Imagine you're a nurse and you take care of Gator Lerner.

*Requested by okdanmaardit*

You are Lieutenant (y/n) (y/l/n), a newly hired army nurse, who was recently deployed to Vietnam to help with the wounded soldiers during the war. After years of nursing school and going through training, you were immediately sent off on your very first mission overseas. Even though you were slightly nervous about going to Vietnam, you were still thankful to finally get the opportunity to work as a nurse to help with the wounded soldiers.

***

"Lieutenant (y/l/n)." You heard a military doctor call out your name. "Yes, sir." You responded. "I need you over here right away." The military doctor commanded. "Coming, sir." You said, walked over to where the doctor was located. You, then, found him standing in front of a patient bed, where a wounded soldier was laying down on it, with his eyes closed and bloodied bandages all over his chest.

"This is Private Lerner. He was shot during battle. I need to assist an emergency operation, so I need you to help take care of him. You will need to change his bandages before he starts hemorrhaging and clean the gunshot wounds." He instructed. "I will do that, sir." You said, with a nod. "I'd appreciate that. He took a sedative about an hour ago to help ease the pain, so he'll be awake soon." The military doctor added, and, then, he walked away.

Afterwards, you put on some gloves and began to, gently, take the bloodied bandages off of the wounds on the soldier in front of you before you took a soaked cloth and started wiping the dry blood off of him. As you were doing that, you took a moment to glance down at his face. Even though part of his face was covered in dirt, you could still see his handsome facial features and his bare slightly muscular tan chest that started to make your heart flutter. You've never felt this feeling before in your life, but it somehow felt wonderful. 'Please be alright, good soldier.' You thought to yourself, as you were putting new bandages, gently, over his wounds.

But your thoughts were soon interrupted when you heard a soft, groaning sound. You looked down and saw the wounded man moving his head and, slowly, trying to open his eyes. When he finally did open his eyes, he looked straight up at you, with a soft expression on his face. "Am I dead?" He said, quietly. "No. You're at the medical base, Private Lerner. You've been shot during battle and you've been brought here." You explained. Then, he looked all around as if he was checking to see if he was actually in reality. After that, he looked back at you.

"Oh. I see. For a second there, I thought for sure I was dead because...I thought I was seeing an angel in front of me." He said. You turned your head away and your face turned into a shade of red and you tried your best not to giggle. 'Keep it together, (y/n). Keep it together.' You thought to yourself. Then, you turned your head back to him. "Who are you?" He asked. "I'm Lieutenant (y/n) (y/l/n). I'm a military nurse and I'm here to tend your wounds, Private Lerner." You introduced yourself. He looked down at the fresh, new bandages that were wrapped around his chest and, then he looked back at you. "Thank you and you can call me 'Gator'." "'Gator'? What a very unique name. I like it." You said, and a smile appeared on Gator's face afterwards.

There was nothing but silence for a few seconds until you spoke again. "H-How do you feel so far, Gator?" You asked. He winced in pain for a second as he was trying to sit up, but you put your hands on his shoulders to keep him from moving any further. "I'm feeling very sore." Gator said, grunting and saying it in a convinced tone at the same time. "Then, you shouldn't move, silly." You said, as you laid him back down on his bed, gently. Then, Gator placed his hand over your right hand and smiled up at you. "You really are an angel." He said, trying to sound flirtatious, even though he was in pain. You chuckled, softly, as you took his hand into yours and held it before you said, "And you're such a...flirt, Gator. That sedative must really be wearing off of you." He chuckled after you said that to him.

"Lieutenant (y/l/n), we need your assistance." You heard a different military doctor call out your name. "I gotta go help them." You said, as you were about to turn around and leave. But with all of the strength that he had, Gator gripped your hand to stop you from leaving. You turned back and looked down at him and asked, "Did you need something, Gator?" "Yeah. I need to know if I'll be seeing you again soon?" Gator asked. You grinned and slightly squeezed his hand and said, "Of course you'll be seeing me again soon, Gator. I'll be back here to check and see how your wounds are doing." He grinned back at you and took your hand and placed a kiss on top of it, with you blushing and your heart skipping a beat. "I'll be waiting for you...(y/n)." Gator said, with a wink at the end. You winked back at him and released his hand and ran over to where you were needed.

***

For the whole week, you've been taking care of Gator most of the time. While the other military doctors and nurses were tending other wounded soldiers, you were the only one who focused more on Gator. So far, he's been healing very good with his wounds, while you cared for him. You checked on how his wounds were doing, replaced the old bandages with new ones whenever they needed to be changed, gave him sponge baths, and you sat and talked with him to keep him company. He was very sweet towards you and he held your hand the whole time while the two of you spoke and got to know one another. Being with Gator made your heart flutter constantly, which felt wonderful. You were very thankful that you were sent to Vietnam on your first mission. It felt like it was your destiny to be with Gator.

***

"Don't deny it, (y/n). I saw you blushing." Gator said, with a grin on his face. "I was not, Gator. I was not." You denied, as you were wheeling Gator on a stretcher towards his bed. "You were too. I saw you staring down at me and you were red as a cherry." Gator said. "Don't be ridiculous, Gator. I've given you sponge baths all week and I'm very professional on what I do. I was not staring down at you." "Deny all you like, sweetheart, but I ain't blind. I know what I saw. You can't help it that I'm sexy." He said, jokingly, with a smirk at the end. You giggled as you were getting closer to his bed.

Once you got to his bed, you stopped the stretcher, walked around the bed, took his hand into yours, and said, "Alright. Ready, Gator?" You said. "Ready as usual, (y/n)." Then, you grasped his hand and, carefully, pulled him off the stretcher and helped him into his bed. He winced a little bit, but not as bad as it was before as he was healing a lot better from his wounds. Afterwards, a medical personnel moved the stretcher out of the way.

"You doing okay, Gator?" You asked, while sitting down next to him on his bed. "I'm doing fine, thanks you, my darling angel." Gator answered, and, then, you giggled before you helped sit him up against the pillow. After that, a nurse came up to the bed, with a tray full of vanilla ice cream cones. "Would you like an ice cream cone, Private Lerner?" She asked. Gator turned and looked at you for a second and looked back at the nurse. "I'll take two, please." He answered. The nurse, then, handed him two ice cream cones and walked away to go to the next patient. Once she left, he handed one of the ice cream cones to you. "For you, my lady." He said, politely. You giggled and took the ice cream cone from him. "Thank you, Gator." You said, before you started licking the vanilla ice cream.

For the next five minutes, you went back to your usual conversation with Gator, while you both enjoyed your ice cream. "(y/n), why haven't I seen you with your hair down?" Gator questioned. "Because I'm supposed to keep it up in a bun, silly." You answered. "Here. I wanna see it down this time." He said, and, then, he took the hair tie out and your hair fell down, revealing your (h/l) (h/c) hair. "Now that looks a lot better. You should keep it like that." Gator said. You blushed after he said that.

After having a normal conversation for another five minutes, Gator's facial expression went from happy to looking like he was bummed about something. "They're medically discharging me back to Tallahassee, my hometown in Florida in a couple of days. If there was ever a chance, maybe after this war is over or if you're done being here, would you consider coming to Tallahassee so I can see you again, (y/n)?" Gator asked. It bummed you out that he was being sent back to his hometown, but it made you feel better when he asked you to come and see him there. "I would definitely consider coming down and see you again once they no longer need me here, Gator." You said.

Gator smiled and said, "That's great. I'm glad to hear you say that, (y/n), because...I can't really imagine going back there...and not seeing you again." You furrowed your eyebrows, in confusion. "What did you say, Gator?" You asked. "Can I tell you a secret, (y/n)?" Gator asked, and you nodded. "Since the day that I woke up and saw you standing over me, not only did I think that you were an angel standing in front of me, but I also felt that you're reason why I'm still alive." Gator said. You felt your heart was melting after he said that. "Really?" You whispered. He nodded and slightly leaned away from his pillow so that he was closer to you. "The bandages aren't the only ones healing my wounds. It's mostly been you." He spoke, softly. You smiled even more and your cheeks began to feel hot.

Then, without hesitating, Gator leaned forward and pressed his lips against yours. You closed your eyes and kissed him back, enjoying this wonderful moment with him. His lips felt warm and soft as he continued kissing you with love and tenderness. Moments later, you both barely pulled away from the kiss and the two of you stared into each other's eyes. "(y/n)?" Gator whispered. "Yes, Gator?" You whispered back. "Thank you for healing me. You truly are an angel to me." He whispered. You sighed, softly, and whispered, "You're welcome, Private Gator Lerner." You, then, leaned towards him and kissed him again, with him kissing you back.