It Must Be Love - Jacob and Connie

Chapter Twenty Three

This is a little shorter than the others have been recently, but it's so you know whether Connie and Jacob end up with their happy ending ;)

She cried on her own for at least an hour, and only stopped then because Rita came to check in on her.

"Oh, Connie," she sighed, and sat beside her boss.

"I don't know what to do," Connie sobbed. There was no point keeping up her icy exterior now. "I love Jacob. I love Jacob, and I pushed him away."

"Oh Connie, you need to tell him," Rita said, as she placed her arm over Connie.

"He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't forgive me."

"It was a difference in opinion, Connie. He told me about your relationship against your will, so he's not going to leave you for being angry at him."

"I kissed Cal," Connie sobbed, unable to get the words out without her voice shaking.

"You did what?" Rita was gobsmacked. She'd always thought Connie had been closed off from love, but now she was having sex in her office, and kissing other doctors!

"My ex showed up. Sam, he worked upstairs with me years ago. He was a, erm... He used to hurt me." Connie couldn't believe she was opening up to Rita, but she was the only person who would listen. "I've always been scared of him, so when Cal came in asking for his baby back, I had to make it look like I was the mother, because that's what I'd led Sam to believe, and I knew he would hurt me if he found out I'd lied. So to make it look believable, I kissed Cal, only Jacob was watching, and, and, and..." Connie broke down in to tears once more, and Rita couldn't do anything but comfort her - she had been in a similar position with her abusive husband, so she could sympathise with Connie.

"You really need to tell Jacob, Connie." Connie let out another sob, and buried her head in her hands.

"I can't," she cried. "I'm not strong enough."

"Jacob needs to know!" Rita protested, holding the remains of her broken boss.

"Jacob needs to know what?" said the voice from the door, and both women turned around to face the source. It was Jacob. "I was looking for somewhere private, but seems you got here first. Now tell me, what do I need to know?"

"I'll leave the two of you alone," said Rita, as she stood from the bed and exited the room. Jacob closed the door, and took Rita's place beside Connie on the bed.

"Care to explain why you were snogging another doctor?" He growled, and his voice extracted more tears from her.

"The other, the other guy in my office..." she wept. "He was my ex - Sam. He, he, he used to hit me." Jacob sat and listened. He didn't want to snap and he didn't want to make her cry any more, so he just waited for her to finish. "He assumed Cal's baby was mine, and I didn't exactly correct him." She proceeded to tell Jacob the rest of the story, explaining why she kissed Cal, and that it was merely to convince her abusive ex. She told him everything, finishing with a heartfelt apology. "Jacob, watching you walk away from me was unbearable. I haven't stopped crying since I got here over an hour ago. I love you, and losing you would kill me. Please believe me."

"I do, Connie. I do believe you. I just wish I hadn't have been so self-centered. You must've been so scared," he whispered, encasing her in a huge, loving hug. "From now on, I promise I'll protect you." He kissed her hair as she cried into his chest, grasping at him, and it broke him to know that he'd done this to the woman he loved. A tear crept down his face, and he shut his eyes, rocking her back and forth, trying to calm her neves. Rita had been waiting outside, and she knocked on the door and entered.