18.
~ Arthur fought sleep till almost midnight. He worried that if he fell asleep, his pretty nurse might come and see him. She might let him sleep and not wake him.
The drugs in his body were making him sleepy as night came. He was beginning to think Ariadne wasn't going to come and see him. That their privet moment in the surgical room had scared her away. Made her feel like he was only after a cheap, war time fling.
He wished she would come. Wished he could explain himself. That he was sorry and he wouldn't do it again. If only she would come see him.
He had fallen asleep and dreamed of the beach. Of blood staining the sand red. He dreamed of his father there. The two of them walking the blood stained beach. Adam telling him to come home. His father looked strange in the dream. His skin was gray and almost ghostly.
"Arthur?" Came a woman's voice out of his father's mouth.
He felt the dream collapsing.
"Arthur?" He recognized that voice. He abandoned his father on the beach then. Awoke to the world of a clean hospital bed and Ariadne in the moonlight.
~ "Ariadne?" He said in shock. Her finger went to her lips. Silencing him.
"We have to be quite." She told him.
He nodded numbly as his lovely nurse stood and pulled back his covers. He watched her with wide eyed disbelief as she climbed into bed with him. Her skin and hair smell of good things. Soap and a hint of some mysterious female scent that enticed him.
She looked at him worriedly as she snuggled into the too narrow bed. Their bodies laying on their sides as they tried to accommodate each other in the tiny space.
He covered them both with his blanket once she was properly settled. Her slight body fitting perfectly next to his. Instinctively, he kissed her forehead. Her dancing eyes looking up at him and a smile coming across her face.
"I'm glad you came." He whispered. Their faces close together. Her lips touching his cheek as he ran a hand over her hair.
His dream come true at last. She was in his bed. It was everything he had ever hoped for.
She bit her lip and nodded. The stillness of the night making the moment seem even more unreal.
"I'm sorry. For the way I acted before." He said softly. His voice quite as he could hear the other men sleeping.
"I know." She breathed back. Her slender fingers running over his hospital gown. Reaching his face at last. His cupped her hands in his and kissed each finger.
"Before the bomb went off, I was dreaming about this." He confessed.
"Really?" She said. Her face perking up happily.
He nodded.
"Just us together. Nothing more." He said honestly. "I feel like I was meant to find you. Like I had been searching for you. When I saw in walk into that pub, it was like..." He felt him self grow suddenly embarrassed.
"What?" She asked curiously.
"I think I dreamed you into life." He said feeling foolish.
"What?" She laughed. Her voice slightly louder and he kissed her sweetly on the lips to keep her quite.
"What do you mean?" She asked once he pulled away.
"Well, I was injured in London. A few weeks before the invasion of Normandy." He explained as her face fell slightly.
"It was nothing serious." He told her. "It's just that, I dreamed of this girl. She was so beautiful. Then I swear I saw her getting onto a bus. She was wearing a blue dress. Turned out to be you. I tried to catch the bus, but it was gone too fast." He explained.
Her face still looked odd. Like he had told her something horrible.
"I think I was dreaming about you. The woman I was always meant to find. It's more then coincidence that your in Paris with me now. It's not just because its war, and I'm far from home. It means something." He said kissing her.
"Oh, Arthur." She said looking heartbroken.
"What is it?" He asked. His large hand cupping her face as she looked ready to cry.
From the nurses station, came a noise. Ariadne snapped away from his arms and pulled herself out of his bed. His covering suddenly cold and empty without her body heat.
She didn't look back as she slipped out of his enclosed bed. Her silent feet stealing her away in the night.
~ "Oh, Nurse." The ward nurse said standing up. "I didn't see you come in."
"How could you?" Ariadne asked standing straighter. "You were sleeping. These men are in critical condition. They may show sighs of distress at any moment, you need to stay awake and monitor them."
"Yes, Nurse." The plum woman said looking ashamed of herself.
"What if it was your loved one in here?" Ariadne asked as she left the nurse's station. Her cheeks red as she climbed the stairs back to her solitary room.
~ Part of her Captain remembered her from the night of the bombing. Remembered holding her in his arms and kissing her. Telling her he loved her. That was the only reason he was even interested in her. Some drugged memory telling him to have feelings for her.
~ The Captain was released from the hospital a few days later. His nurse coming to visit during the bright and busy daylight hours. Always when there were other people around, always keeping her comments to him light and professional.
"Ariadne, whatever I did, I'm sorry." He whispered to her as she took his blood pressure.
She avoided his eyes.
"The Doctor says you can be released tomorrow, Captain." She said simply as she made to leave.
He grabbed her hand. His voice low as he looked around. Ensuring no one was looking at them.
"About the other night. I told you, there was never another girl. It was just a dream. It feels like I was meant to find you." He breathed. His eyes worried as she separated herself from him, and left.
~ It took all of her courage to keep herself distant from her Captain. She wanted so much to go to him at night and crawl into his bed. Feel his arms on her again. Their bodies warm under the covers.
She had to distance herself from him. He didn't really care for her. He was just remembering that night in the little surgical room. His drug addled memory recalling her face and thinking he loved her. It was terribly selfish of her to let him think that he really cared for her.
~ Arthur was discharged the next day. His wound had started to heal nicely. Doctor Kikie telling him to rest and not go around saving kittens from trees or any other nonsense he was surely prone to do.
Arthur thanked him and wished Ariadne had been there to see him leave.
He asked a blond nurse with an American accent and perfect teeth what time Ariadne would be off.
"Around noon, I think." She said smiling at him. "Your welcomed to wait. I know she would love to see you, Captain."
Her smile was seductive and pleasing. Arthur stepped away.
"That's alright. Please, don't tell her I was even asking." He said and left.
~ Ariadne was glad she had missed Arthur leaving. It was important to make things as easy as possible for them. It felt like all the air in her body had been savagely ripped out, but she steeled herself and tried not to show it.
"Oh, Nurse." Trixie sang out. Her perfect American teeth flashing obnoxiously.
"What is it?" Ariadne asked as she pulled off her uniform. She wanted nothing more then to get something to eat, read her book and go to sleep.
"Can you... go back downstairs and get my cap? I left it in the lobby." Trixie said with a secretive smile. The blond girl's hair was in rollers and Ariadne had already slipped on her favorite blue dress.
She sighed at her friend.
"Why is your hat down there?" She asked.
"I was fooling around with this soldier and I left it in the coat room." Trixie explained simply.
"Trixie!" Ariadne laughed.
"Can you please just get it for me? I don't want to go downstairs with my hair in rollers." Trixie said.
~ Why she did these things for her friends, she didn't know. She went downstairs and waved at the other nurses. None of them used to seeing her in normal clothes. All of them taking a double glance at her as if shocked she wasn't the same person they saw everyday.
She stopped dead when she saw her Captain waiting for her in the lobby.
Arthur saw her before she could race back upstairs.
"Hello." He said standing up and walking towards her. He was as resplendent as even in his dress uniform.
"Hi." She said meekly as she realized she would have to talk to her Captain.
"You've been avoiding me." He said. His voice low and indifferent.
"Yes." She said.
He nodded and said nothing for a long time.
"You look really pretty. I like that dress." He said politely.
"Thank you."
He looked at the hat he had in his hands. Nervous as always.
"I was hoping we cold go for a drive. Just the two of us. I've requisitioned a jeep for the day. I was thinking we could drive to your Uncle's house. See if their alright." He said extending a hand to her.