Thank you so much to everyone who's read this story and stuck we me this far this is the final chapter of this story, I can't quite believe that we're finally here thanks again for reading and I hope you all enjoy!

He glanced down at his phone, checking it once more in some kind of naive hope that she might have called him in the ten minutes since he last looked. It had been three months since he'd left her at the hospital. Three months since she'd promised that she would keep in touch with him, and he'd heard nothing from her. Not a phone call, or even a text to say she was still alive.

He'd spoken to her Mum a couple of weeks after the incident with Artan had happened. He'd just needed someone to tell him that she was okay. It hurt that she hadn't wanted to talk to him, more than he'd imagined it would've done, but as long as he knew she was okay and happy then he could live with it, he'd have to. Belinda hadn't wanted to talk to him at first when she'd realised who he was. She'd been angry at him for not telling them about Artan.

He'd ended up driving down to London and meeting Belinda at a little cafe not far from where she lived, just because it seemed easier to explain everything that had gone on face to face. He hadn't told her, but a lot of the reason he'd driven down there was because he'd been hoping he'd be able to see Molly. She hadn't wanted to see him though- or at least that was what Belinda had told him- so instead he'd sat in the cafe for the best part of three hours telling Belinda everything he knew about what had been happening, and trying to apologise for the fact he hadn't done something to stop it sooner. They both felt guilty, and the truth was they probably would for the rest of their lives.

What had been the worst thing of the whole visit was listening to Belinda talk about how Molly had been since Artan had been arrested. Listening to Belinda describing the way she'd just shut herself off from everyone and everything broke his heart, but also explained exactly why she hadn't been in touch with him or anyone from her section. He wanted to go round there, to try and shake some sense into her and convince her not to let this ruin her life and her career. She couldn't just let Artan win. But Belinda had refused to let him, she'd promised to tell Molly he'd called and try and get her to call him, but she wasn't going to let him go round there. So he'd driven himself home again, defeated, to wait until she was ready to call him- if she ever was.

Since then he'd been sat at his desk, going about his mundane little routine and trying to keep his section in line until they were deployed again, desperately waiting for his phone to ring.

There was a knock on the door of his office that made him flinch. He chucked his phone back in the drawer and shouted at whoever it was to come in. If this was someone coming to tell him about another supposedly hilarious prank that two section had come up with it was going to be the end of him.

"What is it Kinders?" He sighed, bracing himself for what's to come.

"Sorry to interrupt Boss, but Dawes is here. She was hoping you'd got a minute." Kinders looked uncomfortable.

Charles was silent for a moment. That was the last thing he'd been expecting. "Yes, of course. Thanks Kinders, send her in."

Kinders nodded. "Thanks Boss." He disappeared out into the hallway, he could hear him saying something, and then there she was, standing awkwardly in front of him.

"Close the door." He promoted as she stood in front of him, frozen. "Come and sit down."

She moved on auto pilot, closing the door and then coming to sit in the chair opposite him. She couldn't think why she'd decided this was a good idea- what had made her decide that she needed to speak to him? How many times had he called her in those first few days and she'd ignored him? He'd given up eventually, and he probably didn't even care anymore- but she still felt like she needed to explain herself to him.

"It's good to see you." He said slowly as she sat in front of him, fiddling with the sleeve of her jumper. She looked exhausted, she was pale and much thinner than he remembered. "How have you been."

She shifted in the chair, not meeting his eye. This was a mistake, she shouldn't have come, but she'd wanted to see him and explain herself.

"It's been difficult." She said slowly, risking a quick glance up at him. He was giving her one of those pitying looks she hated. "I'm sorry I didn't call."

"It's okay, I understand." He nodded. He didn't, he'd got so many questions he wanted to ask her but he didn't feel like he could.

"I just… well I didn't know what to say." She mumbled. "After that night, everything just kind of fell apart, I just fell apart. I'd been going on for so long just pretending everything was okay, and then suddenly I didn't have to pretend anymore and I didn't know what to do… everyone just kept telling me what I should've done- I should've told them, should've told the police or I should've left him sooner… I just got fed up with everyone judging me. It was just easier not to talk to anyone."

"I'm not judging you Molly, you know that whatever you decided to do I would've supported you." He said quietly. "The boys too, we're all here for whatever you need."

She shook her head. "That's the problem. I can't do this."

He frowned. "I'm not following."

"This." She sighed. "Whatever this thing is that you and me have got going on, I can't do it. I want to, god knows I do, but I can't…"

"When I said I'm here for you Molly, I mean it however you want. If you want me to be your friend, or something more, or even just your Captain then that's what I'll do." He said quietly. He hated seeing her like this, he could see her pulling away from him right in front of his eyes.

"You might be able to do that, but I don't think I can." She whispered. "You're amazing, and I couldn't have got through this without you, but I don't think that us being friends is going to work."

He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head and silenced him.

"I need you to just hear me out." She said, looking at him pleadingly. She needed to say what she'd come there to say without him putting her off. "I love you Charles, that's the problem. I love you, and I can see us just falling into some kind of relationship- I mean look what happened when we were on tour- but I can't do that."

"Molly, I-" he started.

"No, just listen for a minute." She interrupted him again. "I'm not saying it's not what I want, but that's the problem I don't know what I want, at least not right now."

"I don't understand." He mumbled. His mind was reeling, she'd just admitted she loved him but was also somehow simultaneously saying she didn't want to be with him?

"I've never been on my own Charles, I don't know who I am without Artan. Everything I've done for as long as I can remember has been to please Artan, to try and keep him happy or to get myself away from him. I need to find out who I actually am, what I really want to do now I haven't got to worry about him."

"What are you going to do?" He asked. He just couldn't take in what she was saying at all.

"I've taken a short tour." She said slowly, watching his face for his reaction. "Three months, back in Afghanistan training the ANA medics. I need to figure out in my head if this is actually something I still want to do after everything that's happened. I honestly don't know if I was going away on tour because I genuinely enjoyed it, or if I just wanted to get away from Artan and it gave me some peace and quiet. I need to figure some things out.."

"And you're not going to figure it all out by being stuck here with me." He finished for her.

She smiled a little, meeting his eye properly for the first time since she'd walked into his office. "I'm not saying that I wouldn't ever want anything to happen between us, if things had been different…" she smiled wistfully. "But I need to sort myself out before I can even think about anyone else. And you've got Sam to think about too."

"So it's a maybe." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "I'll take that."

She smiled back at him. "Seriously though, I'm not trying to say that you should wait around for me or anything. If you were to find someone else you wanted to be with while I'm gone, I wouldn't be anything other than happy for you. I just want us both to be happy."

He nodded slowly. "When are you being deployed?" He asked.

"Tomorrow." She answered. "I'm actually on my way down to Brize Norton now, I just wanted to talk to you in person before I went. You know what it's like out there, anything can happen, and I wanted to make sure I'd said everything before I went- y'know, just incase." Her hand wandered to the scar on her neck subconsciously.

"I appreciate it." He smiled softly. "How are you feeling about going back out there after what happened?"

"It's a weird combination of looking forward to it and being scared shitless at the same time." She laughed quietly. "Are you being deployed again any time soon?" It hadn't even occurred to her until that moment that he might not actually be there when she got back.

He shrugged. "Not got anything definite yet, there's been some talk of a humanitarian aid mission to Kenya but we're waiting for it to be confirmed."

"So you might be in another corner of the world by the time I get back." She commented, thinking out loud.

He nodded. "You know what it's like Molly, there's never any guarantees. You can write to me while you're out there though, let me know how things are going, and if I do get deployed I'll let you know. But fingers crossed, I'll be here to pick you up from Brize Norton in three months time." He smiled. "If you want me to that is." He added quickly.

"That would be nice." She smiled. "I'd better get going, sorry." She didn't want to leave him, sitting there in front of him made her wonder exactly why she was doing this.

He stood up at the same time as her, walking around the desk and standing so they were less than a foot apart. She wanted to fling her arms around him and hang on for dear life.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm sorry that things couldn't have been different, that we couldn't have our happily ever after."

He stepped forwards, closing the gap between the two of them. He reached out slowly, making sure he didn't catch her by surprise, and cupped her cheek with his hand. She moved her hand up to rest over the top of his, and they stood for a moment just looking at each other.

"I'll still be here when you get back Molly." He said softly. "I love you, I'm not going anywhere. You take all the time you need to figure this all out, we've got time. Just remember that I'm here if you need me, and I love you."

She took a half step forward, putting her arms around him and resting her head against his chest. She felt safe and secure for the first time in a long time, she knew he'd look after her, no matter what happened. "Ditto." She smiled against his chest.

So, first of all I hope you all enjoyed the story? But before you all come and shoot me over the lack of happily ever after, this is the end of Picture Perfect, this isn't the end of the story for Molly and Charles. With a bit of luck (and real life permitting) there should be a sequel to this for you all to read soon, which will pick up when Molly returns from her tour. Thanks again to you all for reading xx