Headquarters

"Yes. The rain," Wellesley replied. He then lowered his voice and said, "And yes to a spider. It was in my boot and crawled up my hand... I did not know what it was first off and cried out before reason emerged."

"Well, some people are afraid of spiders," said Stephen in a tone of voice which politely suggested what he thought of such people. "The rain - will Soult be stuck as well, do you think? Has the bridge been completed?"

For the second time in what seemed only mere moments Brandon stared horrified at Hunter. Rooted to the spot he could not say anything for a moment. How was he to appear as if he had not heard the Captain's insubordinate remark? And he wished with all that he had that no one, especially not Sir Arthur had heard it.
He closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them again his gaze met Hunter's straight. "You heard the General, Captain. Our presence here is no longer needed." It took all his willpower not to give in to the urge to drag Hunter from the room like a cheeky child. "So make your way to your rooms, gentlemen."

Wellesley gave a sideways glare to the half-open door as the men the other side of it shuffled away.

"It will slow him more than us, but it depends. I was on my way to inspect the bridge now," Wellesley replied. "The latest word bgrought to me ten minutes ago was that they are starting to get the artillery across now."

Hunter gave Brandon an apologetic grimace, and retreated swiftly into the corridor.

"When shall we be on the move?" Stephen asked, his head cocked to one side.

"Headquarters shall empty this afternoon. The vanguard I shall send forward as soon as is possible."

"I will be ready," Stephen said with a small smile. "I do not wish to be left behind." He unconsciously ran a hand through his hair. "Is there anything else I can do for you, General?"

Leaving the General's room as quickly as he could so that it did not appear as anything was amiss, Brandon stepped into the corridor. He saw Hunter disappear into the direction of his room. But as he was too enraged to think of sleep anymore, he decided to better get some of the tension out. He took a deep breath and walked after the Captain, half hissing, half shouting "Hunter, where do you think you are going? Get immediately back here, we are not done!"

George, stopped and turned around to face Brandon. 'Are we not, sir?'

Having reached Hunter by now Brandon halted. "No we are not!" though low leaving no doubt about his determination on the matter. "What do you think you were doing in there, Captain?" stressing the titel deliberately. "Why don't you go and shout it from the roof tops next time?" the sarcasm in his voice certainly something one got not to witness often.

"No thank you, doctor, there is not," Wellesley said, folding his hands in his lap as Stephen relinquished hold of his slender wrist. "I must be on my way to the bridge, and I doubtless disturbed you from your rest."

"No, sir, not at all," said Stephen. To say that he had already been awake would have been pushing the lie a little too far, given his appearance.

'Well, it's been a long morning. And, forgive me, sir if I still find it a little hard to remember to address you as Colonel, considering that we stole apples together, defiled the Professors' wigs, had shouting arguments about horseflesh and Milton. That I had to drag your almost senseless body back to the room after a night of drunken revelry. Remember, how I enjoyed doing that?! I'm sorry I can't switch off my memory quite so easily, Colonel!'

Wellesley could not help but quirk an eyebrow, showing how much he doubted Stephen's statement, but did not voice any of his thoughts.

"I apologise for the disturbance though."

With that he rose from his seat on the edge of the bed and picked up his boots from where they had been flung across the room. It was lucky that they had not hit anything, but it had not taken too hard a shake to dislodge the spider.

"Well, such is my duty, while I am here," said Stephen, laying a subtle point on the words.

"Not for errant arachnids, surely?"

"To act as your doctor, and to respond to any requests by your staff," said Stephen softly.

"Yes, I see."

Wellesley sat down on a chair and, after checking there were no further occupants, proceeded to pull them on.

"I know we discussed something of it last night, but if you have any pressing questions of any nature that you wish me to answer," he said, laying particular emphasis on the 'any nature'. "Then it may be best for your records to do so before we leave this afternoon, as I foresee the next few days as being somnewhat fraught and uncomfortable."

The blood seemed to first drain from the Colonel's face and then rush back in with re-newed force, leaving a decided blush on his cheeks. Hunter's words had hit home. When he spoke it was even more softly. "Neither can I, George. And I won't deny that we did all that." He looked at him sadly before he steeled himself for his next words "But we are in the Army now, and thus we have to follow its rules. And if they require you calling me Sir and keep our personal memories where they belong, in the past..." his voice was again an angry hiss "then I bloody well expect you to do so!"

'It has been a long morning as I said. Please show me an army regulation that prepares you for dealings with an arachnophobic General, who screams the house down and then bites your head off, just because you thought, for some highly mysterious reason, that he may be in trouble. Did you honestly think I deliberately called you by your first name? Hell, I'm the last person who needs our past acknowledged now of all times. I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry, sir.'

He closed his eyes and sighed, running one hand over his face in exhaustion. "Yes, it's been too short a night. We should get back to our rooms and try to get at least some kind of rest before the day's duties call." He looked up again. "I am sorry, Captain. I should not let myself be carried away that easily." Here he smiled apologetically at Hunter. "But it seems that is something that hasn't changed either: you still succeed to make me lose my temper."

Gradually, Hunter's posture relaxed, as if the fight went out of him. 'And I still succeed in making a fool of myself.' He paused, hesitating a little. 'Yes, it seems like a good idea to disappear for now, sir.' He smiled softly. 'I think I will go see how Firebird is faring...'

"Very well" he inclined his head towards Hunter "and I'll see if I can't get some of the paperwork done before the day fully starts. I find the usually quiet early morning hours quite a good time for it." A small but genuine smile on his lips as he walked away in the direction of his room.

Quiet, indeed. Shaking his head, George went to his quarters to dress.