15.
~ After the show, other officers kept coming up to the couple. All of them shaking Arthur's hand and congratulating him.
"This is Ariadne." He said to them. Showing her off with pride was wasn't used to feeling. Never before had someone said her name with such awe and clear admiration.
When she had lived with the family, they had always treated her with grudging indifference. When they were out in public, her introductions were always: "My husband's niece."
By sharp contrast, Arthur introduced her as if she were worthy of the attention he was getting. As if he were proud of her for some reason.
"She's the Senior Nurse at the hospital." Arthur told an especially gruff looking Colonel.
"Well, for now I am." She corrected him. She didn't want these people thinking she was a Matron or anything.
"Don't be so modest." Arthur said teasingly as she hissed at him to stop bragging about her. "You should be proud of yourself."
~ They had finally left the theater and started to walk the long path back to her hospital. They had a pleasant view of the Eiffel tower, even though it wasn't lit up because of the fear of air raids.
"I read about you in the paper. What you did." She said bravely. His hand holding her own made her feel less skittish around him. His calloused palm was comforting in hers.
Arthur said nothing and looked at the view.
"Your getting the distinguished cross for rescuing those men. One of them was that man from the hospital." She added.
For a moment, she worried she had offended him by bringing the subject up. Perhaps he didn't want to talk about it.
He looked away. Shaking his head.
"Medals and honors, they really don't mean that much. In war time, they just give them away." He said indifferently. Looking at the view and not at her.
"No, they don't." She said sharply. "You didn't have to rescue them. They weren't your soldiers. They weren't your responsibility. You defied your orders to save them."
Arthur turned to her then and she stepped away.
"You know, I would throw medals and promotions into the deep blue sea if it meant the lives of all those I've seen die could be spared. If it meant my brothers were still alive."
He sighed and ran his thumb over her palm.
"I don't want medals or glory." He said simply.
"Why not?" She asked. Every Soldier wanted those things.
He sighed.
"The only reason you get medals and honors, is so that you can show them to your sons one day. So they can know what kind of man you are. Or were."
He looked at her then. A sadness in his eyes.
"I never married. I have no sons." He said sadly.
Ariadne was quite for a long time as the Captain looked out over the view.
"When the war is over, maybe?" She said feebly. Not sure how to comfort him. "You can go home, find a nice, corn-fed farm girl to marry. She can give you a few strapping boys with big teeth."
She smiled even as her heart broke.
He laughed.
"That sounds awful." He said stepping closer to her. His eyes crinkling as his face pulled up into a smile.
"No, it will be nice. You can name them Larry, Moe and the little one Curly." She teased as her Captain pulled her closer to him.
His hand suddenly resting on her hip. That wonderfully strong hand was back on her hip again. She realized she was holding her breath as he was looking into her eyes. Just like he had done in the trauma room so long ago.
She felt her cheeks burn and she rose up higher on her toes. Her chest meeting his. Her skin brushing the fabric of his uniform.
"And what about you?" He asked in a husky whisper. His lips hovering near hers. Threatening to kiss her.
"What... what about me?" She stammered as she forgot how to think. Her mind existing only in this moment.
"Will you come back to France after the war? Marry some self absorbed artist who calls you Pet? A man who never had to spill blood on some beach? The two of you living in a loft and going to artist's parties?" He breathed. His voice so soft she barely heard him.
His lips were so close to hers, she was trembling in fear and want.
"That sounds awful." She said honestly.
"What kind of life do you want then?" He asked His eyes raking over her face as she felt his arms around her body. Pulling her closer to him. The memory of how they were in the triage room flooding back to her. The intensity of the moment was the same.
"A life... where my husband loved me. Just the way I am. One where our children only know about this war only from history books." She said. Finding her words so easily, she wondered where they had come from.
"History books... and their father's stories." She finished bravely.
He was still holding her fast. His arms strong against her helpless body.
"Your children can look at their father's medals and know what kind of man he was." He finished her sentence. His lips so close to hers now she could taste him.
"What kind of man he is." She said weakly. Not able to look away from him.
He was kissing her then. His lips, warm and firm as her own lips were made to dance with his. Their kiss, long, slow and perfect.
She felt her breath leave her body as, finally, he pulled away. The warmth of his body leaving hers made her feel almost neglected without him. She wanted him close to her forever.
"Arthur." She panted weakly. Her body wanting to curl into his and sleep. Protected from this war for all time.
"I'm sorry. I know that we just met." He said as, with great effort, he slowly released her. His arms not wanting to let her go.
"Arthur, I..." She tried to find the words. Tried to find a way to tell him that what he was feeling for her was just a drug related memory from when he was in the hospital.
He didn't really care for her. How could he? They had just met.
"Forgive me." He said moving back a strand of her hair when she couldn't force herself to tell him the truth.
His breathing was just as labored as hers as the couple stood achingly close to one another. His hands going back to her hips as he couldn't seem to stop looking at her.
"It's alright." She said shamefully.
"You know, I'm not like this." He told her. "I'm not the kind of man who courts a different girl in every town."
"I know your not." She said. Her head snapping up. "I understand that war time is different." Doctor Kikie's words coming back to her. How they could die tomorrow. How it was alright to fall in love. Was that what was happening to her now? Was she falling in love with him?
He nodded and looked grim.
"What about you?" He asked
"What about me?" she asked coyly.
"Do you, date a lot of soldiers?" He asked. His eyes very interested in something other then her for a change.
She wanted to laugh, and was proud of herself for holding back.
"No. I don't date a lot of soldiers. The Matron lectures us all the time about fraternizing with the soldiers. She says that's not what were here for. We have been forbidden from dating the wounded men in our care." She told him and then bit her tongue.
"Well, I've never been in your care." He laughed. "So I guess were in the clear."
~ He took her to a small cafe for dinner and they talked for a long time.
"Tell me what it's like in America." She asked him as they ate.
"Busy. Not as busy as London. But all anyone talks about is Europe and Japan." He told her.
"I'd love to go to America someday." She said not thinking.
"Someday you will." He told her simply. She felt herself blush at the idea of going to America with him.
'Was he thinking the same thing?' She thought.
~ "May I call on you tomorrow?" He asked as he walked her back to her hospital. Her hand still latched into his. Her Captain seeming unable to let her go for the night.
"Yes." She said feeling a warm rush of happiness come over her as they stood on the hospital steps.
In a moment of sheer bravery, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, thanked him for the movie and almost ran up the hospital steps.
~ In the quite of her room she couldn't help but gaze greedily at her newspaper picture of her Captain. His face was so much younger looking when he was around her. Her heart felt so full of excitement as she wondered if she would ever fall asleep.
She wished he was still with her. She pulled her arms around herself and imagined it was his arms around her.
'I bet this is what it feels like.' She thought as she finally drifted off. 'What is feels like to be loved.'
~ Arthur paid no attention to where he was going. His steps quick and light as he never felt so carefree and almost... happy.
He had never felt this way about a girl before. Never had a stupid smile on his face that he could not reform into a look of indifference. As ungentlemanly as it was, he wished he didn't have to be parted from her. Wished she could stay with him in his bed and they could spend the night like that. Wake up and be together again. He wished every night could be like that.
"Welcome home, Lover boy!" Dax teased when Arthur made it back to the barracks.
Arthur let the other officer's tease him about Ariadne. Asking when was the wedding and hooting wildly over their Captain's date.
"That's enough." Arthur said climbing into his bunk after washing up.
"Have to give you a little teasing, Sir." Dax said. "She's a fine lady. Didn't expect to see you back so soon. Thought you two would get a hotel room."
Arthur saddled into his bunk and tried to shut out the idea that he would ever treat Ariadne like that. She wasn't the kind of girl to be taken to a hotel. She wasn't the type to sneak off and do dirty things in a deserted warehouse with a soldier.
He was aware his men did these things with the girls. It was almost expected of them. But Arthur found the practice distasteful and he would never lower his Ariadne to that.
"Go to sleep, Lieutenant." He said settling himself to do the same.
"No shame in getting shot down, Captain." Dax laughed.
"Dax, in the future, I don't want you talking to Ariadne about her escape from France. Understand?" Arthur said coldly. The memory of Ariadne's face when Dax mocked her outside the theater hurt him.
Dax realized Arthur was serious and nodded his head.
"Sure thing, Captain." He said.
Arthur let out a sigh as the last officer to bed turned down the light.
He wished that Ariadne was with him. Wished her small body was laying next to his right now. He sighed and let sleep take him.
He didn't wake until the explosion blew the barracks apart a few hours later.