Monday 10th November 2014
"Did you wake in the night because of the cold?" Jonny asked sleepily after opening his eyes to see Jac lying beside him checking her phone.
"No." She replied bluntly and she smiled as Jonny leant across and planted his lips on hers. He kissed her gently for a few moments before he pulled away to see her squinting her eyes at him. "You need a shave." She informed him.
"Thanks." Jonny said sarcastically before he leant in to kiss her again and that time, she was the first to pull away.
"Go and shave." She ordered before she reached under her pillow and took her morning dose of painkillers. "See? I'm not always grumpy in the morning." She smiled sarcastically.
"I know; it's not just in the mornings, you're just always grumpy." Jonny quipped.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." Dom grinned after Zosia had briefly opened her eyes before she quickly closed them as the light had caused her eyes to sting. It was raining outside and they could hear it falling on the tent but to Zosia, the quiet drips of water were like a mallet pounding her skull. "Got a bit of a sore head have we?" He asked innocently.
"What happened last night?" She groaned as she pulled Dom's pillow over her head.
"You drank too much, puked twice and then insisted on behaving like a little brat because you refused to go to sleep until like midnight." Dom stated.
"My Dad didn't see did he?"
"Of course he did. Then you started having an emotional breakdown in his arms before Colette had to take you to the toilet." Arthur stated and he jumped as she tent door was unzipped and Colette jumped in before she took the hood of her waterproof coat down.
"Did I hear my name?" She smiled.
"Yeah, we were just telling Zosia about what happened last night." Dom smiled evilly as he tried to remove the pillow from Zosia's face but she wouldn't let go of it.
"Right well I just came to tell you it's been raining all night so make sure you wear suitable shoes for today – I don't know what we're actually doing yet but it's bound to be outside. I also came to check on Zosia." She stated.
"Go away." She moaned.
"Zosia if you don't get up soon you'll be the one that everyone's waiting for." Colette warned. "I could always go and get your Dad to throw some cold water on you." She teased as she knew her Dad used to do that when Zosia wouldn't get up in the mornings for school when she was younger.
"Go on then." Zosia grumbled before she turned on her side, faced the side of the tent with her back to everyone else and then she pulled the sleeping bag up over her head.
"Right, I'll go and get Guy then." Colette stated as she pulled her hood up and quickly jogged to Guy's tent through the rain where she found him lying in his sleeping bag despite him usually being an early riser. "Guy?" She demanded.
"Ssshhh." He whispered.
"What is it?" Colette asked worriedly before her eyes fell upon the boxes of aspirin and codeine, and paracetamol besides his pillow. "Migraine?"
"Mm." He confirmed simply as he kept his eyes firmly closed. "Is… is Zosia alright?" He croaked.
"Yeah, don't worry about her. She's got a headache but she'll be fine in a little while." Colette said softly.
"Col, I can't drive today." Guy stated.
"I know. What was we supposed to be doing today?"
"Hiking."
"Right well that's not really an important team building activity, Zosia's in pain, you're in agony, it's raining and has been all night so I think we should skip the walking and go straight to the next campsite." Colette stated.
"I don't know…"
"Guy, we have to."
"But who will drive the minibus?" Guy asked quietly. "No one else has a license for it."
"I'll ask around, I'm sure someone has driven something big before and if not, I'm sure someone will be willing to drive it anyway. It's not far is it?"
"About 15 miles." Guy stated.
"Right well, just leave it to me. Get ready in your own time and once you're ready, go and sit in the back of the minibus." Colette smiled sympathetically.
After trying Sacha and the Effanga sisters, Colette ran through the rain and hopped into Jac and Jonny's tent where the couple were just rolling up their sleeping bags.
"Ah, right. Guy's having a migraine so he can't drive, plus no one wants to walk in this rain today so I'm looking for a volunteer to drive everyone in the minibus to the next campsite." Colette explained. "It's not far, but you would be driving without a special license so there is a minute chance you could get into trouble but otherwise we'll have to sit in the minibus for the day because we have to be off of this pitch this morning."
"Well, if you can't find anyone else, I'll do it." Jonny offered.
"Well it'll be you then because it's either you or one of the junior doctors – only one of whom has a driving license – and somehow, I think you're the best man for the job." Colette stated.
"Right, okay. What time do we need to be ready by?"
"In about twenty minutes or so. Thanks Jonny." Colette said gratefully.
"No problem."
"I still think you're an idiot for doing this." Jac stated as she sat in the front of the minibus with Jonny who sat in the driver's seat.
"Well it's not much different from driving a car is it? It's just a bit bigger and heavier." Jonny shrugged whilst he continued to get used to the layout of the vehicle and he waited for everyone else to get on board. Guy was already sitting towards the back with his head hung between his shoulders and his eyes squeezed shut when Zosia climbed on with her hood up and a pair of dark sunglasses on.
"I'm sorry." Zosia apologised as she slowly sat down in the seat next to him.
"For what?" Guy croaked.
"It's my fault you've having a migraine and we both know it–"
"What? No, Zosia how could this possibly be your fault?"
"Your migraines are usually caused by stress and I can imagine I was probably a pain in the backside to look after last night. Plus… Dom said I started crying and saying things about Mama so I'm sorry for stressing you out."
"Zosia, I have a stressful job. You drinking a little bit more than you should have didn't cause me any stress." Guy stated. "Sometimes I just have migraines for no obvious reason, you shouldn't blame yourself."
"You're not going to be sick are you?"
"No." Guy replied adamantly. "And we shouldn't be travelling long enough for your travel sickness to play up either." He added.
"Mm, I'm tired." Zosia huffed as she pulled her seatbelt on and then snuggled up into her dad's side so he put his arm around her shoulders.
"Me too sweetheart, just get some rest." Guy whispered before he lightly kissed her forehead. His head was pounding with every move he made and he could barely see straight because any source of light caused further intense pain.
"Are you impressed?" Jonny asked as he turned the engine of the minibus off after he had parked in the car park perfectly and safely driven them to their new campsite.
"Mm, what do you want? A gold star?" She retorted as she climbed out. The journey had been pretty silent because Zosia was catching up on some sleep after the night before and Guy – though he couldn't sleep – was resting with his daughter snuggled into his side.
"We'd better leave her there for a while." Dom stated as he and Arthur got off of the vehicle. "She set the tent up for us yesterday so I suppose it's our turn."
"We'd better do Mr Self's tent as well because he helped Zosia and I don't think he's well enough to put a tent up by himself." Arthur stated quietly as they began to get their bags onto their backs.
"Do you fancy doing my tent too?" Colette asked cheekily.
"In your dreams – what was it Fletch called you? - Collywobbles?" Dom grinned.
"Forget I asked." Colette concluded before she quickly escaped the situation as she hated her pet name her ex gave her.
Soon, Zosia began to stir and she looked up to see her Dad looking down on her and the rest of the minibus was empty.
"How long have we been here for?" She asked before she rubbed her eyes.
"Not long." Guy replied. "How're you feeling?"
"Better." Zosia smiled as the headache had almost disappeared thanks to the rest and the paracetamol she had taken. "What about you?"
"It'll still last another few hours yet." Guy sighed.
"Come here. I read somewhere that this is supposed to help with migraines." Zosia stated as she sat up, turned to face her father properly and she began slowly massaging his temples with her index and middle finger of each hand on each side. She continued for a further few minutes until she stopped and her father opened his eyes for once.
"Thanks, that did relieve some pressure." He smiled. "Now come on then, we'd better think about joining the others." He advised and so Zosia stood up before she helped her Dad to stand up and get down from the minibus and onto the pavement.
"What're we doing tomorrow?" Zosia asked curiously.
"Um… oh, we're doing a raft building activity on Loch Ness, it's not far from here." He stated. "Though if this migraine hasn't budged, I won't be able to go. I can barely move without my head pounding even worse." He grimaced as they walked the short distance across the soggy field where they met the rest of the group.
"Well you go and have a lie down." Zosia ordered as she saw that his tent had been set up. "What do you want for lunch?" She asked. "I skipped breakfast so I'm quite hungry and I can sort something out for us."
"Um… thanks darling but I'm not hungry. Maybe some soup for dinner if it gets a bit better but it depends, sometimes these migraines can last over 24 hours for me." Guy replied honestly.
"Okay."
"You know you were crying about your mother last night–"
"Dad I was out of it." Zosia protested.
"Yes but, you do know you can talk to me about anything yeah? Including your mother. And you can always come back home and go through your mums things if you'd like to. I've been meaning to tidy the loft out and you could help. I'm sure a lot of Mama's stuff from when she was younger is up there including her wedding dress."
"Really?"
"Mm."
"I'd like that." Zosia smiled at the thought of being able to touch the dress that her mother wore on such an important day.
"Zosh, the tent's ready if you want to lie down." Dom announced whilst Guy slowly walked over to his tent.
"Thanks, I don't feel too bad now I just didn't want to put the tent up." She grinned.
Jonny was beginning to get bored as he sat in his tent with Jac, who was doing some work on her iPad when he had an idea.
"I think I'm gonna try and find a laundrette around here and get some of my clothes cleaned. Do you want to sort out some dirty stuff of yours and I'll do yours too?" He suggested.
"Do you want to check where a laundrette is first?" She asked as she offered him her phone.
"Thanks." He nodded as he used her internet whilst she sorted out some of her used clothes that she wanted to wear again soon. "Oh and give me my hoodie that you've borrowed, that must need washing."
"Oh so just because I've slept in it, it means it needs washing?" Jac demanded.
"Jac you've slept in it for the last week." Jonny laughed as she threw the black hoodie at him.
"You do know you need to separate the lights, colours, darks, etc don't you? You can't just throw it all in."
"Despite the fact that I spend most of my time at your place, you do realise I have lived by myself for quite a long time; I think I know how to do the washing." Jonny stated with a hint of sarcasm.
"How is he?" Colette asked as Zosia exited Guy's tent after she had offered him a simple pasta and tomato sauce meal she had made.
"He hasn't eaten all day and he won't eat anything for dinner even if I cook it." Zosia moaned as she join the rest of her colleagues out by the fire that was crackling away.
"I don't blame him." Dom quipped. "I've tasted your cooking… Joking!" He protested quickly as he knew she would threaten to hit him where no man should be hit.
"Zosh, he's not well. Just give him some more time. You know what his migraines are like." Colette advised the junior doctor.
"Whatever."
"Do you remember that migraine that lasted nearly two days when me you, mamma and him were having Christmas together?" Colette asked.
"Yeah. He spent all day in bed and thankfully, Mama had to cook Christmas dinner instead of him so we didn't have to eat his cooking." Zosia retorted. "You do think he's okay though? This isn't out of the ordinary is it–"
"Zosia don't be worried. He's fine, he just needs some rest." Colette stated reassuringly.
"Here is the cleaned and dried washing," Jonny announced as he dumped a large hiking bag inside of the tent. "And here is dinner." He stated as he handed her a carrier bag containing a ready made salad each and two fruit smoothies from a local café. "So I've technically done the washing and the cooking." He smirked. "Could you possibly find a better man?" He asked rhetorically.
"Yeah, I could find one without Scottish Nurse DNA." Jac quipped.
"Ooh, you weren't here earlier when Zosia said what we're doing tomorrow. We're raft building." He announced as he sat down next to her and they got their salads out. He promptly ignored her racist quip as he knew if she got satisfaction from it, she was bound to continue.
"That sounds freezing." Jac grumbled and Jonny then noticed that she had goose bumps on her arms so he pulled his black hoodie out of the clean clothes bag.
"Here. Wear this." He ordered – not that she needed telling as she pulled it on straight away before she continued eating her salad with a plastic fork. They ate in a comfortable silence when Jonny suddenly looked up after hearing Jac quietly gasp and she had grimaced and clutched her abdomen. However, the pain quickly disappeared and Jac looked up to see Jonny's sad eyes looking at her.
"What?" She demanded exasperatedly.
"I just wish there was something more we could do about your pain." Jonny admitted. "Doesn't it annoy you that you're a doctor and you still can't do anything?"
"There isn't a cure for everything." Jac shrugged. "There's nothing more I can do and I can deal with it."
"I know you can." Jonny replied appreciatively as he tried his best to understand how high her pain threshold was. "Tell you what, how about after eating this we have an early night?" He suggested. "By the sounds of it, we're going to need plenty of energy for tomorrow."
"Mm. We've barely done anything all day and I'm knackered." Jac admitted.
"That'll be because you haven't had a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed or a relaxing bath since we left Holby." Jonny stated.
"Do you reckon Guy would let us spend a night in a B&B nearby if I paid for it?" Jac asked as she thought about the real possibility of doing such a thing – sleeping on the floor really wasn't a comfortable option given that her endometriosis gave her enough hassle as it was.
"I'm not sure." Jonny smirked. "I suppose it's worth a try asking him in the morning." He added.
"Mm." Jac nodded in response, but it left her wondering if it would be best not to tell Guy and for her and Jonny to simply sneak away and spend the night in a comfortable room with central heating… Could they possibly get away with it?