Dark Past
By: CCK 2005

My BIGGEST THANKS to Doc II for beta reading my story. You've made it the best it could be. Thanks.

The truck pulled up to the CP headquarters, ready to return soldiers to the front lines. Crawling down from the driver's side, the private looked towards the group of soldiers waiting to hitch a ride with him. Chuckling to himself, he thought these poor guys looked worse than some of the guys he had pulled straight from the battlefield. A twenty-four hour pass in Paris can be hazardous to a soldier's health and it looked to him like this group had taken full advantage of it.

“We'll pull out in thirty minutes, guys,” the driver shouted, as he entered the building.

A series of grunts and groans followed the driver's shout as the hung over men slowly recovered from their short furlough.

Four soldiers sat slightly apart from the group of weary and worn soldiers. Though one of the men seemed a bit hung over they were all in far better shape than the rest.

Doc offered Caje two aspirin and his canteen, which Caje gratefully accepted.

“Thanks Doc. I'm not as bad as I thought I'd be today.” The Cajun smiled at the medic.

“You look a whole lot better than any of them.” Billy laughed as the four soldiers glanced at the group waiting with them.

“Yea, Billy.” Littlejohn laughed. “But I'll bet ya any amount you want that Kirby looks like them or worse when he shows up.”

The four soldiers nodded in agreement when Caje noticed Saunders coming towards them. “Hey Sarge.” Caje shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked up at his Sergeant. “How was your leave?”

“Oh fine, just fine.” Saunders looked over his rag tag squad. They had all showered, shaved, and changed into clean uniforms. They looked a lot better than when he had left them the day before. “Looks like you all had a fine leave.” He smiled at the green shade his scout turned at the mention of his leave.

“Truck's here Sarge.” Doc quickly changed the subject. “Says we'll pull out in thirty minutes.”

Saunders nodded and once again took stock of his squad. A feeling of dread hit the pit of his stomach when he realized one was missing.

“Where's Kirby?” he growled through clenched teeth.

“Haven't seen him yet this morning, Sarge,” Billy responded. “Haven't seen him since last night.”

“Where?” Saunders questioned.

“I saw him talking to a pretty little thing in that little café down the street, Sarge.” Caje's smile quickly faded at Saunders glare. “They were walking arm in arm, heading down the street. That was about nineteen hundred hours last night.

“That's funny,” Littlejohn said under his breath.

“What's so funny about that?” Doc asked. “We all knew Kirby would end up with some little gal before his twenty-four hours was up.”

“Not that, Doc.” Littlejohn shook his head. “I saw Kirby coming out of that little store two blocks over last night. He was carrying a bag full of stuff. That was about twenty two hundred. I was heading back for a shower and a soft bed when I saw him.”

“Where did he go?” Saunders' curiosity was peaking.

“He headed up those stairs beside the bakery.” Littlejohn thought back. “I yelled at him but he just kept going. I know he heard me because he hesitated for a minute. Then he took off like he was in a hurry. It was really weird.”

“And no one has seen him since?”

The four soldiers shook their heads in response to his question.

Saunders could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising. “I'll be back.”

“Sarge.” Caje stood up and placed a hand on his sergeant's arm. “There's a small apartment above the bakery. I spotted it yesterday. You want me to go with you?”

Saunders shook his head as he walked away from his squad. He wasn't sure what that feeling of dread was he had but there was no sense in putting anyone else in danger until he was sure.

Saunders reached the bakery in short order. Standing at the base of the stairs looking up at the closed door, he wished he had his Tommy gun with him. Being on a twenty-four hour pass, of course, their weapons had been left back at their base camp. He pulled the leather strap off his side arm and slowly climbed the stairs. Reaching the door, he slowly turned the knob.

Behind the door, he found a small hallway leading to another door at the end. Taking a deep breath, hand on his sidearm, he made his way to the door. Through the door he could hear Kirby softly speaking. He couldn't make out what was being said but it was soft and loving. Then he heard him laugh.

That feeling of dread was quickly replaced with anger. Kirby had done it to him again. He'd gone AWOL and was hiding out with some young girl. He promised it wouldn't happen again. Did his word mean nothing? Well he wasn't getting away with it. This time he would bring him up on charges. He'd had it with his gold bricking. No more, he swore. No more.

He quietly turned the knob and pushed open the door. He didn't care if he caught the soldier in an embarrassing situation or not. He stepped inside the room and stopped dead in his tracks. He could not believe what he was seeing. He stood stark still, his mouth hanging open.

Kirby sat on the far side of the room in an overstuffed chair with a very small child on his lap. Saunders watched in amazement as his rough and tough BAR man gently spoke and played with the small child. Then he would softly hug him and kiss the top of the small head. He watched as this small creature reached up and grabbed Kirby's nose. Kirby laughed and hugged the child again.

Saunders guessed Kirby didn't realize he was standing in the room as his attention was focused on the buddle on his lap. He cleared his throat, startling Kirby. Looking up at his sergeant, Kirby was speechless at first. He looked from Saunders to the child and back again. “Hey Sarge.” Kirby quickly recovered. “What ya doing here?”

“Looking for you.” Saunders stepped further into the room. “Truck's here to take us back.”

“Oh God, Sarge!” Kirby stood and lifted the child into his arms. “I didn't realize it was so late. I can't leave just yet. I have to wait for Suzanne to get back.” Kirby looked into the angelic face of the child and then lowered his eyes. “I promised to watch Michael until she got back.”

Saunders couldn't believe this was coming from Kirby, his womanizing, hard-drinking, poker playing BAR man. Saunders looked at the small boy in Kirby's arms. He looked to be about fifteen months old and for some reason had a strong hold on Kirby's heart.

“Where did she go?” Saunders asked.

“She went to go give the baker some rent money,” Kirby answered. “He lets her stay here for a small amount of rent since her husband was killed. He was a member of the Resistance and the Krauts shot him right in front of her.”

Saunders could hear the sadness in the soldier's voice.

“She moved here afterwards. She works when she can at the café to get rent and food.”

Saunders heard footsteps behind him and turned to see a very pretty young women with dark hair enter the apartment. She stopped short, fear in her eyes, when she saw the sergeant standing there.

“Uh, Suzanne,” Kirby spoke up. “This is Sergeant Saunders, my NCO. He came to tell me the truck is here to take us back.”

“Oh.”

Saunders saw the fear leave her eyes only to be replaced with what appeared to him to be shame. She stepped over to Kirby and took the child from his arms. “Thank you, Kirby, for watching my Michael.” She spoke in heavily accented English. She lowered her voice so Saunders could barely hear. “And thank you for all you've done. God will smile upon you and keep you safe. I know he will. You are a good man.”

Saunders saw Kirby blush as he glanced his direction. He turned and walked out into the hall and waited for his BAR man to say goodbye. He watched as Kirby tenderly kissed the small child and then the mother on the cheek.

“If you come to Paris again you will come to see us won't you?” he heard her ask.

“You bet,” came the reply and then Kirby was at Saunders side as they walked down the hall.

As the two soldiers started down the stairs, Kirby suddenly sat on the bottom step. Saunders leaned up against the wall of the bakery and took two Lucky Strikes out of his pack. Lighting them, he handed one to Kirby who took it gratefully.

“Ya know, Sarge,” Kirby started as he took a long drag off the cigarette. “When I met her last night I had one thing in mind. She knew that was all I was after and she still took me to her place.” Kirby looked up at his sergeant. “She had enough money to either pay the rent or buy the kid some food. She was desperate and didn't know what to do. So she picked up the first GI that showed any interest in her and took him home.”

Saunders nodded his understanding and took another drag off his cigarette. “War makes people do things they would never normally do, Kirby. Ya can't blame her for that.”

“Oh I don't blame her any, Sarge,” Kirby quickly replied. “But when we walked into her apartment and I saw that little boy all alone in a playpen while she went out to make some money....” His voice trailed off for a moment. “Well, I just couldn't do it, Sarge, ya know.”

Saunders nodded his head once again and threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomping it out.

“All I could see was my wife and kid,” Kirby continued his eyes staring off somewhere in the past. He once again glanced up at his sergeant and saw surprise on his face. “Yeah, Sarge, I had me a wife and son about that age. He got real sick one night so we rushed him to the hospital. They did all they could but he was so sick....” His voice trailed off again. He shook his head as if to erase a bad memory and continued, “Well anyway, my wife couldn't handle it so she left. That's when I joined the army.” Kirby stood and looked into his sergeant's eyes. “I just had to help her Sarge, ya know. I went and bought her enough food for a month. Took all I had but it was worth it. So this morning she took what money she had to pay her rent. That's why I stayed so late. Sorry Sarge.”

Saunders placed a hand on Kirby's shoulder and continued the eye contact. “Kirby, you got nothing to be sorry for. Let's get to that truck.”

Kirby nodded and the two soldiers headed down the street to catch their ride.

“Uh, Sarge.” Kirby quietly spoke.

“Yeah, Kirby.”

“Don't say anything about this to the guys, okay.”

Saunders smiled and patted Kirby on the back.

“Not a word, Kirby. Not a word.”