I stood in the Darwin staffroom flicking through her phone contacts, my hands shaking slightly. When I reached the number I was looking for I dialed it an held my phone to my ear.
"Connie Beauchamp." Said a familiar voice.
"Connie its Jac. Jac Naylor."
"Jac? Enjoying your new job?" She asked.
"Its not exactly new but of course I am. Hanssen's been sending me all over the world on courses recently. America, Sweden, Japan, Hamburg, Thailand!"
"Never thought that being a doctor would involve travelling did you?" Connie laughed unaware of what was going on.
"How's Grace? Enjoying time with her grandfather." I asked politely, remembering the young child.
"He died." Connie replied bluntly. "Cancer became to much for him and- Its sort of a relief if I'm honest, he didn't remember who I was most of the time, the same with Grace."
"I'm sorry; at least it means that you can spend more time with Grace." I said, encouraging Connie to think positively despite the fact that that was the opposite of what I was doing myself.
"She's spending time with her daddy at the moment, Sam's back from America. For good!" I could sense Connie's smile from down the phone.
"I'm so pleased for you, things are getting better then? Don't let him get away this time!"
"How about you? Hows your em-?" She enquired, forgetting whether we'd gotten married or not.
"Husband. Come on Connie, I got married six months ago, you were a bridesmaid!" I replied, thinking back to the best day of my life. "Things are going well, although I'm still struggling with all the registrars and nurses calling me 'Mrs Mac'!"
"Its better than people calling you 'The Champ' believe me, but you do sound happy, really happy!"
"Connie, I need to um-" I mumbled.
"What is it Jac? Is everything okay?" Asked Connie concernedly.
"I'm not doing great actually. I've um... I've g-got a brain t-tumour. Its malignant and there's nothing they can do so..." I explained, trying not to sound as defeated as I felt.
"I'm so sorry, it's been so long since we've spoken, I had no idea. How long have you got?" She asked.
"Not long, but I'm coming to terms with it. But Connie, there's something I needed to ask."
"Anything." Replied Connie.
"I'm not going to wait around for it to kill me. I want to die with dignity. So I need you to promise me that you'll take care of Elliott, he has no family near with Martha in America and Gina… I don't want him to have to deal with this on his own." I explained, thinking of the surgeon whom I'm grown to love over the last few years.
"Jac, you can't do that, please, there are so many things they can do for you. You can't do this!" Panicked Connie.
"I'm sorry, but I can't carry on like this! Goodbye Con." I said calmly, before hanging up and crumbling to the floor in tears.
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