The consequences of having friends…
May 3rd 2019
Brize Norton
Molly
My legs are actually shaking cos I'm so nervous and excited, I can't believe he's gonna be here in less than an hour and I can't wait to see him. Jesus, I hope he's pleased to see me, maybe I should have told him I was coming, we said 'no more secrets' but I thought this would be a nice surprise, I bleeding hope it is and that he doesn't slip off, get the car and start for home without seeing me waiting for him, me and Chloe could get stranded here. Shit, why didn't I think of that when I got Nan to drive me here and leave me to wait for him on me own?
I could have driven myself, Nan said I could borrow her car. Well, as she said, I've driven it more than she has since I passed me test, but I've never driven this far with just Chloe and me and I didn't want to have two cars here, I want us to go home together. I haven't told Charlie about me having lessons and passing me test, I want to wait until I can see his face when I tell him, I hope he don't get mad at me for keeping secrets. I thought it would be a nice surprise. Nan isn't staying with me all the time now, she just comes for a few days now and then but she has been stopping over for the last couple of weeks so I could practice me driving in her car and so that she could look after Chloe while I did me final lessons and took me test and so I would have time without the baby to get me hair cut a bit and buy some new stuff to knock him sideways. I have been going to the gym, it was bleeding hard work to start off with and I wanted to give up, but Chloe loves the crèche so I kept going and I have lost all me baby fat and toned up a lot. I want to knock his socks off like I did at the FOB when we sang together, it's a long time since I felt this good about the way I look.
Nan had a real ding-dong with the old trout. I wasn't in there, I was upstairs changing Chloe's bum when Sam came belting upstairs to fetch me, all excited because they was well at it, screaming insults at each other, the old trout was calling Nan a common fishwife who should get back In the gutter and Nan was calling her a bossy bleeding old ratbag who needed a good seeing to, when I screamed "Shut the fuck up, both of you" Sam grabbed Chloe and left the room, I could hear him sniggering, well that's eleven for you innit? I told them I was ashamed of them both, fighting like that in front of the kids, but I was winking at Nan on the side of me face that the ratbag couldn't see so that Nan would know whose side I was on. The ratbag said she was going to tell Charlie that I had sworn at her and Nan said she was enough to make a saint swear, so then I had to tell Nan to shut her gob and tell the ratbag that if she did that I would tell him that she lost her temper and started attacking someone in front of Sam. Not sure that was strictly true actually, I think it is more likely that Nan started it, but what the hell, it did the trick!
It was a shame that Charlie didn't get to introduce Sam to Chloe like he wanted to but first up Sam was on a school trip, then he had a bad cold and by the time he was better Charlie was gone, but the old ratbag bought him over and Sam fell head over heels in love with Chloe. He is totally sweet with her, plays endless games of peek-a-boo, carries on long after I would get bored, and she loves him, bangs her little hands on the floor with excitement when she sees him and he also pushes her buggy up and down for hours when she is a bit grumpy. He came and stayed with me for part of the Easter holidays, Rebecca has been really good about it but I think he might have pestered her to death. He is a great kid to have around, loves to help and likes nothing better than to go to the corner shop on little errands, he seems quite young compared to my brothers but I think that is because they are street-wise and he is at boarding school, poor little bleeder!
I am wearing me new gear, really tight jeans that show off my bum and a raspberry pink cropped cardigan with a low scooped neck and long sleeves that just skims the top of my stomach which is really flat and it really suits me. Looks great, but I daren't eat or drink anything in case I have to go to the loo and I am worried that I won't be able to get the zip done up again on me jeans. I just hope it doesn't get any colder either cos it was a lovely day when I left home but it's getting chillier and chillier and I'm really not that warm!
"Molls? ….Molly?"
"Molly Dawes?"….
"Dawsey?"
"Molly? Is that you?"
"Molly? What the hell are you doing here?"
Oh fuck, I didn't reckon on there being people here I would know and that would know both of us! Fuck, fuck, fuck! Didn't think it through at all did I? Surely they haven't been in Iraq with Charlie, he would have said, wouldn't he? Not that it's not lovely to see them all, it is, I have really missed them, haven't seen some of them for, I dunno, maybe four years. Everyone is talking at once, asking me what I am doing here and who I am meeting and who Chloe is. Fingers said that he could see who her mum is because she looks just like me, yea, course she does Fingers, what with her brown curls and her big brown eyes! And Dangles said he agreed then said "Shame, poor kid" so I punched his arm and called him a wanker and he said it was just like old times! They haven't been in Iraq but in Nigeria and when I asked what it was like Brains said it was hot and smelly with shit food and huge insects that bite and Dangles said shit was the operative word so I presume they had all had gut rot, so I'm glad I wasn't their medic and I said "Lovely" and Brains looked at me funny, I always forget that I say it just like Charlie these days. Chloe is fascinated by Nude-nut, she has seen black people before but not so up close and he is playing peep-o with her with a big grin on his face with his lovely white teeth, so that she is banging her hands on the seat with excitement and chuckling at him. I'd forgotten what a nice bloke he is! They asked me who the lucky bloke is that I'm meeting and where has he been and what will I do when he gets treatment for his mental illness and other flattery and just at that moment I caught sight of him coming through the arch into the arrival hall. He is talking to someone and hasn't caught sight of me yet. I need to send him mental messages not to come over unless we want to be busted.
Charles
Can't believe that's it, my last tour finished and it's been by far the worst, even worse than the early tours in Afghan. It feels like a lifetime since we were here in October, a lifetime of danger, the tension of not knowing who you can trust, crap living conditions, freezing bloody cold in the winter, lousy food and lots of refugees, all the kids look half-starved and cold, their little faces all pinched, and yet they still laugh at us when we smile at them, good job Molly wasn't with us, she would have wanted to take them all home with her, but at least we all made it home in one piece. I think that has been the difference on this tour, I wanted to be somewhere else all the time, not something I have experienced before, much as I love Sam I never had the feeling before that someone had cut off all my limbs. It was made worse by the lack of Skype or decent satellite phone connection so we had to rely on letters. Molly was really good, wrote twice a week, sometimes long letters which I loved and sometimes short notes when she was busy and sometimes with photos of Chloe which made me realise what I'm missing. I missed her first Christmas for God's sake and all so that a bunch of nut jobs could be prevented from killing each other and I knew it really was time to call it a day when I realised that I didn't care, I just wanted to go home.
Just need to collect my stuff and get the car and get off home, should be there in about an hour and a half or less than two hours certainly and I can't wait to get there and see my family, and that sounds great to me.
I was talking to Bill as we came through and I felt her eyes on me, or I should say someone's eyes, but I knew almost instantly as I turned and looked straight at her then caught my bottom lip with the my teeth and my whole face turned into a huge grin, only Molly can send me messages with her eyes like that, we used to do it all the time in Afghan, we never did it in Turkey but that's because we were still being morons about each other, but I can pick up on her messages as clearly as if she had spoken and she was saying 'be careful, watch out'. I could see what the problem was immediately, but actually I don't give toss, couldn't wait to get over there to her and to hell with everything else. I always forget just how tiny she is and just how pretty, but she looked even more gorgeous today than I remembered. I got waylaid by the lads as I joined their noisy little group, lots of "how the hell are you?" and "where have you been?" and "good to see you Boss" and then "Have you seen who's here? Our Molls" which gave me the lead to push past them straight up to her, lift her up so that her face was level with mine and, as she put her arms round my neck, I told her that she looked beautiful. She said that I didn't look too shabby myself then I kissed her and we might as well have been on a deserted beach somewhere or in the middle of a field, they all just faded away and it was just us.
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd surprise you"
"Well, you've done that alright, you look amazing"
"I know"
Nude-nut was the only one totally unaware of what had been going on, and that was because he was playing with Chloe, but to say that the others were entranced would be an understatement, I have never seen so many shocked faces in my life. So I added to the surreal atmosphere by going over to Nude-nut and picking up my daughter with a "Mine, I believe" Unfortunately this grand gesture was spoilt by Chloe sticking out her bottom lip, which was quivering wildly in dismay because I had interrupted her one-to-one time with Nude-nut which she miles preferred to this strange man hoicking her up in his arms. Molly took her off me and said "Don't be mean to Daddy" and promptly burst out laughing. She is an unbelievably beautiful baby, tiny and dainty like Molly and with Molly's features and my curls and brown eyes and an enchanting smile. A bit of that smile will probably wrap me round her little finger!
It's hard to believe she's mine
Molly
The interrogation started in earnest with the nosy bastards wanting to know everything, most of which we weren't prepared to tell them. We fudged the issue of how long we've been together by saying 'a fair while' and pointing at Chloe, then Dangles asked when he had fallen in love with me and I think they all expected Charlie to say something romantic about us singing together or whatever, well I did as well to be honest, but Charlie answered with "When I threatened to lob her out of the plane". There was a bit of a silence, talk about a showstopper. Fingers asked if we were going to get married and Charlie said "I dunno, I don't think she'll have me" so I stood on tiptoe and whispered "You'd have to ask me first" and he told me not to be so impatient and I'll have to wait out, cheeky bastard. I hope that we haven't walked into a whole load of trouble by letting people see us together and Charlie letting everyone know who Chloe's dad is, but we'll find out won't we?
I was desperate to get off home and Chloe obliged by starting to get tired and grumpy, kids are useful sometimes I'm finding, so Charlie went off to get the car from the secure compound which seemed to take forever and then we said our goodbyes and went out to the car. I strapped Chloe into the seat which was in the car, it's a bit small now so we'll have to buy a new one, and then we stood against the car door and had our first real hug, then he began to kiss me and he whispered that I look totally gorgeous and I could feel how much he wanted me. He said lets go home and I said I wasn't sure we could wait that long and I thought we might have to go and find a Travelodge, and he said it would probably take us longer to find a Travelodge than it would to get home, so we went home.
Authors notes: This was for those who wanted some of 2 section to make a comeback and who wanted a happy reunion and that included me. Thanks for your lovely comments, please review for me and any suggestions of what you want included are always welcomed. Next chapter will be the next day and the start of their new life as a family of 3 plus Sam (oh and don't forget the ratbag)
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