#oh also have a kian that i'm going to post later

[maggotmoment]

me when there's bugs in the bayou:

[bygone-age]

HOLBY CITY BAKE OFF

A fun little idea I had while my mam was catching up with some recent Holby episodes and I decided the writers don't know how to do happy and fun.

It's an AU of course - Dom isn't adopted, Lofty didn't cheat, Ric isn't suddenly past it, Jac is happy (and still in charge of Darwin), Kian is around, but a bit less annoying (I'm getting used to him), Serena and Bernie are still together and Hanssen is not in Sweden. Also Gaskell wasn't a total bastard and Roxanna is still with us.

So anyway, here it is!

******

WEEK ONE - CAKE WEEK

Sacha Levy was not fond of working nights, but he owed Dom a favour and it was only for a few days.

Of course, night shift had its advantages - his last ward round had passed without incident, the patients were settled for the night and barring any unforseen emergencies, they should remain that way till handover in the morning, so all he had to do was check in with the junior doctor and ward nurses every now and then and the rest of the time was his own.

He had a supply of good coffee (a present from Jac and Emma, along with a mug covered in doctor jokes), he'd managed to get ahead of his paperwork for once and he'd even gone over a research proposal from his junior, so he was going to spend the next hour with Agatha Christie. Or least, that had been the plan. Almost as soon as Hercule Poirot had boarded the Orient Express, his office phone rang.

"Mr Levy?" it was the rather shaky voice of Nicky McKendrick. "could you come down to Darwin? I- I- I know you're probably busy, but... well, there's a problem with Ms Naylor."

~~~~~~

Five minutes later he was hurrying out of the lift and onto Darwin. Nicky was waiting for him, looking positively queasy.

"Nicky, what happened?"

"Well, everyone was settled for the night and she had me doing half a mountain of paperwork and practicing for tomorrow morning's surgery, while she worked in her office. About ten or so minutes ago, she stuck her head out and said she wasn't to be disturbed unless it was a critical emergency. She said anyone who did would be thrown out of her office window."

"That's pretty standard for Jac."

"Yes, but I walked past her office and I could hear her going "he's an arsehole, she's an arsehole, he's never going to win, she's just crap" and I knocked on her door to see if she was OK and..."

"and what?"

"She told me to fuck off. Then she threw a cupcake at me."

Now he was just curious.

"OK, first you need to calm down. Get yourself a cuppa and take five minutes, then try and tackle the rest of that paperwork. I'll go and see Jac."

Nicky went off to the break room and Sacha went to Jac's office to see what was going on.

~~~~~~

"I thought I told you to fuck off!?!"

"Not since I knocked Emma's glitter onto the floor!"

Jac turned to see it was Sacha, rather than Nicky butting in as she had before.

"Oh. Sorry, I thought you were Nicky bothering me again."

"No and you should apologise. And explain why you're throwing cupcakes."

"I told her - no interruptions. The cupcake was burnt, it shouldn't have been in the box, but Emma insisted it was fine and I forgot to take it out of the box."

Sacha sat down beside her on the couch and finally noticed what she had on on the portable TV on the coffee table.

"Still mean though, you should ap- Bake Off? I thought that started next week!?!"

"Tonight. Half of them are doomed, but Hollywood is such a dick, I want the worst one to win just to spite him."

Sacha laughed out loud and settled in beside her.

"Mind if I join you? Watching you critique cooking shows is one of the funniest things you can get away with at work!"

She nugded him playfully and grinned.

"Shut up and make yourself comfortable... if you can take time away from Agatha Christie!"

"She can wait for a hour, but I will nip up during the break and grab some of that lovely coffee. And while I'm doing that, you can apologise to Nicky"

He looked at her with just a little bit of sterness and she gave him her best put upon sigh - one borrowed straight out of her daughter's playbook.

"Fine! As long as she isn't going to make a big deal out of it."

They settled in to a comfortable silence for the next few minutes and when the break came, Sacha went to fetch the coffee, hearing Jac call Nicky over as he left.

"Oi, foetus! Put that lot down, I need a word!"

~~~~~~

A few minutes later, having checked in with Keller and grabbed his coffee maker, Sacha returned to Jac's office to see her and Nicky side by side, Nicky practically bouncing with excitement and Jac trying very hard to keep a stern look on her face. He avoided eye contact and set the coffee up on her desk.

"Sorry I'm late, I stopped in at the break room to fill this up" he motioned to the cafetiere. "what have I missed?"

"They're making Angel Cake Slices for the technical" Nicky pipped up brightly "I don't know why-"

"Because you don't know anything. Now be quiet or you'll get another burnt cake thrown at you."

Sacha smiled. Jac wasn't fooling anyone, she was enjoying the company and she knew it. As if on cue, she softened (slightly. Very slightly) and turned towards Nicky as he passed out the coffee and sat on her other side.

"It would be too easy to just do three traybakes and jam them together. This way requires much more skill, so it's a better challenge."

"Oh! That makes sense. You know, you should-" Nicky sneaked a quick look at Jac and decided against what she'd been about to say. "nevermind. It can wait."

"Good. Now, not another word unless the judges make someone cry"

END OF PART ONE

NEXT: BISCUIT WEEK. The action moves to Sacha's flat. Jac makes ginger snaps, Nicky brings tea and Ric has definite opinions on the "loose vs bagged" debate.

~~~~~~

Hope you liked that! I'm going to try and do one for each week, so I know I have some to catch up on and I've never been very good at deadlines, but I will try and if anyone has any ideas, drop me a line any time.

This is especially for @foxyroxysstuff, who I hope will forgive me for delaying finishing her prompt to finish this first! I'm going to do yours now, promise!

EDIT:- Forgot to post this 👇 👇 it's the coffee maker that Jac and Emma bought Sacha.