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Warning. This scene contains smut (quite explicit - for me anyway). If that is not your cup of tea and you would still like to know what happens in the chapter then either send me a PM or an email (it's on my profile page) and I'll send you a PG version.
"Alright Dag?" Bors walked up to his cousin who was pulling tight a stretch of barbed wire over a gap in the main fence. The big man was wearing gloves, but Bors could not help but notice the trickle of blood that ran down the edges of them and into his sleeve. Dagonet had been working non stop since the bombs had gone off, and knowing him as he did, Bors could see his exhaustion despite his best attempts to camouflage them. "Give that a rest for a minute and come and have something to eat."
"Haven't got much left to do," Dagonet replied quietly. Tightening the wire with a grunt of effort he held out his hand. "Pass me that nail would you?"
Bors picked up a nail from the pile half hidden in the grass and passed it over. Dagonet wouldn't budge now that he had a mission to fulfil - experience had taught him that much - and the best he could do for his friend and cousin would be to help him fulfil it. Picking up a sledgehammer from the pile of tools, he whacked in a new post with a few hefty and therapeutic slams of the hammer. There were no spare gloves, so he waited until Dagonet had unravelled the wire before finding a nail to pin it to the post.
"I'm sorry about Fulcinia," he said quietly, pretending to sort through the pile of nails. "She seemed like a good woman."
"Barely knew her." Dagonet took the nail from Bors' hand and slammed it into the post so hard that the wood splintered. "Shit."
Wordlessly, Bors went to the other side of the post and between them they lifted the broken part away. Tossing it to one side, Dagonet picked up another from the row lined up and slammed it into the ground with such forcefulness that Bors picked up the sledgehammer and refused to hand it over. Hammering in the new post , Bors stopped to wipe his brow with the back of his hand.
"I understand you wanting to hit the shit out of something, but we're running out of posts. And don't tell me Fulcinia was nothing to you. I've known you for the past forty years you daft cunt - You were crap at lying when you were a kid and you're crap at lying now."
Dagonet whirled around, and for a moment Bors was certain that the taller man was going to punch him. Instead he unclenched his fists and shrugged wearily.
"I dunno Bors. Yeah, you're right I liked her. Managed to do fuck all to save her though didn't I." He gave a bitter laugh. "Don't you ever get tired of all this death?"
"Yeah." Bors' eyes were direct and honest as they met Dagonet's. Reaching out a hand, he squeezed his cousin's shoulder and gave a rueful smile. "That's why we're here though isn't it. That Saxon bastard'll show his face sooner or later, and when he does…"
"We take him down." Dagonet gave a faint huff of a laugh. "Bring it on." Bending down he picked up a nail and passed it to Bors. "Maybe you should do the hammering for a bit."
Arthur walked through the compound, grimly surveying the scenes of devastation that had been wrought the previous day. The air was still acrid with smoke, and the tension in the camp was so thick that it raised the hairs upon his neck. A part of him thanked God that Saxon had not attacked the previous night, but another part felt sick with worry. All of them here were sitting ducks, and unless he did something about it, soon to be dead ducks. Guinevere walked beside him, her hands shoved in the pockets of her coat, her head down to escape the accusing glares of some of the soldiers. News spread fast at the Wall, and it was no longer a secret that Merlin had conveniently disappeared just as the bombs had gone off.
"It'll be alright," he said quietly, but although her lips twitched in an attempt at a smile, he knew that his words sounded as hollow to her as they did to him.
"Tristan!" Arthur called out to the taciturn northerner who was helping Galahad and a number of refugees clear the entrance to the munitions bunker. "A word please."
The scout left the others without a word and Arthur watched him lope over to them. Glancing over at the people working he felt his gut twist. If the doors to the bunker hadn't been lead lined, or Saxon had had access to stronger explosives, then the whole camp would have gone up like Pompeii.
"How soon, Sir?" Tristan's voice was calm and polite, but the question caught Arthur off guard.
"How soon until what?" The scout's amber eyes held a hint of amusement, but the tension in him reminded the Commander of a race-horse waiting for starters orders.
"Reckon you'd be wanting me to have a look at what Saxon and his bitch are up to. No offence," he said, as an afterthought, glancing at Guinevere.
Arthur shook his head and laughed. "I'm glad that you're on our side. What do you reckon - fancy a walk in the countryside?"
"Nothing I'd like better, Sir." Tristan's eyes positively gleamed. "When?"
"Dusk. No point sending you out there in full daylight to be used as target practice. And before you get too excited this is recon only - no engaging with the enemy. You're no good to us dead." At Tristan's slightly disappointed look he gave a wry smile. "Don't worry, we'll all be fighting soon enough. Do you want to take Merlin's scouts with you?"
The unspoken question hung between them. Do you trust them to go with you?
"I'd rather go alone. Less chance for being seen, and less chance of getting caught," he replied after a moments pause. "No offence," he said, glancing at Guinevere, "but I'm better off working on my own."
She nodded and gave a small smile. "Understandable."
"I think it's best we keep this quiet, just incase. Did you get any sleep last night?"
Tristan looked almost guilty. "Some," he said eventually.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, catching the obvious lie. "Well if you can then grab a few hours this afternoon, I want you fresh and alert tonight. Make sure you get something decent to eat too - I'm sure that Kate will oblige you if you ask her."
Tristan abruptly looked away. "Where shall I meet you?"
"The back of the shower barracks at sunset. Make sure that you are well armed, and get Burgess to check your rifle."
Tristan's eyes flashed with irritation, but Arthur held firm. "We've all been under a lot of stress, even the best of us can miss things sometimes - I'm not having anyone dying because of something stupid like a faulty firing pin."
Arthur almost smiled. For all of Tristan's aloof air of danger, for a moment there he'd looked like a little boy being told that he had to share his favourite toy.
"Yes, Sir. Anything else?"
Arthur shook his head. "You have your orders, but remember that they include getting some rest and food."
Tristan gave a grunt that might have been acquiescence before nodding swiftly and jogging back to the munitions bunker. What are the odds that he follows any of those orders, Arthur thought ruefully. Turning towards Guinevere, he was surprised to see her looking over at what was left of the kitchens, a faint smirk upon her lips. Seeing only Kate, the serving girl, sorting undamaged cans of food into piles, Arthur was at a loss as to what had her so amused and said so. She merely smiled at him, her dark eyes bright and knowing and shrugged.
"Girl stuff." Walking off towards the refugee camp, she glanced over her shoulder. "Come on, we've got an army to sort out."
"It's a splinter, Alice," Gawain said mildly. Holding out his palm he pointed at the small dark mark that marred the fleshy heel of his thumb. "I'm not going to die and I've got work to do."
Alice huffed a lock of her hair out of her eyes and glared at the big blond man. "Either you come with me willingly and I'll get it out with tweezers, or I'll drag you to the infirmary."
Eying Alice's slender form that was a good eight inches shorter than his, Gawain couldn't help smirking. "You and whose army?"
Alice narrowed her eyes and gave a pointed look at his groin. "I didn't say that I'd drag you there by the arm."
"Jesus woman! Don't scare a man like that! " Gawain's blue eyes widened and met Alice's implacable gaze. "What were you, some sort of torture expert for the Mafia before the Txzero?"
Alice's mouth pursed in a smile that she could not entirely hide. "Nope, I was a student. But I had four shelves worth of horror movies and some of them were pretty graphic, so I reckon I'd know what I was doing if I had to, you know.." She glanced down at his crotch again.
Feeling a little hot under the collar, and not entirely out of fear when it came to Alice looking at his crotch, Gawain surprised her by grabbing her hand and marching off towards the infirmary. "Come on then, let's get this over with."
Sarah and Sacha, the two blonde women who had been brought from Merlin's camp looked up as they entered the low building, but no-one else seemed to take much notice of them. After the day before's panic and hustle, the big room was quiet, most of the patients asleep. A dozen or so men and women were in the kitchen disinfecting surgical instruments, and further along in the big room to the right, Alice could hear Dr Pullman, the fort's surgeon giving a lecture to those he had selected to teach.
"Have you got a pair of tweezers?" Gawain asked Sacha, the younger of the two blonde nurses. "Alice has it in her head that my arm is going to drop off if I don't get a splinter out."
Sacha looked confused, but at the frantic head shaking of the girl behind the big Samartian, she stifled a laugh and pretended to check her pockets. "Sorry," she said innocently. "Sarah, got any tweezers on you?" she quietly called to her friend.
Sarah, who had watched the exchange with amusement shook her head. "Sorry. Try the room right at the end, past the old doctors' quarters. There's probably some in a drawer there."
"Thank-you ladies." With a nod and a smile Gawain strode off down the corridor, oblivious to both nurses giving a blushing Alice two thumbs up as she hurried to keep up with him.
The old doctors ' quarters were dark and dingy, set in a little corridor to the left of the main room, and Gawain paused, thinking he'd gone the wrong way.
"This room," Alice said decisively, pushing open a door that was marked EXAMENING ROOM in bold stencilled letters. Gawain eyed the sign and inwardly shivered at the thought of being under the knife of someone who didn't even have basic spelling skills. The room itself wasn't much better. A dull bulb illuminated a drab set of cupboards and shelves set on a wall painted a yellowing white. In the middle of the room a big diagnostic chair sat imposing, and given its lack of use, almost forlorn.
Closing the door behind them, Alice carefully wedged the door shut with the chair that had been sat in the corner.
"There." Carefully patting the stainless steel top of the chair, she didn't look around.
"Alice?" Shutting the door to one of the cabinets, he had started to rummage through, Gawain looked at her with a mixture of concern and surprise. "If the Saxons are going to attack then we won't want to be stuck down here, and I'm pretty sure that a chair isn't going to hold them back if they do."
"It's not to keep back the Saxons." Alice gave him a look as though they were in a play and this was his cue.
Gawain looked at her blankly, utterly confused. "You're afraid of Sarah and Sacha?" he asked incredulously. "Why? What have they done? Do you want me to have a word with…"
"Oh for goodness sake," Alice said in exasperation. "Didn't you ever see a movie before the virus? Pearl Harbour?" Gawain winced. "Armageddon?" Gawain winced again.
"Alice you've got terrible taste in films, but I reckon I'm missing something here."
Alice crossed her arms and looked at him defiantly. "This is the part where the girl says goodbye to the man she really likes before he goes off to fight and probably get killed. I mean I'm no Kate Beckinsale of Liv Tyler, and you're no Ben Affleck or, actually scratch that you're better looking than Ben Affleck - he always had that weird chin thing and…" Noting Gawain's incomprehension she covered her face with her hands. "Oh shit, this was a really bad idea wasn't it. I'm sorry…"
"Alice." Gawain had crossed the room before the first tear of humiliation had had time to traverse her cheek, and gently kissing it away, he tipped her face up and cradled it in his big hands. Dragging her gaze up to meet his warm blue gaze, she couldn't help but feel her embarrassment melt away. "Gorgeous, brave, totally mental Alice." He paused briefly to give her a kiss of such depth and intensity that any hesitation she had felt was swept away. "You could have just asked."
"Read too many romance novels when I was younger I reckon," she mumbled. "Got things a bit over-complicated."
"Might as well simplify things then." Stroking her cheek with his thumb, he smiled at her tenderly. "Are you sure?" She nodded, wide eyes sparkling and lifted her head up to kiss him.
Lifting her up on to the examining table without breaking the kiss, Gawain gathered up Alice's -shirt and with her help drew it up over her head. Her bra was a grubby white, her breasts overflowing from it, and reaching around, he unhooked the clasp and helped her wriggle free of it. Kissing the red marks made where it had dug into tender flesh, he felt rather than heard her breathy giggle.
"God I hate that bra…oh.."
He found one nipple and suckled gently, rolling the other with his fingers. She yelped when he bit down lightly, and despite his almost painful state of arousal he smiled.
"People in the next room, Alice, don't want to disturb them."
"Cocky bastard," she said breathlessly. Pushing him away she fumbled at the buttons on the front of his shirt, and giving up, dragged it down his arms. All she managed to do was trap his arms at his waist, and with a huff of irritation she attacked the bottom few buttons holding the shirt together.
"Sweet Alice," Gawain murmured. Dropping his head he kissed and licked her shoulder and felt her breath panting hot against his belly. God if he got much harder he was going to come in his pants like a schoolboy..
She finally got the buttons undone, and made no time in unbuckling his belt and his flies, shoving both his cammos and his boxers down in one go. As his straining erection sprang free he could not resist a groan, and taking him in her hand, Alice looked up at him wickedly.
"Quiet now, people in the next room."
"I'll give you quiet," he bit out through clenched teeth. She'd already kicked off her shoes, so it only took a moment to strip off her jeans and underwear. Alice gave a yelp when he unceremoniously flipped her onto her back and hauled her legs over his shoulders, but he noticed, when he looked up from between her legs, her silence was more to do with the fact that she was biting down hard on her fist rather than anything else. He pushed her hard with his tongue and lips, feeling her thighs grip him, her core clench around his fingers. Once, twice, she came, until he felt her hand on his forehead pushing him away.
"No more," she gasped. "Please Gawain I can't.."
He lowered her legs and she let them hang from the side of the bed, rubbery as a rag doll. Struggling up onto her shoulders, she looked at him with glazed eyes, dark hair plastered to flushed skin. Swallowing hard, she gave a vague nod towards the top right cupboard. " Condoms. In the back, behind the bandages."
He'd planned on just pulling out before he came, but this was a far better option. On shaky legs he made the few steps to the cupboard, and shoving aside a neat row of bandages, found a box of Durex's finest. Ripping over the top of the box he scattered a little silver fountain of foil wrapped squares on the bed, and Alice gave a breathless laugh.
"Jesus, how much stamina do you have?" Knocking away his hand , she grabbed a packet, ripped it open with her teeth and rolled it down his cock so slowly that Gawain had to bite down hard so as not to lose control.
"Alice.." he gritted out.
"'s ok," she murmured. "I've got you." Positioning him at her entrance, she tugged at his shoulders and he slid in as though they were two parts of the same puzzle. Gawain held still for a moment, holding his breath, sweat rolling down his face. Alice stroked her hands over his broad shoulders, his trembling arms, and when he opened his eyes, she met his almost desperate kiss with equal passion. He started thrusting slow and easy, but both of them were near the brink , and it wasn't long before he was riding her hard. Reaching down he stroked where they were joined in time to their thrusts, and when Alice bit down hard on his shoulder and he felt her shudder beneath him it wasn't long before he followed her over the edge.
For a moment he lay upon her dazed and sweaty, vaguely aware of her breasts squashed against his chest, her hand smoothing down his spine like some smooth lullaby half remembered.
"Gawain?" Alice's voice was hoarse, and lifting his head, he realised that it wasn't just from the afterglow of passion.
"Sorry." He felt so boneless that falling on his ass was a very real possibility, but without much grace he managed to get off her, discard the condom in the trash bin and haul himself up on the bed. Propping himself on one elbow, he tucked Alice against him. "You alright?"
She dropped her head back and studied him sleepily. "Perfect. You?"
"Reckon you've worn me out." Giving a deep sigh, he nuzzled her shoulder. "You planned all this then." It wasn't a question.
"Not really." She wriggled around to face him. "I mean I thought about me and you before." Her face flushed, and Gawain smiled.
"I thought about you and me too."
"I dunno." She frowned. "No point waiting is there? Might not be a tomorrow - might not even be a tonight. Fulcinia liked Dagonet and look what happened to her." She felt her eyes well up with tears and blinked them away rapidly. "Probably could have done without a condom - not like even if I get pregnant I'd live to have the baby."
"Hey." Gawain tucked his hand under her chin. "None of that alright. You give up now then they've already won. You've got me watching your back, you've got the rest of my boys and we've all got Arthur."
"Arthur's one man," Alice whispered. "All of you are human."
"And the Saxons are animals, so that gives us a head start." Giving a reassuring smile and letting Alice go, he sat up and shoved the discarded, and now slightly squashed, condoms back in their box before putting it back in the cupboard. "If I had a choice then I'd stay here forever, but we've got duties."
"The hell with duties," Alice murmured, wriggling back into her clothes. Gawain, a faster dresser, waited for by the door, but she motioned him back to the bed.
"Strictly professional," she said wryly when he raised an eyebrow at her. Taking a pair of tweezers from a drawer and his palm in her hand, she carefully drew out the tiny splinter. "See," she said, giving the tiny wound a kiss. "Now you won't get gangrene and have to have your arm amputated."
"My thanks." Ruffling her hair, he took her hand, and led her back through the medical bay. Amongst the sleeping or medicated wounded, Sarah and Sacha looked angelic - their white dresses and bright hair gleaming under the harsh fluorescent lights. Both looked up as she passed and gave sweet non-judgemental smiles, and Alice smiled back at them. Squeezing Gawain's hand she squared her jaw as they climbed the steps back up to the ravaged fort.
There were still things worth fighting for.
A/N. Umm yeah *blushes* If f anyone has any comments to make on this chapter then I would appreciate it. The scene between Gawain and Alice was pretty tricky to write so any feedback is more than welcome. Next chapter will be a lot more Tristan based for obvious reasons.
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter - really, I do appreciate it. (cheers lovely anony-mice Claire, anon, Spy girl, Rachel, Lisa, Claire and my girl Arre)