Under a Blue Moon

Disclaimer:- Don't own them just borrowing!

Episode:- None

Pairing:- Sandra/Gerry

Rating:- K

Achieve:- . /group/new_tricksff/

Summary:- Now and then there is a blue moon in the sky and when there is something wonderful, magical and life changing may just be coming your way.

Author's Note:- Short fluffy and hopefully a little smile fic enjoy and reviews would be lovely.

"Once in a blue moon." It's something people say to mean things are rare, unlikely, or will never happen at all. It's something I used to say; "Oh yeah was there a blue moon in the sky with some pigs flying past it?" when someone suggested something, anything, that I thought was ridiculous. That was before though. Before that night. I can honestly say I didn't see any flying pigs but I did see a blue moon and when I did it had a magical effect that changed everything. Yes I'm aware how mad that sounds but let me explain then maybe you'll understand and even if you don't I can guarantee you'll be amazed.

There was nothing special about that night, nothing that gave even a hint it was going to be the night that changed my life but then that's the way it often is isn't it? You are busy getting on with life, getting from one day to the next not expecting things to change and that the moment life decides it's sick of routine, of getting by, and slaps you with something huge, unexpected and amazing. That's what was going to happen to me that night, I just didn't know it when I sat down to eat with my boys and argued about the fact I always order too much when we go for Indian food.

"Look it's my treat tonight and I'm ordering as much as I want. Do we ever leave much when we go out to eat? If it was down to you three we'd all be staring at bland Kormas right now or worse still be having fish and chips or jellied bloody eels."

"Once! Once I asked you to come with me when that eel place was closing down and you've never let me forget it since!"

Brian's insistence that Gerry traumatised him for life with that culinary adventure completely changed the mood around the table and I was enjoying sitting back listening to the three of them argue like group of teenagers in a playground. The food arrived and we started to eat and that's when it started. The tiny snowball that would become the avalanche that changed my life forever started at exactly that second. There wasn't a blue moon at that stage or if there was I was too distracted by the pain in my stomach and the fact the room was suddenly out of focus to notice.

"Sandra are you ok?"

"Guvnor what's wrong?"

"Someone call and ambulance. Now!"

I don't know which of them made which comment or asked which question because at that stage the room was fading completely and I've no idea what happened next. I can see you thinking god you could have warned us that the big change in your life was that you ceased to have one, that you dropped dead in some Indian restaurant somewhere in London but it's not that honestly. It's night than that, much nicer. Anyway back to the story. So we're in the local Indian Restaurant, everything is good, I feel like someone has stabbed me in the guts and the next thing I remember I'm staring at the ceiling in a hospital cubicle while a doctor who doesn't look old enough to have left primary school let alone qualified is telling me they suspect my appendix has ruptured and they're taking me to theatre immediately. I'd like to say I was logical, rational, asked all the right questions and held it together at that moment but that would be a lie. I stared at him like he was speaking ancient Greek, signed the consent form and felt like bursting into tears by the time Gerry appeared at the cubicle curtain.

"Hey you, they told us what's going on I've sent Jack and Brian home but I'll be right here when you come out of surgery." Again I'd like to say I told him not to be silly, to go home too I'd be fine but since I've decided not to sugar coat this I best stick to the truth. The truth which is that I'd never been more relieved in my life. We all know that doctors do these routine operations every day but I don't do hospitals I haven't had an operation since I had my tonsils out when I was four and the thought of doing so at that moment turned me into a basket case. I needed someone, no scratch that I needed him, but again I didn't know about the whole blue moon thing so I assumed he'd just been the one who'd drawn the short straw, I never thought for a second he'd chosen to stay with me. . I still believed that when he gently kissed me on the forehead as they wheeled me away and when I faded out as they pumped me full of aesthetic I was thinking how much I wished he'd kissed me properly. Watch out for the blue moon later because that's when things really kick off.

I don't know about you but I've heard people talk about coming out of an aesthetic having had these weird dreams or flashes of inspiration while unconscious well I'm here to tell you that didn't happen to me, I don't remember anything from the second I fell asleep till the second I woke up in the recovery room feeling like I'd been kicked around the operating theatre by a particularly obstinate mule. Similarly when they pumped me full of pain relief and wheeled me back to the small side ward I don't remember seeing him sitting there waiting for me. I don't know how long he waited for me to wake up I only know that when I did his face was the first thing I saw,

"Hi there, you gave us quite a scare there but they say they got it in time so you'll be fine." If I'd been more alert, more in tune with what was happening I might have noticed something in the way he was looking at me or the way he spoke to me but all I could think about was going back to sleep which is exactly what I did. I fell asleep with his hand gripping mine and his thumb making soothing circles on my palm.

When I woke up again I saw it. I know it was probably the tint to the hospital windows or the effect of the drugs but when I looked through the window the moon was a subtle shade of blue. That was the moment when he gently stroked my cheek.

"Gerry? Why didn't you go home?"

"Sssh it's ok sweetheart I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere until when I do I'm taking you with me. I thought I'd lost you in that restaurant tonight and I've no intention of taking that risk again."

Now you may think there's nothing huge about that statement, that it's sweet or a nice expression of concern but let me explain. See we don't talk to each other like that, we don't say "sweet" things, we don't even really express concern for each other outwardly. We're friends, colleagues nothing more but I had spent years wishing that wasn't the case. I fell for him years ago but I never believed for a second that he could ever feel the same way.

"Go back to sleep we'll talk about this when you're feeling better. For now just remember I'm not going anywhere." That was the last thing he said before he kissed me, a soft brush of his lips against mine but it was enough. That night in a dark hospital side ward under a blue moon my life changed and now two years later I'm standing outside the doors of a hotel conference room with Jack at my side about to walk down the aisle and marry the man I love. So next time someone tells you that things happen once in a blue moon and you know they mean there's no chance of it happening just remember this. Now and then there is a blue moon in the sky and when there is something wonderful, magical and life changing may just be coming your way.