"Sam?" Tom shouted from the kitchen, projecting his voice to the ceiling and the room above,
"SAM?" he shouted once again. Not hearing a response he moved to the bottom of the stairs, "SAMANTHA".
Sam was having a dream, well more of a nightmare, about something that had happened whilst she was in Afghanistan when the voice finally broke through; she bolted upright in bed and wiped away a layer of sweat that was sitting across her forehead.
"Are you okay?" Tom questioned, still standing by the stairs,
"Yeah, thanks for waking me" Sam replied.
She had moved in with Tom four months ago and he had gotten used to her frequent nightmares, always waking her when she had them. He could tell if she was having one because Sam would toss and turn in bed and let out the occasional whimper or even sometimes, a scream.
Sam took a shower and then went downstairs where she found her beloved reading the morning newspaper with a cup of black coffee in hand,
"There's one for you on the side" he stated.
Sam grabbed her coffee and joined Tom around the table.
"Anything good in there?" Sam asked, nodding her head towards the newspaper,
"Not really, although there is a fair going on at Holby High tomorrow if you want to go, it's raising money for charity" he explained,
"Yeah, might as well, but I start work at four so we can only stay for a bit" Sam smiled.
"I have the whole day off" Tom said, bragging,
"anyway what do you want for breakfast? Our shift starts in…" he looked at his watch "…one hour forty"
"I don't mind, something not too heavy though" she said.
Tom got up and went over to the kitchen cupboards and grabbed two bowls, spoons, milk and a box of muesli, he then placed them on the table
"I can't be bothered to cook"
Sam smiled at him before pouring herself a bowl. Once they were both finished Sam picked up there used bowls and walked over to the sink, she stood up and suddenly felt dizzy so she held onto the table until it had passed.
"You okay there?" Tom asked, Sam nodded her head
"Yeah, just got up too quickly" she lied, she had been feeling dizzy occasionally for the past week or more. She just ignored it though, hoping it would get better but it hadn't, in fact it had got worse. She was brought back to reality by the feeling of Tom's hand wrapping around her,
"Are you sure you're alright Sam?"
"I think I'm getting something" she said turning round to face Tom,
"Symptoms?" he asked which released a laugh from Sam
"Look at you Mr Doctor, I'm fine just a headache and feeling a bit under the weather" As soon as she had said 'headache' the back of Tom's hand had reached her forehead,
"You are a bit hot, you sure you're okay to work today?" Sam nodded, "if I feel that bad I'll come home, trust me"
They decided to take the car into work, Tom drove whilst Sam rested her eyes as she was feeling tired, and she was also waiting for the paracetamols to start working on her headache. #"We're here" Tom said, making Sam jump as she was on the edge of sleep.
"Sorry" he said, placing a kiss onto Sam's cheek.
"Look at me" Tom said, Sam twisted round in her seat and looked at Tom who was holding her head and feeling below her ears and around her neck,
"Your glands don't seem swollen or anything" which received a playful slap on the thigh for fussing over her. Sam got out of the car and started walking towards the entrance of the E.D., Tom was running behind to keep up. They went straight into the staff room,
"Morning you two" Fletch said, his usual cheery self. Sam got changed into her scrubs, made a coffee and then sat on the sofa.
"Sam?" Zoe said, walking into the staffroom, she was about to continue speaking but was distracted by the colour of her colleague,
"Sam are you okay? You're very pale" Sam swallowed her mouthful of coffee and replied,
"I'm fine, I just think I'm coming down with a cold or something, what was it you wanted?"
"I would say you could go home but we're going to busy in here today, there's been a bus crash on the main road into Holby and paramedics are requesting a doctor but if you're not up to it I'll ask Tom…"
"No, it's fine Zoe I'll be okay" Sam replied, not wanting to seem weak,
"You sure?" Zoe asked receiving a nod from Sam who then downed her coffee and put her green doctor's suit on. She then got into the first response car and proceeded to the scene of the accident.
Jeff met her when she arrived and began to explain the situation,
"right, it seems that the bus caught the curb and flipped onto its side, everyone is walking wounded apart from one young girl who was on the top deck of the bus, she is entrapped but we can't see the full extent of her injuries because no one has been able to get to her yet and the fire crew won't let us near the bus because it's leaking petrol"
"Thanks Jeff, I'll take a look" Sam then approached a fireman, "how long until we can get in?"
"Don't know sweetheart, ten minutes at most I'd say"
"She might not have that long"
"Well she's going to have to have that long" she did not like this fireman one bit,
"Look I'm going in whether you like it or not" Sam grabbed her kit and ran towards the bus, she could hear Jeff shouting her name but she ignored it and continued into the overturned bus. She squeezed herself up the staircase,
"Hello?" Sam shouted,
"I'm here" she heard a girl respond. Sam made her way over to where the voice had come from, "Hello what's your name?"
"Tia, yours?"
"Hi Tia, my names Sam, we're going to get you out of here okay, can you tell me where it hurts?" Sam asked,
"I'm not injured, well apart from my hand, I was drinking when the bus flipped and the glass bottle smashed in my hands, but I'm fine apart from that. I just can't get out because I can't lift to move anything" Tia smiled.
"Let me take a look" Tia held out her palm to show several cuts
"It had some glass in but I took it out" she explained, smiling. Sam got out a bandage and wrapped up Tia's hand.
"Right, I've cleared the path out so you go ahead of me and I'll follow you out okay" Tia nodded and began to weave through the chairs until she finally got out, Sam followed and was lifting herself out of the bus when she caught her arm on a metal bar that was sticking out, it caught her upper arm and began to bleed quite a bit. She yelped in pain and fell back into the bus, Jeff had seen what had happened and had quickly rushed over
"Sam you alright?" he shouted,
"I might need a bit of help actually" she replied with a laugh. When she had fallen back into the bus her she had crumpled into the area where the driver sat, which was covered in broken glass. A piece of which was now imbedded into Sam's ankle, she had managed to stand upright but was having to lean on something so she didn't put any pressure into her foot. Eventually with some help from Jeff she had managed to get out and was now sitting on the floor trying to catch her breath,
"let's get you into the ambulance" Jeff said bringing over a trolley,
"I feel so stupid, I'm the doctor and I'm the one having to use the bed" she laughed, Jeff laughed too.
In the ambulance Dixie was driving whilst Jeff and Tia were sitting in the back, Jeff had placed a bandage on Sam's ankle and the top of her arm whilst she was holding a pad onto the side of her head where she had bumped it when she fell.
"Jeff?" Sam asked, laying into the bed and closing her eyes,
"Yes Princess?"
"I feel like the room's spinning"
"Right…" Jeff said sitting closer to Sam,
"Let me take that" he took the pad and held it himself.
"I think I'm going to be sick" Sam said quickly, bolting to sit upright, Jeff grabbed a kidney dish as Sam released her stomach contents into the bowl,
"Dixie can we step on it" Dixie sped up and soon they were pulling up into the ambulance bay outside the A&E department. Jeff wheeled the trolley with Sam on it into the E.D. where they were met by Zoe,
"Right this is Sam, 29, lacerations to the face, arm and foreign object in the ankle, complaining of dizziness and has been sick once"
"Cubicle 5 please Jeff"
Jeff wheeled Sam into the cubicle, "please don't tell Tom" she pleaded.
Dixie had also come into the E.D. with Tia who was now sitting in cubicle 15.
"Sam, I'm going to send you up for an emergency CT because you've been sick and dizzy so Big Mac will take you up now and then we'll get that glass out and stitch you up okay?" Zoe said,
"Zoe, I need to tell you something in private first"
"What?" Zoe asked as she drew the curtains to give them privacy.
"I had the dizziness before the accident; it's been coming and going for the past week or more"
"Okay, and nausea? Headaches?"
"Headaches and no, but I've also been more tired than usual and no energy"
"Sam, is there any chance you could be pregnant?" Zoe asked.