Sweet - as - honey: Thank you for the review.
I'm sorry this has taken so long to get up, life, for once, got in the way.
The Secret Life Of Casualty.
Chapter 298.
Jessica woke to her phone beeping. She picked it up and saw Zoe's name on her display screen, she flipped her phone open and read the message.
To Jess
From: Zoe
"Fancy a drink?"
It was her day off, she wasn't expecting to get one so soon after returning. But maybe they wanted to ease her in gently. She selected a new text and replied. "Sure"
Zoe smiled as she read her friends reply to her, maybe now she could get to the bottom of what was bothering her. "The Hope And Anchor. It's the pub across from the hospital. "
"OK. "
"See you later. "
Jessica got out of bed and wrapped her dressing gown around her before heading in to the bathroom and turning on the taps, and waiting for the water to fill the tub, she put her hand in to check the temperature of the water and then took off her dressing gown, before lowering herself in to the warm bath. She washed her hair before getting out and wrapping a towel around her and walking in to the bedroom and drying herself off and opening her wardrobe and looking at what was hung up. Her black dress, or jeans and a jacket? She decided to put on her black dress. She slipped it on before searching for her heels. She grabbed her bag checking that she had her purse, phone and lipstick. She left the flat, locking up behind her, walking the short distance to the pub.
By the time, Jessica arrived, Zoe was sitting on a bar stool, sipping a vodka and coke, she had got Jess the same drink.
"Hey, I got you a drink," Zoe commented as she saw her friend.
Jessica smiled her thanks, as she sat up on the stool, taking a sip.
"How are the kids?" Zoe asked, wondering why Jessica didn't have Lucas and Amelia with her.
Jessica froze, her mind working hard to think of a reasonable answer which would convince Zoe. She took a sip of her drink to play for time, she wasn't used to the rough liquid which was burning her throat.
"Jess?" Zoe asked.
"I wasn't there..." That was the sentence that shot through her mind. "My children needed me and I wasn't there, I'm a failure. " She took a deep breath before speaking.
Zoe gave her a strange look. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, they are with Sean. "
"Why?" Zoe asked, shocked, she knew how much Jess loved them kids.
"I didn't want to uproot them. They've been through a lot. " Jessica said.
"So have you. " Zoe nodded, putting a hand on her friends knee in support. Then, Zoe's favourite song came on and Jessica grabbed her mates hand, also dragging her off the seat, towards the dance floor.
Zoe started dancing wildly to the song, throwing her hands up in the air and wiggling her hips. She reached out and grabbed her friends hand and
They headed back to the bar.
"How have you been?" Asked Zoe.
"I'm fine" Jessica replied. "Just catching up with old friends"
Zoe looked intrigued, so Jessica continued.
"I had a friend Emma, I recently saw her again, I wasn't sure it was her at first, but she come over to me and we chatted, I invited her for a drink and realised how much I'd missed her "
Zoe nodded, it felt strange to hear about her friends that weren't from the ED.
"What about you?" Jess asked, once she had finished talking.
"Max and I are separating" Zoe looked sad as she spoke, she had thought Max was the one and had, as usual, ended up getting her heart broken.
"Whose Max?" Jessica asked, frowning.
"My soon to be ex - husband. "
Jessica's eyes widened as Zoe said this. She didn't think that Zoe was the marrying type.
"We are estranged. " Zoe told her.
"Why?" Jessica asked.
"I cheated on him. " Zoe replied. "On my hen night. You should have come. "
Jessica nodded as they both took a sip of their drink, before Zoe headed to the ladies as Jessica took the chance to call them a taxi.
"Taxi's on it's way, " Said Jess as Zoe re - emerged from the bathroom, raking a hand through her hair.
Jessica's heels were killing her, she couldn't wait to get them off, she wasn't used to wearing heels, she had always preferred flats.
At around 1 AM, they got a taxi back to their homes and as Zoe paid for both of them and waved goodbye to her friend, getting in the taxi so it could take her back to her apartment. When she got out, she fumbled in her bag for her keys and placed them in the lock, as she walked in, pulling her heels off and leaving them in the hallway before she walked in to the kitchen to make herself a coffee in a bid to sober up. She put water in the kettle, flicked it on and waited for it to boil as her phone beeped, she had a new message, it was from Jessica.
"Thanks for tonight, Zoe"
Zoe smiled, it was great to have her friend back, she hadn't realised how much she had missed her friend until she had left. She replied, "We should do it again. " The kettle boiled and she poured it in to a cup, before stirring the teabag and adding milk. She walked in to the living room and sat on the couch and logged on to her emails, before replying to some of then, but was then distracted by a message from Max, she was unsure about answering as she knew that Max would plead with her to get back together, she switched it off before picking up her mug and taking a sip.
"Yes" Jessica thought, it felt she had never been away. She snuggled down in to her duvet as Zoe did the same.
It felt like Jessica was back where she belonged, in Holby and she was going to enjoy being back in her home town, the town where her baby was resting, she allowed herself a small smile as she thought about her full day back at work, getting to re - know her old and new colleagues. Maybe she could form new friendships?
Thanks for reading. I enjoyed writing this chapter. There will be gaps in the updates to this little story, but I will finish it, I will then write my other requests up.
