I Just Need You

Chapter One

Author's Note:

Like most Nadani fans, I was devastated by what happened in S22E36. I desperately wanted a happy ending for Kian and Jac, and I hated the ending of that episode. I know that the writers had to end that relationship because Rosie Marcel was leaving the show, but it was still really upsetting. They deserved so much better. So here's my rewrite to give my favourite characters the happy ending they deserved.

I'm planning on this being a multi-chapter work but this first chapter works as a one-shot as well. I have a longer story in mind and I've already planned out where I'm going to take these characters. However, I'm currently working on a story in the Anastasia fandom, and since I started that one first, it could be a bit before I continue this one.

It was over.

The police had taken control of the scene and Remi was being led away in handcuffs. In the back of Jac's mind, she reflected that he probably had a concussion after being hit in the head first by Kian, then herself, but that would be the least of his problems now.

Knowing she had two patients in critical condition, Jac had quickly taken charge, sending both Sarah Jane and the prison guard to be prepped for theatre. "Right, Chloe, you've got theatre one, we've got theatre two."

"Right"

"Quickly. Go, go, go. Thank you." She glanced around for Kian. He was supposed to be scrubbing in with her, but he'd disappeared shortly after the police had burst in. She spotted Nicky nearby, looking shaken but unharmed. "McKendrick, you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah. Are you?"

"You seen Madani?"

"No."

Starting to feel anxious, Jac strode away in search of the missing man. She started down a darkened hallway, the lights still out on most of the ward due to the lockdown. She came to the locker room and opened the door, peering inside.

"Kian?"

Seeing it was empty, she moved on to the supply room next door and froze. Inside, she found Kian hunched over an open medicine chest, needle and morphine bottle laid out on the table in front of him.

He glanced up as she entered. His breathing was laboured, though he didn't seem surprised to see her there. He stayed where he was, making no effort to hide the drugs.

"Tell me to stop," he said, looking up at her in desperation. "That's all I need here."

Jac remained frozen in the doorway.

Her first instinct was to walk away. To simply turn her back and leave it all behind her - the situation, the man, the entire relationship. And at one point, she would have done just that. It was the safer option. Opening herself up to loving someone also meant opening herself to being hurt. By pushing people away, she took away their power to hurt her. And Kian... she'd certainly given him that power. And yet, things had been different for the past year. She wasn't the person she'd once been, and it was because of the man in front of her. The one who was looking to her for help while he fought an invisible battle in his mind.

So pushing away her first instinct, Jac stepped into the room and leaned back against the door, shutting it behind her. Kian stayed where he was, waiting for her to say something. He looked so vulnerable in this state with his hunched shoulders and tired, almost pleading, eyes. His breathing was rapid and uneven, and a light sheen of sweat was forming on his forehead, as if the effort of resisting the drugs' temptation was physically exhausting him.