XIII

DAY 173

Hadassa glanced at the direction of the group of soldiers watching her and Bucky, and they all looked away as soon as they noticed she had noticed their gazes upon them.

"Everyone is talking about us," her fiancé noted. "Most of them are confused."

She just shook her head. It has taken the men two weeks to figure who had been the man to propose to her, and the chatter started the moment they did.

"As long as they don't bother us, I don't mind," Hadassa shrugged.

"No one is causing problems," he affirmed. "After all, you're one of the only three doctors here. No one wants to get on your bad side and have you… I don't know, forgetting to give them the proper medication during an important thing."

She stared to him with a frown.

"James, I took an oath!"

He just chuckled.

"You did, but they don't know it."

Hadassa continued to walk beside him and stopped in front of the medical tent.

"There's a mission coming up, the whole infantry has to go," he told her, losing the easy smile on his lips. "It looks like something pretty big."

She just nodded. She didn't like the idea of Bucky out there, but he was a soldier in a war, she couldn't hold him back from fighting.

"I was thinking," she changed the subject.

"Something you do a lot," he noted.

"Where are we going to live?" she questioned. "I know you grew up in Brooklyn, but I've never been there. I've never even been to New York."

He offered his girlfriend a smile.

"It might be a little different from what you're probably used to," he confessed. "Well, I'm pretty sure you would be more used to Brooklyn Heights than to my side of Brooklyn, but it's a nice place with nice people."

She continued to hold his arm. Hadassa knew Bucky hadn't had a rich life as she did, and as much as she was willing to change many things for him, she wouldn't just drop the luxuries she'd been enjoying for more than a century to live in a place that couldn't hold itself up, although she would never say that in such a way to him.

"We can find something that falls into the middle ground," she offered. "Not too different from anything we're both used to. And we can open our clinic where your current house is."

These last two weeks, Hadassa and Bucky had been coming up with ideas for what they were going to do after the war was over, and after much insistence, he'd agreed on allowing her to be briefly responsible for their housing until he found a job and entered university, and they would have their own family clinic to attend those in need.

"My house?" he stared at her in confusion. "What about my family? Where will they live?"

Hadassa frowned. Her whole life, she was used to her whole family living in the same house, with her brothers and their wives and sometimes even their children. It was very rare for any of them to leave before being able to afford the same lifestyle.

"With us, obviously," she pointed out. "We'll get a place big enough for all of us and get your sister into a good school. You said it was Rebecca's dream to be a nurse."

Bucky confirmed shyly, and she offered him a small smile.

"We'll do that for her, and we can plan the rest as we go," she decided. "We have time."

He looked around and, surprising her, pressed a peck on her lips.

"I have to go," he announced.

"Wait," Hadassa stopped him. "When are you leaving?"

"Tonight. Hopefully, not for long."

She confirmed silently.

"I'll come back to see you before it's time to go," he promised. "Don't worry."

"Okay," she whispered. "Be careful!"

Bucky grinned.

"Yes, ma'am."

. . . . . . . . . .

"Doc?" Dot stopped by Hadassa's side. "Are you okay?"

She uncrossed her arms, seeing the soldiers around preparing for leaving camp. It was night already, and in moments Bucky would leave with his men for a mission.

"Just worried," she confessed. "I'll be okay."

Dot reached for her hand and squeezed it discreetly.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry."

Hadassa couldn't believe her words, even if she really wanted to. There was something that terrified her, seeing him go this time. Her intuition was pointing towards bad news, and it was rarely wrong.

"Abraam told me what happened to your family," she said in a low, soft voice. "It's not gonna happen again."

She just kept her silence; the last thing she wanted now was to count her losses.

"Doc," Hadassa heard and looked at where Bucky's voice came. "Hey."

The nurse by her side swiftly scooped herself away, leaving the two alone, and her fiancé took her hand.

"It's time to go," he affirmed with a sigh. "I'll be back before you notice."

"Then you'll have to come back the moment you turn around."

Bucky's lips curled in a small smile, and he lowered them to her hand, kissing her skin. It wasn't enough for her, though. Throwing discretion at the wind, she kissed his lips with a mixture of passion and sadness, hugging him tightly right after.

"Kocham cię," Hadassa whispered. "I love you."

"Ja też cię kocham," he said, a bit uncertain on the only words he'd insisted on learning in her original language, but still very sincere. "I love you too,"

Bucky stepped back, and she squeezed his hand, still concerned.

"Be careful, please."

"Don't worry, I always am."