Saturday 8th November 2014, 2am
All was silent across the campsite in the early hours of the morning and so almost everyone was asleep. But unfortunately, one couple had no such luck. Jonny had been fast asleep moments ago but he woke when he felt his arm being moved and the woman whom he had been cuddling had moved. He could see through the small amount of moonlight penetrating their tent that she was going over to her bag, but the second he heard her groan, he stopped himself from asking if she was alright. She'd be embarrassed if she realised that she had woken him so he remained silent as she took some medication after he had heard the silver foil being broken on the tray of pills and then pulled on a pair of shoes before she exited the tent.
He laid there silently for several minutes until the poor woman returned but her eyes met his straight away and she knew he was awake.
"Come on." He whispered as he pulled back the unzipped sleeping bag that they were using as a cover and so she slowly got back down onto the ground and laid down in his arms. "We'll forget that shower together in the morning, don't worry." He said softly as he smoothed his hand up and down her flat abdomen. He knew her endometriosis caused her such agonising pain that it felt so bloody unfair every time he had to watch her go through it. But, she was such an incredible, magnificent woman that she dealt with it and just got on with life. "Are you warm enough?" He whispered in her ear because he knew if she was cold, the pain would usually be worse – it was at its most tolerable when she was curled up in her favourite armchair with a hot water bottle and with the central heating on. Not, when she was lying on a hard ground in a paper thin tent under only a sleeping bag. As expected, he received no response. "Jac?" He prompted but he knew from what she had told him before, when she was in pain the last thing she wanted to do was talk. "Don't worry. I'll have a word with Guy in the morning and tell him– "
"Don't you dare say anything." She finally spoke up.
"I was joking, I just wanted to hear you speak." Jonny replied reassuringly. "And on this occasion, I will let you blame this on Scotland seeing as you're feeling so poorly." He smirked.
"I'm not in the mood." She grumbled.
"Wow, you must be feeling bad." Jonny replied with a hint of sarcasm. And, as per usual, he laid there with her in his arms in silence until she managed to get back to sleep. He was only thankful that she didn't have to walk the 12 miles that day – instead she could relax.
4am
Guy stepped out of the toilet block after drinking too much water the night before but he paused once he realised his daughter was just coming out of the female toilets.
"You alright?" He asked kindly.
"Fine." She replied briefly.
"Er, Zosia just listen to me for a minute." He requested and the junior doctor, who had her hood up to keep her warm, stopped and stood on the spot.
"If you don't want to walk today, why don't you come in the minibus with me?" He suggested. "I'm sure you can get Arthur and Dom to play along, so we could just say you've got a stomach bug and been sick a few times in the night. You can sit in the front with me and it'll only be fifteen minutes or so in the car so your travel sickness shouldn't play up. What do you say?"
"Okay." She nodded exhaustedly.
"Are you alright? By the looks of things, we wouldn't need to lie about you being ill." He stated concernedly as he wondered what she was doing out of bed at this time in the morning.
"I'm fine. It's just women's problems." She admitted quietly.
"Oh right… Well all the more reason for you to give the walking a miss I suppose." Guy said sympathetically. "Just be ready by about 9am, and I'll put the heating on in the minibus to warm you up." He smiled. "Have you got enough covers in your tent?"
"I'm fine Dad." Zosia sighed. "I just want to go back to bed." She hinted.
"Of course, go on. After you." He offered before he followed his daughter back to their tents.
"Are you going to miss me?" Jonny asked with a mischievous grin as his partner and the rest of her team, plus Zosia, prepared to get on the minibus whilst Jonny and his group prepared a route on the map Guy had given them. Zosia was already sitting in the front seats with the heating on full blast to warm her up and everyone else had their bags and tents on the minibus because they thankfully didn't have to carry it whilst they walked.
"Like a hole in the head." Jac quipped.
"I don't suppose seeing as I'm going to be busy all day, you could possibly sort out dinner for us two could you?" He requested.
"We'll see." Jac replied sheepishly.
"But more importantly, make sure you eat something soon yeah?" He ordered gently though he received a roll of her eyes. "I know you're in pain but starving yourself isn't going to make you feel any better." Jonny pleaded.
"Who's starving themselves?" Guy asked confusedly as he greeted the couple.
"No one, she just skipped breakfast." Jonny improvised as he knew embarrassing her in front of her boss would more than likely result in him having to sleep in Adele and Mo's tent for a night or two.
"Oh well you can pop to the café quickly if you want, we're in no rush to leave." Guy offered.
"I'm fine." Jac huffed as she turned away from the two men, slid the side door open and climbed onto the minibus.
"Right well then, I think everyone's ready to leave." Guy stated. "Let's go." He announced and so Adele and Arthur jumped onto the minibus whilst Colette opened the passenger door and frowned when she realised Zosia was sitting on the seat at the edge whilst there were two seats in the front aside from the driver's seat.
"What're you doing on here?" Colette asked confusedly. As far as she knew, the junior doctor was on the losing team and was supposed to walk.
"She's got a bug; she was sick a few times in the night but it seems to have stopped. I just want to keep an eye on her." Guy explained as he jumped in the driver's seat. "Come on you, sit here so Colette can jump in." Guy said softly as he undid her seat belt and waited for Zosia to shuffle across into the middle seat.
"I've got some rehydration salts in my first aid kit if you want them." Colette suggested as she climbed in.
"She's already had some, but thanks." Guy said appreciatively. "Okay, let's get going."
"How could you possibly not have seen the bloody stream on the map?!" Jonny shouted at his best friend as they, Sacha and Dom stood in front of a stream leading into Loch Ness about two metres wide filled with rushing water.
"I thought the blue line was some hiking trail or something; it looked too thin to be a river." Mo argued. "Besides, you stink and you could do with a wash anyway." She quipped and Jonny just half-chuckled to himself before he focused on the task at hand.
"We could always walk down stream and see if it gets any smaller." Dom suggested.
"No, we could be going for miles." Jonny shook his head. "We'll have to build some sort of bridge across it. Let's try and find a tree that's fallen down or something." He suggested.
"Or we could just step across." Sacha suggested. "It doesn't look that deep."
"Well Jonny'll find out for us." Mo smirked as she stepped forward and shoved Jonny. He stumbled backwards, yelped, plunged a foot into a couple of inches of water before he jumped onto the other bank.
"I'm so gonna get you back Maureen." Jonny warned.
"Yeah yeah, just help me over." Mo grinned.
"Well done lady and gentlemen." Guy announced as Mo, Jonny, Dom and Sacha arrived with rosy cheeks. All the tents were set up after the rest of the group had spent the day lounging around though some had done more than others. "Dom, I do believe there's Chinese food in your tent – well, if Zosia and Arthur have left you any." He quipped and the junior doctor quickly jogged over to the largest tent in the circle at the thought of food.
"Does that mean you've sorted something out for dinner sis?" Mo asked as she went over to the leopard print tent that had the door rolled up.
"Nah, I was waiting for you." Adele stated.
"Brilliant." Mo concluded sarcastically before she went over to her tent
"I'm really happy for you by the way." Sacha began as he assisted his best friend to set up her and her partner's tent. He was just putting the final few tent pegs in whilst Jac was standing there handing them to him one by one so she didn't have to get down on her knees and Jonny was busy having a shower. "Jonny's made you really happy." He added and Jac gave him a coy look before she spoke up.
"What about you? Got your eye on anyone?"
"You remember Essie? The nurse on Keller?"
"The idiot who brought negative press to the hospital, yes." Jac confirmed.
"She's not an idiot." Sacha chuckled. "Anyway, she's taking a break from nursing and she's abroad but we're keeping up a long distance relationship. We skype, we call each other, text… it's nice. I think I actually prefer a long distance relationship." He admitted.
"Oh dear." Jac sighed sarcastically. "Levy's smitten." She smirked.
"Says you!" Sacha protested.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jac demanded.
"Oh come on, if anyone should know, it's your best friend. I can tell you love Jonny." He stated.
"I don't l–" Jac suddenly stopped herself as she couldn't honestly say what she would automatically argue.
"You don't what?" Sacha asked with a mischievous grin as he stood up after putting in the final peg.
"I do." Jac muttered under her breath. "Sorry, I've got to go." She suddenly disappeared into the tent and zipped it up behind her. She hadn't realised until then, but she truly was in love with the Scotsman. She couldn't protest to her best friend and she couldn't say she didn't love Jonny when she couldn't go a single hour without thinking about him.
Jonny had just arrived back at his tent after having a shower and changing into some warm clothes when Jac grabbed him by the wrist and began dragging him across the field towards a forest.
"Woah, what's going on?" He demanded.
"You'll see in a minute." Jac stated and he continued to frown as he followed her into the forest until they reached a clearing where there was a picnic bench with a bottle of wine, two glasses and a large pizza in the middle.
"What's all this for?" Jonny asked confusedly as he tried to work out why she had gone to such trouble when she had never done such things before. But nevertheless, as she took a seat one side, he took a seat on the other side of the picnic bench.
"I um… I just had a bit of help to realise what I have." Jac replied disjointedly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're always there for me when I need you, i.e. this morning, and I've just never had someone like you before… I also had a bit of help to realise that, I love you." She admitted. "Look I know I'm not good at all this touchy feely crap but it's the best thing I could think of at short notice and–"
"No, Jac. It's perfect." Jonny chuckled softly. "It's perfect." He repeated as he leant forward and kissed her gently on the lips. "Right, I am starving so let's eat this pizza before it goes cold." He declared.
"Right, now that we're all together, I promise this won't take long it's just about tomorrow." Guy stated as he sat in front of the crackling fire with Colette after he had requested that everyone come out of their tents for a moment. "We'll be doing an assault course so you'll need to be wearing clothing that can get muddy." He stated. "I want everyone packed up and ready to go by 8:30am. Okay, you can go. Actually, Zosia can I just have a word?" He requested as he got off of his folding chair and stepped aside with his daughter. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Only you've been in your tent most of the day."
"I'm fine Dad." Zosia sighed before she headed back to their tent and Guy went back and sat by the fire with Colette again.
"Is she alright?" The senior nurse asked curiously as she too had noticed that the junior doctor had been hidden away since they'd arrived at the campsite that morning.
"She's fine." Guy confirmed.
"So what's this assault course tomorrow going to be like?" She asked curiously.
"Well, it's forecast to rain tonight and if it does, I'd imagine that it'll be like a mud bath." Guy smirked.
"You're an incredible woman, you know that?" Jonny whispered as he laid with his partner in his arms as they settled down for the night after Jac had had a shower to warm her up with the company of Jonny to relax them after the long day. But given it was her time of month and the fact that Jonny had had a shower only hours ago, he merely sat on the bench outside of her cubicle and kept her company. "I know there're a lot of rumours about you but none of them are true… Once you get to know the real Jac Naylor, you're just brilliant. Granted, it's taken about two years since we met for me to get to know the real you." He grinned. "But it's all been worth it." He added. "Jac?" He prompted, but as he leant forward he realised that she had in fact fallen asleep in his arms. "Goodnight beautiful." He whispered before he snuggled his face into the back of her neck and he soon drifted off into a deep slumber.