On Monday evening, the new and improved Jac turned up with a still sniffling Emma.
The youngster toddled off to find Theo and Ella, while Jac strolled through to the kitchen and found Fletch at the hob. She greeted him, putting a bottle of white wine down on the table before beginning to set out the knifes and forks.
"How was work? Sorry I bailed on lunch, Serena had me doing to the monthly budget and said it had to be done by the end of the day," he complained as he stirred a pot of what Jac presumed to be pasta sauce.
"Good, theatre this morning went smoothly and Frieda's doing well, I think she could go for consultant in the autumn, we could do with another one as long as Serena can find space for it in the budget. I may like having the place under my reign but coping with Mo gone has been a real strain on everybody," she replied. "Still got plenty of time to get her in the best condition for the job though."
Fletch turned around sharply, surprised that she was so willing to let go of the only registrar she could tolerate. The scathing glare he was met with reminded him that she was perfectly capable of running the ward singlehandedly, registrar or no registrar.
It was funny to him that she had so recently hated Frieda, and now she had carried on the tradition. Jac was to Frieda what Elliot had been to her...except with far less hugging and doughnuts.
When dinner was ready, four of five kids rushed into the kitchen eagerly, with Evie bringing up the rear far more reservedly and taking the seat closest to the door.
Jac and Fletch each cut up their respective toddler's food for them before tucking into the rather appetizing spaghetti and meatballs, Quorn ones for Evie.
The teen was quiet this evening, though nobody really picked up on it until they were doing the dishes and Evie didn't reply when Fletch asked her how school was. He frowned at her, wondering what was going on, but finished the dishes rather than confront it in front of Jac and the kids.
It was only once the children had dispersed and Jac had headed into the living room to turn the television on for the youngsters that he approached Evie cautiously and began to speak.
"Everything okay, darlin'?" He asked, feeling concern for his daughter.
"Everything's fine, Dad," she answered with a smile that didn't quite manage to reach her eyes, dropping her head back down to her phone. "Was there something you needed?"
"You were quiet at dinner is all, sure there's nothing you want to tell me?" He asked, seeing her shake her head virulently before he had even finished speaking. "Evie, what's wrong?"
Nervously, she moved to take a seat at the table and put down her phone. Fletch was already beginning to make his own conclusions and he just needed her to speak, to tell him that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as he was thinking and that she was just worried about nothing.
"We got our grades back on our bio mock today," she mumbled awkwardly, refusing to meet his gaze. "I got a C."
"Evie-"
"I'm really sorry! It's the first one of the year! I'm been getting A*s in everything, I don't even know what went so wrong but we have our papers back so I'm gonna go through it and revise everything that I did badly on. I'll do better in the actual exam and I'll still finish the year with good grades!" she rattled out, eager to defend herself.
"Evie, it doesn't matter. A C is not the end of the world. A C isn't even a fail. I don't know what you're so worried about," Fletch reassured, reaching to rub her shoulder as he spoke. "Why did you feel like you needed to hide this from me?"
"I'm the only one who's actually doing alright at the moment. Ella's still struggling to make friends, Mikey spends more time in detention than lessons, and Theo isn't exactly looking after himself. I was just trying to be the one you didn't have to worry about," she admitted. "Jac only likes me because she thinks I'm clever, she's going to be so ashamed."
Fletch closed his eyes for a moment, allowing himself to take a breath before he responded.
"First of all, you're my daughter, I am always going to worry about you but I can tell you that one not-even-that-bad grade is not going to make me worry anymore. As for Jac, she has no right to be ashamed of you and you know full well that I would put her in her place if she tried to make you feel bad, and anyway, I don't think she'll be ashamed at all. I think she'll be proud of you for being unhappy with it and taking the initiative to improve rather than just being bitter about it."
Evie allowed herself to look at him through her eyelashes, still slightly embarrassed about the grade even if nobody cared as much as she did. She couldn't look at her father and not believe every word he was saying, he had the most sincere face on the planet.
"You think maybe she'd go through it with me?" she asked shyly.
"I think she'd be happy to," Fletch answered, watching a smile grow on his daughter's face as she stood and hurried towards the living room.
Fletch smiled at the thought of Evie caring so deeply about what Jac thought of her. He didn't intend to replace Natalie, Evie was far too old to ever regard Jac as anything close to a Mum, but to have a role model, especially now that Serena was so absent from just about everything except her office, was good for her.
