Half an hour later 2 section were waiting in the yard waiting for Kinders who had gone to meet the Captain. They were winding up the new guy on how horrible Captains are how you must always salute every time he talks to you. They were telling him to never look him in the eye. Captains hate when you look at them. They are a bunch of piss takers. The poor guy looked terrified.

Molly saw Kinders coming round the corner of the medic tent and quickly gave the others a shove and they all lined up in their usual positions waiting instructions. Kinders had a strange look on his face. A bit of a smirk, but not, you know almost as if he knew something we didn't?

'Section!' he shouted and they all snapped to attention wanting to make a good impression on the new Captain. 'Easy'. They all relaxed.

Molly looked straight ahead. She was quite nervous about meeting the new Captain. Boss Man had been her first boss whilst on deployment. She had always been lucky, even in basic training her Corporal and Sergeant had been great. She knew it was them who got her through. It was her sheer pigheaded stubbornness as she would not give them the satisfaction of dropping out. She knew she had been lucky. She had heard horror stories from her friends from basic that some officers don't agree with women being on the front line and makes their lives a misery just to show they shouldn't be there. Molly had never come across this and didn't want this posting to be difficult, especially when missing Charles so much. She felt as if she was doing something useful in Afghanistan and felt proud of her achievements so far.

The new Captain walked into the yard. He had his head down but walking with a confidence that he knew the place. He knew where he was going. He looked up. Molly suddenly gasped. She thought very loudly but no-one around her reacted so it must have been quietly. It was Charles. He was walking towards them in his full kit carrying his gun and Burgan. Molly thought she must be dreaming. She must still be asleep. He couldn't be here. He would have formally resigned his commission by now. He took off his helmet and ruffled his curls back into order before looking at her briefly with a small smile and then stood next to Kinders. He looked fucking gorgeous. The rest of the section were shuffling and looking at each other with half smiles on their faces.

'Well guys, it looks like I got the short straw!' He stood with his hands hooked into the shoulders of his vest, legs apart and completely looking like the cat that ate the canary. 'Captain Johnson who was meant to join you has been delayed due to a family emergency. He will not be with you on this tour. An emergency stand in was needed. They asked me. I said I didn't want to. They pleaded with me…!' He clapped the back of one hand into the other, leaning forward 'They begged me...!' 'Why the hell would I want to join up with you bunch of fuck muppets?' He smiled. His lovely smile when he is enjoying himself, when he knows he is centre of attention. 'But being the true soldier that I am, how could I say no?' The rest of the section laughed.

'OK. I need to get settled in. I understand Kinders has given you your orders for today?' Kinders nodded in agreement. 'OK then, you know what you need to do. We'll meet back here after lunch. Piss off then.' He said with a gesture of this head. The section dispersed laughing and joking. Relaxed in the knowledge they did not have to break in another Captain. The Boss Man was sound. It was going to be a good tour. 'Oh and boys?' he shouted as they slowly dispersed. 'I only agreed to come back to you muppets on the understanding we are the entertainment for the first night.'

Groans were made all round.

'Looks like that's you sorted Molls' piped up Mansfield Mike, grinning in the knowledge he didn't have to be the token female singer.

Molly never moved. She was in shock. She just stood there staring at him. She felt as if she was drowning. Voices kept coming and going and she couldn't take in what was going on around her. All she was doing was drinking in the sight of him.

Charles reached down and picked up his kit and gun 'Dawes? Kinders? With me please.'

Molly and Kinders followed the Boss Man to his quarters. He opened the door enough to dump his kit in and turned round, arms folded.

'Boss…' Molly stuttered.

Boss Man smiled gently 'I'll explain later. I promise.'

'But…' Molly was struggling to keep it together. Kinders was standing next to Boss Man, massive arms folded, looking down at the ground and struggling not to smile.

Charles turned to Kinders. 'You OK with this?'

'Oh yes Boss.' Laughing as he looked up. 'The section is going to fucking love this. I can't believe I didn't see this one coming.'

Molly felt as if she was in a virtual universe. No-one was making sense. No-one was explaining anything. She felt as if her head was going to explode.

'Come on, the Major wants to see the 3 of us' the Boss said turning and leading towards the ops tent.