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
- 10
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- 12
Desiree stood back and stared, gobsmacked that Harry stood before her. He was fully dressed in his uniform with his beret on.
“Major,” he said, a small and awkward smile on his face. It made Desiree gulp and she felt as if there were butterflies in her stomach.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed quietly, before she grabbed him roughly and pulled him inside, causing him to nearly stumble. She glanced out the door, scanning outside, hoping no one had seen him.
He turned around and looked at her in surprise. “You weren’t responding to my messages.”
“So you came around? What were you thinking?” she asked incredulously, shutting the front door and locking it.
“I was worried about you, is that so bad?” he said as he took his beret off, before running his hand through his hair. Desiree recognised it as a sign he was flustered, he used to do it a lot when they worked together, usually at her expense too.
“Well,” she hesitated. She couldn’t well say it was a bad thing, she felt no ill will towards him. She was annoyed though. “You still shouldn’t have come out here though.”
She began tidying stuff up, her house wasn’t a mess exactly, but it was in no condition for receiving a royal house guest. She saw Harry looking around, taking note of the many photos on her entertainment unit and walls.
“You have a son?”
“Yeah, she does,” came a voice full of indignation from behind him. “Who are you?”
“Lose the attitude,” Desiree said sternly, looking past Harry.
Harry turned around and was met with accusing eyes, which soon widened with wonder. “My name’s Harry, what’s yours?” he asked, kneeling down, holding out his hand and throwing his mischievous grin that she knew only too well.
“Oh my god, mum, is that really him?” he asked.
“Ryan, he introduced himself to you, you’re being rude,” Desiree scolded her son.
“Oh, of course! Sorry. My name is Ryan, Ryan Kitana.” He took Harry’s hand and shook it firmly. Desiree smiled proudly. Her son was a fine young man, when he wanted to be.
“It’s nice to meet you, Ryan,” Harry said. “How old are you?” he asked standing up, letting go of his hand.
Desiree could hear the confusion in Harry’s voice, even if Ryan couldn’t. “I’m eight, I turn nine in a couple of months.” He was smiling from ear to ear.
“Ok, nosey boy, you’re supposed to be doing your homework anyway,” Desiree said, ushering the boy away. “Go on, get it done then go and sort out the dogs.”
“Aww but mum, its prince Harry!” he said gesturing excitedly.
“Captain Wales, to you, my dear,” Desiree scolded, before pointing towards the back of the house. “And you still have homework, get.” Ryan screwed up his nose, before sighing and slowly walking down the hallway. She sighed in relief before looking back to Harry. “Tea?”
“If it’s not an inconvenience,” Harry answered, cheerfully. She left him in the lounge room while she quickly made them up. She hurried out to the lounge room and handed him a cup.
“I hope it’s okay, tea isn’t my thing. I only keep it in the house for when my dog’s get crappy eyes,” she said with a laugh.
Harry looked at her then at the tea, suspiciously, making her smirk. “I saw them having a sticky beak out the side gate,” he said, taking a sniff. He looked at the photos around the walls. “So, Ryan, he’s your son?”
Desiree took a deep breath, she knew this was coming. “Yes, he is.” Desiree went and sat at her dining table, Harry following her and taking a seat beside her. He was closer than she had expected him to sit. “He is my son to my late husband.”
“You’re a widow?” Harry asked in surprise.
“Not many people know, by my own choice. He died early in the Iraq war,” she explained. “He died before he could meet Ryan. Sergeant Mick Kitana.”
Harry looked regretful. “It was not long after his first birthday I signed up. I needed a more stable job, with a good income. Air Force was the way to go, but as I told you, that went slightly awry.”
Harry gave a small smile. “Sorry, for your loss.”
“It’s been over eight years. I’ve moved past that now.”
“So what you told me in Afghanistan?” he asked slowly, looking at her expectantly.
“Fabrication, it’s a little story I tell quite a few people when they ask the same question. Sgt Scott was the only person who knew the truth on the team, he only knew the truth because he once worked with Ryan’s father.” She stared at her coffee cup blankly. “It helps stop people feeling sorry for me.”
She looked up and saw him still looking around at the photos around her house. She saw his gaze halt on one in the corner of her lounge room. It was the one used for her late husband’s official photo at his funeral. She had been gifted it with his mounted medals. A Distinguished service medal, a medal of gallantry along with his tour medals from East Timor and his time served medals. The man in the picture looked strong and rugged, he wore a green beret and had smiling eyes. Ryan’s eyes.
“How about Ryan, is he okay, not knowing him?”
Desiree raised an eye brow. “He’s as you would expect. He never knew him, but he knows all about him. He’s a hero.”
Harry smiled, before taking another sip of his tea. “It’s good.”
Desiree smiled, but then narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?” she asked again, repeating her question from earlier, she knew her frustration must be showing in her voice by now.
Harry put down his tea and looked back at Desiree. “The last time I saw you, you were an emotional wreck after the passing of Banzai. You didn’t say good bye, to any of us. Can you blame me for being worried about you?”
Desiree bit her lip, unsure of what she should say. She remembered her last night in Afghanistan, sitting on her hospital bed, a drip hanging from her arm, wrapped in Harry’s arms and talking to him. The next morning she was following Banzai’s casket onto the transport plane home.
The thought of her faithful CAD brought a tear to her eye.
*******
                Harry looked across the table at her. At the mention of their last moments together, Desiree’s eyes had glazed over and tears began to gather at the corners.
“Oh, Desiree, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said hurriedly. He placed his hand on top of hers that was on the table and put his other hand on her shoulder. “Sorry.”
She wiped her tears away. “It’s okay, I just remembered those last few moments in Afghanistan.”
There was silence between them for a moment, as she dabbed at her eyes with a finger. “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving the next morning?” he asked the question that had been eating away at him for years.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I wasn’t myself.” She dropped her head down, looking guilty. He moved his chair closer to her, lifting her chin up with his hand.
“It’s fine. I understand it was probably hard for you. I just want to help you,” he said. She blinked back her tears.
“Thank you.”
There were running footsteps down the hallway. “Mum, I’m finished! Can Harry come out and meet the dogs?” Harry hurriedly removed his hand from Desiree.
Desiree’s face immediately changed, it was set back to normal, she flashed a small smile at the child. “Oh, maybe not today, baby. He’s in uniform, and he could get in trouble if he gets fur all over it.”
“No, no, that’s alright. Come on, Ryan, I would love to meet your dogs! I’ll bring mum out with me, shall I?” he looked questioningly back at Desiree. She smiled gratefully and he stood up, offering her his hand.
She raised her eye brows at him, but slowly took it. He felt a thrill at her touch, helping her to her feet and following her and Ryan outside, the small boy talking animatedly the whole time.
Outside, he was introduced to the dogs, three of them. Two Siberian husky rescues and a German Shepherd. He was a retired CAD that Desiree still used for training at SFTC. The two huskies ran up to Harry with tails high in the air, and the smaller of the two jumping up and down excitedly as if she were putting on a dance display.
The German Shepherd, however, eyed Harry cautiously. “How come he’s allowed out?” Harry asked curiously, watching as the dog ran away from them, following Ryan.
“He’s the most placid and obedient dog you’ll ever meet, until someone is pointing a weapon at him or someone he knows is an ally.”
The CAD, named Demon, jumped up and caught a ball that Ryan threw into the air. Once he had caught it, he immediately ran it over to Ryan. To Harry’s surprise, Ryan confidently reached into Demon’s mouth and took the ball from within his teeth.
When he looked back to Desiree she was smirking at him. She reached onto a high shelf and grabbed a small bag of dog treats, she opened the bag and all three of her dogs came running. She took out three of the treats and handed one to Ryan. “Take Demon.”
“Demon, heel.” The German Shepherd turned and moved to sit before the child. The two huskies sat before Desiree and Harry expectantly, waiting. Harry’s attention was still on Ryan. The boy put a finger in the air. “Gentle.” He held out the dog treat and the CAD reached out and took the treat ever so gently, careful to make sure its teeth even didn’t touch the little boy’s fingers.
“Wow.” Harry looked at Desiree, impressed by the dog’s training and nature. “How about these guys?”
She gave a laugh. “These guys are an embarrassment for someone like me,” she joked. She held up the two treats in each hand. The huskies licked their lips and waited, their tails wagging excitedly. “Ama, Shinobi, gentle.” The two huskies took the treats as Desiree lowered them to their mouths. They did not snap at her fingers but they were nowhere near as gentle as Demon was. “See? Monsters.”
“They’re not, mum!” Ryan argued, throwing the ball for Demon again. He looked at Harry. “At the dog sledding events we always get comments about how well behaved our two huskies are!”
“I can see why, they’re not as well behaved as Demon, but considering what high wires huskies are, they are pretty well behaved.” He looked back at Desiree and smiled, her face was bright as she looked proudly at her son and three dogs seated on an old lounge that was obviously used as a luxury dog bed. “Do they comment on Demon?”
“Demon’s not allowed out at the dog sledding events,” Ryan replied sadly, scratching the German Shepherd’s ears.
“How come?” Harry asked Desiree in surprise. “He’s so placid.”
“He is,” Desiree admitted. “But think about what he’s trained to do. You take him to bushland area and immediately he goes back to his training manner. It’s too risky having him out there in the wilderness.”
“Oh,” Harry said nodding, he could understand why that might be a problem.
“Mum, is Harry staying for dinner?” Ryan asked excitedly.
“Uh.” She looked at Harry expectantly. When his eyes met hers he felt an odd sensation. Like he never wanted to stop looking into them.
“Sure, why not?”
********
                Desiree woke up the next morning, she felt strangely refreshed, like a pain she had been feeling had been removed. She checked the time. She was supposed to be meeting Harry for coffee this morning. It was not something she wanted to do. Harry, going out in public was dangerous. However, with Harry being so stubborn and him making the suggestion within ear shot of Ryan she had no way out.
She got her son school ready as he would need to go to school straight after, put on a white singlet, some torn up denim jeans and make up, as had come to be normal for her days off now, and looked in the mirror. Her black hair, tied up into a high ponytail, makeup and clothes were a far cry from the woman in Afghanistan three years ago. She didn’t love it, but as her mother used to say to her, it’s better to be safe than sorry. She had coloured Desiree’s hair for her, black being the most Desiree was willing to settle for. In reality, she was certain her mother just liked having her dress more womanly again.
“Come on, mum!” Ryan said excitedly. “You’ve got a date with a prince!”
“Ryan, cut it out. It is not a date,” Desiree retorted defensively, although when he had said that, it sent a thrill through her chest. Ryan laughed and ran out the front door, Desiree picking up her bag and sliding her feet into her boots before following him to the car.
As the shops were just around the corner, it did not take them long to get there, the only reason Desiree drove was because she had to drop Ryan off at school straight after and then had other errands to run. It was pay day, so all the military families of the area would be out and about doing things. The thought made her groan, that meant that the shops would be busy too. She hoped no one would recognise Harry. Surely he wouldn’t wear his uniform but civilian attire. Desiree got out of the car and looked around the car park.
She noticed a van parked at the trolley entrance to the shopping centre, several men were unloading tool boxes and card board boxes. The van had no business logos on it, that was odd for a nationwide chain, but she didn’t think much of it, following Ryan as he ran inside excitedly.
He ran right up to the coffee shop and waited in line. Desiree followed him, noticing Harry seated inside the coffee shop with two other men. The way they held themselves, she knew immediately they were his escort officers. Ryan spotted Harry and waved excitedly. Desiree poked him in the arm. “Don’t call attention to him, Ryan, that’s the last thing you want.”
“Oh, right,” Ryan said, sheepishly. “Sorry, mum, I forgot.”
They placed their order and waited patiently. Desiree sent Ryan over to sit with Harry, and she watched as he chatted excitedly with him and the two officers. If only she could get that excited about being there. She sighed and noticed a woman in a full Burqa stood beside her. The woman glanced at Desiree before looking back and staring straight ahead of her.
“Good morning,” Desiree said pleasantly. Her experiences in Afghanistan had told her that often you could make the suppressed women of the country’s day just by a smile and hello. This woman, however, glared at her and said nothing.
As she moved away from her, Desiree heard her mutter under her breath in Pashdu. “Stupid Westerner.” She was surprised, but figured that the woman was most likely the type that was born and bred here and held some form of hate towards westerners as some of the born in Australia Middle Eastern descendants seemed to.
She gathered her coffee and moved to sit with Harry and his escort.
“Desiree, this is George and Damian,” Harry introduced. She shook their hands and smiled.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, ma’am,” they both said. Desiree grimaced. Although she considered they probably were just calling that as was normal protocol for police and military when dealing with civilians, she also knew it was possible they were calling her that due to her rank. “We’ve seen plenty of your achievements during our stay at the unit.”
“Thank you, but please, don’t call me ma’am in public.” They glanced from her to Harry who nodded once. They both stood up and moved away. “Where are they going?” she asked Harry.
He smiled. “I asked them if they’d afford me some privacy. They stand out, I don’t so much. Just another ranga, right?”
“Only if you keep your hat on,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.
                They sat there for a good half hour, Ryan doing most of the chatting with Harry. Ryan stood up and excused himself to go to the toilet. They watched him walk away and around the corner towards the toilet, down a narrow corridor.
Harry then turned back to look at Desiree, who raised her eye brows expectantly. “So, the new look?”
“I was wondering when you were going to say something,” she said pursing her lips. “It wasn’t my idea. I look ridiculous.”
“Well,” Harry began slowly, his cheeks seeming to pick up a pink tinge. “I wouldn’t say that, personally.” Desiree looked at him in surprise. “You look good, Des.”
She felt her face grow hot at his compliment, quickly looking down at her hands, before checking the time on her watch, anything not to look at Harry.
“I might just pop into the ladies, I have to take Ryan to school very soon.”
“Yeah, I got to go and work,” he used his hands to make quotation gestures. “Well, technically today i really am working.”
“What are they doing to you?”
“We are doing UTTC scenarios,” he replied with a grin. She smiled back, they were her scenarios. “Do you think I have an unfair advantage?”
“Depends which ones they use,” she said with a shrug as she stood up. She got up and walked to the toilet, while Harry quickly spoke to his escort.
Inside the toilet, Desiree shook her shoulders, they were tense. Although she no longer felt a lot of the guilt she felt for the last three years, she was still tense. Being in a public place with the youngest member of the monarchy did nothing to help with that.
She was washing her hands, thinking about what might happen next, when there was the sound of rapid gun fire. She crouched down low in surprise, immediately drawing a flick knife that she kept in her hand bag. She took her hand bag and shoved it into the bin under the sink before approaching the door. There were shouts and screams coming from the central area of the centre near the coffee shop.
She peered out the door, hearing running footsteps coming from the end of the corridor near the emergency exit. She recognised the sound of the footsteps.
“MUM!” Ryan shouted, his voice shot through her like a hot knife through butter, he was scared out of his wits. Desiree jumped out in front of him, grabbing him around the shoulders and looking into his eyes, he was terrified but relief washed over him when he saw it was her who had grabbed him.
“Hey!” came a shout from behind her. She looked behind her to see the woman in the full Burqa, except now she held a rifle. As the woman came running towards them, Desiree shoved Ryan roughly into the ladies toilets, just as the woman fired a small volley in their direction. Desiree dove into the doorway.
She pushed Ryan in the cubicle behind a wall. “Stay here, do not move, do not shout, everything will be fine.” She shoved her knife carefully into a belt loop at her back before turning and facing the door, her hands in the air. She could hear Ryan sobbing quietly.
The woman burst into the toilet, rifle raised. “You! Western dog, where is the boy?”
“Please, don’t hurt him!” she exclaimed, trying to put as much fear into her voice as possible, which was hard when all she could think about was smashing this woman in the face. The woman approached her, looking behind her for Ryan. Desiree took note of where the woman’s finger was near the trigger. She was interested to see that the woman didn’t rest her finger on the trigger, but held onto the housing lock with the entirety of her hand. Her thoughts raced, this meant that if the woman was to try and fire the weapon she would have to unwind her finger from the housing lock before moving it to the trigger to fire.
It was the perfect opportunity. When the woman was close enough, Desiree grabbed the barrel of the rifle, shoving it back into the woman’s chest and winding her, before ripping it forward and out of the woman’s hands with her left hand. With her right, she pulled the knife from her back, slipping it in-between layers of the woman’s Burqa, careful not to slice open the fabric anywhere as she planned on using it herself, and plunged it into the woman’s neck. She felt the warmth of the woman’s blood dripping onto her hand.
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Desert Love