Chapter Text
Hearing the knock at the door, Jac took a deep breath. She knew exactly who it was. After chatting for what felt like hours in the coffee shop earlier, they'd arranged for Jasmine to visit her that night. The official reason was so they could catch up in private but they both knew what was really happening. Jasmine was going to meet her her niece for the first time. Jac never thought this day would come. She never really thought she'd have a child and all those years ago when she first met her sister, she thought if she never saw her again it'd be too soon. And then she turned up on her ward all bright smiles and bouncy hair. Although it turned out that the younger woman wasn't all that bad. Besides, Paula wouldn't have wanted them to get on and she would never give that woman what she wanted.
She gave one last look to her daughter, building a tower on the floor, before going to answer the door. As predicted, her half-sister was waiting nervously on the doorstep.
“Jac.” Jasmine greeted with a smile.
“Come in.” She stood aside to let her in, closing the door behind her. She led her into the living room, where Emma was playing. “Emma can you stop that a minute.” She called and the three year old put down the brick in her hand and looked up with wide eyes. “This is Jasmine, she's your auntie.”
“Like auntie Mo?” She asked, curious.
She rolled her eyes. She detested that she called her that. “No, Mo isn't really your auntie. Your dad just likes you to call her that. Jasmine is my sister, so that means she's your auntie.”
She nodded slowly, processing this new information. “Hello.” She waved.
“Hi Emma. What are you building?” She gestured at the pile of blocks behind her.
“Hospital. For mummy daddy to work.” She spoke with pride.
Why wasn't she surprised. “I work in a hospital too. I'm a doctor like your mummy.”
“I be doctor when bigger. The best, like mummy.” She folded her arms in front of her and puffed her chest out.
“Oh really, did she tell you that.” She smirked over at Jac.
“Well of course. I wasn't going to lie to my daughter.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Jasmine is a good doctor too. She's still learning but one day she could be almost as good as me.” She spoke sincerely.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She always presumed Jac thought she was a terrible doctor. She'd said as much enough times. She closed her mouth and put on her usual front. “Oh only almost? I'll be better than you before you know it.”
“No one can be better than the best.”
Emma had been looking between the two but was clearly fed up of the conversation. She sighed and knocked over her wooden blocks, making a loud clatter as they hit the wooden floor. When she was happy both sets of eyes were on her, she flopped down onto the floor. “I'm bored! Someone needs to play with me.”
Jasmine laughed. “Well I don't need to ask where she gets her dramatic or bossy nature from.” She took a step closer to her niece. “What are we going to play?”
Emma put her finger on her chin as she thought. “Superheroes! I Wonder Woman, you super girl and mummy…”
“And mummy is going to make cups of tea while the children play. Do you want anything Emma?” She interrupted before walking towards the kitchen.
“Orange juice please mummy.” She asked politely before turning back to Jasmine and they were soon both deep into their game.
Jac returned from the kitchen a while later, stopping in the door way to watch them both running up and down the living room. She carefully placed the tray containing two mugs of tea and a cup of orange juice down on the cabinet next to her. She thought this was the moment she truly became a soppy mother as she took her phone out of her pocket and took a large number of pictures of her daughter teaching her sister how to perfect the Wonder Woman twirl. She picked up the drinks again and entered the room fully, sitting on the sofa and placing the drinks in the coffee table in front of her.
Jasmine stopped as soon as she noticed her enter the room. She stood self consciously, eyes darting around.
“Please don't stop on my account.” Then her voice softened. “Really, it's nice to see. She doesn't make friends very easily, kids her age aren't interested in the same things as her and she doesn't want to play mummies and daddies or princesses with them. It's good for her to have someone to really play with her, the things she likes.”
That was the most sincere she'd ever seen Jac. She nodded, visibly relaxing again. “So Emma, where did those fire breathing baddies go?” Soon they were off running around the room again, both as enthusiastic as the other. Jasmine was glad she'd read her fair share of super hero comics when she was younger and was able to impress the small girl with her knowledge.
The pair were lying on the floor a while later, after successfully confining all the villains to jail. “Jasmine?” Emma asked in a small voice.
“Yes monkey?” She turned her head to face her.
“It nice having a sister? I want sister but mummy say no.” She frowned.
She was thrown, how was she supposed to explain the situation to a three year old. “I don't really know Emma. I haven't known your mummy for very long so I can't really say. And when we did meet we weren't very good friends so I'd say having a sister is tricky. But I'm glad I have her.”
She thought she was talking quietly enough to not be heard over the tv, she was wrong. Jac fought the grin that wanted to spread across her face. What was the matter with her today. She didn't think she'd ever be this glad to have her sister in her life but she knew she never wanted to loose her.