No To Fell Walking

Floundering Idiot

Fletch had to tell her, he knew it was inevitable. They had wasted so much time already. He knew Jac wouldn't make the first move so there he was the next morning walking through the hospital corridors to the woman's side room. The nurse made a quick pit stop at the Darwin Nurse's station on his way through to the intensive care unit to make sure he wasn't scheduled for anything important that day when he was interrupted by a thick Ukrainian accent eliciting from behind him.
"How's Ms Naylor today, Mr Fletcher?" She enquired innocently.
"I haven't been in yet, I was just clearing my schedule for today and then off over there actually." He replied cheerfully and stood from his desk chair.
"Ah okay, keep me updated later then if you wouldn't mind." Petrenko requested and earned herself a nod from the nurse.
"Of course."
"Sooooo..." She raised an eyebrow along with a smirk as she faced the man in front of her. Fletch knew exactly what was coming.
"Will everyone please just get off my case about that for crying out loud!" He exclaimed exasperatedly. "I'll do it when I'm ready thank you."
"Whatever you say Fletcher, whatever you say." Freida teased and watched him walk away, presumably to ICU.

When he was finally stood outside Jac's door the man took a moment to himself to prepare. He rubbed the back of his neck and screwed his eyes up tightly. Fletch took one final breath in and pushed the door open.
"Hey you." He greeted, all smiles and cheery.
"Hi." She smiled back, the rare smile she saved for him. He sat beside her bed in the chair which he had sat in every minute of every day possible after she was admitted to hospital again. The pair chatted animatedly for a while until they had spoken so much that the conversation fizzled out into a comfortable silence. Fletch knew this was his time. His time to tell her the truth. So he did it.

"I love you Jac." He stated randomly into the silence, looking directly into her eyes. He watched as flickers of confusion, anxiousness and then finally happiness passed through them. Fletch reached forward and clasped her warm soft hand in his, leaving it in a looser grasp than he would have liked to give her the chance to pull away. A smile crept across her features and tears formed in her eyes.
"I don't think you realise how long I've waited to hear that Fletch..." She whispered as a tear tracked its way across her cheekbone and down to her sharp jawline.
"You don't have to say it back if you aren't ready, I just wanted you to know...to know that I love you Jac Naylor." He was still looking directly into her glistening eyes and pulled her hand up to meet his lips to place a gentle fleeting kiss onto the back of it.
"But I am ready...and I love you too Mr Fletcher." Fletch breathed out heavily as she spoke the words he had wanted to hear for the past few months.
"Well that's a relief eh? At least I'm not a floundering idiot, trying to punch above his weight." He said with a laugh as she chuckled and shook her head in response to his childish ways.