𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑

༻ ❁ ༺

March 19, 1943   

  
          THINGS WERE CALM IN THE CAMP. Which meant Doctor Wright was trying to catch up on non-essential surgeries. Non-essential surgeries meant a ton of washing up. It was starting to get to Alice. This could be the fifth dish she had disinfected, or it could be the fiftieth.

Gwen lifted the metal bowl out of her hands. "Go get lunch. I can finish cleaning this up."

"Gwen no." Alice reached to take the bowl back. "You've been on your feet since Alice. You should take a break."

Gwen shook her head. "Lawrence's squad is out on maneuvers. I can't eat and I can't sit still. I can scrub an instrument tray to within an inch of its life. Go. Maybe flirt with one of the off-duty boys. Kiss someone you have no intention of marrying. You're only young once after all."

"First of all. We're the same age. Stop acting like you're 100. Second. I don't go around kissing people I don't see a future with. It isn't proper."

"Now you sound like your mother." Gwen snorted.

"Oh god, no," Alice made a disgusted face and shook her head. Of course she loved her mother, but she was not the woman Alice had envisioned herself to become. "Kiss someone, you said?"

"That was my initial suggestion. Although I'm sure she would be just as scandalized if you let them carry your lunch without intending to marry them."

"The worst part is she would be." Alice squeezed Gwen around the shoulders. "I'll bring you back a sandwich. Starving yourself won't help anyone."
   

༻ ❁ ༺

It had been a month since Bucky had danced with the lovely nurse with the dazzling smile. 

He hadn't managed to talk to her the day he got his stitches out. Or the time some klutz dropped an ammunition canister on his foot. The canister hadn't broken anything but his CO insisted he got it checked out by medical.

In reality, he had only been able to smile at her four times in the previous month. If you didn't follow up on a girl like that in a place with so much competition, someone else would. He wasn't about to pass up another opportunity to make her happy.

"Sister Harding!"

Alice hoped the squeaking noise she made wasn't audible to anyone else. "Sergeant Barnes. You're waiting around for me now?"

"No. Yes, but not in a weird manner." Bucky jogged up to her, his hands in his jacket pockets. "Please, feel free to slap me if I'm misreading this. I didn't think it would bother you."

"I'll keep that option in my back pocket." Alice tried not to smile too wide at the idea he was waiting for her.

"I got you something."

"A present? For me?" Alice batted her eyes playfully. Bucky didn't need to know how much the idea made her heart skip a beat. She couldn't resist a gift.

Bucky pulled a shiny red apple out of his pocket; he tossed it into the air before catching it neatly and offering it to her.

The nicest part of his day was flirting with the few girls at the camp, and his favorite was the charming nurse, with the captivating eyes and infectious smile.

Alice accepted the apple, bemused. She had expected chocolate, or one of the other trinkets GI's thought made all the girls go crazy. "Thanks, I love... fruit."

"That's not just any fruit." Bucky beamed, turning on the full force of his smile. "That right there is a premium apple. Intact skin. No soft spots. Crisp and sweet. That's the kind of apple grown men fight for."

Alice's face fell. Fighting in the camp was trouble for everyone, but especially for medical. "Tell me you didn't get in a fight to get me an apple."

"Nah." Bucky ran a hand over the short fluff of his hair. "Traded two cigarettes for it."

A high price indeed. "Perhaps you'd like to share it with me then?" And wasn't it fitting that her biggest temptation should present her with something like this? At the thought, her lips curled into a smile.

Bucky flipped a knife into his hand. "You're too good to me, doll."

"Oh." Alice jumped back in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that.

Bucky held up his hands apologetically. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Alice took the knife from his grip. He wasn't attempting to frighten her, and he was clearly sorry. There's no reason to squander such a thoughtful gesture.

"I'll cut."

 
  
༻ ❁ ༺
 

May 10th, 1943

Nurses and other female camp staff had their own table in the mess tent. One the senior officer and head nurses were viciously protective of.

Alice had the seat at the end for breakfast today. She had mixed feelings about the spot. There was more leg room towards the end, but it was also next to a table full of soldiers, which sometimes resulted in amusing flirting and other times resulted in dumping a glass of water over the head of an overbearing suitor.

"How's my favourite nurse this beautiful morning?"

Alice looked up at the welcome voice. Bucky had been missing for the better part of two weeks. Out with his company, she assumed, but she didn't ask too many questions. Loose lips and all that. "You know it's raining right?" Bucky grinned and slipped a slightly battered wildflower onto her breakfast tray. "Yeah, but I slept in a cot with clean blankets and I get to eat breakfast next to a pretty girl."

Alice picked up the butter yellow daisy and waved it at him. "You sir, are an incorrigible flirt."

"So, they tell me."

"Who's they?" Alice was pretty sure her heart had stopped. Who gave him the right to such long eyelashes?

"The guys who are jealous that you let me flirt with you. They don't use five-dollars words like 'incorrigible' though."

Alice grinned back at him. "You make me regret not packing my thesaurus," she joked. "I could lend it to them. See if we can make our way up to ten-dollar words."

"Even with a book, I don't think most of them meatheads could pull off being arrogant. I'm pretty sure the majority of them can't read. If you want to have a decent conversation, you should stick with me."

"I think you might be selling them short."

Bucky leaned closer across the gap between the tables. "I may be biased."

"Sergeant Barnes!" One of the officers barked. "No fraternizing."

Alice sighed. Of course, today would be the day they were paying attention.

"To be continued." Bucky winked and straightened back up.

༻ ❁ ༺

Alice sat on her footlocker, notebook resting in her lap. She turned the flower Bucky had given her between her fingers.

It was a silly thing to keep. She wasn't a child anymore, clinging to every trinket a suitor gave her. She wanted to keep it though. The bright purple colour made her happy.

"What's with the flower?" Gracie asked, securing her cap. She was on her way to work the night shift. Every day, there were just a few moments when all of the girls were in the tent at the same time.

Alice blushed and smoothed the stem into place against a page. "Bucky gave it to me."

"Alice's got a boyfriend!" Polly sing-songed, dancing around the narrow aisle running down the center of the tent.

Gwen sighed and sat down heavily on her own cot. "I don't know if this is going to encourage you, but your mother would approve."

"She really would." Sure, he was handsome, but to Alice he was more than his looks. He was intelligent, brave and compassionate and shows unwavering loyalty to his comrades.

Her mother would be over the moon. If Alice asked Bucky to stay for dinner, her mother would ask him to stay forever, and Alice's mother would be fitting her for a wedding gown the next day. The flower was trapped between the pages of the journal as Alice closed the book.

"He is no such thing. Besides, I can't even afford to think about that right now. We're in the middle of a war. We live in this crazy whirlpool of uncertainty and -- who knows what might happen tomorrow."

Gwen reached across the space between their cots to squeeze Alice's knee. "Oh sugar. I know I'm a little biased, but not knowing what will happen tomorrow is sometimes exactly why you should do the extraordinary thing."

"And what about after the war?" Alice asked, voicing the fear that had been rattling around inside of her for the last several weeks. "When everything calms down and everyone goes back to their lives. I'll be going back to England, and he'll return to Brooklyn. Just because he's having fun flirting with me now doesn't mean he's looking for forever. Forever means a different thing when there's the actual potential to have it."

"I don't remember ever saying 'marry him'."

"Gwen!" Alice let out a startled laugh. Was her friend actually implying what she thought she was implying?

"What? You're both adults. You are free to make your own choices. In the worst-case situation, you'll have to move in with me. I'm going to require the services of a receptionist. After that, no one will think twice about a wartime widow. Especially one with well-respected clientele such as my family."

Alice shook her head. "I can not believe you are even suggesting this."

Gwen looked at her seriously. "Well I guess we know what you have to do then."

"Oh? And what's that exactly?"

"Stop flirting with trouble," Gwen answered emphatically.

Alice blinked, stared. "Oh my god, did you just reverse psychology me?"

Gwen smiled enigmatically. "Would I do that?"

"Yes. Absolutely you would, yes." Alice sighed, shaking her head. "It's just some innocent flirting. It's not going to go anywhere. I'm not going to get myself in any trouble."

With a slight grimace, she realised she was far too intelligent for that. Alice was slow, reasonable, and totally restrained, having never kissed a boy until she was nineteen. Her biggest risk was a decision she made as a result of someone else's filing mistake.

But she could dream for a moment, couldn't she? Of what life could be once the war was over. She'd go back home to England with Gwen and Lawrence. And there would be an address written in the back of her notebook. 

They'd write to each other. Make promises. And he would come to see her. Meet her family. Or she could go to him. Meet his mama and sister. She'd always wanted to see New York. Walk through Central Park, see the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty. See all the wonderful museums. 

She might be able to get work as a secretary there. He could work in the factory where he'd been employed before the war. He'd also surprise her with flowers every now and again. While she prepared dinner, they would flirt and dance in the kitchen. And he'd glance at her with that charming smile that warmed her all the way down to her toes, like he always did.

They could be happy.

Alice shook her head, dispelling the fantasy. She was being ridiculous. It was just a little innocent flirtation, and here she was, building castles in the clouds again.

She wasn't going to fall in love with Bucky Barnes. It was a crush, that was all. Something soft and light between two people in the middle of a war zone. The front line was no place for fairy tales.

༻ ❁ ༺

June 28th, 1943

Alice couldn't find Lawrence, which was a problem. Gwen had been in surgery for thirteen hours and had passed out in one of the ward beds. Not for the first time.

She usually found Lawrence and he took her back to their tent when this happened. But he was nowhere to be seen. He should be at camp right now. But it was a crowded camp, and he wasn't seen.

She spotted the back of a familiar head. "Bucky!"

"Hey, doll," He turned, warm smile collapsing when he saw her face. "What's the matter?"

She dashed over to him, shoes skidding briefly on the hard-packed ground. "I'm not strong enough to carry Gwen. Last time I tried, I dropped her in a puddle."

He blinked, confused. "Carry Gwen? Why would you have to carry Gwen?"

Alice bounced anxiously. Fingers plucking at his sleeve. "She passed out and...Can you please just come with me?"

Bucky let her grab his hand tightly in hers and tow him along easily. He never liked to see anyone frantic the way Alice was. He would follow his 'favourite nurse' to the ends of the earth since he had formed a soft spot for her. Even if he wasn't sure exactly what she wanted him to accomplish.

"This sort of thing happen a lot?" He asked, looking both bemused and concerned as she led him to the tent. He noticed that none of the nurses he saw appeared to be well-rested. Martha's blonde curls were unkempt and dangling from the white shawl that covered her head. Gracie, the mousey one, had splashed water down her front and hadn't yet changed.

"I wouldn't say a lot..." She hedged, not meeting his gaze. To Gwen more than the rest of them. Gwen tended to mother hen them all and chase them out of the hospital tent before they got this bad. It was difficult to get any of them out of surgery.

Bucky shook his head. "You girls work too hard."

Alice bristled. They worked exactly as hard as they needed to. "Send your complaints to the Nazis. The sooner they pack up and stop harassing their neighbours and killing people for no reason, the sooner we can all get some sleep."

"Next time I see one I will give him a very stern talking to." Bucky soothed. He hadn't meant anything by it. He didn't like to see the women exhausted was all.

Alice led him to the Minor Injury Ward, striding purposefully through the tent flaps to lead him to her friend. Gwen had taken up residence in a cot at the back of the tent, near one of the nurse's stations. She looked pale, dark circles like bruises under her eyes. She didn't even stir as they approached.

"If I thought it would help, I'd seal her in the nurses' barracks myself," Alice told him quietly. "But she wouldn't listen. They need her, I know they do. And she's even worse when Lawrence is away. She tries so hard to keep her mind off of it but... "

Bucky nodded, indicating that he understood. It's difficult to be the one who has been left behind, waiting for news. It would be both a blessing and a curse to be stationed so near together. You'd be able to visit your sweetheart more frequently, but what if something unexpected happened...

Bucky lifted Gwen and shifted her for a little moment so she sat more comfortably in his arms. He motioned Alice to take the lead.

They made their way through the hospital camp as discreetly as possible to the nurses' quarters. Because men were not permitted inside, Alice took a brief glance inside the tent to ensure they were not being watched. For the time being, it was vacant, so Alice gave Bucky a short signal to follow her. He accomplished it by ducking through the tent's front flaps.

Alice led him silently through the barracks and directed him to lay Gwen on her bed.

Alice bent to remove her friend's shoes and cover her with her blanket as he did so gently. Then Alice went to her own bed, pulling out her own coverlet to drape over her friend. Alice caressed her hair one final time with tenderness. She was out like a light.

Bucky and Alice beat a fast retreat outside before anyone could catch them.

Bucky tweaked a curl that had slipped free of Alice's wimple. "This is probably the wrong time to ask, but were those your stockings hanging on the line?"

Alice coughed and sputtered. "I don't know what you're talking about. I have to get back to work."

Grinning wickedly, Bucky leaned down until his lips almost brushed her ear. "I like your stockings."

She squeaked and bolted back towards the safety of the hospital tents. Away from handsome boys with too blue eyes and lips that made her lose her head.