Home to Me [Army Nurse!Reader]

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Y/N's a nurse in the army and Harry just wants her back home with him. 

WC: 4.5k

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More than anything, there's the overwhelming fear that catapults through his body whenever he hears a tapping at his front door. More than anything, it's the soul-consuming, nauseating rush that washes over him in tidal waves whenever his phone rings.

Harry's a mess, he always is when she's drafted back out to another foreign country where he can't protect her. He's sick every morning when he wakes up and every night as he tries to settle to sleep. Her lack of presence makes him ill and he hates not knowing what's going on.

He's on edge all the time, distraught and anxious. Every time before she leaves, he promises he'll be okay — that he won't worry so much, that he won't make himself ill. They're all lies.

Y/N left for an undisclosed location two weeks ago and Harry's reaping the consequences. He hasn't slept more than an hour every night and his loss of appetite came days before she flew out. It's selfish, he knows it is. Selfish for begging her not to go, to think of him, of her family. He hates himself for it, but he loves her too much to potentially lose her.

He stays though, he waits for her. He spends his time writing songs and visiting her family. He spends his sleepless nights re-reading old texts and letters she's sent him while she's drafted. Harry is proud and he'll scream it from the rooftops, but he's scared and anxious, and he wants her home with him.

They argued two days before she felt out. He made her feel guilty, made her rethink her career and what it means for them. The conversation of starting a real family together had arisen, of having children and moving out of the luxurious apartment and getting themselves a five-bed home closer to Holmes Chapel.

Then Harry had said those bitter words that had her ignoring him for hours. "Bit selfish to want a baby but won't do anything now to stop putting your life at risk." He grovelled after her for six hours; apologising and taking back what he said. He knew she was angry, knew she had every right to be, but he meant what he said and she knows it.

In the two weeks she's been gone, he's had complete radio silence. By now, he'd have received his first letter, one that reassured him she's okay, that misses out the scary world she's working in. He would've received another little Polaroid photo attached of her in her uniform, of a couple of her friends she's made in the nurses' tents.

But he's received nothing and maybe that's why his fear and anxiety is so heightened this time around. He's tried convincing her plenty of times that she can do the same job in the safety of London. That she could get any position in any hospital where she would still be helping people but be safe while doing so.

And she's always argued otherwise. Argued that she wouldn't get the rush she gets when she's on the field. That she wouldn't be saving and helping her country like she does when she's shipped off with the soldiers. And Harry fucking hates it.

He hates it because it only takes one stray bullet, one big missile. It only takes one thing to take her life and he can't stomach the thought of it. He's left with a permanent bitter taste in his mouth when she's gone and no matter what he does, he can't stop himself from thinking the worst.

He puts on a brave face for her family and his. Anne and Gemma are lounging on the sofa beside him, Y/N's parents Cathy and Robert sitting on the smaller couch opposite them. There's an old rerun of Friends on the TV and they've all got a cup of tea in their hands, having just finished a gorgeous lunch Anne had prepared.

They do this a lot when Y/N's dispatched. Being together gives them a bigger sense of being close to Y/N and sometimes it's quite nice to worry together, rather than alone. Because Robert and Cathy have each other when the sun goes down. Gemma and Anne have each other when the stars start to shine. But when darkness comes and consumes him whole, Harry has nobody.

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