The Angel of Asia

[TheKindMaster]

(closed for DarkWarrioress)

"We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone." Orson Welles

You can become accustomed to the stark reality of loneliness. You wake each day, no other to placate. There are no expectations to bind your actions. Only chaos rules the day, start to finish the path is ever darker. But still you amble along mindlessly, trusting to luck that you can some day find your way.

At eighteen I had the world by the ass, I had just graduated high school and got a job. I was making more money than my father had ever seen. Full of hope and expectation, I had it made. There was no chance that my life would go sour like my mom and dads'."

I probably should explain that, my parents loved me. But hell times were tough. I had enough to eat, but they had no money for the extras. At the time I resented being the poor kid, I had no idea what poor was yet. My goal was to give my kids a better life, so I guess that's how you repay your own parents for all they had given you. You have to do a little better for your children. Each generation tries for the next rung of the ladder.

On my own, I felt reborn. I bought a brand new car, had my own place and money in my pocket. The world was my oyster, I only had to pry it open and enjoy life. And enjoy I did, life was one giant party in 1965. Girls came and went, there was no way I wanted to be tied down at my age. The triple F rule was how I liked it, find em, fuck em and forget em.

With the simple act of opening a letter, my life changed. A letter of greetings from President Johnson sent my happy little world careening out of orbit. I was ordered to report for armed forces induction. It was a hard kick in the balls by a size 12 combat boot. After eight weeks of BCT (basic combat training) and ten weeks of AIT (advanced infantry training), Spec 4 Adrian D. Stanley emerged.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

1965.

The United States sent troops into Vietnam. At seventeen, she knew that. Everyone knew that, but it didn’t affect her so it was something shifted to the back of her mind. She was far more excited about going into her senior year of high school. Rayne Jackson was looking forward to being a cheerleader for the football team this year. She wasn’t one of the beautiful girls but the boys noticed her. She ran track, had shapely legs and as far as she was concerned, the world was her oyster. Until six months into the school year. That’s when everything changed.

Her brother Tommy had gotten drafted. Her mother spent the following weeks in tears. Her eyes were always puffy. Her dad, a man who always smiled at something, seldom did anymore. He and Tommy spent a lot of time together, talking. Six months into her senior year, she came home to find her mom in tears again and three men in uniforms were leaving the house. Tommy was dead. Suddenly, being a cheerleader had lost its glitz and glamour. Dating a member of the football team didn’t seem like such a big deal in the wake of such tragedy. Being valedictorian on graduation night meant very little without her brother there to share it with. But she knew what she was going to do with her life.

Rayne stepped out of college doors four years later and right through the recruiter’s.

“But Mom.”

“Don’t but me, young lady. You’re not going. That’s final.”

Rayne watched her mother quietly set the table before she walked over to her mother and hugged her tightly. Mrs. Jackson stood stiffly in Rayne’s arms for a moment before she dropped the napkins on the dining room table and hugged her daughter to her fiercely.

“I have to go, Mom. They need nurses badly.”

“But couldn’t you stay here? In the States. Why do you have to go over there? Tommy….Tommy died over there.”

“I know, Mom. That’s why I have to go. I have to do something. I felt so helpless when he died. My life was superficial back then. I need to do this. It's not like I'll be on the front lines of the fighting, you know. I’ll be okay. I promise.”

~~ ~~​

“RJ….. “ Snap, snap “Hey! RJ.”....Snap

She had been looking out of a window, a fork in her right hand. Her left had shot out across her body, her fingers tightened around the wrist of the offending digits that were snapping right in front of her nose, giving the wrist a sharp short twist to the right.

“Ben, if you snap your fingers at me again, I swear, I’m going to break that finger and thumb so you can’t snap for a very long time.”

Rayne turned her head and looked up into the face of Ben Townsend, orderly.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Jesus, Rayne. No need to get snappy with me,” his grin widened, “I just came to tell you that the Dragon Lady is looking for you Can I have my wrist back now?”

She released his wrist, giving him an exasperated look. Rayne wrinkled her nose. She had missed her lunch earlier. One of the patients on the floor had gone into a flashback and had torn up the ward. It had taken six men to hold the patient down to be sedated before they could load him up on a gurney and take him to psychiatric ward for observation and care. In the meantime, Rayne had missed lunch to get the ward back in order. When everything had settled back down, she had left word with one of the nurses that she was going to grab a bite to eat.

“I told Stella where I was going.”

Ben shrugged.

“All I know is that Dragon Crenshaw wants you.”

Rayne dropped the fork on her plate with a sigh. She gave her salad a regretful look. So much for lunch. Eleanor Crenshaw was the head nurse on the ward. Rayne took her for somewhere in her forties but she looked like she was in her fifties. Rayne gave Ben an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about your wrist, Ben.”

“No sweat, girl. You gonna eat that?”

Rayne got up from her chair, smoothing her uniform down over her thighs and gave her salad another regretful look.

“Doesn’t look like it. You might as well have it. I barely touched it.”

Rayne’s hand went to the coiled rope of dark copper hair at the back of her head, making sure not a hair was out of place before she went to hunt down the Dragon Lady.

 

[TheKindMaster]

1966

"Congratulations gentleman, you are now ready to serve your country and protect its democracy. Every West Point class is commissioned to the Armed Forces. Some West Point classes are also commissioned by history, to take part in a great new calling for their country. Speaking here to the class of 1942 -- six months after Pearl Harbour -- General Marshall said, "We're determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand, and of overwhelming power on the other."

Adrian heard very little of the speech. His mind was already halfway round the world, in the trenches around Saigon.

The following day, a train took them to New York, where a plane flew them to LA, and finally onto a warship for the long journey across the Pacific to Hawaii. Here they would get a few week's of field training and to acclimatise to the hot, humid weather. But having arrived on a Tuesday, orders came through for a massive offensive north of Saigon on Viet Cong positions. Field training was over. This was it, the moment he had been thinking about since he had opened that letter.

The sound was immense. It was a complex combination of bombs exploding, bullets whizzing overhead, and his staff sergeant screaming in his ear, bellowing out orders.

"Get your sorry asses out of this trench and into that field. Go go go!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1969

Why were they still here? In three years, they had made very little progress. Multiple planes left every day with the bodies of the dead to return them to their families. While the fighting was happening here, the real pain was back home. He just hoped he made to the end of his duty. Only a couple more months.

The following day, he was part of a team of marks riflemen ordered to take out a Viet Cong outpost. They struck at night, managing to kill the outer guards without raising the alarm. But then........

He just felt it. It was pain he had never witnesses before. But it wasn't pain to scream about, it was a dull, deep pain. But that was the least of his worries. He had collapsed, and couldn't get his legs to work. No matter how hard her tried, there was no movement. The field medics arrived.

"It's alright son, you're alive. You've been shot in the hip. Stay still".

They got him on a stretcher and into a waiting van. He was whisked away to the nearest hospital in Saigon. He was given anaesthetic when he arrived, knocking him out. He was brought the operating theatre. The swift action of the medics meant that he would walk again. It was common for soldiers whom suffered similar injuries. He would need physical therapy, and would stay in Saigon for the first few weeks of it.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

They came. They stayed for a time. They left.

Her job was to tend to their injuries until they recovered enough to make the plane ride back stateside. Each of them were an individual to her, not just a face. Perhaps she cared just a little more than she should, but she couldn’t help it. Rayne never forgot her big brother and how she would have hoped he had been treated, the way she treated these men. Men. Some of them were younger than she was, nineteen year old kids, chronologically speaking . They might have come in as boys but they had earned their manhood. Young their features might be, but their eyes told a different story. Oh, they teased Rayne. She would smile, ignore their overtures and tend to them as they needed to be tended to and moved on to the next one. She held the hands of the dying, even if it meant missing sleep. She didn't believe a man should die with no one there for them. There were many she missed, but she did what she could, when she could. She was beginning to think this was a war they could not win.

“Nurse Jackson?”

Oh bloody hell. It was the Dragon Lady. Rayne turned to face her supervisor with a chart in her hand.

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“They need an extra body over in physical therapy. You’re being reassigned to that ward.”

“Oh, but Ma’am, I don’t know the first thing about physical therapy. It wasn’t what I was trained for.”

“Do you know how to use your hands, Nurse Jackson?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Dragon Crenshaw nodded her head.

“I’ve watched you with these men. You’ll do just fine over there. They just got another bus load yesterday and we're short nurses everywhere. They need the extra help. You learn quickly. You’ll be fine. Report to Nurse Taylor. She expecting you.”

“Today? Right this minute?”

“Do you have something better to do?”

“I have… No, Ma’am.”

Rayne took herself off to the Physical Therapy wing. She found Nurse Taylor and was given three charts then briefed on her duties there in the PT wing. After stuffing her brain with information, Rayne was left with some time to absorb as much as she could about her patients.

Joshua R. Turner, leg amputee.

Wallace Rosenburg, nerve damage, right arm and hand.

Adrian D. Stanley, temporary paralysis of the legs. Corrected with surgery.

She took the charts to the nurses’ lounge to familiarize herself with these men. She would be working closely with each of them. Two hours and several cups of coffee later, she was ready to introduce herself. This assignment wasn’t going to be easy. She was going to need to harden her heart in some ways and let herself be herself, in others.

The meeting with Pvt. Turner and Sgt. Rosenburg had gone pretty well. There was one left. Spec. Stanley. Rayne took a moment outside of the ward to inhale deeply and slowly let it out before she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Her eyes were drawn to the lone man in the room. Spec. Adrian Stanley.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Following the surgery, he was moved to the physical therapy ward. He was assigned a bed at the end of the ward, meaning he was alone. This kind of bummed him out. He had hoped to get to know some of the soldiers in there, kill the boredom of the long hours of lying around. Suddenly the door at his end of the ward, and in stepped the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Her features were soft, glowing and just damn gorgeous. He watched her close the distance between them.

Good afternoon Private Stanley, I am Nurse Jackson and I will be your physical therapist until you are able to go home.

He smiled.

"Please call me Adrian. It's a pleasure to meet you".

Adrian felt something in him awake. Something he hadn't felt for almost three years, and the reason stood in front of him. Call it instant attraction, but it was something deeper.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

Rayne was, for some reason, extremely aware of the fact that Specialist Stanley was watching her as she closed the distance between them.

"Please call me Adrian. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Adrian. Her eyes flickered over him. The name suited him. And that smile. Damn. That smile literally took her breath away. As she came up to the side of his bed, she forced herself to look at his chart, making a show of flipping through the couple of pages clipped there. She needed to be professional and detached. This soldier was no different than any of the others. He was injured in the line of duty and it was her responsibility to help him on the road of recovery until he shipped out. He was just a passing light in her tunnel but damn…. there was something about him. She looked up from the chart, her brown eyes guarded and coolly casual.

“Now, Specialist Stanley,” she cleared her throat softly, “according to your chart, you were shot in the hip and lost the use of your legs but the surgeons were able to fix that,” she glanced at him briefly before her eyes found the writing on the chart again, “but you haven’t tried to get on your feet yet. So, tomorrow morning, bright and early, we’re going to rectify that. One of the orderlies will bring you to, what they fondly dubbed around here as the sweat box.”

Rayne closed the chart with a little snap, raising her eyes and giving him a small smile.

“If you don’t mind? I would like to conduct a small exam of your legs?”

She didn’t expect him to say no as she hung his chart at the end of his bed. Shifting back to his side, she flipped the bedding back to expose his legs to her view. Rayne took a pen from her pocket and leaned down to run the end of it against the bottom of his feet. His foot reacted to the stimulus as expected. She moved around the end of the bed to do the same to his other foot to repeat the action and got the same result. All the while, she was very aware of him watching her. What was it about this soldier that made her aware of him and herself? Maybe she should ask Nurse Taylor for a different patient, then thought better of it. Nurses were in short supply. Rayne was sure that the head nurse would remind her to control herself and get on with it. She was here to help the soldiers on their way to recovery, not to become involved with them on a personal level.

Inhale. Exhale. She tucked the covers back around him, smiling as her eyes found his.

“Good. Your feet responded as expected. I’ll see you in the sweat box bright and early in the morning.”

She came back up to his side.

“Any questions? Can I get you anything while I’m here before I leave?”

She wanted to get out of there. And she didn't. This was something new for her. She had never felt an attraction to any of the men under her care before. This was disconcerting.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian sat obediently, listening and watching the young nurse go about her duty. She was a picture of perfection, he could watch her all day. His eyes darkened slightly at the mention of the sweat box. He had heard of this contraption, and he was not looking forward to it. But, if it bought him more time in her presence, he was willing to suffer.

He nodded when asked if she could conduct a simple stimulus test, which he passed. That brought as much delight as meeting this gorgeous girl, although he didn't let that show either.

When she asked if he had any questions, a million passed through his head. But then he realised he just wanted some company.

"You mind hanging out for a bit? It gets kind of lonely down here", he said with a smile.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"You mind hanging out for a bit? It gets kind of lonely down here"

Rayne hesitated for a few seconds. Not because of regulations about fraternizing but because she seemed drawn to this man. In the end, her soft heart won out. She smiled warmly and drew up a chair close to his bedside.

“I guess I can do that. I have some spare time. You were the last patient on my rotation for today.”

She looked around the ward then back at him with sympathy in her eyes.

“I can understand that. It’s a shame you’re the only patient in here at the moment but I’m sure the other beds will fill up soon enough. So, Specialist Stanl…um… Adrian, how long will you be here for and where are you shipping back to?”

She sat back in her chair, crossing her legs with a small tug at her dress. Interest was clearly in her eyes, that and politeness and when he wasn’t looking directly at her, she studied him. There was a quiet air about him, but then, it was the same air the majority of men who came through here, wore. She guessed he was probably a couple of years older than she was. His skin was weathered but it added to his attractiveness. He was the kind of man that she usually steered clear of. When she was younger, still in school, she would have found herself drawn to him, like a moth to a flame and regardless of the fact that he was probably not good for her. He wasn’t the settling kind. She was. Eventually, she wanted a husband and a family. Eventually. Right now, she owed something to her country and to her brother’s memory.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian smiled warmly as Nurse Jackson pulled up a chair close to his bed.

How long will you be here for and where are you shipping back to?

"I think it's at least a few weeks until I will have enough strength in my legs to sustain a flight home."

He thought about the second question. He really had no idea.

"I guess it will be back to my hometown base, West Point".

Home. Not a day went by without him thinking about home. It had been three long years. At least the one shining light from his injury meant he would be heading back stateside.

"So where's home for you? What made you come out here?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"So where's home for you? What made you come out here?"

“I was born and raised in Indiana.”

She looked down at her hands, which were resting in her lap. His second question shouldn’t have taken her by surprise, but it did. She didn’t expect her throat to tighten up the way it did. It took a moment for her to get her emotions under control before she could look at him and reply. When she did, her eyes met his for a brief time before they slipped away again.

“My older brother actually. He was one of the first men over here. He was in country for a month before….before he was killed.” She drew in a deep breath, “I was a kid back then. A senior in high school. His… death, changed my life."

She looked back at the man lying in the bed.

“I needed to do something. I heard they needed nurses. I graduated from high school and then to college. When I got out, I went right to recruiter’s office,” she offered a slight smile, “my mother wasn’t very happy about it but I needed to do something. So, here I am.

Home will be nice after all this, I bet. I’ve got another month or two before I return to the states myself. What did you do before you got drafted?”

She assumed he got drafted. No one in their right mind volunteered for this mess. Well, a few maybe. Those men that been to war before or felt duty bound. It was rare to find a young man, who had his whole life in front of him, volunteer to fight a war that wasn’t for or because of his own country.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian nodded,

"Yeah I was drafted, three years ago. I lost sight to why we are here."

He didn't want to say anymore. The truth was he had seen things in the jungle and villages of Vietnam that no person should see or experience. No war effort was worth it.

He smiled as he listened to her story.

"You're a courageous girl. I'm glad we have someone like you out here to look after us", he said, still smiling.

'Damn it Adrian, get a hold of yourself! No falling for the pretty nurse", he scolded himself. As cute and beautiful as she was, such thoughts could stay that, thought. Not to put into action.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"You're a courageous girl. I'm glad we have someone like you out here to look after us.”

She found herself blushing at his words and shyness overcame her. Her eyes glanced away from him to the floor. It was a moment or two before she could find her composure, though she still felt the heat in her cheeks.

“I don’t think I’m courageous at all. Impulsive, more than likely. At least, that’s what my parents always said. I just felt like I needed to be here. To be able to give back something to the men that put their lives on the line every day, hoping I give to them what I hope was given to my brother before he died.”

Men like Adrian seldom spoke of their experiences. They deflected questions and expertly turned the inquisitive questions in other directions. Rayne had learned that lesson first hand. She never pushed. She always followed their lead even if they never answered her questions. Sometimes, they would talk to her, of things that happened to them or their platoon, but it was never in depth. She could sense they glossed over a lot.

“So, Adrian,” she smiled as her eyes found his again, “Do you have family waiting for you when you get home? Surely such a handsome man as yourself has a girl waiting too or are you one of those that have a girl in every place he travels to?”

Her tone was light. Teasing. She wanted to lighten the mood. Turn it.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian smiled.

"I left home three years ago. I was eighteen. I thought the world was my oyster. I was living life."

He knew he had avoided the question, although he wasn't sure why he had.

"Being out here has taught me to enjoy the few highs, because you need them to get through the many lows."

He smiled again,

"My family is at home. I am an only child. My dad served during the Second World War, so naturally he was proud to see his son follow in his footsteps. My mum understood, but I knew she was against it.

I certainly don't have a girl in every port."

He paused,

"Maybe I need to find that one.

What about you? There has to be a man at home waiting for you, with a ring no doubt", he said with a wry smile.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"I left home three years ago. I was eighteen. I thought the world was my oyster. I was living life."

Eighteen. So many of the boys who came into her ward were just eighteen. They never got to enjoy their younger years. So many of them came in and never walked out on their own two feet. Many, too many, went home in a casket. She had to smile at Adrian’s words. She just bet he had been living life large at eighteen until Uncle Sam sent him a letter telling him that he was going off to fight across an ocean in a foreign land.

Rayne’s head tipped back slightly as she uncrossed and recrossed her legs. Left over right this time. She shifted in her chair slightly as she listened to him. She wondered silently if he had left a girl back home to return to.

” What about you? There has to be a man at home waiting for you, with a ring no doubt.”

Her lips quirked slightly as she shook her head.

“No. No one. I was dating someone in high school but then my brother died and I wasn’t interested any more. Then came college and I threw myself into my studies. After that, I enlisted and here I am.”

Rayne got to her feet and moved to the side of his bed.

“I should go, Adrian. You could use some rest because I plan on working you hard in therapy tomorrow. The orderly will come for you in the morning. He’ll take you to the sweat box.”

She smiled wider, her eyes reflecting that teasing grin.

“Do you know why we call it the sweat box? Because we push you to get better. You’re going to cuss at me. You’re going to sweat. A lot. You're going to feel pain. And you’re going to walk out of here, good as new or damn close to it. I promise.”

Her fingers found his arm and squeezed it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian watched as she uncrossed and crossed her legs. The creamy colour of the flesh of her thighs was very alluring. 'Damn it man! Get it together!'

He was a bit disappointed to see her go, but he knew she was right. He smiled as she described what was in store for him tomorrow.

"If I can survive three years in this hell hole of a country, I think I'll do just fine tomorrow."

When she squeezed his arm, he felt the warmth of her hand, and a little bolt of electricity passed between them. Or was it just him whom felt it? He watched her leave and then turned over to sleep.

 

[DarkWarrioress]

She left the ward quietly, his voice ringing in her ears. Her heart racing just a little and if she would but admit it, her breathing was a little erratic.

Rayne, stop it. He’s going home in a few weeks. He’s your patient. You DO NOT get involved.

She was still silently admonishing herself as she made her way back to her own quarters. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she slipped off her shoes before lying back and staring up at the ceiling. She really should get back up and get something to eat but she was just too damn tired to do so. Instead, she closed her eyes and unbidden, Adrian came to mind. She had never been pulled toward a stranger before. Men came and went in this damn war but there was something about him. She just couldn’t explain it. She fell asleep silently telling herself to stop it.

0500 hrs.

She groaned and rolled over, a hand blindly slapping at her alarm clock before it shut up and she drew a pillow over her head. That didn’t last long. The pillow went flying, hitting a far wall. Rayne sat up with a groan, brushing her hair back from her face and squinting at the alarm clock. With a groan, she got up and grabbed her towel as she shuffled off for a shower. Twenty minutes later, she was dressed and in the breakfast line in the canteen, getting breakfast.

0545hrs.

She was in the Sweatbox. It was a room designated for physical therapy. She was sitting on a folding chair, his chart in her lap. Rayne was idly chewing on her bottom lip as she mentally decided on a course of therapy for Specialist Stanley. First, she needed to determine how much use of his legs he had, if any at the moment. Muscles got lazy if they weren’t worked and she knew he hadn’t been able to work his, until now.

 

[TheKindMaster]

Adrian watched her leave. The man in him noticed her shapely rear, causing him to stiffen. The beast of sexual frustration grew inside him. Three years without his family, his friends, any resemblance of his life, and sex. It was getting to him now that he was close to returning home. He fought the urge to release the built up tension, turned over and went to sleep.

Barely a few hours later, he was woken by one of the orderlies, whom he almost punched in the face. For a moment, he thought he was still out in the field and their base had come under attack. Then he realised where he was, and groaned. He was washed and dressed, given breakfast, and then wheeled down to the sweatbox.

There she was, waiting for him. He smiled when he saw her.

"Good morning. So Nurse Jackson, what's the plan here?"

 

[DarkWarrioress]

"Good morning. So Nurse Jackson, what's the plan here?"

The sound of his voice made her smile. It shouldn’t, but it did. She had been standing with her back to him, had been adjusting the bar closest to her. At the sound of his voice, she turned, her back against the bar. Her eyes found his. She was still smiling.

“Good Morning, Specialist Stanley.”

Her eyes flashed upward, over his head, the orderly behind him. She inclined her head slightly.

“Thank you. I’ll call you when we’re done. Why don’t you go grab something from the canteen? This is going to take awhile.”

Her eyes returned to her patient after the orderly left.

“First, we’re going to get you on your feet. Then I am going to help you get between these bars, which you’re going to grip with your hands and walk to the other end.”

As she was speaking, she went behind his chair and pushed it to one end of the bars.

“Now, I want you to reach up and grab both bars, one in each hand and pull yourself upright. Take it easy. I’ll be right behind you just in case your legs won’t hold you up. This might take awhile, but you are going to walk again, Adrian.”

She waited for him to comply before she moved the chair away. Then she was behind him again. A reassuring presence that didn't stand too close but was close enough to catch him if he fell.