Always (a Deryck Whibley Fanfic) RMS Titanic / WWI AU

II: Always

Dave, Jay and I arrived at one of the many medical tents within an hour of me receiving the news of Deryck's sustained injuries; the shell shock and the probably permanent, sensorineural deafness. I followed Dave and Jay to find someone who could tell me more about what's happened to Deryck, and how the three of us (well, for the most part me) help him deal with the trauma he has faced whilst fighting against the German Sixth Army. I managed to find one of the doctors in the tent to help me locate Deryck, but unfortunately didn't speak a word of English, likewise I didn't speak a word of French, but luckily I had Dave and Jay as interpreters.

"I am looking for my husband, Lieutenant Deryck Whibley of the Canadian Corps' Fourth Division, who has sustained shell shock and has suffered high-frequency deafness after the explosion of a bomb on the frontline. Could you tell me where he is, please?"

("Je cherche mon mari, le Lieutenant Deryck Whibley de la quatrième division du Corps Canadien, qui a subi un choc d'obus et qui souffred d'une profonde surdité après l'explosion d'une bombe sur le front. Pouvez-vous me dire où, s'il vous plaît?").

"Yes, I can take you to see him, Mrs. Whibley. You are right about the shell shock and deafness, thankfully he can still hear but the speech is muffled so you would either have to speak loudly and clearly or write in order to communicate. On that note, unfortunately the deafness is permanent. In terms of his shell shock, it is thankfully moderate - he is experiencing the first phase of the shell shock, which is 'Impact', this includes shock, fear, helplessness, guilt, anxiety and hyper vigilance; remember this is only the first stage, there are plenty more to come but we want to keep this stage under control before it gets any worse. I am very sorry, Mrs. Whibley, I know how hard it is for you to be receiving this. I won't keep you waiting, I'll take you to him now".

("Oui, je peux vous emmener le voir, Mme Whibley. Vous avez raison en ce qui concerne le choc des obus et la surdité. Heureusement, il peut encore entendre, mais le discours est assourdi et vous devez donc parler fort et clairement ou écrire pour communiquer. Sur cette note, la surdité es malheurusement permante. Heurusement modéré, il subit la première phase du choc, l'impact, qui inclut choc, peur, impuissance, culpabilité, anxiété et hyper vigilance; rapplez-vous qu'il ne s'agit que de la première étape. Il reste encore beaucoup à faire, mais nous voulons garder cette étape sous contrôle avant qu'elle n'aggrave. Je suis vraiment désolée, Mme Whibley,  je sais à quel point ferai pas attendre, je vais vous emmener à lui maintenant".)
After receiving the translated news of Deryck's condition, I followed the doctor to where all of the other injured soldiers including Deryck where, with Jay and Dave behind me I braced myself for what I was about to encounter once I made it to the infirmary where a lot of the injured soldiers were took after being wounded or worse. As I entered, the doctor - who I now learned was called Dr. Antoine François, informed me:

"The surnames of the soldiers are in alphabetical order"

("Les noms de famille des soldants sont dans l'ordre alphábetique")

"Great, it'll take me ages to find him now (!)" I thought sarcastically. I began to look at all of the different surnames starting with A,B,C etc until I came upon W from which I started looking for the second and third letters of each surname, until I found the one that I was looking for. I double checked the chart that had information on it, to see if I was looking at the right one. I read the name on it: WHIBLEY, DERYCK JASON, checked the DOB: 21 mars 1891; yes that sounds about right, at least I've not just checked the correct surname and end up talking to a completely different person! That would certainly be awkward. I continued to follow Dr. François who was ahead of me as we approached Deryck's hospital bed where he had been placed like all of the other wounded troops resided. Dr. François reminded me that I had to speak loud and clear in order for Deryck to hear. (As if I hadn't been told about fifty million times already!).