Chapter 16

I really wish that I owned the show, but sadly I don't.

Huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far and especially to Debbie and Steph for editing this.

So six weeks have past and Charles is home from Headley. It is the festive season and this chapter was so long that I had to spilt it into two chapters. Who is ready for Christmas?

Six weeks later

"Sam if you are not in bed by the time I count to three…" Charles said shouting up the stairs to his son who was running around his bedroom and refusing to get into bed.

"Daddy's got his silly voice on!" Sam giggled as he covered his mouth with his hands, grinning from ear to ear.

Molly rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. "He has, because it is well past someone's bedtime, Mr." She glared at her son, one look from her made Sam stop running and dive into his bed. That look, the one that only a mother could give, made Sam realise the fun was over, and he was going to be in trouble very quickly.

"Night daddy!" Sam shouted as he pulled his duvet over him and looked at Molly.

"Night Scamp," Charles replied laughing as he heard Molly read the fastest bedtime story ever before quickly and quietly leaving Sam's bedroom.

A few minutes later, he was sitting on the sofa staring at his phone when he heard Molly enter the room and groan. He looked up to see her walk over towards him and sit down, resting her head on his shoulder as she allowed him to pull her into his embrace.

He kissed her forehead and whispered "That's another lesson learned. Check with you first and don't fall for the soppy eyes trick."

"He played you good and proper mate," Molly smirked as she looked up at him "I already told him no so he runs to you with his tales of woe and you fall for it, cheeky little bugger has learnt that trick quickly."

"And I fell for it hook, line and sinker," Charles sighed "We definitely need to work on our communication or rather I need to read the parenting rule book very fast!"

"Hate to tell you this but there is no rule book," Molly smirked "If it helps, I'm still winging it."

"No, you're not, you are a complete professional," Charles replied smiling. "I just want him to love me, so I give in every time."

"He already loves you, you prannet, you just need to learn to say no the majority of the time," Molly smiled "Add no sugar before bed to that list of yours too, otherwise we have another night like tonight ahead of us."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, it's already on it, in bright flashing neon lights" he said as he rolled his eyes.

"Good," Molly smiled as she curled up closer to him "I like this."

"Ditto," Charles smiled as he bent down and kissed her again. Moments like this, days like today and every day for the past three weeks since he was finally allowed to leave Headley had made every day of rehab and physio worth it.

For Charles the last three weeks since he came home had been a dream. Molly had agreed to letting Sam spend a full day with him one day a week and between him, his mum and dad, Sam had them run ragged and knackered by the time Molly's shift had finished and she came to collect him. Smiling she simply said, "welcome to my world" and told them she felt like that most days too. As tired as he was, he wouldn't have it any other way and just a few days ago he had Sam staying overnight as someone had called in sick on Molly's ward and she had to do a double shift as Jac was also working.

Charles and Sam had a blast, both of them couldn't wait for the next one. It was clear from the start that Sam adored and worshipped his father, which made leaving them together so much easier for Molly. Charles, despite the limp and occasional headache, was more than capable of looking after Sam, he just needed to remember to check things with her first. Sam had conned him already a few times but as much as Charles felt that he was failing, Molly reassured him that everyone had to learn, parenting was a steep learning curve and if it helped, she was still learning too.

Their relationship was growing better with each day. They both learned early on that they were equally as stubborn as each other but had learned to talk to each other and compromise. He loved coffee. She loved tea. He sulked for the country when he learned that they stopped making his beloved Rosabaya coffee. She had thrown a temper tantrum to equal Sam's when she discovered how bloody neat and tidy he was. But with everything they simply smiled, kissed and made up.

They were conscious over how to act around Sam, who had walked into the room and saw them kissing on the sofa one afternoon. He walked past them like it was a daily occurrence, when they talked to him about it he replied Chloe's parents kissed and held hands all the time so he thought that all mummy and daddies did that. The worry over how he would react was soon forgotten.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, Molly her head resting on his shoulders as he gently rubbed her back. "I hate to break the heavenly silence, but I need to ask you something, well several things actually," Charles said quietly.

"Don't expect a sensible answer," Molly replied quietly.

Charles smiled "It's about Christmas."

"I told you not to spoil him. He has already sent his letter to Santa and we are sticking to it!" Molly sighed as she stroked his hand.

"I have every intention of sticking to his list, it's you I intend to spoil," Charles replied smiling "And that wasn't what I wanted to ask you." Another thing that Charles had learned was that Molly was not used to being spoilt or being treated to anything. Her response to when he asked her if there was anything she would like for Christmas had been a new winter coat or better still a bottle of wine. Charles had actually stared at her and politely informed her that she would be getting more than that.

While Charles was learning about parenting, Molly was learning what it was like to be in a relationship with Charles.

Molly sighed in defeat as she turned slightly to face him "What was it you wanted to ask then?"

"Mum, she wanted me to invite you and Sam for Christmas dinner, she's accepted that you'll probably be working so you just need to let her know what time suits you best and she'll organise it all around your shift," Charles smiled "Trust me you do not want to miss the house at Christmas, or one of her dinners for that matter!"

"She won't let me say no, will she?"

"Nope."

"Will she even let me help her with it?" Molly asked.

"You could try but good luck with that," Charles smirked.

"Fine, what was the other thing you wanted to ask?"

"Dad and I have a tradition on Boxing Day, it's a local charity rugby match. Anyway, Sam's been showing a slight interest in rugby, so dad wanted to buy him a ticket too. Personally, I think he just wants to show him off to all his friends."

Molly smiled "Of course he can go!"

"Thank you," Charles replied smiling warmly at her.

"The Christmas rota was sent out earlier," Molly said as she sat up and curled her feet up on the sofa "I was intending to tell you but with Sam going hyper on a sugar high it slipped my mind."

"When are you working?" he asked smiling knowing how important her job was too her.

"Christmas night and New Years' Eve," Molly replied, "I've been lucky most years over Christmas as everyone on the ward knew my circumstances and with the nursery being closed, I had to work around Jac and Dan, but it's different this year."

"Because I'm here and involved," Charles said.

"Yes, so I kinda volunteered for the night shift on Christmas day," Molly said carefully, only to find Charles smiling at her no anger in sight. "Most of the other nurses would prefer to work the day shift and they can go home and have dinner and chill, but I thought you would obviously want to see Sam on Christmas Day."

"Both of you actually," he smiled as he tickled her.

"And with your mum offering to cook dinner," Molly explained "How about you stay over on Christmas Eve, so all three of us are together on Christmas morning and you get to enjoy the whole Sam opening presents from Santa experience?"

"Molly I would love that!"

"I'm working until eight on Christmas eve, so by the time I get home, get Sam to bed," Molly rolled her eyes at the thought "we can then wrap the presents and get them under the tree. Sam will be up from six so I can spend a few hours with him, go back to bed for a bit of a kip before I get up for us to go to your parents for dinner. My shift starts at eight."

"I'll let mum know and you two can sort out times" Charles said before leaning to her and kissing her forehead again. "Thank you, it means the world to me to be here with him on Christmas morning," he muttered against her head.

"Well it makes sense, we both want to be here, just don't be surprised if Jac and Dan decide to stay over too."

"The more the merrier," Charles replied as he leaned in again, this time capturing her lips with his.

Within seconds the kiss was heating up and Molly found herself lying on her back with Charles lying on top kissing her. "Tell me to stop Molly," he whispered.

Molly was tempted to invite him upstairs, but the sound of a floorboard creaking made her frown and Charles to pull back slightly.

"Mummy, mummy monster monster!" Sam shrieked from upstairs.

"Perfect timing Sam! Not!" Molly smiled as she looked up at Charles.

"Its okay I'll go, if that's okay?" Charles asked as he carefully stood up.

"Go ahead," Molly smiled as she rolled over on to her side and watched as Charles headed up the stairs to calm Sam and hunt for monsters no doubt hiding in his wardrobe.

How and when did she get so lucky, she thought to herself as she listened to Charles calm Sam. He was tall, good looking, polite, spoiled her rotten and not forgetting had the best arse she had ever seen.

OGOGOGOG

Christmas Eve

"Is that the last one?" Molly asked as she stood up and looked around the living room floor.

"Yes," Charles replied grinning as he watched Molly fuss over everything

"Are you sure you have no more presents hidden anywhere, because I would rather know now."

"That is everything," Charles said as he opened his arms and watched as Molly fell into his embrace. "Well apart from the two presents that my parents have at home for him, but you know about those already."

"Thank god, I told you not to go overboard!" Molly said still staring at the pile of presents for Sam under the Christmas tree.

"Well I missed out on a few birthdays and Christmases" he smiled "besides your presents are there too!"

"Oh god, you have gone overboard, you are going to hate mine," Molly sighed as she buried her face in his chest.

"No, I won't," Charles smiled as he rubbed her back "I'll love whatever it is."

"I hope so cause it's a bit late now," Molly replied glancing at the clock. "One am, time for wine then bed."

"Definitely, how early will he be up in the morning?" Charles asked as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Six if we're lucky, Jac and Dan are going to call round about that time before they start their shifts," Molly smiled as she lifted two wine glasses out of the cupboard as Charles went to the fridge for the wine. "I have trained you well," Molly smirked as she looked at the wine bottle.

"Tough shift?" He asked her whilst pouring their drinks.

"You could say that," Molly said as she leaned back against the counter and gratefully accepted the glass of wine. She took a sip before replying "This man was rushed in, he went out to fix a broken set of lights on the roof, his kids thinking it was funny, moved the ladder on him, he slipped, fell and cracked his skull and spent most of Christmas eve in the operating theatre with a bleed on the brain. The kids were hysterical all day."

"Jesus," Charles replied shivering at the thought of the pain the family must be going through.

"I shouldn't have said anything," Molly muttered as she watched Charles realising that he must be relieving his brain injury.

"No, I was lucky, very lucky," Charles said as he came and stood in front of her "I had my family and the best nurse in the world to look after me." He said as he reached up and stroked her cheek "You amaze me Molly, I really don't know how you do what you do, but I'm bloody glad you do it."

"There are moments when I ask myself the very same question," Molly smiled as she wrapped her arms around him as he bent down and softly kissed her on the lips.

The kiss intensified quickly as Molly found herself being pulled closer and closer into his embrace and then she felt herself being lifted on top of the kitchen counter. Her hands were running through his thick dark hair, she moaned when he pulled back breaking the kiss. Their foreheads were touching as they remained together as close as they could possibly be. She could feel his breath on her face and when she placed her hand on his chest, she could feel his heart beating.

"Molly," he whispered "We need to slow down. We have to slow down."

"We do," she smiled back "I just can't remember why?"

They both laughed "We agreed to wait out, remember?"

"Hmmm, dates, holding hands," Molly smiled "I remember now."

"We're going slow, because we want to get to know each other properly this time, do things the right way," Charles said closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"uh-huh."

"Then why is it so bloody hard to keep my hands off you, once I start kissing you, I never want to stop," Charles sighed as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Ditto," Molly replied staring into his eyes.

Just as he lowered his head to kiss her again, Molly's phone beeped and vibrated in her pocket. He pulled back slightly to let her see who was texting her at this time of the night.

Molly cleared her throat, "It's Jac, her and Dan want to know if they can come round now and sleep on the sofa."

"Makes sense, just in case Sam does sleep in, not that I can see that happening," Charles replied as she saw Molly slid off the counter and fix her hair.

A soft knocking could be heard on the front door, "I take it that's them then?" he asked.

"It is," Molly said as she quickly walked to the front door to let them in.

Charles remained in the kitchen while Dan and Jac helped Molly make up the sofa and arrange all Sam's presents under and around the tree. After, Dan left the girls in the lounge to join Charles in the kitchen. They had been introduced shortly after Charles and Molly got together, although they were always very polite and friendly in each other's company they didn't really know one another. Tonight though, Dan appeared slightly nervous as he approached Charles.

"Everything okay?" Charles asked him carefully.

"Yeah, just wanted to check something with you," Dan explained "Jac and I usually buy a present for Sam to give Molly, because obviously he can't buy her a present himself. We weren't sure if you were doing that or not, so I have a small present that we can use."

Charles smiled, they really were good friends looking out for Molly and making sure she had at least one present to open the last few Christmas mornings. "No need, I've got something for Sam to give her, but thank you anyway."

"No need to thank me, it's only perfume and we can give it to her from both of us," Dan smiled "I just needed to know which gift tag to attach to it."

"No, I do need to thank you," Charles replied "For looking out for Molly and helping her. I know her family history and while I wish I'd have been here from the beginning I wasn't, so it helps knowing that she had great friends like you guys to look out for her."

Dan nodded his head acknowledging what Charles was saying "Well we are both pleased that you're in both Molly and Sam's lives now. That said, if you hurt her or Sam, I am a doctor and I know various different ways of killing you slowly and painfully."

Charles chuckled "I hear you, loud and clear."

OGOGOGOGOGOG

Christmas morning

To say that the morning had gone by in a bit of a blur was an understatement.

Charles smiled as he sat and watched Sam with one of his many new toys that Santa had left for him and he dreaded the challenge of having to get Sam to choose two toys to take with him to his parents for the afternoon. Sometimes he wanted to pinch himself to make sure this was really happening and not some wonderful dream that he would wake up from to face a hard-cold reality.

He had the woman that had haunted his dreams for the past three or more years and they were now dating. He loved her and he loved their son more than life itself. Yes, he had been in an accident and been seriously injured, he had a limp and headaches to back that up, but overall right now, he was the happiest that he'd ever been in his whole life. Career be damned, this family came first.

"Daddy look!" Sam shouted over at him.

"I am scamp, I am," Charles smiled back as Sam came closer to him showing off his new toy.

He thought back to this morning, Molly had been right, Sam was awake at six and came running out of his room shouting Santa at the top of his voice. He had bolted out of bed forgetting all about his limp until he nearly fell face first on the floor. He managed his balance and by the time he had reached the landing Molly was telling Sam that he was going to have to wait before going downstairs and that the sleigh bells he heard could mean that Santa was still downstairs and were to remind Sam that he still had to be a good boy.

Charles fought to hide the smile as Sam stood still, scared stiff in case Santa had heard him running and shouting. He caught Molly's eye and they both smirked, trying not to laugh. Another thought had run through his mind, this was the first time he had seen Molly first thing in the morning, no makeup, no uniform, there she was standing there in her pyjamas and her long brown hair tied back in a messy pony tail and yet she was as beautiful as ever to him, a natural beauty inside and out. Without a doubt a sight he would be more than happy to see first thing every morning.

"Daddy we have to be quiet!" Sam whispered loudly and Molly turned slightly to hide her giggles.

"We do Scamp," Charles smiled as he came over and stood beside them.

Molly bent down to talk quietly to Sam "How about if daddy goes downstairs first, just to make sure that Santa really has gone?"

Sam nodded his head as Molly stood up and whispered in Charles ear "Make sure Jac and Dan are up and decent."

"Got it," Charles whispered back as he made his way carefully and slowly down the stairs. Today of all days his leg had to be sore and it slowed him down.

As Charles got to the bottom of the stairs he could see Jac folding up the bedding and hiding it behind the sofa while Dan was throwing the treats that Sam had left out, grass for the reindeers into the bin, quickly poured a small amount of milk into the glass and poured some cookie crumbs onto the plate to make it look like Santa and Rudolph enjoyed the treats.

The two men looked at each other and smirked.

"The things we do at Christmas," Dan sighed as he grabbed his phone and got ready to record Sam opening his presents as he and Jac stood at the door to the kitchen and out of the way.

"All ready Sam," Charles shouted.

The next few moments could only be described as a category five Hurricane in the shape of Sam hit the room, from nearly taking off down the stairs to wrapping paper going flying everywhere and squeals of excitement. Moments later Charles and Molly knew they had a very happy and spoilt little boy.

The adults then exchanged presents; Charles smiled as he handed Sam his present to give mummy. He whispered in his ear, grinning as Sam ran over to Molly and watched as she opened the diamond earrings. Molly looked shocked before hugging and kissing Sam looking at Charles the whole time and whispered, "thank you."

If Molly had looked shocked at the earrings, then she was completely blown away by the matching diamond necklace and bracelet that Charles had bought her. She was speechless and apologised for getting him the most boring present ever, but he had still loved it.

It was only when a bit later once Jac and Dan had left, Charles was clearing away the breakfast dishes that Molly came into the kitchen fidgeting with an envelope in her hand.

"Thank you again for the present," Molly smiled shyly "It was far too much," she said as she came up and stood beside him, her hand resting on his back.

"Nonsense, it is the very least you deserve," Charles smiled back tenderly.

"They're beautiful," Molly emphasised "but you realise I will be too bloody scared to wear them in case something happens to them."

"Molly!" he laughed.

"I do feel a bit shit for the boring present I gave you."

"It was my favourite aftershave and you know that I have always loved that photo of Sam," Charles sighed as he turned to wrap his arms around her and drop a kiss on her nose.

"Well I hope this makes up for it," Molly said as she handed him the envelope.

"What's this?" Charles asked as he opened it carefully. He lifted out the piece of paper and read it. He looked up at Molly who was biting her lip.

"When I registered Sam's birth I really wanted to put your name on the birth certificate as his father," Molly explained "but because I didn't know your surname, I couldn't do it. So, his father has always been listed as unknown. But I was thinking that when the registry office opens after the holidays, we could go down together and get your name added on. That is just a mock up from the internet I used for decorative…"

Molly didn't finish what she saying as Charles had pulled her in so close for a hug that oxygen was becoming an issue. She felt him kiss her head and whisper "Thank you." When he finally let go, she could see the tears in his eyes.

"Do you like it?" she frowned.

"Molly I love it, and I love you."

"Thank God, you had me worried for a minute mate," Molly smiled as Charles held on to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just my leg is sore, today of all days," Charles sighed as he reached out for his walking stick.

"Well go and sit down then, I can finish up in here."

"You need to get some sleep Molly you're on the nightshift tonight," Charles sighed.

"And I will after I finish tidying up," Molly smiled "Go in there and play with Sam, with a bit of luck he might go for a nap before we need to leave for your parents.

Coming very soon, the continuation of Christmas Day and into New Year for our favourite characters where Molly faces one of the most difficult shifts of her career…