I do not own any of the characters included in this fanfic.
Chapter One: Everything is going to be ok.
Sam stretched his tired neck as his car rolled through the silent moonlit street, he looked around at the sleeping houses swamped in peaceful darkness. Despite his tiredness he allowed himself to take in the quiet isolation, he liked this time of night, when the world was sleeping and he had the opportunity to take it in, to see it at rest. As he rounded the corner towards his house he knew what to expect, he knew that the darkness would be broken by the bright light from his lounge spilling into the street, creating a glow around the property. He knew she'd be awake, waiting for him to come home and go to bed with her. He pulled onto the drive and let himself in through the front door, the TV was blaring in the corner and there were patient files spread across the coffee table. His eyes traced the paper explosion to the sofa where Addison was sat fast asleep with a file dangling from her hand. Sam placed his keys quietly on the table and removed his shoes before carefully picking his way through the files to retrieve the TV remote. After switching the TV off, he moved towards the sofa and softly took the patient file from her hand before sliding his arms underneath her body and scooping her up. Addison stirred slightly as Sam mounted the stairs.
"Shh," Sam's voice soothed "it's me. It's ok"
At the sound of his voice Addison allowed herself to return to her heavy slumber. On reaching the bedroom Sam gently lowered her onto his bed and fetched a blanket from the nearby chair and used it to cover her over. He quickly undressed and turned off the light. He felt her body gravitate towards him as he slipped beneath the blanket, he took her in his arms and wrapped his body around hers – letting her know he was there; that she was safe, that she could sleep. He stroked her warm hair as her even breathing relaxed him. His late surgery hadn't gone well, the patient had bled out on the table and he had felt helpless – annoyed even, he seemed incapable of helping anyone lately; his patients, Charlotte, Addison. She was keeping a secret – it wasn't an infidelity, he was sure of that – he trusted her but he was worried. She wouldn't go to bed without him, she was subdued, distracted- it was like she was in the room but her mind was somewhere else. He wanted to be there for her, to support her, but it was becoming more and more difficult for him to watch the person he loved slowly becoming weaker and not being able to do anything to help her or to offer any real comfort. She had just asked him to be there, to hold her, to sleep next to her, to tell her everything would be ok - and he did, he said it time and time again but he had no idea why, what she was hiding, what was eating away at her. He moved closer to her and tightened his embrace to reassure her, to tell himself everything would be ok.