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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
- 13
- 14
- 15
Upon his return to base, he was whisked away for hours into a room to discuss the events of the day in its entirety. When he was eventually allowed to leave, he demanded a video conference with his grandmother and father.
He was taken to an office in HQ where there was a large screen. A signalman put through the call to the palace in London.
His Grandmother and Father soon appeared on the screen. “Harry! Are you alright?” They exclaimed at the same time.
“I’m fine, thanks to Major Kitana.”
His Grandmother’s face changed to look quite cross. “Harry, I sent you there for a quiet deployment, and you go and get yourself into a hostage situation! I think it’s time you came home.”
“Not yet. I’m staying for Desiree. She was seriously injured, trying to protect me. Apparently, according to her son, because of a promise she made to you back before my deployment with her in Afghanistan?” Harry said accusingly.
The Queen fell silent, her face faltering for a moment. Prince Charles spoke up. “Whatever she did, Harry, it was to keep you safe.”
“That woman has a son, a son who already lost his father to the same war. Desiree took a bullet in the chest for me today. She’s going to live, but she’s lucky at the very least.”
The Queen looked rather ashamed, a look Harry had never seen on his Grandmother’s face. He did not feel sorry for her, however, his anger still ripe. “I’m sorry, Harry, but I had to ensure your safety. It is a part of her duties, her oath to serve Queen and country.”
“Don’t give me that!” Harry shouted, furious and began pacing. His Grandmother and Father looked shocked.
Prince Charles murmured something to the Queen, who nodded and stood. “Harry, I will speak to you again soon. As soon as the doctor’s clear Major Kitana to be released from hospital, you WILL be coming home. Please, be careful!” She left the room.
Prince Charles sat in her place, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Harry, what’s really going on? Are you okay?”
“I told you, I am fine, Desiree made sure of that.”
“Is there something else about your friend, you want to tell me?”
Harry was confused by his father’s question. “What? You mean apart from the fact she is lying in a hospital bed tonight, with a destroyed knee, internal bleeding and her son panicking about whether his mother is alright? No, not really.”
“I understand you’re upset, Harry. Your grandmother has to think about the furthering of the family line.” Harry went to argue but his father held up his hand. “I, however, am thinking of the well-being of my son. You are not yourself. What’s wrong?”
Harry sighed, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t know, father, my mind is all over the place, I can’t concentrate. And I’m feeling a strange anxiety, like it was my fault she’s been shot in the chest. Perhaps I’m suffering Post Traumatic Stress.”
His father seemed to give a knowing smile, but it disappeared within seconds of appearing. “I’ll be sure that she is awarded for her latest actions of bravery. I think perhaps you should arrange for her to come to England to receive her medals. She has ignored all our previous requests, perhaps you should convince her yourself. It may not ease your guilt, but it is clearly what she deserves.”
Harry nodded thoughtfully. It would be good to have her presented her medals in England. If only he could get her there. She was stubborn, and no doubt she would come up with an excuse to get out of it. Then he had an idea.
The next morning, as he was advised by Colonel Buchannan, he returned to the hospital early, along with two new police escorts. These guys were Australian Federal Police this time, apparently the CO thought the NSW Police guard were letting him get away with too much. There were armed soldiers waiting at the doors of the hospital. “Morning, sir,” one said when he approached. Harry was in civilian clothing, but he knew the soldiers would still recognise him.
“Armed guards?” Harry asked stopping and asking.
The soldier nodded and rolled his eyes. “The CO doesn’t want to risk another incident, plus, we’ve been putting off the media, some of which have been sneaking onto the base and trying to get in to harass Major Kitana.”
“You’re joking?” Harry was shocked.
“No, sir. Just last night we caught someone from one of those English papers trying to come in pretending to be a doctor.”
Harry gritted his teeth. Of course, it would be a British newspaper that would be causing problems. “I’ll have that dealt with,” Harry murmured.
“No worries, sir. It’s a bit of fun for us guys,” the soldier said with a sly grin. Harry looked at him with an amused expression before entering the hospital.
The medical staff were very excited to see him, with the buzz of what happened yesterday and getting Desiree onto the operating table, they hadn’t been able to take any notice of him. They asked for photos with him, but he kindly turned them down, promising to do some with them after he had gone to see his friend. They were disappointed but understanding. One of the nurses led him to her room, but before he entered Harry had a thought.
He stopped and wrote a quick text message to his assistant, before entering the room. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he entered, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to see her wide awake and sitting up one leg crossed in front of her while the other was straightened, on her bed. She was wearing some flannelette pyjamas, although one leg was rolled up to expose the stitching and incisions in her knee as well as a bulky looking knee brace, tubes were attached to her hand. She was watching TV, but switched it off when she saw him.
“Desiree, you’re sitting up already?” Harry asked, eye brow raised as he moved to her bed side.
“Much to the doctor’s annoyance,” she replied, rolling her eyes. She pushed herself back against her pillows. She winced slightly, but didn’t seem too bothered by the pain. She glanced between the two AFP officers. “New friends of yours? What happened to the old ones?”
The AFP officers seemed to shift uncomfortably under Desiree’s gaze.
“George got a fractured eye socket, and they may have gotten their asses chewed for letting me get away with too much freedom.”
“That why these guys are all up in your ass?” Desiree asked, cocking her head to one side, still looking at the two officers. They looked at her in shock before glancing at each other.
“Uh, we’re just going to go and wait outside in the hallway.” Desiree smirked at Harry as they left.
“That was mean,” Harry said pointedly. “You have to show me how to do that.”
Desiree shrugged. “You’re welcome.” She stretched, her shirt lifting up a little. Harry caught sight of some dark lines on her right side. A tattoo perhaps? “What’s the news today?”
“In what regards?” Harry asked, pulling up a chair and sitting down.
“Well, we both know what is all over the news today. What’s the legit news and not speculation. I haven’t been updated since I came to last night.”
“Well, the two terrorists that were captured yesterday have been identified as being Australian, not Afghani nationals. They were born here and recruited online. The woman you killed first was Afma’s sister. Afma was an Afghani national who managed to enter Australia through the refugee system with their parents, but the mother and father divorced and his mother remarried. His sister was a half cast, Australian-Afghani.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Desiree said angrily. She rubbed her forehead. “Have they arrested anyone else?”
“They’ve taken some of his known associates in for questioning. I reckon by the end of the day they’ll have made a couple more arrests.”
“They better, I don’t plan on being under armed guard for the rest of my life.”
Harry was about to bring up his father’s request for her to come to England to be presented her medals when he heard loud voices and small running footsteps coming down the corridor. He saw his two AFP officers stand up suddenly, moving to stop someone.
“Hey! Put down my grandson if you know what’s good for you!” came Wing Commander Buchannan’s voice. Harry hurried outside. One of the AFP officer’s had caught hold of Ryan and hoisted him into the air, while the other was trying to stop Desiree’s family.
Harry hurriedly grabbed Ryan from the AFP officer. “Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?” he demanded, putting Ryan down. “It’s Desiree’s family!” The AFP officers looked sheepishly at each other.
“Sorry about that, sir, ma’am.”
“Jesus Christ, Harry. Where did they find these bozos?” Colonel Buchannan asked, looking at the two officers in disgust.
Her family walked into her room while Harry rounded on his officers. “How about you just sit there and wait, instead of making fools of yourself?” He turned and re-entered the room, taking a seat by the wall opposite Desiree.
Ryan had jumped up on the bed and they were all talking animatedly. Ryan told his mum what he had seen on the news that morning and Desiree smiled, Harry admired the love in her eyes when she looked at him.
“So, Harry. How are you doing today?” Colonel Buchannan asked him suddenly. Harry looked surprised at being addressed, having been staring at Desiree and Ryan.
“I’m fine, I’m actually here on official business as well as leisure.” Desiree looked up at him in surprise, while her family all turned to look at him curiously.
“Oh?” she asked, her face changing to one of concern.
“Yes,” he pulled out an email that had been sent to him by the office of Buckingham Palace. “On behalf of her majesty, the Queen Elizabeth II, you are requested to attend a ceremony in which you will be awarded the Georges Cross, for bravery shown while off duty and protecting of assets to the realm of the Commonwealth.” Desiree’s family began to look around at each other, excitement filling their faces, Ryan’s especially. Harry continued. “And to be presented with your Victoria Cross, for actions during your deployment to Afghanistan.”
“Holy shit balls, batman,” Dan murmured, before looking at Desiree. Her face looked ashen, and she held onto Ryan tight.
“Des,” Ana said, clapping her hands excitedly. “That’s awesome news!”
“How exciting, a VC recipient in the family!” her mother said, looking at her daughter proudly.
The Colonel didn’t look so excited, he looked at Desiree, concern on his face. “Desiree, what do you say?”
“She says yes, of course!” Dan replied, looking at his father as if he was crazy.
“No, I don’t deserve it, and I’ve got work to do here. I don’t want a fuss to be made.”
“What?” her brother, sister and mother both exclaimed in exasperation. The Colonel didn’t look as surprised as her siblings and mother.
“Mummy, what’s a VC?” Ryan asked. The Colonel looked at Desiree and nodded to Ryan, obviously trying to encourage her to explain it to the boy.
Desiree sighed. “The VC is the highest commendation, or award, that can be given to a member of the military. It’s usually got to be approved by the Royal family.”
Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked to Harry. “So does that mean you want to give my mum a medal?”
Harry smiled at Ryan and then looked back at Desiree, she couldn’t meet his eyes. “No, the Queen wants to present her the medals personally.”
Desiree looked up at him in surprise, while the Colonel now looked to Desiree too. “It’s the Queen’s orders, Desiree. Who did you swear your affirmation to?”
Desiree sighed, throwing her father a glare that made Harry chuckle. She looked to Harry, her face resolute. “Fine, I’ll go, only because she’s my boss and I’m sure it will cost me if I say no, on one condition.”
Harry smiled, and nodded, looking at her expectantly. “Those military members that helped you are awarded something for the hostage siege, I want them awarded for their bravery too. And the pregnant woman, Samantha. It took a lot of guts to pull off what she did, and she also held a gun to a terrorists head in the back storage area.”
“I’ll get onto that straight away. I’ll take this as your RSVP then?” he asked, cheekily. She rolled her eyes. “And, of course, your family?”
“Yes please!” Ryan said happily bouncing, making his mother wince.
“I’m going there just for the medal. We don’t mess around,” Desiree said, sternly.
“Well, I had hoped you would all come and enjoy some English hospitality,” Harry reasoned, giving a hopeful smile.
Ryan turned to look at his mother hopefully. “Please, mum! We haven’t been on holiday in ages! And I’ve never been overseas before! I want to see Big Ben, and the palace and I want to go and watch Arsenal play!”
Desiree looked sadly at Ryan, Harry guessed it was at the mention of how long it had been since they had been on holidays together. “Gah, fine! We can stay a few days.”
Harry thought about bringing up the conversation with his Grandmother, but her family started chatting animatedly. “Looking forward to it.” Harry smiled, before excusing himself to begin the preparations.
Harry soon returned to England and began to preparations not only for the medal ceremony but also his own military retirement. He decided he would have the ball held on the same day, her ceremony in the morning and his retirement ball in the evening.
He had been in fairly regular contact with Desiree. Her rehabilitation was going well, although her knee was recovering slow, as expected. Ryan was still very excited about his first trip overseas, and had apparently planned an itinerary featuring all the places he wanted to visit during their week long stay in London.
Harry hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed, but he had already arranged his own itinerary for them, including special tours, VIP treatments and even a corporate box at an Arsenal game.
He checked his watch as he waited for his father and Camilla with his brother and his brother’s wife, Kate.
“Come on, their plane will be here soon,” Harry muttered, fidgeting impatiently.
William laughed. “There’s still an hour until they land, and we have a police escort all the way to the air base,” he said as Charles appeared at the top of the stairs, closely followed by Camilla. He hurried down to meet them as Harry pulled a face at William.
“Right now, that’s enough of that, let’s get going.”
They hurried to the waiting cars and motorcade. They drove for half an hour and arrived at RAF base Northolt, half an hour to spare. They were led to the tarmac just outside of the air movements building. A red carpet was rolled out and several high ranking officials waited behind Harry and his family.
“Planes about to land,” a corporal with a radio announced. They looked to the skies and saw the Boeing 737 making its final approach.
Suddenly, Harry felt his stomach begin to knot and his hands felt sweaty. William looked sideways, smiling smugly. He nudged Kate, who was standing between the two, she looked up at him in surprise then at Harry. When she saw his face she reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Harry?” she asked quietly. Harry jumped a little in surprise.
“Nothing, what makes you think something is wrong?” he asked, trying to look confused.
“Oh I dunno,” she said looking back at William and then at the plane that had just touched down. “Sweaty palms, your face has gone pale and you’re fidgeting.” She looked at him expectantly.
“So I’m excited to see my friend?” Harry answered defensively.
“Oh, we don’t doubt that, at all,” William said slyly.
The plane rolled to a stop at the end of the red carpet and the stairs were pushed up against the plane’s door. Harry felt his stomach begin to knot tighter. The cherry picker with the ramp attachment was pushed to the back door, ready to unload the cargo and catering supplies, he supposed.
The front door was opened and the air stewards stepped out first, creating a guard of honour. Colonel Buchannan appeared in the doorway, wearing his uniform, followed by his son, Dan. Harry waited impatiently, wringing his hands behind his back.
“Is that her?” Kate asked, she pointed to the cherry picker at the rear. There she was, seated in a wheel chair, dressed in her cams, putting her beret on while her mother, also in uniform, pushed her onto the cherry picker.
“It is, but I wasn’t aware she still wasn’t walking,” Harry felt a pang of regret. Had he known, he would have personally flown over to collect her. She hadn’t given any indication that she was still confined to a wheel chair.
Colonel Buchannan and Dan formed up at the base of the stairs, leaving enough space between them for Wing Commander Buchannan and Desiree. Wing Commander Buchannan pushed Desiree into the space next to Dan, applied the brakes of the wheel chair and then moved to stand beside her.
“Platoon! By the right!” Colonel Buchannan shouted.
Harry looked on in alarm, watching Desiree with concern. To his surprise, Desiree stood up, carefully, moving in front of the wheel chair. She held her head up high.
“Forward, march!”
The line of the uniformed family marched forward, in exact synchronisation. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off Desiree, although she did have the ever so slightest of limps, she marched on perfectly fine. Harry’s eyes met hers and he could see the hidden smirk, deep in her eyes. She’d fooled him.
“Platoon!” Colonel Buchannan shouted again. “Halt!” The family came to a snappy halt, a metre away from the royal family. Colonel Buchannan shot off a crisp salute. “Sir.”
“As you were,” Prince Charles said pleasantly, looking over the line. “Welcome to England.”
“Thank you, sir,” the four said. Harry looked behind the line to see Ryan walking beside one of the stewards. He hurriedly moved to stand between his mother and Dan.
“Allow me to do the introductions, father,” Harry said, stepping forward. Charles and Camilla moved to follow Harry as he began at Colonel Buchannan, William and Kate followed along behind them. “This is Colonel Buchannan, of 2 Commando in Sydney. Desiree’s father.”
“Nice to meet you, Colonel. You must be very proud of your daughter?”
“Yes, sir, of course. All our children provide us a sense of pride,” he replied, seeming to puff his chest out more and Charles shook his hand. Harry moved along.
“Of course, our children are a reflection of ourselves, you’ve done a fine job.” He moved to stand before Desiree’s mother.
“This is Wing Commander Buchannan, Desiree’s mother. She is also a serving member of the Royal Australian Air Force,” Harry said.
Charles shook her hand. “What is it you do in the RAAF?” he asked.
“I’m a transport aircraft pilot, sir. Hercules, to be specific,” she replied cheerfully. “Oh, and call me Alex.”
“Ah, very good, Alex. So you probably could have flown that plane over yourself then?” Charles joked.
Alex smiled slyly. “I asked, but they wouldn’t let me.”
Charles laughed before moving on with Harry. “And this is Major Desiree Kitana, of 2 Commando.” Harry couldn’t help but give Desiree a bashful smile. She met his eyes for a moment before looking to Charles.
“Of course, it is an absolute pleasure, Major,” Charles said taking her hand in his. Desiree gave a small smile. Harry could see her cheeks going pink. “I must thank you, for performing well above your duty in protecting my son more than once. You are an absolute credit to the Australian Army, and to the Commonwealth,” Charles commended her.
Now Desiree’s cheeks were an absolute bright red. “Uh, thank you, sir. Just doing what had to be done.”
“And how are your injuries? I saw you were wheeled from the plane,” Charles asked pleasantly.
Desiree grimaced slightly, looking sideways at her brother. “Well, that was a little prank on Harry on our behalf,” she said motioning towards herself and her brother.
Charles raised his eyebrows, looked at Harry before chuckling. “Very good!”
“You had me going, I’m not going to lie,” Harry added, he moved forward and hugged Desiree firmly. “It’s good to see you, Des.” When he pulled back he found her looking very surprised and her cheeks couldn’t get any redder.
“Likewise, H.”
He looked down to see Ryan clinging to Desiree’s back. “Oops, almost missed one, father,” he said stepping back and calling his father’s attention to the child attached to Desiree. Charles peered behind Desiree, smiling. “This is Ryan, Desiree’s son.”
“Why, hello there young man.” Charles held his hand out to Ryan, who looked up at his mum cautiously. Desiree motioned for him to take it, pushing him out from behind her with one hand. He slowly took the hand offered to him. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Thank you, it’s nice to meet you too,” Ryan replied meekly, looking from Charles to Harry. Harry smiled and ruffled his hair, causing him to giggle, before hurrying back to cling to his mother’s side.
“And this is her youngest sibling, her brother Dan, I believe her second youngest sibling is on deployment?” he looked at Dan for confirmation. He nodded once, as Charles shook his hand.
“And you’re Air Force as well, I see? Following your mother’s footsteps,” Charles asked.
Dan shrugged. “I reckon the Air Force has much better toys to work on, sir,” Dan replied simply. Harry and Charles laughed. Dan was definitely much more laid back when it came to talking to people of higher rank.
“So you work on the air craft then?” Charles asked.
“Yes, sir. F/A 18s to be exact, sir.”
“Excellent air craft. You provide a vital service then.”
“Absolutely, sir. Way more important than Des running around on the ground,” he joked, looking slyly at his sister.
“Hey!” she exclaimed, mid discussion with Kate and William, elbowing her brother.
“Ow!!” Dan cried, grabbing his arm where she elbowed him. The royals all laughed at them.
“Well, let’s get you guys to your hotel room, perhaps before the two siblings kill each other,” Charles said.
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Desert Love