The Choice

Why not

The meeting was slow and painfully boring. Jac had to put every once of energy she had into not falling asleep, but after what seemed like days she was finally getting a much needed coffee from Pulses. She was sitting at a table alone reading the latest apology messages from Johnny when a large figure was blocking the light. Her eyes darted up to meet Fletch.
"Can I sit?" Jac slowly nodded in response like earlier. He slid his coffee onto the table and sat at the chair opposite Jac. "Johnny?" He asked, noticing the messages app open and what must've been hundreds of new messages. "Yup. Can't stop apologising. He's saying he can take Emma but I doubt she's going to want the go back there. Not for a while at least. Urgh I just don't know what I'm going to do Fletch. I can't function properly without sleep but she's my daughter. I can't just neglect her when she's terrified, even at three O'clock in the morning." Her head was buried in her hands at this point and Fletch stretched his arm and gently placed his hand on her arm. God he's so comforting,Jac thought. They just sat like that for a while. Jac Naylor and Adrian Fletcher sitting in each other's presence. Who would've guessed it. Certainly not the nurses and doctors passing by. But they didn't say anything,just gave small smiles. Each was as if they said 'about time'.

Then the thought entered Fletch's head. It would be rude not to offer even if she turned it down, but he wasn't planning on letting her turn it down. It solved everyone's problem.
"Hey Jac." She raised her head to reveal she had been silently crying. Her eyes were red and there were traces of tears on her delicate cheeks. "You've been crying! Why?" He whispered, aware she didn't want to draw attention to herself.
"It's just, I don't know what to do and I don't see anyway that me and Emma get to both have what we need." Her head dropped back into her hands as she began to cry again, this time it was audible. I need to get her out of here, Fletch thought, knowing that she hated people seeing her cry.
"Come on I'll take you somewhere more private." He offered, standing up from his chair and waiting for Jac to do the same.

They walked out the front doors to the bench by Arthur's memorial. An area where Jac wouldn't have to worry about being judged. They sat side by side on the bench and Jac flopped onto Fletch, resting her head on his shoulder. It was surprisingly comfortable. Fletch stroked her soft hair with his hand,trying to comfort her further. What am I doing? Jac thought. Little did she know that the nurse was thinking the same thing.
"Hey Jac." He said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah?" She sniffed, head still on his muscular shoulders.
"Why don't you and Emma come stay with me for a while. I can take care off Emma when she has an accident and you can get some well deserved rest." He held his breath as he waited for a reply. Every bone in his body was prepared to persuade her to come,but there was no need.
"Yeah. Why not. Thank you Fletch." She smiled. She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, followed by a hug. This hug lasted longer than the last, which both of them silently enjoyed. He didn't want to buy Fletch had to pull away. "We've got to get back to work." He sighed as he stood up and began to walk back to the hospital. Jac followed his lead.
"Fletch?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you, for everything."