Apologies for the ludicrously long time it has taken me to update this, hopefully I'll be a wee bit quicker with the next one. Please let me know what you think - it's always really good to hear.

Wednesday afternoon, Holby City Hospital

Darwin

"Well," Jil remarked, looking round the room, "it's not quite the first double date I had in mind but it could be worse I suppose."

"I can't believe I agreed to this." Jac said, disparagingly.

"Oh stop moaning and eat your Crunchie."

"And how come I get to sit on the uncomfortable chair," Jac continued looking at the plastic chair she was sitting on with disgust, seemingly ignoring Jil's interruption but picking up the Crunchie nevertheless.

"Because you were the last one in" Jil explained, "despite the fact I told you at least five minutes before Jonny got back to come in here"

"Well, pardon me for doing my job – someone had to make sure the ward didn't descend into chaos, and trust me Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum out there weren't going to do it!"

"You can sit here" Jonny offered, patting the armchair he was sitting on, choosing to ignore her reference to Tara and Oli, and hoping that Jil would too.

"It's too late now" Jac said, looking over at him with an expression which could have curdled milk.

"You never said," he objected.

"I shouldn't have to," Jac countered.

"Hey," Jil said, eager to nip this disagreement in the bud before it grew into anything of any consequence, "you can sit on my bed if you want."

"Oh no she can't," Jonny interjected, "nobody's meant to sit on patient's beds"

"But you're always doing it" Jac said, disbelievingly.

"Well, yes..maybe," Jonny reluctantly admitted, "but not when I'm eating."

"Crumbs in the bed!" Jac exclaimed, "that's what you're worried about isn't it? Honestly – I can't believe you, all the problems in the NHS and you're worried about some crumbs in the bed and of course the absolutely crucial matter of the positioning of the ward stapler," she continued, remembering one of Jonny's other little obsessions

"Hey, you're the first one to get antsy if things aren't where they're meant to be. And who's the person who spent half of a night shift linking all the paper clips of each colour together?"

"Ooohh that reminds me," Jil said, looking at Daniel, "have you heard from my parents recently? I'd have thought there'd have been here by now."

"Why would that remind you about your parents?" Jac asked incredulously, "paperclips? What on earth have paperclips got to do with them?"

"Well, I could explain" Jil replied, switching her gaze back to Jac "but I don't think you'd be able to understand the workings of my beautiful mind. And I see you've still not eaten that Crunchie," she continued, looking pointedly at the chocolate bar that Jac was still holding, unopened. Jac stuck her tongue out at her best friend before, unable to keep the pretence of annoyance up, grinning and, emphasising each movement, opening the wrapper and taking a bite. Jil smiled back at her before, once again turning her attention to Daniel, saying. "So, my parents – any news?"

"Sorry I meant to say, but then I got side-tracked with this whole lunch thing," he replied, apologetically. "They called when I was on my way back from the canteen, so about..erm half an hour, 40 minutes ago and they were just at the Delamere services."

"Still? Is the M4 bad or something? They were just leaving when they phoned me and that was at half ten"

"Well your dad did say it was a bit congested around Reading, but I think the main hold-up was that they had to go back home after they set off."

"Why?"

"Your mum remembered that she hadn't given the spare key to the neighbours, so Sas wouldn't be able to get in."

"Oohh that was lucky," Jil said, "a near-disaster averted. It's such a nuisance that they had to have the locks changed. I'll have to remember to ask them to get me a new set cut. So, how far had they got before mum realised?"

"Luckily, not too far. They hadn't got on to the motorway but your dad still didn't sound that impressed."

"Oh poor mum," Jil said, "I bet he was a nightmare. Can you imagine what he said?"

"Knowing your dad, think I'd rather not" Daniel replied. "I can't imagine the air was anything but blue though.

"Oh do you remember that time we were coming back from Chessington?" Jac asked

"When Rob was sick you mean?" Jil replied, "ohh that was awful. Dad was soooo angry."

"And we had to stop at those services and he kept going on about how Rob shouldn't have been so greedy, and how he never would have been sick if he hadn't eaten all that crap" Jac said smiling.

"Oh yeah – and the candy floss" Jil added, grinning, "but he didn't call it that did he?" she continued beginning to giggle. "What was it he said…ohh…cotton floss!"

"Pink cotton floss!" Jac corrected, also beginning to laugh, "And we were both trying so hard not to laugh"

"And not doing a particularly good job at it if I remember. Didn't we end up going to the toilets in the end?"

"Yeah, even though we'd been before we left, which then made your dad have a go at us when we got back about drinking too much."

"Oh yeah – I'd forgotten about that. It's weird you know because he only really gets like that when he's driving. Mind you it was particularly bad timing on Rob's part cos we'd not long had that car then – think it was only a couple of months old."

"What?" Jac said suspiciously, suddenly noticing the looks Daniel and Jonny were exchanging.

"No, it's nothing" Jonny tried to assuage her, "it's just nice to see you smiling. Both of you," he said looking at Jil too. "It's just really nice."

"Seconded," Daniel said, "I love it when you two get together cos I can always guarantee that it'll make Jil happy."

"Ohhh," Jil said, "that's so sweet." Before, noticing the look on Jac's face, and trying to ward off the sarcastic comment she was expecting, continuing, "oi – it IS"

"Whatever you say," Jac replied, before eating the last bit of her Crunchie.

"So," Jonny asked, "what happened next? How did you manage to calm your dad down?"

"Ah, well," Jac started, but then stopped, glancing over at Jil with an expression Jonny couldn't quite read on her face. "Erm, well.."

"What?" Jonny said, his curiosity piqued by Jac's strange reaction. "What did you do? Come on, you've got to tell me now! Do you know?" he said, addressing Daniel, who slowly shook his head, a thoughtful look on his face.

"No… I don't think so – can't remember ever hearing this story before. But I'm intrigued now. So, out with it….what did you do?"

"Well, erm" Jac said

"You've said that before!" Jonny noted, earning him another look from Jac, which he noticed but decided to ignore, continuing, "you need to actually finish the sentence for us to be able to follow the conversation."

"Thank you Dr Johnson!" Jac replied, shooting another of her looks at him, a warning that he didn't feel able to ignore again. But the offensive was taken up by Daniel who said,

"Oh come on – spill. It can't be that bad, surely," but who, on seeing the guilty looks being exchanged between his wife and her best friend, began to lose confidence in this assertion, and finished in a much less confident tone of voice. "Can it?"

"Erm, well," Jac started, "well no, no it wasn't awful. Not really, was it Jil?" she appealed to her friend.

"Well, no," Jil confirmed, "no it wasn't awful. But it wasn't our finest moment either."

"So," Jonny said, judging that it was safe for him to speak again, "what happened?"

"We just" began Jil, "well we…"

"we reminded him about why he'd had to stop in the first place," Jac continued.

"by just mentioning that we'd gone to the toilet because we weren't sure whether he was going to stop again because he'd probably want to get home as quickly as possible" Jil took over

"to sort the car out." Jac finished.

"Is that all?" Jonny asked, "a bit of deflection. Oh that's fine! I used to do it all the time with my sisters. Jeez, the way you were going on I was beginning to think you'd done something truly terrible."

"Well," Jac said, despite Jonny's reassurance still sounding guilty, "it was pretty terrible for Rob. Your dad harangued him all the way home, didn't he?" she said, looking at Jil.

"Oh yes," Jil agreed, "he kept going on and on about him being irresponsible and greedy and how he'd be the one cleaning the car up when we got back because that might teach him that actions had consequences."

"And poor Rob just looked so dreadful!" Jac interjected, "he really wasn't well."

"Oh, pish-posh," Daniel said, "I'm with Jonny on this one. Me and James were always doing it, and as for Shona, well, she was a past master at it. It's survival of the fittest when it comes to defusing your parent's wrath and I am sure Rob did it to you too."

"Yeah, probably" Jil conceded, "but still.."

"But nothing," Jonny interrupted cheerily, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger after all. And as someone who grew up in a house full of women let me tell you it was quite an education seeing how they dealt with everything the world threw at them. I learnt ever such a lot, believe me. But seeing as you seem to be in a confessional mood, have you got any other long-buried deep dark secrets you want to get off your chests? Cos you know what they say," he added, grinning over at the pair of them, "confession is good for the soul and all that."

"Oh no," Jac quickly interjected, "I'm not that stupid! And neither," she said, looking over at her, "is Jil, are you?"

"No," Jil agreed quickly, and smiling at Jac. "No, apparently I'm not."

"Oh come on girls," Jonny argued, "you know you want to really, and you can trust us you know."

Before Jac had a chance to answer him her bleeper went off. "Saved by the bell," she remarked almost to herself, before saying as she got up, "Sorry, I need to go – it's ITU".

"Of course yeah" Jil said, watching her friend walk to the door.

"Thanks for lunch," Jac called back before she disappeared from view.

"Bye," Daniel and Jil chorused in unison after her. Before Daniel continued, "And anyway, I don't know why you're feeling so guilty about Rob – wasn't he the one who told you that bees were furry and liked to be stroked when you were small."

"Really!" Jonny interjected, "now that is evil. And did you believe him?"

Jil nodded, "Oh yes, I did, and I had the sting in my arm to prove it."

"Ouch," Jonny said.

"Yep, and the stupid thing was I just couldn't understand why it had done it. And then Rob made it even worse by 'accidentally' letting slip that stinging me meant the bee would die. Think I was more upset about that than about getting stung – I cried for ages. It's one of my strongest memories from then – me sitting on my dad's knee sobbing into his shirt, and I was determined that we should try and find it just in case it wasn't dead, just hurt somewhere. And my dad, bless him, he helped me look you know, after he'd sorted the sting out and kissed me better, we spent ages in the garden. Hmm," Jil said, smiling, gazing out of the window and absentmindedly stroking her bump, "the things people do for their kids eh." Before, with a noticeable shake of her head she tore her gaze away from outside and focussed her attention on the two men in her room once more, and smiling at them both continued. "But you know I think I'm coming round to your way of thinking more and more – survival of the fittest and all that. Plus, Rob probably did deserve it – for the bee thing if nothing else. I mean, Jonny, you never told your sisters anything like that did you?"

"Nooo," Jonny said, "but probably only because I never thought of it. And anyway, two of my sisters are older so they'd never have believed me anyway. Mind you, I did once tell our Isla that there was a little man in the fridge that kept a note for the tooth fairy of what everyone ate, and that he was the one who turned the light on when you opened the door. She wouldn't go near it for weeks after that."

"Jonny!" Jil scolded

"I reckon it must have been around Christmas time, or maybe Easter," Jonny said, "and I was after eating all her chocolate as well as my own."

"That's awful," Jil said, trying not to smile.

"But at least she didn't get hurt," Jonny defended himself, "and she got over it eventually. And it probably did her good, not eating chocolate for a wee while anyway."

"Hmm," Jil replied unconvinced. "Grief, brothers are awful, aren't they?"

"I wouldn't know," Jonny replied, sounding slightly wistful, "but let me tell you sisters can be nightmares too."

"And as the only person who actually has both, although granted Jil, Jac might as well be your sister, I can in fact confirm" Daniel said, "that they can all be right royal pains in the old proverbial."

"Mmm, I suppose so" Jil conceded, "and I wouldn't be without Rob now, probably not then either… most of the time. Even if he did make me stroke a bee!" she concluded smiling

"And I suppose it wasn't all bad," Jonny said, "growing up with a load of sisters. Meant there were always loads of girls around the house at any rate. Some of my friends were soooo jealous, you'd think they'd never seen a girl before the way they used to go on when they came…." He was interrupted by the sound of a mobile phone, which Daniel rushed to extract from his jacket pocket,

"Is that..?" Jil started to ask.

"No, it's mine" he said looking down at the screen. "I'll take it off the ward," he said glancing guiltily over at Jonny and getting up hurriedly.

"Tell them there's no need for them to come all the way down," Jil said as walked towards the door, continuing to his retreating back, "Apart from anything else Jac doesn't have the room."

"Now that reminds me" Jonny said. "Why didn't you tell me Daniel was Scottish?"

"Didn't I?" Jil asked, as Jonny shook his head. "Are you sure?" Jonny nodded. "Oh," she said sounding genuinely surprised "I don't know. I suppose it just mustn't have come up. Although I did mention my propensity for tall, dark, handsome Scottish men, and I definitely told you how much I liked a Celtic lilt. I tell you, when I met Daniel it was very nearly a 'Jerry Maguire' moment." Noticing the look of complete incomprehension on Jonny's face, she explained, disbelievingly. "He had me at hello – well practically anyway. Jeez Jonny, 'The Sound of Music' and 'Jerry Maguire' I can see Jac's going to have to watch some films with you."

"It's Tom Cruise" Jonny said, "I just don't like him. He's all teeth!"

"Yes his smile is something else and he does have some very strange views on mental health," Jil replied, "but he has made some good films. You'll not have seen 'Magnolia' either then?" Jonny shook his head, "Now that's a good film, although he's playing completely against type in that. And then there's 'Top Gun' obviously, and Mission Impossible – I like all those as well, but 2's my favourite. I like Thandie Newton you see, and then there's Dougray Scott…another tall dark handsome Celt – mmm, there's definitely a theme" she concluded smiling.

"So, there's still hope for me then?" Jonny joked

"Nah" Jil replied, grinning, "Even I wouldn't try stealing Jac's boyfriend – not after what she did to Tasmin Archer. And she'll have honed her skills since then no doubt..uhh it doesn't bear thinking about!"

"Who's Tasmin Archer?" Jonny asked intrigued.

"Someone who should have known better than to come on to Jac's boyfriend at the end of year disco."

"And what did Jac do? She didn't hit her did she?"

"Oh no," Jil said emphatically, "nothing as prosaic as that. Let's just say it was lucky for her that there was the six week holiday for everybody to forget what had happened, and leave it at that, shall we?"

"Oh, OK" he replied, although from the expression on his face it was obvious he still had questions he'd love to ask. "But can you just te…" He was interrupted by a loud crash from the ward, closely followed by what sounded like china smashing, "What the…" he said, getting up, before they both heard Jac's unmistakeably annoyed voice saying,

"For goodness sake Dr Lo – how big does the tea trolley have to be for you not to walk into it? And who left it here in the first place anyway? Does no-one here have the sense they were born with?"

"I think that's my cue," Jonny said. "Better get out there before she does a 'Tasmin Archer' on somebody. Wow," he said, after a quick glance at his watch, "it really is time for me to leave – my shift starts in five minutes. How on earth did that happen? Is there anything you need before I go?" he asked as he walked over to the door.

"No," Jil replied, "not right now, but would you be able to get me some paper at some point please?"

"Paper?" Jonny repeated, looking quizzically back at her from the doorway.

"Mmmhmm" she replied, "I've used all the stuff I had and I've still got some things to write. It doesn't have to be good paper though – if you've got any one-sided print-outs or anything like that, they'd be fine."

"Ok, I'll see what I can do," he said. "Thanks for sorting out lunch – we'll have to do it again sometime."

"That'd be great," Jil said, "See you later then. Bye"

"Bye –I'll get you that paper soon," Jonny assured just before, after smiling at her, he turned and walked away from the room.

Leaving Jil, for the first time since that morning, awake and alone in her room. Not that she expected that state of affairs to last long – Daniel would be back soon, and no doubt Jac and probably Jonny would be popping in every so often and her parents couldn't be too much longer either. 'Better enjoy the peace and quiet whilst it lasts then,' Jil thought and pushing the bed table out of the way snuggled down into the bed and closed her eyes to do just that.