Sorry this one is a little short, it's taken me a little while to get my motivation back to carry on. The next one will be an exciting one to make up for it!
The phone hadn't even rung twice before he picked it up, he must've been sitting there with it in his hand she thought to herself. She was glad. His voice on the end of the phone was comforting, even though he was miles away from her it was so good to hear his voice.
"Molly, is everything okay?" His voice was quiet on the end of the phone. "Molly, are you there?"
"Yes." She answered quietly. She didn't know why she'd rung him, she hadn't got any words left to actually talk to him.
She pulled her jacket a little closer as the wind made her shiver. It was just starting to get dark, the streetlights just beginning to come on, but there were still crowds of people everywhere. She missed the peace and quiet of Afghanistan, at least there she could've sat herself on top of the toilets and had total peace and quiet for a couple of hours while she tried to sort out her screwed up head. But peace and quiet wasn't an option- going home to her parents was the opposite of what she wanted, but sitting on that bench by the river she felt like she was on edge, waiting for Artan to reappear behind her.
"Molly, what's wrong? You're worrying me." He was sat up straight on the sofa now, wondering if he should go and get back in the car and drive back to London again. He was exhausted, and the last thing he wanted to do was drive anywhere, but he'd do it for her.
"Nothing, nothing's wrong." She said, her voice cracking. A passer by gave her a funny look as she tried to hold back the tears that were welling in her eyes. Why had it never even crossed her mind that she might see Artan? Oh yeah, because there were more than eight million people in London and the chances of accidentally running into the one person she was trying to avoid had seemed impossible, up until the point he was standing there in front of her.
Except, it wasn't that impossible. Artan's entire life was in London, just like hers had been before the army. Of course he'd come back there, his family and friends were there. He'd never wanted to leave in the first place, it was her who'd made them leave everything because of where she'd been posted. How many times had the two of them walked the route she'd taken, hand in hand on their way out for the evening in the days before everything had turned to shit? She wished she'd thought of all this before coming back. The memory of how happy she'd been with him back then hit her like someone had punched her in the stomach and made her gasp for air.
"Molly, what's going on?" Charles asked, his voice more urgent. "Are you okay? Do you need me to come and get you?" He was already on his feet looking for his keys. He never should've left her there in the first place.
"No." She tried to focus on speaking, and actually sounding like a normal human being. "I'm fine."
"You don't sound it." He frowned, holding the phone closer to his ear as he strained to hear her. He knew her well enough to know that something was wrong, eventually she'd come out and tell him what happened, he just needed to be patient with her.
She dragged herself up off the bench, forcing her feet to start moving in the direction of her parents. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't avoid going back there forever, and at least there was no chance of unexpectedly running into Artan again there.
"I'm not." She admitted, pausing as she stopped to cross the road. "It's harder than I thought, being back here."
"Well." He said slowly. "It's always a bit difficult to adjust the first few days. You've not even been back a day yet."
"It's not that." She sighed, wondering how to explain herself to him without sounding like she was insane or him getting back in the car and driving back to London to look for Artan.
"Well, why don't you tell me what it is then?" He asked, sitting back down on the edge of the sofa. He still wasn't entirely convinced he shouldn't be on his way back to London, but he'd let her explain first. She obviously wasn't at home anyway, he could hear the traffic and people talking in the background. "Where are you?"
"I'm walking back to Mum and Dad's now." She replied. "I thought it might help clear my head."
"Did it work?" He prompted after a moment's silence.
"Not really." She admitted, her voice cracking ever so slightly. "I was hoping for for peace but there's not much of that in London. Makes me miss Afghanistan all over again."
"You know, Bath is quite peaceful." He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he'd overstepped the mark. The truth was he missed her, and he wanted to see her and make sure she really was okay. He wasn't bothered if that meant that he was driving down to London or she came up to Bath.
She cracked a smile despite her mood. "Are you suggesting I get on a train and come and see you right now?"
"Well, I wouldn't argue if you wanted to do that."
She smiled again. "I'm actually right outside the station now."
"Well, that's convenient isn't it… It's like it was meant to be." She could hear him smirking.
He was right, she did want to go there. He was the first person she'd wanted to speak to after what happened with Artan, and he was the first person she'd wanted to see when she got home. Somehow, even though she'd gone on another tour halfway across the world to try and stop it from happening, she'd completely fallen for him anyway, and maybe now she was done trying to fight it.
"There's a train in ten minutes." She told him, glancing up at the board as she ducked into the station. "Will you be able to pick me up?"
He could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Of course I will. You're actually coming then?" She could hear the excitement in his voice, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
"You'd better hope I don't stand you up." She joked, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she bought her ticket from the machine.
"You'd never do that to me Dawesey, you like me too much for that." He grinned.
She laughed quietly. She felt so much better just for knowing she was going to see him in a few hours. "You'll have to wait and see won't you." She joked. She still couldn't really believe she was about to get on a train and go and see him. She was still in her uniform and she hadn't even got any clothes or anything with her.
"What? You've not changed your mind have you?" He asked, sounding worried as she went silent.
She shook her head. "No, I'm on the platform. I just realised I'm still in my uniform and I haven't actually got anything with me."
"So? We do have shops in Bath Dawes. We can sort that out tomorrow, just get on that bloody train and I'll see you in a few hours okay? I've missed you."
"Ditto." She smiled. "I'll see you soon."
"See you soon." He replied softly as she hung up the phone.