'All I need is an Excuse'

Two section set off by road from the FOB, leaving the home for them all for just over 4 months, the journey had been boring and dusty back to Camp Bastian, interspersed by the drone of childish songs from the lads. The dust and sand got everywhere seeping it's way through every tiny crevice so that you could almost taste it, a sudden halt of the truck had broken the monotony, an unidentified sheet in the road and a need to investigate what was under the sheet interrupted their journey back to Camp Bastian which represented comfort and safety where the last part of their deployment would be spent before returning home,

Still feeling let down and unsettled in his head after listening to the lads rumors that Molly and Smurf had got together during their R&R, Captain James elected to scan the ground for IED's, Molly immediately volunteered to go too; disobeying orders to wait until she was called to join him at the sheet, an uneasy feeling had gripped her that he may get blown up before she could tell him how she felt about him.

Almost in a panic, She felt a strong urge to explain nothing other than friendship had happened between her and Smurf, she wanted him to know she was aware of his jealousy and that could only mean one thing, he had deep feelings for her. Molly decided to bite the bullet and had the balls to ask him outright…

"DO YOU LOVE ME?"

Speechless and slightly thrown by her forthright question Captain James was unable to answer, with quivering lips he turned to look at her seeing the anguish in her eyes and wanting to scream out loud "Yes, of course I do" but a hand appeared from under the sheet temporarily preventing him from responding, they were both brought back to the task in hand.

They found the ANA soldier Sohail under the sheet badly injured and beaten after going AWOL two weeks previously, a request for a MERT to transport him to safety and the disclosure at the hospital from Sohail he had been punished by the Taliban for not killing her, how much worse could this become, then a tender moment of comfort between Captain James and Molly, where he had held her beautiful face and wiped her tears away with his thumbs feeling her fear and wanting to make it all go away for her, then the chance to talk quietly and confess they both had very strong feelings for each other and keeping her safe was now his main priority but the downside was they would have to wait out before things could move on as Army regulations would prevent them being together in a war zone.

Back in his private quarters at Bastian James was in a reflective mood, he felt suddenly very war weary, in some way or another this entire tour had been riddled with doubts and challenges, doubts that the regulations he had always followed without question either no longer seemed to apply or the challenges presented by a certain cockney medic with her actions, almost foolhardy bravery and endless questions had made him want to throw away the rulebook and apply new ones. She had upended his whole belief system and had stirred emotions in him he had forgotten he was capable of. Molly had made him engage his brain to find alternative solutions, she was all about fixing the small things like caring about a child who reminded her so much of her little sister and frequently asking him "why are we here and what good are we doing?"

He often told her "DO NOT GET IN FUCKING VOLVED', making her repeat those very words about a the child she had gotten close to, telling her "I NEED YOU 100% BY MY SIDE AND YOU CAN'T BE IF YOU ARE WORRYING ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL CHILD"

When she had looked directly into his eyes to confirm she was 100% by his side he'd got a warm and fuzzy feeling, and it was definitely not a feeling of concern for one of the people under his command, she had utterly charmed him, impressed him on more than one occasion with her passion and brilliance at her job that all he had wanted to do was spend more time with her trying to decipher what made her tick.

There was her moral compass, her bravery and ability to put everyone else before herself; there was also the fact that this cheeky cockney had got under his skin and made him think differently about why they were even in a Country that was hell bent on controlling things using fear and terror.

James was re-evaluating everything and soon began to realize it was all down to her, she made him feel alive again, hell, he was even having fun trying to understand her cockney rhyming slang, everything about her was different to the social circles he normally mixed with, she was honest, generous of mind and spirit putting others to shame with her no nonsense opinions, she listened to the Afghan interpreter so she could understand and rationalize the culture that as a women had her down as a second class citizen and unworthy of any credence or attention.

Once he had understood her initial gobbiness was a defense mechanism he saw the real her, the her that was both beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside and he had to admit to himself he was starting to fall very deeply in love with her.

On a purely physical level he felt she was always bloody gorgeous even covered in Afghan dust, the symmetry of her lovely face, her smile which made her dimples appear whenever it widened into a toothy grin, so much so that he made every effort to make her laugh, just so he could see her face light up.

Then of course there were her eyes, those expressive orbs that changed color according to her mood, those eyes that sparkled like the stars that shone above in the Afghan night the ones that he had long since felt he was almost drowning in, the eyes that looked right into his soul and made him feel she could read his mind the ones he wanted to plant soft kisses on.

She was tiny almost a foot shorter than him, he loved the fact she was smaller than him it made him feel like he could protect her, not that she really needed him to she'd already shown on several occasions that Molly Dawes could handle herself but he was happy that she made him feel that way, with a slim and toned body and a very distracting bust, she definitely had all the right curves in all the right places, and certainly ticked all the right boxes for him, down to the long chestnut waves of her hair that when she wore it down cascaded way past her shoulder blades almost to her waist, he often fantasized about wanting to pull out her French braid and twirl the curls around his fingers.

In his pit at night he would dream her hair would be down and tickling across his bare chest and other regions, the dreams had become quite erotic of late and several mornings he had woken to a full morning glory only to realize it was his imagination playing tricks, the much needed cold showers being his only saving grace before facing the lads and girl.

Since they had been back at Bastian there had been very little opportunity to spend as much time with his girl Molly, well, she wasn't his girl yet but by god he was going to make she was when they got back home, he had gotten used to dropping into the med tent at the FOB using his blisters as an excuse whenever he felt like it and just taking the piss or sharing banter with her, hell, they had even began to meet early mornings for a chat before the others were out of their pits, they would watch the sunrise and share stories of home, which wasn't always easy for him especially if he had been dreaming of them being intimate the night before, they would then go back to being professional in their respective roles during the day.

Now all he felt was he was missing her badly and it was driving him nuts, he would need to come up with a plan any excuse where they could have some time alone together, with his mind preoccupied he walked towards the mess tent only to see her coming back from the showers in those bloody shorts, Christ they made his blood pressure soar every time she wore them, god she looked lovely all shiny and new, she saw him and called out

"Alright Boss"

He stood and smiled at her watching as she walked away, before she entered the sleeping quarters she turned and gave him a wink them proceeded to wiggle her bottom at him, he laughed to himself and promised to punish her for her cheeky teasing, god he was going to enjoy it, by now he had a whole load of rather saucy punishments lined up for when they got back home. Get your thinking cap on Jamesy he mused to himself and come up with some sort of plan to legitimately spend time with Molly, before you actually run over to her sleeping quarters and do something stupid in front of everyone.

Since their return to Bastian after the Sohail incident, they had only managed to speak intimately once, they had confessed their feelings for each other and had agreed to wait out in order to pursue their relationship once they were back on British soil.

Molly would no longer be in his chain of command but the lack of contact with her was driving him crazy. He had to keep his hands in his pockets whenever he spoke to her for fear of forgetting himself and reaching out to touch her.

He would need to think of a plan that would keep everyone busy and prevent any unwanted interruptions of his alone time with his special Medic.

As Captain James gave over the sections daily orders he made sure to specifically order Corporal Kinders to remain with the men stating he was not entirely satisfied that the section wouldn't try to slack off, James felt that Corporal Kinders had an unusual knack of turning up when he least expected it, he was sure the man had a touch of the nosy parkers about him so wanted to make sure he was fully occupied with other tasks.

Satisfied his plan was coming together he gave a separate order to Molly

"Dawes on me, we need to complete all medical reports for 2 section, which might well take some time, my quarters in 10"

Molly replied with a simple "Sir".

Molly tried to hide the smile on her face, she knew that Captain James must have something up his sleeve as he was fully aware that all of Molly's reports were indeed up to date, all that was needed was his signature on each report which would take no more than a matter of minutes.

Molly knocked on the door of his quarters 10 minutes later as ordered, she heard "enter" on going inside Captain James smiled at her, stood from his chair and held out his hand, she took it and smiling back said

"So what's all this cobblers about medical reports then?"

James smirked, "Well, I had to find some way of spending, QUALITY TIME with you without anyone getting suspicious, this waiting out is driving me nuts!"

"Hmm, well me too, I was worried you had changed your mind about us, cos I've hardly seen hide nor hare of you since we got back"

"I know Molly, I'm so sorry but I just wanted you all to myself albeit for a short time, we've probably got around an hour"

The only report on his desk was his own which he flipped open, "I must say your reports are very thorough Dawes, all numbered and itemized, let's go through each visit shall we"

Molly looked at him with disbelief, he really did intend to go through the report, sensing her shock he whispered in her ear, "There's a special thank you in store for you for each and every entry"

"Oh yeah" she said, "What would that be then?"

With a Smirk on his face, Captain James said, "Well, lets make a start and you'll soon see"

Molly sat beside him with a soft knowing smile on her lips, her insides doing that gentle flip thing with the anticipation of what he might have planned.

"Now Dawes, I need you to read aloud the purpose for each visit"

Molly looked at him and frowned, what was he up to? she thought to herself but opened the file and for once obeyed his order, she began to read the nature of the visit and the treatment she had administered to him.

After she read out the first entry he lent close to her and kissed her cheek saying

"Thank You Molly"

Molly smiled at him and said, "You do realize Boss there are at least 20 visits listed here'

"Oh I'm well aware of how many there are and each one will need to be rewarded with a kiss of thanks"

Molly just looked into his twinkling eyes and melted on the spot, he had a determined smile on his face stating that his mother had brought him up to show full appreciation for good deeds and he would be failing her if he didn't say a proper thank you.

As she proceeded to read the entries out loud James moved closer and smoothed a long finger down her soft face, there was a thank you kiss to her cheek, followed by one to her temple then he moved his face forward a little to kiss the tip of her nose, placing another kiss to the other cheek before his arm rested around her shoulders; he continued with kisses to her neck then her earlobe, biting gently on the soft fleshy lobe making Molly shiver at his touch and the feel of his warm breath against her, moving slightly closer still he snaked his hand around her waist, and lifted a hand to her face before pulling her gently onto his lap, the report long forgotten he moved her face towards him so he could look into her eyes and began setting gentle kisses to each corner of her mouth before nipping her bottom lip and going in for the softest of kisses to her mouth.

Charles confessed his love for her and whispered across her mouth,

"If I had my life to do over Molly, I would have hoped to have found you sooner so I could love you longer"

Molly gently sighed "Ditto".

As the kisses deepened again, Molly's breathing had become more rapid, kissing him hungrily, he swept his tongue over her bottom lip coaxing her mouth to open even more so he could find her tongue and begin the sensual duel leading to heavy groans from them both.

Captain James had tugged gently at the hem of her top to reveal the bare flesh at the small of her back he circled the soft skin with his thumb needing to feel her warmth against his fingers.

Molly responded by winding her arms around his neck and tugging on the curls that settled at his hairline, she began pulling him as close as she could, they parted only long enough to take in some much needed air before returning to the kiss. Both of them knew things were getting hot and heavy and were fighting not to take this any further, saying into each other's mouths how much they wanted each other, Captain James spoke first

" Molly if you only knew how I dream of making love to you in every possible way, let's just say that my new past time is to take as many cold showers as possible to try to put out the fire I feel for you" God, you make me feel like a teenager again instead of a Captain in the British Army".

Molly felt like she was loosing control, he had this way of looking at her with those deep brown expressive eyes and his touch, oh god his touch, if this was what he could do to her by just kissing her; she could only imagine what he could do when they finally got to be together naked. Molly was looking a little flushed, she looked down at herself to a damp patch that had appeared at her core, realizing his kisses, his eyes, his touch and just being this close to him had stirred up a real need in her, she knew the heat rising from her would need to be cooled down and pretty fast if she was to return to the section; or they would soon notice something was up.

Laughing at him she said "I think you can see and feel the effect your kisses are having on me, I'd hate to think what the water bill is for this place, cos 'I'll definitely need a cold shower after this".

Remaining forehead to forehead they were both happy to share their feelings for each other, they knew this was never going to be a fling on tour they both wanted more than that, they wanted a future together. Waiting out was proving to be truly difficult, Boss-man confessing he had to keep his hands in his pockets when ever he spoke to her in front of anyone, for fear of reaching out to cup her face in his hands before leaning down to kiss her lips, Molly also confessing it was hard for her to keep her hands off him, especially his gorgeous backside in those combats, but wait out they would do as taking things any further from their glorious afternoon make out session would be too dangerous for their careers or any mission that might present itself.

Charles and Molly indulged themselves a little further with a daydreaming session of how they would spend their time once they got back to the UK, Charles spoke about booking them into a lovely Spa Hotel, buying her a lovely dress and taking her to dinner then afterwards they could share a long bubble bath together with candles and a nightcap before going to bed and making glorious love to each other. Molly smiled and could only sigh at the thought of it telling him to make sure the Hotel room had a balcony so they could watch the stars together.

They held each other tightly and sighed happily with their daydream,

"Not long now Dawsey" "Can't wait Bossman".

They both agreed that decompression in Cyprus couldn't come around quick enough, where at least they could get some quality time alone and maybe find a secluded beach to walk hand in hand along, but even better will be their return to Brize where they could get their relationship started without any prying eyes, Captain James had promised to whisk Molly away for a few days on their own before seeing their respective families with no rules, regulations or waiting out, just them in the moment, free to do whatever they wanted. Two more weeks and the Tour will be over, all they need to do is stay safe until then.