Molly took one deep breath before she took her last final steps towards something. Something that she had been putting off for days. There in the middle of mess tent that functioned as a dining room was Smurf sitting eating his meal. It took him some effort to get the food safely into his mouth, since he had his left arm in a sling.

It's now or never, she thought to herself. She couldn't put it off. James was right, she shouldn't put it off anymore. She took the last steps towards her final destination before she sat herself down across the table from Smurf. He looked up, his grey eyes meeting hers. "Molls", he said, surprise clearly audible in his voice. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I was putting it off."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Because", she exhaled deeply. "Because I was blaming you and I couldn't let myself get angry at you. You're recovering. You don't need pissed off Molly Dawes as a bonus."

"What made you change your mind?"

"Captain James." When she mentioned the name of Two Section's leader, Smurf's emotions seemed to drain away, like they retreated themselves to a hidden place deep under the surface. He was just giving her the cold stare. "Like I said in that compound, Smurf. You deserve someone who loves you unconditionally", she continued. "I can never give you that."

"Because you love James, not me", he said, the bitterness of his words audible in the tone of his voice. "The end of the shit stick seems to appear again."

"You're not second best, Smurf."

"Yeah, right", he said sarcastically, breaking eye contact by letting his gaze wonder over their surroundings.

"You're my best mate. You are not second best. Never."

His eyes, once on the mess tent, were back on her. This one movement, this one thing, just his eyes on her, made her feel so sad for him. He was always second best, always in his live. Him finding out about her and James was just the final straw that broke the camel's back. He had felt this way his entire life, especially when Geraint was still alive. The anger she once felt for Smurf was fading away.

Seeing him sitting across from her, she made a decision. She was setting him free. He was giving a second chance and she was not about to take that away from him. There was something on her neck, resting on her sternum close to her heart. It didn't feel right to wear it anymore. It was an object that represented the past, not his future. And it deserved to be symbolizing his future.

She untied that bit of rope and freed the ring from it. She put it back on the table, somewhere in the middle. He was slightly taken aback by her gesture, before he said: "Keep it."

"No, I can't. Give it to someone who deserves it, because I sure as hell don't."

"Why are you saying that, Moll?"

She bit on her bottom lip. "Because I almost got you both killed. You were arguing about me."

"But I was the one that brought personal things to the battlefield", he casted back. "I'm not scot free, either."

She swallowed. Maybe he was right. Maybe she wasn't the only one to blame here. Everyone of her brothers within Two Section said it wasn't her fault, but none of them knew the exact content of their argument on that bridge.

"We both fucked up than", Smurf stated after a few moments of silence.

"So it would seem."

"You want to start over?"

She smiled. Here, just a few centimetres away from her, sat a person who could give her a clean slate. She could leave that damned bridge in Afghan behind, start fresh and he would be the friend she needed by her side. "I want nothing more than to start over."

He opened his arms demonstratively. "Hug?"

"You stupid Newport numpty", she said, while she laughed.

She walked over and put her arms around his neck. She pulled him close to her. He was her mate, her best mate. "Ow", he heard him say. "Still injured here."

She let go of him. "Sorry", she said cheekily.

He cleared his throat before he extended his hand: "Hello, beautiful. My name is Dylan Smith, but most people call me Smurf."

"My name is Molly Dawes", she said, while shaking his hand. "People really call you Smurf?"

He laughed. "Yeah, I know. They say I look like a smurf. Think it's the ears."

"Oh I can tell ya. It's definitely the ears, mate." They looked at each other before bursting into loud laughter.

Molly frowned her brown eyebrows. "You call that a proper poker face?", she heard the man lying across from her ask.

"What's wrong with my poker face?" She crossed her legs in a tailor fashion, making sure she wasn't taking all the space at the bottom of the bed. After James had woken up, they moved him to another ward where he could gain strength so he could go home.

"Nothing", he said, his words followed by shrugging of his shoulders.

"Well, Sir", she said, mimicking the words Sir. "You be talkin' different when I win."

"If you're so confident, then show me your cards." He gave her a challenging look. "Private Dawes", he added, saying it in the same manner she just said the word Sir.

She put the cards on the cream coloured sheets, who were covering James' legs and part of his abdomen. "Woops, looks like you're losing a very important piece of clothing."

He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to look like he was really surprised by this development but the form of his lips gave it all away. "Who said we're playing strip poker?"

"Do you see anything else we can play for?", she asked, gesturing with her hands to their surroundings. "I don't see any money on the table."

"It's really not fair", he said, before toned his voice down and whispered: "I'm hardly wearing anything."

She smiled. "I know", she whispered back, before wiggling with her eyebrows.

Their moment was abruptly interrupted when Mansfield Mike entered the hospital ward. When he noticed her on the end of the bed, he said, surprise present in his voice: "Dawesy, still here?" When he noticed the poker cards on the sheets, he continued: "Ah, didn't know you played poker."

"Oh yeah. My dad taught me when I was a kid. Stripped my granddad bare once. Nan weren't too happy 'bout that."

"You beat the Boss Man? Nice one", he said, while high fiving her. He returned his attention to the recovering Captain. "How are you doing, Boss?"

"I'll live."

"When are you going home?"

"I have to stay here for another week, gain some strength before I'm fit enough for air travel. Then I can go home." When he said the word home he looked at her. Small gestures like this made her all feel warm and gooey inside. Weeks ago she had experienced nightmares, who consisted of James' dying, but after he woke up she felt like she was dreaming. That is was too good to be true. But here she was playing poker with him. He was smiling, laughing at their banter and her cheeky comments. He once mentioned going home with her, but after what happened on the bridge she thought that never would become reality.

"So, you play poker, Mansfield?"

"Me, Boss? Absolutely. At Derby they call me the king of poker!"

"Just like they say you look like Prince Harry?", Molly said, hearing James chuckle in the background.

"Shut up, Dawesy", he said while he pulled up a chair, getting in position for a new round of Texas Hold 'em.

First of all, thank you Lily, Izzy and the two guest reviewers for reviewing last chapter. Means a lot that you took the time to review! And of course a big thanks to my beta "Klipdoctor"!

And secondly, I really had fun writing this chapter. I thought it would be nice to have a funny, happy chapter instead of all the serious one's I wrote. And I find Molly's cheeky side very fun to write, so I hope I did that justice. And am not quite sure I portrait Molly and Smurf right in the first scene. Just let me know what you think. A review comes a long way, as always :)