"She'll be fine," he said, rather sharply. She would be able to tell he didn't mean to speak like that, but was clearly worried as well. "I'll be fine."
He seemed to realize his tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm just.. I don't know. I'm sorry. I know you're worried."
She shook her head slowly, taking a deep breath. "You can't ignore the fact that I don't want you to go and then say that I'm not allowed to go and expect your word to be law," she said, her voice uneven. "That's not fair."
"Yeah, well, how do you think I feel?" she asked, looking over at him. "I'm not allowed to go, and you're leaving."
She seemed very upset, her jaw set as she refused to look at him. "It's not right," she said eventually, her voice giving away the worry that plagued her. "It's not fair."
"You can't say..." she said, looking down at her hands, clasping them together. "You can't say that I'm not allowed to go, and then say that I don't have a say in whether you go or not. That's not... I'm her mother. That's not fair."
"No," she said, her voice trembling. "You think about that for a moment. Imagine if I told you that you weren't allowed to go, and then when you told me that you didn't want me to go either, I ignored it."
Her words pained him. "Poppy, I'm doing this for Diana. I'm not letting you go because you've already got hurt once."
They got into the center where various soldiers were assembling. Poppy hesitated as Derrick came over, a frown on his face. "Wow, Pops. You don't look very good. Let's get you to the medical ward." She looked over at Francis, her eyes wide.
Her face fell with a mixture of disappointment and a severe worry and she was still. Her lower lips trembled before she reached forwards and gave him a kiss, her hands on his jaw. "Be safe," she told him quietly, her brows furrowed. "Okay? Don't you dare get hurt."
