She smiled for him, she never smiled for him. The cold frosty glaze that usually clouded her beautiful face was gone and, instead, replace with a delicate glow that put the faces of every other woman in the room to shame.

Her eyes, a dark hazelnut, burst with life as she laughed with her colleagues. Noel's was the loudest voice in the room, he shouted and stuttered as he recalled a confusing tale about one of his holidays in Portugal, but she was not looking at Noel like everyone else. She looked only at the man who had made all of her happiness possible, who had treated her with kindness instead of contempt. He stared back at her with the same hopeful thought he'd carried with him ever since he first laid eyes on her, could she love me, too?

His mouth went dry as sand as she got up and walked towards him, she was wearing a beautiful silk gown that hugged her curves and made her look like a beautiful pixie; he admired her up and down as she did the same to him. He became frozen to the spot as she came within inches of him; she slid her hand across the mahogany bar and left it to rest on top of his fingers, was she nervous too? He thought as he watched her fingers intertwine with his own.

She leaned in close to him and whispered in his ear, "Jay, I-" she struggled with the words. "I wanted to thank you for-" her words took to long for him and, as his heart beat so loud it drowned everything else out, he made his move.

He was gentle but urgent as he leaned in and kissed her on her rose coloured lips, he could taste her cherry lip-gloss as he waited anxiously for her to respond. She did. She kissed him with more vigour than he had kissed her but it still felt good to him. In the distance he heard the silence that fell over the gaggle of friends who were watching them but neither of them cared. Ruth and Jay's hands never unlocked as they locked together as one happy moment.

The moment passed as they both needed to breath again and they pulled away, Ruth let out a magical giggle as Jay stroked his lips to find the lip gloss that coated them. They stared for a second at each other before breaking into a wide grin. A small clap could be heard from behind them and, as they both turned, they saw Charlie chuckling at them both. The rest of their colleagues began to smile as the pair locked hands again and sat back down again.

After the friends had all departed in their separate taxis, they were all too drunk to drive, Jay and Ruth were the only two left behind. As one more taxi turned up Jay stood aside and opened the door for her. Ruth slid in with Jay following close behind.

"I love you" Ruth said as they sat in the cab slowly curving along the twisted streets of Holby. She hadn't hesitated at all when she said it, and, as she stroked his hand in hers, she knew he felt the same way too. He smiled to himself as he felt the warmth of he skin and decided, he would never let this feeling go.