A/N I'm posting this piece as a thank you for all the lovely reviews and PMs. I've decided, with help from a lot of people, that running away from FFnet would punish the great majority who are supportive and would make the anonymous trolls happy. Letting the trolls win isn't something I think I'd be proud of (and Molly would certainly kick my arse!). I've been working on this piece over the past few weeks and, fair warning, it's not complete. I don't know if I will complete it, but I will be posting what I have written and I will finish it if and when I am able. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Our Girl. Everything you recognise was created by Tony Grounds and is owned by the BBC.

Kinders

"Kinders – with me!"

Derek Kinders knew that those words, tacked onto the end of one of the Boss's thorough reamings out, weren't going to bode well for him and, as he followed the Boss out of the ops tent at the FOB, he mused that that was probably fair. Because he hadn't done his job. His job as section leader was supposed to be to ensure the section functioned smoothly, and it hadn't. He should have stopped the boys isolating Molly himself, and he should have spoken to Smurf about what he had said and done as well, at the end of the day. But he hadn't. And, he reflected, it's because I'm a bit of a coward.

He knew he should've stepped in before this. That things had gone too far. But he hadn't wanted to make himself unpopular with the boys by standing up for Dawes. It wasn't like she'd done that much to make him want to stand up for her, after all. Generally if soldiers were as mouthy as her you expected them to have something to back it up. She hadn't covered herself in glory so far. Until today.

Today she had done something that he hoped people would still be talking about in 20 years. In 50 years. Forever. Today Private Molly Dawes had done something amazing. Kinders had been to Afghanistan before. He'd been shot at and he knew people who'd been shot. He knew what it felt like to be a target. He knew it took a certain level of courage to serve here. But he had never seen an act of courage like Molly Dawes had produced today.

He knew that medics were a special breed. He had seen that on his last tour (and if he was truthful with himself he was disappointed that he hadn't remembered it and cut her some slack). He had seen plenty of medics tending to troops under fire, after all. But he had never seen a medic crawl across a minefield to get to an injured soldier. And he had never seen a medic put herself intentionally into so much danger to rescue a casualty. Particularly a casualty who had been such a dick to her. And what's more, he had never seen anyone stand up to the CO like that. She had shouted him down in front of the men and that took balls. There was no doubt in his mind that Molly Dawes had a huge set of brass cahunas, though where she kept them, he had no idea. She was so tiny there didn't seem space for anything!

The worst thing for him was that it was blatantly clear that he had misjudged her. She really was a great medic. Young, immature - yes. But also brave as a lion. And he had not supported her. He should have, but he hadn't.

His reflections were cut off as they arrived at Captain James' tent. The Captain gestured for him to sit down on the bed which, after a small hesitation, he did. The Captain went and sat on his desk, facing him, "Do you know why I asked you to come with me, Kinders?"

The Corporal was surprised by the Captain's even tone. He had expected a bollocking straight off. "Yes, Boss," he replied tiredly, deciding not to muck around, "I haven't been a very good section leader. I should have stood up for Dawes and broken this up before it got so bad."

The Captain looked surprised, "Well, I'm glad you know what you did wrong. I'm not going to ask why you didn't do it. I imagine it was for the same reasons that I gave her a hard time as well. She doesn't make a good first impression, that's for sure. She's mouthy and she pisses you off, but," and here he looked straight at Kinders, "if you talk to her one to one she's not like that at all, and I would suggest that the class clown impression is down to nerves and not her actual persona. I've spoken to her a fair amount between seeing her for my blisters and the march up to the Mountain CP and I've been surprised and slightly impressed by her. As her section leader, I would have expected you to try to do the same.

"It's that fact that I am most disappointed about, Derek. You are a senior NCO now. You're not one of the boys. You are in a leadership position in the section and in the platoon. You need to start acting like that.

"You're solid in action Derek. I've no complaints about that. But you are not so good at imposing your will on personnel out of a contact situation. It's a recurring theme with NCOs who have just been promoted. Obviously you don't want to become unpopular with the men, but sometimes you need to be to get the job done.

"I'm not going to harp on about this because I screwed up with Dawes as well," Kinders could feel the surprise on his face as he looked at the Captain, and noticed a wry smile cross his face, "but I think it's fair to say we do need to bring you up the curve quickly on managing your personnel. So, I've decided that you and I will meet every day initially to discuss your interactions with the troops and to give you some guidance, and I'm also going to ask Sergeant Pierson to mentor you. Don't be upset Derek. I've done this in the past with newly promoted NCOs and it does happen pretty regularly. But obviously we're in an operational situation here and you need to come up the curve as fast as possible."

The Boss looked up, "Any questions?" Kinders shook his head. He couldn't quite believe his luck. Captain James was one of the best officers he'd ever served with, and a great leader, and he was going to take time out to mentor him, Derek Kinders, in leadership? What a result. And he couldn't deny that it was overdue. He had only been a Corporal for a short period of time and, if he was truthful with himself, he would admit that he did find it difficult to impose his will on the boys and actually lead them.

The Boss continued, "OK, you'd better get with the guys and make sure everyone's OK. If there are any issues, let me know. Light duties for the rest of the day. I'll let you know when we get an update from Bastion on Smurf and Dawes. Dismissed." Kinders stood, braced briefly and respectfully to attention, and left the Boss's tent, heading for his section's tent, and now determined to do his duty as section leader.

Two hours later he was happily lifting weights with Fingers. Or rather, lifting the makeshift weights made out of a broom handle and sandbags. He supposed it was OK and it did the job. It was one of the ways to combat boredom at a FOB where there literally was nothing to do except stand watch and go on patrol. The boys were spread out in the courtyard area, some reading, others just lying in the sun. They had been pretty subdued since the Captain's reaming out, but they were starting to come back to themselves now. He had noticed it as soon as he got back to their quarters tent. He had managed to roust them out and had tried to spend time with each of them individually. They were a good group and Dawes' heroics and Smurf nearly getting himself killed had caused them to think a little more about how they had behaved towards her.

Mansfield and Dangles had been particularly subdued, Dangles because he had cold shouldered her on several occasions and now felt really bad, and Mansfield because he was the one that had uttered the immortal line, "he needs a medic" causing Molly to risk her life. He had not realised at the time quite what he was suggesting she do and it was only as it unfolded that he realised that he had nearly bullied her into losing her life. He had taken both to one side and had suggested that their previous actions were now in the past, but it was how they acted from now on that mattered.

He was interrupted from his musings by Captain James leaving the Ops tent and walking across the yard. "Two section!" he called, "gather round!" Everybody immediately moved to surround him. The Captain looked interrogatively at Kinders and, on receiving a nod that all was OK, continued, "We've just had an update from Bastion. Smurf is OK. He is conscious and is expected to make a full recovery, although it will take a while. He will be flown back to the UK within the next 24 hours. Dawes is on her way back and will be here within 20 minutes."

Well, that was a weight off. The Captain turned and walked away, leaving the section much more animated than at any time during the past several hours. Nude Nut turned to him, "Corp, permission to transfer Molly's stuff from the medical tent to the quarters tent?" They had talked about this earlier. Nominally she did have a bed in the quarters tent, but she had stayed in the medical tent for the first few days of the deployment. Unsurprisingly, he thought. The boys had wanted to send a message that she was one of them now, and Brains had suggested that moving her stuff in with them was a good way of showing that. Now he smiled, "Better hurry up. She'll be back soon."

Everybody joined in. Baz had happily given up his corner bed and now they hung a Union Flag and sheets from the ceiling to give Molly some privacy, swapped round the beds and brought over her stuff from the medical tent. They arrived just in time as they all heard the sound of a helicopter swooping low over the FOB. Kinders looked out of the tent entrance and saw Captain James standing facing the gates. He grinned and gestured Kinders back into the tent.

"What's up Corp?" asked Dangles. "I think the Bossman wants to have a private chat with Dawesy!" he replied, grinning in anticipation. This could be interesting. He didn't think the Boss would really ream her out; he had to be impressed with what she'd done, but she had technically disobeyed his orders to go up in the winch and he supposed that she was due a bit of a bollocking.

"Ooh, she's in for it now!" Mansfield was a simple soul but he seemed to correctly summarise what the others were thinking. They all subsided back to their beds, waiting for Dawes to come into the tent. It was only about two minutes later when they all heard the sound of her boots on the sand as she moved nearer. None of them were prepared for how she looked as she entered the tent.

For starters she looked like shit. Her face was all cut up; covered in cuts and grazes, he assumed from the mine explosion. But there was something else. Her body language was different. That was it. She looked confident. She had passed her test. She had proved to herself that she could function as a soldier and as a combat medic. She knew she wasn't a waste of space any more. She had saved a life. She had done it. This was a different Molly Dawes from the one that they had barely gotten to know. Maybe this one would be less gobby? As the boys sang that she was one of the lads she stood tall and smiled at them, "Thanks you bunch of Cockwombles!"

Or maybe not!

A/N So I'm afraid I'm a bit of a traditionalist and I definitely prefer cockwombles to fuckmuppets. Why did they change that?!