a/n: please do not read this chapter if you're triggered by bombing or ptsd episodes because that's basically this entire chapter.
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William woke up to something pricking at his arm. He groaned, opening his eyes slowly, seeing the doctor that was speaking with Mary yesterday, poking a needle into his skin.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."
"Mhm, it's fine. What are you doing?"
"Just giving you something that will calm your nerves. Mary said you would prefer to not have a lot of people surrounding you and a new group of soldiers are coming in and it may be loud and chaotic."
"What is it?"
"Hm?"
"What are you giving me?"
"Morphine. Just enough to-" William pulled his arm away, making the needle tear his skin. "William-"
"Lance Corporal Schofield. I'm only William to Mary. I don't want morphine and I know that you can't give it to me unless I'm of unsound mind. I'm fully capable of thinking."
"Will-Lance Corporal Schofield, we're trying to avoid what happened the other day. Some soldiers may think of you as a threat or-"
"Doctor Anderson, the soldiers have arrived." The soldier, being thankful for the interruption, rolled his sleeve down and held his arm to his chest, making sure that the doctor understood William wasn't about to be drugged. He wanted to be completely aware of what was going on.
"I'll be right there, tell the nurses to get ready. Find Nurse Blake as well, tell her that she should stay with Lance Corporal Schofield, just in case." William frowned as he watched the nurse nod before she walked away to find Mary. He didn't need to be babysat. "It's for the safety of you and the rest of us here. If you won't allow me to give you something, I thought that the nurse you've been fucking may help." William felt his blood boil and he stood up, grabbing the collar of the doctor's coat and walking forward until Doctor Anderson was against the wall.
"You fucking talk about Mary like that again and I'll make sure that you'll never fucking see another patient as long as you live. You don't look at her. You don't speak to her. You never even think about Mary again. You hear me?" Doctor Anderson's eyes were wide, shocked that William was able to move as fast as he did and he was as strong as he was.
"Will!" William backed up as soon as he heard Mary's voice, letting Doctor Anderson go and turning towards the nurse. "What the hell are you doing?"
"We're just talking." Mary frowned but didn't push him as he walked back towards his bed. "Now we know I can walk with no issue. Can I now walk outside?" He looked at Mary, who in turn looked towards Doctor Anderson, who looked at William and didn't dare look towards the nurse.
"Why don't you and Nurse Blake take a walk around the hospital as we move in our new patients. You'll be away from the action then." Doctor Anderson gave a tight smile to William before heading towards the patient's entrance. As soon as he was out of sight, William felt himself relax a bit more and he turned towards Mary, who was frowning at him. He just smiled, hoping she would forget about it.
~~
"So, are you willing to tell me or will I have to bother you until you tell me?"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you have Richard against a wall earlier?" They were outside, having left the building quite quickly as they heard the shouting of soldiers in pain entering the hospital. Now, they were in the hospital courtyard where other soldiers usually were, but since every nurse was helping with arrivals, William and Mary had the courtyard to themselves.
"He just said something."
"And you thought to do that?"
"He told me he was giving me morphine, which is something I don't need nor do I want that in my system. Then he said something about you and I couldn't hold back."
"What did he say?"
"I'm not going to repeat it."
"Will-"
"No. I won't repeat it. I'm not aggressive. I'm never like that, even during the...war, but he said it and something about you makes me want to make sure no one hurts you. I just want to protect you." Mary smiled, laying a gentle hand on William's cheek.
"Well, I thank you for defending my honor, but next time maybe just tell me what he said and I'll take care of it. I can report it if you'd like."
"To whom? The men who are above him?" She frowned. "Men are all the same, Mary, they'll defend each other to a fault-" Before William could finish what he was saying, he heard a noise that made him freeze. Mary didn't seem to understand the noise, not yet at least, but William grabbed her hand, pulling her up and looking around before he just dropped to the ground, pulling Mary with him.
"William what's-" She froze as she heard it too. Airplanes. "They're ours."
"No, that's not our engines." Mary's eyes widened, looking around.
"Shouldn't we go inside-"
"No, they'll bomb buildings, we're safer flat out on here-" Then the first bomb hit. William flinched, even though it was distant. Each bomb sounded like it was coming closer. He felt Mary grip his hand and he took the chance to rise up onto his arm and pull Mary into his chest so that she would be protected by his body.
They were getting closer and Mary felt William shaking. She knew that William was probably being brought back to France and what happened to him over there and she had no way to help him other than keep her hand in his and make sure he didn't do anything stupid.
"My gun. Where's my rifle?"
"William we're not-"
"I always have my rifle. Whitney, where's my rifle?" Mary was confused. Who was Whitney? "Whitney, Jesus Christ, they're going to keep fucking picking us off one by one, where is my rifle. If we're pushed back to the Somme, we're fucked, c'mon Whitney, get up." Mary felt her blood run cold. The Somme. He was brought back to the Somme. "Call again. Ask for-" He was cut short as Mary screamed when a bomb went off on the far side of the hospital. She gasped as the plane flew over them. The smoke and the dust from the bombing location covered the sky, making the sun disappear and Mary felt absolute terror for the first time since she moved to London.
"William, I need you to come back to me. William, please." Mary found her way to her knees, making William kneel in front of her, Mary's hands on the side of William's face. "William Schofield, I need you to keep me safe. Come back. Come back to me." She heard the planes get closer to them again, but she knew that if she moved to cover herself, she would never get William back, so she stayed put. "Please Will." She moved forward slowly, so he knew that she wasn't going to hurt him, her forehead leaning against his. She didn't know what else to do. She had no experience with this."
"We need to find our rifles and find cover for ourselves before the Germans find us." Mary felt her stomach drop. He wasn't getting out of it.
"Mary!" She turned, seeing Sophia at the entrance of the courtyard, but she was blocked by William's body pulling her down to the grass, his body almost completely on top of her.
"Will, you're crushing me." She tried to move, but he just put his hand over her mouth.
"We've got no backup coming and we're in German territory, shut up." Mary felt her heart stop. William was one of the few men who got through to the German trenches in the Somme.
"Will, you're not at The Somme. You're home. You're in London. It's 1917. You're with me. You're with Mary Blake, the sister of Thomas Blake, the Lance Corporal who you-" She was silenced by another bomb hitting another part of the hospital and William's face coming next to her and he covered both of their heads as debris flew around them. "William, c'mon, it's Mary, snap out of it. Please, I don't know what to do." She was crying. She was in the middle of a bombing with a soldier who was somewhere else without her and she had no idea what to do. "Come back to me, Will, please."
She heard the planes in the distance and the sirens shut off, meaning that the bombing was done. She was safe. Somehow William and she were safe.
"Mary." It was almost a whisper, but she knew that it was William. Her William and not Lance Corporal Schofield. "What happened?"
"We got bombed and you went somewhere." He was off her body now, sitting down on the grass looking around at the hospital. Mary looked too, seeing that almost all of the hospital was gone whether from the bombing or the fires from the bombs.
"Are you okay?" Before Mary could reply, Sophia came running out to the both of them, falling to her knees next to Mary.
"I couldn't find you and I was so worried you went somewhere and then when I wanted to go find you, Doctor Anderson told me to stay put and he'd find you, but now he's missing and I saw the William was missing and-"
"I'm fine, Sophia, so is William. We're fine. Will kept me safe." She knew that if she told Sophia what happened that she'd never hear the end of it, besides, William didn't need everyone knowing. "Let's go inside and find out what's going to happen, yes?"
"I can't." Both Sophia and Mary looked at William as the soldier spoke up. "I can't go in there. I-"
"Okay, you stay out here, Sophia and I will figure out what we are supposed to do now and then you and I can walk around, alright?" William stayed silent. "I'll meet you there Sophia."
"Mary-"
"Go." Sophia looked hesitant but left Mary and William alone. "William, you're going to have to talk to me, just a bit."
"I don't want to talk about where I went."
"That's okay."
"I can't go back inside. It'll make it worse."
"Are you sure?"
"I'll just think of what happened with Blake. I can't, Mary, you have to-"
"I understand William, I just wanted you to talk to me. Let me go inside and tell them I need to go home and tell them that you're being checked out. You have minor injuries, they'll let me take you home."
"What if home isn't-"
"It's there." Mary wasn't going to let him get lost again. "I'm bringing you home, just wait a few more minutes, alright."
"I'd wait a lifetime for you." She smiled, worried that if she left him alone, he may slip back, but didn't want to push him. He was honest with her then and she wasn't going to betray him by forcing him to do something he didn't want to do.
"I'll just be a minute, alright? Stay right here." He nodded and Mary leaned over, kissing the crown of his head before standing up and walking towards the hospital, looking back just once to make sure William was alright.
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a/n: I realized that if Scho was in The Somme and got a medal he probably was part of the British troops that actually broke through the German front line, which means that he must have some really bad PTSD before the events of 1917. And the fact he probably watched almost every single one of his friends die on top of almost dying just makes me so sad. So, because of that, I'm trying to show how bad PTSD was for the soldiers of WW1 and I'm also trying not to sugar coat it or romaticize it in anyway.