Three months later, Jac was stood outside a bridal shop, baby Amelia in her arms and a sour expression on her face. She let out a deep sigh as Amelia began to open her eyes. As soon as the small child's wails began, Jac started to rock her gently hoping that she'd go back to sleep.

'Oh, Milly please stop crying, why won't you sleep.' She said in an unsoothing tone. Upon hearing Jac's voice, Milly immediately began to calm down. Despite having her mother's temper, Milly had her father's instinct and knew when it wasn't right to pester her Mum. Jac stroked her daughter's cheek and smiled as a tiny hand wrapped around her finger.

She began to think back to the week before when she finally heard from Connie. She was sat on the sofa with Oliver, Milly sound asleep in her arms. Her and Oliver were talking about the wedding when the phone rang.

'Hello.' Said Jac down the phone.

'Jac, its Connie.'

'Connie, where have you been, we've been so worried. You just left without a word. Even when I had my baby early and we were both in hospital, you never bothered.'

'Jac can I come over, we need to talk.' She said, it was as if she had just ignored what I'd just said.

'Fine.' I said reluctantly, putting down the phone.

The next ten minutes Ollie and I sat in silence, waiting for the doorbell to ring. When it finally did, I opened the door to find Connie standing there, her head wrapped up by a scarf and Grace holding her hand.

'Hello.' She said simply.

'Connie, come in.' I said hurriedly.

'Jac, could we talk away from the kids?' She asked looking down at Grace who was running over to Oliver.

'Sure. Ollie, I'm going to put Milly up to bed and Connie and I are going to have a chat.' I said. Connie and I walked to the stairs when I said. 'Connie, do you want a hold.'

Connie nodded eagerly so I placed my child into her arms, she carried her upstairs and put her carefully into her cot.

'Jac, I'm so sorry for not being there for you, but I've been too ill.'

'What happened?' I asked worriedly.

'I've got, had Cancer. Breast Cancer, stage three. I had Chemo for two months and it's completely shrunk the tumour. I wanted to talk to you but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't know that you'd had her. Nobody knows but Hanssen and Grace doesn't understand. Sam has come back from the states and is living with me currently. We're taking things slowly but I hope that it will work out.' She said.

'I'm so sorry.' I said emotionally.

'Don't be, I told Elliott yesterday, he's going to tell Michael, Joseph, Ric, Sacha and Chrissie. I can't cope with telling everyone myself. I'm coming back to work though, Hanssen can't exactly sack me as I'm just as much his boss as he is mine.' She explained.

'Connie, next week Chrissie and Sahira are meeting me for the dress fittings and I don't want to do it without my maid of honour.' I said smiling.

'Jac, Jac. Earth to Jac.' It was Sahira. 'Was it fun wherever you were?'

'It was, anyway you alright.' I said grinning.

'Yup, Connie and Chrissie are coming straight from the hospital. They're bringing Grace. Ollie, Michael, Sacha and Daniel are getting their suits fitted.' She said stroking Milly's face. 'Should we wait inside?'

Inside we met a young woman who was dressed smartly and measuring a long white dress. She stood up and said 'you must be Jac Naylor, pleased to meet you.'

'Yes, this is my bridesmaid Sahira Shah.' I replied.

'Ahh, I'm Elizabeth Fleck.' She replied kindly. 'Are we still waiting for anyone?'

'Yes, the other bridesmaid, a flower girl and maid of honour will be here shortly.' I said.

'Okay then, are we picking out both the brides, maid dresses and your wedding dress.' She said I nodded.

I heard Connie park up outside and then her Sahira and Grace joined us.

'Connie, how are you doing?' I asked hugging her.

'I'm good.' She replied as I hugged Sahira.

'So' Said Elizabeth. 'Shall we start by choosing the bridesmaids dresses, then we'll find the flower girl dresses. Is there a colour scheme?'

'Yes, as it's on Christmas day we're having the bridesmaids in burgundy and me in burgundy and ivory.' I replied.

'Wonderful. For the bridesmaids did you want full length dresses or cocktail.' She asked looking at the rails of dresses.

'Full length and sleeveless.' Said Chrissie.

'And we want a slightly different dress for the maid of honour.' I added.

She hurried off and came back with a beautiful burgundy dress. 'This is a strapless, full-length lux chiffon dress with a shirred bodice and matching flower detail at the bodice.' She said.

'Wow!' was my immediate reply.

'We have it in sizes 6 to 18.' She said kindly. 'Um, Chrissie what size are you?'

'10' She replied, Elizabeth rushed off and came back with another dress.

'How about you Sahira?' She asked.

'8'

She went and found the dress for Sahira quickly.

'And for Connie we have a one-shoulder, full-length chiffon dress with shirred bodice and flower detail at shoulder. It has a matching belt at natural waist.'

'Well, I'm a size ten as well.' Said Connie as the dress was handed to her.

'Right the three of you can go into the changing rooms whilst Miss Naylor and I find the flower girl dresses.' She said.

She brought out two dresses. One was completely burgundy and plain and the other was ivory at the top and burgundy at the bottom, covered in beautiful butterflies. Straight away I picked out the plain as it matched the other's and would complement mine nicely; you wouldn't think that me of all people would be bothered about something like that, but obviously I am.

I undressed Milly with the help of little Grace and put the beautiful dress on her. She looked very pretty but it was far too big and she wouldn't want to stay in it all evening. I knew that I'd have to find her something else to wear at the reception. Just as I was about to take grace into the changing rooms, the shop door opened and in walked a familiar face. It was Sam.

'Daddy!' Shouted Grace as she rushed over to her father.

'Sam, what are you doing here?' I asked scooping him into a hug whilst trying my best not to squish my little angle; god I sound like one of those mothers who think that their children really are saints.

'I wanted to see what you would be looking like on your wedding day and if I'm honest, wearing a blue knee length dress, isn't the best idea. '

'Very funny!' I replied.

'That and to give this to Connie.' He handed me a burgundy scarf.

'Right, well, it's a good thing that you're here. Could you get Grace changed and look after Milly whilst I try on my wedding dress?' I asked.

'Alright,' He said as I placed my daughter into his muscular arms.

Elizabeth and I walked off into the changing room. I decided to keep my eyes closed until my dress I was ready. I could hear the women outside, giggling with anticipation. The curtains were drawn and immediately the three of them stopped talking and gasped. I beamed at them before looking in the mirror.

'This is the strapless sweetheart organza, asymmetrical, draped A-Line, Burgundy top half and Ivory skirt.' She said in a posh tone.

'Jac, you look amazing.' Said Connie, kissing me on the cheek.

'You really do look stunning!' said Chrissie.

I turned around, my three beautiful brides maids stood before me. Their dresses looked wonderful and they each had a broad smile to match. I began to well up as I looked in the mirror. I saw Sam walk out of the changing room with Grace, Milly asleep in his arms. He passed her to me and I held her tightly and kissed her tiny head. I felt the tears pricking my eyes and just let them roll down my cheeks.

Sahira wiped away my tears and put her arm around me, trying to be comforting. If somebody had told me a year ago that Sahira was going to be my bridesmaid, I would have laughed in their face, she and Greg both returned to Holby a month ago and they're now in a relationship. I remember when we first met, I hated Sahira, but in the last few months we've become extremely close. During work she's helped out with Milly numerous times and has been constantly supportive of both Ollie and I.

I've even become friends with Tara. I have hated her since the day we met, but a week ago everything changed. Hanssen came into my office and gave me a lecture for upsetting Tara; I'd called her a Fetus in scrubs and she's cried like mad! But he told me why she was upset, she'd had a CT scan and it had shown that her brain tumour had grown slightly. As soon as he left, I called her into my office to give her a lecture about not telling me, but when she began to cry, I became a shoulder to cry.

Elizabeth decided to interrupt the 'moment' by announcing that we needed to pick out shoes. Once we'd chosen them we got changed, bought the clothing and left. Sam decided to go home and the five of us (Jac and Milly, Sahira, Connie, Chrissie and Grace, so sort of six) got in a cab and headed to town.

We went straight into the nearest restaurant and the waiter immediately sat us down. We were each handed a menu and quickly ordered our food.

'I want to tell you guys something.' Said Chrissie, we all looked at her expectantly. 'Sacha and I are engaged.'

'Congratulations.' I said grinning. 'I knew that you two were right for each other.'

'Well, it's thanks to you that we got together in the first place! I mean if it wasn't for you driving him to the airport on the back of your motorbike; which honestly scared him shitless, I would have gone to Australia alone.' She laughed.

'Anyway, congratulations!' I replied.

The waiter brought out a bottle of champagne, 4 glasses and a glass of orange juice for Grace.

'Right ladies, I want to make a toast!' Said Connie. 'To Jac and Oliver!'

'And to Sahira and Greg!' I added.

'And to Chrissie and Sacha!' Said Tara.

'And to Connie and Sam!' Said Chrissie.

'And to Milly's good health!' Said Grace sweetly.

'And to the tooth fairy collecting Grace's tooth!' I said smiling.

'So!' We said together. 'To Jac and Ollie, Sahira and Greg, Chrissie and Sacha, Connie and Sam, Milly's good health and Grace's tooth.'

'Now, let's talk Hen-night!' Said Connie excitedly. 'Right, my nanny can take Daniel, Indy, and Sahira, I'm about to fell really bad because I can't remember your other children's names!'

'My eldest son Tulsi and my daughter Anisha.' Said Sahira laughing.

'Okay, so my nanny will take Daniel, Indy, Tulsi, Anisha, Milly and Grace. By the way, I have three nannies so I'll ask all three of them! So, it will be us four and I've made some calls and Lola, Kyla, Donna, Tara, Frieda, Jess and guess what, Maria's back in the country for six months and is staying with Donna, they're all coming to the party!' Said Connie.

'So what's the latest goss on them?' Asked Chrissie.

'Well, Donna and Kieran are engaged and has a son called Luke. Lola came back from Ghana last year and has adopted a little girl from Ghana, Ellie whose three and is looking for a job. Kyla is now married to Abra, her son Max is playing for somewhere or other. Maria had a baby six months ago, a little girl called Maddy Alex Kendall, after Maddy and her real mum Alex Deacon. Frieda is working for some agency, helping foreigners. Jess is now single and is living her son Jake.' Said Connie.

'So… how do you know all this?' Asked Sahira, who didn't know who most of those people were.

'Well, I get all the Jess, Donna and Maria stuff from Ric, Elliott still stays in touch with Abra and I saw Lola for lunch about a month ago.' Explained Connie.

'Well, um I'm looking forward to my shower!' I said smiling.

'You should be… there's gonna be a stripper!' Laughed Chrissie.

'I said no strippers… yes, we can all get trolleyed and do some absolutely stupid things but no strippers.' I said.

'Mummy, what's a stripper?' Asked Grace sweetly.

'Umm, I'll tell you when you're older.' Connie said hurriedly.

'Oh, remember, Donna's kid Mia, Maria's little Maddy, Lola's Ellie, Jess's son Jake, not to mention the stag do, there's Joseph's son Harry, Michael's three daughters, Meena, Jasmine, Milly and his son Charlie!' I said. 'I know this sounds odd, but does anyone have some eye liner?'

'I do.' Said Sahira handing me some black eyeliner.

I took the napkin and began to make a list:

Amelia Valentine-3 months

Grace Beauchamp-5

Daniel Levy-Williams-3

Tulsi Shah-5

Indy Shah-1

Anisha Shah-3

Harry Byrne-1

Ellie Griffin-3

Jake Griffin-1

Mia Jackson-5

Maddy Kendall-6 months

Meena Spence-15

Jasmine Spence-13

Milly Spence-6

Charlie Spence-3

0-2: 5

2-4: 4

4-6: 4

6+: 2

'God, we have 15 kids to put somewhere for a day and a night.' I said. 'I'll sort it with Oliver later. So, what's the plan for the day?' I asked.

'Ahh, Connie and I have been busy planning and in the morning we're going straight to Champneys. We're getting a head massage each, which should take about 25 minutes then we're having a 45 minute relaxing facial. And Cal gel nail extensions which should take about an hour and a half. After that we're getting a half an hour makeover and then we're out shopping!'

'So how long is this going to take and how much will it cost?' I asked worriedly.

'Um, £175 and it will take about three and a half hours, I know it's a lot but it's worth it.' Said Chrissie.

'Well, seeing as I'm senior surgeon, I'm sure I can afford it. So after we hit the shops, then what.' I asked.

'Um, lunch, then we come home and we get ready. Then out to Albi's for the party!' Said Tara.

'So, whose coming to the party?'

'The lovely ladies who I told you of earlier and Serena, Eddi and Mary-Claire.' Said Connie.

'In a weeks-time we'll be sat in a spa, relaxing!' Said

Meanwhile, in Albi's, Oliver, Greg, Joseph and Michael were planning the stag-do…

'Come on Ollie, we've got to have a stripper!' Whined Michael.

'I said no, Jac and I agreed, no strippers.' Said Ollie.

'Fine!' Said Michael giving up.

'So, we're meeting at the go-karting track at 11, then we'll see where we go from there!' Said Greg.

'Exactly!' Said Michael, finishing his pint. 'I'm off then!'

'Me too!' Said Oliver as he got up to leave.

Outside the hospital, Jac was trying to open up the buggy. It had begun to pour with rain and she was getting soaked. Once she's opened up the buggy, she grabbed a fluffy pink blanket from the car and wrapped a sleeping Milly up in it, placing her in the pushchair. Jac grabbed her bags and walked as quickly as she could, inside.

When she got into reception, she saw Michael who was flirting with one of the nurses. As soon as he saw Jac, he rushed over.

'Ahh, my favourite ginger and my god daughter!' He said laughing.

'Shut up, and anyway, she's not your god daughter yet and if you carry on like this, she never will be.' Said Jac, kissing him on the cheek. 'Anyway, I need to work so, I'll see you soon.'

I got in the lift along with Serena and Ric who were arguing loudly.

'For god's sake Serena, this is not your ward, it's mine and you can't keep going behind my back, doing what you want.' Shouted Ric, waking Milly.

'For goodness sake you two, look what you've done!' I said picking Milly up from where she lay, kicking her legs around.

'I'm sorry Jac.' Said Ric. 'How is she.'

'She's a lot better and growing normally.' I replied as he cried into my shoulder loudly but by the time we reached Darwin, her screams had turned to gentle sobs.

'Look after yourself Jac, you're a mum now, don't make the same mistakes I did.' Said Ric as the doors closed.

I walked to my office, Milly asleep again, and placed her in the pushchair again. I got to work. I grabbed my phone and called Joseph.

'Hiya Joe, can I ask you a massive favour.' I asked.

'Depends.'

'Well, would you be able to send me the number of your nanny please?'

'Sure, it's 07636 459875.' He said as I wrote it down.

'Right, I really need to go.' I said hanging up.

I had the same conversation with the other 8 parents and began phoning them.

I called the first nanny and the conversation went like this.

'Hello, is this Molly Rickman?' I asked.

'Yes, who am I speaking to?'

'Hi, my name's Jac Naylor I'm a senior consultant at Holby City General, I believe you're the nanny to Joseph Byrne's son Harry.'

'Yes, why?'

'I am a close friend of Joseph's and I'm getting married next week and on my hen do and my fiancé's stag we need 15 children, whose ages range from 3 months to 15 years old, to be looked after. I am currently arranging to have the nannies of all the children come to my house and take care of the kids for the night. There's you and eight other nannies, so would you be able to take care of them for about 24 hours.'

'Umm, I don't see why not.' She said.

'I'll call in the next two days to confirm times and stuff, bye.' I said hanging up. I made the next 8 calls in exactly the same way and then began trying to arrange space for them to sleep. I had just finished placing all the children in beds; one nanny to a room, when Mary-Claire rushed in.

'Miss Naylor, I'm sorry to burst in but Sean Dolan just called, he needs your help, it's Freya Winters!' She said.

'What, what's happened?' I asked worriedly.

'Paramedics brought her in about ten minutes ago, they said that she was found by a neighbour outside the front door. The mothers gone and the police say that she wasn't inside and that all her clothes were gone. Freya has slight hyperthermia!'

'Mary-Claire, look after Milly for me please, she has milk in the bag if she wakes up and if there's any problems call Oliver.' I said kissing my daughter on the head before rushing to theatre. I was still wearing a dress, but I just scrubbed in quickly.

'Sean, what happened?' I asked.

'All we know is that she was left outside her front door in her push chair, before leaving, her mother left a note on the pram.' He said.

'Saying what?'

'Nurse Jones, could you bring the note over to Miss Naylor please?' he asked. The nurse brought over a piece of lined paper. On it said:

Dear Miss Naylor

You were right, Freya needs to be with someone who can look after her and put her first. I can't live up to the standards of being a mother, you can. I want you to take care of her, love her as if she was your own, which she is. I know that you're getting married and that you've got a beautiful baby girl. You now have two.

Please don't ever tell Freya the truth, I don't want her hurt. I have loved being Freya's mother, but I can't do it anymore. Don't try and find me, I'm in Paris and by the time you get this note, I will be falling from the Eifel Tower. I'll be with my husband, and Freya will be with someone who can be a real mother, not just the woman who gave birth to her.

I'm sure that from experience, you will know by now that you can't love isn't enough. I know that you love her; I could see it in your eyes as you gave her back to me. But not only do you love her, you can give her a proper life, one full of trust and honesty. If she was with me, she would grow up unwanted and that'd no way for a child to live.

Please love her and care for her and be the mother I never could. You're what she needs, not me.

Nicole Winters

PS Inside the house is a letter, stating that I have changed my will and that I leave Freya in your care in the event of me losing my life, which I evidently have done so.

'Oh my god.' I said, dropping the paper on the floor. 'Can I hold her?'

'Of course, she's your daughter.' Said Sean.

I lifted her from her cot and sat her on my hip. 'When can she be discharged?' I asked.

'Now, I suppose. You'll have to go straight to the police and they'll probably take her into care for the night and you might get her back tomorrow.' He said smiling.

'Thank you Sean. Do you know where Oliver and Elliott are?' I asked.

'They're both in the staff room.' He said, waving us goodbye.

I was greeted by Elliott shouting 'WOW SHE'S HUGE!'

'This isn't Milly, this is Freya.' I said.

'Why's she here love, where's Milly?' Asked Oliver taking Freya from my arms.

'She's in my office with Nurse Carter. Ollie read this.' I said handing him the note.

He read it quickly. 'Jac, let's do it!' he said suddenly.

'But we're about to get married.' I replied.

'And, I know how much you love her. We can cope with two children can't we?' He said.

'Yeah, we can.' I replied kissing him gently. 'We'll do this together.'