As the hospital bed carrying Sohail disappeared through the double -doors of the ward and the urgent voices of the medical staff gradually became fainter, Captain James raised his head to look directly into Molly’s eyes. He still held her face in his comforting hands. He wanted to stay like this, to hold her here and keep her safe from harm but at the back of his mind the nagging concern that had restrained him all these months would not be silenced. He slowly, unwillingly, released her, his eyes never leaving her face. Her beautiful green eyes, shining with fresh tears, gazed questioningly at him. She was looking to him for an answer to the bewildering events that had just unfolded.
“Dawes,” he smiled, hesitantly and bit his lip, a habit of his since boyhood and a small outward sign that he was uncertain of himself.
“We need to talk.”
It's years since I did any creative writing. Correcting somebody else's reports at work isn't quite the same thing. Is this any good?
Where? We can’t talk here, can we?”
“We’ll have to go to my quarters. Follow me round.”
It was all he could do not to hold her and to comfort her but it was too risky and he was stern faced, desperately reining in all his emotions, as they went back to his quarters. Molly sniffed and tried to wipe away her tears so that none of Two Section could tell what had just passed between their captain and medic.
Captain James opened the door and pushed Molly in ahead of him. She looked round, taking it all in, the neat and orderly paperwork on the desk, his clothes all on hangers, and everywhere there was that musky, manly smell she had come to love. The time before when she had been in, the night when he had given her the words to the duet they were about to sing, it was dark and she had in fact been caught unawares when he shouted of her. It was also the night he first called her “Dawsie” and when she had started to wonder if her attraction towards him was in fact being reciprocated.
“What are we going to do Boss? I don’t think I can go on much longer like this. I’ve already admitted to you how I feel and I am scared I can’t hide it much longer from the rest of the Section.”
Captain James sighed and dragged his hands through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s against all army regulations Molly, you know that, but I'm finding it hard to control my feelings towards you. I can’t even look at you without wondering who’s noticed me. Kinders is a bit more perceptive than you would think! And I was sure Dangleberries knew something was up when we were singing the duet and he was playing the keyboard.”
Molly just stared at him, almost unable to comprehend that he was saying he was just as attracted to her as she was to him.
“I think if we can hang on till we finish this tour, I will speak to my CO, tell him how I feel and then when we get home, one of us will have to be assigned elsewhere. If we can wait out, I think we can sort this easily and still be together.” He bit his lip again uncertainly, waiting for Molly’s agreement, hoping and praying that he’d said the right thing. She was an unpredictable little madam and he couldn’t be sure he’d handled this right.
Not speaking before she moved, Molly reached up and kissed him full on the lips.