Victoria woke up and sighed. Her time of rest was over. Back to work!
She stood and stretched, put on her apron, and followed the rope to the medical tent. Making her way inside, she noticed there was no guard at the doorway. That was odd; one was always here unless… unless he was needed to bury another body.
Victoria's heart sank. The deaths had slowed, but there were still one or two a day in the tent. She wondered who it was this time. Perhaps the older man near the door? He had not been doing well when she left some hours before.
It was impossible to know these days what time of day or night it was. Things got darker at night, but the sun was impossible to see through the fog during the day.
She made her way to the bed in question, but found the old man sleeping soundly. That was a relief, but then, who…
Her heart froze as a terrible thought entered her head. Unwilling to let it even settle into her mind as a possibility, she scrambled to the corner.
To Gabriel's cot.
She reached it and took a deep breath before spreading her fingers to take his hand. Her heart stopped as she felt only a crumpled blanket.
"No," She whispered, swiping both hands all the way across the bed. "No, they would have told me, would have gotten me, if…"
Her mind went blank with disbelief. He'd been getting better, hadn't he? He'd woken up and thought he was dreaming… He'd had several bowls of broth and kept from vomiting…
She shook her head, unwilling to let the notion settle in her heart. There was a mistake. There had to be!
There was no possible way that he'd—
She shot to her feet and ran towards the door, stopping at the post. Counting the ropes, she grabbed number three. It led to the washhouse, but another rope located at the washhouse led to the burial grounds.
"No, no, no, no," She chanted. "It's fine, it's all right, there's a mistake. Nothing's wrong, it's fine."
Her mind buzzed, her heart thudded with panic, and her emotions became turmoil. No!
"It'll be ok, he's all right, he's not in bed because…" She couldn't think of a reason. Her reason had fled!
"It's fine. I'm fine. It's ok. It's ok. It's ok. It's fine." Her lips moved of their own accord now, as if by force of repetition they could change the truth. She hoped they could.
She clutched the lead to keep from getting lost, but ran forwards. The rope burned her hand as it passed through. Victoria paid no attention. That injury could be dealt with later. She had no time to feel pain right now. Not until she knew, for sure…
Her heart was so loud she could hear nothing else.
The chanting had deteriorated into a single word. "Fine, fine, fine, fine." Even if not for the mist, she might be blind to the world around her. Her head felt wrapped in thick wool, overheating and unable to process.
Flooded as she was by her intense emotions, which were likely magnified by weeks of fatigue and death all around, she failed to account for the fact that there might be anyone else using the rope to find their way.
She plowed directly into two men, and fell to the ground.
"OW!" Mason's whiny, nasal tone cut through the thick fog. "You should know better than to run!"
"Why aren't you at your post???" Victoria screamed, her last shred of calm banished by her tumble. She shot to her feet, ready to begin hitting the man if necessary. "Where's Gabriel? Where did you put him??"
If they'd buried him in a mass grave with the others, she'd dig a new one herself. He deserved his own place. Hot tears streaked down her face as the thought threatened to puncture her bubble of denial. She couldn't, shouldn't, refused to think that way.
"Doc woke up, and told me to help him get cleaned up," Mason defended himself.
She froze. "What?"
The word was whispered, but everything hung on it. Her breath stopped.
"Hi, Tori." Gabriel's weak voice found its way through the fog. She didn't even care about the irritating nickname.
Not trusting her ears, she took a tentative step toward the sound.
"Gabe?"
"Right here," He replied. Another step. Two mist-shrouded outlines stood out against the white background, one helping the other to stand.
She reached out her hand to touch him, to assure herself that he was real.
"Hi," He croaked, smiling at her.
Victoria touched his face, freshly shaven, and looked into his eyes for several quiet seconds. They were sunken, and tired, but clear. She snaked her arms around his waist in a tight hug, and he gasped slightly.
One arm came around her, but the other seemed to be around Mason's shoulders.
"You're a bit in the way," Gabriel teased with a light cough. Victoria barely noticed that the soldier withdrew until Gabe's full weight was against her.
His ribs stood out sharply. He was so thin! And yet, still heavy enough to make her sway trying to hold him up by herself. They sank to the ground together, sitting and holding each other.
"You're alive," She whispered.
"Of course I am," He replied quietly.
"You weren't in your bed," Victoria accused, pulling away.
"I needed to wash, and shave." Gabe shrugged. "Mason helped me."
"No one told me. No one was there. Just an empty cot." Her eyes filled with tears.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd come before we got back."
"We should get back," Mason said uncomfortably from somewhere above them. Victoria's eyebrows shot up at what the man must have thought when she and Gabriel sank out of view. The mist was indeed quite disorienting.
"Yes, let me help," She said awkwardly. The two healthy people lifted the emaciated man to his feet and the three shuffled back towards the medical tent while Victoria's hand followed the guide rope.
The moment Gabriel was back on his cot, Mason excused himself and disappeared, clearly eager to not be around the two.
"Sorry for scaring you," Gabe's voice was strained after the exertion. He lay rather still, exhausted from the morning's–or afternoon's?--efforts.
"You're in big trouble." She chided, pulling the blanket up higher. "Causing a soldier to abandon his post, that's probably a court martial offense."
"Probably," He yawned, "but I feel better now."
She swallowed. "Good. I'm glad. Do you want some broth before you sleep some more?"
"Please," He nodded. At least, she assumed he did. She couldn't quite see him clearly through the mist. She made short work of fetching a bowl and helped him hold it to his lips to drink slowly.
"How is your stomach?" She asked when he was halfway done.
"Settled, but ravenous," He sighed. "Is there any bread?"
"A little," She admitted, "but I'm not sure you're ready for it."
"Who's the doctor here, you or me?" He lay his head back on the pillow. "I prescribe myself some bread."
She pursed her lips, glad he felt well enough to tease, but also growing annoyed that he'd caused her such a scare. At least it wasn't intentionally done, she assured herself. He never would have done that on purpose.
"Maybe I should ask for a consult from Dr. David," She mused.
"No. Bread… please," He added the last word lazily. Victoria could tell from his tone how tired he was. If she agreed to go get some, it was likely he would fall asleep before she even returned with it, solving the problem.
"All right. Wait right here, Doctor," She said in her most businesslike tone. "I'll be right back with the… prescription."
"Thank you," The words slurred slightly as he drifted off.
Smiling to herself, she retrieved a little anyway, and put a morsel into the hand resting on his chest so he might have it as soon as he woke again. The poor man was going to take some time to recover.
But he would recover. She was all but certain of it now. Walking, talking, teasing, emaciated, but functioning. Though he was painfully thin and would need a lot of feeding to get him back to full health, he'd passed the point of highest danger.
Moving on to the rest of her patients, a wave of guilt washed over her for concentrating so much on Gabriel. They deserved care just like he did. She was not a very good nurse when her emotions got in the way.
She sighed heavily and put her tender heart to work for the good of all, now that the one she loved most was taken care of.
More labor stretched out into the foreseeable future, but at least she could see a future now. It was less than an hour before that she'd seen absolutely none at all.