Chapter Two
"Hi." He smiled, coming to stand beside her. He'd spotted her across the room as soon as he'd walked in but he hadn't managed to get as far as saying hello to her until now.
"Hi." She said softly, returning his smile. "Having a good night?" She could feel herself staring at him slightly, unable to stop herself. She'd forgotten quite how good he'd looked in his dress uniform. It had been a really long time since they'd both been at something like this together.
"The conversation is much better over here." He joked. "How about you?"
She shrugged. "You know I've never really liked these things."
"Yeah." He nodded. "I do seem to remember you constantly complaining."
She glanced at her watch. "How long do you think it'll be until I can get away with leaving?" She wasn't really in the mood to make small talk with a load of people she barely knew. She'd been so relieved to see Charles headed her way so that she'd be saved from having to talk to anyone else for a little while. Well, that and the fact she hadn't seen him since he'd come to hers a couple of weeks ago and she'd missed him.
The back of his hand brushed hers and she had to remind herself not to hold his hand. He'd obviously had the same thought, their hands jolting apart rather abruptly and she swapped her glass of wine into the other hand. He cleared his throat. "I um… Soon probably?" He mumbled in answer to her question.
She nodded, chewing on her lip. She'd almost forgotten what question she'd asked him in the first place. She knew why it made sense, keeping their relationship quiet for now. Her stomach flipped a little at the thought- were they calling it a relationship now? Either way, this was the second time they'd ended up at one of these events together in the space of a couple of weeks and she was having to constantly remind herself not to touch him.
She wasn't sure why she did it, maybe it was all the wine she'd drunk, but she found herself putting her hand on his shoulder and leaning towards him so she could whisper in his ear. "Sometimes I don't know how I can keep my hands off you."
The feeling of her warm breath on his neck and the smell of her perfume made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. She removed her hand from his shoulder but stayed stood just a fraction too close to him, her arm pressed against his as she sipped at her wine. He could tell from the smile playing on her lips she knew what she was doing. "Ditto." He mumbled.
She smirked, glancing over at him. "Bleedin' ditto." She scoffed. "You're such a charmer."
He rolled his eyes at her. "Behave yourself."
"Oh I don't know…. I've always thought these things were more fun if you have a little bit too much wine." She grinned, finishing off the last of her wine.
He tried to look serious but failed miserably. "Don't look at me like that, I'm driving. You're on your own."
"You can take me home tonight then." She grinned.
"If you insist." He grinned.
It was a good couple of hours later that they eventually walked out into the car park. It was when the fresh air hit her that Molly realised that she'd definitely had too much wine. Suddenly trying to stay upright in her heels required every last bit of brain power, she found herself clinging on to Charles arm without a care about who might see them.
She got into his car less than gracefully and she could see him laughing at her as he walked back around to the drivers side. She wanted to pretend to be annoyed with him but she couldn't manage to keep a straight face long enough to even pretend. So instead she found herself laughing with him as he started the car. "Did I make a tit out of myself?" She asked as he headed for the exit.
He shook his head. "Luckily for you, you were making sense up until we went to leave." He laughed.
"Oh thank god." She muttered, sinking back against the chair.
He didn't say anything else, he was fairly sure he already knew why she'd had quite as much wine as she did without having to ask her. It had been a long time since he'd been to one of these things with her, but he could always remember her and Bones sticking together and hiding in the corner to avoid having to talk to people. She didn't talk about it, but she knew when it came to things like this she really, really missed him.
It was all well and good him offering to take her home again afterwards, until they got half way there and the road was closed. Then the one other route that he knew had also been closed. They stopped and Charles had stared at his phone for a while, trying to work out how he was supposed to get her there without having to do an hour long detour with no success. By the time he'd looked up from his phone again Molly was asleep, her head rested against the window.
"Molly." He nudged her gently to try and wake her up. "Molly."
She sat bolt upright and looked at him in confusion. "Did I fall asleep? Sorry." She mumbled, looking around. "Where are we?"
"The road's closed." He explained. "What do you want to do?"
She hesitated for half a second. "Can I come back with you?" The wine was wearing off and she was suddenly really, really tired.
"Okay." He turned the car around and headed for home, saying a quiet prayer of thanks that his parents had gone away for the weekend. It wasn't that he didn't want Molly to meet his parents, quite the opposite really, he just knew that his Mum was going to say something. She still wasn't ready to accept that he wasn't going to get back together with Rebecca. It would be nice though, to actually spend some time with Molly. They'd barely seen each other in the couple of weeks since he'd been to visit her. They'd both been so busy with work. It felt like an eternity since he'd seen her.
"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered as they climbed out of the car when they reached his parents house.
"What?" He stopped and turned to face her as she pulled off her heels and made her way up the path barefoot.
"This is your parents house?" She jabbed her finger at the front door as she walked up the steps next to him. "This isn't a house, it's a bloody palace."
He shrugged it off. "It's not mine, I don't really like it to be honest." He shoved the big heavy front door open and turned the lights on, watching her carefully as she took in the hallway.
She let out a low whistle. "If I'd known this is what you were used to I might've made a bit more of an effort when you came to visit me." She muttered.
"I like your house." He smiled, taking a step closer to her. She was within touching distance now, looking up at him with wide eyes.
"I haven't even got any bloody furniture." She mumbled, looking down to avoid his gaze.
His finger found its way under her chin, gently guiding her head back up until she was looking at him again. "I couldn't care less about your furniture Molly."
She opened her mouth to speak then changed her mind again. She took a half a step closer to him, her arms finding her way around his neck. "I've missed you." She said softly, pressing her lips to his.
It took her a few minutes when she woke up to work out where she was. Much to her surprise, her head felt fine and she stretched out luxuriously in the huge bed, her hand coming into contact with Charles who was still fast asleep beside her. She smiled, watching him for a second as he slept. She clambered out of bed, realising she desperately needed a wee, and had a rummage around on the floor looking for his shirt to put on. She realised quickly she was going to be doing the walk of shame back home later, but she couldn't even find it in herself to be embarrassed. She'd had such a lovely night with him.
She picked his shirt up from where they'd discarded it on the floor the night before in their hurry to undress each other, covered herself and tiptoed out of the room. She paused for a moment outside his bedroom door, trying to work out which way the bathroom was. She was sure there hadn't been this many doors the night before. It was to the right, she was fairly sure.
She'd barely taken two steps towards the door when the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her made her jump out of her skin. She spun around and to her horror came face to face with an older lady that could only be Charles's mother.
"Can I help you dear?" She asked rather frostily, hands on her hips as she looked Molly up and down and waited for an answer.
Molly thought for a moment that she might've lost the ability to speak. "I'm so… I'm so sorry. I was just looking for the bathroom." She mumbled, wishing the ground would swallow her up.
"Second door on the right." Mrs James barked, turning on her heel and walking back towards the stairs. "And perhaps you could tell my son I'd like to speak to him in the kitchen?"
"Yes, sorry… Thank you." Molly mumbled, scurrying off to the bathroom.
Mrs James was gone when she came back out, much to her relief. She quickly rushed back across the hallway and into Charles's bedroom.
He stirred as she climbed back into bed beside him, throwing his arm around her waist and pulling her close as his lips found their way to her neck. "Morning." He mumbled against her skin, his hand roaming underneath his shirt that she'd borrowed.
"Charles." She hissed.
"Mmmm…" He didn't stop, rolling her so she was between him and the mattress.
"Charles… your mother is here." She caught his hands.
It was as though she'd poured a bucket of cold water over him, his hands and lips suddenly being retracted as he rolled away from her again. "What do you mean she's here?"
"I mean I just met her on the landing." She explained.
His eyes went wide.
"Yeah, barely wearing any clothes I might add." Molly muttered. "She wants to talk to you in the kitchen."
"Oh shit." He mumbled. "I'm so sorry… they weren't supposed to be here." He jumped out of bed and started scrambling around for some clothes. "Just um… just give me five minutes."
He rushed out of the door before she could answer him, skidding to a stop in this kitchen as he took in the sight of both of his parents sitting at the kitchen table, glaring at him. "Shut the door." His mother barked.
He turned and closed the door behind him. "Hello Mum, Dad. Did you have a nice trip?" He asked sarcastically, turning back to face them.
"Sit down." His father sighed. "What's going on?"
Charles stayed stood in the exact same spot. "Why don't you tell me? You're the ones who came home early." He retorted.
"Maybe it's a good job we did!" His mother snapped. "You're still married Charles, for heaven's sake!"
He rolled his eyes at her. Of course that's where she was going with this. "I am not getting back with Rebecca Mum, I don't know how many more times I'm going to have to say this before you get the message."
"It doesn't mean you have to jump into bed with the first woman you meet either." She shot back at him. "I don't want you to do something you're going to regret."
"Charles, I think what your mother is trying to say is-" his father started.
"I think you'll find I can speak for myself! What I'm trying to say is this certainly isn't going to be happening under my roof." She butted in again. "So perhaps you'd like to go and suggest to your house guest that she makes her way home."
He stared at them both for a moment before he realised that they were actually serious and weren't going to budge. "Unbelievable." He muttered, turning on his heel to walk out again.
Molly was sitting on the edge of the bed when he got back to his bedroom, he could tell from the look on her face that she'd heard every word. "I'm so sorry." He said quickly. "They don't mean anything by it, Mum's just convinced that Rebecca is an angel and.."
She shook her head, looking up at him. "It's fine." She smiled tightly. "I should get going anyway." She wasn't exactly looking forward to doing the walk of shame all the way back home, she hadn't really engaged her brain as far as having no spare clothes with her last night. She wasn't planning to hang around long enough to have another run in with Charles's mother either though. It had been made quite clear she wasn't welcome and she just wanted to retreat back to the safety of her own house.
"I'm really sorry." Charles said softly, taking a step towards her. "If I'd had any idea they were going to be here…"
"I know." She nodded. "Would you… would you mind giving me a lift to the station or something? I don't think I'd know how to get back from here."
"I'll drop you off at home." He offered straight away.
She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."
"I want to." He smiled. "And I think it might be for the best if I steer clear of my mother for a while, at least until she's ready to be an adult and actually talk about this."
"She's entitled to her opinion." Molly shrugged, looking down at the floor. "Is it okay if we just get going? I need to be getting back."
He nodded, a sinking feeling in his chest as she looked down at the floor to avoid meeting his eye. "Of course, let me just find my keys."