Early evening and a tall dark haired man was again pounding the streets of Aldershot working up a sweat as he tried hard to use the exercise to exorcise the memories that were troubling him, as he listened to Elvis on his I-Pad.

I just can't help believin'

When she slips her hand in my hand

And it feels so small and helpless

And my fingers fold around it like a glove

I just can't help believin'

When she's whispering her magic

And her tears are shining honey sweet with love

This time the girl is gonna stay

This time the girl is gonna stay

For more than just a day

I just can't help believing

He wrenched his earpiece out, not wanting to listen to any more of some stupid song which seemed to have been written for his relationship with Molly, or rather the relationship he used to have once upon a time. He didn't want to remember any of this stuff, but he'd been fooling himself when he'd decided that they could just have a conversation like any other ex-colleagues, he'd found himself talking about things he'd had no intention of talking about. He couldn't make himself forget her face when he'd held her hand for the first time in the FOB, and the way that had made him feel and the way she'd looked at him with her green eyes full of tears in that bunker and the way she'd said ditto when he'd told her that she was all he wanted and the way he'd managed to well and truly fuck it all up. All he knew right now was that it hadn't felt over when he'd held her hand during their walk that afternoon and that it didn't seem to matter what they'd understood when they'd kissed each other goodbye, that it was supposed to be the last time they'd ever see one another, which, as far as he was concerned was something he didn't want to think about.

It was going to take a hell of a lot of effort to turn his back on the unfinished business, but he knew he had to do it, to get back to the sort of sensible decisions he had been making before he'd met her again, to get back to where he was before that bloody garden party.

-OG-

"What is it?" Molly sniffed dubiously at her glass.

"Don't matter what it is, just drink it, it's supposed to be good for you"

"Jesus, Ronnie, it tastes like all kinds of shite"

"Yeah it does, doesn't it? I thought it was just me, you know how me taste buds are a bit fucked when I've just had a fag"

"Nothing to do with swigging half a bottle of red straight from the bottle, then? What the hell's in this anyway and why the fuck would I need a health food shit type drink? You know I don't do all that 'it's good for you' bollocks"

"Thought it might help"

"Help with what?"

"Had a phone call this afternoon from Mrs Brigadier, she wants us to do another party"

"And?"

"Listen, I don't expect you to …" Ronnie took a deep breath, "She wants us to do an engagement party for her daughter, that one, you know, the ironing board, the blokey one" Molly giggled and tried to ignore the knifing pain that had shot through her, as Ronnie smiled and tried to work out how to be tactful. Despite everything she'd said, Ronnie felt that she knew how Molly was going to feel about Charles getting engaged.

"Shitting hell, he didn't waste much time, did he?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, nah, I dunno, do I? And why the hell didn't you give me the booze? Why were you drinking it and not me?" Molly sniffed back the tears that were threatening and couldn't help wondering what Miranda had known about their meeting in Hyde Park last week, nothing would have been her first guess, but now she wasn't so sure, and did Miranda know what he'd been saying to her, the bastard "I mean, it's not like I didn't expect this or nothing, he said that they'd been together for a bit" She took a deep breath "So when's the party?"

"Sure you're okay?

"Yeah, course I am, I'm fine"

"A week next Friday, she's gonna let me have the numbers as soon as she knows them, I don't know if it's going to be a big do or not"

"That's easy, she can just shove it on Facebook again, pack the bleeding place out"

"Do you want to come? Size up the competition"

"It's not a competition, and no, I bloody well don't wanna come. I said, he's got sod all to do with me, it's none of my sodding business, he's marrying her, Miranda, and I'm happy for him, for them. Anyway I've gotta date that night"

"Who with?"

"Dunno, haven't decided who the lucky bloke's gonna be yet" Molly giggled and tried again to stem the tears that were threatening to flow" You know how shite I am these days at pulling, so it'll probably be some no-hoper with halitosis and a personality that's gone missing, Oh and teeth like Stonehenge"

"Bullshit. Once the players realise that you're up for it, they'll be queuing round the block and he'll be a bloody lucky sod who gets you, whoever he is"

"Depends what you mean by up for it, I'm not you"

"I don't know what you mean"

"Yes you bloody do, and obviously he didn't think so" Molly turned her back on Ronnie hoping that her mate wouldn't notice that she had given up the battle and tears were now trickling down her face "All that time ago I knew he was out of my reach, you know, not in the same league and then last week, he said all this stuff, how could he say all that Ron? I mean, why would he? and how could he kiss me like that? and then a week later go off and get engaged to her, ask her to marry him, make me feel like he might still care a little bit about me and then make me feel like I'M NOT BLEEDING GOOD ENOUGH ….. AGAIN, I hate him"

"You never told me he kissed you"

"Sorry" Molly sniffed, and then wiped her nose and the tears from under her eyes on the back of her hand "And I'm being a bit dumb aren't I? He never actually said nothing about still caring about me, it just seemed like he did. Can I borrow your lap top?"

"Go and wash your face first, you look like road kill" Ronnie laughed "And wash your hands properly as well, I don't want snot on my keyboard, I take it we're going to stalk the competition on Facebook"

"Yeah, I told you it's not a competition, but I want to see what she's got that I haven't"

"What, apart from a daddy that's a Brigadier you mean?"

Fifteen minutes later they looked at one another and were for once speechless. Accessing Miranda's Facebook page had been easy and, at least to Molly, deeply depressing. Not only because there was a very beautiful picture of the two of them sitting together drinking coffee outside a café in France, underneath a green tinged umbrella and wearing 'T' shirts and sunglasses, in very obviously smiley coupledom but there was another one taken at some fete somewhere with them and a young lad that Molly recognised as Sam, even if he was a lot older, and a middle aged couple who were most likely his parents. In all of the pictures Miranda was beautifully and very expensively dressed and looked slim and horribly healthy, all toned with shiny hair and smooth with a calm smile.

"Jesus, she makes me feel like an animated rubbish dump" Ronnie began to giggle "Even if she is a bit vain with all these pictures on here, mind you she hasn't got any in a bikini has she? That's because she hasn't got any tits. I see she still reckons she's single"

"Yeah, and I'll bet that's just because she hasn't got around to changing it yet and if I looked like her I'd put loads of pictures on Facebook as well"

"You're not on Facebook you muppet, and you're miles better looking than she is any day"

"Nice of you, even if we both know that that's a whopping great porkie and I'll bet she wears sexy silk knickers, not like me in me white cotton ones" Molly started giggling "Well, they were white once upon a time but they're more like grey now they've been in the wash with dad's socks"

"That's alright; social workers don't wear silk knickers"

"How the fuck would you know? Actually it's just as well, cos I ain't got any and I wouldn't want to wear them if I had them"

"Liar"

"I can't afford 'em even if I did want 'em"

"That's more like it and there's nothing stopping you buying some knickers that haven't been in the wash with Dave's socks, God, what a horrible thought, Dave's socks" She paused to shudder theatrically "Marks's knickers aren't that expensive"

"Maybe I'll buy some new ones before I go on this date"

"Way to go" Ronnie punched the air like a football supporter "Get in there, my son"

-OG-

"Are you listening to me Charles?"

"Yes, of course I am, why?"

"You seem a bit distracted again, that's all"

"Sorry, where were we?"

Miranda started talking about their engagement party again, the one she was organising with her mother, the engagement that he knew he should never have agreed to. Before her mother's bloody garden party they'd had this tacit agreement that that's where they were heading, and now, a very short time later, it had become a fact and she was talking about rings and parties and agreeing dates with everyone, not only for an engagement party but for a wedding, a wedding he was no longer sure he wanted. She had just told him that her mother had arranged for the same caterers as she'd had for her garden party and his first instinct had been to shout 'shit no, what about Molly? find someone else, anyone else, just don't involve her'.

He had gone along with the suggestion that they should get married sooner rather than later in a vain attempt to get everything back under control, to get back on track, well he hadn't actually said 'yes let's do it' but he hadn't said 'no' either, and even as his head had nodded in agreement he had known he was making another huge mistake, that he was fucking up his life all over again in some sort of vain attempt to get some insurance against the potential pain of "emotional involvement". What he'd said to Molly about being happy just didn't apply anymore, but he wasn't unhappy either, he just had all those uncomfortable emotions under control.

He and Miranda had a calm relationship without surprises, he had never seen her angry with him, or sad or emotional about anything, he had never seen her cry, and although she seemed happy enough with their sex life, well, she certainly didn't seem unhappy, she was never uncontrolled or uninhibited. There had never been a huge amount of sexual tension or chemistry between them, but he hadn't missed any of that until the last few days and now his memory wouldn't let him shut it out, no matter how hard he tried. He was exceedingly fond of Miranda, but was no longer sure that the calm affection that they shared for one another was the best basis for marriage.

-OG-

Ronnie watched Miranda from across the marquee, they hadn't been quite so lucky with the weather this time; it was a cool, grey and damp evening, threatening rain, so that the marquee was packed with the chattering groups of people who had been outside at the previous party, making it steamy hot and stuffier than ever. Ronnie was filled with a vicarious sort of hatred on behalf of her mate, who wasn't there, and Ronnie missed her, there wasn't anyone else she could share the sort of bitchy asides that she could with Molly. Miranda was wearing a slinky pale grey knee length silk dress which had beautiful vibrant pink flowers painted on it and which could only be worn by someone who was not only pencil thin but flat chested as well, together with a little grey shrug that Ronnie would swear was cashmere. The outfit was not only beautiful but quite obviously cost twice as much as the entire contents of her wardrobe, and probably Molly's thrown in as well.

Molly had called her just before she'd left Camden with a last minute instruction that she wasn't to say anything at all to either of them about her, especially not him, and had laughed and said 'thanks but no thanks' when Ronnie had offered to put rat poison in their drinks. She'd then offered to disable him by punching him in the bollocks, which Molly had said she appreciated was a very kind offer, but she would have to turn it down on this occasion, at which point they had both fallen about laughing. She had been true to her word and had scored a date for that evening with some eastern European engineering student called Janesk and had assured Ronnie that he didn't have interesting teeth or bad breath, but she didn't know much about his personality only that he was fit to look at which would do for starters.

"Are you Ronnie?"

She had been aware of him looking around ever since he and Miranda had appeared in the marquee and knew that he was looking to see whether Molly was there, so that she'd wanted to go over and tell him what a stupid fucker he was, that of course Molly wasn't going to be there to help serve Champagne at his engagement party.

"Yep that's me"

"Molly's not here then? I thought she might be"

"Did you? No, she's got something else on tonight" Ronnie wanted to say so much more to this good-looking bastard who had made her best mate cry, including who the hell did he think he was expecting her to be here tonight? But she'd promised faithfully not to say anything like that; although she hadn't promised not to be creative in the reason she gave for Molly's absence "She's out with her bloke, they've got some special do to go to"

"I didn't think she was with anyone"

"Didn't you? Ah, well, she doesn't talk about him much, you know Molls, or at least I presume you do, she likes to keep private things private"

She would have dearly loved to have added 'like the relationship she used to have with you, you tosspot' or 'like going for walks with you in Hyde Park', but knew that she couldn't because it would be breaking confidences, and she'd promised, but she got a huge amount of satisfaction from the unhappy look that passed fleetingly across his face, which, as far as Ronnie was concerned, served him bloody well right.

-OG-

Molly was walking slowly towards her agreed rendezvous with Janesk wondering when it was going to start raining and asking herself what the flaming shit she was doing there, she was not even the tiniest little bit interested in Janesk. She was only there because she'd promised Ronnie that she wouldn't call him and tell him that she'd broken both her legs or given birth unexpectedly or something, and because down in Surrey there was an engagement party going on. Her phone rang as she walked and she prayed it was Janesk calling to cancel so that she could turn round and go home with a clear conscience, but it wasn't, it was Ronnie.

"Yeah, yeah I'm on my way, I promise, I just haven't met up with him yet, anyhow, remind me, why would anyone normal want to spend an evening with me, when I'm quite clearly bloody mental"

"I wasn't checking up on you and any bloke who's not up himself would want to spend an evening with you"

"Thanks, but you bleeding well were checking up on me and it's going to start pissing down any minute. What did you want anyway?"

"Just spoke to lover boy, he asked me where you were, the cheeky fucker"

"What did you say?" Molly couldn't help the small grin that spread itself across her face at the thought that he'd been looking for her.

"I told him you were off having amazingly rampant sex with some bloke you'd met off the internet, what do you think I told him? I told him you were busy tonight, although I wish I'd thought of the internet one earlier"

"Tell him I'm dead, or that I've emigrated or something" Molly sniggered "Tell him I've run off with the bloke off the internet cos he's got money as well as a big dick"

"Has Janesk got money?"

"How the fuck would I know, shouldn't think so for a minute" She giggled "And I don't even want to think about his dick"

-OG-

Author's notes: Hope you enjoyed this. I won't be able to update now until after the weekend, it's my other halves birthday, my real one not the one from my parallel universe, so we're going away for a long weekend and he's threatening to divorce me if I take my lap top with me!