"I thought you'd be in there by now, sweet-talking your way back in." Charlie smiled slightly. "What's stopping you?"

"I've let her down, Charlie. I should have been here as soon as all of this happened but I wasn't, I was with Emma trying to figure out what the hell she'd overdosed on." He groaned loudly. "This giant mess is never going to get any tidier, is it?"

"You've been tangled in this mess for months, it'll get easier. You've already ploughed through so much, there's no point giving up now." He smiled before wincing slightly. "And I think I owe you an apology. I wasn't aware that's what had happened with Emma tonight. How is she doing?"

"I spoke to Dylan about an hour ago, he said she's stable." Their close conversation was interrupted when a young blonde male squeezed between them politely and headed into room six.

"Enough of the chit-chat, you need to get yourself in there. She needs you." He patted his upper arm supportively, a feeling of accomplishment coursing through him when the father-to-be nodded and headed for the door. As he pushed it open cautiously, he was half-expecting her to throw the nearest heavy object his way but instead he was greeted with something far worse.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" The young blonde doctor he'd seen in the corridor was stood nonchalantly by Connie's side as she struggled through what appeared to be a contraction.

"Yeah, I'm Sam, Connie's partner." He hurried in, anxious to find out what was happening. "Surely she can't be having contractions already? What has she been given?" Whatever she was experiencing, it must have been painful because she still hadn't acknowledged his presence. Instead she remained leaning forward with her chin tucked down slightly, her breathing hard yet steady.

"No, no she's just experiencing some mild cramping, it's a common side effect with cervidil-"

"Cervidil?" Sam interrupted as the nurse re-entered the room behind him. "That's what you're inducing her with?"

"To begin with, yes. We'll leave that in for twelve hours, hopefully by which time regular and steady contractions will be well underway." As he finished the last of his sentence at the end of the bed, Connie let a shaky exhale out before tilting her head back breathlessly.

"Where the hell have you been?" She more or less panted the words but it was clear to everyone in the room she was vexed.

"It doesn't matter, I'm here now-"

"It doesn't matter?" She uttered the words back to him in disbelief. "I needed you here when I had to make this decision and you weren't. What part of that doesn't matter?" Breathing shallowly between words she managed to get the last of her angry sentence out before her brow furrowed deeply with the returning pain. Almost immediately it was as if she disappeared into controlling the discomfort, her body forcing her to focus on managing the agony she was currently experiencing. Sam's face dropped instantly as he looked back to the seemingly absent-minded doctor. Even the nurse had approached the bed again.

"This isn't normal." Sam breathed, his gaze switching from Dr Cranston to the older nurse. "That's not just mild, uncomfortable cramping, these are contractions."

"And less than a minute apart too." The nurse chimed in swiftly, almost as if her mind was thinking along the same line as Sam's. "I timed one before going to find you, it was just over two minutes in length." Her eyes moved up to Dr Cranston's unbothered face.

"Are you just going to stand there? Or are you going to do something?" Sam spat, glaring at the seemingly green obstetrician, who was just sliding Connie's chart back into the end of her bed calmly.

"Look, it's perfectly normal for cramping to occur, but if you're concerned we can get a foetal monitor attached to Mrs Beauchamp's abdomen to keep a closer eye on the baby and hook her up to a heart monitor too as an extra precaution." He gave Nurse Bradshaw the nod, wordlessly instructing her to do so.

"This should have been done before you inserted the Cervidil!" He ran his hands frustratedly over his face. "Jesus Christ!" Growling with exasperation, his attention was soon diverted upon feeling Connie's hand inadvertently gripping on to his fingers as the intense pain continued to rip through her. She felt as though they were lasting an eternity each time. Nurse Bradshaw wasted no time in pulling Connie's gown up a fraction to attach a foetal monitor, strapping it securely and comfortably to her abdomen as soon as she located where the baby was positioned. Connie let out an anguished sigh as she moved her head back to rest on the pillow, evidently the contraction had ceased and so had her grip on Sam's supportive hand.

"We need to remove the cervidil tape." Nurse Bradshaw announced confidently, backed by Sam as he also tuned into the rapid and uneven heartbeat of his unborn child.

"Take it out." Sam concurred without hesitation, his gaze landing on Dr Cranston who looked just as unbothered as before. "There's a clear sign of foetal distress, she's contracting for longer than two minutes at a time with less than a minute between." Appealing his argument passionately, his theory was only further supported by Connie's breathing quickening once again as she leant forward a fraction, her body still not recovered from the previous contraction as she was thrown into another one. Nurse Bradshaw had switched to the same side of the bed as Sam, sorting out Connie's monitors whilst Sam awaited an action from Dr Cranston. He looked shell-shocked, almost as if he couldn't believe he'd been wrong.

"Mum's tachycardic now too." The nurse didn't turn to face either of the men, instead she continued to study the screen monitoring Connie's vitals. "Her heart rate's climbing to one-hundred and thirty beats per minute. We need to remove the tape now, it can take up to fifteen minutes post-removal for symptoms to subside and they're both quite distressed as it is."

"Alright, fine, let's remove it and we'll go ahead with pitocin as soon as their heart rates have come down." He moved to the side of the large room as he spoke, gloving up in preparation.

"Don't go." Connie's whispered plea came out of nowhere, her breathing still all over the place as she struggled to manage the pain. He couldn't even begin to imagine that many contractions in such a short space of time, and each one lasting longer than two minutes. He was genuinely surprised she hadn't made more noise.

"No, no, I'm not." He cooed softly, gripping her fingers delicately. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise." Noting that her panting had slowed, he could only assume the contraction had passed. She looked scared, something that was always hard to see in such a strong person. Deep down he knew that was the only reason she'd asked him not to go. "It's alright, they're removing the cervidil, it's caused uterine hyper-stimulation. Once it's out, these contractions will stop."

"Doing my job for me now?" Dr Cranston re-appeared at the end of the bed, cracking an ill-received joke.

"Well, I'd hate to see how things would have turned out had I not been here to set you on the right track." Sam sniped back but was pulled back to the moment when Connie shifted with discomfort.

"Alright Mrs Beauchamp, I just need you to slide your knees up and out to the side a fraction, alright? We're going to take the cervidil tape out to see if that relieves any of these uncomfortable symptoms." He let her move to the correct position before throwing the blanket back a little. "This might be a little tender, sorry." His fore-warning was an understatement, but she was just happy to have it taken out if it meant the end of these horrific contractions. "There we go, all done. You can pop your legs down now." Discarding of everything appropriately, he returned to the foot of the bed whilst sanitising. "Nurse Bradshaw will keep observing yours and your baby's heart rates, as soon as they've come down we'll get a line in and start you on pitocin. These contractions might continue to occur for a few more minutes but as soon as they've eased off, I'll encourage you to move around the room a little bit and then try and get some rest."

"Can I have a word with you, outside please." Sam gently removed his fingers from Connie's grip, rubbing her arm reassuringly before following a rather reluctant Dr Cranston out into the quiet corridor. He waited to hear the door click shut before unleashing his fury. "What the hell was that in there? Hm? How are you allowed to call yourself a doctor?! Do you have any idea how badly that could have ended?"

"Cramping is to be expected-"

"She wasn't experiencing cramps! You know that as well as I do!" He breathed steadily, attempting to keep his cool. "I don't want her in your care, I want Dr Goldman here as soon as possible. That's not a request, it's an order."

"Mr Strachan-"

"Page him now, or so help me I will make your life a living hell working here. You're lucky I'm not lodging a complaint." His lip curled with disgust as he looked the flustered blonde male up and down in a seething manner.

"I'll see what I can do." Clenching his jaw as hard as he could without causing damage, he turned on his heels and headed away towards this nurses station. It was like hospital staff tag-teams tonight. As soon as he'd disappeared out of sight, Dr Maison rounded the corner and stopped in front of him.

"Sam? Is everything alright?" His brow twitched with concern upon noticing the father-to-be's tense posture.

"No, actually, it's not." He narrowed his eyes. "Why on Earth hasn't she been sent for a C-Section? Grace needs this sibling as soon as possible, Charlie told me you suggested Connie should be induced. The act of labour and childbirth can take hours, even days!"

"First of all, I need you to calm down and stop yelling." Speaking sternly, he only paused briefly before continuing on. "The transplant is urgent, but I already took into account the labour and delivery time before suggesting she be induced. If a section was the way to go, she'd be booked in some time in the next three days." He sighed harshly. "I was concerned for Connie and how a caesarian might affect her, mentally and emotionally."

"So you think this is any better for her?" He motioned behind himself. "The Cervidil forced her to start contracting prematurely, that under-qualified idiot took it out after myself and the on-duty nurse more or less instructed him to do so."

"I'm not talking about the physical strain of childbirth, Sam." His face softened, along with his voice. "I've been watching Connie closely ever since you made the decision to carry a saviour sibling, I was worried that a caesarian might interfere with how she and the baby connect."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Immediately getting defensive, he tried to calm down as soon as Dr Maison held his hands up gently.

"She was really bothered by the thought of being forced into labour, having to decide which child to put first." His sentence was loud, clear and heartbreaking. "I'm not interested in why you weren't here earlier, that's between you two but I will say that watching her having to make that choice alone was tough. I just felt that a caesarian would feel far more out of her hands than a natural, if not induced, birth." There was a prickly silence as soon as he stopped speaking but the tension soon fizzled out whilst Sam looked down at his shoes briefly. "This way she's still somewhat in control." The pause continued as Sam's mind mulled the words over quickly, a look of understanding suddenly painted on his face as he realised the thought process behind Dr Maison's suggestion.

"You're right." A soft sigh escaped his lips. "Sorry, everything's just happened so quickly, I feel like I blinked and our lives have just turned to shit."

"They haven't, I promise." Dr Maison smiled. "Soon you'll have another daughter to dote on, Grace will receive the life-saving transplant she needs and you can all get on with living your lives again."

"And you think Gracie will be okay until this baby is born?"

"She's stable, as long as we continue with our half-hourly obs we can keep an eye on her closely until your daughter is born, alright?" He searched for eye contact from Sam as he patted his upper arm supportively. "Perhaps you should get back in there, tell Connie Gracie is doing fine and she's still fast asleep. Your parents are still sitting with her."

"Thank you, if you can keep me updated-"

"Of course, you don't need to ask. Now get back in there." He smiled once again, watching an exhausted Sam head back into the birthing suite. Honestly, he needed a kind face right now and Dr Maison was possibly the most perfect of people to have bumped into at a time like this. He already felt ninety percent calmer than before. Now he just had to focus on remaining as strong as he could for Connie.


Sam had been correct, the intense contractions seemed to happen every five minutes for the next quarter of an hour. By the end of it, Connie was shattered. Her hair had started to stick to the sides of her face, tacky with sweat as she breathed her way through them but thankfully she hadn't had one now for almost twenty minutes.

"How are you feeling now?" The nurse asked with a hopeful voice and expression as she grabbed the notes chart ready to fill it out again.

"Better than before, that's for sure." She licked her upper lip, glancing down at her rounded bump.

"And no more contractions?"

"No, the last one was about fifteen or twenty minutes ago."

"Your regular obstetrician is on his way in, so he should be here soon. I have a feeling Sam's persuasive chat with Dr Cranston earlier seemed to prompt that decision." She looked from the exhausted clinical lead and back to a sheepish looking Sam but Connie refused to glance in his direction. The frosty atmosphere was obvious, even to Nurse Bradshaw. "Anyway, your obs are looking fine so I'll be back in half an hour to check on you again before we start you on the pitocin." She popped the charts away and looked between them uncomfortably as the silence intensified. "If you need me, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, sorry I didn't catch your name earlier?" Sam finally croaked, putting the poor older woman out of her discomfort.

"It's Diane, or Nurse Bradshaw, whichever you prefer." She offered him an endearing smile that was oddly calming.

"Well thanks, Diane. For earlier, I mean. I don't want Cranston back in this room again."

"Not a problem, like I said, Dr Goldman will be in soon so you won't have to deal with him again. Despite his stubbornness, Dr Cranston is a good doctor." She tried to defend sweetly but Sam's scoff told her he wasn't budging on his opinion. Quietly leaving the room, the silence didn't become any lighter for the pair.

"Maybe you should just go and sit with Grace tonight."

"Connie-" He started with a regretful sigh but she sliced his excuse short.

"No, I am so tired of your empty promises!" Her attitude had done a complete turnaround, making him think that her behaviour towards him before was definitely a result of the pain she was experiencing.

"Please, you don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand!" She cut him off once more. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have all of this resting on my shoulders? For months now, carrying a second child for the sole purpose of saving Grace! Not knowing whether it's even going to work? Not knowing if it'll be enough?" Her voice cracked, partially through fatigue but largely down to the fact that she was exhausted both physically and emotionally after the night she'd had so far. "And now this?" Their eyes had finally connected, he looked remorseful and she just appeared broken and tired. "I had to make this decision alone after countless reassurances that you'd be there, and where were you? Hm?" Her empty shrug made him wince with regret.

"You don't think I'm reminded of that every single day?" He spoke calmly, he knew there was no talking her around so he felt as though he had nothing to lose now. "Every time I so much as look at you it slaps me in the face." There was a moment of quiet as he waited for her to jump in as she had done the previous two times he'd opened his mouth but she remained silent. "That there's nothing I can do to make any of this go away, nothing I can do to help you or Grace. I just have to watch you both struggle."

"Being here would have been a good start." Her words were breathed lowly before she folded her lips together. "I don't want you in here, please, just go." She tried her hardest to keep her emotions in check, as much as she wanted him to stay she was sick and tired of being let down at every single milestone. He was never going to change and perhaps it was high time she finally accepted the fact and stopped wasting time and energy on a relationship that was doomed from the beginning. Despite her best efforts, her hormones were all over the place as it was and thus she struggled to keep a strong stance.

"I don't believe that for a second, but if that's what you're saying you want, then I'll go." Speaking gently he stood up from the visitors chair by her bedside. "But just know that I'll be back at the drop of a hat as soon as you need me." He knew pushing her right now was not good for her or the baby, he just hoped he was right in thinking that if she had time to cool off before labour commenced properly, then he could be back to support her and witness the birth of his daughter. As much as he wanted to be angry at her decision to feel anything but this awful guilt looming over him, he knew he'd messed up. He stopped briefly in the doorway to turn and glance at her but she was looking down, deep in her thoughts. This night couldn't possibly get any worse.


"I told you it'd be a bad idea-"

"Audrey." Collin hissed in the most mild-mannered angry tone Sam had ever heard. He'd just re-entered Grace's room to find both of his parents keeping a watchful eye over his unwell daughter.

"What? I told him before he flew out of the room that he's the last person she'd want to see after tonight."

"Even so, have you no tact?" He whispered with an empathetic look on his face, undoubtedly his son had fucked up this evening but it still wasn't nice to see him in such a way. Studying him closely, his eyes followed his frame as he loosened his tie and collapsed into the chair against the wall facing the side of Grace's bed.

"I take it things didn't go too well?" His father approached the conversation gently. "Is Connie alright?"

"A few hiccups so far but things have settled again now." He sounded far away and despondent. "She doesn't want me present, so there's no need for you to stay if you want to get home." He swallowed calmly, a vain attempt to keep his emotions under control. "It's late and you've been here for hours as it is."

"Sam, she's upset, I'm sure when the time comes she'll need you in there by her side." Audrey's angry exterior had melted away completely at the sight of her only son battling tears. Getting up and moving over to him swiftly, she sat down in the seat next to him. "We can stay as long as you need us to." Rubbing his hand gently, she leant in and kissed the side of his head.

"Grace gets her stubbornness from her, you know?" He smiled with a small chuckle escaping his lips. "Once her mind is made up she won't change it back, trust me." Taking a deep breath, he straightened his posture and sat back before looking his Mother in the face. "Honestly, it's fine, you both head home and get some rest. I'll stay with Gracie and update you in the morning." Everything about his presence was defeated, like he'd given up on trying.

"We can come back if anything-"

"I know." He interjected sweetly. "I know you'd come back in your dressing gown if it came to it, thanks Mum." He kissed her cheek before standing to hug his Dad who'd risen from his seat at the same time. "I'll call you first thing in the morning, thanks for being here."

"Keep that head of yours screwed on from now on, Son." Colin took this time to talk sternly as Audrey busied herself with kissing Grace's forehead and tucking her in properly. "I know tonight hasn't been easy on you either with everything that happened but you really let her down." The disappointed glint in his Father's eyes hurt almost as much as Connie's words moments earlier. Twenty-four hours ago everything was perfectly fine and well. How had things nose-dived so badly?


He awoke with a start, an uncomfortable one at that as his foggy eyes tried their best to adjust to his surroundings and figure out where he was.

"Sam." The voice repeated once more, pulling him further out of his sleepy state as he quickly sat up once realising where he was and what was going on.

"What is it?" He croaked out in a panicked fashion before leaning forward to look over Grace. She was still fast asleep. "What's happened?" Turning to face the voice he stood up swiftly upon seeing it was Charlie.

"Sorry, I know you must be tired-"

"Is it Connie? What time is it?" His jaw tensed and his brow furrowed with widened eyes as he tried to force himself more awake. The older nurse couldn't help but feel a little bad for him.

"It's three in the morning, I'm glad you've managed to catch a couple hours of kip at least."

"Connie-"

"Yes." He smiled. "It's Connie, she was induced just after you left. She and the baby are being monitored closely and Dr Goldman is on duty." He paused. "Just thought I'd fill you in."

"Thanks." He finally let a breath out after what felt like minutes of holding it in with anticipation. "How are things progressing?"

"Slowly, from what I can gather." He folded his lips, the pink-tinged skin of his cheeks contrasting with his dark blue scrubs. "I think they'll break her waters to move things along at this rate, they don't want to go overboard on the pitocin in case they cause too much foetal distress."

"And she's okay? Connie?" The way his brows framed his eyes made him look like a sad puppy and Charlie instantly felt for him.

"I think she'd be a lot better with you by her side, despite what she says."

"Look, Charlie, I appreciate your intentions but I'm not arguing with her anymore. I've already caused enough damage, I don't want to stress her out any more than she already is."

"You can't have put up much of a fight though if you're sat in here?" The silence that fell between them wasn't an uncomfortable one, but it did kickstart a few spiralling thoughts. "Once again, I mean this for her benefit more than yours, she's already had to deal with so much of this on her own tonight. Don't let her go through this part alone too."

"So, what am I supposed to do? Just disregard her wishes and force my way into the delivery room?" He scoffed, shaking his head lightly as he glanced toward the darkened window and then back at Charlie.

"That's what the old Sam would have done, isn't it?" He smirked, as though he was thinking of a fond memory. "From what I've heard you were a thorn in her side for her entire pregnancy with Grace, barging into the delivery room uninvited even back then. Did you give up this easily with Grace?"

"It's different this time-"

"Yes, you're right, it is. You're in a relationship this time around. You have an obligation to be there, for her and for your baby. You and you alone are her support system, she has no parents, no siblings. Just you." His words were almost fairytale-like, as though he was on old wise wizard offering advice to the young, naive characters. There was a long few moments of silence following his words, perhaps close to a minute as he thought deeply.

"You always did have a way with words, didn't you?" Swiftly grabbing his phone he gave the veteran nurse a thankful pat on his upper arm as his body was kicked into overdrive. "Get the nurse to update me half-hourly with Grace's obs and tell her I'll pop down every so often to check on her as well."

"Of course I will." He nodded, a sense of accomplishment washing over him like a warm wave as he watched the frantic father-to be tightening his tie and making way for the door. "And Sam, don't screw it up again otherwise I might have to start charging you for my advice." He let out a hearty chuckle as Sam flashed a smile back and in a blink, he was gone.

His strides became larger and larger the closer he got to the birthing suite, his palms tacky and his heart racing dramatically at the thought of his second daughter being born within the next few hours. All he'd ever wanted with his children was to be a part of their lives, that included watching them come into the world. This was a moment to be celebrated, for more than one reason and he almost lost all of it because of his thoughtless behaviour. Something he was never going to let happen again.