Morning all! This is just a bit of fun that I came up with one evening after a riding lesson and a chat to MirrorSparles1234. Only a one shot - but a rather long one at that. Enjoy, and let me know what you think! x
One morning on a Thursday Jonny skipped cheerily onto Darwin with his hand clasped around something behind his back.
"Jac!" He called over to grab the consultant's attention. She rolled her eyes, fearing what he was so happy about before turning around with a false smile,
"Jonny" she stated his name as he bound towards her.
"I have a proposition for you" he began to explain before she cut in to mock him.
"Jonny, I'm sure we've been here before. I don't think Bonnie will be very happy about you making all these propositions towards your ex."
"Oh ha ha Jac, very funny. No, seriously though I have something to ask you." he continued as she stared back at him expectantly.
"Well... get on with it then, I do want to get home to our daughter at some point tonight you know."
"Right. Well, Saturday night me and Bonnie went out to a little pub and they were doing a little raffle for some donkey charity so I bought a load of tickets and-" he began to explain before being interrupted once again.
"Jonny. As enthralling as this little anecdote is and as much as I love hearing about the amazing work those little workers are doing for the poor little donkeys carrying bricks all day instead of...well, whatever donkeys are supposed to do, does this have an actual point?" she queried sarcastically in her usual acidly laced tone.
"Yes! Believe me, I don't just come and chat to you because I enjoy your sparkling company" he replied in much the same way, earning himself an scornful glare. "Anyway. I've won a day out for three at Larkwood riding centre. So, seeing as Bonnie's scared of horses, how about me, you and Emma take a little trip?"
"Riding?" she queried. "On horses? No Jonny."
"Oh come on Jac! Don't be such a spoil sport. You know Emma will love it and you never know, you might find that you discover a talent you never knew you had" the nurse tried to flatter and sweet talk the mother of his child round to his plan. She took a moment's silence to contemplate this before finally giving in,
"Fine. But, if I fall off and end up a brain damaged vegetable, you have to promise to smother me with a pillow." Jonny then replied with a beaming smile, a kiss on the top of her head and with more than a hint of sarcasm agreed,
"It would be my pleasure dear." As he turned around to walk off with grin on his face he added "You won't regret this Naylor, I promise."
"Hmm yeah we'll see Maconie" she mumbled before she called back to him, "Oh and Jonny, there's no skill in sitting on a horse and making it move, it's just like a slower, hairier motorbike!"
"Well we won't have any problems then will we?" he replied with a laugh. "I'll pick you up at ten on Saturday, I'm expecting the works, jodhpurs and spurs." She raised her eyebrows back at him, as he walked away laughing to himself, she began to wonder why she had agreed to this.
Just before ten o'clock the following Saturday, Jonny walked up to Jac's door and waited a moment before knocking as he listened to the disarray on the other side,
"Emma! You better be ready, I know you're father doesn't have the best time keeping record but he'll be here soon." Jac shouted through the flat before cursing under her breath as she almost tripped over, "and for the last time; will you stop leaving your shoes all over the place! I'm not your maid you know young-" she was interrupted abruptly by a knock at the door.
"Mornin' your majesty" was the greeting she received from Jonny as he stood at the door, bowing like a fool and tipping his imaginary cap.
"Shut up you idiot." was her reply as he stepped inside and kicked his shoes off (assuming he would be waiting a while.) "You're early, are you feeling alright?"
"Ha ha Naylor, hilarious" he replied sarcastically. "Anyway, where's my little princess?" This was received by a roll off the consultant's eyes and
"Emma is in her room, go in if you want" as she popped some bread into the toaster.
Jonny made his way towards the mass of purple that was his six year old daughter's bedroom and peered his head around the door to see her sat at her little wooden dressing table plaiting her long auburn hair. He crept up behind her and she swiftly jumped up as he started to tickle her sides.
"There's my little heart-breaker!" he exclaimed over her shrieking and giggling, before lifting her up and sitting her comfortably on his shoulders.
"Morning Daddy!" she replied cheerfully when she'd regained her breath. He then lifted her down and plopped her back on her little stool where she continued to plait the other side of her hair.
"So, are you excited about today then munchkin?" he asked as he busied himself making the bed for her, knowing her mother would flip if it wasn't done.
"Yeah! I don't think Mummy is though" she laughed with a smile on her face, "I think she wanted me to get her out of it." Jonny grinned back at his daughter, she was wise for her age and she was one of the only people who completely understood her mother; a handy trick when he was trying to worm his way around her. The young girl then clipped a stray wisp of ginger hair to the side of her face with a bow and span around on her chair to face her father.
"Ready?" he asked, standing up from the bed himself. She nodded back at him and the pair wandered through to the kitchen where Jac placed a plate of hot toast and jam in front of her daughter before she continued to rush around, tidying things up.
It got to 10:15 before the trio finally left the house, mainly because of Emma being missing a wellington and finding it ten minutes later under her bed. The three jumped in the car and Jonny asked
"Everyone belted up?" to which Emma replied with an excited
"Yep!" and Jac rolled her eyes with a less than conspicuous grin.
"Right, let's go run the grand national then!"
On arriving at a farm, which Jac described as 'the place infertile stallions go to live out their days until they die', they stepped out of the car and walked over to a large wooden barn. A woman in her mid twenties was backing out of a stable with a box of brushes in her hand, telling a rather big bright chestnut cob
"stay there now you, we don't want any of your tricks today." She jumped slightly as she turned around to see the three strangers behind her but greeted them in a friendly manner,
"Ahh you must be Jonny yes?" she directed towards the nurse who shook her hand and replied,
"Yeah, are you Carol?" he asked a little confused that he didn't recognise hers as the voice he had spoken to on the phone.
"Oh no, Carol's out at a show today. I'm Kate; I'm like her second in command" she explained with a sparkling smile as she pulled her bright blonde hair back into a pony tail.
"Oh right ok, well I'm pleased to meet you Kate, uh this is my daughter Emma" he continued as he placed his hands on the shoulders of the little girl in front of him, "and this is her Mum; Jac." The young woman grinned like a cat at Jac who nodded back at her politely and simply said
"Hi."
"Right" she began enthusiastically, "shall we get you on some of these beasts?"
"Go for it!" was Jonny's reply, which earned yet another eye roll from Jac.
Kate disappeared momentarily, then came back with a rather big saddle and hopped back into the stable with the cob.
"Okay, Jac" she called over to the woman, who had gone abnormally quiet. "We'll put you on this guy, I've just got to pop his saddle on and we'll get you up." Jonny noticed Jac's eyes widen a fair bit at this revelation and then whispered something into his daughter's ear, which caused her to burst into a fit of giggles.
"What did you just say to her?" Kate queried, as she observed the small child chuckling to herself, as Jac just glared at Jonny.
"He said...he said; the horse matches Mummy's hair!" Emma squealed between taking deep breaths and laughing. This caused Kate to join in laughing as Jac elbowed Jonny lightly in the ribs.
"Aww lighten up Naylor, at least you wont clash! What's his name anyway?"
"This big boy is Dominic" was Kate's reply, still smiling at the trio. This of course caused Jonny to start laughing again as he said
"Oh god, isn't that the name of that F1 on Keller that got it on with Malick?... Well if the name's anything to go by, you two will make a right pair!" Jac then sighed and buried her face in her hands as the other three continued to giggle at her expense.
Once Emma was up safely and happily on a little furry black Shetland named Minty, her parents went over to their assigned horses while one of the stable hands held on to her and she chatted away to her about how she was now going to ask Santa for a pony for Christmas. Jonny hopped straight up on his horse; a bay thoroughbred, ex-show jumper named Horris, and took it on himself to show off by throwing his leg forward and tightening his own girth. Meanwhile, Jac stood on a mounting block as the horse in front of her proceeded to stamp his feet and refused to stand still in front of her long enough for her to get on.
"Can I not have a calmer one?" she queried nervously to Kate who was now walking the horse in a circle in an attempt to calm him down.
"Ohh don't worry Hun, he'll be fine once you're on him, he just likes to have his five minutes of drama" the young blonde woman replied smiling reassuringly.
Finally the horse managed to keep himself still, while he chewed on a hay net hanging outside an empty stable, and Kate instructed Jac on how to mount the horse, which she had aptly labelled 'the hairy beast'. Jonny, on Horris, walked up beside the mother of his child as she was uncharacteristically 'faffing' about getting on.
"Come on Naylor, it's simple; just put your left foot in the stirrup and jump!" She easily ignored him in frustration as her heart was pounding in her chest, but eventually found herself up on the horse, muttering
"Why the hell did I agree to do this?" to herself. However, before she could get a good grip on her reins, Dom decided he'd had enough of the hay he was munching on and leant his head down to scratch his forearm. Unfortunately, being that high up and seeing the horses head disappear from in front of her, left Jac to let out and involuntary squeal as she gripped onto her saddle for dear life and screeched,
"Oh god Jonny, what's it doing? Jonny, make it stop, tell it to behave!" Making the rest of the yard laugh and pity her, including Emma who was now stood next to her Dad on Minty giggling at her Mum. Dominic's head then suddenly re-revealed itself, leaving Jac still gripping on with her eyes closed tight. Kate came up beside her, placing a hand on her arm as she flinched and spoke calmly, whilst trying not to laugh,
"You're alright Jac, he's just having a scratch before set off. Just sit yourself up, shorten your reins a bit and keep your heels down. You'll be fine, I promise." The consultant opened her eyes slowly, one at a time and followed the woman's instructions, letting out a sigh of relief as the horse seemed to be staying still for now. Then, through gritted teeth, ordered Jonny and her daughter
"nobody say a word."
Once Jac had gotten to grips with the prospect of the horse actually moving, and Kate had mounted a dappled grey horse named Trix, they set off trekking into the nearby forest. The group were happily walking along, Jac was quite happy with the pace they were moving and they were comfortably making small talk. Kate began to query,
"So, what do you to do then? Like, as a job?" Jac, being Jac was getting a bit bored of the stable hand's spirit so left Jonny to reply with a smile,
"Uhh, we work at Holby City. I'm a Clinical Nurse Manager and Jac's a Cardiothoracic Consultant. All a million miles from glitz and glamour of the countryside here, eh?" This caused Jac to let out a snort of derision a little louder than intended, but luckily this woman didn't seemed to take anything to heart.
"Oh that's got to be pretty full on then! I much prefer horses to people, I'm training to be a vet at night school at the moment," she added with a chuckle. Then, as they came to a hill she asked another question,
"Urm, so how long have you two been married then?" To which both Jac and Jonny jumped into correcting her,
"Oh no, no no no. You've got the wrong end of the stick there" was Jac's immediate reply. Causing Emma to giggle to herself again while Jonny and Jac just looked at each other baffled as to what to say next. Then, out of the blue Emma began to explain;
"Mummy and Daddy aren't married Kate, Daddy's married to Auntie Bonnie and Mummy's too grumpy for anyone to want to marry her. But, it's ok, because I still love her, and I think Daddy does a little bit too." Both her parents were gobsmacked at everything their six year old daughter had just said, leaving them both staring at each other with open mouths.
Not long afterwards, coming down the hill an unusually large and sprightly grey squirrel jumped out of a hedgerow nearby and scurried across Dominic's path, right in front of his feet. Jac suddenly let out a rather loud gasp and the next thing Kate, Jonny and Emma saw was a flash of bright chestnut as Dominic galloped past him with his rider hanging on for dear life. The three of them watched on, stunned and helpless as the giant, stocky cob continued racing into the distance, towards a rather high fence around fifteen feet ahead until he must have realised he couldn't jump it. Kate knew that his only options at this point were to make a sharp turn into the forest which would probably leave the consultant to fall of the other way into a bush, or, the more likely option. The darting horse looked straight at the fence in front of him and as everything seemed to slow down, he came to a very abrupt and sudden halt, leaving the red-headed consultant to land with a bump on the very far side of the hedge.
Jonny then swiftly dismounted from the seventeen hands high Horris and ran, full pelt, practically leaping over the eight foot fence and finding the mother of his child lay on the other side, in a rather big muck heap.
"Shit! Jac, Jac are you okay? Wait no, don't move you might have broken something." The nurse in him flapped and panicked as she lay there glaring at him.
"Jonny. You're flapping like a baggy kilt again. I'm fine, just help me up" she ordered. He held out his hand to her and wrapped his arm securely around her waist as he helped her gently to her feet.
"Okay?" he queried.
"No! I'm covered in bloody horse shite, why the hell did I agree to do this?" she grumbled unhappily.
"Ohhh come on now Jac, it's just a bit of fun! Lighten up a bit" he encouraged, as he attempted to brush horse poo and mud from her back.
"Fun? This is your idea of fun? Rolling around in animal crap?" She exclaimed irately. "Right then" she added, pushing him back just as he set about climbing down from the muck heap.
"Oh no you don't" he retorted as he fell and grabbed her arm with him. She screeched,
"Jonny!" Leaving the pair of them lay in a heap of laughter and horse muck.
"I miss this you know Jac.." Jonny spoke softly as the pair were now lay looking at each other.
"...Jonny" she hesitated and searched his face for any sort of sign of what to do or say next. "You're married. Just don't go there." The pair where then interrupted by Emma and Kate along with the four horses coming around the corner through the other entrance to the field - the more conventional one. They quickly pulled themselves up off the floor, for the second time, to be greeted by Emma laughing at them.
"How on earth did you both end up in that state?" Kate queried in complete bewilderment.
"Ahh.. long story" they both replied together with a smile.
"Right well, urh Jac are you ok?" she checked, as she kept her suspicions to herself. Jac replied with a quaint nod and a smile as Emma looked at her in concern.
An hour or so later the group arrived back at the farm house; Emma and Kate back on the horses but Jac and Jonny figuring it would be better to walk and lead them along. They were both greeted by a surprise in Bonnie and Sacha, standing outside, coming to pick them both up. On setting sights on the pair of extremely muddy medics, leading a pair of agitated looking horses, Sacha and Bonne (who obviously kept her distance) burst into roaring laughter. Once the horses were back in their stables and Jonny had thanked Kate and the other stable hands for the day they made their way back into the car park; where they met the wife and best friend. Emma ran straight at Sacha as soon as she was free to, and he lifted her up into a gargantuous bear hug.
"What on earth happened to you pair?" Bonnie piped up as she took in her husband's dishevelled appearance.
"Don't." Was Jac's only reply when Sacha looked at her with a face that was obviously trying not to giggle. Jonny then whispered to his wife,
"I'll tell you on the way home" to which Jac glared at.
After Emma saying her goodbyes to Bonnie and her father, her and her Mum both slumped exhaustedly into Sacha's car. Jac was a bit too quiet for Sacha's liking though, and he knew it wasn't just tiredness. He noticed it first when Bonnie greeted Jonny (much like a teenage girl would) but something wasn't quite right.
"Emma?" he called to the sleepy little girl in the back of the car as he looked in his mirror. "Would you like to listen to my iPod while you fall asleep on the journey home?" Jac threw her friend a confused look, because it was obvious to her that he wanted to stop Emma from being able to here them.
"Oooh, yes please Uncle Sacha" was Emma's cheery, but tired reply as she took the blue iPod and headphones from him and settled down listening to The Kinks - a strange choice for a six year old, but both parents preferred it to One Direction.
"So, Jac" he began when he was sure his god daughter was engrossed in the music. "What's going on with you? I thought you were ok with BonJon" he queried with a laugh. She rolled her eyes at his immaturity but replied hesitantly,
"I was... I mean, I am." Sacha screwed his face up in confusion as he looked at her,
"Well... tell your face that then grumpy pants." She let out a sigh and looked back at her best friend.
"Today just brought back a lot of feelings I thought I'd gotten rid of." He then cracked a huge smile across his face and laughed,
"Wait. Hold the press! Jac Naylor has feelings?" which earned him a playful slap round the back of his head from his friend, before he added, "Seriously though Jac. Talk to him."
Back at the flat that night, Jac had not long put Emma to bed and was now sat in the lounge: watching some rubbish on TV and thinking about what Sacha had said, when she received a text.
'Jac. Thanks for a wonderful day. Say goodnight to my princess for me. - Jonny x'
Which did nothing but fry her brain even more. She sat for over an hour with her phone in her hand and a blank text message on the screen, desperately trying to fathom out what to say to him. Eventually, after staring at and re-reading what she had written at least ten times she pressed send.
'Jonny. Don't mention it. Emma says she loves you and goodnight. By the way, I miss you too. - Jac x'