Welcome to my second, Kate Bush inspired, Peaky Blinder story. I own nothing except for Katherine Kovach.
This story is for Idcam, Angel029 and Shariebery!
Author's note: I don't swear, so the profanity is censored. This way, you guys get the true characters and I'm not compromising my beliefs.
Chapter One: Suspended in Gaffa
December 1st, 1916
BANG!
Nurse Katherine Kovach jumps out of the truck, causing dozens of men to stare at her. "Load them up!" She shouts loudly as she hurries around to the back of the truck to lower the back of it. "Come on! Last ambulance for the night!" While she appears undaunted by the exploding and whistling shells, she is terrified for her safety. But her desire to get the last truckload of men back to the field hospital was stronger than her fear.
"What's this?" A young man shouts as he stumbles towards her, his face and uniform is covered in mud. All she can really see of him is his piercing, blue eyes. Well, that and the obvious anger, she can see he's furious. "Where the f**k is Daniel?"
"Passed out inside the ambulance." She shrieks and ducks as another shell goes off. "He's been injured. I drove the ambulance here to get the men as there was no one else who could come!"
"No f**king women out here!" The sergeant shouted as he picked her up from the ground. "It's too dangerous!"
She screamed as another shell went off. "Put me down!" She beats her fists on his shoulders, when she hit one spot; he lets out a yell and went down. She held onto him as they both hit the ground. She sat up and smoothed her apron, which was then streaked with red. She frowned and looked at his uniform. He had been shot in his left shoulder and she failed to notice. He held onto his shoulder and glowered at her. "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine." He sits up.
"Stay there." She grabs her kit from the truck; they are still loading men inside. She's still got enough time. She grabs at his uniform and unbuttons it. "It's a flesh wound; I can stitch you up easily enough. You won't have to go to hospital."
"Fine!" He begins to remove his uniform shirt. "Make it fast."
She ignores his rudeness; she's used to it. She's only 17; so, she really shouldn't be used to men swearing at her. But she is, she's heard all sorts of inappropriate conversation and she's been handled roughly by a man before. Shaking off that thought, she focused on the task at hand. She digs into the kit and examines the wound. "It's a flesh wound. I'll clean it and then stitch it. I don't have any pain killer though."
"Just do it!" he orders. "I have to get back to my men."
"So do I!" She snaps at him. He lets out a grunt of pain, but that's the only time he makes a sound as she cleans the area. After swabbing the area with antiseptic, she begins to stitch up the area. Again, not a single sound from him; she's almost impressed.
"Everyone's loaded up!" One of the men declares. "You need to get out."
"I just need a minute." She snaps at the man. "Stop talking!"
Luckily, at that moment, Daniel stumbles out of the truck. "What happened?"
"You passed out!" she declares. "Get in the truck and get ready to go." Katherine cuts the thread and gets behind him to sew up the back of his wounds. "I'm out of bandages, so, if you can, put a clean shirt on or find something to keep the area clean. If it starts oozing in two days, get to a doctor immediately."
"Fine." She cuts the thread and cringes as another shell goes off. The sergeant grabs her, pulls her down to the ground, shielding her with his own body as the shell lands nearby. She inhales, not liking the feeling of this unfamiliar man on top of her, but she prefers it to the flying mud and snow. He then pulls her up from the ground and hurriedly guides her towards the passenger side of the truck. "Don't let me find her out here again or I'll shoot you myself!" he shouts at Daniel. "What the f**k were you thinking taking a nurse down here!"
"Sorry sergeant!" Daniel stammers as she breaks free from the man's grasp.
He grabs her and shouts. "Get in the f**king truck!"
"Stop swearing at me!" She shouts in his face, causing him to freeze. "I need my medical kit!" He lets out a huff as he turns on his heel and grabs the kit from the ground. He then pushes her into the truck, slams the passenger door shut and hands her back her bag.
"Get out of here now!"
Daniel needs no further coaxing as he started up the truck again and turned back to the direction of the field hospital. Katherine exhales deeply, her heart jumping in her chest as she smoothes her muddy and bloody apron. "Who was that rude man?" Katherine demands as she shivers. She hadn't grabbed her coat and it's freezing out here. "You'd think he'd prefer no ambulance to a woman driving."
"Sergeant Major Thomas Shelby."
Katherine glowers at him. "What a jerk. Men are dying and he's more concerned about me being on the battlefield."
Alex inhaled sharply. "Can't blame him for being worried, women shouldn't be on the battlefield."
"He has his job and I have mine. This is the last ambulance for the night. I wasn't going to let more men stay out here and die."
December 10th, 1916
Katherine smiles as she opens up the letter from Emmett. It had been almost a month since she'd heart from him. His letters were always late though, it was getting harder and harder to get letters in than out.
My dear liebchen,
Your last letter filled me with grave concern. Please, try to find yourself at least ten minutes each day to get some rest and relaxation. You will be of no good to the men if you are exhausted and ill. I fear, I will not recognize you when you return. I can tell from the way you write that your way of thinking has already started to change. However, it is illogical for me to assume that you will not be untouched by this war. I fear, none of us will leave this war unscathed.
It was kind of you to inquire about my work at the hospital, which seems so insignificant in comparison to you, but we must all do our part.
"Nurse Kovach," Katherine folds the letter and returns it to her pocket as the head nurse approaches her. "Matron wishes to see you."
Katherine frowns and glances at the soldier, Daniel Owens, who's currently sleeping peacefully. "Can you stay by him until I get back?" she asks as she stands up. "He has horrible nightmares and wakes up in a panic. Just talk to him soothingly and he'll calm right back down."
Theresa looks annoyed. "Hurry back."
"I will."
Katherine walks swiftly out of the room to quickly run down the hall. No one was allowed to run, but she wanted to be back when Daniel woke up. Unfortunately, for her, she rounded the corner and almost bumped into matron. Katherine stifled a groan as she dipped her head in apology. "I'm sorry matron. I heard you were looking for me."
"I was." She inhaled. "I heard some disturbing news regarding you and I hope you can clear it up. Is it true, that you're engaged to a German man, named Emmett Webber?"
Katherine blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"
Matron pulls out one of Katherine's letters from her apron and hands it to her. "Is this yours?"
Katherine snatches the letter from her hand, enraged that her personal mail had been handed in for Matron to examine. "You've no right to read any of my mail! This was addresses to me, so the mail wasn't outgoing."
"One of the nurses handed this to me." Matron states calmly. "He calls you 'liebchen', which is German." Katherine glowers at Matron, she knows who it was. It had to have been Grace Seymour. That nurse had hated her from the moment she arrived. "She did right by bringing this to my attention."
"It's not a crime to be engaged to a man who happens to be-
"At war with us!" Matron says sharply. "You will leave immediately."
"But you need nurses!" Katherine stammers in surprise. "We're already short staffed with most of them down with influenza!"
"The problem is," the woman snaps. "you're going to marry a German. The last thing, our men need is someone aligning themselves up with the enemy."
Katherine shook her head. "I will leave once this battle is over."
Matron's eyes flashed. "You dare to contradict me?"
"Not intentionally. There is a bloody battle going on right now, men are dying, it's been lasting for almost 300 days! We've lost thousands of men and saved thousands. But right now, you need every hand on deck, write me up for insubordination, I don't care. But I am not leaving these men to die because you have an issue with whom I'm engaged to!"
"Believe me, I will." Matron states as she turns and walks away. Katherine exhales as she heads back towards the hall.
She hears Daniel shrieking at the top of his lungs and breaks running back towards the room. Theresa is pulling herself up from the ground, clutching a cheek. "Danny!" Katherine calls out as she hurries towards his bed. "Danny. It's alright."
"Had to go bang." He chanted as he jumped out of the bed. "Had to go bang! Had to go bang!"
Katherine groaned as she hurried after Daniel. It was going to be another long night and she knew it wouldn't be her last.