Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

Desert Love	By : Krayzee_Aussie Category: Celebrities - Misc > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 4321 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction! I do not know Prince Harry of Wales, Prince Charles, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth, Camilla Parker-Bowles or Prince Phillip, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC and I do not profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
The next day he was sent out to take part in aircraft familiarisation. He had never flown anything similar to the Australian Blackhawks, and so if he wanted a chance to fly them he needed to gain some advice in the different system. It took most of the morning, but by lunch time he was confident in all aspects of the cockpit.
When he returned to the officer’s mess he hurriedly ate some lunch before seeking out a high ranking officer. He found a Lt Col, his name tag read ‘Steinfort’.
“Excuse me, sir,” Harry said. The Lt Col looked up in surprise, before hastily standing up and extending his hand out.
“Captain Wales! An absolute pleasure to meet you, honour even,” he said as Harry obliged and took his hand, shaking it enthusiastically. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m actually trying to get in touch with a Colonel Buchannan? Would you know how I could arrange a meeting with him?”
The Lt Col was thoughtful for a moment. “Any particular reason why?”
“It’s more of a question for him,” Harry replied, thinking quickly of how to dodge around the question.
The Lt Col looked at him critically before pulling out his phone. “Give me a moment, I’ll make a phone call.” The Lt Col left the mess, leaving Harry to return to his police escort.
“He gonna find that officer for you?” George asked, curiously.
“Hopefully,” Harry replied.
“She must mean a lot to you,” Damien added, raising an eyebrow.
“She wasn’t in a good place when she left the sand pit. I just want to make sure she’s alright.” He said that but he wasn’t entirely sure whether he believed that.
Lt Col Steinfort soon returned, smiling brightly. “All organised, Captain. You can head on over to headquarters and see him now.”
“Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate your help.” Harry shook the Lt Col’s hand again, this time he was much more enthusiastic about it.
“Word of warning, Captain. The Colonel’s got a reputation for being extremely blunt.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, sir.”
Harry hurried over to HQ, asking his escorts to wait for him in the parking lot, rather than milling in HQ. “This may be more of a pleasure cruise for me, but these guys are still doing a job. I’d rather not cause too much of an interruption than necessary.”
“Ok, sir, but press the emergency transmitter straight away, not that I expect these guys to do anything crazy,” Damian said, a slight look of concern appearing on his face.
“Are you kidding? They’re commandoes, they’re nothing but crazy,” George joked. Harry gave a small laugh before turning and heading into HQ.
When he entered, he found a young female digger seated at a desk at the entrance. When she saw him she stood quickly, almost knocking herself over backwards. He grimaced at the reaction, it was inescapable.
“Sir! What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to see Colonel Buchannan,” he replied. “He’s expecting me.”
“No worries, sir. Follow me.” She hurriedly straightened herself and led him down a long corridor. She spoke animatedly as she walked, asking him the generic questions people usually did when they were over-excited to see him. He answered them, although not as enthusiastically as she asked them. “Here you are, sir,” she said approaching a door. She gave a soft knock.
“Enter.”
“Sir,” she said opening the door and walking in. “Captain Wales is here to see you.”
“Thank you, Corporal.” The Corporal held the door open as Harry walked in, but didn’t move as he moved to the desk and shook the Colonel’s hand. The Colonel looked past Harry at the Corporal. “Was there something else, Corporal?”
“Oh, no, sir, sorry, sir.” She quickly shut the door and left.
“Sorry, that was probably my fault,” Harry joked. The Colonel didn’t laugh but sat back down at his desk, motioning for Harry to take a seat. He did so, starting to feel incredibly nervous. The Colonel had an enormously intimidating presence.
The Colonel wasn’t a small man, or rather, he was quite well built, unlike his daughter. He had dark skin, which looked quite weather beaten and a strong jaw line.
“I’m sorry for intruding on you like this, Colonel.”
The Colonel held up his hand and looked at Harry critically. “You don’t need to tell me why you’re here, Captain. I know you served with my daughter when she was in Afghanistan last. I want to know, what do you want?”
Harry gulped. He was even more straight forward than Desiree was. “Sir, is she alright? She vanished overnight back to Australia, not even a good bye to her men, and when I saw her last she was not in a good place of mind.”
Colonel Buchannan blinked, as if he was trying to contain something. He looked remorseful for a moment, before answering. “I would be ignorant if I was to say Major Kitana was fine. She’s a changed woman since that last tour, for good reason. She worked hard to get where she was, but in the end everyone has to call it quits sometime. She still holds the highest percentage for efficiency in Afghanistan.” The Colonel leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples with his hands. “The beautiful, outgoing, young woman that left for her third tour was not the same woman who came back. Losing Banzai and putting other people in danger was just what it took to push her past her threshold.”
“Do you think she is suffering PTSD, sir?” Harry asked, curiously.
“She is withdrawn, quiet within gatherings of friends. She’s warm towards her family but she doesn’t go out of her way to be with us anymore. For the first few months home, she locked herself away. However, she’s not reacting to loud explosions like I would expect, she doesn’t lose control from visions of war on the news. She’s just, not herself.” Colonel Buchannan sighed, before leaning forward and putting his elbows on his desk. “Harry, what happened to her out there? I know only so much.”
Harry felt his throat tighten. He wasn’t sure exactly how many rules he was breaking, he had already broken some by telling Jamie, but this was a much higher rank, he trusted and knew Jamie, he didn’t know this Colonel from a bar of soap. Except he knew it was Desiree’s father. He could see it in his face and how he talked. He wanted to know what his little girl had gone through.
So Harry told him.
                By the end, Harry had been speaking to the Colonel for an hour, and he had gone through many stages of anger, depression and misery.
“I thought my daughter was strong, I had no idea just how strong she is. Like I said to you, I don’t think she’s suffering with PTSD, but I do think she is still facing some kind of regret after losing Banzai.”
“I don’t doubt it, sir.”
“So why did you come and see me, Captain?” the Colonel asked, narrowing his eyes critically at Harry again.
Harry had a feeling he knew why, but he squared himself up and began to ask. “I would like to see her, sir. I would like to let her know, I’m here if she needs me, I was there, I saw it all too. I would like to commiserate and offer her my condolences in person, help her with whatever she needs.”
The Colonel looked him up and down, frowning for a moment. “I gather you’ve already tried contacting her, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.” Harry nodded, and the Colonel stood up walking to look out the window. There was silence for a moment. “I’m sorry, Captain. I know you’re worried about her, but if she has refused to contact you or reply to you so far, then I cannot go against my daughter’s wishes. I will tell her I saw you though.”
Harry did his best to hide his disappointment. He stood up and shook the Colonel’s hand. “Thank you, sir. I understand. I would appreciate it greatly if you did tell her I’m trying to get in contact.”
“Of course, Captain. I hope you enjoy your time here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The Colonel put his other hand on top of Harry’s, much to his surprise. “Thank you, for saving Desiree when you did.”
Harry was taken aback by the conviction in the Colonel’s voice, but patted him on the shoulder. “It was my pleasure and duty, sir.”
*******
                Desiree heard her phone ringing, hurriedly hanging the last of her washing up before sprinting inside. She slid to a stop on the tiles and picked up her phone. “Hello?”
“Des, how are you, darling?” her father’s voice sounded constricted.
“Fine,” she answered slowly. “What’s wrong?”
“I had a visitor at work today,” he answered, making Desiree’s stomach plummet. She hadn’t thought about that detail, in fact she was hopeful no one would put the fact that they were related to thought for the duration of the fortnight. “He’s been trying to contact you.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Why won’t you speak to him? He told me what you went through in detail. I think talking to him would do you some good.”
Desiree gritted her teeth. Those details were supposed to be suppressed. Why on earth would Harry break protocol like that? “I’m busy, you didn’t give him my number or anything did you?” she demanded.
“No, darling,” he replied, sounding defeated. “I’m just worried about you, that’s all. You went through a lot.”
“I went through as much as you did, dad. I’m fine. I’ve got cleaning to get on with, I will talk to you another time.”
“Wait, your mother wants to speak to you,” he said hurriedly. There was the sound of movement on the other end, while Desiree rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Desiree! Why won’t you speak to him? He’s worried about you! I’ve already gotten stuck into your father about not personally delivering him to you! You can’t keep running away from what happened over there!” her mother’s hysterical voice cried, a touch of her Asian accent seeping into her voice. Considering the position her mother held in the RAAF, it was hard to believe the person sobbing into the other end of the phone was the same person.
“I am not running away from anything! Damn it, mum. I don’t need to speak to anyone when there is nothing to speak about. I have stuff to do now, I will speak to you on the weekend at dinner! Good bye!”
She hung up the phone, before shoving it into her pocket. She took a deep breath and turned back down the hall, heading back to the laundry. Pushing any thoughts about Afghanistan, Harry, Banzai and her crew back into the abyss that they had crawled out of.
******
                Harry’s week seemed to move slowly. He had gotten to take part in several counter terrorism activities with the unit, had a short exercise with the naval clearance divers attached to the unit, he even got to work with some of the CAD’s at the unit.
When he saw the pack of them, it brought back memories of Banzai. He felt a tinge of sadness at that. He certainly owed his life to that dog.
“Captain Wales,” a corporal from the unit said, calling his attention from the CAD he was playing with currently. “Perhaps you would like to see the memorial to some of our CADs that have died in duty?”
Harry raised his eye brows and nodded. They led him to the small memorial, there was a photo of three CADs, including Banzai. Harry knelt down and put his hand against Banzai’s plaque.
“I thought she was an SASR CAD?”
“She was, sir, her former handler was posted here straight after the CAD passed, so we created the memorial for her here, on behalf of the officer. She was a great soldier, sir,” the corporal said quietly. Harry nodded in agreement. She certainly was one of the best he had worked with.
On the afternoon of his fourth day, Harry was exhausted after having done some fast roping exercises from the choppers with 6^th Aviation. He was looking forward to showering before dinner. He was surprised when he saw a woman approaching in an RAAF uniform from the opposite end of the corridor. The face seemed so familiar, she was of Asian appearance, much shorter than he was and had her jet black hair tied back in a bun. He paid her no mind and continued to turn and unlock his room, his police escort holding on either side of him. The female RAAF officer turned and entered a hall way two doors up from him.
He entered his room and dropped his gear, before turning and dismissing his police guards. “You guys stink, go do something,” he joked. They laughed and waved him off before disappearing to their rooms. Harry fancied a cold drink before he showered so he quickly exited his room and made for the bar which was just opening. He was surprised when he rounded the corner of the hall way and he collided with the RAAF officer.
“Oh, my, so sorry, Captain.”
He stumbled backwards momentarily, in his surprise. On closer inspection, she looked so familiar, but in an unfamiliar way. He noted the Wing Commander rank slide on her uniform.
“That’s quite alright, ma’am. I was in a hurry and should have paid closer attention.” Harry caught a glimpse of her name tag. Buchannan.
“No worries, Captain. Apologies again,” she said, seeming flustered. She turned hurriedly and strode off, while Harry tried to figure out why she seemed so familiar. It then occurred to him.
‘Colonel Buchannan? Is it possible?’ He hurried after the officer, but when he emerged in the mess, she was nowhere to be seen.
“G’day, sir,” said one of the stewards, seeing him standing around looking around the room. “Is everything alright?”
“Did you see an Air Force officer come this way?”
“You mean Wing Commander Buchannan? She only stopped in for a drink while waiting for her husband, Colonel Buchannan, sir.” Harry gawked at the steward for a moment. That’s why she seemed familiar, it was Desiree’s mother. “Is everything alright, sir?”
Harry stopped gawking, smiling at the steward. “Oh yeah, everything is fine. Thank you.” He turned and hurried back to his room. He put his hand into his pocket to pull out his key, only to wrap his hand around paper.
He pulled it out in confusion, opening it up he read it quickly.
“Wow.” He quickly opened his door and hurried inside.
Written on the note was an address with a note.
‘I’m sorry to do this in such a manner, but I do think my daughter needs to see you. I’ve written down her address. It is probably the only way you will be able to speak to her.
Please help her
Alexandria Buchannan’
                Harry hurriedly showered and changed into a clean uniform, before going and banging on his police escort’s doors. They hurried out looking confused.
“I’m going to see Desiree, it’s up to you if you come with me, but you’ll be waiting in the car for the duration of the visit.”
“You got in contact with her, sir?” Damian asked, both sounding pleased and surprised at the same time.
“Not exactly, but I’m about to change that,” Harry answered. Damian and George looked at each other.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, sir? Just rocking up on her door step?” George asked hesitantly. “You saw the achievement boards, right? She’s not exactly some damsel in distress.”
“Whatever she can throw, I can take, mate. I’m not some waif myself,” he replied indignantly. “You in or out? I’m happy for you guys to stay here and we pretend that nothing happened.”
“You don’t know how to drive around here?” Damian argued, half-heartedly.
“Roads aren’t that different to Britain, and the car has SATNAV.”
George and Damian looked at each other. George shrugged at Damian.
“Okay, sir. You’re good to go, we’ll cover for you here. Just take it easy, yeah? Keep your head down. Straight there, and then straight back when you’re finished,” Damian ordered. Harry smiled, while George disappeared back into his room and got the keys to the sedan.
He handed them to Harry. “Go get her, sir.”
Harry rushed out of the lines, to the car park and got into the car. He pulled the note from his pocket as he ripped his beret off and put his sunglasses on. He input the address into the SATNAV and drove out of the gates of 2CDO.
All the while, his stomach was doing back flips and he felt hot all over. The guards on the gate did a double take as he left the base, but he continued on. The SATNAV spoke quietly, directing him to the address given to him by Wing Commander Buchannan. As he took the turns instructed to him by the computer, he felt his nerves increasing.
Soon, he turned into the street. He took deep breaths as he slowed down, looking for her house number. The sun was just starting to dip low in the sky as he spotted her letter box.
He pulled into the driveway, put on his beret then stepped out of the car. There was a red 4WD in the driveway, but the blinds to the house were drawn. He heard a ruckus at the gate and saw three wet noses trying to poke out of the gap between the gate. He found that interesting.
He walked up to the door and took a deep breath. He could hear a TV inside, and some quiet voices, but he couldn’t tell if they were from the TV or someone else. He was questioning whether to knock or to just leave as he stopped before the door.
He squared his shoulders and straightened himself, before ringing the door bell. There was a laugh from inside and a boy’s voice. “The door!”
‘Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Of course, she would have a family by now. Perhaps she did get over the trip without any problem and everyone is just paranoid?’
“Hang on!” he heard Desiree’s voice. He began to panic slightly. It was too late to leave now though.
“Who is it?” came the young boy’s voice again.
“It’s probably just the vegetable delivery,” Desiree said as she opened the door, before freezing with a look of shock on her face. Her eyes met his and he immediately felt like he had done the right thing.
“H-Harry,” she stammered, her face dumbfounded, but he saw her eyes beginning to get a glassy sheen over them.
He smiled at her, uneasily. She had changed her hair colour, no longer was it light brown, but pitch black, it made her light brown eyes seem to shine so much brighter. She was dressed casually in work out gear, multi-coloured shorts with a purple and white mesh singlet and a bright green crop underneath. It was a lot more skin that he was used to seeing from her.
“Mum! Who is it?”
“It’s...” she began, looking nervous. “It’s an old friend.”
- 9
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Desert Love