AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for the support last chapter. It's humbling to see. It means a lot to me :)
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Fifty-Five: Home Sweet Home
Stirling Lines
Credenhill
Thursday, 29 November, 2007
08:00 hours
As Red Team exited their surveillance van outside their barracks, they breathed in the fresh air, grateful to be out of the cramped space after eight gruelling days.
A sense of relief quickly took hold of them and washed over them after a hectic month, plagued with every possible setback.
Chuck looked around, taking in the familiar sights, and breathed a contented sigh, glad to be back, "Home sweet home!"
"Yeah, and no more lockdown, fella!" Big Dan said.
"Thank god for that, mate!" Jamie said, shaking his head as he chuckled.
The team shared laughter with Jamie while John Murray's happiness to be back, it seemed, was so overwhelming that he fell to his knees and pressed his lips against the ground outside Red Team's barracks, to his teammates' amusement.
John Murray kissed the ground a second time. "Oh, to be free again at last!"
Cole shot John Murray a sharp stare. "Don't jinx it, you pillock!"
On receiving the cue from Cole—and each now deeming that John may jinx them—the rest of Red Team glared at John Murray.
"If he's jinxed us again, fella!…" Big Dan warned, glaring daggers at the Scot. "I'll kill him!"
Chris also held a glare at his compatriot. "We'll hang him from the nearest tree this time, laddie!"
Red Team snorted in sync as John Murray quickly stood up from the ground. "Ya wee tossers!"
"How can he even get down there, anyway?" Cole asked, pointing at John Murray. "Because I'm knackered and need to sleep before we even think about doing anything else."
Cole's teammates murmured their approval.
Sarah drew out a sigh. "We'd better not get another op during our time off this weekend."
Her teammates turned to look at her, but Chris was first to speak. "After the problems we gave command, we'll be lucky to get any time off at all."
"We better had be getting some time off, fella!" Big Dan glanced around at his teammates. "Or else I'm handing in my resignation."
"So am I, mate, and I'm fucking off to Tenerife the same day!" Jamie said, shaking his head.
The team turned to look at Jamie.
Chuck narrowed his eyes, still looking at his friend. "He seems serious this time."
"Wouldn't you be?" Jamie scoffed. "We've had two of the biggest idiots waste our time for a month, nightmare ops, two-party girls living it large, and those gobshites Blue Team on our backs."
Cole chuckled. "A massive warm-down will sort you right out, Jamie!"
"Right now, Cole, the only thing I want to do is sleep," Jamie said.
Everyone except Chuck nodded.
"I need to pay a visit to my little friend, Ghost, in the kennels."
"You do that, laddie, while the rest of us, let's all get our heads down before our extensive debriefing with Wallace and the Colonel at 14:00 hours," Chris said.
Right on cue, yawns erupted within the team as an exhausted Red Team—minus Chuck—entered their barracks and moved for their respective rooms to get some much-needed shut-eye.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O
14:00 hours
Red Team entered a briefing room on their base of operations together and moved to take seats ahead of their extensive debriefing.
Colonel Wood, Captain Wallace, and Morgan Grimes were in attendance.
"This will take some time," Colonel Wood said.
"No rush, boss. We've only been in lockdown for a month and on constant ops," Big Dan said.
Colonel Wood chortled. "Because of that, Corporal, I'll ensure it takes longer."
Red Team groaned as they each turned to look at Big Dan.
"Thanks for that!" Sarah hissed, glaring at her teammate.
Big Dan suppressed laughter as the Colonel started the debrief.
Forty minutes later
"Thank you for sitting so patiently," the Colonel joked as the debriefing came to a close.
"We didn't have a choice," Jamie said back, shaking his head.
The officers and Morgan shared laughter with Red Team.
"I saved the best news for last," Colonel Wood said.
"It better not be another op, boss!" Bryce complained.
"Did you just say you wanted another op, Trooper Larkin?" Captain Wallace asked.
Colonel Wood turned to look at his subordinate. "That's what I thought he said too, Richard."
"Did I fuck," Bryce said under his breath.
The rest of Red Team—hearing his reply—snorted.
"As for your question, boss," Big Dan said, looking at his officers. "He said he'd rather resign. And so would the rest of us. After our hard toil in Birmingham taking out those jihadists, you gave us a long weekend off, but we only got to see a day of it before those two idiots sent us into lockdown for a month for nothing. None of us are happy about that."
Red Team muttered a wide consensus of agreements.
"So you did," the Colonel said, fighting off a smirk. "But we can't have you resigning. You're all far too important."
Cole's eyes crinkled with mirth as he chuckled. "I always knew they needed us!"
His teammates shared Cole's laughter.
"So, in a view to keeping you part of the regiment, and without resorting to drastic measures of holding you hostage, I'm dismissing Red Team from all duties, from this moment, until Monday at zero-eight-hundred hours."
In an instant, the briefing room became a cacophony of noise, with an explosion of energy as Red Team erupted in cheers and high-fives, overwhelmed with excitement, which lasted for a long moment.
Colonel Wood, Captain Wallace, and Morgan exchanged a knowing smile as they watched Red Team's jubilant celebrations.
Big Dan, after sharing celebrations with his teammates, turned to look at the Colonel. "What about Blue Team, boss?"
Red Team paused their joyous celebrations to listen to the CO.
"They had a much easier time during lockdown, so they're back at it from Saturday," Colonel Wood informed.
The Colonel's latest declaration set off another outburst amongst Red Team as they celebrated Blue Team's misfortunes.
"You've made our day, boss!" Chuck said with glee.
"Day?" Big Dan asked, shaking his head. "More like our year, fella!"
The intensification of laughter signalled Red Team's agreement with Big Dan's reply.
"Right, be on your way to resume your personal lives with your spouses without worry of lockdown or needing to carry sidearms. We're sick of the sight of you," Colonel Wood joked. "Dismissed."
A fresh explosion of excitement erupted as Red Team stood and embraced each other, the sound of their exuberance filling the immediate area as they departed the briefing room.
"Four days off?!" Chuck asked, looking around his teammates. "They're back in my good books!"
Sarah smiled at her lover. "Mine too."
"I'm looking forward to this!" Cole said in excitement, looking around the team.
"Not half as much as me, mate!" Jamie laughed back.
Red Team shared the latest exchange of intense laughter with Jamie as they walked together to exit the building.
"Come on!" Bryce shouted in excitement once Red Team entered the open air. "Time to get fucking pissed!"
Bryce's encouragement set off additional regained high spirits as the team hunched up and returned to their barracks in merriment.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O
As Red Team entered the barracks, the team walked down the corridor as Cole said, "A nice hot shower, change into what fresh civvies we have left remaining, then we'll be off out of this shit hole and I don't want to see this place again until Monday!"
A fresh wave of laughter broke out as Red Team split into their respective rooms, collecting their showering equipment, before each of them reconvened as they entered the changing room of their washing facility.
Stripping from their clothes, the warm spirits remained amongst the whole team, each smiling to their hearts' content and gazing fondly at each other.
Now undressed, the eight teammates stepped into the showering facility, each moving to take up a position at a different showerhead as pleasurable sighs erupted all around the facility because, for most of them, it was the first time they'd felt hot water in eight days.
"God, this feels good!" Cole said in delight, taking an extended moment to bask in the feeling of the warm water. "It's almost better than sex!"
Cole's teammates snorted at his declaration.
"Cole's right though," Jamie said. "It is almost better than sex!"
"You both must be getting it wrong then, fella!" Big Dan teased, snorting.
Red Team made a valiant effort to hold in their laughter, but they were unsuccessful, resulting in a raucous noise inside the showers.
Jamie, once he stopped laughing, said, "I don't want to be a party pooper, but I have a lot of making up to do with Emily tonight, so I may have to rain check on getting pissed for any other night."
The teammates paused their showering activities, sharing glances as they entered thought.
After a moment, Cole said, "Jamie's right. I have a lot of making up to do with Sophie. She's been worried out of her mind for the past month for no reason, thanks to those two pillocks now in a cell! If I get rotten with you lot tonight rather than put her first for once, she might just throw me out!"
The team laughed at Cole's expense for a moment until Chuck said, "They're both right. We should all put our families and relationships first for once, even if just today, spend it with our families, and then head out tomorrow or something."
Nods started occurring in the showers, but they stopped when John Murray turned to look at Chuck, then said, "It's alright for him to say it because his relationship is in this very same facility," glancing at Sarah once he finished.
"It's alright for you to say it as well, fella, 'cause you can't get a girl," Big Dan said back.
"Ya wee toss!-"
John Murray's speech halted abruptly as Red Team observed Sarah arrive at his position, landing a sharp dig into his body, interrupting him mid-sentence and immensely winding him.
"Fucking hell!" Big Dan said in shock and excitement, his eyes glued between John Murray—now bent over and winded—and Sarah positioned in a fighting stance close by.
Suddenly, Red Team—minus John Murray—erupted in howling laughter at what they'd all seen from Sarah.
Sarah's gaze swept over her teammates. Her face hardened in a mask of determination. "Does anyone else have anything smart that they want to say about me?"
The laughter in approval of her actions continued as Chris said, "That was a long time coming, lassie! You're finally hardening up!"
"She's getting grit about her and I have to say, fella," Big Dan said—looking at John Murray again, still bent over and winded—smirking. "I'm impressed."
"Style I call it!" Cole said, glancing at Sarah in respect, before his glance flicked over to John Murray struggling to regain his breath, which caused Cole to chuckle. "All of you better watch your mouths with Sarah from now on!"
With nobody else seeking to provoke her other than John Murray, Sarah returned to her showerhead next to Chuck.
Turning to look at him, she met his glance.
He was smiling at her.
"Well done."
She smiled back. "Thanks."
The couple's attention diverted to Bryce when he spoke up, interrupting their moment. "We're all off-duty now, so we should get started on having a good time together, not wind each other up after the shit month we've all had."
Cole instantly pointed in endorsement at Bryce, Sarah smiled at him, while numerous other teammates muttered their agreement, and Chris said, "Well said, laddie!"
Big Dan, however, snorted and turned to look at Bryce. "Fucking hell, Speedy, fella, you're on the ale already!"
"Leave him alone," Sarah said, glaring at Big Dan.
Chuck nodded. "Sarah's right, and so is Bryce. We've all had a very shit month, so let's leave the teasing of each other there for once."
"Exactly, mate!" Bryce said. "We should all be out for Blue Team, not each other!"
"He has a point!" Cole said, pointing at Bryce.
Everyone nodded.
"Of course he does, laddie!" Chris said, looking around his team. "And I already know what we'll do for revenge."
Everyone paused their showering activities and turned to look at Chris.
"Well, Chris, fella, don't keep us all exploding in suspense. What is it?" Big Dan asked.
"It's a surprise, laddie!" Chris said with a smirk. "We'll deal with it sometime later, but I'll be expecting you all to chip in and help with the financial cost. Right now, my only thought is getting off the base for a nice pint or several!"
Excitement picked up amongst the team as chatter increased exponentially.
"Great shout, Chris, mate!" Bryce—the most eager member of Red Team about the idea—shouted.
"No more than a few, though," Jamie said, looking around. "I'm sticking to my word with what I said about Emily."
"Come on, fellas! I get wanting to see your families, but we've been in lockdown for a month and had multiple ops we couldn't get rotten after! Let's get fucking lashed!" Bryce encouraged.
"Slow down, Speedy," Chuck said, suppressing laughter at his gag. "There's plenty of time for us to get rotten in the coming days. Let them all see their families first."
Cole pointed in endorsement at Chuck.
"Come on!" Bryce further encouraged, not aspiring to be alone and desiring to be with his teammates instead today.
Big Dan shook his head. "Nah, fella. Chuck's right. I'll put my kids and my missus first for once. We'll all go out tomorrow instead. Anyone single can still go out tonight," he said, glancing at Bryce before he couldn't resist adding, "So that's just you and John, Speedy."
Chuck, Sarah, Cole, Jamie and Chris snorted at Dan's additional remark.
"Ya wee tosser!" John Murray hissed, his breaths shallow and ragged, still recovering from Sarah's sharp punch.
With the team's fun and remarks at an end for now, they finished their washing activities as some of them started shaving themselves before they departed one by one to dry themselves down and head to their rooms to change.
Chuck and Cole, two of the first to depart, stopped to engage in conversation.
"We have a lot of catching up to do, Chuck," Cole said, his gaze softened with fondness as he looked at his best friend.
Chuck matched Cole's warm gaze. "A whole lot of it, Cole."
"And you have no excuse, because, according to what you keep telling us, you're single!" Cole chuckled rowdily, pointing at Chuck.
Chuck shook his head at Cole, doing his best to fight off his amusement. "Shut up, Cole."
Cole continued his deep chuckles, though he opted to tease no further, moving to pat Chuck on his shoulder.
Chuck continued his head shakes at his best friend as they went separate ways into their rooms.
O-o-O-o-O-o-O
Chuck entered his room and took a few minutes to use his electric shaver before he changed into fresh civilian clothes—a navy buttoned-down dress shirt and jeans.
Once ready, he adjusted his hair and then departed for Sarah's room.
On arrival outside her room, her door was open, but he knocked on it anyway, wanting to give his girlfriend privacy until she told him to enter.
"Come in," she called after the briefest of seconds.
Chuck glanced either side of him, ensuring no one was around.
Satisfied with his conclusion, he entered inside.
"Hey," she said as they met each other's glance.
"Hi, beautiful," he said with a grin.
Sarah smiled back at his compliment, and also because she was happy to see him.
She stood to receive him, moving to take his hand.
She wanted to kiss him, but she knew that if the team saw it, they'd never hear the end of it, so a hold of his hand would do.
For now.
"Are our plans for tonight at my place that we agreed during lockdown still on?" she asked with a smile.
Chuck's grin faded, and he grimaced. "Um, about that. I'm sorry, I kinda just made plans with Jamie."
"You had better be joking with me right now, Chuck!" she said, her smile evaporating in the blink of an eye, turning angry.
"I'm not. I'm sorry, Sarah," he said, his face straight, gazing intensely at her for a reaction.
But before Chuck could do anything else, Sarah's anger transformed into a thunderous rage.
Seeing the anger and determination in Sarah's eye caused Chuck to panic, knowing a storm was coming his way!
He could only watch on as she yanked hold of a hairbrush, turned, and hurled it at him with lightning speed, leaving him no time to react.
As the hairbrush collided with Chuck's chest, a resounding thud reverberated throughout the room, filling the air with sound.
"Hey!" he complained, glaring at her as he shot a hand to his chest, the site of his newfound pain.
"The next one's at your face!" Sarah shouted, immediately searching for something else to throw at him.
"Don't you dare!" Chuck warned.
His warning fell on deaf ears as Sarah paced to take hold of a bottle of shower gel.
As soon as Chuck saw her reach for the second object, he backtracked towards the door to exit to give him space to react as she took the bottle into her hands.
"Stop it!" he shouted.
Sarah paid no attention to his objections, instead concentrating on her aim as she flung the bottle of shower gel towards his head.
Chuck dodged it. In doing so, he tumbled outside her room, where Jamie was standing in the hallway.
Jamie chuckled at the sight of Chuck landing on the floor of the barracks hallway as the bottle of shower gel Sarah threw connected with a loud thud against the wall.
"Marital problems already, mate?" Jamie chortled.
Chuck shot his gaze up at Jamie. "I'll be throwing it at you in a minute!" he said, picking up the shower gel bottle at arm's reach, though with apprehension in case Sarah stood on his hand.
Jamie continued chuckling his head off as he moved on away towards Cole's room to give his two mates some privacy.
Chuck stood frozen for a moment, staring at Sarah's shower gel in his hand.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, before stepping back into the room and letting out a nervous squeak, which amused Jamie again because he'd heard it.
"Don't bother coming back in here unless the first words out of your mouth are: I was joking!" Sarah warned, glaring at him.
"I was joking," he said as soon as she stopped talking, smiling nervously.
Sarah let out an enormous sigh, holding a belittling glance at him for his actions.
"I'm sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly in embarrassment. "It was childish of me. I took the joke way too far."
Sarah eased her glance, though she was still wound up from his teasing.
"Can we have a more serious conversation about my attempted joke?" he asked.
She nodded.
He smiled, then moved to close the door to give them some privacy, locking it shut.
Turning back to Sarah, he walked towards her, took gentle hold of her shoulders, and softly kissed her lips.
"I'm sorry," he whispered again, ending the brief smooch, feeling his lover's soft lips on his for a moment longer.
She nodded, finally relaxing her posture as they gazed into each other's eyes, mere inches apart.
"I made a huge mistake of putting my mates before a relationship once. I don't intend to do it again," he said, holding her glance.
"Jill?" Sarah asked.
Chuck suppressed laughter, shaking his head. "God no," he said, removing his hands from her shoulders, moving to take hold of her hands instead. "A girl called Hannah, my first love. I probably broke her heart..."
Sarah narrowed her eyes, turning a little uneasy at his revelations.
He nodded at her anxiety. "You're right to feel like that. I was a jerk."
"That's not why I'm anxious. We all make mistakes," she said, staring into his eyes. "I just don't know if you might have any feelings for her or not because you've never mentioned her to me before."
"I don't," he said, smiling in reassurance and taking a firmer hold of her hands. "We broke up over two years ago now, after I joined the SAS. I wanted her to move to Hereford with me, but she didn't want to play second fiddle to my career in the army and always be second best to it. I understood her opinion because it was the truth, so I told her the truth in return and I let her go without much of a fight because I wanted her to be free of that and to live the life she wanted to live so she could be happy, rather than her life revolving around mine."
Sarah processed what he said as they held a glance.
"And that's why I'm admitting it to you now because I don't want to make the same mistakes of putting anything before you. If I can, I'll always try to put you first," he said, his eyes glistening with conviction, and his beaming smile backing up his words.
"I wouldn't want you to always put me before everything," she said, running her fingers over his hands, feeling the warmth of his skin and the electricity between them, which added to the intensity of the moment. "They're your friends, and I want you to keep your bonds."
"They're my friends, yeah," Chuck said, nodding as he turned a little nervous. "But I'm hoping one day, if we work out, you will become my life."
The weight of his words was heavy on her shoulders, and Sarah broke her gaze with him, looking down at the ground between them as her eyes moistened.
"I'm sorry," he murmured, detecting he'd unsettled her by maybe coming on too heavy.
Sarah looked back at him, trying to blink away the glossing of her eyes. "It's ok," she assured. "I've just never had a guy wanting anything like that before…"
She could feel his hand tighten around hers, a gesture of reassurance.
"Then they're all fools," he whispered, gazing smittenly into her eyes. "I'm gonna apologise in advance now for all the times I'll be a dork and make you feel you're dating the wrong person."
"That's not happened yet," she said, her hand playing back with his. "Because each day I believe more and more that I'm dating the right one and maybe he can become my life too."
With their eyes locked in a compromised state, Chuck grinned at her.
Sarah smiled back, then moved in to kiss him, closing her eyes as their lips connected.
As they kissed, the sound of their lips reattaching was soothing background noise as they continued to kiss.
Sarah raised her hand to stroke Chuck's cheek, feeling the urgency between them grow as their kissing deepened.
For a moment, they lost themselves in their passion as Sarah was about to lead him onto her bed, but they paused from moving when they heard Chris call out to them, "We're leaving for Jim's for a few drinks now!"
Breaking from their passionate kissing, Chuck and Sarah exchanged a knowing look as they struggled to catch their breath.
Once she felt composed enough to speak, Sarah said back, "We're coming! Wait for us!"
"Hurry up then!" Chris said back.
Chuck and Sarah suppressed laughter before they moved hand in hand to the door.
Taking a last moment, they composed themselves, then departed to head with their team for a few drinks at Jim's pub.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope you enjoyed the chapter today :) Next chapter, Red Team heads to Jimbo's for a few drinks, and then Charah goes out to a restaurant together.
FOOTNOTES: Because WDW is a niche fiction with a limited readership (it's my least viewed, followed, favorited, and reviewed per chapter story) where only a minority of Chuck readers enjoy this story, it's critical for those who do like it to stay loud and vocal about it with me. All I have to support and rely on in this fiction is you guys. I can understand those who don't review often. However, in a very limited audience fiction such as this, your feedback means all the more to me. It absolutely matters more! So I ask: please help me with that by leaving a brief review and I'll see you next chapter :)