Come Back To Me

If I'm Gone

Fletch sat by her bedside once again. He watched her chest rise and fall with every breath, her eyes firmly shut as she slept off the anaesthesia. The nurse's eyes traced her sharp facial features as if he was trying to engrave every detail into his memory. He couldn't help but notice the dark circles surrounding her eyes though, showing the effects of her inability to stop working through the pain. He glanced down at his fingers in his lap, a sudden wave of guilt washing over him at the thought that he should've noticed something was wrong.
"Fletch" a strained voice snapped his head back up.
"Welcome back" he breathed in relief.
"I promised didn't I?" she smiled.

Conversation between the two of them continued animatedly, Jac asking for updates about her ward and Fletch giving them in great detail until he glanced at the time.
"I'm going to have to love ya and leave ya Naylor. The Fletcher clan will be wondering where I am." The man stood up and stretched with a grown.
"Fletch, before you go," She placed a memory stick in the palm of his hand, taking a shaky breath. "I filmed these...well just in case but I still want you to watch them."
"Jac..." He whispered, his fingers closing around the USB.
"Please Fletch, just watch them. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and walked out of her room.

*Fletch's House*
"God this is ridiculous, I'm only doing this because I'm too weak to write a letter instead. So don't you dare laugh Fletcher." He didn't laugh but he couldn't help the smile that crept its way onto his lips at the typicalness of Jac's impatience with anything remotely embarrassing. Fletch had put the kids to bed and sat down at his laptop. With shaky hands and a large gulp of red wine, he had plugged the USB into the port and clicked onto the first video. "Well, if you're watching this, I must be dead and well...sorry about that. But there's something I should've always said but never did."
Fletch sucked in a sharp breath as she continued, piercing eyes staring right into the lens. "You were right. All along, you were right. There is something between us. I never stopped feeling it... I love you Adrian Fletcher. I know it's too late now but I just needed you to know. I'm sorry I pushed you away but I meant what I said, I couldn't be a mother to your children and I most certainly wouldn't have been able to be the partner that you deserved. You deserved more than this, than what I've put you through over the past few years. So for that, I am truly sorry. But here we are, I'm gone now. You no longer have to worry about me, you can move on with your life. Find someone Fletch, find someone who can be your everything and more." A tear rolled down his cheek and he swiped at it quickly before another fell, followed by a loud sob.

"There's one on here for Emma too. I'm sure I can trust you to make sure that it gets passed on to her. Make sure she knows Fletch, tell her Mummy loves her so much and don't ever let her forget that." A tear slipped down her cheek as she spoke those last words into the camera.

*Back on the ward*
The ward doors swung open and Fletch could be seen bustling down the corridor, flushed in the face from running. Jac watched as her room door was practically taken off of its hinges by Fletch's bold entrance.
"Watch it will you. You're going to break something. What are you doing back here anyway?" She scolded, taking off her glasses to look at him.

"It's you Jac, you are my everything and more. I know you're not one for big dramatic romantic gestures but you're not gone and there is no way in hell I can ever move on from you. Nor do I ever want to." His eyes met hers, noticing the pools of tears building up in them. "I love ya Jac. I don't expect you to care for my children but I think you do it anyway without realising. But I definitely would never expect you to be a mother to them. And as for a partner I deserve? I can't think of anyone else I'd rather share my life with. If I was going to be with anyone, I'd want it to be you." He breathlessly repeated the words she had used all those months ago when she'd pushed him away once again. Silence fell across the room, their eyes never leaving one another.

"My head tells me I don't need anyone. But my heart. My heart tells me I want you so much it hurts." She finished, this time without interruption.
"So let me in Jac. Please? Just at least let us have a chance. We've done this dance for way too long now."