Disclaimer: Ok, so a great percentage of the dialogue in this chapter comes directly from the episode A Knife For A Knife. Therefore, if you think you recognise it, then it's probably not mine. I'd like to thank the wonderful webmistress' at Steps who's transcripts of scenes have helped my creations greatly.
A/N: I tried. Really I did. I was going to follow the storyline of the show. However, it's just too hard. So, the last chap that was going to be Evan's dream in the dream episode, is now a dream while he's unconcious. I hadn't thought about the possibility that people might think it was the end. I did think about ending it with that, but then remembered I've got this great ending already written and I didn't want to waste it. (I also realise that technically Tatiana and PJ are supposed to be together still, but you shall have to overlook that slight misdirection in my story. I am human after all.)
PJoluvver: Come to the dark side...
Masala: The suspense is killing you? It's killing me cos i dont know what else to write!
Karatemastr: Ahhh, thats not the ending. and you know my fic, Phonecall... Its supposed to be only one chap.
jakc: YAY!!! of course they're second. Its the URST. My other BH fic is also TJ
Jonesy woke up and found he had an oxygen mask over his face. He looked at the people standing around his bed and smiled when he saw she was alive. The pain in his stomach returned, along with the memories of the morning.
He looked at Tess, and cleared his throat. "You're okay?" She nodded. "And the baby?" As she nodded the second time, he let out a breath he couldn't afford to hold. He grasped the morphine button, needing to feel the pain ebb away once more. He removed his mask so that the people around him could hear him better. "Hey Boss."
Tom looked down at him, and then at Tess. Everyone was looking downhearted (which wasn't surprising given the circumstances) and he didn't like that. He wasn't used to seeing his normally cheerful employees looking sad. It certainly didn't suit them. He could only think of one joke to make, and it was a poor attempt anyway. "Anything to get out of work eh?"
Evan would have laughed in other circumstances, but he was fairly sure that it would only make his discomfort worse. He reached his hand towards Tess, and smiled when she took it. They were unaware of the look that crossed the good doctor's face. She smiled and spoke quietly to Tom. "Senior Sergeant, you I ask question." She said, motioning towards the door.
Tom directed a comment about getting better to Evan, quite aware that the younger man wouldn't hear it. He said it more for his own comfort than for that of his young colleague.
Tess noticed, on some level at least, that they were now alone. She looked at him, noticing the far away look in his eyes. She supposed that the morphine was about to kick in. She reckoned she had a few minutes, max, before he floated off into the blissful, quiet, drug-induced sleep.
"How are you feeling?" She asked.
Evan looked up at her, amazed at the amount of concern in her voice and on her face. He wondered for a moment whether this really was the same woman who had said that she didn't need to have another husband, no matter how much he loved her or she loved him. He hated that he was the one that was making her frown.
"I'm a bit floaty really." He replied, loving the way her face lit up when she laughed at his childish, yet honest, comment. He watched as her face betrayed an inward battle.
"I suppose I should thank you for saving my life." She smiled at him, and then remembered another part. "And the baby's."
Evan felt that he now had to fight harder against the lure of unconsciousness. He managed to say a small word, "anytime", and give her a small smile before he felt the world go black as the drus in the drip kicked in.
Tess sat at his side for a few moments, then replaced his mask and kissed him on the forehead before exiting the room, glancing back for a moment before she shut the door to the room of the one she loved. 'Why can't love be enough?' She questioned of herself, placing her hand on her stomach and knowing too well the answer. It was enough for some people but she wasn't quite ready to admit that it was enough for her too. She wasn't ready to hand someone else the ammunition needed to hurt her as much as Josh had.
FURTHER DOWN THE HALL
Tom followed Tatiana down the hall to the nurse's station, where they stopped. She cleared her throat and waited until she was sure that she had his complete attention. "Jones and Tess they are, um, lovers no?"
He starred at her wondering how she could have picked up on something that an entire station of coppers had missed. "It's a bit more complicated than that." She starred at him. She had thought that she would be giving him a shock; she thought that he wouldn't have noticed. Tatiana seemed to pick up on these things more often than others. "She's pregnant to him. I don't know how much they've told the Commander, so I think they'd all appreciate it if you didn't mention it to him, or anyone probably."
"Understood Senior Sargent." She said, placing a hand on his arm. She looked down at her arm, and then switched back to professional mode. "Is there any other next-of-kin that I need to inform?"
Some time later, Jonesy awoke again, and this time found the room empty. The pain in his side has subsided again and he was happy to sit back and contemplate his navel. 'Except for two slight problems, that's an excellent idea.' he thought to himself. Number one being the fact that he wasn't able to sit, he was stuck half reclined in his bed, the second being that even if he was able to sit, he wouldn't be able to see his navel to contemplate it anyway. He could tell from the pressure on his abdomen that his stomach and navel were wrapped in several layers of fabric bandaging.
Instead, he did the only thing that made sense at that moment. He thought about her. He thought about the dream he had while he was in recovery after surgery. He muddled through some personal psychoanalysis of what it could mean, and kept coming back to the same conclusion. He still loved her. He loved her even though she'd married another bloke and even though she'd brushed him off yet again.
There was only one more thing to do. Convince her that she felt the same. He knew that she did, he'd seen it in her eyes when he awoke, and when she'd cradled him in her arms in the rail yards. He felt it that day in the locker room, and the night they conceived their child. He just had to convince her that she could trust him, that he wasn't like the devil incarnate (a.k.a. Josh Carmichael), and that they deserved a second chance.
"First chance." he said to the empty room. "We never had a first chance, so how can we have a second?"
Evan was shocked when the room replied: "You sound like you have something on your mind son." He glanced around, following the voice that sounded remarkably like his father. "Anything you need to share?"
A/N: Well, even I didn't see that ending coming. Ok, so anyone who has info on Evan's relationship with his step-father (the commander is his step-father, right?) Could you please share some of that knowledge with me? Puppy dog eyes Otherwise, just review and tell me how you feel about this fic. Jessica and Edgar are getting close to wrapping up this fic, as long as they don't get any new ideas, it should be finished early next year... depending on various other factors as well, of course.