Little warning at the beginning: I don't know how you react to injuries and death. So if ya don't like that, skip the italic part of Wednesday, April 11, 1917, and especially Thursday, August 8, 1918. Plus: some vulgar language here and there.

9th September 1940

Bert suddenly woke up and at did not know why. But when he heard the squeak of the floor and saw someone at the closet he had avoided for decades, he knew why he was suddenly awake. "Bert was a medic?", it came barely audible to his ear and then the anger grew! Without hesitating, he stood up to confront Elizabeth: "What are you doin'!?" His voice as well as his gaze were icy cold.

Startled, Elizabeth turned and fell backwards into the closet, so the uniform slipped off the hook and landed on her head. "I... I... you..."

"Get out!"

"But-"

"I said, get out!"

"Bert!", the addressee turned around, while Liz, who was still sitting on the ground, looked perplexed around the corner. Mary came closer and held out her hand to the young adult. But when she saw what was in the closet, she paused. Because even she did not know about it.

Enraged, Bert walked in a circle and grabbed his hair with one hand. For years, no, for decades, he could hide this from the two women. But now the curiosity of a darn teenager has destroyed everything! He was just mad!

"Bert, what's that?" The Nanny asked in a tone he could not interpret.

"What!? You didn't know anything about it, too?", Elizabeth was just done with the world. For her it was like Mary knew everything about Bert and his past.

"Seems so, or not?", he lay down on the sofa and nibbled on his knuckles.

"I thought you did not save these things..."

"So you know?", Elizabeth was at a loss.

"I 'ave... but I didn't lock it away for no reason!"

"CAN YA PLEASE TELL ME ON WHAT'S GOIN' ON 'ERE!?", Elizabeth got up and walked over to them.

The adults looked at Elizabeth who glared angry at them.

"All right... sit down... this could be a longer story."

Elizabeth sat on the floor in front of Bert, while Mary kept her distance.

Bert had to take a deep breath before he started to say: "T' answer yer question: Yes, I was a medic at war... It all started more or less at the end of 1915. I worked as an assistant in the 'ospital an' supported the doctors an' nurses. Yes, it was untypical, but in war you have t' be inventive in order t' survive. But I was expendable. I remember it as if it was just yesterday: it was a cool Tuesday morning. I 'ad t' process it first, but the worst was when I 'ad t' confess it t' Mary..."

Tuesday, 4th January 1916

Mary and Bert spent almost the entire Tuesday in a chalk painting he created. But Bert was absent all day and his thoughts were far away. As they both sat on a cliff watching the sunset, Mary asked him what was going on. So he gathered his courage and started: "Mary, I... I don't know 'ow t' explain that t' you..."

"Everything alright?", she put a hand on his shoulder.

Bert shook his head and fixed his eyes on something in the distance: "No, nothing's alright."

He paused, wondering which of the many versions he had put together throughout the day, he told her now. But in the end he simply looked at her with a scared look: "I was recruited as a soldier… I 'ave t' go t' the front at the end of the month..."

Mary just looked at him flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out and her eyes looked in turns, seemingly searching for something. Bert had never seen her like this before. "I'm sorry," he stood up, "I know ya didn't want that. And believe me: I'd avoid it if I could!"

"Tell me that's not true!" She got up and followed him. "Please!" she added, her voice trembling and she just sounded desperate. It hurt him to see her that way.

"I'm sorry, Mary. But on the 24th I'm going to war... "

"I thought the confession was bad. But then came the farewell an' it was indescribable..."

Elizabeth looked into the eyes of the two adults who were both focused on her. They reflected sadness and an emotion she could not interpret.

Monday, 24th January 1916

The docks were full of people. Men who went to war. Women saying goodbye to their husbands, sons or brothers. Children who maybe saw their fathers for the last time.Bert let his eyes glide over the many small groups and sighed. He had advised Mary not to come because it would probably only make things worse. But secretly he hoped for her stubbornness and that she would come. And his silent prayers were answered! A sweet voice, melodious as a song, reached his ear and a sad smile appeared on his lips: "Bert!"

He turned around and the next thing he felt was a heartfelt hug. But it was much too short for his liking. She broke away and eyed him from head to toe. She was about to say something when she stopped and registered the bandage on his left arm "You're a medic?"

"Yes," he straightened the badge, "at least I've the feeling that I'm doin' somethin' good... I prefer taking care of injured much more than... you know."

"Kill people," she hesitantly finished his sentence.

"Exactly," he thought for a moment, "I told you not t' come."

"I know. And I also know that it probably only makes it harder. But we both know very well that we will not see each other for a long time now. "

"Maybe we'll never see each other again," Bert added sheepishly. This did not really suit his character, but it was a fact that nobody could deny.

"No! Do not say that!"

"Mary, you know as well as I do that-"

"I do not care! I just do not want to consider that! "

They just looked at each other and could not find words. There was still so much to say, but nothing seemed appropriate. But as the crowd stirred, they knew that it was time to say goodbye. As if by mutual agreement, they both came closer and hugged each other. It was less a hug, but more a cling! "Take care of yerself, yes?"

"You should be the one to take care of yourself! After all I'm not moving to a war zone!"

Silence.

He enjoyed feeling her heartbeat on his chest - even if it was too fast! Slowly, Mary broke away and said "Try to write to me."

"Do I... But only if ya answer me" he joked slightly.

"Without hesitation!" Bert was surprised by the prompt statement. He would have expected a warning look or something sarcastic. The cracks in his heart grew as he realised how difficult it had to be for Mary!

Silence… again

The move around them grew stronger and Bert was one of the last who had not set off yet. Slowly he leaned over and kissed her forehead lovingly. "See you soon, Mary."

"See you soon."

The next moment he went to the other soldiers and did not have the courage to turn once more to Mary.

Mary had meanwhile gone to Bert and sat quietly on the armrest of the sofa. Her eyes studied him and Elizabeth could see the old wounds slowly came back. Both of them had really repressed this time and she was sorry to bring the memories back.

"I'll spare ya the exact details of what I saw there. I'm 'ate t' talk about it. But what I can say is that I've seen more suffering and misery there than ever before! The war is changing people. But there was a day I'll never forget..."

Wednesday, 11th April 1917

Bert sat in the tent and put a bandage around the arm of a young soldier, who was about 20 years old. He knew that it was not good for the young man and he personally would put him in the "beyond help" group. He was pale, his sweat was cold, he talked confused stuff, the wounds were all infected and purulent and so on. But the worst thing about him was the eyes. Bert now knew the eyes of the dying- and they were empty but insistent.

But the people there did not listen to him. He was just a medic - not even a real one! Bert was often laughed at and called "nurse". Despite the teasing, his skills were appreciated by many, because he always remained calm and had a good connection to the injured.

Bert was about to dab the sweat from the man's forehead as he grabbed Bert by the arms with unexpected force. The nails drilled into his flesh and it started to bleed. Then the soldier looked at him with insane and bloodshot eyes: "I can see them!"

"W…What?"

"The angels."

"Angels?" But then came no answer and the hands slid from Bert's arms.

The young man's eyes were blank, his mouth was slightly open, and it seemed that the last piece of life escaped through his body.

In the evening, Bert sat in a chair and had just written a letter for Mary. He looked at the various writing utensils on the table beside him and reached for the notebook. There he drew another line on the last page. Each of these lines symbolised a deceased soldier, for whom he could do nothing. It frightened him how unloving he now drew these lines. At first he had been much more affected, but now he has become accustomed to being surrounded by death every day.

"Is that the book that's in the closet?" Elizabeth asked tentatively, looking past Bert.

"Yes," he got up and went to the closet. There he hung the uniform on the hook again, took the book and handed it to her, "look at it... I don't want t' keep anything from you."

She hesitantly picked up the notebook and flipped through it: she saw notes on illnesses, various drawings on injuries, and on the last pages the lines. An icy shiver ran down her spine when she realised that something similar was happening right now. But her gaze wandered briefly in the direction of her backpack - because there was also such a book. Hers was maybe not so full but still the basic idea was the same.

As Elizabeth looked through the book, Bert continued: "I think this growing indifference was the worst... I've changed me workplace more often. Either I was in a tent in the immediate vicinity of the trenches or I was in an auxiliary hospital... But in principle, it was the same everywhere: suffering, misery, death... Even when I visited a specialist class in England, I wasn't spared ... And it was the worst day of all... "

Sunday, 25th May 1917

Since Bert showed a extraordinary talent, he was allowed to visit a specialist class to use an X-ray machine in May. On Sunday they had the afternoon in Folkestone at leisure, before they left the next morning from there. Although Mary Poppins was with a family in Folkestone, her employer refused to allow her to exchange the free Tuesday with Sunday. There did not seem to be a reunion of the two friends.

That day he sat in a corner bar with the few others in the class and drank beer with them. He used to be averse to alcohol, but since he went to war he has more or less developed into a social drinker. He never wanted that, but it had been inevitable. In the meantime he even had a hip flask. As soon as they drank the second beer, something happened that Bert would not soon forget: an air raid.

They did not know exactly when what happened. The only thing they instinctively did was look for injured people after the attack.

While Bert went through the rubble with a backpack full of bandages, cloths and other utensils he was plagued by an emerging and, above all, uncomfortable feeling. He unconsciously straightened the bandage with the red cross on his left arm and had to swallow hard as he entered a very badly damaged street. Yes, he was kinda cold and unapproachable at the front, but these were civilians, which was something completely different for him. Here would be women, children and old people!

A cough caught his full attention because even that coughing sounded like a song. 'No!', He shouted in his mind and walked faster through the rubble - but always careful not to step on a potential person.

"Mary?"

"I am here," it came from a house that was still halfway, but still seemed unstable.

Immediately he hurried to the source of the call and his heart stopped for a moment: Mary lay there, completely dirty and with a few wounds on her face. Looking closer, he realised that her foot was wedged in the rubble.

"Don't move!" He came to her and immediately went to her foot, "'ow are you?"

"My foot hurts a lot …"

"Mhmm," he muttered, inspecting everything. "That could 'urt a bit... are ya ready?"

When she nodded in agreement, he lifted the wooden beam and quickly pulled Mary's foot out. The next thing he did was to take Mary's head in his hands and read every detail of her face. She did the same thing and so they remained for a felt eternity and could not believe that they were reunited. But quickly his gaze returned to her foot and when he saw that it was bleeding, he took a bottle of alcohol from the backpack.

"Just do it," Mary said when Bert was about to warn her. Gently, he poured the burning liquid over the wound and bandaged it afterwards. But Bert could hardly tie a knot because she was already getting up and limping away.

"What are ya doin' if I may ask?" Apparently something has just come to her mind.

"We have to find Elizabeth!"

"Oh..." Mary had said in one of her last letters that she was currently taking care of a 7-year-old girl named Elizabeth Davis.

Both began to search in the rubble, when Bert heard a very quiet and faint gasp. He quickly hurried to the spot and saw how a small, dark-haired girl lay under a rafter and some bricks.

"I found 'er!"

With all his might, he pushed aside the massive wooden beam and pulled the child out and picked her up.

Carefully, he brought her outside, as the building creaked relatively loudly and placed her gently on his lap. As soon as they were on the other side of the street, the roof collapsed and Bert's head rushed to Mary, who was at this point just a couple of minutes before. But a faint moan fixed his attention on the child again.

Elizabeth's head was heavy in his hand and he examined her. But when he saw how her abdomen had an enormous spectrum of colours, paired with her chalk-white skin, he knew he could do nothing for her here. He was about to get up with her when the hand, which was holding tight to the breast pocket of his uniform, sank slackly down.

"Elizabeth... 'ey!" He shook the girl, but there was no reaction; She did not breathe. Immediately Bert tried to reanimate her, but nothing happened. The girl was dead.

Mary hurried to them as fast as she could and when she saw the little corpse, her hands snapped to her mouth and she could not believe her eyes. Carefully, Bert put her on a door, while Mary came closer and still could not believe it. The medic ran nervous in circles: "Shit!"

"Bert!", The nanny admonished him.

"What? This fucking war brings nothing but mischief! "

Mary looked at him and in her eyes he could read that the nanny finally understood that an innocent girl had just lost her life.

"That was probably the worst day as medic... A child died in me arms an' I almost lost Mary."

She put her arm around his shoulder and kissed him lovingly on the temple. Then they just looked at each other and at that moment they did not need words. Each blind person would see what they felt for each other and how happy they were that all survived without permanent damage.

What both had not noticed: Elizabeth was startled by the sound of her name. And she seriously wondered if Bert treated her the way because he felt guilty?

"An' what exactly was with Mary's foot?" She asked.

This time it was Mary who replied, "Nothing bad. It was bruised but luckily nothing was broken. If Bert had not treated this whole situation so professionally, the wound might have gotten infected and I would not have been so quickly rescued from the rubble."

"And did ya 'ave any serious injuries?"

"No," Bert shook his head before his gaze wandered briefly to Mary with a worried glow, "at least not outwardly."

"Oh...", Liz knew exactly what he meant by that: he had been suffered by mental issues.

"But, it depends on what you mean by serious injury. When I came back to London, I was black an' blue everywhere, with shrapnel splinters an' fractures. I looked more like I was beaten up but not like someone who fought in a war."

Thursday, 8th August 1918

Bert has been back in one of the tents for a few days and on Thursday he was sent directly at the front- and this time not as a medic. In the very early morning, he was sitting in the fog reading a letter from Mary that had reached him yesterday. He had already begun his answer and he wanted to draw the Somme as he imagined it without the war. But what he did not suspect: the day would find an enormous turn very soon.

At 4:20 in the morning, the miserable warfare began again and Bert could've puke! Although he has often been in the hospitals and tents, he has never been directly at the front. He actually thought he could always avoid this, but that should not be the case. But instead of shooting at something or someone like most others, he kept himself in the background and decided to help the injured. Luckily, he always carried his bag of medical supplies!

It seemed to him that there was more death than life. There lay soldiers everywhere. Some of them no longer had limbs, some had their guts sticking out of their bodies and the ground was muddy due to the whole blood. Here and there he also found soldiers who you could only guess that they were human. In the beginning Bert would have vomited because of this sight, but he had his stomach under control now. But still he loathed the war more than anything else!

Just when he wanted to rush to help a young soldier, who was not older than 16 or 17, something flew exactly in that direction.

"After that I don't remember anything... All I remember is that I woke up in a 'ospital. There were fractures, bruises an' a concussion diagnosed. 'ow all this came about nobody knew. And not even a month later," he looked lovingly at Mary, "I was brought t' London and never 'ad t' go back t' the trenches or as a medic in an auxiliary hospital or tent. I was finally 'ome again."

Tuesday, 27th August 1918

Bert sat impatiently in the seat and could not wait any longer: soon he would be back in London! And more importantly: he would be back with Mary! Due to his injuries, everyone agreed that he would not be able to work properly in the next few months. It was also certain that he would suffer permanent damage. But from the time when he was told that he no longer had to serve in the war, he did not care! The train, which was relatively empty, drove slowly into the equally sparsely visited station and Bert literally jumped off the train with his crutches. But this was a mistake, because after that everything hurt even more than it already did!

But the pain was quickly forgotten when he heard a familiar voice calling his name: "Bert!"

Only seconds later he caught sight of Mary and a bright smile crept up to his lips. She came quickly to him and apparently wanted to hug him, but stopped at the last moment and looked at him. Bert could tell from her facial expressions that she did not like the sight.

"How are you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Better than I look... Believe me."

They just looked at each other for a moment and could not believe that he was really home!

"Come on" Bert finally said, throwing away the crutches and spreading his arms. The next thing he felt was her warm embrace and he closed his eyes with relish. Now the two friends were reunited and in that moment they were the only people in the world. There was nothing else. No passengers, no pain, no war.

When Bert loosened the hug, he could not help kissing her affectionately on the forehead and then stroking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. To his astonishment, Mary pressed her head against his palm, so he ran his thumb gently across her cheek.

"Let's go to me flat... I finally want to take off this uniform and forget all this!"

"That night I packed everything in the closet and it 'asn't been opened since then… Until now at least. Even Mary didn't know about it. I wanted t' 'ide the past from 'er..."

"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said ashamed and could not meet his eyes.

"It's alright... I can't ignore this time. I'm just glad that I've got that over with it and that the wounds, both internally and externally, 'ave 'ealed..."

Liz just nodded. She did not really know what to say to all this. "Some things makes sense now... Excuse me but I need some fresh air..." With these words she got up and this time went to the right closet and took out her coat. Nevertheless, her gaze fell on the uniform and a lump in her throat formed: Bert, the most caring person she knew, had seen so much suffering and misery. She wished so much that she could somehow remove what had happened to him. But when she looked at the uniform again, she had an idea. However she decided to keep that to herself… At least for now. When she passed the door shortly afterwards, Elizabeth paused for a moment and turned around: "Please don't wait for me. And don't worry… I'll be back for breakfast!" And then the door was already closed.

Mary and Bert went back to bed and just as he was about to put an arm around her, she turned to him, took his face in her hands, and kissed him.

"I'm proud of you, Bert."

"Why?"

"Because you were strong... I know how hard it was for you to talk about it. Telling Elizabeth about it is a sign of true strength for me!" She brushed back his hair and looked at him with admiration.

"It was inevitable... Besides, Lizzy deserves the truth. I don't want t' keep anything from 'er. And let's be 'onest: at the moment, something similar is 'appening to the world and I think she should be prepared to it in a certain way. Because as I know 'er and experienced yesterday and today she will probably... you know. "

"Do the same thing you did, I know…"

"She just spent too much time with me."

"Do not say that!" She saw the tiredness in his eyes, "I think we should try to sleep... Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Good night."

"Good night, Mary."

They kissed each other again before they slipped into the land of dreams, where, surprisingly, there were no nightmares.

Over 4000 words! The last chapter, which had a length of 4K, was Part I Chapter 3 xD I hope it has such a great resolution. Got it? Because of 4K... Not funny? Okay ^^ (I think I should go on vacation xD)

I know that this chapter was different from the others, but I hope you liked it in a way.

In this chapter, I'm especially looking forward to your reviews!

As always, I did my best to research, but of course I couldn't figure out everything. Nevertheless I tried to stay as close to history as possible! Unnecessary information: on a normal chapter, I usually sit between 1 and 3 hours. But in this chapter took six and a half hours of work- half of it only research xD