So, thought I would make hay whilst the sun shone (or whilst 'real' Holby hasn't quite caught up yet) and write another Jac/Jonny and 'wee baby Nayonie' story. This could be seen as a companion piece to my other most recent offering, 'And Baby Makes Three', and even though this one is set before it, I think it's actually better if you read that one first (just click on my name above if you haven't and would like to). It also has some nods to some of my other stories - most notably 'Broken Hearted' (which I do intend to finish soon I promise!) but can also be read on its own, as it does work as a totally separate one-shot. Anyway, enough of the pre-amble, and on with the story...Enjoy!
July 31st 2014
Jac woke to the sound of a bird singing in the garden. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the light filtering through the curtains and then closed her eyes again and snuggled down under the covers making herself comfortable. Then her eyes flew open and she suddenly sat up, calling out, with more than a note of panic in her voice, "Jonny!" She instinctively looked at the place where the cot normally was, before, remembering that they had finally moved it out of their bedroom at the weekend, she struggled to get her limbs to move in order to get out of the bed. And then, somehow, the sound of her daughter's slow steady breathing, relayed through the baby monitor on her bedside table, punctured her consciousness, and just as soon as it had come she felt the panic dissipate. As her heart rate returned to normal and her breathing settled, she felt Jonny moving next to her and he asked
"What's up? Is anything the matter?"
"She flopped back on to the bed next to him and said, "No, nothing," and seeing the look of disbelief on his face as he raised himself on one elbow to look at her she continued, "Just me being a worry-wart again."
"What about this time?"
"It doesn't matter," she replied, unwilling to let him know how anxious she still was that, even now, something would happen to Elodie and she'd be snatched away from them. "In fact, actually" she continued, seizing on an idea of how she could change the subject, "its as far from being something the matter as it's possible to get. Our enormously clever little daughter has just slept through the night for the first time ever."
"What?" Jonny said, before looking over at the alarm clock on his bedside table which clearly said 6.06 on its display, turning back and smiling saying, "Wow, way to go Ellie. That's just brilliant."
"Yep" Jac replied, moving closer to him and gently pulling at his arm so that, unbalanced he fell back on the bed,
"Hey, what wa.." Jonny began to protest, before hastily cutting off the rest of his complaint when Jac laid her head on his chest. "Oh, ok" he said, putting his arm round her and after gently kissing the top of her head stroking her hair. They lay there for a few minutes, Jac contentedly listening to the comforting sound of Jonny's heart beating, whilst Jonny curled the ends of her hair round his fingers, something he loved doing.
Jac then kissed Jonny's chest before raising her head slightly she looked at him and said, "I can't help thinking that, lovely though this is, we really should be taking more advantage of this… our sleeping beauty."
"Oh yes," Jonny said, lifting his head off the pillow slightly to look at her and smiling. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well," Jac said, moving up the bed, "I was thinking of this" she continued, as she gently brushed his lips with her own, "and this" she concluded, before kissing him in earnest. And Jonny responded and soon they were lost in one of their 'deep and meaningfuls' and Jonny said, when they paused for a moment to come up for air,
"That was a very good thought, Miss Naylor, a very good thought indeed." Before they began again.
Their kiss progressed into something more, and as Jac sank into the mattress slightly, Jonny began to unbutton her pyjama top to shower butterfly kisses on her neck whilst she pushed up his T-shirt and it was then they both heard a whimper from the baby monitor. "Carry on," Jac said pleadingly, when Jonny stopped what he was doing to look over at it, "maybe she'll go back to sleep" before kissing him once again to reclaim his attention. And for a minute or so no more sounds came from the monitor and they continued with what they were doing, although with a renewed and palpable sense of urgency as they both knew that time was short. And Jac had just succeeded in getting Jonny's T-shirt over his head and was just about to sit up to shrug off her pyjama top when there was another whimper from the monitor, followed a moment later by a cry which soon grew to a wail. And Jonny, who already knew what this meant, slumped down defeated by Jac's side, reaching over to join the two sides of her pyjama top together, before slowly untangling his legs from hers. "Dammit," Jac said, as the wailing continued, before smiling ruefully across at him. "See, that's why I never used to do cuddles" she said, as she simultaneously did up her top button whilst kicking off the rest of the covers. "Mummy's coming sweetheart," she called out as she placed her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, all the time methodically doing up the buttons Jonny had painstakingly undone in the minutes before. "The breakfast bar is now open," she murmured to herself as she walked towards the door, pausing in the doorway to look back at Jonny and blowing him a kiss, remarking "Later" before padding off, out of his sight across the corridor.
And Jonny let out a dejected sigh and punched the quilt in frustration, and lay in bed for a minute or two rueing what might have been before, as he suddenly remembered what he'd planned to do that day, getting up and following Jac out of the door.
xxxxxx
In the time Jonny had been having his regrets Jac had reached what she supposed should now be called the nursery and picked up her wailing daughter from her cradle. And even though it was a sound she never wanted to hear, because it meant Elllie was unhappy or in need of something, she almost always, still, secretly rejoiced to hear it too. It was one of the many contradictions she was now learning to live with in her role as a mother, and one of the, if not the only one, she knew that she didn't share with any of the other new mums she routinely came in to contact with. For her, Ellie's cries represented far more than sleepless nights or interrupted plans they were, in some strange way, a gift – something to be thankful for, because she still remembered how desperate she'd been to hear them when she was born. 'Not that I'm not pleased now when they stop', she thought to herself as she murmured endearments into her daughters ear and slowly rocked her in her arms, gently rubbing her back as she walked towards the changing table. "Shhhhh, mummy's got you. Everything's OK. Mummy's here. Shhhhh." And her daughter's cries slowly quietened, until after a final hiccup followed by one last whimper she nuzzled into Jac's neck and was silent. And Jac stood there by the changing table for a few seconds, enjoying the moment before looking down at her and noticing that she was mouthing at her neck, she said after kissing the top of her head. "I know you're hungry darling, but we need to change this nappy first don't we?" and so saying, she carefully placed Ellie down on the changing mat. "Yes we do, don't we?" she said, smiling down at her daughter and tickling her tummy in a successful attempt to stop her crying again. "Yes, we do." And she was rewarded for her efforts by one of Ellie's smiles, and unable to resist she bent down to kiss her daughter's face, covering it with kisses before, after she'd undone the press studs on her babygro doing the same to her stomach, something which caused Ellie to giggle, which was, much more than her crying, a sound Jac rejoiced in.
xxxxxx
Having changed Ellie's nappy, Jac realised that she needed the toilet herself so picked up Ellie and carried her to the bedroom in the hope that Jonny would be able to keep her amused whilst she did what she needed to in the en-suite. She was more than a little surprised to see that their bed was empty, "I wonder what's got into Daddy" she said to Ellie, "you normally have to crowbar him out of bed on his days off. Oh well, plan B it is then," she continued, walking back towards the nursery, and as she did so realising that Jonny was in the bathroom. "Typical!" she muttered to herself, "he's never where I need him… Right," she continued, as they entered the nursery again, "now because your daddy isn't where he should be we're going to have to get something else to amuse you," she told Ellie as she laid her down in her cradle, "so" she said, as she wound up the Noah's Ark mobile that was fixed to one side of it, "you just look at this for a while and mummy'll be back soon, OK?"
xxxxxx
Jac sat in the nursery chair they'd had delivered the week after they'd moved in to this house, looking down at her daughter feeding. And still, after all this time, she was profoundly grateful that she was able to do this, that her body, in this one thing, had not let her down and that despite the stress and trauma that surrounded Elodie's birth her milk had 'come in'. Thankful too that she had persisted with it, when it all felt so alien and pointless – expressing it just something else she had to endure, and which, at the start, much worse, kept her away from where she wanted to be. Ridiculously proud, even now, that some time in she had actually been able to donate to the milk bank. She remembered gazing at the 'Breast Is Best' poster in a daze, not really seeing the message, after the 20 week scan and wondering if she'd even have a baby to hold at the end of everything, let alone one that she could feed. So, although it might be 'the most natural thing in the world' it still felt to her slightly miraculous each time she did it. She knew that she would need to stop completely soon, they had already begun the weaning process, feeding Ellie some solids and using follow-on milk, so she was now normally only doing this twice a day. And it had been easier, she had to admit, and the teething process also seemed to be starting and she really didn't want to be doing it then, but she would also miss it, which was one of the most, for her, strange things she'd come to realise. She realised that she'd started to hum, and realising what song it was, smiled to herself and carried on. She glanced up at the Bunnykin's clock on the wall, nearly five to, and idly wondered what Jonny was doing in the bathroom. He was normally an in and out kind of shower guy, having perfected his morning routine to allow himself the most time in bed when he was on an early shift, although perfected was probably an exaggeration judging by the number of times he was very nearly or actually a few minutes late on shift. 'Not that that's been a problem recently' she thought to herself, 'with both you and me on his case, eh Ellie.' She looked down at her daughter again and said "Oh no you don't," and tickled her foot, "although," she said glancing at the clock again. "I suppose it probably is time to do a swapsie if you want any more," and after feeling her breast continued."Yep, if you're still hungry you're going to have to move." She gently removed her nipple from Ellie's mouth, and moved her so she was sitting on her lap. "You can't possibly be tired," she remarked, as Ellie yawned after she'd wiped her mouth "not after you slept the whole night through. Which reminds me," bending down to kiss the top of her head, "I haven't said well done for that. Or thank you," she continued planting another kiss on her forehead, "and as a special reward… more milk" she said, as, in a well practiced motion she pulled down her pyjama top to expose her other breast, and settled Ellie down. Once Ellie had begun to feed properly again she found herself humming the same tune again and after glancing down to check that everything was as it should be she settled back in the chair and closing her eyes just enjoyed the moment, thinking as she did so how she'd never have thought, before Ellie, that just sitting and being, letting her thoughts go where they fancied, could ever feel so good. It was a few minutes later, and when she'd already done a round and a half that she consciously realised she'd switched from humming to singing the song…"You'll never know dear how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." The realisation caused her to pause for a moment before with a shrug of her shoulders she decided to carry on. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…" Knowing exactly who she had to thank, or blame (depending on her frame of mind) for her choice of lullaby, she smiled. Remembering also, how surprised Jonny had been when he'd first heard her singing it to Ellie, very softly through the hole in the incubator whilst she'd rubbed her tummy with her hand through the other one. And even now she wasn't sure if he was more surprised that she was doing it at all, or at how good she was at it – singing in the shower definitely being his thing when they'd been together and all that time she'd spent in the school choir obviously not having been wasted for her either.
As if he'd heard her thoughts she heard Jonny come out of the bathroom and called out to him. "What you been doing in there? I thought you'd been washed down the plughole."
"Well," he said, appearing at the doorway with a towel round his shoulders, and smiling at her as she looked across at him, "after everything, I had to have a long cold shower didn't I? A very long, very cold shower" he continued putting the towel on the changing table before he walked over to them. "Thanks to you" he said crouching down in front of the chair and stroking Ellie's face, "Daddy thinks he might have frost nip." Ellie opened her eyes and moved her arm in response to her dad's voice and touch, and Jonny caught her hand and gently placed his finger in it, which she immediately clutched. "But it's OK" he said, "because Daddy loves you so much he'd forgive you anything. Even if you made him lose a finger or a toe."
"I hope it is just your fingers and toes," Jac said, causing Jonny to look up at her confused, before seeing how she was smiling he cottoned on to what she meant, and smile back at her. "I'd hate to think that any of your other… extremities had been affected,"
"Well, you need have no fear on that score," he replied, slowly raising himself up "I can assure you that everything else is fine and in perfect working order" he continued, winking at her as he said it, before closing in for a kiss. And the last thing he saw before their lips touched was Jac's smile after she'd said 'Good'. And then they were kissing, and that was all there was.
And their 'deep and meaningful' was interrupted, yet again by Ellie who suddenly moved her head away from Jac's breast, let out a small squawk and flailed her arm around. "Hey, hey, hey" Jonny said, as his hand was moved around by her arm movements, "woah there. You alright?" he asked Jac, as she struggled to support Ellie's head as she arched it away from her. Jac nodded as she managed to get a more secure hold of her daughter, pulling her towards her and letting out a relieved sigh as she did so. She then took another deep breath in, and breathing out again exchanged a look with Jonny. "Well," he said smiling, "further evidence, if any was needed that she's definitely her mother's daughter," he continued, as he assumed his previous position crouching in front of the chair. "She seems to know exactly what she wants, and exactly how to get it, don't you darling?" he finished, stroking Ellie's face.
"And exactly how to let you know when she's had enough," Jac said smiling. "Which is definitely the message I'm getting now," she continued sitting Ellie up and wiping her mouth with the bib that was round her neck. "Right, she said, as she smiled down at her daughter and did the top button of her pyjama top up one-handed, "I've changed and fed her. Now it's time for you to do your bit" looking up at Jonny, "winding and dressing are your departments this morning"
"Right-io" Jonny said, standing up and preparing to take Ellie from Jac's arms.
"Go to Daddy darling," Jac said, as she lifted her up.
"Come on then wee girl," Jonny said, as he bent down to take her and when he had a secure hold turned her round so that was looking over his shoulder. "Daddy's got you." And Ellie seemed to object to the transfer for a little while, before, calmed by Jonny's voice she settled once again and nuzzled into his neck.
"Right" Jac said, "I'll go and grab a shower whilst you get her dressed, and then we'll have breakfast, yeah. Then we can decide what we're going to do today – I can't remember the last time we were both off in the middle of the week. Bye darling," she said, rubbing the top of Ellie's head as she passed, "see you soon."
"Bye mummy," Jonny said, turning round so that Ellie could follow her mum's progress out of the door, and raising her hand to wave.
"Ttt, idiot," he heard Jac say as she left the room, and although he couldn't see, he knew exactly the expression she'd be wearing. "Jonny," Jac called out, "why did you open the window in here? It's cold now!"
"Oh, sorry" Jonny said, stepping out on to the landing, to see Jac standing, hand on hip, in the bathroom doorway, "I didn't think."
"No change there then," came back Jac's retort before she turned round and theatrically closed the bathroom window and with a final look at Jonny and a muttered "Idiot" closed the door.
"Right then," Jonny said, as he re-entered the nursery, "we need to get this done as soon as we can sweetheart so that we're ready when mummy comes out the shower. So I need you to get up some really big burps for me, as quickly as you can, right," he continued, as he began to rub Ellie's back.
xxxxxx
"There you go… beautiful" he said, as he did up the buttons on the little white cardigan he knew Jac loved on Ellie. "Absolutely gorgeous," he said, looking down at her in Jac's current favourite outfit. "And now to finish off, the matching bootees," he continued, holding up the delicate hand-knitted socks which he put on after first kissing each of Ellie's feet. An action which garnered one of her giggles each time. "There," he said, picking her up and holding her out in front of him, "perfect" he concluded, as he brought her to his chest and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Now, we just need to get Daddy looking half as good as you do and we'll be all set." And so saying he hurried out of the nursery and across to his bedroom, casting a look at the bathroom door as he did so, reassured, but not surprised, to hear that Jac was still in the shower, "Because you were such a good girl we got you dressed in no time at all, he murmured to Ellie. "Right," he said putting Ellie down in the middle of the bed, after he'd smoothed out the quilt properly, "now Daddy's just got to get dressed and then we'll be ready to go." He pulled off the T-shirt he'd worn to bed and put it under his pillow, he then walked to his wardrobe and pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans, which he put on over the boxers he had changed into after his shower,. "Now," he said as he turned back towards the wardrobe, and began to flick through the jumpers and tops that were hanging there "where is it?... ... Oh, there" he said as he took out a green long-sleeved top. "Right" he said, as he took it off the hanger and slipped it over his head and after an appraising look at himself in the mirror continued as he sat down on the bed and picked Ellie up, "that's us done, now we just need to wait for mummy to get out of the shower."
xxxxxx
Jonny sat on the bed pulling faces at a giggling Ellie, who was lying on his legs, listening intently to the sound of Jac having a shower. "Hey," he said suddenly, as Ellie pushed her legs against his stomach and wriggled away from him, "where d'ya think you're going?" gently pulling her into a position where she wasn't quite so likely to launch herself onto the carpet. "You getting restless, eh? Well, you're not the only one. I don't know what your mummy's doing in there," he said, bringing his face down towards Ellie's, "I mean, it's not as if she ever needs to do much, she's almost as beautiful as you are anyway," he concluded, planting a kiss on Ellie's nose. "But, I think you're right – we need to get moving," he said, as he scooped Ellie up to his shoulder them stood up, "all this sitting around is just making me more nervous." He walked out of the bedroom and down the corridor and as he approached the bathroom door thought, for a millisecond or so, about calling out or maybe even knocking on the door but then good sense kicked in and he decided not to. "Don't want to get on mummy's bad side," he whispered to Ellie, "not this morning. Well not really anytime if you can help it, but especially not this morning. So we just wait," he continued as he began to pace up and down the corridor between the bathroom and bedroom doors, rubbing Ellie's back and murmuring endearments to her as he did so. "Daddy's got you, sweetheart, and he loves you so sooo much. You're daddy's best girl and always will be…"
Then, as he walked towards the bedroom for what must have been the 50th time he heard the shower stop, he turned round quickly and gazed at the door for a moment, before walking towards it, feeling his nerves increase with each step. "Right, this is it," he said, after taking a deep breath and looking down at Ellie as he reached the door. He heard Jac move down the bath, wringing her hair out as she did so, and he knew that she'd be wrapping it in a towel now. He heard her climb out of the bath and imagined her wrapping a towel around her still slender frame, for whilst pregnancy had, it seemed permanently, softened some of her angles, she was now back to her original waist, if not chest (he thought smiling) size. The waiting was becoming unbearable and, as he strained to hear, he wondered how much longer he would be able to take it. And then he heard her take a sharp intake of breath, closely followed by a small, but distinct cry, which was quickly muffled, silenced he guessed by her hand covering her mouth. And he realised that she had seen it and that it was too late to go back now, and thinking 'in for a penny' he quickly assumed the traditional position and turned Ellie round so that they were both facing the door.
And a few moments later he saw the handle move down and the door opened slowly, to reveal Jac, towel wrapped round her, standing in the doorway. "Jonny" she said, in a quiet voice which trembled ever so slightly.
"Jac," he began, looking up at her from his position kneeling on the floor but not really seeing her, determined, as he was, to try and say this right. "I know it seems really sudden and you don't have to answer now. You can take as long as you want, and we can wait as long as you want to do it too... if you want to that is. But if you don't that's fine too because I know we're fine as we are now and if this is what you want then I'm more than OK with that, but I just wanted you to know that this is it for me. You and Ellie, you're everything and I'm never going to want anything else so…it just seemed right. But like I said its fine if you just want to carry on as things are because they're great. I just wanted you to know how much I love you, and I couldn't think of a better way of letting you kn,"
"Jonny," Jac said again, still quietly but with a ring to it that finally made him see her as she was. "Yes," she said smiling, with tears in her eyes "Yes!"
"What?" He said incredulously, scarcely able to believe what he was hearing and feeling tears pricking his eyes too as he stood up. "You mean you'll, you really want to.."
"Yes," Jac said again even more definitely, as she looked back into the bathroom to see the mirror where Jonny had written two words with a kiss underneath surrounded by a heart, 'Marry Me'. "Yes, of course I will, of course I'll marry you!"
"Oh god, I can't belie…" he began, before he was silenced by Jac kissing him, straining to reach him because she didn't want to squash Ellie who was watching everything intently.
Jac broke off the kiss and turning her attention to Ellie said taking both her hands in her own, "So what do you think baby girl – mummy and daddy just got engaged. What do you think about that?" And because Jac was beaming and she sensed the excitement in the air Ellie beamed back, to which Jac said, triumphantly. "See, she approves," before kissing her daughter and smiling, still holding Ellie's hands, up at Jonny.
"Ok then" Jonny said. "Right, well come on then erm we need to get you dry, can't have my fiancée" he continued, his smile growing even broader as he said it, "catching cold now, can I?"
"No wait," Jac said letting go of Ellie's hands as she suddenly thought of something, "I need to get my phone."
"What?" Jonny said confused, as she squeezed past him and hurried towards the bedroom. "Why do you need your phone?"
"To take a picture," Jac called back after a few moments, before appearing at the doorway and heading back towards them.
"What? Why?" Jonny said.
"I just need to do this," Jac said, as she entered the bathroom and carefully took a picture of the mirror, before attaching it, with a message which read, 'Someone stole our idea…' and sending it to Jil. She then created another message, and typed in 'I said 'yes' btw!' and sent that off too. At which point she received a text back with 'O.M.G.!' which was closely followed by one sent, she presumed, after Jil had received her second text, which consisted solely of a line of smiley faces followed by several exclamation marks. "Right," she said, switching her phone off, as she moved past Jonny and Ellie again, "I won't be needing that again for a while," she continued as she put it down on the bookcase on the landing. "And you'd better" she said, turning back to Jonny and giving Ellie another kiss, "put her down in her crib too. And turn on her lullaby light show thing."
"What? Why?" Jonny said.
"Because I don't think she should see what we're going to do now," she said smiling suggestively as she leaned in to him, carefully avoiding Ellie, and kissed his lips, continuing as she pulled away and walked towards the bedroom "After all, it's probably best that she doesn't see anything X-rated until she's at least 18, don't you think?"…
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed that. If you did (or, indeed, if you didn't) please leave a review below - it literally only takes a few seconds and I always love reading what people think of my scribblings...Thanks again in advance.
