Silence often speaks a thousand words. As the rest of the group slowly shuffled out of the room, Assam stooping to scoop up the shattered tea cup, Henry's mind raced in an attempt to find the words he wanted to say. He could feel Darjeeling's intense stare scanning his face like an x-ray in the hospital, as he awkwardly shifted in his wheelchair with his eyes focused on the floor.

Her slipper clad feet silently drifted over the floor towards him as he still struggled to get his brain to connect with his tongue.

"Unlike you to be so quiet." Darjeeling softly spoke as she came close to him, just out of arms reach.

Henry shrugged, "I had a plan in my brain, but as you know-"

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, yes." They shared a soft chuckle

"I am mad at you."

"I don't blame you, I watched a recording in the hospital. With the benefit of hindsight, that was not a good idea."

She wrapped her arms around her midriff, "Do you know how scared I was watching that? Seeing you fly out of that tank and bounce like a rubber toy?"

Henry finally looked up from the floor into her eyes, seeing them watering slightly. Never in all of his three years at the school had he seen Darjeeling cry, he didn't think it was possible.

"Hey look….I" he sighed "I've got a lot that I want to say to you…but I can't possibly begin to fathom how you felt watching me….but what I can understand is how I felt when I woke up and I was told you'd spent almost a week watching me…"

Her breath hitched slightly, clearly struggling to fight back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks at any moment.

"I don't quite know how to formulate what I'm trying to say properly but…Darling you mean an awful lot to me, and I'm so, so sorry for having to put you through what I did. I was an idiot and didn't think about anything but winning at that point. The turret viewpoint was clogged with mud and I couldn't see anything and I was worried we'd lose if I didn't see what was going on, I completely disregarded by own safety and that of my crew by opening that hatch."

Darjeeling was quiet for a moment, before bursting into the widest smile he'd ever seen on her face. "Well that'll do."

"That's your response?"

"No…" she quickly closed the gap between them and cupped his face, leaning down and capturing his lips with hers in a soft kiss, a gentle moving of lips that said everything between the two of them. Actions do speak louder than words after all.

There was a sudden shriek, accompanied by a cacophony of yelling and banging as the door to the kitchen burst open and Rosehip fell through, followed by the other girls whilst the lads looked on abashedly.

"You know they were there the whole time didn't you?" Henry smirked at Darjeeling

"Well, Assam does like her gossip…"

"I take offence to that statement…" came the muffled respond somewhere in the pile of bodies.

"All's well that ends well then skipper?" asked Richard with a smirk on his face.

"Well yes and no, I still can't get in a bloody tank." Henry shook his encased leg to emphasise the point.

"Give it time, you'll be out there in no time. Now I get to play nurse." Darjeeling smirked, this news was accompanied by a burst of laughter from everyone else in the room as Henry turned an extraordinary shade of white at the prospect of being nursed by his girlfriend. Someone who was quite notorious for being -extremely- eccentric when it came to that sort of thing.

Three days later

The St Gloriana training field

Henry peered through his binoculars down onto the training ground, the team was returning to training for the first time after the match, with the return of their Captain the male side was reinvigorated and returned to their tanks with an enthusiasm previously unseen. The incident had shook everyone up, and reminded them that they could always be better than what they currently are.

For today's exercise the men were splitting into half, the Anti-tank squad and half the Valentines were on the defensive, whilst the Comet, being temporarily led by Tim, and the Cromwells and other half of the Valentines were on the attack. The aim was for the defenders to survive for as long as possible.

What Henry wanted for the team to achieve from this was the ability to react to certain situations, in this case that of either A. Overwhelming fire from a dug in position or B. The charge of a superior force. He was sat on a chair on the platform of the Watch tower with his leg resting on a stool, on a small coffee table next to him sat a wireless radio, picking up comms from both sides.

The Male team was training on their own today, as the women were off participating in a small friendly match against Chi-Ha Tan. Considering the opponent, the school had decided just to ship the team and their tanks off to the match, so the men were left back on the Ark Royal kicking their feet. Henry had his phone open on the news website, watching the live reporting coming in, as bursts of chatter came from the radio. He was also accompanied by two of Assam's little group of wannabe spies, one male and one female, both of whom were also watching the tanks battle it out below and made notes in their small notebooks, often comparing them.

Matthew Davenport had command of the attacking team, facing him was Clarence Norton. Norton had dug in around a small hill, placing his three inch gun carrier in the centre and having the more manoeuvrable tanks surround him. The back of the hill was steep and covered in larger rocks which the tank treads of the Cromwells would not be able to climb, so that flank was secure. All in all it was a decent position, however, Davenport was known for being wily and hot headed and an all out push could overwhelm the defenders, though at a high cost for the attacking side.

Norton was certainly more defensive minded, hence why he was in command of the three inch gun carrier, it was the most un-manoeuvrable and vulnerable of all the St Gloriana tanks, which is why a good position is key for it to perform to the best of it's ability. The attacking side started making probing attacks, sending in their two Valentines. Henry watched this with a keen eye, the Valentines were certainly outclassed by the Cromwells and the Comet, so he could see why Davenport was using them to scout out the positions, however if they lost them this early on, that is two tanks less for the big push.

As the tanks were trading shots, a shell from one of the defending Avengers scored a direct hit on the hull of the Valentine, knocking it out. The remaining one reversed at a rapid speed, not wanting to share the fate of it's comrade. The attacking team obviously decided that was enough, and like hounds baying for the blood of the hunt, they swept forward in one big wave heading towards the tidal wall that was the stout defenders of the hill. Norton responded coolly, ensuring all the tanks had positioned themselves to face the charge. Davenports Cromwell led the way, indicated by the flapping crimson pennant, followed swiftly by Henry's own Comet.

Enthusiastic yelling and hooting came over the radio, forcing Henry to roll his eyes and turn the volume down as the two analysts next to him chuckled. The attackers were now shooting on the move, the only hit being caused by the Comet, as Richard managed to land a direct hit on one of the Avengers. The Defenders retaliated in kind, being dug in they were able to take their time and line up their shots, knocking down two of the advancing Cromwells and sending them skidding into the dirt.

Davenport began yelling orders into the radio and a heated exchange followed

"Split up damn it! You're like a flock of sheep being herded into a pen."

"You were the one who decided to charge head on!" Percy Browning, the last remaining Cromwell alongside Davenport spat into the radio. "Now they outnumber us!".

The Comet fired again and took a Valentine down, Richie swerving quickly to avoid a returning shell from the three inch.

"Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind focusing on the battle instead of arguing?" Tim's voice cut through the ruckus. Henry shook his head, his commanders all enjoyed butting heads and were so used to having him there to sort them out and control them on the field. Although if he was being honest with himself, he had the same problem when he was in play. Hot headedness was a common issue amongst the men of St Gloriana.

"Bollocks, I'm down." Edward Langdon, the last remaining attacking Valentine reported across the radio.

"Sod this, Full frontal charge now!."

The remaining three attacking tanks pushed forwards, two Cromwells and a Comet versus a Three inch gun carrier, an avenger and a Valentine. The Avenger and Valentine both rotated their turrets to take out Davenport's Cromwell, his driver successfully avoided the first shell, but the second one hit him dead centre.

The other Cromwell swiftly followed, leaving just Henry's Comet. The Radio went dead as all the crews focused on the task at hand, as skilled as the Comet's crew were they couldn't take on all three remaining tanks head on, they managed to gun the tank straight through the defensive lines, skidding through the dirt and popping off a shot which collided with the three inch, causing it's white flag to pop out, but the momentum of the charge caused the Comet to wobble on it's axis before flipping over onto it's side leaving the defending team as the victors.

Henry sighed, 'I just can't leave them on their own, can I?'. His leg couldn't heal quickly enough.