Chapter Ten

"Molly James!" Rob yelled as she walked past his office door.

She stopped rather reluctantly and walked back a couple of steps to look round the door at him. "Is that a walk of shame I detect? I'm sure you had those clothes on yesterday."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I was babysitting and didn't make it home before you start the rumour mill going. Do I need to remind you I'm married?"

He laughed. "Okay, Okay. If you say so. And anyway, just because you're married doesn't mean…." he stopped as she glared at him.

"I'd stop right there if I were you." She rolled her eyes at him and carried on down to her office, stopping off to grab herself a pair of scrubs to change into. Her neck was stiff from sleeping on Georgie's sofa, she'd still got a headache from the day before and her stomach was churning. It wasn't shaping up to be a good day at all. On the plus side she'd got twelve hours at work to get through and by the time she got back Charles should be home again. Until then she'd just have to work out how long she could get away with hiding in her office for.

She managed to hide and pretend to do some paperwork for a couple of hours, then eventually she'd had to leave the safety of her office and go and see some patients. She loved her job, she did- it was just that with a throbbing headache and her stomach churning the way it was she was having a hard time focusing on what anyone was saying to her.

"Go on." Rob smiled, nudging her gently as he leant against the nurses station behind her.

"What?" She sighed, turning around to look at him.

"Jesus. You look even worse than they all said. Just go home. You've got what an hour left of your shift? I'm pretty sure we can do without you."

She smiled at him gratefully. "You're a lifesaver."

"I know." He winked and she disappeared off to grab her stuff.

Charles' car was parked on the driveway when she got home. As awful as she felt she still felt a little bit of excitement when she realised he was home. It had only been a few days but she'd missed him a ridiculous amount. The idea of him giving it all up and staying home did have a certain appeal to it, even if she wasn't sure he was making the decision for entirely the right reasons. Beside, it had crossed her mind that a few days back with the boys and doing the job he loved might've changed his mind.

"Honey I'm home…." She called jokingly as she dragged herself through the front door. The house was silent as she shut the front door behind her. He had to be there because the door had been unlocked. She kicked her shoes off and stepped inside. "There you are! I've missed you." He was sitting on the sofa as she peered around the corner.

He looked up at her, holding a piece of paper in his hand. His face wasn't the warm welcoming expression she'd been expecting. Instead he looked angry and almost upset. "When were you going to tell me about this?" He asked through gritted teeth as he got to his feet.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" She asked, looking at him blankly.

"Stop fucking lying to me." He hissed, taking a couple of steps towards her and holding the paper out to her. "When were you going to tell me?"

She snatched the piece of paper off him, wondering which one of two section was responsible for his god awful mood. Her train of thought quickly changed as she realised what she was looking at. "Are you opening my post for me now?" It shot out of her mouth like an accusation before she could stop herself.

"Not intentionally, no." He shot back. "But it wouldn't have been a problem if I'd accidentally opened your bank statement if you weren't trying to hide anything from me."

"Why do you think I didn't tell you?" She argued. "Because you're acting like a child!" Her stomach churned again and for a moment she thought she was actually going to be sick.

"I'm your husband- is that not the point?" He snapped.

"Not when you're going to get all high and mighty about it no!" She turned to walk away from him.

"Where are you going?" He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around so she was facing him again.

"Upstairs." She snapped. "I'm not having this fucking conversation with you."

"Oh yeah. Real mature." He shook his head. "We're not done talking about this!"

She paused halfway up the stairs. "I am. Best you go and find someone else to lecture because I don't want to hear it."

He hesitated for a second. "You know what- maybe I will!" He shouted after her as she continued up the stairs. She heard the door slam as she reached the top of the stairs, the house seeming to shake with the force of it.

He didn't go far, only to see Elvis. He regretted walking away the minute he'd slammed the door behind him. He also didn't trust himself to go back until he'd calmed down though, just in case he said something he couldn't take back. There was something about Molly's parents and the way they treated her that he found so infuriating…. Even worse was the way Molly seemed to be totally oblivious to it. He knew at the end of the day they were her family and she was always going to want to help them, but it didn't make it any easier to sit back and watch.

Still, with a bit of hindsight he probably could've handled it better. But he'd come in and picked it up, opened it thinking it was his and it was right there on the page in front of him. He'd known about the money that she'd given them when they'd turned up at the house. But this, the next day. All he could think about was why hadn't she told him? And if she could keep something like that from him then what else hadn't she told him?

"Jesus mate, you look rough." Elvis commented as he opened the door. "Come in."

"You look better." Charles was momentarily taken aback as Elvis stood in front of him. His friend was slow and rather unsteady as he leant on his crutches but he was up and looked a little bit more like the Elvis he knew, which seemed like a vast improvement.

"Getting there. A bit too bloody slowly." Elvis groaned as he flopped down in the arm chair.

"What have you done with Georgie? I didn't think she'd be letting you out of her sight." Charles raised an eyebrow.

Elvis laughed quietly. "She's asleep upstairs. She was up half the night with Lauren… I'm not exactly much help these days."

"You'll get there mate." Charles smiled.

"So come on then, what are you doing here?" Elvis asked, straight to the point as always. "Molly said you'd been away, I thought you would've been at home with her now you're back."

Charles pulled a face. "Well…"

"Oh god." Elvis cringed. "What the bloody hell have you done?"

"Something really stupid." Charles admitted. "You know when you get angry and then you say something you can't take back?"

Elvis nodded, his expression grim. "Why do you think it took me and Georgie so long to sort everything out?"

"Good point." Charles sighed. "I should've stayed there and talked to her, I just needed to calm down before I did something even more stupid."

"And?" Elvis prompted. "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

Charles hesitated for a minute. "No. I think I'm in enough trouble as it is."

"I don't know exactly what you've done but either way I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of Molly. Good luck mate!" Elvis laughed. "Maybe you ought to have a coffee and give her a chance to calm down?"

Charles nodded. "That might not be a bad idea."

Elvis made no attempt to move. "Go on then Charlie, you know where the kettle is. I'll have one too if you're making one."

"Some things never change." Charles laughed.

"Don't forget I got blown off a building after I saved your ass." Elvis called after him as he headed for the kitchen. "Least you can do is make me a drink."

"I'm sure you'll never let me forget it." Charles laughed quietly. He knew he'd never be able to get it out of his head anyway.

Her car was still parked on the driveway when he got back but the house was silent. He wondered for a minute if she'd gone for a run or something to clear her head. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of retching coming from the bathroom upstairs. He jogged up the stairs, taking them two at a time until he reached the bathroom. The guilt he'd felt earlier was nothing to what he felt when he saw her sitting there. She'd obviously got as far as showering because she was sitting on the floor beside the toilet, wrapped in a towel and her hair dripping wet.

She glanced up at him as he reached the doorway, her face as white as the tiles on the wall. "Don't." She groaned. "I don't want to hear it." Her stomach rolled again and she leant forward over the toilet.

"I'll go and get you some water." He said, turning around and jogging back down the stairs to the kitchen. She still hadn't moved when he came back up and set the glass of water down beside her.

"Thanks." She mumbled.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" He asked.

"I came home from work because I've felt like this all day and then I got here and you fucking ambushed me with a bank statement." She reminded him. Her anger of earlier was gone though, she just sounded miserable and fed up.

"I really am sorry." He tried again.

"No you're not." She shook her head, the movement made the room spin a little and she squeezed her eyes shut. "You just feel guilty. There's a difference."

"What do you want me to say or do?" He asked. "I don't really think we should be having this conversation right now."

"I want you to leave me alone." She groaned.

"Molly…" He stepped towards her and put a hand on the exposed skin of her shoulder. It was warm and feverish under his hand and he wondered for a moment quite how long she'd been feeling ill for. "Come on, let's get you into bed."

"Get off me." She snapped, brushing his hand off her shoulder. "I'm fine. Just leave me be."

He removed his hand and took a step back but didn't leave. He was fairly sure she didn't mean it, she was just tired and upset. She'd forgive him eventually, just like every other time he'd said or done something stupid.

"Charles?" She croaked.

"Yeah?" He stepped forward again.

"When I told you to piss off I meant it."