Jac

Jac breathed in the familiar scent of Kian Madani, the coconut in his shampoo and a faint trace of aftershave. His hair had grown since in the week that he had been gone, and she realised just how much she had missed him- how much she needed him. She clung on to his scrubs as if she was scared of letting go, that he might leave her again.

She closed her eyes and remembered another time when she had sat with him like this. It was before he left, before "what happened" (she wished people would just say what had happened. Mark Yates had attacked her, forced Connie to help a patient that couldn't be saved and tried to kill her. Simple really), before it all got this complicated.

Tired from sleepless nights, Jac fell asleep leaning on Kian and when she woke up, she realised that it had been the first time she had slept without nightmares since the attack. She noticed that Kian was gone, but Connie sat in the chair next to her and smiled when she saw Jac had woken up.

'Hey. You ok?' she asked.

'Yeah. Yeah, I am,' Jac replied, actually meaning it for the first time in a while, 'have you slept?'

'Since when?' Connie laughed.

'For the last week or so?'

Connie smiled sheepishly.

'Of course I have. I've been busy but I've obviously slept. Why'd you ask?'

'Well, because I know that you haven't. You look awful, you're becoming me which is no easy task and you went through hell just like I did. I'd be tired if I were you and I bet you're not sleeping because, and this is just a guess, you feel guilty about what happened to me and you feel like you got off lightly so you're pushing yourself to the limit to make up for that and ensure that when I do come back, I have an easy ride for the first week. You won't let yourself take more than the bare minimum of time for yourself because you're so worried about me but I'm fine, I promise.'

Connie was silenced. She stared into space and tried to think of a reply, but she couldn't, because Jac was completely right, and she'd summed a week's worth of stress into a minute.

Jac watched Connie close her eyes and eventually fell asleep and she was pleased that she had finally given herself a break. She was no use to Darwin in that condition and Darwin needed to be running at it's best. Even though they had won the cardiology unit, Max was still on the warpath and this ward was everything to Jac.

Without warning, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and her heart raced, though the monitor next to her showed her blood pressure was low again. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get enough air into her lungs. The monitor beeped incessantly, increasing Jac's heart rate further.

Connie woke up and was instantly by the monitor, reading the numbers as she tried to work out what was wrong while Jac fought for breath next to her.

'Can I get some help in here!' She shouted. Fletch and Kian ran into the small room, panicking.

'What's going on? What the hell happened? She was stable a minute ago!' Fletch asked, rushing to Jac's other side and gripping her hand tightly.

'Hemothorax,' Kian and Connie muttered together. 'Right, we need to do a thoracostomy NOW.'

Kian injected the lidocaine he had left from earlier before making the incision into Jac's chest. Connie inserted the thoracostomy tube into her and sighed in relief as they heard the hissing of the air being released. The blood pressure rose back to its normal level and her heart rate decreased again. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Connie.

Fletch

'Dammit Jac, gave us all a scare there,' he laughed. The visible relief on everyone's faces was evident as Jac stabilised. Fletch thanked Connie, noticing how pale she was. While he and Kian were overjoyed that Jac was ok and were making a fuss of her, Connie stood quietly and smiled.

'All right?' he asked her. She nodded but Fletch didn't miss the way she held onto Jac's bed to steady herself. Kian noticed too and it was decided that he would take Connie back to the office for a rest and Fletch would sit with Jac. He was nervous because he had spent very little time with her since the attack and he knew she had been wary of anyone other than Connie. However, they very quickly settled into conversation and when Jac fell asleep, he tucked the blanket around her and left to check on Connie and Kian.

'Kian, I'm fine. Really, I slept in Jac's room. Now, what's happening with Mr Bowditch? I thought his lobectomy had been successful?'

Fletch knocked softly on the office door and stepped in. He saw Connie sitting on the sofa with Kian next to her. Evidently, trying to get Connie to take a break was not going well.

'Connie,' Fletch began, 'why won't you sleep? You're human and you can't run on no sleep.'

'What if she needs me? I was asleep when she needed me and if I'm not there next time…' she trailed off.

'Hey,' a voice called softly from the door. The three in the office turned around, surprised to see Jac sitting in a wheelchair. 'I got a nurse to help,' she explained.

'You should be asleep, Jac,' Fletch said.

'Yeah well, I felt needed. Connie, get yourself home and eat a proper meal. You need an early night and then you can come back tomorrow and actually be of some use rather than wasting everyone's time here. Kian, Fletch, there are patients who need you, so I suggest you leave Mrs Beauchamp and let her go home.'

Kian left but Fletch didn't get up. He turned to Jac and spoke angrily to her.

'What the hell do you think you're doing speaking to her like that? She hasn't slept because of you, Jac. She hasn't wanted to leave you.'

'Go, Fletch,' Jac repeated. Connie nodded and he left the room, wishing he could put Jac in her place but knowing it wasn't going to happen.