Jac easily soothed things over with Ava by admiring her drawings and then taking the little girl outside for a picnic lunch. Jasmine was sleeping when Jac crept into her room. Jac silently lowered herself into the chair and opened her laptop on her lap. She half watched her sister as she did a little work on the research project she was helping Professor Hope with. Watching her sleep Jac could see her sisters' vulnerability. Jac was reminded that, despite her maturity, Jasmine was a scared young woman barely out of her teens. Jac thought back to when she was Jasmines age and how much she had wished she'd had a mother she could have asked for advice from or spoken to when she was feeling unsure of herself.

'Hi' Jac looked up at the weak sounding voice of her sister.

'Hi' Jac smiled.

'You've made me change my mind. Granddad will be pleased with you.'

'What about you? Don't you think it's worth a try?'

Jasmine nodded her head and then her face crumpled as she burst into tears. 'I'm scared Jac' the young girl confessed 'I don't want to die. I don't want any of it anymore.'

'Come here' Jac said as she stood up placing her arms around her sister and giving her a squeeze. 'Move over a bit' she said as she lowered the bed rail. She sat herself in the space Jasmine had created and put her arms around her. Jasmine sobbed into her sisters chest. Jac smoothed her hair. 'It's ok to say it's all unfair and too much and frightening' she soothed her sister 'but don't ever think its ok to give up until the final moment.'

'Ok' Jasmine sobbed.

'Let the doctors tell you when there is no more that can be done. Until then you have to try to hang on for long as possible. No matter how scared you are.'

'For Ava?' Jasmine said thickly.

'For Ava.' Jac agrees.

'You wont leave me will you Jac?'

'Of course not' Jac answered her 'I'm not going anywhere'. Jac lay with her sister in her arms as Jasmine fell back into a deep sleep. Jac continued to cradle her sister as she listened to the sounds of the ward buzzing around her. She closed her own eyes. 'Just for a second' she thought to herself.

…..

'Ms Naylor' Jac felt someone shaking her arm. 'Ms Naylor!' Jac opened her eyes to see Chantelle's smiling face. 'Your grandfather's arrived. He's in the office talking with Mr Spence, Mr Hanssen and Mr Griffin.'

'Oh right'. Jac tried to focus herself into wakefulness. 'Where's Ava?'

'She went with Jonny to visit Darwin. He thought it was getting a bit tense down here for her.' Jac carefully tried to slide off the bed without waking Jasmine. 'You know you're not meant to sit on patients beds?' Chantelle whispered as she helped the consultant off the bed. Jac gave the nurse a glare. 'What was I thinking? Of course you do' Chantelle whispered just as cheerfully as before. 'It's good you got her so calm. She had a restless night.'

'When are they planning to operate?' Jac asked the nurse as she stretched her cramped back and picked up her discarded laptop.

'Tomorrow.'

Jac nodded in response just as Jasmine began to stir from her slumber. 'Hey'Jac smiled at her sister. 'I'm going to spend a bit of time with Ava. Granddad is here. He'll be in to see you shortly.'

'Ok' Her sister nodded as she allowed Nurse Lane to do her obs.

Jac walked across the ward and towards the office just as the four men exited, their meeting now finished. 'Thank you. Thank you so much.' George Burrows wrapped his Granddaughter up into an unexpected hug much to amusement of her colleagues on the ward. He quickly released her when he realised she wasn't hugging back. 'Sorry' he said wiping tears from his eyes 'I forgot. You never did like spontaneous affection.'

'That's ok' Jac assured him trying to hide her embarrassment. 'I think it was just pure luck she changed her mind.' The three general surgeons shuffled awkwardly back into the office trying to give Jac a little bit of privacy.

George shook his head 'straight talking stubborn people need someone of their own thinking to tell them how it is. I should have realised that. They offered Jasmine an operation along similar lines in Bath but she refused it flat out.' He nodded his head in the direction of the office. 'They didn't sound half as confident as those guys though.' He held out a leather bound photograph album to his granddaughter. 'Here. Just some photographs your Grandma and I took of you when you were little. I had copies made and put this together a couple of years back just in case you came back.'

'Oh thank you' Jac said with genuine surprise in her voice as she took the album. 'I didn't think there were any childhood photographs of me.'

'I thought as much' George smiled 'Right I'd better go and see Jasmine. Is the stubborn madam still in the same place?'

Jac nodded her head, still staring at the book in her hand. 'Granddad?' she called after him. 'I'll be up on Darwin ward with Ava. If you need me one of the nurses will direct you'

'Righto love' George said cheerfully.

….

Jac had found Ava playing a noisy game of buckaroo with Mo and Jonny in her office. Elliot was sat behind his desk laughing at the chaos the three were creating in the small space.

'So this is what goes on in my days off?' Jac said in mock annoyance, her hands on her hips, as she walked into the room.

'Only on the quiet days' Mo answers her back cheekily.

'Its nice to see you Jac' Elliot said warmly 'how is your sister?'

'They're going to operate tomorrow' she said taking a seat on the sofa placing the laptop and photo album down on the seat beside her.

'Ms Effanga and I were talking, and Mr Hanssen is in agreement if you are' Elliot Hope cautiously said 'We would be easily able to manage your patient list for a few weeks between us if you wanted some leave to spend time with your family.' Jac looked at Elliot for some time. The level of support this man had always shown her never wavered and she held him in the highest regard. She guessed this is why he had been volunteered to approach her about taking more leave.

She noded her head 'I think that would be sensible. So long as Mr Hannsen doesn't hold the fact I'm taking yet more leave against me'.

'We both know how surprisingly compassionate Mr Hanssen can be in times of personal difficulty'. Elliot says kindly. 'He said to tell both you and Jonny that you can be as flexible with your time as you like.'

'Can I still work on the Hertzig project?' Jac asked 'It might still be a helpful distraction occasionally'.

'Of course!' Elliot exclaimed. He knew the research project had been vital in helping Jac's return to work in the early days after Amelia. When it all became a bit much Jac would slip down to the quiet wet lab and absorb herself in the research until she felt a little more stable. 'I feel as though we've reached an exciting stage' he said happily. 'Right well I better go and check the ward. A lot can occur in ten minutes.' Elliot took his leave.

'What's this?' Jonny asked, holding up the photograph album.

'Granddad gave it to me'. Jac said taking it from him. 'He put together some childhood photographs for me.'

'Oh wow!' Jonny exclaimed sitting next to his fiancée. 'Have you looked yet?'

Jac shook her head and opened the album to the first page. This page was dotted with pictures of Jac as a tiny baby. She looked small and undernourished. Jac flipped over the page. These showed a toddler aged Jac, again looking skinny and undernourished, playing in her grandparent's garden. Jac remembered that day. Her mother had rarely taken her visit her grandparents and only did so when she needed something using Jac as leverage to get whatever she required. 'My god Jac. With a bit more meat on those bones you could have been a twin to Ava!' Jonny gasped.

'Let us see' Mo said her position down on the floor, still playing with Ava. 'Yeah he's right. The splitting image' Mo laughed although she was secretly saddened by the unhealthy look child Jac had in the pictures.

Over the page there was a larger image of Jac sat on the lap of a woman seated in a wooden rocking chair. 'Oh this was my grandmother!' she excitedly exclaimed to Jonny. 'She died when I was seven but I still remember her.'

'What do you remember? Jonny asked her

'She was called Jeanette Naylor, until she married Granddad that is. That rocking chair had seat cushions covered in pink gingham fabric. She would scoop me up in her arms, call me her little pumpkin and rock me.' Jac screwed up her eyes in concentration as recalled these memories. 'I think I can remember the sound of her laugh and she always smelled like vanilla'.

'Those are nice memories' Jonny said softly.

Jac turned the page. This time there were pictures of a slightly older Jac. She remembered this visit to her grandparents because she had stayed there for four whole days. She couldn't remember what her mother had been doing. She remembered the family doctor visiting her at the house and he had asked a lot of questions. Then her mother had returned and that was the last time Jac ever saw her Grandmother. The last page of photographs showed Jac at age twelve stood smiling in her Granddad's hallway. Not long after these had been taken she'd been told her grandfather was dead and her mother fled to India. Jac shut the album feeling sad but glad to have the photographs to remind her of the few times she had been happy as a child.

'I'm going to stay here overnight with Jasmine' she informed Jonny. 'She's terrified and isn't coping very well'.

'Of course' Jonny says 'You will get some rest though?'

Jac nodded her head in response.

I'll come and find you when I've finished and we'll get some dinner together.' Jonny squeezed Jac's hand 'at least then I know you'll eat.'

Ava suddenly gave a huge yawn. 'I think it must be someone's nap time.' Jac said watching the little girl.

Ava toddled over to her Auntie. 'Auntie Jac. Are the doctors going to make Mummy all better this time?' she asked.

'Oh Ava' Jac breathed as she pulled the little girl up onto her lap. 'Well they're going to make her pain better but mummy will still be poorly.'

'Then we'll just have to find someone else to make her all better won't we?' Ava said playing with the ends of Jac's hair.

'Come on pumpkin. Let's go and put you down for that nap'. Jac said sadly. She stood with the child in her arms and carried her to the on call room.

Mo occupied the seat Jac had vacated. 'Jac had a pretty tough childhood hey?' she said flicking though the album Jac had left behind. 'That is not a healthy child' she pointed to a picture of particularly scrawny looking Jac.

'You know Jac's mother walked out of the hospital without her the day she was born?' Jonny said quietly. Mo nodded her head. 'Well I sometimes wonder what would have happened if she hadn't gone back the following day.'

'I suppose one good thing came of it all. It made Jac into a strong woman, able to survive anything.' Mo put a hand on Jonny's arm 'but we need to help her to work out what to say to Ava about Jasmines prognosis.' At this Jonny simply nodded.