AN Sorry its been so long. Been very busy. To be honest, I feel a bit demoralised by the series 2 announcement with Molly effectively now out of the story. Where does that leave Molly/Charles ff I wonder? Anyway, I shall persevere for now!

Back to Afghan (via Bath) Part 10

What i did at the weekend, by Samuel James, Class 2, Monday

I live with my mum and a man called Rob. He is not my dad though. My real dad lives with my granma and grandad. Almost every weekend i go and stay with him. I love being with my dad. On saturday morning Mum drove me to Dads and i met his friend Molly. I don't think my mum likes her very much. She says she is common and a bad inflewance but i am not sure what that means. Molly is a soljer like my dad and saved him when he was hurt. She is very brave and won a medal. She is ever so pretty and talks in a funny way which makes me laugh.

In the morning granma drove us all to Bristol to see a very old ship called the Great Brittain. It was very big and Grandad said it was the first steam ship to take people to America. Then we had lunch at Pizza Hut. Then we drove up the Motorway to the old steam railway that goes to Cheltenham. We walked from the carpark and i held Mollys hand. She is very pretty and smells nice. Dad kisses her when he thinks i am not looking. Sometimes he kisses her on the lips. Miss Taylor says that means he likes her alot.

We went on the old steam train all the way to Cheltenham and had tea and i had a chelsy bun. On the way back Dad had a supprise for me. His friend was the driver of the steam engine and let Molly dad and i travel on the engine all the way back. It was very noisy and hot in the engine. the driver said Don't touch anything and keep out of the way of the fireman please so he can shovel the coal. When we arrived back where we started from, I asked what does this do and put my hand on a shiny brass lever. The driver shouted no and made me jump and I pulled my hand away. Molly grabbed my arm and pushed my hand in a bukket of water which was behind us. I told her it was alright but she looked at her watch and said I must keep it in the water for ten minutes. She is an army nurse. It started to hurt but i think thats because the water was so cold and I cried a little bit. Dad was in a flap.

When I took my hand out of the water there was a red mark on two of my fingers and it was a bit saw, but OK. Molly bort me a new Brio engine in the shop.

Then we went back to granmas. On the way home I had a cuddle with Molly in the back of the car. She is very soft and warm and she smells lovely, like nice soap. I like her very much. When we got home, Aunty Emma looked at my fingers and said that they were fine. She is a doctor. She said Molly did the right thing with the water.

After dinner Me and Molly made a track from Brio for the new engine. It went all the way down the lounge. we pretended it went from paddington to Bristol and stopped at Bath. Molly is cool.

I had a lovely day. I would like Molly to marry my dad so I could see her alot.

The End

Toddington, Gloucestershire, Saturday 3.00pm

It was Molly's military training as well as her medical expertise that had saved Sam from a potentially bad injury. As soon as she got into the engine cab she had automatically and sub-consciously done a risk assessment of her surroundings. This was what she was trained to do in every hostile environment. The danger in this case was obvious. There were very hot, scalding surfaces everywhere. She looked immediately for a cold water source in case of emergencies. A large bucket was tucked into one corner at the back of the locomotive cab.

They were just arriving at Toddington when the accident happened and she reacted immediately. In a split second she had put Sam's hand straight into the cold water and insisted he kept it there for the recommended 10 minutes despite his protestations.

Charles had kept saying "Oh my God, Oh my God" which didn't help much, so Molly had to spend time reassuring the parent as well as the patient, "Don't worry, we caught it real quick, it'll be fine."

After checking her watch, Molly pulled his hand out of the water and examined it closely. She knew the recommendations for child burns very well. "We should really take him to A&E for a check up but Emma'll be home now and can take a look when we get back. It don't look too bad at all actually", she said, smiling at Sam.

They found Edward and Ruth waiting on the platform. Sam seemed none the worse for wear and chose a new Brio engine in the station shop before they set off for home. He spent the journey cuddled up with Molly on the back seat, telling everybody in the car how steam engines worked, how to drive them, and how important it was to use a thick cloth for the hot controls! It was Charles who eventually voiced the concern which had occurred to all of them in turn.

"What the Hell is Rebecca going to say!?"

OG OG OG

20 Royal Crescent, Saturday 7.30pm

Charles peered through the door of the lounge looking at the beautiful young woman in jeans and a blue top, and the young boy in black jeans and a grey pullover, crawling around on the floor playing with a Brio trainset. Molly was on her hands and knees facing away from the door and it made him, for a few moments, think inappropriate and lascivious thoughts which had nothing to do with playing trains. But he quickly purged those thoughts from his mind. It didn't seem right somehow with his seven year old son so close by!

The Brio tracks stretched from one end of the room to the other, a not inconsiderable distance. Molly had suggested building the track so Sam could try out his new engine and they had set about it together straight after dinner. Now the trains were running, Molly in control of a train from one end and Sam pushing his new acquisition from the other. She sensed Charles's presence and turned to look at him in the doorway. They smiled at each other.

He didn't want to be "previous", as Molly would say, but as he looked at her and watched the interaction between her and his young son, he knew in his heart, that "previous" or not, Molly was "the one", the person he was meant to be with for the rest of his life. He'd never been so sure of anything. But he had no idea if she felt the same. She had told him she loved him but he still wondered if she saw those feelings lasting as long as he knew his would. He knew that these few days with her were precious; that despite the short amount of time left with her, he must let their relationship develop naturally and not "force" things with the risk of scaring her away.

He looked at his son. Sam was having a wonderful time. It was rare for an adult to play with him like this, not even his Dad, and he loved it.

"I really like playing with you, Molly, you're cool", he shouted from one end of the room to the other.

"You're alright yourself mate", Molly shouted back.

Charles could resist no longer and walked into the room. "You two having fun?"

Sam took his father's hand and pulled him towards the train set. "Look Dad, I'm at Paddington and Molly's coming from Bristol. The trains pass at Bath. See."

"Fantastic".

Charles walked over to Molly and knelt beside her next to the Brio representation of Bristol Station. She sat back on her heels so he could put his arm around her shoulder. "Thanks for looking after Sam and thanks for being so wonderful" he said quietly. He kissed her on the cheek inhaling that Molly "scent" he'd come to love so much.

"Hey Scamp, we have something to give Molly before you go up for your bath, haven't we?"

"Oh yes", said Sam.

"You go and get them then, Grandma knows where they are". Sam ran off leaving the two of them alone in the room..

"He's such a lovely kid, Charles. He's a credit to you and, dare I say it, Rebecca."

"I know, and he seems to be very taken with you. I couldn't be happier." he kissed her again, this time on the lips."How is his hand?"

"Its fine, honestly", said Molly, "Emma says there's no need to do anything else. She doesn't think it will even blister. Perhaps Rebecca won't notice", she said with a smile.

"Fat chance", said Charles.

Sam ran back in with two parcels and handed them to Molly with words carefully rehearsed over two telephone calls with his Dad.

"These are for you when you...go to...Afghan...istan, Molly. ...Think of me and Dad...sorry, Dad and I...when you use them.". Then he ad-libbed, "This pretty one's from Dad, and this one's from me. Sorry about the wrapping on my one. I'll miss you Molly. Do you really haveto go?".

He handed them to Molly and gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

Molly's eyes uncharacteristically filled with tears at the little speech."Thats so sweet", she said, "thank you very much. I do have to go but I'll be back before you know it. Don't worry."

The iPad and its case were soon unwrapped and Molly was suitably delighted.

"Now you've got no excuse not to Skype us", said Charles.

"That's assuming they still got wifi at Bastion eh?"

Ruth appeared at the door, "Your bath's ready Sam".

At that moment the phone rang and Charles picked up the lounge cordless."Hello..."

There was a momentary silence in the room.

"Oh, hello Rebecca".

OG OG OG

AN Apologies if this chapter is a bit messy. Sam's "story" for school was a device to describe what they did on his day out without laborious, and potentially boring, detail but it was difficult to then weave a narrative around it. It was also useful to get over Sam's growing love of Molly which I am sure would have happened were we going to have the Series 2 we should have had!

Rebecca is of course phoning to check that everything is OK! What are they going to tell her?!