This part really is just sort of random fluff but I couldn't resist writing it. It's partly based on something I used to do - and partly based on a little girl I used to babysit :) So hopefully it's ok :)
Jonny grinned as his daughter settled herself on his back for a piggyback ride to the park. Beside him, Jac strolled along side; occasionally glancing back at her daughter to make sure that she wasn't slipping. It felt natural the three of them being together, and now that Michaela was a little more in the loop as to the status of their relationship she hoped that this could, perhaps, become the norm for them although she was still wary of the situation becoming completely public knowledge. She liked the idea of it being between the three of them for a while, and besides which maybe it would be nicer to just let things happen as they came rather than some big public announcement – which wasn't really her style. Though she was sure, if they had their way, Jonny and Michaela probably would want that sort of attention.
"MUMMY, MUMMY, LOOK" she was drawn from her thoughts by the rather excited proclamations of her daughter, which drew interest from the people around them. They were walking through the gateway of the park and Michaela was bouncing around on her father's shoulders with a proud grin on her face.
"Michaela, you don't need to be quite so loud" Jac admonished a little, though to be fair to her daughter the rule was when she was outside she could use her outdoors voice though this was far louder than she normally managed. Jonny halted for a second, once he was past the gateway and therefore wouldn't be blocking other people from entering or exiting. "What is it Mic?" she added.
"DADDY HAS GREY HAIRS!" Michaela exclaimed with an obvious delight as she comb through her daddy's hair "LOOK MUMMY; ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN. THERE'S SO MANY MUMMY, IT WOULD BE MUCH QUICKER TO COUNT IN TENS THAN ONES, LOOK" Michaela was very obviously buzzing with excitement at her discovery and Jac was struggling hard with not laughing.
"Well sweetheart, I don't think daddy really wants everyone to know this" Jac told her child, noting the redness that had spread over Jonny's face and the stares, and smirks of amusement, from the people around them. Michaela seemed totally oblivious to this and was still combing through her father's hair.
"THERE'S REALLY LOADS OF THEM MUMMY" Michaela grinned at her mum and Jac stifled a laugh as she looked at Jonny, who appeared to want the ground to swallow him up.
"Well Michaela, I think you may be the cause of many of them" Jac informed her child, with the slightest hint of a giggle slipping from her lips, something which earned her a glare of contempt from her partner, who she offered a very small smile of apology. Michaela frowned for a moment, as she thought about her mother's words.
"That's silly mummy" Michaela answered, in a volume which was relatively normal much to the relief of her parents who were beginning to wonder if at some point after leaving the house, their child's voice box had been replaced by a loud speaker, "I haven't been colouring in daddy's hair with my pens" Jac couldn't help herself but laugh at that comment, and even Jonny had a very small smile on his lips although the red was barely fading from his cheeks.
"I know that" Jac replied and sighed knowing that she probably wasn't going to win this argument with her daughter. Michaela suddenly seemed to twig on to something and an even larger smile played on her face.
"DADDY HAS GREY HAIR; DOES THAT MEAN DADDY IS OLD MUMMY?" Jonny frowned at this, he definitely didn't consider himself to be old and the fact that his daughter now potentially thought of him that way, did make him feel a little sad.
"Well no, not really" Jac reasoned with a smile, wondering if her daughter actually knew that she was the older of the couple.
"BUT HE HAS GREY HAIR, AND OLD PEOPLE HAVE GREY HAIR" it was a childish logic but one that Jac couldn't understand, although it seemed to her that Jonny only had a scattering of greying strands amongst his curly brown locks which would make it seem that he was only aging rather than actually old.
"Daddy isn't that old, and lots of his hair is still brown" Jac responded and Michaela considered this as she continued to search out silvery strands.
"Maybe he colours them in himself – do you daddy?" she queries with a smile, though at least she does so at a lower volume and Jonny tries to drag himself under control enough to answer his child. He sighs a little.
"No I don't colour in my hair, Cay. That would be silly wouldn't it?" He tells her, and he feels the child jiggle a little on his shoulders. He starts to lower her to the ground hoping she'll abandoned this conversation due to the distractions offered by the play area.
"IF YOUR OLD DADDY, DO YOU NEED A WALKING STICK?!" Michaela shouts her question, from her new position standing on the ground. It's asked with an air of innocence and she turns to her mum with a smile, "MUMMY WE NEED TO GO SHOPPING AND GET DADDY A WALKING STICK LIKE THAT MAN OVER THERE" she points out an older man walking the park with an elderly dog on a lead and Jac has to force herself not to smile. The man that Michaela has picked has to easily be in his late seventies.
"Michaela, daddy isn't that old" Jac exclaims a little and she can see how very much Jonny wants to disappear and leave the park, their daughter having well and truly embarrassed him. Michaela considers this and looks around the park for a moment.
"NOW THAT DADDY IS GOING GREY, CAN HE STILL PLAY WITH ME?" Michaela suddenly twigs on to this and turns back to her parents and lightning speed and Jonny kneels down so that he is level with his daughter and gives her a bright smile, while trying to push away his embarrassment.
"Of course I can still play with you Munchkin, I bet I can still run faster than you and beat you at football, and do you want to know a secret?" He asks watching as his daughter considers what he has said. Finally she nods her head.
"I like secrets" She tells him with a bright smile.
"Mummy is older than daddy" he tells her and watches as Michaela's eyes widen in surprise as she considers this. She turns to look at her mum, with wide eyes.
"But mummy doesn't have grey hairs, do you mummy?" Michaela talks much more quietly when broaching the subject with her mum, and Jonny wonders why. Perhaps his daughter is exhibiting favouritism although he isn't quite sure. Jac frowns and shoots Jonny a dirty look at the turn the conversation has taken.
"Well no" She says, although she knows it isn't quite the whole truth, that she has used dyes to cover the grey hairs that occasionally sneak in unwanted. She isn't ready to accept them yet, or to have the fact announced to a park full of people.
"So she isn't older than you daddy" Michaela reasons with a bright smile, and a strange logic that neither of her parents quite understands but which obviously makes sense to the child.
"I am definitely older than daddy" Jac confirms with a smile, as she too kneels down in front of the child, hoping that maybe she can diffuse this conversation.
"But your hair is red like mine, not grey and brown like daddy's" Michaela's voice sounds confused as she thinks about everything she knows about older people, and how to recognise them as such. It seems to her that daddy has more of the signs than mummy but not as many as Uncle Sacha, who has lot less than funny Mr Hope who is most definitely very old.
"Promise you can keep a secret?" Jac asks her daughter, who nods really very solemnly although Jac isn't entirely sure she trusts her little girl at this moment in time, "well sometimes mummy has a little bit of help and uses a special shampoo that gets rid of grey hairs" Michaela twists her lips a little as she looks at her mum's hair.
"Can I have special shampoo? Can I have pink hair?" Michaela is bouncing at the prospect and Jac sighs, and shakes her head.
"It's for grown-ups sweetie, and besides you have very pretty hair" Jac reasons and Michaela seems pleased enough with the assessment of her own hair although something clicks in her young mind and a flash of panic crosses her face as she turns to look at Jonny.
"DO YOU STILL LOVE MUMMY, DADDY? COS SHE SAYS SHE COLOURS HER HAIR WITH SPECIAL SHAMPOO AND YOU SAID IT WAS SILLY WHEN I ASKED IF YOU COLOUR IN YOUR HAIR TO GET RID OF THE GREY ONES THAT MEAN YOUR OLD AND NOW MUMMY IS SILLY AND OLD AND NOW YOU MIGHT NOT LOVE HER – AND YOU ONLY JUST LOVED HER AGAIN AND I DON'T WANT YOU NOT TO LOVE HER" it was spoken in a mad rush of words and both Jonny and Jac had to struggle to keep up with what she had spoken at the speed of light and at a volume which meant that most of Holby would have heard her.
"Maconie and Naylor are in love is that right?" Michaela spins round at the sound of an American accent and both Jonny and Jac feel their eyes darting upwards at the sight of Michael Spence in the park, and even more annoyingly Jac is certain she can see Mo Effanga in the distant with someone who looks strangely like Sacha while Jonny thinks that he may have spotted Oliver Valentine. Though neither of the adults are quite sure why so many Holby staff members appear to have chosen to come to this park at this very moment.
"No Mummy and Daddy are in love" Michaela answers with a smile and an emphasis on the words mummy and daddy. Michael laughs at this and smiles at the little girl.
"Congratulations, you two" he says to the couple, who are both looking a little bit alarmed at the sudden outing of their relationship in such a very public arena. Suddenly it seems to Jac that something in the hospital would have been favourable to this very busy park where they are now, even more so, the centre of attention. Michaela suddenly catches sight of her favourite storyteller and dashes of in her direction where she is promptly swept up in a hug.
"Well done, angel" Mo whispers in her ear, although Michaela isn't quite sure why. Still she enjoys the praise and Mo watches over the child's shoulders as Jac and Jonny stand and how for a moment he takes her hand and squeezes it, and the look that passes between them. Turning slightly Mo grins at Sacha before the pair of them walk towards the happy couple, Mo still carrying the child in her arms.