Author's notes: Thank you for your support, I hope you enjoy this.

Getting To Know You

"Hi, how you doing today?"

She had taken a deep breath and pasted a big, bright 'visiting Charles' smile on her face which she found was a complete waste of time as he was staring out of the window on the other side of his bed and hadn't even glanced her way as she'd pushed through the curtains and now stood, uncertain as to whether she should just go or whether to say what she'd come here to say first and then go.

Shit, she couldn't believe how hard this was as she took another deep breath "I'm sorry about all that bollocks yesterday, you know, sorry about throwing a fit 'n that, it really weren't none of my business"

He turned and looked at her straight-faced without a hint of a smile in his dark chocolate brown eyes and she thought just how bloody attractive he was, a fact that had somehow got forgotten or anyway had escaped her notice when she'd been haranguing him the day before. She'd always known from his photographs that he was extremely good looking, but it was far more apparent when you saw him face to face, even when he was ultra-pale and weary looking with the dark circles of illness under his eyes, dark circles which made her feel even more guilty.

"Yep, so you bloody should be" He bit his bottom lip, letting a small smile play round his mouth for all the world as if he was trying not to laugh at her "I think your bedside manner is shite and the volume could have been turned down a bit" he gave up pretending to be annoyed and grinned at her, which lit up his face "But you were right, I am going to make it out of here on my own two feet, both of them, and for that I should be bloody grateful, and Mum and Dad have been brilliant, putting up with all my bollocks without telling me to pull myself together when I've been such a miserable tit, you were right about that as well. I feel like a bloody jelly and I've never felt like a bloody jelly before in my life, and you probably said exactly what I needed to hear, even if I didn't enjoy it very much, but now you tell me something, Maggie" He'd started to laugh "Is your hair really that bloody awful colour?"

"It is at the moment"

-OG-

She visited him every day with his dad as he slowly improved and even sat by his bed for some of the time, although neither of them said a word about the two visits she'd made on her own. She celebrated with his parents' when he was allowed to shower and to use the lavatory, and again when he was allowed to walk to the ward doors and back, until the red letter day arrived when he was told that he was going to be discharged home in a couple of days and she started panicking about not having made any plans of where to move on to, it still felt too dangerous to stay. Okay, so he didn't know there was a bit of a problem and his parents now felt like her own family, but Mrs. J was well on the way to being fully recovered and Mr. J was going to have the plasters off his legs in a week or so and would then start to be much more mobile, so it was definitely time to go. She told herself she would make plans as soon as Mr. J was up and out of the wheelchair so that he wouldn't need any help at all anymore, and when she'd seen for herself that Charles could manage the stairs with his crutches and wearing the support boot and that she would definitely go as soon as she was sure.

-OG-

"You're different to what I expected you know, you being a Rupert 'n that"

"How long is it since you left? Since you stopped being in?" Molly shrugged, not wanting to talk about her time in the army "I knew you'd been in when you were giving me hell in hospital, some of the things you said, the words you used" He paused "and then Mum said you used to be a medic, so what the bloody hell are you doing here, Maggie? You're far too young to retire and you don't seem to be injured or ill or anything so why are you here babysitting the James family? Shit, they didn't throw you out or anything did they?"

"No, you cheeky bugger they didn't throw me out, I found it wasn't for me, I don't like sick people or hospitals" She lied, she'd known that telling Mrs. J that she'd been a medic would come back and bite her on the bum "And I'm a lot older than I look"

"You only look about 12 so that wouldn't be hard, would it? Well, apart from the hair" he laughed "How old are you?"

Molly considered lying for a moment before telling him the truth, that she was just 24, and had been out of the army for some months, and then changed the subject by asking him whether he missed army life and what it was like serving in Afghanistan, not telling him that she had served there herself, and that it was partly because of what had happened out there that she was in his parents' house in Bath being a sort of glorified home help and calling herself Maggie.

"I miss it, the army was my whole life, well apart from Sam and my parents of course" Molly noticed that he didn't mention the Nazi gestapo officer "I used to want to be deployed, volunteered, loved it, felt free as soon as I got on the tarmac at Brize, oh, fuck it, the truth was that I loved getting away from home, away from Rebecca, and I'm not proud of saying that, and I couldn't bear it if Sam thought for one minute that it meant that I loved being away from him, because I didn't, I love him, but being away from her, living out of a bergen was like stepping into a different world, one where what I wanted mattered, where I mattered"

"Your mum says she wants you back"

"No bloody chance, I came to my senses once, I am not going to make the same mistake again" He snorted the words out, then thought for a moment "Afghan was dusty, bloody filthy dirty, very hot and boring a lot of the time, sometimes it was dangerous, sometimes bloody terrifying, and sometimes it was a lot of fun and Oh God, I'm going to miss all that"

Even as she silently agreed with him about what it felt like knowing that you were never again going to be deployed somewhere like Afghanistan, Molly asked him whether he would stay in if he was restricted to a desk job and he shook his head, the expression on his face making him look for a moment as though he was fighting his emotions. He had been out of hospital for nearly three weeks and was not only working like someone possessed to try and get his fitness levels back but kept on saying that he wasn't looking forward to his rehab time at Headley Court because he was worried about spending time with others who might be depressed about being on the scrapheap. Molly wanted desperately to tell him how wrong he was but couldn't say anything to reassure him that Headley wasn't like that without telling him stuff she didn't want to share.

His father was out of plaster and was also working very hard with his physiotherapists to get back his full mobility, which was going to take some time, and Molly knew that she should be working equally hard on making plans to get out of there; she kept promising herself she would start the next day, or maybe the day after that. The more time she spent laughing and having long conversations with Charles, the closer their friendship was getting, a friendship that she couldn't afford.

They were sitting on the garden bench where she was recovering from a strenuous and inelegant game of garden badminton with Sam, a game that Charles had sat and watched while yelling encouragement at Sam, and apparently keeping the score, although she wasn't sure how accurately he was doing that, as he rested his leg from the circuits he'd been making round and round the garden. The badminton had come to an end when Mrs. J had called Sam in because his mother had arrived to collect him leaving the two of them sitting on the bench together, neither of them had any wish to go in and see Rebecca.

"So tell me about you, Maggie"

"There's nothing much to say, I come from the east end, in case you couldn't tell " She giggled "I was in for a bit but then I found that I hated hospitals so here I am" She started saying a silent prayer begging him not to ask her anything else, not to ask her any more about her time in the army, not to ask her where she'd served or when, a silent prayer that appeared to be answered when Mrs. J called him in to say goodbye to Rebecca and Sam who were just leaving. She got up and trailed into the house after him, looking to escape to her room or to help Mrs. J get the dinner on, or anything really to avoid being alone with him until he forgot all about doing her nut in by asking her questions she didn't want to answer.

-OG-

"See you later" Mrs. J shouted upstairs to Molly and she heard the front door slam leaving the house blessedly silent and empty so that she could go into the study and "borrow" Mr. J's laptop to go on-line and check out her options for seasonal work and rooms to let. The James family had taken Sam out for the day, and although they had tried repeatedly to persuade her to go with them she'd kept saying no, eventually lying and saying that long drives made her car sick. She wanted to be on her own so that she could use his laptop without having to explain why and what she was doing and it was also more than a week since she'd last called Belinda. Although no-one knew where she was exactly, Molly had decided it was safer like that, and she'd changed to a pay-as-you-go mobile, dumping her old one as soon as she'd arrived in Bath, she still made sure that she checked in at least once a week, not only to make sure that everyone was okay, but also to see whether there was any news, any developments about her.

A short conversation with her mother reassured her that there was nothing new, that no-one had been round looking for her, and then half an hour on-line made it pretty obvious that she would have to go in person to check things out and that Weston Super Mare was by far her best bet, it was easy to get to from Bath so it wouldn't take her all day on the train, was big enough to have lots of opportunities for "off the books" holiday jobs and would probably have cheap rooms to rent, although she would need a local paper for that. As it was nearly midday, it was a bit late to go immediately, and she hadn't warned them that she might be out when they got back, so she would think up some plausible excuse and then go off for the day during the week. The relief she felt at making a start on some sort of plan, and the even bigger sense of relief that she didn't actually have to do anything for a few days made her feel like she could breathe out, and the fact that it was a gloriously hot and sunny day and she was alone in the house, made her relax and decide to sunbathe on the lawn. Milk bottle white skin wasn't the best if she didn't want to look out of place flogging seaside crap on the front in Weston.

-OG-

She was laying on her stomach her head resting on her arms on a tatty travel rug which lived in the 'odds and sods' cupboard in the corner of the kitchen and which smelt really dusty and musty. She had given up trying to concentrate on reading her book and was drifting somewhere between sleeping and waking when he very nearly gave her a heart attack.

"Mind you don't burn, redhead like you" He was wearing jeans and a 'T' shirt, and was blocking out the sun as he stood over her with his legs wide apart, holding a cup of coffee which he was sipping from as he smirked, obviously enjoying his own joke.

"Shit, what the fuck are you doing here? You nearly gave me a Julius Caesar" Molly went to scramble up before she remembered just in time that she was only wearing her knickers, she'd thought she was alone in the house so her bra was draped over the back of a kitchen chair that she'd walked past on her way out into the garden, along with her 'T' shirt and cut offs, so she was at a decided disadvantage. Apart from that, there was the fact that she couldn't remember, and couldn't check without sitting up and displaying her all, what knickers she was wearing, she had a horrible suspicion that it was one of her saggy elastic, gone grey in the wash pairs, or even one of the pairs that barely covered the essentials.

"I live here" She couldn't see his face, the sun was behind him, but she could hear the laugh in his voice as he watched her obvious discomfort.

"But you've taken Sam out for the day"

"No, my parents have taken Sam out for the day, I was still tired so Mum left me to have a bit of a lie-in, then when I woke up I looked out of my bedroom window and I saw something really interesting in the garden" He was now openly laughing "so I thought I'd come down and check it out"

He ran his hand through his hair as she rested her chin on her folded hands and watched him and tried not to notice the way his hair that was slightly longer now than the regulation army length was curling round his fingers, or notice his brown eyes, or the way his bicep curled against the fabric of his white 'T' shirt when he bent his arm. He pulled the shirt over his head and threw it at her, laughing, "Here" then turned his back, ever the gentleman, sparing her blushes as this time she did scramble up and pull his 'T' shirt over her head, loving the soft feel of it as it completely swamped her. It smelt of fabric conditioner and was still warm from his body, the feeling of which she loved, almost as much as she loved the sight of his taut back muscles. It was obvious that all the frantic exercising was beginning to pay off not only on his back, but on his backside which she couldn't help noticing as he stood there right in front of her, naked from the hips up and with bare feet. She was thoroughly embarrassed when he turned his head slightly to see if she was ready and caught her checking him out and even though he laughed, she desperately hoped that he hadn't noticed the blush that was creeping up her neck. She hated that he'd caught her perving on him, but at least when she'd checked she was wearing almost decent full-coverage knickers.

"Budge up" She shuffled along the rug to make room as he sat down next to her, far too close for her comfort and smiled at her as he did so. His brown eyes were crinkling at the edges and his white teeth were gleaming, and she told herself that the sudden overwhelming urge she had to knock him on his back and snog the living daylights out of him were all to do with the fact that she was out in the garden, sitting on a rug very, very close to a very fit bloke in her knickers with no bra and his 'T' shirt and that she hadn't been anywhere near a bloke for a very long time and that she needed to go in the house and get dressed immediately.

"Won't be long" She all but ran into the kitchen, hoping that there wasn't any cellulite wobbling on the backs of her thighs, as she decided not to bother with her bra but pulled on her cut offs, instantly feeling far more in control. Wearing something made her feel that she could march back out and sit on the rug next to him and hold a sensible conversation. But it was one thing seeing your employers' son sitting in his own garden and telling yourself that he was sitting there ready to have a chat, but it proved to be another one entirely for her to actually go outside and sit next to him as he stretched out on a travel rug on the lawn. He was half naked and wearing low slung jeans that clung to his hip bones showing a glimpse of the soft dusting of hairs that lead down from his navel, together with the muscles of his chest, not body builder bulgy type muscles, just very well-defined ones, and they were being shown off by the fact that she was wearing his 'T' shirt and not him.

She couldn't stay there and go and sit down next to him in the garden, it all felt too weird, and anyway she was scared what questions he might ask now that they were on their own in the house, she had to escape and needed to find some reason to go back indoors before this situation got impossible. Wanting to go to bed with him was a very unlooked for complication, and she really needed to get her shit together and get out of there, escape from Royal Crescent had just become an exceedingly high priority.

-OG-