9pm
Later on, everyone was enjoying themselves and relaxing. Harry and Gemma had gone to their tent (getting up to who knows what), as had Mary Claire in a strop. Mo, Michael and Sacha were drinking beers, though not too many so they wouldn't have a hangover in the morning. Sam and Tom were snuggled together under a blanket on their beanbags. Just like Jac and Jonny, but as usual, Jac couldn't get comfortable for long.
"Give me a hand up, I need a wee." Jac moaned as she attempted to get up off of the bean bag. Jonny put his hand in the small of her back and gave her a little push to get her to her feet.
"Thanks." Jac muttered as she headed over to the unisex toilets.


As Jac came out of the cubicle to wash her hands, Elliot was doing the same.
"I don't suppose you've discussed your maternity leave with Serena yet?" Elliot smiled, knowing she had no intention until her waters broke. Usually you'd have to give weeks of notice but Jac had the tendency to get away with things since Serena had been CEO (such as spending some of Darwin's budget on Oreos, taking her hormones (both anger and crying) out on several F1s (including Zorsia) and sleeping during her shifts in the oncall room.)

Since becoming pregnant, Jac had become closer to Elliot because he had not once told anyone, not even Jonny, about what happened in their office. There was in unwritten rule that what happened in there stayed in there because he often found her napping on the sofa, looking through mothercare magazines, snacking and on the odd occasion, straightening her hair when she realised that she had a meeting with the board that day.

Elliot was smiling as Jac was standing there, still in her dark blue 'hands off the bump' onesie with her knitted boot slippers on.

"Not really. I won't be off for long." Jac stated as she dried her hands with some paper towel, as did Elliot. Jac stood leaning against the wall and Elliot leant against the sinks as they knew this was going to go into a father-daughter chat.
"Jac, you're entitled to months off of work." Elliot stated.
"Yeah but... Oh I don't know. I mean, I want to get straight back to work, but I don't want some under qualified little brat looking after my child in the hospital crèche. And I don't want to get a nanny who'll think she knows my daughter better than me. I just want her to be with me all of the time." Jac explained honestly.

"That's not impossible." Elliot stated.
"What do you mean?" Jac asked. How could she possibly have her little girl with her at all times whilst she was back at work. For starters she didn't think she would be allowed to have her baby on the ward, let alone theatre.

"Well... There's plenty of room in our office for a cot and changing mat or whatever else you need. And I'm sure either me, you, Jonny or Mo will always be free to look after her. Most've the time me or you will be in the office to look after her and you could do ward rounds with her." Elliot explained kindly.

"You'd let me do that?" Jac queried. Whatever happened on the ward was down to Elliot after all because he was the senior consultant.
"Of course I would. Your like a daughter to me, you could probably get away with anything!" Elliot joked.
"But I don't think Serena will approve." Jac muttered as she rubbed her fingers over her bump.
"Jac, Serena's a mother too. I'm sure she'll understand and besides, we wouldn't necessarily have to tell her anyway." Elliot hinted.

"Professor Hope you naughty man." Jac smiled.
"So, two months?" Elliot tried to reason time off for her maternity leave.
"Try two weeks!" Jac joked.
"That long?" Elliot joked. A few moments of silence passed.

"Elliot... Do you think I'll be a good Mum? Be honest." Jac pleaded.
"Of course I do. Jac the things you've been through in your life have only made you a stronger Mum because you don't want any if that to happen to you daughter. You and Jonny are going to be great parents." Elliot smiled. His words brought tears to Jac's eyes; it made her so happy to hear Elliot say that. "Oh don't go all soppy on me." Elliot joked as he pulled Jac into a hug. It was a slightly awkward hug because both Elliot's stomach and Jac's bump got in the way.

Jac sniffed as they pulled apart. She had managed not to let any tears fall.
"I'd better get back." Jac said as she walked out of the toilets before she got even more emotional.


"You okay?" Jonny asked as Jac slowly walked over.
"Can we go to bed please?" Jac asked as she yawned. It was only just gone past 9pm but he knew how much of a strain pregnancy was putting on her.
"Sure but would you mind putting some deep heat on my arms first?" Jonny asked kindly as he stood up and took Jac's hot water bottle- which was still hot because it had only just been refilled- and the blanket. He followed Jac over to their tent, his arms were aching as he had been paddling the canoe with three people in it all day. Mo had paddled too but he did the majority, as well as the steering.

"Have you had a show yet?" Jonny asked quietly once he'd entered the tent.
"No." Jac lied. She had had a small show twice in the last two days. She'd found it when she went to the toilet in the morning but she knew if she told Jonny, he wouldn't have let her come on the expedition.

She said no this time because she knew if she had said yes, he'd be upset that she didn't tell him.
"Well when you do, can you tell me? Just so that I know." Jonny asked as he got the deep heat and passed it to Jac.
"You really want to know when I've got mucus coming out of my vagina?" Jac said sleepily as she rubbed the deep heat on Jonny's arms. It was freezing cold so he kept his jumpers and shirts on but Jac put her hand down his jumper from behind him.

"I just want to know okay?" Jonny smiled as the deep heat began to take effect on his aching arms.
"Fine." Jac sighed, she made a mental note; the next time she had a show, she would actually tell Jonny. "Right, all done." Jac stated as she threw the deep heat somewhere in the tent.
"That's why this tent is in such a mess!" Jonny stated quietly. "Does it really take so much effort to just put it on top of my bag?" Jonny said reasonably.
"This tent is not a mess!" Jac protested with minimal effort as she slipped into the new, double sleeping bag (an extra thick one) which was on a double air bed, and on top of the sleeping bag were several blankets to keep them warm in the freezing temperatures that were expected to go to -5° that night.

"How can you say it's not a mess? Your dirty socks are on my phone, your half eaten bag of twiglets is on my side of the sleeping bag, and for some reason, there's a pad on my pillow!" Jonny protested.
"At least it's clean." Jac muttered as she got comfortable in the sleeping bag and buried her face in her pillow.
"I bloody hope so." Jonny muttered as he frisbeed the pad across the tent down to his feet. Jonny slipped into the sleeping bag next to Jac who was fidgeting as she tossed and turned on to her side, back and then her other side. "Will you stay still!" Jonny shrieked in he he dark tent which now had no torch lighting it up, there was the faint glow of the fire outside but it was mostly pitch black.

"I can't lay on my back because it'll make me dizzy, I can't lay on my front because there's a rather large bump in the way and I can't lie on my sides because my boobs hurt." Jac moaned.
"Try this." Jonny shuffled up behind Jac, both facing the same way as they laid on their sides. He pulled her shoulder back a little so that she was in the middle of lying on her side and on her back; she was leaning on Jonny. "Is that better?" Jonny asked hopefully as he grabbed her hot water bottle and put it on his stomach and hence, on her back.
"Mm. Thanks." Jac said quietly as she settled down for the night.


"I think we should go to bed before you properly fall asleep." Tom suggested. Sam was lying on top of Tom, facing the sky under a blanket on their two bean bags. Tom had his arms wrapped around Sam and his hands were resting on top of her firm bump.
"What's wrong with sleeping out here?" Sam moaned sleepily. Though she already knew the answer: she was freezing cold now let alone when it got into the early hours of the morning.
"You'll get hypothermic and there's a lovely warm sleeping bag with blankets in the tent waiting for you." Tom said softly.
"If I go to the toilet, can you refill my hot water bottle please?" Sam croaked.
"Yes, although that actually requires getting up." Tom smirked. As rolled her eyes and it took several moments before she finally threw the blanket off of her and quickly headed for the toilet. Tom quickly got the pan from the Trangia, poured the water from the hot water bottle into it and put the pan in the ashes of the fire to heat up quickly.


"Have you felt sick at all today?" Harry asked with Gemma in his arms in their double sleeping bag.
"Surprisingly, no." Gemma said quietly.
"I think we should call him Harry junior." Harry joked.
"One, that's never going to happen. And two, we don't even know if it is a boy yet." Gemma stated. "Get me another blanket it's freezing." She whispered as she pulled the sleeping bag up to her chin.

Without trying to move too much, Harry reached over to his bag and got the last blanket. He spread it over the two of them, settled back down and rested his hands on Gemma's stomach.


Sacha, Michael and Mo had called it a day on the beers after about three each. As all three were sitting on the bean bags, Sacha noticed that Mo was shivering a little.
"Shall we hit the sack?" Sacha suggested because he knew getting into bed in their sleeping bags and blankets would warm them, or more importantly, mo, up.
"Oh, can't wait to sleep on the ground whilst it's bloody -10°." Mo said sarcastically as she slowly got up and padded towards the tent.


Tom entered the tent to find Sam on her left side inside the sleeping bag. She was still awake because she was waiting for Tom to come back before she got comfortable.
"Here you go." Tom smiled as he handed Sam her hot water bottle. "Seeing as I know what you're like, I'm going to say now that if you need the toilet in the night, don't worry about waking me up by accident, just go okay?" Tom said. He was sure she had done this last time and he didn't want her to have a full bladder because then she wouldn't sleep.
"I know um... Tom... I've got heartburn." Sam admitted quietly.
"Right, I'll go and get you an antacid." Tom smiled, he began to move but Sam stopped him.
"Where from?" Sam asked worriedly.
"Um, Jac will probably have some." Tom stated.
"Yeah but she'll be asleep and it wouldn't be fair to wake her." Sam said.
"She's only just gone to bed I'm sure she's still awake and even if jac is asleep, she wouldn't want you in pain all night." Tom stated as he slipped his shoes on and exited the tent.


"Can we talk about the birth?" Jonny asked with Jac in his arms as he stroked her hair.
"Why?" Jac huffed sleepily.
"Because it's not far away now and I need to know what you want." Jonny stated.
"Like what?" Jac moaned.
"Like, pain relief, positions, who you want there..." Jonny listed.
"What do you mean who I want there?" Jac asked confusedly.
"Well I'm guessing you'll only want me there but I mean staff wise. Mr T will be your consultant but he'll need help from a couple of nurses to do your obs or to assist and it's not like your on the best of terms with the nurses or the midwives on maternity." Jonny stated humorously. During her visits for scans she had either insulted, frightened or upset almost every nurse on the ward in some way or another. "Actually, I could help instead of other nurses." Jonny smiled. "I've done a rotation on a maternity ward before and I've assisted in delivering loads of babies." He added.

"Yeah because I really want either you or Mr T to shove your hand up my vagina to see if I'm dilated or not." Jac said sarcastically.
"Pleeeease. Please let me help deliver my little girl." Jonny begged.
"Our, little girl." Jac corrected.
"Our little girl I mean. Please Jac, I promise I'll be the best nurse on the ward to help you. It'll either be me or some other nurse who will be all cheery and trying to make small talk with you." Jonny tried to reason. "And, I can take your obs while you're sleeping or resting and I won't annoy you or anything. Please Jac I'm begging you." He pleaded.
"Wh- I... Oh fine. But if you think I'm letting you check if I'm dilated then your sadly mistaken." Jac stated.
"So you'd rather have Mr T shove his hand up there than me?" Jonny laughed.
"It's not like he hasn't done it before." Jac muttered.
"What! When?" Jonny shrieked.
"Smear tests you dumbass." Jac remarked.
"Language." Jonny said sternly. He was going to say something about the fact that smear tests didn't involve such actions but he knew she wasn't in the best of moods.

"Can I open the tent for a minute?" Tom asked quietly as he stood outside their tent.
"Yeah sure." Jonny asked as Jac slid under the covers; she just wanted to sleep. Tom unzipped the tent and shone his torch in the tent, keeping it away from Jonny's eyes. "Sorry, she's a bit shy." Jonny joked as he pointed to Jac who had gone under the covers with her hot water bottle on her back.
"Um, I don't suppose you've brought any Gaviscon or another antacid have you?" Tom asked as he tried not to laugh at Jac.
"Is Sam okay?" Jac asked quickly.
"She's fine, she's fine. She's just got minor heart burn." Tom said softly to calm Jac down.
"Jonny, it's in your side pocket of your bag." Jac muttered from under the covers. Jonny rolled his eyes as he sat up, pulled his bag over and opened the side pocket. In there was a packet of her tena pads and a box of Gaviscon tablets.

"Why have you put your pads in my bag?" Jonny asked as he took the box of tablets out.
"I didn't have enough room in mine." Jac stated. Jonny shook his head as he handed Tom the box.
"Thank you Jac." Tom smirked as he zipped their tent back up.

"Listen, I'm going for a shower in the morning so if you wake up and I'm not here, that's where I am okay?" Jonny said as he stroked Jac's hair.
"Mmhmm." Jac mumbled as she shuffled backwards so that her back was against his stomach. This kept her hot water bottle in the right place, right where her back was aching.


After giving Sam the antacid, Tom put the box by his bag to give back to Jac in the morning, and he settled back down next to his fiancé.

"Was Jac asleep?" Sam asked.

"Nope, when I got to their tent Jac was calling Jonny a dumbass." Tom smiled.

"Tom... We need to move out of my flat to somewhere bigger before the baby comes." Sam stated.

"I know. But it's too late to be worrying about that. Get some sleep and we'll talk about it another time." tom said softly as he cuddled Sam as she fell asleep in his arms after only minutes. Soon, he too fell asleep.

Thanks for reading, please review :)