"Don't be silly, no thanks are necessary. I'm just relieved you and the little one are alright." She smiled adorably before thinking on her feet. "Shall I give Sam a call?-"

"No, no, please, it's fine." She objected to the idea quickly, causing concern between the older couple. "He's on a school trip with Grace, she was so excited about it, I'd hate for him to cut the trip short for no reason." There was a short and silent understanding between them before she cleared her throat to talk again. "Alex, how is he?"

"Archie updated me just before I called Obs and Gynae, he's fine." He forced a smile, it was an uncomfortable one but still a smile nonetheless. "He's out of theatre and recovering on Darwin."

"The police think it could be gang related?" Duffy grimaced with worry as she spoke.

"It's definitely not good, whatever it is." Charlie agreed, not letting on to the fact that he and Connie knew more about Alex's background than either cared to admit. Placing his hand on his wife's shoulder lovingly, his eyebrows knitted together in a worried fashion. "Just as well you're staying in overnight, what happens if these people have followed him to your home? They might think you're involved somehow." He wasn't expecting an answer but upon seeing her yawn with exhaustion he pulled the plug on his troubled enquiries. "You look absolutely shattered, get some rest and we'll pop back in tomorrow."


The room was silent, aside from the steady and intermittent bleeping of his heart monitor. She couldn't help but feel her blood boil as she looked over him, he was stable for now, that is until he was to have another run-in with these people he was involved with. And now, thanks to him, she could share the same worry. Her jaw clenched with a bitter anger, wishing for him to wake up so she could haul him over the coals for being so utterly stupid.

"I'm sorry, are you a relative?" The young Welsh nurse spoke quietly as she entered the room behind Connie.

"Hm? Oh, no I, uh, I was the one that brought him in." She glanced down at her own hospital gown before locking eyes with the concerned looking girl, aware that she merely looked like another patient. "I work in the ED."

"I can tell him you were asking after him when he wakes, but it's strictly family visits only I'm afraid." She held her small pale arms out, motioning to the door. The silence settled over them gently before she clocked her hand smoothing over her bump. "Do you need me to get a doctor?"

"No, no it's fine." She exhaled slowly, following her calm request and leaving the room. She still hadn't called Sam, her mind wandered over every detail of the evening's events as she made her way back to the Obs and Gynae ward, settling herself back in the bed before her doctor could even find the chance to give her a stern talking to. She was still experiencing a mild, dull pain but prayed that with a good night's sleep it'd ease up by daylight.

She was wrong.

If anything, it seemed to intensify again as morning reached them, not quite as severely as it had been in her office with Charlie but still at a level where it was extremely uncomfortable.

"Blood pressure is still a little too high for my liking." The doctor spoke glumly, removing the cuff from her arm. "How's the pain?"

"Not the best, I won't lie." She shifted slightly in the bed, there was no position that could ease the discomfort and she was starting to feel slightly panicked. Her quickened breathing wasn't helping the situation either.

"Alright, we'll get something sorted out to ease the pain a little bit but in the meantime I need you to try and relax, see if we can get your BP down." He moved to the end of the bed, sanitising his hands as he looked over at her. "Perhaps now might be a good time for us to give your partner a call?"

"No, no it's fine-"

"Mrs Beauchamp, if I don't see a significant drop in your BP, I'm afraid I'll have to insist on keeping you in for another night. You're displaying symptoms of preeclampsia with severe features, I know I don't need to explain what any of this means, you know the severity." He studied her silently as she swallowed, looking down at her lap.

"It's fine." She whispered, glancing up at him with a more subdued expression. "I'll call him." She looked defeated, like she'd known all along how serious this was but she just seemed to have been kidding herself into thinking it'd all blow over. How wrong she'd been.


"Dad!" Grace yelled, partially panicked with a hint of irritation ringing through her words. "Dad, slow down!" She was doing her best to keep up but he was positively marching through the hospital corridors, bumping into staff and visitors alike. "You're scaring me!" Holding her beanie in place, she remained hot on his tail.

"It's alright, Gracie." His words were breathy, pausing for on a millisecond as he reached his hand out behind himself and gripping on to hers securely. "She's in one of these rooms."

"It was number seven."

"You're sure?" He questioned as calmly as he could, narrowing down his hunt for this particular room.

"Positive, it was definitely number seven." Reaffirming surely, she glanced up at her worried Father, he'd answered the call in the car after lunch via bluetooth. They had been on their way back to their accommodation, but quickly packed their belongings and hit the road back home. Admittedly, Grace was absolutely gutted the trip was sliced short but simultaneously, she could see how terribly concerned her Dad was and couldn't help but feel a little anxious about what was going on. And now, here they were, back in Holby in record-breaking time. It was almost half six in the evening and all he'd been told was that there had been an incident and Connie had been admitted, so they skipped home and came straight to the hopsital.

"Here it is." He breathed loudly, pushing the door open with a level of urgency that honestly scared Grace a little bit. Their frantic energy was quickly met with a silent and dimly lit room.

"You must be Sam?" The nurse whispered calmly, ushering them in but signalling for them to be quiet as she closed the door after them. "She's sleeping but we're keeping a close eye on both Mother and Baby."

"What happened?" He questioned quickly, pulling Grace's large puffy coat off for her in the suffocatingly warm room. She headed straight for the visitor chair next to her Mother's bed. Sam's eyes rolled over the vision before him, she was indeed out for the count, laying on her side with wires attached to her arms and what he guessed were more wires and patches attached to her bump. He could hear their baby's little heartbeat, that familiar whooshing sound but it was faster than he felt comfortable with. The blanket covered only her legs, stopping at her hip in order to leave her bump easily accessable, whilst another blanket lay rolled up and pressed behind her back to keep her from turning over.

"She's showing signs of quite severe preeclampsia, the symptoms seemed to have eased off overnight but presented again this morning-"

"Overnight?" He questioned with puzzlement.

"Mrs Beauchamp was admitted in the early hours of this morning-"

"And nobody thought to call me?" His nostrils flared as he became more irate by the second.

"She insisted that nobody call you, when there was no improvement by midday we told her we'd have to keep her in again tonight so she said we could contact you."

"How bad is it?" He looked back to her fatigued body laying in the middle of the large bed.

"Her BP is extremely high, partnered with laboured breathing and quite intense nausea." She grabbed her chart delicately, filling in her obs whilst continuing to talk quietly. "Charlie Fairhead accompanied her here, he was with her when she started experiencing severe abdominal pain."

"In the early hours?"

"Yes, she was already here in the hospital so it was just a case of hopping in the lift and heading straight to us."

"And the baby?" There were so many questions he had about this whole situation but he wanted all the answers, right there and then.

"She's showing some signs of foetal distress, but like I said, we're monitoring them both closely." She slid the chart back into it's holder on the end of the bed before sanitising and turning to face a very anxious Father-to-be. "We've got her positioned on her left to reduce the pressure on her vena cava, but right now she just needs rest and no stress or upset, alright?" She tilted her chin down, her brows raising as she stared at him. It was almost as if she could see all the questions floating around in his mind, ready to release them all like a cascading river over Connie when she awoke. "We're keeping her fluids up intravenously to avoid the possibility of dehydration and we'll need to make sure she's eating regularly too."

"You think she'll have to deliver prematurely?" His question silenced the nurse for a few seconds, causing Grace to glance at her too. She had no idea what any of this was or what it all meant but she knew it sounded serious despite the poor nurse's best efforts to keep them calm.

"Her obstetrician is-"

"Yeah, monitoring her closely, I know." He breathed frustratedly, taking a deep breath before opening his mouth more calmly, trying to remember Grace was still in the room. "This baby is a saviour sibling." He kept his words quiet, quickly stealing a look at Grace's worried little face as she watched over her Mother. The nurse couldn't help but look at the ill young girl too, her heart ached for them all.

"We're aware of your unique and delicate situation, we'll do our best to manage her symptoms over the next couple of weeks and then her obstetrician will determine what the best option is." Speaking firmly, she made sure to try and make him feel at ease. "Delivering this prematurely really isn't an option. However, if things worsen and there's risk of her developing eclampsia then he'll have to consider delivering for both the baby and Connie's safety."

"How long will you keep her in for?"

"It's a waiting game, Sam." She smiled as warmly as she could, giving his arm a comforting squeeze. "We just have to keep on eye on things, she's about to enter her third trimester, if we can keep her stress levels to a minimum and make sure she's getting plenty of rest then hopefully delivery can be held off for as long as possible." She gave them one last smile each and let them know where they could find her before she left them alone. Sam still had so many questions. What prompted all of this? Why was she at the hospital in the early hours? And why hadn't she called him?

"Dad?" Grace uttered his name again, still attempting to keep her words soft and quiet. "Dad, I'm hungry."

"Hm?" He moved his focus to her tired face as she remained seated in the visitor chair, they'd been sat in silence for over an hour. "Sorry, I forgot, we haven't eaten since lunch time." He glanced at his watch, it read quarter to eight. "I'm going to give your Aunt Sally a call, you can stay with her tonight-"

"No, I want to stay here with you and Mum." Protesting the idea already, Sam had to put his foot down. But, of course, he did it gently.

"Gracie, your Mum is going to be sleeping the whole time, I promise. Besides, there's only hospital food here." He grimaced. "Are you sure that's what you'd like for tea?"

"What happens if she wakes up?" Her brown glossy eyes moved back to her Mother as she lay asleep between them.

"She won't." He smiled tiredly, the long drive had positively knocked it out of him. "The nurse said she's very, very tired. She needs to rest, just like you do. You've had a busy few days, Gracie." He narrowed his eyes at her. "You can come straight back in the morning, I promise." He could see her contemplating the idea, like she actually had a choice but regardless he allowed her to mull it over.

"Okay, but I can come back first thing?"

"As early as seven if you really wish, but I have a feeling you'll be sleeping in." He finalised the deal with a smile before calling his sister to make the arrangements.


The hours seemed to blend into one long blurred moment, time had lost all meaning as he remained slouched in the chair by her bedside. She was still fast asleep, how had he not noticed how exhausted she was? He knew letting her go back to work was a mistake, he'd had no say in it, like most things involving Connie in all fairness. She was incredibly independent in her decision making, he'd known that from the very beginning all those years ago but he was mentally kicking himself for not putting his foot down and persistently voicing his dislike of the idea. Leaning forward, he rubbed his hands roughly over his face, his elbows resting on his knees. It was almost half eleven, Sally had picked Grace up a couple of hours ago and he had no doubt in his mind she'd be fast asleep now too, she'd looked worn out. Moving his concentration back to Connie before him, he reached his hand out gently and tugged the blue hospital blanket a little further up over her body.

"Knock knock." Charlie spoke softly as he opened the door. "I'm glad you're here." He smiled. "Otherwise I was about to call you myself."

"That's what you should have done in the first place, Charlie." The croak in his voice indicated his own fatigue as Charlie moved further into the room, an air of apprehension floating around him like a dark and heavy cloud. "As soon as she was admitted, I should have been contacted."

"We offered, don't you think that's the first thing we suggested?" He paused, not knowing exactly what it was that Sam wanted to hear. An apology, he assumed. "I'm already feeling rotten about all of this, Sam. I should have just left it well alone, I could see the police had already given her a rough time-"

"Woah, woah-" He turned around quickly, his expression completely perplexed. "The police were speaking to her?" The angry angling of his eyebrows let Charlie know he'd just cocked up. "About what?" His question sat between them with a hostile glow until Charlie finally answered.

"She hasn't told you, has she?"

"I haven't even spoken to her, she's been asleep ever since I got here." He hissed aggressively before standing up and moving closer to the older male nurse. "What happened last night, Charlie?"


In hindsight, having worked as a nurse for over thirty years he probably should have learned to think before speaking by now but had he? The answer was no, he hadn't and he probably never would. The room was quiet for about twenty seconds after he finished up his summary of the previous night's events.

"Where is he? This Alex guy?"

"He's up on Darwin-" The latter of his sentence had barely made it out of his mouth before Sam stood up violently, his temper getting the better of him. "Oh no you don't!" Quickly making his way to the door, Charlie shielded it as best he could. Thinking before speaking wasn't his strong point but talking someone off a ledge was and this was one of those delicate situations. "That is the last thing any of you need right now, especially Connie." His nostrils flared slightly. "Going in there in this state will solve absolutely nothing." After what felt like a lengthy stand off between the pair, Sam finally dropped his shoulders and relaxed his posture before backing off a little. Charlie remained guarded, ready for him to try again but he calmed once he could see there was no risk of it happening for a second time. He watched on as the younger male retook his previous seat and exhaled loudly.

"I'm so tired, Charlie." His words were softyly spoken, a coating of sadness dusted over them.

"Perhaps you could go home and get some kip-"

"No, you don't understand." He interrupted gently, a humour-lacking chuckle escaping him.

"Try me." Challenging him kindly, Charlie proceeded to take a seat in the chair on the other side of the bed. "I'm all ears." It took him a few moments to start speaking but the veteran nurse was relieved when he finally did.

"You know, I see everything they're both going through and I can't help but wonder how they do it." His teeth grazed at his bottom lip briefly as he talked calmly and quietly. His eyes on Connie's face the entire time he spoke. "The resilience, you know? They just keep going no matter what."

"They're made of strong stuff." Charlie stated confidently.

"So why do I feel like I'm the one that's buckling under all of this? I don't have cancer, I'm not carrying a child and balancing that pressure one my shoulders." The warmth in his face had completely disappeared. "I'm supposed be a pillar in their lives, somebody they can both count on." He glanced down in between his words. "But I'm barely holding myself together, I don't know how much longer I can deal with any of this."

"You're both having a real time of it at the moment, that's all." He reassured warmly. "You've had one blow after another lately, you can't dismiss that, Sam." His pale eyes blinked with worry and concern. "Everything that's happening with Grace, and then Emma and the baby, your Mother and now this? I'd say you're holding it all together pretty damn well."

"Externally, yes." He forced a smile but Charlie could see it didn't hold it's usual meaning. "But internally, I'm a mess."

"There's a light, Sam. At the end of the tunnel and you're so close to it, a few more weeks and you'll have a new baby, Grace will receive the stem cell treatment and it'll all seem much brighter on the other side."

"You sound so sure about that?"

"Because I have to, you have to keep on going despite the low blows you've been dealt. Don't you think Connie's tired? Emotionally and physically? Her body is going through hell right now but she has to keep going." He decorated his words with a gentle sternness.

"I'm not like her, Charlie. I wish I was, but I'm not." He smiled genuinely. "She could easily deal with all of this without me, she's not the type to need emotional support."

"That's where you're wrong." He leant forward, a serious expression painted on his face. "Because she does. I could see how distressed she was last night, I have no doubt in my mind she wanted to call you and have you by her side, but her focus was on Grace and not wanting to ruin this school trip of hers." His eyes moved over to the back of Connie's head momentarily before returning to Sam's worn out posture. "There's no communication between you two, is there?"

"She doesn't talk-"

"Then make her." He interjected forcefully. "You want to be there for her, so be there. There are no excuses anymore, Sam. And you have to let her in too, because I have a strong feeling she's holding back a lot of anxieties and worries because she doesn't want to burden you with any more stresses."

"What anxieties?" He sat up slowly, his face full of concern.

"Exactly." There was silence following his short sentence. The baffled look marking Sam's face forced Charlie to expand on the topic. "Have you asked her how she's feeling? Noticed any strange behaviours?"

"Has she said something to you?" His eyebrows pulled together worriedly as he asked.

"No, she hasn't. But I get a sense she's battling through something in silence. I'm just an outsider in all of this, so perhaps it's easier for me to notice but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check in with her regularly and be more involved." His aged eyes flickered over Sam for a few seconds following his sentence, he could see him thinking deeply, so deeply that it took him almost a whole minute to respond.

"I didn't even know the baby had been kicking." He stated softly, moving his focus to Connie's bump. "I've lost all sense of time with everything that's been happening, I had to use a calender to figure out how far gone she was the other day." He looked guilty and angry at himself.

"Like I said, you've had a hell of a lot going on. It can't be easy but-"

"But I need to pull myself together." He finished off Charlie's sentence with smile, a more genuine one this time as it brought back a warmer pink hue to his cheeks.

"Hey, you said it, not me." There was a shared comfortable silence between them as they smiled before Charlie spoke once more. "She's going to be on bed-rest for a little while now. She won't be able to avoid you or distract herself with work like I know she does, so perhaps it'll be a good time for you both to talk, properly." He felt satisfied with their progress as Sam nodded slowly, he could see him contemplating everything they'd spoken about.

"Thanks, Charlie."


His brain didn't stop all night, everything Charlie had said just kept on refreshing in his mind. All of it was true, now that he thought about it, every time he was alone with Connie he recalled there was an uneasy silence, almost as if she was always on the verge of spilling but never quiet managed to. Of course, he blamed himself but it's like Charlie had said, he needed to stop indulging in endless self pity and pull himself together. Man-up, so to speak. By the time his body did let him find sleep, he felt as though he'd only just nodded off before he was awoken again.

"I'm so sorry." The young nurse apologised quietly, she wasn't the same one as last night but seemed just as friendly. She'd attempted to enter the room silently but even the small amount of noise she had made was enough to wake him. He was still slouched painfully in the visitor chair, he sat up quickly to look at Connie but she was sound asleep. It was nearly eight o;clock and he was in a need of a caffeine hit. "Nothing is wrong." She eased. "I'm just here to check her blood pressure again." She proceeded to grab the cuff, looking at Sam sympathetically. "They're not the best things to sleep in, are they? The chairs, I mean."

"You can say that again." He smiled weakly as he sat upright with a small morning stretch. "I've had my fair share of it recently, they're not so bad after a while."

"Yes, I heard about your daughter, I'm sorry." She offered him yet another smile, this one was empathetic in nature. He merely nodded in response, flicking her a smile back before looking back to Connie. She placed the cuff on her arm delicately, careful not to wake her.

"Is this normal? For her to have slept for this long?" Gazing at his watch he calculated exactly how many hours she'd been snoozing for. "She's been asleep for well over eighteen hours now?"

"Tells me that perhaps she needed it?" She removed the cuff and packed it away. "Have you noticed any bad sleeping patterns or habits lately? Maybe struggling to fall to sleep or waking too early?"

"Well, yes actually, both of those things." He frowned sadly, he really needed to get his head back down from the clouds and pay attention to what was happening to the people around him. Mentally kicking himself in the silence, her warm voice interrupted the brutal beating.

"Her blood pressure has come down a little, I'm sure her doctor will be happy with the results but he might want to keep her in for another night as a precaution." She mimicked his previous action and looked at her pocket watch. "As it goes, we may have to wake her soon, she needs to eat something."

"Alright, thank you." He breathed with relief. "I can wake her, it's fine."

"No problem, I'll go and grab her a breakfast tray." She filled in the obs chart whilst chatting. "Anything I can grab for you? A coffee maybe?"

"I am dying for one, thank you." He looked like he needed one too, hence her reason for asking. Once she returned the chart to it's holder she left them to it, closing the door behind herself. In all honesty, Sam was slightly apprehensive about waking her up. He had no idea how their interaction would go, he could never predict it. One wrong comment by either himself or Connie would send the conversation south in a matter of seconds, which was definitely not ideal at this moment in time. It took a few gentle shakes to even stir her, never mind summon her from her slumber. Throwing a little more thrust into his shaking he finally saw her eyes start to flutter open. "Hey." He cooed with a small smile spreading across his face. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up."

"I feel like I've been asleep for years." She whispered tiredly, her smile matching his but much more lazy.

"Almost, you've had a good eighteen or nineteen hours." He returned to his seat slowly before pulling the chair in closer to the bed, his warm palm coming to rest over the cannula in the back of her hand.

"Where's Gracie?" Her eyes moved across the room, searching for her.

"She was tired and starving." He folded his lips together. "As you can see, I'm doing a great job of looking after her."

"Don't be ridiculous." She croaked sleepily, studying his subdued expression. "Was she upset about the trip?"

"No, honestly I think she may have even been slightly relieved. It was quick paced and high energy, even I was struggling to keep up. She stayed with Sally for the night. With a slight protest, I might add. She didn't want to leave you, we were both really worried-"

"I just-"

"I know." He quickly interrupted, stopping her from trying to defend herself. He didn't want her getting upset or riled if he could avoid it. "I know, you didn't want to spoil Grace's trip. You know, she's more grown up than we give her credit for?" He smiled, his thumb stroking the side of her wrist gently. "She packed her bags to leave quicker than I did, and you saw how much stuff she took." His smile grew upon seeing a genuine chuckle escape her. She was still laying on her side, like she didn't have the energy to move despite having had nearly twenty hours of uninterrupted sleep. "Listen, I don't want you to withhold anything from me because you're worried it's too much for me to deal with, that's entirely my problem and I'll need to learn to deal with things better than I have been."

"You've been doing the best you can, given the circumstances." Her words were incredibly gentle, a softness to her voice that he'd never quite heard before.

"I can do better though, you know it and I know it." The silence he was met with was enough of a response as her eyes flickered down to their hands. "Charlie explained everything to me, said the police didn't report any suspicious activity in or around the house following the incident." His statement was also met with silence as she cringed internally, suddenly being catapulted back to the events of that night. She'd been asleep for so long she'd honestly forgotten.

"Good." Her soft murmur held a note of relief, it was subtle but it was there. "His blood is all over the carpet." Her sharp sigh forced him to bite his tongue on the next question, she was obviously as equally angry with this man as he was and his investigative questions could wait for a better time and place.

"It's fine, we can worry about that later." He pushed his concerns aside and squeezed her hand fleetingly. "You're not supposed to be getting stressed, so forget about all of that."

"And everything else?" She slowly disconnected their hands as she moved on to her back and sat herself up gently. "I'm supposed to just forget all the-"

"Here we go." The young nurse interrupted as she returned, entering through the door backwards whilst balancing a tray in one hand and Sam's coffee in the other. "I imagine you're probably starving after that sleep, so I snook an extra piece of toast on there." She smiled sweetly, moving the table across the bed and setting the tray down in front of her. "And one coffee for yourself." Handing it to him carefully, she headed to the window and pulled the blinds open before returning to the foot of the bed and sanitising her hands. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thank you." She forced a smile and glanced down at the breakfast before her.

"And the abdominal pain?"

"Subsided, mostly." Her cannulated hand came to rest on her bump beneath the bed table.

"Alright, good, this is what we like to hear." She grinned as she grabbed her chart once again. "And the nausea and dizziness? Are you still experiencing these?"

"No, no, I'm feeling fine. Thank you." She repositioned herself delicately. "So, I can be discharged today?"

"Actually, I just mentioned to your partner earlier, your BP has come down a fraction but it is still slightly elevated so on an air of caution, we'll keep you in for another night to monitor you." The disappointment was quite clear on Connie's face, prompting Sam to lean forward.

"One more night won't hurt, especially if it's in your best interest." He glanced back at the nurse. "And the baby? She's okay too?" He was unaware but Connie's eyes flickered over to the side of his head, watching his reaction closely.

This was the first time he'd asked about the baby since being there.