Author Note

So, Rosabaya is featured in this chapter in decaff form. In real life it doesn't exist because Nespresso don't make Rosabaya anymore and they never made it in decaf in the first place, but lets just go with it because it will make CJ a very happy Captain. ?

As ever thank you for the reviews.


Chapter Seven

Anna tucked her hair behind her ears as she walked through from her bedroom to the kitchen following the small of freshly toasted bread and coffee. Molly was transferring hot toast to a plate as she entered, a look of comically intense concentration on her face.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

Molly turned with a smile. Dressed in one of Anna's dressing gowns over her own pyjamas, she looked a little like a child playing dress up as the cotton flora material trailed on the floor behind as she turned.

"Morning."

"So, I think I have this coffee machine sussed this time," she said, passing Anna a cup of black coffee. "It made plenty of hissing and spluttering noises, so I'm guessing it's all good?"

Anna sipped the drink, and smiled at Molly over the rim of the cup. "Perfection. But I told you yesterday, you don't need to keep cooking breakfast."

"I want to do something to help. You're putting me up and feeding me, and that."

"The marked improved in Charles' mood is more than enough payment. He turned into a moody not so little whatsit when you were in barracks."

They both sat at the breakfast bar, Molly having to adjust the dressing gown on her arms as the garment swamped her shorter frame.

Anna grinned watch Molly hitch up the extra material so she could climb onto the bar style stool.

"I'm sorry I didn't have something that would fit better."

"It's not your fault I'm a short-arse, is it and it's not as though I packed that sort of thing for Afghan. I'll need to take a trip back to London to collect some more clothes soon."

"Have you firmed up plans with your family?"

"No."

"Your mum must be missing you."

"She understands. It's just… I'm not ready to leave him yet. Maybe when he's a bit more mobile. Started his physio and that."

"Charles' wouldn't want you to miss seeing your family. We're always here, and Elvis texted last night. He'll be back in the county soon and able to visit."

"Elvis?"

"Charles hasn't mentioned him?" Anna said, sounding surprised. "Lovely Elvis. How to describe him? He rather defies description until you meet him, if I'm honest. He's Charles' best friend from school… also, Army. A Captain in Special Forces. They've been inseparably since they were kids."

"Meeting the best mate. No pressure they're then."

Anna laughed.

"You don't need to be worried. It wouldn't surprise me if already knows all about you. He and Charles are very close and you're important to Charles, so you'll be important to Elvis, I promise." Anna replied, attempting to sooth the slight worried on Molly's face.

"By the way the capsules you asked me to order arrived yesterday. They're in the cupboard by the coffee machine. He's going to be delighted. Wouldn't surprise me if he proposed." Anna teased, laughing softly at the pink blush that flashed across Molly's cheeks.

"Anna! You're as big a piss-take as your son."

"Who do you think he learn it from…sorry, I couldn't resist. Am I forgiven?"

"As my future mother in law, I'd have to forgive you, wouldn't." Molly replied with a grin.

"You have me there." Anna replied, squeezing Molly's shoulder affectionately. "You'll find a travel mug in with the cups. Help yourself. When are you heading out?"

"He's expecting Rebecca to drop in with Sam first thing. I wanted to wait, let them have some time together."

"I hope you mean Charles and Sam. There's no way he would want to spend more time than necessary with Rebecca."

"Charles wanted me to come. It was me that said no. I think it would be better to meet Sam when Charles is out of hospital and home. Sam has a poorly Daddy to cope with. Meeting the new girlfriend isn't really important just now. Little guy has enough going on without that."

"Sam's a warm little chap, I think he'll get along with you like a house on fire. But if that's what you think is best."

Molly hesitate for a second, as though considering what to say.

"I over heard him on the phone with her… Rebecca. She didn't sound too keen on Sam meeting me right now."

"Bloody woman, she's got about as much warmth as a rattle snake. The concept of shared parental responsibly rather seems to have passed her by. It's really not up to just her."

"I don't want to cause any problems."

"You aren't Molly. Leave Rebecca to Charles. He'll sort it."

"So, you're saying Charles has skills as a snake-charmer?" Molly said with a grin.

"Oh, most definitely. But if that doesn't work, he'll just out stubborn her. I don't think she's ever won when faced with his James family male patented bloody mindedness. Trust me. It's in his DNA, his father a bloody nightmare when he digs his heals in as well."

ooOOoo

Molly grinned as the look of pleasure broke a cross Charles' face as he sipped his coffee. Sat on his bed, playing with the fingers of his free hand, she watched as he drank deeply from the travel mug provided by Anna.

"I knew there was a reason why I said I'd adore you forever regarding supplies of coffee."

"Don't get too excited. It's decaff. You're not allowed the proper stuff yet."

"I don't care, this is heaven. I didn't even know they made Rosabaya in decaf. You're a bonified bloody genius. I've been going crazy in here with boredom waiting for you to arrive. Then you appear baring gifts. I don't suppose you have any chocolate in that bag of yours?" he said, looking hopeful.

"It is possible that I have a bar of Green & Black salted caramel which a certain mother told me is your favourite. But you're only allowed a little bit."

"I knew there was reason why I kept you both around," he replied, pressing a kiss against her cheek followed by a head tilt, wide brown eyed stare and soft smile. "Can I have some now?"

"Nah., I thought I'd save it for later. But if you give me another kiss, I might be pursued to give you some now."

"Lovely, come over here then." he replied as he tugged her closer. "It wouldn't pay"–he pressed a kiss to her forehead–"to disappoint"–another to her cheek-"my supplier"–another to her other cheek–"now would it, hmm?"

Molly pre-empted his further teasing by turning her head and pressing her own lips against his firmly, and nothing else was said for several minutes.

"You're a freaking tease!" she said, tucking herself in against his side.

"So are you." He tightened his arm around her with a content sigh. "Now, where's my bloody chocolate. I earned it."

"Okay, keep your wig on. Here. Two squares, that's all you get for now."

"You're a hard woman, Molly Dawes. A hard, hard woman."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

"Very true."

"How did you visit with Rebecca and Sam go?"

"Fine. Sam is full of beans as usual. I have a new message." He turned his arm over to show her the writing on his skin that said: miss you daddy.

"Your mum left me with the impression that Rebecca isn't exactly her favourite person."

"Only an impression? You must have got her on a good day." he said wryly. "Thing got rather messy before we finally called it a day. My mother blamed Rebecca. Truth is it was really both our faults. Rebecca isn't a bad person. We were just never meant to be married with a child."

"We've never really talked about you and her…well, except that you broke up."

"It's past history, and not one of the happier points in my life. I made the mistake of clamming up about once, won't do that again." he said, stroking his fingers up and down her arm affectionately.

"I remember. You were a bit of fuck-muppet that day."

"I wouldn't want to be accused of fuck-muppetry twice on the same subject, so, what do you want to know?"

"I don't know…how did meet? Stuff like that I suppose."

"We dated in our last year at university. It should have ended when we both graduated and moved on to jobs and careers. We stuck it out when I started at Sandhurst, as a sort long distance relationship but broke up when she got a six-month internship in Hong Kong

"We didn't see each other again for more than a year then met up at a New Year's party of mutual friends. One drunken night and a contraception fail and later and our lives were tied together as parents.

"I tried to do the right thing by proposing, thinking that we had enough in common to make it work for the child we'd both created. She wasn't convinced initially, but we both tried to step up and make it work. To be fair, things were okay at the start.

"Sam came along, I was there in time for the birth, just, and I loved him from the first moment he opened his eyes and looked at me. Rebecca managed to muddle along together.

"To be honest, I was around less than I should have been. We got on with life and things worked well enough. I was promoted, we bought a house close to both our parents. Sam was maybe two when the cracks started to show properly.

"Rebecca was struggling with being at home all the time, missing adult company and her career. I understood, she needed more in her life. I had the army, I didn't begrudge her needing more. We got a nanny, our mothers helped, she got a job locally part time. Then she was approached by her old firm to work part time, but in London.

"I'd been promoted again but with a barrack shift to Catterick with the battalion. Too far for either of us to commute, and too far from family support for it to work in practical terms.

"We tried to compromise, sold the house, rented in Hertfordshire, both commuted. About six months later I was deployed to Afghanistan. I'm ashamed to admit it, but it was a relief. I found doing my job in war zone easier than dealing tension at home.

"We were both exhausted with work, commuting having a young toddler. One of us was always leaving the other to go somewhere else. I bloody hate driving up the M1 to this day. Rebecca missed her family, and struggled to make friends where we were renting. It was a mess, we were both unhappy but didn't talk to each other about."

"Sounds tough."

"I went off on my second tour oblivious, to be honest, about how bad things really were and happily– selfishly–buried myself in my own responsibilities on the other side of the world.

"Have way through the tour she sent me an email to say that she'd broken the lease on the house and moved back to her parents and resigned from her job. I came back on R&R to a new house I'd never seen and a distance between us that I hadn't even noticed happening. That was the beginning of the end.

"We tried for a while long, for Sam's sake, but it didn't work. We weren't in each other's live anymore except for Sam. There was no common ground and a lot of resentment that we couldn't get passed and until we run out of reason to keep trying and we separated officially.

"Rebecca setup her life again. New house in Bristol, her parents moved from Plymouth to Wells, when her father retired from the Navy, to help out. Rebecca got her old job back and worked in London two days a week and from home three days. She had everything sorted."

"That must have been hard, seeing her setting up a life without you."

"I felt guilty, for a while. Not to sound like too much of an arrogant git, but it was probably the first major thing in my adult life I failed at. I wasn't proud of that. It's probably why I was such an idiot in hesitating to telling you about Sam. My ego got in the way, if I'm honest"

"You were a muppet, it's true, but we weren't really in a place where I should have had expectations on knowing personal stuff."

"That's a very kind interpretation of the situation, but untrue. We were in place when I should have shared, but I only realised it as you were storming away from me outside my office.

"I missed Sam, always do, but I never really loved or missed Rebecca the way a husband should. I had my career, and Sam and left her to struggle to bend her life around mine. I was selfish. I felt guilt, regret that I failed at something, but I never missed her in my life, the way I'd miss you.

"That's how I knew what we had was the real thing. Why I know you are all that I want and worth more than anything else.

"Molly smiled and burrowed herself against his chest. "Soppy, old, git."

"Enough of the old."

He tickled her sides in gentle retribution and Molly yelped in reaction until his arms closed around her, holding her with her back against his chest, and her head tucked under his chin. Warm and close.

He was silent for a long while afterwards and Molly could sense the shift in his mood from playful to pensive. She turned around so they were facing each other and studied his face. His eyes dark with some emotion that she couldn't quite read.

"What's the matter?"

He held her face gently, his expression heavy with emotion. "I won't ever make the same mistakes with you. Never, Molly. Do you hear me? I swear to you. Never."

She ran her hands through his hair, a lump in her throat at the shear swell of emotions that his words stirred. She was filled with simply, heart-breaking gratefulness that someone with such a beautiful heart had chosen to love her that much.

"There is a part of me that never gonna understand why you love me that way you do, and before you tell me off for not thinking I'm enough to deserve you, I am working on that. I think I might never understand, and will probably never be able to express what you mean to me enough…ever but that doesn't mean the feeling ain't there. To the rest, I think ditto about covers it."

"Who's being a soppy git now then?"

"Oi!"

ooOOoo

Their morning together was interrupted by his first physio session since he'd moved to the HDU ward. Loathing to admit it to Molly, it took more out of him than he had been expecting. Though he expected those huge green eyes of hers saw straight through his bullshit performance of being just fine.

With very little appetite, the lunch that followed was an exercise in eating enough to keeping Molly happy, for Charles, even though each mouthful was an unappetising effort.

When it was obvious that he was fighting sleep, Molly had closed the blinds, encouraged him to stretch out and sat talking quietly to him until he'd drifted off to sleep.

He woke up to Molly's absence and the sound of her voice talking quietly to someone outside of the door.

"Molly?"

"Hey," she said, returning to his bed side. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"Can you pass me some water, please?" he asked, as she opened the blinds, letting the late afternoon sunlight light the room again.

Molly filled a glass from a water bottle by his bed, and passed it to him. He pulled himself gingerly up against his pillows, smiling as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks. I'm parched. It's always so bloody hot in here."

"No problem."

"Who were you talking to?"

"Candy…. Mrs Smurf."

"Ahh."

"He's still not replied to you then."

"No. I tried again while you were asleep. She answered his phone. He's apparently had a session with an Army shrink today and he's not in the best place in his nut just now. She thinks I should leave off visiting for a day or two."

"Are you upset?"

"No, well sort of. I don't want to force him to talk to me if it's not the right time, but I can't help thinkin' it's going to get harder the longer we leave it. I want to clear the air between us."

Charles squeezed her hand reassuringly. "He'll come around when he's ready."

"I hope so. I;ve gotten used to having the annoying bugger under me feet all the time at the FOB, this distance feels weird. Candy said that he might be going home at the end of the week."

"Maybe you'll get a chance to see him off?"

"I want to see him before he goes." Molly pulled the infamous ring out of her pocket, laying it on the palm of her hand for a moment she studied it absently. "I need to talk to him and give this back."

Charles watched her fiddling with the leather lace to which the ring was still tied, his eyebrows raised in such a way that she knew he was vexed.

"Is that a problem?"

"No, but I be lying if I didn't admit to being a tad jealous."

"You've nothing to be jealous of. You know that, don't you?"

He reached for her free hand, twining their fingers together before raise it to his lips. "I know, I'm being an idiot."

"This really bothers you, doesn't it?" Molly said, indicating the ring.

"What it represents bothers me, but I recognise I'm being unreasonable." he replied carefully.

"It's one of the reasons to see him. Well, that and he's my mate who's going through something. I'll be coming back to you afterwards."

"I realise I'm being a jealous, arse, but I can't help it. Being in this place, even with you here by my side is so bloody frustrating. I want to give you the world. Instead I'm stuck in this fucking bed. This definitely wasn't the home coming I saw for us."

He held up his arm, and she cuddled into his side with her head against his neck.

"I don't care about that. I'm happy to be here with you, safe and on the mend."

"Hmm, I had slightly higher expectations of our homecoming, but I happy you're here, too."

"Now I'm intrigued. You sound like a man who had a plan."

"It's possible I looked into a reservation for a long weekend at a spa hotel. Somewhere quiet and beautiful where we could have spent time getting to know each other away from squaddies, Army regs, and well-meaning but bloody nosy mothers."

"Anna said you'd have squirrelled me away straight from Brize given the chance. Seems she was right."

"Like I said, romantic and quiet away from nosy mothers." Charles replied, rolling his eyes.

"I would have settled for a knee trembler in the carpark at Brize." Molly replied, absently, then froze. "Shit, I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Did you think I was any different? You'd been driving me nuts for weeks since before you left on R&R. I was just trying to be more of a gentleman about it."

Charles roared with laughter, causing a twinge of pain in his side. Molly sat up quickly when she felt him flinch, and stood up by the bed.

"Hey, where are you going? Wait…are you blushing? Shit, Molly. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Come here, please."

She sat down on the edge of the bed almost bashfully and he reached for her, holding her face gently, thumbs stroking against her cheeks.

"I love you, and I've always wanted you, that way. When I finally get out of this bloody room, I taking you on a proper date. Dinner, somewhere ridiculously expensive with too much food and good wine. You deserve it all."

"No dancing?"

His bark of laughter had her smiling this time. "I'm game if you are."