13 Reasons Why I Should Have Stayed (But The Reason I Didn't)

Epilogue

Jac has never felt her heart beat harder than what it was at this moment in time. For a good minute or two, she didn't dare make a move. Curiosity, however, soon got the better of the redhead as she slowly turned her face in the direction which she was asked to.

The man who she had spent the last 30 minutes convincing herself that he had left her stood proudly by the doorway dressed in the suit she had helped to buy him. He looked better than what she had remembered, not that she hadn't appreciated him before. There was just something about the man stood there with their 5 combined kids that was tying her stomach in knots.

"You've probably twigged what's happening Jac, but I want you to at least think about giving me a chance. I may not be what you first pictured your spouse to be like but I am somebody who has realised quite how much I care about you." Fletch took a calming breath or three, "we have been fighting off growing feelings for weeks, and I don't want to do that anymore. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

The ever growing pools of liquid in front of her eyeballs made it hard for Jac to see, but what did that matter when she was clearly blinded before. How could she not have known that everything she had ever needed was right there in front of her?

"So, Ms Naylor, don't think of this as a proposal. Think of it more as a promise. Will you please do me the honour of sharing the rest of your life with me?"

Jac sniggered to herself, "that sounds an awful lot like a proposal, Adrian." She cocked an eyebrow at him after she had dried her eyes clean of tears. The man in question approached the side of the bed, a smile breaking out across his face.

"It's whatever you want it to be. I don't want to rush you, and I don't want to scare you but everything about the last 13 days has proved to me that I can't be without you. We could be a family, all seven of us, and it could really work." Fletch pulled out a ring box from his pocket and left it unopened next to Jac on her hospital bed. The kids in the doorway shared excited glances, and Jac couldn't help but settle at the sight of her baby girl finally having siblings to look out for her. They looked like a real family and it was almost too good to be true.

A loud beeping interrupted her thoughts and Jac squeezed her eyes shut as if it would somehow alleviate the noise.

"Jac?" she heard Fletch say, suddenly much further away than 10 seconds ago. The man was stood in the doorway, unshaven and in causal clothes.

Ignoring her confusion, Jac spoke again. "Where are the kids? Was I hallucinating?" Fletch let out a laugh and came to sit on the edge of the hospital bed, gripping one of her slender and pale hands.

"You did look pretty spaced out for a second actually. Did you like my notes?" He asked her with curiosity lacing his tone.

"I did but I don't get it, Fletch. Why did you feel like you couldn't stay?" Jac couldn't hide the disappointment from her tone, thinking that the man was going to disappear again.

"I didn't feel like I could stay because staying with you whilst you weren't really here was just teaching me what it would be like to live without you and..." Fletch swiped a tear from under her eye with the pad of his thumb, "that isn't the kind of world I want to live in anymore."

In the twelve week recovery period leading up to her return to work, Jac spent any time possible with Fletch and all 5 of the children. The Fletchlings had already accepted Emma as a sister and it really warmed her heart to know that Emma had a real family outside of Jac for if ever anything went wrong. They still hadn't put a label on what they were, but somehow Jac had found herself moving in with Fletch and the kids, in a brand new house with both of them claiming it was for the practicality of her care and rehabilitation. Evie shared a knowing look with Mikey at this, they all knew what was going on. Fletch had offered Jac the master bedroom with the brand new bed, offering to take the sofa, and Jac refused to have him kicked out of his own bed. Of course, if anyone asked, that was the only reason they found themselves cuddling up to each other on the nights that he was home.

By summer they had fallen in to their own routines. Fletch being home on Mondays and Thursdays and Jac, having returned to work part time, opting to spend the rest of the weekdays at work. Fletch still worked every other weekend but their weekends together were often spent with all the kids in a park or a swimming pool just generally spending time together and having fun.

Neither of them knew how hot happened, yet it was clear to everybody else, but Fletch had proposed the next christmas and Jac had accepted, setting a date for the Autumn the following year. The kids were over the moon and as a family they continued to grow.

Turns out being shot might have been the best thing that had ever happened to Jacquline Naylor, she mused, holding her newborn son, his back pressed to her chest as they watched the sun rise. Feeling a pair of arms circle her waist and lips being pressed to her head, she smiled. Yes, being shot was definitely the best thing she ever did.