A/N: Sitting here boiling to death but am unable to go out in the garden because my hero has got himself a new extended and lethal looking hedge trimmer so he's doing his best to chop off a limb or two or electrocute himself, can't watch! Thank you for your reviews, I hope you enjoy this, it's a bit self-indulgent I know, but I'm not the only one who loves this particular knight in shining armour, am I?

Chapter Nine

"Come on" He took the key and started striding purposefully towards her door, ignoring all her muttered protests about him not knowing where to look or what to check "Just tell me and I'll do it for you"

"I'll wait here"

"Nope" He put out a hand and waited for her to join him in the walk to the door and then looked at the reluctance that was not only evident in the look on her face but the way she was hanging back from joining him "Do you want to do it, is that it?"

"I dunno" She looked up at him and did her best to smile, she was deeply grateful that he seemed to understand that she had to do some of it without her having to go into all sorts of detail "You a bloody mind reader or some'ing?"

"Yup, something you'll need to remember when you get pissed at me"

"Why would I be pissed at you?"

"I have no idea, but I have the feeling that you will be sometimes and I know that that's something that is incredibly hard for you to believe when I'm so obviously perfect" She could hear the laughter in his voice "But who knows, possibly by the time we're old and grey…."

"Sorry, never realised that you was actually perfect, you should of said before" She was giggling now in spite of the unsettling circumstances, it hadn't turned out to be quite the first date she'd expected, not that it was even supposed to have been a date "A bit previous that innit? Of course you're gonna be old and grey a long time before me, aren't you?"

"Thank you so much for reminding me and nope, it's not previous, it's chemistry …. Oh and by the way that is much better"

"What is?"

"Your smile"

"Promise me you won't laugh or tell me I'm nuts"

"Of course I'm not going to laugh at you and you're not nuts, Molly, anyone would be worried after what happened"

"Really?"

"Really"

He unlocked the door and snapped the lights on at the same time as continually turning back and beckoning for her to join him instead of hanging back and twisting her hands together, trying not to panic or to give in and yell at him that he had to check the bathroom and behind the shower curtain first before he did anything else.

"Molly, stop worrying and tell me what you do next"

"Just the bathroom and behind the shower curtain" She bit her lip, embarrassed at what she was being forced to admit "I have to make sure"

For the first time since it had all started she didn't check in the wardrobe or under her bed, she didn't need to. Looking at it with him standing in there in front of her she could see that no-one could even get under the bed unless they were what Nan would describe as a streak of piss, which Liam certainly was not, he was plumpish with a paunch from all the booze, and she always left the wardrobe door open a bit so that she could see immediately whether anyone had touched anything. It was just that the whole thing had sort of developed a life of its own and her fears about the flat in east Ham were the same, of course he couldn't get in there and hide, it was just her imagination torturing her. She began to pick things up off the floor and fold them before putting them in a pile in the corner of the sofa, she was suddenly horribly conscious of the cluttered untidiness of the room, but then she hadn't expected anyone, least of all him, to be in there to see the mess.

"Why didn't you just change the locks?"

"Would of but bloody Landlord wouldn't listen, I don't think he wanted to spend the money and anyway he thought that if he didn't have the key I'd turn into a squatter so he wouldn't get his rent 'n I didn't want to explain or beg him for a favour cos he'd of thought he'd get one back" She shuddered at the thought "He's a bit like that"

"God ….. What did the police say, did they catch up with what's his name?"

"Liam, his name's Liam, and nah, didn't tell them"

"Why the fuck not? He had no bloody right to touch you, it was a crime Molly and he deserved to pay for it"

He took her by her shoulders and turned her round so that he was looking down into a pair of very troubled green eyes that were swimming with tears and realised that he'd have to be much more careful about what he said if he didn't want her to shut down and stop talking to him, she was already sensitive to what she'd called his bossy bastard act.

"It were my fault …. he were on the streets 'n desperate otherwise I'm sure he wouldn't of done it"

"Of course it wasn't your …"

His stifled response was borne out of a frustrated impotence that she didn't seem able to see it, or this Liam, for what it was. Years of experience in the army had meant dealing with all sorts including people who drank too much or who couldn't keep their hands to themselves around women and in his eyes they'd all had one thing in common, they were inadequate so were never responsible, someone else always drove them to it, but for some bloody reason she'd believed it when this Liam had said that it was her fault.

"Where is he now, do you know?"

"Nah, lying dead in a bleeding gutter for all I know, wouldn't surprise me"

"We have to do something about this, you do know that don't you?"

"We?"

"Of course we. Did you think I was going to leave you living here with a rapist for a landlord and a drunken bully roaming about with your bloody key in his pocket? I don't think so and I'm a bossy bastard, remember? so either I get the locks changed or you're out of here. And if all else fails I've got a spare room you can use while you look around for somewhere else"

"Why would you do that?"

"I can't imagine when you're such a bloody pain in the arse" He put out a hand and tucked her hair behind her ears before twisting it like a rope around his knuckles and pulling her head back gently before bending his head to kiss her, another soft and barely there brush of his lips that left her staring up into his face longing for the follow-up kiss that didn't arrive.

"You know that …. I like you, I might even be a little bit fond of you" Molly bit her lip and grinned at him as she tried to gauge his reaction as well as encourage him to carry on where he seemed to have left off "But if I do that, if I squat in your spare room, what happens in a couple of days when you find you can't stick me, that I drive you nuts?"

"But that's not going to happen is it? And anyway what makes you think I'm going to let you squat? For your information the rent will be fucking extortionate, and you might find you can't stand me, unlikely I know" He laughed and ducked away to avoid the swipe that she aimed at him "That's why you're going in the spare room"

"Oh …..right …. Hey, you're not going, are you?" Molly's voice was full of amazed horror as he let go of her hair and smiled then turned obviously getting ready to leave "But I thought …. Never mind, don't matter"

"Believe me I'd like nothing better than to stay here with you, right now, but I'm not sure it would be the right thing"

"Nah, you're probably right, I mean you don't know me do you?"

"Yes I do, I feel as if I've known you for ever, but you don't know me and I think we need to get ….. everything sorted out first, before …."

"Right" She swallowed before bursting out "But why? I thought you liked me, well, that's what you said and I thought that meant that maybe you were a bit fond of me too"

She was doing her best not to burst into furious tears of disappointment and frustration, mixed with a huge amount of mortification.

"Of course I am, I'm more than a bit fond of you, but I think we should wait out. I don't want it to be because of what's happened here tonight, something that you haven't thought about or that you might regret later on or even because you're scared to be here on your own"

"I'm not scared to be here on me own"

-OG-

He'd stuck to his guns and left refusing to even kiss her goodnight beyond a peck on the forehead and a promise to see her the next day coupled with a lecture about locking the door after he'd gone, as if she needed that, but she'd been convinced that she wouldn't sleep and would lie there awake for hours re-living every tiny little bit of it, including her mortification that he hadn't wanted to sleep with her as much as she'd wanted him to stay the night. But she'd slept like the proverbial dead, in fact for the first time in months she hadn't kept waking at every tiny sound outside the window.

Telling Lauren that there was a chance she might be moving and explaining where she might be moving to and how it had come about, together with the slightly inconvenient fact that she hadn't even mentioned a date with Bossman wasn't exactly going to be the easiest thing she'd ever tackled….. Lauren was not going to be thrilled with any of it, she was more likely to want to put a contract out on her than to be pleased for her.

Lauren's reaction to her hesitant stab at a plausible explanation was to withdraw into icy silence and hiss traitor before dramatically and symbolically tearing his photo off her wedding board. She was glaring daggers at Molly as she ripped it into tiny shreds in front of her face, making it totally plain that if looks could kill, she'd be toast. Molly made no attempt to try and placate her, she didn't actually see why she should because Lauren hadn't really got the right to be as pissed as she was, and Molly was beginning to feel just the tiniest little bit sorry for Smurf who still didn't know that he was going to be a daddy, even if he was a complete dickhead. On the other hand a silent little prayer was running through her head that Bossman wouldn't have got home and thought better of it all. With hindsight she was just a bit concerned that it was her being a bit previous now and that it might have been better to wait before she'd said anything at all. If he'd changed his mind she was thoroughly stuffed what with her best mate muttering traitor under her breath every time she looked up at her.

It was lunchtime before she heard anything from him. She'd forgotten that he believed in work when you were supposed to be working so that by the time he rang she was totally convinced he'd made a run for the bloody hills in horror at what had gone down the previous night. Okay so he hadn't stayed the night and now she was beginning to think she knew why that was and they hadn't even had sex even though she'd virtually offered it him on a plate, which could well be because he just didn't fancy her, but what about all his promises about getting locks changed 'n that and letting her stop in his spare room if necessary?

"Hello gorgeous"

"'ullo'

"What's up, you sound a bit …. unhappy …. or worried, is everything alright?"

"It is now" She breathed out and tried to paste a smile on her face. The trainers at work were always banging on about smiling when you talk to people on the phone cos apparently they can hear your happy face, something she'd always dismissed as complete shite, but you never knew, they could be right…. "I was getting a bit worried"

"What about?"

"Nothin' don't matter"

"You thought I'd changed my mind didn't you?"

"Nah course not … yeah ….. I dunno do I?"

"You're going to have to trust me Molly, if I say I'm going to do something then I'm going to do it and if by any remote chance something gets in the way like a bloody war breaking out or her Majesty sending me to some god-awful benighted hole somewhere, then I will always tell you, alright? Now, I'll pick you up from work and we can sort your lock before anything else, so what time do you finish?"

-OG-

Going home time came as a blessed relief. Lauren had made a point of ignoring her all day, except when she'd had to speak to her for work and then her voice had been all curt and clipped as though Molly had done something awful to her, and she'd made a big point of chatting and laughing and flicking her hair about when anyone else came in to see them. It all struck Molly as being bloody childish, something she hadn't noticed about Lauren before, but it'd made her day endless and she had no fucking clue just how long her erstwhile mate was going to keep sending her to Coventry, well, probably until she got bored of it, but it was totally horrible.

Lauren spun on her heel and gave Molly the most vitriolic look of hatred she could dredge up when she followed her out of the building and caught sight of him wearing his combats and waiting at one side of the steps from the council building. He was looking at something on his phone so he didn't catch sight of them at first or see the death stare that Lauren directed at Molly but he couldn't possibly miss the 'how could you do that to me' one that she directed at him, so that he raised his eyebrows at Molly and pulled a 'what the actual fuck is that about' face.

As she looked at him waiting, well every time she looked at him in fact, she got this buzz, especially when he wasn't looking at her but she still had absolutely no idea what he thought he was doing messing with someone marginal like her, not that he was with her exactly. But he was without doubt the best looking bloke she'd ever clapped eyes on, so good-looking that he could have had anyone he wanted, just ask Shirl, or Lauren come to that, and today was absolutely no exception in spite of the messy hair, army fatigues and stubble. None of that mattered when he smiled at her in welcome and her stomach disappeared in an express lift.

"Hello soldier, where's the bloody war then?"

"Hello beautiful, sorry I didn't have time to change I had a landlord to sort out" He turned to watch Lauren as she stomped off towards the staff car park looking back over her shoulder a couple of times to direct a glare at the two of them as she went "What is that all about, have I offended her in some way?"

"You really don't wanna know 'n you'll have to trust ME on that one"

He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek "You look beautiful, have you had a good day?"

"Nah, not so as you'd notice, it just got a lot better though"

"Hold that thought gorgeous because I've got bad news on the landlord front, you were right, the man is a total prick. He says he'll try and get around to it next week or could be the week after but he seemed immune to my charms so I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you"

"What charms? Oh shit, you 'aven't made me homeless have you?"

"No, he can't do that unless you owe for rent, but my spare room it is because you can't stay there while he decides to get around to doing something ….. or nothing"

"Bossy"

"Yup 'fraid so, but that man's a complete tosser"

"Don't wanna say told you so"

"But you're just about to, right?"

He didn't need to tell her that her Landlord was a jerk. He'd taken one look at Charles and heard him say a couple of words before taking an instant dislike to the posh bugger standing there demanding that he changed the locks on one of his rooms. He'd simply stared at him and then scratched his head before making it plain how unimpressed he was with anything 'posh twat' had to say, irritating the fuck out of Charles in the process, and despite what he'd said about getting around to it in a few days or a week or whatever, he had no intentions of doing anything that'd cost him any money. If she carried out her threat and moved out he could hang onto her deposit and let the room over and over so no problem there and he didn't give a flying fuck what this posh prat had to say about it.

-OG-

"Is that it?"

"Most of it, I mean I 'aven't got that much 'n I don't need to take me kettle 'n stuff, do I?" She shrugged "What Liam didn't sell he trashed, so …..there isn't ….. well …. "

"Take everything that you don't want to lose, I don't trust your bloody landlord"

"Nah, me neither, but I've paid the bloody rent 'n he's still got me deposit so this place is mine and it's not for ever, is it, I'm only stopping at yours till he's done the locks or I can find somewhere else, okay?"

"You're the boss"

"Yeah I am"

"Come on …"

-OG-

"I never had you down as a footie fan, mind, you need to support a decent team like the Hammers 'n not that pile of shite"

"I'm not, it belongs to Sam" He put the black bin liners full of all her worldly possessions down on the rug as she dumped the rest of her clothes onto the Arsenal themed bedspread, then tugged at the curls on the back of his neck "All of this stuff in here is his, this is his room when he comes to stay"

"Who's Sam?" Even as she asked the question Molly knew with an absolute certainty what the answer was, she was only surprised that the thought hadn't entered her head before this. There was no way a bloke of his age that was as lovely as him and who looked like he did was going to have been single or going without for very long ….

"Sam is my son, he's nearly seven and …. he's always going to be part of my life"

"Course he is …. But, can I ask you some'ing?" She had to ask, she couldn't even begin to think of staying here unless she knew what was what "Has Sam got a mum? Well, course he's got a mum, but what I mean is, is she still on the scene?"

"Rebecca is my ex-wife and we're very much divorced so, apart from Sammie, she's not on the scene, satisfied?"

"Yeah, but you don't tell people much do you?"

"You're a fine one to say that"

"I know"

Now that she was here, in his spare room, in his flat, she was more unsure than ever as to how they were going to make any of this work. It didn't feel like kipping on a mate's sofa for a few days, if felt well … different. It was obviously a big mistake, huge, more than likely fatal, but she was suddenly desperate for him to finish what he'd started the night before when he'd brushed those lips against hers.

-OG-