“Jakey, wake up,” said a soothing voice next to him. His throbbing forehead was dabbed with a towel, and the voice spoke again, softly.

“Are you ok?”

Jake opened his eyes expecting to see a nurse standing next to his bed. What he actually saw was Leina, curled up next to him wearing what could only be described as a tasteless and skimpy nurses uniform that she had clearly bought for a hen do. Jake was horrified, but his efforts to move away only succeeded in sending ripples of pain down his legs.

The only reply he could manage was a tentative nod, along with a guttural “hmmmerflaarrgghh!”

“You know how you said in your interview that you liked girls better when they were crying?”

Jake nodded, fearfully.

“Well I like men better when they’re in pain.”

Jake let out an involuntary high pitched squeal, and then a sigh of relief at a loud knock at the door.

“Come in!” he shouted, actually glad to see someone for a change.

A girl that he vaguely recognised from the room he avoided in his quarters walked in.

“You need to leave,” she hissed at Leina. “I am in charge of looking after Jake.”

Leina gave her what could only be described as a look which could have sharpened daggers, before smiling back at Jake.

“You get better darling, I’ll see you soon at work.”

Jake watched her leave, and quickly spoke to his saviour who criss-crossed her hand over her chest.

“Thank you so much, I owe you one.” Jake hadn’t understood the vitriol with which his new companion had spoken to Leina. His experience with women was, well, limited and he didn’t really appreciated how attractive a war hero was to the women of Crawk.

“That’s ok, any time. I’ll hold you to that,” she beamed. “I’m Jaska, by the way.”

“Hi Jaska. So are you my nurse?”

“Yes?” Jaska answered, unconvincingly. She had just seen Jake’s nurse in the corridor and knocked her out cold, so in essence she was now.

“So what’s wrong? Have I broken it?” he asked pointing to his leg.

“No, you’ll be ok after a while,” she smiled. “But you need plenty of rest. I’ve set something up for you to do whilst you’re recovering – I think you’ll like it.”

Before Jake could argue he had been slung over Jaska’s shoulder and carried down the corridor.