Kindred Spirits
Rating: Teen
Standard Disclaimer: Foyle's war quite rightly belongs to Anthony Horowitz, its genius creator and the brilliant cast and crew who brought it to our screens and I'm only borrowing some of the characters for fun.
Summary: Andrew returns home from the war to heal an estrangement with his father and Sam, only to unexpectedly run into another woman from his past. Parings: Foyle/Sam, Andrew/OC. Borrows canon characters, dialogue and plotlines from Eagle Day, Bleak Midwinter and All Clear.
Authors Note: About a week ago I discovered purely by accident the fics people have written about one of my all-time favourite shows. After reading most of the work that has been written to date and quickly becoming converted to the Foyle/Sam pairing, I decided to give it a go and write my own take on how I think the series should have played out. Some of you who have contributed works to the site will probably recognize some of the fics I used to draw inspiration and I credit several including The Keep me Close series by Bookworm Kate, L'aimant by GiuliettaC and The Crash by dancesabove. All good works that are well worth reading for their richness of plot and background, and their realistic portrayal of the characters.
Chapter 1: Reunion: May 1945
Andrew Foyle felt his insides clench with nerves as he slowly trudged up the hill towards his father's house on Steep Lane. Years spent separated from his father with only short stretches of leave and the occasional letter during what had been the worst experience of his life made Andrew feel somewhat like a stranger to him. But what made Andrew even more uneasy and rather guilty was his initial reaction to the most surprising letter he had received over 2 years ago, just prior to New Year's which had changed everything between them. He knew what was waiting for him when he considered what or as another way of expressing it, who, he knew he would find inside the house as soon he knocked.
'I was an absolute prig, to both of them and neither of them deserved it considering what drew them together. Well then Sam, are you ready for your first meeting with your new stepson?'
Andrew grimaced at the thought of his reception, Samantha Stewart. The bubbly honey blonde vicar's daughter who had been assigned to drive his father and had the rare combination of beauty, vivaciousness and determination which had slowly won her the heart of her employer over the course of their work together which had led to that fateful letter which had announced their engagement. It only seemed like yesterday when his father, still getting ready to go to work bade him to answer the door when he found her. As fresh as a spring day in her MTC uniform with a bright smile on her face ready to face whatever England's criminal underworld threw at her boss. Only for him to make probably the worst possible mistake and unknowingly insult what was obviously one of the most important things in her world, her job in assisting him.
Andrew grimaced at the memories of the hurt he had caused her when he ended their brief relationship in the winter of 41. How long he stood there lost in thought before the front door of the house he wasn't certain. But he was interrupted in his woolgathering when a soft voice called out to him, the clipped calm tones of a lady that ironically he had first met that very same day he first met Sam on his father's doorstep.
'Andrew?' 'Andrew Foyle is that you?'
Andrew sighed and turned on his heel as he murmured almost to himself, 'what's left of me anyway.'
That same WAAF uniform which now bore the rank of a warrant officer, the same brown hair swept up into the regulation rolls he had seen girls in uniform sporting for the entire war. The same enchanting blue eyes which were now seemingly boring into his with a look of concern. Andrew felt a lump in his throat as he thought back to his first posting at the radar station outside of Hastings where he'd met her. The strange aura of fear that seemed to grip the girls when he tried to draw out what had happened to the lost member of their team. Nearly getting shot out of the sky because of a faulty IFF unit which he still thought was the work of the group Captain in charge. The chain of events that led him to be imprisoned on what turned out to be fabricated charges designed to keep him out of the way while that bastard of a special branch copper mercilessly interrogated him about his mate Bruce and Andrew's own fleeting membership of the communist party.
'She actually remembers me! I only knew her for about two days before she got transferred.'
'Anne? Anne Roberts? But I thought you got transferred?'
Her lips curled into a smile as she walked up to him before she laid a hand on his arm.
'Well, it wasn't often that commanding officer's transfer trained operators just to stop them speaking to pilots. Believe me Andrew, among all the girls I ever met in the WAAF, nobody else was ever transferred for such a ridiculous injustice, of course I remember.'
Andrew's jaw dropped as he caught sight of the flash of anger in Anne's eyes, 'They transferred her to stop her talking to me! Bloody hell, I knew Keller was a cold fish but Christ. I didn't think even he'd resort to something that drastic.'
'I've heard of lock up your daughters, but that's a bit extreme Anne, were they honestly that scared of me?' He tried to smile at his feeble joke and was pleased at the sparkle of amusement in Anne's eyes.
Anne changed the subject a moment later as she asked, 'are you alright Andrew? You were standing there for almost ten minutes.'
Andrew sighed, though the question was quite an innocent one and he knew that Anne deserved an answer, he didn't have a clue as to what would he could say that would help her understand.
'That's a long story Anne, one that's hard to explain.'
Anne smiled reassuringly at him and squeezed his arm gently, 'well I'd say we've got time, I saw your father and a blonde lady about the same age as me leave about an hour ago with a picnic basket. They had the most adorable twin girls with them.'
Andrew smiled despite the pain in his heart, 'the lady is my stepmother and the children are my little sisters, Caroline and Rose and they're a big part of the story.'
Andrew saw the astonishment but listened as Anne bade.
'Come on Andrew, how about we pop along to my aunts and we can have a cup of tea, it isn't all that far from here.'
'Will she mind if you bring me?'
'No she won't, she's been a real brick, ever since I lost my parents and I did tell her about you just before I got shipped off to the Isle of Wight.'
Andrew's eyes widened, 'you lost your parents?'
The sad look on Anne's face was all the confirmation he needed but she quickly explained.
'Back in 35, an automobile accident on the road to London. I was at school at the time but Aunt Agatha took me in and I lived with her until I volunteered for the WAAF when the war came.'
'I'm sorry Anne, losing my mum was hard enough, I couldn't imagine being without my dad as well' was all Andrew could say.
Before Andrew knew what was happening Anne had taken his hand and was leading him through the streets of the old town. They passed more bunting and more cheerful crowds until they came upon a neat little shop that Andrew remembered his mother taking him into a few times when he'd gone shopping with her as a boy. He opened the door to the tinkling chorus of a bell and allowed Anne to precede him before he walked through the door and came face to face with a cheerful looking woman of about his father's age as she stepped out from behind the counter.
'Oh, Annie you're back already dear? Who's this handsome young man?'
Andrew saw the blush on Anne's face but he spoke to the kindly woman.
'I'm Andrew Foyle ma'am, I'm an old friend of Anne's.'
The woman looked to be scrutinising him for a moment before she smiled warmly, 'I thought you looked familiar, and Foyle isn't the most common name. You've definitely grown since I last saw you in here my boy.'
Anne looked surprised, 'you know Andrew Auntie?'
Agatha beamed 'Oh yes dear, his mother Rosalind was a frequent customer and she sometimes brought young Andrew with her to help carry her shopping. Samantha's been a regular as well, the dear.'
Andrew smiled sheepishly as he remembered those days, not long before the illness which had so suddenly claimed his mother's life had struck her down.
'Wow, talk about small world, both my mother's are regulars at the same flower shop.' Andrew thought.
Agatha looked at him closely and said, 'you're looking peaky dear, you need feeding and rest.'
Turning towards Anne she suggested, 'why not pop the kettle on Annie? I'll leave you both to chat, business has been brisk with all the demobs buying flowers for their wives and mothers.'
Andrew politely thanked the kindly florist before Anne took him up a flight of stairs to a tastefully decorated flat where she busied herself with a kettle. Anne soon joined him at the table carrying a tray with the tea things and soon set a steaming cup and some biscuits before him.
'This is jolly decent of you Anne, thanks.'
Anne waved it off, 'no Andrew, it's the least I can do. You looked, lost. Just like all the others I've seen coming back today.'
Andrew sipped his tea and ate one of the biscuits before he sighed, 'it's not just the war and having been away for so long. I've lost so many friends, here one day gone the next. Best of the best they called us, but I don't know.'
'I understand Andrew, while you were in the air we were tracking you, every time the pilots were in range we could hear them over the radio because we often had to issue bearings when pilots got disorientated. I know it isn't the same as actually having been there in the middle of it, but listening to it was hard enough for us. I know a few of my friends were unlucky enough to hear their boyfriend's last words.'
Andrew saw her shudder and shook his head, 'no, you're right and I'm sorry you had to hear that.'
'Fortunes of war Andrew, we suffered losses as well' Anne sighed, 'there's no point feeling guilty for surviving when others didn't because it was beyond any of our control. All we can do is make the best of the future for their sake as well as ours and always honour the memory of those we lost.'
'That is deep, but she's absolutely right. Damn that Keller, if Anne had stayed in Hastings I'd have kept a far clearer head about all this, maybe I wouldn't have been a total BF about Sam and Violet' Andrew thought with a grimace.
'So basically you're saying think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.'
Anne smiled, 'that's right. But Andrew, why are you so worried about seeing your father and stepmother? I met your father once and he seemed like a nice man to me.'
'You met him Anne?'
'Yes, I came to say goodbye to you, just before I was about to leave, but you weren't there. He asked me a couple of questions about the radar station but I couldn't tell him much though and I really regretted that. I wanted justice for Lucy just as much as he did.'
Andrew hurriedly explained his absence before he noticed the anger in Anne's eyes as she huffed.
'They really wanted to make sure, didn't they? Damn that swine Grahame, I'd love to shake the hand of the man who killed him.'
Andrew remembered what his father had told him after he'd finally been released and they'd left the station after the raid and silently agreed.
Andrew took a deep breath before he began, 'Anne, the reason why I'm scared to see my father is because of a set to we had over Sam, she's the lady you saw with him.'
Anne stayed silent encouraging him to go on and so Andrew began, 'you see, for a time, before I was transferred up north Sam and I were walking out together. In hindsight it probably would have been better if we hadn't because she was in love with my father the whole time. After I transferred, in my stupidity I broke things off with her because I met someone up there, not a patch on Sam, but I was lonely and pilots, well…. How can I put this politely?'
Anne smiled, 'have a reputation Andrew, oh don't worry about that. I know all about what you flyboys were like. I never fell prey myself but some of my friends did and war makes fools even of the most well brought up people, rushing into all kinds of things they'd normally take time over. I can see you genuinely regret whatever hurt you caused the girls you stepped out with, so that makes you better than some of the other pilots I saw.
Andrew grinned before his face fell as he continued, 'so anyway, just after new year's day in 43 I got a letter from my father to say that he and Sam were engaged to be married and I got really angry and sent back a rather nasty letter. I'd heard all kinds of stories about girls in the services being preyed upon by men in positions of power, I'd even seen the evidence with my own eyes a few times. I pretty much accused my dad of the same crime as that slimy bastard Grahame and towards Sam of all people who I knew for a fact was so dutiful and dedicated in her work for him. Even though I wasn't walking out with her then, I still cared about her and wanted what was best for her.'
Anne looked sad, 'oh yes, that would be awkward wouldn't it, love triangles can be tricky at the best of times.'
'Yeah, but afterwards when I'd had some time to think about it, I realised that I was wrong. My dad would never be the sort to take advantage of the trust of a young woman under his command and I guessed that out of the two of them it was probably Sam who gave him the nudge out of the door so to speak. I remember the first time I took Sam out, a lot of our conversation centred on him. The look in her eyes when we were talking about him, which was never the look of admiration for a distinguished hero or a father figure. I remembered how later on when I went AWOL, the whole time I was hiding out with her she was urging me to go and see him because he'd understand how I was feeling then. He would have too, he fought in the first war and would have seen some of the bloodiest battles on the Western front probably saw what happened to the men there. To be honest back then if I'd been much worse I'd have probably ended up at Graylingwell.'
Anne blinked away tears 'Oh Andrew, I'm so sorry, I can't even begin to imagine what must have driven you to that.'
Andrew shrugged, 'Dad persuaded me to give myself up in the end, and the Wing co was a decent chap. Let me off with a warning, promoted me, and reassigned me to an instructor's job for a while to help me settle down and clear my head. So anyway, just when I'd decided to write home and apologize for being an absolute prig I got shipped off to Malta and the letter I sent home from there was sunk when the bloody ship got torpedoed. Time passed and I got scared to write again even though they sent me letters and in the end. I ended up in hospital with sinusitis and when I finally got out they ended up clipping my wings and sending me back home.'
Andrew saw the tears in Anne's eyes and stood up before drawing her into his embrace. He held her and gently stroked her back before she drew away looking rather embarrassed.
'Didn't mean to go to pieces like that Andrew.'
Andrew waved it off, 'not your fault Anne, I'm a bit better now but it'll be awhile before I'm really back to normal.'
'You can't let this destroy what you have with your father Andrew, falling out over a misunderstanding it's just….Wrong, you need to patch this up.'
'I know, you're right, but…'
'But what Andrew? You can't avoid this,' Andrew saw the fierce look and knew she wouldn't budge, 'you made a stupid mistake and you know it was wrong, the best you can do is make up for it. You'll be stronger for it Andrew once the air is clear, now come on.'
Anne determinedly took his hand and drew him from his seat before leading him downstairs after he'd grabbed his kit bag where he came face to face with Agatha whose eyes were glistening.
'I couldn't help overhearing dear and Annie's right, you need to settle this so you can move forward. Your father's a good man Andrew, he'll understand and Sam is an absolute peach, she might box your ears but she'll forgive you once you explain yourself.'
A large bouquet was soon pressed into Andrew's hand and Anne said.
'Come back tomorrow Andrew, you can tell me how it went and take me out for lunch.'
Andrew grinned, 'things are definitely looking up.'
'I will, til tomorrow then.'
The two women waved him off and Andrew strode back up Steep Lane towards the house where he knocked on the door, Sam opening it almost at once.
'Motherhood definitely suits her.' He thought as he assessed the sight of his father's former driver, now wife. The pink dress she wore looked much more flattering than the MTC uniform and her hair was a bit longer and fell in loose waves over her shoulders. She looked a bit curvier than he remembered, but still had the same endearing face and dark eyes which seemed to be able to see into his very soul.
'Andrew!' she gasped.
