Hi All. Just another really short update which follows directly on from the last chapter. Enjoy and please review...

Monday Afternoon, Holby City Hospital

Darwin

So Jonny watched Jac walking towards Jil's bed. Saw Jil, who had been talking to Rosie break off from what appeared to be a really animated discussion and give her a smile, before resuming her conversation. He'd noticed that there had been quite a bit of laughter from Bay 1 throughout his shift so far and was sure the reason for that was Jil's presence. She just seemed to bring the best out of people, and he now saw what Jac meant when she talked about the 'Jil-effect'. Although, he was also finding, to his surprise, that there seemed to be a 'Jac effect' on the ward too. He was amazed at the allowances people were prepared to make for her – both Sylvie and Vanya had seemed more concerned about how the whole Jil thing was affecting Jac, than upset about what she had done that had made them (nearly) cry. In fact, Sylvie had actually defended Jac's actions, and he'd lost count of the people who had mentioned to him that they hoped Miss Naylor was OK, and Arthur's insistence that he 'must make sure you look after her' hadn't exactly been a shock, but he was surprised by the force which seemed to accompany the words. It appeared that, as well as the respect and fear that Jac seemed to effortlessly engender in her colleagues, there was a latent affection for her too. He supposed it helped that Jil was just so lovely, and that it was obvious how much she meant to Jac, but he was sure that the feelings would have been there regardless, though he didn't suppose for one minute Jac would believe it if he told her.

He saw Mo exiting the staff room with a cup of tea and something that looked suspiciously like one of Jac's flapjacks. "Oi," he called over, "where's mine? And where did you get that anyway?" he said as Mo walked towards him, pointing at the flapjack that Mo was in the process of devouring "I thought they'd all been eaten ages ago." He waited as Mo finished the mouthful she'd been eating, before continuing, "well?"

Mo, who could see that Jonny wasn't going to let this go, reluctantly revealed, "You obviously don't know where to look then. There's a secret stash in the biscuit tin at the back of the cupboard – it's where the best biscuits are always kept!"

"Well thanks for telling me," Jonny replied huffily.

"Hey, I thought you knew," Mo said, which wasn't strictly true, but she could hardly be blamed if Jonny didn't think to look in all the biscuit tins in the staff room, could she?

"And what about Holby Fit Club?" Jonny asked, still peeved about all the goodies he must have missed out on over the months he had worked here.

"What about it?" Mo countered, beginning to get a little riled herself.

"Flapjacks part of your recommended daily allowance are they?" he replied sarcastically, continuing in the same vein. "Oh no, don't tell me – calories consumed whilst you're standing up don't count either!"

"Jonny, it's a flapjack." Mo said exasperatedly, "and if it means so much to you – here have it!" she said, holding the remaining piece out to him. Jonny, who was so surprised at Mo's action, took it automatically, before he was brought back to reality by Mo adding, "I don't know what's wrong with you, but you'd better snap out of it quick. Seriously, one person on the verge of a nervous breakdown" looking over at Jac "is really all this ward can cope with at any one time!" And with that parting shot, and one of her 'you know I'm right' looks, she turned round and walked off.

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

And the fact was that Jonny did know she was right – both about the ward only being able to cope with Jac in her current state and the fact that he was feeling out of sorts. And he also knew the reason for that – he had seen Jil's results and knew that there was no way she'd be going home anytime soon, and that if things didn't improve in the next couple of days there was a very strong likelihood that she'd need more surgery. And he knew that Jac knew that too, and he was worried what that knowledge would do to her. He had seen her talking to Elliott after she'd finished the first operation on her list, which true to her word she had let Mo scrub in on, and which, when he'd asked Mo how it had gone she'd summed up in one word 'textbook'. He had seen her face as Elliott had, no doubt as gently as he could, confirmed that her worst fears could well be a possibility, and had found himself closing his eyes, as if to shut out the fear he had seen writ large there. It just didn't seem possible that his Jac, this fortress of a woman, was scared but he could see that was the case, and he was worried that he wouldn't be able to do anything to help her, to comfort her when she obviously would need it the most. And then he had seen her, with characteristic resolve put her best brave face on to go and see Jil, managing to smile at her and to hold a normal conversation, which even resulted in some of that laughter that had been such a feature of Bay 1 today. But he had seen the added strain this extra effort was putting on Jac when she had left Jil's bedside for her next operation and, though he had seen for himself, watching her briefly from the viewing gallery during that operation, that it wasn't affecting her work he was seriously worried about the impact it was having on her. His musings were interrupted by the always annoying sound of a patient's call-bell but for once he was glad of the distraction – anything to stop him thinking. He glanced over at Bay 1 as he got up to go and see to Mr Percy, wondering distractedly what he'd be complaining about this time. Kate was drawing the curtains round Rosie's bed presumably, he remembered, to check and, if necessary, change her infusion pump, leaving Jac and Jil to talk on their own…..