A/N: Another new fic!

'Phil, I've got to go, okay? I'll take a look at it tomorrow.' Jo sighed, trust him to need my undivided attention the day I'm meant to be meeting Sam. I mean, I know she's straight, but a girl can dream can't she?

'But what if it's got worse? It might be life threatening or something if we leave it.' Jo couldn't help but grin at that one; she just about managed to fight back laughter, but only just.

'Phil, grow up. It's an in-growing toenail. You probably won't even need surgery.' She sighed, gathering together her bag and coat and quickly stuffing a stapler and file in the top draw of her desk.

'Surgery? You never said anything about surgery. It must be serious if I could need surgery.' Oh god, well done Jo, that'll calm him down. He gets way too worried about things; I really must talk to him about that when I have more time.

'Phil, get a grip. I've got to be somewhere, go and see a doctor or something.'

'Well it's nice you're so concerned about my impending death.' Oh for god's sake. How can one person react so badly to something so ridiculous? I can't deal with this right now, I was meant to be at Sam's half an hour ago, why does he always wait until I'm out the door to decide he has something important to talk about. Well, if you can call his foot care important that is…

'Right now it'd be a welcome event. Now I've got to go, before I say something I might regret.'

'I think you already did that.'

'No Phil, I didn't. Now goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow.' The brunette called, rushing out the door and leaving him alone in the CID office.

'Bye.'

'Sam. Come on Sam, let me in. I'm sorry I'm late. Sam.' It was no good; the only attention she was attracting with her yelling was that of a neighbour.

Right, that's it, I didn't leave Phil alone when he was in such a state for nothing. I came here to see Sam and I'm not going away just because she's too stubborn to open the door to me. She reached over the top of the gate, relieved to find the bolt was at the top. After fiddling with it for a few seconds the gate swung open and Jo was free to wander into her garden.

She peered through the back window, squinting as she saw the form of a person sitting on the floor. The first thing she noticed was the mass of blonde hair, smiling as she realised it was Sam. Though her heart skipped a beat when she saw a mass of red coating her arm. Smashing the window she was looking through, Jo climbed

in and jumped down off the work surface.

'Jo, help me, please.' The blonde was sitting huddled in the corner of the room, her knees tight against her chest, shaking uncontrollably, her skin pale.

'Oh God. Sam, what've you done?' She didn't expect an answer, just took the blonde's arm, clenching her fist around Sam's wrist and holding it above her superior's head.

Jo searched the room wildly, her eyes resting on a discarded knife on the floor covered in blood. Drawing her eyes away quickly, she looked to the blonde, 'Shit.' She whispered as she stared at the blonde's closed eyes.

'Sam. Sam come on, wake up.' she pleaded as she lightly tapped her cheek, recoiling slightly as she felt just how clammy her skin was. 'Sam, what've you done? Come on, wake up, you can't do this to me Sam. You just can't. Come on.' As the blonde's eyelids drearily fluttered open Jo sighed in relief, pulling her mobile out of her bag.

Jo realised for the first time that she was shaking just as much as Sam, the brunette struggling to retain her grip on the small phone. After dropping it once and cursing under her breath, the detective had dialled a number imprinted on her memory and was shakily holding the phone up to her ear. 'It's… it's DC Masters,' Jo took a deep breath in as she attempted to calm herself down enough to speak. 'I need an ambulance at 16 New Kings Street right away, there's one victim, a female, with a laceration to the left wrist. Okay, juts hurry them, yeah? I don't know how long she's been like this but she's lost a lot of blood.' Shutting her phone, she dropped it, turning her attention to Sam who had by now slipped unconscious.

'Oh come on Sam.' she begged, tightening her grip around the blonde's wrist and tapping her cheek again, hoping to provoke a reaction but the blonde not responding.

Jo rushed into the hospital, making her way over to the reception desk. 'Samantha Nixon, she was just brought in, where is she?'

'Are you a family member?'

'No, I'm a friend. And a colleague. I need to stay with her.'

'Well you'll have to wait outside for a bit, there's too many people in the resuscitation room as it is.'

'Resuscitation? What you mean she's not breathing?'

'I don't know. They took her straight in there when she came in. I'll get a doctor to fill you in when they know more.'

'Yeah, thanks.' Jo replied hazily, not really taking in what she was being told, her mind worrying too much about Sam.

'You here for Miss Nixon?'

It took a while for it to register with Jo that someone was talking to her, and even longer for her to respond. 'Eh?'

'Miss Nixon? Samantha? You came in with her didn't you?'

'Yeah. Yeah how is she? Is she… is she still…' Jo let the question hang in the air, not being able to bring herself to ask.

'She's stable, just. Though she's not breathing for herself. She lost a lot of blood, she's lucky she made it to the hospital.'

'She's a fighter.' Jo responded meekly, gulping slightly as she took in the information.

'Yeah, I guess she must be.' the doctor replied, smiling positively.

'Is she going to be okay? I mean, the not breathing for herself, that's just temporary, right?' Jo asked, a lump forming in her throat.

'I'm sorry, I can't answer that, we don't know. Does she have a next of kin?'

'Oh god, yeah, her daughter Abi. I haven't called her. I should have called her. She'll want to be here.'

'I'm sure she'll understand. Finding Miss Nixon like that must have been a traumatic experience, you're still getting over it.'

'I should have called her. She's Sam's daughter.'

'As I said, I'm sure she'll understand. Why don't you go outside, get a bit of fresh air, if you can find any in our car park anyway, and call Miss Nixon's daughter.'

'Yeah, yeah, I'll go now.' Jo replied uncertainly, shakily rising to her feet, clinging on to the chair for support.

'Do you want someone to check you out? Maybe give you something for the shock?'

'No. No I've got to go… phone… things need to be done… work…' She stuttered, making her way slowly towards the entrance.

'You're in no fit state to go into work.'

'But I've got to.'

'No, you're in shock. You need to be here for Miss Nixon to wake up anyway, she obviously means a lot to you.'

'She's just a friend.' Jo cut in defensively.

'Did I say anything different?'

Jo frowned, 'Well, no but…'

'Go and call her daughter. Then you can sit with Samantha if you like.'

'Really?' Jo's asked eagerly.

'Yeah.' the doctor replied with a smile. 'Go on, go speak to her daughter.'

'Yeah, yeah okay.'

Jo headed towards the car park, pulling her phone out of her pocket on her way, her hands still trembling. Dialling the same number she'd called earlier, she waited impatiently for the phone to be answered, pacing backwards and forwards in a small section of the car park.

'Hi, it's DC Masters… Could you find DI Nixon's details for me, I need the number of her next of kin… No, she… She was the victim I called in earlier… I need the number of her daughter… Right… Yeah… Okay, thanks. Yeah, no she's not breathing for herself but she's stable… Yeah… Yeah okay, put me through to her.' Jo sighed, tapping her foot as she waited for the phone to be answered again.

'Abigail Nixon? Yes, hello I'm DC Masters, I'm a colleague of your mother… No, Abigail, please, hear me out… I'm not calling because you're mother asked me to; I'm calling because she's been hospitalised… Please, it's serious… I really think you should… Abigail? Abi? Damn it.' she snapped her phone shut, groaning to herself.

'Come on Sam. You need to wake up.' Jo coaxed unenthusiastically, her eyelids heavy with lack of sleep. 'Come on. We need you at work.' She attempted; sighing as am gave no response. 'Abi needs you Sam, she may not think it, but she does. You've got to wake up for her.' Jo's efforts were becoming few and far between, her body wanting to sleep. 'Come on Sam.' she pleaded, laying her head on the bed, taking the blonde's hand in her own. 'I need you, Sam.' she whispered, finally allowing her body the rest it craved.

Jo groggily opened her eyes; sitting up as she realised it was her mobile ring tone that woke her. Looking around her, she stood up quickly, rushing out of the room and down to an empty corridor, knowing that there was too much technology a phone could interfere with that in the room Sam was occupying. When she'd found a deserted area, she looked to her phone, sighing as she saw Phil's name displayed on the caller id. Snapping it open she put on her cheeriest voice she could manage. 'Alright Phil. How's the holiday going?'

After listening to Phil's moaning down the other end of the phone, Jo sighed, responding when he'd finally stopped for air. 'What do you want me to do about it? What? No… Phil, I can't… I'm sorry, I'm busy right now… I can't tell you, but it really is important… Yes, more important than a murder case… Look, I'll try and come in for a bit tomorrow, but I'm not promising anything… yeah, alright mate, yeah, okay, bye Phil.'. She shut her phone, groaning as she looked around her and made her way back to Sam's hospital room, not sure how much longer she could carry on making excuses for both of them not being in work.

It wasn't until she'd almost walked into him that she realised Sam's doctor was making her way out of her room. 'Any change?' she asked hopefully.

'A little. She's making a little more effort to breath but she's still not ready to be taken off the ventilator. Her blood pressure is also down a bit, so we'll have to keep an eye on that.'

'Nothing more?' Jo asked defeated.

'It's a start, Miss Masters. It may not sound like much, but you have to take into account Samantha's blood loss and the length of time she's been relying on a machine to breath for her. Right now the fact that her body is registering that she needs to breath for herself, even though she's unable to at the moment, is a very positive sign.'

Jo merely sighed to herself, obviously dubious about the doctor's opinion.

'Miss Masters…'

'Please, I think I'm going to be here a while, you may as well start calling me Jo.'

'Jo, she's been in here four days. Four days of not breathing for herself is a long time, it may not seem it, but it is. The fact that her body is beginning to respond, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it's a very promising thing. Most patients, when they get to this stage, we don't hold much hope of them waking up, but Samantha is showing signs of response, that's positive and very rare Jo, you need to understand that.'

'So… it really might… she could… she might wake up?' Jo asked, pursing her lips as she fought back the tears.

'Yes Jo, she could wake up. Right now that's getting more and more likely.'

Thanks.' Jo responded, nodding slightly at the doctor, not really sure how else to show her gratitude.

'I'm just doing my job Jo, you're the one that's here when you needn't be.'

'I do need to be here.' Jo whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

'Samantha, she means a lot to you, doesn't she?'

'She's a good friend.' Jo relied; hoping the doctor wouldn't pick up on Jo's attraction to Sam.

'Are you sure that's all she is?'

'What do you mean?'

'I think you know what I mean, Jo. If she means this much to you, tell her. You might be surprised by how she reacts.'

'She's in a coma, she won't react at all.'

'Jo, she could still be able to hear you, y'know.'

'That's why I'm scared of what I say.'

The doctor smiled slightly, 'I shouldn't interfere, sorry.'

Jo pulled her vision up to the woman standing before her. 'No, you've been… you've been… thanks.' She concluded with a small smile, hoping the woman would understand.

'Anytime, Jo.'

Jo nodded slightly before going back into Sam's room, taking a seat in the chair by the blonde's bed, once again resting Sam's hand in her own, squeezing it slightly. 'Hi.' She said with a smile, pausing slightly before she said anymore, not quite sure of how to begin. 'You need to wake up. There are things I need to say to you, and I need to know you're listening, because I won't be able to say them twice.'

Jo sighed as she received no response, not that she was expecting one though. 'Come on Sam, don't do this to me any longer. Wake up Sam. I need you to wake up. I can't do this much longer, Sam. I can't keep lying to work about why we're not there. I can't keep coming in here everyday, I'm not sleeping properly, if I'm not half asleep here I'm at home worrying that you're not okay. I need to you to stop doing this to me, Sam. Please wake up.'