Just a one-shot inspired by last night's episode of Casualty. Sam and Fletch had me in tears, seriously.


Fletch had set himself up for the night in the on-call room. He'd chucked his bag in the corner and sat down on the tiny bed, his head in his hands. He'd told Natalie and she'd kicked him out.. Of course, he hadn't dropped Tess' name in, just like Zoe had asked, instead making up some other nurse that 'was long gone'. But Nat had already known, she'd told him just days before that she thought that he'd been with someone else... He thought she might have accepted it just that tiny bit easier. But no. She'd kicked him out, broken down in front of him, hell he was surprised that she hadn't slapped him one.

He was scared. That's for sure. Not of having no where to live, he could deal with that. He was scared of her not letting him back into her life, if only just to see their children.. Because they were the most important thing to him. And their baby, that she was pregnant with... He'd lost one child over the last few months, one child that wouldn't be brought to life... He wanted to see this one born, he wanted to be in it's life. And the possibility that he'd completely gone and cocked that up was what worried him, in fact it petrified him.

He was torn away from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. He looked up and saw Sam stood in the door way, looking just as surprised as he felt.

"Oh, Fletch.. I didn't realize that you were in here." She said. "I'll just go."

"No, don't worry. You can come in..." He said.

She smiled. "I had planned on staying tonight, but it looks like you had too..."

"Well we could always share." He replied.

She pursed her lips and nodded. "I'll have the sofa."

He got to his feet and shook his head. "Don't be silly, you can have the bed."

"No, no. First come, first serve." She sat down on the sofa, so he sighed and gave up, sitting back on the bed opposite her. "Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Don't ask." He answered, a frown furrowing his eyebrows.

"Oh.." She bit down on her bottom lip and analysed his face.

He looked down at the floor, to stop her looking at him, almost as if she would be able to tell his situation by looking at him. "Shouldn't you be with Tom?"

"Don't ask." She said, that wave of distress washing over her again... Just like it had outside the pub. Oh god, she'd kissed Iain. She shouldn't have, and regretted it the second she pulled away. She was with Tom, they were getting married for gods sake! Well, supposed to be.

"Oh." Fletch looked up at her and could see from her eyes that she was ready to cry. "I could do with a hug though..."

Sam met his eyes and half-heartedly smiled. "So could I."

Their pair of them stood up and took the tiny step forwards, before enveloping each other in an embrace. His arms were around her shoulders and neck, pulling her face flush against his chest, where she buried into him and tried to hold back the tears.

Whilst she was there, Sam thought about this intimate moment. Never in a million years did she expect herself to be sharing the on-call room with Fletch, who seemed just as distressed as she was. Never in a million years did she expect to have him comfort her, never in a million years did she expect that she would feel so serene in his arms. She wasn't thinking that she was instantly smitten with Fletch, oh no, in her mind that would never happen.. But she felt some kind of tranquility with him, and she realized that she did in fact love him. But only as the older brother she'd never had.

Fletch was also thinking about it. The usually so strong and stubborn Doctor Nicholls was here, in his arms, close to breaking down. It was so unusual to see her in this way, he hadn't expected to see her at all tonight. He wondered what had her in such distress, probably something to do with Tom... And then he thought about his own problems. Love. That was the problem... In both their cases. Tom, her current love. Natalie, the woman he used to love. He tilted his head down and buried his face into her hair. He wanted to tell her that everything would be fine, but right now for the two of them, he figured he just couldn't say that. He had no idea what was going on with Sam and Tom, and absolutely no idea what he would do with himself after this. He was alone, well and truly. Yet when he had taken Sam into his arms, he suddenly felt at ease.. Like he had her there and he needed her there, that was all that mattered.

They slowly pulled apart a few minutes later, both of them locking eyes as they did so, smiles appearing on their faces.

"Thank you." Sam spoke first.

"For what? A hug?"

She nodded and looked away, suddenly feeling shy. "You don't have any idea how much better it made me feel."

He smiled again. He understood. He understood a hell of a lot more than she knew. He lifted his hand to her chin and gently pulled her to face him. "Well in that case, thank you too."

She smiled and reached up, placing her hand on top of his. She left it there for a moment, before dropping it to her side and turning to the sofa. He pulled his hand back and watched her as she pulled a few things out of her bag. "I need to change.. I'll be back soon." She said, walking towards the door.

On the way here, she'd rushed back home and grabbed a bag, trying to be as quiet as possible. She'd also tried to avoid looking at Tom as he slept in their bed, she'd felt incredibly guilty, a sickly feeling in her gut and left the house as soon as she possibly could.

She headed towards the nearest toilet to change into her shorts and big shirt that she'd grabbed to sleep in, her brush in her hand too. She just couldn't believe what she'd done. Such a fool!

Fletch watched her leave, then took the opportunity to slip into his tracksuit bottoms and plain t-shirt. He then turned the lamp on, and switched the main light off. Sam was gone a while, so he used the time to transfer her items onto the bed, and then make himself comfy on the sofa. There was no way that he was going to let her sleep on the sofa, what kind of gentleman would that make him? And anyway, he needed to get used to it, he'd be sofa-hopping a lot from now on, well until he got everything sorted.


Sam returned to find him laid on the sofa, a thin blanket from the cupboard covering him. He looked up and smiled at her as she entered, and she sent a frown in his direction.

"I told you that I'd sleep on there." She said, putting her hands on her hips.

"I know, and I told you that you could sleep on the bed." He replied.

She rolled her eyes and shoved her clothes into her bag, before dropping it on the floor. "You can't be warm with that tiny blanket over you."

"It was the only thing in the cupboard."

Sam checked for herself, then sighed. "I wish you'd have just let me stay on there."

"No, Sam. Look at what you're wearing.. I'm almost certain that I'm twenty times warmer than you would be on here!"

She sighed again and pulled back the duvet on the bed. "Don't be silly, the cold doesn't bother me."

Fletch rolled his eyes. "Give up, Sam. You're staying there, end of."

"Fine." She climbed into the bed and pulled the duvet over her, then reached out and turned the lamp off. "Night Fletch."

"Night." He replied.

She rolled over onto her side and stared at the tiny window. She knew that she wouldn't get much sleep, not with today's events playing on her mind. She knew that when she went to visit that old friend with Iain in the week, that she should have told Tom.. But she knew that he would have reacted badly. Yet it seems that her decision to hold back that information had caused an even worse reaction, and then she went and kissed Iain tonight? What had she been thinking?! It was bad enough that after her argument with him earlier, Tom now thought that she didn't want to get married to him, which wasn't the case. But kissing her ex wasn't the right thing to do to solve this issue.

Fletch laid on his back and stared at the ceiling. He knew that Natalie wouldn't let him back home. He wouldn't be home for Christmas... He wouldn't get to see the children's faces as they opened their presents. He wouldn't get to see the great big grin on Ella's face when she opened the dress that she'd been dying to get since her birthday, and he wouldn't see Mikey's loud shout of 'Yeah! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!' When he opened the bike that they'd saved up for since last Christmas. Then there was Evie, that would tear anything open and squeal at the sight of it, just so happy to have presents from Santa. He could feel tears stinging in his eyes at the thought of missing these precious moments, and it was even worse that he couldn't do anything about it. Even if he did find a sofa to sleep on, whoever it belonged to wouldn't want his three kids there for the evening.. And he didn't have any presents to give them anyway, he'd just disappoint them. He was already disappointing them.

It was silent in the tiny on-call room for about half an hour. Both Sam and Fletch were awake, both staring at something through the darkness, mulling over the reasons why they were even here. Sam had wanted to invite Fletch to squeeze in the bed with her, but hesitated and then eventually said nothing. She knew that whatever the reason that caused him to be here must have had something to do with his wife, so suggesting that he sleep in a bed with another woman was perhaps the wrong thing to do. But it was just sleeping. And Sam felt like all the thinking she was doing was distressing her, she wanted to feel that serenity again, the serenity that she'd strangely found with Fletch.

Eventually, she spoke. "Fletch? Are you still awake?"

She was expecting no answer, but there was a sniff and the clearing of a throat, then she heard his voice. "Yeah."

"I.. Um.. I could do with another hug.." She mumbled.

There was no reply, but she heard the rustling of his blanket being thrown back and then the quiet footsteps as he approached her. She felt her own duvet move as Fletch slid in beside her, then his warm arms found their way around her waist and pulled her close. She placed her hands on his torso and snuggled into his chest, that feeling of serenity filling her senses again.

Fletch held Sam against him and stared at the wall behind her. He couldn't stop thinking about what an idiot he was, how badly he'd timed it. Of course, he'd brought it on himself, but now he was wishing that he had waited until after Christmas to come clean. It was wrong, of course, he shouldn't have ever given himself a reason to come clean.. He shouldn't have had that fling with Tess, but he just wished he could have been with his kids just that tiny bit longer. They were the most important thing in his life.

The pair of them laid there in silence for a few moments, until Sam whispered. "I love him..." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to say it out loud, perhaps to prove it to herself, or to get the confidence to state that she really was in love with Tom to someone else that she loved.

Fletch looked down at Sam, and saw the tears glistening in her eyes. He softly kissed her forehead, then nodded. "I know you do. There's no one who could love Tom more than you."

A tear rolled down Sam's cheek and she quickly wiped it away. She knew that Fletch understood how much she loved Tom, if only the man himself could get it too.

Nothing more was said between the two of them for the rest of the night. They both just laid and mulled over their situations some more. Some how, both of them refrained from crying, even if they were both over thinking, their minds not letting them rest.

Fletch fell asleep first. Sam guessed that it was about two when she looked up and saw his eyes closed, his breathing slow, and a small pout on his lips. It made her smile. She was half-tempted to search for her phone and snap a picture of him, so she could wind him up in the morning, add some normality back into their lives. But nothing could feel normal at this particular time. Even if she wanted to do that, she wouldn't. I mean, imagine the things that could spread around the ED if anyone caught sight of a picture of Fletch asleep on her phone. The fact that Tom was going to propose to her had spread like quick fire, this wouldn't be a good idea. She sighed and got herself comfortable, then closed her eyes and tried to sleep. There was so much going on in her mind, and she knew it was only about four hours before she needed to get up and work.

If only she'd gone about things differently.. If only Iain hadn't started at Holby. Yet she couldn't just blame him... It wasn't just his fault, her actions had caused all of this too. She wasn't about to lose Tom. She would do whatever it took to keep him, because she loved him more than she'd ever loved anyone before. She wanted to marry him, without the big white wedding and all that crap, she just wanted it to be the two of them. Heck, she'd even move away if she had to! In fact, that could be great, they could start fresh.. New jobs, new friends.. Away from Iain.. It could be perfect if they allowed it to be.

She fell asleep just half an hour later... And she slept quite peacefully. The four small hours of sleep that they managed to get was quiet and calm. Whether it was because they were in each others presence, or because they were away from the drama for a bit, they managed to cope with their make do home for the night. Strangely, yet perfectly, happy.