Something was wrong, very wrong. Something she feared she would never be able to put right. Once again she'd messed everything up but this time it seemed the pieces would no longer go back together. There was no coming back from this.

Jac Naylor didn't often find the time to allow herself to think about the situation she'd landed herself in. For the most part she was glad, rushing from operations to meetings and meetings to operations kept her placated, if not content. As she sat down on the edge of her bed she allowed a soft sigh to leave her mouth. She did not like evenings such as these. Her shift had finished hours ago but to her dismay plenty of hours remained in the day which equated to an unreasonable lump of thinking time.

She glanced at her watch and quickly registered the time: 15:32. There was only so much to keep herself occupied within the plain walls of her minimalist flat. Sooner or later he would drift into her thoughts and she'd be forced to deal with the consequences. She shook her head angrily and pushed herself up onto her feet, pacing around in a tight circle as she attempted to postpone the inevitable.

She'd chosen this. Her life was this way as a direct result of her decisions, she had no right to the sentiment which yearned, the tears which threatened to fall. God she missed him! She'd stumbled across the news by accident, a small part of her was glad that it had happened this way. If the Professor had been the once to break the news then she wouldn't have granted the solitary tear which she'd allowed to escape. She sat back on the bed and scoffed critically, this was foolish. It had been years since they'd last gazed into each other's eyes, their ways had parted and she'd methodically removed every last trace of him from her life until nothing remained. A clean break, the wounds as deep and precise as the mark of a scalpel. It was little Harry Byrne who deserved the sympathy, fate had been cruel enough to take away both his parents.

The phone shattered the silence as it called out shrilly. "Ms Naylor speaking." She answered mechanically, any hints of emotions successfully hidden.

"Jac, it's Elliot-" The bumbling professor replied. "You left before I had a chance to speak to you, how are you holding up?"

"Fine. Why wouldn't I be?" She sighed, sensing the exhaustion in her colleague's voice. "I suppose I should be inquiring how you are?"

"I can't seem to take it in-" He was quiet for a lengthy moment. "He meant a lot to me, Jac. I know the same applies to you. He was so young…"

It was now Jac's turn to pause. She closed her eyes tightly, glad that no one was around to witness her lapse of control. "The bloody idiot." She forced a clumsy laugh and then sniffed. "I suppose you'll be going to funeral?"

"I'd like a chance to say my goodbye. I never would've thought it would come to this." Elliot spoke softly. "In many respects I saw him as a son, I always reckoned that I'd be gone long before it was his time."

"Right." She cleared her throat in an attempt to stop the wavering of her voice. "Take some flowers for me, I don't feel as if I'd be welcome. The last Byrne funeral I showed my face at didn't go well."

"I'm sure he'd want you there…" Elliot started before trailing off, perhaps it would be best to avoid the probable conflicts. "Take the opportunity to visit his grave."

"I'll see if I can find the time." She replied stoically which drew a sigh from the professor's mouth. Forcing her voice to remain level she continued. "How much do you know about it?"

He stumbled over his words, aware the conversation had drifted from the funeral. "I've been assured it was very quick. Almost instant… He wouldn't have felt much pain. I- er- it was an RTC, he suffered a massive trauma to his head. Skidded on some ice. Jennifer said the back roads were treacherous."

Jac sniffed again, cursing the moisture which threatened to fall from her eyes. Steeling herself, she spoke with spite. "How is the unicorn bride? Happy to be receiving her chunk of the Byrne wealth?"

"Don't be so cynical." Elliot chided her softly. "She's devastated, I do believe they loved each other. A different affection to what he showed you but love just the same."

A choked laugh spluttered from her mouth. "Lucky girl. I don't know what I meant to him."

"You were precious to him." He spoke with a kindly sternness. "Don't let yourself forget that. Mourn for him, Jac. This isn't something you can shut away."

With a poorly suppressed groan of anguish a tear to rolled down her porcelain cheek. "Goodbye, Elliot."

"Goodbye." He sighed dolefully. "Take care of yourself."

She nodded to herself and then froze as she felt a niggling surge of emotion stopping her from ending the call. "Elliot?"

"Yes?" He implored tenderly

"I'm sorry."

She hung up in the confused silence which followed the two heavy words and allowed the phone to fall to the ground, the resounding clatter resonating with finality. One by one tears raced down her sculptured cheekbones until her vision became blurred and her skull throbbed with an unrelenting dull ache. This wasn't right! This wasn't how it was supposed to be! She clenched her hands into fists to ignore the screaming inside her head she forced herself to move, slowly dragging each foot in front of each other to reach her bathroom. She lifted her bowed head and her eyes locked with her blotchy eyed reflection and she gripped tightly onto the sink. A sob escaped her followed by a piercing shriek of torment. No! The broken woman in the mirror stared, wide eyed, back at her.

I started writing this without being entirely sure where it was going (I now have a slightly clearer idea) so I'd love to know what people think! Please review, let me know if it's worth updating so I can decide if I should bother continuing, I'm open to constructive criticism :) Thank you!