just_1_word | 16.6. Jacket
16.6. Jacket
It hadn’t been possible to anticipate just how much room a new baby and all his accessories would quite take up in their modest home. But since coming home from hospital with their baby son, who himself hardly took up any room at all, their house had looked like a baby shop threw up all over it and there was just blue everywhere. Tara wasn’t complaining, though. She adored it. She couldn’t get enough of being a new mummy and a wife, even if she spent about every waking hour exhausted.
This was the first time she had been home alone in ages and she was determined to use it to clear the hall cupboard out so they had a little more room to store all of the baby supplies they were given as gifts. She was so grateful for it all, but it was sitting in plastic bags under the stairs and she wanted to be able to see what was there. Her parents had taken the wee one for the day to enjoy their grandparently duties while Lachlan had taken Pat to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment. The house felt quiet and she was at a loss without her husband or son at her fingertips so she needed to keep busy before she called her Mum and Dad up to demand her son back in a fit of separation anxiety.
She had two shelves cleared, but it wasn’t nearly enough. She stretched up just a little to drag some bags from the back of the next shelf into her arms. There were things in there she didn’t even remember shoving there when they moved. She untied the first bag and found some old blue scrubs of Lachlan’s that probably didn’t need to be kept. He had been given new ones when he returned to work and didn’t wear the blue anymore. She pushed them back into the bag and tossed it into the pile she had set aside for Lachlan to sort through when he got home and moved onto the second bag.
The knot on the bag was stuck, so she just tore it open but as soon as she did, she had a horrible chilled sensation wash over her like someone had just tipped cold water all over her. There was a throbbing in her ears as her hands wrapped around the soft leather and she unfolded it, the bag floating to the floor near her feet. She was already fighting back panicked tears as the coat fell open in her hands and the dark, horrific blood stains in the jacket lining came into view.
Lachie’s jacket.
The one he had been wearing the night they first met…
… and the one he wore the night he was shot.
Why was it here? Hadn’t she given it to someone to get rid of? But for the life of her she couldn’t remember who that had been or if she had just intended to do that in her emotionally foggy brain all those months ago. She hadn’t ever wanted to see it again! Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over with a pained sob that echoed up the hallway sending her sinking to her knees. Her hands were trembling violently when they splayed across the large maroon patches. So much blood. Blood was everywhere. She remembered its heat on her palms and how sticky it had felt as she begged him not to die in her arms on the cold sidewalk of the hospital.
It all came back in an avalanche of memories she couldn’t stop. She hugged the jacket to her chest, just like she had nursed him in her arms in the slow-motion moments following the shot. It should have been her. The gun was aimed at her and he jumped in front of her to save her life. How would it have all turned out if he was barely seconds too late? How would it have ended it the woman aimed barely inches higher and pierced his heart?
The thoughts sent sobs wracking her whole body and she held the jacket to her face. She was never ever going to get over this. It was always going to be there waiting just below the surface to choke her when just the right thing triggered those terrible memories all over again. He was alive and he had given her the most beautiful baby son, but she would never be able to forget how close she came to losing him. Seconds and inches. Her fingers pressed to his throat as she felt his heart stop beating. If the doctors were just seconds too late…
The jacket. It had to go. It had to go before he got home. The thought fuelled her with adrenaline and she forced herself to her feet, spinning around in a stumble to get the awful thing out of the house as quickly as she could. But she didn’t get anywhere. Lachlan was stepping off the top step with a frown of concern on his face. Her arms were still clutched in a vice-like grip around the blood-stained jacket that her husband hadn’t seen since he nearly lost his life. She froze, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
“Tara? What’s going on, beautiful?”
Lachlan [drcampbell] & Patrick [sexyinscrubs] referenced with permission
Word Count | 884
It hadn’t been possible to anticipate just how much room a new baby and all his accessories would quite take up in their modest home. But since coming home from hospital with their baby son, who himself hardly took up any room at all, their house had looked like a baby shop threw up all over it and there was just blue everywhere. Tara wasn’t complaining, though. She adored it. She couldn’t get enough of being a new mummy and a wife, even if she spent about every waking hour exhausted.
This was the first time she had been home alone in ages and she was determined to use it to clear the hall cupboard out so they had a little more room to store all of the baby supplies they were given as gifts. She was so grateful for it all, but it was sitting in plastic bags under the stairs and she wanted to be able to see what was there. Her parents had taken the wee one for the day to enjoy their grandparently duties while Lachlan had taken Pat to the hospital for a doctor’s appointment. The house felt quiet and she was at a loss without her husband or son at her fingertips so she needed to keep busy before she called her Mum and Dad up to demand her son back in a fit of separation anxiety.
She had two shelves cleared, but it wasn’t nearly enough. She stretched up just a little to drag some bags from the back of the next shelf into her arms. There were things in there she didn’t even remember shoving there when they moved. She untied the first bag and found some old blue scrubs of Lachlan’s that probably didn’t need to be kept. He had been given new ones when he returned to work and didn’t wear the blue anymore. She pushed them back into the bag and tossed it into the pile she had set aside for Lachlan to sort through when he got home and moved onto the second bag.
The knot on the bag was stuck, so she just tore it open but as soon as she did, she had a horrible chilled sensation wash over her like someone had just tipped cold water all over her. There was a throbbing in her ears as her hands wrapped around the soft leather and she unfolded it, the bag floating to the floor near her feet. She was already fighting back panicked tears as the coat fell open in her hands and the dark, horrific blood stains in the jacket lining came into view.
Lachie’s jacket.
The one he had been wearing the night they first met…
… and the one he wore the night he was shot.
Why was it here? Hadn’t she given it to someone to get rid of? But for the life of her she couldn’t remember who that had been or if she had just intended to do that in her emotionally foggy brain all those months ago. She hadn’t ever wanted to see it again! Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over with a pained sob that echoed up the hallway sending her sinking to her knees. Her hands were trembling violently when they splayed across the large maroon patches. So much blood. Blood was everywhere. She remembered its heat on her palms and how sticky it had felt as she begged him not to die in her arms on the cold sidewalk of the hospital.
It all came back in an avalanche of memories she couldn’t stop. She hugged the jacket to her chest, just like she had nursed him in her arms in the slow-motion moments following the shot. It should have been her. The gun was aimed at her and he jumped in front of her to save her life. How would it have all turned out if he was barely seconds too late? How would it have ended it the woman aimed barely inches higher and pierced his heart?
The thoughts sent sobs wracking her whole body and she held the jacket to her face. She was never ever going to get over this. It was always going to be there waiting just below the surface to choke her when just the right thing triggered those terrible memories all over again. He was alive and he had given her the most beautiful baby son, but she would never be able to forget how close she came to losing him. Seconds and inches. Her fingers pressed to his throat as she felt his heart stop beating. If the doctors were just seconds too late…
The jacket. It had to go. It had to go before he got home. The thought fuelled her with adrenaline and she forced herself to her feet, spinning around in a stumble to get the awful thing out of the house as quickly as she could. But she didn’t get anywhere. Lachlan was stepping off the top step with a frown of concern on his face. Her arms were still clutched in a vice-like grip around the blood-stained jacket that her husband hadn’t seen since he nearly lost his life. She froze, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
“Tara? What’s going on, beautiful?”
Lachlan [drcampbell] & Patrick [sexyinscrubs] referenced with permission
Word Count | 884