Chapter Text
He came to her on a stretcher bloodied and covered in dust. The soldier was half-conscious and mumbling out nonsense as the other nurses wheeled him in. She was wearing the standard uniform, a white dress, apron and cap. The apron she was wearing had a large red cross on it symbolizing her position as a nurse. The man tried to fight her off multiple times as she tried to clean the wounds that littered his body. They told her that he was a tunneller, one of the ones in the explosion that had made it out. They also told him he had two brothers waiting on him. Which was their way of telling her to be careful with him. His clear ocean blue eyes were always frantic when they were open. She shushed him multiple times when he started to make a fuss. Everything calmed down after an hour when he fell asleep from exhaustion. She washed her hands of his blood, watching it stain the water a translucent pink. She took one last look at his peaceful face before she left to mend other patients.
The next day was going rather smoothly as it could when a war was raging on. She was on her break, smoking a cigarette out in the courtyard when she heard the commotion start. She stomped the cigarette out on the ground before going inside the hospital. Two nurses ran past her to the room that had held the tunneller from before. As she followed them carefully, she slipped her cigarette case back into her apron. She stopped outside the door to watch the three nurses trying to restrain the man, who was very impressively fighting them off. He was mumbling on about his brothers and an angel he saw. She smiled softly as she moved into the room slowly.
“Juniper, come here and help,” one of the nurses beckoned. June moved to the open space of the bed next to the soldier.
“Don’t take me away, please,” he tells her, grabbing onto her wrist tightly.
“I’m not going to take you away, Mr. Shelby,” she told him softly, patting his hand lightly, “you have brothers waiting for you here.” He relaxed back against the bed letting go of her hand.
“They’re alive,” he asked.
June nodded with a smile, “yes. They’re resting just like you should be.” The man sighed in relief. The three nurses watched them, ease settled between them as the man calmed down.
“Stay with him for a while,” the older nurse said before the group left them alone. She brought a chair over to his bedside so she could sit down.
“I guess you’re stuck with me for a while,” she said looking over his freshly changed bandages. The man nodded looking at her with eyes like the ocean, “do try and get some sleep, Mr. Shelby.”
He was Tommy by week two of her sitting by his side whenever she needed a break. The other nurse had made it part of her job when they realized he made less of a fuss if she was in the room or better yet her treating him. A babysitting job was what the other nurses called it but she thought of it more like another break. All she really did for the first week was change his bandage and catch up on her reading. As the weeks rolled on, Tommy got better meaning they started to talk for hours when all her other patients were asleep. She also may have fallen asleep in the chair next to his bed multiple times during the week when the nights were filled with screams. Tommy asked about his brothers every time she walked into his room so she started to check on them before she would visit.
“American, eh?” Tommy asked one day as she walked into his room. He was sitting up in bed, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
“You’re not allowed to smoke in here Tommy,” She said instead of answering as she sat down on the chair that was now permanently next to his bed. He just continued to smoke as he watched her, “and yes, they shipped me here to help you boys in the war.”
“Do you plan to leave when the war is over?” he questioned leaning towards her.
“Probably, I have a family to get back to.”
“A husband?”
“No, left too fast to settle down. Much to my mother’s dismay.”
June took out her own cigarette, lighting it quickly. She opened a book from the stack that formed on Tommy’s bedside table. She knew he was watching her as she turned the page. They smoked in silence just enjoying each other's company. No other nurse came by to scold them, they only received dirty looks from the ones that passed the door. This was one of the days that June fell asleep because of how calm she was.
She woke up a few hours later, body stiff from sleeping in a chair. Her book was now back on the side table. June brushed the wrinkles from her dress before looking back at Tommy.
“You should have woken me up, Thomas Shelby. You are not the only patient that I have,” she scolded not yet moving from the chair.
“It's obvious that you don’t sleep when you leave,” he said as he thumbed his last cigarette. She shook her head as she finally stood up.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Tommy,” As she turned to leave but was stopped by Tommy grabbed her wrist, “Mr. Shelby?” He pulled her closer to his bed. She stayed silent as he looked up at her.
“I’ll take you dancing when this is all over,” he tells her, “before you ship yourself back to America.”
She laughed as a blush filled her cheeks, “oh no, Tommy I don’t dance.”
“You will be with me. I want to show everyone my guardian angel, eh?”
“Fine, one dance before I leave Mr. Shelby,” he pulled her down for a quick kiss, one of the only ones they would share during the war. She relaxed into it before it quickly ended, “goodbye for now Tommy.”
She left with a skip in her step. Even her other patient could not damper her mood. The only thing that could have destroyed her fantasy of dancing with Thomas Shelby would have been the fact that they would never get the chance. That she would be shipped off back to America before the war even finished. And Tommy would go back to Birmingham with his brothers, the weight of the war on his shoulder, and an American nurse in the back of his mind.