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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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Harry returned to England three days later. The media blackout was lifted and the images, video and interviews he had done on the earlier part of his deployment was released. His operations with Desiree’s unit was not even on record, and all information associated with it was suppressed, including his injuries sustained. He was to be awarded a medal for it, but no information was to be released to the media in regards to it, other than ‘Received for actions whilst on duty in Afghanistan’.
He returned to his royal duties, he felt like life got dull.
He never really spoke to anyone about his time in Afghanistan, mostly because he couldn’t. The only people that knew were his family and some of the higher ranked advisors and military staff.
For the first few months after, he was gloomy and moody. He was at a polo match with his brother one day, taking a break in their royal tent. William asked Kate for a private word with Harry.
“What’s wrong with you, mate? You’ve been irritable since you returned from Afghanistan. Are you suffering PTSD?” he asked quietly, concern laced his voice.
Harry looked back at William in surprise. “God, no. I wish it were that,” Harry replied. He was thoughtful for a moment. No, he definitely wasn’t suffering PTSD. His was more regret, regret at not being able to say goodbye to his Australian friends before flying out of Afghanistan
William looked doubtfully back at him. “Then what is it? Apart from the media releases, I haven’t been told much information about your trip other than you guys took a hell of a beating at times on your last mission.”
“Well, that is true, but I guess I just miss it. The friendships, the work,” he was thoughtful for a moment, staring out the tent into space.
William smirked. “The officer you were working with?”
Harry snapped out of his stupor and looked back at his brother. “What?”
“I heard about her during one of the briefings, did some research about her while you were there,” William explained. When Harry glared at him he put his hands in the air, innocently. “Look, I was worried about what kind of mission they were sending you on. And when I heard a woman was in charge I got very curious. She’s got some good credentials in there. And she’s easy on the eye. I can see why you think about her so often and I haven’t even met the woman. She just seems like your type of woman.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry replied defensively. “I’m just worried about her, she lost her best friend during that mission and she wasn’t in the best way when she left suddenly.”
“Well, did you get your mates at Soldier On and Mates4mates to track her down?” William suggested. Harry looked surprised. Why didn’t he think of that. “You idiot.”
That evening he wrote several emails, sending them through to his friends at Soldier on and Mates4mates. He didn’t need to wait long, an hour later there was a response from Jamie, a soldier who had been injured in Afghanistan and took part in his expedition across the South Pole.
“G’day Harry,
I do know of a Major Kitana. She is posted here to 2CDO, as a mentor and instructor. I was not aware you served with her though. She’s never mentioned it. I don’t have many dealings with her apart from work, but if you like I can pass on your details for you?”
Harry was thoughtful for a moment before answering.
“Thanks Jamie,
If you could, I would greatly appreciate it.”
He was hopeful when he went to bed that night.
Two weeks passed and he did not hear anything from her or Jamie. He decided to email Jamie again.
“Hey mate,
Did you manage to pass on my details to Major Kitana? I still haven’t heard from her.”
Jamie’s return email had Harry’s heart sink.
“Hey Harry,
I did pass it on. Asked her how she knew you. Have to say, I’ve never seen Major Kitana’s face drop so quickly before. She did take the details i gave her, but somehow I doubt she will ever email you mate, sorry.
What happened between you two?”
Harry grimaced, he wished he knew what to tell Jamie.
“Sorry mate,
Wish I could tell you. Classified and what not. Maybe one day it will come out.”
He was not given the opportunity to serve again overseas, until one day, three years after his tour of Afghanistan when his grandmother called him into a meeting.
He strode into the meeting room of Buckingham Palace to find his grandmother as well as several of the country’s most senior military members.
“Harry,” his grandmother greeted him. He walked up, bowed his head slightly before taking a seat at the table. “We’ve been talking about the future of your military career.”
He hated it when she said things like that. Hardly ever did he ever get to choose any of his future career paths, but he knew that was never going to happen since the tour of Afghanistan. Nearly everything to do with his future was chosen for him. He was very surprised that they hadn’t chosen his wife for him yet.
“Yes, and what is that?” he asked sullenly.
“It’s time for you to think about retiring, Harry. You’re thirty one years old now. Unlike your brother, you’re branch of the military very much involves active service, which after the last time it is quite obvious, in this day and age is very dangerous.”
“It was one time, I came out of it alive,” he mumbled, grimacing and slouching into his chair.
“Stop mumbling and don’t slouch,” she scolded. Harry sighed and straightened up.
“And then what?” he demanded.
“You’ll take on a more active role with royal duties. Oh, you’ll still be able to deal with your charities and what not. That’s good work you do, I would hate to see you stop making such a big difference for our veterans. And we would like to see you settle down and find a wife, finally. However, no more active service.”
“Well, I guess that’s one perk out of many dismays,” Harry replied. “Was there anything else you wanted to disappoint me with? Maybe choosing my wife for me?”
“Now, don’t take that attitude, young man. In light of this, we are willing to allow you one deployment to one of our commonwealth countries as your last hurrah,” his grandmother explained. “We will give you some time to think about where you want to go of course. It will be a one month trip for you.”
She looked around her and nodded, the ranked officials all stood and left the room, much to Harry’s surprise. They left Harry alone with his Grandmother.
“Harry, I cannot influence or tell you where to go this time. However, after taking advice from your brother and father, I would highly suggest you go to Australia and find your friend. I can’t promise you’ll like what you’ll find, but if it gets it out of your system, then I’m happy. All I ever want is to see my family happy, Harry.”
Harry looked at his grandmother thoughtfully for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to think of what she said. Then he suddenly jumped up, turned and hugged his grandmother. “Thank you!”
“Oh! Well, of course, you’re most welcome,” she said, surprised by his sudden embrace. “Oh, one other thing. If you’re going to Australia, you had better take this with you.” She clapped her hands and one of the military advisors hurried back in. He handed a small box and large envelope to Harry.
“What is it?” he began to open the box, it was a medallion box.
“I believe it belongs to your friend. It was approved last year, but she never answered our requests to come to England so I could present it to her. So, perhaps it is more fitting if the person she saved to earn it, presents it to her.”
Harry opened the box. Lying inside the box was a bronze medal, fixed to a ribbon of burgundy. It was the Victoria Cross. He looked up at his grandmother. “Why would she not accept this?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps you can find out?”
                It was soon organised for Harry to head to Australia, his itinerary was organised so that he would spend time in most of the country’s most operational bases, Darwin, Perth and Sydney.
During his time in Darwin he tried to find a way to contact Desiree. It seemed no matter what he tried to do, no one could contact her. He was given her work email address and although he tried to email her on several occasions when he was not on exercise, he could not get a response from her.
After one week in Darwin, he moved onto Perth. Here he worked with the SASR. On his first day there, he went to the officer’s mess to meet the other officers, one happened to be a Lt Scott.
“G’day, sir. Remember me?”
“Sgt Scott?” Harry said, staring at the pips on his shoulder. “I mean, lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir,” Lt Scott beamed.
“Congratulation, Lietuenant, what brought this on?” Harry asked, shaking his hand firmly and giving him a congratulatory smack on the shoulder. He was glad to see a familiar face.
“Yes, sir. Major Kitana inspired me to work harder and reach higher. Never thought I would make it.”
“You’ve done well, Scotty. Really well.”
“Thank you, sir. How have you been?”
“I’ll be honest with you, was looking forward to this trip for so long,” Harry murmured.
“You want to see the Major, huh?” Lt Scott asked, seeing right through Harry’s facade.
“I just want to make sure she’s okay, she wasn’t in a good place when we all went our separate ways,” Harry reasoned.
Lt Scott looked thoughtful for a moment. “I never got to see her during my short time at 2CDO, but I do know she was there, I remember being told by some of the shooters that she had trained them.” Harry looked disheartened for a moment. “Don’t worry, sir, I’m sure you’ll be able to get in touch with her while you’re there.”
*******
                Desiree walked into the CO’s office at Special Forces Training Centre. She had been called into his office, apparently in regards to a leave application she had put in. It was unusual to be called into the CO’s office for such a thing, but she had a feeling she knew why.
No one knew about her last trip to Afghanistan. They knew she had gone, they knew she had lost her CAD in battle, they also knew that she was now seen as a highly regarded target to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but no one knew she had served alongside Captain Wales or that she had put her life on the line to try and save her CAD, also causing Captain Wales to put his life on the line to save her. She felt ashamed by that. It was never her intention, but all she could think of was Banzai, lying in the ditch, crawling pitifully with only her front legs to try and get back to her handler.
Desiree stood waiting patiently for the CO to call her in.
“Major Kitana! Enter please!” Desiree strode through the door, knocking a crisp salute. The CO returned the salute. “Take a seat, please.” Desiree removed her hat and sat down as directed.
“Is something wrong, sir?” she asked bluntly.
The CO leaned back in his seat, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Desiree’s face, as if he was searching for something. “It’s about your leave app, I couldn’t help but notice you’ve chosen dates that coincide with a big event for us here.”
“Sorry, sir, I wasn’t aware,” she replied, raising her eye brows, feigning surprise.
“I find that hard to believe,” he answered with a small smile. “You’ve been here with us for three years now, your posting was very sudden, upon your return from a trip to Afghanistan, we weren’t given any information in regards to this trip to Afghanistan other than you were a highly prized asset. You’ve never taken leave except during stand down periods. And suddenly, we find your leave app in my inbox.”
“Well, everyone needs a break, sir,” she answered nonchalantly.
“I tried to look into your last trip to Afghanistan, you know, the one that seems to coincide with Captain Wales last active service? You know what I was met with?”
“A folder full of my wonderful exploits, I’m sure,” Desiree answered, doing her best not to sneer in response. She hated it when people went digging into her past.
“Nothing. I found nothing. I got blocked left, right and centre when I tried to find information regarding that. Why do you want to take leave now, Major. You’re one of our best instructors here and the perfect candidate to show Captain Wales the ropes, yet you’ve put leave in for his stay here?”
“I do believe, sir, that my leave is not just for the duration of his stay but a week before and after it,” she replied, bluntly.
“Minor details, your point has been made. You did not want to be present for his stay here. Why?”
“I have no reason that exists due to the Captain’s visit. My reasons are purely of a personal nature, as you said yourself, sir, I have not taken extra leave in the three years I’ve been here. I think I owe it to myself.”
The CO wrinkled his nose slightly and sighed. “And what is it you plan on doing on leave anyway?”
Desiree raised an eye brow, a wry smile gracing her lips. “Day spas, massages, facials, manicures, pedicures-“
“Ok, ok, I get the point. Your leave is approved, but I’m not happy about this, Major. Get out of here, before I change my mind.”
*******
                Harry looked around the officer’s mess. Several of the officer’s already gathered in the mess came and introduced themselves. He chatted idly with them all, before retiring to his room. He had not seen any sign of Desiree in the mess. He sent a text message to Jamie, who he had promise to keep an eye for any sign of Desiree.
‘Any news?’
Jamie soon replied. ‘Yeah, I have actually. She’s on leave, she’s taken four weeks off. Sorry, mate.’
Harry threw his phone onto his bed angrily. Why was luck not on his side? Had she taken leave on purpose? Maybe she blamed him for being pulled out of Afghanistan.
The next morning he was taken around base to see the different parts of the unit, including several of the training facilities and the gym. While he was inside the Urban Tactical Training centre, he noticed a chalk board which was ruled up and several names with times written besides each name. At the top of the board was a name in bold white chalk ‘Major Desiree Kitana – 3:49’ Harry looked at the board for a moment before turning to look at the Captain showing him around the facility.
“What’s this for?” he asked inquisitively.
“Oh, that’s our records board. Those are the top ten times for getting through the solo course. Major Kitana is the fastest,” he hesitated before continuing. “She is one of our best instructors. No soldier I’ve ever met has been able to do what she does.”
“She?” George, one of his police escort asked in surprise. “A woman holds the fastest time on a tactical course? What are they teaching you lot here?”
“George, shut it.” Harry gave him a dirty look, before turning back to the Captain whose face had gone red, whether it be from embarrassment from admitting a woman held the highest time on the course or anger at George’s immature opinion and statement, he wasn’t sure.
“Major Kitana is the only woman to have ever passed the course for infantry, as well as passing the course to become SASR, with commendation from the SASR CO at the time. She’s done three tours of Afghanistan and on her last she was pulled out early due to a separate jihad being placed on her head.”
“That’s impressive,” Damien, Harry’s other police escort commented, glaring at his counterpart. “Why was the jihad put on her?”
“She was inflicting so much damage into their cause, they wanted her stopped.”
“Fair call, then,” Damien joked. Harry gave a small smile. So small details of their tour had been released to within the unit.
He continued on his tour, taking a run on the Urban Tactical training course, only managing to score a four minute run. He still managed to get to sixth on the board, which he felt pretty chuffed about.
He was then taken to the gym, it was a huge twenty four hour facility, half a hangar in size. There were several people inside, using the gym, he greeted them all, asking questions and had a go at using some of the equipment himself.
As he was exiting, he noticed several boards on the wall of the gym, very similar to that of the one inside the UTTC. These were labelled for different achievements, from number of push-ups to weighted dead lifts. He found a board for the women, as he guessed, Desiree’s name was at the top of all the available achievements. When he looked to the other board, he found that Desiree’s name had also been added to that board, to reflect exactly how impressive her feats were. She mingled in the middle of every achievement board that was clearly meant for the men of the unit.
“Wow, she gets in there, doesn’t she?” George breathed, reading each board.
“One of a kind,” Harry murmured under his breath.
After lunch, he was afforded some time to catch up with his friend, Jamie. Jamie was a veteran, who had been wounded on operations in Afghanistan several years earlier, when he was shot through the neck. Through his work with Soldier on, Mates4Mates and Wounded Warrior, Harry had met Jamie on an expedition across the South Pole, they had maintained this friendship since.
They sat in a back corner of the Frontline cafe, enjoying a coffee and catch up. Harry had been allowed some privacy to a degree by his security attachment, so he thoroughly enjoyed some relaxing and natural conversation with Jamie.
“Mate, I got to ask, what is it about this Major that’s got you so pent up? You’re not yourself.”
“What do you mean?” Harry asked in surprise at Jamie’s sudden change in conversation.
“I mean, I don’t know if it’s the girl, or if it’s the action you saw last trip, but you aren’t yourself, mate. What’s wrong?”
“Well,” Harry looked back to the two police escort, thoughtful for a moment. Jamie was a 2CDO operative, turned mentor due to injury. He could trust him.
“George, Damien, no interruptions if you can manage it?” Harry called to his two escorts. They nodded once, before turning back to their conversation and watching their surrounds.
“That serious, hey?” Jamie asked in surprise.
“What I’m about to tell you has been suppressed, no one knows except for extremely high standing politicians and military brass, for both of our countries.”
“Whoa,” Jamie breathed. “How does Major Kitana fit in though?”
                Harry revealed every single detail about his short tour with Desiree, from their first meeting, to their first encounter of a contact. He recounted in detail their two last dangerous engagements, especially the loss of the invaluable CAD, the effect it had on Desiree and how she had been pulled out of the country overnight.
“So the stories about the jihad on her head are true?” Jamie breathed, he leant back in his chair and ran his hand through his hair. “Wow. I had heard some stories about her, but i didn’t think much of them were true, it was just that she was a hard ass instructor and people were making all these fantastic stories about her to add to the legend before the new contenders came in.”
“Nope, they’re pretty much all true. Mate, she saved my life. More than once. I owe her a lot.”
“And this is why you’ve been down in the dumps?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, mate.”
“I would. I think you should track her down, if just for your own sanity. It does sound a lot like she’s trying to push everything she went through into her past, but as you and I both know, that isn’t always a good thing. I’ll help you out the best I can, see if I can’t dig up a phone number or address.”
“You’re a legend, Jamie.”
“I know, mate, I’ve got the scars to prove it.”
The rest of the day was spent doing orientation and familiarisation training, come the end of the day he was exhausted. He didn’t check his phone once until after dinner, when he did he found a message on there from Jamie.
“I did some digging, your friend Major Kitana has a relative with brass here at the unit too. Different last name, which is why I didn’t clue on straight away. Colonel Buchannan. He’s one of the Colonels at Operations. If you can get in to see him, perhaps he can get you in touch with his daughter. You’re welcome.”
Harry was relieved to see that. He didn’t remember meeting a Colonel in his travels around the unit so far, but it was a good sign. He sent back his thanks in capitals and had to do everything not to jump around with glee.
He went to bed that night, far more hopeful than he had been in the last three years.
- 8
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Desert Love