She hadn't been able to hide her lack of enthusiasm when Danny had come home with the tickets for a charity ball in aid of Help for Heroes. It wasn't that she didn't want to go- she'd lost count of the amount of times she'd been to the event with Charles over the years and they'd always had a great time. She wasn't sure if her desire to not go was to do with the fact she knew she was bound to run into Charles there or the fact that she didn't actually want to have to go with Danny. Maybe a combination of both?
He'd refused to take no for an answer, they'd had their first proper argument about it, and he'd told her she was going with him even if he had to drag her. She'd still been more than a little annoyed with him for that when she'd then found out he'd taken the liberty of booking a babysitter for Sam without asking her. She'd lost it with him again, but he'd just completely ignored her again.
He'd ordered her this awful dress to wear too, bright red and she'd quickly realised when she put it on it was sticking to her in all the wrong places. She'd argued that she had plenty of dresses of her own to wear. She'd accumulated a lot of them over the years she'd been with Charles. That had only made him angry again, and by this point she was all but convinced the only reason he was so insistent on going was that he wanted to rub their newfound relationship in her ex-husband's face. More fool him, Charles couldn't give a shit about her any more. Especially not after what she'd said to him the other night.
She didn't know why she'd said it in the first place. Even after everything that had happened with Charles and their divorce they'd managed to stay civil. Well, she did know what had happened. She'd been listening to Danny going on and on for weeks about how Charles and Molly were out to get him, she'd let him get inside her head. She'd been so convinced that he had to be telling the truth and she'd sided with him even though she hadn't actually got a clue what was supposed to have gone on, but now the doubts were starting to get in.
She'd picked up his phone the other day, looking for a picture he'd taken of Sam when they'd taken him to the park, and she'd stumbled on a text he'd sent to Molly. I win. Two words, but those two words had been enough to plant the seed of doubt. After that initial bit of doubt had started to creep in everything he said she questioned, but she still wasn't sure why.
She'd thought about trying to bring it up, to ask him what was going on and give him a chance to give her a perfectly innocent explanation, but she knew he was going to get angry- especially if he thought she'd been going through his phone. So instead she'd put on the bloody dress, painted on a smile and braced herself ready to spend the evening mixing with a load of people who probably hated her for leaving Charles. It was about as far away from her idea of a good evening as she could imagine.
She knew Molly and Charles had arrived from the possessive way his arm went around her waist, her whole body stiffening as he pulled her closer into his side. She had to fight the urge to push him away. She tried to turn her attention back to the incredibly dull conversation he was having with one of the other officers that she did sort of recognise from somewhere.
"Three hours, tops." Charles whispered in her ear as they walked in under the huge balloon arch that had been put up in the doorway of the marquee. "Show our faces and have some food and then we can go. I promise."
Molly nodded silently, her grip on his hand tightening as they walked in. She'd never been a fan of things like this, she always felt a bit of a place no matter how much of an effort Charles made to try and make her feel included, and the added bonus of seeing her former Captain and his ex-wife there was just a step too far.
She seemed to have lost the ability to say no though, as often seemed to be the case with Charles. So she'd let him take her shopping for a dress, and tried to ignore the fact that she felt like she was going to throw up in the car on the way there. She knew he'd been looking forward to this and she didn't want to ruin it for him. Besides, he was right- she couldn't hide from her Captain forever.
They'd been there about half an hour, and she'd quickly downed two glasses of champagne in an attempt to give herself some confidence, when Charles had squeezed her hand and leant towards her.
"Don't panic but they're coming over." He said quietly in her ear. She could feel his whole body go tense beside her. She gave his hand a small squeeze in return, repeatedly telling herself that it was going to be fine and she could do this. She was going to have to because there was no way she could run away in the stupid heels she'd crammed her feet into.
"Dawes, Charles." Walsh grinned at them as he came to a stop in front of them. Rebecca had turned the same shade of red as her dress and Molly couldn't help but notice the way she kept trying to peel his hand off her waist at every opportunity.
"Daniel." Charles couldn't hide his grimace. "Rebecca." He did manage a polite smile in her direction, after all he might not agree with any of this but she was still the mother of his child. She looked far from happy about the situation anyway- he couldn't help but wonder if she was finally coming to her senses. He'd spotted Major Beck headed in their direction and he said a silent prayer that he was headed over to rescue him and Molly from this rather awkward situation.
There was an awkward silence for a moment where Molly wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Then the awkward small talk had started and that had been even worse than the silence.
She unwound her fingers from Charles' hand. "I'm going to go to the loo." She said quietly. She gave him a look that was clearly a warning not to do anything stupid.
"I'll come with you." Rebecca said quickly. Molly could've sworn the look that crossed her face was almost relief as she followed after her. "I think you and I need five minutes to talk." Rebecca added as soon as they were out of earshot of the men.
Molly felt her stomach flip again and suddenly regretted having those drinks on an empty stomach. "I think so." She agreed quietly.
She couldn't help but wonder what on earth Rebecca could possibly have to say to her, but she was curious to say the least.