A/N: I wrote this aaaaaages ago, back when Sam was still in the show. Connie and Zoe are so OOC here, it's ridiculous. I don't know what I was thinking.

Anyways, this picks up from where S28E31 'Valves to Vagrants' left off.

.:. QK .:.

Flipping through her thick and black leather-bound planner, Connie fought to keep the smirk off her face as she chanced a glance towards the woman sat at the desk adjacent to the sofa she was sat on. Zoe hated her. It was glaringly obvious from the moment they met, what with the way she ran off to find Guy in a failed attempt to get rid of her, and then the cold, almost dismissive way she treated her after realising that Connie was here to stay. Connie didn't care though. She wasn't here to make friends.

She shook her head, looking back down at the planner and scanning through the scruffy yet somewhat elegant scrawl. Much like herself, Connie's to do list was succinct and to the point, all about work, the only reference to a social life being tonight's dinner with Guy (which was more of a meeting than a social call anyway). She knew she had a lunch date with some old colleague the following week - something she'd almost certainly end up cancelling - but other than that, she had no plans of sitting down with someone outside of work and having a little chat.

Connie's thought process was interrupted by her mobile phone going off, drawing a sigh from Zoe who was no doubt in the middle of something important. For a moment, Connie considered letting the phone continue to ring but then decided against it; for all she wanted Zoe's throne, jeopardising the department was not the way to get it. After about five seconds of rummaging through her belongings, she located her mobile and looked at the caller ID.

Sam.

Honestly, she should have known from the international ringing tone. Connie received the call, not bothering to leave the office for privacy. Where would she go? There were even more people stood outside, making all sorts of noise, and she doubted Zoe really cared about her private matters enough to eavesdrop.

"Hello," she said quietly yet confidently, the corners of her lips twitching. She wasn't going to smile. "Finally remembered us lowly NHS medics then?" What would've normally come off as a gripe instead came off as playful, and she wasn't entirely sure that it was involuntary. She was vaguely aware of Zoe watching her but was distracted by the sound of Sam's voice.

"Why? Were you waiting for me to call?" he asked, sounding as cocky and flirtatious as ever.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the fluttering in her chest (something that happened almost every time they did this), and made a smooth recovery, "I just wanted to get this out of the way so I could move on to the more important things."

"Like what?" The tone of his voice, as well as the scoff that followed, clearly indicated that he didn't believe Connie had something better to do than listen to him talk. The arrogance of the man.

"Like dinner with a friend," she countered, keeping her voice calm. Sam really didn't need to know how much he irritated her. It would only serve to make him happy. "A very good friend," she added for good measure. He never could respond to such a statement without sounding horribly jealous.

"Good for you," he replied quickly. Connie smirked. She could only imagine the look on his face right now. "Anyway, I just thought I'd sort the whole Easter situation out with you during my lunch break. I haven't seen Gracie since New Year's. I miss her."

She softened at his words, the irritation she felt at him momentarily forgotten. While Sam Strachan was most possibly the most infuriating man she had ever laid eyes upon, including the likes of Michael Spence, she couldn't stop the rush of something that went through her whenever he voiced his love for their daughter.

"She misses you too," Connie responded softly. I miss you, she almost added but stopped herself just in time. Now she was very aware of Zoe looking right at her.

She listened as Sam went through a list of dates he could fly over to Holby, most of which she shot down because they just weren't convenient for her. As always, they were struggling to find middle ground, when Sam suddenly started talking about the last time he visited her and Grace, a couple of months back.

They had gone out to celebrate New Year's Eve together in London which was no easy feat considering the fact that they'd dragged their six-year-old daughter out into the cold with them but once the fireworks started going off, she'd settled down.

For Connie, it had been bittersweet. She'd long since waved goodbye to the miserable Peckham girl and her long-suffering mother but the death of her father had meant the end of her role as the daughter in the mother, father, daughter unit. Spending New Year's with Sam and Grace had reminded her, ever so briefly, of those rare happy family moments Connie Chase had experienced with her parents. It hadn't been real, it'd been an illusion at best, but it'd been something. Most importantly, it'd made Grace Beauchamp Strachan, the daughter of yet another mother, father, daughter unit, happy. And in the end, that was all that mattered.

"We could have... fun again..." Sam spoke suggestively, snapping Connie out of her reverie.

While she'd been recalling the events of New Year's Eve, her daughter's father had clearly been reminiscing what had happened in the early hours of New Year's Day, after the trio had returned to her late parents' vacant house. Connie felt like a silly schoolgirl what with the butterflies fluttering away in her stomach as well as blood rushing to her cheeks.

She turned towards the other woman in the room just in time to catch the comical look she was receiving. Upon being caught, Zoe had the decency to blush, turning her attention back to her computer screen while Connie straightened up - she had no idea when she'd gotten so comfy on the sofa - and cleared her throat.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," she said firmly, mentally telling herself to calm down. She should have known that Sam would try to get a rise out of her sooner or later. He just couldn't help himself. "I think you should wait until her birthday. She'll appreciate that more, and it's only a couple of weeks after Easter."

"Well-"

Connie had no desire to listen to him speak any further. "I'm sure your lunch break's over by now and some bimbo nurse needs you to help her with something so bye!"

After hanging up, Connie sighed. She'd sounded so childish just then but, luckily, Zoe seemed very invested in whatever she was doing on the computer. What was it about Sam Strachan that evoked so many emotions in the ever elusive Connie Beauchamp and thus made her behave that way? She didn't know. Maybe she'd never know.

.:. QK .:.

A/N: Lol, I don't think that Zoe wouldn't be able to concentrate if Connie's phone went off in the office - you can hear phones going off all the time in this show - but I just had to put that in! I should probably also mention that I am not calling nurses bimboes, my own mother is a nurse, but we all know Sam's history with nurses.