Captain James marched himself to the med tent. Under the blaring hot sun his skin prickled, a gentle dewy sweat forming across his brow. He had a habit of forgetting to announce himself as he entered the med tent. She had no idea that he had actually been there a few minutes, just watching her, taking her in so that he would never forget the woman stood in front of him. She turned around and noticed him but chose to ignore the fact he'd been watching her, again. Molly noticed everything, especially and including the fact that Captain James lingered.
"Your manky feet again Boss?" she chuckled as she looked at her CO who perched himself on the edge of the medical bed and looked at her, smiling, arms folded, his unruly curls looking longer than the army would normally like but as there wasn't exactly a barber shop to hand… he looked at her.
"Manky? Is that really how you speak to your superior officer Dawesy?" They looked at each other a moment to long, just smiling. Finally Molly pulled her gaze to the medical supplies in front of her.
"So you going to take your boots off or am I meant to magically fix them feet without seeing them?"
The tension between them was electric. Molly wondered if he felt it as bad as she did. Suddenly blushing a lot, Captain James cleared his throat and preceded to remove his boots and socks.
"I uh, suppose your witchcraft skills haven't had much practise lately so I'd better let you get right at them." The awkward smile on his face made it hard for Molly to hide her own smile. "Then again, you do seemed to have cast a spell over most of the platoon." He was looking into her eyes, holding her gaze again, those big brown eyes daring her to break the tension first. Molly tried to focus on cleansing the sores on Captain James' ankles.
"Dunno Sir, you under my spell too or somethink?" she fluttered her eyelashes unknowingly.
They both tried to hide their smirks. Before long Molly had redressed Captain James' blisters and he was leaving, until next time.
"Thank you Dawesy." He lingered in the doorway just a moment longer than was considered professional. Without looking at her again he changed tone and barked a reminder "Ops Tent at 1800 hours Dawes."
"Sir."
Molly was left with her thoughts. Did she dream these moments between them? He didn't really need his blisters looking at. Did he come just for the company, because of the isolating roles they both play within the platoon? Or was it because he couldn't keep his eyes off her. She needed to stop thinking like this. She didn't even fancy him. He was her CO.
But the way he looked into her, not her eyes, into her - through them. The way he joked with her privately, the gentle suggestion in his words. Surely he was just another bored soldier, only female around and all.
Molly's head told her not to read into it but her heart told her to keep the hope alight. All she knew was that she was falling in love with Captain James. Molly returned to the inventory list he had distracted her from and began working again.