He had gone to ask Sohail about the Taliban raid on the school that morning and had taken her with him. Of course Sohail had denied all knowledge of the raid but he could see that Molly didn't believe Sohail any more than he did. He found her so easy to read, her eyes and her body language told him that she detested Sohail. It turned out that she had good reason as it happens, Sohail's demeanour was superior, bordering on downright rude when he spoke to her. He knew that it was not personal animosity towards her but the perception of male supremacy in their culture, but that didn't stop him wanting to smash his fist into the middle of the soldier's arrogant bloody face. He had had to content himself with glaring at him as they left the tent, because he was definitely not worth being up on a charge for.
He knew he was playing with fire thinking about her as Molly, but he couldn't help it. Thinking about her as Private Dawes was so difficult, although he was still managing to address her as Dawes when he spoke to her. He kept telling himself to think about her as if she was Bas or Nude-nut, even Mansfield, and that worked some of the time, or it did until he went to his cabin at night to relax on his own, away from potentially prying eyes, when she very definitely became Molly.
They were walking away from the ANA quarters and she was getting emotional about Bashira's future. He found it very endearing but concerning that she had become so deeply attached to this one little girl and was so worried about her future surrounded by the Sohails of this world. God, he hoped that Smurf was wrong about her, because if he was right and Bashira was involved with the Taliban, Molly would be devastated.
They were half way across the square when he stopped and stood over her and told her to repeat after him, word by word, "Do…..not…..get…..in-fucking-volved!" which she did, staring up into his eyes. Then he looked down into her eyes and told her that he needed her 100% by his side. She stared back, again straight into his eyes, and said she was 100% by his side, and his bloody heart rate was all over the place, racing and missing beats, the whole nine yards. He told himself that he must stop putting himself through this!
…..
There was a bit of nonsense next morning with Bashira's mother. She had demanded that Molly treat the kid's eye where her dad had walloped her. He had refused and quoted regulations and then Molly used emotional blackmail on him to let her do it. He had tried to order her not to, but then asked himself when the fuck did she take any notice of orders that she either didn't like or agree with, so he let her have her own way, anyway he had a feeling that she knew that he found it almost impossible to say no to her.
The kid then apparently said something that tipped Molly off about a raid tomorrow on the mountain CP. The Major was clearly convinced that it was kosher, but he was not so sure and was very reluctant to go with it. He was really worried that Molly would be incredibly vulnerable if she had misinterpreted the warning, if that is what it was, this kid was only 11 years old for fuck's sake. Anyway, however unsure he was of the wisdom of the enterprise, the Major was very keen so the decision was made that they would go for it, and she was right! Of course she was right! Why did he ever doubt her? He told himself that she's an acutely observant, very efficient and very astute soldier who is not only good at her job but incredibly kind, so of course the kid loved her and didn't want anything to happen to her. For fuck's sake, he loved her and didn't want anything to happen to her. He rapidly bought himself up short, no, of course he doesn't love her, she's not his girlfriend, it's just a little crush and she doesn't need him fretting over her every move.
Her treatment of an injured insurgent earned her praise from Major Beck and the 'powers that be' at Bastion, and he was so proud of her that he was sure that what he was feeling was written all over his face.
….
After the de-brief he had reminded 2 section of the entertainment the next night and that he would be singing a duet with a volunteer female soldier, of which there was a choice of one, who didn't look too pleased to be volunteered, but he was filled with happy anticipation, he wanted to sing with her, or rather what he wanted to do was to sing this particular song to her!
He wrote out the lyrics for her to learn, then waited for her to pass by on her way to her pit. He called her in and immediately realised how tired she looked, and because she was tired, how young and vulnerable she looked as she told him that she had been thinking. He knew she had been thinking about whether Bashira was in danger, so he rushed in to reassure her, to wipe the worry off her face and to send her to bed feeling happy and safe with everything okay in her world.
"Piss off, Dawsey" he really needed her to go, it was late, they had all been up for over 36 hours and he was tired and vulnerable as well, worried that he would do or say something stupid.
"You just called me Dawsey, I must be winning you over with my incredible charm and magnetism" she grinned as she flounced out.
He stayed where he was, then laughed as he muttered to himself "You could put it that way!"
He was very glad that he was so tired, the more tired he was the more unlikely it was that he would dream. In his dreams he was always back home in bed in his parents' house in Bath, and not alone! He was finding these dreams more and more unsettling, physically ecstatic, but on waking, he would feel deeply disappointed to find that it had been a dream and that he was alone, even more lonely than he normally felt. The last time he had experienced this sort of thing he had been fifteen going on sixteen with a passionate crush on his best friend's twin sister. As far as he was concerned, It's okay for an hormonally charged teenager to experience this kind of thing, part of growing up, but he was nearly 29 for fuck's sake, had been married and divorced, had a son who was almost 7, had been in the army for years and was far too old to be having a huge crush on a soldier who was not yet 20. He wondered what she would make of it if she knew and shuddered, it didn't bear thinking about.
As it turned out, he had next to no sleep at all and therefore no chance to dream.
…..
What the fuck was she trying to do to him? He had aged ten years in the last 3 minutes which had been the longest of his life, and he was still trying to get his racing heart rate back to something approaching normal. Bashira's father was Taliban and had tried to punish the kid for her friendship with Molly by turning her into a suicide bomb. Everyone had been yelling at the kid to stand still and there was a very hyped up atmosphere with lots of weapon pointing and shouting and, in the middle of this, Molly had removed her helmet and body armour and started to walk calmly towards Bashira. He totally lost it! Started to shout and scream at Molly to stop and he could hear the panic in his voice as he ordered her not to go any further. It was the same panic that he had felt the day she went up on that winch with Smurf. Molly, of course, ignored the order and told him to stop shouting as he was scaring the kid. About 30 seconds after it was all over, after the vest had been removed, after Bashira had been taken away by the equivalent of social services and Molly was back with him, the bloody thing had detonated showing just how close a run thing it was, and he was totally fragged, unable to speak or move, barely capable of coherent thought.
…..
Some fragments of grit or something had gone into his eye from the explosion so he had to get her to wash his eye out. She stood touching his leg and leaning over his upturned face as she put saline drops in his eye, as he sat on the med bench, and trembled inside. He couldn't stop. Adrenalin, bought on by a mixture of intense fear, anger, relief and the fact that she was standing close enough to be inadvertently touching him had all combined so that he had got the shakes. She asked about Bashira and he told her he didn't do 'emotional involvement' which was just about the biggest lie he had told all year, but it didn't matter because he didn't think she believed him for a second. She was saying how lucky it was that Bashira hadn't been red-misted and he replied "and you, Dawes" then totally gave himself away by saying "I would never have forgiven myself". That was the point at which he realised that she was gazing straight into his eyes with an unreadably soft and gentle expression on her face and he had had his first tiny clue that she might, unlikely as it had seemed, just might, possibly, be feeling a tiny bit the same way as he did.
…
Authors notes: This is designed to bring the two stories onto the same timeline as I want them to run concurrently, starting and ending at the same point.
Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I am having an absolute ball writing this, so I hope you continue to enjoy it. Please review if you do.