When she could put it off no longer, Jac released his hand and cleared her throat abruptly.
"Home time?" Fletch suggested glumly, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out of the space.
Jac wondered whether there was some way that she could make this night last forever. Her little girl was safe and happy, she was happy and in the company of the only man who had yet to hurt her, nothing could get better than this.
As they drove through the empty streets, there was a tender quiet lingering between them. Jac could hear Fletch's heavy breathing and it grounded her in a way nothing else could have.
It was hard to believe that these two had been entirely clueless to how compatible they were only a couple of weeks ago, nobody would have guessed it until it actually happened. Jac wondered how Fletch had ever even entered her radar, and then she remembered, he had been everything she needed him to be at the time when she needed him most, and that was enough.
"Jac, we're here," he mumbled softly, almost as though he didn't want her to hear him. She turned to face him and forced a tired smile onto her face.
Her house looked so sad and empty, all the lights turned off and nobody to welcome her home after a long day at work. She used to love this house, she used to pride herself on the way that she decorated it so classily and filled it with beautiful things. Now all she wanted to do was to fill it with people, she hated how empty that house felt.
She was in no hurry to leave the car. It was still pretty early and she trusted that the kids would be perfectly fine under Evie's watchful eye.
"I know I said it already but thank you for tonight, it...it really was nice," Jac said softly, undoing her seatbelt with an easy press. "You're just about the only man I can stand to be around for more than an hour without wanting to throttle you, so well done on that title."
"What an honour!" Fletch exclaimed, reaching to tuck a stray piece of Jac's hair behind her ear. "It really was a crackin' night, and we should do it again sometime. It's nice to spend some time around another adult for once."
Jac pursed her lips and gave a firm nod of agreement, much to Fletch's joy. She stretched over the gear stick and kissed his cheek lazily, allowing her head to droop and rest her chin upon his shoulder.
Outside the world appeared to be perfectly still, as if they were a bubble of life in a sleeping world. The lights in all of the houses were out and everybody appeared to be in bed, and this moment seemed like it could last for an eternity if they wanted it to.
Perhaps it was the fact that the clock on the dashboard announced that it was eleven o'clock, or maybe it was the soreness developing in Jac's neck from the awkward angle, but something made her move.
"I'll see you tomorrow, yes?" Jac asked with a hint of enthusiasm in her tone.
"Stuck in meetings all day but I will be there somewhere, I assure you. I'll text you though, and we can make plans for dinner number two," Fletch responded hopefully, a glint in his eye as Jac leant in and gave him a proper kiss.
It lasted longer than it should've, and eventually Jac drew away and sniggered at the prospect. The two of them, the Darwin dream team, and here they were making out in a car outside of her house like teenagers.
She grabbed her bag, kissed him one last time, and dragged herself out of the car and to the pavement. As Fletch drove away, she watched from her front gate until he turned the corner at the end of the road and his tail lights fell out of view.
Letting herself into the house, Jac wondered what on Earth she had been thinking. Three large glasses of wine were nothing on their own, but the intoxicating presence of Adrian Fletcher was another fifteen tequila shots.
Kicking off her shoes by the door, she slung her handbag over the bannister and padded up the stairs.
As she pulled herself out of her clothes and into an old t-shirt, she made sure to grab her mobile from her trouser pocket and put it on charge on the bedside cabinet.
It was only after brushing her teeth and climbing into bed that she noticed the text on her lockscreen:
Fletch: Sweet dreams x
She rolled her eyes, opening the message and typing out a suitably snarky response:
Jac: As long as you stay far from my mind, I will. Deliver my daughter in one piece tomorrow. Goodnight x
Typing that kiss reminded her of another day entirely, potentially one of the worst days of her life so far. It set her on the path to this moment, however, so she couldn't hate it wholeheartedly.
As she stared at the ceiling, she wondered how she had become to this. Getting shot had somehow let a little of the cruelness leak out of her. Fletch had seen it, even before, and she wondered if it was solely down to him.
Emma had played a part. Everybody knew that Ms Naylor wasn't quite so scary since she became a mother, but she was still a force to be reckoned with and very much avoided at all costs. The softness that she saved for Emma was kept almost strictly off hospital grounds, but now the lines between personal and public were beginning to blur.
For a long time, all she could do was wriggle around the bed, trying to find a comfortable spot and keep her mind clear enough to let her sleep. There was nothing she could do to shake the prospect of 'dinner number two' from her thoughts.
