Disclaimer Apologies to Ian McEwan, who wrote a wonderful book, to Christopher Hampton, who wrote the script. Thank you to Joe Wright for his vision, and to Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai and the rest of the cast for bringing Joe's vision to life.

All rights to those who own them. I claim nothing.

A "What if...?" Story. "What if Robbie made it home?

Love Never Dies

by

Ninja Elizabeth

Chapter 3: Confrontation

By the time morning arrived things had calmed down. Shift two was finally allowed to return to their interrupted slumber as shift one arrived to relieve them. Word was spreading that the evacuation was ending soon as the Germans were closing in and it was getting too dangerous to continue pulling out the troops.

Sister Drummond had found the time to get some sleep. She returned to the ward refreshed and ready to start over. She found Sister Tallis asleep at the bedside of Private Turner. She could tell that her ward sister had cried herself to sleep. She checked the soldier's condition before attempting to wake the sleeping ward sister. He was doing much better. Although his fever had not quite broken it had gone down significantly. She called over Nurse Bennet who was just starting her second shift asking her to fetch another tray of ice and fresh towels. While she waited, Sister Drummond changed the dressing on the soldier's wound careful not to disturb him or the sleeping Cecilia. The soldier's tenacity to fight the infection amazed her. His love for the young woman sleeping at his beside must have been what was pulling him through, she thought.

Nurse Bennet returned with the ice and towels. She had also brought along a few other supplies she thought Sister Drummond might need. Sister Drummond allowed herself a smile. She knew that she did not have to ask. "Nurse Bennet, will you stay at Private Turner's side until Sister Tallis returns?"

"Of course." Nurse Bennet replied. "Are you going to make sure she gets some proper rest? She's been at his side most of the night. She's 'the crumpet' isn't she?"

"I beg your pardon?"

Nurse Bennet chuckled. "I tended to a soldier last night. He's got an infected toe; he hates his boots and pleaded with me to let him stay a few days. I told him I would allow it," she replied. "He said that the private was always thinking of and reading letters from his 'crumpet' he left behind."

She shook her head. "If Private Turner awakens and asks for Cecilia tell him that she is resting and will be back."

Cecilia yawned and stretched. Her body ached. She looked to the soldier sleeping before her. Robbie. He was still there. It wasn't a dream. He came back.

"Cecilia," sister Drummond replied softly. "Why don't you go to the office and take a rest on the hide-away. You will feel much better. Freshen up a bit. Nurse Bennet will watch over Robbie while you are gone."

She didn't want to leave Robbie's side, but lying on a bed did sound nice. She also knew how much trust Marjorie had in Nurse Bennet. She checked Robbie's temperature before turning to Nurse Bennet. "I want to be informed the instant there is any change, is that clear?"

"Of course." Nurse Bennet replied. "Now go and get some rest. I'll watch over him."

Cecilia caressed his cheek and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I'll be back, darling. I love you." She stood up and watched him sleep for a few moments. She noticed that shift one and shift three were on duty. That meant that shift two had returned to sleep. Instead of heading to the office to rest she headed to the nurses dormitories.

Briony was exhausted. Her legs ached. After the incident with the soldier, both she and Fiona had been assigned to the bedpans. Briony cleaned them, while Fiona brought the dirty ones to the wash area. Briony was sure they were being punished.

Thank goodness, she thought as she climbed into her bed. Fiona was equally exhausted and had already fallen asleep. She was sure that if her friend had not fallen asleep she would get an earful about what had happened. Normally she didn't mind her friend's good nature but right now she wanted nothing more than to sleep.

She had just begun to drift off when she heard the door open. She paid no attention. She heard footsteps coming toward her.

"Nurse Tallis, wake up."

Briony stirred but did not wake up. Surely they were not being asked to work a third shift. She had to be dreaming.

"Briony!" the voice responded again.

That was Cecilia. Briony bolted upright, eyes wide open to see that her sister was standing next to her bed and did not look at all happy.

"Get dressed and meet me in the office. I wish to speak with you." With that, Cecilia turned and left.

Briony wasn't quite sure it was real until Fiona stirred and sat up.

"Briony? Was that your sister? What does she want? Can't it wait?"

She was already up and dressed. She had never dressed so fast in her life but she did know one thing, Ward Sister or blood sister, she did not want to keep either sister waiting long. Briony was out the door before Fiona could fully wake up.

* * * * * * *

Cecilia paced back and forth in front of the desk as she waited for her sister to arrive. She been told to get some rest but she wanted to get the conversation with her sister over with. She had been successful in ignoring her and putting it off until the arrival of Robbie. Now she felt she was forced to deal with it, especially after the way her sister handled the situation. Hearing the door latch she stopped. It was her sister. She never knocked.

"Enter and shut the door behind you, Briony." Cecilia replied coldly.

It was quite clear by the way Cecilia said her given name, Briony thought, that it was her blood sister speaking and not the Ward Sister. Briony took a deep breath. She had hoped it would be Ward Sister Tallis addressing her. Discipline she could handle. She was not ready for the confrontation that was sure to follow. She knew it would happen one day. She often wrote about it to prepare for the day. It didn't help. Now was the time and it was nothing at all like the half dozen or so scenarios she had written.

"What did you tell your friend, Nurse Fiona Maguire about me?" Cecilia asked.

"Nothing, Cee."

"Don't call me that." she snapped. "Please don't ever call me that."

Briony took a deep breath. 'Cee' was the nickname everyone in the family had always called Cecilia. Finally, she spoke, her voice shaking. "I am very sorry for the terrible thing I did and to have caused you so much pain. What I did was horrible. I don't expect you to forgive me."

"Oh don't worry, I won't." Cecilia responded with a hurt and anger in her voice that Briony was completely unprepared for.

"I'll do anything." Briony pleaded. "Anything to give you and Robbie the chance for the happiness you deserve. It's all I care abou--"

"Listen to yourself." Cecilia interrupted. "You sound pathetic, like a two penny novel."

"I don't mean to." Briony replied trying to convince her sister of her sincerity.

"There's nothing to make up in this world. It's happening. Once you set the events in motion, things happen. If you don't like the outcome you can't just tear out the page and start over."

"I know that." Briony replied. She could see the anger building inside her sister and she didn't know what to say.

Cecilia did however. "Did you know the soldier who attacked you was Robbie?"

"Yes."

"Did it ever occur to you to call over another nurse to treat him?"

"No."

"What were you thinking?" Cecilia screamed furious.

"I was thinking like a nurse." Briony responded confident with her answer.

"No you weren't." Cecilia rejected. "You were only thinking of yourself as usual, you jealous little bitch! You were thinking that if you nursed him back to health that we would be indebted to you and we would forgive you. Well that's not going to happen."

Briony had never heard her sister curse before. She could not say anything nor could she deny what her sister had said. Cecilia was not finished.

"Did it ever occur to you that Robbie could quite possibly hate you more than I do?"

"No, I mean, yes."

Cecilia sighed. "You have absolutely no idea of the pain you've caused him, the pain you've caused me or the damage you've done, do you?"

Briony took a deep breath. It was now or never. She had been thinking about it almost constantly ever since she gathered up the courage to ask for her sister's address and write. She wondered if Cecilia had gotten the letter. "I want to go in front of a judge and change my evidence." She replied hoping it would be good news to her sister.

"You're an unreliable witness," Cecilia responded turning her back to her sister so she would not see her cry. "They'd never reopen the case."

"Well, I can at least go home and tell everyone. Mummy, daddy, Leon..."

"They won't want to hear it." Cecilia responded turning back to face her younger sister wiping her tears. "All that unpleasantness has been neatly tidied away in the past. Thank you very much."

Briony looked at her sister. It was almost too much to handle seeing her usually strong willed sister cry. Cecilia began to pace back and forth like a caged animal, fists clenching and unclenching. She looked at the wall as she paced, not looking at Briony.

"I'll be honest with you," she replied pacing trying to contain her rage. "I'm torn between breaking your neck right here or taking you down to the surgical wing to experiment with all the razor sharp objects stored there. I was perfectly happy living my life, then you had to search for me and write me that letter. I tried to joke about it to Robbie... your becoming a nurse. But do you want to know the truth? It makes me sick. When I left home I had no idea what I wanted. I just wanted to be away from all of you. I made the decision to be a nurse because it was something I thought I wanted to do. And I found that I like it. I have decided to make a career out of it. You. All your life you've dreamed of being a writer. You were always writing those stupid little stories. Why are you here? Why did you give up your position at Cambridge?"

Briony stood her ground, trying not to show her fear. She had no idea what she could say that would not further enrage her sister so she remained silent.

"Do you know what it's like to be in love?" her sister asked tenderly. "To finally admit the feelings that you've kept locked up for so long? To finally confess your feelings to the man you love and give yourself to him?"

"No," Briony admitted.

"No, you wouldn't." Cecilia snipped. "Love isn't like those stories you write, Briony. Life doesn't happen that way."

"They're just stories, Cecilia."

"Is that what you were thinking?" Her older sister asked. "When you witnessed what you thought was happening by the fountain that day, is that what you were thinking?'Oh this would make for a lovely story!' Do you have any idea what it's like to live in a house where everyone you care about turns against the man you love and thinks you're a foolish lovesick child for defending him? Tell me, did it give you pleasure to think of me, holed up in my bedroom, alone, lonely and heartbroken crying myself to sleep every night?"

"No." Briony was in shock. She had never seen such an explosion of emotions in anyone, especially her older sister. Her sister was going from anger one moment, hurt the next, fuming with anger, then in tears. She didn't know what to say. All of this emotion boiling under the surface was caused by her.

"But you never came to me..." Cecilia' voice trailed off as she gave up trying to hold back her tears and cried openly. "I was always there for you. I was always there to comfort you after your nightmares. Where were you to comfort me? You never came to comfort me or tell me that you were sorry."

"I'm sorry." Briony replied trying to move in closer to comfort her sister.

"It's too late for that!" Cecilia screamed, heartbreak again turning to anger. "Don't you understand?"

"Yes."

Tears flowed down her face. "Do you think Robbie assaulted our cousin?"

"No"

"Did you think it then?"

"Yes. Yes and no. I wasn't certain."

"And what makes you so certain now?" Cecilia asked.

"Growing up." Briony answered.

"Growing up?" Cecilia spit back with disgust.

"I was thirteen!"

Cecilia laughed. "You're eighteen now. How old do you have to be to know the difference between right and wrong? Do you have to be eighteen before you can hone up to a lie?" she asked. "There are soldiers of eighteen fighting overseas, old enough to die in my arms from wounds suffered on the battlefield because they sacrificed themselves to save others... people they hardly knew. Did you know that?"

"Yes." Of course, she did. She was a nurse too. She had had soldiers die in her arms. "I'm... I'm so sorry for what I did."

"Five years ago you didn't care about telling the truth. You and your stupid fantasies. You just assumed it was him because you witnessed things you did not understand and fancied yourself 'older and mature'. You always had to be the heroine, the beautiful princess. You were jealous that night because the 'dashing prince' was paying attention to me, not you. He loved me, not you. So you came up with the idea that he must have been attacking me and needed to protect me. I didn't need protection from him! I willingly did all the things you accuse him of! I took my clothes off at the fountain! I offered myself to him in the library! Robbie did not force me to do anything! Thanks to you, mother, father, everyone, they were able to close ranks and throw him to the fucking wolves!"

Briony let out a scream and raised her arms up to protect her head as Cecilia took a step towards her. She was certain her sister was going to strike her.

The door burst opened. Two people entered, two voices spoke at once.

"Sister Tallis! She's your sister!"

"Sister Tallis! He's awake!"

Cecilia registered only one word. 'Awake.' She froze, hand raised and clamed instantly. She turned away from her sister and headed toward the door which was being blocked by Nurse Maguire.

Fiona tried to get a word in but was shoved into the door frame by Sister Tallis as she passed her. The nurse who relayed the message followed Sister Tallis out as Briony heaved a huge sigh of relief and slumped to the floor.