Angel
Pairing: WWII Soldier!Harrison x Fem!Reader
Warning: Fluff and injury
Summary: You’re the field nurse Harrison falls in love with
The last thing that Harrison remembered was gunfire, screams, blood, and an explosion that made the world go dark. So when he opened his eyes and saw your face and the halo that was your hair his first words made sense to him. “Are you an angel?”
“No honey, I’m just a field nurse.”
That was the moment you had never hated war more, or believed more in miracles. When the soldier had first been brought into the hospital tent you weren’t sure how he would survive. He had been closest to the grenade that had brought four more in and killed another. In the end he lost his left leg, broke all the ribs on that side and taken a nasty knock to his head on the way down.
Despite you saying otherwise he still believed you were an angel because you were there when he realised what was missing. While he was screaming and writhing in bed you placed steadying hands on his shoulders and looking him dead in the eye told him everything would be ok. He believed you.
He liked the shape of your lips and you liked the way his eyes reminded you of the ocean back home.
“How bad is it, Nurse Angel?” he asked after a week when you were changing the bandages wrapped around his head. You pursed your lips as you examined it and for a moment he had forgotten what he even asked, until you returned with a small handheld mirror. You held it up for him and he admired the stitches that ran halfway along his head and down his forehead to his eyebrow.
“You might be missing some hair, but it doesn’t detract from your handsomeness.”
“You think I’m handsome huh?” he teased and you busied yourself preparing the new bandages as colour flooded your cheeks.
“We’ve got you a nice pair of crutches ready to go.” You approached his bedside with the sticks two weeks later, laying them to the side as you helped him to sit up.
“You call those nice?” he joked, everyone knew everything on the front line was rudimentary at best. He didn’t want to let his arm drop from around your shoulders once he was sitting up though, he would much rather have sat there like this than be forced to stand with those things. But you stayed there with him, guiding his uneven body as he managed to get upright. When you dropped your hands it was the propellent he needed to take a step forward. He winced. “Still hurts the ribs.”
“They’ll heal.”
He was waiting for you just outside the hospital tent that night after a three hour emergency surgery that had hindered your clock off time.
“They’ll be sending me home you know.”
“Well you can’t fight Germans with one leg,” you commented, but he didn’t seem to acknowledge the joke as he hobbled closer, coming to a halt an inch away from you.
“I want you to come with me,” he said, reaching for your hand. You let him take it, feeling the warmth and the roughness of his skin beneath your fingers and you swallowed thickly.
“I can’t just leave Harrison, they need me here,” you replied, although there was a twisting in your chest as you spoke the words. You tried to look away but he wouldn’t let you, dropping your hand to cup your face and force you to meet his gaze.
“Please angel, I can’t bear the thought of going back to England and waking up every single day wondering if you’re still alive and if you’ll make it back. You can’t tell me you actually like it here. I’ll get a space for you to travel and you can tell them you can’t do it anymore,” he begged, his thumb stroking your cheek and you felt tears well in your eyes.
“What would we even do back there?”
“Volunteer to help the home front and when the fighting is finished we’ll get married and have three daughters so they can never be forced into war,” he answered with the thoughts he’d been having every day for the last week, the ones he knew you’d ask.
You let it sink in and standing in the middle of a war camp you let yourself imagine another life away from all the blood and pain and death. As the first tear escaped you gave him a nod and he broke into a smile, wiping it away and leaning in to kiss you softly.
“Pack your bag and tell your commander, I’ll write a letter to my mother and secure your travel,” he urged as he pulled back and you nodded again. Breaking apart you started towards your tent, looking over your shoulder to find Harrison by the opening to the hospital, leaning on his crutches. It was dark but you could still make out his smile and your heart leapt as he called after you.
“You really are an angel you know, sent just for me.”
