Once upon a year gone by (Nick/Jenny, Jenny/Sarah)
October
Jenny is exhausted. The rare occasions she dares falling asleep, never more than a few hours at a time, she dreams of awkward kisses and touches, she dreams of too much alcohol and uncertain glances in the morning. She wakes with tears, if only she had been brave enough to face him, to tell him…
Now he’s hanging on tubes and machines and the beeping is taking the rest of her sanity. She wills him to wake up, just once, to acknowledge her growing belly but after long weeks he gives up fighting and ignoring Sarah’s gentle embrace Jenny screams.
March
Jenny screams until she’s hoarse, crushing Sarah’s hand, wishing she was someone else she could yell at for getting her into this situation. Being the only man in the room the always smiling young Irish doctor gets to suffer her sharp insults on his (for once innocent) manhood, much to Sarah’s amusement.
Once it’s over and Jenny has rested a frightening number of people flock in to see the youngest addition to their team, raising his arm the boy seems to wave to them and even Ditzy forgets his hurt pride for not being allowed to deliver the first ARC-baby.
April
Resenting visiting happy fathers would be too cliché so Jenny makes a point to suffocate such feelings before they are born. She spends all her time with little Martin (in another cliché outburst of sentimentalism named after the hot doctor at the birth) and looks forward to regular visits from various colleagues (even Lester, who’s surprisingly patient with the baby).
Sarah is around more than anyone, bringing flowers, chocolate, teddy bears and (much needed) make up, and when one of the nurses thinks she’s Jenny’s partner Jenny laughs harder than she has since it happened, not noticing Sarah’s pained look.
July
Jenny knows she could use the help and accepts Sarah’s offer of moving in just for a few weeks. It allows her to catch some sleep and every day seems just a bit brighter when it starts with breakfast brought to bed by Sarah. She’s almost disappointed when one day Sarah announces she’s moving back to her brother and more than relieved when just a week later Julian announces he’s getting married (who would have thought) and needs Sarah to move back out again. The engagement dies a not-so-tragic death but somehow Julian doesn’t expect Sarah to come back anymore.
October
There’s a memorial at the ARC which leaves Jenny tired and lonely. One year. She doesn’t cry anymore, she’s not even sure she misses him that much anymore but she still devours an ungodly amount of ice cream that evening that Sarah doesn’t fail to tease her about. Maybe it’s the teasing, maybe it’s been coming for months but Jenny suddenly leans in for a strawberry-flavoured kiss and Sarah holds her close.
Next morning she wakes in Sarah’s arms, rested and happy and calm, and for the first time in a year the future seems like a journey worth making.