A/N May 4, 2019: If you currently are reading this story, note that all chapters have been updated. See author's note for chapter 1.

Chapter 6: A beautiful morning

She woke up to the light of the early dawn, first confused about where she was but then saw his sleeping form next to her and felt the comforting warmth radiating from him. She took in the sight of him, relaxed in his sleep as she never had seen him before. His perfectly toned body only partly covered by a blanket, the messy hair, the dark eyelashes resting on his cheeks, the impression one both of strength and vulnerability. Apart from a scar on the shoulder, his skin was smooth and tanned where it used to be exposed when he was dressed in combats and pale elsewhere. No tattoos to her surprise, despite that it almost was as standard among male soldiers as the uniform.

Jack McClyde, a so much more complex man than she had thought twenty-four hours ago... definitely more alive... and a better lover than she ever could have imagined.

"I didn't see this coming" she whispered to herself.

What would he be like when he woke up? Would he regret last night, thinking it had taken focus away from the operation? She was not regretting anything in this moment and hoped he would not make her by treating this as an insignificant one-night shag. What if he woke up, just got dressed saying 'This was nice babe, but now we need to move on'. She would be angry both with him and with herself for putting herself in a position where she would be vulnerable because she had come to care about what he thought of her.

She had just decided to close her eyes, pretend to be still asleep and let him wake up "before" her to see what he did, when he opened his eyes. It took a few seconds before he remembered the situation, took her presence in, then gave her a big grin and without any hesitation at all pulled her to close and pressed his lips to hers in the loveliest good morning kiss.

Making love in the rose golden light of dawn was a different experience from the night before. As intense, but slower, not driven by impulse but by conscious choice. He kissed every inch of her body. Started from the top and when he reached her belly, shifted to start over from the feet and moving upward... and upward... kissing and caressing the inside of her thighs. She enjoyed every second, but he was moving far too slow. It was like sweet torture and she arched towards him, moaning. He withdrew, teasing her.

"You shouldn't be so impatient, I want this to last", his voice was hoarse, but he smiled.

He moved on, trailing a path on her skin with soft lips, then returned level with her and looked at her intently whilst letting his hand drop between her thighs and continued caressing her, oh so skilfully. He truly knew what he was doing, a knowing smile playing on his lips and she could see that he, with eyes trained on her face and expression, was taking pleasure in her pleasure, which she had no way of hiding as his fingers played her. She needed him to stop. She needed him to never stop. She needed more, needed him inside of her fully again and with one hand tugged at his curls to bring him to her, kissing him hard, whilst her other hand moved down to feel him.

Finally, he was over her, unable to restrain himself longer. Took hold of her hands, moved them above her head, clasping them, his hips moving rhythmically against hers, with her, their every instinct was to achieve him being as deep into her as was possible, and once again she was his and he was hers until they reached an almost unbearable, shattering pinnacle.

Afterwards they were laying breathless next to one another, heated through and through but slowly coming down. He touched her back light as a feather, softly traced down her spine, placed his lips at the end of it.

"I'm not sure what this is but I don't want it to end", he whispered

Georgie giggled softly and felt more light-hearted than in a long time.

"Me neither. Let's just stay in this room forever."

"That would be amazing. We would get hungry though, and thirsty."

She heard the smile in his voice even if she could not see his face when he was lying behind her.

"Especially as we are "exercising" so intensively. We would probably starve to death in twenty-four hours."

"Uhum, I'm impressed by your ardour."

"Well, that's because I had this pain in the arse commander who pushed me to get really fit."

"I should thank him when I see him then."

They laughed together, and everything felt natural, easy.

They talked about what had happened with 2 section and the outreach project in his absence and about the return of Captain James. She didn't mention the bumps their friendship had been through but asked:

"Can you just explain why you hate Charlie so much?"

"You're 'Charlie' with your captain?"

She refrained from pointing out that he was "Jack" to her now, as that might have given him the wrong impression of her relationship with Charles.

"We have history together. I mean... we were never involved, but he was Elvis' best mate, it was actually him who always called him Charlie. The memory and loss of Elvis will always bond us somehow. I'm also friends with his wife, Molly... Now I feel I'm just rambling on, I don't have to explain to you why I call him Charlie."

"That was explanation enough, but you're right you didn't", he grinned.

"But you avoided my question..."

She turned to him and let her fingers run over his lips.

"I guess I did. ... I don't hate him, not anymore. Nowadays he just annoys the shit out of me. You already know we were at Sandhurst together. When the year there was coming to an end, I got to know that during the passing out ceremony I would be announced as the best cadet of my year and be awarded the sword of honour. As you can imagine, I was thrilled after having fought so hard to fit in at all. I called my mum and shared the good news, then went out to have a beer with some friends. They wanted to celebrate me, everyone was buying me drinks and I ended up totally pissed, happy drunk. Charlie-boy was on guard duty and saw me when I arrived back to barracks and reported me. Being drunk wasn't allowed by the way... Next day I got to know that it had cost me both the place as number one cadet and the sword of honour, both went to Charles instead. It wouldn't have been so bad if mum hadn't been so exhilarated that she already had shared the news with my father. The look of contempt in his eyes when he saw me next...It was the day of passing out and Charles was awarded that fucking sword of honour instead of me. Father even congratulated him, then walked past me and I realised I would never ever make him proud. I stopped trying then and have lived as I wanted since. So, in a way Charles freed me from my father, but it hurt so damn much that I couldn't stand him. Especially since he never really understood why it was a big deal and thought I was just being petty. To him being first in class was such a natural thing, like it belonged to him in the first place and it had just been a mistake to even consider me."

His voice was not upset when he spoke, any remaining feelings contained, hidden under the surface, but as he spoke Georgie instinctively snuggled up as close to him as she could, buried her face by his collarbone, wanted to support him if the memory still was painful. His dad really seemed to be a prize asshole.

"I'm really sorry for you, mostly about your dad. I doubt that Charles felt that way though, he is really fair and considerate", she now said.

"Yeah, maybe he is but I don't care really. Even if he just wanted to play according the rules and didn't understand the consequences, I paid a high price. I hated him for that once, but the bitterness is gone since long and now I just dislike him. I know he is a good commander, but we will never be friends."

Knowing his story, she could understand that. She was glad he had confided in her as she realised it must have been a very difficult moment in his life and it felt like he had handed her another piece of the puzzle that was Jack.

Whilst they chatted, entwined in the bed, the dawn turned into early morning.

"We have to get dressed now... otherwise I will not be able to focus", he said reluctantly and kissed her on the top of her head.

He was half joking but as he said it his expression shifted to become serious. "And we need to, focus I mean".

She felt the soldier in her wake up again, the one that had been dormant since last night when another woman seemed to have taken over her brain and body.

"What is the plan?"

"I will continue to work with my local connections which I know are clean, the special forces team; Spanner and Peanut, will also join in a day or two and we will find the right time to strike. Quite soon I'm sure. I need you to return to the others, pretend like nothing - and keep a low profile! That is not your forte it seems, but please try."

His expression was stern now, like the Bones she had known before.

"You don't want me to meddle with things."

"I don't want anyone to blow up the operation, and I don't want you to endanger yourself, so no Nigeria style off-piste please Plus, I can use your help when the time comes. I will send a message to you then and you can help brief James, so he can prepare himself and the section. If he hears it from you first I think he may respond more positively than if I just resurrect and tell him. The news about the Brigadier as a drug dealer may be something of a shock. Even if I don't like James, he is skilled, and I trust him to be completely uncorrupted, and as the captain of 2 section he is the one who needs to get the others on board. I will need the support of all of you. After all, this is the operation I have really trained you for the past six months. Even if the SF team will come, we don't know who and how many that are corrupted and involved in the drug trade around here and may turn against us, so we need trustworthy people."

"Got that, Lane?" he finished off with frowned brow, like he wanted to mark the seriousness of this part of their conversation but then he broke up in a smile again. One which made her stomach twist. She thought that she probably had seen him smile and laugh more since yesterday afternoon that she had in all the time she had known him. It was like the constant mask of sarcasm had washed off. Or maybe rubbed off in the bed.

"Got it, Captain McClyde. No off-piste", she smiled in return.

While he was talking, she reluctantly had gotten out of bed and now pulled on her combats which had dried overnight. He came over to stand close to her and took her face between his palms.

"You know that we can't acknowledge that night happened when we meet next, with the others around, right?"

"Of course, I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not, but I also know it may be difficult."

She did not know if he meant it would be difficult for both; if he was talking for himself; or if he just assumed it would be difficult for her. She could not help but feeling a little bit annoyed by the comment but said nothing.

They kissed one last time before she left, with lips already feeling bruised from all the snogging that night. It was a long kiss which nearly brought them back to bed, but both knew it was time to be professional and time for her to go.

"Take care now, stay vigilant and focused. Look out for my message."

As he closed the door behind her and she walked towards the barracks, she wondered what it would feel like seeing him next – and if there would ever be an encore of what had happened this night. They had made no promises, the said no words of love. Neither of them knew what this was, if anything, except one lovely night. It almost seemed like a dream already. She told herself she should not be too preoccupied with what he wanted, or how he would be. The important thing was to find out what she wanted herself. Problem was that part of her was dreading this because it collided with her professional self and part of her was not sure if she was over Elvis and yet. She doubted that Jack McClyde was the guy for her, or that he had any feelings for her, but her whole body was already missing the warmth of his and longing to feel it again.