A/N: Sorry it's taken a while to update, but I had to do a lot of editing and re-writing because my first draft had turned into a bit of a misery fest …. Hope that this is okay and thank you for your wonderful ongoing support and for the reviews that mean so much to me.

Chapter Eight

"You're exaggerating"

One look at his face and she could tell this was not going to go at all the way she'd imagined it, dreamed about it. Bugger it, bloody, bloody Lauren.

That little hint of a smile that he'd had when she'd made that little joke about poisoning the sandwiches had gone off of his face completely and his expression now gave her a very familiar sinking feeling in her gut, the one that told her she'd managed to get something catastrophically bloody wrong, just by way of a change, of course. An over-active imagination and a bloody great chunk of wishful thinking did it for her every single time. Bollocks. And now she was stuck with listening to another one of his bossy bloody lectures and it wasn't even like she could pull faces and complain or try and jolly him out of it, refuse to listen even, because he hadn't made a secret of his reason for wanting to meet her here, but had that stopped her imagining all sorts? Oh no, even if taking one proper look at him should have been enough for her to know that he was even less likely to be some potential boyfriend than Jamie had been, for a start he was far too old for her and far too posh, not to mention far too bloody good-looking. Double bollocks.

"Let's talk about something else, I know what about the weather or …" She bit her lip and put her best 'be nice to me smile' on as she threw in a giggle for good measure "Going anywhere nice for your holidays this year?"

"What?" His face was a picture as he scratched his head "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"It's what 'airdessers say, innit?"

Suddenly she couldn't stop the giggle that was bubbling up inside, this was so bloody horrendous it was almost genuinely funny and even though it was highly likely that he'd end up wanting to slap her or something she pinned on her most ingratiating smile, the one that she used all the time at work when she wanted to get off early for an entirely fictitious doctors or dentists appointment, and had another go at trying to make him laugh or at the very least at trying to stop him saying stuff she didn't want to listen to.

Charles was struggling not to give in and laugh with her. She had this slightly manic grin plastered on her face and had been busy widening her eyes at him as much as she could in order to try and get him to change the subject and was now falling about in fits of laughter so that he couldn't stop himself grinning in spite of his aim of getting her to just tell him what the hell was going on. Her text messages had put him in two minds, he'd been unsure whether to just give up and cut his losses because she was undoubtedly bloody hard work, much harder than anyone he'd ever been involved with before, even Rebecca, and he hadn't thought anyone could come close to being as difficult as his ex-wife, so that calling a halt would probably be for the best, definitely the easiest anyway, especially when he'd got a text telling him she'd done another of her 180 degree turns without giving him any sort of explanation at all.

But the trouble was he liked her, he liked her a lot, far, far too much for his own peace of mind even if he didn't enjoy the worry that went with her absolute determination to carry on with the risky behaviour, and no matter how angry and disappointed he'd been earlier he hadn't quite been able to bring himself to say a resounding 'no' and mean it.

"Never mind about holidays or hairdressers or whatever it is that's bloody amusing you so much, we need to talk about Lauren"

"Oh yeah, her, forgotten about her"

"No you hadn't" Once again he had this urge to give in and laugh out loud "Look I know I might be on completely the wrong track here, but I'm presuming today's little debacle had something to do with all this ….. rubbish …. about Lauren and me, right?" He swallowed hard which made his Adam's apple bob up and down so that for a moment she was distracted enough to almost forget that he was waiting for her to answer.

"Oh sorry, yeah, I s'pose that you are a bit right, well, in a way you are but there's no need to bother about it now cos it's not that important any more so can we just leave it?"

"What? Wonderful, absolutely crystal clear … and no I don't think that we can …" He paused "Lauren and me, I haven't got a fucking clue where you get that idea from, how did it get in your head in the first place because there is NO Lauren and me, there's never been the faintest possibility of anything like that?"

He rubbed his hands through the curls on the back of his neck and then looked at her, his brown eyes completely sincere so that she had the feeling that he desperately wanted her to believe what he was saying, a feeling that was bringing back some of the stomach-churning, butterfly wing flapping sensations that had flooded her whenever she'd thought about him over the weekend. He shook his head slowly from side to side as if he was a bit bewildered as Molly tried very hard to look as if it was news to her, that she didn't already know ….. well, she did now of course, but she hadn't before that morning.

"Lauren is a nice girl, a bit over-friendly sometimes but she's Smurf's girlfriend and nothing to do with me"

His description of Lauren as a 'bit over-friendly' almost tipped her over the edge into another gale of incredulous laughter bearing in mind the X-rated stuff Lauren had been insinuating about her and him for weeks, things that Molly had only just found out were total bullshit, not that she could tell him any of that.

"I know, sorry, I might have got it all a bit ….. wrong"

"Indeed you did, but why did you think that in the first place"

"Look I got it wrong, okay, I dunno why, I just thought, well you was always talking to her 'n smiling at her 'n that" Even as she said it Molly was now wondering if any of what she'd just said was even half-way true or whether it had it been a case of her seeing what she'd expected to see "And Smurf kept on how you didn't used to join in with them all the time and I knew that Lauren …" Molly stopped abruptly, her mouth had been about to run away with her so that she'd been on the brink of launching into a long and highly detailed explanation about 'wedding mood' boards and all the rest of the shit that had gone with it.

"It never occurred to you that there might have been some other reason for me wanting to spend a lot of time with you all?"

His smile made her long to put out a hand and just touch him, but he was sitting a long way back from the table in order to make room for his legs so to reach him she'd have get on top of the table and clamber over it or get up off of her bum and walk round to his side, neither of which would have had quite the laid backlook she was aiming for.

"Nah, why would it?"

"I can't imagine"

His smirk was now so infectious that she found herself grinning back before making fleeting eye contact with him across the table, the sort of eye meet that made her look away hastily before being drawn back into looking into his eyes with an intensity that robbed her of her power of speech. Talking had never been difficult for her before, in fact it was knowing when to shut up had been more of a problem, but she had no idea what to bloody well say next because right at that moment it felt like he was …. waiting … for something … she didn't quite know what, but it felt as if Captain Bossy or CJ or Bossman or Charles or whatever it was he wanted her to call him was actually flirting with her…

"Are you flirting with me?"

"I don't know, what do you think?"

He still had the smile on his face as he got to his feet and then jerked his head towards the street indicating that they should leave and then moved round to hold her chair so that she had enough room to stand up.

"Come on then, are you coming?"

"Where?"

"I thought we could go and get something to eat, you must be bloody starving if you came here straight from work"

"Am a bit, but where we going?"

"I don't know, what would you like to eat?"

"There's a greasy spoon down there a bit, mind it's more greasy than spoon to be honest, but they do a mean sausage, egg and chips and they'll still be open"

"Lovely ….. actually I was thinking more of Lobster Thermidor myself, but on the other hand … come on let's go if that's what you want"

"Were you?"

For a second she was flooded with doubt. She didn't even know what it was and wasn't sure if she fancied 'Lobster anything' because she'd seen on the tele about them dropping the poor little buggers into boiling water when they were still alive and waving their legs about, but course she could be wrong because she'd never been anywhere where they served anything like that. She looked up at him to ask just in time to see him rake his teeth over his bottom lip and chew it in an attempt to control the smirk which was still there all over his face.

"No you bloody well weren't 'n what is a Lobster thingy anyway?"

"I have no idea"

For a minute she wasn't sure what she wanted to do most, kick him or do something her brain hadn't given her permission to do. Then she did it anyway and stood up on tiptoes to kiss him on his cheek, a move that made him stop dead in his tracks and look down at her with a puzzled expression.

"What was that for?"

"Dunno, just …. because?"

He made no attempt to say anything more or to start walking on, just put his hand into her hair where it had unravelled from her pony-tail so that it was flowing loose down her back and then moved it up until the fleshy pads of his fingertips were caressing her neck, before he tilted her head up towards him so that she was looking into his face. He still said nothing but his eyes were open and locked onto hers for what felt like forever before he bent his head slowly and kissed her on her mouth, a touch of lips that was so gentle he was barely touching her, almost as if he'd just breathed out onto her lips, a touch that made her shiver with anticipation. Then a not so gentle crashing of his mouth down onto hers, but that was the moment that her stomach decided to protest by growling loudly at having been promised food that hadn't yet arrived.

"Oops …. "

"Come on"

He threw his head back and roared with laughter and put his arm round her shoulders as he started urging her to walk away from their interested audience who'd been enjoying the floor show while they waited for the No. 37 "Let's go and find you some food"

-OG-

The greasy spoon was precisely that, an extremely dubious looking café with a very limited menu, everything fried, and a number of customers already eating who all turned and stared at them as if they were some sort of alien species when they walked in. Molly pulled an 'I'm not too sure that this is a good idea after all' face as they stood and waited to be told which table to sit at, or rather waited for a table to be cleared of piled up debris and swiped over with a dripping cloth by the waitress. She was a very well-endowed girl, or more accurately woman, who was flaunting her not inconsiderable assets in an extremely low cut top and a pair of hot pants which were a definite mistake, but she was cheerful and welcoming and took an immediate and very obvious shine to Charles. She was flicking her hair back and licking her lips as she smiled and danced attention on him as if Molly was totally invisible.

According to the badge at the edge of her cleavage her name was Shirl and Molly tried very hard not to get territorial and pissed off at the way Shirl was behaving round him and began to wonder what it must be like to be good looking like he was and if he'd ever come across any woman anywhere that didn't look at him like he was something tasty been served up on her plate. It was none of her bloody business of course, she knew that, but still well hated it especially when they'd finished eating their fry-up and Shirl kept on making excuses to come over and wave her cleavage in his face. The third time it was ostensibly to reach for a ketchup bottle, but his nose was almost buried between her tits as she murmured 'sorry, need some sauce' so that Molly was dying to tell her that she would have passed the ketchup if she'd asked and that she could forget anything else cos she weren't getting it from him. As soon as Shirl had moved away Charles looked at Molly with something akin to fear on his face which sent her off into peals of giggles.

"I don't know what you're bloody laughing at, it's not in the least bit funny"

"Yeah it is, it really is, ahhhhh don't worry I'll look after you, I won't let her get you"

"Good, I'm bloody glad to hear it, please can we go now?"

"I was just thinking about ordering another cuppa"

"No you weren't, come on and stop bloody laughing"

-OG-

As soon as they left the café he tucked her hand into his so that they were walking hand-in-hand, window shopping slowly as they went, a novel experience for Molly who'd never done anything like it before with any bloke. But at the same time as loving it, there was the familiar churning of panic beginning to build in her gut. What the hell was she going to do when they got back to hers, always supposing that that was where they were heading, and whether he'd think she was a complete slapper if she suggested that going to his would be better? She couldn't quite make up her mind which would be worse, him thinking that she was easy, or over-friendly as he put it, or completely deranged.

"This is you isn't it?" He was smiling until he saw the indecision and worried frown that had appeared on her face as she chewed at her bottom lip and gave him an apologetic smile.

"Hey, don't look like that, you don't have to ask me in for a coffee or anything"

"Haven't got any anyway, sorry"

"It was a euphemism ….. look, stop worrying, there's nothing for you to be sorry about, I don't expect anything"

"It's not that, I do want to ask you in … it's just that I can't, I'm sorry, I'll tell you what though we could go to yours instead couldn't we?"

"Why? You haven't got a husband with a shotgun hiding away in there have you?" He put his head back and roared with laughter and then stopped immediately when he saw the horrified expression that had appeared on her face "You haven't, have you?"

"Nah, course not"

She opened the street door and started climbing the concrete stairs with legs that were full of lead weights just assuming that he would follow, she didn't turn round and check because she was too busy trying to work out what the fuck she could possibly say that wouldn't make her sound as though she was insane, unless of course she told him the truth and that was something she'd never told anyone.

"I can't go in …. well I can, but not straight off, I have to do all these checks … I mean, I have to make sure first …. well, make sure that he's not in there again, and I don't know why I still have to do it when I sort of know it isn't gonna happen again, but I have to …"

"What isn't going to happen again and who are you talking about?"

She was turning the key over and over in her fingers as she ignored his questions and went and sat on the top step so that Charles went and joined her, nudging her shoulder with his after he'd sat down before picking up her other hand and wrapping it in his own large warm fingers.

"I wouldn't listen to anyone but should of known, shouldn't I? Every bloke I've ever known has been a liar or a cheat or a loser …. or all of 'em, but I were so bloody sure that he was the love of me life and that they was all wrong about him, so moved in with him, well it was more like he moved in with me cos I paid the bloody rent. I knew he liked a drink but it didn't bother me that much cos he were a laugh when he was pissed or that's what I thought then and it was what I was used to, but it didn't take long for me to see that me mum was right and that I'd shacked up with me Dad, only younger of course. I stuck it for weeks, didn't wanna admit to ….. well, but then he started bringing these people home with him from the pub when I'd already gone to bed, strangers, pissed strangers who'd be there all bloody night carrying on drinking so that I was scared to go to sleep and I had to get up 'n go to work, so bit of a long story…." She gulped and looked sideways at Charles "I kicked him out and then a long time after, well weeks actually, I came home from work one night and I'd forgotten he still had the key ….. and he was in there" She nodded to indicate the door to her room "Waiting for me, well that's what he said but I don't think that was true cos he got angry, really bloody angry that I'd caught him sorting stuff out 'n getting ready to nick everything I had but he said that I owed him it cos it were my fault he was on the streets …. he trashed the bloody place ….. then trashed me" She swallowed very hard "Really hurt"

"What, he hit you?"

"Couldn't go out or go to work or anything for a couple of weeks" She shrugged "I didn't want to explain to anyone"

"Explain what?"

"The bruises, I didn't wanna hear 'I told you so' from anyone"

"Give me your key"

"Why?"

"Because if he's in there he's going to be extremely sorry"

-OG-