Chapter 6~Endings

Two weeks had passed since Maria had let Becker get up and start walking around again, and Maria was stalling. Colonel Richards had asked her numerous times when Becker would be out of there, and every time she had mumbled something vague about the end of the week. Now, however, Richards was getting impatient.

"No, Sir, he..."

"Holland, it's been two weeks now since you let him out of bed, and I know for a fact that he is perfectly fine!" Maria sighed, cursing inwardly. Becker had been in a fit state to leave about a week and a half ago. The only problem was, she didn't want him to. He didn't feel particularly happy about leaving either, but she was now pretty certain that their time was up.

"I'm coming to get him tomorrow," Richards' voice was saying, "And I'm not leaving without him," With that, he hung up. Maria sighed again and dropped the phone back into its cradle. Suddenly it occurred to her that she had taken Becker off the Front-Line duty list, so what the heck could Richards want with him? She stood up and went through to the main ward, where Lou was trying to balance a spoon on his nose. He wasn't succeeding. Maria raised an eyebrow at him before falling heavily onto Becker's bed.

"Richards?" he asked. He already knew the answer.

"Mmm-hmm," Maria replied. She was half asleep already. Talking with Colonel Richards wore her out.

"What did he say?"

"He's coming to pick you up tomorrow," there was an awkwardly long pause.

"Oh," Becker said at last.

"What's he picking you up for, anyway?" Lou asked with a comically puzzled expression on his face. At any other time, Maria would have laughed.

"Uhh, some government thing in London. Classified, Top-Secret malarkey that I'm not allowed knowing about,"

"Sounds like fun," Lou said sarcastically before returning his attention to the spoon. Maria sighed again and leant against Becker's knees, staring blankly at one of Lou's shoelaces. Becker sat up and brushed her cheek with his thumb, sensing one of her uncharacteristically unhappy moods. Lou coughed and left the room, taking the spoon with him.

"What's up?" Becker asked once he'd left.

"Possibly the most stupid question you have ever asked me," Maria said, sitting up and turning around to face him.

"Possibly. So?" Maria sighed again

"I just don't want you to go, that's all," she stared vacantly at her hands and made a mental note to cut her fingernails at some point in the next day.

"I don't want to go either. But I have to. I don't really have much choice in the matter,"

"I know,"

"Doesn't help, does it?"

"Nope," he picked up her hand and started playing around with her fingers, intertwining his with them. For a while, neither of them said anything, each other's presence being enough. Then Lou stuck his head round the door.

"Hate to break up the party here, but Ri your phone's been ringing for the last minute or so," Maria dragged herself off the bed, pulling her fingers free. Her brother Seb was on the other end of the phone, going on about some favour she apparently owed him. She hung up without saying anything, not in the mood for arguing. She debated pulling the plug out of the socket but decided against it, just in case something huge happened. Thankfully, Seb didn't ring back.

Morning came far too quickly for anyone's liking and the hum of a jeep approaching could be heard. Richards came marching out of it, and Maria was struck by a sudden image of her beating him on the head with his stick.

"You look after her, yeah?" Becker said to Lou, shaking his hand. Lou raised an eyebrow.

"You think I'll need to?" He noticed the seriousness of the look on Becker's face and nodded solemnly. Becker turned to Maria and hugged her close, wishing he didn't have to let go. Maria willed herself not to cry. It didn't work, and a tear slid down her cheek. Becker wiped it away and pulled her close again, pressing his mouth onto hers, desperate for the last few seconds they had together. Lou glared at Richards' driver, who had appeared in the doorway wanting to know what was taking so long. He nodded understandingly and left.

"I'll let you know when I've settled down," Becker whispered. Maria nodded and hugged him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck like an annoying child, refusing to let go. He pulled them off and kissed her again, softer. He turned then and left, knowing that if he didn't soon he never would. Maria followed him out and watched as he climbed into the jeep next to Richards. She didn't wave as they drove away from the hospital, just watched as the jeep became smaller and smaller until she couldn't see it anymore, and stared at the space where it had been for another half an hour. Her tears evaporated instantly in the dry heat, looking like they were never there.

Another dot soon appeared on the horizon, moving quickly. Another jeep. As it got closer, Maria saw that it was being followed by an Armoured Personnel Carrier. They were replacing Becker's contingent. Fantastic. Maria groaned inwardly and went indoors to find Lou, regretting standing out in the sun for so long. Her shins had burnt. She was greeted by angry shouts from her office.

"...they launched bombs on the last lot and it's only a loose miracle that they weren't all killed! How long do you think they will take to do it again?" Lou listened to the reply with clenched fists. He was about to shout a reply telling whoever was on the end where to stick their plan, when Maria pulled the phone out of his hand. He mouthed 'Richards' at her before leaving the room.

"Colonel? Would you care to explain why another contingent is about three minutes from my doorstep, taking into account what happened last time?" there was a short silence.

"I'm sending another group to continue where Captain Becker left off," was the eventual reply. "The mission he was leading is too important in this war to halt on the basis of a single, badly-aimed bombing raid,"

"Sir, with all due respect, my assistant was right in saying that it is only a small amount of time before they figure out we're starting it all up again, and do it again. I don't think that this time they will be quite as careless in their aim. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were watching the rapidly advancing APCs and telling their superiors right at this very moment,"

"Your concern, while useless, is noted, Doctor Holland but..."

"I seem to be the only one around here CONCERNED about the lives of about fifty men and women!" Maria was beyond patience and niceties. "Anyone with half a brain can see that this 'Mission' is a complete waste of time, lives and resources, and anyone with an ounce of common sense would pull us out of here!" Another awkward silence followed Maria's outburst.

"Is that your medical opinion, Doctor?"

"Yes, Sir, it is,"

"Very well," The line went dead. Maria was about to throw the phone against the freezer in complete frustration, when Lou's face came around the doorframe.

"The new Captain wants a 'small chat,'" he said, his voice deadpan. A tall, blonde woman strode into the room after him, hand outstretched. Her blue eyes shone with a look of artificial pleasure that could only come from years of practice, and Maria eyed the guns on her belt with distain. She really did not like guns, and usually banned anyone from bringing them in. Right now, she couldn't frankly be bothered. She forced a smile that she hoped looked real enough, and shook the Captain's hand.

"Hey there," she said brightly. Great. Americans. "Captain Sylvie Slattern,"

"Maria Holland, I'm guessing you've already met Lou?"

"Briefly, yeah. We'll be setting up camp a half-mile south," she winked. "Just so you know,"

"Yes, I know. You're not the first group here, Captain Slattern," The artificial smile vanished from Slattern's face at Maria's cold attitude. She nodded, and walked out, saying nothing else.

"Something tells me," Lou said slowly, "that you don't like her,"

"Really? How could you tell?"

Two weeks in to Slattern's escapade, Maria and Lou had already received seventeen casualties, four of which they hadn't been able to save. Maria hadn't smiled or even said anything other than what was necessary since Becker had left, and he still hadn't phoned. Her mood was getting worse, and Lou was starting to worry.

"Come on then, out with it," he confronted her one morning as she sat at her desk doing pretty much nothing at all, something they couldn't afford to do. She looked at him, her expression telling him to elaborate.

"You've been in a foul mood the last two weeks," he said, folding his arms, "it's not like you and I don't like it. So what's up?" Maria sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"I just don't believe that he would be so stupid as to do this again," she declared. That wasn't enough for Lou.

"You're pissed off 'cos he hasn't called yet, aren't you?"

"Might be," she turned away from him, tracing a line on her desk.

"He might have written. It could be in the post right now, you know how long that stuff takes. Or he might just be busy. I don't believe for a second that he's deliberately putting it off, he's not that kind of guy," he walked around her desk to face her. "You need to stop worrying, this place has been the Land of the Rainclouds since he left," for the first time in two weeks, Maria Holland smiled a genuine smile.

"You're right, Lou, I'm making a fuss out of nothing," she got up out of her chair. "What was I meant to be doing today?"

"Just the usual stuff, three patients bandages need changing and..."

Lou was cut short as an almighty explosion went off, seemingly right inside the room they were standing in, and the two of them were hurled by an unseen force across the room and into the back wall.

Lou blinked. At least, he thought he did, he couldn't see anything anyway. He blinked again and this time, a fuzzy white room came into view. After a couple more blinks, he realised he was in the old Field Hospital, the one he and Maria had moved out of. He sat up and saw Maria on the bed next to him, fingers twitching slightly. The pale face of Matt Flamhaff, one of the other doctors that worked there, came into view.

"What the hell..?" he asked the Irishman, wincing at the sudden headache.

"Oh, the usual, only this time they bombed the hospital and the camp at the same time," Matt scribbled something on a clipboard and looked Lou straight in the eye

"No one else survived, Lou. Just you and Maria,"

Three boring and monotonous hours later, during which Lou hadn't been allowed to get up, despite him insisting to Matt that he was fine, Colonel Richards came marching in. Lou was suddenly glad Maria hadn't woken up yet. He started a whispered conversation with Matt, which Lou caught occasional snippets of after a few minutes when Richards' 'whisper' rose in volume.

"Can't wait for them... Going to have to re-build it... Post another contingent..."

"You have got to be joking!" Lou looked up to see Maria sitting bolt up right, glaring savagely at Richards. "Do you not get it by now? You're getting nowhere with this, and all you are doing is getting people killed!"

"This is a vital information gathering mission, Holland! These people have sacrificed themselves for this cause, and you will do well to not stick your nose into matters that don't have anything to do with you! I won't..." Richards never finished his sentence. Maria had, in the space of three seconds, crossed to the other side of the room and now stood there, fists clenched. Richards was on the floor, a hand over his nose. It was bleeding and obviously broken in at least two places.

"Everything around here," Maria said quietly, "is my business," She turned on her heel and strode out of the room, out of the hospital and into one of the jeeps waiting outside. A second later, Lou slid into the seat next to her.

"Where we going?"

"Home. As in, London kind of home. I'm done here,"

"Cool,"

Maria put the jeep in gear and sped, tyres spinning, off towards the nearest airstrip.