To be honest, I have struggled to build up the enthusiasm to continue this story. So please let me know if you are enjoying it, perhaps that will inspire me! :-) xx
What did we think of the new episode of OG? I was a bit nonplussed by it personally but then it was never gonna be the same for me without Elvis. :-(
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I have jumped forward a bit in time. I will probably cover some of the missed stuff in flashbacks during the rest of the story.
London 6 months later.
Georgie cleared customs at Heathrow and was escorted to a private room where Cam and her parents were waiting impatiently to welcome her home and to hold her in their arms once again.
Everything had moved very quickly once she and Elvis had escaped Syria, over the border into Turkey. Elvis had handed her over to the British authorities there and that was the last she had seen of him. She felt completely empty. They had spent months in hiding together and he was all that had kept her going. Now she was totally lost without him. She'd asked the British Ambassador in Ankara what had happened to him and was told he was being debriefed and would then be returned to his unit. It hurt, after all they'd been through together, that he had not asked to see her before being sent home. She hoped it had not been just a mission to him and that now they were home he would not just go back to his life and forget about her. She still needed him.
As she approached the door, that currently shielded her from her old life, she felt a sense of panic begin to overwhelm her. They were going to want to touch her, to hug her, to ask her questions. They would want to know the details of her life in captivity. The very thought made her shudder, she couldn't bear it. The only person she wanted to talk to, the only one she felt safe with and whom she trusted, had deserted her. She felt the tears start to stream down her face just as the door burst open and her parents and Cam surged towards her.
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In the two weeks since Georgie had returned home she had barely spoken a word, Cam and her parents were at their wits end. They had known at the airport, when they met her plane, that the Georgie they once knew had not returned. In her place was a gaunt, haunted creature filled with a fear of everything and everyone. She relived the horrors she had experienced daily and nightly. She barely ate, nor did she sleep if she could help it, but if she did lose the battle to sheer fatigue, she would wake no more than an hour later screaming in terror. Cam or her mother would rush to her side to offer her comfort but she would have none of it. The name she called for was Elvis or occasionally Eshan, as she'd first known him, but he never came. He was the only comfort she wanted, the only person who would understand.
She had been seeing a therapist daily since her return but even she was making little headway breaking through the heavy defences that Georgie had painstakingly built up over the last couple of years.
Each session started the same way... "So Georgie, what do you want to talk about today?" The therapist would ask gently.
"Elvis, I need to see Elvis. Why won't they let me see him?" Was always the response she got from Georgie and the conversation rarely got further than that. With Georgie repeating the same question over and over again.
Eventually the therapist spoke to Cam about the lack of progress and about Georgie's severe attachment issues to the soldier who had rescued her.
"I think you might have to ask him to come and see her." Was the advice she gave him. "Sometimes in these situations it's the only way. She has built up this heroic image of him in her mind. She needs to see him on home ground, in normal circumstances, only then will she start to see him as a normal person who was just doing his job."
Cam had been thinking along similar lines already, he was no fool, he knew the types of horrors that Georgie would have faced on a daily basis in Syria. He had known that it was unlikely she would return to him unscathed and he had already reconciled himself to the fact that their marriage would never be the same. He was under no illusion that Georgie had ever been in love with him. He knew she had married him more out of friendship and a sense of family obligation and that had suited them both at the time. However, Cam had grown to love his wife deeply and although he understood that his feelings were unlikely to ever be reciprocated, he was content with the life they had. That had all gone now and much as it tore him up inside to know that he could not help her himself, maybe this Elvis Harte chap could. At this point he was willing to give anything a try.
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Elvis was sitting at the bar drowning his sorrows with his best mate Charlie. He had been thoroughly de-briefed after returning to the UK and had given up every piece of useful intel that he could about the time he had spent in Syria. He had enjoyed a couple of days with Laura and caught up on all her news. He had been away for the best part of ten months, so there was lots to catch up on. He had missed his little munchkin and he couldn't believe how much she'd grown. Normally, at this point, he would be looking for some female company to help him unwind and to take his mind off of the more unpleasant aspects of his job. However, this last job wasn't like other tours or undercover operations he had experienced before. Because on this last job, he had fallen completely and utterly in love!
Charlie was eyeing him sympathetically. "How many times have I told you to keep away from married women?" Charlie was saying, condescendingly.
"How the fuck was I supposed to keep away from her, I was sent there to rescue her. We spent months together in hiding, waiting for our chance to escape the country. It wasn't my bloody fault I got tasked with rescuing such an amazing woman!" Elvis whined. He was really feeling sorry for himself and he was starting to get fed up of Charlie's holier than thou attitude. It was alright for him, he'd found the right woman and had managed to get a wedding ring on her finger!
"What am I gonna do Charlie? This hurts like hell. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, walking away from her in Turkey. I just wanted to scoop her up and take her home with me. She looked so sad when I handed her over, she looked like I'd betrayed her or something. I'm desperate to call her up and ask if she'll see me but how can I?"
"You absolutely and definitely must not call her or try to see her under any circumstances. Her husband is a government minister. You could lose your career. It's just not worth that Elvis." Charlie told him sternly. "Absolutely no way - do you hear me?"
But Elvis wasn't listening, his attention was already elsewhere, on the phone that was vibrating in his pocket. Charlie saw the puzzled expression that crossed Elvis' face as he checked the caller number before putting the phone to his ear.
"Who was that?" Charlie asked, intrigued by the look on Elvis' face as he hung up the call.
Elvis, who was still staring at his phone, just shook his head and said in disbelief, "It was Cameron Stephens, Georgie's husband. He wants me to go and see her. Apparently she's not doing so well and she's been asking for me...a lot!"