She was slightly alarmed by Captain Gillan at first. Miles didn't bother her, she'd met his sort and got rid of them with ease before but Captain Gillan was another sort. He didn't seem like a normal doctor, was almost uncaring in his approach to everyone but then he'd told he about the death of his patient and the sorrow in his eyes expressed far more than his words or the tone of his voice did. He may try to hide it but he really cared.
She was surprised that he apparently hadn't told anyone about seeing her on the beach but grateful and she wanted to tell him but his reaction to her thanks left her feeling more confused. He so clearly didn't want to be in the room with her, she had a feeling that if he could, he'd have disappeared out of the door without saying anything, hoping not to have been noticed at all. He seemed so unsure of himself around women, so unlike Miles that she'd wondered… well, everyone knew about the dunes…
But then there was the moment in the ward, just them and she'd heard in his voice how clearly he cared about saving the boy's leg. Everyone had heard about the war between Captain Gillan and Major Yelland and it seemed he'd won. Here was a man whose actions were truly much more important than his words. She continually found herself contrasting him and Miles against each other, wondering how two such different men could clearly be such good friends. Miles would never have stood there silently while she soothed her patient, she wouldn't have felt his gaze burning on her back as she did with Captain Gillan and then when she moved to wash her hands, to her surprise, he moved closer. Compared to his attitude in the supply hut, where he'd been so stiff and uncompromising, he was almost a different man. There was a hint of a smile playing on his face and he spoke so easily that she responded as easily as if she were talking to Miles or Flora or a patient. His response left her grasping at words that didn't want to sound and when her eyes met his, he looked as if he couldn't believe he'd actually said that. He'd sounded sincere too and that was really left her speechless. Unlike Miles, he said what he thought, there was no hiding behind playful words to conceal his emotions, everything was laid out in what he said.
'I've been alarmed since the moment you arrived.' She catches her breath as the words play in her mind that night while she watches the shadows of movement play on the canvas walls of the tent. Flora's heavy breaths draw her from her contemplation of his serious face and she rolls over, hoping to sleep a little before she is inevitably woken by her memories. The memory of his face hangs over her, serious, handsome, alarmed.