Chapter Text
She didn’t know how long she had been in the dark now. She just knew she wasn’t quite as sad on this occasion as she had been the first few times. She was still terrified, shivering, and occasionally sobbing, but by this point her little mind knew there was no point crying about it. The door wouldn’t be unlocked any quicker.
Finally, after what felt like days but was really six or seven hours, she heard some shouting and the sound of the door unlatching. When her eyes managed to crack open against the harsh lights she saw her brother’s face, fear and anger warring over his pudgy features.
“C-curt-is?!” She sobbed as he pulled her into his chubby arms.
“Nelly! It’s ok, Nelly. I’m home.” He cuddled her as best he could while she just cried her little heart out. The harsh sobs wracking her tiny body.
At just seven years old, Curtis Biddick had learned fast how to take care of another child. Penelope Biddick was four years old and not yet old enough to go to school. Over the last 18 months, since their father’s passing, their mother had sunk deeper and deeper into depression and alcoholism. Penelope had forgotten by this point how their life was before this. But Curtis? He remembered.
He remembered their father’s hoarse laugh, mother’s bright smile, family dinners, and weekend strolls in the park. He also remembered the day it all changed. The day their father’s foreman called to say there had been an accident. The day their world crumbled.
Every day since then their mother lost a little more grip on reality. The company their father had worked for had paid them out a little, but it wouldn’t last long. Not in New York. So things for the three of them were tight and not getting any looser. Especially not now their mother had taken up drinking to dull the pain.
It didn’t help they were alone in New York. No family here to help and what little family they had back in Ireland would not have been able to support them even if their mother decided to take them back to her homeland.
Their parents had ran to New York in the lead up to the Easter Rising. Newlywed and not wanting to be caught up in the conflict they fled to New York in search of better opportunities. Initially it had been going well and by the time they started having children their parents were set up and ready. But now, here he was, rushing home from school to check on his little sister. Their mother having taken to locking her in the closet to keep her out of the way while she drank herself into a stupor and passed out on the sofa.
Curtis took his sister to the bathroom, cleaned her up, changed her into fresh clothes, and set aside the soiled ones for washing. He had homework to do, but first he needed to feed Penelope and see if he could coax his mother into getting something into her stomach other than cheap liquor.
After many repeats of this process, Curtis took it upon himself to arrange a neighbour on the same floor to watch Penelope while he went to school. He lied and said his mother had taken on extra work to get by and of course the young mother took pity on the neighbour kids and figured it wouldn’t be so hard, Penelope could occupy her toddlers while she dealt with her baby.
From there, Penelope spent her days with the neighbour, Curtis was able to concentrate at school, and Mrs. Biddick could drink all she wanted, uninterrupted by her daughter’s attempts at seeking connection.
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Curtis was a bright boy with huge potential, according to his teachers. He wasn’t particularly interested in academic pursuits, he was more likely to be found doing something physical. Whether it was woodworking, ball games, or wrestling.
When Penelope finally started school, at the Catholic girls school, she too impressed the nuns with her quick ability to pick up new skills but also her empathetic nature.
The Biddick siblings spent most of their spare time together, even in their teen years. Despite being three years apart, they got along well. Curtis always kept an eye out for her and when she spent time with his friends they didn’t mind as she wasn’t annoying like their own little sisters. Happy to go with the flow, and no tendency to nag the boys, they were happy for her to tag along.
Both kids were encouraged greatly at school and by the time Curtis was ready to finish school he’d managed to secure a scholarship to study mathematics at college. Though his true passion had been boxing in his teen years but he still kept his head screwed on for school.
Their mother passed away not long before Penelope’s 18th birthday. By this point she had spent much of her teen years nursing her mother in her declining health. Mrs. Biddick went through periods of sobriety and slightly better mental health but she was never truly healthy and this eventually took its toll.
It came as no surprise to Curtis that Penelope decided to pursue a career as a nurse, becoming registered in 1941. The same year he enlisted, being selected for flight training and leaving Penelope behind.
Rather than stay in New York, alone, Penelope decided not long after that she too would sign up and completed the necessary training before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps.
By the time it was clear the US would be joining the Allied Forces in the Pacific and European theatres of war, Penelope’s biggest hope was that she would be stationed near her brother. If not, then at least she would be helping look after his injured colleagues wherever she ended up. Hoping that if he ever found himself in trouble there would be an equally competent nurse there to help him.
And this is how she found herself readying to hop on a plane and head over to Europe for the foreseeable, praying that they’d both make it back to New York whole and in one piece.