"So, how long is she likely to be in hospital?" Susan's dad asked the nurse.

The surgery had gone well but there likely to be follow up operations, there was talk of a colostomy bag. "You would have to speak to the surgeon but normally a full week for a bowel obstruction, if she has further surgery it could be more. She won't be on her feet for probably six weeks." The nurse explained.

Susan's dad looked at Jo, "Is your dad likely to be on shifts all that time?" Susan nodded, "well, how about you have dinner with us and then before evening visiting hours we go talk to your dad. We'll see if he would mind you staying with us for a bit."

Jo looked at the ground, willing the tears to go away. When she looked up her eyes were dry. "I think he may appreciate that."

They left the hospital and drove to their house, conversation was sparse but Susan had sat in the back seat with her and held her hand all the way home.

"Hey honey, Jo's going to stay for dinner." Susan's dad called as he took off his jacket at the door.

"Thanks for having me Mr Niche, I really appreciate it. It was probably going to be beans on toast for tea otherwise."

"Hey, we don't know that it's not yet! Who knows what my darling Elle has cooked up for us!" He said disappearing into the kitchen.

They finished stripping off their shoes and coats and followed him. Jo was sure the dinner she smelled was not beans on toast and she was famished, not having eaten anything but a muesli bar from the vending machine.

"Dinner smells lovely Mrs N, what is it?" She asked, sincerely.

"Just spag bol Jo, nothing special. Are you girls hungry, I'm just putting the pasta on?"

Jo admitted how hungry she was and Susan's mum added some extra pasta. "By the way, just call us Rick and Elle dear, you're family now! It seems weird to be Mr and Mrs Niche."

"Okay erm, Elle, it feels a little weird though." Jo admitted.

"We'll, it's Richard and Eleanor if you want a little formality but we really don't use our full names often." Elle said adding salt and oil to the pasta.

"But it is most certainly not Dick or Dicky. Got that?" Rick insisted as the girls sniggered.

The pasta, or rather the bolognese, was magnificent. Jo went back for thirds, urged on by Susan's mum, apparently she wasn't a fan of leftovers.

"So, what time will your dad be up Jo? Visiting hours are 7.30 to 9 and we want to catch him before he heads out." Rick asked, conscious that they needed to have that discussion with Jo's dad.

"He's normally up by eight, I don't know about today though. I'll send him a text and ask him to call when he wakes. Are you sure you're okay with me staying?" She asked.

"Hon, we have a spare bed, you can bus in with Susan, it makes sense." Elle insisted, "And you can visit your mum either after school or evenings, one of us can drop you and pick you up."

"Thanks, mum does like me to visit, even when I have nothing to tell her." Jo shook her head, "I guess there’s no sense getting upset” she said pretty much to herself. “Susan, did you get any homework in our classes today?"

It turned out she had been given notes from a number of Jo's classes on remedial work to catch up on the day's lessons. It was mainly reading work but the girls disappeared to Susan's bedroom to study.

Jo looked around as she entered, "You know, last time I was here was before bowling. Man, that was a good day. Felt weird wearing your clothes though."

"About that, you never gave me back the undies!" Susan teased, it obviously hit a note because Jo blushed and couldn't meet her eyes.

"Did you like them?" Susan asked with a frown, still teasing. "You know the cherries were symbolic?"

At that Jo looked up and met her eyes, "We weren't even going out!"

"Weren't we? You know bowling wasn't arranged until you showed up. Lucia made a great wingman." She couldn't keep a straight face any longer and burst out laughing. "Oh man, the look on your face!"

They knuckled down after that, Susan only helping Jo a few times, there obviously hadn't been any earth shattering topics covered and they had pretty much finished by the time Jo's dad called.

"Rick, damn that still feels weird to call you that, erm, my dad says he plans to leave at 7.45 so if you want to talk to him we should leave." So announced. "We've done our homework so we are ready when you are."

"No time like the present." he said and hopped up from the couch. "You got everything in case your dad says no?"

They got round to Jo's with loads of time spare, Susan felt bad about the fact she was nervous leaving the car outside. It wasn't that bad a neighbourhood and her dad didn't seem to care. She felt like she was insulting her girlfriend by distrusting the neighbours.

Jo opened the door and called, "Dad, Susan and her dad are here." They walked down the hall and found him finishing his breakfast, hurriedly he swallowed his mouthful and wiped his hands, getting up to shake Rick's hand.

Rick introduced himself, "I'm sorry to hear about your wife, Jo tells me the surgery went well though?" Jo's dad had been on the phone with the surgeon in the afternoon so he was well informed. "We were just wondering if you wanted us to look after Jo for the week? I thought it might give you one less thing to worry about." Rick asked.

Jo's dad looked at her, noting the hopeful look on her face. "Hmmm, this isn't an excuse to get close with your girlfriend is it?" He asked her jokingly.

"She would be in the spare bedroom." Rick explained, "and we would drop and pick her up from the hospital for visiting hours. It just means you don't need to cook for her or worry about her alone in the house."

"Yeah, it's actually a really nice thing for you to do, I'm sure Jo will appreciate it as much as I do." He waved a hand to the kitchen seats, "Have a seat, I hope you don't mind me finishing my breakfast in front of you?" He sat himself and picked up his fork. "Chop chop Jo, go pack, don't keep them waiting. And remember your guitar."

Susan and Jo rushed off to her room, leaving the men to talk.

"Now that we're alone, is everything okay? Is your wife alright?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, it sounds a bit more serious than the other times she's been in hospital but she'll pull through, she's tough." He finished his breakfast and got up to wash his plate.

"Is there anything else at all I can do to help?" Rick asked, feeling a little helpless.

"Just look after Jo, that's actually a big help. She looks and acts tough, and I wouldn't say she's fragile by any means, but she is still a teenager. She needs support, more than I can give her at the moment."

He had just finished washing up as the girls reappeared heavily laden with bags. "Got everything, toothbrush? Good, well better head out then."

They walked down the hall, Jo's dad turning lights off behind them. Somehow it felt foreboding, like they were leaving for a lot longer than the week.