moved to iwillnotbow

As of 31 July 2023, this blog has moved to @iwillnotbow, in order to make life easier for me. I will be making a post tagging people I am currently threading with/owe replies to so they know where to expect further posts from.

Hope to see you there!

As of 31 July 2023, this blog has moved to @iwillnotbow, in order to make life easier for me. I will be making a post tagging people I am currently threading with/owe replies to so they know where to expect further posts from.

Hope to see you there!

Gareth was silent the entire time Julia was telling him what had happened. Now and again his brow rose, or he frowned, and at some point he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. Eventually, his gaze had shifted away from Julia and rested on no particular point on the ground. When she had finished, a few long moments passed in silence. Frankly, he was in no position to judge. What she had done had been wrong, it was a felony; but at the same time, and here he was thinking not as a soldier and law-abiding citizen, but as a private person - at the same time the guy had deserved every punch to the face. And probably even more.

Lips pursed, he finally looked up at Julia. “If you’re…asking me as a friend…I would tell you you did the right thing and this man deserved worse. But I’m a soldier and…I follow this country’s laws…and I want to be honest with you, Julia: what you’ve done was stupid.” It hurt him to say it, but he refused to lie to her.

“You could lose your job and…not only that, but in the worst case, they won’t let you return or even near any patients again. Not to mention…” He stopped himself there. Gareth didn’t even want to think about the possibility of himself getting into trouble because he was together with a woman with a shady background and time in prison.

Julia covered her face with both hands, letting out a heavy sigh. He wasn’t saying anything unexpected. He was disciplined, professional, not possessed of an overblown streak of vigilantism. He was 100% right. She had thrown away everything in a moment of rage.

Losing her job was one thing, but losing him? That left a cold, gnawing void in her chest. The urge to curl into his lap and try to forget everything was strong, but his tone said enough. He was disappointed, unhappy. He had every reason to be, she couldn’t fault him that.

“You’re right, of course.” She finally replied, choking on the heart that rose in her throat. Keeping the heels of her hands pressed into her eyes kept the tears from coming. “But it’s my issue to resolve, not yours. Thank you for getting me out of holding, you don’t need to stay if you have other things to take care of today.”

Gareth didn’t move back when their lips met; sank into the kiss with his arms around Julia’s waist, and his grip tight. They had just met, barely knew each other, had been separated for a few days - and yet all the feelings for her came into play. And yes, those feelings were strong. When their lips parted, he sucked in a deep breath at first - before a chuckle escaped him. His arms, however, stayed where they were.

“Every single second.” He smiled broadly, fighting the urge to let his tonge trail over her finger. “I haven’t yet started learning Welsh…you have to apologise.”

“You’ve nothing to apologise for, I wouldn’t expect you to start devouring the language. If you keep me around though, I can help teach you.”

Without an invitation he let himself sink down onto the sofa, staring at the small box Julia held out for him. Frowning, he reached over and took it, opened it. It was the George Cross they had awarded him the night he had met Julia. In all honesty, Gareth hadn’t even noticed its absence.

He looked up at Julia, closing the box and stuffing it into his pocket. Then, finally, he was asking, “What happened?” Though his features remained firm and motionless, his voice was soft. Perhaps it was nothing. Perhaps they had just arrested her out of pure safety reasons. Hell, he didn’t even know why she had been arrested.

Like a marionette that had all of its strings cut simultaneously, Julia dropped onto the sofa, head tilted back so she could stare at the ceiling. He deserved to know, of course, but she needed to purge the whole incident from her mind. It would never truly leave, but maybe he’d understand why she did it. 

Quietly, she started speaking - a normal evening, nothing too serious occurring on the ward. They got the call about an immediate urgency on the way, and everyone was getting ready to receive the patient. The EMTs charged through the doors with a stretcher, a small form wrapped in a blanket on top.

It was an eleven year old boy. Once they’d gotten him out of the blanket, Julia had taken report from the EMTs. They didn’t need to say much, the state of the poor child’s body said it all. Malnourished. Eyes sunken in his face. Bruises. No sign of life. Her coworkers worked as fast as they could to try and bring breath back into the boy’s body, and Julia’s charge nurse sent her out to wait for the parents.

The parents arrived, and Julia’s eyes swept the pair, and the two smaller children in their wake. The father looked angry, the mother and children defeated. Trapped. Hopeless. She’d seen faces like that before, many, many years ago. Her own parents, married too young, too irresponsible. Polar opposites. Constant yelling.

The patient’s father opened his mouth to say something, and Julia saw red. Her voice dropped as she told Gareth that she didn’t quite remember what happened after that, but once the police officers that had followed the family pulled her off the man, her fists were bloody. There was so much screaming. Julia was shoved to the floor and cuffed, dragged out to a police car.