Molly sat on the plane , looking around at all the faces each one of them finding something to occupy their time, listing to music, writing letters or reading books and magazines. Someone passed around a box of chocolates but by the time it reached molly there was only the orange crèmes and strawberry crunches which molly didn't like and she was too tired to dig to the bottom of the box to find out if there were any others hiding. Others at the far end of the seats were laughing and joking at some thing one of them had read.

She lent back in her seat, her French Platt falling out and all over the place, but she was to exhausted to care and it would only fall out again. The tour had been long and tiring. Straining on all involved. She allowed her eyes to droop close and sleep was not far behind

Molly's eyes shot open she was sat in a truck in the middle of the afghan desert. It had suddenly stopped they all alighted gathering their equipment and standing guard. The air was clear and the aromatic spices from the nearby village were wafting in on the breeze. Something wasn't right everyone including several locals were on edge, as per the instructions of her commanding officer molly was waiting by the truck whilst several of the others went to investigate what the problem was.

Suddenly there was a explosion that was loud and close by, it caused a huge dust cloud hit all that were waiting in the shield of the truck. Dust and sand went everywhere. In her eyes and mouth blinding her for a short moment. The sound of the blast has slightly deafened her for a moment but she could still hear cries for help. As she tried to move she found she couldn't her legs were glued to the spot. As the dust cloud she could see people really needed her help most with horrific wounds and some sadly dead. She could hear some one calling her name.

"molly... molly ...molly" it was a male voice and she felt a shake on her shoulder...

Her eyes opened with a start. She looked around they were moving everyone were sat in their seats on the plane it had been a dream it wasn't real

"are you alright Dawsey you seemed to be shouting a lot in your sleep

"I am fine I do sometimes talk in my sleep" she lied.

"fair enough dawsey we should be at Brize soon"

20 minuets later molly walked in to the arrivals hall at Brize Norton which was full of the joy of the families waiting to greet and welcome there loved ones home. She could see Charles was waiting for her. She dropped her bag to the floor and he enveloped her in to a hug.

"Hey. Good tour?" he asked

"Hi" she wriggled out of his arms "can we just go, I am knackered"

Charles smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead. "come on then" he picked up her bag and she followed him out to the car.

The drive back to Bath was long and was hindered by the busy traffic from the bank holiday weekend and the usual road works that popped up when people wanted to escape for a few days.

Molly drummed her fingers on the arm of the door in frustration. In the 40 minuets they had been in this particular traffic jam they had only managed to move several hundred yards.

"you okay Dawsey" Charles asked turning to look at her. She looked shattered and there was something in her eyes something had changed it was worrying her.

"fine" she said "I just wanna get home and 'ave a baf. I am minging with all this grime in me hair " She smiled weakly at him.

As a captain he had been trained to spot if something wasn't right with one of his men. He could see that molly was lying and hiding something from him, but he gave her the benefit of the doubt

"okay" he smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

The traffic had soon cleared and it didn't take long for them to get back in to bath.

Charles opened the door and lead molly in. Dumping her bags in the hall, the house was deathly quiet as Charles parents had gone to Lake Garda for a few weeks to see friends, so they had the house to them selves

"do you want a drink?" Charles called from the kitchen

"just a cuppa" she called back. "do you mind if I take a bath"

Charles stood at the kitchen door " you don't need to ask, ill bring your tea up in a minuet"

Shutting the door of the en suite molly ran the bath. The hot water steamed all around and she added what bubble bath she could find in to the stream of water. She made it so it was hotter than could bare she climbed in and for that instant moment she couldn't tell of the water was hot or cold. Sinking under the water she could feel it sooth her aching muscles she began to relax and unwind. She sank down so her shoulders were under the water, she winced as the hot water lapped against her ears. When Charles knocked on the door.

"molly... I'll put your tea by the bed, do you want anything to eat."

"sure... thanks" she called back

She heard the door close and Charles' footsteps going back down the stars. In the bath molly could feel her self relax and unwind. Pushing her self right under to wash her hair, which she did several times and watched as the water turned from clear to a hideous shade of brown. She lay there until the water turned cold and all the bubbles had dissolved away. She climbed out and wrapped a towel around her self and plodded in to the bedroom. Pulling out her fluffy she pulled them on and scraped her hair back in to a simple pony tail

Charles was stood at the stove as molly walked in to the kitchen. He turned to look at her.

"feeling better" he asked smiling at her and turned back to the stove

"yeah... much, what's cooking it smells good" she said wrapping her arms around his waist

"just pasta with a creamy garlic mushroom sauce" he said dividing it in to bowls and handing one to molly. He indicated for her to sit down on the one side of the island in the kitchen molly couldn't help but wolf the pasta down and have a second portion which Charles had anticipated. Once they had eaten they snuggled up in the living room and watched a film about a boy falling in love with a fallen star. About half way through Charles realised that molly had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He slowly moved so molly was lay on the sofa, she stirred a little but didn't wake, he fetched the ancient throw that his mum kept in the hall ottoman, he gently covered her and kissed her head she stirred a little but didn't wake.

Leaving molly downstairs so as not to wake her he turned the TV off and switched of the lamp by the side of the sofa he headed up to his own room. He left his door open a jar so he could hear if molly got up he climbed in to the bed and tried to sleep but he was concerned about molly

Molly tossed and turned trying to escape her dreams. The same dream playing over and over on a loop each time she tried to help and was frozen on the spot. It never ended it always was a real and anything like she was really back there and there was nothing she could do.