Chapter 6

Next day Alison was once again in the camp looking after Captain Fraser. She set down the bowl in the table that was next to Fraser's bed she saw a small black notebook. She sighed and opened it, revealing dozens of handwritten pages.

"What is it?" asked Charlotte with curiosity.

"It's a book of poetry. There's a flower marking a page… How strange... this is the poem William sent me..." Alison mumbled. And suddenly it all became clear. "Except it wasn't William's. It was… It was Captain Fraser".

Tears flooded her eyes as she looked down at the book and then at him laying unconscious in the bed. She caresses his feverish forehead "How could I be so blind?" Alison let out a sob. "What if I am too late? He has always treated me gently, sometimes challenging me but I really enjoyed his company and even though I was not really conscious, I was always looking for an opportunity to be with him... Now I can see he was the one I'd been falling steadily in love, it has always been him. If we'd just had more time…"

"He'll wake up and you'll have time to tell him all this", Charlotte soothed her, rubbing her back.

Alison nodded hopping Charlotte words were true.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Two days after, colonel Lennox sat next to Fraser. "You need to wake up Fraser. Everybody is missing you... Fraser?" Lennox asked, noticing the captain started opening his eyes. He laid his hand on Fraser's forehead. "I think your fever's gone down slightly. How good it is to see your eyes open at last." Colonel Lennox knelt beside Fraser and smiled. "The others will be so relieved. How are you feeling?"

"I am aching and my chest still hurts a little." Fraser recognized.

"You've had us worried"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" Fraser said in reply.

Captain Carter leaned unobserved against the tent entrance for support. He felt relieved. He did not dare to enter. He was preparing to turn away and seek his own rest when the soft call of his name brought him back.

Declan was looking in his direction. "William... come in" said looking at him. He could read the regret in his eyes. When he stepped in, they hear woman's voices approaching as well.

"Wish me luck Fraser" Lennox said as he stood up and spruced his uniform.

"With what?" Fraser asked.

"Let's just say I wish to get a better response from miss Heywood than captain Carter get from his" smiled Lennox as he left the tent.

Both captains looked at each other funny. "I really hope he gets a better happy ending than mine" Carter confessed and Fraser smiled sadly. "Fraser I wanted to apologize for... everything. I've been an asshole, you only wanted me to help and see how I pay you... I almost kill you and-"

Fraser lifted his arm and made him stop. "No more words my friend. It was an accident. I bear you no malice. The only thing I wish is that you've learn your lesson and next time you flirt with a girl be honest and show her who you really are".
Carter nodded. "Indeed I've learned my lesson. And... what about you?"

"Me?" Fraser asked astonished. He opened his mouth to add something but no words came out.

"She has never looked at me the way she looks at you, Fraser" Captain Carter confessed. "I saw you dancing together in the party… and the way she looks at you when you are talking and how she never left your side when you got injured". Fraser remained silent. "Fraser, I have always looked up to you. But for the first time in your life, you are acting like a coward".

"Soon we will pack to go to India and-"

"I remember when we met, you said that one day you would like to sell your commission and buy a piece of land. Settle down. Start a family".

Fraser shook his head. "The Army has changed me. She deserves better..." he said quietly.

Carter smiled. "Come on man, the men consider you a hero, as do I. You have the respect and admiration of everyone who meets you". Fraser was silent, considering his words. "Just be honest and you will not fail. That's what you said to me anyway, remember?" Carter added.

Fraser raised his eyebrows. "As you have followed my advice?" joked Fraser.

"Lucky you, you're smarter than me to follow wise advices" Carter replied and Fraser laughed but after a few moments Fraser's expression turned serious causing Carter to follow him line of sight. Outside the tent Colonel Lennox and Charlotte were talking. They couldn't listen the conversation but watching their body language it didn't seem a friendly talk.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

While Fraser and Carter started talking, Lennox meet the Heywood sisters outside the tent. "Good morning ladies! I've got excellent news, Fraser just woke up. He will surely need some time to fully recover but-".

"That's wonderful!" Alison exclaimed. Lennox nodded with a smile seeing the spontaneous reaction the youngest Heywood had.

"May I speak with you privately miss Heywood?" asked Lennox looking intensely to Charlotte.

"Sure" said Alison before Charlotte had the chance to refuse it. "I'll collect some flowers for Captain Fraser" and she left them alone sure colonel Lennox was the right man for her sister. Fraser was awake, he will survive and she will have her chance to make things rights. Happily she walked away to collect some flowers, the same ones she found inside his poetry book.

Lennox cleared his throat. "Finally we have time to speak alone miss Heywood. I can not hide how I longed for this moment. You have casted a spell on me. I can not think of anything else but you. I'm so proud of what you have achieved, you are smart, brave woman and nothing will make me happier that marrying you. You will no longer have to be a governess. As a Colonel's wife you'll have everything you want and-"

"Captain Lennox" Charlotte interrupted him. "I'm flattered by you offer but I do not wish to get married. I thought I was clear with you the first time we met"

"No need to keep playing that modest role with me anymore".

"I'm 100% sincere when I say to you I have no wish to marry you Colonel-"

His eyes narrowed, his thin lips curled in a sneer. She was living a lowly, squalid existence that he was graciously offering to change. He could elevate her status beyond anything she might imagine. And she was rejecting him.

"I guess I was very mistaken in your suitability to be Mrs. Lennox." A look of disgust and rage passed over the Colonel's face, surprising her. "You are nothing more than a lowly servant," he growled.

Gripping her arm as hard as he could, she moaned in pain.

"Enough!" Fraser said sharply stepping out the tent and Lennox immediately released her. Since the war ended, Captain Fraser had grown used to Lennox engaging in unpredictable and risky behaviors but he had never seen his commanding officer acted like this. Never.

Charlotte stepped back from Lennox as she was rubbing her arm. Whatever had happened had not gone well at all thought Fraser as stepped between Lennox and Charlotte.

"Captain Fraser!" exclaimed Alison as she approached to them happily seeing him standing up. Fraser turned his head to Alison and he's expression softened. She could do nothing to prevent the huge grin that suddenly spread across her face and the laugh that suddenly escaped her. "Are you sure so you should be standing up?" Alison asked suspiciously.

"I'm feeling much better now" He croaked, his throat sounded dry. 'Fraser was still far from well, that much was evident in his pale, drawn face and the weakness of his voice', thought Carter.

Fraser shook his head and took a deep breath to steady his voice. Fraser took charge of the situation quickly before any word came from Colonel Lennox.

"Ladies, Captain Whitby will escort you out the camp", Fraser said firmly to the Heywoods sisters looking at Whitby who was nearby.

"What?! Why?!" Alison asked feeling her heart tearing apart. It could not be possible that he was sending her away. Not now. Not before she could talk to him she thought as she looked down to the flowers she happily have collected. She was squeezing them now so hard she could feel how they were withering.

"It's for your own safety" Fraser whispered. He could feel the tension his jaw and tightness in his neck.

"That's not necessary, captain" Charlotte replied. Alison looked at all not understanding what was going on and why everyone seemed so tense. Why Captain Fraser was so cold and formal talking to them liked this. And why Colonel Lennox looked so rage to Charlotte. "It is my duty to see you are safely escorted out. I really thank you for treating me so kindly when I was ill. There are no words enough to show you my gratitude", Fraser said. Charlotte nodded at Fraser in agreement but did not say anything else.

Alison was in shocked, she couldn't keep her eyes from him but Charlotte grabbed her arm and forced her to turn around and follow Captain Whitby. They walked towards the bridge in silence.

As the Heywood sister walked out the camp, Colonel Lennox and Captains Carter and Fraser looked on in silence. Colonel Lennox expression was pure rage while Captain Fraser was pure sadness realizing that if he ever had any chance to be happy it was slipping away in front of him. But he had no other choice. He didn't want to think what could have happened if he had no interfered. Could Colonel Lennox have hurt Charlotte? He didn't want to think of it. And what about Alison? It break his heart knowing the pain he was causing her throwing her out the way he did after all she have done for him. It was rude and cold but he needed to make sure they left the camp and never come back for their own safety. He wish he was recovered enough to ran after them and talk with her outside the camp and explain himself but he still felt weak to do that yet. And even if he could, he was not sure if he would have enough courage to be completely sincere with her and confess he couldn't think of anything else but Alison, that he meant every word he wrote in the letters she received, that all the letters were written by him and not by Carter, that in his mind he kept every single word of the letters she wrote back. He didn't plan to fall in love with her but he couldn't avoid it. And now he was not sure how he could be able to keep breathing without her at his side. But he could not say anything, he just let her go.

Carter recognized Fraser's expression at once. The look of a defeated man.

Fraser could feel the strain of exhaustion creeping over him again and stumble slightly. A hand caught his arm, and he blinked to see Carter. "I better get you back to the tent" Carter simply said.

SORRY FOR THE DELAY UPDATING THE STORY. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS NEW CHAPTER AND HOW THE STORY IS DEVELOPING. NEXT CHAPTER SOON. :)