Friday 8th January 2016, 6pm

One day after the twins 2nd Birthday, they had their 24 month check up with a paediatrician in the evening after Jac and Jonny's shifts had ended. After getting Victoria to drop the twins off at the hospital, Jac and Jonny carried the twins to the ward and were called almost straight away to a consult room.

"Well that was lucky." Jonny joked as he carried Emma on his hip. "Normally, we have to wait forever. Are you going to be on your best behaviour?" He asked whilst he tried to find the correct room.

"I bet you anything Anna will shout." Jac stated. As the twins were learning to speak, they didn't yet know about how to change the volume of their voice when talking.

"If she does, she'll be on your lap; not mine." Jonny quipped as he knocked on the door and then entered a consult room where Mark, the doctor that they had seen before was sitting.

"Ah, hello Emma and Anna." He smiled.

"Hello!" Emma bellowed.

"Eh-Oh." Anna replied.

"She hasn't quite got her 'H' sounds mastered yet." Jonny chuckled.

"Okay, so I'll just give you a run through of what's going to happen at this appointment. I'm going to measure their height and weight, and then I'm going to check their heart, breathing, eyes and ears and the size of their heads. Then I'd like to see them walking just to check her coordination. And then I'll just ask some questions regarding their development in general. At this appointment, we only give immunisations if they've missed any and they're up to date except for the flu jab." He explained. "You should have received a letter offering Emma and Anna the flu jab given that it's flu season–"

"We did get it but we refused." Jonny interrupted. "We both work in this hospital so we get offered the jab too but when Jac got it last, she was pregnant and she got very unwell so we don't have it either. We know the risks, we don't want them having the jab."

"Okay… Well Emma's weight has only increased by half a kilo since she was last weighed." Mark said concernedly as Emma stepped off of the scales and then grabbed a fistful of Jonny's jeans for comfort as she stood in the unusual room.

"Is that all?" Jonny asked as he lifted his daughter up and sat down with her on his lap once more.

"Why?" Emma didn't understand what was going on but 'why' had been her favourite word for days and she said it as often as she could.

"Just be quiet for a minute darling please." Jonny whispered.

"Mm. I mean she is just inside the margin of average weight gain but given her previous weight gains, I would've thought she'd be heavier than that." Mark stated. "Has she had a particularly hard time with teething? Maybe she's eaten less than Anna."

"No, if anything Anna's had teething worse." Jac replied confusedly.

"Okay. Well even with twins, they grow at different speeds. Chances are, Emma will have a growth spurt in the next couple of months. Overall, she seems like a happy girl and infants are good at telling us when something is wrong so it's nothing too concerning. I think I'll schedule an appointment for Emma in 2 months, just to check her over simply because this is the first time she hasn't met the expected weight." Mark stated.

8pm

After returning home, Jonny was in the nursery trying to settle the twins for bedtime whilst Jac was sitting in her study. She was going through the latest two notebooks that had everything in – food and drink consumption, exercise, words said etc that was used by Victoria when she looked after them during the week so that Jac knew what was going on. It was also incredible useful for situations like the one Jac was experiencing at that moment because she had discovered that Emma had been having more fluids, more food, more nappy changes and a few extra naps than Anna had in the last week. Before the beginning of the week, their notebooks were almost identical but something had changed in the last week because aside from the dietary changes, Emma had also had sleeping difficulty for the last two nights and it looked like it was the same for that night.

Jac put the notebooks away and walked over to the nursery where Jonny was stood with Emma against his chest. He had an arm under her bum to support her weight whilst she rested her grumpy face on Jonny's shoulder and she kept a thumb in her mouth and her other arm was wrapped around Jonny's neck.

"She's overtired and worked up so she can't sleep." Jonny said softly as gently bounced her up and down. But once Jonny turned around, he realised that Jac was frowning. "What's wrong? You look confused." He stated.

"Something's not right." Jac stated quietly.

"Jac, she'll have a growth spurt soon and her weight will increase. She's still within normal weight." Jonny said reassuringly.

"No, I'm sure of it. Something's wrong." Jac said quietly. "She's been eating and drinking more than Anna. And she's been trying to sleep more than her but she hasn't slept properly for the last few days. She hasn't been sleeping through but they've both been sleeping through for months." Jac explained. "Have your family got any conditions that're hereditary?" She asked.

"No. Jac, it'll just be a phase. Stop worrying about it." Jonny chuckled as he went over and put his spare arm around her shoulders.

"No, listen to me." Jac ordered sternly as she pulled away. "I don't know what it is, but I can just tell that something is wrong." Jac stated.

"Well what do you want to do? Take them to the hospital and say 'we don't know what's wrong but we've just got a hunch that something is wrong so we'd like you to find out what?'" Jonny asked sarcastically.

"Give her to me." Jac ordered. Slowly, Jonny obliged and handed Emma over to her mother but he appeared bewildered when he watched Jac grab a changing bag and she started to pack some of Emma's things into it.

"What're you doing?" He frowned.

"If you won't believe me then I'll take her to the hospital myself." Jac snapped quietly so that she didn't wake Anna.

"What?" Jonny couldn't help but laugh out of confusion because he couldn't understand why she was being so paranoid.

"You stay here with Anna, go to bed or whatever you want but I'm taking Emma to the hospital. I just thought that when your wife is worried about something, you're supposed to support her." Jac argued.

"Jac, it's late. Stop and I'll take you in the morning if you're that worried–" He stopped when she pushed past him at the door. She then proceeded to grab her handbag and her keys from the kitchen before she walked out of the penthouse and closed the door behind her. What on earth had just happened?

Saturday 9th January 2016, 7am

He had barely slept a wink after his wife had stormed off so he sat at the breakfast bar with a cup of strong coffee after giving up with the pointless attempts at sleep. He had tried ringing Jac multiple times but it just kept on ringing out. He had texted her to ask where she was spending the night but he had received no reply.

"What've I done?" Jonny muttered to himself. Jac was practically pleading for my support and I just laughed at her.

"Mummy…? Daddy…?" Jonny quickly jumped to his feet and ran to the nursery because he knew Anna had recently tried to climb out of her cot when she had woken up alone.

"Morning sweetheart." Jonny forced a smile as he lifted his daughter up and placed her on her own two feet before he squatted down in front of her.

"Where mummy 'nd Emma?" Anna asked as she glanced at the empty cot opposite her own.

"I'm not sure Anna. But how about we get dressed and then we go and find them?" Jonny suggested.

"Peakaboo?"

"Yeah, I think they could be playing peekaboo." Jonny smiled sadly before he set about getting ready.

After checking the consultants' office, Jonny carried Anna to the nurses' station where he found Elliot doing the handover to Mo because he had been on the night shift.

"Ah, Jonny." Elliot announced as though he had been expecting the man to arrive.

"Have you seen Jac?" Jonny demanded.

"What's going on with you two?" Mo asked worriedly. "She spent the night in the office on the sofa with Emma; I found her there this morning and then she just shot off pretty early."

"We had a bit of an argument - she thought Emma wasn't well but I realise now that I didn't support her and I need to apologise." Jonny explained quietly – he knew Anna wouldn't understand but he didn't want her thinking something was wrong. "She's not picking up her phone and I don't know what to do." Jonny added helplessly.

"Daddy," Anna began.

"Not now sweetheart."

"But–"

"Anna wait." Jonny barked but he looked at his best friend and received a glare. He then looked back at his 2 year old daughter to see Anna's bottom lip quivering and two tears slipped down her cheeks. "Oh no, darling I'm sorry." Jonny apologised but as she began to fidget in his arms, he had to put her down before she hurt herself and Anna then began to run off.

"I want mummy." She shouted.

"I'll go." Mo stated before she jogged off after her.

"Jonny, Jac was rather upset when she got here last night." Elliot said disappointedly.

"What? You've spoken to her?"

"Briefly, yes. I believe she was going to spend the night in the office and then go back home once she'd calmed down but Emma wasn't well in the night."

"What? She's ill? How ill?" Jonny asked worriedly.

"Poorly enough to stress Jac out and poorly enough for her to book an appointment on paeds for Emma this morning."

"What time?" Jonny demanded as he glanced at his watch.

"I don't know, but she left Darwin at about quarter past seven." Elliot stated.

"Right thanks Elliot." Jonny barely finished his sentence before he ran towards the staircase because he had to find his wife and poorly child…