Thank you to 'tothelibrary' and 'tonyfoyles' over on Tumblr for looking over this when I was feeling a little unsure of it last night.
Yelland was back. The two months he'd been gone had been so peaceful. The gossip said that he'd cocked up and was being reconsidered for promotion out of the surgery. Tom, who knew what damage he'd done in the operating theatre wondered what damage he could do further up the ranks. He'd bet it would be considerable. But for now, Yelland was back in the hospital and the news wasn't exactly cheering Tom up. He'd been sitting with Kitty and Miles, the two of them chatting away as they did while he put in a remark here and there almost just to prove he was listening. Later he was hoping that Kitty would come on a moonlit walk with him. She'd tease him about being romantic but Flora had let slip to Miles who had in turn told him that she really rather liked romance. If he was being honest, he did as well. But then Yelland turned up, talking too loudly in that public school accent and leering at the women in a way that indicated he'd probably had too much to drink. Tom stiffened as he heard the familiar voice and then Miles murmuring 'Oh, not that idiot.' And then Yelland was upon them, calling a greeting to Miles and a sneering one to Tom (you still here then? Not made any spectacular discoveries while I've been away) and then focusing on Kitty.
'Well, well, well, what have we here? What's a fine young filly like yourself doing with these two chaps?'
Tom shakes his head in dismay. He can see Kitty shrinking in on herself right before his eyes and he knows Miles can too. Yelland of course just ploughs on in that horrendous manner, apparently thinking he's hilarious and he's clearly not going to stop soon. They need a way to escape. Telling Yelland to bugger off in the middle of the mess probably isn't going to help the situation. Exchanging a glance with Miles, Tom stands abruptly.
'You look unwell, may I escort you to your tent?' He offers his arm to Kitty along with a reassuring smile and to his relief she takes it. Miles stands too and Tom is grateful for the back up when he says, 'Yes, it's become unbearably stuffy in here quite suddenly,' and then they are out of the tent and into the fresh air and Tom can feel Kitty shaking slightly through her tight grip on her arm.
'Will you be alright with Tom?' Miles asks her gently and she manages to nod and give a ghost of a smile which apparently is enough.
'Goodnight then, and I'll see you later Tom.'
They walk slowly, close together, taking comfort in each other's warmth until they get to the VADs tent.
As he is wondering how to say goodnight, suddenly she is in his arms, face against his chest and his hands clasp firmly around her waist instinctively. He can feel the shaking is less violent than before and it is calming as he holds her. They stay like that for a while, his head comes to rest against the top of hers and he can smell the starch in her headdress. Slowly she moves away and the gratitude he can see in her eyes is astounding. 'Thank you Tom,' she says quietly and giving a final squeeze to his hand she slips into the tent, leaving him to his thoughts on how best to get Yelland to leave her alone.
Yelland continues to be a serious annoyance in the camp the next day. He's not been given surgical duties but he's also not being given any administrative ones and this means that he has plenty of time on his hands to harass anyone he wants to. He seems unaware that he is in disgrace, being kept there until they can find somewhere else for him because of course, with his connections, they can't just get rid of him.
For some reason, his time up at the front has given him the belief that he is irresistible to all women and, as he knows that the army nurses aren't allowed to get married and that he will likely get called in for flirting too much with them, he turns his attention to the VADs. By the end of his first full day back at the camp he has clearly written Rosalie and Flora off as targets and is focussing completely on Kitty. She spends the whole afternoon with him hanging around her, ostensibly playing cards with the men in the wards but really finding ways to bother her. The men around him don't help at all, some even joining in with his less than savoury comments. He starts off gently enough, a simple greeting, introducing himself.
'Hello, I'm Yelland, I expect you remember me from when you first got here, just got back from the front, having a bit of a rest before they put me back to work. Who are you then?'
It's said in a way that demands an answer and she stands, feeling his gaze raking up and down her, and wonders what to say. To ignore him completely won't help but then again, neither will responding rudely. She needs to keep this position, she can't risk being put on probation again. So she responds as she would to any other officer in the ward. 'Trevelyan, sir. If you'll excuse me, I need to get on.' She doesn't smile.
He doesn't give up though. Every time she walks past there's another comment, apparently intended to start a conversation but in reality, he's preening from the laughter he's provoking from the patients. By the time her shift is over she's shaking in anger but there's an undercurrent of fear. Men saying things can move so quickly into them doing things and she really doesn't want to be touched by anyone but Thomas. She fights an overwhelming desire to run and find him and find comfort in his arms and instead returns to the tent. On her own, she takes much longer to calm down but she saw Thomas the previous day when Yelland was being obnoxious and she doesn't want to give him another reason to hate the man. Thomas hates seeing her in pain but she can't go running to him every time something goes wrong. Anyway, Yelland might have got the message from her afternoon of not responding to him. She hopes so.
It's her free afternoon the next day and she and Thomas have made plans to go for a walk in the woods. Since that first time, it's become something of a tradition if the weather is nice. If not, they'll sit together in his half of the tent, quite often she'll curl up on the comfier chair and read while he'll be writing but it's the spending time alone that matters. So when the sun is shining that morning, she exchanges smiles with him across the tent and looks forward to their walk, Yelland forgotten for the moment.
They meet outside her tent and are chatting, about to leave, when they hear that unmistakable voice behind them. Thomas, who has been holding one of her hands between his and playing with her fingers as he talks, tries to let go, they try and keep touches to a minimum when near anyone else. But she grips his hand and won't let go as Yelland approaches and, looking at her face, he remembers her reaction to him in the mess. They stand together as Yelland approaches, looking confused.
'Gillan! Thought it was you,' he says, 'just thought I'd come and see which of our lovely young ladies has you in her grip, but I must say, I wasn't expecting you.' That last bit is addressed to Kitty, who clutches tighter at Thomas' hand.
'What are you doing with him then? Tell you what, sweetheart, why not come with me instead? I'll show you a better time than this miserable bastard can.'
Thomas grits his teeth. He doesn't want to speak for Kitty but he really wants to punch Yelland as he didn't get to do at the formal dinner. He looks at her for a sign of what to do and his heart sinks at her shut off expression. It's just like before, in the mess.
Yelland chuckles. 'Is she always this silent Gillan? She's clearly not very happy with you, I'll bet I can make her talk though. Why don't you leave her with me, there's a good chap. It's obvious I'm the better choice, what chance do you have with her anyway?'
Kitty's hand is the only thing that tells him she's still there. Her grip has become tighter if that's even possible and he thinks his little finger is probably going purple with blood loss. He glares at Yelland and remembers how quickly he backed down when threatened before.
'Go away Yelland, you're not wanted here.'
'Actually my friend, I think you're not wanted here. We've gone over this before, your sort don't belong here at all and certainly not next to such a beautiful filly as this. Your kind doesn't deserve the best meat.'
Yelland talking about Kitty in such objective terms is the final straw for Thomas and it's only Kitty's hand in his that stops him from running straight at the man and possibly impaling him on something very sharp. When he speaks, his tone is icy cold and unmistakably furious.
'I've had enough of you messing around with me and mine Yelland. You need to learn when to stop and you should have stopped this at supper when Miss Trevelyan didn't respond but no, you had to keep on going and now look what you've done.' He indicates Kitty, pale faced and expressionless. 'You need to leave her alone. She's not interested in you.'
Yelland backs away slowly, intimidated by Thomas' flashing eyes and gesticulating arm. When he has gone out of sight, he hears Kitty release a huge gush of air and he turns to her.
'Are you alright? Do you want to go and sit down? I understand if you don't want to go anywhere right now…'
She cuts him off by flinging her arms around his neck and he remembers the last night this happened and pulls her close. He's glad that he can comfort her, that her distrust for men doesn't extend to him. Actually he thinks that she only distrusts one type of man and he scowls at the thought of what her husband must have been like. She's only told him a little, but it's enough for him to know that if he ever encounters a Mr Elliot Vincent, he won't ask questions before punching him.
They go on their walk and it's a little subdued. He wants to know if Yelland has been bothering her but at the same time he doesn't want to spoil their walk. In the end, he delivers her back to the tent without saying anything but when they kiss goodbye, he tries to put a little more tenderness into it than usual, trying to show what he can't say and he thinks she feels it.
He mentions Yelland's attack to Miles who is immediately interested and Thomas remembers his views on bullies. Miles had defended him last time and he will probably try and do the same this time. But when he says that Yelland is interested in Kitty, Miles really does lose his temper.
'That bastard. I hoped he'd got the message but he really does have a thick skull. Maybe you actually telling him might have worked but I'll keep an eye out in any case and maybe talk to Flora too. She can try and distract him by talking to him if nothing else.'
He smiles at the thought of Yelland being tortured by Flora's chatter and thanks Miles, it's what he had hoped for. This way they can try and keep Yelland and Kitty apart at least and maybe get witnesses to his unwanted behaviour as well.
As it turns out, all these plans are unnecessary. Yelland catches Kitty at the unoccupied end of the ward early the next morning and the first thing anyone hears is a ringing slap and Kitty's shout of 'No!'
By the time Flora has rushed to see what is going on and Miles has disappeared to find Thomas, Yelland is cowering on the floor and Kitty is holding a scalpel in his direction with no trace of shaking what so ever. When Miles enters the ward with Thomas hot on his heels they see the stand off and Miles is reminded of what happened in the hotel. There too, Kitty tried to protect herself with something fairly unable to inflict damage but this time it's against a coward.
Through gritted teeth she says, 'I said no. You need to learn what that word means. I am not interested in you. You need to leave me alone.' She looks up and makes eye contact with Thomas, steps over Yelland and takes his hand. 'Come on. I don't want to be in here today.'
Thomas shrugs at an astonished Miles and Flora and follows her.
He realises she is heading to the beach when they are about half way there and he regrets not wearing his coat. The wind has picked up and winter is coming quicker than expected. He's not looking forward to the snow and ice it will bring. They stand on the beach, close to the water and she takes in great gulps of salty air and he wonders what to say.
'You know, when I left him, the only reason I could was because I had someone to run to. Of course, he couldn't do much to help me but it was the feeling of having a refuge, someone to shelter me. I couldn't have done what I just did before I met you.'
She looks up at him shyly and he fights the impulse to pull her into his arms, waiting for her to move first. They stand, her in front of him, his arms wrapped around her and her head resting on his shoulder and watch the waves roll in under the low winter sunshine.
'You make me stronger too.' He whispers.
So this is part of my operation 'drown everyone in Kitmas fluff before the possible pain of Sunday's finale. It turned out a bit more dramatic than I intended but I hope no-one minds. In case you hadn't realised, I'm really not keen on Yelland...
Reviews are made of sparkle and sunshine and other lovely things and to those who asked about 'Cats in the crimson field', I will be writing more of it :)