Standing in the rain

The Sweatshirt

Jac had eventually gone in the house. She made herself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table. Staring into space - her mind mercifully blank for once.
The knocking at the door eventually broke through her trance. She couldn't believe it when she opened the door to see Fletch standing there. He was holding the sweatshirt
"Hi" he said
"Hi"
"Can I come in?"
"Sure" Jac stood aside and he hobbled in on his crutches. She shut the door.
"I'm just in the kitchen. Straight down" she said
"I know " he replied
He took a seat opposite hers
"Coffee?" She asked
"Please" Jac busied herself making coffee wondering why he was here "so, how are you?" Jac said before turning round with his drink
"Devastated. You?"
She shrugged
He put the hoodie on the table " you told me I wasn't getting this back"
"Sorry I thought it was for the be.....wait, you remember me saying that?
"In my kitchen on the evening of the day we first, well you know" he smiled
"What else do you remember?"
"How you turned up in the rain, how you told me about your childhood, about Jasmine and Fran, about how much you've been struggling with the pain, about nearly leaving holby and your reasons for not. I remember telling you I love you. I remember you telling me the same thing"
"Are you sure you remember? Not just piecing together things that Evie or your mum have told you" Jac needed to be sure this was real
He leaned forward and placed his hand over hers. Ignoring the tingles and the deafening sound of his heart beating out of his chest he continued
"I remember leaving yellow roses on your doorstep. I remember wiping pizza sauce from your mouth in your office and here on the night you came back from Poole. You left your key under the plant pot in the porch. I found you asleep on your bed, half uncovered. In your white fluffy dressing gown. Jac I didn't see mum and Evie after our last night together until after I was attacked. There's no way I could have told them any of it"
Jac choked back a sob, it's all she seemed to have done the past few days. She got up and stood behind his chair. She leant forward and put her arms round him, nuzzling her face into his neck. She was crying again now.
"Hey ssshhh. Come here " he said guiding her round so that she was facing him "Jac" he enveloped her in the tightest hug. It seemed to go on for hours until eventually he pulled away just far enough to kiss her. The kiss that he offered was chaste and tentative, the one she returned was hungry and passionate. Finally they parted, breathless.
"The police said it was you who brought me to hospital..."
She was on his lap now. She stroked his face. "Evie rang saying that you hadn't made it home. I decided to walk the route back to yours and told Evie that if I didn't see you we would call the police when I got to your house but I did see you lying injured. I called the ambulance and went with you to hospital. I called Evie and told her to tell your mum. I stayed with you till dawn, til you woke up and didn't know that we were anything more than colleagues. I'm not surprised you nearly freaked out when I tried to kiss you" she hugged him again
"I'm sorry I did that Jac. I really did have no recollection of this." He nuzzled her neck, she moaned as he knew she would, "thank you for going to look for me, but you put yourself in danger, you shouldn't have done that. And thanks for taking charge. Evie told me she didn't know what to do. You kept her calm" Jac shrugged. "It was nothing. She just needed an adult to make a plan. She rang me when you'd gone home to let me know you were ok apart from, you know forgetting the love of your life"
He put his forehead on hers " you really are the love of my life Jac. Never felt like this before"
"That bump on the head has turned you into a right soppy idiot"
Secretly she loved it