𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 • 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜

22 • If Today Could Last Forever

Steve climbed the stairs and dragged his feet down the hallway until he reached Millie's room, the one that Frank and Ethel seemed to have no problem letting Steve stay in with her. And Steve was grateful for that.

Steve lightly tapped his knuckles on the wood, and when Millie didn't respond he took it upon himself to push open the door without and invitation.

Millie was sat on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest, back against her metal bedframe. She was sobbing into herself, trembling with fear.

She felt Steve's presence as he slid down next to her, shimmying an arm behind her back and trying to pull her close to him.

"I shouldn't be crying," Millie wept. "Alone in my room."

"I think this is a perfect time to cry if there ever was one, sweetheart."

"It's my final day, tomorrow I'll be on the train. I should be spending it with all of you, making final memories before I go. Instead I'm sobbing like an idiot."

"You're not an idiot," Steve defended."

"I am, I should've never signed up." She threw herself into Steve's chest.

"You'll be okay Millie, nothing bad will happen to you." Steve pat her hair while she wet his shirt with her tears. "You're not a soldier, you won't have to fight. You'll heal, you'll help. It's what you do best."

"What if I'm not good? What if I can't save people?"

"You will, you'll save more people than you'll probably realise." Steve's voice dropped low. "You'll save lives of those injured, and by association, the lives of their families."

Steve took a deep breath before continuing. My mother told me she was so overcome by grief when my father was killed that if it weren't for me, she wasn't sure she'd be able to survive it." Steve usually tried not to think of such a thing, it caused him too much pain but he figured Millie needed to hear it. "So many widows, mothers, lovers, and friends can't bare being without a loved one, so they'd do anything to be with them again."

"You really think so?" Millie sniffled.

"Of course I do," Steve forced a smile but it fell. "Life becomes meaningless, and there's nothing beautiful about it. They stop caring for themselves, because it seems pointless when they're alone...I guess it's kind of like how you enlisted when you thought I did."

"I'm so sorry I did that, Stevie." Millie's eyes filled with water again. "Please forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you, Mills. I mean, I can't say l'd react any differently if the roles were reversed." He closed his eyes and a tear started to roll down his cheek. "I mean, I think about what it would be like to lose you. God only knows what stupid shit I'd do, considering I make stupid decisions already."

"Steve, if anything happens to me...you have to promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"I can't promise you that, Millie."

"Steve-"

"I can't. But it's okay, because nothings going to happen to you. You'll be back in my arms in a blink of an eye."

"Really?"

"Really." Steve stood from his spot and held his hands out to Millie who took them and let him bull her to her feet. "Now let's dry your eyes and go sit with your parents, every moment counts."
~

Mille laid awake, wide eyed while Steve's soft snores filled her small bedroom. The air was hot, and Steve's body stuck to hers with sweat, their body heat adding even more discomfort in the single bed.