Walking back through the doors at Brize Norton after four long weeks was almost surreal. She'd only spoken to Charles once the entire time she was gone, and that had been to tell him she was coming home. The fact that they'd been in the middle of nowhere with no real way of contacting him coupled with the fact she'd barely had an hour to herself to sleep the whole time hadn't exactly made things easy. She'd felt guilty about it, then the reality of it had hit her. It was always going to be like that with her job. She was never going to be able to talk to him about where she was going and what had happened. It was an unsettling realisation.

She spotted him as soon as she walked through the door, a smile spreading across his face as he saw her. She hadn't even realised she was walking faster and faster until she reached him, almost colliding with him as she threw her arms around him.

"Hi." He laughed, wrapping his arms around her tightly and lifting her off the ground. "There was me worried that you hadn't missed me."

She could tell from his tone of voice that he was joking, but it still touched a little bit of a nerve. "I definitely missed you. I'm so sorry I couldn't call you…."

"I'm only joking, I'm just glad you're home safe." He cut her off quickly.

"Now now, get a room you two." Peanut called as he walked past with Spanner.

She rolled her eyes at them. "Go home you two, before I put you back on the plane and send you somewhere else."

"Are you ready to go home?" Charles asked as Spanner and Peanut made a beeline for the door.

She nodded quickly. "I've been dreaming about having a hot shower and a proper bed for weeks."

"Oh yeah? So what you're saying is you didn't actually miss me, you just missed my house." He laughed. He bent down and picked up her bag, holding his hand out to her.

She grinned at him. "Yeah, very funny. You know what I meant."

"I've missed you." He smiled, squeezing her hand and starting to walk towards the car park.

"Oh god, I don't think I've ever loved a pair of pyjamas so much." She sighed, flopping down on the sofa. "I mean I love you, but right now these pyjamas might be the actual love of my life."

He appeared in the kitchen doorway with a cup of tea for her. "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner tonight but I'll take that as a no then." He laughed.

"I'm really sorry… Maybe tomorrow?" She yawned.

"How about I just order us a chinese?" He laughed as she yawned again.

"What would I do without you?" She grinned.

His face fell before he could stop it and she sat up, looking at him curiously. "I was going to wait until tomorrow to tell you." He sighed.

"Tell me what?" She frowned.

"I'm being deployed." He groaned. "Unbelievable timing I know."

"Oh…" Was all she could stay, just staring at him as her brain processed it. "How long?"

"Three months. We're leaving in two weeks." He sighed. "South Sudan."

"Well… aren't you lucky." She joked, trying to do something to lighten the mood.

"Don't I know it." He rolled his eyes.

"Well…." She said slowly. "I can't say I'm surprised. We both knew this is how it was going to be sooner or later. Besides, it could've been worse, you could've been gone when I got home."

"I know… I just… well, I've really missed you while you've been away and I know it's going to happen, it's just the way things are…. But…"

"But what?" She asked when he didn't go any further. "Spit it out Charles, we haven't got all day."

"That was kind of my point. We haven't got forever, we keep ending up on opposite sides of the world and I don't want to waste any of the time that we have actually got together… I don't want us to just see how things go. I love you and I want to come home to you every night, I want you to live with me properly… I can't remember feeling like this about anyone, my divorce is almost finalised and I don't know… I'm the happiest I've been in such a long time. I don't want to lose this." He stopped, watching her face carefully while silently kicking himself for blurting all of that out in the way he had.

Slowly, a smile spread across her face. "You're a soppy bastard aren't you?" She laughed.

"You know me." He shrugged, trying to hide his smile. "Does this mean you're not about to run for the hills?"

She was suddenly serious again. "No, I'm not. I've been thinking the same thing."

"You have?" He looked at her in surprise.

She nodded. "Things got a bit…. Dicey… shall we say, at one point. And I just kept thinking that if anything had happened you would've been the last one to know."

"I know, I've had the same thought." He nodded. "What happened?"

She pulled a face, wishing desperately she could tell him, but they both knew that she couldn't. "Let's just say it really didn't go to plan. We didn't get everyone we needed too, so hopefully they'll find them and we can have a second attempt."

"Oh… So you'll be deployed again soon you think?"

She nodded. "So…. Let's just… We don't have to rush in to anything. We can sort everything out properly once you're back and I know what's happening? I'm not going to run off while you're gone though if that's what you're worried about."

"Well, I'm not now." He grinned. "You know what this means though?"

"What?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"You have to go and tell Beck." He laughed.

"Me?!" She glared at him. "Why do I have to do it?!"

"Because he likes you! And besides… I won't even be here!" Charles laughed.

"He likes you!" She shot back at him. "What am I even supposed to say to him? Funny story Sir but I've been sleeping with Captain James for months and thought maybe I'd let you know now?"

"Maybe don't phrase it quite like that." He laughed. "But yes."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Brilliant, thank you so much."