Hi! Just popping in to say there is a very brief mention of travel sickness in the 11th paragraph, so feel free to skip over that one, you won't miss anything important!

Zosia had been away for a long time. She was starting to fade from where she had left, people that she knew drifted off and new people arrived. Apart from the odd nurse here and there, the only two people left were Jac Naylor and Dom Copeland: Zosia's "close and personal co-worker" and her best friend.

She had left for a learning opportunity in the States, and even though she had had to be talked into going by all her friends back at Holby, she'd stayed gone. This was three years ago, and both Jac and Dom were still longing for her to come back, although Jac would never openly admit it, of course. Dom occasionally messaged her, teasing her or even just reminding her that he was still waiting, but the messaging and the calls became less and less frequent as the months and years went by. On the other hand, Jac and Zosia exchanged heaps and heaps of secret emails and sometimes phone calls too, though calls were difficult, what with long shifts, plus the time difference between Holby and Seattle.

For Jac, the yearning was like an ache. An ache that never left her the hell alone. Of course they were more than just "close co-workers" like everyone said. They loved each other deeply, but it was like it was some kind of forbidden love in so many ways. For starters, Jac was Zosia's boss, and they worried about how that would look to the many people who had had eyes on them in the hospital, including Zosia's father, Guy Self, who was malicious and controlling over his daughter whenever he found the opportunity to be.

The only time Jac and Zosia had seen each other since she left Holby, was one memorable weekend in that first summer, when the two had met in New York at some international medical conference. It was beautiful. That one weekend when they could just be together with themselves, away from judging eyes and gossipping mouths.

But that was the last they saw of each other, and their lonely hearts continued to ache as they lived and worked thousands of miles away from each other, on completely different continents, even. They spoke less and typed less, but they continued to yearn for the other, just desperate to feel their touch and their love once more. It felt like a loss. Each of them thought the other would just slowly forget about them and never even think of them again. It hurt to even think about it.

Zosia worked tirelessly at one of Seattle's leading hospitals, as an attending cardiothoracic surgeon. She worked long hours and drank at the little bar down the road, below the apartment she rented. She'd become friends with many people at the hospital, and yet she was still lonely. She missed home, she wanted her family back; not her biological family who she often despised, but her real family; the people who made her feel safe, and loved. She missed them. And she'd had enough of just missing them. She was going home.

She may have been thinking of going back since the moment she left in the first place, but actually just packing up and leaving was a somewhat rash decision made on Zosia's part. She sent a long-winded email to the chief of surgery at the hospital she was working at in Seattle, explaining that she was sorry for the short notice but that she had to leave. With that she quickly sent a short message to the few people she'd become relatively close with in her time there, and arranged to meet them in the bar downstairs a little while later, so that she could say her goodbyes. Maybe she'd come back someday, but it wasn't in her plan. The plan was to find her home and to make it her home again, with the people she truly loved.

She packed up all her things, which to be honest, even three years later, there wasn't much of, and got on the internet to book a flight for later that night. The adrenaline bubbled up inside her, the excitement of going home made her smile, and she felt this was the right decision, even if it had been a hasty one.

All that was left was a quick drink with the people who had become her friends, and then she was gone. She just sort of vanished from Seattle, as if she was never there at all. No big goodbyes at the hospital, no big boxes to move, nothing, really. And off she went. Home.

The three years she'd spent in Seattle had been valuable, and she had enjoyed them, aside from the longing for familiarity. It was weird, the fact that she was actually leaving, she thought as she sat on the plane, gazing out the window into the darkness. It was strange, but it felt good. She could finally be reunited with those she longed for all this time. She could get back to her life. The life she'd left behind.

Maybe it was the nerves, or the excitement, or maybe it was just the awful turbulence, Zosia wasn't sure, but for the first time Zosia got quite travel sick on the flight. It was rough but at least it distracted her from the boredom of a gruelling 10 hour flight, well, at least for some of it. For the rest of it she mainly slept, with just a jumper over her as a blanket.

The relief of finally landing swept over Zosia like a wave as it hits the sand. She bustled off the plane with her bags, through border control and finally into the bathrooms to freshen herself up. She washed her face, and splashed herself with some cold water, before finally emerging and getting a coffee from the little coffee shop that was outside the arrivals gate. She didn't have a plan, now; no coach ticket booked, no home to go to. As she pulled out her phone she seemed to automatically call her best friend Dom, who had no idea that she'd even been considering coming back, let alone actually doing it. Of course he was aware that she missed Holby, but he also knew she loved the work she was doing over in Seattle.

The phone rang for what felt like forever before he finally picked up. "Zosh?" came Dom's voice down the phone.

Zosia's face lit up as she heard his voice, and she frantically explained that she'd made the decision to move back to Holby, and that, well, now she was here.. But that she did in fact need to be picked up from the airport and a place to stay until she could get herself sorted out and settled down. The two excitedly conversed and Dom was very quick to offer her a place to stay, plus a lift from the airport.

In almost no time at all, Dom had arrived, and he and Zosia exchanged probably the longest hug ever recorded, plus some tears, before piling Zosia and her stuff into his small car, and climbing in with them.