Eleanor woke to darkness. She was still, letting her eyes adjust, her ears listen for any sounds. It was cold, quiet except for a rhythmic beeping. She turned her head in that direction, a wave of pain behind her eyes at the movement. A heart monitor was on a stand next to her. She was in hospital. She exhaled and let the darkness wash over her once more.

The next time she woke, it was day, the sun too bright for her eyes. She narrowed them against the sun, and looked around. She was in a private room, so it wasn't the base infirmary with it's curtains hanging between each bed. She was alone and it was still quiet, just the beeping of the monitor.

It didn't hurt as much to move, so she tried to sit up, immediately encountering resistance when she moved her arms to prop herself up. Her left arm in a cast from her wrist to above her elbow. Her right arm was fine, so she sat up, regretting it as a sharp pain shot through her head. She did it though, and was able to see out of the small window in the door. People moved about out there, she assumed nurses and physicians.

She looked around the room. It was spacious, filled with flowers, the curtains drawn so she couldn't see outside to tell where she was. She was thinking of trying to stand when the door handle turned, so she stayed still instead.

A nurse walked in, jumping in surprise when she saw Eleanor was awake and sitting up.

"Your royal highness!" The woman exclaimed. A British accent. She was home.

"I'm sorry, your royal highness." The physician replied to Eleanor's query about the others. About David. "You were sent here directly from Afghanistan, by command of your family." He went on, saying that this was a private hospital, no military affiliation. They had no idea about the others.

"I came alone?" She asked, and the doctor nodded. He did add that various mates and family members had been in and out of her room the entire time, but she hadn't been lucid enough to know. He went on, listing her injuries, a shattered humerus from the crash that had required surgery, a major concussion and many bumps and bruises.

He was kind and optimistic, saying she could go home in a short while now that she was awake.

"You've been here long enough." He smiled, moving toward the door. She asked him the date, not having a clue.

"January fourth." He replied, leaving.

"Poppet?" Her dad tried again, getting her attention this time. "Are you okay? You seem far away." Eleanor turned from the window to look at her dad, his blue eyes kind.

She hadn't realized he was there. It had been a few days since she woke, but she was still tired all the time, dizzy often, and drifted away, thinking about the desert and David. She asked everyone about him; her father, her brothers, her aunts and uncles. Harry promised to find out. She didn't know his address and his number was in her phone with her things that had been sent to her rooms at Clarence House, but Harry said he would call Peters and see.

"The sergeant; who is he?" Charles asked, coming to sit on her bed, smoothing his starched shirt.

"He's...he's David." She said without elaborating.

"What's his expectation?" Charles asked. Eleanor was confused, and said as much. Charles clarified, so she went on.

"There's no expectation, pop." She replied. "He's coming home, finding a job. We want to see each other."

"Have you promised him anything?" Charles went on. Eleanor's eyes narrowed.

"Not everyone is out to get ahead."

"Eleanor, I know you're smarter than that." The prince said, softening his tone for the harshness of his words. "This bloke is enlisted, you're his superior. This could be a real problem."

"I'm not…I wasn't his superior; we weren't in the same command line." Eleanor said, her voice quiet. If David being enlisted bothered her father, there was no way she was telling him anything else. He wouldn't understand the situation. She just sat instead, answering a few more questions quietly and with as little information as possible.

Finally, after an eternity, her dad stood, kissed her cheek, and left.

Harry came into her room the next morning, sitting on her bed. She pulled up her knees, looking at her brother. They had always been thick as thieves, so she knew from the expression on his face that something was going on.

"Just come out with it." Eleanor snapped, her blood rushing in her ears.

"He's in hospital in Germany." Harry was never one to mince words, but he still hesitated. "They won't release any information, but he's badly injured."

"And his platoon?" She asked quietly, voice shaking.

"I didn't ask." Harry replied. He reached out to take her hand, careful of her cast. "Els, they checked him out." Harry told her, looking at her, mouth in a tight line. "He's been lying to you." She didn't say anything, knowing he would continue. "He's married."

"He didn't lie. I know he's married." She said, exhaling, relieved. She explained the situation, but Harry wasn't convinced.

"Eleanor-."

"No." She was firm. "He's not using me. He...well I don't know how he feels exactly, but I know he's not using me and I don't know if it's love or...or what, but we agreed to see each other when he came home." She went on, repeating how David wasn't re-upping, he was going civvy and getting a job. He was getting a divorce, the divorce his wife had been asking for. They didn't have any expectations of each other except to try.

"He's been in the army for ten years. You're a fucking princess. There's no way he's not using you."

"I know how it looks, but I know he's not using me." She insisted. Harry frowned, but she was sure. "I just...I can't explain it, I just know."

Harry told her a story about when he was deployed for the first time. About how there were so little women on base that eleven men in the same platoon got an sti because they all slept with one woman.

"The ugliest hens are beauty queens in the desert, Els."

"I slept with one man and I know you're not insulting my looks." She knew he meant well; they all meant well, but what she said was true. She knew, deep down, that David wasn't using her. In fact, she had tried to help him and she told Harry that; about how she offered a solicitor, offered to talk to someone about a job, offered to get him a spot to become an officer.

"He said no to all of it." She said. "Can we get him here? I'll pay for it myself." She didn't know what else to do. She knew they wouldn't let her go to him.

Harry shook his head. "He's...it's too serious to move him."

Eleanor felt that familiar burning in her throat as tears pricked at her eyes. She looked away and Harry moved up on the bed to put his arm around her. They watched telly in silence until she fell asleep.