6pm

Sam awoke to a blinding light, it took a few moments until she realised that it was only a bedside lamp, but she quickly attempted to turn it off. It was an a attempt, but it wasn't successful, with her aching and throbbing limbs, she missed the light and knocked a plastic cup off of the side onto the floor. It was empty but it still made a noise.

It was when her boss entered her room that she realised where she was: the ED. She was in a hospital bed, in a private room, in a hospital gown with a cannula in each hand pushing a solution into her to restore the electrolyte and fluid balance in her body.

Zoe closed the door behind her and quickly stopped the cup from making anymore noise before Tom, who was in a chair besides Sam's bed, woke up.
"How're you feeling?" Zoe asked quietly. She noticed Sam squinting and grimacing and she soon worked out that the lamp was bothering her so she turned it off.
"Thanks." Sam croaked. "I..." She trailed off as she groaned. Her entire body was in agony as though she had just done a triathlon without any training, four times in a row.
"Achy?" Zoe queried and Sam nodded weakly. "We would've given you pain relief but Tom said he was asleep for a few hours before he brought you in so he wasn't sure whether you had taken any more painkillers. Can you-"
"Tom... Me and Tom... We were arguing. It was serious, we-" Sam stuttered.
"Sam calm down, Tom was worried sick when he brought you in so I think he's forgotten about the argument. Speaking of sick, nice shot." Zoe smirked.
"What?" Sam asked confusedly and innocently.

"When you were brought in, you looked like you were going to be sick so we rolled you onto your side and you vomited on Fletch's scrub bottoms. He said he had to go and have a shower, to the 'get the bits of puke out from under his scrotum'." Zoe quoted as she laughed.
"Oh god..." Sam cringed before she hung her head in her hands from embarrassment.
"Don't worry, everyone found it funny- well except fletch." Zoe smiled. "Anyway, you just need to get some rest. Do you still feel like you've got an upset stomach?"
"No, I'm just achy now." Sam forced a smile.

"Okay, well we're gonna have to keep you in over night because you fell unconscious and I just want to keep and eye on you while you've still got fluids going in, and we need to monitor your urine output." Zoe explained.
"Wait, have I got a catheter in?" Sam asked sheepishly.
"Yeah, we put it in when you were unconscious to monitor your urine output." Zoe replied.
"Who put it in?" Sam demanded. Please don't let it have been Fletch, Jamie, Robyn, Charlie or Tess, she thought.
"Um... I think her name's Julie. She's an agency nurse, she'll be gone in a few days so don't worry." Zoe smiled.
"Okay." Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"By the way, Tom said that you hadn't emptied your bladder since yesterday, did it not click that it was severe dehydration?" Zoe queried.
"I can't remember to be honest. The last thing I remember was me and Tom arguing about... In fact I don't even know what we were arguing about." Sam admitted.
"Well you were probably both just irritable from being ill." Zoe stated.
"Mm." Sam mumbled in agreement.
"Um, we've done a blood test to check kidney function and it doesn't seem affected at all so that's not a worry. Like I said, we're just waiting for your urine output to increase." Zoe explained as she looked by the end of the bed at Sam's catheter bag. There was a small amount of diluted urine in it so she seemed to be improving. "Right, c'mon, get some rest and I'll come and check on you in a bit okay?"
"Okay, thanks Zoe." Sam smiled as she slowly turned to her side to get comfortable.
"No worries." Zoe replied happily before she left the private room.

8am, the next day.
Sam awoke groggily in Tom's arms, still in her hospital bed. And still in her horrible hospital gown. Both cannulas had been removed from Sam's hands an she was lying on top of Tom, face down into his chest with the thin sheet pulled over them. She could feel something uncomfortable between her legs, and then she realised that it was her catheter that had not yet been removed. She peered over the side of the bed carefully, to see that the catheter bag was empty. She hoped very much that someone had just emptied the bag because otherwise, she wasn't going to be discharged that morning.

She looked up at her sleeping partner, neither yet had spoken since their argument, in fact she couldn't remember getting in that position in the bed but she must've somehow. She stretched her slightly achy neck up and brushed her lips against his. She gave him a long, deep kiss and then left her lips lingering whilst Tom stirred. Without even opening his eyes, he smiled and kissed Sam. Eventually, they pulled apart and Sam rested her head on his chest whilst he stroked her hair which was soft yet slightly tangled.

"Sorry to interrupt," Ash began quietly as he entered the room and closed the door to block out the noise of the corridor. Sam kept her head on Tom's chest but she turned her neck so her ear was on him, and she was facing Ash. "Sam, it's up to you but either you need to take your catheter out, or I can go and get a nurse who can take it out for you." Ash said quietly because it was clear the groggy couple had only just woken up.
"What? now?" Sam queried.
"Yeah, your urine output has improved so you can be discharged soon." Ash stated.
"I'll take it out." Sam said softly.
"Okay well, the equipment trolley is there, and Tom got you these last night so you can get changed. I'll leave you two to it." He smiled after pointing to a neat pile of Sam's scrubs along with a pack of cheap underwear from maternity. He then left the couple to rest.

"Oh you are joking me." Sam smirked once she had seen the underwear.
"Well it's either that, or you go commando for the journey home." Tom smirked. Sam huffed before she turned over and the couple changed position so that they were both sitting up, but Sam was sitting between Tom's legs and she was leaning back against his chest.

"Can you stay there so I can take my catheter out please?" Sam asked quietly.
"Yeah sure." Tom smiled as he got himself in a firm position where he was supporting Sam, and keeping her sitting up so she would be able to take the thin tube out. "Here you go." Tom whispered as he handed Sam the square absorbent pad that she then put underneath her incase there was a leak, which there usually was during a catheter removal. Sam carefully raised her legs so that they were propped up by her feet, before she pulled the gown back slightly so she could see what she was doing. Tom handed her the small syringe which she used to deflate the ball keeping the tube in place. Sam handed the water filled syringe back to Tom which he put back on the trolley.

"You alright?" Tom queried softly when it had been a few moments but she hadn't done anything.
"Yeah I just... I don't know how uncomfortable this is going to be." Sam admitted.
"Right, you're going to pull it out, on the count of three." Tom ordered. "One, two, three." He said and it gave Sam the push she needed to pull the thin tube out. She coiled the tube up and then handed it to Tom who put it on the equipment trolley. She pulled the pad out from underneath her and put that in the small, yellow rubbish bag on the trolley. "All sorted." Tom smiled as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms to comfort her. "Listen... About the argument, and me not letting you in the bathroom when you were desperate-" Tom began solemnly.
"Uh uh. Remember what we said yesterday morning?" Sam queried and Tom shook his head in confusion. "What ever happened yesterday, is never to be repeated again." Sam stated.

"So... You forgive me?" Tom queried.
"I suppose so." She sighed sarcastically. "But you'll have to make it up to me." She said suggestively. "But, not for a week or two." She added quickly. "Every part of me is aching."

8:30am
Sam had gotten changed into the horrible maternity underwear -that were designed to be thrown away after one use for new mothers-, and her scrubs. She had on, the spare pair of trainers from her locker as well as her grey NHS hoodie. She and Tom were cuddling in the bed when Fletch entered with a tray from the staff room.

"Not that you deserve this after puking on me yesterday," Fletch joked to Sam, "but here's some very lightly buttered toast, and orange juice." He announced as he placed the tray at the end of the bed and then held the two plates ready for the couple. Sam and Tom moved a little so that they were sitting up besides each other before they took the plate.
"I'm not really-" Sam began.
"Don't say you're not hungry because I'm on strict orders by Zoe, that you have to eat at least one slice each." Fletch stated.
"Fletch, have you ever had the norovirus?" Sam queried. She was slightly annoyed at his lack of sympathy for her whilst she still had a sensitive stomach.
"No." Fletch stated.
"Then each the toast and tell Zoe I ate it." Sam ordered as she shoved the plate back into the nurses hands, before she snuggled up into Tom's chest again.
"Sorry mate, but I'd rather not. Not yet." Tom admitted as he handed the plate to fletch before he wrapped his arms around Sam to comfort her whilst they both still felt so weak and lethargic.

"Good job I skipped breakfast then eh?" Fletch joked as he put the plates on the tray, took one slice and took a large bite out of it. Sam smiled because he was saving the lecture from Zoe about beginning to eat again.

"Can we go home now? I just wanna sleep in my own bed with plenty of room instead of this cramped thing. And I need my hot water bottle for my stomach because it's really crampy." Sam pleaded.
"Fletch, go and get her discharged, please." Tom asked.
"I'll go and get Zoe." Fletch said before he put the rest of the slice of toast in his mouth at once, and then he put the remaining three slices in the clinical waste bin so that Zoe didn't have a go at them.

Slowly, Sam and Tom got out of bed so that they were ready to go. Less than a minute later, Zoe entered the room and as as the two empty plates.
"How thick do you think I am?" Zoe moaned. "First of all, I know you wouldn't have eaten all of that toast after being that ill, and secondly, I know Sam hasn't eaten anything, because she never eats the crusts." Zoe stated. "You always leaves the plate in the staff room in the mornings." She added as Fletch joined her besides their bed.

"Zoe, I'm sorry but... I really don't think I can stomach anything for a while." Sam stated.
"Yeah but I'd rather you said that than lied to me." Zoe stated as she signed the forms in Sam's files.
"Sorry." Sam and Tom both mumbled like naughty school kids.
"Right, you're discharged, but you need to eat and drink something today and Sam, you especially need to keep drinking okay?" Zoe explained.
"Will do." Sam lied. She had no intention of drinking any more than she needed to because she felt fine one, in fact she had had so much saline infused into her, that she was bloated from it.
"Yeah right." Zoe said sarcastically. "Right c'mon you two, out of my hospital and I want to see you back here, bright and early on Monday morning." Zoe stated before she left the room. It was only Thursday morning, so Sam and Tom had the rest of the day, along with Friday, Saturday and Sunday to rest and recover.

3pm
Sam and Tom had just gotten comfortable in their double bed and they had everything on their bedside tables that they might need to save them from getting up including: painkillers, bottles of water, a pack of plain digestive biscuits, their phones, a good book each and their shared ipad. Sam had her hot water bottle to soothe the muscular cramps in her stomach caused by projectile vomiting whilst Tom had Sam's lavender neck wrap that had been heated up in the microwave to soothe his aching neck. They were both tucked under the thick duvet because unlike the day before, they didn't have a fever, and it was freezing cold whilst they waited for the heating to kick in.
"Don't forget we need a new bin for the bedroom." Sam joked half heartedly as she remembered her accident in it.
"Mm. We also need to sleep for hours and hours." Tom whispered sleepily.
"I swear lavender makes you drowsy." Sam stated. "When you gave me the back massage with lavender oil a few weeks ago, you pretty much fell asleep on top of me. And since I got that washing detergent that's lavender scented, you always volunteer to do the washing, and end up falling asleep when you're sorting out whites, delicates and colours." Sam explained. She looked at Tom for his reply, but, much to her amusement, he was fast asleep.

Now that he was asleep, she was able to entwine her legs with his so that she could warm her icy feet up like she tried every night, but when he was awake, he'd only squeal and then play 'footsie' as he called it, to get her 'ice blocks' off of him. She lay there, feeling the warmth radiating onto her stomach from the hot water bottle which was like heaven as he soothed her aches. She gave Tom a peck on the cheek as a goodnight kiss, before she settled down for the night. She looked forward to the lie in the next morning, despite the fact that it was still only early afternoon, and that lovely thought soon made her slip into a deep slumber.

Thanks for reading, this is the final (and longest!) chapter of this story so please give me a final review x