6am

Mo was finally parked outside the beautiful cottage on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, which was just a short walk from the ocean and was surrounded grass dotted with small flowers. There wasn't another building in sight as far as he eyes could see but after such a terribly long drive through the night, she needed to see if he was there. And more importantly, if Emma was too. She was unsure of her decision as there wasn't a car parked there apart from hers, but she supposed seeing as his car was back in Holby, he still could've gotten a taxi after getting the train up there.

She gave two loud knocks on the door, and then stepped back slightly to look through the window. There were net curtains so she had to get closer to the window to see inside, but she could see that there was a fire cracking under a great mantelpiece so she internally let out a sigh of relief that he must've been there - the house was definitely his as she had seen pictures and she hadn't forgotten the natural beauty of such a wonderful place where Jonny had grown up.

She heard a small creak and as she looked to her side, she saw the door open a few inches and his eyes peered round.
"I know you're there Maconie." Mo stated bluntly.
"Mo? What the hell are you doing here?" Jonny demanded in a hushed voice as he peered around her car to ensure that no one - primarily Jac or the police - were with her.
"It's just me." She said reassuringly. "But you had better have a good explanation, and I need to see Emma."
"What?"
"Don't even pretend to play dumb because you know you can lie and this is important Jonny. Just let me see Emma." Mo ordered.
"Fine. But keep it down, she's asleep." Jonny said quietly as he let Mo in, then locked the door behind her and he showed her through to his bedroom where in the double bed, was a little baby with auburn hair, tucked under the duvet right in the middle and she was fast asleep. "She's sleeping with me until I can get her a cot." Jonny explained quietly.

"Jonny stop." Mo said angrily. "What on earth are you playing at? What, you think you can just take Emma, and come and live here for the rest of your lives?"
"She's my daughter." Jonny stated as he closed the door so that his little girl wouldn't wake.
"Yeah, and she's Jac's too. Jonny Jac's going out of her mind worrying about Emma."
"Does Jac know you're here? Does anyone know?" Jonny asked worriedly.
"No, no one knows." Mo sighed.
"Look Mo, I can raise Emma by myself and give her the upbringing that every little girl deserves. I've already lost Bonnie because of that cow, I am not losing my baby." Jonny said sternly.
"Stop blaming Jac! Bonnie's death was a horrible accident, and if anything, you could say that it was Bonnie's fault for not using her green cross code." Mo retorted. "And 'that cow' is currently heartbroken and worried sick about her daughter that she carried for 37 weeks. And you said about what Emma deserves. What Emma deserves, is to grow up with her mum and dad. Not just you, she needs Jac too. And aside from that, how long do you think you're going to be able to last without the police knowing that you're here? You'll have to register Emma with a GP and a school, do you not think that they'll pick it up then? Jac's call the police, your name is on the system and Emma is down as missing."
"Yes, Emma Naylor, is down as missing, Emma Maconie, is the girl in that bedroom." Jonny stated. "And besides, the police won't find out."

"Unless someone tells them." Mo muttered.
"No. Mo you're my best friend you can't just-"
"Oh I'm you're best friend am I? Where was that thought when you decided to run away to Scotland and play happy families without even saying goodbye to me? And ignoring my dozens of calls, yeah we're clearly best friends." Mo said sarcastically.

"Mo. I have screwed up, so many things in my life, but Emma is the one thing that I can really make a go of."
"But she can't grow up without her Mum Jonny. Your mum died when you were a kid-"
"And I turned out fine." Jonny interrupted.
"Maybe now, but you cried for weeks, you ran away from home twice and you had to resit a year in school because you kept on bunking. Jonny please. Look if I call Jac, I'm sure that we can-"
"You can't call Jac. Please Mo, she can't know I'm here." Jonny begged. "I'll end up in prison for child abduction is that what you want?"
"Of course it's not what I want which is why if we try and negotiate with Jac-"
"But if I give Emma back, and she keeps her mouth shut, what have I got to give her to keep her mouth shut?"

"You're going to call off the custody trial." Mo stated bluntly. "You know how much trouble it's caused Jonny and it's not benefitting anyone, certainly not Emma."
"I can't do that!" Jonny protested.
"Well it's too late Jonny. It's either you negotiate with Jac and let me call her now, or I'm going to have to call the police and tell them that you're here." Mo stated solemnly. "Right, I'm calling Jac." Mo concluded by the gutted look on Jonny's face. "And I'm doing it in there so that Jac can hear Emma." Mo said sternly as she opened the bedroom door where the baby had opened her eyes and was reaching her arms out from under the duvet after she had slept through most of the night in the warming arms of her daddy. Jonny leant in the door way as he watched Mo sit down on the bed, pull Emma onto her lap, and then pulled out her phone.

"Wait. What's going to happen with the police? You can't just say 'oh we've found them and we don't want you to arrest the bloke that took the child' can you?" Jonny said in a panic.
"Well we can say that you were organised to take Emma on a holiday this weekend but Jac thought it was next weekend. And your phone was dead so we couldn't get through to you." Mo replied slowly.
"And you think that's going to work?"
"Well I hope for your sake it does." Mo muttered as she put the phone to her ear and gently bounced Emma on her lap. Literally within the second that Mo's phone had connected did Jac pick her phone up awaiting news of her missing infant.
"Mo what- is that Emma?" Jac's tone suddenly went from angry to pleading as she had heard the faint babbles of a child in the background of the call. Despite it being before half six in the mornings the consultant sad clearly been awake, and unable to sleep.
"Yeah, she's safe." Mo said softly as the little girl played with Mo's small bunch of car keys.
"Well where is she? Was she with Jonny? Give me the address and I'll-"
"Jac calm down. Look, I'll leave and head straight back to Holby, as long as you promise me something." Mo stated as she glanced at Jonny who had decided to remain silent for the phone call.
"What is this? Holding my baby as a ransom? Wow, Maconie really has taken you to a new low Mo."
"Look, Jonny will call off the custody battle - everything will be over - and I'll get Emma back to you safe and sound if, you tell the police that this was all a misunderstanding and that Jonny was taking Emma on a holiday, but you thought that it was next weekend." Mo explained cautiously.
"Holiday? Mo where are you?" Jac demanded.

"Scotland." Mo replied and she decided that it was best not to give a specific location in case Jac decided to call the police after all.
"Mo bring her back now." Jac ordered.
"I will. But you have to promise me that you'll tell the police that it was a misunderstanding." Mo repeated but the consultant remained quiet as she thought about it. "Jac this is the best thing for all of you, no more legal battles, no more interference from the police, just you and Emma, and Jonny."
"Mo will you just tell me where you are so I can come and get Emma." Jac demanded desperately and Mo could hear the pain in her voice.
"Alright, alright. I'll bring Emma back but it took me about 11 hours to get here so we won't be back until evening." Mo sighed.

"Well I'll start driving up and meet you half way." Jac stated.
"Where?" Mo smirked as if there was no way that that would happen.
"I don't know because I don't know where you are." Jac argued.
"Hang on." Mo put her hand over the bottom of the phone. "She wants to meet us half way, where's half way?" Mo asked Jonny as she held Emma against her abdomen to prevent the fidgety baby from falling off.
"What?" He asked confusedly.
"Just tell me somewhere we can meet her on the way home." Mo demanded.
"Er... Services on the M6. Preston is about half wayish I think." Jonny replied.

"Right, meet us at the Preston services on the M6. Y'know where that is?" Mo asked down the phone.
"Yes and Emma had better be there." Jac said sternly.
"She will, and she's fine. I promise." Mo said softly.
"Well you'd better get a move on then. I'll see you soon. And don't have the windows open in the car, she doesn't like it." Jac stated.
"I won't, see you soon. Bye." Mo hung up the phone and then picked Emma up and cradled her in her arms.

"You won't what?" Jonny queried.
"Have the car windows open, Jac said she doesn't like it." Mo stated softly as she smiled at the little girl. "C'mon, let's get you home to your mummy. Have you got her car seat?"
"Yeah we came up on the sleeper train and Emma had a bunk bed all to herself, didn't you sweetheart?" Jonny cooed.
"Why didn't you take your car?" Mo asked curiously.
"Because Jac's flat is on the ground floor, and I told the nanny I was taking Emma to the park which is only just around the corner. I think she would've been concerned if she'd seen me drive off when the car is only around the corner. Plus, I had to get the train to London and then get the Caledonian sleeper train to Inverness and that way, I thought the police would have a harder time finding me." Jonny explained as he began to gather Emma's things. "If you hadn't have found me, Emma and I would've been so close." He sighed.

"You can still be close."
"Yeah but I imagined here, that me and Emma would grow up like father and daughter, and there's a nice little village just around the corner where she'd go to a small school in a class of about a dozen, and she'd learn Gaelic, and it'd just be me and her... No Jac to complicate things... Now Jac's not going to leave me with Emma alone." He grumbled.
"Do you blame her? Jonny you ran off with her baby. The one thing that means the world to her, and you made Jac think that she would never see her again. She came onto Darwin begging me to help her find Emma, and she was panicking so much, you didn't see her poor face." Mo said solemnly. "Jonny she loves her baby." Mo stated.

"I love her too." Jonny said softly.
"C'mon, let's take you to see your mummy." Mo cooed the baby as she carried her out of the room and towards the car. But could they trust Jac not to bring the police with her?

Thanks for reading, please review :)