At that moment Jacob pushed through the doors, determination written on his face as he walked towards the nurses' station to the girl's parents.

"I'm so sorry for your loss… He hasn't mentioned it, but I will make sure he gets there. What time is it starting?" Connie questioned, pen poised before she took the details of the time and place of the funeral. As she wrote, her eyes watched Jacob as he made the difficult phone call, and she suddenly realised he looked tired. In fact, he'd looked tired all last week, but she'd purposefully tried not to notice it. "Was it sudden?"

"He was in a car accident last week. The doctors thought he would come round, I told Jacob not to come… But he passed away on Saturday evening." Jacob's mother replied softly.

Connie remembered her mobile ringing on Saturday, and flicking through her phone she found Jacob's number in the call log. "I'll make sure Jacob is there."

"Thank you. I really am sorry for calling you, he is always telling me about how busy the department is, but the way he talked about you... Well, I thought you'd be able to talk him into coming."

Connie signalled to Jacob to come in her office before he headed back to resus as she once more offered her condolences before ending the call.

He looked around him, to see if there was any patient in dire need of his attention. He didn't particularly want to be alone with her in the office, not now. He looked at the watch on his shirt, and then back to Connie, who stood looking directly at him, one hand holding her mobile and the other holding a bulkier contraption, one of reception's.

She signalled to him again; eventually he walked through to her office but purposefully left the door open and stood at a distance. She put the phones down on the desk and folded her arms in front of her chest, before thinking otherwise and pushing one into her fringe, the other resting on the desk behind her.

She then brought her head up to look at him, and on looking closer at her expression she saw she was upset, her eyes were wide and her nose was a little red, her freckles becoming more prominent across it. He stepped forward to touch her arm, and she gently brushed it away, but took it from the desk and rested her fingers on his before looking at him, seeing how pained he was, and drawing back.

"Jacob..."

"What's happening, Con?"

She looked into his eyes again, and then down to the floor.

"Close the door."

"No, I..."

"I had a phone call. Jacob, please..."

"Who from?"

This time she initiated the contact, touching her fingers lightly to his, again looking at the floor.

"Why are you here?" She spoke softly, nearly a whisper, and felt his fingers tense and squeeze hers.

"Mum?"

"Yeah."

She heard his breath catch in his throat, and felt her arm drop back to her side as he moved back to close the door.