Take Me Home. - Dunkirk - Alex - Harry Styles

Six.

Elizabeth slept until she felt the chilly water lapping around her legs and her eyes cracked open to the sight of the material of Alex's green jacket.

She was nestled into his side, cheek pressed against his chest with her leg thrown over his.

Alex shifted underneath her, making her take a hesitant look up at him only to see him smirking down at her.

"Morning, Love."

"Oh my god," she breathed, quickly pressing her hands to his chest to push herself off of him, "I am so sorry."

He sat up himself, stretching his sore muscles, "'m not complaining."

Elizabeth got up from the sand, doing the same as him before training her gaze on the sea.

There wasn't a ship in sight.

"What do we do now?" she asked, looking down at the three men.

Tommy gave her a sad smile and shook his head, "There's nothing we can do except wait."

Wait? Wait for what exactly? Since she had arrived on this sand, other than the two boats she had been on which had been shot down, she hadn't seen any others come into dock at the Mole and the RAF? They weren't here.

They were on their own.

So wait is what they did. Elizabeth sat down again and the four of them just watched. They watched as groups of men attempt to take the smaller boats out into the water, past the brutal waves but they didn't get very far.

They watched as the bodies of the men that were lost last night find their way back to the shore with the tide.

And they watched one soldier walk into the sea without so much as a glance back, disappearing under a crashing wave.

She felt a tear slip down her face, a second one following quickly after and soon, she was sobbing into her hands.

Elizabeth just wanted to go home. She wanted to see her mum and dad, her little sister Bethany.

Tommy was the one who moved to comfort her, shuffling along the sand until he was pressed up against her and when she tucked her head into his neck, he rest his head against her's as she continued to cry. "We're going to get off this beach," he whispered, nodding when she looked at him, "We're getting off. Someone is coming for us."

She could only hope that he was right.

+++++

They were still sat on the beach hours later; Alex had fallen asleep again while Elizabeth and Gibson were watching Tommy attempt to break open an unlabelled tin of something.

She was hoping it was food of some kind.

Alex opened his eyes just as he pierced through the metal, holding the tin up above his head to get some of whatever liquid was dripping out and she eagerly leant forward to take it when he held it out to her.

"Hey," Alex said loudly, clearing his throat and they all looked over at him to see him pointing down the beach, suddenly getting a burst of energy when they saw a group of men making their way along the sand.

He got up, holding his hands out to Elizabeth, who he pulled up with ease and they all followed him as he jogged towards them, "Highlanders! Hey, Highlanders! What's that way?"

"A boat." one of the men replied, looking down at Elizabeth who was still holding onto Alex's hand, clearly startled to see a young woman stuck in the middle of all of this.

"She's grounded." she said softly and they looked at her again.

"But when the tide comes in she won't be," another spoke up, giving her a grin and Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Tommy and Gibson, not liking the hesitance she was seeing in their eyes.