So here is part 2 of my new fic, a little later than scheduled but it has been one of those weeks. I am hoping the next update will be up in the coming two days. I would like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 1, and those of you that subscribed or favourited the story. This update is dedicated to Anny and Meggi, for just being amazing as always.

Chapter 2... Hope you enjoy.

To look out for you

The definition of jealousy

Jealousy: adjective; feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions or perceived advantages.

Dylan Keogh

CDU was the busiest it had been in weeks and Dylan knew he should be in his element, especially with the patient in the last cubicle with a possible tropical illness, yet somehow the often bizarre mix of cases that darkened the doors of his very own domain were not satisfying him today. In fact despite the protestations of that young male nurse whose name he could never recall, Dylan had taken refuge behind the CDU counter desk and decided to stay put for the foreseeable future.

It wasn't often that he allowed thoughts of his ex-wife to preoccupy his mind, particularly whilst he was at work, but since her arrival at Holby she had made it rather difficult for him to ignore the rather gaping hole in his life that Samantha had once filled. He remembered how much her reckless and slightly irrational behaviour had always gotten under his skin, but recently she had been doing that more and more much to his annoyance. Her behaviour at the toxic spill site had been irresponsible at best, her ill-advised trip into marriage counselling for the injured fireman appeared to stem from a desperation Dylan barely recognised in her and whilst the Sam he knew had often been fiery, placing a patient in a headlock had taken her to a frightening whole new level of insanity.

Yet despite all of these incidents, Dylan recalled how comforted he had felt in the unspoken connection that seemed to have been brewing between them since she had waltzed back into his life as if she had never left in the first place. In fact he remembered almost being surprised that Sam hadn't been sitting in her usual spot on their sofa that now resided in his houseboat at the end of their first shift together; he wouldn't have put such a brazen act of defiance past her despite everything that had gone before.

It was that newly rediscovered connection which made the current state of affairs all the more confusing for Dylan, because whilst he had to acknowledge relationships and dealing with other people were not his strongest suits, he had believed he was fairly competent at reading his ex-wife and her behaviour. Therefore he had assumed, wrongly he now realised, that she would be pleased with their vastly improved personal situation. In a strange way recent events had reminded him of their time together on her first work placement working under his mentorship, a time where they had learned to work so closely together that their then Clinical Lead had told him that they were beginning to morph into one person rather than two individuals. At the time that fact alone had rather terrified Dylan, as he had never felt that intense connection with anyone prior to this being pointed out to him but oddly enough their ability to work so effectively and effortlessly without communication gave him a sense of comfort that little else ever did these days.

Maybe it had been an arrogant assumption he considered, that he had never thought Samantha wouldn't feel the same sense of satisfaction from their renewed working relationship that he did. For her first few months at Holby Dylan had been sure she had been actively pushing his buttons to try and reinstate the very same connection he now craved, yet upon them actually reaching a status quo that he thought would be mutually agreeable his ex-wife had started backing away from him, both in terms of physically removing herself from any space he was in and also mentally, by failing to respond to jibes he had made over their past. Jibes he well knew she had been taunting him with for a response since her own entrance back into his world.

The reason for her starting to eliminate any trace of their personal connection from their working relationship was as unclear to Dylan as he found most people's behaviour, but Samantha never normally acted in such a manner. For her to fight for something so hard over a prolonged period was a significant thing for her to do, given that both of them hated facing up to anything emotional or difficult even on the best of days. Therefore for her to then walk away from the exact same thing without just reason or cause was impossible to understand. Dylan couldn't help but regret the gulf that was appearing between them on an ever increasing basis every day, but given her distinct lack of communication with him in recent weeks he could only imagine this distance would continue to grow.

That worry had existed prior to Dr Lyons' earlier announcement in the staffroom that Samantha was now ensconced in a new intimate relationship with another man, but it had been that one moment in time that had thrown him to the point where even a case that would require the almost Holmesian detection he prided himself on was barely on his radar anymore. With one notable exception, a momentary lapse in judgement that Dylan knew he had all but forgiven her for, his wife was not the type to enter into a new association lightly. He himself was well aware that prior to him Samantha had not had a serious relationship and despite their separation it had not crossed his mind until today that he wouldn't be the only person she may share that part of herself and her life with.

Nor, he reflected, was his wife the type to go out on the prowl looking for a date unlike the majority of the females he seemed to meet on a daily basis. His Samantha was not one for dressing to impress and hitting the town to get drunkenly picked up by some random man she wouldn't remember in the morning, yet she also spent nearly every waking hour in the hospital and therefore would have had very little time to meet anyone new. The whole situation both intrigued him and appalled him in equal measure, but as he had been the one to walk out on their marriage in the first place he knew that he had no right to be angry at her for moving on.

Despite that though he felt uncharacteristically hurt by the fact that it seemed that she was now pulling away from him and confiding in some unknown entity of a man, someone he doubted would ever be good enough for someone as smart and unique as the woman occupying his thoughts. He had known from way before their marriage collapsed that one day he would lose her, but to lose her once and have her return only for her to be snatched away from his grasp yet again, just when he realised how much he had missed her company, was a situation so perverse that it was bordering on the absurd. However the realisation that was now dawning on him made him see that if Samantha moving on made her happier, he would have to learn to live with it because to see her appear so isolated and withdrawn as she had done in recent weeks had been heart wrenching. As long as she stayed in Holby, where he could keep a watchful eye over her and ensure she was safe in whatever new life she chose to lead, Dylan knew he could at least be assured he would be around for support if she required it. All he could hope for was that the army put off recalling her for active service for as long as possible, because to physically lose her from his life as well would be unbearable.

His trail of thought and glazed over eyes were awoken back into reality by that nurse, Floyd or something Dylan recalled, placing some files down rather loudly and pronouncedly in front of his folded arms, before he stood there in front of the desk as if awaiting some sort of response.

"I'm busy," Dylan spoke curtly. "I'll be in resus," he added before exiting the room at such speed he knew the nurse would have no chance of catching up with him before he made it to his destination.

Upon entering resus he was faced with two options, either to join Samantha is examining her assault victim or to link up with Zoe and her crush injury case. Upon both women looking up at his entrance, Dylan chose to make a beeline for the one who had smiled upon seeing his arrival and joined Dr Hanna in her deliberations. From her haste in looking away from him, Dr Nicholls it seemed was not in the mood to speak to him at that moment and given the tension between them he wasn't sure she would appreciate his observations.

It had been the same every time he had entered resus that day, and he certainly couldn't count those occasions on one hand. Doctors Hanna and Nicholls had been hauled up in there all day, treating a variety of patients, but had been far from overwhelmed by the volume or complexity of cases. Regardless Dylan had invented a number of ingenious reasons to join them at various points throughout the earlier part of the shift, purely to satisfy his own curiosity at his ex-wife's state of mind following both Dr Lyons' obviously ill-timed outburst and the mysterious meeting between Mr Jordan and herself, details of which had yet to make it round the department despite the significant levels of gossip that usually surrounded any unforeseen or unusual event.

As usual Zoe had reluctantly accepted his willing interference in her cases, whilst vocally bemoaning his presence in what he perceived a teasing fashion. Well that was his understanding of the banter between them anyway and given the atmosphere that appeared obvious to him whenever he was in the same room as Samantha he would have been struggling without Zoe's mindless conversation, albeit a conversation that was littered with pointed questions over the current state of play between him and his ex. In a way Dylan assumed that this must be what friendship was like, an oddly likeable new experience for him as, his connection with Samantha notwithstanding, he had never been interested in building more than amicable dealings with work colleagues prior to meeting Dr Hanna.

Upon re-establishing with Zoe the current diagnosis for her current patient, Dylan stepped back and realised that Dr Nicholls was no longer alone with her patient as she had been joined by that young female nurse, whose name he also couldn't recall, and an agitated man he assumed was connected to the severely beaten woman lying on the bed. There was something about the way the man was pacing back and forth muttering to himself that disquieted Dylan, yet he forced himself to turn away from staring at the four of them. He knew full well that Samantha was more than capable of taking care of herself, yet despite her long-held ascertains that she had not needed him to look after her he had only ever wanted to protect her from harm. His mind again drifted to thoughts of who may be taking care of her now, whether given the amount of time she spent at the hospital her suitor could well be a work colleague, although none of the obvious contenders, Dr Lyons, Dr Kent or even Mr Jordan, would have been remotely suitable.

Upon seeing Zoe beckon him over to check out some interesting test results, Dylan looked over towards Dr Nicholls for the briefest of seconds and caught her smiling at Dr Kent, who had momentarily entered the room to pass on a message about her patient's child. It was in that moment he first identified the feeling that had been lingering around him since his arrival in the staffroom that morning. As much as he hated to admit to himself that she still had the ability to get to him, Dylan knew he was jealous of whoever it was his wife had moved on with. He'd felt that feeling once before and it had brought their marriage crashing down around them and sent her off into someone else's arms, a situation he could see recurring yet again right in front of his eyes.

Sam Nicholls

Sam wondered if she would be able to use self-preservation as a defence in court if she went through with the plan currently circling her brain and throttled her two colleagues who were currently deep in conversation in the corner of resus. The fact that the two individuals concerned were her estranged husband and the woman he was apparently finding happiness with since Sam herself had royally screwed up their marriage was pushing her sanity to the limits, especially as these days said husband felt more estranged than ever.

The relationship between herself and Zoe had been cordial, even bordering on friendly, in those first few weeks and months after they had met and she had found the older woman's tolerance of Dylan's grumpiness and often self-righteous behaviour a refreshing change from how most people treated him. However that positive start had soon ebbed away as Sam had struggled to watch Zoe's growing closeness to him without feeling the need to intervene and tell her to back off.

Sam knew that the tension between them was not a one way street and therefore couldn't help but feel Mr Jordan had enacted a strange type of punishment on her that morning by giving her the opportunity to work in resus with one hand, but then landing her with Dr Hanna with the other. If he had thought letting her work in her favourite part of the E.D. was going to persuade her to stay put rather than return to Afghanistan then he should have chosen a better bedfellow for her to share it with.

As it was, Sam knew that she herself was already preoccupied by thoughts of the warzone she had willingly signed herself up to return to. The chance of a longer secondment to Holby had been incredibly appealing when it had first been put to her, yet that had been before she had become suspicious that her husband's relationship with Zoe had crossed a boundary that she would not be ready to bear witness to for some considerable time to come. As much as Sam loved being part of the army, and being an army medic had been her long-awaited childhood ambition, the horrors of Helmand were still fresh in her mind from her last tour of duty and returning to what she knew would be six months of hellish experiences was not something she was relishing. The fact that she was considering it a more attractive option than remaining in her current post spoke volumes to her about how little she had dealt with the breakdown of her relationship with Dylan and how far she still had to travel before she would be able to look him in the eyes and tell him how pleased she was that he was finding happiness with someone other than her.

The first time Dylan had appeared in resus that morning Sam had busied herself with paperwork for fear of him making any snide comment or pointed remark about her apparent date the night before. She wasn't sure if she was more nervous about telling him she was moving on, despite her being the cause of their marital discord, or the fact that he would know in an instant that this date was nothing more than a piece of fictional one-upmanship against his own precious Zoe. The abject humiliation she would feel at being caught out in this lie now that she had actually allowed everyone to believe it would be awful, especially given that she had only made the implication in the first place to make herself look less like the miserable ex-wife that she actually had become.

Dylan had appeared at regular intervals, almost like clockwork, ever since that first visit to resus, which given the fact that he was meant to be running CDU and neither she nor Zoe were exactly overwhelmed by patients demonstrated to Sam just how much he wanted to be in the same vicinity of the woman Sam was beginning to loathe, even though she had to acknowledge that Dr Hanna hadn't even done anything wrong. Sam's own attempts to make eye contact with her husband on each occasion he appeared had fallen without response, as every time without fail he had approached the other side of the room without so much as a second glance before throwing himself into deep conversation with the other doctor.

Sam had managed to bite her tongue so far, mainly through grit and determination not to make an already uncomfortable situation any worse than it needed to be. She couldn't understand how it was possible for Dylan to be treating anyone in his beloved CDU given the amount of time he had spent away from that department, yet as she watched him and Zoe pore over another set of case notes and tests results standing so close together they were almost magnetically attached she felt the now familiar pang of jealousy fill the pit of her stomach.

Dylan had never given Sam any real reason to be jealous before, having shown absolutely no interest in anyone since she had known him. She had practically had to persuade him all those years ago that dating her wouldn't be too much of a hardship and it had been as much as a surprise to him as it had been to her when he had somehow managed to get past his emotional blockades and propose to her. Given how little interest he had shown back then in pursuing any sort of romantic intent with her, it pained Sam to see him so at ease in Zoe's company without any of the complications she had once faced. A little bit of her couldn't help but question whether she and Dylan had ever really been suited at all, or whether his burgeoning relationship with Zoe proved once and for all that they had never been meant to be.

It wasn't like she hadn't already lost him Sam mused, because their marital breakdown had occurred well over a year before and she had adjusted to physically living without him by her side outside of a working environment since her arrival back at Holby. It was the fact that seeing him with Zoe and watching his evident happiness in her company made her feel like she was losing him all over again every single day. Despite her own acceptance of blame for the situation she now found herself in, that didn't mean she was immune to the pain of watching someone she loved move on. There may be no justification in her jealousy given how it was her own behaviour that caused her husband to leave her in the first place, but it was jealousy she felt all the same and she didn't know who she hated more in that moment, the woman he was obviously falling for or herself for not realising what she had until it had walked out the door.

She finally brought herself out from her thoughts and back into treating the patient in front of her when Scarlet brought the woman's highly agitated husband in to visit her. Sam had felt there was something off about the whole situation since the family had been brought in to the E.D. earlier, with this man claiming he returned home to find his wife and son viciously assaulted, yet given everything else that was going on she couldn't find the capacity to deal with any of these thoughts at that particular moment in time. When the woman was well enough to be moved to cubicles she would ask Tess or someone to talk to her, anyone except herself really as she didn't think her advice on marital issues would be of any use to anyone.

Tom entered resus and informed them all that the child would be okay and upon leaving had indicated silently to Sam that he had picked up on the suspicious circumstances, before she hurriedly covered his tracks with a smile and a thank you for the update as the husband of her patient eyed them warily. She briefly caught Dylan staring at her but looked away, knowing she needed to focus on the task at hand and manage any risk the relative of the still unconscious female may pose to her or the child involved.

Seeking a distraction and escape route from resus and knowing full well that the man's agitation would only increase if he stayed present by his wife's side she asked Scarlett to accompany her and him to a treatment room where they could see to the cuts on his hand that he had advised were sustained on broken glass he found upon entering his home.

Sam had to admire the young nurse's attempts to engage their rather menacing looking patient in conversation as she cleaned his wounds and Sam assessed the nature of his injuries. Oddly enough she was actually finding herself smiling at some of Scarlett's attempts at diffusing the tension that was apparent in the room and joining in some of the conversation topics that randomly seemed to spring from the nurse's head.

"Sam," an irritatingly familiar voice appeared from behind Sam and she snapped her head round to come face to face with Zoe. "Can I borrow Scarlett? We need to prep resus for an incoming RTC. We'll need you in a few minutes too."

There was a moment of hesitation as Sam looked at both Scarlett and her patient before agreeing to the request, and as she met the nurse's gaze as she scurried out of the door behind Zoe she couldn't help but feel a nagging sense of self-doubt at the decision she had just made. It wasn't like she couldn't take care of herself, her wartime experiences had proved than a million times over, but she still had the same sense of unease about this particular patient and being alone with him in a small, isolated room had never been part of her treatment plan.

Although added to that was the consideration that she would soon be required to return to resus and therefore her attempted escape route to get back out into the main department after treating this patient had definitely been thwarted. She turned back towards the door to bin some of the gauze strips and other items that had been used to mop up the congealed blood on the man's fingers and as she did so she identified that there appeared to be police officers in the reception area talking to Tom, who was now holding her patient's small child in his arms and was directing the officers to where the woman lay in resus. As she processed that information and went to turn back to her patient she also caught sight of Dylan and Zoe, huddled together in conversation with the female doctor playing with her hair in a manner that Sam would definitely have considered to be flirtatious.

Pushing all those thoughts from her mind the best she could, she returned to focus on the task in hand and finish sterilising the man's badly cut hands before dressing them herself. Given Scarlett's inexperience and obvious nervousness around this particular patient she couldn't leave that particular task for her to complete, despite having a very limited time to finish it herself before the RTC would be arriving.

"You called them didn't you?" the man asked, his tone low and intimidating. "What did you tell them? I don't want no police involved."

Sam took a deep breath before starting, "I didn't call them, but they will want to speak to all of you. Your wife is badly injured and whoever did this to her needs to be caught."

"I said no police," was the snarled response she got.

"Why scared of getting caught?" she snapped back in a momentary lapse of sanity, overlooking her own safety and just staring him straight in the eye.

"What did you say?" he growled back at her, grabbing her arm and standing up from the bed in front of her.

"I've finished treating you," Sam answered, trying to keep her voice steady as she forcefully shook her arm free. "I think you'd better go."

She turned away from him and started to stride purposefully towards the door, determined not to show any fear and to remove herself from the deteriorating situation. However she realised turning her back on him had been a mistake the moment she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder and her legs were kicked from under her and she came under an intense and sustained volley of kicks and punches to her back, stomach and head.

Sam knew that attempting to prevent the assault was futile given the man's size, strength and advantage over her as she lay on the floor, even given her army training she would not be any match for the battering she was taking. Therefore instead she curled herself up into the tightest ball she could and waited for the rain of blows to stop, hoping desperately that none of her colleagues would get caught up in the crossfire trying to help her.

The onslaught ended as soon as it had begun as the man, spooked by a noise that Sam barely heard through the pounding of her heartbeat inside her head, fled the room. As the door closed behind the vicious assailant Sam made a vain attempt to push herself into a sitting position but as the wave of pain and sickness descended over her and the room started to spin, she gave into the overwhelming urge to remain lying curled up on the floor. The irony of the fact that her husband was just outside the door, yet had no knowledge of her current predicament, was not lost on her nor was the fact that she had usefully just been attacked in the one place full of people who she could guarantee would be able to help her. Her medical training instinctively kicked in and she knew that the one thing she should not do was close her eyes, yet in that moment all she wanted to do was shut out the world and go to sleep.

She heard voices outside the door, chattering away about something she was unable to distinguish, and she felt her concentration drop as a haze descended over her mind. She had this vague awareness of the door behind her opening and a panicked female voice calling out her name, but in that same moment a warm feeling overtook her and she gave into the darkness that had started to fall across her eyes.

Thank you for reading. Reviews are always welcome.

The next part will be up in the coming days. Thanks once again for your support. Callie x