22.
~ In the days before the Army would advance further into enemy territory, Arthur spent as much time as he could with his pretty nurse.
It was still too dangerous to leave Paris. New reports of hidden insurgents around the countryside came in, as more American troops were landing in France everyday.
"I wish you would reconsider going back to London." Her Captain said as his arm pulled her closer to him. Another tank rolled recklessly down the normally quite street. Little boys casing it and throwing rocks.
"I think I've made as much concession as I'll ever be willing to make on that subject." She told him with a laugh. The sudden appearance of more troops didn't make the people feel safer. If anything, it made them more afraid as the influx of soldiers scared them off the streets.
"Things are different now." Arthur said worriedly as they watched a convoy drive brazenly past.
~ "I want a picture of you." Arthur said as a local merchant was offering pictures for $5.
"Arthur, it's too much money." She protested as she wished she had thought to wear her blue dress. She could tell Arthur like that one. His eyes moving over her like she was truly beautiful whenever she wore it.
Her Captain paying the man with the simple brownie camera.
"Arthur!" She hissed as he pulled her to the impromptu setting the photographer had set up outside.
"Stand close together." The photographer instructed them in broken English. She stood a little straighter as her Captain moved his hand around her waist. His tall body behind hers as she was forced to the front of the picture.
She wasn't used to having her picture taken. Aside from a group photo of herself and the other nurses, she didn't care for the practice. She thought her eyes looked too big. Her face too wide and young looking. Photographs made her realize how others must see her. A child pretending to be a grown up.
"Smile! Smile!" the photographer sang at them. Arthur stealthily kissed her cheek. A smile flying over her face before she could stop it.
She heard the click of the brownie and looked at her Captain. His trickery knowing no bounds.
"I want another one of just her." He said paying the little man another $5.
"Arthur, please don't waste your money!" She begged as he ignored her.
"I want a nice one of her face." He told the little man in his Americanized French. His funny accent making her laugh.
"Smile! Smile!" the little man sang out again and she barely had time to give a nervous smile before the brownie snapped.
~ They had to wait a few hours before their pictures would be ready.
"I really wish you hadn't wasted your money." She told him as they walked around a quite section of the city.
"I didn't waste anything." He told her. His hand in hers as the walked.
She took a deep breath and leaned on her Captain's strong shoulder. The fabric of his uniform course under the fair skin of her cheek.
"Arthur?" She asked. Feeling little swarms of butterflies move through her belly. She bit her lip then, suddenly afraid.
"What is it?" he asked.
She wished she hadn't brought it up. Wished she hadn't said a word to him.
"Ariadne?" He asked making her look at him.
She sighed and decided there was nothing worse then a coward.
"Its just that, some of the girls talk about how they go with their guys to... to a hotel. Before they have to leave. They spent time... alone together there." She said feebly.
Arthur stopped walking.
"Have you ever gone to a hotel with a guy?" He asked. His voice stony and cold.
"No." She said in shock.
"You know what they do in those places? When men and women are alone together?" He asked her.
"Yes." She said flushing red with embarrassment.
"Don't you think if I wanted a girl to go to a hotel with me, I could find one?" He asked.
She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. Ashamed that she had even suggested it. The whole thing made her sound so cheap and easy. She had practically asked to become the kind of girl that got whispered about.
Then, her Captain was there. His strong hands taking hers. His eyes gentle and kind.
"That's not how I want things to be with us." He said softly.
"How do you want things to be with us?" She asked.
"I don't want a girl who would go to a hotel room with me. I want a lot more then that." He said.
She found herself nodding as her Captain alleviated all her fears with his kiss.
~ They picked up their pictures an hour later. The photographer make two copies of the one of them together. Ariadne thought she looked strange and her facial features were out of proportion. By contrast, Arthur looked like the dashing war hero he was. The ribbons on his uniform distinguishing him from all others as the happy couple was suspended in the sepia world.
Arthur seemed delighted with the photographs. Giving her a copy of the two of them together, and keeping the other one for himself. The one of her alone, he looked at for a long time.
"It looks hideous." She said. Not understanding what he saw in it.
"You and I have a very different idea about what is hideous." He said. Tucking her picture away in his breast pocket.
"Now I have a picture of my sweetheart to show off." He said.
"Am I your sweetheart?" She asked hopefully. Her heart drumming a dancing beat.
He leaned over and kissed her.
"Of course you are." he said.
~ He walked her back to her hospital. Her Captain looking sad as she asked him if he would see her again tomorrow. A cold chill in the air as winter winds kissed the city.
"Were moving out tomorrow." He told her. His voice grave as his eyes lingered over her face.
She stopped breathing.
"I thought... I thought there would be a few more days." She said. A feeling like a knife in her heart was starting to twist.
Her Captain shook his head.
"Got the word this morning. I'll be joining the 6th. We move out at dawn." He said. His voice sounding uncomfortable.
"Arthur." She whispered as she fought back tears. She wanted those few extra days with her Captain. Even if they did nothing more then talk.
"I'm sorry." He said sensing her disappointment.
"When will you be back?" She asked him.
"I can't know for sure, but I will be back." He promised. His eyes locking with hers.
She tried to steel herself. Tried to look brave as the man she loved was going into battle.
"Were not losing each other, remember?" He whispered as his lips tasted hers. That wonderful feel of his kiss making her head swim.
She felt tears burn her eyes as he pulled away from her. His handkerchief coming out and dabbing at her eyes.
"Please don't cry." He whispered. "I promise, I'll come back to you."
"You can't know that." She cried. "You can't know that for sure."
"I will come back." He promised.
He was peppering her brow with little kisses.
"I love you too much to not come back for you." He whispered.
~ Ariadne barely slept that night. The knowledge of her Captain leaving in the morning haunted her. She had her small bag packed. Just her two nurse's dresses, as well as her nursing supplies were in it. She wasn't allowed much else for her trip to the front. The only thing on the night stand now was her compact with Arthur's picture in it. She intended to keep that on her at all times.
~ When morning came, she left her dormitory and went with the other nurses who would be going to the front with her. She had promised Arthur she wouldn't, but he needed her there. If he was hurt, she had to be there. She had to make sure he was taken care of and didn't trust anyone but herself to do it.
When Doctor Kikie had asked for volunteer nurses to follow the Army, she had been the first to sign up. Despite her promise to Arthur.
In the waiting truck, Ariadne helped the nurses pack supplies in so tightly, there was hardly any room left for the medical staff to get in. They road in the back with Doctor Kikie. The roads out of Paris so rough, they bounced her on the floor.
'I'm coming Arthur.' She thought with a secretive smile.
~ Arthur was happy Ariadne wasn't here to see this. It had been a long, tiring drive out of Paris as the Army met with constant fire. Dregs of the enemy had been left behind and Arthur could see why they had taken most of Europe so easily. The Nazis were impressive in their tanks and cold, ruthless attacks.
Even as the Third Rich lay dieing, it was still a fearsome animal.
~ The camp wasn't what he was expecting at all. It was a large plot of land that stood empty and desolate five hours outside of Paris.
This place was not intended to hold prisoners until the war was over or they were released. This was a place where prisoners were sent to work and die.
"The locals tell us the SS marched what was left of the prisoners out last month." Major Cobb told him. "This camp was mainly used to house resistance fighters who were captured."
"They didn't hold them for very long." Arthur grumbled as he and the skinny Privet looked over a small stove hidden in a basement.
"Strange oven, Sir." The privet said as the cold of winter seeped into the dark basement.
"It's an incinerator, Privet." Arthur said curtly. "For burning up bodies."
~ The camp had been abandoned as French and American troops roamed over the remains of buildings and unanswered questions. Arthur had to write down every detail about what he saw there. The strange oven, the basement autopsy room. A small chamber with pipes running into it and no water. Cobb said they needed to collect evident of war crimes for the trials.
Arthur wondered what good a trial would do at this point. No punishment could atone the abominations done here.
~ That night, as it started to snow again, he wrote his report and tried to block out the whispered gossip about how the Jewish prisoners were gassed. Their bodies reduced to skeletons so their bones could be examined by the racially superior.
The Allied Army had settled just outside of what was left of the Nazi death camp. Something about that place was too haunted. The ground still too raw with evil. No man wanted to venture into it after dark.