"Hey, how's the family time going?" He smiled, picking up the phone after one ring. He'd been checking his phone constantly, hoping she would've called or texted.

"Are you home yet?" She asked, completely ignoring his question. There was something wrong, she sounded stressed and anxious.

"Molly, what's wrong?" He asked, sitting up straight on the bed.

"It's Artan." She whispered. "He's on his way here."

"Shit." He words tumbled out of his mouth. He reached for his shoes that were beside the bed. "I'm coming to get you right now." He was already half way out of the door.

"He's going to be here before you get here." She whispered, putting her head in her hands. She was hiding in the bathroom so she didn't have to listen to her Mum going on about how much she was looking forward to seeing Artan.

"I'll be ten minutes." He told her reassuringly. "I'm at the premier inn just up the road."

"What?"

"I was tired, I didn't want to drive all the way home." It wasn't a total lie, he was tired but there was also the fact he'd wanted to be close by if she needed him. "Your Mum won't let him in will she?"

There was silence from the other end of the phone.

"Molly?"

"I didn't tell her." She whispered quietly.

"What?" He was in the hotel lobby, fumbling around for his car keys. "She must've known something happened?"

"I told her I got the bruises on tour." She told him. "I didn't want to tell her... I wasn't expecting this to happen."

"It's okay." He said. She was vaguely aware of the sound of his car starting and the noise of the engine in the background. "It's all going to be okay Molly."

"I'm never going to get away from him am I?" She asked. She sounded so despairing and lost. He put his foot down on the accelerator, desperate to get there.

He hadn't actually thought through what he was going to do if Artan was there when he got there. Why had he let her go to her parents? He should've insisted she stayed with him or on the base or something. Somewhere Artan couldn't get to her.

"It'll be okay." How many times was he going to try and tell her that? He couldn't be making these kind of promises, they both knew that he couldn't guarantee it. "I'm five minutes away. We'll sort out what happens next once we've got you out of there okay?"

"Okay." She didn't sound at all convinced.

He turned sharply on to the estate, pulling up in the spot he'd dropped her off in earlier. "I'm now here, I've parked. Where do I need to go?" He asked as he jumped out of the car. It had suddenly dawned on him he had no idea which door he was knocking on.

"Up the stairs to the third floor. Last door on the left." She told him quietly. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she waited for the knock at the door.

"Have you got your stuff ready?" He asked, his breathing a little more laboured as he ran up the stairs.

"Yeah." She agreed, grasping the handle of her bag that was sat at her feet.

"You alright up there Mol?" Her Mum shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

She held the phone away from her face. "Yeah give us a second Mum."

"I'm outside." He told her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She heard the quick knock at the door and she swung her bag over her shoulder and ran down the stairs. She reached the door just as her Mum got there. The phone line went dead as he hung up on her

"Hopefully that's Artan!" Her Mum beamed, unlocking the door.

Molly forced a tight smile, a feeling of relief flooding through her as the door opened to reveal Captain James stood on the other side.

"Can I help you?" Her Mum asked curiously, looking him up and down.

"I'm Captain James, I'm Molly boss." He smiled, she saw her Mum flush. Clearly she wasn't immune to his charm.

"And what are you doing on my door step?" She asked, cutting to the chase.

"I've been trying to get hold of Dawes here but she wasn't answering her phone and I was near by so I thought I'd pop in." He lied, giving Molly a look that told her to play along with him. "Something's happened, were needed back in Afghanistan straight away. We'll be flying back out tomorrow morning. I thought maybe you'd like a lift back to base?"

"Oh." Her mums face fell. "But you've only just got here."

"Sorry Mum." She smiled apologetically. God she felt awful for lying to them, especially when she hadn't seen them for so long. "A lift back to base would be good boss, don't think I'll be getting a train at this time of night."

"What am I supposed to tell Artan?" Her Mum asked.

"You can call him on the way back." Charles suggested quickly. Molly nodded.

"We're going to have to go now though Dawes, sorry. I've got to get back and get things organised."

"Sorry Mum, I'll come back as soon as I'm home again. Promise." She said, giving her Mum a quick hug.

"You look after yourself Mols." Her Mum called as she walked out of the door, swinging her bag over her shoulder. She could've sworn she saw her Mum wipe a tear from her cheek.

"I will Mum." She promised, then she turned to Charles and nodded. They turned and walked away, she didn't dare look back at her Mum for fear she might not be able to hold it together any more.

They half ran back to his car, throwing her bag on to the back seats as the jumped in and locked the doors. Charles started the engine and locked the doors before he turned to look at her.

"Thanks." She mumbled, turning to look at him. Her eyes were filled with the tears she'd been holding back.

"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" He asked quietly, starting to drive back in the direction of the hotel. He didn't want to hang around long enough to risk Artan turning up and finding them there. It was dark outside now and the streets were deserted as he looked around to check that Artan wasn't already there. The last thing he wanted was him following them.

"So they can give me that look?" She asked, staring out of the window.

"What?" He frowned, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as he wound his way back out of the estate.

"That look, like you're giving me now and the nurse gave me in the hospital, looking at me like I'm some kind of battered woman. I'm a soldier for christs sake, I'm supposed to be able to take care of myself, but I've let this happen to myself. I let him do this to me." The tears were flowing down her cheeks now.

"Molly, people are just worried about you." He said softly, speaking as though she was a wild animal that might flee at any moment.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." She snapped, turned and stared out of the window furiously.

He thought about saying something, trying to reason with her, but then thought better of it. He'd give her some time and then they could have this conversation again. She wasn't going to listen to anything he had to say right now- she was safe at least and that was all that mattered

He drove in silence as she stared out of the window refusing to look at him. A few minutes later he was turning in to the hotel car park. "We'll stop here for the night if that's okay?" He asked, glancing at the clock. It was nearly eleven o'clock by this point and he was exhausted. He couldn't face driving all the way home even if she'd said no.

"Then what?" She asked, turning to look at him as he stopped the car. "We've still got two days left and I cant go home." She felt like a criminal on the run, terrified that wherever she went Artan was sure to find her.

"You can come up to Bath with me to see my Mum." He smiled.

"I can't do that." She shook her head. She'd already intruded on his time with his Mum once, she wasn't about to do it again.

"It's fine Molly, really. Mum called and suggested you come with me." His Mum had called him as soon as she'd got home and she'd been less than pleased with him for letting her go to her parents.

"I-" she'd run out of words by this point, something that was highly unusual for her.

"She's pretty insistent, and so am I." He told her, climbing out of the car. "We want to help you Molly, just let us."

She was quiet as she climbed out of the car, thinking. "I don't want you to feel like you're obliged to look after me just because you're my boss. I've made a mess of my life, but that's not your problem."

He stopped and turned to her and they reached the door of the hotel. "Do you honestly think I'd be doing this is I didn't care?" He asked. "I would have called the welfare office and let them deal with it. I'm fond of you Dawes, that's my point, and if I let something happen to you I'd never forgive myself."

She stared at him for a second, a blush creeping up her cheeks. "Okay." She said slowly. "I'll come to your Mums with you."