It had been three long days since it all went so spectacularly to shit and right now she was supposed to be in some hotel room getting all glammed up, doing her hair, putting slap on her gob, covering her feet with blister plasters before tottering out the door in killer heels, wearing a dress that she hadn't bought yet, which was just as well in the circumstances. He'd begged, cajoled and pretended to plead for her to go with him to the New Year's bash in the Officers' Mess, and when she'd said she couldn't because she'd got nothing to wear he'd said that the dress she'd worn Christmas was perfect, even though she knew it wasn't, but that it didn't matter anyway because he was proud of her whatever and that she'd look beautiful in a bin bag.

As far as she could see the only answer now was to go out and get roaring drunk, totally plastered, slaughtered, so that the only thing that remained was for her to pick the lucky person who was going to get to go with her.

"We are going to feel shittin' horrible in the morning"

Julie, a girl who'd worked with her in the nursey when she was a temp and who might well end up a soul mate, was also reluctantly single so that she was the ideal choice, even if she had rapidly become catastrophically pissed. Her speech was badly slurred and she was almost cross eyed as she tried to focus before giggling and throwing another Tequila down her throat, unfortunately missing her mouth a bit so that half if it went down the front of her top "Oops"

She wiped her chin with her hand and pulled her shirt away from her body, looking ruefully at the splashes "You will you mean"

"Don't really care, feel horrible already and no work tomorrow is there? I can just lie there and watch Jeremy Kyle, try 'n work out how people can eat their dinners with no teeth"

"Thought you'd be with lover boy, being New Year 'n that, you stopped with him over Christmas, didn't you?" Julie frowned at her and this time did go completely cross-eyed "Shit, does that mean he was friggin' useless?"

"Nah … I mean, yeah, I did stop with him but …. he weren't, he was pretty bloody good as it happens" Molly frowned as she thought hard, then took another large gulp of her Vodka, she wasn't hammered enough to go onto Tequila yet, she was still sober enough, just, to remember that Tequila slammers weren't the best for keeping her chaste"WE was pretty bloody good, I were magic" She thought for a long moment and then pulled a horrified face "Shit, maybe I was rubbish"

"Is that what happened then? Is that why you're 'ere with me having a quiet little drink?"

"Is that what we're doing?" Molly started giggling "Nah, weren't that, his bleeding wife happened"

"Shit, Got a bleeding wife? He's MARRIED?"

Molly shook her head and then wished she hadn't as the room swung round violently "No, not so as you'd notice, except that, well, you know what? I'm not sure, I dunno"

"What, he's a scum bag? Sounds like a scum bag sort of thing" Julie waved an index finger in Molly's face and nodded her head vigorously so that she almost fell off her stool.

"Nah he's not, it's a bit awkward, that's all, look Jules … ne'er mind about him, it's over, he's history, 'n I'm giving up blokes, I'm gonna concentrate on me career instead"

"Your WHAT?" Julie laughed with total incredulity, to say that she was cynical about their chosen occupation was understating things "Hey, Molls?" She frowned, a puzzled expression on her face "Wonder how they managed before? You know, when it didn't matter how horny you got you weren't allowed to check out his bits unless you married him, might have been too late then? Tricky or what?"

"Yeah" Molly was giggling again "But it was a bit different then wasn't it? Tequila weren't invented"

-OG-

They hadn't made it to east Ham the day after Boxing Day, in fact they hadn't made it to anything they'd planned, because events had overtaken them and once again everything in her life was fucked. A two minute phone call from Surrey Police had changed everything.

They'd had to make a U-turn because an accident on the M3 meant that for the last two hours Sam had been in the care of a policewoman at Farnborough Police Station while they'd been trying to trace him, to get his phone number or his address or even his full name because the only information they'd been able to get from a shocked little boy was that his daddy was a soldier, and as they were so close to Aldershot they'd assumed that they should start looking there. Charles immediately reverted to stern army Captain as he'd barked out a volley of questions but couldn't quite hide the shocked panic in his voice as he attempted to find out what the hell had happened. He was met with an extremely phlegmatic voice telling him that they would give him details when he got there, but that not to worry, Sam had been checked and was fine, completely unhurt, just needed collecting. His enquiry about Rebecca's well-being and whereabouts had been met with a degree of obfuscation, the policeman he was talking to either couldn't or didn't want to tell him anything over the phone, they just wanted him to go and collect Sam.

-OG-

The following couple of hours had been the stuff of nightmares as far as Molly was concerned, Charles had been drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in frustrated impatience at every small delay, muttering under his breath at every car turning right and at every red traffic light and then driving too fast on the motorway as Molly obeyed her impulse and told him to calm the fuck down, that he was going to have an accident and kill them both if he didn't bleeding well watch it, a comment that led to him taking a sharp breath and shooting her an infuriated glance.

She had ended up sitting alone in a foyer waiting. He'd disappeared up the stairs with some copper leaving her listening to the hustle and bustle of people coming and going through swing doors, backwards and forwards and calling out to each other and at phones that were ringing with no-one answering them and no-one taking a blind bit of notice of her as she sat on a plastic chair which was bolted to the floor, probably to stop someone hurling it at them to get them to shut up.

She'd just looked up at the clock for the umpteenth time and wondered whether it was moving so slowly because it actually wasn't working when he re-appeared, arms round the shoulders of the mop-haired little boy who screamed her name when he caught sight of her and launched himself across the floor towards the arms that had opened wide to welcome him.

"What's happened?" Molly frowned at Charles, trying to whisper before looking down at the little boy who had his arms wound tightly round her waist with his face buried in her stomach "Where is she?"

"Tell you later, let's get him home"

-OG-

Back in Bath with Margaret and Bill, not to mention Charles and her all fussing round him, Sam perked up no end considering that the last he'd seen of his mum was a traffic policeman inviting her to sit in the back of his car and blow into his machine while they waited for an ambulance to deal with the driver of the other car that she'd ploughed into on the slip road off the M3. Apparently a doctor had checked Sammie over and then a nice police lady had let him wear her hat and play with her torch and pepper spray and radio and stuff while she fed him fizzy drinks and chocolate biscuits in the canteen as they waited together for Charles to show up, the only thing he'd said when his father had arrived to collect him had been "You were a very, very LONG time, Daddy".

Apparently Rebecca was now under arrest at the same police station, she had been more than twice the legal drink/drive limit, and no-one was sure yet how badly hurt the other driver was, but she'd got away without a scratch on her although breath tests were apparently compulsory in accidents these days. To say Charles was pissed at her would be an understatement. He was incandescent with rage, well, coldly bloody furious anyhow, but had kept on saying that he'd warned her, had told everyone that he was concerned, and that she'd risked Sam's life and for that she could rot in there for all he cared, but he'd then had to admit that he was the one who was organising a solicitor for her because her parents had pushed off to France that morning and there was no-one else.

Molly was now the one who was swamped with angry disbelief so she'd kissed Sam goodbye and then Charles did what she asked and dropped her at the station before he set off back to Farnborough. She'd told him in no uncertain terms that she had to get home to get herself ready for starting her new job, but actually it was because she was desperate to get away, she wasn't prepared to go on playing second fiddle to Rebecca and pretending that it was okay, it didn't matter how many texts he sent, which he did, or messages he left on her voicemail, which he also did, she didn't want to let him talk her round. When it came down to it she knew what she'd really known all along, that all the things he'd said to her about love 'n about the future 'n that, were only words.

It was over.

-OG-

"Thank fuck it's Friday, what you doing later?" Julie suddenly nudged her so hard that she almost sent her flying "Get a load of that will you" She nodded in the direction of the door to the lobby "Do you know him? He's a new one on me"

"Oh shit, God, shit, fuck"

Molly looked up from the pile of dressing up clothes she was checking for damp patches as soon as Julie nudged her, and now wished that she hadn't, he was the last person on earth that she'd expected to see on a wet Friday afternoon at the end of a very long week. She straightened up and sniffed suspiciously at her grubby hands before running them over her hair, smoothing the loose strands back from her face and wished that at least a tiny smidgeon of make-up had survived the day, and that she was wearing something nicer than her most faded and ratty old jeans which weren't improved by the dried wee stain on one leg that she'd got courtesy of putting one of the kids on her lap without checking their knickers first. She had a feeling that she was minging.

"How did you find me?"

She was surprised to hear how calm she sounded after walking across the room on wobbly legs to where he was standing. She had this massive sense of deja vue, this was not the first time they'd had this exact same conversation although she couldn't say with any certainty when she'd said it before "What do you want Charles?"

"Your mum told me, and you owe me"

"You've been to see Mum?" She closed her eyes with dismay as he nodded, then shook her head "What you talkin' 'bout? I don't owe you anything"

"I've got a bit of paper here says different" He smiled, doing his level best to look confident and comfortable, his smile making her stomach do a back flip as he rubbed his hand through the curls on the back of his neck, the tell-tale gesture that said it didn't matter how sure of himself he appeared, he wasn't entirely convinced of his welcome "I've got an IOU, you promised me some cookery lessons"

"Barbecue cooking, s'not barbecue weather, is it?"

"Doesn't say that here" He scrutinised the piece of paper again, or pretended to "Nope, just says cooking" He folded it and put it carefully back in his pocket, a tentative grin appearing on his face as he looked at her "Your mum said you were working till six" He looked at his watch "So have you finished yet? Can I buy you a cup of creosote?"

-OG-

"Sorry, think I stink a bit, one of the little buggers peed on me"

"Lovely, wondered what the smell was"

"Shut up"

They'd walked in silence side by side without touching to the café around the corner from the nursery, Molly was incredibly aware of how tall he was and how small and insignificant she felt walking next to him and how badly she wanted to hold his hand. It reminded her of when they'd walked at Stonehenge, the rain was as heavy as it had been that day, it was making the pavements look greasy in the glare of the street lights, but today it was cold as well.

"Tea?"

"Thanks"

Molly looked around, she'd only been in there once before in the six weeks she'd worked in the area, her budget didn't even run to a cup of tea in a shit hole like this one. It was unbelievably difficult to manage on her tiny salary cheque, what with fares and housekeeping and the rest, it actually made Simon look like Lord Bountiful. She still hadn't done anything about finding a second job, her heart wasn't in it somehow, even if the need was pressing "How's Sammie?"

"He's good" He looked down and stirred the cup of milky coffee which he had no intention of drinking "Keeps asking when he's going to see you"

"That's not fair sayin' that" She wanted to accuse him of trying to emotionally blackmail her, but stopped herself in time, that'd suggest he was trying to get her back which was a bit of wishful thinking if ever she'd done any "You haven't told him then? Explained"

"Nope, sorry that was a bit unfair, but I keep hoping things will change" He looked down again at the sludge coloured liquid "I really fucked up this time, didn't I? Told you I was good at that" He shrugged "First of all I was in this tearing bloody rush to get some sort of, I don't know exactly what I thought I was doing, but all I achieved was to send you running for the hills, and then I let myself get sucked into the fucking nightmare that's my ex-wife and I can't blame you for not wanting to put up with that"

"How is she?"

"No idea, she's not exactly thrilled with me, I've seen a solicitor" He snorted a laugh and then looked up from where he had been mindlessly stirring the coffee "Decided it was time I got some proper joint custody arrangement in place, put a stop to all the bloody nonsense and it means I can stop her having a free reign to do whatever she feels like doing ….." He shrugged, biting his bottom lip.

"Drinking?"

"Don't think I can stop that, but she's about to lose her licence, so at least there'll be no drinking and driving for a bit, and I can make sure I have Sam fifty percent of the time, which is apparently the best I can hope for"

As he was talking she kept wanting to pinch herself, she'd missed him so badly, even though it had been the right thing for her to do at the time, she couldn't have just gone on as they were, with her living on some fairground ride, but sometimes in the middle of all the nights when she couldn't sleep, she'd begun to tell herself that she'd been totally wrong to walk away the way she had. That she'd massively over-reacted, should just ring him and tell him that she'd been wrong and how sorry she was, and maybe then this clever, funny, gorgeous bloke who turned her legs to blancmange and made it hard for her to even think straight might, if she was really, really lucky, might just possibly give them another go.

"What is it you want Charles? Why are you here?"

"I miss you, Sam misses you, Mum and Dad miss you, my mum keeps telling me I'm a moron" He looked up brown eyes beseeching her "I came to ask you, well to see, if there's any possibility of a chance, at all, that we can start again … please"

Molly could feel the smirk as it spread across her face, it was full of sheer relief and a mixture of all sorts of emotions, happiness, disbelief, longing "Okay"

"Okay? Is that it? God, don't get too enthusiastic will you?" He was now smirking as much as she was before putting his head back and laughing out loud so that heads turned, looking in their direction "Shall we go?"

"Aren't you gonna drink that?"

"Nope, think I'll give it a miss" He pulled a face at the tepid sludge sitting in front of him in a thick white mug "Where are we going, shall we find a TraveLodge?"

"Nah, need to go home so I can get changed" She waved her hand in the direction of her jeans "You can meet me Nan and the rest, you didn't already do that without me, did you?"

"No"

They stood on the pavement outside, both of them oblivious to the cold and to the pouring rain as he wrapped his arms round her and pulled her body into his, putting one hand on the nape of her neck before leaning in and kissing her, a breathless kiss that was full of longing. He rested his forehead against hers "Are you absolutely sure you wouldn't rather find a TraveLodge?"

-OG-

Epilogue

"No Daddy you're doing that all wrong, that's not how Molly said"

"Really? Thought it was"

They were in the back garden of their rented house in Salisbury, the garden was fairly small but just about big enough for a barbecue and Sam was self-appointed foreman keeping a beady eye on Charles' technique for cooking sticky chicken wings. It was a beautiful warm afternoon, the sun was still blazing from a cloudless blue sky as Molly sat on a garden chair, not one of the horrible white metal ones like before, she'd insisted on some comfortable rattan things with cushions, and now watched and smiled, giggling at Sam's bossiness. Charles turned to look at her and winked, so that she blew him a kiss making him leave the barbecue, tongs still in hand, and lope across the patio to kiss the tip of her nose before walking backwards to the job in hand, almost tripping over Sam who'd decided to stand right behind him.

"Careful"

Molly took another photograph of him waving the tongs around and wearing the lap dancer apron, she'd earlier threatened that she could use them as blackmail material, saying she could give copies to 2 Section if he stepped out of line.

They'd been living here for four months with Molly only coming down for weekends initially, until Rebecca decided to kick up rough about sharing custody, decided that she'd try to prove that Molly was an unsuitable person to be around Sam, by threatening to drag up all the shit that had gone on before Molly had even known them.

She hadn't been privy to the meetings that had gone on with the solicitors and all, but had offered to move in with him much earlier than she'd planned if it helped him prove they were a proper family. He'd been armed with that, together with the evidence of Rebecca's relationship with booze and Molly knew that this time he wouldn't hesitate to bring up her behaving like a bit of a slag if he had to, but he didn't, because in the end the threat was enough and Rebecca saw sense, backed right off.

Initially Molly had been really upset at having to leave the nursery behind, she'd grown to love it and the kids, but she loved him more and after a few weeks of pretending that everything was fine had found her dream job in a Family Centre on the base. It was a sort of nursery and all-age facility for a great big mix of kids, some of them handicapped, or challenged as they called it, mentally as well as physically and she absolutely loved every single minute of it, not least because Charles was so proud of her.

"Here" He handed her a plate of chicken wings and watched with dismay when she took her knife and dissected them "What are you doing?"

"Just checking"

-OG-

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this, please let me know. Have been given permission to be an addict today to shut me up from moaning, because, believe it or not that bl**dy crown, the new one that I suffered to have fitted a few weeks ago, fell off last night, so I now look like a refugee from Jeremy Kyle and will have to go to the dentist tomorrow if I can get an appointment, but at the moment am having nightmares that he'll be away on holiday or something …. What a bl**dy waste of time and money, not to mention angst, having the old one replaced!