"Morning." Charles smirked as she walked into his kitchen barefoot and wearing one of his shirts and a pair of jeans.. "I made coffee."
She pulled a face at him, reaching over to turn on the kettle. "You can try as hard as you like mate, you're not going to make me like that fancy shit you drink. Can't beat a decent cup of tea."
He laughed, taking another sip of his own drink. "Suit yourself."
"I will." She shot back cheekily, making her cup of tea and putting a couple of slices of bread in the toaster. "What've you got planned today?"
"Same old.." He shrugged. "How about you?"
"Lane's coming to visit." She told him, watching as he raised an eyebrow.
"That's weird, right?" He asked, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer. "What do you think she wants?"
"I haven't got a clue." Molly shrugged. "But yeah, it's really weird. Maybe she's come to fight me for you." She smirked at the idea, turning away from him.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Very funny."
"She can have you if she wants, I might finally get some sleep without all your snoring." She teased.
"Oi!" He threw a tea towel at her. "Less of that."
"Maybe you should try snoring less." She quipped. "I'd better go, I'm going to be late." She picked up her toast and headed for the door.
"You could always try bringing some spare clothes to keep here. You wouldn't be late if you didn't have to keep going home first." The words were out of his mouth before he'd thought about what he was implying.
She stopped dead in her tracks as she reached the doorway, slice of toast still towards her mouth. She turned slowly so she was looking at him. "Are you suggesting I move in here?" She stared at him blankly.
"No… well, yes. I suppose. But i-" He babbled frantically, trying to work out what to say to stop her freaking out. He could tell from the look on her face he was almost certainly too late already.
"I… I've got to go." She mumbled, fleeing out of the front door before he had a chance to say anything else.
Georgie was waiting outside Molly's office nervously when Molly came running round the corner. "I'm so sorry Lane, it's been a bit of a day. Come in." Molly waved as she opened the door.
"Sorry, you could've called if it was a bad time. I could've come another day." Georgie mumbled apologetically as she closed the door behind herself.
Molly waved a hand dismissively as she sat down at her desk. The bombshell Charles had dropped as she was about to leave was an omen for the day it turned out. She'd spent the entire morning running around like a headless chicken and still hadn't quite caught up. "It's never a good day around here." She joked. "Anyway, I've got to admit I was curious. You can sit down."
Georgie sat down in the seat Molly had pointed to on the opposite side of the desk. She looked uncomfortable as she struggled to find her words. "I feel like I should probably apologise to you first." She started quietly. "I wasn't fair to you, I haven't been from the minute we met. I saw the way Cha- Captain James looked at you and I… well, I was jealous."
Molly took a deep breath, not really knowing what to say to that. She hadn't prepared herself for Georgie to be quite so honest about everything that had happened. "I know I was hard on you but I could see the way you were looking at him. He was still your CO Lane, I know it was a bit odd because of his friendship with Elvis and all the lines got a bit blurred but… I didn't want you both to lose your jobs over it."
Georgie was quiet for a moment before she nodded, bringing her eyes up to meet Molly's. "I know that now. And I know that I never should've been there in the first place. My head was all over the place after Elvis. It still is really."
Molly smiled at her sympathetically. "It will be for a long time and it's okay. Christ I had to go and have a little cry in the toilets the other day after I'd finished bollocking a load of squaddies because I realised I'm turning in to Bones and it made me remember how much I miss him. Don't tell anyone mind you, I've spent a long time convincing them all I'm some kind of dragon they shouldn't mess with."
Georgie laughed quietly. "He was really, really great."
"So was Elvis." Molly said softly. "And you could be too, you just need to get your head in the right place and engage your brain. If it had been anyone other than me you could pretty much guarantee you'd be out of a job right now. They'd have gone straight to Major Beck."
"Why didn't you?" Georgie asked, looking at her curiously. It was a question she'd been longing to ask for months.
Molly shifted in her seat. "I made a lot of mistakes when I started out, I still do now. I'm a long way from perfect and I guess I saw a bit of me in you maybe. We've all defied the rules every now and then, sometimes you just have to. You just have to remember that it's easy to cross the line."
"So…" Georgie said hesitantly. "You and Captain James?"
Molly nodded, feeling her face flush. "Yes, but I don't really think we should be having that conversation. I'm assuming you didn't come all the way here just to ask me that either?"
"No, I didn't." Georgie agreed quickly. "But can I at least say I'm happy for you both? He really loves you, I can see it now. It didn't want to at the time but… I really am happy for you both.."
"Thank you." Molly nodded, allowing herself to breathe a sigh of relief. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Georgie took a breath, straightening up in her chair. "I'm thinking about leaving the army." She explained.
"Hello?" She called, standing in the hallway of Charles house. She'd usually just wander in as though it was her own house, she was probably at his more than she was actually at home anyway, but it felt a bit weird after the way she had left that morning. She dropped her bag by the radiator and listened for his reply.
"In here." He called, his voice coming from the direction of the kitchen.
She kicked her shoes off and walked through, the smell of his cooking making her stomach rumble, she stopped in the kitchen doorway to watch him for a moment as he stood at the cooker.
"You came back then." He observed, turning to face her. "I hadn't heard from you all day, I thought maybe you'd done a runner."
"I left my phone here." She explained awkwardly. "I left in too much of a hurry."
"I'll say." He muttered under his breath.
"I really am sorry." She sighed, taking a couple of steps closer to him. "You took me by surprise."
He cringed. "If it helps I took myself by surprise. I don't know where that came from."
Her step faltered. "Does that mean you're taking it back?"
He shook his head straight away. "No, I meant what I said. I just wish I'd engaged my brain and thought about it a bit more before I said it."
"Well, I have something for you." She smiled nervously.
"Oh?" He asked curiously.
"Wait here." She ordered, scurrying back into the hallway to pick up the duffle bag she'd dropped off on her way in. "Ta-da!" She said, presenting it to him as she walked back into the kitchen.
He stared at her confused for a moment before he unzipped it and realised it was full of her clothes. His face split into a huge grin.
"Now… before you get too excited." She added quickly. "I'm not moving in, not yet anyway. But you're right, it would be easier if I didn't have to drive all the way home before I can go to work… and thought maybe this way we can start slow. See if I can cope with you snoring next to me every night of the week."
He dropped the bag by his feet to free up his hands to wrap around her waist. "That sounds perfect to me." He grinned.
"I'm not saying I never want to move in." She said quietly, feeling like she needed to clarify it for him so he didn't get the wrong idea. "I just want to be sure… I've not done this before, not properly. I don't want to rush into it and ruin what we've got."
He nodded in agreement. "I understand. It makes sense…. Now, can I ask you what happened with Lane? I've been dying to find out all day!"
Molly rolled her eyes. "It's going to be a bit of an anticlimax… You're going to be disappointed because it turns out she wasn't that keen on you that she was prepared to fight me for you."
"Ouch." He smirked, trying to look offended. "Let down gently Dawsey!"