"Charles!" Molly yelled up the stairs at him. "Are you nearly ready or what?" She'd been standing by the door in her coat and her shoes for at least ten minutes. He'd been hurrying her along all evening and now ironically he was the one that wasn't ready.
"I'm coming, hang on a minute!" He shouted, a minute later the bedroom door slammed closed behind him in a way that seemed to shake the entire house down to the foundations.
"You sure you shut that?" She asked sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at her as he sat down on the stairs and started putting his shoes on. "You know, if you'd spent less time hassling me to get ready and concentrated on yourself you might not be quite to flustered."
"I know, I know." He muttered. "But you know what you're like, you normally take ages. I thought I had time!"
She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "We'll only be ten minutes late, fifteen maybe at the most." She reassured him. "It'll be fine."
"Fifteen minutes is a long time for two section to be in a pub." He raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten what they're like?"
"No." She shrugged. "But I do kind of miss them all and I've been looking forward to this. It'll be fun!"
He forced a smile on to his face, nodding in agreement with her as he stood up and put his coat on. He wasn't entirely sure that fun would be the word he would have chosen. A night out to celebrate the end of their training exercise had sounded like a good idea at the time Fingers had suggested it. Then, two section being two section, what had started off as a quiet pint in the pub had rapidly escalated and they'd ended up inviting Lane, Special Forces and he didn't want to think about who else they might've dragged into it.
"Come on." She smiled, stepping closer to him and winding her arms around his neck. "You're not going to sulk all night are you? We're supposed to be having fun!"
He sighed, breathing in the smell of her perfume. The way she was pressing herself up against him wasn't doing anything to make him want to leave the house either. "It will." He smiled. "I just sort of wish we could have a night just the two of us, you know… Before I go away again."
"We'll have plenty of time when we get home… and besides…. You don't leave for a couple of days anyway." She whispered in his ear. "Let's go and have some fun with this lot…"
"Are you sure I can't tempt you to just stay here?" He groaned as she moved away from him again.
She smirked at him. "I'm sure… but it'll be worth your while later. I'll make sure of it, I promise."
"Did you just wink at me?" He asked as he followed her out of the front door. He couldn't work out if he was imagining things.
She laughed, getting into the passenger seat. "Just you wait, you haven't seen the Molly who's had a few too many G&T's."
"Now that's something I definitely need to see." He grinned, starting the car. Maybe the evening wouldn't be as bad as he'd originally thought.
They were only five minutes late by the time Charles had driven them to the pub and found a parking space. She jogged across the carpark, hanging off his arm as she tried to stay upright on her heels and keep up with him at the same time. She didn't even think anyone would notice they were a bit late, except for the fact she hadn't accounted for all the times Charles had given two section a blocking for being a couple of minutes late.
As they walked through the door of the pub Fingers jumper to his feet, pointing at his watch and wagging his finger at Charles. "Well, well well… What time do you call this Boss? Don't you know we're the British Army and we don't have any tolerance for anyone being late?"
The rest of two section burst out laughing, Molly couldn't help but join them as Charles went a deep shade of red. "Very funny Fingers." He mumbled. "I'm sorry."
"Come on you lot, budge up!" Molly ordered, sliding on to the bench seat next to Brains. She waved to Spanner and Peanut who were sitting at the other end of the table talking to Georgie. "Come on Brains, move it or I'll end up sat on your lap!"
"Oi, oi!" Fingers cried. "He wouldn't say no I'm sure."
"Fingers." Charles said, sitting himself down next to Molly as Brains finally slid over enough to make room for him.
"Yeah Boss?"
"If you ever want to get into Special Forces maybe don't speak to her like that?" He raised an eyebrow.
Fingers face fell instantly. "I'm so sorry Molly… Captain Dawes… I didn't… I didn't mean anything, I was just.."
Molly could feel Charles shaking beside her as he tried to hold back his laughter and she struggled to keep her face serious. Charles cracked before she did in the end though and burst out laughing. "Gotcha!" He laughed at Fingers, who looked confused for a second and then visibly relaxed.
"Oh thank god." Fingers breathed, sinking back into his seat. "I'm going to need another pint now after that."
"I'll have one if you're going Fingers." Charles interjected cheekily. "I think you owe me one."
Fingers stood up, nodding in agreement. "I think that's fair Boss." He nodded. "How about you Molly?"
She locked eyes with Charles for a moment. "I'll have a G&T please Fingers, thank you."
Despite the initial reservations Charles had had about going, it had turned out to be quite a good night. Thankfully Brains, ever the more sensible one out of the lot of them, had managed to calm the rest of them down and talk them out of inviting too many extras besides Lane and Molly's team.
"I'll be back in a minute." Molly said, clambering over Charles lap, gin and tonic in hand to get out of her seat. She bent down and kissed him, ignoring the cheers from Fingers, Brains and Rab as Charles went red and scurried down to the other end of the table.
"Alright Boss?" Spanner greeted her, sliding up to make room for her to sit next to him.
"It's good to see you boys." She smiled.
"Ah, you missing us already boss?" Peanut joked. "That's unlike you! You feeling alright?"
"It's all the gin… turns me in to a nice person." She laughed. "It's good to see you too Lane, how are things?" She leant forwards so she could see Georgie who was sat just the other side of Spanner.
"It's going good, thanks. I'm going back to Kenya in a couple of weeks. I'm going to work for an aid organisation in the medical clinic at a refugee camp." Georgie smiled.
Molly couldn't help but notice it was probably the first time she'd ever seen Georgie look genuinely happy. "That's amazing, well done! Do you know where abouts you'll be going?"
Georgie shook her head. "Not yet, no. I can't wait though. I've had enough of Manchester again already."
"We've already told her to be careful." Peanut said, taking the words out of Molly's mouth. "Told her we've got enough on our plate without any more rescue missions."
Molly nodded in agreement. "What he said exactly!" She glanced up at the other end of the table, catching Charles eye as he mouthed help me at her. She grinned back at him. "If you'll excuse me guys, I'd better go and rescue my other half!"
"Oh thank god." Charles breathed as she sat back down beside him. "Don't leave me alone with them again."
Molly laughed, looking at Brains and Fingers who were sitting there looking like butter wouldn't melt. "That bad?"
He nodded. "I've been interrogated to within an inch of my life!"
"I was only gone for five minutes!" Molly laughed. "You're going to have to work on that!"
"Since you're back Molly…. It's your turn now." Brains grinned.
She finished her drink and leant back, her head resting against Charles' shoulder. "What's this interrogation about then?"
"We need to know when the wedding is!" Fingers announced, throwing his arms up in the air and causing the pint in his hand to slosh messily down his arm. "I'm pretty sure Bossman here is going to ask me to be his best man so I need to get prepared."
"I'm going to just say this again, because maybe you didn't hear me the other ten times Fingers. If we were getting married, which we're not, you would be the last person on earth I'd pick to be my best man." Charles laughed.
"You know what that means!" Brains beamed at Fingers. "It means I win, he'd rather it was me than you!"
"Oh Jesus…" Charles muttered. Molly was laughing too hard to get any words out.
It was just before midnight when they eventually left. Molly had received a drunken hug and kiss off all of the boys, she'd given Georgie a hug and wished her well on her trip, asking her to keep in touch and let her know how things were. She'd given Spanner and Peanut instructions that they were in charge of stopping two section from doing anything too stupid, or illegal. Charles had encouraged them to use as much force as they liked as he'd taken her by the hand and led her back towards the car.
It was quiet for a moment as he started to drive them back towards home. Every now and then she'd catch him watching her out of the corner of his eye. "What?" She laughed, catching his eye. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
"I'm just thinking about how lucky I am." He smirked.
"You drunk or something mate? You were supposed to be the designated driver… I'm the drunk one here." She babbled.
He laughed, turning his attention back to the road. "I only had one drink, you're definitely the drunk one out of the two of us."
"Maybe not drunk… a bit merry maybe." She smiled. "I had fun tonight."
"Good." He smiled. "I'm glad…" As he was speaking her hand found it's way across the car and came to rest on his knee.
"And I believe I made you some promises before we came out tonight." She whispered, her hand sliding further up his leg.
He swallowed, trying to keep his attention on the road and not whatever she was up to. It was much to his relief when he turned into their road and pulled up on the driveway. She leant over and kissed him as he turned off the engine.
"Is this what you meant when you said I should see you when you'd had a couple of G&T's? That you were going to try and jump me the second we got in the car?" He laughed as she pulled away eventually.
"Maybe." She giggled. "I haven't decided yet."
"I don't think I've ever heard you giggle before." He laughed, opening his door and getting out of the car.
"Well, I don't think you've ever fed me gin before either." She laughed. "Come on, open the door already!" She demanded impatiently as he fumbled with the front door keys. His coordination wasn't being helped by the fact her hands were roaming all over his body, her lips against his neck.
"Finally!" He muttered under his breath as he found the right key and turned it in the lock. "Now where were we?"
She kicked the door closed behind her, stepping out of her heels and taking him by the hand as she led him upstairs.