Road to Redemption
Chapter 18
There's A Light on The Road
The following morning Spanner decided he would go for a quick run while waiting for Peanut and Charles to get back from Bath before the second lot of boxes for moving to Cheltenham could be loaded onto the van. He asked if Dangles wanted to come with him
"No thanks mate, I'm on guard duty this afternoon with Fingers"
He remembered that Fingers and Marie lived at the end of the road, Dangles had told him, thing is should he involve himself or walk away. He nodded to himself and walked up the driveway and knocked on the door.
"Bloody hell Spanner what are you doing here?" grinned Fingers as he opened the door and motioned him in.
"Waiting on Major James and Peanut getting back from Bath before loading up the last of his stuff for his move to Cheltenham" he cleared his throat "to Molly's flat" looking at him to gauge his reaction to this news
"Surprised it's taken him this long to be honest, they must have been re-married a couple of months now" he grinned and winked.
"Is Marie about?"
"Upstairs having a lie down mate, she is not sleeping so well these days with the baby pressing down on her bladder all the time."
"Too much info Fingers" laughed Spanner.
"Fancy a cuppa?" he asked turning towards the kettle
"Thanks, and maybe a chat" with that Fingers closed his eyes, not again what has her fucking sister done this time? He made the tea and they went to sit at the garden table.
"Come on then you obviously have something to tell me?"
"Have you heard any rumours about Molly and Cheese?"
"Nah! Other than what I saw at the pool where she flattened the tit" he laughed.
Spanner thought at least Georgie wasn't spreading it all round camp
"Come on then spit it out what's Georgie been saying?"
"That it was Molly and Cheese behind the stores" and Fingers burst out laughing.
"Not a chance mate, she wouldn't do that to the boss and she definitely wouldn't with someone she had clumped like that" Fingers leaned forward holding his mug in both hands "You don't believe it do you?"
"No" he said emphatically "But I am at a loss as to why Georgie would have told someone that it was" Fingers looked down at his mug.
"Well I might be able to help you with that one" he sighed "She's got it into her head that Elvis wants her and the Boss together and Molly is in the way."
"Fuck"
"Exactly" he said shaking his head "She isn't right Spanner, not thinking straight but she won't admit it."
"Do you think she has PTSD?" and Fingers shrugged
"Could be, or maybe it is still grief like they said in Afghan, I'm not a shrink" sighing again "but whatever it is if she won't admit she has a problem then she won't get any help for it. And until she gets the help she needs I wouldn't want her on tour with me as a medic" looking down at his mug again "your boss has already made me have a word with her and then in the hospital I saw her physically wake Molly up to tell her that the Major would never stay with her."
"Good job the Major is moving away then by the sound of it, but until she admits she has issues it won't help Georgie." and Fingers nodded.
Marie was lying on their bed with the window open, she was so hot being this pregnant and they obviously didn't realise that she could hear every word. Hot tears running down her face at what they were saying about her sister.
"Would her family be able to talk with her, convince her she needs help" continued Spanner and Fingers shrugged "I can have a word with Marie but she is so single minded I'm not sure it would. Ever since I first worked with her she was always determined and a little arrogant always thinking she knew better, but she was a bloody good medic and a nice, kind, fun girl, but now it's like she's had a personality transplant. She was never this manipulative and vindictive."
-OG-
Jackie went straight to her office when she arrived in that morning. Katy came bounding in with a mug of coffee for her.
"So, what we going to do about Lane and what she said to Mimi?"
Jackie sighed, "Well bring in Private Rogers and we can have a chat, then I think I need a word with the Lieutenant Hooper."
Mimi was brought into Jackie's office by Katy, her eyes wide with fear as to what she had done to be called in like this. Jackie saw the worry on her face so gave a small smile and invited her to sit
"You have done nothing wrong Private so there's no need to worry, I just need to ask you a few questions about a conversation you had with Corporal Lane yesterday."
You could see the relief sweep across Mimi's face as she realised she wasn't in trouble, hadn't made a mistake. She had been worrying all night about what she should do with what Georgie had divulged and it now looked like her Sarg would listen. Cheese was right, she never should have trusted or believed Georgie, the Sarg was OK and so was Corporal Pearce. After all the Sarg had helped her with her swimming.
"I understand she told you about an incident in Brunei and she was alleging someone from Special Forces was involved" started Jackie thinking she had kept her opening question vague enough to get her to talk and the floodgates opened.
"Cheese told me in Brunei that it was him and Corporal Lane Sarg" she rushed out "But Corporal Lane tried to tell me it was Molly and no one would believe me if I said different because I told lies before."
"What lies Private?"
"I didn't want everyone to know I was brought up in care because my mum was a crack head so I pretended she was a midwife" looking down at her hands her eyes filling with tears and not noticing the look passing between Jackie and Katy
"Does no one know about your past apart from Private Charlton?"
"Well Molly does Sarg, when I was trying to stop Poya from blowing us up I told him and she was there."
"You know she has never told anyone don't you, not even me" said Jackie with a small smile of reassurance as Mimi looked up "You're in the army now, it's a family, we're a team and we look out for each other. It was your story to tell when you were ready" and Mimi gave a watery smile.
Mimi told Sergeant Aston and Corporal Pearce everything that was said when she was working with Georgie.
-OG-
Jackie phoned through to Lieutenant Hooper and made an appointment to see him that afternoon.
She told him all she knew from her conversation with Private Rogers and he nodded his head throughout while fiddling with his pen.
"I have to say I was called to the ops room that day and the Major was livid, problem is we couldn't prove who it was, it was a grainy image and all we could see was the dark plait, the face always hidden and according to Captain Hurst Private Charlton wouldn't say who it was."
As soon as he told her what day it was she gave a wide grin.
"Well I can say with 100% confidence it wasn't Corporal Dawes for definite Sir, she was with me and we were shopping in the town off camp."
Lt Hooper looked down at the pen he was fiddling with "I hadn't realised that it was Major James' wife that was being accused, the Major never brought it up again so Captain Hurst and I just left it as we couldn't prove who the female was."
"Sir, the Major was best friends with Captain Harte, Lane's fiancé. He was on a mission that was led by Major James, there is history there Sir."
"I can see from her records that she has been demoted and some of her decisions, shall we say are questionable, especially in Belize. The Sergeant should have never left them behind but she was adamant that just she should stay with Major James" he shrugged while raising his eyebrows "she has also been held hostage more than once and put the lives of other section member's at risk by deliberately going against express orders and ruining Special Forces operations as a result" he huffed "minimal counselling after Kenya but none since and it would seem has refused to accept the need for any more" he looked up from the file "leave it with me Sergeant, I will speak with Captain O'Brian about next steps"
Jackie stood to leave his office "Thank you Sergeant for bringing it to my attention."
After she had left he phoned through to the office of their Captain and was going to see her in 30 minutes. Next he phoned through to Captain Hurst after all she had been 2 section medic for a number of years. Captain Hurst said he was new to the team so would need to speak with his Colour Sergeant for a full picture and would come back to him before his meeting with Captain O'Brian.
-OG-
Captain O'Brian, Lt Hooper and Captain Hurst had a meeting to discuss the conduct of Corporal Georgie Lane and what had happened both on the Afghan tour and Brunei. It was agreed that they would offer counselling again as an option. Captain Hurst had advised that the section no longer felt confident with her as a Medic, some of her actions questionable and not only didn't always follow orders but used her rank to get lower ranked squaddies to go directly against orders from her CO.
If she refused there was no alternative but to tell her that she would no longer be eligible to be on active service and they would look for a barrack based role for her if she didn't want to resign.
The report from Brigadier Hart was pretty damning so hopefully she would seek the counselling that was on offer as there was no question that she had been a good soldier and even better medic in the past. She contacted the Major that had been on tour with her in Afghan and given the psych evaluation to see if she would be in a position to continue with the counselling. She could and she felt that there were indeed unresolved issues surrounding the death of her fiancé.
She now had all the information needed and contacted Sergeant Aston to bring Corporal Lane to her.
She looked at the woman stood before her, her body language, the arrogant stance; she had a feeling this was going to be a difficult conversation but invited her and her Sergeant to sit.
"Well Corporal Lane it has been brought to my attention that you and a private in the same chain of command were intimate on the last exercise in Brunei"
"That wasn't me Ma'am, I already told the Lieutenant that it wasn't me but a Special Forces person who I saw going out the back of the stores."
"Well as there are very few female Special Forces personnel and the only one that was on that exercise was not on base at the time, but out with Sergeant Aston here, who did you think the operative was?"
"It was Corporal Dawes Ma'am."
"But I've already told you that she was not there."
"Well then I don't know who it was."
"Yet you were adamant you saw Corporal Dawes go behind the stores, so that in fact must have been an outright lie?
Georgie broke eye contact to look down at her boots but didn't respond.
"Corporal Lane we are not immune to the fact that you have been held hostage in the past and lost your fiancé in an explosion in Afghan, do you not think that you could do with some help processing all that has happened to you in the last few years?"
"No, I'm fine Ma'am" she sneered "I just need to keep doing what I am good at and that's being a medic with my section."
Captain O'Brian narrowed her eyes "But they are not your section they are Captain Hurst's section and you were his medic, but it seems the section and Brigadier Hart have reservations about you continuing to be on active service, I believe that the Brigadier asked for an evaluation on your last tour?"
"Well that's because he was going to let Omar go and didn't want to listen to me."
"No, he wasn't, and why should a Brigadier listen to a ranting medic" she cleared her throat "but your unprofessional actions and insubordination got a private shot and Omar was not apprehended like hoped but escaped causing a Special Forces operative to be seriously injured."
"She would have done the same."
"Who is she?"
"Molly, she never followed orders."
"Were not talking about what Corporal Dawes did or didn't do during her career in the army we are talking of you and at this moment I have to say yours is looking very precarious at the moment."
"I'm good at my job" retorted Georgie causing Captain O'Brian to sigh and Jackie to look at her as to what she would say next.
"That is open to interpretation, I would like to offer you counselling to help with what you have had to deal with over the last few years, the kidnapping and the loss of your fiancé, to give you the best opportunity to get yourself fit and well again for active service."
"There is nothing wrong with me."
"That is debatable" the Captain giving her a piercing look "Are you refusing counselling Corporal Lane?"
"I don't need it as I said there is nothing wrong with me and I'm good at my job."
"Unfortunately, we can't force you to accept counselling, part of the healing process is to admit you have a problem and talk about it" she stopped talking for a moment and looked down at the personnel file of Corporal Lane.
"The sections no longer feel they can trust you as a medic so that only leaves us with two options, the first is that you will be removed from active service and assigned to an administrative role within the army and the second being that you choose to leave the army."
"I'm not going into admin Ma'am I don't want to sit behind a desk."
"Are you sure you know what you are saying Corporal Lane?" raising her eyebrow "You will not be on active service while there are doubts about your mental health, if you do not wish to resign then an administrative role is all that is available to you."
"Yes, I want to resign."
"Then I will start the process for you Corporal Lane and I wish you luck in whatever you choose to do in the future" Captain O'Brian stood up "I hope for your sake that you one day seek the help that you so clearly need and don't regret the loss of a career you have thrown away."
"Dismissed Lane, Sergeant Aston stay behind."
-OG-
The last of Charles boxes were loaded into the van with Peanut and Spanner. He took a final look around to make sure that nothing had been left behind. It's not as if this flat held any memories for him except loneliness, where he had moved to after he couldn't face the memories in their home, what he had thrown away without even realising that was what he was doing.
Charles had booked a night for Spanner and Peanut into the Spa Hotel at the end of their road as a thank you for all their help and that would leave him and Molly alone in the flat. They could at least use the Gym or pool.
They drove back in convoy unloading the van before Charles walked them up to show them the hotel he had booked them into for the night. Peanut whistled in appreciation.
"Well next time we have a team night out mate this is where I'll be staying, Jen will love this" grinned Spanner.
"Yeah and so will Laura and I don't get a headache every time I hit that ceiling in their spare room" added Peanut laughing.
"Thanks for all the help guys, we'll come and join you for breakfast" grinned Charles shaking both their hands.
He walked back to the flat and couldn't stop smiling, who would've thought when he met up with Molly on that tour all those months ago this is where he would be today, but he was and he felt complete.
He opened the door to the flat and could smell chocolate as he walked into the hall. He looked up to the top of the stairs to see Molly with one of her huge smiles, in her dressing gown and holding a spatula.
"I thought this might be a special occasion" she grinned down at him her eyes sparkling with mischief. He put his hands behind his head and laughed as he shot up the stairs, pulling his t-shirt off as he went.
-OG-
Three months had passed since Charles had moved into the flat, even half a sleep aware of the slope on the ceilings upstairs. He had settled in well with his new regiment and so far they hadn't been deployed anywhere, but he knew at some point he would be.
Molly's squadron was out of training rotation and back on deployment rotation but had only had a brief mission to Syria to finish off the operation that she had been unable to go on last time because of injury. She had only been gone two weeks and he missed her but she was due home in the evening. Unbeknown to him they had finished up early and got an earlier flight, Peanut driving them all back from Brize.
Charles had a busy day at barracks and had got up especially early so he could finish early and be home for when she arrived. He was in the shower and washing his hair his eyes tight shut as the soap poured down his face and singing one of his favourite songs. He hadn't heard the front door close, he hadn't heard her race up the stairs, didn't see the look of surprise when she found their bed empty, and he didn't see her grin as she found him in the shower and take her grubby combats off. In fact the first he knew was when a pair of hands pinched his arse and scared the shit out of him, causing him to cry out. She had come back early and got in with him. At first he thought that the bruise on her cheek was caused by him jumping out his skin as he swung round and saw the green and mischievous eyes of his wife. But on closer inspection and his thumb gently rubbing over it realised it was days old.
"What happened" he'd asked
"Insurgent"
"What did you do to him" as her arms slunk round his waist and kissed his chest, the water cascading down her hair and back as she held him tight
"He had a limp for a bit" she giggled her hands roaming over his back "Did you miss me" running her leg up and down the outside of his before his hand grabbed her thigh and held it against him
"I think you know I did" he replied before pulling her closer and kissing her hard on the lips and getting to his office early had suddenly become less important.
-OG-
It was full summer now and there was a large shared garden with high walls and several big trees. They had joined a few of the neighbours for a BBQ but this time it was their turn. Blue, Spanner and Peanut were coming with their wives and staying in the Spa Hotel after Spanner and Peanut had extolled its virtues, they had actually stayed there a couple of times when they came to visit.
Dangles and Jackie were staying in their spare room, Brains, Monk and Kingy all staying in one of the many hotels with their other halves.
At the moment it was just the four of them sitting on the Rattan chairs waiting for the rest to turn up, there was a little wooden side gate that would lead them all to the garden.
"You'll never guess Boss, Prof and Cheese have left the army already" he shrugged "Didn't stay long did they?" commented Dangles.
"Indeed" said Charles raising his eyebrows.
"Cheese just vanished no one knows where he went but Prof has gone back to teaching in Manchester."
"Really, I thought he was living in Aldershot with Lane?"
"Well she's left too hasn't she Jacs" confirmed Dangles.
All eyes turned to Jackie who shrugged her shoulders, "it was felt after Brunei that she needed some extra counselling before she could return to active service but she refused to accept it and as a number of sections didn't want her as a medic the only option offered to her was an administrative posting. She declined that too and resigned from the army. She went back to her parents I believe" said Jackie at least trying to sound professional.
"What about her and Prof, aren't they together then Jacs?" asked Molly.
"Dunno for sure Moll, but I think Prof realised she was using him and he didn't want to be more Lane collateral damage."
"Must be hard for Marie though" said Molly "Her sister not about now she has a little boy?"
"Frank Junior certainly seems to have worn them out" laughed Dangles "Fingers looks absolutely shagged out whenever I see him."
"The rest should be arriving shortly I'll go up to bring the ice box and beers down" said Charles standing to walk away from this conversation.
"I'll bring the wine down then Boss" said Jackie laughing and got up to go with him leaving Dangles and Molly chatting.
They were standing together in the kitchen when Jackie spoke, she had seen that fleeting look while they were talking about Lane and Prof before he had an opportunity to mask his feelings.
"Did you know what she was accusing Molly of?"
"Yes, Lane told me but I knew there was no way that was Molly" he grinned "apart from the fact that was the day you and her maxed out your credit card."
Jackie grinned back, "I think we nipped it in the bud early Boss, none of the lads know not even Dangles, she'd go mad if she found out what Lane was spreading, but we think she only told Lt Hooper and Captain Hurst. It was Cheese telling Private Rogers that Lane was lying that brought it all to light."
"Indeed Jackie, and look what she did to Cheese" he laughed "Just think what she would have done to Lane."
"Don't bear thinking about does it Boss" laughed Jackie "Will you tell her now?"
"Probably, I learnt the hard way it's best not to have secrets and now Lane is out of our lives for good it's probably safe to let that particular cat out the bag."
They heard some yells from down in the garden of hurry up with the beers it's like the Gobi bloody desert. They grinned at each other and made their way outside.
-OG-
Everyone started arriving so Charles started stoking up the BBQ as the lads helped themselves to bottles of beer from the cooler, the wine all packed into the ice buckets. He looked around at their friends and saw Molly laughing at something Nicole had said when she caught his eye and winked at him making him laugh.
In a couple of weeks, they were taking Sam with them to London and he would stay overnight in the Dawes maisonette. He was so excited that he was finally going to see Molly's brothers again. Blue and Nicole were coming up the following day and they were going out for dinner, then Molly and Nicole could have a good old poke around Borough Market and the Chocolate shop while he and Blue sat it out in a pub somewhere.
Who would have thought that he and Blue could have ended up good mates but they often went to watch Bath play at Rugby and sometimes came to Chepstow to watch the Army Rugby team, he wondered how Molly would feel when he transferred back to the Rifles after his stint in SF. Last time they had talked Blue thought another year to 18 months tops and he would be a Captain in 1 Rifles again.
Charles couldn't describe even if he wanted to, just how happy he felt as he looked around the garden at the people who had turned out to be good, loyal friends. When Molly's Nan had given him those divorce papers he had been at his lowest ebb, he had pushed the self-destruct button, thinking he would never be happy again.
Molly was grinning at him again and waggling her empty glass at him, now standing with Brains and Spanner and their partners. He sighed picking up the wine bottle and walking towards her, her smile getting bigger with every step he took towards her, he kissed her on her forehead as he topped up her glass. He shook his head knowing that tomorrow she was going to feel like shit but today she was as happy as him.
It had been a long road for him to get back to being the man, husband, father and soldier he wanted to be and he had done it with a beautiful, short, dark haired woman with the most amazing eyes standing by his side.