Disclaimer: I don't own Our Girl. Everything you recognise was created by Tony Grounds and is owned by the BBC.
Chapter 7
"Ah, the impatience of youth," he teased, grinning at Marge, but pushing the phone into her left hand and then staying by her to make sure she could move it up to her ear.
She managed it, and spoke into the receiver, "Hello?" she asked.
"Hello, Molly Dawes" said the caller.
"Qaseem?" she choked out, unable to believe her ears, twisting her head round to look at Charles for confirmation. He smiled happily at her and nodded his head, just as the caller confirmed, "Yes, it is me."
Molly was amazed. She had expected it to be someone from the section, like Dangles or Nude Nut. She had seen how much her injuries had upset them on the bridge and she expected that they would have wanted to reassure themselves that she was OK. But she would never have imagined that either Qaseem would want to speak to her, or that Charles would have gone to the trouble of organising for him to speak to her. She was really touched.
Qaseem had been like she had always imagined a father would be while she was out in Afghan (while she cared for her Dad, he had been a right bugger to grow up with and hadn't been much of a father at all, culminating in him trying to blackmail her into marrying Artan). After seeing that she was genuinely interested in communicating and learning, Qaseem had taken her under his wing and helped her to learn not only the language, but some of the culture as well. They had learned about five words a day so that she now had quite a reasonable vocabulary, although she was conscious of the fact that her accent was still horrible. By the end of the tour they had got to the point where she could hold a basic conversation, asking if someone was well and understanding their answer, and she could manage other basic conversations like asking for directions, etc.
But it had been more than that. After his confession to her about the deaths of his wife and daughter, and what had happened with Bashira, they had become even closer. She had told him about her family back in London, and about growing up there, and he had talked a bit about his life and his experiences, and she had come to rely on him as a confidante and general adviser. When the guys were pissing her off, or she came across some cultural issue that she didn't understand he would patiently talk her through it and his advice was always helpful and sound. About the only thing she hadn't discussed with him was her relationship with Charles, but she thought that he had had an inkling about it although he didn't say anything to her. He missed very little and was a good observer and would often notice that someone was having a bad day before her or the rest of the section.
Now she went to greet him in Pash'to but realised to her horror that she couldn't really remember the words. It must be the painkillers. They were still pretty strong.
"I'm sorry Qaseem, my painkillers are still pretty strong, I can't recall my Pash'to, but I'll get it for next time." She told him.
"Knowing that you are alive and that you will recover is enough for me," he told her in his slow, careful English, "but I will not be so soft on you next time, talib!" He had started calling her talib, student, a few weeks into the deployment. It was a private thing between the two of them that they would only do when they were alone, and when they had their lessons together she would call him malem, teacher.
"I understand, malem," she answered, smiling softly at the endearment, "How have you been? Bossman told me that you have gone back to being a civilian."
They talked for another five minutes with him telling her his plans to go back to his old job and that he was staying with extended family, but planned to get a flat of his own near to the university when confirmation of the job came through. She was focusing on what he was telling her and appreciated that the line was not that bad, but in the background she could hear Charles explaining to her Nan who Qaseem was.
The emotion of speaking to him, and the developments of the day were catching up with her and she could feel herself slowing down and struggling to maintain her hold on the receiver. Seeing her issues Charles came over and took over holding the receiver for her so that she could rest her arm. But that only kept her going for another minute and her voice was weakening. Qaseem obviously noticed because he wound up the call, telling her that he was pleased to talk to her and asking whether she would mind him calling again. She told him, of course, that she would love to talk to him. They signed off with her thanking him for the call.
As Charles replaced the receiver and went to sit down, she reached out to him. She was sleepy after the emotions that the call had brought up, and the effort of holding the receiver, although it had only been for 10 minutes, but it was very important to her that she thanked Charles before she had a snooze.
"Thanks Boss, I really appreciate you organising that," she told him quietly.
"Ah, so you're not angry with me then Dawesy?" he asked sarcastically.
"No Boss, just very, very grateful. You're a great boyfriend."
"So serious, Dawesy? Now I'm getting worried." She smiled up at him tiredly before she drifted off to sleep.
- OG - OG - OG - OG -
She only snoozed for about 15 minutes, but she thought she was due a rest; it had been a big day, what with the move to the new ward, which was pretty disorientating, and everything else. She had found the lights passing over her head made her dizzy and the porter, Dave, had suggested she closed her eyes, which made it better, but not great. Nan had come with her and given her a running commentary which helped her to find something else to focus on.
Once she arrived in the new ward she and Nan had both been bowled over with the room. It was a good size, had several chairs and a table, a bookshelf, and even an ensuite bathroom, which Nan couldn't believe. She had told her, "Yer really comin' up in the world Mols!"
It had been a bit downhill from there though. She had had a detailed physical examination from the new specialists and nurses (and it was still painful when they moved her around), an ultrasound and her vascular surgeon had been by to check up on his work (he was pleased by her progress). They had taken the neck line out, for which she was grateful since it was starting to bruise and it made hugging difficult (and she needed the hugs, particularly from Charles), but had put in a separate drip in her right arm which she wasn't quite so chuffed about.
When she got back after her ultrasound the physio had come to introduce herself. Noora Singh was a late-twenties Indian woman with long, straight, dark hair, and she looked a bit like how Molly thought Bashira might look in 10 years time. She had introduced herself and talked a little bit about what the treatment would entail. She seemed very nice but was quite strict. Molly had been excited to start on the physio but found the actual exercises pretty painful and extremely tiring. Noora told her that she would expect that at the beginning. They were primarily working on her limbs since her abdomen was still immobilised but Noora told her they would start to work on that soon.
Straight after the physio had been lunch and then the nurses had given her a bed-bath, which she had needed since after the physio, in Nan's words, she totally honked! She had managed a short nap, but had woken up just before Charles had arrived in her room. Then came the emotional conversation with Qaseem, and here she was. She was a bit nervous about tonight, since it would be the first time that she had been alone in the hospital, but knew she needed to get used to it. Part of her thought it would be nice to have room-mates but another part of her was pleased to have the private room.
She woke to hear her Nan and Charles talking about tomorrow's parade. She tried to keep her eyes closed and pretend to be asleep but once again Charles rumbled her. She was starting to get a complex that maybe she did actually snore.
He had teased her, "Ah Dawesy, nice of you to join us. We were wondering if you were going to grace us with your presence for the rest of the evening!"
They had had a good catch up then Nan went to see if Candy wanted to join them for their regular dinner. It was a bit more involved now since Smurf was still in ICU, but Candy, who did join then for dinner, told them he would have an exploratory procedure tomorrow and, if all went well, a final procedure on Friday. If all went according to plan he should move down to the ward next week and should be able to go home within two weeks, before her actually. While she was happy for Smurf she couldn't avoid a grimace at the fact that he would be out of here before she was. The Bossman had caught her eye, and reassured her that she would be out of here soon as well.
She didn't know what she was going to do here while she was recovering. The Boss had brought her a few magazines the other day but they had got old pretty quickly, she supposed there was her laptop but she didn't know where that was, and she had never been a big reader and couldn't focus anyway with the drugs she was on. Maybe now was the time to start! She asked Nan whether her laptop and mobile were at home and Nan assured her she would ask her Mum.
Bossman took the opportunity to suggest that a call now from the room might be a good idea. Then she could talk to her siblings and everyone she hadn't seen. The idea flummoxed her. She hadn't even thought that now they could call from the room. She would be able to talk to her Mum every day. Nan was worried about the cost and the Boss said that it was only for a week and that after that she should be able to use her mobile, but if there was an issue he would use his credit card. She wasn't having that. After all she had about fourteen grand deployment money and unused pay to spend and she didn't reckon a few phone calls would make too much of a dent in that. She told the Boss she would pay him back. A small argument ensued but she told him to stick it. Infuriatingly, he grinned at her and told her, "It's nice to have you back Dawesy!"
As Nan went to start the call, and the Bossman put in his credit card number she couldn't help the collywobbles. Apart from her mum it would be the first time she had spoken to anyone else since she was hurt. Even though she had managed to speak to the family twice from Bastion, the line had been pretty poor on both occasions and this would effectively be the first time she would speak to them since she was back for R&R several long months ago.
Nan went first and then handed the receiver to her. "Mols?" her Mum's voice came from the receiver.
"Hi Mum, how are you?"
"Ain't that sposed to be my line, Mols?" asked her Mum, and then clearly calling to someone in the background, "Bella get your Dad back 'ere NOW. Tell 'im it's Molly!" Then she carried on, talking to Molly again, "Your Dad's just left to go to the pub – Bella's gone to see if she can catch 'im. How are you doin' Mols? It's so nice to 'ear your voice."
She told her Mum all about the room move and the smart single room with ensuite bathroom, and about the physio. She finished by telling her that the neck line was out now and the life support machine would go in a few days, so the next time she saw her there should be a lot fewer wires.
"That's great Mols," Mum sounded happy, but a bit distracted. She found out why, when Mum told her there were some people who wanted to talk to her and put the kids on. It was difficult talking to the young uns by phone, particularly when she didn't really know what to say to them. She fell back on the easy questions of how they were doing at school. She was getting tired more quickly, and as her Mum came back on, Charles was already getting up to hold the receiver for her, pushing her hand down to her side.
Dad still hadn't come back and she was running out of energy fast. Charles suddenly took the receiver away and greeted her mother, "Hello Mrs Dawes, it's Charles James. Sorry to interrupt, but Molly's tiring fast, maybe her father could call back when he gets in, or if you can't get hold of him just give me a quick call and we can arrange something for tomorrow?" she saw him smile and he replied, obviously to a question from her Mum, "Yes, much better now. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Molly and I, but I wanted to make sure that she was still interested in me before telling anyone." Her mother replied and the Bossman went bright red, turning round to shoot a piercing glare at Nan. She looked at Nan enquiringly and she mouthed back "later", then the Boss smiled dangerously and winked at Nan and told her "touché". She just gave him a shit-eating grin back, and he went back to the phone, telling her Mum "well, luckily it doesn't look like that's going to be an issue!" Then he smiled, told her "I'll get her on. Be quick, please." And made to hold the receiver to her ear again.
She looked at him gratefully and said, "Hello?"
"Molly?" It was Bella, bless her, panting and sounding out of breath. She replied, "Hey Bells, how're you doing?"
"Oh Molly, thank God!" her sister all but cried, "I was so worried. I thought you would die and I would never get to tell you that you're the best big sister ever…I'm sorry for being such a bitch when you were back last time. I'll never do it again. Please come back soon."
She smiled sadly, "I'm sorry I worried you luv. I'll be back when I can. Maybe you could come and see me again. I promise I don't look so scary now!"
Her sister was crying, but she just about heard, "I'd like that." Then, "Dad's here. He ran back from the pub. He wants to talk to you."
She braced herself, not quite knowing what to expect. Her Dad had not been here at all during her recovery so far, although both Mum and Nan told her he had been here at the beginning. A bit like the rest of her life, really! She thought he had changed when she came back for R&R and her Mum had told her he'd been supporting her a lot recently.
"Mols?" She'd never heard her father sound like that. His voice was low, emotional. It sounded almost broken.
"Dad?" she asked.
"Oh Molly, thank God. I thought I'd never speak to you again. I'm sorry I've been so crap. I came the first time with your mum but I just couldn't face seein' you like that. I'm sorry I 'aven't been there for you. Not just now, but…you know…" He trailed off and she couldn't believe her ears. This was only the second time in her entire life when her Dad had ever admitted he was shit, and the first time had been during her R&R when she told him that if he supported Mum it would help him too. She became conscious of the tears rolling down her face but was oblivious of the look of concern between Charles and her Nan, until his other hand squeezed her left shoulder supportively.
She wished she could have kissed him at that point. He hadn't interfered. He had just let her know he was there to support her if she needed him. Him being there gave her the strength. She couldn't tell her father that it was OK, because it just wasn't. He needed to do a lot more work before she would forgive him but the raw emotion in his voice made her want to give him a chance. She told him, "I understand Dad, and hopefully we can 'ave a good old natter when I see you."
He replied, "I'd like that Mols. Your Mum's signalling me that I need to hang up now. Keep getting better Mols…I love you." She was speechless. Her Dad had never said that to her. Not once that she could remember. She told him, "Bye Dad."
Charles looked at her questioningly and after a nod and a small smile he replaced the receiver on the wall. Then he snagged the box of tissues from the bedside table and handed it to her. She tried, but her hand and arm were so tired that she couldn't get a tissue out of the box. Seeing her problems he took one out and then gently, tenderly dabbed the tears from her eyes and her cheeks. She leaned into the contact, but he took the tissue away and she huffed her disappointment, but was forced into a sound of approval as he gathered her into a gentle hug.
He held her until she told him, "Thank you Boss. That was just what I needed."
He pulled back and smiled at her, "Glad to be of service, Dawesy! All support provided, but hugs a speciality!"
Her Nan piped up, "I can agree with that Mols, he's a good hugger."
She had forgotten her Nan was there until she spoke but speaking made her remember Charles' embarrassment and then glaring at her. "What did Mum say to you Boss and why were you glaring at Nan?"
"Yes, do tell Charlie? What's got you in such a tizzy?" Nan asked cheekily.
The Boss smiled dangerously at her Nan and turned to her, "Nothing too major except that if you didn't want to go out with me, your Grandmother and your Mother called first dibs on me!"
"Nan!" once again she was scandalised, but Charlie turned to her and smiled, "But luckily you saved me from a fate worse than death Molly!"
- OG - OG - OG - OG -
Charles James paused outside the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It was Tuesday afternoon and it had been quite a day and a half. Last night was Molly's first full night alone in the hospital and he had had to leave her alone at night for the first time in what felt like ages, but was actually little more than a week, to spend the night at the Barracks. Her grandmother had arranged to stay with Candy's friend for that night since he wouldn't get access to the house he was renting until Tuesday.
He had expected it to be hard to persuade Marge to stay with him but she hadn't produced more than token resistance in the end, except to insist that she helped with the cooking, cleaning and housekeeping to pay her way. He was quite happy to accede to that request although he hoped to dust off some of his favourite recipes and do some cooking, which he really enjoyed. He figured that once Molly went back onto normal foods she might gonna want them to take some food in rather than depending on the hospital fare! He reckoned Marge understood that it was basically a choice between staying with him or not being here for her granddaughter – it was an easy choice under the circumstances.
He had been a bit worried about leaving Molly on her own, although this was offset to some extent by the opportunity to sleep in an honest to God bed for the first time since he got back to the UK. He had not slept right through. The nightmares had started again a few days ago, but were low level so far, and he had managed to get seven hours of sleep, which was better than he had been averaging staying with Molly. He had arranged to call Marge in Molly's room first thing in the morning to check that Molly was OK and Marge confirmed she was. Molly, when she was put on, complained about not getting her "Good morning kiss" but apart from that confirmed she had had a good night.
That worry out of the way he had been able to get on with the preparations for the parade. He was surprised to receive a deputation from Two Section with an odd request which he was prepared to accede to providing Major Beck approved, which he did, when the reason behind it was explained. He couldn't help but smile sadly when the men left. The capacity of soldiers to support their comrades still surprised him, even after all this time.
The parade had gone well, and the men were delighted to receive their campaign ribbons from the visiting General, and to celebrate with their families. There were two extra ribbons, one with the silver oak leaf that denoted a Mention in Dispatches, and he was entrusted to deliver both of those to their intended recipients, which he was looking forward to doing.
The boys had got off OK a little later, but not before Dangles and Brains had delivered to him a very special USB stick which he had saved down to his laptop. He had asked them if they wanted him to wait until one of them could be present to deliver it, but they had told him they'd said all they wanted and that he was better at presentations anyway. Smiling, he had thanked them, shook their hands, wished them a good trip and told them he looked forward to seeing them soon, which shouldn't be an issue since Dangles was due tomorrow and Brains at the weekend.
He had finished packing his stuff, made one last trip to inform Major Beck that he was leaving, exchanged contact details in case anything came up while he was on leave, and then had departed. He had decided to wear uniform today since he was delivering cargo in an official capacity. Although he supposed technically he could change at the flat, there didn't seem much point in changing now only to have to change again later.
As he completed the taxi journey he was delighted that he wouldn't need to see the M40 again for a while. He'd had his fill of it for the time being! He met the letting agent outside the house and took the keys, signed the inventory (without checking it, which he hoped didn't come back to haunt him) and dropped his stuff in the room he had chosen. Then he set out for the hospital, carrying his laptop in his rucksack. He picked up a potted plant from a stall outside the hospital to brighten up Molly's room.
As he paused outside the hospital, he took a deep breath. He was now on leave. Tour four had ended but his responsibilities hadn't, although they were now mostly personal rather than professional in nature. It was now time to get on with his life.
Smiling to himself he headed to ICU. He would see Smurf and Candy first.
Candy greeted him happily. Smurf was still sleeping off his exploratory procedure, but the news was good. The surgeons were 90% certain that the lump wasn't cancerous, which should mean that they would be able to extract it easily. He had been hoping that Smurf would be awake but, since he wasn't, he passed his campaign medal onto Candy. He had already decided that he would do it properly, so he had drawn himself to attention, saluted her and told her that he was here to deliver Private Dylan Smith's Afghanistan Campaign ribbon and he would leave it in her safekeeping. Realising that this was an important moment and a major milestone for her son she had promised that she would look after it and give it to him when he was ready. She had then formally thanked him, bid him farewell saying she was sure he wanted to see Molly, and asked whether dinner was on, which he had confirmed, saying he looked forward to seeing her.
Now he was approaching Molly's room. It was 17.30 and evening rounds had just been completed, so hopefully they wouldn't be disturbed for a while. Knocking on the door he gave them his usual greeting, "Evening ladies." Pausing to place his rucksack on the floor, hug Marge and then head round and hug Molly. She looked less tired this evening, which was good since it was sure to be an emotional couple of hours.
As he stepped back she asked, "How did the parade go Bossman?" to which he replied, "Pretty good Dawesy, but we've got a bit of official business to do before we get into that."
"I wondered why you was all togged up Charlie." Marge told him, "very official you look an' all."
He smiled at her, "Now don't do anything stupid Dawesy, like trying to sit to attention or anything like that. Stay at ease." She smiled at him, wondering what was going on. He braced to attention and drew her medal from his pocket, "Private Molly Dawes, it is my pleasure to present you with this Afghanistan Campaign ribbon to commemorate your tour of duty in Afghanistan. It is also my pleasure to tell you that for your actions on 9-11 January 2014, namely the development of vital intelligence that led to the destruction of a Taliban cell and your actions in keeping a wounded Taliban alive for subsequent interrogation, that you have been Mentioned in Dispatches, and that you are therefore entitled to wear the silver oak leaf on your campaign ribbon." Smiling at her, he handed her the blue and red medal, already festooned with the silver oak leaf on the ribbon.
She was speechless. Why, he didn't understand because Major Beck had clearly told her that he was putting her in for a MiD. He gently placed the ribbon into her left hand, making sure she had a tight enough grip on it and she brought it up to look at it. Marge had frozen next to him; clearly Molly hadn't told her family about the potential for a MiD. He wanted to warn her not to get too carried away now because there were going to be plenty more awards to come but, mindful of Major Beck's warning, he decided not to say anything. Seeing Molly didn't know what to do with her ribbon, he held out his hand for it and she gave it to him back, and then he turned to Marge and gave it to Marge. "Seeing your reaction, I would guess that your granddaughter didn't bother to mention her award?"
Marge looked from him to the ribbon now held almost reverently in her hand, obviously gobsmacked, so he took pity on her and explained what a MiD was, and in skeleton terms what Molly had done to be awarded one. They both turned round to face Molly, and saw that she was blushing.
Marge gave her a big hug and told her how proud she was of her, to which Molly muttered that she was "only doing her job" while shooting a glare at Charles over her grandmother's shoulder.
"Why are you glaring at me Dawesy?" he asked, "I just told it like it was. If you weren't such an over-achiever it wouldn't be a problem would it!" Molly harrumphed.
- OG - OG - OG - OG -
He had given her 15 minutes to get over her annoyance with him and then moved onto his second presentation of the evening. They had been talking about nothing of consequence when, out of the blue he had told her he had something for her to see.
She looked at him curiously as he pulled the bedside table round in front of her, cleared the stuff off it and put the laptop on top of it. Then he opened it up and switched it on and clicked on an icon. He pumped the volume up to full and went to stand by her side and motioned Marge to come around to the other side.
The screen blanked, and then brightened to show all of the remaining members of Two Section sitting and standing around a bed in what was obviously a Barracks single room. They were all looking seriously at the camera, even – shock-horror – Mansfield!
Brains began, "Hi Mols, we were really pleased when the Boss told us you were alright. It's our homecoming parade today and we're really sorry you can't be here with us."
Mansfield was next, "You've been such a great mate to us and a real elder sister and we wanted you to be here with us today."
Fingers: "So we were thinking about it down the pub, as you do, and we suddenly thought – she CAN be with us, if we video it."
Nude Nut: "Dangles sister makes wedding videos and he's done some work for her, so here we go!"
Charles sneaked a glance at Molly to see her sitting in the bed transfixed, with tears pouring down her face. He paused the video and turned to look at her. "You know this was all their idea Mols. They really do think of you as a sister, and they were gutted when they realised you couldn't be there with them. Kind of kicks your idea about them not caring about you that much into touch, doesn't it Dawesy?!"
He grabbed the box of tissues off the table and pulled one out for her, then he looked at Marge, she also had tears in her eyes, so he handed her one too. "Who'd have thought it, eh? The fearsome Dawes women, blubbing like babies. If only I had a camera!"
Marge glared at him, "Don't you dare Charlie, I've got a reputation to uphold!"
"Hmm, better take a few Marge," he observed cheekily, passing over a few more tissues, "And I'll leave the rest on the bed for the blubber monster here."
Molly was slowly recovering and peered up at him wetly, "You better watch out Bossman, or you'll be well and truly busted."
"Ooh Dawesy, I'm soo scared. I think I'll take my chances," he told her, "ready to start again?"
Receiving nods, he pressed play again, and the video restarted to show Dangles and Fingers sitting on a bed polishing their boots. The camera work was shaky and looked like it had been filmed on a phone (which it probably had) by a non-professional (which it certainly had) but was all the more endearing for it.
The video followed the members of Two Section as they got themselves ready for the parade, cleaning their kit and preparing themselves, all the sarcastic comments and all the banter between them, and it showed Kinders inspecting the boys before the parade and then Charles himself performing the final inspection. The camera/phone was passed around different people so that everyone in the section, and several from the platoon, were included. Some spoke to the camera, giving a running commentary, or a personal message (often wishing Molly the best for her recovery), while others just ignored it and got on with what they were doing.
Then the screen faded to black, and Molly took a deep breath, trying to control her sniffling. Charles didn't move, knowing it wasn't the end, but sneaked a quick glance at the girls to see if he needed to pause it again. Molly was sniffling quietly, but the real surprise was Marge who he could see was really touched and she was surreptitiously dabbing her eyes as she not only got an insight into a world that outsiders rarely saw, but also saw how much her fellow squaddies really cared for Molly. Even for him it was chastening; for her it must be really emotional.
Then the screen brightened again and the camera re-focused. It swept around showing the parade ground, really setting the scene, showing the surroundings and all the families waiting. This time it was clear that the camera was being handled by a professional. Molly picked up on it as well and looked at Charles questioningly, "Dangles' sister filmed this bit," he told her.
Then the platoon marched in with Charles in the lead, followed by each section lined up in their ranks. Their drill was pretty good, considering they had not had the chance to do more practice, but he waited to see if Molly noticed. The camera focused on each rank in turn as they marched past, lingering over the gap in the centre of the right hand file of the formation. A swift intake of breath from Molly suggested she had noticed, and Marge looked at her questioningly. He explained on Molly's behalf, "Molly's just noticed that her section have left a gap for her in the parade as a sign of respect," turning to Molly he told her, "Major Beck agreed to it and he also authorised the filming." He paused the video to allow Molly to get hold of herself. The tears were pouring out of her at this evidence of the respect and admiration of her comrades. He leaned over and hugged her, and she held onto him with her left hand like a drowning woman. "I don't deserve this," she moaned, "They shouldn'ta done it,"
He smiled into her hair, having expected a reaction like this, "Your comrades disagree Molly. In fact I would go so far as to say they strongly disagree. Even if you don't think you rate it, they clearly do. They intended this as a gesture of respect Molly, as a gesture of admiration, and to show you that they value you as a member of their unit, their family. I know you don't believe in yourself, Molly Dawes, but we all do - your section, me and even Major Beck. It's time you started believing in yourself."
She just sniffled more and held onto him tighter. He was quite surprised when Marge's voice came from the side of the bed, "He's right Mols, you need to believe in yourself, cos the message is clear. They all believe in you, and we do too. This 'as gone far enough, young lady. Now pull yerself together cos I wanta see the rest of the video."
This harsh love seemed to work and Molly slowly pulled herself together. Charles filed that away for later consideration. He pulled back and pulled out several tissues for her to dab her eyes and nose. At this rate they would need a new box!
Luckily there weren't too many fireworks in the rest of the film, the parade, inspection and medal presentation went off just as he remembered it and then they filmed the celebration drinks and introduced all of the various family members of the section that were there (which he thought was a nice touch but the boys said that she would have met them if she had been there). Then at the end the video cut to a shot of the section and some of the other squaddies from the platoon standing together in civilian clothes, obviously about to go on leave. They all shouted "Get well soon, Dawesy" and it froze on them then faded to black.
"Wow." Said Marge. Wow indeed, he thought. He looked at Molly, who once again had tears streaming down her face. He didn't begrudge her this because he had been quite emotional as well when he first watched the video in the taxi on the way here. He silently handed over the last few tissues and she smiled at him gratefully, silently acknowledging her weakness.
"Well, there you go Dawesy, what did you think?" he asked, knowing the response; it was obvious from her reaction.
"I don't know what to say Boss," she told him, "I-… how do I even thank them?"
He smiled at her, "Well you can start with Dangles – he's coming to see you tomorrow, and Fingers on Thursday, Kinders on Friday and Brains Saturday. At this stage it looks like Mansfield's coming on Sunday and Nude Nut on Monday with Bas on Tuesday. I don't know beyond that, but it's probably enough to be going on with don't you think?" he observed, enjoying her goggle-eyed expression.
"Jesus, Dawesy, don't tell me I'm going to have to ask for more tissues?" he teased, as she stuttered, "But-, But-"
"Oh, I guess you're about to ask why they're coming to see you when they could be with their families?" he asked her, glowering at her, "Well, if it wasn't obvious already Molly, I'll spell it out in words of one syllable. They think of you as family. Is that clear enough for you? I'd say the same thing, but I'm not into incest!" he concluded, smiling at Marge's sputter of laughter.
- OG - OG - OG - OG -
What a day it had been, thought Molly Dawes later that night. It had been difficult for her that morning, knowing that the boys and Charlie had their homecoming parade and that she wasn't there. Also, it was the first morning that Charlie hadn't been there when she woke up and that was a bit of a wrench for her; she had come to rely on seeing him when she woke up, and had enjoyed the contact of his goodbye kiss or hug. Her Nan had done her best to keep her occupied but her mind kept drifting to the fact that after this parade her section would split up to the four corners of the country and then she'd never see them together again.
She had counted down the minutes until he had arrived that afternoon, and had been a bit worried that he had been late. She was surprised that he was still wearing his uniform as well but his reason became clear when he had formally presented her with her campaign medal. She had been touched that he had done it that way; it had made her feel properly involved, and it had turned out that the reason he had been late was that he had visited Candy to present Smurf's medal beforehand. She thought it was really sweet of him to do that.
But then he had brought out the video. She wasn't sure how to feel about the video. On the one hand she was massively touched; that her bunch of schoolboys would have the emotional range to figure out something like that tickled her totally pink. That they would do that for her was enormously touching. But on the other hand she was hugely embarrassed. Who did they think she was? She wasn't any sort of hero. She didn't deserve anything like this. She was just doing her job. What any of them would have done. Why had they done it?
And then when the Bossman had told her that they were all coming to visit, that they would give up time with their families and friends after six long months, she had been totally overcome. Why? How could they do that? Why would they do that for her? She still didn't understand. She could understand her family, her Nan, her Mum doing it. It was a stretch to understand all the time Charles had spent with her, particularly bearing in mind he had a young son, but she could sort of understand it, bearing in mind what a great and honourable person he was, even though none of her other boyfriends would be seen dead giving her that amount of care and, let's face it, love. But she couldn't understand why the boys would. She wasn't anyone special. She was just plain Molly Dawes.
Oh well, she supposed she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. She'd certainly missed them, even if they were a bunch of fuckmuppets sometimes. She missed their banter and she missed the feeling of being part of something that she got when she was with them. And truthfully, she missed treating the Bossman's blisters, even if they were better and they both knew he only came to the med tent to spend time with her, and she missed taking the piss out of Fingers about his football team's abysmal season and out of Mansfield about his latest screw up, and out of Dangles about Benefits Street and out of Brains about how he should have been an officer with all those A levels!
She really loved the boys and she was sorry that she'd have to leave them, but Charles was right, she probably would have been re-assigned anyway, and he had reassured her that as close as the section was, they'd almost certainly stay in touch. And she'd see them around. She had hoped so, because after a rocky start, she definitely thought of them as family, and it now seemed they felt that way about her as well. It wasn't that her family wasn't mental enough already…
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Charles James reflected on a much better week. It was Sunday and he had spent the day in Bath once again, catching up with his parents and Sam, and letting Mansfield Mike and Marge amuse Molly, God help them all.
Living with Marge was fun and they were getting to know each other well with all the time spent together in the evenings and with Molly at the hospital. She was as good as her word and was keeping their flat spotlessly clean and doing a large amount of the ironing. They were sharing the cooking. She had been flabbergasted when he'd first offered to cook on Thursday evening, but when she'd tasted the chicken, apricot and rosemary tagine she'd told him he could cook every night if he wanted! He'd wanted to bring some for Molly as well but she wasn't quite onto such advanced foods yet, so he'd resolved to wait out for another week or so.
Nevertheless when Marge had told Molly about the dinner he'd cooked the previous night, unfortunately during Kinders' visit, much piss taking had ensued. He had unexpectedly been bailed out by Marge who had pronounced his cooking the "dog's bollocks" which surprised both Molly and Kinders.
The boys from Two Section had been religious about their visits, and each had spent between three and four hours with Molly. Dangles had been first and had knocked on the door to Molly's room at 13.00 on Wednesday afternoon with a bunch of flowers. He had clearly been a bit upset at how Molly looked and the fact that she was still bed-bound, although he had recovered quickly. Nevertheless he had told her, tongue firmly in cheek, that he was pleased to see her looking much better than the last time he saw her. She had taken the joke in the spirit in which it was offered and told him he looked a lot better as well! They had introduced him to Marge and then the four of them had happily chatted away about anything and everything for the next three hours. At the end Dangles insisted on taking a selfie to send to the others and he had promised to visit Molly again next week, telling her to stop being such a prat when she told him he didn't need to. He had assured her he wanted to, given her a quick hug, kissed Marge, been a bit surprised to be presented with Charles' hand to shake but taken it after only a slight hesitation, and left.
Molly had been significantly brighter afterwards and also had enjoyed seeing Fingers, Kinders and especially Brains, who she had a really close relationship with. They had all been initially more natural with her and he suspected that Dangles had briefed them as well as sending the selfie. On Saturday Charles had provided Brains and Marge with lunch (chicken and pistachio curry and rice) so that they didn't have to force themselves to eat the foul hospital food. Brains had told him he'd come back every day if this was on offer. Molly had looked jealous until he'd promised her she could have some next time he cooked it (he had checked with her doctors and they told him she could probably start on normal food next week).
Molly had passed on today that Mansfield was sad that the Bossman wasn't cooking lunch, so obviously news had got around. Marge had also told him that she was sad he wasn't cooking lunch too!
He had enjoyed his day out, and his mother had confirmed that she would come to visit on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, which he was looking forward to. He was interested to see how his mum and Marge got on, but he thought it would be OK since he was sure that there would be goodwill on both sides. He had told Molly and while she was interested to meet his Mum she had initially been a bit upset. When he asked why, she said that she had envisioned a different way to meet her boyfriend's mother! He was surprised but he had told her that it should be easier this way since there was absolutely zero pressure on her to impress!
A/N 1 For those that picked up the similarities in the words, Taliban simply means students in the local dialect, Pash'to.
A/N 2 I have used the dates for Molly's Mention in Dispatches from Captain's Log. Mention in Dispatches (Despatches) is a level 4 gallantry award but is the oldest military award for gallantry. Soldiers who are mentioned in despatches receive a certificate and are entitled to wear a silver oak leaf (from 1920–1994, it was bronze) on the ribbon of the service medal issued to soldiers who served in a conflict (ie in this case on her Afghanistan Campaign Medal). If no campaign medal is awarded, the oak leaf is worn on the left breast of dress uniform. Soldiers can be mentioned multiple times but, other than receiving a certificate for each mention, they wear no visible sign of repeat awards on a single ribbon. Additional awards of MIDs on other campaigns are worn on the relevant campaign ribbon. Source: Wikipedia. I don't know if it was another continuity error but the silver oak leaf was not present on Molly's campaign medal as worn in the series…
A/N 3 Unfortunately my mother has been taken very ill so it looks unlikely that I'll be able to do too much writing in the near future. I thought I would post this now since it is written but I have not started the next chapter. I will return to RNT when I am able but at this stage I have no idea when that will be.