This has been on my computer for ages - but I've spent absolutely forever debating on a title (which I've moaned about way too much on Twitter!) but I finally settled on The Trouble with Love :D This does muck up what has happened in actual Holby but when I wrote it, it didn't so so quite so much :D. Hopefully it's ok.
The woman was sitting on a park bench, long red hair flowing down her spine and spilling over on to the wood. He started a little at the sight of her, feeling his heart rate increase, as it did whenever he saw a woman who reminded him of Jac. It had been so many months since he'd seen her, since the day she'd disappeared from Holby without a word to anyone. He had tried to find her but never to any avail and it destroyed him a little, working on Darwin without her presence. He'd tried to pretend that she meant nothing to him, so much so that he'd almost begun to believe it was true and then she was gone and he realised just how much of a lie it had been.
There was something different about this woman though, something familiar or at least more so than with the others and he found himself stepping that little bit closer to her. He knew it was stupid, that it would only end in the crushing disappointment of finding out that yet again it wasn't her but he couldn't stop himself. One day he hoped that it would be her, and that he'd find her again.
He had played the moment over in his mind so many times. What he would do if he saw her again, the words he would say and the response he hoped she'd give. He knew they were only fantasies and that his mind had altered Jac in order to give him the outcome he desired but there was hope. He had hope that it could happen as long as he tried to keep hold of the dreams in his head.
As he stepped closer, he knew that his heart was racing out of control and he could feel sweat beading. The anticipation was building and he wished he could control it. If it was her, he didn't want to be a mess. He needed to prove himself to her and to show her what she was missing and he wouldn't have been able to do that if he was a wreck.
The woman he noticed was entrenched in a large heavy coat and he felt his heart, while still racing, sink a little. It wasn't the sort of thing Jac would wear. In his fantasies, in the event of meeting her like this, he expected to see her dressed in the coat she had loved wearing so much. The one that had become so familiar to him, he would have been able to pick it out in a crowd of people with ease – even if she wasn't the one wearing it.
He came to a stop by the bench and with an aching heart he prepared himself for the disappointment of finding yet another woman masquerading as the one he loved. The woman obviously sensed the presence of another, and slowly she turned her head to look at him.
The face that looked at him was softer than he remembered. It was perhaps his mind projecting it on to this face, the fantasy face that his mind had formulated. He watched as panic flickered across the face.
"Jac?" He asked, not quite trusting himself not to projecting her face on to a stranger's. The woman blinked and closed her eyes for a second as if weighing up her options. Before she opened them and looked up in to his face.
"Jonny" She whispered in response, her voice quiet and unsure. There was something so different about her and he couldn't put his finger on it.
"I can't believe you're back" he breathed, trying to control himself. It seemed unreal that she was actually here and he wondered why after all of this time she had turned up again in Holby. She frowned a little.
"I came back for Sacha" she answered, swallowing hard. It had been one of the hardest decisions, to come back here but Sacha meant so much to her that she'd known she had to be here for him. Jonny blinked, a little saddened that it wasn't for him but it was understandable. He had almost forgotten that it was Rachael's funeral tomorrow.
"oh" he responded, looking for a second down at his feet before looking back up at her face. Again trying to work out what had changed about her but his mind just wouldn't concentrate on anything other than the fact that Jac – his Jac – was here in front of him.
"I have to go" She said, needing to get away from him. It was hard seeing him again. She'd spent months trying to forget about him, despite her constant reminder of his existence. She pushed herself heavily of the bench, feeling stiff from having sat for so long. Without thinking, she pressed her hands in to the small of her back and stretched it as much as her heavily pregnant form would allow. Jonny felt his eyes fall to her stomach, felt his heart drop in his chest.
"You're pregnant"