Dear Sergeant Molly Dawes

We request your presence on the 13th April at the London Court of Law to give evidence against Artan Kothari.

Molly had been in a daze ever since she had ripped the seal on the envelope and read it's contents. It had remained in her hands for about five minutes, shaking, while she debated whether or not to open it.

13th April

Give evidence

Against Artan

The trial was about a month away but she hadn't thought of anything else.

Will they find him guilty?

What happens if they do?

Or worse what if they don't?

Tired, Molly rubbed her eyes. She had planned to go for a jog this morning but hadn't even gotten dress so far.

What was the point?

Finally replacing the letter into it's envelope and putting it back on the table, Molly got up and dragged her tired, stressed feet back up the stairs to her bedroom. Flopping backwards onto her bed, she stared up at the picture of Bashira that she had pinned to the bunk above hers.

The innocent look of the little girl symbolised the importance of putting and end to the war and the cruel regime of the Taliban. Molly wondered what was happening to her now. What she safe? For once, Bashira may be even safer than Molly was, or at least how safe she felt.

The nightmares had been getting better but the young Private had an awful feeling that she wouldn't get a wink of sleep tonight. With the trial dragging everything back up, all Molly seemed to be doing was remembering.

The ring of her phone made her leap out of her skin. She smiled as she glanced at the photo of a grinning Smurf on the caller ID. "What's up, Smurf?"

There was silence on the other end. "I got my letter today. For the trial."

"Same here," Molly said quietly.

Another pause. "So...what do you think?"

Smirking Molly shrugged to herself. "What is there to say? Finally the police finish their interrogations and then I'm going to have to relive it all again. I'm ec-bloody-static!"

"You'll be alright, Molls," Smurf reassured her. "Once the trial is over, you'll be able to forget it and that fucking Artan will be behind bars."

Without laughing, Molly told him, "that was a poor choice of words. If it wasn't for you, her really would be 'fucking' Artan."

"Sorry."

The line was silent until Smurf heard a quiet snivel.

"Molls? Are you alright? Molly?"

"Oh, I'm brilliant!" she said sarcastically. "Im just. Im so..so scared, Smurf. I now in my head that he can't do anything to me but...what if he...?" Molly stopped and sniffed. "In Afghan, I thought nothing would ever be so terrifying but...that night, I thought...I thought...Oh God!" She burst in a flurry of tears.

"Molly? Molly, where are you? At home?" On the other end, he heard a whispered 'yes.' "I'm coming down there. See you in an hour."

Without another word, he was gone and Molly was left alone, tears pouring down her cheeks and streaking her freshly-applied make-up down her face.

/()\

"Molly?" called her mum, knocking on the door. "Molly, wakey-wakey, honey."

Tossing her groggy head to the side, Molly rolled over and murmured, "Just five more minutes, Mum."

A weight shifted on the bed as Belinda sat down. "Sorry, Molls, but you've got a visitor."

Molly sat bolt upright and looked quizzically at her mum. Belinda smiled and tipped her head to the door behind her. She moved her gaze.

"James?"

"Thats me," he smiled and walked to the bed. "I heard you needed cheering up."

A grin broke out on Molly's face and her mum - looking between the two of them - said, "I'll leave you two alone."

Once the door had shut behind her, Molly asked, "Which little bugger - sorry, birdy - told you, then?"

Very slightly, the smiled faded from his face. "I got my letter about the trial," Charles explained, a little awkwardly. "I thought I'd better phone to check if you were alright and one of your many siblings picked up. They thought you needed a friend and so...here I am."

"Thank you," Molly uttered with all the sincerity as she possessed. He took her hand in his.

They paused, gazing at each other. Slowly, they leaned in so that they were just inches away from a kiss.

A shout from outside made them both grind to a halt. "Smurf!" yelled one of her brothers. Molly sighed. She had forgotten Smurf was coming.

Even from her bedroom with the door pulled to, she could hear his conversation with Dave and his heavy feet pounding up the staircase towards where she and Charles sat, locked in a tight embrace.

As the door swung open, the couple jumped apart, just in time.

"Guess...who?" What had started out as a dramatic exclamation faded quickly to a dull tone as Smurf caught sight of Captain James, his hand enclosed over Molly's. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Smurf," Captain James nodded.

"Captain."

Smurf seemed frozen, his eye fixed in the two of them. Molly followed his eye line and realised he was staring at Charles' hand over hers.

Quickly, she snatched it back.

More silence.

"What are you doing here?" asked Molly, biting the inside of her mouth and cursing as she heard how horrible that sounded.

"I thought perhaps you needed cheering up," he explained before murmuring, "Seems like someone beat me to it."

Opening her mouth to say something, Molly gaped like a goldfish. She closed her mouth and looked at the floor.

No one could think of anything to say.

"Why don't we go and get a drink?" suggested the Captain.

A fake smile appeared on Molly's face and she nodded and got to her feet. "I'll just find my shoes."

"I'll go tell your mum we're going out," said Smurf, begging for an excuse to leave the room.

Allowing Molly through the door first, Charles' face echoed hers.

"Sorry," she murmured, "I didn't know he was-"

"It's alright," James told her. "We'll just have to grin and bear it."

/()\

The three of them sat silence at the pub, a pint in front of each of them.

"Well," said Molly in an attempt to make conversation, "this is nice."

They nodded.

"I gotta admit," she continued, unhindered, "it's weird having you two around without the rest of the boys."

They nodded.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Right, I'm gonna go to the bog while you to talk it out." She scraped her chair across the wooden floor and headed in the direction of the door. Before she went through it, Molly turned back to them and raised her eyebrows as if to say 'I expect to see you talking.'

With Molly gone, the boys looked around awkwardly, avoiding each other's eyes.

"So," said Smurf.

"So," said James. "Basically, you yelled at me, I yelled at you. You nearly shot me, I nearly shot you. I was shot, then you were shot and the I woke up in Birmingham hospital with you apologising."

"Somehow," Smurf began, "I haven't been able to forget all of them."

The Captain smiled. "Well I accept your apology."

"And I accept yours," replied Smurf with false grace.

"Hey, what am I supposed to apologise for?" joked Captain James.

"Hmmm," he pondered, "how about telling me I was crazy and then blocking up the bog when it was my turn to clean it?"

They laughed. "And," Charles continued, "What ever happens between either of us and Molly, lets not let it come between us."

With a slight look of reluctance, Smurf slowly nodded.

"Friends?"

"Friends."

They shook hands.

What Charles failed to notice was that Smurf's other hand was hidden behind his back, his fingers crossed.

/()\

"Have you two kissed and made up yet?" asked Molly as she approached the pair of them.

"Yep, the landlord told us to get a room, cheeky bugger!" smirked Smurf.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, how about we-"

"Molls!" screeched a voice from near the entrance. "Oh my god! Look, its Molls! Molly!" The soldier twisted in her chair and came face to face with some of her friends from the past: Sharon, Lizzie and Proud Mary.

"Hello, you lot," Molly said with artificial enthusiasm.

The three girls came over, mounds of shopping bags in each arm. In turn they wrapped her into as hug. "We'll get some chairs," said Sharon as she dumped her bags by the table.

"Don't worry," smiled Charles getting to his feet, "have mine." He left to grab another three for the other girls and himself.

The girls all raised their eyebrows and looked at Molly. "So this is what you were getting up to while you were gone?" Lizzie smirked.

Molly opened her mouth to reply but decided to stay silent.

"You gotta admit, he's gorgeous," laughed Mary, dragging out the 'org', as he bent over to pick up one of the chairs.

Smurf sniggered, earning him a glare from Molly.

Just then, Captain James returned with three chairs. He set one down beside either of the two girls still standing and sat on one himself. "It's alright Smurf," he commented, "You just sit there doing nothing."

"Alright Captain, I can do that, Sir!" he responded with a mocking salute and a sarcastic grin on his face. James jokingly snapped him around the head.

"Captain, eh?" asked Sharon.

The Bossman opened his mouth to reply but Molly cut in ahead of him. "Yes, this is Captain James and Sergeant Dylan Smith - also known as Smurf - of the Under Fives," she explained.

"Oh, so these we're the guy you were out in Aslan with?" asked Sharon.

"Afghan," corrected Molly, trying to hide her laughter. At least she was more successful than both Smurf and Charles.

"I think Aslan is the lion," Smurf informed her.

"Right," Sharon said with a smile. "So, Captain: what's it like being in the army?"

Once again, Molly spoke before he could. "When I tried to tell you about the army, you said you couldn't think of anything more dull!"

"Did I?" asked Sharon with false confusion. "Anyway, Captain James was talking."

Charles grimaced and began to speak.

/()\

Drumming her fingers on the table, Molly lifted Smurf's limp arm to glance at his watch for the third time in five minutes. She was sure that time didn't usually pass this slowly.

What had promised to be a fun day out for Charles, Smurf and her had turned into a gossip session between Sharon, Mary, Lizzie and James. About ten minutes into their conversation the girls had shuffled their chairs around so that they were next to him, although Sharon was leaning in so close that she may as well have been sitting on his lap.

Smurf had lost interest just before Molly had. He now lay in a slumped heap on the table. The only interaction he'd had with Molly was when he had mimed vomiting when Lizzie had decided to tickle James' chin.

By now, Molly was fed up. "Okay," she said, getting to her feet, "it's been lovely seeing all you guys but we'd better go, hadn't we?"

Smurf looked up like an eager puppy and joined her on his feet. "Yeah, I suppose I'd better make a move if I'm gonna catch my train."

"Okay," agreed Mary, "we'll see you later." She and the other girls turned their attention back to Captain James.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Captain? Hello? Bloody hell, Charl-" She stopped before she revealed his name. "Shouldn't you be going if you're going to get home to your son," Molly said finally.

All of a sudden, the girls back off. "Son?" queried one of them.

"Yeah," explained Smurf as he caught onto Molly's plan, "Sam. And you know Rebecca, your wife, will be waiting."

James stood up and with a quick goodbye followed Molly and Smurf out of the pub. Outside, they hailed a cab and climbed in one after the other.

The ride was silent. As the driver pulled into Euston Station, Smurf hopped out, followed quickly by Molly and Charles. They quickly headed for the escalators.

"Don't you want to go straight home?" the Bossman asked Molly.

"Nah, I'm fine, thank you very much," she snapped. Rapidly, she marched off in the direction of the large screens showing the timetables. There was one which stopped in Newport due in five minutes. The one to Bath, however, had been delayed...by an hour. Great.

/()\

Releasing Smurf from her tight hug, Molly stood behind the station barrier until the last second, when Smurf had disappeared into the crowed boarding the train. She stepped backwards and bumped into Captain James. "Sorry," they both mumbled. They were both frozen awkwardly for a moment until they hurried up to look back at the screens.

"Still delayed," muttered Charles. "You can go if you want or we could grab drink?" he suggested, inclining his head towards the coffee shop inside the station.

With uttering a single word, Molly headed in the direction of the shop. Charles followed.

The two of them sat down, still in silence.

"Molly, have I done something wrong?" queried James in a attempt to break the tension. "Something to offend you? If I have, I'm sorry."

Molly laughed. "No, it's fine. What does it matter that you were sitting three feet away from me while flirting with those tarts?" She shook her head and began to leave.

Charles hurried after her. "Molly!"

"Did you enjoy it? Because as long as you had fun-"

"Molly, I didn't want to-"

She stopped and spun around. "You know what the worst thing is? I thought that we were finally getting somewhere, that we stood a chance at finally being together, especially since you've settled things with Smurf. And then you..."

He placed a hand on her cheek. "Molly," Charles said softly.

"No," she snapped, slapping away his hand, "Get away from me. Go home, Charles, just go home." With that, she turned away and jumped on the bus home.

She didn't look back.

I'm so sorry for the delay. I promise that I shall start wok on the next one as soon as possible.

Merry Christmas,

Indigofrog :)