All three of them are out of their seats and surrounding Jesse in a heartbeat.
Dax wraps his arms around him, holding him upright as the other two offer their sympathies.
“Guys,” Jodie says, cutting through their moment. “We need to get out of here before—”
“Fuck, yeah.” Jesse scrubs his hand down his face before rolling his shoulders back. “Her parents are at the main doors. We need to move.”
The guys nod, and Jesse leads the way in the opposite direction to the ward entrance that he must have been shown to the last time this happened.
In less than ten minutes, we find ourselves in the hospital restaurant.
We move to follow them, but my concern for my girl is only growing. She’s exhausted. I understand that she wants to support Jesse right now, but she also needs to look after herself.
“I should get you home, baby,” I say, pulling her to a stop as the others head for coffee.
“But… Jesse,” she argues.
Jesse steps up to us—I hadn’t realised that he hadn’t followed Archer.
“You should go and rest, Jodie. I promise I’ll call you the second anything happens.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone.”
“I’m not. I’ve got those three bellends to keep me company.” He forces a smile in the hope of convincing her.
She looks between the two of us, torn between what her body needs and where her heart needs her to be.
“I can get you back here in ten minutes from your mum’s house,” I assure her.
It takes her a few seconds but eventually, she nods in agreement. And after a long hug and hushed conversation with Jesse, he heads back over to his boys and I’m finally able to take my girl home.