Connie took a deep breath and then pushed open the doors. She saw Jacob almost immediately. He looked too big for the hospital bed he was on, and the sheet over him was stained red in parts, but when her eyes finally moved to his face, she found that he was awake and offering her a smile. That smile seemed to break her, and the tears she'd been holding in for hours finally began to fall.
Jacob opened his mouth and spoke to her, but she was still so far away she couldn't hear what he said, her back pressed against the door as her shoulder's shook. Jacob held out a hand then, and there was no mistake what he saying. He was saying her name.
"You, you stupid, stupid man!" She whispered as she cried, her words broken and interrupted. "You should have been in there long before you tried to call me-"
"I had to see you. I couldn't... I couldn't stand not seeing you if-"
"Don't." Her hands were pressed behind her into the door, and his were still reaching towards her.
"Connie..." He groaned as he tried to reach further, and as she looked at him a new wave of emotion took over, the tears running steadily down her cheeks.
"That clot... The infection, Jacob I... I nearly..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. She took a tentative step forward from the door, and then another.
"Connie, please... Come here." He stretched his arms again, as she took another small step forward. He winced as he reached to take hold of her hand, pulling her closer to the bed. "I can't... I can't..." He struggled to reach her waist, but she caressed his hand, and the his head which settled back onto the pillow at her touch.
"This is enough, Jacob. You don't need more of me here now, I'm not leaving." She saw a stray droplet pass down the side of his nose, and she extended a hand to brush it away.
"I'm starting to feel like we've done this all before." He managed a small smile, watching as she shook her head, softly laughing before meeting his eyes with her tearful ones. "Hey... I'm going to be okay. It's going to be okay, Con." When she didn't respond, he massaged her hand within his, looking from her eyes to over her shoulder where he could see Grace pressing her face against the glass of the door panel.
"You brought Grace?" Jacob questioned. "I guess her Spanish came in handy."
"You knew she was learning it?" Connie questioned, attempting to lift the blanket over Jacob so she could look at how well they'd dealt with the wound.
Jacob grabbed her hand instead, holding both her hands as tightly as he could. "She helped me with phrases before I came. She's good."
Connie turned to motion for Grace to come in, and once more the girl reacted as Connie wished she'd been able to. She ran into the room and threw her arms around Jacob's shoulders, crying into him as he tried to reassure her quietly, though his eyes were still on Connie.
'I love you' Connie managed to mouth, her hand holding tightly to his as her free hand brushed away more of her tears before she put a hand on her daughter's back. "That's enough now, Gracie. We don't want to tire him out."
"You'll be okay now mum is here." Grace reassured Jacob as she pulled back. "But she's never, ever going to let you go on holiday again. I fell off some monkey bars when I was 5 and I'm still banned from going on them."
This earned a chuckle from Jacob, and then a groan. Connie's eyes darted to the sheet.
"Gracie... Will you go and get your Mum something to eat? There's some vending machines downstairs." She nodded, pressed a kiss to his forehead, before rummaging in her mum's bag for her purse and quickly leaving the room.
Once she had gone, he turned to Connie, who had already pulled back the sheet to examine his torso. She then quickly moved around to the foot of the bed to find his patient notes and medication, deliberately ignoring the questioning looks that were being directed at her from the other end of the bed.
"No strenuous activities for a while then?" He tried to make light of the situation, grinning as she lifted her focus from the paperwork.
"Is that really all you can think about right now?"
"My concern is only for you, sweet cheeks." He winced again as he tried to straighten himself to see her, eyes back down on the file in her hands. "Should it be stinging that much?" She looked at him then, her eyebrows raised.
"You effectively grated yourself on a road, Jacob. Yes."
"Well, I hope it's made you think twice about tearing around town on that bike of yours." Jacob groaned, pushing himself up a little. "Where's Tom?"
"Did they say when your doctor would be back to see you? These notes are incomplete."
"Ah, classic Connie avoidance." Jacob smiled, wincing again as he tried to draw in a deep breath. "Am I going to get a kiss, sweet cheeks?"
"No." Connie snapped, oblivious to the fact several nurses glanced their way. "You put your life at risk, and you...you scared me! So no, I'm not going to kiss you. I'm going to get you better, I'm going to get you home, and then I'm going to...slap you so hard you never do anything so stupid again. Okay?!"
Though the nurses looked shocked, Jacob's smile widened and then rested his head back against the pillow. "Missed you, Con."
Sighing, Connie stepped back towards him and ran a hand gently across the side of his head. "Get some rest. I won't go anywhere."
When Grace returned hesitantly a short while later, she found Jacob fast asleep and her mother's lips pressed to his gently.
Grace had then insisted that she stay with Jacob whilst her mother had a break. She protested severely for ten minutes, before reluctantly agreeing to be back in half an hour; she would find Grace some food that wasn't KitKats and if anything happened then Grace was to call her immediately.
Grace stayed sitting on the chair beside Jacob, where her mother had been sitting, looking around her at the monitors and shelves that had always fascinated her. Her surveillance was interrupted by a long groan, and she turned her head quickly to see his eyes flicker open.
"Con..."
"She'll be back in a minute, Jacob. She said that you being in hospital was no excuse for my teeth to rot."
"Sorry, firecracker." He gave a small laugh, at which Grace pressed her palm into his shoulder.
"Don't laugh, if you tear anything or something happens to you whilst she's not here-"
"Got it. No laughing." He winked at her, and she settled back into the chair, sighing.
"Jacob, are you going to marry Mum?"
"Not today, I don't think I'd look very good in the photos." Jacob replied, giving a slow blink followed by a yawn.
"I found the ring, and mum saw it too." Grace offered quietly. When she saw Jacob tense, she added, "I had to look in your locker for the details of your hotel, and it was just... there. I took it into her office-"
"what did she say?" Jacob asked quietly.
"She just told me to put it back." Grace shrugged. "But I know she 'd say yes if you asked her. She doesn't catch a plane on an hours notice without her make-up bag for just anyone."
"No make-up bag? Must be serious." Jacob smiled at the girl beside him who reached out her small hand and took his tightly. "I'm okay, Miss Grace Beauchamp-Strachan-Masters."
"Is that a yes to my question, then?" Grace asked with a smile as she pressed the small jewellery box into the palm of his hand.
He turned the box over in his hand, before meeting her eyes. "What're you up to, firecracker?"
"She'd say yes."
"Not today she wouldn't, I think she's rather cross-"
"No she isn't. She tries to be cross with you but she isn't." He raised his eyebrows, and Grace raised hers back, the image of her mother. "She loooves you." She then giggled, before composing herself and regarding Jacob seriously. "But I'd rather just have your name please, Beauchamp-Strachan-Masters sounds-" She fell silent as Jacob motioned for her to, as he saw Connie the door open, a carrier bag in either hand.
"Right, I've got some oranges, and some funny looking fruit bars but it'll have to do, and you're nil by mouth so don't you start..." She continued without looking up, settling the bags on the floor and replacing her purse in her bag. She then straightened, and looked at the two of them, who smiled at her as she placed her hands on her hips. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Jacob has something he wants to-"
"Hey, hey Grace I-"
"No, he really does. I'll go."
She smiled sweetly at her mother, and then glanced back to Jacob who stared back at her, open mouthed.
"What's going on?" Connie asked as Grace slipped from the room quietly. "Jacob?"
Jacob held out his hand and opened it slowly, revealing the box. "She brought this."
"..I told her to put it back indoor locker." Connie offered softly. Reaching out, she shut his hand back over the box. "Not now."
"When?" Jacob asked just as quietly.
"When you're better." Connie responded, bending down to kiss the man in front of her gently. "But the answer is yes." Pulling back, she smiled, but it faded when she found Jacob's eyelids partly closed, his eyes rolled back. "Jacob? Jacob?!" She rubbed his chest, looking up as nurses and the doctor began rushing towards them. "What's happened? What have you done to him?!" She was pushed back as they surrounded the man in the bed. His hand fell open, and the box tumbled to the floor.
"LET ME THROUGH." Two doctors tried to hold her back, insisting for her to leave, but to no avail. She pulled back the sheet to see the wound leaking through the stitches, and she immediately wished that she had been more attentive earlier instead of brushing aside his complaints.
"Mrs Beauchamp, you need to step away and let us take him back to theatre."
"You're not..." She felt tears rush back to her eyes, and she desperately tried to blink them away and regain her authority. "I'm not leaving him." She moved slightly to allow his bed to be pushed out of the doors, and Grace immediately ran to her side, grabbing the rails of the bed.
"Mum, what's going on?"
"I'm taking him back into theatre, Grace. Just wait here." She passed by her daughter who stood by the door to the recovery room, helpless. She didn't understand why her mother was being so dismissive, Jacob was fine. He had been talking to her only moments earlier. She watched as her mother pushed through the next set of doors and disappeared, before quickly opening the door of his room and looking down at the box and the ring, which had scattered across the floor.