A/N: I know this is long but hey? I am so going to miss living in this little world I've created, but this is the last chapter (for the moment) and it's for the romantics amongst us, so I hope that you enjoy it.

-OG-

To say that he was right and that a nice walk in the fresh air would make her feel better would have been a vast exaggeration, the head rush wasn't yet a distant enough memory. Two cups of tea and a nibble of dry toast followed by some Evian, a lot of Evian and two Ibrofen had had a somewhat minimal palliative effect on the hangover from hell. She was now busily trying to hide the worst aspects of it from him as she kept telling herself that she was not going to puke, that whatever else happened she was not going to puke….

"You okay, you're very quiet?"

"Wonderful … why wouldn't I be? How long we been out?"

"Maybe an hour" He checked his watch "Not even that yet"

"An hour my arse" She was muttering now, hadn't even got the energy to argue with him.

She felt like saying everything was truly wonderful if you ignored the fact that he'd dragged her out of bed and forced her to do an army route march which had now lasted for at least six hours or maybe it was even seven, and if he thought for one second that she believed him when he said it had only been about an hour he must be raving mad. Like hell, who did he think he was bloody well kidding? All she wanted was to go home and go back to bed and sleep for about a week to get rid of her bloody headache, and now, now he was only saying that he sodding well expected her to go and sit in some pub and EAT? Shit, what on earth had she been thinking getting rat-arsed on all that bloody wine? Wasn't even that nice, well not nice enough for all this shit to be worth it, not that she could remember, but one thing she did know was that she was never ever going to do it again as long as she lived …. NEVER.

"I'm fine, not really hungry though"

"Come on, let's have a Ploughman's or something, you need to try and eat something Molly, it'll make you feel better and you haven't eaten properly for ages, so just try a few mouthfuls"

"I'm on a diet"

"Nice try, but I don't believe you somehow, and if you lose any more weight we won't be able to see you" He smiled his loving smile then kissed her on the cheek before putting his arm round her back to guide her firmly into the pub "Just have some bread if you really don't want anything else, but please will you just try …." He gave her his best beseeching look "For me"

"Stop it, stop bloody looking at me like that and I don't want to, I'm not hungry" She could hear herself sounding nice and petulant now as if she was younger than Sammie, Charles really didn't understand hangovers because he never seemed to suffer from them like she did "I'm not well, think I might 'ave got food poisoning and if you make me eat anything I'll pebble the bleeding floor, so don't say I didn't warn you"

"It's a nice day, we can eat outside in the garden and then it won't matter will it?"

"I hate you, you know that don't you? Not only cos you're a bossy bugger but you're such a bleeding know-it-all, got an answer for everything 'aven't you?"

"Yup" He grinned then laughed out loud without showing any noticeable sympathy for her plight at all "Do you want a drink?"

"What? Yeah, half a bottle of Vodka should do the trick"

"I meant some water or something, although" He put his head on one side and smirked then chewed at his bottom lip trying to stop the laugh as he pretended to be considering all her options "I suppose you could have a hair of the dog"

"Funny man"

Against her better judgement but mainly in order to shut him up she'd forced down a piece of dry French bread. The first couple of mouthfuls had had all the taste and texture of sawdust and had been equally hard to swallow, but then, and she wouldn't have admitted this to him in a million bloody years, she'd started to enjoy it, had realised that she was actually hungry. Not for salad or any healthy shit like that, not even for the great bit chunk of cheese, which Charles ate, but the bread tasted lovely and she could have murdered a bar of Galaxy but couldn't really say so, it didn't go with diets and food poisoning.

After she'd begged and moaned and complained that she was hot and tired and that her feet hurt, and had giggled asking him to go and get the car while she waited right there for him, and had then done her best to sound as though she was whimpering, he'd finally sat down on the grassy hill and let her lay down with her head in his lap so that she could close her eyes and let the sunlight drift over her face, only squinting one eye open when the sun went behind a cloud for a minute. Her headache had finally started to ease off for the first time since she'd woken up that morning, the nausea had already let go, thankfully it had gone to sleep as soon as she'd eaten something, not that she was going to tell him that, she didn't think she could cope with him being insufferably smug.

"Garda?" He was twisting a strand of her hair into a ringlet "We could fly or go by Eurostar if you prefer, it would be nice to sit by the lake and get some sun for a few days, what do you think?"

"What? With Beth and Martin?" She tried very hard not to sound horrified, but much as she loved his parents, she wasn't a bit sure she wanted to celebrate her anniversary with them at their one bedroom holiday pad in Italy, especially as she had some making up to do with Beth.

"No, of course not, they're not going out there for a couple of weeks, apparently Dad can't get the time off, well that's what he says, Mum can't wait for him to retire"

"Martin can" She giggled "Says he doesn't want to be organised, well not all the time anyhow"

"Mum doesn't organise" He put his head back and roared with laughter "She's plain bloody bossy"

"Who does that remind you of?" She opened her eyes and squinted up at him smiling to show that she was only joking, well a bit "I'm sorry Charles but I'm not sure I want to go in that bloody tunnel actually, it's a bit too …. dunno really … I just don't think I like the idea of all that water 'n stuff on top, I know that I'm being silly, but I'm a bit nervous about going anywhere I can't get out of if I want … same goes for being on a plane, sorry, maybe in a few weeks, yeah?"

"Oh God Molly, you're not being silly" He smoothed the hair back from her forehead "Tell you what, how about we just get in the car and see where we end up instead?"

"Thank you, I know I'm being a muppet, but … " She shrugged as he carried on stroking her hair and repeating that she had to stop worrying, that it wasn't her, it was him, and that he was sorry, he hadn't been thinking "I thought I was pregnant, you know that day when it all happened, well, all that weekend actually" She took a deep breath at the way he suddenly tensed and the horrified gasp that he'd done his best to stifle "It's alright I wasn't but I knew that really, I kept on going backwards and forwards to the loo all bloody morning, just to check and I went again before I left the admin block, just had this feeling you know? And that time I was right, but if I hadn't stopped to check I wouldn't have still been in there, would have been well on me way home before the bugger blew us all up so I s'pose in a lot of ways I should be grateful that I wasn't, it would have all gone tits up anyway wouldn't it …. well, probably anyway, when everything all went to shit like that?"

"You don't know that" He tightened his arms round her "It will happen Molly and I know that we haven't really talked about it, that I haven't said much to you" He swallowed hard "I know how upset you've been, but it's my fault, I didn't want to force you to talk about it if you didn't want to, I didn't know what to say, but none of that is any excuse, I'm sorry"

"I'm such an epic fail"

"Of course you're not, why would you think that?" He shook his head "I'm sure there's nothing wrong with either of us, it's just taking a bit more time than we thought, that's all but I should have talked to you about it, I know that and I'm sorry"

"Well, it's definitely not you, is it? We know that, else where did Sammie come from?"

"Doesn't mean a thing, things change" He tried his best to laugh "We'll go and see someone if you think it'll help, just to make sure, although they'll probably tell us to go away and have lots of sex"

"You wish" She turned her head to look up at him then grinned as a thought struck her "You do know what the first step will be don't you? It'll be you and some tatty old porn magazine in some little room somewhere"

"Lovely" He laughed "Maybe they'd let you come in the room with me instead, you could wear that white lacy thing you've got, then I wouldn't need any porn" He laughed again "Where is that by the way? I haven't seen it for ages"

She ignored what he'd said about her basque "If we are going to do it, then I'll need to put the doctor on the top of me 'need to say sorry ' list won't I? Think I might have been a bit rude last time I saw him"

"You? No, surely not, never"

"Don't be a smartarse or I won't dig out that lacy thing later when we get home"

"Oh good, does that mean that we're going to get some more practise in?"

"We 'aven't done much practising lately have we?"

"Definitely not enough"

-OG-

"Happy Anniversary, Mrs James" He swung her off her feet and up in the air until her face was level with his before kissing her "And just remember that whatever happens later it was your idea to invite them this evening, we could have been sitting at a lakeside café right now, enjoying the Italian sunshine"

"Yeah, we could, but we're not" She giggled "Happy Anniversary to you as well, now put me down and you can stop bleeding worrying, Kinders won't let them get out of hand, well not too much anyway and they wouldn't dare misbehave, they're scared of you" She wrinkled her nose at him "Can't think why"

"No, they're not, mores the pity, and I wish I had your faith, it's touching"

"Put her down, she's supposed to be making this list, is it ready yet Chicken?"

"Yeah, it's only the order from the Bakers, you just have to go in and pick it up, it should be all ready, oh and Martin?"

"Yes my little pumpkin seed?"

"Nothing, don't matter"

Molly giggled and shook her head as he stood there waiting, his hand extended towards her waiting for her to give him her copy of the bread order, his battered panama hat perched jauntily on his head and a lovely wide expectant grin spread across his face. She knew that she didn't need to say anything to him at all, that actually he would get exactly what she'd asked for, and would resist any temptation he had for going into Waitrose or Sainsbury's for any of his more bizarre choices. Now that he'd retired and was spending a good deal of his time at home he really only did it when he wanted to wind Beth up because she'd got too bossy for his liking, and sometimes when he decided that Charles was being pompous.

"I'll go"

Charles kissed the tip of her nose, his long strides making short work of crossing the room only to see his mother's back as she vanished up the stairs calling out that she was on her way using the voice that she reserved for Ben, who was now bawling the place down. He'd been awake from his nap for all of five minutes which in his opinion was definitely quite long enough.

"Fine" Charles chewed at his bottom lip as they listened to their son's frantic bawling slow down and become a soft murmur then stop altogether as they could hear Beth's voice talking nonsense to him and knew that he'd probably been wet which he loathed and that his doting Grannie was now changing his bum.

"I'm thinking of asking your mum to move in with us, and Martin too of course, he can do the shopping and she can change bums as much as she likes, all day long if she wants"

"Over my dead body" He raised disbelieving eyebrows and thought for a minute "I'd give you a week, two tops, before you'd be pulling your hair out and begging me to get her to go home"

"I know but just think of all that lovely sleep"

"Lovely" He put his hand gently on her stomach which had now rounded up from her pelvis in a small but noticeable arc "Not sorry are you?"

"Nah .. six years, can't believe it's been all that time" She pulled a rueful face "Bit of a bummer that I can't 'ave a drink though"

"I know, I'd love to join you but …. well, it would be a bit inhospitable if the host didn't join in with the toasts, wouldn't it?"

"You're a bugger, you know that don't you?" She giggled at his attempt at a resigned and regretful face "But I think we might have practised enough for the time being, don't you?"

"Nope, most definitely not, remember practise makes perfect"

He dropped his voice to a whisper as he nibbled at her ear very aware that Beth had appeared in the doorway with Ben's fat little arms wound tightly round her neck, Beth was in her element "We make perfect babies ….. should definitely think about making some more after this one" He patted the slight swelling of her stomach and grinned, knowing that she couldn't really answer him the way she'd like to in front of Beth and then turned to smile at his mother and son, laughing as Ben giggled and hid his face. He tucked his dark curls into Beth's neck the minute Charles smiled at him, his version of 'peekaboo', and then looked round at them again, grinning as he stuck three fat dimpled little fingers into his mouth, the dribble pouring down his chin as he sucked at them noisily.

-OG-

"Hello, how are you? It's lovely to see you, how's the leg?"

Molly had been quite surprised but really pleased when William had accepted her e-mail invitation to the party, she hadn't really seen him since his discharge from Frimley, except for that god-awful day at Guildford Cathedral when they'd both attended the Memorial Service for the bomb victims which for Molly had passed in something of a blur. There hadn't been the opportunity to have much of a chat, and in any case she'd spent the whole morning practically paralysed with fear that she was going to have another bout of morning sickness in front of all the hordes of people, including visiting dignitaries and crowds of politicians looking for a photo opportunity, because in her case it happened at any time without much warning. She was also conscious that her dress uniform was far too tight over her tits she'd had to struggle to get it done up so that it looked horrendous and that that was her own bloody fault because she should have thought about it before that day, should have tried it on at least.

She'd been almost a week late when she'd gone back to work but hadn't yet plucked up the courage to take a test, had kept on reminding herself that her cycle was bound to be messed and that they'd missed their perfect window of opportunity as it was called on the net because she'd been far too busy behaving like Godzilla. She hadn't said anything to anyone, but also hadn't said anything to the doctor about wanting to see someone about her failure to get pregnant when she'd been to get signed off as fit for work, she'd just concentrated on being all meek and sweet, hoping that he'd forget all about her being a bloody witch last time she'd seen him.

Her first day back had been weird. It'd felt like a lifetime since she'd last been there, but the shift had gone by in a flash at the same time as being endless and totally exhausting. She made a huge effort and was almost civil to Gemma, well, she'd done her best and had very nearly succeeded, hadn't actually snarled at her. She'd smiled and been pleasant, almost, because they had to work together and it wouldn't be good for anyone if there was an outright war on the ward, but Molly knew they would never re-kindle the friendship that they'd had before the bomb.

Another week had gone by with her trying desperately not to think about ….. anything ….. when she'd experienced the first rush of nausea, a sudden urgent need to lose her breakfast which had sent her stumbling to the nearest loo where she'd had to sit on the floor leaning against the tiled wall of the cubicle for ages waiting to feel normal enough to shift herself back to work. She was bathed in a cold sweat and was thrilled to bits. She no longer gave a shit about Gemma or her crap, it didn't seem important any more, all she cared about was it being time to go home so she could pee on a little stick out the box lurking in her bedside drawer. By the time Charles got home that evening she'd pee'ed on four different sticks, from four different brands of tests and had arranged them all in a neat pattern on his bedside table so that he'd find them when he went up to get changed.

William had been discharged shortly after she'd gone back to the ward and had been an outpatient until he'd been referred back to Headley so that they'd exchanged regular e-mails throughout his long months of re-hab, and they went on e-mailing each other after his return to his unit. She'd told him all about Ben, Benjamin Charles James to give him his full name and had sent him frequent photographs and updates on his progress, somehow she still felt that without him Ben wouldn't even exist, that she wouldn't exist.

She could hear the racket that the lads from the under Fives were making as they teased Beth about not telling them she'd had another baby as she stood there laughing at the worst of their cheek. She hadn't seen most of them for years, since the wedding in Bath, and they were pretending not to believe that her limpet accessory with his arms firmly round her neck was Ben, her grandson, and not her son. Molly had wanted him to be in bed, but he wasn't having any of it, there was far too much noise and fairy lights and other stuff to look at, and people who were smiling at him and tickling him under his chin for any of that. She was chatting to William, catching up on the latest in his battle to get as much of his fitness back as he could. It was never going to be as good as it had been before an unknown person had wrecked it for him, had done their best to wreck so many lives. No-one had ever claimed responsibility so that everyone assumed it was a suicide bomber and that he was red-misted in the admin block, so that they'd all tried their best to put it behind them now. At that precise moment she was far more worried about whether or not she'd been right and that Kinders would keep the lads in check.

"I'll catch up with you in a second" She patted his arm as she noticed Charles raising his eyebrows at her, aware for some reason that William had noticed that she was pregnant. She hadn't really made an announcement or anything, hadn't told people at all, it was only just a bit more than four months, so there was all the time in the world to start telling people, except for family of course. But she knew somehow that he'd noticed.

William nodded and smiled and watched as she walked over to the tall dark-haired soldier that he'd met a couple of times before, once in Frimley, an awkward ten minutes or so, and then again at Guildford Cathedral when he'd noticed how pale she was and hoped she was going to last out, she'd told him about her pregnancy a few days before and he'd been burning with a jealous resentment of Charles James on that day.

He watched as she slipped her arm round his waist and he pulled her into his side, kissing the top of head and then as her hand went down to protectively cup her stomach, the tell-tale gesture that she'd been doing unconsciously the whole time he'd been talking to her Molly, the girl he'd been in love with since before he'd even seen what she looked like, the girl who'd turned out to be beautiful and feisty and in love with her husband, lucky bastard. William felt the last lingering hope drain away as he accepted the inevitable but just hoped that her husband knew how bloody lucky he was to have the girl that he'd been doing his best to get over in the last two years,