Things had been tense at work. Ethan and Alicia. Lily and Iain. Connie and Sam.

The latter had made a suggestion - a team-building weekend. Of course, some of the ED had to work, so it had to be done in two shifts. Ethan, Alicia, Lily, Iain, Connie, Sam and Noel piled on the mini bus, with Charlie and Duffy coming along to 'supervise'. They were seen as the 'mum and dad' of the ED and had been invited on both weekends. No one thought it was fair to split up the recently married couple.

Connie had tried to get out of going on the same weekend as Sam, citing, that it was unfair to Grace. Grace however, had already asked to go to her residential respite place in Devon that weekend. It was something she looked forward to, as it gave her a bit of independence. Connie didn't have the heart to say 'no', so she had no choice but to go on the weekend she was told too.

When she got on the minibus, there was only one seat left, at the very back of the bus. The seat between Sam and Noel. Connie was left in no doubt when she got to it, that Sam had planned things that way. He was grinning smugly at her as she sat down with a resigned sigh and folded her legs towards him. It suddenly didn't seem at all strange to the rest of the party that Connie and Sam were sitting next to each other - they did have a daughter together after all. But Connie felt a little too close to him for her liking. Noel wasn't actually sitting next to her, there was a sort of contraption between them - not exactly a table. She didn't mind that - Connie wasn't terribly fond of Noel, but it made her feel like she was sat even closer to Sam and she wasn't a 100% sure that was a good idea.

Sam, however, was delighted to have her so close and was absolutely determined to change her mind. As the bus began its journey, Sam noticed that Connie's hands were in her lap. He carefully took her right hand in his. Connie gave him one of the frosty looks that she was famous for, but she knew that saying anything would draw attention to them. As it was, their clasped hands were hidden behind her folded legs and no one else could see so she let him hold her hand.

His hand was warm and comforting around her cold one and she quite liked it, she decided. She really liked it. Sam knew and smiled at her. Connie strangely found herself smiling back – he had that effect on her She looked away again. Noel appeared to be picking his fingernails. Lovely!

Connie sighed and leaned her head back against the seat and her shoulder brushed Sam's. He squeezed her hand, so she turned her head slightly to glance at him. He smiled again. This was odd. Odd but nice.

They were interrupted by a sudden movement from Noel and they looked over. He appeared to be scratching his bottom - and they had to spend the weekend with him. Brilliant!

Noel saw Connie and Sam looking at him, distastefully. "Sorry, Mrs Beauchamp."

"What are you doing?!" Connie retorted – in a way that only she could.

"Me bum's gone to sleep" He complained. "All down the left buttock!"

Connie stared at him, disgusted. "Fascinating!" She eventually replied, icily. Sam sniggered and Connie automatically dug her nails into his hand, causing him to gasp. She felt him tense up and brushed her thumb over his hand by way of apology.

"Sorry, Mrs Beauchamp." Noel said again."

"You may as well call me 'Connie', while we are here Noel. Everybody else does, anyway."

"Sorry, Connie." He repeated and turned away to stare out of the window.

"That really hurt!" Sam hissed in Connie's ear and she shivered at his closeness.

"I know, I'm sorry." She whispered back.

"How sorry?"

Connie sighed and glanced around the bus. Nobody was looking. She leaned up to him and gently kissed his cheek. "Better?"

"Mm-hm."

The journey to their destination was long and boring, and presently, everyone else fell asleep. Noel was snoring loudly. Connie bit her lip and sighed. It was just too tempting.

She leaned against Sam. They parted hands and he put his arm around her instead – slightly surprised that she was allowing it to go this far in public. He kissed the top of her head. This was nice. Just one, he thought – while everyone else was asleep. Sam tilted Connie's head and she looked at him. He bent down and kissed her lips. She sighed again, smiled and snuggled into him, closing her eyes.

"I know you've got your own room." He whispered. "But I booked a double room just in case you feel like joining me!"

"Arrogant!" She whispered cuttingly, but with an added fondness.

Sam smirked.