The War Rages On: An Our Girl Fan-Fiction

Back To Bastion

Philippa's POV

"Right lads. Here we are, back at Bastion! We made it! Just keep you heads down and we'll be home in a few weeks!" Captain Peters announced proudly to the platoon and they cheered. "We just have to thank the lovely Lieutenant James, she has been the equivalent of a mother, girlfriend, sister, nurse and barber to every single one of us and I know that we would not have got through this tour without her!"

"Phil! Phil! Phil!" The lads chanted and I took an playfully arrogant bow.

"Alright, alright! Simmer down! I would like to thank you all for staying alive! I know the Boss would have made me write the letters. "You're a woman you can do this better than me."He'd have said so thank you because I really didn't want to have to do that. Thank you also for making me laugh and smile everyday of this tour! I'll miss you all!" I smiled.

"When do we get to meet this famous brother of yours, Lietenant?" Peters asked and I laughed. "You know the one that's a better Captain than me?"

I looked around. Ben had said he would meet me. Why wasn't he here?

"Let me find him and then, you can all meet him!" I smiled nervously and the lads wandered off to unpack. Ben was such a stickler for punctuality and he knew when we were arriving. He had his mission but he should have been back by now. I wandered into the main office. "Hi, I was wondering if you could help me find someone."

"Your name and rank?" The woman behind the desk asked.

"Lieutenant Philippa Rachael James."

"Who are you looking for?"

"Captain Benjamin Oliver James."

"Oh...are you a relative?" She looked troubled. A lump formed in my throat.

"Yeah, I'm his sister...why?" I stuttered.

"Head to the medical centre."

"What the fuck's happened?"

"Just go, Lieutenant!" She urged and I turned on my heel and ran towards the hospital. As I arrived, I stared around and all the people wandering around the corridors. I walked up to the desk

"Where is Captain James?" I panted.

"Who are you?"

"Lieutenant James."

"Right, Lieutenant. You can go through those two doors and its the first room on your right." The woman said and pointed at some double doors. I quickly thanked her and charged through the doors. I ran into the room and my heart broke as I saw him lying there unconscious. I sat down in the chair beside him and rested my head on his chest.

"You fucking idiot! You absolute fucking idiot, Ben!" I sobbed. "You always try to be the bloody hero and I said one day it would come back and bite you! Mr 9 Lives, Mr Born Lucky! I fucking warned you! And now look! I fucking hate you! And I love you!" I heard the door open and I looked up. There was a young woman who could have been no more that about twenty one stood in the doorway. She wore a private's uniform. That must be Molly!

"Who the hell are you?" She muttered walking over.

"Philippa." I said and she shook her head. "Lieutenant James?"

"Oh my God!" She gasped. "He said you was fucking separated! Why are you here?"

"Molly! Molly! Calm down! I'm not Katherine! I'm Philippa! Ben's sister."

"I didn't know he had a sister!"

"Why does that not surprise me!" I laughed.

"Why?"

"He's pissed off at me because my first two tours I was with him but this tour I've been off on my own and he was upset because he promised our mum that he'd look after me but I was on the other side of Afghan. He doesn't like talking about his weaknesses and I'm one of them."

"Oh right."

"So his wife's not in the army?"

"Fuck no! Katherine would never go within a hundred miles of Afghanistan. That's why they're split up. She couldn't take him being a soldier."

"Oh right. Wait, how did you know my name?"

"I knew who you were as soon as I saw you. I have had the full description countless times."

"What do you mean?" She giggled sitting on the opposite side of the bed.

"Molly this, Molly that. He never fucking shuts up about you! It took him bloody ages to realise it was because he was in love with you but I could tell straight away!"

"You think he's in love with me?" She beamed, her eyes bright. I saw her hand stroke his.

"Oh yes! I've never seen him like that before. He's fallen hard for you, Private Dawes."

"What about his wife?"

"I wouldn't dwell on her. It was destined for the shitter from day one! He never really loved her, he just felt obliged and then Tom came along and he thought he could make it work but he couldn't." I sighed.

"Tom? That's his son right?"

"Yeah. Thomas but Tom to us. Ben and me that is, say Tom in front of Katherine and she'll have your head!"

"Philippa? Can I ask a question?" She looked and me and I saw pain in her eyes.

"Molly, call me Pippa everyone else does. Or Pip, Ben calls me Pip. Or even Phil, my lads call me Phil. Only my mum calls me Philippa and thats only when she's mad at me!"

"Ok. Pippa, can I ask a question?"

"Of course! Ask away!"

"Do you think he'll make it?" She said and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"He's a fighter..." I started and then my voice broke and I shattered before her. "But somehow, I don't know if that's enough."

She stood up and walked over to me. I stood up and put my arms round her. We stood holding each other, crying for a while and then we turned back to my idiot brother on the bed.

"You called him Mr Nine Lives. What did you mean?"

"We had this saying because he'd done so many fucking stupid things and never got more than a scratch so my dad called him Mr Nine Lives and he started to believe that he was Mr Born Lucky. You know, he would never ever get injured. That's why I never thought I'd be here!"

"You mean like Geraint?"

"Yeah. Kind of. Risking his life all the time!"

"Maybe Lady Luck is still shining on him."

"You know, this is so weird."

"Why?"

"He said to me the last time we spoke, that he thought something bad was going to happen to him because he'd used up all of the rest of his luck when he met you!"

"Did he really say that?"

"He really did." I smiled and she broke down. I put my arm round her and she sobbed into my chest. Rubbing her back, I realised how fragile she was. I knew how it felt to be in his team with him as the Captain. He made you feel safe at all times and you knew he had your back whatever. Like me, he was more than that protection to her and now, not only had her safety been put in jeopardy, her heart was ready to break. I had outgrown his safety net but the personal connection was still there. He was my big brother and I needed him to stay alive. I couldn't live without him. I couldn't return home without him. "You know Molly, he is gonna make it because if he doesn't my mum will give him absolute hell and even when you're wherever you go after here, my mum can give you a fate worse than death if she wants and he knows it! He won't let himself die!"

"I hope so." She snuffled and turned to look at him.