For some reason, FanFiction decided to delete my fic twice last night so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't delete it again tonight!
In Sam's opinion, the best time to go for a run was early in the morning, before everyone else (including her husband) in Holby was awake and without the constant grumbling of cars. Of course, Tom thought she was barking mad because even by the time she got back from her run, he still wouldn't be out of bed - that's how early she left, or rather how lazy he was - but it was just one of her little quirks that he loved about her.
Another one of those quirks, was her determination and stubbornness (or as he liked to call it, pig-headedness) and the fact that she would never give up on something. But little did she know that soon, those personal traits would be challenged because they're weren't always a good thing...
It was early June and despite a rather heavy downpour during the previous night, the sun was just beginning to rise and Holby Park was covered by a mist as the water from the soggy ground evaporated into the atmosphere. Sam was joined by only the sounds of nature as she ran at a pace of between a fast jog and a sprint around the large pond as she focused on taking as deep a breath as she could manage without passing out to improve her ever increasing lung function - all part of her lengthy plan that was almost complete to get fit for the summer.
But what Sam wasn't focusing on was putting one foot in front of the other because after years of running, it just sort of came naturally to her and as she twisted her neck to look at the wildlife on the pond - including all sorts of amazing dragonflies and magnificent butterflies - she had not been looking where she was going and she had gone to far to the edge of the path. The rainfall had made the ground muddy so immediately she slipped down the slope towards the pond, but what stopped her from sliding into the water was her right foot colliding large rock and as soon as the sole of her trainer and the rock touched Sam yelp out in pain and the sound of bones snapping made her feel physically sick.
"Ah." Sam panted as she caught her breath back whilst she tried to keep her leg perfectly still because even a millimetre of movement caused her more pain. She immediately clicked into doctor mode and made sure that she hadn't hit her head, before she tried to asses her one and only injury; her leg. She was in black running leggings that were tight on her muscular, toned legs and so she was almost certain that no bone had displaced and punctured the skin. However, the crunching sound that she could not forget alerted her to the fact that she had almost certainly broken something. The question was, what had she broken?
She looked around in the empty park for someone who could help her because she didn't have her phone on her, she never did when she went for a run, and thankfully her eyes fell upon a young man jogging on the other side of the pond.
"Hey! Over here!" Sam shouted at the top of her voice which grabbed the man's attention and thankfully she didn't need to say anything more as he changed direction and started heading towards her. It was only when he was a few meters away from her that she recognised it to be Ethan Hardy, one of her colleagues.
"Sam?" He asked confusedly as he looked at his workmate who was lying on her back on the floor in the muddy grass.
"Can I use your phone?" Sam asked as she looked at him over her shoulder because he didn't want to go down the slippery mud and she was in too much pain to move.
"Do you want me to call an ambulance?" Ethan asked because the young woman was clearly in a lot of pain.
"No, I need to ring Tom."
"Surely you should ring an ambulance first." Ethan said confusedly but he carefully threw her the iPhone nevertheless. Sam completely ignored him because her adrenaline rush was preventing her from thinking straight so she dialled her home number and after a few rings, Tom picked up.
"Hello?" He queried sleepily.
"Tom, it's me. You need to come down to the park now. I... I slipped and-" Upon hearing his wife's panicked voice, Tom was woken from his groggy state and paid attention to her every word.
"Calm down or you're gonna give yourself a panic attack." Tom joked halfheartedly. "Just tell me slowly what happened." He ordered.
"No just come now." Sam pleaded as she tried to prevent her eyes from watering because the pain pulsating in her leg was almost unbearable.
After quickly throwing on the closest pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie, Tom grabbed his phone, keys and wallet and ran out of the door. He rang a non-emergency ambulance on his way to the park demanding that they go to Holby park as soon as they could but that the situation was not life threatening and that he would meet them there and by the time he did, he looked as though he had needed a ambulance himself after all the running.
"Ah Tom, she's not letting me anywhere near her leg but she's pretty sure it's broken." Ethan stated. "Oh and be careful, the mud is really slippery." He added as Tom slowly descended until he was besides his wife. "Thanks mate, you can go now." Tom have a grateful smile to the man who had looked after Sam and stayed with her so that she wasn't alone, even though Tom knew that Sam had probably not been a very nice person to be around.
"Alright well I've got to go to work, I'll probably see you in the ED soon." Ethan smiled before he put his phone back in his pocket and began jogging again.
"I feel sick." Sam muttered as she buried her head in Tom's chest as he got down on the floor with her so that she wasn't by herself.
"Did you bang your head?" Tom asked as he tucked a bit of hair that had come loose from her ponytail behind her ear and Sam shook her head.
"It's the pain." She croaked.
"What actually happened then?"
"I just slipped and I thought I was gonna fall into the pond but my right foot hit the rock." Sam stated as she looked down at the boulder that her foot was leaning against where she had barely moved her leg away to prevent further injury. "Y'know, you hear all kinds of crunches and cracks in the ED but when you know it's your bones it's just... Horrible." Sam shuddered as the noise played through her mind again. "Anyway, what's happening? How're we gonna get up?" Sam asked as she looked up the short but steep slope that she had fallen down where the pathway was at the top.
"You're not gonna do anything. I've called a 111 ambulance so they'll be here within 10 minutes I should think. Then we'll get your leg in a splint and get you on a spinal board and lift you up; I don't want you putting any pressure on that leg." Tom said sternly. "Just stay nice and calm and you'll have pain relief before you know it." Tom said reassuringly.
"Hello? Ambulance service."
"Great." Sam muttered as she knew that the voice belonged to none other than Iain Dean.
"Over here." Tom shouted and Iain and Jeff ran over with a medical bag on their back each.
"What happened to you princess?" Jeff queried.
"She slipped. Right I need a frac-pack for her entire leg and foot, get a spinal board to lift her to the trolley, and she needs entonox and 5 of morphine." Tom ordered.
"Have you checked her circulation?" Jeff asked.
"Yeah, her pedal pulse is fine." Tom nodded.
"Sam is there any change you could be pregnant?" Jeff asked quietly, though he knew the Iain and Tom heard him too. It's just that if she as, she eould be best to avoid the morphine.
"No, no I'm not." Sam shook her head.
"Right Iain, you get the spinal board and frac-pack, I'll get the pain relief." Jeff ordered. "We'll be right back Sam, just stay calm."
Once the pair had ran back to the ambulance, Sam just wanted time to fly by because she was in agony and no matter how hard she tried to keep her right leg completely still, she kept on accidentally twitching it or moving it slightly.
"For the record, I hope this is a one off because I don't like being woken up at 6 in the morning." Tom joked playfully to lighten the atmosphere.
"Why? Did I wear you out last night?" Sam joked.
"Wow." Tom laughed at her before she grimaced in pain because she had moved slightly. "Alright, just take deep breaths, you're gonna be fine." Tom said reassuringly as he took her hand in his and gave it a small squeeze.
"Tom do you wanna do the honours?" Jeff asked was he arrived with a small zipped container that contained morphine, as well as a canister of entonox.
"Er hang on, he's not allowed." Iain protested.
"I'm a doctor." Tom scowled as he took out the syringe and got the correct dose in the needle.
"Yeah but you're-"
"Iain, leave it." Jeff scalded and so Tom flicked the needle to get rid of any air bubbles.
"Right do you want this in your bum or your hip?" Tom asked jokily because the morphine had to go into a large muscle - she didn't have an IV cannula in because she didn't need one.
"Where do you think?" Sam moaned sarcastically and so Tom rolled up Sam's running shirt slightly and then injected it into her hip.
"Right, that should kick in soon. Do you wanna start on the entonox while we get your leg into the frac-pack?" Tom suggested as he gently rubbed her hip so that the injection didn't cause her much pain.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Right Tom, if you want to just support her and hold the entonox for her, we'll get her leg stable." Jeff stated as he and Iain carefully moved down the slope.
Sam's life wasn't at risk and so instead of going into resus, Sam was wheeled straight through to a cubicle which Jeff had radioed ahead to save, for one of their own.
"Right, I'm gonna go and get a doctor for you." Jeff stated after they had helped Sam to shuffle across onto the bed and he and Iain were ready for their next call.
"Yeah, thanks Jeff." Sam said gratefully as he walked off and Tom sat on the chair besides Sam's bed.
"God, I'm starving." Tom complained as he rubbed his grumbling stomach - he unlike Sam, could never go without breakfast.
"Yeah and I'm in pain. Shut it." Sam retorted.
"Yes Mrs Kent." Tom said like a naughty school boy and Sam rolled her eyes because she knew that he loved calling her that name.
"Right, sorry about the wait we're a doctor down and- oh..." Zoe had begun to speak as she read Sam's notes that Jeff had given her but she then realised who her patient was.
"Yeah I'm gonna have to call in sick too." Sam stated with a hint of amusement.
"How on earth did you 'slip down a muddy slope'?" Zoe remarked after glancing at Sam's notes.
"She was too busy daydreaming about me." Tom quipped. "Besides, that's not how you should speak to your patients Zoe." Tom said sternly in a mocking tone.
"Yeah, I don't mean to be selfish here but we can stop joking about and focus on my leg please?" Sam demanded.
"Right, let's have a look then." Zoe sighed as she picked up a pair of scissors and gently cut Sam's leggings open, up to her knee whilst her full leg was still in the bright orange frac-pack to stabilise it. Her skin was smooth and soft and there was nothing out of the ordinary that would've suggested an injury - though Sam's pain said differently. "Right, am I allowed to cut the trainer off or do you want to try and get it off?" Zoe asked.
"Oi, I got these for her birthday." Tom moaned playfully.
"You can pull it off." Sam said to her husband.
"Are you sure? It doesn't matter, we can always get you a new pair." Tom stated.
"No, just pull it off. But be gentle." Sam replied as she picked up the entonox mouthpiece that she had discarded on the bed earlier and she began to take deep breaths of it.
"Okay... I'm being as gentle as I can, I promise." Tom said as he slowly undid Sam's shoe lace, and then held the sole of the shoe before he pulled the tongue up so that it would be looser and easier to take off.
"Ouch!" Sam whined as Tom placed his hand on Sam's ankle to steady it.
"Sorry." He apologised before he proceeded to pull the trainer off of Sam's foot leaving her plain black sock which, with a cut open pair of leggings, looked rather silly. "You'd better cut the sock off rather than pull it." Tom advised his colleague.
"Yes thank you Tom. Funnily enough, I have dealt with a few fractures in my career before." Zoe said sarcastically as she used a pair of angled scissors to slice the sock open and then once she'd peeled it off of Sam's foot, she threw it at Tom.
"Thanks." Tom replied in an equally sarcastic tone.
"Right, pedal pulse is not affected, blood flow to foot is fine," Zoe explained after briefly pressing down on the top of Sam's foot to make sure that the area went white, but quickly returned to Sam's skin colour. "But given how much pain you're in, and the vivid description of the cracking sound you gave to Jeff in the ambulance, I'm sure you're already assuming a fracture. Is there any chance you could be pregnant Sam?" Zoe asked softly.
"Nope." Sam replied bluntly.
"Okay. Fletch, can you book an x-ray for the whole leg please." Zoe requested as the nurse passed by.
"Sam? What happened to you?" Fletch asked worriedly once he'd noticed who the patient was.
"Tom pushed me over." Sam said innocently.
"No I didn't!" He shrieked.
"Nah, he didn't. I..." Sam began as she was reluctant to admit that she had fallen over. "I lost my footing." Sam stated.
"In other words, she fell arse over tit down a slope and smashed her foot into a rock." Tom grinned.
"And seeing as we're currently three doctors down when we don't need to be, Tom can you get changed into your scrubs and start working through the patients?" Zoe requested.
"But..."
"Tom, she's not going to get an x-ray for a few hours and then it'll take a bit longer for the radiologist to send the results down. Besides, I've seen you so it's not as if you can pull a sickie is it?" Zoe quipped.
"Fine." Tom huffed. "Right, I'll check in on you soon okay?" Tom said as he walked over and kissed Sam on the forehead.
"Can you bring me my hoodie from my locker please?" Sam requested.
"Sure." He nodded.
"Tom, I've got Sam's results if you want to come over." Zoe stated and the pair went over to Sam's curtained cubicle where Sam was grimacing and fidgeting so much as she could without moving her left leg.
"You okay?" Tom asked worriedly.
"I need another 5 of morphine." Sam demanded weakly.
"Why didn't you push the button?" Tom chuckled softly as he took her hand so that she could squeeze it.
"Because you said you'd come over at 4pm and that was about ten minutes ago; I was waiting for you." Sam replied whilst Zoe went and got the pain relief because Sam was competent enough to know the dosage but she was clearly struggling to deal with the pain in her leg.
"Sorry, I forgot." Tom apologised. "But hey, at least now you'll understand why some patients get annoyed. You've been waiting in her for ages." Tom said sympathetically as she had been waiting for hours to get a slot in x-ray, and then she had had to wait for her diagnosis.
"Right, Tom are you alright to do the honours?" Zoe asked as she came over with a plastic syringe in by kidney dish and he nodded before he injected the substance into Sam's hip again. "Right, I'm afraid it's not good news Sam. You've got a spiral fracture of your left tibia and fibula. So you're going to need to have a full leg cast, and stay in overnight for observation just so that we can ensure that your leg will be elevated, your cast can dry and make sure that there aren't any complications." Zoe explained.
"A full leg cast? For how long?" Sam demanded.
"Well I'll have to let the Orthopaedic surgeons talk to you about-"
"Surgeons? You think I'll need an operation?" Sam asked worriedly.
"Come on Sam, you know how it is. You'll probably need to wear a cast for a week or so and then you'll have another x-ray to make sure that the bones are healing. If they're not, then you'll be considered for surgery. But if not, then you'll just have to wear a cast for as long as you're told to, then possibly have physiotherapy and you'll be back on your feet fairly soon." Zoe explained.
Sam laid in a bed on an orthopaedic ward, staring at the ceiling as she attempted to fall asleep in the horrid hospital gown. She was in a room with five other patients, two to the right of her and three opposite her and because it had gone past visiting hours, Tom had been asked to leave. He'd even played the 'I work here' card but he wasn't allowed to stay later than other relatives, and so she would have to stay in hospital over night, by herself. She had her leg in a black cast, with just the tips of her toes sticking out, all the way up to her thigh, and about two inches away from where the cast would be considered a pelvic one if it went any higher. Plus she had her foot and lower leg on around three or four pillows to keep it elevated to prevent swelling.
'Hey, how're you doing?' Sam heard a buzz and she smiled as she picked up her iPhone and saw a message from her husband. Thankfully, she was well away from any intensive care units and so she was allowed to use her mobile phone as long as it was on vibrate or silent and because she was bored, she spent the evening texting her husband, who was replying just as fast as she was because he was lonely at his flat without his wife as he sat watching the late night TV shows.
'Can't sleep because someone's snoring next to me :( But the pain isn't too bad.'
'Well I'll be with you as soon as I'm allowed on the ward tomorrow morning and I'll take you home. Zoe's letting me be an hour late if I need to be'
'Bring me something to eat. The food here is disgusting :P'
'Will do.'
'Can you help me have a bath/shower before you leave for work please?'
'Depends what time you get discharged but if I have time, sure. I look forward to it ;)'
After a little while of texting her husband, Sam's eyelids got heavier and heavier, and she managed to drift of into a peaceful slumber, in order to save up her energy for her venture out of the hospital in the morning, that was sure to be rather painful.
Thank you for reading :) I'd just like to give a shout out to TamForever for helping me decide on the title ages ago :)