Take Me Home. - Dunkirk - Alex - Harry Styles

Ten.

Alex and Tommy slept through till morning and when he woke, the first thing he noticed was that Elizabeth was no longer beside him. 

He leant over to look up and down the train, seeing that the young nurse was now serving tea and some buscuits to the other soldiers but she looked up as if he felt his eyes on her and after excusing herself from the conversation she was having, she started her way back towards them. 

"Hi," she whispered, taking her previous seat beside Alex, "The driver says we'll be pulling into the station soon. There'll be trucks to take you back to your barracks, you'll get a couple days to rest and then..."

Alex looked down at her as she trailed off, toying with her hands, "We go back into the thick of it."

"Yeah," she nodded, eyes flickering between the two of them, "You go back." 

"And what about you?" Tommy asked, "Are you going back?" 

Elizabeth shrugged, "Dunno. Suppose I'll go where I'm sent." 

She didn't want to think of them going back into battle. She didn't want to think that they were going to be fighting for their lives again, like they did back on that beach. And that she wouldn't be there to help if something were to go wrong. 

"Hey," Tommy mumbled, "Your arm." 

Looking down, she saw that blood was seeping through it and she sighed, "It needs changed." 

"I'll do it," he smiled, "If you talk me through it. It'll be a good thing to learn, right?" 

"Thank you," she whispered, "I'll go find some bandages." 

She returned a few minutes later, this time sitting down next to Tommy and she slowly began unravelling the old bandage, pausing for a moment, "You're okay with blood?" 

"Lizzie, just do it." he laughed, "I'll be fine."

Alex watched them but feeling the train coming to a stop, he turned his gaze to out the window, seeing two kids throwing stones at a set of buffers and then he was standing on his seat, pulling the window open, "Oi! Where are we?"

Elizabeth didn't hear the boy's reply as she was too focused on trying to direct Tommy on how to change her bandage, teaching him how to tie the knot so it didn't come loose.

"Hand us one of them papers there," Alex instructed, "Go on then!" 

Both she and Tommy did look up when the boy climbed up to give him the paper, watching him read the front page and she glanced down at it when he slid it across to Tommy. 

Churchill addresses Dunkirk Evacuation in Commons. 

"I can't bear it," Alex murmured, "You read it." 

"Can't bear it?" Tommy repeated. 

"They'll be spitting at us in the streets," he said, "If they're not locked up waiting for the invasion." 

Tommy sighed and picked the paper up and cleared his throat, "Wars are not won by evacuations-"

Elizabeth jolted when there was a sharp rap on the train window, seeing a young man knocking to try and get Alex's attention but he just kept his eyes on the table in front of him. 

"But there was a victory inside it's deliverance which should be noted." 

The sound of bottles clinking together and the sound of cheering was what made Alex perk up, looking out of the window as the train pulled into the station and he was quickly stood up on the seat again so he could reach out and take the bottles from those who were offering them.