Lili of the Valley
Chapter 1
"I wanna feed the hungry children
And reach across the farthest land
And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the Father's hands"
-Britt Nicole, Set the World on Fire
Lili's P.O.V.
"And how are you today Mr. Smith?" I asked the man in the cot in front of me. Mr. Smith glanced up at me, a frown marring his face.
"Leg hurts," he finally grunted. I hummed.
"It should considering you got shot in it." Mr. Smith's frown turned into a full blown scowl.
"Damn Gerry's got good aim." I let out a quiet laugh at that, checking Mr. Smith's medical papers that were attached to the end of the cot.
"I can give you some morphine if you'd like?" I offered. Mr. Smith's eyes were immediately blown wide and he shot upwards in the cot.
"Don't want ta get addicted," he begged me. Mr. Smith had been in the military during The Great War and was now in the Holocaust at forty years of age. He knew how people got hooked on morphine. I shushed him gently, pushing him back until he was once again lying back in the cot.
"If you don't want it, then I won't give any to you." Mr. Smith calmed down as I unwound the bandages from his calf. I studied the stitches on his leg. There was still a nasty looking bruise around the stiches, but he overall looked like he was recovering nicely.
"You'll most likely walk with a limp for the rest of your life."
"Well why ya beaming then?" I let an ecstatic giggle escape my lips.
"Don't you understand?" I leaned closer to Mr. Smith, dropping my voice low.
"It means that you are forever out of commission. You won't be able to come back into the world. And you'll get compensated for your bravery." Mr. Smith was silent for a second before letting out a loud shout of joy.
"Get ta see mi family." I smiled widely and kissed Mr. Smith's cheek. I took a step back.
"I have to check on the other men, but I'll send word to Captain Williams and he'll probably boat you over there himself." I left the room, giddy inside. It was another man who was going to come out safe from this war. I saw a head of shockingly light blonde hair, bangs held back by a cross clip. He briefly turned to the side so I could see a glimpse of dark blue eyes.
"Lukas," I called. Lukas Bondevik was another doctor in Wiederherstellung, or Recovery, the hospital. He was one of the original doctors, working with me to get this hospital to be one of the best in the world. Lukas was a Norwegian male of twenty-four years of age. I could see him talking to a patient named Matthias Køhler. Matthias was a Danish man with honey blonde hair and blue eyes a shade lighter than Lukas'. Matthias refused to be treated by anyone other than Lukas, taking an instant liking to the man. While Lukas was cold and indifferent, Matthias was warm and bright. Quiet and loud. Ice and fire. Lukas was constantly irritated by Matthias, but I knew that Lukas had exceptionally strong feelings for Matthias. Just like Matthias had for him. I walked over to them, smiling softly.
"Hi Lukas. I didn't know you were back Matthias," I said, hugging the Dane.
"Yep," Matthias said happily, hugging me back. "Got shot in the shoulder." I now noticed that Matthias had his shirt off with bandages wrapped around his shoulder and chest. I also took notice of the blush covering Lukas' face.
"Should you be walking around if you're injured?" I asked, concerned. Lukas snorted.
"No, he shouldn't," Lukas responded. He started shoving Matthias away. "He should be lying down, healing. See you later Lili." I laughed.
"Take your time." I watched them leave before I remembered what I wanted to tell Lukas. "Lukas!" I shouted. He turned towards me with an eyebrow raised. "Mr. Smith is going home!" The beam that settled on Lukas' face was rather out of character for him. He walked away and I spun on my heel to go the opposite direction. I took long strides down the hallway, covering as much ground as possible. I paused as I walked by Toris Lorinaitis' room. He was a jumpy Lithuanian who had been tortured by Russians when he was found in Russia, spying on their troops. I gently rapped on the door before opening it and taking a step inside. Toris was huddled on his cot, whimpering with his shirt off, multiple rough scars covering his chest.
"Hello Toris," I said softly. You could never raise your voice around Toris as he would start crying almost immediately when you did. The brown haired man raised his eyes at me before letting out another whimper and lowering them. The door banged open so suddenly that both Toris and I jumped. The door barely missed me as it hit the wall.
"Like, Tor, I'm, like, so sorry I'm, like late!" I turned and nearly laughed as Feliks Łukasiewicz stood there. He wore the dress that other nurses wore, his blonde hair falling to his shoulders in a girlish fashion. I glance curiously at Toris and was surprised when he looked calm and relaxed, smiling serenely at Feliks. Feliks noticed me, his eyes widening.
"Like, oh my God Lili, I didn't, like, notice you. Like, sorry." My lips twitched at Feliks' strange way of speaking. Many disliked him, but once you talked to him, you realized he had a great personality. "I, like, heard Mr. Smith will, like, be going back to his family."
"Yeah, I'm going to contact Matthew and see if he can ship him over."
"Who's, like, Matthew?" I sighed. I basically went through this conversation with everyone I mentioned Matthew to.
"Captain Matthew Williams." Feliks gave me a blank look and I sighed. "Blonde hair, violet eyes, has a Slovensky Cuvac dog named Kumajirou." Feliks didn't look convinced. "He's the half-brother of Captain Alfred F. Jones."
"Oh, that guy!" I snorted. It was rather unsurprising that Feliks didn't know who Matthew was. Most people had the same reaction. I was ashamed to admit that I had the same reaction the first few times I had seen Matthew. "Speaking of, like, Alfred F. Jones, he and, like, a British General Arthur Kirkland will be bringing, like, two Germans, a Hungarian woman, and an Austrian noble here." I blinked in surprise.
"When?"
"Like, today." My jaw hanged open for a complete minute.
"And we didn't think to tell the woman who runs the hospital this?" I couldn't help the irritation that laced my voice.
"Don't hurt him!" Toris suddenly bellowed, thrashing around in his attempt to get off his cot. Feliks rushed to Toris, shushing Toris gently as Feliks pushed Toris' hair away from his forehead.
"She wasn't hurting me Tor, don't worry." I smiled softly at how serious Feliks was being. He hadn't even said 'like' in that whole sentence.
"What time should they be coming?" I finally asked, breaking the peaceful silence.
"Um, like, soon?" I let out a chuckle.
"Thanks Feliks."
"Your, like, welcome!" I walked out of Toris' room and rushed down the hallway with new purpose. I ran around looking for a specific man. Come on, I thought. Where are you? Finally, I saw him. Tino Väinämöinen. The Finnish nurse was blonde haired and violet eyed, with a kind demeanor and cheery eyes. He was a bit of a gossiper and I knew I would be able to get the news of the soldiers and nobles coming around Wiederherstellung quickly and everyone would clean.
"Tino!" I called. Tino turned around and gave me a wide smile.
"Hello Lili! Congratulations on Mr. Smith." I giggled and added a playful little curtsy.
"Danke," I said. "Have you heard?" Tino's eyes immediately lit up. He rushed forward to get closer to me.
"Heard what?"
"Captain Jones and General Kirkland will be coming to visit us." No one needed to know who was coming with them. I didn't want any resentment because of who they were. Tino let out a squawk.
"You're kidding!"
"Nein." Tino gasped.
"Oh wow." Tino looked flustered. "I have to go tell everyone!" With that, Tino rushed off. I smirked, once again continuing down the hallway. I passed Lukas who was about to go into another room.
"I'm off duty," I informed him, planning to go to my living quarters. Lukas nodded.
"Wait, Lilli, what is this I'm hearing about my least favorite captain and general coming?" I grinned.
"They're coming to get fixed up." Lukas sighed.
"This hospital barely stays running when Matthias comes. Now we have to add an American and a Brit to the fray? We're doomed." I simply laughed at Lukas' dramatics. I walked through the hospital until I came to my room. I opened the door and went to the window, throwing open the curtains. Light flooded in the room and I turned to the corner where Bär, my German Shepherd, lay. I walked over to him and scratched him behind the ear.
"Were you a good boy?" I asked and he gave an answering bark. "Of course you were. Now, I'm going to get some sleep a little bit. Hopefully when I wake up our guests will be here." I stood up and fell into my cot, letting sleep overcome me easily.
-X-
"Lili, Lili, wake up!" I bolted upright, automatically reaching under my pillow for my handgun. I pointed it at the figure hovering above me, read to shoot if needed. The figure stilled and I recognized him as Lukas.
"Scheiße, Lukas," I hissed. I could hear Bär let out a low, feral growl.
"Call off your banne dog," Lukas snarled darkly. I let out a sigh and snapped my fingers in Bär's general direction.
"Entspannen," I ordered. Bär let out a whine, but settled down. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my racing heartbeat. "Why did you wake me Lukas?" I glanced out the window and was surprised to see the sky was dark due to the night sky that stretched endlessly above. Lukas finally turned away from where he was cautiously watching Bär.
"The guests. They're here."
A/N: So, this is my first story. Please be nice
as I have some self-confidence issues. I hope you liked it and you can look at
my profile to see what pairings you should expect. I hopefully will have the
next chapter out quickly! Thank you for reading and please review!