As Molly Dawes strode down the busy London street at 9am, she felt the early November chill in the air and pulled her scarf tighter around her neck, gripping the two takeaway coffee cups in her hand to savour their warmth. She was running much later than her usual 7.30 am start. Molly was usually always the first in the office, starting work whilst the cleaners finished their early morning shifts, and savouring the extra hour of silent peace before the place came to life so that she could get things in order for the day before the boss arrived in the office. He was predictable in that sense, always sure to arrive at 8.30 in his workout gear, sweaty from his early morning run, with a towel wrapped round his neck. From then, he would disappear for a shower and be at his desk 20 minutes later, ready to begin the day.
It was a well established routine. Just before 9am, Molly would deliver his morning coffee to his desk and sit with him for around fifteen minutes, briefing him on his diary for that day, outlining any appointments that were lined up and generally preparing for the day ahead.
Only, today was different. She had been at the dentist; something which she had warned him about before she left the previous evening. She was 99% sure he would have conveniently forgotten about that reminder by now. She had at least anticipated that fact, and visited Starbucks on her way to the office, ready to greet him with a coffee in her hand. Sure enough, as she made her way towards the imposing building where she spent most of her days, she heard her phone ring in the depth of her coat pocket. Stacking the two cups on top of each other with one hand as she entered the automatic rotating doors, she pulled the offender from her pocket and glued it to her ear with her shoulder, catching the teetering cups with her free hand before they fell from the other one. Before she had a chance to speak, his velvet smooth, but clearly irritated tone boomed from the handset.
"Where are you? It's past 9."
"I told you last night - I had the dentist this morning" she smiled at Pearl, the receptionist for the whole of the building, and mouthed a silent hello as she walked past, still finely balancing the coffee cups as she tried not to drop the phone. Pearl could see her balancing act and moved to open the security point so that Molly didn't have to swipe her ID to pass the glass barrier. The older lady with a sleek, jet black bob of hair was met with a grateful 'thanks' mouthed at her as Molly obviously rolled her eyes at the response she heard on the phone.
"I'll be there in two minutes, I'm down in reception right now. Yes, I'll bring coffee, I've got it here." She sighed with frustration as she ended the call and put the phone back in her coat pocket.
"What's he ever gonna do if he has to cope without you sweetheart?" Pearl ventured to the harassed looking young woman, moving from her desk to swipe "10", the floor number for Astratto Developments, where Molly was headed. She didn't need to ask who had been on the other end of the phone.
"Christ knows Pearl, let's hope we don't have to find out. He might even need to make his own bloody coffee one day when I'm not there..!" The lift pinged to signal its arrival at the ground floor.
"God forbid, Molly! That man needs you. Behind every successful man is a great woman, and you're his." Pearl grinned as she watched Molly pass her in a rush, jumping into the metal carriage as the doors opened.
"You tell him that next time you see him. And while you're at it, tell him I deserve a raise for putting up with all his crap!" She yelled as the lift doors closed in front of her.
The lift pinged open at the tenth floor, followed by a harassed looking Molly, her cheeks pink from the temperature change between the freezing cold street and the office. She barely had a chance to discard her coat at her desk before gathering herself for a brief second and entering the door to his office.
"About bloody time too, I was beginning to think something had happened." Charles James stood at the window observing the view of the streets below him. He watched her approach with a cocked eyebrow before he withdrew his hands from his pockets and gratefully took the cup from her outstretched hand as she neared him at the window.
"No such luck. I still get to come in and have you bend my ear, plus the joy of a filling." His thoughtful face didn't waver despite her joking tone, something which in ordinary circumstances would draw at least a smile from him. "What's the matter with you anyway?" Molly stood beside Charles at the window, surveying the view for just a second. She hardly ever had a chance to stop and appreciate the vast acres of skyline which the window offered a view of. The early winter chill gave everything a faint white glow. It was a spectacular sight.
She stopped to watch him from the corner of her eye. His tall frame was almost pressed against the glass, and he cut a striking figure, his tailored suit cut to suit his tall, lean figure perfectly. Molly wasn't blind, she knew that on most days he looked as if he had walked into his office straight from the cover of a magazine. But today, there was something so mournful in his stance that she found herself drawn towards him, wanting to comfort him, almost ready to place a consoling hand on his broad back. She cleared her throat awkwardly when he didn't answer, hoping that the noise would force the strange feeling she currently felt coursing through her. It was clearly just concern for her boss, she reassured herself, ignoring the fleeting sense of denial in her stomach.
"Nothing." He looked up at her and reassured her with a small smile. "Just thinking."
"Ain't that what you're paid to do?"
"Something like that." He smiled briefly and raised his head to the side as if to say something further, before thinking better of it and drinking his cup of coffee in silence. After a couple of mouthfuls, he spoke whilst staring straight out ahead to the view in front of him. He seemed to brace himself before finally saying what was on his mind.
"The divorce was finalised today."
Of course. She should have known this date was due to fall soon. She cursed herself for failing to remember that it had been six months since he first confided in her that he was divorcing Rebecca. They had spoken little of it since, Charles disclosing only the bare bones of the marriage breakdown and subsequent divorce. She hadn't wanted to push him into offering further information. In the absence of any comforting words, she simply spoke the truth.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." He smiled genuinely at her this time. "It's been a long time coming." His mood seemed to lift slightly as he moved towards his leather chair, casting the serious tone of the conversation aside as he leaned back in it and placed his hands behind his head. "So what delights do I have in store today?" He smirked at the downright sarcasm of his question.
Molly bit back a laugh at the almost magazine like pose as he continued to watch her from the chair. He was clearly unwilling to talk about the domestic stuff any more. Point taken. She required no pieces of paper or screens in front of her to answer his question anyway. Knowing his precise schedule in her head was the way she operated. Neither of them were particular fans of mountains of paperwork, both preferring the face to face approach.
"You've got Mr Banks coming in at 10 for a meeting. I've booked you a boardroom." At the look of contempt on Charles' face, Molly offered a further explanation. "He says he needs a few hours with you." She smirked internally, keeping as straight a face as possible as she heard him curse lightly under his breath. She resisted the urge to laugh as he looked at her beseechingly.
"A few hours? I don't think I can stand him for more than a few minutes. The man's an absolute moron."
"Listen, just count yourself lucky you're a bloke. He's 'accidentally' brushed my arse with his hand twice now; next time he does it I'm gonna have to chin him."
"Jesus. He'll be lucky if he comes out of that with his hand intact." From the last couple of years spent working with Molly, he knew exactly how sharp she could be when she was irritated. One of the things he admired most about his assistant was her ability to cut through the bullshit and tell it like it was, so he supposed he couldn't fault her for standing her ground.
"If I were him, I'd be worried about more delicate body parts than his hand gettin' damaged." She giggled as he winced sympathetically, before they ran through the remainder of his schedule for a couple of minutes.
"Morning Molls" the cheerful greeting was issued by Emily, her fellow PA, as Molly emerged from Charles' office and sat at her desk. The pair sat on desks facing each other outside of the offices of their respective bosses. Arguably, it was at this bank of desks that the real engine work of the company was undertaken. Outsiders were quick to assume that the executives were the ones calling the shots, but both Molly and Emily were the engines who were well used to keeping everything ticking over as it should.
Emily worked for Richard Yardley, one of the new up and coming executives, who was under the false apprehension that he was the most important person in the company. Molly had lost count of the number of times she had bitten her tongue when in his company; he was a smartly dressed viper, in her honest opinion. Countless stories of weekends spent sailing with his toffee nosed friends, or summering in Europe with his fiancé and parents were constantly told and re-told, with a smattering of name dropping for good measure. If his life was half as wonderful as he claimed it was, Molly wondered why on earth he was so hell bent on making Emily's such a misery. Nothing was ever good enough, no job ever carried out to his satisfaction. Emily, to her credit, had tried over the 6 months she had been working for the company to up her game and please him, but was quickly realising that it was something of an impossible task.
"Mornin' Em" Molly tapped her pencil against the desk intermittently as she considered how awful it would be to be in the younger girl's shoes. She had struck it lucky with Charles, and she knew it. Although he had a temper at times and was demanding of her time and attention, he was always respectful and polite. On the rare times where that hot temper had peaked and blown, it had been aimed at those who deserved it, rather than his loyal assistant.
"He's been a right old pain in the arse this morning, almost as bad as Richard on a good day" Emily whispered loudly and aimed her head at Charles' door. "Do me a favour and give me some warning next time you're not gonna be here!"
"Sorry mate, he's in a funny mood."
Emily's eyes lit up at the nugget of information. "Wonder what's up? Maybe it's trouble at home?" The look of bold enquiry was apparent on Emily's face and Molly just managed to stop herself before she nodded in agreement.
"What makes you say that?" Molly tried her best to maintain an innocent, enquiring posture. She'd kept her gob shut for 6 months now, and was now well practiced in the act of pretending to the office gossips that everything was fine with him.
Emily looked around her to double check that there were no observers close enough to catch what she was saying, and stalked over to Molly's desk as though she was an international spy. Molly had to giggle at the sight as she made her way to the desk, sitting on the wooden surface as she looked intently at Molly.
"Don't tell me you haven't heard the gossip?" The excited whisper left her mouth in a rush.
"What gossip?" The colour drained from Molly's cheeks as she realised that the news had gotten out. He really couldn't keep it quiet forever; he had done well to keep it hushed up for as long as he did.
"Him and Rebecca - they've split up apparently. She's been having it off with some other fella."
"Where d'you hear that?" Molly thought it wisest to keep her questioning as vague as possible to try and stall, but it was pointless.
"Shit, it's true then?" Emily noticed the lack of surprise in Molly's demeanour and drew her own conclusions. There was no answer from Molly, just a deep sigh.
Emily continued with her monologue, still leaning against the wooden desk with her arms closed tightly. "Who the fuck would cheat on him Molls? I mean, the man is an absolute god!"
"Oh do me a favour! Shut up Em. I know you lot can't keep your eyes off him but he's my boss. It feels all wrong to think of him like that."
Emily couldn't be persuaded away from her thoughts and continued, a look of daydreaming wonder on her face as she vocalised her thoughts with a low whisper. "There's nothing wrong about it, just imagine it now Molls. Him comin' in one morning from one of his runs, all sweaty and gorgeous. He could chuck his top right off, then sweep all the stuff off your desk, lift you onto it and have his wicked way with you. I bet he'd go on for hours and hou-"
"EMILY!" She was distracted from her lusty rambling by a scream from Richard's door. "I don't fucking keep you here to gossip, get on with whatever the fuck you're supposed to be doing." His last sentence wasn't even finished by the time Emily had recovered her flushed composure and replaced herself at her desk. She left behind a breathless Molly, who wasn't quite sure what had come over her at the erotic thoughts Emily had encouraged her to picture. She shifted awkwardly in her seat as she continued to imagine the scenario that had been spelled out for her; Charles topless before her, with papers thrown from the desk, her skirt bundled round her waist and her bare legs wrapped around him as he thrusted. She felt a little bead of perspiration gather on her forehead as she visualised it all so very clearly. Not to mention the growing moisture elsewhere.
Fuck. Where the bleeding hell did that little fantasy come from?
She shook her head forcefully, wrapping her arms around her body to dispel the goosebumps that had gathered all over her, and carried on with the paperwork she had been meaning to start for days.
She really needed to get past her current dry spell if she was so desperate that she had now resorted to workplace fantasies of her and her boss.
Because clearly, that was going nowhere.
AN. I'm seriously beginning to wonder if fanfiction writing is on some level similar to drug or alcohol addiction. I've never been addicted to anything, but finding it mighty difficult to kick the habit of writing! So, when faced with a very long and boring train journey today, what else could I do but write something?! This is very AU Molly and Charles and just a bit of a fun diversion, not meant to be taken too seriously. I very much hope you enjoyed reading it, because I thoroughly enjoyed writing it! Oh yes, and the only reason I had the bottle to publish this is because of encouragement from it'sembarrassing - she is entirely responsible, so please feel free to blame her for me letting myself loose on you all again :-D
