Chapter 54: Jack's New Job
Jack's battered old land rover grumbled along the stony road and he tried to ignore the ache in his side as he hit a small dip in the road. He had been discharged from hospital a couple of days ago and had persuaded Nikki to let him back to work even if he was just on light duties. This mainly involved him filling in a very long incident report for the police. But today was his day off and instead of going to the gym, eating pizza or writing his research paper, he was making a special visit.
He turned a corner and pulled up outside of a medium sized building set in green grounds. He passed a blue and white NHS sign welcoming him to Primrose Lodge. Jack turned off the engine and swung his long legs out of the car, grabbing a holdall from the boot before he locked up.
"Hi, my name is Jack Hodgson. I'm here to see Molly Williams," he said as he stopped at the reception desk.
"Take a seat Mr Hodgson and someone will take you through in a moment," the receptionist said as she punched a string of numbers into the phone
"Thanks," he said as he lowered himself into one of the comfy looking chairs adorning the reception. A few moments later a young man dressed in blue scrubs came out of one of the doors.
"Ah! You must be the famous Jack. Molly has told me all about you," the man said extending his hand "I'm Colin Macdonald. I'm Molly's key worker here at Primrose Lodge,"
"Pleased to meet you," Jack said shaking his hand "How's Molly settling in?" he asked. Molly had been transferred to Primrose Lodge two days ago. The hospital felt that they could do no more to help her and so Molly had been upheaved once again but this time to a rehab unit.
"She's been a bit quiet so I hope seeing a friendly face will help relax her a bit," Colin said as he led Jack down a well-lit and open corridor "Room number five, here week go," he said knocking on the door "Molly, I have a visitor for you," he said opening the door.
Jack found himself in a pale yellow room with a big bay window letting the early morning sunshine stream in through the windows. The room smelt fresh and was with both medical equipment and normal everyday furniture. It was clear that whoever designed the place had tried to make it as homely as possible.
In the middle of the room was a bed and on the bed was a forlorn looking Molly. Finally out of her hospital gown she was dressed in loose tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt. One of her arms hung in a sling and Jack remembered the Doctor's diagnosis of permanent nerve damage. He was pleased to note that the part of her hair that had been shaved for surgery had almost grown back fully now and most of the bruising had gone down on her face.
"Hi Molly," Jack said slowly
"J-Jack!" her ears pricked up at the familiar Irish lilt.
"I told you he was coming," Colin smiled softly as Molly's face lit up as Jack sat on one of the chairs next to the bed "I'll leave you two to catch up,"
"How're you doing?"
"I d-don't l…like it h-here," Molly sighed
"Why not?" Jack asked "Colin seems nice,"
"He i..is," Molly said "But I want to go home,"
"This is one step closer to home," Jack reassured her "Anyway this is better than that hospital room surely?"
"S..supose," Molly gave a one armed shrug
Jack looked around the room and noticed the sparseness of the room and suddenly realised what Molly meant. On her bedside table stood the photo of her mother. On her bookshelf was a single copy of 'One hundred and one true stories of alien invasions' and the DVD 'ET'.
"I think I can help Molly," he said pulling the holdall towards her "I thought you might like a few bits from home so Nikki and I went back to your home and got some of your stuff'
'I t-thought it w…was s-still a crime scene?'
'It's over Molly remember?' Jack frowned
" …' Molly said although Jack was unconvinced she did remember
"I got some of your books. Proper books I mean, none of that "cat sat on the mat" nonsense," Jack said pulling out some well-thumbed copies of some classical novels that he had found on her bookshelves "You will be able to read these again, I know it,"
"T-thanks,"
"I also brought your alien encyclopaedia in," Jack said pulling out a hefty tome that was littered with annotations and sticky notes "Do you remember the article you were writing?"
Molly closed her eyes for a moment, brow furrowed deep in thought "There w…ere c-cows,"
"Good," Jack encouraged
"T-they were visiting the aliens," Molly stuttered
"The aliens were suffering from severe calcium deficiency so they were stealing the cow's milk to prevent rickets," Jack finished for her
"W-we went to De-vil's Cott," she said rubbing her ankle in memory
"That's gone now Molly," he reminded her "He's gone now. You're safe. You have to look towards the future,"
"I c-can't do it," Molly said angrily gazing down at her limp arm
"Molly," Jack said softly "You've gotten through a murder investigation, major surgery, a coma no one thought you'd come out of, and the death of both of your parents. Don't tell me there's something you can't do,"
"What can I do Jack?" she asked "I'm s-stuck in this p…place for the foreseeable f…future. I don't even k-know if I c..can go home,"
"You can carry on your father's legacy," he said passing her a copy of the 'Underground Man', Jonathan and Molly's magazine
"That's t-the last c…opy," she said sadly
"It doesn't have to be," Jack said pulling out a battered old laptop out of the holdall
"I can't r…remember my p-password," Molly said
"That's why I got Clarissa to hack it for you," Jack smiled softly "Although: "ETg0H0me" might not be the best password ever" he said "All your files are still safe,"
"I c-can't produce an e…ntire m-agazine by myself," she sighed
"I thought you'd say that so I have a proposition for you," he said pulling some papers out of the bag
"W-what are t…these?" she said looking puzzled
"Well I had some time off work with…well with what happened and I decided to write some articles. They're a bit different to your style of writing but if they're okay with you boss…?"
"Boss?"
"Well since your Dad passed away I think that means you've landed yourself a promotion kiddo. You're now editor of the Underground Man and I'm your part-time science correspondent. That's if you'll have me?"
Molly nodded and for the first time he spotted a smile creep across her face "But how can I publish a magazine from this place?"
"Well the next issue doesn't have to be due out for a while so maybe that's something you can work towards. Okay so maybe you can't phone the publisher right now but work on your speech therapy and you'll be flying in no time!"
"Y-you really think I c…can do this?" Molly asked cocking her head on one side
"Of course Molly. You can do anything if you put your mind to it," Jack told her squeezing her hand
There was a knock at the door and the two turned to see Colin stick his head around the door.
"Everything going okay?" he asked noticing the change in Molly's demeanour
"I've g-got a p…pro….ush….ion," Molly stuttered over the word
Colin cocked an eyebrow "Oh yeah? This to do with the magazine I've heard so much about?" he asked and Molly nodded her head
"Great news eh?" Jack smiled and Colin nodded but Jack could sense something beneath his cheery demeanour
"Molly, speaking of news I just have some for you. I know this may be difficult but they're ready to release your father's body from the mortuary," Colin explained slowly
"We've been keeping him safe at the Lyell," Jack told her gently
"It's ti…me" Molly said gripping Jack's hand "Time to s…ay g-goodbye…."
Author's Note: I'm back! So sorry I haven't written for ages. I've had a bit of a crap time of it recently and didn't think I could give this story the attention it deserved but I had reviews saying you lot wanted it back so here I am. The next chapter is a bit of a weepy one so be warned!
