Umbrella
noun. something that covers or protects
"Come inside." She has never seen him this way. It is impossible to approach him. She is so afraid that he is on the verge of breaking down completely.
There is no answer. She did not expect one but she steps aside to allow him passage. He makes it two steps inside her apartment and crumples.
--
As they lay in her bed, she scared and unable to prevent herself from trembling and he feverishly pale and his body shaking, his fraility is, to her, a living nightmare. He has never been the weak one, never the one who has to be saved. His skin is sticky with a mixture of cold sweat and rainwater and she is huddled up against him, lending her body heat because frankly, he needs it so much more than she does. His clothes are soaking in her bathtub at the moment so that the blood doesn't stain his uniform. Her clothes are draped over a chair because he doesn't need to be wetter than he already is.
She doesn't know if he can pull through it and for the first time, her faith in him sways just the slightest bit. His eyes are closed but hers are still open because she can't sleep knowing that he is on the verge of death from fatigue and mental scarring from the too many that died at his hands today. He cannot die before she does, but when he utters her name, still only half conscious, she could only press closer to him and pray that she could give enough.