It took Mary five days to convince William that he was able to travel on a train to her home. She knew that he was capable of more than he believed he could do and she wanted to prove it to him. So every day she had been making him do something that proved that he was capable of more than just a mental break he had put up in his mind.
They were at the train now, Jack quietly standing near Mary, but close enough to the doorway that he was able to leave if this turned for the worse. Mary knew that he would be fine, but his doubt made her nervous. Could it trigger something?
"William, we're boarding soon, let's stand-"
"No." Mary sighed but didn't push him. She let him be in charge of where they stood because she knew that it was a big step for him to even be in the train station. "I'm sorry, it's the nerves-"
"I know, it's alright. We can stay back here until the train is open and then we can find where we're sitting, alright?" William nodded. "You're doing great, I hope you know-"
"William!" The couple jumped at the loud voice booming across the platform, yelling at the soldier. Mary rested her hand on William's arm as he straightened up, ready to leave the station. "Holy shit man, we all thought you were dead when we found out about what happened at the Somme." A man in a news cap came up, stopping a few feet in front of William and Mary. "How've you been?" William stayed silent, Mary watching as his eyes softened, but his body language was still stoic and avoidant.
"He just got back from France and is still adjusting back to the mental state where he's safe." The man turned to look at Mary, smiling.
"Well, you must be the lucky lady. We always said that William would find a woman who could take care of him more than he could take care of-"
"William's quite capable of taking care of himself when he's not being screamed at from across a train station and quite frankly, it seems he can take better care of himself than you can take care of yourself." That made William snap back into reality, the soldier having to hide a laugh behind a cough. It was true, the man who Mary had no interest in knowing, had the bottoms of his pants covered in dirt with a few holes in them and his shirt seemed almost too tight on his body.
"Didn't mean to offend you, Miss, just stating that William looks a lot worse than when he left." Mary opened her mouth to respond, but William placed a gentle hand on her waist, stopping her. The man's eyes were drawn to the delicate touch before he looked back at William.
"I'm just used to bad things happening when my name is called now. How are you doing?" William held his hand out for the other man to shake as he asked.
"We're as good as we can be. Arthur's been shipped off and we've not heard from him. Dad and Mum are going mental with the idea that he could be gone and we'd have no idea. The military's a mess apparently."
"Yeah, well, they sent Mary here into a right worry when they sent her letter back to her because I was home. They're not great at keeping track of us soldiers. Arthur's probably on a boat enjoying the fresh air and you'll hear about it as soon as he gets to a trench. What are you doing now? Done with chasing the widowed women?" The man smiled as Mary cringed at the question.
"Never. Always the best when they're sad."
"You're still a pig then, Eric."
"Never will change that probably. Failed my medical test again for the military so I'm part of the clean-up crew around London. That's why I'm so bashed up at the moment, just came from the square that was bombed a few days ago. It was messy and apparently, George is pissed off that it hit a military hospital." Mary felt William freeze again. It was the hospital they were at. "Apparently a load of nurses and doctors died and the wounded soldiers didn't even get the chance to flee."
"We saw it."
"Yeah? Awful isn't it?"
"No, we saw it." Eric fell silent in a silent realization that William and Mary were in the hospital at the time it was bombed.
"Makes sense that you're leaving the city then. That's gonna do you some good. Tell you what, ring me up when you're back and we can get the entire group back together, yeah? We'll go for a few drinks and we'll chat just like old times." Mary and William's train was called, Mary moving forward before William could grab her suitcase.
"Yeah, maybe. Our train is boarding, but it was nice seeing you, we'll catch up after I'm back, alright?"
"You said that before you went to France and then never wrote to your mum or sister."
"I'll come back, alright? I've got to go before we miss our train." William grabbed his suitcase and Mary's hand, letting the nurse lead the way through the crowd and to the train.
"Who's Eric?" Mary couldn't hold back anymore. They were halfway through the trip to her hometown and though she held back, she wanted to know.
"A friend."
"You told me your friends were all in the war."
"Eric's the older brother of one of my best friends, Daniel. Dan was in France with me. My friends are all in the war, but their siblings aren't. Eric has a breathing condition that would only worsen in the trenches and the gunsmoke so he's here probably doing what he can for the war. He may not seem like it, but he's actually real torn up about not being able to serve as the rest of us go off to fight."
"And Daniel?" William's silence was enough for Mary. "I'm sorry, Will."
"Let's just change the subject before I'm thrown back there. I don't need everyone's eyes on me."
"Alright, are you nervous?"
"Hm?"
"My father's going to be at the train station, so are you nervous?"
"I've not even thought that far ahead, but now I am." Mary smiled as William's face changed from scared to absolutely terrified.
"Just shake his hand and then compliment the cherry trees on the way and you'll be fine. We're all a bit relaxed."
"You're not relaxed, neither is-was Blake. He was like a firework ready to explode every moment and the number of times I've had to calm you down, you're anything but relaxed."
"You know what I mean. We're not very judgmental when it comes to people. You've already proved you're a good man because of how much you've written to me. It proves that you care. And getting on this train, even with your doubts, you've proven just how much you're willing to do, so I highly doubt my father or mother could hate you."
"You don't have any other siblings that I don't know about, do you?" Mary smiled, taking William's hand in her own.
"I've just got Joseph, you'll be alright, William." William sighed, leaning back. "Besides, even if they weren't alright with you, you've got my heart which is more important than approval, yes?"
"I would usually agree, but if you ever want to marry me, I'd need your parents' approval and that won't happen if your father doesn't particularly like me." Mary smiled at the thought of marrying William. She raised her hands, which were still holding William's, kissing the back of his hand softly.
"They'll approve." She knew they would because William was hers and though he didn't know it, she had not once even thought about introducing someone to her family. Her parents knew just how much William meant to Mary and it seemed that they may see just how much William cared for Mary these next few days.
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a/n: okay so I think I'm almost done with this fic maybe like 10ish chapters left, maybe less. BUT I think I'm going to write a Jack Marrowbone fic after this one because I thought of a really good idea for a Jack story and I've not seen one about him and that's just sad.