The Lost Princess (A Tom Hiddleston Fanfiction) Wattpad Featured

African Skies

CHAPTER 2 African Skies

AFRICA slid lazily by out the window of the 4x4 as they made their way back to Kankan down a road that was little more than a goat track (and that was being kind).

Anton's original plan had been for Matt to travel in this car with himself, Tom and the trip's official photographer Digby while Tory travelled with the head of Unicef UK Veronica (an old friend of her mother) and her deputy Jamie. But seeing Tom and Tory interact, Anton had decided, on the spot, that it would be better for Tory and her entourage to travel in his car. He knew how tough it could be on the front-line for a month. You were never off duty and positives were often few and far between. She needed a friendly face and anyway, he needed to talk to her about what she'd seen and the mood of the people. Anton had a sense of foreboding every time he went to Guinea. It wasn't something he could put his finger on but he had the sense that something was coming - something big and bad. Or maybe he'd just been doing this job too long and maybe it was that so many of their programs were starting to work - he was waiting for the "but" in the middle of the sentence that was Guinea.

He'd learned from her previous visits over the past 18 months that the young doctor was an astute judge of situations and he was keen to pick her brains. She was a clever one was Doctor Tory but he wouldn't have expected anything less from the daughter of the Princess Diana.

He'd met her once, "The People's Princess" - two years before her death. She'd come to Africa to visit one of the UNICEF projects she'd been championing - one of his first UNICEF projects.

It must be 15 years ago now but he still remembered it vividly. She'd left a strong impression on the young French idealist. People had told him before-hand that she was breath-takingly beautiful, and she was. What he didn't expect was her quick-wit and intelligence - her amazing ability to read people and put them at ease. Maybe that's why he had been quick to agree to let Tory come to Guinea despite the drama, paperwork and secrecy that came with her. And he hadn't been disappointed - she was her mother's daughter.

She was six months from the end of her Ped's residency when she first arrived out here. He expected her to be green and idealistic. But she was neither, she'd done a lot of research and planning - maybe having two brothers in the military and working the long hours of a resident had made her worldly wise, he didn't know. But it was probably more than that. It couldn't have been easy growing up the way she did, the spare, spare for the throne, important but not essential, the extra. Then losing her mother young and being packed off to boarding school, there was little wonder she was probably a bit insecure. She never really talked about her family but he'd met with her father and oldest brother before that first trip and they'd both made him promise to keep her safe - both resigned to the fact they couldn't stop her and really they didn't want to. He knew from those meetings that there was love there but he didn't ask about her relationships. He didn't think it was his place.

She was an intelligent and beautiful young woman but while she always put others at ease, she always seemed a little detached and a touch sad. He had often wondered if she ever felt like she belonged anywhere -truly belonged. He had his answer now though.

As she talked to Tom Hiddleston and her friend and guard Paul and joked with Anton himself and the driver, her other security man, Marcus, the UNICEF man finally saw a different young woman. Her eyes lit up when she talked about Tom's sister and mother - there was genuine warmth and affection there. Not that there wasn't often genuine warmth in her eyes - he loved to see her interact with the Guinean children. But this was different.

Not that Tom and Tory talked much about Emily or indeed anything too personal for too long. Just catching up on what was happening with the two women who were obviously very important to both of them and recounting the last time they'd been in the same place at the same time (Emily's 25th birthday party two years earlier - he hadn't meant to eaves drop on their personal conversation). But, they didn't say much that seemed like something that they wanted to keep just for them. It was something Anton thought was incongruous with what they did and who they were - very public faces but fiercely protective of their inners-selves.