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Chapter 17
The Bonds of Love
Part Three
0630 – Hereford, UK
Georgie felt giddy as she walked into the Medical Training Center. Despite a twinge of morning sickness she had a bounce in her step thinking about the properties she and Elvis had narrowed down for their consideration late last night. There was one dwelling in particular that Elvis fancied and Georgie wholeheartedly agreed. It was located in a rural setting with an expansive back yard. Elvis was planning to contact the estate agent during their lunch break today and Georgie could hardly wait. They do need more space now. The baby will need a nursery and Laura will need a room of her own when she stays over in Hereford. In fact, Laura will be spending a long weekend with them in a matter of days to celebrate Easter. These will be happy moments and Georgie clung to the notions with anticipation. She and Elvis were finally getting back to some sense of normalcy in their lives. He had mended properly and now they were expecting their first child together. Then the Jones Affair surfaced, as she fancied calling Elvis' latest domestic mission. Hopefully the investigation will not take that long, she thought, then smiled inwardly as she draped her jacket over a hook. Things never move quickly in the military.
"And a fine, happy day to ya Corporal Mrs. Harte." Peters said with a flourish.
"Good morning Sergeant." Georgie responded lightly and waved her hand in the air as they passed by each other. Peters was stunned. She appeared to be walking on air. He was stood with his mouth agape and bushy eyebrows dipping.
"Is this another phase then?" He asked as she flitted around him preparing the simulation drills for the morning.
"Phase?" She asked, stopping to give him the once over.
"Affirmative. Phhaaassse."
"I don't follow."
"Any other day ya come in here all serious and down to task. Todaaaay you're light as a feather."
Georgie laughed. "Consider yourself lucky." She said winking at him.
"Me lucky?!" Nah! I'm thinkin maybe you got lucky or some such….oh shit…sorry." He said wincing.
She laughed again. "You're beginning to dig a rather deep one here I'm afraid." She said.
"You are right. Yes. Well I reckon I should just crawl me arse into said hole now and be done with it." He said as his cheeks blossomed in crimson. Georgie raised her eyebrows at him as she silently concurred. There was always a fine line wasn't there?
"It's just…well….I'm not used to working alongside a woman, ya know…I mean no disrespect mind." He said wiping his now sweaty palms on his shirt front. Georgie dug around inside of her Bergen and looked up at him.
"You have been working alongside of me for one year sir." Now she had him in the crosshairs…..seconds ticked by.
"Right. I have…I just…"
"Sergeant Peters, I'm used to you lot, yeah? I've been deployed with all male platoons, I know all about testosterone, poor taste in jokes, some good jokes too actually, ya name it."
"Well said." He responded wiping his hands again. "But yer husband will launch me arse over the Beacons if he knew how I was talkin to ya."
"No argument there." She said, then mumbled, "Unless I launch ya myself." Peters did not quite catch the gist of the mumble and decided he did not really want to know. He suspected it was something unsavory and it involved him. He cleared his throat instead. Georgie rolled her eyes. She actually enjoyed the banter with Peters. She knew he was benign and her tales of the day with him always tickled Elvis.
"Yer feelin better with the pregnancy, that's it, yeah?" He said decisively changing the subject.
"I am. Thank you."
He cleared his throat again. "Well good on you. Makes for a happy work day."
"Indeed it does." She said glancing at the wall clock. 0700 hours. She moistened her lips with her tongue and sucked in a deep breath. The briefing was about to commence.
Xxxxx
0700 –
Elvis was sat in Colonel Jonathan Godfrey's office. His feet were planted comfortably on the floor, his posture erect and after a few taps of his thumbs and fingers on the chair arms, he became completely relaxed. He was focused. He knew what was coming.
"Fancy a refill on your brew?" Godfrey asked before taking his seat behind the desk.
"Nah I'm good. Thank you sir"
"Oooohh. Here we go….." Godfrey said as his laptop lit up with the incoming call from Colonel Dave Warner. He angled the screen so that Elvis could see as well. "Good morning Dave." Godfrey said robustly.
"Morning Jon. We have a secure connection?" Warner asked.
Godfrey looked up at Elvis. "Affirmative. The only other party present is Captain Harte."
"Good morning Elvis."
"Good morning sir."
"So Jon, I sent you an encrypted email surrounding the nature of this briefing minus a few details of course" Warner said.
"I have read it. There is to be an investigation of which Elvis is to be involved in."
"Indeed. We have some goings on that need addressed ASAP and unfortunately SF are involved. But only because you have a recruit who is under investigation for falsifying his application to service, among other things." Warner said.
"He goes now! Dave, who is it? Godfrey said pressing his hand firmly around his brew.
"Adam Jones." Warner answered and Godfrey almost crushed the ceramic mug. His eyes immediately shot to Elvis.
"The fuck you say. Does Wes know?" Godfrey all but spat.
"Negative and it will remain as such for now. Actually Colonel Jones is also under investigation. Only you and Elvis are privy to Internal Affairs involvement. Baxter has made that perfectly clear."
"Are we pulling Recruit Jones now?" Godfrey asked.
"Negative. But soon. Elvis we were able to locate the individual who filed the complaint against Adam Jones. We have her statement and as such are now able to further build the case against Wes Jones." Elvis slowly nodded with a smirk on his face.
"No other Directing Staff are privy? Including Pettigrew?" Godfrey asked, looking at Elvis again.
"Pettigrew is not to be advised of a single thing." Warner said. "Elvis will basically be undercover until we deem it necessary to appear on site. Jon, you need to be aware as well that Sergeant Blythe will be under close protection due to her historic involvement with these two suspects. Elvis has Sergeant Blythe decided on her accommodations?"
"Affirmative sir. She will remain on base." Elvis said. "It would seem at this point that neither Jones is aware of her presence 'ere."
"Good. For now we conduct business as usual. I will be in touch with further developments." Warner said.
"Roger Dave. We remain on standby." Godfrey said.
"Have a nice holiday you two." Dave Warner said and then disappeared from the screen.
Godfrey eyed his captain. "What the fuck happened Elvis?"
"You knew how I felt about the Jones.' I mentioned it to Dave during a chat." Elvis said calmly.
"Perfectly aware he is with Internal Affairs now."
"Affirmative sir."
Godfrey stared at him hard. Elvis never wavered. "If the nephew goes that piece of shit will show up here."
"Piece of shit sir?" Elvis said with a laugh.
"He will be like a preening fucking peacock walking around here." Godfrey said standing with such force his chair hit back against the wall.
"You been mates long?" Elvis cheeked.
"Adversaries more like it." Godfrey said snatching his mug from the desk. "I thought you were taking a few days leave Elvis."
"I am sir. A long weekend to be exact. But I will be available. I am not leaving Hereford."
Xxxxx
0830 –
Georgie was watching her medics work through their combat triage drills and felt the mobile vibrating in her back pocket. She quickly turned and pulled it out. It was Elvis. "Go on."
"Things are set in motion. I will 'ave to be available for calls but otherwise we are good to go.
I'll ring Debs tonight to confirm. She already said she would make the train ride with Laura to the station."
"That's great Elvis. I was worried you would be kept on base." She said rubbing her forehead.
"Nah we're good. If need be you may 'ave to ride back to London with her."
"That's fine. I'll talk to Peters."
"OK babe. I'll make contact at noon. Then you know wha?'" He said playfully.
"I hope we can schedule a tour Elvis that would be brilliant!" She said happily.
"I know. I gotta go. Later. Love you."
"Love you too.."
Xxxxx
… Two days later …
0730 - Hereford, UK
"Daddy! Daddy!"
Elvis sat bolt upright in bed. His reaction startling Georgie as much as the sound of Laura calling out to her father. As Elvis shook off his instinct to fight he flung the bed covers away and shot out of the bed. No sooner was he on his feet, they both heard….
"I found one!"
His face exploded into a delighted smile as he glanced at Georgie. She sat up equally pleased and they heard Laura squeal, "I found two more!"
"Best get to it Daddy." Georgie said laughing as Elvis hurriedly donned his tee shirt. He was like an excited child. "You'll be late for Easter Parade!"
He really grinned then. "Shut up!"
"What is it with you and being late for parades?" She jested as she hurried out of bed to join her husband.
"You pipe down! I was mostly late 'cause of you as I recall."
"That's true." She said self-satisfied, finger combing her hair and pushing at him to open the door. "Ya weren't complaining then captain."
He laughed and they peeked out and found Laura on her hands and knees searching under the sofa. The white basket that was left on her nightstand by the Easter Bunny was close at hand.
"I gotcha!" She chirped as her body slid halfway under the piece of furniture. Elvis chuckled as he crouched down to watch his daughter strain to grab the coveted prize.
"Ya need back up?" He asked smothering a laugh.
"No! I got it!" Laura said shimmying out. "This is a big one!" She announced triumphantly holding up a boxed chocolate egg. Georgie lovingly rubbed Elvis' back as she padded past him.
"How many do ya 'ave?" He asked. Laura rushed over tilting the basket to show him.
"Wow!" Georgie exclaimed.
"Look! And the little foil eggs were lying next to me when I woke. He must have hopped onto the bed with me!"
Elvis fought to remain serious. "Well the Easter Bunny does have strong legs." He said as Laura moved to hug him. Georgie watched them with a warm smile on her face. She subconsciously placed a hand on her tummy. Elvis is such a good father. She cannot wait to see him with their newborn.
"Laura did you see, the bunny ate the carrot you left for him?" Georgie said. The child pulled away from Elvis and rushed to Georgie.
"I saw! He did leave some crumbs though." Laura said pointing to the carrot shavings Elvis had scattered on the table top. Georgie grinned and looked up at him.
"He didn't save me any?" Elvis asked
"No daddy! He was hungry after hiding all of my treats! Maybe he left you an egg." Laura giggled.
"Yeah. One egg should do it." Elvis said stretching and scratching the back of his head. Georgie recognized his cheekiness and both adults looked at each other and smiled.
"We 'ave to get ready for church honey so let's eat somethin. There may be other places the Easter Bunny hid things so we can recon when we get back." Elvis said tousling Laura's dark blond locks.
"OK daddy. Can I eat a chocolate egg now?"
"Just one."
She looked in the basket and pulled out three of the small foil-covered eggs. "Here we can all have one." She said showing them the brightly colored eggs in her little hand.
Happy Easter!
