the bed. "I can come back later if you want."

"I don't…" The words seem to catch in her throat and she stifled a sob, wrapping her arms around her chest as though holding herself together.

Will reacted purely on instinct as he gathered her up in his arms and held her close. He felt her body shake with every silent sob and wondered how someone so feeling can survive in this carnival of souls.

"It's not right." She whispered against his chest. "No one should have to go through this without their family with them."

He didn't tell her it'll be ok because that would be a lie, instead he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "People are searching for his family, if they're there then they'll find them."

He felt her nod against his chest before she pulled back, offering him a watery smile, "I know."

She stepped away from him, looking back at the boy whose eyes are fluttering but not opening. "I need to stay with him for now. I'm his nurse in charge while he's in recovery."

"Alright, I'll come find you when you're free."

As he turns to leave her small hand reaches out and tugs him back, leaning up she presses a chaste kiss to his lips. "Thank you."

He looks down at her and smiles, "Any time."

A/N – bit of a cliff hanger, kinda… sorta… if you squint you'll see it. I suck at characters, give me two established characters to work with any day and I'll manage so much better. Anyway, tell me what you think! Come on, leave me a review. It's kinda lonely for those three reviews up there, I think it needs a few friends….