The next day at work, they see each other at the creche in the morning. Fletch approaches her casually and says good morning, considerate enough not to out them to the entire hospital quite this early in the morning.
"Lunch in my office at 1?" Jac suggested nonchalantly, waving to Emma as she reached the door and passed through it.
Fletch was surprised by the offer, had expected her to treat this like any other day and for him to have to force her to acknowledge what yesterday had meant.
"Sure, I'll get toasties and coffee from Pulses," he responded with a smile as they made their way towards the lift.
As they stood side by side in the lift, Jac casually dropped her hand to her side and brushed against Fletch's own. He hooked his pinky around hers with a smug grin and glanced across at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her lip curl slightly.
The lift announced their arrival on the sixth floor and Fletch quickly pulled his hand back to his side. As the doors opened, Fletch headed straight for his office without a second glance. Jac watched him go with a hint of confusion furrowing her brow.
Her morning ran rather smoothly; no hiccoughs, no trouble, no unruly patients causing havoc on her ward. The time moved pretty quickly, mainly due to how busy she was keeping herself. She only caught sight of Fletch a couple of times all morning and caught a fleeting smile from him as he rushed off to a board meeting around 11:30.
"Keep him on half-hourly obs, I'm going to bury myself in paperwork," Jac told Frieda as she left her at the nurses' station with strict instructions to keep an eye on Miss Wendleham.
Fletch knocked on her office door with two paper bags and two coffee cups, letting himself in and nudging the door shut with his bum. Jac snickered at the way he struggled, ultimately dropping everything down on her desk before cracking his knuckles and exhaling a breath of relief.
"On at least three occasions, we were extremely closely to wringing the coffee out of my shirt. Good job I'm used to juggling bedpans for a living, ey?" He joked, picking up one of the paper bags and pulling out the toastie by its corner.
"Move to the sofa, you freak. I don't think Serena would appreciate breadcrumbs inside all of my monthly reports, do you?" Rolling her eyes, she snatched up the other toastie and the coffee closest to her.
She took the left side, tucking her legs up underneath her and setting the coffee cup on the arm of the chair. Fletch followed her lead and took the other end of the sofa, keeping some space between them as he took a bite.
Jac was surprised by how reserved he was being. This wasn't at all what she had expected, he was more tactile with her before they kissed...twice. He seemed almost shy and she couldn't figure out, for the life of her, why.
"Had an alright morning?" Fletch asked awkwardly before filling his mouth with another bite of cheesy goodness.
"It was just like every other morning I've had. What is wrong with you?" She questioned rather brashly, narrowing her eyes at him and dropping her hands back to down her lap. "Is this about yesterday? C'mon, you know I'm not the queen of intuition so you're going to have to tell me."
Fletch chewed through his mouthful, washing it down with a swig of coffee.
"We're at work. I've seen your attitude to PDA at the best of times and I don't want to push my luck. We're taking this at your pace, Jac. I don't want to push you," he admitted and she almost laughed at him, he looked a little offended for a split second.
"I'm Jac Naylor, you couldn't push me if you tried, Adrian," she interjected, closing the gap between them and meeting his lips with a casual peck. "If you're doing something that I don't like, trust me when I tell you that you will know about it."
Fletch reluctantly reached for her hand and intertwined their fingers, and he calmed at the feeling of a reassuring squeeze.
They returned their attention to their food; Fletch wolfed his down in only a couple of minutes and chugged his coffee eagerly. His lap became Jac's footstool, her filling the length of the couch as she savoured the delightfully greasy food.
Fletch told her about his morning, an account littered with terrible jokes that made her laugh. Her cheeks were pink and Fletch had probably never seen her look more beautiful than in that moment.
"I've got to approve rotas for the entire hospital so I should probably go and get started on them," he whined, lifting Jac's legs while he stood before placing them down where he had been sat. "Dinner on Thursday if I can get Evie to look after the kids?"
This was a step further for the two of them; it was a big jump between kissing and going to dinner. Jac stood up and stepped towards Fletch, straightening his tie for him before meeting his lips with her own briefly.
"Thursday it is, pick somewhere bearable or I'll waste the entire evening complaining about the food. Now go and keep the ward afloat, will you?" Jac joked, swiping her thumb across his bottom lip.
Fletch smiled, pecked her cheek, and turned to leave the office.
She watched him hurry off onto the ward with a spring in his step and she couldn't help the smile that crept onto her face; he was completely and utterly ridiculous. But here she was, bubbling up inside like a teenage girl waiting for her first date and that was equally ridiculous.
In three days, she would be going on a date with Adrian Fletcher and while that seemed almost entirely unfathomable, she had never been more pleased about anything. Frieda knocked on the door and interrupted her happiness, reminding her of just where she was.
