England
Summer 1944

Nurse Lucille Swain from Wichita, Kansas wasn't as beautiful as her flatmate Ruby Stalwhite, but there was something magnetic about her. Perhaps it was how she threw her head back as she laughed or winked like a movie starlet. Buck didn't know how she acted at home, but there was something about her that reminded him of a felon out on parole. 

She appeared to truly enjoy the freedom that war had gifted her.

George Luz was doing his spot-on imitation of Captain Sobel when Buck left the baseball game to meet Ruby's flat mate where she sat on the sideline. Lucille wiped a tear from the corner of her eye as she rocked with amusement on the grass. Luz subtly scooted an inch closer to her. 

Buck studied her before introducing himself. Hoobler's girl, Ruby, was her best friend. She had mentioned that Lucille was the daughter of a Midwestern minister. He almost fell back a step when she looked up at him directly, her teeth so white in a smile that left him winded.

"And who are you?" she asked pleasantly, shielding her denim blue eyes.

He knelt down. "Buck Compton. You girls out of Kansas ever play ball back in Wichita?"

"Not once in my life," she answered, without breaking eye contact with him. "But I could give it a go."

She attempted to position herself in front of the plate. Her feet were awkward and hands too low on the bat. Suppressing a chuckle, Buck stood from his catcher's stance.

"You weren't kidding when you said you've never played." He moved her hands.

"My mother didn't think it was ladylike." Lucille shrugged gawkily.

He nudged her feet with his into a more stable posture and gently lifted her elbows.

"Don't be forgetting about sweet Celia now, lieutenant!" Luz hollered from short stop. "Best be keeping those hands to yourself."

Buck grimaced. "Keep your eyes on the ball, okay?" He offered with a halfhearted chuckle.

Her face slowly lit up with a nod. He turned curtly, grinning like a fool and shaking his head. He crouched behind the plate. She missed the first time.

"Good swing," he coaxed, tossing it back to Johnny Martin.

"Swing batter batter!" George Luz hooted.

"Never mind him, just stay focused."

At his encouraging tone, her shoulders loosened. The next pitch came in low and slow. She got a piece of it, just enough to send the basemen scrambling. Lucille barked out an excited laugh and raced towards first base. Buck stood and tugged off his catcher's mask as he watched the ball bounce towards center field.

His attention drifted back to her, running in her practical shoes. Pieces of chestnut hair had fallen out of her simple, nurse's bun and drifted over her shoulders as she peered back at the ball still in play. The mid-afternoon sun hit her face. She broke into a victorious grin that had the force of a grenade behind it as she reached the plate. 

Luz got her out the next play and Lucille jogged off the field. The other men threw their gloves at the guilty short stop in protest.

"Leave the boy alone, he got me fair and square," she hollered over her shoulder as she strode with arms swinging towards Ruby on the grass.

As Hoobler came up to bat, he noticed Buck's frequent gaze towards the young women.

"She's something else, huh?"

"What?" Buck stirred, glancing at his friend.

Hoobler gave a practice swing and nodded towards the sideline. "Ruby."

"She really is." Buck clapped him on the shoulder. "I'm glad for yah, Hoobs. She's a real looker. A regular Hedy Lamarr."

Hoobler knocked the bat against the side of his shoe and shot his friend a sly grin. "Almost enough to make you forget about the girls back home, huh?"

Buck gave him a quick punch to the shoulder and shoved him towards home plate. "Get out of here, Hoobler."

The game was winding down by late afternoon. Gathering up their stuff, the group made its way towards the village to clean up before heading to the local pub. Throwing his catchers gear into a draw string, canvas bag, Buck swung it over his shoulder.

"You didn't do too bad out there, Swain." Buck came up alongside her as Hoobler and Ruby slowed down, hanging back from the group.

Lucille chuckled. "You're being nice."

Private David Webster had been taking pictures with his Kodak Vigilant Junior since the last time he'd struck out. He stopped in front of Buck who held up a hand in front of his face.

"What the hell are you doing, Web?" Buck protested.

"For posterity's sake. C'mon, lieutenant."

Impulsively, Buck grasped Lucille by the waist and pulled her close to him at the last second before Webster snapped the picture.

"There you go, that wasn't too painful," Webster commented dryly as he twirled the lens and walked away.

Lucille stumbled back a step, pushing the hair from her face with a wide eyes. "What was that?"

Buck bit back a cringe at what he had done and attempted a cool shrug. "You know, for posterity's sake."

***

While trying to focus on a game of darts, Buck's attention kept drifting towards Lucille where she sat by Ruby at the bar. George Luz had been in fine form, pulling out all the stops to try and make her laugh. Buck tried not to be jealous that the man was successful.

"Any word from Celia lately, Buck?"

Johnny Martin threw a dart and glanced knowingly over his shoulder at the lieutenant. He arched a heavy eyebrow with a shrewd grin. Buck cleared his throat, aiming for the center of the board.

"Can it, Pee Wee."

He came up alongside him after his turn and nudged Buck's shoulder. "You aren't married to that girl back home. Hell, you aren't even engaged. Just go talk for a bit with Miss Kansas over there, it can't hurt. You can't do any worse than Luz."

Buck sighed. Taking one more turn, he finished off his pint and gave Johnny a partial salute. Johnny lifted his stein and hollered for George Luz to take a turn at the dart board.

Filling the spot at the bar that George had left vacant, Lucille and Ruby were speaking in low tones to each other and laughing. She briefly glanced over her shoulder at him. He motioned for the bar tender, his mind going blank of all conversation.

Lucille swiveled around in the bar stool. "In all honesty, from a man who played college ball at UCLA so they say, how'd I look out there today?"

A pint of beer slid down the counter towards him, froth dribbling over the side. "In all honesty, I say you looked pretty good."

"Just pretty good? You certainly know how to flatter a girl."

He relaxed and leaned up against the bar. "Ah you know, it's a talent of mine."

"How modest of you to admit it." She rolled her eyes as she took a drink from her glass.

"You know, you don't seem like a minister's daughter to me."

"It's a talent of mine." Lucille winked.

Buck took a long pull from his beer and knew he was in trouble.

***

The lieutenant hadn't moved from the bar as his friends trudged towards the door. Lucille shifted under his sharp eyes, pale as ice, and looked down into her empty pint. It had been her second and already she sensed the familiar lightness of the alcohol take hold in her veins.

"I have really enjoyed tonight."

"Me too," she answered, sensing Ruby's inquisitive glance as she and Hoobler ambled past.

"Come on, you two," the bartender barked, running a damp cloth along the bar. "Closing time. You don't have to go home, but you have to get out of here."

***

"If you like, you can come in for a night cap and a cigarette." Lucille bit her lip, her heart pounding as she stood with one foot on the front walk and the other on the step. "There is a radio on the back porch too."

They had only been innocently talking since the bar had closed. After walking the quaint country lanes by the light of the full moon, it was almost one in the morning. She could tell he wasn't ready for the night to be over either. 

However, she felt his hesitation in the dark. He had a sweetheart back in California. Her name was Celia. The memory stung so she buried it deep. But they had only been talking, nothing more.

Buck took a step backwards then paused. "Just for one drink. My legs are getting tired."

Lucille let out a relieved chuckle and opened the front door. "I'm not surprised. It's been almost two hours since the pub closed."

"Two hours? Christ. I hadn't even realized."

***

The soft glow of the radio shone on the floorboards of the small back porch. The fluid tones of Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' poured over them as smooth as the unfinished glasses of whiskey on the wicker table.

He unhooked one of her stockings and peeled it down her thigh. The faint murmur of lovers' laughter drifted down from Ruby's room where she and Hoobler were cozied up. If anything it drove her need for Buck even more. His breathing grew huskier as she pressed herself into his solid form. He kissed her hard.

***

It was four in the morning, but Buck Compton still hadn't slept. Lucille Swain was curled up next to him under a worn yellow quilt. Propping his head up on his hand, he brushed the veil of brown hair over her shoulder. 

She hadn't said so, but he knew it had been her first time. Why she had chosen to share it with him was beyond his understanding. They had only met that day. She didn't seem like that kind of girl at all, but times were changing.

Celia had been with him since they were freshmen in college. Things had become strained before he left for training. The letters back and forth over the Atlantic were consistent and he carried her picture in his jacket pocket into combat. But there was more than just a physical distance growing between them. 

He could feel it in her words, in the very penmanship of her letters. His own heart had grown weary. He knew they weren't the same people they had been at 18.

Buck wrapped an arm around Lucille's waist, pulling her in to fit the cavity of his body. They knitted together so well, it was almost uncanny. Somewhere out in the trees beyond the open window, the purr of a dove rose as the light shifted to grey. Dawn was close. Closing his hand on the gentle arc of her hip, Buck slept as soundly as a man without an ounce of guilt on his conscience.

Author's Note: This story means NO DISRESPECT to the veterans portrayed in the miniseries. It is inspired entirely by a TV show that was based on real people, but this imagining has nothing to do with the real people mentioned... if that makes any sense.