"Gavin!" He retched, almost sobbing in pain as he leaned over the side of the cot. It was beyond anything he'd ever felt. There was a raw burning in his side and a searing throb in his left leg. He choked and whimpered as he curled over, registering the gentle hand circling his back. He fell into the offered comfort, sobbing as he gasped for breath as he desperately tried to figure out just what the hell had happened. He remembered loud sounds. Explosions. Flying. The light feeling in his stomach. Hot air and dirt throwing him through the air. The blinding pain in his side and leg. Blood. Warmth on his skin. Stickiness. Drowning in mud. Weight pinning him down. Sinking. Then there were firm hands. Familiar touches. A voice. Nines! His green eyes snapped wide, and he looked around, confused to find himself in an actual building. Not a tent. The phck? "There, that's it..." I know that voice...

"Chloe?" He couldn't believe it as he turned his head. He knew Chloe and Elijah were in Europe somewhere, but he'd thought they were helping the British with their recovery program in England. Testing out Elijah's latest prosthetics and developing new aids for wounded soldiers. Chloe smiled in relief as she removed the small metal basin of bile and set it aside. He hadn't seen her for over a year. She looked the same. Maybe a little more tired. Her skin was a little pale. Her crystal blue eyes were red around the edges from lack of sleep. Her blonde hair was pinned back in a bun and covered by a net beneath her little white hat.

"I'm so glad you're alright! We weren't sure you'd make it once the fever took hold." Fever? He didn't remember anything like that. He barely remembered Connor looking down at him, but then everything was a blur of pain and white noise. He didn't remember anything about surgery or recovery or leaving the camp. "You were mostly unconscious, thank god. There were few drugs for pain left where you were, so it's a good thing you passed out when you did..." Chloe continued as she reached out and rested a hand on his head the way she used to. Why is that a good thing? What the phck happened? He winced as he rested a hand on his bound side. He remembered something cutting into his waist. Probably a chunk of shrapnel...

"What the phck happened?" He didn't need to ask why he'd left the front. The pain in his side was enough to tell him this wound would take months to heal. Chloe seemed a little more subdued as she moved to sit on the edge of his bed. She helped as he tried to sit up and reached around to prop his pillows so he could lounge. "Pretty much all I remember is the phcking blast and Nines...Di-did he make it back?" She could tell he was silently dreading the answer, but she could at least set his mind at ease in that regard. All three of the Anderson brothers were alive and well. They'd even put in for international leave so they could visit them once they arrived in England.

"He's fine. It's you I was worried about...You wouldn't have made it without Richard and Connor." Gavin almost snorted. That was the first time he'd heard anyone use Nines' real name. Even the higher-ups had taken to calling him Nines or his rank. It was the same with Sixty. To his knowledge, only Captain Allen ever called him Jacob. If anyone else tried, they'd probably end up with a bullet between the eyes. He had no doubt Chloe was right. Any other medic besides Nines would have thought he was dead already or written him off as a lost cause and grabbed someone else. Someone less injured. Someone who may have been left out there in his place. Phck..."Once you got back to the resting camp, Connor handed you off to Dr Manfred, and we tried to patch you up."

"We?" What the hell was Chloe doing in their camp in the first place? No way had word of the skirmish gotten back to Elijah that fast!

"Yes. Believe it or not, I was only supposed to be checking in. I had no idea an operation had gone ahead. I arrived with the resupply chain and planned on asking around to see how you were before heading back to town. I'd barely arrived when the call went up that injured men were being brought back. You were lucky to get Dr Manfred as your attending physician." Gavin frowned at that. Dr Manfred was the best surgeon they had in the field. He worked on less injured patients sometimes, but he usually took on the really hard cases. No-hopers. The lost causes who probably wouldn't make it with anyone else. He rested a hand on his waist.

"Markus patched me up? Phck, was it that bad?" It hurt like fuck, but that didn't necessarily mean it was bad. Surface injuries could sometimes pack more of a punch than deeper wounds. I would know. He'd had enough over the past couple of years. Until this incident, he'd been fairly lucky where serious wounds were concerned.

"Gavin, you almost died!"

"Phck! Did they manage to get it all out? I mean...I'm guessing there was a chunk of something lodged in there," he added as he nodded down towards his waist. Chloe nodded her agreement. There had been a shard of metal lodged in there. She wasn't sure whether it was good or bad that it had been so hot it had started to cauterise the flesh inside. With a keen eye and a steady hand, Markus had managed to get it out. It had been around two inches wide and two inches long. She honestly wasn't sure whether it had been part of the shell itself or an older fragment of something else left in the bog from a previous battle. Either way, it had been extracted and the wound had been cleaned, stitched, and bound.

"Yes, don't worry, no surprises. The wound is all cleaned up." That was something, at least. Gavin sighed with a sense of relief. With any luck, he could heal up and get back out there within a couple of months. How long does it take internal shit like this to heal, anyway? He'd known men with bullet wounds to be back in service within a couple of months before, but shrapnel wounds may take a little longer.

"So I'll be good to go in, what? Two or three months?" He didn't want to leave his men for too long. His jaw tightened at the thought that maybe none of them had made it back. He knew the guys ahead of them were fucked. Did any of his unit manage to take cover or drag themselves back? Had Nines and the other medics found them? There were some good kids in his unit. Miller. Pearson. Jenkins. Jackson. Ripley. Some were a little green, but they were all good guys. He was almost afraid to ask about them.

"Gavin...you're being discharged from service. You need to enter long-term recovery!" Chloe exclaimed, blue eyes widening as she rested a hand on his thigh. Gavin frowned a little at first before huffing and breaking into a small smirk.

"Haha, very funny. Come on, it's just a little hole in my side! It'll heal up in no time!" He was right about that, at least. Chloe's lips thinned as she wondered how to draw attention to it without completely traumatising him. He knew something was wrong as the hand on his thigh started rubbing circles. She always got restless hands when she was nervous. "What's up?" He softened his gaze and tilted his head as he waited for her to answer.

"That wasn't your only injury...Do you remember anything else from the blast?" Chloe asked gently, watching Gavin's eyes lower as he looked back. He'd gone flying. Searing pain in his side and leg. He'd hit the ground hard. He'd been passed out and drowning in thick mud as Nines had turned him over. The pain had been unbelievable, but he remembered there had been something very wrong. My leg! I couldn't feel my leg! He balked as his eyes darted further down. He twitched his right foot. He could see his right leg. Chloe was sitting on his left side, leaning over a little. He swallowed and licked his lips as he twitched his left foot. I did it, right? I can feel it! It's moving!

"I-I hurt my leg, didn't I? Alright, I guess maybe that'll take a little longer...What? Six months? A year?" He sounded nervous and hopeful as he looked up at Chloe, who remained sympathetic and grim. "I-it's not that bad, right?" Chloe's lips tightened at the almost pleading tone. How bad it was really depended on your point of view. It wasn't the end of the world. He was still alive, and as things went, he'd come off lightly. It was healing well. He was also in a pretty good position as far as medical aids went. There would be a wide choice available to him. He'd still have good mobility.

"It's not as bad as it could have been..." That was evasive as fuck. "But you won't be able to fight again." Okay, that isn't so bad...Did that mean he had shrapnel lodged in there, too? It honestly hurt like a bitch. Maybe some shrapnel broke a bone or something on the way through, so he'd have to wait for that to heal up. Chloe shuffled a little to the side, keeping her hand on his thigh to steady him as she waited for a reaction. Gavin's mind went blank as he looked down at the sheets. He followed his leg as far as his knee, and then there was nothing. The sheet sloped down to the bed. Flat.

"W-wh-m-m-C-Ch-" He couldn't get any of the words out as his heart kicked into overdrive. What happened? Where was his leg? His leg was gone! He felt tears welling in his eyes as he stared blankly at the flat sheets. But I can feel it! I can phcking feel it! He twitched his right foot and then his left. It feels the same! It felt exactly the same! He could even feel the ache he remembered from the blast. The dull throbbing that lanced through his flesh.

"Dr Manfred had no choice. It was too badly damaged." She left off the part where it had been a mass of charred, barely hanging on flesh. He didn't need to hear the grim details. He also didn't need to hear about how Dr Manfred had sawn the shin bone right below the knee joint, doing his best to get rid of the surrounding dead flesh and limit the risk of infection to give him the best chance of keeping the joint. The more he kept, the easier it would be to rehabilitate. She tucked Gavin's head against her chest as he started sobbing. He was in his own private room. A perk of being the half-brother of a well-known, wealthy scientist. Especially one working in the medical field for the war effort.

"S-so what? I'm a phcking invalid now?" Her brow pinched at the raw pain and shame in those words. She held him tighter and rocked him for a while, something she used to do when they were younger. Gavin had always been a lot more outwardly sensitive than Elijah. She let out a small breath as Gavin's arms latched onto her tightly. She ran a hand through his hair as she kissed his damp forehead. He was still a little clammy. The fever had broken, but he still needed a little longer to make a full recovery.

"Not at all! We'll have you up and walking again in no time!" He scoffed against her shoulder as he pushed himself back with a small glare.

"I'm not going to be one of Eli's phcking experiments!" Her brow pinched a little at that. They weren't experiments. He was doing his part to help with the war effort. He was giving injured soldiers mobility and independence. She was pretty sure Gavin already knew that. He was just feeling vulnerable after this latest revelation. He looked down at his missing leg again and winced as he continued trying to move the limb that wasn't there.

"It's alright to be scared...I'm going to stay with you every step of the way, alright? We'll head across to England and meet Elijah in Kent...He's renting an estate out there to help rehabilitate the wounded...I've already sent word ahead that we'll be arriving within the week." Gavin shook his head as she spoke. He couldn't just leave! What about his men? What about Nines? What would they think of him if he left them now? He looked down at his leg and bit his lip. It wasn't like he'd be able to heave himself over the top again with his leg all fucked up like that, but surely he could do something! "It's alright, Gavin...You can go home. You've done your service." That didn't make him feel better. The war wasn't over yet! He wasn't done yet! "Would you like some tea?" He could have laughed at the hope in her voice. No matter the problem, Chloe always swore it could be solved by a cup of tea. I swear she's like ninety percent British!

"Sure." The warmth would probably make him feel a little better, at least. Chloe beamed as she stood and clicked her way across the tiles to the door. Gavin sighed forlornly as he fell back and looked around the sterile room. White walls. Shiny floor. Starched bedding. Dark wooden window frames. The bunk was barely comfortable with its springy mattress and metal frame, but it was still the best thing he'd laid on in months. He closed his eyes. It was almost weird to feel crisp cotton against his skin rather than scratchy, lice-filled wool. The closed in quiet was strange, too. He was more used to the wind in the trees, or the murmurs of other men. Sloshing footsteps. The clicking of rifles as they were cleaned and put back together. Distant gunfire. The rumbling of shells. Nines' gentle breath teasing his ear. Nines...