"You were in an impossible situation?" She barked violently. "Can't you see what is happening in front of you right now?" Her eyes filled quickly, her anger boiling over into an emotionally charged outburst as she motioned to her abdominal area. "I just made the decision to birth our baby prematurely in the hope of saving our dying daughter, and I had to do it alone!" Her yells almost echoed through his head. "Do you have any idea how sick to my stomach I am with all of this?" She quickly glanced up to the ceiling, a failing attempt at stemming her tears. "Making this horrendous choice based entirely on which life stands more of a chance-" She cut herself off as she became too emotional to speak properly whilst another contraction started to creep over her body. He was dumbfounded, obviously he knew she'd been worried about this but he had no idea to the extent it had been plaguing her mind. As soon as she moved her right hand to reach behind her back, partnered with her furrowing brows and closed eyes he safely assumed she was experiencing another contraction. Standing up quickly, he reached for the food tray resting on the bed next to her and popped it back on the table as his worried eyes rolled over her studiously. She'd moved her legs a little and sat forward as she breathed steadily through the searing pain. At least they seemed to be progressing as opposed to remaining the same, they were definitely increasing in length. He so desperately wanted to soothe her, let her squeeze his hand, rub her back but she was so wounded by his actions, he knew it'd take more than an apology for her to forgive him. His heart ached at the sound of her groaning through the last five seconds of the contraction whilst he just stood and watched helplessly. His whole body ran cold as he saw her quickly pull the blanket off of her legs. "I think my waters just broke." She panted before letting a shaky exhale out as Sam moved to glance over her. His heart dropped into his boots.

"It's alright." He tried to soothe as best he could upon noting she was starting to panic at the red colour to it. He'd be lying through his teeth if he said he wasn't worried as well. The sheets beneath her stained a reddish-pink with her broken waters. "Just let me have a look at the monitor." He waited for her nod before peeling the blanket back a little further and checking the foetal monitor on her thigh, as he'd expected their baby's heart rate had increased considerably. "I'll go find Dr Goldman, okay? I'll be right back-"

"Please be quick." She grabbed his hand on the bed railing before he could leave, with all of her anger thrown straight out of the window she just wanted him by her side. "Something's not right."

Before she could even comprehend what was going on, the room was the most crowded it had been since she'd been here. It wasn't by any means packed with people, but more than enough to cause her to become concerned. Dr Goldman, Evelyn and what looked to be two medical students. In the time that Sam had been absent and locating the doctor, she'd slipped herself off the bed in a vain attempt to ease the immense pressure building in her lower back. She felt like it was on fire. With her hands planted on the surface of the limp hospital mattress, she leaned over it. Her body unconsciously working for her, naturally trying to distribute her weight evenly to relieve the pain. Sam had re-entered the room closely following Dr Goldman, and although her head was hung whilst she breathed quietly through the peak of another contraction she could still sense a feeling of panic in Sam's voice as he spoke.

"-it happened less than five minutes ago." He gushed, halfway through explaining the situation. The team were immediately presented with the bloodied stain where her waters had broken on the bed. "The colour was concerning so-"

"Yes, that's not really a good shade, is it?" Dr Goldman interrupted the anxious father-to-be, speaking calmly despite feeling a fraction worried. He wasted no time in moving around to Connie's side, her head still hanging as she panted shakily, the contraction drawing to a slow end. He let his eyes roll over the sheets, assessing it quickly before bending slightly to pull the bottom of the oversized t-shirt up a little to get a look at her thighs. There wasn't masses of blood but there was definitely enough running down the inside of her leg to cause him some unease. "Okay, there's definitely a bleed happening somewhere." He stood up straight again, looking straight to Evelyn. "Could you help Mrs Beauchamp back into bed, I'd like to take a closer look."

"Of course." She smiled. "How about we get Dad to come and help us?" She looked over at Sam, a slightly accusatory tone in her voice as she'd been studying him just standing on the other side of the bed helplessly. Unbeknownst to her, he wanted nothing more than to be holding her hand, rubbing her back, soothing her. But he still hadn't won that privilege back yet. Despite this, he approached her too, she was oblivious to her surroundings still. Just concentrating on breathing as calmly as she could. "We're just going to get you back into bed, alright love? We'll get baby looked at and then we'll find you some new sheets." The pair positioned themselves on either side of her, assisting in helping her back onto the heavily stained bed. Her palm wrapped around Sam's forearm in the process, her fingers gripping at him for some sort of reassurance. He felt gross for taking advantage of her current vulnerability but this was his chance to get his foot back in the door and he wasn't about to pass on the opportunity. She was silent aside from a small yet audible whimper as she exhaled upon being back in the bed. Her back laid up into the pillows once again. They were fluffed and comfortable to the average person, but to Connie the mere positioning of her body was agony.

"My back." She breathed softly, the pained look on her face doing all the explaining.

"I know. "Evelyn soothed with an empathetic look on her chubby face. "Dr Goldman's going to do a quick examination with the ultrasound and then I'll see if we can get you walking around if that was helping you to manage your pain?" The older midwife smiled as she watched her nod feebly. "And then if it gets too much, I'll see if an epidural can be organised."

"Thanks, Evelyn." Dr Goldman's gratitude was sincere but simultaneously a cue for her to move out of his way as he prepared for the ultrasound. He worked quickly, still maintaing an air of collectedness so as not to stress the labouring parents. Sam was yet to utter a word of reassurance or encouragement. His forearm being his only offer of comfort to her, but as soon as the contraction passed she pulled her hand away from him. Bitter with herself for having caved like she had.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" He asked rhetorically, muttering to himself as he covered Connie's lower half in a dignified manner and pulled her shirt up to spread the gel over her bump. Writing in her charts in the corner of the room, Evelyn watched on closely. She wasn't one to jump to conclusions but she couldn't help from wanting to give Sam a good shaking. He was acting uselessly. "Ah, there it is." He exclaimed confidently.

"What? What is it?" Sam didn't even allow a pause before jumping straight in with the questions.

"There's a placental bleed, isn't there?" Connie's exhausted words only confirmed what they were worried about.

"Yes, right here, look." He pointed at the screen, there was no explaining needed for these fellow medics but nevertheless he wanted to be as thorough as he could. "The placenta is separating prematurely from the uterus. Only slightly, mind you. The bleed itself is extremely minor and isn't too alarming right now-"

"But it could be later on?" Sam's concerned voice invited Dr Goldman to turn to the couple.

"Any placental bleed before or during labour is cause for concern, this one doesn't look to be too bad but if the bleed becomes heavier, the chance of having to deliver by C-Section grows considerably." He rolled his lips together, pulling the scanning equipment away as he started to pack them up. Connie immediately used the paper towel Evelyn handed her and wiped the gel away before pulling her shirt down again. Her brain trying to process the news.

"But the labour is slow, how can you be sure the baby won't be starved of oxygen before she's ready to deliver?"

"My next plan of action was to rupture the waters anyway and speed up the labour process but now they've already broken unassisted, you should start to see and feel a more noticeable progression now." He stood and sanitised his hands at the end of the bed. "We'll continue to monitor the baby closely but judging from the scan, she's in a favourable position and her level of distress has decreased in the last ten to fifteen minutes. The bleed is very minor and had your waters not ruptured when they did we may not have even noticed it." He clasped his hands together. "I know the circumstances surrounding this birth are upsetting for you but the more distressed you are the more stress you're putting on your baby. I understand it's difficult, but I need you to try and expel all of that from your mind temporarily to ensure the rest of your labour and delivery go as smoothly as possible." His eyes drifted from Connie's despondent expression and back up to Sam's to at least make sure he was taking the instructions on board. His sombre nod confirmed that he understood. "I'm sure Evelyn will happily arrange some new sheets for you."

"Straight away." She chimed helpfully. "And we're alright to carry on pacing and moving about despite the bleed?" She spoke in terms of we and us which was strangely comforting to Connie.

"If kept to a minimum and monitoring is frequent, everything should be alright, yes." He nodded positively before exiting the room with the two students in tow.

"Do we have any spare clothes for you?" Evelyn wordlessly motioned for Sam to help his swollen partner out of bed again before she started to tug at the sheets and crumple them up one by one ready to replace them. She was asking genuinely but also because the infamous firecracker had been uncharacteristically quiet for the duration of that check-up. She steadied herself using Sam's forearms as she got to her feet, her bump brushing up against his front. She was so petite without her towering heels on, a sudden rush of over-protectiveness washed over him in an instant. As soon as her grip tightened around his skin, her brows knitted together whilst her breaths became more strained. As her head drooped, she moved her right hand to her abdomen instinctually trying to massage the pain away. With his left hand now free, he snaked it under her arm and around to her back rubbing at it thoughtfully. Her low and throaty groan was quite restrained, almost as if she was dosing herself a specific amount of vocalised pain relief with each coming contraction.

"No." She whispered as soon as her groaning ceased. Sam swiftly looked down, craning his neck to glance at her face only to realise she wasn't talking to him but instead answering Evelyn's question. "I don't have any other clothes." She swallowed, swaying slightly in Sam's silent support. "It's fine, I'm sure there'll be more blood staining this shirt soon enough."

"Well, there are plenty of gowns in this place if you change your mind." She smiled cheerfully having finally finished stripping the bed. The couple were blissfully unaware of her impeccable timing. She'd been watching Connie closely prior to Dr Goldman's exit, making sure to get Connie on her feet as another contraction was impending. It was a cunning little plan of hers to get Sam to roll his sleeves up and be an active component of the birthing process.

And it had worked beautifully. Watching her work unfold before her very eyes for a split second, she felt satisfied enough to leave when Sam stopped his massaging and moved his hand to rest on her hip, holding her endearingly whilst the contraction started to ease. She let a long exhale escape before finally bringing her head up, too tired to pull away from him in defiance of her anger towards him.

"You alright?" He whispered as soon as Evelyn left them to their privacy. She'd pulled her right hand away in the meantime, now using it to steady herself on the wooden side table by the head of the bed. Her left hand taking over the abdomen massage she was performing on herself.

"I'm so exhausted already." Her soft whisper was even more fragile than his, a very obvious hint of self-doubt in her words. He immediately moved his right hand to the side of her head, no longer caring if she rejected his touch. His thumb smoothed over her cheekbone. Gently guiding her closer to him, she couldn't help but place her hand over his as it rested on her warm face. Stroking at his hand, as if somehow comforting him too. "I don't know if I can do this, Sam." She exhaled shakily, her eyes fluttering closed as the pain started to make it's scheduled appearance once again. Her body language alone was enough to signal when a contraction was coming but her clasp on his hand loosened before she moved her hold down to his wrist where it rested just above her shoulder. Inhaling through her nose, she let her mouth do the exhaling, her lips curling around each breath she expelled. Her groaning was a consistent and monotonous sort of growl until she felt him lean forward and plant his lips on her forehead, kissing it between words whilst she let a more pained and sorrow-filled moan escape her in response to his affectionate actions.

"You can do this, I know you can." He kept his voice to a whisper, it felt like it was having a calming effect on both of them. Shifting his hand further up, his palm now covered her ear, her hair becoming entangled in his fingers at the back of her head. He used them to soothe at the base of her neck, providing her with different forms of comfort throughout the building pain. He could tell when the natural bodily function was peaking because she'd allow herself to become louder before all vocal noise ceased and she'd let out a long and unsteady breath. Her grip loosened on his wrist before she started smoothing her palm up and down his arm lovingly. "I can't believe you're wearing that t-shirt." He smiled into the skin on her forehead as he spoke before pulling back to look at her more relaxed expression.

"I can't believe your mother packed it." She smirked in a fatigued fashion.

"So you do remember it then?"

"How could I not?" Their voices were a little louder than whispers now, an element of humour attached to them. He'd registered Dr Goldman's advice and was trying to steer her mind away from all the worries and stresses surrounding this delivery and instead pointed her mind in other, less taxing directions.


"You're sure you won't stay for a drink?" He asked politely, taking Grace from her hands and propping the eighteen month old on his hip. "I mean, non-alcoholic of course." He promptly back-tracked, worried that she might revoke his visit with Grace if she believed them to be getting boozed up. "I'm not drinking." It was only a family barbecue at his parents house but nonetheless it was his birthday and she half-expected some drinking to be involved. She was starting to realise he had this sort of misconstrued conception about her. She was never opposed to enjoying a nice drink, that didn't mean she supported the idea of getting wasted whilst looking after her own daughter but she was hardly going to crucify him for enjoying a beverage or two on his birthday.

"No, no I won't intrude." Her eyes shot to the family behind him. The pair of them were stood exchanging this small conversation at the back garden gate where he'd told her to drop Grace off. The summer sun beating down on his joyous family as the grass beneath their feet glowed a bright and healthy green colour. It honestly warmed her heart to see that Grace had this, it was something she missed out on growing up. A large and loving family. She could smell the meat cooking from over here, the music mingling in with their laughter and drinking. It was a very tame yet celebratory get-together by the looks of it.

"You wouldn't be intruding, in fact, I'd like it if you stayed." His eyes glinted warmly. Since he'd been given the all-clear with his cancer and his head was once again sporting a healthy amount of tufty brown hair, the pair had been getting on extremely well. What'd be the harm in staying? Just for one drink?

"A non-alcoholic drink sounds horrific." She smiled. "I'll have a glass of white, thanks." Stepping through the gate, she indulged in his invitation and followed behind him up the garden path. She was still clothed in work attire, a red silk blouse, black velvet cropped pants and her brown hair softly waved and resting just above her shoulders. Those famous Louboutin heels clicked delicately on each of the stone pavers.

"Mind the sprinkler to your left." He warned kindly, shifting Grace in his grip as he slowed to walk along side her. "If anything embarrassing happens, I don't claim any of these people as my family except for Grace."

"Duly noted." She smiled, feeling slightly apprehensive about facing the small group of Strachans ahead. The garden itself was enormous, she was finally able to envisage what Grace's weekends staying with her grandparents in the Summer would look like now. The laughter and music grew louder as they stepped onto the patio, finally some shelter being cast over them by the large sun umbrellas before she got too concerned about Grace getting burnt under the scorching rays. She had a little sunhat on but Connie had made the rookie mistake of forgetting to pack suncream in her overnight bag.

"Mum, could you grab Connie a glass of white, thanks." He spoke gently, not wanting to draw all the attention their way and possibly cause Connie to become uncomfortable. Audrey merely nodded with a smile, a small and discreet way of greeting Connie without actually having to.

"You're not having one?" She quickly asked. "It's your birthday after all. You should be celebrating another year of maturity." Blinking up at him, she made a conscious effort to move her gaze to Grace, not wishing to make a huge deal out of her kind behaviour towards him. "I'm hardly going to banish you from seeing her if you have one drink, Sam."

"Are you sure?" He was shocked at her relaxed attitude, watching her nod but smiled gratefully nevertheless. "And how about some juice for Gracie?" He looked to his tiny daughter, bouncing her slightly as he spoke.

"I thought that was little miss Gracie!" A loud male voice boomed loudly behind him, the older gentlemen approaching slowly as he tickled Grace under the chin. This interaction alone was voluminous enough to steal everyone's attention their way, forcing Sam to do the awkward introduction.

"Yes, Gracie's here everybody." He turned to showcase her proudly, every time they saw her she'd changed so much. "And this is Connie, Grace's mum." They all offered their kind hellos, the whole thing actually wasn't awful as either of them expected and before long Audrey had returned with drinks and the spotlight instantly went back to the steaming barbecue and the tray of beverages.

"Are you staying for some food, Connie? There's plenty to go around." His mother smiled politely, handing her the glass of cold, crisp white. She looked at her watch in between words. "We're aiming to eat at seven once Grace has gone down for the night."

"Uh, no, thank you but I'll just have the one drink and be on my way." She raised her glass as a way of thanking her, taking a small sip once she'd turned and left to join the circle of family and friends gathered around the outdoor table.

Annoyingly, that one drink turned into two, then three and now on her fourth she found herself wandering through the small and low-ceilinged farmhouse styled home as she tried to locate the bathroom using Sam's terrible directions. He had fed Grace on his knee an hour or two ago as Connie watched on in discreet awe before he bathed her and put her to bed. He was showing great restraint in terms of enjoying drinks, he must have only been on his second but both'd had enough to become jolly and not lose sight of the evening. She somehow managed to find the loo, the large house was very closed-in but extremely homely and resembled that of a rabbit-warren with all it's twists and turns.

"I thought you'd got lost." He spoke behind her, making her jump. She was stood in one of the hallways admiring the dozens of family photos framed on the wall. Despite it being dark inside, the sun had pretty well gone down but there was still a small offering of light cascading in through the square paned windows behind them. The large pendulum wall clock ticking loudly was kindly filling in the silences along with his family in the distance, still enjoying the evening outside.

"Is this your sister?" She asked curiously, the alcohol instilling a relaxed feeling within her. She hadn't her before, or his father and neither were here this even because they'd gone away. His sister to Cornwall with her husband and his father was at some sort of golf tournament.

"Yeah." He laughed, now staring at the awful school photo too. "She was so upset when mum framed this." His laugh slowly drew to a finish as she cleared her throat.

"Well this has been a weird night, but thank you for the drinks." She smiled, avoiding his gaze, she was feeling some type of way because of how comfortable the evening had been with him. How much she'd actually enjoyed his company and she quickly forced herself to reason that it was the alcohol clouding her judgement. She was an incredibly sexual person and her body had practically been starved of male pleasure in the last few months. She didn't want to succumb to the feeling and end up regretting it. With Sam Strachan of all men. Not that he wouldn't be a first choice, but the baggage that came with him was a frightening concept.

"I'm glad you stayed, thank you and I apologise on behalf of my embarrassing relatives." He smirked, attempting to hide his disappointment that she was leaving. He didn't want her to go and he couldn't even say it was alcohol, he'd had two beers over four hours. He was sober and experiencing these intense feelings that he wasn't sure how to process. He was enjoying her.

"At least this guy didn't show up." She pointed at another photo with a slight smirk, it was an extremely large teen with a giant Indiana Jones shirt on. His braces practically taking over his face and his hair brushed into some sort of fluffy lions mane around his head. Although he looked happy, he looked to be a real menace. Like the one rebellious child in school that didn't quite look like the typical bad-boy but would be any teacher's worst nightmare. In fact, any parent's worst nightmare.

"What do you mean?" He laughed. "What's wrong with him?" He tapped her upper arm playfully.

"No, no, nothing." She exclaimed. "He looks very sweet." Her laugh masked the end of her sentence as she turned to face him in the dim lighting.

"You're messing with me aren't you?" His head jolted back with a strange look on his face. "You're telling me you don't recognise him?" She turned to stare at the photo again, racking her brain trying to remember if that face rang a bell with her. Her brow twitched as she studied the photo.

"No, I really don't. Why? Should I?" Pausing, she looked back to him in a puzzled fashion but was shocked to see him grinning like a mad man, imitating the pose of this goofy teen whilst he pointed between himself and the image. "You're not serious." She gasped realising this was a teenaged Sam she was looking at. "No, I don't believe you." She laughed, stepping even closer to the photo as if trying to get a harder look at it. "That is not you."

"It absolutely is, ask my mum." He relaxed his face, still sporting a smile. "In fact, I have better proof. Wait here."

He walked swiftly down the hallway and into a blue-doored room at the end. She watched him disappear before staring at the photo again. The more she looked at it, the more she could see him in the expression. He had positively transformed in his adulthood, into this incredibly attractive male. So impressive to her in fact, she'd even selected him as her sperm donor nearly three years ago. Looking back to the blue door, she ignored his instruction to wait and made her way over, letting herself in quietly. He was shirtless and rummaging through drawers. Her eyes immediately scanned around the room, the dusk light illuminating it ever so slightly. There were Star Wars posters decorating almost every inch of the walls, a small section dedicated to some rather scantily clad women too. A typical teenaged boy's room. Moving further in she admired the small trophies on his desk, his academic awards pinned to a board near the window. His single bed made up neatly in the corner as if Audrey was waiting for that same young boy to return home at any moment. He was long gone though. That thought was concluded when she turned to look at his bare back, the evening sundown lighting accentuating his sculpted form as he ransacked the drawers. She felt herself swallow hard before licking her lips, trying to shake away the sex-starved demons overcoming her.

"Ah! Found it." He whispered triumphantly and threw the massive black t-shirt over his head. It was massive, almost like a tent on his svelte and well-shaped body. "My whole wardrobe from the age of fifteen to nineteen are this size."

"That's not at all how I imagined Sam Strachan to be in his late teens." Her low voice was strangely seductive, causing Sam's jaw to twitch as he clenched it. Looking down at himself, he pulled the shirt out at the bottoms to look over himself.

"Yeah, he had a really rough few years, poor guy." He smirked and regained eye contact with her, hyper aware of her controlled breathing and intense stare. "Why, what is it you imagined me to be like at that age?" He stepped closer to her, still not quite believing Connie Beauchamp, his boss and the mother of his child was stood before him in his childhood bedroom.

"Well, I imagined you to be Mr Popular, a hit with the girls, breaking a different heart every week, charming them with your wit and good looks. Very much how you are now only much younger." She mocked slightly, but both new there were elements of truth to her presumptions.

"Definitely not, this room didn't see any action at all. Just the very sad teenaged years of a very unpopular sci-fi geek I'm afraid."

"Oh come off it." She smirked, taking another glance around the room in the glow of twilight through the open curtains. "You must have had at least one girl in here."

"No, honestly I didn't." He laughed. "I was a very sexually repressed young man." His face was glowing, genuine laughter escaping him at her utter disbelief.

"That explains the uh, posters then." Making reference to the slightly pornographic clippings on the wall she shifted slightly under his gaze. Her heart was racing with the building sexual tension between them but he wasn't making any flirtatious gestures back.

Yet.

"And you wonder why I was such a Lothario? I was late to the party, I missed out! I was a twenty-two year old virgin-"

"Stop it." She gasped, stifling a laugh at his expense. "You? Still a virgin at twenty-two?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?!" He chuckled. "You saw the photo of me out there!" Smirking in a playful manner he stepped towards her. "Go on then, how old was Connie when she lost her v-card?" He bit his lower lip and raised his brow awaiting an answer as she turned away with a scoff of disbelief. Was this actually happening right now? If you'd told her five hours ago she'd be in Sam's bedroom talking about their first sexual encounters she would have laughed in your face.

"A long-shot younger than twenty-two, that's for sure." Her eyes met his again, staring up at him. "Imagine that." She purred. "I'm the only female you've had in here."

"I've waited my whole life for this moment." He laughed again, the pair of them oblivious to the the fact they were both enjoying one another's company. This was the most either of them had smiled or laughed in a long, long time.

"Well, you'd better make the most of it then." Her jest-filled whisper was perfectly in-tune with his previous joke, she uttered it with a sensual smile and immediately turned the situation into more than just mocking comments. His laugh dropped into a smile, mimicking hers before she saw his throat gulp heavily. His shoulders rising and falling more quickly with the mounting excitement taking over his body. Soon his face was deadly serious as he closed the gap between them, a rush of loud breathing as she too moved in quickly. Her hands immediately grabbed at the sides of his neck whilst his palms went straight for her waist. Their lips crashing noisily together, enjoying the taste of each other's mouths. Neither had their eyes open anymore, their brows pulled together fiercely conveying the intense feeling over-coming them. It swiftly turned into an aggressive tongue wrestle, his palms squeezing tightly at her sides as they continued to intensify the lip-lock.

Moving her hands down from his neck and jaw, she pulled at his massive shirt trying to get it off over his head whilst he started to move towards her silk shirt buttons too. Disappointingly, the pair quickly realised the passionate tonguing had to stop in order for the tent-sized shirt to be removed. Yanking it roughly over his head, she tossed it to the side letting it fall in a heap on the floor by their feet. Their panted breathing only filled the room momentarily before he dived back in again, forcing her backwards slightly as the building blood-rush encouraged him to speed up in trying to remove her shirt. His stomach jumped at the feeling of her fingers finding the waist-line of his trousers, fiddling expertly with the belt buckle, she had that off in mere seconds too before starting on his zipper. But she stopped suddenly, pulling away from the kiss for a split second, Sam felt his heart drop thinking she was having second thoughts.

"What is it?" He whispered breathlessly, still so close to her swollen lips.

"You're taking too long." Her cynical smile, only excited him more after extinguishing his fears of rejection. She initiated the kiss once more, slowly this time and licking seductively over his bottom lip before slipping her tongue into his mouth again. She had taken over his hands in the department of undoing her shirt buttons, popping each one expertly, allowing his hands to venture beneath the material and feel at her warm flesh. She shrugged out of the expensive silk blouse and moved her hands back to his undone pants, pulling them down too. The whole act of undressing was foreplay enough for the pair, forcing them to end the kiss in frustration once again. He stepped out of his suit trousers and watched her quickly get out of hers too, desperate for the inevitable to be happening already. With the pair of them both finally clad in nothing but their underwear, he pushed her back gently following her down on the small child-sized single bed. She still had her heels on, having torn her trousers off desperately over them. The pure sight was an extreme turn on as he hovered over her on the dark blue sheets.

She wasn't sure if it was the lack of sex and male attention she'd had recently or whether alcohol had some sort of play in this but she'd honestly never felt so good. His hands squeezing at the flesh on her thighs and hip was drawing all sorts of deep throaty moans from her, he didn't venture his hands too far away from this area and she too was concentrating on one particular part of him. The kissing once again in action as she stroked her palm over the front of his underpants, he was hard and struggling to stifle his pleasure filled groans as she rubbed at him firmly. Their bodies aching for one another. In one swift movement, she sat up causing him to follow suit. Now kneeling on on his childhood bed, he watched in awe as she straddled his lap, using his shoulders as leverage she wrapped her left arm around his neck to hold herself up whilst her right palm planted itself against the cold wall, steadying herself. He panted over her glistening lips, their breathing hot and heavy, his hands securing around her waist and holding her in position across him before she started to rock gently over his engorged crotch. She teased playfully, letting just enough pressure brush on him and pull a moan from his lips whilst she grazed her own mouth gently on his. Offering him playful tastes of her tongue until he grew too impatient. Closing the gap with yet another hungry kiss, his right hand moved between them to pull himself out of the top of his underpants. The noise she emitted made him buck his hips involuntarily, she could feel his hardness between their stomachs, an outbreak of goosebumps overtaking her whole body. His hand now at her underwear too, pulling them to the side and lifting her up in order to position himself beneath her as he guided her down on to him.

An intense and sexually charged silence quaked across the room as she slowly moved down, a soft mewl hitting the air as she did so. She still had her hand against the wall and the other arm looped around his neck, using both to help her rock over him. He couldn't believe this was really happening, his eyes were taking it all in as best they could but he was so enthralled in her inherent sexual marvellousness he was afraid he'd miss any second of it and thus tried to be as present as he could. Taking every opportunity to kiss her, taste here, touch her, feel her.

Love her.

After all, who knew if or when this would ever happen again.


He could feel his throat swelling as he watched her endure yet more pain. The day had progressed into evening and her contractions were still rolling over her roughly like large, angry waves. She was refusing an epidural so far and they had gas at the ready but she was yet to use it. Her pacing was almost constant, her hands regularly reaching behind herself to rub at her lower back. He hated that there was nothing he could do. He'd at least changed into the scrubs he'd been given and indeed was much more comfortable but he immediately felt guilty when he could see the visible anguish in Connie's expression. He pulled himself from his thoughts when her low groaning began again, each time she was hit with a contraction she'd stop moving and rest her palms on whatever was near her, gripping on to it desperately. They were definitely getting stronger and closer together. Getting to his feet, he grabbed the glass of water from her bedside and moved towards her.

"You need to keep drinking-"

"I'm on fluids." She growled angrily as her body fought the urge to push, referring to the IV stand following her every move, they'd hooked her up with a bag of fluids a few hours ago upon noting her lack of food and water intake. She'd been labouring for nearly twenty-fours and she was still only eight centimetres dilated. He knew better than to argue with her, besides, any time she was offered food or drink she'd turn her head away immediately. She just wasn't having it. Putting the glass down without another word, he went back to massaging her lower spine over the large tent-sized shirt of his that she was still wearing. "Oh god." She exhaled tiredly, emotion and exhaustion crashing over her as she stood up straight again. "Why is this taking so long?" Her question was rhetoric of course, but he could feel her frustration. She licked her lip tiredly and looked at him, another question on the tip of her tongue. "How's Grace doing?"

"I checked in on her whilst you were asleep, mum and dad have been in with her all afternoon." He smiled. "She's fine."

"Good." Her body relaxed slightly with the news. He wasn't giving her minute by minute updates because he was too worried about distracting her from the task she had at hand. Dr Goldman's words were still echoing through his skull. This relaxed state of hers was extremely short-lived as she started swaying again, the humming in her throat starting out low, slowly increasing in volume and urgency. Her distressed facial expression partnered with such anguished sounds forced him to try and soothe her delicately.

"Hey, it's alright, nice deep breaths." He coached. " You're almost there, I promise." Feeling her hand grabbing at his, she squeezed it ferociously. Conscious of not crowding her, he couldn't refrain from showering her with such affections as kissing her head, stroking her leg, rubbing her back and so far, she hadn't fought him. It was a strange thing, giving birth. As her body managed the pain in the only way it knew how to, it's almost as if with each contraction she switched off to everything around her. This became even more the case an hour later when he found themselves both on the floor as she kneeled in agony next to the bed. Evelyn had tried countless times to get her back in, or at least on, the bed but she was too distressed and eventually they left her to do what her body was telling her to do. They kindly moved the cushioned yoga mats over to the bed side where she was and Sam positioned himself behind her, still offering his physical support.

"How are we doing?" Dr Goldman asked with interest as he entered the room. It was nearing ten o'clock at night and Evelyn had paged him following the most recent developments. Sam was knelt behind her as she remained on her knees too, her arms resting on the bed bed in front of her. She was shattered, now resorting to the Entonox gas mouth-piece to try and take some of the pain away.

"I'm hoping she's ready to start pushing because I'm not sure how long she can keep going like this." Sam uttered gently, she was oblivious to his words anyway, her latest contraction at it's climax as she moaned wearily. Her energy was running dangerously low and he was more than concerned about it. He glanced down, motioning to the slightly bloodied mats beneath them. "She's started bleeding again in the last five or ten minutes too."

"Alright, let's have a look." He didn't disturb her positioning, allowing her to mewl through the end of her contraction before he reached down and checked her dilation. Sam watched sadly, a slight clench in his jaw. It was almost dehumanising in a strange way. Her animalistic vocals partnered with the lack of decorum surrounding internal examinations. He was a medic and knew this was all standard procedure but at the start of the day there was no way he'd have just internally examined her without warning, yet when she was positioned vulnerably on the floor, out of it, exhausted and bleeding it was suddenly alright because she wasn't fully aware? That wasn't the case at all but he couldn't help but feel that way. A sort of possessive trait within him maybe?

"Well?" Sam questioned, his fatigue getting the better of him too now.

"She's fully dilated, with the next contraction we'll get her to start pushing." He smiled with relief for them and stood up, pulling his gloves off quickly. "I want close eyes on her from now until baby arrives, particularly on the amount of blood she's losing." He directed his words towards Evelyn who was gloving up in preparation too now. "The first sign of any complications, I want her back on the bed and page me immediately."

"Woah, wait a minute! You're not staying? She's about to start pushing." Sam panicked instantly, his eyes fixed on Dr Goldman's face under the fluorescent light.

"I'm hopping from room to room, I'm afraid. I have three labouring women tonight. You're in good hands with Evelyn and I'll be in and out every ten to fifteen minutes." He bowed his head apologetically and ducked out of the room again as quickly as he'd entered. Sam was honestly at a loss for words as his gaze met Evelyn's across the room.

"I guess it's just us then." He breathed, moving his attention to Connie's back. She was almost motionless between contractions now, her body trying to conserve as much energy as possible before the next one hit. He felt like he was quickly falling in tune to them too now, as if he was feeling them when she was. At the first glimpse of movement he saw in her, he immediately knew another one was fast approaching. He felt his stomach drop with the realisation that this was it. It was go-time. "Okay, Connie." He cooed soothingly. "You heard the man, with this next contraction, start pushing." He rubbed at her back as he had been with each and every contraction so far, praying this would be enough to help her through the next stage of this ordeal.