41.
~ Ariadne didn't tell anyone about her nightmare. Things were difficult enough at her new home without making Lydia worry over Arthur. Deep down, Ariadne knew something had happened to her husband. Something was terribly wrong. She felt an uncomfortable knot twist in her body after her dream.
~ Linda was at dinner every night now. She and Lydia politely ignored Ariadne as they talked about fund raising and other very trivial matters.
"Oh Ariadne, I was hoping you could come with us for a fund raising party. It would really be fun if you could wear your little nursing costume to. I think everyone would get a kick out of it." Linda said brightly.
Ariadne felt the steel come back to her spine.
"It's not a costume. It's a uniform." Ariadne said stiffly. "I'm not sure your friends would want to see someone who is actually helping with the war effort."
Both Lydia and Arthur's ex looked shocked as Ariadne moved her chair out. She had never not eaten everything on her plate before, but today, she left her dinner untouched.
"Please excuse me." Ariadne said leaving the table as Beth tried to call her back.
She put her on winter coat on and went to sit in the outdoor gazebo. It was freezing cold outside. Snow covering everything in a stillness where nothing moved or made a sound. Like the world was deeply asleep and might never wake up.
She was cold and hungry. She wanted to be cold and hungry right now. Wanted to feel that gnawing inner pain that Arthur must be feeling. Wanted to suffer like he was. It wasn't until an hour later Beth came and begged her to come back inside and eat.
"Arthur wouldn't want you catching a cold." The socialite said gently. "We have to think of the baby."
Ariadne's tears were freezing on her cheeks.
"Beth... I think something has happened to Arthur." She cried softly.
Beth took her hand. Pulling her back to the warmth of the house.
"I know. I feel it to. I've always sensed it when something is wrong with my brothers. When David died at Pearl, when Jacob was killed." Beth said sadly.
Ariadne had hoped that Beth would accuse her of being silly.
"I know Arthur's still alive, but in trouble." Beth said. "We owe it to him to look after his baby, don't we?"
Ariadne nodded.
"I can't stay here." She said as she and Beth walked back to the house. "Your mother hates me and wants Arthur to come back and marry Linda."
"I know." Beth said.
"I'm going to move out." Ariadne announced suddenly. "I have enough money. Four years at the Red Cross and I've barely spent a dime. I can afford a place."
"Then, well go together." Beth told her brightly as the two women went inside to have something to eat and get warm.
~ Arthur was cold and hungry. His men were all crowded into the barrack together. Their bodies were the only heat source.
It dawned on him slowly. That he was going to die here. He would die in this horrible place and never see Ariadne again.
Cobb was in terrible pain. He was sweating heavily and would talk in a confused and altered state.
"Mal, please." He cried in the night. Arthur hushing him so the other men wouldn't hear and become frightened. They had been two days with no food and Arthur's head hurt.
'Eames, please be alive and getting help. Save our lives, Eames.' He thought as another snow storm fell outside.
He pulled out his cigarette case and looked at his pretty nurse. He wished more then anything to be back at that moment in time. That day in Paris where he had her at his side. Kissing her to make her smile. Her small hand in his. Her big eyes looking at him so trusting.
"Ariadne." He whispered before trying to sleep.
~ Eames reached another unit a day later. He was so tired and crazed to find help that he was almost shot as he rushed into the Allied camp.
"Lieutenant!" Colonel Burch barked as Eames fought one of the sentries on duty. Screaming at them for help.
"They were captured! Colonel Cobb! The Major!" Eames shouted. He felt like he was losing his mind. He tried to explain about the crow, the ambush, the blood, the camp. Then he was talking about a girl who's feet were bitten by snakes.
"See to it he gets a hot meal and whiskey if you have it." Colonel Burch told one of his men as the guards were holding the half starved, half frozen Lieutenant up.
~ Eames was much calmer after having something to eat. After sitting by a fire with Colonel Burch scowling at him.
"It was an ambush, Sir." The Lieutenant said. His fingers stinging him as the blood returned to them. So many hours out in the cold he knew he could have slight frost bite.
"I came back into the clearing, and they were shot up. About thirty were marched to this camp." Eames explained.
"And you know where this camp is?" The gruff colonel asked. His face hard and unflinching.
"Yes, sir." Eames said. "I marked the trees. I can find it."
~ Ariadne couldn't stand this place anymore. It was too much like her aunt's home. Only her aunt never made her feel like she was on borrowed time there. Lydia and Arthur's ex were always dropping little comments of how when he came home, things would be 'settled' as they called it. Making sure she knew that she would be sent back to where she came from as soon as Arthur came to his senses.
There was only one thing for it. She would have to find a job, and move out. Beth was eager to leave as well but she told Ariadne that she would be cut off if she left home.
"You can find work." Ariadne offered as she looked through the papers.
Beth looked taken aback. Ariadne sensed the Beth had never had a job.
"Your the one who's always saying women can do everything men can do." Ariadne offered.
"Well yes." Beth said nervously.
"You have a college degree." Ariadne offered.
"Yes, and I learned about was art history, napkin folding and flower arrangements." Beth told her.
Ariadne laughed. Beth reminded her of the girls who joined to be nurses and folded under the work.
~ The hospitals were eager for nurses. Most of them offering a good pay, but, with her leg, she knew she might not be able to keep up. An ad for an at home nurse caught her eye and when she wrote the letter of interest, along with her letters of recommendation, she received a phone call and request for an interview.
~ "It's taking care of my father. He has been ill for some time now and I can't leave him to his own devices anymore." The well groomed young man said. "We've had several nurses in to take care of him, but the war keeps calling them away." The young man added sadly.
"I see." Ariadne said from her seat on the office chair.
She was expecting an older lady who needed help with her aged husband or something like that. This well groomed young man, Robert Fisher, should have been in uniform with the other men. He was young and healthy, why wasn't he in the war?
"I'm at my office five days a week and with my father's illness, I just need someone to watch him. He has a temper, I won't lie to you about that. He was a business man and used to getting his way. It's how he survived the Depression." Robert explained.
The well groomed man looked at Ariadne. His blue eyes were shocking and clear. A strange contrast to his dark hair.
"Will you be alright doing this kind of work? With that leg?" He asked worriedly.
"Sir, I took care of the wounded in London for years. I took care of them again right after I broke it. The cast is due to come off in a few weeks anyway." She said. "I'm sure I can handle your father."
Robert looked doubtful.
"What is it you do?" She asked him. The curiosity was eating her alive. The young man lived in the nicest apartment she had ever seen. It even rivaled Arthur's parents home in beauty. He seemed too young to be so well off.
"I'm a therapist." Mr. Fisher told her.
"Like Dr. Freud?" She asked. She had read all about the strange little doctor with his odd ideas about men and women.
Robert laughed.
"No, nothing like that. I specialize in traumatic stress problems. What they used to call shell shock. We have a lot of that right now with our boys coming home. It's how I contribute to the war effort." He explained.
His manners were so easy and graceful, Ariadne found himself more relaxed.
"You were never in the army?" She asked.
"No. Asthma kept me out." Robert said sadly. Patting his chest. His suit was well made and looked expensive. Not even her uncle would have owned such a suit.
"Why aren't you in London now?" Robert asked gently. His light, blue eyes kind and innocent. His voice soothing and his face showed he was interested in whatever she had to tell him.
"I broke my leg." She said with a shrug. "Also, my husband wants me in New York till he get's home."
"Must have been hard, the injury." Robert said. "Are you with your family now?"
"No, his mother and sister." Ariadne told him. She wasn't able to hide the sadness in her voice.
"That must be difficult." He said. His tone understanding and kind.
She felt the sudden urge to unload all her fears and worries to this man. His face was open and waiting for her to talk. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep from telling him about Arthur, her new mother in law, the baby, the dreams about crows and blood in snow. Her long hours outside in the cold. How she would sit in the freezing weather without having eaten until worry for her baby drove her back inside.
She had a feeling Robert would listen to everything and not judge.
"Perhaps I should meet your father. See how he responds to me." She said instead. She managed to stand easily with her cane and followed Robert into a library that had been converted into a hospital room.
"Dad?" Robert said leaning over a very ill looking older man.
"Get out! Damn you! Dirty bastard!" The older man shouted to his soft spoken, well groomed young son.
Ariadne had seen worse. But not much worse.
"Has he a history of senility?" She asked.
"No. This just started a month ago." Robert said worriedly.
"I've seen this before in older people. In London, clean water was scarce because of the bombings. Older people were not drinking enough. They would get dehydrated and they would act just like this." She said taking the older man's hand in hers.
Maurice seemed taken aback by the pretty nurse. He looked at her, his eyes confused. Surprised by the contact of her hand in his.
"I'd like to start him on sulfa pills. Clear out any infection he might have. And start pushing fluids. I think it will help." She told Robert as the well groomed young man was amazed the pretty nurse could calm his father down with just a touch.
"It's alright. No one's mad." She told the older man as she made him drink more water.
"Whatever you need." Robert said softly.