Molly lay on her stomach staring down onto the darkened town of Kajazi. Next to her lay Private Richards. On the other side Fingers nudged her and pointed to a building down on the left. In the darkness she could make out two figures skirting round a low walled compound and disappearing behind a tree.

Molly's fingers tightened on her weapon: "Those are Taliban?" she asked Fingers crouching beside her.

"Nah. Police deserters." Fingers lowered his voice to a whisper. "They were in here until a couple of days ago. They were ordered to locate a water main that could be diverted into here. Fuckers left and never came back. First we thought they'd been killed, but then we saw them with the Taliban yesterday. Tossers!"

When the two sections had been split up Molly had been allocated to group B under Captain Newlish. Their mission was to locate a water source. Tonight her group was surveying the town, familiarising themselves with the streets and buildings by doing a watch duty before tomorrow night's mission to locate the water source. She unclipped her night vision goggles. A sliver of moon hung low in the black sky, reflected in glittering strands of silver as the water flowed down the Helmand. Thank Christ it would be dark tomorrow.

"How long have you been here?" she whispered to Richards.

"Six weeks. I can't wait to get out. I'd drive back to Bastion if I could."

Molly searched for something positive to say: "I heard you're a good driver."

"Shit hot!" Richards smiled. And I've heard you're a pretty good medic Dawes! Even the Queen thinks so!"

Molly smiled back.

"But who told you I was a good driver?" Richards added uncertainly. "Couldn't have been Captain James. The Boss. He's never said that."

In the darkness she sensed Richards' disappointment. "I bet he thinks so!" Dawes whispered back.

"I don't know. I don't seem to rub along with him very well. Lane has no problems with him at all. They seem really tight."

Molly stiffened as Richards turned to her: "You was in his section, weren't you? Was he tough with you too?"

Molly thought back to the first few days at Bastien when he'd humiliated her in front of her section. She still flinched at the painful memory of him ridiculing her in her shorts.

She whispered back: "In the beginning I thought he hated me. It was my first tour ever and I really needed to impress him. Bloody no chance. I think I was the first female medic he'd ever worked with. It was tough, but it got better."

How much better had it got? Richards would never know!

"He's a tough one, that's right. So it's not just me." Richards giggled. "Such a waste of horn, though, right."

Molly jerked her head towards the shadowy rooftops to avoid replying. She felt her cheeks burning. Did Richards know? She glanced carefully at Richards, but the girl was looking straight ahead. She struggled to bring the conversation back from the personal. "He's like that with everyone, I think you just have to prove yourself first."

"That'll never happen with Lane breathing down my neck."

Molly couldn't help herself: "What's she like?"

Richards turned towards her so no one could hear them: "She's alright really. Just she gets up my nose every day with… something. She's always trying to be so professional. She'll never let her hair down."

The girl turned away as Toolkit pointed out another building used by the Taliban. Then she added reluctantly: "Thing is, I expected us women would stick together, you know, support each other. Probably it was wrong to think that. But we're in the minority and Lane, well you know, she's never going to do that."

Molly frowned. Although she didn't report to Lane directly, the other medic was senior to her, and there had already been a bit of tension between them, so she was going to have to be very careful.

She smiled at Richards: "Well look how things have changed. I'm here now! She giggled quietly. "We'll be in the majority soon!"

"That's never going to happen!" Richards giggled back.

"I'm Molly, by the way."

"And I'm Maisie. Nice to meet you Molly".

"Oi!"

They both looked round at Sargeant King who was crouching behind them. "This is not a fucking hen party. Get your goggles on pronto, we're going to creep round to the northwest corner."

"See what I mean?" Maisie whispered as they followed him round the roof. "Us girls have got to stick together."

They both stopped behind a big protective wall with webbing slung overhead, waiting for Kingy as he deployed one of their group to man the look out.

Molly looked back over the Alamo. "What's that building there, with the light on? The one upstairs?"

"That's the Boss's quarters. He likes to look down on us all."

Molly resisted the urge to look through her binoculars.

"Really? That doesn't sound like him."

"Nah, I was only joking."

Molly laughed. She already knew she was going to enjoy being with Maisie. There was something endearing and innocent about her.

"But I think it is so he gets an aerial view of everything, especially the police quarters, down there," Maisie added pointing to a dark corner opposite. "He doesn't trust them."

Molly felt a cold shiver of fear even in the heat of the evening. "Some of them must be alright," she whispered."

"It's not nice," Maisie confided. "Practically every day you wake up and realise that someone who you were talking to yesterday is now with the other side, plotting to kill you."

"Sorry, I shouldn't say this, you've just arrived, but the whole situation here is shit," Maisie's voice rose uncertainly. "It's boring, the food is terrible and water is rationed. And the atmosphere started off alright, but day after day of sitting helplessly while the Taliban look on has made everyone really tense. I was so looking forward to going today, and now we're all stuck because some Taliban tosser fucked up the helicopter. I'm beginning to think we're never going to get out now. We're all going to dry out and die in this shitty, boring, dusted-up fuck of a place."

Molly could see the tears glittering in her dark eyes as Maisie's anxiety rose and she stretched out her hand to reassure her. "There are more of us now. And Toolkit's shit hot. If anyone can get us water, it's him."

Kingy turned to the girls. He frowned at Maisie's tear streaked face. "Are you alright Richards?"

"Sorry Sir. It's just a bit of fear and disappointment."

"You wanted to leave today?"

"We'd been counting the hours down, Sir."

"Well bugger off for half an hour then. Have a break, get a coffee, and see me back here at… uh… 2130."

"Really Sir?" Maisie's face had been transformed by a huge smile."

Kingy smiled: "Do one before I change my mind."

"Thank you sir. Can Molly come too?"

"Don't push it Richards." He turned away. "You're both supposed to be manning the North West look out. You can join Dawes when you come back."

Molly followed Kingy round the flat roof to the lookout. "I hope you don't mind starting the watch your own Dawes," he explained as they lay on the ground. "It must have been a disappointment for her this morning. We're not in a good situation, surrounded here. It can get to you, even if you're strong. You'll need to watch out for that."

"Sir."

Sargeant King pointed out the positions to watch and stayed with her for a few minutes as she got her bearings. Then he threaded his way back through The Alamo's rooftops to check on the first lookouts.

Molly checked her targets through the night vision goggles and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkened light. Suddenly she realised someone was crouching beside her.

"Alright, Dawes?"

It was the Bossman's voice.


Thank you for all your reviews, likes and follows. It's a looooong time since series one which we all loved so much and lots of things have changed since, but it's great to know that this site is still going, there's some wonderful Our Girl FF about and some really supportive readers too. It's nice to be back!