Sorry it's been a while guys, writer's block has trapped me it's evil clutchesa and there's no escape. Anyway this came to me as I watching The Mindi Project...yeah I don't know how but I thought I best roll with it. So...Enjoy!
6:30 and the peace shattering bleep of the iphone alarm shunted it's way into their dreams, waking Jac suddenly. Jonny stirred at the feeling of her movement in his arms
"Hey, shhh" he whispered groggily. She relaxed back into his arms, listening to the rain still pattering down on the street outside. "Storm's died down a bit" he added, nodding towards the window, hugging her closer. She shuffled slightly, sitting up and looking towards Jonny. "You're pale" he said, stroking her hair "i'll go and make you some breakfast" he kissed her on the head and trudged into the kitchen.
Ten minutes later Jonny was buttering two slices of wholemeal toast when he heard a succession of light hurried footsteps across the hall and the bang the bathroom door almost bouncing of it's frame. He dropped the knife and briskly made his way towards the bathroom, peering slowly round the door. He came upon a quivering, wretching figure slumped over the toilet on the verge of her knees buckling beneath her. He slipped through the gap in the door and tucked his arms gently underneath her as she fell "gotcha!" He exclaimed supportively as she wretched and spluttered over the toilet bowl once again before collapsing in to him. "Done?" He asked, resting his chin lightly on her shoulder. She nodded cautiously, in an attempt not to re-aggravate the feeling of nausea settling in her stomach. Lifting her up gently he flushed the toilet and lead her into the lounge. "Here you go" he spoke kindly, handing her a plate with a piece of hot buttery toast on. She gave him a look you would give to someone in possession of a chocolate teapot. He laughed "don't look at me like that, you've got to eat something." She sighed exhaustedly and nibbled at a corner of the toast half-heartedly for a while before leaving it and stating towards the bedroom to get dressed. "Jac! Wait..." he called after her, grabbing her arm gently "you sure you're ok? You haven't said a word all morning..." It was only when she turned back around to him that he realised how ill she looked. She was paler than anyone he'd ever seen before, the dark circles under her eyes made her look exhausted and her eyes were dull and full of an unknown pain.
"I'm fine, I'm going to go in the shower, you should probably go home and get ready for work." He stood up, embracing her into a hug and said quietly
"Ok, i'll go and get showered and dressed then i'll come back and pick you up.." he watched as her face screwed up, he expected that reaction, as she went to make an excuse he interrupted her "no, no excuses, I'm not letting you ride that death trap motorbike, i'll be back in half an hour" he kissed her on top of the head, grabbed his coat and left with a smile on his face.
She retreated to her room and opened the curtains slightly, watching out of the window for any signs of the storm returning. It was dark and still raining, she contemplated phoning in sick but that only meant he would make her tell him what was wrong. She sighed, closing the curtains and making her way into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
Back at his flat he plugged his phone in as it's battery had run flat during the night. On his way to the bathroom he could hear it practically exploding with text messages and missed calls. Scrolling through them and noticing most of them were Mo he dialed her number and put her on speaker phone while he turned the shower on.
"Jonny Mac!?" the registrar's voice could be heard throughout the tiny apartment, Jonny sighed and mockingly replied
"yes dear?" as he fished thorugh his draws for a fresh shirt.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to phone you all night! One of the apartments in my building was struck by lightning last night, the whole row caught fire." Jonny eyes widened at this news and he ran to where his phone lay, picking it up and taking it off loudspeaker he frantically apologised
"Jesus Christ Mo! I'm so sorry, are you ok? Was anybody hurt?" Mo breathed a sigh of relief on hearing her best friend's voice and in a calmer tone she carrried on
"Um, i'm not sure, they evacuated the two floors above me. I came round and knocked on your door last night...where were you?" she asked the question half-heartedly because she had a feeling she knew the answer. Jonny felt guit in every pore as he explained to his friend
"Ah, I was at Jac's, i'm sorry" Mo sighed exasperatedly. "Actually, it was Jac I wanted to talk to you about..." Jonny began and straight away wondered if he regretted it. "Are you working this morning?" he asked, letting the conversation go off on a slight tangent. Mo saw straight through him and laughed
"Yeah, same shift as you, why? What's going on with Lady Macbeth this time?" The words stung in Jonny's ears, he was almost angry with her
"don't say that Mo! The reason I was round hers last night was" Mo interrupted him
"Jonny, I know we're close and all but I don't think I really need to know that do I?" she giggled like a school girl. Jonny rolled his eyes towards a wall in his empty flat, although she couldn't see him
"No Mo, I was up half the night with her wiping her tears away." Mo went absolutely silent, she wasn't sure whether he was serious or whether it was some dirty minded inuendo.
"What do you mean?...are you telling me the Ice Queen cries?" she asked slowly and cautiously.
"Mo it was horrible, she's was absolutely terrified" he said quietly, remembering the events of the night before.
"What do you mean Jonny Mac? Terrified of what?" Mo continued in her enquiry, wondering what had managed to shake the Ice Queen to tears. Jonny sighed, wondering whether he should really be telling her this...it was for her own good though
"Thunder. She's got a serious fear of thunder storms." Jonny listened closely as he heard his friend choke back a roar of laughter, desperately trying not to giggle. "It's not funny Mo!" he snapped at her suddenly, "there was nothing funny about the way she was last night!" Mo stopped, feeling somethink akin to empathy for the Consultant
"I'm sorry Jonny, what's this got to do with me working today though?" she asked, trying to distract from her thoughtless actions. Jonny wandered over to the window, he thought for a moment as he watched the rain getting heavier
"There's another huge storm due sometime this morning, I don't think she's going to cope if it hits while she's working." Mo was quiet for a moment as she tried to imagine Jac hard-as-nails Naylor not coping
"Okay..." she was mildly confused "so what's that got to do with me?" she asked, bringing them both back to the conversation. Jonny sighed again, impatiently
"just help me keep an eye on her, yeah?" he said, attempting the wrap up the conversation. Mo agreed and hung up, leaving them both to prepare themselves for what could be a very interesting day.
After a long hot shower Jac emerged from the bathroom into her bedroom, she looked at herself in her long bedroom mirror at the figure staring back at her. Her long orban hair was in a limp and lifeless bun on top of her head, the white towel engulfed her slim frame and her pale skin was now red and patchy from the hot water. She unenthusiastically threw on a shirt and pair of trousers and sat herself in front of the mirror, beggining to apply an extensive amount of make up in an attempt to make herself look mildly healthier. A while later she slowly bought herself back to her feet to find and evergrowing ache piercing across her abdomen, she sat down quickly on the bed and fumbled hurriedly for the spare packet of pain killers she kept in her bed side cabinet. On finding them at the bottom of the draw, the pain had increased noticeably and she could've cried when she saw the packet was empty. Using all her strenght to pick herself up she manovered as quickly as she could towards the kitchen. Suddenly a stronger wave of pain caught her by surprise and with a small cry she double over in agony by the side of the table. On his way to the top of the stairs Jonny heard a crash and the muffled cry, he practically leaped up the last few stairs and burst into the flat, he automatically ran over to the shaking woman on the floor.
"Jac?" there was a notable edge of worry to his voice, Jac found herself in too much pain to be able to explain, "Cramps?" Jonny saw straight through her stuttering and crying, she nodded at him slowly. "Ok, it's alright, let's get you onto the sofa yeah" Jac obliged at being lifted up and suported towards the lounge where Jonny let her sit precariously on the edge. "Right, where are your pain killers?" he asked, stroking her hair gently. She found herself putting all her effort into producing one word
"...Kitchen" she spluttered, wrapping her arms around her stomach as Jonny leapt up off the floor in front of her. Trying to be as quick as he could he practically sprinted into the kitchen and luckily he knew where Jac kept her medication. He flung open the cupboard door, which nearly flew off it's hinges, and delved into the box in search of the trademark prescription sticker with her name on it. On finding them he didn't even take time to put everything back in the box or shut the door, he just grabbed a glass of water and bounded back to her side, popping out a tablet for her and helping her drink as he could see how much her hands were shaking. Ten minutes passed before the tablets began to kick in, which she spent curled in a ball with her knees to her chin while Jonny just held her and whispered kind words in her ear to keep her mind of the pain. He talked about their baby and how beautiful she would be, he talked about work, told her funny stories about patients and about Mo, he even started talking about Jeremy Kyle at one point. When she finally lifted her head up he breathed a sigh of relief, she looked at him slightly bewildered, he explained
"If I'd had to talk much longer we'd both be in pain" he nudged her playfully with his elbow and she found herself unable to contain a smile. "Come on" he said cheerfully, pulling her up of the sofa and handing her her coat "Darwin is calling."
Just a quick thanks to jacnaylor1998 and .169 for the idea about taking them into work and seeing how Jac reacts to the storm, I am planning to continue with this idea soon.
Thank you all for your lovely reviews, keep them coming, it really makes my day to know how much you all enjoy reading my procrastination!