Thanks for reading. I'm not sure if this is any good or not. I apologise for any medical inaccuracies! Review to let me know what you think.

Peter Smyth spent longer than was strictly necessary with the Borrows/Naylor family. The telephone conversation with Mr Hanssen the night before had already informed him the best solution was for Ava to be with her Aunt. Fortuniately Peter was a man who was willing to break with protocol to get a happy outcome and so he had readily agreed to Henrik Hanssen's plan to manipulate the said Aunt into realising this.

He had chatted and played with Ava and could see that she was a confident intelligent three year old who would more than benefit from the straight talking guidance her Aunt could provide. He quickly won over Jac Naylor and even earned himself a mumbled apology for her rude introduction to him. He could see Jac and Jonny would make a brilliant parental team and the pair of them were clearly infatuated with Ava.

After filling in several pieces of paper work Peter reluctantly realised he would leave this happy family unit to go back to the day to day grind of being a social worker. He handed Jac and Jasmine his card. 'I'll be popping up occasionally to just to check on how things are going' he said as the women took the cards 'but if you have any questions or need help or guidance with anything just give me a ring.' He smiled warmly.

'I'll walk you out' Jac said as Peter collected his things.

'It was nice to meet you Jasmine. I hope the operation goes well for you today.' Peter said kindly to the young woman.

'Thank you Peter.' Jasmine settled herself more comfortably against her pillows. 'At least I don't have to worry so much about Ava'

'Then my job here is done' Peter joked.

'You will call me if you do need advice won't you?' Peter asked Jac as they walked out of the ward.

'I probably shouldn't admit this to you but I feel as though I'm making up how to deal with this as I go along' Jac laughed shakily. 'I've only had two days to get my head around it all.'

'Terminal illness is the toughest thing a family could face. I see it as my job to make it as easy to bare and deal with as possible. We're not in the habit of creating more trauma by separating children from loved ones if we can help it.' They reached the hospital entrance and Peter offered Jac his hand. He was pleased when Jac shook it.

'I never thought I'd say this to a social worker but thank you.' Jac gave him a rare smile.

'I didn't really do anything.' Peter smiled back 'Could you let me know how it goes today? Just drop me a quick email?' Jac nodded her head. 'It was a privilege to meet you Jac Naylor' Peter said as he walked away.

Jac stood out in the sunshine for a few minutes. In the three hours she'd been awake a lot had changed. She could kick herself for not realising agreeing earlier to home Ava for the duration of Jasmines hospital stay would have alleviated a lot of her sister's stress. On the other hand they probably could do with the support of a man like Peter. She had learnt to accept help when she'd first found out she'd been pregnant with Amelia. She allowed the warmth of the sun to give her a feeling of strength that she knew she was going to need for today. Her next task was to convince Ava to attend the hospital crèche. Jac braced herself for the battle of wills, took a deep breath, and entered the hospital once more.

In the end it was George who had expertly convinced Ava to go and look at the hospital day care facilities with him. When he arrived back at the ward half an hour later minus Ava Jac had been impressed.

'One of the nursery nurses got her engrossed in some finger painting so I took the opportunity to firmly say goodbye and make a quick exit' George confessed 'there's no real art to it'.

'Do you think she'll be alright?' Jasmine asked fresh tears forming in her eyes.

'Of course she will' George said giving his granddaughter a reassuring hug. 'Jac wouldn't have suggested it if she didn't think the crèche was up to scratch.'

'Absolutely' Jac confirms 'Now get on and finish writing up those instructions for Ava's bedtime routine.' Jasmine had become agitated after George had left so as a distraction Jonny had suggested Jasmine write them some instructions for taking care of Ava. 'If you leave Jonny and I to our own devices I can't guarantee the result' Jac joked.

The 'Ava instructions' worked as good distraction for a couple of hours. Jac was secretly glad Jasmine had written it down because her head was spinning with the list of Ava's current likes and dislikes and she was sure she'd get them wrong.

Micheal Spence appeared with the consent forms and before they knew it Jasmine was being wheeled down to theatre. They wished Jasmine luck and not goodbye just before she was wheeled into anaesthetics.

'Wait!' Jasmine suddenly cried. 'Can't Jac come in with me?' The young girl looked terrified.

'Its not normally allowed but I'll make an exception' Edward Campbell took pity on Jasmine.

'Thank you' Jac nodded at the anaesthetist as she stepped forward and took hold of Jasmines hand.

'You won't leave me Jac?' she asked as her bed was positioned in the anaesthetics room.

'Not until they throw me out' Jac promised her sister. 'Ouch! Jasmine don't squeeze my hand so hard!' Jac yelped as Jasmine squeezed Jac's hand hard as Edward inserted a new cannula into her other hand. 'I need fully functioning hands for my job you know'.

'Sorry' Jasmine said as Edward laughed. 'Thank you for looking after Ava for me.'

'Its not a problem.' Jac smiled and smoothed Jasmines hair. 'She's kin after all.'

'Right pre-med going in' Edward said as he flushed drugs through the cannula. 'You should start to feel a bit woozy now Jasmine.'

'I need you to promise me something Jac' Jasmine said hurriedly. 'I know I said I wouldn't pressure you but I need you to promise me.'

'Anaesthetic is now going in' Edward informed the theatre team

'Shh' Jac soothed. 'You can tell me after this over'

'No listen!' Jasmine tried to fight the sleepy sensation slowly overcoming her 'Promise me you'll take Ava if I don't make it.'

'You'll be fine you'll see.' Jac said with a slight crack of emotion in her voice.

'Promise me…' Jasmine succumbed to unconsciousness at last.

Jac felt arms move her out of the way as the theatre team took charge of Jasmines body.

'Are you ok Ms Naylor?' A theatre nurse asked her as she led her back out into the corridor. Jac didn't answer her but instead stepped into Jonny's waiting arms.

They sat in the hard seats outside theatre as they waited. Sacha came and sat with them and made small talk with Jonny and George.

'How long has it been now?' Jac asked. Sacha checked his watch.

'Just over forty minutes. You know depending on what they find this could take hours.' He reminds his friend.

'This is ridiculous' Jac stood up. 'I'm going to have to go in there and find out what's going on.'

'No!' All three men shouted in unison. Sacha stood up and barred the way into theatre.

'Sacha move!' Jac barked as she attempted to push past him. 'Move or I'll seriously hurt you!'

Sacha placed his hands on her shoulders. 'Now Jac you and I have been in a great many situations together and I know that whilst you are capable of inflicting life changing damage you wouldn't do that to me.' Jac simply glared at him. 'What I propose we do instead is this; I'll go in and see what's what and you'll sit here calmly until I get back.' He smiled at Jac in way that could irritate only her.

Jac slumped back down in her seat as Sacha went through the double doors.

'Forty minutes.' Jonny said softly. 'You win the bet George' he handed George a fiver and the old man pocketed it.

'I knew she'd last longer than fifteen minutes' George said without looking up from his puzzle book. 'Sacha was a bit on the outside track with his prediction of 90 minutes I thought.'

'Whatever.' Jac muttered as she crossed her arms. 'How can you be so calm?'

'You were calm before she was taken in.' George pointed out. 'So what's changed?'

'She's not the one in control now' Jonny whispered to George.

Jac gave the two men a frosty glare. 'You remind me so much of your grandmother' George laughed as he filled an answer in on his puzzle.

After ten minutes Sacha re-emerged. 'Mr Hanssen is leading which I think has gotten right up Spence's nose' Sacha informed them. 'They think they can remove a fair amount of it which should make her much more comfortable but this could take a couple of hours. They've paged Ric for a second opinion so I'm needed back on AAU.' He gave Jac an apologetic look.

'Go. Go' she waved him away. 'Sacha?' He turned around. 'Thank you'. He smiled at his friend.

Ric Griffin arrived a couple of minutes later. 'How are we holding up? he asked the group waiting outside theatre.

'I'd be better if I could go in and see what was happening for myself.' Jac muttered.

'I think three egos in one theatre are more than enough.' Ric laughed. 'Why don't you go out and get some fresh air Jac?' he said kindly 'I'll make sure they page you when we're done. You know she's in good hands.' He resisted the urge to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Jac simply nodded and Ric took his leave into the operating theatre.

'Right a walk around the grounds it is then' Jonny said standing up and pulling Jac to her feet. 'Are you coming George?'

'I'm going to stay right here so I can be with her when she comes out' he smiled at the couple 'I've got my crossword puzzles to keep me distracted'. Jac squeezed her Granddad's hand before she walked after Jonny.

They had been in the peace garden when Jonny's phone had rung to inform them Jasmine was awake and asking for Ava. Together they had collected the little girl from day care and taken her up to the ward to see her Mother. Jonny had sat Ava on his knee close to bed so Jasmine could see and talk to her daughter. Jac admired the way even after three hours of surgery Jasmine managed to enthuse over Ava's splodged finger paintings. They had been told by the three general surgeons large amounts of tumorous masses had been removed and they were hopeful they had brought Jasmine a few months of time.

'Months is definitely better than the few days we were expecting if she hadn't agreed to this operation.' George had enthused at this news. 'Thank you so much'

After half an hour or so Jac found herself alone with Jasmine.

'I'm sorry for trying to put pressure on you' Jasmine said quietly.

'I understand.' Jac soothed her sister 'you were scared.'

'I was terrified' Jasmine laughed 'I should have just listened to you.'

'You know I will though don't you?' Jac said after a moment's silence.

'Will what?' Jasmine's mind was still a bit foggy.

'What you wanted me to promise you.' Jac moved closer to her sister. 'I'm promising you that when the time does come I will.'

'Oh.' Jasmine said. 'I'm not sure what to say now.'

'You don't have to say anything.' They lapsed into silence.

'Jac?' Jasmine suddenly asked 'can I be honest with you?'

'Sure.' Jac smiled at her sister.

'You look like hell'

'Thanks very much'

'I think you should go home, have some dinner, put Ava to bed and then crash with Jonny in front of the TV.'

'That's good advice' Jac laughed. 'I might just take it

'I thought so. Just don't forget the eating dinner part. You're thinner than a woman dying of bowl cancer.'

'That's not funny.'

'Hey, I'm the one dying so I get to decide the jokes'. Jasmine grinned at her sister. 'Now go and find my child for me so I can say goodnight.'