Jo waited in the visitors area. It had been a week. A week in which the tension and worry she was feeling over Stuart's forced incarceration was on the brink of making her ill. She knew he was tough, a lot tougher than the others suspected, but he wasn't equipped for this, and exposing him like this was just stupid. Trevor Jones knew exactly who and what Stuart was. The fact that the entire plan hinged upon this, that Trevor should get careless because he suspected Stuart was an undercover plant was optimistic in the extreme. And Stu was a copper. Coppers who went to jail always suffered.
She was feeling emotional. She'd received the results of the test the morning of Stuart's being sent down, and in those final moments before he was taken away, she knew she couldn't tell him then. The emotional strain was already telling on him, giving him another reason to want to pull out when she knew he couldn't would have been cruel.
They'd talked it over, they loved each other in a very unconventional sense. Jo didn't do men but that didn't mean that she had never been intimate. To Stu, she was his rock in adversity, and his closest friend in the good times and that had come to mean much more than just physical attraction. Left alone from the near constant stream of visitors after Stu had nearly drowned in the river, they'd admitted that what they felt for each other went a lot deeper than just work buddies. Opening up went against the grain with Stu, but he felt safe with Jo and he'd found himself telling her things about his innermost thoughts and feelings that he never would have dreamed of doing with anyone else. And Jo had opened her heart about the one little thing that would make her life complete.
He'd heard her out in silence, a thoughtful look on his face. Then he'd held her close, looked into her eyes and told her with heartfelt sincerity that they should try. Jo had looked at him, and realised that the idea didn't seem crazy, a child born of natural love. She smiled. He'd kissed her and they'd embarked on what would have seemed to those that knew both of them a fairly outrageous plan.
He was a gentle, patient and caring lover, she had never dreamed that she would enjoy a man's touch like that. And he made things fun, that crazy trip to Paris, as he'd dived out the door on his way to work, he'd told her to bring her passport and herself, that they were going somewhere after work. They both had 48 hours off and she'd gone along with it. And was glad that she had. For two days they'd put work and other things behind them. Just happy to ramble about a city that he clearly knew well. They'd roamed everywhere, the first morning he'd bought them both a full change of clothes, then they'd taken their time and just wandered about. And Jo had got a chance to see a side of Stuart that she knew no one at Sun Hill had ever seen. Just two weeks later, the postman reared his ugly head again.
She looked up from her reverie and he was walking towards her. She used the few seconds to check him over for signs of harm. The yellowing bruise under his right eye told its own story, and she knew that his clothes probably concealed the worst of it, but he was moving freely with a bit of a spring in his step and she knew he wasn't carrying any major injuries. He reached her and gathered her into his arms. Jo leaned into him and breathed in.
Stu glanced round the rooms at the other prisoners and their families, as far as he could tell he wasn't being watched, but he didn't trust any of them. The entire episode had been a bit of a washout so far, and he'd heard via the governor that his performance in the showers had not gone unremarked. Well, Heaton's not the one who's sleeping with his back to the wall.
"this is a complete bust..." he whispered in Jo's ear, taking the opportunity to kiss her neck as well. He couldn't believe how much he missed her, and what they had. He was worried about her, she looked tired and upset, and he knew how much strain this stupid plan was putting on her. He hugged her close. They sat down, Stu's arm firmly around her waist, his free hand entwined with one of hers, and she folded the other over their clasped hands, just enjoying being close to each other as they quietly discussed what he'd got so far. Which wasn't much.
He could feel the tension in her body, and he detached his hand from hers, and tilted her chin up so that he could look in her eyes. And then he put two and two together, and knew without a shadow of a doubt that their energetic attempts to conceive a child had borne fruit.
Jo watched the slow dawning of comprehension on his face and smiled. His expression went from surprise to delight in seconds. Which was everything she had hoped he would feel.