The Boys in Blue Ch. 06

Part 6. The boys in blue

************

The cottage seemed empty without her, so as a distraction, he increased his exercise periods. Running or cycling twice a day, followed by the exercises Ted had shown him.

On Thursday, the letter arrived; he had to report to the Medical Board the following Monday in London, then, on the Wednesday, to RAF Renton reporting to Group Captain Carr.

He knew Alan would give him the result of the medical then.

He phoned Terry, later that evening, explaining that he would be in town to see the medical board on Monday.

Terry suggested that she would stay in town, and after he had seen the board, they could travel down on the train together. She gave him the address of her place in Chelsea.

The taxi dropped him off in a narrow lane, containing a terrace row of mews houses; he rang the bell at the number she had given him.

The door was flung open, and there she was, her face flushed with pleasure at the sight of him.

"So how did it go?" she asked once she had him seated in a small second floor lounge.

"They don't tell you, I'll find out on Wednesday at the squadron. Would you come with me?"

"Need me to hold your hand again," she laughed.

"Something like that," he replied with a chuckle.

He looked at his watch, "there's a train in forty five minutes if you are ready."

"Yes all packed," he'd noticed the suitcases down stairs.

On the train journey down, she told him of the work she had done on the album, and seemed quite pleased that they had managed to record three songs.

Robert was surprised, at how much time went into making an album.

"I thought you just stood in front of a mike and rattled of a few songs," he said.

"It's a little more complicated than that," amused at his lack of knowledge, of the record business, and went on to explain just what went into making a recording.

Aggie was waiting for them when they arrived at the cottage after giving her a big hug; Terry opened one of her cases and removed a presentation box of her CD's along with a photograph mounted in a case.

To Aggie and Archie, I love you both, Terry, had written on it. "For you Aggie," she said handing them over.

Then the pair were hugging and kissing again, tears flowing down Aggie's face.

"If we are going to the Archers tonight, I have set for Ruby and Jack," Terry announced. Noticing Robert was staring into the case she went on "the other set is for Sir Wilbur."

"What about me," he protested.

"Buy your own, I could use the money," she said laughing.

The following day, after dropping of the CD set, and photograph at the Manor.

He had to go into Salisbury, to pick up his medal ribbon, with the maroon tab, denoting his VC added to it.

Later they had a walk around the Cathedral and had tea by the river.

"You know, I should buy some of your CD's but I never know what classical singers, are singing about. Why does it have to be in a foreign language?"

Terry laughed, "Because most of the great classical numbers were written by foreigners. But I do have a CD of show numbers, Kismet, West side story, The King and I, and Brigadoon to name a few. Perhaps you would like that?"

"I'll buy it, but only if you will autograph it for me," he said.

"You really want your money's worth don't you," she replied laughing.

**************

Robert stopped the Celica, on the hatched marked area of road, twenty-five yards from the Guard Room.

Two RAF Regiment soldiers, armed with SA 90 rifles stood guard.

As he walked towards the Guardroom, to sign Terry in, six more soldiers followed by a Sergeant erupted from the room.

They quickly fell into line, on the Sergeants command, they came to the attention, shouldered arms and came to the present, the Sergeant about turned, to face Robert and gave him a sharp salute.

Robert stopped and returned the salute, "thank you Sergeant, carry on," passing into the guardroom.

A corporal was standing by the desk, with the visitor's book already turned round, to face Robert. He signed the book and was preparing to leave, when the Corporal said, "you forgot the VC sir," pointing to his name and rank.

Robert frowned, then realised that from now onwards; he would have to add the initials VC after his name, "sorry Corporal," he corrected the mistake, "is this what that's about," indicating the soldiers lined up at attention outside the door.

"Well, you're our VC Sir."

Outside the door, he paused by the Sergeant, "thank you Sergeant, and thank the men."

"No, thank you Sir," pride showing in his eyes.

Back in the car, he handed Terry the visitor's pass, which she clipped to her jacket.

"Is that normal?" She asked indicating the soldiers.

"No... normally only heads of State, or senior brass get that," he murmured.

He pulled up outside the Station building, a three-story brick structure, erected back in the early forties, which had the same standard design of all Station buildings of that time.

They walked along a corridor, finally stopping at a door with a brass plaque, with

Officers Mess engraved upon it.

The door opened, on to a large room filled with tables and chairs, some of them arm chairs. At the end of the room was a bar, with tall bar stools spread along it.

Seven or eight men in officer's uniform were clustered at the bar, laughing and seemingly all talking at once.

Suddenly some one noticed him, "Robbie," someone yelled, and in an instant he was surrounded by them, his back was pummelled, and his hand shook all seemingly at the same time.

Good-hearted banter concerning; Slacker sand Lazy bastard filled the air, and then he remembered Terry.

She was still standing in the doorway, with a look of amusement written all over her face.

He disentangled himself from them, and brought her into the room to introducing her, the men had fallen silent, at the sight of her.

They parted like the Red Sea, as he led her to the bar, where she perched herself onto a barstool.

He was shouldered aside, in the rush as the men, crowded round her, asking what she would like to drink, Robbie now forgotten.

A tall man, who had been standing by the bar, now detached himself, coming forward with his hand out stretched. Group Captain Alan Carr, Officer Commanding RAF Renton.

"Hello Robbie, I must say you look much better than you did the last time I saw you, at the Grange."

"I feel much better, thank you sir."

"Look, before we get you a drink, I have a Hawk outside, which needs a test flight, are you up for it?"

Robert had expected this; it was standard procedure for pilots, who had been badly injured, to see if they had lost any of their skill.

"Of course Sir."

Alan looked back at the bar. "I don't think your friend will miss us for a while."

Terry was lost to view, by the bodies surrounding her; each was vying for her attention.

Dressed in their flying suits, Robert signed for the Hawk, in the Flight Office.

After, carrying out the ground checks, they climbed into the cockpit; the ground crew buckled and plugged them in.

After lowering the canopy. Robert gave the signal to remove the chocks and then taxied to the end of the runway, where he lined up the Hawk and applied his brakes, lowering his flaps to take off setting.

Gaining permission from the tower, he slowly applied thrust releasing the brakes; the Hawk began to roll forward, he increased thrust, and the aircraft started to hurtle down the runway.

The vibration from the control column stopped, he raised the under carriage and climbed rapidly.

He was back in his element.

"Where too?" he asked over the intercom.

"Head west until you hit the coast," replied Alan.

Robert had over two hundred hours logged flying Hawks, first during his fast jet training, then later with the Red Arrows, until he had requested active service after the death of his parents.

The North Devon, coast, came into view, once over the sea Alan came in over the intercom.

"Okay, Robbie put her through her paces."

Robert needed no second invitation, the small, nimble jet, responded to his every movement. For the next thirty minutes, he rolled, looted, dived, banked all the manoeuvres he had ever been shown, plus a few that he put in for the hell of it, he was having fun.

Back at the Grange, he had despaired that he may never fly again, but now back in the cockpit, all the old thrill of flying came rushing back.

He flipped the Hawk, over onto its back and dived. Levelling out 300 feet above the waves, and rolled the nimble aircraft and then climbed.

He was almost disappointed, when Alan voice came in over the intercom.

"OK tiger, I think we can safely say you can fly, let's head back you have a guest waiting."

Once back, and changed into their uniforms, instead of entering the mess, Alan walked on, until he reached his office.

Settling himself down behind his desk, and indicating that Robert draw up a chair, he removed an envelope from the desk drawer.

"You will no doubt, will be relieved, to know you passed your medical, and that little jaunt, we just had proved you are ready for flight duties." He continued, "I'm very pleased to tell you that as of this moment, you are now promoted to a Squadron Leader; you'll receive official confirmation, in the post, in a few days."

Robert was stunned. "Thank you Sir I...I don't know what to say."

"Don't thank me yet Robbie, you are going to be doing a new job.

Now what I'm about to tell you is still secret. The squadron is going to be re-organised and re-equipped with A10s, or I should say, an improved A10.

That chat we had at The Grange reinforced what we had been thinking of for some time.

There are going to be made under licence by BA Systems; they will have Rolls Royce fan jet engines, which they claim, will give 30% more power than the General Electric Turbofans currently used. More importantly they will give you more range and allow for shorter take offs.

The airframe will be three feet longer, than the American A10 and two feet longer in the wingspan.

Now for the smart part that extra three feet are to make room for the electronics that will be fitted in it. It's going to have some of the same features that the Apache Longbow system has, but, without you having to wear a monocle. Instead relevant data will show on the Heads up Display. It will be fitted with the same 30mm chain gun as the Apache firing High Explosive Duel Purpose rounds, which will allow you to select, bursts in twenty round increments. The aircraft will be able to carry six Hellfire missiles, as well as rocket pods.

At the moment, the boffins are still working on the electronics, to see if they can tweak more out of the system."

Robert looked stunned.

Alan continued, "The first four aircraft are scheduled for delivery, in two months' time; you have a little over two weeks left of your leave, when you re-join, you are going to be shipped off to America, Arizona actually. You along with three others will undergo intense training on their A10s. The base, they have out there, is geared to A10 flying. You will spend four weeks with them."

Robert looked up, "Whom do I have in the squadron sir?"

Alan smiled, "Initially the seven hooligans, who are pestering your friend, you have Flight Lieutenant Tim Burton, whom I expect you'll want for your 2^nd IC".

Robert nodded his head,

Alan continued, "Flight Lieutenants Dave Hardy, and Dick Winter's just been made up, Flying Officers Jim Robbins, Bill O'Neil, Tom Bell and Bob James".

Robert knew them all; they had all been members of the original squadron.

"We will select, the final four later, when we get service records in. The brass is keen to get the first A10s into the country by July. That's after the poppy crop, has been harvested, and the insurgents start playing up again. So you won't have a lot of time, to get the chaps familiar with the new A10s, and iron out any bugs. Any questions?"

"No sir." Robert replied, beginning to realise the task before him.

"Well then let's re-join the others, and you can introduce me to your friend."

When Alan opened the door of the Mess, he said in a loud voice, "Gentlemen your new Squadron Leader would like to buy us all a drink."

A howl went up, and he was again pummeled, whilst the men congratulated him, by the time he had disentangled himself from them. He could see that Alan had already introduced himself to Terry, and was talking to her, a pink glow of pleasure lighting up her face.

**************

It was growing dark, by the time they set off back to the cottage, Robert mind going over what Alan had said, and what work lay ahead, when Terry asked him to pull over.

Seeing a lay-by just ahead, he pulled into it and stopped the car.

He heard her seat belt unclip, has he switched of the engine. As he turned to her, she said.

"I've not congratulated you," and then kissed him full on his lips, she held the kiss for several seconds before breaking off.

Robert was stunned, his mind in turmoil, his heart racing.

He heard the seatbelt click, not daring to look at her, he re-started the engine and pulled back on to the road.

They drove back to the cottage in silence.

Once inside, the lights had been set on low with the dimmer switch, by Mrs Mac, the flames off the fire, casting flickering shadows into the room.

Robert faced the fire, unable to face Terry, who stood behind him.

"Terry," he began, trying desperately to find the words, "I value your friendship more than you'll ever know, and I would hate to lose it, but.... but please don't flirt with me. I couldn't handle that."

He turned to look at her.

There was a kind of anger, written across her face.

"Oh, you sweet, wonderful, bloody fool," she sobbed, "Don't you realise, I'm in love with you."

The blood drained from his face; he was totally confused, with her announcement.

"I never allowed myself, to dare hope that you could feel that way about me." He stammered.

"So do you think, you have feelings for me Robert?" She whispered, almost afraid to know the answer.

"Feelings," he stammered again, "I love you Terry, and I've never said that to any other girl. But I'm only a pilot I couldn't expect, to ever, interest, a famous girl like you."

She looked at him, seeing the earnest look in his eyes, eyes, of a shy bewildered boy.

Then suddenly she was in his arms, and he was kissing her, her lips felt so soft and warm, a tear, ran slowly down her cheek,

"Don't cry darling," he said suddenly scared.

"I'm crying, because I'm so very happy, you dope," giving him a smile.

He was sat in the armchair with Terry sat on his knees her arms round his neck.

"When did you know?" He asked.

"I think that day at the Palace, when you left your stick behind to receive the award, I knew how much pain you were in. But, you didn't want any sympathy, or pity, and seeing you like that, just melted my heart. When did you?"

"When you said anything for our boys in blue," he chuckled, "No seriously, the way you supported me at the Palace, holding my hand, the way you looked at me. I suddenly realised, what a wonderful person you were," he chuckled again, "but you never gave any indication of how you felt."

She sat back, looking down on his face.

"Bobby, do you think I'm the sort of girl, who would stay alone with a man, days on end without having some feelings for him. Surely my doing that, should have given you a clue."

She, had used the name his mother used for him, and he realised, he liked her using it.

He looked at her beautiful face and felt an emotion that he'd never felt before in his life.

"Terry I love you, I never want to lose you. I know this is sudden, but I know without a shadow of a doubt, that my feelings for you will never change. I know we both have careers, and there will be periods when we are apart. But I think we can surmount, those problems. A Squadron Leaders pay is not bad, and I have the cottage....and."

Terry put a finger over his mouth.

"The answers yes," his eyes looked puzzled "yes, I want to be your wife."

Then she kissed him, a long lingering kiss.

He suddenly got up, placing her back in the chair, "wait here," he commanded. With that, he dashed up the stairs; he returned minutes later carrying a small velvet box.

"Terry would you ware this," he opened the box, white gold engagement ring with a diamond surrounded by six other diamonds lay in it.

"It belonged to my Mother," he said, "but I'll buy you the best diamond ring in London when we go up."

She stared down at the ring; this ring had known a lot of history, and love.

"No Bobby, I'd like to keep this one, please if you don't mind," tears running down her face "I know how much your mother, loved your father, and somehow that love will continue with us."

"If you are sure darling, then I know Mum would have loved for you to have it. So what brought on the kiss in the car?"

She smiled pushing back his hair.

"Back in the bar, I looked for you, but the guys said you were flying, and I suddenly got scared. I realised that I had never told you how I felt if anything went wrong, if something happened to you. But the guys all said you were the best pilot in the squadron, and indestructible." She kissed him, "Anyway my tummy, was in a knot until you landed, and I vowed, there and then, to show you how I felt. I knew you were too shy or scared," she chuckled, "to do anything. When you didn't, return the kiss I thought you didn't care for me."

"You took me by surprise," he murmured "Terry, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, but you also have a lovely character, as well. The people you mix with, professionally are way above my station, and I'm enough of a realist, to understand, that I was fortunate to be your friend, but could never hope to be anything else, or so I told myself".

"Bobby you dope, considering you lead men, you know nothing about women. I can see that until you find your confidence, I shall have to lead you."

They talked and kissed for a long time before Terry murmured, "I'm going up."

"Good night darling," he said, "I'll lock up, then I'll be coming up."

He had stripped of to his shorts, and was lying on his back in bed, thinking of the miracle that had just occurred, with Terry, when the bedroom door opened.

Outlined. In the faint glow, of the hall light, he could see she was wearing a white lace negligee, her body outlined through it.

She moved to the side of the bed.

"Move over." She whispered, sliding the negligee of her shoulders, she was naked.

She slid in to the bed. Lying on her back looking up at him.

He was lying on his side supported by his elbow. They looked at each other for several seconds. Then, he slowly kissed her, then again, with more force. Her lips parted, and he could feel her tongue against his lips, his lips opened and his tongue and hers entwined.

He could, feel his arousal growing; he moved the duvet away from her shoulders revealing her breasts.

He hesitated, and then lowered his head to her breast, his lips lightly gripped her nipple while his tongue played over it, and it seemed to swell in his mouth.

Terry gasped and pulled his head down hard on to her.

His arousal was almost painful; he was struggling, to rid himself of his shorts, and then Terry's hand was there, helping him. Her hand enfolded his member, and she gave a low groan.

She wriggled, and then somehow, she was below him, he was resting on his elbows looking down on her, he lowered his head, to kiss her opened lips, she moved her hips and miraculously, he entered her.

He waited a heartbeat, and then gently moved.

His movements were slow and clumsy, but as the passion built, so did the speed of his thrusts, Terry groaned, her hands clasping his buttocks, the nails digging into them. Her legs were bent up entwining his thighs forcing him into her; her mouth opened, groans of ecstasy escaping from it.