Work Text:
1941 - Occupied France
She is running. She is late. You cannot be late when you are doing the job she does. Around her the town is alive. That is unusual. Since the Nazi's arrived the town has always been deadly silent at night. Well not for the soldiers, they fill the streets, they are not under curfew so they attend brothels and taverns and they do whatever they like, but the locals are not allowed out past 8pm. They have no choice but to stay inside unless they happen to run the taverns of brothels, so it is strange to see locals out. Something feels wrong.
It is a cold night. The weather matches her mood, cold and grey and anticipating something (rain for the weather, capture for her). She has a feeling she cannot shake. Something is terribly wrong. And yet she cannot turn back, because she is the best hope of safety for so many. So she carries on, even though she cannot shake the feeling of danger.
A hand reaches out. She jumps. "Come with me now." He all but grabs her, she relaxes just a little because she knows the voice. It is not a Nazi coming to take her away, still he should not be leaving the house. It is far too risky. "Say nothing." He whispers. She can feel his breathing frantic against her neck. "Don't move." He is as terrified as her. That is not good. He is usually calm.
Around them as if from nowhere there is a flurry of shouting and barking. She can't understand anything they're saying, she speaks no German, and few of them have bothered to learn French. She just stays still. Another bark. It is closer. Have they got their scent? She holds in a gasp. He puts his hand over her mouth. She wants to glance back behind her, she doesn't dare, she can't move. She is so frozen. So terrified. And the five people she was meant to take to safety, what of them? She has no idea if they have been caught. They could be in a Gestapo cell. She prays they are not. Her only consolation is that they do not know her. They know people who could lead the Nazi's back to her, but that is unlikely. She keeps herself hidden so that if caught no one can give up her name under torture. She could never blame someone for revealing a name under torture, she has heard of what is done to those they capture. She doubts she would hold out. Twenty four hours. That is the hope across the French resistance. If you can hold out for twenty four hours then do so and give your network time to get away, after that then you can reveal all you know to protect yourself from torture. Penelope is not sure this works. Twenty four hours is a long time to hold out especially when you likely have no concept of time and even if you can hold out, the network can only escape if they know they are being hunted and they don't always have knowledge of this. She imagines herself trying to hold out for twenty four hours while her network and the people they help can hopefully escape and she isn't sure she could do it. It is grim the reality of capture, but the alternative is to do nothing and she cannot do that.
The shouting and barking and noise seems to move in a different direction. She holds back a sigh of relief. They weren't searching for them or if they were then they have been led away. He keeps her in place. Just a little longer. Then when he seems certain they're gone he steps away. She doesn't dare breathe. She can't risk detection.
"Come." He hisses. He leads her through the weaving streets. She doesn't properly breathe until they're safely inside and then she cries in relief. They are safe. For now.
Anthony rushes into the room. "What happened?" He demands.
"We were betrayed." Colin says no uncertainty in his voice. "They sent a search party." He adds. "We escaped but the mountain route is almost certainly compromised."
"Fuck." The voice of Genevieve Delacroix sounds. "What do we do?"
Colin shakes his head. "We can't use the route anymore. It isn't safe."
Penelope throws her hands up. "No. There are five people who have no choice but to cross tonight or most likely die tomorrow. I'm taking them."
Genevieve shakes her head. "No Penelope you are not." She says and none of them have ever heard her be so firm. Penelope freezes.
When they had invaded Penelope's mother had uttered the words "it won't be so bad for us." Because she had been right. For the Featherington family a Nazi invasion made little difference. Harsher rules and rations sure, but they are deemed acceptable and so they don't have to worry about safety. For thousands of others though that isn't the case. Penelope had watched roundups. She had watched them shoot people because of their heritage. Watched them round people up like they were cattle. She couldn't watch any longer. She can't understand how anyone could just standby and watch. Her mother and sister had though. Her eldest sister hadn't liked it, but she wasn't going to risk her life over it and her mother and middle sister had just accepted the new reality. In fact her mother had rather enjoyed the attention she had begun to gain for being sympathetic to the occupiers. Penelope could not stand by though.
Her first opportunity to help had come three months ago in the form of Colin and Anthony Bridgerton. Anthony is a foreign office employee who had gotten himself stuck in France and needed somewhere to hide and Colin his brother who had joined him for the ride. She could offer them somewhere to hide out. They should have immunity as dignitaries (not that it has worked like that under the occupiers), but Colin had pissed the wrong people off and Anthony had become collateral. They needed to hide.
Penelope has inherited her Aunts run down farmhouse. Her mother and sisters wouldn't come near it. It's smelly and run down and they hate it. It's isolated and the Nazi's have no interest in occupying it, because the walls and roof are crumbling so it isn't worth their time. It's a great hiding place though and so she'd taken the brothers in.
Genevieve had been a friend for years and Penelope had asked her for help. She hadn't hesitated. Genevieve wanted to smuggle people over the mountains to the safety of Switzerland. With a little help from Penelope they had found a route and began the operation. They had managed to smuggle thirty people so far undetected. Until tonight.
"What am I meant to do?" Demands Penelope. "Watch them send them to the camps? To their deaths?"
Colin shakes his head. "No. But Penelope if they catch you they'll send you to the camps." He says.
"It's a risk I'm willing..."
"No." Genevieve cuts her off. "You are not disposable." She snaps. After two months Genevieve had revealed she had been part of the local resistance network since the occupation. She had contacts and authority and wanted Penelope to join. Penelope hadn't been sure, but she had agreed in theory.
"What do we do?" Anthony asks. "For all we know they have our names."
"They'd have come by now." Colin counters.
"Unless they're waiting." Genevieve says. "But I don't think they are. You two should go. I know someone who can get you over the border to Spain if you can get to the South."
Colin shakes his head. "No. Too many check points." He states. "We'd have to shoot our way through and I don't see that working."
Anthony nods. "The path is compromised, but maybe there's an alternative route?"
Genevieve scoffs. "You want to try your luck in the dark?" She asks.
Penelope frowns. "It doesn't have to be the dark." She responds. "We know patrol patterns. If we can get them up to the village above us, then they can stay in a safe house..."
Genevieve stops her. "We don't know if it's compromised." She argues. The particular safehouse is a resistance hideout and Genevieve is probably right, their network may have been compromised. It is too early to know.
"We can find out." Penelope says. "And then the herders can show them the route. I know one who would."
Anthony nods. "It's a risk I'd take." He states. "We can take information too." He adds. He's been feeling useless in the war effort.
"We'll be stuck in Switzerland." Colin states.
"Actually I could get diplomatic passes from Switzerland. You'd be stuck though. Just until the wars over." Anthony responds.
"I won't go." Says Colin. "I'm more use here." He states.
"Colin..." Anthony begins.
"I'll stay." Colin repeats. "And help. If I'm captured my name will get me slightly better conditions." He states. "If I marry Penelope then my name will get her better conditions too."
Anthony doesn't look happy but he knows he has lost. He nods slowly. "Okay." He agrees sounding anything but happy. "But Genevieve I should marry you then."
Genevieve laughs. "Why?" She asks.
Anthony looks offended. "Bridgerton name." He responds.
"I'm a Delacroix. My father is in the vichy government, as shameful as that is," She adds with a shudder. "I am not worried for myself. If you'd like to marry a girl then marry someone you can take with you." She states. "That you can smuggle across the border." She adds. "There are a few you could take. They could be brought to England as your wife." She adds. "I know a priest." She adds. "And there is a woman on a list of so called traitors. Her name is Kathani Sharma, they do not like the colour of her skin or her opinions. She Will protest marrying you, but marry her and get her to safety."
The next morning two haisty weddings are organised. Anthony and his new bride flee to the mountain where they will stay two days in the safe house before Penelope's contact will collect them and take them over the mountains to safety and the other three are left to work out what to do next.
---
1943
Almost three years of resistance comes to a sudden end on a summer's day. The weather is so bright, the reality of the day feels wrong, it is too sunny to have their network rounded up.
They have hidden people, smuggled supplies and even helped hide weapons. They have gone undetected. Until now.
She will never find out how they have gotten names. Perhaps it had been a betrayal or perhaps it had been luck. Either way Genevieve is arrested at first light. Ambushed in her home. Penelope had meant to be there too, but she had been called away by a family in desperate need of supplies. They had unknowingly saved her. A fellow resistance fighter manages to get the message to Penelope and Colin in time and they take just the clothes on their back and information that could destroy others and flee up the mountain. They are just in time as they discover from the fighter who had warned them when they have joined them in the safehouse that just an hour after they had left the farmhouse had been raided and the weapons they had hidden their had been seized. Arrest warrants had been produced for them and wanted posters put up. They had narrowly avoided capture and all that would come with it.
Four days later Penelope and Colin cross into Switzerland. At first news is limited. No one seems to know what has happened to Genevieve and their fellow fighters. Penelope knows deep down what has happened. The fighter that had crossed with them believes themself to be undetected and decides to risk returning to France to see what can be done there. Penelope wants to go back over the mountain too, but she knows she will be arrested and after Colin pleads with her she agrees not to risk it.
Colin's name and British connections get them a fancy house, fancy clothes, a fancy life and Colin's mother is clearly delighted he is out of danger. It isn't enough. She wants to be doing more. She feels useless and yet she accepts she cannot go back.
It is three months before they hear anything. An escaped member of the resistance gets a message to them. All but Genevieve had been tortured, sent to a transit camp and then the trail had gone cold. It is assumed they had been sent further East. There have been rumours about the camps in the East and little fragments of information, Penelope fears they are most likely all dead or stuck in a living hell, but she does not know that for sure. Maybe there is hope for them. She doubts it though.
They had made an example of Genevieve. Her friend had been sent to Paris where they'd tortured her, murdered her and then displayed her corpse in public. Penelope is horrified. She knew this could happen, she lived in fear of it happening and yet it is a nightmare all the same. She writes everything she knows Genevieve has done down so one day when the war is over she can share her friend's story.
In Switzerland Colin and Penelope create an actual marriage. She feels guilty though. Guilty that she survived and many of her friends have not.
After the war, when it is safe to travel, they return to England. Colin takes up a role in the family business, Penelope teaches until they welcome their first child, their daughter Agatha Genevieve.