Monday 2nd December
11:30am
Jonny entered the beautiful florists swiftly followed by Jac after the short walk from their cottage.
"Jonathon? Jonathon Maconie! It's wonderful to see you." A short lady smiled as she came from behind the counter and hugged him. She had a Scottish accent which usually Jac would comment on but she decided against considering the circumstances.
"Maggie, it's great to see you to." Jonny forced a smile as they pulled apart. He couldn't get his parents off of his mind at all. "Um, this is Jac, my partner." He stated as he stepped back for the lady to see Jac, along with her large bump.
"Lovely to meet you Jac." She smiled sweetly as she shook her hand.
"You too." Jac forced a smile.
"I see you've got a wee one on the way. How far gone are you sweetheart?"
"34 weeks." Jac replied.
"Aw, that's wonderful news Jonathon, congratulations you two."
"Thanks Maggie." Jonny smiled.
"Oh, where are my manners! Would you like to come and have a cup of coffee in the back?"
"No thank you, I just wanted to get the usual for my mum and dad. We're in a bit of a rush you see." Jonny said quietly.

"Of course, of course. I'll go and organise them for you this minute, but please, take a seat." She smiled before she disappeared through the colourful door beads. Jonny pulled a seat out at the small table and chairs for Jac, and then seated himself too.
"We're not in a rush, we can stay for a cup of tea if you want, I don't mind." Jac whispered because they certainly weren't in a rush- though she had a feeling that Jonny just wanted to get it over and done with.
"No it's um... She always talks about, my parents and I can't talk about them without- well I just don't like speaking about them so I'd rather we didn't. But thanks for the offer." Jonny replied. Jac looked down at Jonny's twiddling thumbs so she took one of his hands in her own and gripped on tightly for support.

"Don't I need vitamins or supplements?" Guy queried as he and Zosia walked around a health store with a trolley after Guy had told Zosia that he would pay for the food for the both of them for the fortnight.
"Nope." Zosia replied bluntly.
"But I saw you taking tablets this morning." He stated.
"One of them was the pill, and the other was iron supplements. Neither of which you need to take." She stated.
"Right." Guy replied awkwardly. As he followed Zosia who walked down the next aisle whilst he pushed the trolley.

"You only need supplements if you don't get the right nutrients into your diet which we will because I know how. The only reason I take iron supplements is because I need double the amount of iron that you do because I am female." Zosia explained clinically as she looked up and down the shelves before she finally stopped by the milk products. "Have you ever tried soya milk?" Zosia queried.
"No."
"Good job then, it's vile." Zosia smirked. "Right, I normally have rice milk or almond milk. Think you'll like those?"
"I'll give it a try." Guy stated so Zosia put a few cartons of each in the trolley. "So why don't you drink cow's milk then?"
"Simple. Do you know how much water it takes to raise a cow, and to grow the food that it eats? A lot. Do you know how much it takes to grow almonds or rice? A lot less and water is a valuable resource. That and the fact that cows only produce milk after they've produced offspring and their calves are taken away from them within days to be slaughtered for veal. They never bond with their mothers which leaves both mother and calf mentally distressed." Zosia explained.

"That was crap for a break shot!" Mo laughed as Mr T and herself were playing pool to pass the time whilst it was just them two in the cottage.
"Why?" He protested.
"Because you potted no balls for a start." Mo replied smugly. She positioned her hand on the table, slotted the cue between her thumb and finger, and then hit the white ball with enough precision that it potted a striped ball. "Watch the master." Mo smirked as she walked around the table to get at a better angle.
"How are you this good?" Mr T queried as she potted a second ball.
"Number one: Maconie's always a sucker for a game once he's had a few pints, and number two: Im a surgeon." Mo replied. "I have a excellent control and judgement.
"I operate too." Mr T protested.
"Yes but you pull babies out, I transplant every organ you can." Mo joked.
"I don't just pull babies out. I operated on Jac when... Wait, sorry I shouldn't have said that-" He said quickly
"It's fine, I know she's got endometriosis." Mo stated.
"You do?"
"Yeah, well she didn't tell me, a hypochondriac patient told me."
"Right, so Jac or Guy or Zosia would be just as skilled as you." He said to change the subject.
"Maybe not Zosia just yet but I'd say Jac and Guy would be good at pool. Though her bump might off balance her." Mo explained.

"Alright then, full on pool tournament." Mr T demanded.
"Fine but we'll have to go to that corner shop and get some snacks and edible prizes for it if we want Jac to play." Mo smirked.
"Agreed."

Jac followed Jonny through the cemetery; he clearly knew where he was going. When he stopped in front of two graves, side by side, Jac couldn't help but feel sorry for Jonny- despite the fact that he hated pity. Ignoring her bad back, she bent down and picked up the old, dead flowers and put them in a nearby bin.
"Thanks." Jonny muttered before he squatted, and put down the two bunches of flowers, his father's with dark blue and white flowers for Scotland's football team, and his mother's were many shades of pink; her favourite colour.

Jac glanced at Jonny who just stood up in front of the graves, and closed his eyes. She stood besides him and took his hands in hers to show she was there for him.

In loving memory of William 'Will' Maconie
2nd March 1953 - 31st December 1994
Aged 41

In loving memory of Ann Maconie
23rd September 1955 - 31st December 1994
Aged 39

"I'm never gonna forget them." Jonny stated eventually.
"I know you're not." Jac said as she pulled him into a hug after he a had sniffed- a sign that he was trying not to cry. "And our daughter is gonna listen to you telling her stories about her nan and grandad because she's not getting any from me." Jac joked half heartedly. "And forget what I said about never bringing her to Scotland, you can bring her here whenever you want. But I'll be coming too." She added sternly.
"Thanks Jac." Jonny forced a smile as he pulled apart. He gently slipped his arm around Jac's waist and faced his parent's graves once again. "Can we stay here for a wee while?" He asked.
"Sure. Take as long as you need." Jac nodded.

"How many bloody nuts and seeds can two people eat in a fortnight?" Guy laughed as Zosia walked along dumping bag after bag of them into the trolley.
"Put it this way, how many bags of crisps, bars of chocolate, cakes, biscuits etc do you eat in a fortnight?" Zosia replied.
"Fair enough." Guy sighed as he merely pushed the trolley along, letting Zosia pick and chose what she wanted.
"And for the record, there are vegan products of them and I don't just eat tofu, soya milk and vegetables like the stereotype." Zosia stated.
"You know, Mama went vegetarian for a few months when she was younger." He stated.
"Really?" Zosia asked curiously.
"Yeah, I think it was the year before you were born, she wanted to go healthy before we tried for a baby but it didn't last long; she couldn't live without crispy duck pancakes." He laughed.
"So I was planned?"
"Yeah, course you were. We always wanted just one child so we could spoil you rotten."
"What, spoil me with money and you thought that substituted you being there for me when I was growing up?" Zosia retorted without making eye contact.
"Zosia, I worked because it was at a crucial stage for St Mary's. If you had a baby and Holby hospital was threatened to be shut down unless we met the numbers, you'd put as much of your time as you possibly could wouldn't you?"
"Well I don't know."
"Put it this way Zosia, if the hospital was closed down, people wouldn't have had a hospital for another 20 miles. Think of how many lives would be lost because they couldn't get to hospital on time." He explained.
"Well I didn't know that, I was only a kid." Zosia stated.
"I know, which is why I just want us to start again. Please?" He begged.
"Okay... New beginning." Zosia agreed.
"Does this mean a hug is in order?" He smiled and Zosia rolled her eyes. "Come here Zoshie." He said as he pulled her into a hug. "Sorry, force of habit." He added after receiving a glare and a raised eyebrow.

Mo and Mr T were walking to a corner shop to get snacks etc for the tournament when Mo placed her hand on his chest to stop him from walking.
"What?" He smirked; surely she wasn't going to do something like that in public.
"Look." Mo said solemnly as she pointed across the road to the clean cemetery where they could see a man with his arm around a woman's back who had long wavy red hair. It was obviously Jac and Jonny. "I think his mum and dad are buried here." She added.
"How did they..." Mr T trailed off.
"Car crash. He was only 15. He said some of the local idiots were celebrating New Year's Eve a little to much and they hit them with a car... He said they were both in intensive care, his mum died first, then his dad an hour later." Mo explained. "C'mon, he won't want us watching." She said quietly before they continued walking. Soon, they arrived at the friendly, bright corner shop which -along with the usual alcohol, confectionary, snacks and basic foods- was home to plenty of souvenirs, gifts and postcards because they were close to the beach.

"That reminds me, I need to get Sacha something." Mo stated. "Oh well, I've still got a fortnight, let's just get the prizes and snacks. I suppose I'd better chose the prizes seeing as I'm gonna be the one winning them." Mo said smugly.
"You reckon you're the best out of all six of us?" He smirked.
"Well I know Maconie's got skill, but once he's had a few beers, that goes out the window. And I'm not sure about the others but they can't be that good. And I'm certainly not worried about you." Mo smiled sweetly as she shoved a basket gently into his chest for him to carry.

Jac and Jonny were taking a slow walk back from the cemetery after Jonny had taken plenty of time to think about his parents, and he had his arm around Jac's waist to keep her a little warmer and shield her from the strong winds that were coming from the coast.
"When was the last time you spoke to the rest of your family?" Jac asked. "I mean, you've mentioned your sisters and your 'grannie' before but you never really speak about anyone else."
"Well my grannie died a few months ago but I knew it was coming, she's been frail for years. The only people that're left really, are my three sisters. But I'm not really in contact with them, we call each other on birthdays and christmas but that's about it." Jonny admitted. He knew better than to ask Jac about her family because he knew that she had drawn the line that they were never going to be involved with her ever again so there was nothing to speak about.
"Why?"
"After our parents... Passed away, we all ended up in different care homes. I mean, we were given phone numbers for each other but it was kind of hard to keep in contact especially since we were all miles away from each other." Jonny explained.
"Do they live in Scotland still?"
"I honestly don't have a clue." Jonny admitted.
"Well why don't you give them a ring? I mean, we're in your hometown, why don't you all meet up? You could have a meal together." Jac suggested.
"Jac I-"
"Jonny please, you have family, don't waste that."
"Well... I-I could try I suppose. Would you be coming?"
"It's up to you, I don't mind."
"Yeah, I want you there. Besides, then I can see what kind of blokes they've hooked up with- well that's if they have." Jonny joked halfheartedly.

"Well then, so help me, I'm going to a Maconie family meal." Jac joked.

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