The Longest Day (f) (Cold) - (2 Parts)

[Esperanza]

Title: The Longest Day

Fandom: Eastenders

Disclaimer: These are not my characters.

Summary: Ronnie starts to come down with a cold, and Jack is concerned, while Ben makes a discovery that concerns Ronnie over at the Vic…

The fic is quite long, so I have broken it into sections (Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Night).

=================================================================================

Here is a summary of the story on Eastenders, if you want to read it before my fic.

Eastenders is set on Albert Square, and the Mitchell family run the local pub.

Archie has treated his daughter, Ronnie, cruelly since she got pregnant at fourteen. He forced her to give the baby, Amy, up for adoption, and later told her that her baby died as a child, which was a lie. Amy was renamed ‘Danielle’ by her adoptive family and came to find Ronnie when she was nineteen. She babysat for the baby of Ronnie’s sister, Roxy. One day she took a picture of herself with the baby, to give to her once she had told everyone that she was a Mitchell too.

Archie realised who Danielle was and manipulated her into not telling Ronnie. When she finally did tell Ronnie, Archie manipulated the situation to make Ronnie believe her daughter was lying, and so she rejected her. Ronnie found out Danielle had been telling the truth, and ran across the Square to find her. Danielle was leaving, having given up on Ronnie, but Ronnie called her, and as she crossed the street towards her, a car came and ran her over. She died in Ronnie’s arms.

Roxy only found the picture Danielle had taken with her baby after Danielle had died.

Ronnie is in contact with Danielle’s dad again, Joel. He had married and has three daughters, and Ronnie started an affair with him.

(For anyone who watches Eastenders– I know I’ve left out lots of details, but that was probably all you needed to know for this story. Also, I know Ronnie is now with Joel on the programme, but I set this before he came to live in the Square.)

============================================================================

The Longest Day

Morning

Papers were scattered over the office of the club. The three cold half-drunk cups of coffee on the desk had obviously not kept Ronnie awake throughout the night. She sat in her chair, head on the desk, with her cheek resting on a letter from the bank, long blonde hair splayed out over the papers. She breathed deeply, fast asleep. It was an exhausted sleep – she had finally tired herself out after everything that had happened, after so many nights of being awake.

Her nose began to crinkle up in her sleep. “Tchoo!” she sneezed breathily, lightly over the papers. Although not forceful, it was enough to wake her up. Her blue eyes popped open, and realising that she was still at the office, she sat up quickly. The bank letter stuck to her cheek. She pulled it off and waited for a second as her nose still tickled. She always sneezed in threes, and she knew it. She took a deep breath, waiting for the next sneeze to overcome her, and another breath, and there… it was coming “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW!” she sneezed wetly into one hand. These were her usual sneezes, much bigger than the little sleep-sneeze which had woken her.

“Ugh!” She sniffled, and wiped her hand on her suit trousers. She cleared her throat and gave a small cough, looking to see the clock on the wall. She had no idea what time it was. Five to eight! She had been in the office all night then. Jack, her partner at the club, and ex-boyfriend usually came in at about nine. She still had time to gather herself and get out before she had to see him. She rubbed her eyes. She was still tired. But then she rubbed at her nose – it felt itchy. That was odd. Suddenly she knew she was going to sneeze again. Her breath hitched, so she quickly stopped rubbing at her nose and brought one hand in front of her face “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW!” she paused with her hand still there, waiting for number three. It took some effort “uh-huh-uh…” she hitched, oblivious to anything else that may have been happening, like someone else entering the office. “uh-uh-HUH- TCHIEW!”

“Bless you.”

Ronnie started, and turned in her seat towards the voice “Jack! You’re, um, you’re in early!” She sniffed.

“Yeah, and? So are you it would seem.” His dark eyes took in her features. She looked a little worse for wear. He spoke more softly “Hey, you haven’t been here all night have you?”

“No!” she said defiantly. “I came here to pick something up, just now.”

“Oh yeah? And what was that then?”

“Just some papers I needed to sort. Now I told you I want you to find the money to buy me out of this club. So when are you going to do it by?” Her voice sounded strong, but the tickle in her nose was back. She really wanted to reach out to the box of soft tissues on her desk, take one, and give her nose a good blow. She didn’t though. She didn’t like displaying any vulnerability and she already disliked the fact that Jack had walked in on her when she hadn’t expected it - before she could straighten up her suit and, at least rake her fingers through her hair, if she couldn’t find a comb. And he had come in right in the middle of her sneezing, for goodness’ sake.

Jack was still talking, about the money and the club, but Ronnie wasn’t really listening. She could feel a sneeze building up. She pushed her tongue to the roof of her mouth. She had heard somewhere that this could stop you from sneezing and hoped it worked. Then she remembered who she had heard it from – Danielle. Danielle who babbled on, with lots of useless bit of trivia. Danielle, who was her daughter and she didn’t even know it. Now she wished she could hear Danielle chattering on endlessly again. Tears spiked at her eyes. She shoved her tongue harder against the roof of her mouth. But that technique was to stop sneezing, not crying, and Ronnie knew she had to get out of there.

“Jack,” she said, cutting him off in the middle of a sentence, “I don’t want to hear your excuses. Just get it done.” She grabbed some papers off her desk, because she remembered that’s why she had told Jack she was in the office. She brushed past him on her way out.

As she climbed up the stairs, the tickle in her nose was getting more and more intense. She pushed her finger hard against her nose to suppress it. She managed to keep it in until she had left the club, but as she opened the door to the street and the sunlight hit her face, it was too much, and putting one hand in front of her face, the sneezes exploded out of her “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW!” There was no waiting or hitching that time – the sneezes had been waiting to escape. A few people looked round after her sudden outburst.

“Oh! Bless you, Ronnie!” said Denise, a woman who lived on the square, and was passing by just as Ronnie exited the club. Ronnie looked at Denise walking with her two grown-up daughters, Libby and Chelsea. It wasn’t Denise’s fault that she had just want Ronnie wanted; what she had lost. Still Ronnie eyed her coldly, and gave her the briefest nod before turning on her heel and striding off.

“My, aren’t we friendly today!” said Denise sarcastically to her daughters, deliberately, while Ronnie was still in earshot. “And a good morning to you too, Veronica Mitchell!”

“Yeah, stupid cow,” agreed Chelsea. “She thinks she owns the whole world. Not just that poxy club!”

“She has been through a really bad time recently,” said Libby, the kindest of the three. “It can’t be easy for her.”

While they continued to discuss Ronnie, the woman herself was half way across the square, heading towards her flat. She sniffed hard. It felt like her nose was going to run. She hoped she wasn’t coming down with something, but she had been quite sneezy that morning. Although she sneezed in multiples, once she had sneezed her three times, she didn’t normally need to sneeze again for ages – usually not for a week, or even a fortnight, sometimes longer still. She sniffed deeply. Her nose was bothering her. She wanted to blow it, but she didn’t have any tissues. Quickly glancing round to make sure nobody was watching her she brought the sleeve of her jacket up to her nose and wiped it. She glanced down at the sleeve and saw that it showed she had wiped her nose there. “Yuck,” she thought, “now I’ll definitely have to get this jacket dry-cleaned.”

Her phone beeped as she opened the door to her flat. She coughed openly as she searched for it in her bag, whilst stepping inside. She clicked on her inbox. It was a message from Joel. Before she could open the message, and without any warning, she sneezed, “HA-TCHIEW!” all over the phone.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise and, bringing one hand up to her face to cover the following sneezes, and she held the phone out, as far away from herself as she could with the other hand, and sneezed “Huh- HA-TCHIEW! HU-TCHOOO!”

Her hand was now wet and she could feel a trickle coming from her nose. She quickly dashed into the other room, and grabbed a handful of tissues. She wiped her hand, then buried her nose into the tissues and blew as hard as she could. It felt good for a second, but suddenly the tickle was back. She sneezed before she had even had a chance to take the tissues down from her nose. “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW!”

The tissues had muffled the sound a bit. But the sneezes had rocked her whole body. Ronnie sighed and put the tissues in the bin, grabbing some more to blow her nose again.

Then she turned her attention to her phone. There were tiny blotches where she could see that her unexpected sneeze had hit the screen. She sighed again, and got some another tissue to wipe over the phone. Then she pressed the button to see what Joel had said. The text read “missin u Ronnie and ur beautiful smile. i can get away and see u tonight. r u free?” Sniffling, she settled back into the sofa and started to reply.

Afternoon

The phone rang, startling Ronnie. She sat up quickly and rubbed her eyes. Had she really fallen asleep again? She realized she hadn’t even managed to finish the text to Joel, and now he was ringing her.

“Hello Joel,” she croaked and then quickly tried to clear her throat. It felt scratchy though, and her nose felt a bit congested. This was definitely the start of a cold.

“Um, hi Ronnie. I was just wondering if you got my text?” She could hear the lack of confidence in his voice. He was so unlike Jack. But if she could be with him, maybe she could get everything back from that summer they were together, in their teens, when they had got together, resulting in Danielle. If she could be with him, she could have a baby, a real sibling of Danielle’s.

“Yes, I’m so sorry,” her voice sounded a little croaky still, “I was in the middle of replying but – “ she was cut off as a dry cough escaped her.

“Are you ok, Ronnie? You don’t sound too good.”

Ronnie had to make a decision. She wanted to be with him, and she hated to admit she was ill – to anybody. She could try to dismiss her cold and invite him to her flat that night. However, if it were going to be obvious she wasn’t so well, she was scared it would turn him off. She needed to keep him attracted to her. She wanted to be with him, until she got what she wanted – another baby, just like Danielle. She decided to admit she wasn’t feeling well, even if doing that made her uncomfortable. She had to think of her needs in the long-term.

“Actually Joel, I seem to be coming down with a cold. I don’t think I’m going to be up to doing much tonight..”

“Well shall I come round anyway? Make you some hot honey with lemon, and all that?”

Ronnie thought about being looked after. It could be nice, but then she wasn’t sure she really wanted Joel fussing around her.

“Thank you, Joel. But I don’t want to give you my cold. I uh- huh- oh, I’m going to sneeze!” Ronnie was holding the phone with one hand, so she covered the part of the phone she spoke into with the other hand, to try to muffle the sound from Joel, and turning her head away, sneezed into the air, ”HA-TCHIEW!”

Joel could still hear her though, so he said, “Aw, bless you Ronnie. Are you ok?”

“Wait,” she said breathlessly, getting ready to cover the phone once more, “I’m going to do it agai- HU-TCHIEW!”

Joel didn’t think he had ever heard Ronnie sneeze before. She sounded so cute, and just a little vulnerable. “Bless you. Are you sure you don’t want me to-“ he was interrupted by Ronnie sneezing another time.

“HU-ITCHIEW!” She sniffed a couple of times

“Bless you again.”

“Sorry Joel.”

“That’s alright,” he said with a small chuckle, “Are there any more coming?”

“No,” she said with a sniff, “There’s usually only three.”

Joel made a mental note of this. He wanted to remember all the little facts about Ronnie he had picked up in the last few weeks since he had met her again. Her favourite colour to wear was black, but she liked red; she preferred dark chocolate; she would sometimes play with a strand of hair when she was thinking hard about something; and now, he knew, that she usually sneezed three times in a row.

“Listen, I could come over for a bit. You sound like you could do with some TLC,” said Joel.

“It’s ok. I’ll probably just end up sneezing all over you or something. Like I said, I don’t want to give you a cold too.”

“Well, you’re probably right. My youngest just got over the flu a couple of weeks ago. I don’t want to pass anything on to my girls.”

“Of course not,” Ronnie’s voice sounded cold and distant.

“But you get yourself better, and I’ll come and see you soon. I can’t wait.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes, but put on a sweet voice, “No me neither, Joel.”

After saying goodbye, Ronnie lay back on the sofa again. Now she wanted to sleep. Her head had started to ache. She shut her eyes.

Evening

Ronnie had been lying on the sofa for a couple of hours now, but was still unable to sleep. Each time she shut her eyes, she saw Danielle, in her white dress and yellow cardigan walking away from her. “Danielle!” she heard herself yell. The girl… her daughter… turned to face her. She didn’t look expectant. Ronnie had hurt her so much. Her own daughter. But she hadn’t known who she was. “Baby?” Ronnie had said hopefully. Danielle’s face lit up as she stepped towards her. Then the car came. That car, which had ended everything. Danielle flying over the bonnet. Danielle lying on the ground. Danielle in Ronnie’s arms. Danielle dead. All of these images flashed in Ronnie’s mind’s eye. She sat up again. A tear wound its way down her cheek. Then another. And another. A sob escaped her.

Ronnie got up and went to the window and looked up at the darkening sky. She looked at the stars. Was her daughter among them? “Amy…” she said, using the name she had chosen for her baby daughter. Not Danielle. Her second family had called her that. “Amy, I love you. I’m sorry.” In between little sobs, she started to cough. She put her hand to her neck. Her throat was really starting to hurt now. She went and lay back on the sofa. She imagined how it would be if Amy and Jack were in her flat with her. But she was all alone. She managed to cry herself to sleep. But it was not a restful sleep. She heard the screeches of tyres and dreamt of cars hitting people over and over again.

She awoke a couple of hours later, feeling even more exhausted than before, what with all her nightmares. Then the tickle in her throat made her start to cough. Her cough sounded a little less dry now. She was annoyed. She had so many things to do the next day. A cold was the last thing she needed to battle with, on top of everything else. She was sure she had some medicine to suppress this in her cupboard. She dragged herself up from the sofa to have a look. It wasn’t there. She must have finished it last time she was ill. That would have been a long time ago, she couldn’t even remember when it was. Viruses didn’t usually strike down Ronnie Mitchell. She sighed at looked at the clock. It had just gone nine in the evening. The Minute Mart close by stayed open until ten on Thursdays, she remembered. She started coughing again, and decided that she would go to the Minute Mart and get something for it. First though, she needed to blow her nose. She reached into the tissue box and pulled out the last one! She needed to buy some more tissues too. She held the tissue to her nostrils and blew, but that tissue wasn’t strong enough to take all that she needed to empty from her nose. A hole formed in it mid-blow, meaning Ronnie’s hand got a bit covered. She chucked the remains of the tissue away, ran her hand under the tap. She fetched a cardigan and a coat, wrapping them around herself. She wanted something warmer than just her suit jacket. She opened the door and still she shivered in the coolness of the night’s air.

“Oi Ronnie! Ronnie Mitchell!” yelled a voice.

She turned to see a very drunk Stacey Slater stumbling down the street. Stacey had been Danielle’s best friend in the Square. She had known Danielle’s secret – that Ronnie was her birth Mum and she had come to find her – well before Ronnie had found that out. Ronnie decided to ignore Stacey. She wasn’t in the mood for this.

She started walking quickly to the Minute Mart.

“Erm, hello? Ice Queen? I’m calling you! Just gonna ignore me are ya? So bloody predictable you are, miss bloody Ronnie Mitchell. Think you’re queen of everything.”

Ronnie knew Stacey had taken Danielle’s death hard. But that was not her problem. Stacey wasn’t her daughter.

Just before she reached the Minute Mart, she felt the dreaded tickling sensation in her nose. She needed to buy tissues and really wished the tickle would go away until she had. Instead, it intensified. Sniffing quickly, she pushed up the sleeve of her coat, and stretching the arm of her cardigan down, covered her hand with it. “Hu-HA-TCHIEW! HUH-TCHOO !” she sneezed into it with force. She had reached the Minute Mart now. “HA-ITCHOO!” she sneezed as she stepped inside, wiping her nose on the cardigan, before quickly letting her coat cover her sleeve again.

Patrick, who worked at the Minute Mart looked up from behind the till. He was a kindly older man, who came from Trinidad. “Well bless you my dear. What are you here for? A medicinal bottle of brandy? Hehehe!”

“No, not that,” she said, and, picking up a basket, walked briskly round the corner to where the cold medicines were. She picked out some cough suppressant. She knew that might be a little drastic as her throat had only started tickling her and making her cough that morning, but she didn’t want to be bothered by it at all. She also chose some cough sweets that were acted as decongestants too, some painkillers, a nasal spray and some ‘all in one’ tablets to help combat cold and flu symptoms. From the other side of the aisle, she chucked three boxes of tissues into the basket. Vitamin C was also good, so she went and picked up a carton of orange juice too.

She brought it to the till.

“Nice evening tonight. Quite mild,” said Patrick, as he started beeping her items through.

Ronnie just nodded. She didn’t feel like making conversation.

Patrick noted all the items Ronnie was buying. “You feeling under the weather, my dear? It’s not cold season yet though.”

Ronnie was getting frustrated. She hated people knowing she was ill. She felt like saying it was for someone else, but she also felt like she needed to cough, which would probably have given her away. Anyway, who else was there that she would be buying this for?

Turning away from the till, she coughed into her sleeve.

“That’s fourteen pounds and sixty pence.”

She paid and turned to leave. “Wish you better!” said Patrick.

“Thank you,” said Ronnie as she left the shop.

She had to walk past the pub, The Queen Victoria, which most people on the Square just referred to simply as ‘the Vic.’ She hastened her step. Her family ran that pub, and most of them lived above it. The last thing she felt like was seeing any one of them. Her sister, Roxy, her niece, her cousins and her aunt were there. Her father was living back on the Square, but the others didn’t let him go back to the Vic. He had hurt them all. What frustrated Ronnie was, that after everything, her own sister had accepted him back into her life again, even though the others in her family had seen sense.

She walked past the Vic without seeing anyone, but just as she turned the corner, she saw Roxy, pushing her baby in her pram, and walking along with her father, Archie. Her heartbeat quickened when she saw him. Her father. Her Dad. The man who was supposed to protect her but had destroyed her life, and her daughter's. Because of his lies, she had truly believed that her Amy had died as a child, and then because of him keeping Danielle away from her, now she really was dead. Dead and buried at nineteen years old.

“Hey Ron!” called Roxy, in a fake cheery manner. She knew how things were between her sister and her father, and felt uncomfortable when they were both in the same place while she was around.

“Roxy,” said Ronnie acknowledging her with a slight nod. Her eyes flickered over to her father, an unreadable expression came over her face, and she continued walking.

“Well now, aren’t you going to say hello to your old Dad, Veronica?” questioned Archie in a slightly patronising tone.

“Just leave it, Dad, yeah?” said Roxy quickly. “Ron, maybe Amy and I could come over to yours and see you soon?” Roxy had named her daughter Amy, after Ronnie’s. It was meant to be a nice thing to do, but it stabbed at Ronnie’s heart every time she heard the name.

“We’ll see,” she said, walking past them.

“She can’t even be polite to her sister!” exclaimed Archie, injecting a tone of surprise into his voice, knowing full well that Ronnie could still hear him. “The way she behaves with me is predictable, but I thought she could at least be polite with you, Roxy.”

Ronnie walked on, ignoring this; glad she was putting physical distance between them. She noted that was the second time someone had called her predictable that day. Joel had never thought she was predictable. Not during that summer when she was fourteen, and certainly not now. He found her a whole lot more exciting than his dowdy wife. He had called her “his light.”

Ronnie opened the door to her flat, and suddenly her nose was overcome with the desperate urge to sneeze. She quickly chucked her shopping bag on the floor, rummaging through it for one of the boxes of tissues. Too late! “HA-TCHIEW!” she sneezed over the contents of the bag. “Ugh!” she groaned, and without thinking, wiped her running nose on the sleeve of her coat.

She managed to grab the box of tissues, and tried to quickly open then, by ripping the cardboard piece off the top. She was too slow though. “ITCHIEW!” she exploded with, all over the box. She finally ripped it off, but still, before she could even take out a tissue, the third sneeze sneaked up on her. “HIH-ITCHIEW!” she sneezed over the tissues.

“Oh for goodness’ sake,” she moaned. She grabbed a handful of tissues, and burying her nose in them, gave a deep, satisfying blow. The feeling of satisfaction lasted seconds, if that, as her nose began to fill again.

She took the bag to the kitchen and took everything out. She used the nasal spray and then poured herself some of the orange juice. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed too take painkillers along with the cold and flu tablets, but decided to take two of the latter and one of the former. Then she took a spoonful of the cough medicine, making a face at its horrible taste. After all this, she began to yawn. She felt so exhausted.

She took one of the boxes of tissues with her, and went to her bedroom. She opened her wardrobe and took out a small teddy and looking at it before clutching it tightly to her chest. The teddy was called Digby. It had been her daughter’s. Danielle’s adoptive father had given it to her when she had gone to see him, some time after the funeral. “Had her daughter held this teddy when she had been unwell?” Ronnie wondered. She should have been there to comfort her, to help ease the symptoms away. Ronnie had kept Digby in the cupboard, to keep him safe. But now, she didn’t want to face another night alone, and she wanted something which had been close to her daughter, if she couldn’t actually have her daughter herself.

She kicked of her boots, but too exhausted to bother to undress, she fell into her bed clutching Digby. She was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Blonde hair splayed out – she looked angelic. Her nose, too congested to allow her to breathe through it, meant she breathed shallowly through her mouth, each intake of air scraping along her throat, meaning it would be sore and pain her when she awoke.

Night

Ronnie might have slept through the whole night – she certainly needed the rest. But she was interrupted by her phone ringing. Her mobile had rung, but this didn’t wake her up, so whoever it was decided to now try ringing her landline. Ronnie’s eyes slowly opened as the phone continued to ring. Everything ached. Heat radiated out from her body. She could tell that she had a fever now. The phone stopped ringing and went to answerphone. The person on the other end hung up, not leaving a message. Then the phone started to ring again. Each ring hurt her head. She sat up slowly, and reached out for the receiver.

“Hello?” she rasped, barely making a sound. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello?”

“Ronnie!” It was a child’s voice. “Ronnie, you have to come here! You have to come over to the Vic!”

“What…?”

“Ronnie, it’s me, Ben,” said the voice. Ben was the child of her cousin Phil, who lived at the Vic.

“Ben? Why are… ? What? ” Her head felt fuzzy and she wasn’t even making full sentences.

“I’ve found something of yours. Something of Danielle’s!”

Mention of Danielle made kick-started Ronnie’s brain into action. She cleared her throat again. It hurt quite a bit. “Danielle’s? What is it Ben? What have you got?”

“Are you ok? You sound like you have a cold, or something.”

“I don’t,” lied Ronnie. She was impatient now, “What do you have of Danielle’s?”

“It’s a photo. Of her and Roxy’s Amy. It’s in a frame. Danielle put it in the frame. She put a note on the back that it was for Amy. I think the others hid it, so you wouldn’t find it. I thought you should have it, though. I know you loved Danielle.”

Ronnie listened, and a lump grew in her throat as she heard Ben’s last words. She couldn’t talk because of the emotion she felt.

Ben didn’t know how to interpret the silence, and he added “I know she loved you too.”

Ronnie swallowed her tears. “Why do you say that?”

“Because she came all this way to find you!” There was another pause, and Ben continued, “But Ronnie if you want the photo, you have to come and get it now. I had to wait to phone you until everyone had gone to bed”

Ronnie glanced at the clock. “Ben, it’s 2.30 am!”

“I know but I don’t think Dad and Roxy want you to have it, so I had to wait until now. Are you mad with me?”

“No, I’m not mad. I’m coming over now.”

“OK come through the back door. I’ll be waiting there.”

Ronnie put down the phone, and realized it felt like her head was pulsing, with each pulse sending streaks of pain throughout her entire body. She looked over at Digby, and then tucked him under the covers. At least someone should get to stay in bed. She dragged herself to the side of the bed and sat there, ready to put her boots on. She felt a sneeze coming and managed to grab a tissue just in time. “ITCHIEW! ATCHIEW! HU-ASHOOO!” With each one, Ronnie had rocked so far forward, she was almost scared she would fall off the bed. The last one, in particular, had really ripped at her throat. She blew her blocked up nose, but it made little difference now – she was so congested. She coughed. It hurt.

After managing to put her boots on – everything was a struggle, so it felt like a small achievement – she went to her kitchen, took some water and dosed up on her medicine. She put on her coat and put a wad of tissues in her pocket.

She stopped, putting one hand on the kitchen counter to steady herself. “AH-ITCHIEW!” she hadn’t been quick enough to cover, and she could feel the aftermath of the sneeze streaming from her nose. She quickly took some of the tissues from her pocket and covered her mouth and nose. “ITCHIEW! AH-SHUH!” She blew her nose again. She really wanted to crawl back onto bed, but then she remembered that she was going to fetch something to do with Danielle.

She looked in the mirror before going out. Her hair was a mess. She could fix that – she quickly tried to put it into place with her fingers. Her eyes were watery and her nose was red around her nostrils. She couldn’t fix that. “Never mind,” she thought, “I’m only going to see Ben.”

She grabbed her bag, and, wrapping her coat tightly around her, she braved the cold as she opened the door. In reality, it wasn’t actually as cold as it seemed to her, but she felt it was freezing and began to shiver. The slight change in temperature affected her nose too. And bringing the tissues to her face, she sneezed herself down the pathway to the street. “ITCHIEW! ITCHIEW! AH-AH-ITCHOOO!” She let out a small whimper.

It took all her energy to walk to the Vic. The pub had never seemed so far away! Just as she had nearly reached it, she stopped again, and taking out her tissues, sneezed into them, “ITCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-UTCHOO!” She sniffled and wiped at her nose.

“Bless you, V,” came a voice from behind her.

An icy hand of fear seemed to grip her heart. Her father was the only one who called her “V” and he only called her that when they were on their own. She turned to face him and let out a small, but chesty-sounding, cough.

“And where are you going at this time of night? It’s not safe for a young lady to be walking on her own,” said Archie, making sure he sounded concerned.

“What, in case they run into someone like you?” retorted Ronnie.

“There is no need for that , V,” said Archie, pretending to look hurt. “I’m just looking out for you. I’ll walk with you, wherever you are going.”

“No, you won’t.” Ronnie turned firmly around and continued walking towards the Vic. She was tense, but carried herself well. Watching her, you wouldn’t think she felt like falling apart inside – something she often felt when she had seen her father, but made a hundred times worse by the fever in her body.

Archie watched her go down the alley, where she would reach the back door of the Vic. He wondered what she was doing, going there in the middle of the night. He went and sat on a bench in the Square, where he had the full view of the pub, watching and waiting…

Ronnie was sniffling hard as she walked down the alley. She stopped to blow her nose. The door was open, and Ben was waiting like he said. When she reached it, Ben stepped outside and hugged her. She let herself be embraced.

“Come on,” Ben whispered, “It’s upstairs.” Most of the Mitchell family lived up above the pub.

“Ben, why didn’t you bring it down, to give to me here?”

Ben’s face fell, “Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

Ronnie sighed and put her hand briefly on Ben’s shoulder, “We’ll go and get it now then.” They stepped inside.

Ronnie felt some congestion in her chest though. “Wait Ben, let me just go back outside for a second.”

Ben nodded. Ronnie knew they had to be quiet inside, so she went outside to let out a chesty cough. She turned back to see Ben watching her. “Are you ok, Ronnie?”

She nodded impatiently. “I’m fine. Let’s go.” Then, suddenly, she thought what if she needed to cough once they were upstairs. “Ben, do you think you could get it by yourself, and bring it down here?”

“Oh, I wanted you to come with me,” said Ben, looking sad again.

“This kid needs to get some guts!” Ronnie thought to herself, but then she remembered that Ben had decided to tell her about the photo, against everyone else’s wishes, so she relented and went with him.

He climbed the stairs first. Ronnie was a few steps behind him. She had begun sniffling again.

Ben stopped and turned, looking down at her “Are you ok Ronnie?” he whispered.

She looked up at him in surprise, “Yes,” she whispered back, “Why?”

“You just seem kind of sick.” He reached out and put his hand on her forehead. She almost flinched at the unexpected touch. “Ronnie, you’re boiling!” he whispered, “You should have told me you were sick when I phoned you. We could have done this another time.”

“I’m fine, Ben,” she whispered, trying to convince both Ben and herself, “Now let’s get this photo, and you need to go to bed. It’s school tomorrow.”

Ben turned to carry on walking up the stairs, but stopped and turned back again. “I could come with you,” he whispered.

“Come with me? Where?” asked Ronnie, confused.

“Back to your flat, you know, after we’ve got the photo. Dad wouldn’t mind if I spent the night there. You are family.”

“Why would you want to spend the night at my flat?” asked Ronnie.

“To take care of you! It must be horrible being alone when you’re sick.”

Ronnie smiled at the sweetness of Ben, but tried to ignore the “alone” bit. “I’ll be fine, really Ben. But, thank you.”

They made it to the top of the stairs, and crept along towards the living room. Suddenly Ronnie took in a deep breath and stopped, scrunching up her face.

Ben stopped too. “What’s wrong?” he whispered, looking up at her.

Ronnie reached up with her hand and clamped it round her nose. “I – huh- have to – huh- sneeze.”

Ben’s eyes grew large, “Oh Ronnie, not now!”

Her breath was hitching. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep the sneezes in. She had never been good at stifling, but now she had to try. She grabbed the tissues with her free hand and held them firmly to her nose and mouth. “HA-CHHH! HA-CHHH! HA-CHUH!” Although this was much quieter than her normal sneezes, it had been in no way silent.

Ben had been frozen in fear that they were about to be discovered, but saw that none of the bedroom doors had opened. They were safe! They took a couple of hesitant steps towards the living room, but then they heard creaking coming from the room just behind them, as if someone was getting out of bed. Ben quickly steered Ronnie into the living room and went and stood outside it. Roxy opened the bedroom door. “How on earth had Ronnie sneezing woken up Roxy? She normally slept through everything,” thought Ben.

“Oi Ben, what the hell are you doing?” Roxy whispered, but it was still loud. Roxy was, in general, just loud.

Ben put a finger to his lips, “Shhh! We’ll wake up everyone!”

“Well, it seems like you could do that all by yourself! As it happens I was awake because I just got Amy to settle down for, like, the fifth time tonight. She’s not sleeping well and I will be so mad if you wake her up again.”

“Sorry,” said Ben, looking down.

“So you still haven’t told me – what are you doing?”

“Just, um, getting some water.”

“Well, hurry up!”

“Yes, Roxy,” said Ben meekly.

Roxy turned to go back into her room, and Ben was relieved, until they both heard, “AH-CHHH! CHHH! HUH-CHHH!” coming from the living room.

Roxy spun back round. “What the hell was that, Ben? Is someone else up here?”

Ben didn’t know what to say, “Um, I didn’t hear anything,” he tried, lamely.

Roxy rolled her eyes and pushed past him, into the living room.

“Ronnie!” she screeched, “What are you doing here at this time of night?!”

Ben groaned. Everyone was going to wake up now. He heard the sound of someone else getting up. It was his grandma, Peggy. Although petite, she was a majestic woman with great presence. She ran the Vic, and pretty much ran the Mitchell family too. She emerged from her bedroom in a long dressing gown, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, “Err, what’s all this? What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” stammered Ben, “It’s just…”

Peggy had already walked past him into the living room. “Ronnie, darling!” She said in surprise, “Is everything alright? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Although not as loud as Roxy, Peggy was still pretty loud, and now Ben could hear footsteps coming from the other bedroom. His Dad, Phil, stepped into the hall. “What the ‘ell is going on?” he demanded.

“Nothing. I-“ Ben broke off. He didn’t have any explanation, so he turned and just walked into the living room. He didn’t want to leave Ronnie by herself. It was all his fault that this had happened.

Roxy was firing off questions at Ronnie, asking what she was doing and why she was sneaking around. Ronnie was just standing there miserably and looking at the floor. Ben took in the red around her nose and her watery eyes. Now he could see her in the light (which no doubt Roxy had turned on), he saw how sick she looked. He wished he had known. He never would have told her to come over if he had realised.

Archie had seen the light in the living room go on as well, from his spot in the Square. He wondered what on earth was going on up there.

Ben went to Ronnie’s side, and for the first time ever, stood up to Roxy. “Stop it. Stop it!” he cried. She actually did stop in surprise, because Ben never usually told anyone what to do!

Ben took a deep breath, “It’s my fault Ronnie’s here. I told her to come now, even though it’s the middle of the night. It was my idea.”

“You? But why?” asked Phil.

“It’s ok, Ben,” sniffled Ronnie.

“No, I have to tell them!” said Ben

“Tell us what, darling?” asked Peggy, looking concerned and confused at the same time.

“I found Danielle’s picture!” said Ben.

“Err, what picture?” asked Peggy.

“She took it with Amy, and put it in a frame. Dad and Roxy hid it. I thought Ronnie would want it more than they did.”

“Oh,” Phil rolled his eyes, “You called Ronnie in the middle of the night, and then woke as all up for that? Ronnie, I’m sorry Ben disturbed you. And yeah, we hid the picture. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to do, but we thought it would upset you, Ronnie.”

Ronnie wiped her nose on a tissue and just nodded at Phil. She didn’t blame him. He was a man. He couldn’t understand what it was like to be a mother. Roxy had no excuse though.

She turned to her, “Is that why you hid it too?”

“Well yeah, 'course it was,” said Roxy, “But anyway, it said on the note with it, ‘for my lovely cousin Amy,’ or something like that. It’s Amy’s anyway.”

“Didn’t you think I’d want to see it?” asked Ronnie.

Roxy shrugged and looked at the ground. “We was just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need protection!” said Ronnie indignantly, “Just get me the photo!”

Roxy didn’t usually respond well to being ordered to do something, so Peggy quickly stepped in. “Now, why don’t we all just give Ronnie the photo? She’ll obviously appreciate it more than Amy would. Amy’s a baby! Now we can all talk in the morning. Let’s get back to bed. Ronnie, you can stay over, if you don’t feel like walking back across the square.”

“I put the picture over here,” said Ben walking to the coffee table. He handed it to Ronnie. She took it wordlessly and stared at it. There she was! Her daughter. Her perfect girl, smiling up at the camera. Her blonde hair parted to one side, holding her little cousin, Amy. Ronnie ran her finger over Danielle’s cheek.

“Right, now everyone, let’s all get some sleep,” said Peggy “Ronnie, do you want to stay here tonight?”

Ronnie didn’t answer. She stood transfixed, looking at Danielle.

“Ronnie, love?”

She looked startled when she realised someone was talking to her. “Um, yes, Aunty Peg?”

“Are you alright? Do you want to stay here tonight?”

“I’m fine. I’ll go back to my flat now.” She turned to Ben, “Thank you, Ben. You did the right thing.”

Ben hugged her again, and this time she squeezed him back.

“I’ll walk you downstairs, yeah?” said Roxy to Ronnie.

Ronnie shrugged, not wanting to make a scene in front of the others. “Sorry I woke you all up. Good night.”

She carefully put the framed photo inside her bag and walked silently to the top of the stairs. Her nose was dripping again, so she quickly wiped it on a tissue. It was her last clean one. She had brought loads with her, and now they were all used! She desperately needed to get home, back to her boxes of tissues.

“Are you mad with me, Ron?” asked Roxy, putting on a girlish voice.

Ronnie didn’t answer.

“Ron? Ronnie?”

Still no answer.

“Oh this is flaming typical! So I didn’t show you a photo? Now are you just going to ignore me? I hate it when people do that!”

“Right,” said Ronnie, quietly “Because this is all about you.”

“Oh, you know what? Dad’s right – you are predictable! I did this to protect you and now you’re being like this! I knew you’d be like this!”

Baby Amy started to cry.

“Great! Now you’ve gone and woken Amy up and all!” said Roxy

“Me?” said Ronnie with disbelief, “ I wasn’t the one shouting.”

“Oh little Miss Perfect. Nothing’s ever your fault. I’ve been running around after you and this is all the thanks I get.”

“Running around after me? I can’t ever remember that happening. It’s always been the other way round, and now I’ve had enough that and you’ve gone straight back to Dad.” Ronnie was still speaking quietly. She hadn’t meant to argue. She really just wanted to look at the photo of Danielle in peace, but Roxy was so selfish, and so annoying.

“Oh, here we go! Back to Dad! When are you going to accept the man is our father? He was just trying to do what is right.”

Ronnie began to walk to the stairs, “So gullible,” she muttered

Roxy had heard her. “Hey, what the hell do you mean by that?”

She grabbed Ronnie’s arm, making her spin round to face her.

“Roxy, you’re not my problem any more. I - HA-TCHIEW!” The sneeze had sneaked up on her and she had not had time to turn away, let alone cover.

“Urgh Ronnie!” exclaimed Roxy, wiping at her face with her sleeve where some mist from her sister’s sneeze had landed.

Ronnie turned away and loosely covering with one hand sneezed more, “HA-ITCHIEW! ITCHIEW!”

Roxy didn’t even seem to register this and was still wiping at her face. “That went all over me!”

Ronne sniffled and rubbed her nose, and then her eyes, which had watered more with the sneezes. “Good. Now leave me alone. Go and see to your daughter. She’s crying,” and with that she went down the stairs and out into the night.

She had to make it across the Square. Her headache was worsening. She just wanted to go back to bed, and look at her photo. She wanted to take in every single one of Danielle’s features with her eyes. How could she have possibly known that Archie was still waiting for her?

“V!” he called, coming out of the shadows.

She jumped and gasped in surprise.

“Did I scare you?” he said with a little smile.

“Just leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you.” She quickened her step, and tried to ignore the sneeze building in her nose. She rubbed at it, trying to hold it off.

“I’m just worried about you, V. I see you going to the Vic in the middle of the night, and then leaving even later. I want to know that you are fine.”

“We both know you couldn’t care less about that.” As hard as she tried she couldn’t hold the sneeze in any more “HA-TCHIEW!” She covered with one hand.

“Bless you, V,” said Archie.

“Don’t you dare bless me! I –uh-oh god –uh…”

“Now come on, sneeze the next one,” said Archie.

“HA-TCHIEW!” she sneezed again into her hand. Ronnie hated this – it was as if she had just done something her father had told her to, even though she had no control over it.

“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a little cold, V. Now sneeze your last one. That third one. Always so predictable, my V.”

“HA-ITCHIEW!” Ronnie didn’t bother to cover it, sneezing openly towards the ground. Why should she bother with manners for her father? Archie saw some spray leaving Ronnie’s nose and mouth and watched her sniffle afterwards.

“Oh dear, it looks like you need something to wipe your nose with. Good job your old Dad’s here.” Archie took a handkerchief from his pocket and moved towards her, as if he would wipe her nose himself.

“Don’t touch me!” cried Ronnie, moving back.

“Oh, V, always, always fighting,” sighed Archie, shaking his head, “Here, take it yourself.”

“When are you going to understand that I don’t want anything from you?” There were tears in her eyes, probably because of her cold, but maybe because of something else too. She turned away and wiped her nose on her sleeve.

“You make things so difficult for yourself, V, and for everyone else.”

“Hey Ronnie, are you alright?” came a voice from behind them. It was Jack! He must have just finished up after an event over at the club.

He walked quickly, catching up with them.

“Veronica seems a little upset,” explained Archie, “We were just have a walk and a chat. You know, father and daughter.”

Jack knew more about Archie than he realised. When he had been with Ronnie, she had told him a lot of things. It had been hard getting her to open up, but he had finally managed. He still cared about her really.

“Yeah, well, I think the last person she would be having a little chat with is you Archie, so leave it out, ok?” said Jack.

Ronnie looked up at him with an unreadable expression. He liked to think she was grateful. He took her by the arm and steered her away from Archie. “We’ll be off now, Archie.”

Archie was annoyed, but didn’t show it. “We’ll talk tomorrow, Veronica,” he called out after them.

Jack and Ronnie walked around the corner. He was still leading her, holding her arm. Her expression remained unreadable.

Suddenly she took her arm from his. “Well done, you! You’ve done your heroic bit now,” she said in a cold tone.

Jack shook his head, “You are unbelievable! I thought I was doing you a favour!”

“Well, I never asked you to.”

Jack was about to reply when Ronnie let out a chesty cough. His feelings of annoyance slid aside to let concern take over. “Are you ok? I thought you might be coming down with something when I saw you in the office this morning.”

Ronnie thought back to then. She had fallen asleep in the office the night before by mistake. Seeing Jack there in the morning seemed like ages ago but it was less than twenty-four hours! Maybe it seemed that way because she had slept randomly during different parts of the day.

“I’m – huh- fine- huh…” began Ronnie. “Oh why do these sneezes keep coming at the worst possible moment?” she thought to herself.

She turned away from Jack, and sneezed into both hands, “ITCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-USHOOO!”

Jack watched as each sneeze bent her violently at the waste. Her heard her groan after the final one. “Bless you, Ronnie. Let me walk you back to yours. Then I could just come in and make you a warm drink, if you like. You sound like you could do with one.”

Ronnie kept her hands cupped over her nose. She shook her head, “No thanks. I’ll be fine.”

She started to walk, still holding her hands to her face.

“What’s wrong?”

Ronnie looked embarrassed. “I- It’s just I ran out of tissues. They're all at my flat, and my nose, well…” she trailed off and shrugged.

Jack took out his handkerchief straight away. “Here, take this.”

She just looked at it.

“Come on,” encouraged Jack, “you need it more than I do!”

Ronnie took it and wiped her nose with it. She sniffled.

“Come on, you’ve used it now,” said Jack, “Just blow your nose in it. You obviously need to. ”

Ronnie looked at him, and this time he could see she really was grateful. She blew. It sounded wet.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her nose still buried in his handkerchief.

“Well you don’t need to apologise about that. Look, let me walk you back. I just want to make sure you get in ok.”

Ronnie thought of saying that she didn’t think she would have too many problems walking down the road to her door, but she said nothing.

Jack knew he just had to jokingly encourage Ronnie, and she would accept his offer. Maybe he could even attempt to get a smile out of her. “Look, I’m not trying to do my heroic bit, as you so nicely put it! I just want to walk you back as a friend.”

Ronnie did smile at that, just a small one. “Ok.”

The truth was, as well as being worried about Ronnie because she was ill, Jack thought that Archie might still be hanging round, waiting to strike out at Ronnie again, and he would rather know that she wasn’t going to be bothered yet another time that night.

Jack realised was walking much more slowly than usual, going at this pace Ronnie had adopted. Ronnie looked utterly exhausted. Then she stopped walking completely.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her gently.

“I – huh – have to – huh- have to sneeze again. I don’t – huh – don’t want to.”

“Listen, you have my handkerchief. Just use it.”

“Thank y- HA-ITCHIEW!” Ronnie had bought Jack’s handkerchief to her nose just in time.

“You’re welcome. And bless you.” Jack stood and waited. If he remembered correctly, there should be two more following.

“HA-TCHIEW! ITCHOOO!”

“Bless you times two,” said Jack.

Ronnie straightened herself up, and opened her eyes, recovering from the large sneezes which had wracked her body. She stood looking at Jack, with large watering eyes, his handkerchief still covering her nose and mouth.

“You have to blow your nose again, don’t you?” asked Jack.

Ronnie nodded.

‘She's being so sweet, almost child-like,’ thought Jack. Out loud, he spoke softly to her, “You’ve already done it once. Don’t be embarrassed. I’d prefer that you felt more comfortable, after you have blown your nose, rather than thinking you have to keep it in.”

“Thank you,” said Ronnie in a very congested voice, and blew her nose wetly.

He put his arm around her and she let him. He led her slowly back to her place.

Archie watched this fuming from across the Square.

The reached the door. She turned to him, “Well thank you.”

“Hey, Ronnie, let me come in,” implored Jack.

She pursed her lips and turned away from him.

“Look,” he said “No funny business, I promise. I admit I do still care about you but I have far too much respect for you to just try something on with you, especially when you not feeling yourself. I just want to make sure you’re ok. I could stay here for the night. On the sofa, of course.”

“What if you catch my cold?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

Ronnie thought for a second, but then all thoughts were pushed out of her head as the all too familiar tingle started in her nose. She quickly turned away from Jack, and brought his handkerchief back up to her face. “HUP-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-UTCHOO!”

“Bless you,” said Jack.

He was pleased that Ronnie gave a quick blow into his handkerchief, without being so uncomfortable around him this time. She was letting her guard down, if only a little.

She didn’t say anything, and got out her key to open her door. She went inside, but didn’t close the door behind her.

“I take it I’ve been invited in then?” said Jack, stepping inside after her.

She just turned to look at him with those blue, blue eyes, before suddenly, her face scrunched up into a pre-sneeze expression. She turned away from him again, and sneezed into his handkerchief, “IT-CHIEW! IT-CHIEW! IT-CHIEW!” She gathered her breath and then blew her nose.

Jack was glad that she had said she had tissues at her flat. She had been giving his handkerchief a lot of action, and he was sure it would soon be soaked through and of no use to her, if she carried on like that.

“Have you got some tissues in your bedroom?” Jack asked.

Ronnie nodded.

“Right,” said Jack, taking charge, “ You get ready and go into bed then. I’ll make you a hot drink and bring it in.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“And then I’ll make up my bed on the sofa!” He added quickly.

After half a moment’s pause she slowly nodded and said “Ok.”

Jack smiled to himself and went to the kitchen to make her drink. Ronnie deserved to be looked after, but she never usually let anyone do it.

Ronnie went straight to her bedroom and took out the photo of Danielle. She looked at it closely. Then she put it in her bed, next to Digby, the teddy. She changed into some comfy pyjamas. Forget the lace nighties she was used to wearing in front of Jack – she felt freezing! She started coughing again.

Jack could hear her coughing from the kitchen, and willed the kettle to hurry up, so he could get the drink to Ronnie.

Ronnie got into bed, carefully, next to Digby and the photo. She curled up beside them, draping one arm over them both. She lay like that for a few moments, before the urge to sneeze overtook her again. She quickly turned away, not wanting to spray Digby or the photo. “HA-TCHIEW!” she sneezed openly over the bed cover.

She sat up and reached for her tissues. Grabbing some, she held them to her nose “IT-CHIEW! IT-CHIEW!” She sighed, putting the tissues in her lap. But she wasn’t done! “ITCHIEW!” she suddenly sneezed again. She had time to turn in the opposite direction from Digby and the photo, but not enough time to cover, so she sneezed openly over the bed cover and one of the pillows. “ITCHIEW!” she sneezed openly again. She quickly bought the tissues back to her face and sneezed “HIH-TCHIEW! HIH-ITCHIEW! HAH-ITCHOO! AT-CHOO! HUH-ATCHOOO! HA- HA-HASHOOO!” Each sneeze had swung her forward from the waste and her hair had flown everywhere. She coughed and lay back exhausted on the pillows.

Jack came in holding a steaming mug, looking concerned. “I just heard all your sneezes. How are you doing? Maybe we should take a trip to the doctor tomorrow.”

Ronnie coughed and looked over at him. “Guess what?” she said in a small, tired voice.

“What?” he asked.

“I need to blow my nose.”

He smiled at her. Despite her discomfort, she was being so cute. He put the mug down on her bedside table, and handed her some tissues, so she didn’t have to make the effort to reach over and get them.

“Let me take those off you,” he said, moving in to take the tissues she had already used.

“Urgh no, Jack. I just sneezed into those.”

“No biggie,” he said, picking them up and putting them in the bin.

She blew her nose.

“On second thoughts," he said, "let’s move the bin over to the side of the bed, seeing as I am not going to be in here all night.”

She looked at him sharply “Too right you’re not.”

He decided to change the subject. “So that was quite a sneezing fit you had before. I’ve never heard you do more than three.”

“Maybe I’m not so predictable then,” muttered Ronnie, thinking of that insult she had received from Stacey, Archie and Roxy all in one day.

“Predictable?” said Jack, “Did someone say you were? Honestly, I would never put “predictable” and “Ronnie Mitchell” into the same sentence!”

Ronnie smiled, “It doesn’t matter,” she said, but she was pleased at what Jack had just told her.

“Here, take your drink,” said Jack, holding it out to her.

Ronnie inhaled the steam, enjoying the mug's heat, before taking a few sips. It was good. She stopped drinking and turned to cough into her shoulder.

“Easy now,” said Jack, “Shall I put it back on the side for a bit?”

He reached over to take the mug. He had noticed the teddy and the frame in Ronnie’s bed, but until he leant over to take the drink, he hadn’t seen it was a picture of Danielle. He looked at Ronnie. Her expression gave nothing away.

“Look, I’m hoping you will get some sleep tonight," he said, "The teddy can stay, but I don’t want you rolling over on to the frame in the night. That would hurt.”

“I want to keep it here,” said Ronnie, moving her hand over to the photo.

“Well, why don’t we put it up on the bedside table? Then you can see it, without potentially hurting yourself on it, or cracking the glass.”

That last bit got to Ronnie. She didn’t care if she hurt herself, but she didn’t want to ruin the glass. Danielle herself had placed the photo so carefully into the frame. She nodded, and Jack reached over and put the frame on the bedside table, arranging it so that Ronnie could see the photo. She smiled sadly at her daughter.

“Here,” said Jack passing her the drink again. Once she had finished, he made sure she had settled down on the pillows. “I’m going to stay here until you fall asleep,” he told her.

She had begun to protest, but he had silenced her, saying he would then go and sleep on the sofa, and that he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep himself if he knew she was still awake and suffering with her sore throat or blocked nose.

He gently stroked her hair. To him, she looked like an angel, fallen from heaven. He heard her breathing begin to get deeper and more even. She was slowly drifting into sleep. Suddenly though, she stirred and took in an even deeper breath, “It-choo!” she sneezed feebly, practically asleep. “Huh-tchoo!” Spray had hit Jack’s arm both times, as he was leaning over her to stroke her hair . He didn’t care about the spray. That last sneeze had disturbed her though, and she opened her eyes drowsily. Her face scrunched up, and she brought a hand to cover her nose and mouth “HA-TCHIEW!” Although she had covered, she hadn’t turned away, and some more spray hit Jack’s arm again.

“Bless you times three, my angel,” he whispered and leant down to plant a small kiss on her forehead. While his lips brushed lightly over her hair, he felt her take another deep intake of air. “HA-TCHIEW!” she exploded into her hand.

“Well, bless you times four then,” he whispered. He thought back to their earlier conversation, about being predictable. “Well I didn’t predict that one. So, you see, you’re not really that predictable, are you Ronnie?”

She sort of half-smiled; too tired to really take anything in. He could see that, and he got some tissues and gently wiped her nose, and then the hand she had sneezed into. Then he got back to the work of settling her to sleep. She coughed a few times, but after that, he patted her back and stroked her hair, and finally she was asleep.

Jack didn’t know what the next day would bring, but he was so glad Ronnie had let him be there, when it was obvious, she had needed someone.

Edited September 26, 2009 by Catinka

[SneezeDoc4u]

great story well done

[Miss.A.Tishoo]

Looooved it! Ronnie is my fav char on Eastenders and you've got her down perfectly - she should definitely be with Jack too . I'd love to read more!

Edited September 28, 2009 by Miss.A.Tishoo

[Esperanza]

Thanks for your comments! I'm really glad you liked the story

Ronnie is my fave character too. If I get the chance, I'll try and write some more!

[count tiszula]

This is brilliant stuff! But first, I must add that, when I realised that this is the latest incarnation of the lovely Samantha Janus [whose nostrils I have been watching for years] I had to go back and start again! How shallow I am....

I love the repeated emphasis on waiting for the three sneezes, and the different types of divine messiness, working up to sneezing directly on her sister; and the sneezing while hiding, and the hankie use, and the keeping to the unities, in fact , everything!

One thing; why does no one say either "Sorted!" or "Oi, slag!" ? Can't be genuine Eastenders....

Edited September 30, 2009 by count de tisza

[Vetinari]

What a delicious story, and very sweet. And you might write more too, lovely.

Samantha Janus too? Even better!

[Esperanza]

Thanks for the comments! I'm glad you liked the story.

I'm a fan of Samantha Janus (as well as Ronnie!) so would love to see her sneeze for real

One thing; why does no one say either "Sorted!" or "Oi, slag!" ? Can't be genuine Eastenders....

I haven't managed to write more yet, but if I do, then I will try to include this!!

[sneezerwoman]

Nice story.

[Esperanza]

Nice story.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. I'm posting the next bit below.

Title: Of Fevers and Fighting (Continued from 'The Longest Day')

Fandom: Eastenders

Disclaimer: These are not my characters.

Summary: Ronnie's cold worsens and Jack tries to care for her, whether she wants him to or not...

Boiling hot. That was the sensation Jack felt as he gently put his hand on Ronnie’s forehead. She stirred and sort of snuffled – she was so congested - but did not wake from her feverish sleep. Jack crept quietly back to the living room and shut the door behind him. He needed to make a phone call to cancel the second meeting he was supposed to have today. It was nearly eleven o’clock in the morning and Ronnie was still not awake. Jack had decided he wanted to be there for when she did wake up.

While he was on the phone, he heard Ronnie let out a few coughs. As soon as he could finish the call, he went back into her room. She was still sleeping though. She coughed again, but it did not wake her up. Jack watched her as she turned over and then started coughing more. He wasn’t sure what to do. Ronnie obviously needed sleep, but this was not good. He decided to get her a glass of water and wake her, hoping the drink would help with her cough. He could hear her coughing, the whole time he was in the kitchen.

He came back and laid his hand on her arm. “Ron. Hey, Ronnie,” he said softly and gently shook her arm.

Ronnie sniffed and murmured something. Jack shook her arm again.

“No! Please, no!” Ronnie almost shrieked and opened her eyes

“Ronnie, Ronnie, calm down. It was a dream. You’re ok.”

Ronnie looked at him, and he saw almost fear in her eyes. “Jack? What are...? Why are you…?”

“Hey, calm down. I stayed over because you were ill, remember? I just came and woke you because you were coughing a lot.”

As if on cue, Ronnie started coughing again. It took her a while to be able to answer him. This time, she had that expressionless look, that she so often wore. Jack could see she was building up walls between them again.

“So you woke me up because I was coughing?” she sniffled hard.

“Yeah,” replied Jack.

Ronnie narrowed her eyes, “So you were in here, then? In my bedroom, while I was sleeping?”

Jack tutted, “No, Ronnie. I slept on the sofa. I could here you coughing from the other room.”

Ronnie didn’t bother to answer. She rubbed her hand against her nose and sniffled hard.

Although Jack was finding that she was beginning to get difficult, compassion overcame him when he saw her helplessly trying to deal with her congested nose. He picked up some tissues from the box on her bedside table and held them out to her. “Take these,” he said, “You’re ill.”

Ronnie’s gaze flickered over the tissues and then over Jack’s face. “I’m not ill,” she declared in a very congested voice. Then, she started coughing again.

“Right, because, you normally wake up coughing like that all the time, “ said Jack, semi-sarcastically. He was feeling frustrated. Ronnie had been so comfortable with him last night. For instance, she had blown her nose in front of him without hesitation, even if she had been embarrassed by it. She had allowed him to care for her. From the way she had acted, he thought she had started to let him in once more. He wanted to make her feel that relaxed again in his company, but it didn’t seem to be working today.

Jack was jolted by his thoughts as Ronnie made a sort of whimpering noise. He looked over at her and saw she was building up to a sneeze that was taking a fair bit of time to come out. She gasped and whimpered, and fanned one hand in front of her face a little. He wordlessly reached over and put the tissues into that hand.

She bought the tissues to her face, but still the sneeze didn’t come. The sensation had totally taken over her nose, and she was desperate for relief. “Huh- ah-huh-“ she gasped. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, her nose was able to succumb to the intense tickle. “Huh-huh-AH-TCHIEW! ATCHIEW!” The tissues held the result of the sneezes, but Ronnie kept them to her face as the tickle intensified again into her third sneeze. “Huh-HUH-AH-SHOOO!” Her body rocked forward with the force of that last one. She coughed and spluttered, trying to regain her breath, and also trying to ignore the searing pain it had caused in her throat. She kept the remains of the tissues in her hands clamped to her face, feeling her nose overflowing.

Jack, seeing the problem, quickly handed her a new bunch of tissues and said “Bless you, Ronnie,” as he gave them to her.

Ronnie covered her nose with the clean tissues. She looked over at Jack with red-rimmed, watery eyes. “I’m going to have to blow…”

“Go ahead,” he said gently.

She just looked up at him.

“Well, I’ll go back in the other room and check my phone then,” he said, thinking she might be more comfortable with some privacy. “I’ll just leave your water here and be back in a few secs.”

She nodded.

From the other room, he could hear her wet, noisy blows.

He looked at his phone and saw he had a missed call from one of the suppliers for the club, so he called them back. After saying goodbye, he realised it had all gone quiet. He put his phone down and went back to Ronnie’s room. She was lying back against the pillows, almost asleep. Her eyes flickered open as he came in, and then shut again. He looked at her. She seemed a bit flushed. She scrunched up her nose, and sniffled. It didn’t seem to do the trick and so she brought one hand up from under the duvet and rubbed at it sleepily.

Jack gently placed his hand on her forehead. She moaned and moved slightly at the touch. Her temperature seemed even higher than before. She seemed to have gotten worse, just during the time that Jack had been on the phone. He was starting to get quite worried.

Ronnie sniffled and rubbed at her nose again. “Jack?” she said sleepily, still with her eyes shut.

“Yes, Ronnie?” he said, moving in closer to hear her.

“Jack, my nose is so itchy.” She said, still in her half-asleep way.

He found this really cute, despite the fact he was worried about her. “Well, do you want to blow it again? Do you think that would help?”

“Mmm, no,” mumbled Ronnie, nestling into her pillow.

Jack heard his phone beeping from the other room. “I’ll be back in a sec,” he told Ronnie.

“Mmmhmm,” mumbled Ronnie, rubbing her nose again.

The itch got stronger, and as Jack left the room he hear her sneeze the little sneezes that she sometimes did in her sleep “Tchoo! Tchoo!”

“Bless you,” he called out, over his shoulder.

Ronnie opened her eyes and let out a stronger sneeze, “HA-TCHIEW!” over her duvet cover.

Jack heard that bigger sneeze from the other room, as he checked the text messages on his phone, and hoped it had managed to relieve Ronnie of whatever had been bothering her nose.

Ronnie’s nose, however, was still irritated. It was overly sensitive, due to her cold, and there seemed to be some congestion that had settled just in the wrong place, causing her to need to sneeze more. She was so tired, and what with her fever, she hardly knew what she was doing. All she could focus on was the tickle in her nose. She didn’t even think to cover her sneezes.

“Huh- HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW!” her usual set of three exploded from her, misting her duvet cover. Her daughter’s teddy Digby, who she had put in her bed the night before, was under the covers, sheltered from this shower.

She sniffed again, and began to take in some more deep breaths, “Huh-huh- HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! Huh-ATSHOO!”

She groaned and then coughed, and tossed herself over, so she was facing the other way. The discomfort was still there. “HA-TCHIEW!” she sneezed, blasting the bedside table, “HA-TCHIEW! HA-ASHOO!”

She turned over again, and Jack entered the room just to see her sneeze uncovered again, “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! Huh-huh- HA-TCHIEW!”

“Bless you. You’re not sounding too good, Ronnie.”

Ronnie gave a small moan in response, and Jack watched her face scrunch up again, as she prepared to release three more uncovered sneezes. “HA-TCHIEW! Huh- HA-EPCHOO! HA-ATCHIEW!”

“I think it would help if you blew your nose,” he said.

He got some tissues, and sitting on the bed, so he was next to Ronnie, he helped her to sit up herself. He held the tissues under her nose, “Come on, blow.”

She just sat there propped against him, and sniffled. “Come on, it will help.”

As if trying to oblige him so he would then leave her in peace, she gave a small, snuffling blow into the tissues.

Jack wiped her nose once she was done, and said, “I think you can do better than that, Ronnie.”

He leaned away from her and towards the bin to throw the tissues away, his other arm still supporting Ronnie. He felt her tense up and take a deep intake of air. He knew what was coming next. He chucked the tissues in the bin, and then, for some reason, he turned back and instinctively cupped that hand, now free, over Ronnie’s mouth and nose.

“HUH - HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-HA- HATCHIEW!”

His hand felt wet. He didn’t really know why he had covered Ronnie’s sneezes for her. The only person who could be affected by the contagion she was sneezing all over the place was him anyway. Nobody else was in the flat and he hadn’t really done himself a favour by letting Ronnie sneeze into his hand.

He got a tissue and wiped his hand. The he got some more and cupped them round Ronnie’s nose. “Do a proper blow,” he commanded, “Then you might get rid of whatever’s bothering your nose.”

This time, she obeyed him, giving a long, deep blow. She would never have admitted it, but he was right – she did seem to get some temporary relief, as the itch left her nose, at least for that moment in time. She leaned into Jack. She felt sort of liquidy, like she couldn’t focus on anything. She coughed and watched as an image of Danielle’s face flashed before her eyes and disappeared again. She heard a low, continuous noise coming from beside her, and realised Jack was talking to her she tried to focus, but it was too hard not to close her eyes and begin to drift into sleep.

“Ronnie, I saw you had some medicine in the kitchen. I’m gonna give you some and if you don’t get better in a couple of hours, I think I’ll have to call the doctor.”

He watched as Ronnie’s eyes shut. She was still leaning on him, so he gently shifted, and moved her back on to the pillows. He could feel that her temperature was still very high. He felt bad that he would be waking her up again with the medicine, but he thought she should take something. Besides, if it was that easy for her to fall asleep then, she would probably go straight back to sleep after she had taken the medicine anyway.

He went to the kitchen and saw the cough medicine. He also found the box for the ‘all in one’ tablets for cold and flu symptoms. He cursed under his breath. If her throat was sore, she wouldn’t be able to swallow the tablets easily. He also realised that it wasn’t good to take medicine on an empty stomach. He opened her fridge to see what food he could give her. He settled for some yoghurt. It wasn’t great, but it would line her stomach and would not be difficult for her to swallow. He found a tray and gathered everything he needed and took it into Ronnie’s bedroom.

As he walked in, he heard her mumble something in her sleep. He put the tray down on the bedside table and gently shook her arm again to wake her up. Her dreams had been of what she always wished for. As she woke, she called Danielle’s name. She coughed, and then sat up, looking around desperately, “Danielle!” she called in an urgent tone.

“Hey,” said Jack, smoothing her hair, “It was just a dream.”

She looked up at him, “It wasn’t a dream.”

“What do you mean, Ronnie?” he asked gently.

Ronnie’s face crumpled and her lip began to quiver. “My baby,” she whispered, trying to stifle a gasp that could turn into a sob.

“Ronnie…” he trailed off. Jack was always so sure of himself; an ex-copper who could handle anyone, and yet he couldn’t think of any words to say to this beautiful and vulnerable woman who lay there before him.

Ronnie turned away from Jack, pressing her face into the pillow, so he couldn’t see it.

He gently stroked her back. “Come on, Ronnie.”

She eventually turned back to him. There were tears in her eyes. “It wasn’t a dream that she died, Jack, and everyday is a nightmare for me.”

“Oh, Ronnie.” He sat down on the bed and pulled her into an embrace. He so fiercely wanted to protect her but he didn’t know how.

She leaned into him. Something inside her told her to pull away, not to start relying on him – hadn’t everyone else she had ever gotten close to let her down so far? But she really didn’t have the energy to move. She could feel Jack gently stroking her hair. Her head hurt so much, so just let it rest against him. Her chest felt tight. At times it felt hard to breathe since she had had gotten sick. She wheezed a little and then coughed into Jack’s shoulder. She felt his hand stop stroking her hair and move down to rub her back.

“Hey,” he said softly, “I found your cough medicine. I think you should take some.”

Again, something in Ronnie wanted to resist. She tried never to just go along with what any man in her life decided would be best for her. That had started at fourteen when her father decided it would be best to put her baby up for adoption. She had never stopped reeling from that decision. She always had to seem in control, after the events in her life had been so out of control when she was young.

“Don’t need it,” she said and her voice was muffled as she spoke into Jack’s shoulder. She started coughing again.

“Yeah? Well, the evidence suggests otherwise,” said Jack. “I know it doesn’t taste good, but you will feel better.”

“No, I – “ Ronnie broke off as her breath began to hitch.

Sensing what would happen next, Jack leant over to grab some more tissues. Ronnie pulled back from him, her breath still hitching. Jack covered her mouth and nose with the tissues, waiting for the release.

“Huh- huh – HIH-ITCHIEW! ATCHIEW!” The second sneeze followed the first instantly. Jack kept the now wet tissues in position to catch the final one. “HUH-ATISHIEW!”

“Ugh,” groaned Ronnie.

Jack took the tissues from her nose.

“Thank you,” she said gazing at him.

“You’re welcome. And, bless you” he replied as he reached for more tissues. He went to wipe her nose, but she took the tissues from him and did it herself.

“Now, are you done, or are you going to keep sneezing, like before?” he said.

“Before?” she asked, her face half hidden behind the tissues.

“Yeah, you just couldn’t stop!”

“Oh. I don’t remember that.” She coughed.

“Well, you were quite feverish.” He reached out and felt her forehead again. “You still are. I’ll give you this medicine, and in an hour or so, if your fever hasn’t gone down, I’ll call Dr Jenkins.”

She started to protest, but suddenly the need to sneeze overtook her again. She was still holding the tissues and she brought them to her face. “Huh-huh-huh…” She gasped. It wouldn’t come.

Jack watched her sitting there, helplessly trying to sneeze. Even though it was now early afternoon, the curtains were still drawn from the night before, as Ronnie had been sleeping most of the time.

“Here, this might help,” he said, getting up and lifting one of the curtains so some sunshine could get through. “Look at the light.”

As the sunlight hit her face, Ronnie’s eyes squinted and then began to close. “Huh-HUH-ITCHIEW! IH-ETCHIEW! HATCHIEW!” she sneezed wetly into the tissues.

“Bless you, Ronnie,” said Jack, “I thought if you just – “

He was interrupted by Ronnie sneezing again, “HA-ATCHIEEW!”

“Oh, an extra one!” he exclaimed, “Well, bless you again.”

“Sorry,” said Ronnie.

“No need to apologise. But I do think you will run out of tissues soon. Maybe I should go and get some more.”

“I have more in the other room,” she told him.

“Right, well before I fetch those, it’s medicine time. I’ve got you some yoghurt, because you shouldn’t take the tablets on an empty stomach.”

“Oh Jack, no,” began Ronnie, but, after some protesting, Jack managed to get her to eat the yoghurt and take the medicine.

“This just shows she really isn’t feeling well, if she gave in so quickly,” Jack thought to himself, remembering how stubborn Ronnie normally was when she decided to do (or not to do) something.

Ronnie had complained that the yoghurt made her feel sick, but still, she had eaten some of it and taken the tablets and the cough medicine, and then had pretty much settled back into sleep almost straight away.

Jack thought of some of the paperwork he had to do. He could go to the office and bring it back to Ronnie’s place, but he didn’t want her to wake up and find him gone. He decided to phone his nephew, Bradley. Unfortunately for him, he had recently been made redundant, so Jack didn’t think he was very busy during the day. Bradley was always very obliging as well. Jack wondered where he got it from. It certainly wasn’t from hid Dad, Jack’s brother, Max.

Bradley picked up his phone almost immediately, “’Ello Uncle Jack,”

“Hey Bradders, you alright? Listen I was wondering if you could pick something up for me from the club.”

“I’m actually just trying to help Stace sort something out with her stall right now. Can I do it later?” Bradley replied. ‘Stace’ was Stacey Slater, who ran a clothing stall on the market next to Albert Square. She had been married to Bradley, but they had split up a while ago. She had taken Danielle’s death hard and Bradley had been trying to support her, even though they weren’t together. Jack thought of how he felt about Ronnie, and how Bradley treated Stacey and saw that maybe there were more similarities between him and his placid nephew than he thought.

“Actually I need the papers now, mate. But I’ll ask someone else.”

“OK, but why can’t you get it yourself? Is everything ok, Uncle Jack.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just at Ronnie’s. She’s not very well. I’m looking after her.” Jack felt good saying that he was looking after Ronnie. That was how it should be. He wished that she wouldn’t keep pushing him away.

“Oh no. I hope she’ll get better soon,” said Bradley

“Hope who will get better soon?” Jack heard Stacey ask in the background.

“Ronnie. She’s ill,” Bradley answered her.

“Oh, what’s she got? Frostbite? She is the ice queen after all!” called Stacey.

“Stacey!” said Bradley, “Sorry about that, Uncle Jack.”

“Yeah, well you might want to tell that little woman of yours to control her tongue before she gets herself into some serious trouble.”

“Well, anyway, about the papers…” began Bradley.

Maybe Jack and his nephew were different after all, like he’d always thought – Jack had noticed Bradley hadn’t leapt to Stacey’s defence, but then again maybe Bradley realised that she shouldn’t be talking about Ronnie like that.

“Oi, slag! Watch where you’re going!” Jack heard Stacey yell.

“Who’s she talking about now?” asked Jack

“That was to Roxy,” explained Bradley, “she nearly bumped into one of the racks of clothes with her baby’s pram.”

Jack could now hear a heated discussion happening between Stacey and Roxy in the background. He ignored that. “Now, about the papers - are you sure you won’t be able to get them any time soon?”

“Not within the next couple of hours anyway. Oh wait a sec, Jay just walked past, I bet he can do it,” said Bradley.

Jack heard Bradley yelling after Jay. Jay was about fifteen and had been adopted by Billy, one of Ronnie’s cousins, after his Dad died.

Jack could hear Bradley explaining about the papers and Jay’s responses.

“What’s in it for me then?” said Jay once Bradley had finished.

“A fiver?” replied Bradley hesitantly.

“A fiver! Nah, my time is valuable mate! I think you better make that a tenner, at least,” said Jay.

“He’s asking for ten pounds,” said Bradley down the phone to Jack.

“Alright, alright, I’ll give him a tenner,” Jack was vaguely amused by the boy’s spirit. “Tell him it’s the black folder on top of my desk and to bring it round to Ronnie’s place.”

Bradley relayed the instructions to Jay.

“And he’ll give me a tenner, yeah?” asked Jay.

“Yes, Jay,” said Bradley, “Jack will give you a tenner!”

“Alright, sorted!” said Jay.

Jack heard Ronnie coughing from the other room, and said goodbye to Bradley as quickly as he could, so that he could go and check on Ronnie.

Her eyes were shut, but she opened them when he came in.

“How are you doing?” he asked her gently.

“I’m ok,” she croaked.

He gave her a small smile, “You don’t sound it.”

“Jack?” she asked.

“Yes, Ronnie,” he said.

Before she as able to reply, she sneezed “HA-TCHIEW!” It had caught her off guard and she had not had time to cover it. The tablets had started to work on her fever now, so she was more awake than she had been before, when she hadn’t even realized she was sneezing everywhere. Now she was embarrassed. She brought one hand out from under the covers to catch the next two that usually followed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t– HA-TCHIEW! ITCHIEW!” the sneezes interrupted her.

“Bless you times three!” said Jack

“I –oh- wait! HIH-TCHIEW! HIH-ISHOO!”

“Oh, two bonus ones!” joked Jack, “Bless you for those too. Tissue?”

Ronnie nodded, sniffling into her hand. Jack gave her some and she gratefully wiped at her nose.

He went to put his hand on her head to feel her temperature, but she flinched back.

“Hey,” he said, “I just want to feel if you still have a fever.”

She reluctantly let him put his hand on her forehead.

Just as he did so, her nose suddenly exploded with sneezes. ”HA-TCHIEW! ITCHIEW! HA-EP-ISHOO!” They came so quickly she didn’t manage to cover the first two, and she didn’t think she had managed to cover the third that well either.

“Bless you, Ronnie,” said Jack calmly, as if he hadn’t just been sneezed on.

Her face, already flushed from fever, turned even redder as she blushed furiously. “Jack, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok, Ronnie. We just need to get you feeling better now.”

She was sniffling, so he passed her some more tissues.

“Right, are there any more bonus sneezes coming, or can I safely feel your temperature now?” he asked

She couldn’t help but give a small smile. “No, I think that’s it for now. But Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he said, “Worse things have happened!”

She gave a small nod, but he could see she was still quite embarrassed.

He placed his hand on her forehead, uneventfully this time. “Well, you’re actually not quite as hot as before, but you’re temperature is higher than I’d like. It would be best to call Dr Jenkins.”

Before he could see if she would start protesting, like she had with the medicine, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” he said, “It’s probably just Jay.”

“Jay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I needed him to pick something up for me.”

Jack went to answer the door and spent some time checking the file was correct and getting Jay the ten pounds he was demanding.

Suddenly they both heard Ronnie sneezing from the other room, “HA-TCHIEW! HA-TCHIEW! HA-ASHOO!” She had sneezed into her last handful of tissues, but it had done nothing to muffle the sound!

“Was that Ronnie?” asked Jay.

“No, it was the flipping Queen. Yes, of course it was Ronnie!” said Jack, rolling his eyes.

“Can I see her?” Jay asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, mate. She’s feeling pretty rough.”

As if to confirm this, they heard her sneezing again “HA-ESHOO! HA-TCHIEW! HA-HA-ITCHIEEW!”

“Get better soon, yeah?” yelled Jay through to Ronnie.

“Thank you,” Ronnie tried to call back, but started coughing.

“Sounds like she needs someone to take care of her, “ said Jay.

“Well, that’s exactly what I intend to do,” said Jack. He didn’t realise that at that very moment Ronnie was in need of some help.

For her last three sneezes, Ronnie had used the same tissues as before because there were none left in the box. She wanted some from the other room, but she didn’t want to get up when Jay was there.

Unfortunately, her nose had decided that now would be a good time to torment her. “Huh- HATCHIEW! ATCHIEW! Huh-HUH- HIH-ITCHIEW!” The tissues were practically in shreds and her hands were wet from the sneezes. Ronnie sniffled miserably. She wanted to wipe her hands and, even more than that, she wanted to blow her nose.

Suddenly the overwhelming tickle returned. Ronnie sighed as she brought the remains of the tissue to her face, knowing this would be of very little use, but not knowing what else to do. “HA-ITSHIEW! ISHOO! ITSHIEW!”

Her nose was really running now. Without thinking, she wiped her hands, which were covered in spray on her duvet cover. She sniffled hard. Then she looked down and noticed the duvet properly. She desperately needed to at least wipe her nose, if not blow it. She could hear Jay was still talking to Jack. Nobody would know if she used the duvet cover. She buried her nose in it and wiped it. It felt good to get rid of the dripping. As soon as she lifted her head though, her nose started to run immediately. She brought the duvet cover back to her face. She wouldn’t use it to blow, but she just needed something to wipe her dripping nose.

Before she knew what was happening, she was sneezing again, “Huh-N-SHOO! MMPH-CHHH! Huh-N-TCHH!” The duvet cover had effectively stifled her sneezes.

They could, however, still be heard by Jack who was trying to get rid of Jay, who he realised, could talk for ages! Jack was very used to hearing Ronnie’s sneezes by now, and wondered why they had sounded so different.

Ronnie was again being overtaken by the need to sneeze. She cupped part of the duvet round her face and let loose: “HIT-CHH! MPH-TCHH! ET-TCHH!”

She had been so engrossed in her sneezing, that she hadn’t even heard Jay leave the flat and Jack enter the room. He had seen her last two sneezes.

“Ronnie, what’s wrong?” he asked.

Ronnie started as she heard his voice, and then began to blush again for the second time that day. “Oh Jack,” she sniffled and dropped the duvet. She placed one hand in front of her nose so he couldn’t see it dripping. “It’s, well, I don’t have any tissues in here and I just…” she trailed off. She looked up at him with large, watering eyes. “I’ve never done that before. I know it’s disgusting.”

“No, no, it’s not. I should have known you needed tissues. I’ll fetch them now.”

He quickly went to get them from the other room. He felt bad. Jay had only been there because Jack had told him to bring round his papers. If he had just decided to leave work for the day, Ronnie wouldn’t have been in that situation. He was meant to have been looking after her!

She quickly took them and blew her nose into them, without hesitation. He knew she felt uncomfortable blowing her nose in front of other people and wondered if it was desperation that made her do it, or if she was starting to feel comfortable around him again. He really hoped it was the latter.

“Is there anything else you need?” he asked her.

She shook her head. Her eyes were already starting to close again.

“Ronnie, I’m worried that this might be more than a cold. I do want to call the doctor.”

“I’m fine,” said Ronnie lying back against the pillows. “I think it’s just one of those twenty-four hour bugs.”

“Well that would be great news, apart from the fact that it’s been over twenty-four hours!”

“Forty-eight hour bug then,” murmured.

Jack smiled at her. “You always have to have the last word don’t you?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Well, I do want to call the doctor soon though.”

Ronnie’s eyes were shut. “Please just give me ten minutes. Just to have a bit of sleep. Please…”

“Alright. Let me just turn your duvet round, so you’re sleeping under the clean bit.”

“Mmm-hmm,” mumbled Ronnie.

Jack lifted the duvet off her, and she shivered. He turned it round so that the bit she had sneezed into as now near at the foot of the bed. He saw the teddy bear was still in the bed with Ronnie. He hadn’t asked her about it, but she was sure that it must have something to do with Danielle. He carefully tucked the covers around Ronnie, so she wouldn’t feel cold.

Jack decided that now he had his papers, he would bring them into the room and work there, so he could be there for Ronnie if she woke and wanted anything. He still wished he had been there to get her tissues when she needed them.

As he went into the other room to pick up the file, Ronnie’s landline phone started to ring. Jack grabbed it, thinking its ringing might have already woken up Ronnie.

“Hello, Ronnie Mitchell’s phone,” he answered it.

The person on the other end of the line hesitated and then said, ”Oh, um, hello. Can I speak to Ronnie, please?”

It was a man’s voice.

“She’s unavailable now. Can I take a message?” asked Jack.

“Oh, um, right ok. Well, is she ok? She seemed to be getting ill when we last spoke,” said the man on the other end of the phone.

“She’s not too good. Who’s speaking?” asked Jack.

“It’s Joel. I’m, um, a friend of Ronnie’s. Who is this?”

“I’m Jack. Also a friend of Ronnie’s.”

“Right. Well, could you tell her I called? I’ll, uh, try again soon.”

“Bye bye, Joel,” said Jack, hanging up without waiting for Joel to say goodbye.

“So, is Ronnie fooling around with someone?” he wondered. He felt a flash of anger, and then had to try to get himself to snap out of it. He wasn’t with Ronnie now, and he had done his share of fooling around since. Of all the other women he had been with, he had never felt for them what he felt for Ronnie.

While Jack a contemplating his feelings for Ronnie, another thought hit him. “Joel was the name of Danielle’s father.” Jack paced to the window and looked outside without seeing a thing. “There’s more than one Joel in the world,” he reasoned to himself, “But it is a very big coincidence that a guy called Joel was phoning Ronnie.”

He remembered how Ronnie had begged him for a baby after Danielle had died, when they were still together. He thought that perhaps she was trying to have a baby with Joel to ‘recreate’ Danielle. The thought was shocking, but made sense on some level to him. “What is Ronnie playing at? Is she trying to destroy herself by always raking up the past?”

He went into her room, wanting to ask her about this, but she was sleeping. She looked angelic. “Oh Ronnie,” he whispered, looking at her, “What are you doing? I wish I could help you somehow. I wish you could be happy.”

He sat down in a chair near to the bed, and watched her sleep, his paperwork forgotten about.

She stirred and coughed, but she still didn’t wake up. Jack was desperate to talk to her. He thought that the best-case scenario would be if the Joel on the phone was nothing to do with Danielle, but with any other situation, Ronnie would need help.

Ronnie coughed, and finally opened her eyes. She coughed again.

“Jack?” she rasped, “Have you been here all the time?”

“I just wanted to check you were ok. I – “

He broke off as Ronnie started to cough, and couldn’t seem to stop. He couldn’t talk to her while she was like that. “I’ll get you some water,” he said, going to the kitchen.

She sipped some, and the coughing stopped, at least temporarily.

“So, the phone rang while you were sleeping,” he said. “It was Joel.”

Jack watched Ronnie’s reaction carefully. Her expression didn’t give anything away. “Did he leave a message?” she asked.

“Just said he’ll call back later. So, who is this Joel guy? Someone you’re seeing?”

“Jack, it’s none of your business who I’m seeing.” Ronnie’s voice may have been a more hoarse than usual, but she still managed to sound as sharp as she often did.

“I know. I know,” said Jack, “You can see who you like. It’s just good to know you are happy. So where did you two meet?”

“What’s with all the questions, Jack?”

“Nothing. I’m just interested,” said Jack.

“He’s an old friend, “ said Ronnie.

That confirmed it in Jack’s mind and he lost his patience. “It’s Danielle’s Dad, isn’t it? Why are you doing this Ronnie?”

Ronnie just stared at him for a couple of seconds. Then she spoke in a low voice and he moved forward to hear her better. “Just leave it alone Jack. It’s none of your business.”

“But what good can come of this, Ronnie?”

“That’s for me to worry about,” said Ronnie.

“But you will end up hurting yourself. You can’t just make another Danielle.”

Heat rose to Ronnie’s cheeks, but this time she wasn’t blushing, she was furious. “Get out now!”

“Ronnie, you know what I am saying is true.”

“Get out!” Ronnie flung the water in the glass over Jack.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked raising his voice. His shirt was soaked through. “You’re crazy Ronnie. I have been trying to help you and this is the thanks I get.”

“I never asked for your help and I never wanted it. Get out now!”

“With pleasure,” said Jack getting up. “You can ride this out on your own.”

He stormed down the hall and opened the front door of the flat. Then, he hesitated. If anyone else had flung water over Jack, there would have been big trouble. But this wasn’t just anybody. It was Ronnie. He shut the door, staying inside the flat. He took a deep breath, not knowing what to do.

Ronnie, hearing the door shut, believed Jack had gone. She got up and then picked up the picture of Danielle from her bedside table. “Oh Amy,” she said, using the name she had given her daughter at birth, instead of Danielle, which her adoptive family had named her. “It’s just you and me.” She ran her finger over the image of the daughter, “Except, you’re not here. So really, it’s just me.” And suddenly, she was sobbing. Not small sobs, but large heart-wrenching ones.

Jack came back into the room, “Ronnie.”

She jumped, startled that he was still there. “What are you doing here?” she asked through her tears.

“Ronnie, I’m sorry.” Jack went to put his arm around her, but she moved back.

“Leave me alone, Jack.”

Ronnie suddenly started feeling very dizzy. She stumbled, and put the picture down on the bedside table, scared she would drop it and smash it.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jack, very concerned.

“Oh… dizzy,” she replied.

“Come on,” he guided her back to the bed. She sat on the side of the bed. He knelt on the floor at her feet, holding her hands.

“You’re not going to faint, are you?” he asked.

“No,” said Ronnie, “I just came over all funny.” She turned her head and coughed.

Then she took in a deep breath, and quickly taking one of her hands from Jack’s, she turned to the side and sneezed “HA-TCHIEW!”

“Bless you.”

“HA-AP-TCHIEW! AP-CHIEW!”

“Bless you. Do you need a tissue?”

Ronnie turned back to him. “Jack, I need… I don’t know what I need.”

“Well let’s start with a tissue and then think about the next thing afterwards.”

He reached and got her one.

“Thank you. HAPTCHIEW!” She had sneezed uncovered right into Jack’s face. It had just sneaked up on her.

“Oh Jack! I’m so sorry.” She started to dab at his face with the tissue, to try and rectify the situation. “I just didn’t feel it coming. My nose is just going haywire at the moment.”

Jack couldn’t help but give a little smile at her choice of words. He could see that her nose was running. “Hey, let’s deal with the most important things first,” he said and took the tissue that she was dabbing his face with, and used it to wipe her nose instead. “And bless you. I think I forgot to say it that time.”

“I really didn’t mean to do that,” said Ronnie. She looked like she might start to cry again.

“Hey, compared to my soaking shirt, that really doesn’t matter,” he said.

Ronnie looked down, “I’m sorry about that too.”

“There is one thing you could do to make it up to me,” said Jack.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Let me call the doctor.”

“Ok then,” Ronnie finally agreed.

Jack settled her into the bed and then called the surgery from his mobile. He was speaking to the receptionist, about the on-call doctor making a home visit, when he heard Ronnie’s breath starting to hitch. Anticipating her need, he grabbed a handful of tissues and handed them to her. He managed just in time.

“HA-TCHIEW! HUH-ITCHIEW! ITCHIEW!” she sneezed powerfully into them, her hair flying everywhere with the force. She sniffled and pulled her hair back, off her face.

Jack caught her eye and winked. “Bless you,” he mouthed at her while still on the phone.

She smiled at him. “Thank you,” she mouthed back. She took a deep breath and blew her nose in the tissues,

Jack thought she seemed to be a little more comfortable around him, and he hoped that if she were, she would let him take care of her for once, just like she needed.

[count tiszula]

Fab fab fab! And both my phrases turned up! And just as I was about to suggest "Leave it aht, mate", I get the equivalent of that too!

But seriously, the covering, noseblowing and sneezing all over him is erotic in the extreme. I have been longing to see a sneeze from her since at least "Game On". Now there's a thought; and there was a nurse character in that too... It's those nostrils, you know.

[Esperanza]

Fab fab fab! And both my phrases turned up! And just as I was about to suggest "Leave it aht, mate", I get the equivalent of that too!

But seriously, the covering, noseblowing and sneezing all over him is erotic in the extreme. I have been longing to see a sneeze from her since at least "Game On". Now there's a thought; and there was a nurse character in that too... It's those nostrils, you know.

I'm glad you liked the fic I might write one last bit, so will try and include "leave it aht, mate" mate too!

I know what you mean about Sam Janus and those nostrils! I would love to see a real sneeze from her as well

[Ezmac_45]

I know I'm super late on this but this story is fantastic

[Renee]

oh my!! I just love the caretaking in this story.

[blum]

thanks for sharing