This should have been an update - however, Jac and Jonny will not play ball in my head for any of my other fics though they are quite happy to give me ideas for this. So I'm hoping that now that writing it will get them to behave for my other fics (:D). I'm not overly liking the title but I really struggled to name this. I hope it's ok and thank you to anyone who reads.
It started with a text message
"You free tonight Jonny Mac?" Mo Effanga peered at her best friend as he rifled through his locker for his mobile. He'd thrown it in there earlier in a fit of annoyance, having received far too many text messages from well-meaning relatives enquiring as to whether Baby Maconie had seen fit to make his or her appearance yet. The only issue was that now he was feeling more than a little bit guilty that not having had his phone on him could have meant he'd missed a message from Jac.
"Not sure" was the non-committal reply as his hand finally settled upon his mobile. Pulling it out, he opened it, immediately checking for missed calls – of which they were 0 – before turning to the text messages of which there were a number from his sisters and aunties recommending ways in which they could get the baby moving and again nothing from Jac. He knew he shouldn't be surprised. In the last few months although they had been civil, their relationship hadn't really progressed beyond text messages demanding that he bring her food at all-manner of hours and the occasional invitation to important events like scans. Though there were times when he'd felt they were becoming closer before the door would slam shut once more. He was altogether grateful that she'd allowed him involvement given at times she'd threatened to cut him off entirely – during their more heated discussions.
"Still no sign of the sprog?" there was a tilt to Mo's head as she asked, and she quickly ducked as Jonny playfully swatted in her direction. She was well aware of his frustration, and to an extent Jac finally having been forced on to maternity leave had only made him more antsy. At least with her here, he could keep an eye on her. Mo knew that deep down Jonny was worried that Jac wouldn't inform him that she'd gone in to labour and that instead she'd slip off alone to the private clinic she'd booked and send him a text later informing him that his son or daughter had arrived. If he was lucky a photo would be added. It was surprising to all Jac had gone overdue. The hospital sweepstake had believed she would labour on Darwin and give birth in Bay 3 before completing afternoon surgery, and to an extent Mo had been able to understand this theory or at least up until the surgery part.
"No" Jonny heaved a sigh as he changed from his uniform in to his normal clothes and pulled his bag free from his locker. He shook his head a little as he thought of it. He had been near certain that baby would arrive on Christmas day, he'd even cancelled a visit back to Scotland for fear that he'd miss something. It stemmed from things he'd heard, Mo remarking in jest that Elliot hadn't known about Rosemary's baby and how the buzz around the hospital had adopted the idea that the baby could have demonic potential. It had seemed fitting then that the baby would arrive on December 25th. It was only later when he'd remembered his own comment – about how any child of hers would have an evens chance of being the antichrist that the idea had been cemented in his mind.
"She must be going out of her mind" she was shaking her head a little at the idea. She couldn't imagine Jac sat at home in her flat, watching daytime television and trying to keep herself entertained away from the hustle and bustle of the ward. Jonny gave her a slight grin.
"Elliot's been giving her paperwork type stuff to do – I don't think it's for any real purpose" he laughed slightly at the idea of it, but he was thankful to the professor. Although Jac was unlikely to admit it, the drain of her pregnancy was making things a lot harder for her and ultimately just walking down to stairs to the ground floor of her building was getting to be a struggle, so going out when she could only just fit behind the wheel of her chair was something of a nightmare. Not that she was all that willing to let him help her with the shopping or anything, she was still pigheadedly determined that she could do this with very little help from him or anyone else.
"Good old professor Hope" his friend chimed in with a laugh at the professor creating things for their gravid colleague to get up too, to prevent her climbing the walls and getting up to anything that could cause harm to either her or the child. Although they all knew Jac was completely devoted – no matter what she tried to portray – to her child, they all knew that if she had a choice she'd be getting up to everything she had done in the early stages of pregnancy, and before. It was something of an well-worn expression from the consultant 'I'm pregnant, not incompetent'. It had gotten to a point when people had started to complete the phrase – albeit under their breath for fear of the ticking bomb that was Jac Naylor.
"It was that or she hijacks his office – and his food stash" his grin widens, and his tone is jokey although in reality there is a hint of truth. Jac's enforced maternity leave, on the day she hit 40 weeks, had come after a lot of cajoling of poor Elliot who had found his shared office had become a place of danger depending on the mood of his roommate. Over the last few months, he had walked in to find it vomiting, crying hysterically, trying out antenatal exercises, trying to bribe various juniors and support staff to massage her ankles and shouting down the phone-line for seemingly no reason – they had later discovered a survey company had phoned her mobile and asked her somewhat innocent questions to which she had taken offence. So it was to some relief for the professor that the office had once again become a place of safety, though even he would admit he missed the company that came from Jac when she was in one of her better moods. He had become rather close to her, and Jonny knew that he was one of the few visitors she allowed in to her flat.
"Sharing with Jac," Mo paused and grinned "and her hormones can't have been easy" Jonny rolls his eyes a little.
"Blomp really has helped her reign terror over the ward" he twists his lips together, "But it hasn't been all bad has it?" he tries to think of the good, the days were Jac's hormones have been slightly more balanced, and she was much more human and approachable. The days when she came armed with enough food to feed a small army – and was actually willing to share it with the staff around her. She'd even on one occasion bought a birthday cake in, much to the absolute shock of the poor HCA – who had nearly fainted with shock. Nobody quite knew how to react, to the point where Jac had had a hormonal switch and loudly demanded for people to 'eat the cake' though she had not been that polite.
"No, but – and I can't believe I am actually saying this – I miss the old Jac" Mo shook her head in disbelief at the words that had escaped her mouth, "you knew where you stood with her – whereas this Jac is so damn unpredictable, and don't give me the whole you know what it's like to be pregnant talk because I am certain I wasn't that bad" he forces his face in to a look of mock concentration, trying to make it look as if he is puzzling out the conundrum of which pregnant woman was worse though the answer does go in Mo's favour, and she most certainly knows it.
"You win" he concludes and she grins.
"So you free tonight for a drink?" she knows that he would probably end up going to Jac, and that depending on her mood he would most likely end up with the door being slammed in his face. She cannot pretend to understand quite what is going through Jac's mind at this moment, all Mo knows is that she has started to push Jonny away once more, and that is slowly destroying the nurse no matter how much he tries to hide it. He glances at his phone once more.
"I suppose so" at one point Mo would have been hurt to hear the disappointed tone in his voice, to know that she is second best to the moody cow of a consultant who has taken his heart so completely. She has tried to fix them, to get them back together with the aid of Sacha and Elliot but her attempts appear to have backfired spectacularly and now her friend is depressed, and the consultant is trying to hide her pain.
"Then Albie's it is" there's a forced brightness to her tone, that neither of them really feels. She wants her friends – she counts the consultant as a friend now or she does most of the time – to be happy and she knows that for this to happen they need to acknowledge their feelings and tell each other, only that is something at which they both fail.
As they walk out of the locker room side by side, they catch a glimpse of the professor sneaking away his arm linked through the arm of the American psychologist with whom he has become very close over the last few months, to the point where those closest to Elliot had teased him about potential wedding bells and Jac – in a moment of kindness – even offered her baby, once he or she is walking, to be pageboy or bridesmaid.
And then it happens. The buzzing of Jonny's phone which he still holds within his hand. He looks down expecting to see yet another 'Has she had it' text but instead he sees her name printed at the top of the message notification but no text in the actual message box. He frowns, waiting for something else to appear and when nothing does he feels his heart rate quicken. Something has happened to cause her to send nothing more than a blank message, and that means he has to get to her – and he has to now. He gives a rushed explanation to Mo as he dashes away from her. She watches him go hoping that this is the start of something good, and hoping that he doesn't end up getting himself a speeding ticket or worse ending up as a patient himself.