I'm posting this for all of the Fletch and Ange fans as we all need some Fletchard content after that episode. This is more of a "how I wish it had gone" thing than a "missing scene" or something to that extent. At the time of writing this I only had spoiler clips so this is pure speculation and I don't know if this is how things may play out in coming weeks. Enjoy, and please review if you have time, I will be forever grateful.
Em :)
He hesitated before finally plucking up the courage to knock on her office door. At one time, he would've just walked in there, no questions asked and she'd be happy to see him but he couldn't do that anymore. She shouted from inside and he took that as his cue to enter brandishing a cup of coffee, no sugar or milk, just how she liked it.
"Umm look I know we've not properly spoken after everything last week but I just wanted to know if you're ok?" He looked to the coffee cup in his hand, "I got a coffee for you, you look like you could do with it. I mean not in that way- you look amazing but you look like you're a bit bored maybe. Anyway here's a coffee for you. I'd best be off," Fletch left the room, blushing like a teenager trying to get back in their crush's good books. That was indeed what he was trying to do, he still loved her, more than he could explain but that was the thing, he couldn't explain. He couldn't find the words to tell her.
"Hold on, Fletch." She called as he made a move to leave and he turned around.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why did you bring me a coffee today?"
He looked at the floor, as if it somehow held the answer to all of his problems.
"Last week made me realise how short life is and how scared I was when Chloe told me about everything. Anyway, I decided that maybe I was a bit hasty in ending things so soon and wanted to give things another chance. It doesn't matter though."
She nodded slowly, accepting what he had said and looked up at him.
"Well I'd certainly like us to be friends again, but I don't think we're ready to leap back into a relationship yet."
"Ok well how about we go down to
Albie's and have a catch up after work?"
"I'm sorry, I'd love to but not tonight, Chloe wants to teach me how to cook something or other" she lied through her teeth.
"And really?" He questioned, "If you've met someone else than I'm happy for you,"
"It's nothing like that. Well it is I guess but nobody knows yet."
"Oh so it's someone who works here then? Look I am happy for you." He forced a smile, desperately trying to show that he was pleased for her even if it was hurting him to see her moving on. He blamed himself, he was the one who'd fallen out with her, the one who'd ended things right when she needed him, when she was more alone than she had been for years and he dumped her, right in the middle of a global pandemic. Of course she didn't want to move on, she was trying to bounce back, get any remaining thoughts of Cameron out of her head. It worked, during the day, throwing herself straight into the action again, closing down any sympathetic chats colleagues tried to start and being close to someone who didn't know her history helped too, purely giving her a bit of sympathy for what went on the week before and not what happened in Glasgow 31 years ago. But struggled at night, lying alone in the dark, Chloe either working or fast asleep, no one to talk to, aimlessly scrolling through Twitter trying desperately to find something to take her mind off it. So she'd find stupid videos on YouTube, binge watch Doctor Who to try and get her to sleep. Anything to stop the flashbacks and nightmares. Chloe didn't know. Ange couldn't burden her with that, not when Chloe had just got over her own trauma and the flashbacks had stopped about six months ago. After Evan Ange didn't let the events of that night take over, Chloe was her priority then but after the previous week, she couldn't put them off and focus on something else.
"I don't know about you but personally, I don't like the concept of either of us moving on but I think it's right for me just now."
"Really? You've just returned to work having been kidnapped which would've been traumatic for anyone and you're starting a relationship?"
"Look, it's not up to you and it's not your place to comment right now so I'm not exactly sure why you feel qualified to say anything about this."
Fletch took a deep breath in, calming himself before placing his hand on Ange's. "I'm just worried that this," he gestured at her nearly healed head wound but they both knew what he was talking about, "will have brought back bad memories that you would rather not talk about. I want to help you, ok we might not be together anymore but I care for you, I really do. What can I do to help you?" He continued and saw Ange blink back tears, a telltale sign that he had hit the nail on the head and voiced her feelings better than she could herself.
"Actually maybe we should go out for that drink later."
"What about your date?"
"Well it isn't really a date or anything and I can easily rearrange I guess," a small smile formed as she looked towards the man who stood beside her and then glanced at his hand covering hers on the table, a familiar yet strange sight that brought butterflies to her stomach. She knew that she had to get over herself but the only person who had shown real care that day was Fletch. She stood up, still holding his hand and pulled him into a hug, the only way she could convey her gratitude to him.
"Thank you," whispered Ange, simple words that meant so much more to Fletch.
The sound of Ange's office door opening startled them both and the pair quickly moved apart just as Josh stepped into the room.
"Can I help you Dr Hudson?" Ange questioned and although he wasn't looking at her, Fletch could tell that under the annoyance, there was a smile in her voice, a small one at that, but a smile nonetheless.
"I just wanted to ask if you could give me an opinion on a patient, Dr Han and I can't work out what's wrong with him," he beamed back at the clinical lead who tried to muster up some strength in order to run her ward again. Fletch looked at her and could see the pain in her eyes, she was good at hiding it: to untrained eyes she would look calm and collected but Fletch knew of the internal battles that she was fighting.
"Look, Josh mate, can I have a look at the patient, I'm not as good as Ms Godard but I can try and she has just started her break so let's leave her to it." Fletch suggested before Ange even had an opportunity to reply to the F1. Fletch knew that it was probably for the best, being as Ange had only just got back from a week's worth of leave following her ordeal with Cameron and so getting F1s to diagnose a simple condition would only exasperate her further.
"That'd be great, thanks Fletch," Josh stated, slightly disheartened at the fact that it wasn't Ange who had gone to help him but still unsure where abouts he stood with her. Fletch wasn't exactly sure where he stood with Ange either: he knew that they were going to make more of an effort to be friends again but at the mention of a relationship, Ange looked as if she would run a mile.
The two men walked onto the ward and Josh was the first to speak.
"How is Ms Godard, she's practically spent the last eight hours telling us all to mind our own business but not you?" Josh asked in an attempt to melt the uncomfortable feeling of having to work with someone who you hardly know that had formed between them.
"Yeah well she's not great but she's strong. She doesn't like sympathy being given to her except from those who she trusts properly and well, we have a bit of history so I guess it's easier to open up when you don't have to explain what went on. It's hard for her," Fletch explained, much to Josh's confusion.
"Wait, you and Ms Godard?!"
Fletch nodded, "Yeah we were together, it was my fault that it ended."
"She never said." As he spoke, Josh looked at Fletch who's expression conveyed pure confusion, shock and revelation at the same time. Before he could voice his thoughts, the two reached the patient's bed and Josh passed the older nurse the blood tests and scans.
Fletch looked at them and pointed at the anomaly in the results to Josh who then proceeded to realise what was wrong and explain it to the patient.
A short while later, Josh joined Fletch at the nurses station and began filling out a pile of paperwork.
"Josh mate?" Fletch asked, breaking the silence. When the junior doctor nodded, he continued, "you know how you said earlier that Ange never said that her and I were together, well why should she tell you? I'm just curious."
At this question, Josh blushed and stammered while trying to come up with a response. It had caught him off guard and he hadn't expected Fletch to work it out so soon. Josh's reaction told Fletch everything he needed to know and he took a deep breath in, unsure how to proceed.
It was Josh who made the bold move of restarting the conversation, desperate for Fletch to realise that the relationship hadn't even begun.
"Umm you see, nothing has actually happened yet, we were meant to be going out for drinks later but she told me earlier that something had come up and she couldn't make it."
Fletch nodded, "So it hadn't gone anywhere then?" When Josh shook his head earnestly, Fletch could see that the young man was indeed telling the truth and he had no right to believe that he was lying.
The two sat at the nurses station for five minutes, neither working but neither making eye contact with the other, for fear of embarrassment or humiliation. Fletch stood up, a small level of anger bubbling to the surface was evident in his stride across the ward to the office of his former girlfriend.
Seeing Fletch stood at the door brought Ange back to reality, having allowed her mind to drift away, thoughts of the previous week's events clouding her judgment and any thoughts of anything else were swiftly written over with flashbacks to Cameron's brutal assault of her. It wasn't just that though, she had come to realise, it was the memories that had been dragged up with it. The memories that she had put in a box at the back of her mind ever since she found out that she was pregnant with Chloe and had never thought about them since, aside from after Evan, but even then, it hadn't been enough to fully unearth those memories and anyway, that evening her priorities were with Chloe. She beckoned him into the room, eager to see a friendly face.
"Hey," she almost whispered, a sure sign that her sudden return to work had worn her out more than she had let onto her team.
"Hello," he answered back, slightly too formal but neither really noticed, "I've just been speaking to Josh. He was telling me how you two were going to go out for drinks tonight. Why didn't you just say that it was with him?" He stopped before adding, "Have you told Chloe and Dom? Look I'm not here to lecture you about why he's unsuitable for you, I'm here as a friend wondering if you really are ok to be back at work and to make sure the jumping straight into a relationship isn't a response to the trauma?"
Although it wasn't strictly a question, he asked it as one, desperate for her to realise that she needed to talk to someone. Ange slowly lifted her head to reveal tear stained cheeks and her subtle mascara smudged. When her eyes met Fletch's he knew instantly that even though the strategy he had used was a risky gamble, it had paid off and Ange nodded in agreement to his statement and in acknowledgment that she needed to speak to someone about her trauma. She edged towards the man, still in agonising pain having been dragged down a corridor, drugged and tied to a chair, and put her arms around him, seeking comfort that only he could provide, safety she could feel only in his arms. Enveloped in a hug, the two remained in Ange's office for a while, blatantly ignoring any duties on the ward for the sake of each other's comfort.
Having finally stepped apart, Ange flashed a small grateful smile at Fletch before she began to word her thoughts.
"Thank you. You've been more supportive in two hours than this lot have been all day," she gestured to the ward, "I think I'm going to end things before they begin with Josh, I don't think that I'm ready for a relationship right now. Does the offer for a drink still stand?" She continued.
"Hold on, you look knackered, are you sure you don't want to just get home and tell Chloe to stick a pizza in the oven?"
"Look a quick drink with a friend won't do me any harm, in fact I think it'll make me feel a bit better. I think that I'm going to speak to Lucky at some point tomorrow and see if I can talk to her about everything. I know it's been over thirty years since… since..." Ange stuttered, overcome again with emotion.
"I know, I know. Talking to Lucky will help and you can open up, now that you're ready. I'm here if you need me," Fletch smiled slightly, glad that he had helped Ange to accept that she needed some support.
"Thank you. Anyway, I'll meet you at reception in ten minutes and we can go for that drink," she spoke quietly, but was glad for the support she had found in Fletch.