"How'd you get me out?" Mary looked at William, who was leading the way back to his mother's apartment. Mary somehow convinced the hospital to let William go home, even though she knew that he probably needed to stay at the hospital for at least another day. "They shouldn't have let me go yet, so what did you say?"
"I just told them that you had someone waiting to take care of you back at home so you wouldn't be alone."
"So, you lied."
"Well, partly. I won't live with you, but I will make sure you're alright every day. Besides, I'm out of a job for the time being." Mary smiled at William, making sure he knew that she wasn't just doing this because she felt she needed to.
"Mary-"
"I'm doing this because I want to and because I care about you. I don't mind it, I promise. Besides, what else am I supposed to do as I wait for the hospital to need me back?" William sighed, but Mary would have none of it. "I understand that you're going to feel like a burden, but I'm the only person who knows what happened today and I know that you're not alright, but that doesn't make you less of-"
"We're not talking about this here, it's way too public, we're getting enough stares as it is." Mary sighed but allowed William to stop the conversation. She knew that to everyone around them, they must look terrible, covered in dust and rubble, William still in his tattered uniform. "I promise we can talk about it once we're inside, alright? It's not that I'm shutting you out, I just don't think anyone else needs to hear our business."
"Alright, lead the way Lance Corporal." William rolled his eyes but took Mary's hand as he led the way through a part of London that Mary hadn't gotten the chance to explore with Sophia yet. "Where are we going," she finally asked as William pulled her through a park. "We're going the short way home because my ribs are hurting and I really want a cup of tea."
"We can slow down if you'd prefer."
"It's safer inside at the moment." Mary didn't push it, knowing that William was still thinking of what happened earlier in the day. She also knew that he was trying to hide it, but his hands were shaking, and the way his face was too pale for him to be okay. "We're almost there." Mary looked around, realizing for the first time where they actually were.
"William, where exactly around here do you live?"
"Just over there." He pointed, making Mary freeze in her place. "What?"
"Do you know what side of London we're on?"
"We're in Knightsbridge, why?"
"William."
"If it's about the cost of an apartment, I promise you, I'm just the same as every other person, my family just happens to have gotten lucky."
"Gotten lucky?"
"My sister married up and we got fortunate that her husband was kind enough to buy us an apartment. I promise you, it's not completely lavish." Mary hesitated, looking at her clothes. "There's no one there anyway, it'll just be us and you look ready for a ball compared to what I'm wearing." Mary smiled, letting William gently pull her towards his home.
As they got to the front stoop, William turned, looking at Mary. He looked concerned, Mary wanting to ask him what was wrong, but he said, "Do you think differently of me now."
"What do you mean?"
"Now you know what fortune I had before the war."
"That doesn't make you any less of a soldier, nor does it make me look at you any differently. I don't care if you lived in a palace, you're still the soldier who wrote to my family after he watched my brother die because it was my brother's dying wish. You're still William Schofield to me."
