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."
