Tom rounded the banister, dropping a laptop bag from his shoulder to the bottom step. Pausing to look in the wall mirror, he straightened his tie and smiled at his own reflection. Mika ran down the stairs, catching sight of Tom and rolling her eyes. She tutted loudly trying to squeeze through the gap behind him, and he stepped backwards to block her route. He grabbed her hand, spinning her around before letting go as she flew towards the kitchen door.

"Someone's happy this morning!" Mika flicked her eyes from her mother to the hallway, as Tom emerged. He whistled as he selected a green apple from the bowl, rubbing it against his shirt pocket before taking a large bite.
"Someone" he started, "is being given a chance to shine, Budgen's off on a jolly for a while. I'm in charge now" He pulled at his shirt, shrugging his shoulders and puffing his chest forward.
"Mr Budgen," Izzie made effort to emphasise the sign of respect that Tom missed in front of the girls. She pulled at his tie until Tom looked at her, leaning in closer to his face. "And we all know you're not in charge, Darlin'" She tapped his cheek lightly with her open palm. He could do nothing but smile at her. This was the old Izzie seeping through, she was coming back to him and he wanted to savour every second. Tom threw himself into the chair beside Izzie dramatically, pulling it backwards and swinging his feet up next to the plates. His hands rested on the back of his head as he leaned back on the chair,
"Well, if you can just be getting on with that. I'll just be here, ahem, resting my eyes" his voice mimicing Grantly's as his own eyes closed. Mika and Chlo stifled giggles from across the table.

"Well?" Kim dropped a pile of papers on the table beside him, looking down at Tom expectantly and dropping slightly to rest on the table. He looked up at her with a blank expression, not knowing what she was asking. She rolled her eyes, standing again briefly before dropping to the chair beside him. Tom continued to stare vacantly, his own pile of papers threatening to topple with each passing second. He turned slightly to look at her. "Well, what?"
"MEN!" Kim raised her voice enough to make a nearby maths teacher metaphorically shake in his boots. He left the room, giving Tom a glance that said good luck as he did so. "Your girlfriend had a baby, and said baby has been in hospital," Kim started from the beginning, giving Tom another roll of her eyes. "And you and said girlfriend went to hospital last night," she rolled her hand in a circle, gesturing for Tom to attempt to join the dots. He continued to look at her in confusion. "I want to see pictures, pictures I know you have, of baby and girlfriend, and I want every last emotional detail!" She finished, punctuating the last four words with a finger jabbing his chest.

There had been days where Izzie easily resembled normal. Ironing Tom's work shirts and the girl's uniforms or walking into town for bread and milk. On others, even the mere thought of showering or making a cup of tea exhausted her. The bad days were happening less now, but still frequently enough to be worrying. Those days were made harder by her craving for independence, her need for people to not see her as weak. Izzie leaned her head back against the sofa, her eyes closed as a tear ran down her cheek. She didn't reach to wipe it away. What was the point, noone else was home. Tom's paternity leave had ended somewhere between the birth and Izzie coming home. So it had been just her, home alone, for weeks now. The letter box rattled as the post dropped onto the indoor mat, but she stayed still. In the hallway the clock continued to tick and tock against the backdrop of silence. Despite this, time seemed to stop as soon as her family stepped over the threshold. They were in the real world and she was stuck here, in some kind of Groundhog Day time loop. Finally she pressed the back of her hand against her cheek, catching the last tear as it raced across her skin. She took a deep breath, an attempt to still her manic mind. It rarely worked, negative mantras still marching through her head.

"Oh, erm," Tom fished in his bag for his camera. He pressed the button to skip the first couple of photos, only for him. Izzie smiling up from the chair beside Ayah, and then the back of her head and shoulders as she reached in to lift their tiny daughter. Tom handed Kim the camera once he reached a photo of Ayah's tiny hand stretched across her mother's collarbone. Kim began to well up almost immediately, she wiped at her face as Tom pushed the box of tissues around the paper maze of the table towards her. "She's so," A millon words rushed around Kim's head, not one of them good enough. Tom's head was equally filled with second-rate ways to describe the beauty of his girls, "Yeah, she is" he agreed.

After poring over the photos for long enough Tom thought she must have each one committed to memory, Kim handed the camera back. "And everything's okay?" She asked. Tom rubbed his fingers over his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"She's not even home yet and neither of us are sleeping" Kim bit her lip, avoiding interrupting, "I mean. Iz," Tom's eyes made a cursory glance around the staff room, and they both knew who he was looking for, "she's not great." Kim rested her hand on his shoulder,
"She's been here before Tom, she got through it then," Kim smiled widely, showing white teeth against her smooth lips. "She'll come back Tom. She knows we're here. Anyway, I thought Izzie said you were getting a home date last night?" It was Tom's turn to beam now as he nodded at his colleague, and friend.

Everything is perfect, Izzie told herself. She had Chlo and Mika, she had Tom now too. Now Ayah was here, and breathing on her own. She looked down at her shaking hands, her own body betraying her mind. She breathed deeply again, closing her eyes and beginning to count. Tom's key turned in the lock as she reached ten, opening her eyes she cursed herself. Izzie was still wearing the pyjamas that she'd been in when he'd left this morning. Her bad day had run over, and now her weakness was showing. She quietly flopped down on the sofa and closed her eyes. "My God!" she exclaimed seconds later as Tom walked into the lounge, "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He closed the gap between them, resting a hand behind her head and leaning down to kiss her softly. Izzie could feel his smile against her lips, and she leaned into it, grasping at the back of his head with her hands. They broke apart and Tom sank down beside her, resting his hand on her thigh. He gave it a tap as he began to speak, "Better get dressed, Love." Izzie's brow knitted in confusion, "Our due date appointment" he tried to clarify pushing himself to his feet. Tom looked back at her, "she's coming home, Iz" he beamed.