23.

~ Shouting. There was always shouting with the American Army. That was how they talked when they wanted something done. They never asked nicely, never lowered their voices. It was shouting, shouting, shouting till the thing got done.

Ariadne had ridden in the back of the supply truck for hours before they finally made a stop at a small village.

She was expecting to see another group of prisoners like the ones Arthur had left in the chapel. But the Army Corporal said their were none left.

"We need to inspect the camp." Ariadne told him defiantly.

"You don't understand, Ma'am." The Corporal shouted even though he was barely a foot away. "There isn't anyone left in the camp."

"What happened to the prisoners?" She asked.

"The ones who weren't killed were marched out." He told her as snow fell on the make shift medical tents.

Ariadne stared in wide eyed wonder as the Army Corporal walked away. There was no one left to save. They were too late.

~ There was still work to be done. All around the area were half starved people. Most of them needing medical care as winter was approaching. She found herself feeling useful and almost happy as she told the villagers, in French, about the Allied troops beating Hitler back.

The stories the locals told her about the enemy her made her feel a coldness creep into her bones that had nothing to do with the weather.

~ Mercifully, they stayed a few days behind the Army's advancement. News of more fighting was still evident as wounded soldiers were sent back for treatment. Ariadne looked for her Captain with each new arrival.

She worried about him as they could hear gun fire in the mountains. She worried Arthur was hurt and unable to move. She feared he was already dead.

~ As the Army advance forward, so did the small band of nurses and doctors. Everyday, there was wounded. Every night, there was the sound of gun fire and shelling.

Finally, they reached a small village and stopped for several days. Ariadne was able to take a hot bath and clean her clothes. It had been forever since she had a real roof over her head. An old inn had been requisitioned for the nurses and doctors to use.

The environment outside the inn was hostile. Everywhere there were soldiers. All of them angry and tired looking.

"I don't know what's worse, the enemy, or our boys." On of the nurses said as Ariadne put on a clean night gown.

She had to agree with the nurse on that matter. Their own soldiers looked frighting. The nurses were told never to leave the inn or the medical tents. That the wounded would be brought to them. The soldiers around them shouting all the time as the air was cold and it rained everyday.

There was always wounded now. Always covered in mud and many of them dieing of hypothermia before they could be treated for bullet wounds.

Ariadne sighed and crawled into her bed. She looked at her Captain's picture in her compact before snapping it shut to go to sleep. His face following her down into her dreams.

~ "Nurse!" A shout came one morning as Ariadne was helping Doctor Kikie. The older man had aged years in just the few months they had been in France. She could see he might not last much longer like this. His hands were shaking and he became winded so easily. The rigorous hours and stress were causing the older man to falter in his skills.

Ariadne scowled as she didn't want to be pulled away from helping the Doctor. He seemed to rely on her more and more these days.

"Nurse!" A man's shouts came out of the tent again.

"Just go." Doctor Kikie said as, with shaking hands, he stitched a large gash in a young man's leg.

Angry she had to leave Doctor Kikie, Ariadne stormed out of the tent.

"What is it?" She almost barked at the two officer's holding up an injured young man. His uniform covered in blood and the smell of burned flesh reaching her.

The wound caught her eye and she instantly forgot her anger. His chest and uniform had been burned and shards of metal peppered the wound.

"Take him inside, put him on the table." She told the two men carrying him. When they didn't move, her anger roused again. Too many days spent traveling in the cold and in the wet had hardened her kindness.
She looked up at the officers, ready to yell at them now when she sucked in her breath at recognition. Arthur, her Captain, was staring back at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

~ The other officer was unknown to her and looked worriedly between the Captain and the exhausted nurse.

"Put... put him on the gurney, Captain." She said feebly as Arthur's face pulled into a menacing scowl.

Her Captain said nothing as they helped the wounded man on a door that sat on two saw horses. The best they could do for a hospital table here.
"What happened to him?" Ariadne asked as she cut away the burned and bloodied uniform.
Arthur said nothing as she was aware of his eyes boring into her. She tried to ignore him, but it was difficult as she felt his anger radiate. Her stomach twisting into knots as the feeling she was in trouble made her nervous.

"Landmine." The other officer said. "Why we had to halt the advancement. Their everywhere."

She looked over the burns and pieces of shrapnel cutting into the young man.
"How many more are like this?" She asked.

"He's the only one to not get killed." The other officer said as Arthur's eyes still burned the back of her neck.

"He'll need surgery." Ariadne said dryly as she ignored Arthur and went to get Doctor Kikie.

~ "Mines?" The Doctor said as she told him about the soldier. His hands were shaking as he seemed to not understand.
"Doctor, are you alright?" She asked him. He looked so tired. He was sweating and pale.

"I'll be right there." He whispered to her as he let another nurse put clean dressing on the young man with the large gash. "Start the procedure without me. You've seen me do it enough times. Be careful about any arterial injuries."

Ariadne nodded numbly and went back to the young man. Arthur's eyes were still blazing on her and she felt her pulse quicken in a way that almost made her afraid. She felt her spine straighten as she told the two officers that the Doctor would be there shortly and that they would do all they could.

"Lieutenant, you go back outside. I'll stay and help the nurse here." Arthur said in a dangerous tone that made Ariadne wish the other officer wouldn't leave.

"Yes, Sir." Was all the Lieutenant said before leaving the couple alone.

~ Arthur said nothing as he helped her to cut away any fabric off the young man's wounds. The poor soldier moaning slightly as she tried to carefully cut the singed material free.
"Keep an eye on his breathing, Captain." Ariadne told Arthur as she readied a syringe of morphine.

Her Captain nodded and had to turn away as she began to cut around wounds and frightful pieces of metal. Her careful removal of the shrapnel was clean and efficient as she told Arthur to put pressure on any fresh bleeding that sprang up. Happy to see that most of the wounds were superficial. Most of the burns would heal.

"Maybe when the war is over you should think about going to medical school, Nurse." He said.

Obviously impressed at her skill.

"I was actually thinking about be getting married after the war is over, Captain." She told him coolly. A small smile playing over her lips as she knew his anger was cooling slightly.

"Well, that's good to hear." The Captain said, playing along. "I don't think your husband to-be would mind having a doctor for a wife. He's very open minded about such things."

"Not about everything, Captain. You'd be surprised at the things he says I can't do." She told him.

Arthur looked at her. His eyes not amused.

Ariadne took a deep breath and concentrated on removing the shrapnel.

"Shouldn't do. There's a difference." He whispered at last.

~ They said nothing as he helped her dress the wounds. Ariadne giving the young man a shot of penicillin for the infection.

"Will he live?" Arthur asked. The Officer in him back as he remembered that they were in a war zone and the girl he dreamed into life was only a few miles from the dangers of the front.

"I think so. Infection is still a problem. He can leave on the next transport out. It'll be here in a few hours." She said pulling off her gloves and not meeting his eyes.

"Good. I want you on that transport to." He said. Images of her leaving this horrible wasteland made him happy. Thinking of her mad at him, but safely back in Paris, made the tightness in his chest relax a little.

"No." She told him simply.
"What do you mean no?" Arthur almost barked at her.

"I told you before, I'm not in the Army. I don't take orders from you." She said returning to her duties.

"It's up to the Army to clear any area before your people can come in." Arthur argued as he followed her further into the large medical tent. It's canvas walls lined with make shift tables. Wounded men laying on them with dirty bandages. Worn out nurses bandaging them again.

"This area has been cleared." She said simply as she moved further away from him.

"Listen to me." He hissed pulling her by the arm. Her small body having no choice but to snap back into his. His hands and arms so strong as he held her in a hard grip.

"It's not safe here." He said softly in her ear. His eyes searching hers for understanding. "This is why I didn't want you to come to the front."
"This is where I'm needed, Captain." She said. Calling him by his rank in a stiff professional manner. Arthur slacked his grip on her as she met his eyes and didn't flinch.

The couple engaged in a staring contest that tested both their bravery.

Finally, he let her go and stormed out of the tent. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief until she heard her Captain shouting to some privet outside.

Arthur returned to the tent with a scared looking Privet, barely 18 years old.

"You stay with these nurses. Make sure this one gets on the transport with the wounded. See to it she gets back to Paris. Then come back." Arthur said pointing at the Senior Nurse but not looking at her.

"Yes, Sir." The child soldier said.

"Arthur!" Ariadne snapped at her Captain as he stalked out of the tent on his long legs.

She had to run to catch up to him.

"I am not leaving and you can't make me!" She almost cried as the cold, sharp air hit her face.
"I actually can." Arthur said curtly as he turned around to face her. "You and your unit have done a fine job but relief will be here any day now."

"You don't have the authority." Ariadne said. She had never hated him more then at this moment. A feeling of helplessness coming over her that she swore never to feel again.
"My Colonel does, and he will agree with me." Arthur said looking at her as if she were just a nurse, and nothing more. His manners purely militant and unflinching.

"I want to speak to him. I want to speak with Colonel Burch." Ariadne said feeling tears spring into her eyes.

The child soldier stood a few feet away from them. Unsure what to do. Not willing to disobey his Captain's orders.

"Colonel Burch and Major Cobb are both busy. I'm in command of the unit till they are available." Arthur said. His voice that of a military leader, not the man who brought her wild flowers and took her to the movies. Who gave her chocolate in a field of dieing flowers.
"You can't do this!" Ariadne cried as he walked away from her.