Hi All. Sorry this is another long chapter where not very much happens but hopefully you'll still enjoy it. There'll be one more chapter a bit like this and then I promise the next few chapters will be a bit more eventful and hopefully emotive too. Thank you so much for all your reviews, it's really lovely to hear what people think, and please keep them coming.…..
Saturday Evening, Darwin
Jonny approached the staff room on a mission to get a caffeine fix – he was really flagging now and wasn't quite sure how he was going to get through the final three and a half hours of his shift, and the thought that he was going to have to do the same thing all over again tomorrow filled him with something approaching horror. 'No more Mr Nice Guy' he resolved to himself, 'I'm never doing this again – the trust will just have to employ more nurses if they can't afford the agency fees!' He was even beginning to nearly regret the energy he'd expended with Jac earlier in the day – nearly. Although he supposed that being dog tired would at least mean he'd get to sleep easier than he had last night - somehow his bed had seemed awfully empty without Jac in it, and it had taken him an age to drop off, and even then he hadn't slept particularly well. There was, however, the prospect of a lie-in to look forward to on Monday, and Jac had promised that, even though he was on a late, she'd come over to his, so it wasn't all bad. When he entered the staff room the first thing he noticed was the smell, which made his stomach rumble and reminded him that he hadn't eaten properly for ages. Then he saw Jil sitting on the sofa at the other end of the room, flicking through a magazine "Something smells good," he remarked, before adding . "Where's your partner in crime?"
"Jac?" Jil asked, and as Jonny nodded, continued. "Oh, she's just gone for a shower. Are you OK?"
"I'm flagging a bit now actually," Jonny admitted, "but it's nothing that a strong cup of coffee and a sit down won't fix," he continued, holding up his mug and walking over to the kettle.
"Are you hungry?" Jil asked, "cos there's some of the stuff I made left over if you want it."
"You know what," Jonny replied, "I'm actually starvin', hadn't realised until I came in here though, and my stomach rumbled at the smell."
"Oh great," Jil said getting up and heading towards the fridge.
"No, no," Jonny said, "I'll do it, you just sit down."
"Jonny, I'm pregnant not dying." Jil admonished, "I'm perfectly capable of heating some soup up in the microwave. Has Jac been saying something to you?"
"No, no not at all" Jonny rushed to reassure her, sensing that he'd unwittingly stumbled on a source of conflict between the friends. An impression that was confirmed by what Jil said next,
"Honestly, I think she's worse than Daniel for being over-protective, and I wouldn't have thought that was even possible."
"It's only because she cares," Jonny said, feeling duty bound to defend Jac.
"Oh, I know," Jil admitted, "but that only makes it slightly less annoying. So what do you want – there's a bit of everything left. "
"Well, could I have a bit of everything then – I haven't had anything proper to eat for ages."
"Of course you can" Jil said smiling, "actually it's really good, I was worried that nobody would eat it and I can't stand wasting food. Do you want the soup first?"
"Whatever's easiest" Jonny said, stirring his coffee.
"Milk?" Jil asked holding up the carton.
"No thanks," Jonny replied, sitting down at the table "black's definitely the way to go, the way I'm feeling at the moment."
"Oh I know long days are just so….so long aren't they?" Jil agreed, popping a bowl of soup in the microwave. "You're a real sucker for punishment though, doing two in a row – I'd never have dreamt of even attempting that when I used to do shifts."
"Well don't worry – I won't be doing it again. I may be a soft touch but this really is above and beyond the call of duty – I really don't get paid enough for this! Let's just say I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and leave it at that."
"Ohh," Jil said sympathetically, "have you got Monday off to recover?"
"No, but I'm doing a late so at least I'll be able to have a lie-in."
"Well that's something I suppose," Jil said, but continued, the concern evident in her voice "but it's not up to you to single-handedly reduce the hospital's agency nurse budget you know. You've got to take care of yourself or you won't be able to take care of anybody else – staff burnout's a serious problem in the NHS you know."
"You sound just like my granny," Jonny said smiling.
"Well in this case I'd say your granny probably knows best – working too hard is definitely not good for you!" Jil said, as the microwave pinged and she busied herself taking the soup out and stirring it, before delving into her cool bag and taking a loaf of bread out of it.
"Believe me I know" Jonny assured her, smiling as she brought the bowl over to him where he was sitting at the table. "I'm always telling Jac there's more to life than work, not that she ever takes any notice."
"It's not just you," Jil said, "she doesn't take much notice of anyone. Well, unless they're saying something she wants to hear, obviously," she qualified. "Freshly baked," she added, as she placed the loaf of bread by Jonny's bowl, before sitting down opposite him, "not by me though – Tesco's best."
"This is lovely," Jonny said appreciatively.
"It's a really simple recipe – I'll leave it with Jac, she could knock it up easily."
"Jac – cook. Some hope!" Jonny exclaimed, "she's only got a kitchen cos it came with her flat."
"Ah no. No, you've made the rookie mistake there" Jil said, explaining herself further, "assuming that because someone doesn't do something, they can't. I happen to know that, when she puts her mind to it – Jac's actually quite a good cook. Life skills – you see."
"What?" Jonny asked.
"She had special lessons in them before she left care – cooking, budgeting, things like that – life skills. I suppose it's something, but well…it's hardly the best foundation to build your adult life on is it?" she concluded sadly.
"No, I don't suppose it is," Jonny agreed, once again wondering how Jac would be now if she'd had an upbringing more like his, and less like her own. They were both lost in their own thoughts for a few moments, until Jil shook her head and said, seemingly out of nowhere.
"You do realise how lucky you are to have her – Jac? " looking across the table at Jonny with an intense, almost fierce expression on her face, before casually dropping a bombshell into their conversation. "Especially because she was meant to marry my brother!"
Jonny, who had just taken a sip of his coffee was so surprised by this that it went down the wrong way and he began to cough. After a few moments when Jil was just beginning to get worried and wondering if she should offer to get him some water, he managed to get out, "Jac was engaged to your brother?"
"Oh no, no." Jil rushed to correct him, his reaction suddenly beginning to make sense to her. "Oh, sorry I didn't explain myself very well there. No, no, she was never engaged to Rob, they never even went out. No, what I meant, what I should have said is that in my head she was meant to marry him. That'd have been the perfect solution from my point of view, you see – then she really would have been part of the family. But of course, neither of them wanted to play ball, so another treasured dream of mine was dashed because of other people's lack of consideration – I mean, really how dare they not fall in love with each other" she concluded, grinning widely. "It's alright, I'm just about over it now – even if it does mean that I got Assumpta rather than Jac as a sister-in-law. And I'm so sorry about making you choke – are you OK now?"
"Yeah, yes I'm fine." Jonny said. "It was just such a surprise – I mean, I know you're best friends but I was wondering how you'd worked through that – a broken engagement's huge!"
"Mmm, I suppose it would have been, but luckily it wasn't an issue. And to be honest, Jac couldn't really be more a part of my family than she is already, even if she had married Rob." she concluded. "I know mum and dad think of her as a surrogate daughter and Rob always talks about his two little sisters, his two annoying little sisters to be more precise. He says we gang up on him – which is a blatant lie, it just so happens that Jac and I share a lot of the same opinions, and well, we're not afraid of sharing them when someone disagrees with us."
"I don't doubt that for a minute," Jonny said, adding "and I bet you make a formidable team too."
"Yeah we do" Jil said definitely, "there's very little we can't do when we're together. You wouldn't believe some of the things we've got up to."
"You know what" Jonny said, "knowing Jac as well as I do, and getting to know you better, actually I bet I would. I don't think I'd put anything past you."
"And, I'd love to tell you some of our exploits but, again, if I did I'd have to kill you, and like I said before I really don't think I could face the cleaning that'd cause."
"Which reminds me," Jonny said, "when I came in here earlier to make those drinks for you and Steph, as if by magic all the cups had been washed up and put away. But I thought you said your cleaning-itis was better"
"I said it had improved" Jil corrected him, "not that it had been cured. And I also said I could now walk past the odd cup or spoon without feeling the need to wash them, and I'm sorry there is no way in the world that that amount of unwashed crockery and cutlery falls under that description. I mean, honestly, has no-one washed up since I was last here?"
"Erm, well I know Tara did some last week sometime – she was trying to keep on top of things after you'd done such a brilliant job. But well then she had a few days off, and I suppose by the time she got back everything had got a little bit out of hand, and it must have just seemed like too big a job. And to be fair she has been working really hard lately – trying to win the F1 prize, so if she's not in theatre, then she's got her nose stuck in a book or Jac's helping her with one of her assessments or she's working on her research project. I don't know when she finds the time to see Oli….or sleep, or eat even."
"And Tara's the only person on the whole ward who knows how to wash up, I suppose?" Jil asked
"It would seem so," Jonny replied, "but in my defence I normally get my drinks from the café downstairs – gives me an excuse to get off the ward."
"And means you don't have to risk getting food poisoning from the cups up here," Jil said pointedly.
"Mmm, maybe" Jonny admitted "but it's not jus…."
"It's ok," Jil interrupted, "I'm only pulling your leg. Believe me I've worked in the NHS long enough to know that washing up doesn't come up very high on the priorities of most people. In fact, in one place where I worked we got a dishwasher for that very reason – managed to justify the cost by saying something about it reducing the risk of cross infection and staff sickness."
"You know, I was going to try to get us a dishwasher" Jonny said, remembering the idea he'd had a few weeks back, before Jac-related concerns had taken over his thinking. "Maybe I will pitch it as an idea to Hanssen – I mean the worst he can do is say no, right? So really there's nothing to lose."
"Sounds like a plan," Jil replied. "You ready for the pasta?" she added, indicating his now empty bowl.
"Oh yes please, but don't worry" he said, noticing Jil standing up again, "I'll get it."
"Jonny!" Jil said, the warning in her tone of voice reminding him of their earlier conversation. "Do you want it warmed up?"
"I don't know – what do you think?"
"Mmm," Jil considered, "it probably does taste better."
"Ok then – warmed up it is" Jonny said, as Jil transferred some of the remaining pasta onto a plate and put it in the microwave.
"How come you've got so much left" he asked, indicating the still sizeable portion of pasta that Jil was just putting back in the fridge.
"Well, I figured that it was bound to get eaten – I know how bad the midnight munchies get when you're working night shifts - so I just cooked the whole packet. It's just as easy really, and to be honest I'm used to cooking lots of pasta - I need to be the amount my family eat when they come over."
"Well I'm not complaining." Jonny said, "You planning to come down for any more weekends? If so I'll put my order in now."
"Sorry, no" Jil replied, "this should be the last weekend Daniel's away for a while, a long while if I've got anything to do with it," she added. "He's assured me they've got someone else who can do what he does now, so he won't be the go-to person anymore. I mean I never really minded before, well as long as I wasn't alone in the house after we moved, but I'm 24 weeks now and I really don't want him more than a couple of hours drive away. And when Robin comes I think I'm going to need all the help I can get – and if he thinks he's going to get out of getting up in the middle of the night by jetting off to the four corners of the world to sleep in posh hotels for work, he's got another thing coming! That's not unreasonable is it?"
"No, not at all," Jonny said. "What is it he does?"
"You know what" Jil admitted, as she took the pasta from the microwave and placed it in front of Jonny, before going to sit opposite him once again "to tell you the truth I don't really know exactly. He works for a company which designs and builds medical scanners - you know CT's and MRI's –and he's involved with the engineering and programming side of things. He has explained it to me, but well, I'm definitely more of a left brain kind of person, and to be honest most of it went over my head and the bit I did understand I've forgotten – sorry."
"Oh no that's fine – I think I get the gist. I've often wondered how our CT and MRI work – I mean I know the basics but it'd be great to have more of an idea."
"Ah well I'll let Daniel know – I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you all about their inner workings, in great detail, when you meet him. Although, I warn you, once he gets started he's very hard to stop – people quite often complain of brain ache when they've been foolish enough to ask him about his job."
"Well, a bit of brain ache's not necessarily a bad thing" Jonny said cheerfully, "at least it shows that you've actually being thinking. This is great by the way," he added, indicating the pasta.
"Oh good," Jil said. "Well, like I said I'll let him know that he's got a willing victim to talk to – he'll be really pleased. Yeah, we'll have to arrange a get together – it's a shame Jac and I live so far apart – it'd be ever so much easier to sort something out if we lived in the same city, or even on the same side of the country. Still, I'll try and get something organised before this little one makes an appearance" she said, stroking her bump. "Cos I suspect that after Robin comes double dates will be one of the last things I'll be thinking of."
"Are you excited?" Jonny asked.
"Yes, very," Jil said, beaming, "and nervous, and worried, and well, just about every other emotion you can think of. But now, I just can't wait to meet him or her, I mean, I know I've still got a bit to go, but well when I had the 20 week scan it was like it was all suddenly real. I suppose because you could really see it was a baby then – a very tiny perfect little human being. So yeah, yes excited is probably a good word to describe how I'm feeling at the moment."
"And have you got everything ready?" Jonny asked.
"Mmm, we've got the nursery decorated and things, although we're waiting to have the furniture delivered until a bit closer to my due date. And my mum's keeping the pushchair at her house – some old superstition about it being bad luck for the mum-to-be to have it. I know, I know," she said seeing the look on Jonny's face, "it's stupid, but well, I don't want to do anything that might jinx this," she explained, stroking her bump again. And Jonny, remembering what Jil had said about her previous pregnancy, and what Jac had said later about how devastated Jil had been, understood perfectly and said.
"Hey there's no need to explain my mum used to say that when you'd finish eating a boiled egg you should push the spoon through the bottom of the shell to let the devil out, and I still do that – and I'm not even religious, let alone believe in the devil."
At this Jil looked across at Jonny and said, with a growing smile on her face. "Now that is weird!"
"What's weird?" a voice they both recognised asked
"Jonny's egg shell superstition," Jil said, turning towards the door to see Jac in a pair of scrubs, with obviously wet hair, standing in the doorway. "After he's had a boiled egg he makes a hole in the bottom of the shell to let the devil escape."
"Yep," Jac agreed, "you're right that is weird."
"Hey, it's not that strange," Jonny countered, "and I don't do it to let the devil escape – I do it because I've always done it, and because my mum used to. So it's more of a habit than a superstition."
"Ok, ok, you're not weird" Jac conceded, "although obviously you are a bit" she continued. "But right now I don't have time to argue about it – I have a far more pressing issue to resolve." At this, both Jonny and Jil looked at her expectantly, before Jac said "My hair. You did bring the hair dryer didn't you?"
"Yes, and your straighteners," Jil replied, "although I always think it looks nice when you have that slight wave round your face."
"You and your hair," Jonny added. "You know" he said, addressing Jil, "the first time I saw her she was using her phone, when she shouldn't have been, to arrange a hair appointment."
"Mmm, she did mention that, amongst other things, when she told me about that people skills course." Jil replied, smiling knowingly over at him, causing him to blush as he thought about what some of those 'other things' might be. "What was it you said Jac?" she asked, "Some jumped up lobotomy merchant had had a go at you about using your phone and then took it off you."
"Lobotomy merchant – that's good!" Jonny said, admiringly.
"Isn't it" replied Jil, "although I'm not sure you'd be quite so keen on some of the names she called you when she found out you'd lied about being a 'lobotomy merchant'. She wasn't best pleased – well not at the start of the day anyway. Strangely enough, her attitude seemed to have mellowed by the time she got home – I can't imagine why" she concluded, switching her gaze between the pair of them and noting, to her eminent satisfaction, that they were both blushing. "But that's probably enough of a trip down memory lane for the moment so I'll just sort Jonny's pudding out and then we'll go and get ready." She said, looking over at Jac before she stood up once again, adding "and you can come in you know, we don't charge."
"I'm fine here thanks" Jac replied, "as I'm sure Jonny would be fine getting his own pudding," she continued pointedly, looking at him as she said it.
"Hey, I've already told her that" Jonny tried to defend himself.
"He has" Jil quickly interjected, looking over at Jac as she got the Eton Mess out of the fridge, "and I told him that I'm pregnant not dying," she continued, a slight edge of annoyance evident in her voice. "Like I've already told you at least a thousand times."
"Ok, ok – fine." Jac conceded.
"Thank you" Jil said sarcastically, as she put a bowl of Eton Mess down in front of Jonny, "allowing me to do something I was going to do anyway – you are so kind!"
"Ha, ha - you're so funny!" Jac replied. "Right, now you've finished doing your bit for the needy do you think we can actually start getting ready for this big night out of yours."
"Of course we can," Jil replied smiling, walking towards the doorway which Jac had already vacated heading towards her office, pausing before leaving to say to Jonny. "Bon appetit! I hope it helps you get through the rest of your shift, although even if that hasn't perked you up the sight of Jac dressed up to the nines definitely will. You're in for such a treat!" she concluded beaming, before following Jac down the corridor, turning once to wave at Jonny before disappearing from view as she rounded the corner.
And in the sudden silence that had fallen in the staff room Jonny sat for a few moments smiling, trying but failing to picture what a 'dressed up to the nines Bond-girl' Jac would look like (somehow that cream-bikini wearing Jac kept getting in the way), before he gave up, figuring that if what Jil said was anything to go by his imagination wouldn't be a patch on the real thing…..