Tomorrow's your day off, right?" Fletch asked as he walked into Jac's office unannounced.
She drew her glasses from her eyes and set them down on the desk in front of her, arching an eyebrow at how brave he had become around her now, breaking every rule that she had ever set in stone.
"Yes, Fletcher. What do you want?"
"Well, Mikey brought up our Sunday plans in front of Emma, and now everyone, Emma included, want her to come along. It's only to the zoo, nothing very extravagant but nevertheless, I was wondering if the pair of you would like to come with us," Fletch offered kindly, an eagerness to his tone that made Jac feel she wasn't allowed to say no.
"I wouldn't want to intrude upon your family day out, and I'm on call. I shouldn't really be doing anything that means I can't be called in," Jac reasoned with a sincerity that rarely seen in her.
"First things first, I invited you both, you are not intruding, you are enhancing. Secondly, if you get called in, Emma can stay with us and you can come and collect her when you finally get released from this prison we call a day job," Fletch suggested and that dashing grin on his face was enough to persuade her that it would be a fun day out for Emma if nothing else.
They agreed upon a time, went to their respective homes to sleep, woke up, and drove to Holby City Zoo at the agreed upon time.
"MEMA!" Theo's familiar shout greeted, guiding Jac and Emma to the Fletcher family. Emma and Theo held hands as they toddled towards the ticket booth, and Jac and Fletch both pulled out their wallets at the same time.
"Let me, Jac. I'm the one who dragged you out on your day off to be sneezed on my camels," Fletch reasoned.
"Nope, it's your family day out and we invaded upon it," she retorted and he knew he wasn't stubborn enough to beat her at this game.
"Dutch?" Fletch suggested lightly. "I pay mine, you pay yours?"
"That's not how Dutch works, Adrian. I pay three and a half, you pay three and a half," Jac patronised, glaring at him. "And before you break out the 'I have more kids than you' card, Theo is attached to Emma right now, so he counts as a Naylor and Evie's going to be a cardiothoracic surgeon so I definitely get her too."
Fletch rolled his eyes and handed over enough cash for three and a half tickets while Jac handed over the other fifty percent.
The ticket guy grumpily handed over two adult and five child tickets before letting them through the turnstiles. Theo, Emma, and Ella were told to always keep hold of each other and always stay in one of the grown-ups' sight. Mikey and Evie were given free rein and told to meet at the elephants in half an hour if they wanted to go off alone.
"You know you truly are the most stubborn person I've ever met," Fletch reminded Jac as they walked towards the aviary.
"I'm almost certain you've told me that before, but thank you for the reminder," the redhead joked as they stepped inside of the building.
Mikey was already out of sight, and the youngsters were all pressed against the glass of the peacock enclosure, but Evie was only a few feet ahead of them.
Jac didn't know much about the girl, she'd only seen her a couple of times but she knew that she wanted to be a surgeon and she knew that Serena and Fletch both believed she was capable of it. She slowly approached the teenager, leaving Fletch a few steps behind her with his eyes firmly planted on the kids.
"Hey Evie, I haven't had a proper chance to introduce myself. I'm Jac Naylor. I just wanted to thank you for looking after Emma on Friday night for me, it really helped me out,"Jac greeted with the same tone she used speaking to Emma.
"Oh, that's no trouble. She's really sweet, and when you've had to look after Mikey, a toddler's nothing in comparison," Evie answered and Jac let herself laugh in response. "Can I ask...when you were buying the tickets to get in...why did you say I was going to be a cardiothoracic surgeon? I haven't even started to think about specialising yet, should I be? Had you decided by fourteen?"
"Evie, calm down!" Jac interrupted with raised eyebrows. "Don't worry about specialising. I didn't think about it until I was at least twenty. I said you were going to be a cardiothoracic surgeon because we're the best in the business, and I know your Dad wouldn't let his daughter be anything as heinous as a general surgeon."
Evie looked down at her feet, biting her lip, and Jac knew she had said something to upset her. Cautiously, Jac put her arm around Evie's shoulder and pulled the girl into her side.
"General surgeons get to help everyone though. What if Dad got a brain tumour and because I was a cardiothoracic surgeon, I couldn't help him?" Evie suggested and Jac stretched a sad smile across her face.
"If your Dad gets a brain tumour, I have the best neurosurgeon in the country on speed dial and he owes me a few favours. Stop worrying, you have a long way to go before you can think about specialising, okay?"
Evie reluctantly nodded and shrugged Jac off of her so she could walk back towards the younger ones.
Jac bit her lip and glanced over at the scene, her daughter with a big family, and Emma fit right in. It broke her heart a little that she couldn't give her little girl that, and that she couldn't give herself that too.
"You okay?" Fletch asked as he approached, taking note of the expression on her face and putting it in the backlog of Jac expressions that he needed to be concerned about. "What was that about with Ev'?"
"Surgeon chat, nothing for you to concern yourself with," she teased as she started back towards the kids.
The walk through the zoo was rather pleasant, apart from a giraffe dribbling on her which was not the most delightful of experiences. As they reached the last enclosure, Jac paused for a moment and took a deep breath in; perhaps her lungs had a better memory than her mind and she wanted to hold this where it was harder to lose.
"No pager all day, see? The world doesn't fall apart immediately after you take five minutes to yourself!" Fletch observed with a tone of sarcasm that earned him an elbow in the ribs from Jac. "Back to ours for a late lunch?"
