Hey guys, sorry about the long wait for the next part! I'm working now so don't have as much time to write as I used to! A big welcome to liquidfantasy, I'm glad you've found the fic and are enjoying it! I'm also glad that you like Vanished, it's a much more serious fic than this one, and has required a great deal more planning and thought! But I don't personally have a favourite from the fics!

Chapter 31:

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, with perfect conditions for the mentorship camp.

Pooja was in a much better mood now that she wasn't paired with Major Nair and she chattered away to Naina while they got ready.

"You know Naina, this camp is going to be much better than the last one. I've got a new connection now, but you're still on your old plan!" Pooja giggled, "And the funny thing is that everything you and suspected of doing last time, you can actually do this time!"

Naina blushed at this comment, not wanting to admit that she'd already had that thought. "Pooja, please! Raj… Major Rajveer and I aren't going to do anything we shouldn't be doing."

Pooja gave Naina a look that said she clearly didn't believe her, but dropped the topic anyway.

Finally there were only five minutes remaining until 10am and all of the cadets assembled in the meeting area. Major Nair was the first faculty member to arrive, folowed by Suriji and Lolitaji. Finally, Shalini and Raj walked in, laughing about something. The stopped as soon as they saw Major Nair and stood to attention waiting for BC to begin speaking.

"Well cadets and faculty members, it's time for you to move towards the first point where you will collect your partners. Faculty members, call your cadets forward and leave one by one."

Major Nair and Ali were the first to leave, followed by Suriji and Alekh and then Lolitaji and Pooja.

Shalini then stepped forward, "Cadets Huda and Sahni," she called, and then wondered why she had volunteered to take both of them when Huda pushed Yudi aside exclaiming, "She was my mentor first, so I go first!"

"Good luck," Raj whispered to Shalini and gave her a friendly wink.

"I'm going to need it." She muttered back to him as she walked towards her two cadets and then escorted them out.

"Well Cadet Singh, I guess that leaves us." Raj announced cheerfully, "Shall we go?"

"Of course, Sir." Naina replied calmly, knowing that BC was still standing there watching them.

Quickly they headed out of KMA and towards the direction of where their equipment had been left. Everybody else had already arrived. Ali was carrying everything off, while Major Nair was carrying nothing. Pooja and Lolitaji were trying to work out how best to divide the equipment between them. Suriji stood there confused until Alekh simply picked up most of the gear and starting walking off, leaving Suriji to hastily pick up what was left and follow him.

Meanwhile, Shalini was still having problems.

"Oy Yudi, you can carry everything. I'm doing you a favour by sharing my mentor with you, so you should do me one now."

"That is enough, Cadet Huda!" Shalini yelled, fed up of his rubbish, "I'm the one that's done you a favour by keeping you as my protg. I remember what you were like during the last mentorship camp. Now shut up and pick up your share of the gear!" Shocked and slightly scared by this new side of Shalini, Huda quickly did as he was told.

Raj and Naina reached their pile, both trying not to laugh as what they had just witnessed. Examining the equipment, Raj quickly took the heaviest items, leaving Naina with only a few things to carry.

"Sir, I'm not weak you know." Naina told him, slightly annoyed.

"I know you're not, Naina." Raj replied, trying not to grin at the expression on her face.

"Well then give me some more of the gear." She told him stubbornly.

"Naina, I know that you're not weak. You don't have to prove it by taking more gear." He told her, amused at her resistance.

"Sir," she said, stressing the word, "Despite, uh, well you know… that doesn't mean that I want any special treatment."

"I know," he told her, "And that's why I love you." Then sighing in resignation, he handed her one of his items.

Naina grinned, happy at having won. They made their way to their camp site, and quickly began to set up the tent.

"You know, I can't believe that the first mentorship camp was over a year ago." Naina told Raj, as she held the pole that he was hammering into the ground. "So much has changed since then."

Raj nodded, they'd had their share of good and bad experiences since then. One thing was for sure, neither of them had known how that one camp would change their lives.

"Let's just hope that this one turns out better than the last one." Naina continued, a slightly worried look on her face as if she was remembering what had happened last time.

"Oh I don't know," Raj replied, "It wasn't all that bad."

"Not that bad? You were thrown into solitary confinement! Half of the academy believed those lies against us, and your career was almost ruined!" Naina looks at him in disbelief, not able to believe that he's saying it.

Raj coughed self consciously, "They weren't all lies." He told her, hiding a small smile in the darkness.

"What do you mean?" Naina asks him, "We both know that nothing happened between us on the camp."

"Sure, nothing happened between us. But that doesn't mean that deep down inside I didn't want it to." He admits, setting down the hammer and sitting down on the ground beside Naina.

"So you…"

"It was on that camp that I realised I was in love with you," Raj tells her, reaching out a hand to brush a strand of hair that has come loose from her braid away from her face. "I was in denial, but deep down I knew it was true. It was in solitary confinement afterwards that I stopped lying to myself and admitted it."

Naina looks at him in surprise, she had never asked when he fell in love with her, and she hadn't known for sure that it was this far back.

"So that's why you were so cold to me afterwards…" she says.

"It was hard for me," He told her, "But I knew that the truth behind the lies was dangerous, I couldn't allow you to guess what I felt about you. At that stage you didn't even know about Navin. And I know that you hadn't started thinking about me in that way yet."

"I'm not sure," Naina tells him, "I remembering feeling strange after I heard Dr Ritu telling you that she loved you, as if I was losing you. But at that stage I had no idea what my feelings really were."

They finished setting up the tent and put the rest of the gear inside of it.

"So that's really when you fell in love with me?" Naina asks him, wanting to hear more.

"Well, I think that it had been happening gradually for awhile before then. It was after Bhargav exposed you that I started getting especially protective of you. I was in such denial about it, that before the camp I didn't even allow myself to think about it."

"Why not?" Naina asks him softly, even though she thinks she already knows the answer.

"Because it was wrong…. It still is wrong." Raj replies feeling frustrated, "I know that what I'm doing is against army conduct and the academy's rules but I just can't help myself."

Naina bites her lip, she knows that he feels guilty about their relationship but there's nothing she can do about it. The truth is that she feels guilty too, not just about lying to the academy but also about lying to her parents, about being in love with a man they hate.

"I know that it's against the rules…" she replies slowly, thinking about her words, "But we're not hurting anyone, and I know that you'll never give me any unfair advantage because of our relationship. As long as we don't go too far, there's not real harm."

Raj smiles at her, "Don't think that I regret this, Naina. I can never regret being able to be with you, it's something that I never could have dreamed would happen." He reaches out and places his arm around her shoulders, and she leans her head against him. "So I've told you enough today, why don't you tell me when you fell in love with me?" he asks, smiling down at her.

"Well, to be honest I'm not sure when it began. I always had a strange feeling whenever I saw you, one that I couldn't name"

"So then when did you realise it?" he asks her, hugging her even tighter to him against the cold night air.

"After you told my parents the truth." She admits, "It was the first time I realised that I might lose you, and that thought affected me. So then I talked to Alekh and he helped me figure it out."

"So I should be thanking Alekh then?"   Raj asks, he realises that he has quite a lot to thank Alekh for. If there's anybody that he would trust to look after Naina and protect her, then it would Alekh.

Naina laughs, "I think Alekh would find that quite funny."

Raj laughs too, and then he stands up, and offers Naina a hand to help her up too. Naina grabs his hand and he pulls her up so quickly that they collide, her knocking her head on his chest.

"I think we'd better go and join the rest for dinner," Raj tells her, "Otherwise we really will be starting some more rumours."

"Let's go then," Naina says, and they walk towards the main meeting area where everybody will be having their dinner together. Despite her excitement at finally being alone with Raj, she's also slightly nervous as well. Last mentorship camp they hadn't actually slept inside the tent together, she trusts Raj, but she's still anxious about tonight. What if they get carried away by their feelings… what if they…

Calming herself down as they approach the camp fire, Naina convinces herself that everything will be fine. Still, she can't stop her heart from beating faster at the thought that one hour from now they'll be heading back to their tent alone, the whole night ahead of them.

Naina's suddenly not sure if she'll be able to eat anything. Seeing her friends sitting together, she goes to join them as Raj goes to join the faculty.

Taking a deep breath, Naina sits down.

On the other side of the fire, Raj sits next to Shalini, glancing across at Naina. Warmth spreads through him just by looking at her, being with her. He can't feel the chill of the night air at all.

It's official.

Raj loves mentorship camps.