My Gift To You | Herophine Fic

It's What I Expected

HERO

Seeing the sonographer pressing the wand onto the skin Jo's flat, smooth stomach made my blood boil. He must have been hurting her and if something is wrong with her, why would he inflict pain on her? She's fragile enough as it is! I kept quiet the whole time I was in there, looking at the floor. I couldn't look at Jo on the bed, I felt so helpless the whole time. All I did was drive her there, but I couldn't do anything else, to help.

A tsunami of relief washed over me the minute we exited the scan room. In a way, I'm glad I took today off as well as yesterday - Jo needs someone and if I'm that someone, so be it. As we walked to the car, I used this time to calm down from the anger I was feeling during the scan, I just hope she didn't notice. Luckily, Jo's GP isn't too far from the hospital.

When we're about five minutes into our drive, I hear a gasp from Jo and she immediately dives into her handbag, searching for her phone. I already know what's going on in that mind of hers.
"Chill. I told Emily you wouldn't be in today either. You're welcome, nice long weekend," she smiles, calming down instantly.
"Thank you. You didn't remote work yesterday, did you?" she says, already clearly knowing the answer. I feel my cheeks heat up as they turn that embarrassing shade of red, but I can't help smiling. She's figured me out. All I can do is shake my head, no. Jo echoes my motion in disbelief, but I can tell she's not mad at me.

We drive to the surgery in a comfortable silence, British rap songs playing somewhat softly in the background - although if you paid attention to the lyrics, you might not use the term 'softly' to describe these songs. As I turn off the main road, I instantly start to feel nervous. If this is how I feel, imagine how Jo feels. When I switch the engine off and the songs stop playing, both of us realise that this is it. It's all come down to this. I decide to be the one to get this out of the way, I need to be strong. For Jo.
"Ready?" I'm not even sure if I'm ready, nevermind Jo. Nevertheless, she surprises me with her confident answer.
"Yeah, I'm ready."

***

Jo hands her name to the receptionist when we walk in and is told to take a seat. The two of us sit side by side, almost awkwardly in silence. To ease her I place my hand on her knee and smile at her, reassuringly. It's the only thing I can think to do. Jo smiles back, weakly, it's like she's given up already and we don't even know what's going on yet. There's always been that spark of electricity at any contact with Jo and she continually radiates heat, right now I feel the course of electricity flowing freely from my hand to where I'm touching her on her knee.

"Josephine Langford?" a voice calls, breaking me out of my thoughts. I quickly remove my hand from her knee and the both of us get up in unison, walking towards the room where her name was called from. I see her inhale and hold her breath as we approach. I remind myself on what feels like a walk to the electric chair that I need to be strong. For her. For Jo. She's been by my side since we were five as I have been for her. She's my oldest and best friend, I'd genuinely go to the ends of the Earth for her, so right now I'll be her rock and be strong for her. I just need to remember to keep some of my strength for me.

Jo knocks on the door three times and patiently waits for a second until a voice on the other side tells her to 'come in'. She pushes the door handle down slowly and walks through, allowing me to follow her through the door. The doctor smiles a sad-looking smile at Jo and tells her to sit down, patting the seat to the left of the desk.

"So, firstly Jo, how are you feeling?" Is she serious? How is she?
"You've got to be joking? How is she? She's had two different types of tests in two days and..."
"Hero!" her eyes widen and her jaw goes taut, I silence myself straight away, knowing I'll get a bollocking otherwise.
"Sorry. Erm... I'm nervous... but I just want to know what's going on," I'm sat right next to Jo and I can barely hear what she's saying. The doctor nods understandingly.