I am so sorry for the delay, I have been fighting the blues which make anything other than sleeping difficult. I shall endeavour to not keep you waiting as long next time. Thanks to Miss Rach for repeatedly poking me with a pointy stick till I wrote something. X

I do not own Casualty or 'All time low' by the wanted which is briefly mentioned - I do own the song but not the rights, same goes for the Nike+ iPhone app which is telling Sam how far/fast she is running. - its awesome btw I'm using to train for a race and Paula Radcliffe does talk to you, I don't own her either.

How do you get up get up get up...

Sam slowed to a walk pulling the headphones from her ears, if the wanted didn't know then she had no hope of working it out. She stood for a moment to catch her breath and stretched her arms contemplating the hill before her, it wasn't that steep. It looked like it would be easy to run but she knew from experience that it wasn't, it seemed to go on forever and her calves would be burning before too long. The cold wind whipped at her bare arms and she relished the pain, at least it meant she could still feel something. She selected a new song and set off up the hill, today even running couldn't keep her mind from her current predicament. Her husband had distanced himself further from her following their 'moment' on the roof, he seemed to think he'd crossed the line and was now backing as far away from said line as possible. She pressed on and a voice in her ear told her that she had just passed her distance record, forcing her feet into the pavement a little harder she knew she could smash her time record too. Sure enough as she reached the crest of the hill Paula Radcliffe told her she had logged her fastest time for the last mile. Sam rested her hands on bent knees and caught her breath before straightening up to look out over Holby, the only good thing about the uphill struggle was that sooner or later there would be a nice easy down hill stretch. She could always roll down like she had as a child if she couldn't run any further, but right now she wanted to enjoy the feeling of being top of the world. She always felt freer when she could see the world spread out beneath her like a model village, even as a little girl she could always be found at the tops of trees or one memorable occasion on the roof of the house she was living in.

She allowed her thoughts to drift once again to her estranged Husband, it seemed he was more often in her thoughts now than anything else even the hearing which was looming ever closer. She glanced to the bottom of the hill where Dylan's houseboat sat and saw that the man himself was home, could she run past and bump into him? Or pretend she didn't know he was home? Maybe she should just walk in and tell him they needed to talk, sort things out. Zoe had said more than once that the pair of them needed to be locked in a room until they were either back together or divorced, Sam suspected she was hoping for a negative outcome. Not that Dylan was the slightest bit interested, as far as she was aware anyway. Sam set off again heading for the bottom of the hill and the tow path where Dylan's boat was moored, she would just run past nonchalantly and perhaps he would see and come out. With the help of gravity she picked up speed and soon the scenery was flying past just a colourful blur as she sped towards the bottom of the hill which from this angle seemed almost insignificant, just a bump in the road. Was that what 'now' would look like in a few years time? Just a little bit of turbulence on an otherwise smooth journey? She doubted it, this was more like a mountain and they appear just as steep no matter how you look at them. She reached the bottom of the hill and stumbled a little at the terrain change but carried on regardless maintaining her speed as she ran straight past Dylan's boat without even turning her head, she wanted to go in and tell him she needed him but something stopped her. Pride and stubbornness kept her running, she just couldn't admit that she wasn't coping. Had the man in question not been equally stubborn maybe he would have seen the signs, he did see her.

Dylan had glanced up at the window just in time to see a shape he immediately recognised as his wife run past, he wanted to stop her get her to come in out of the cold but he knew she would be long gone before he could even get to the door. She wasn't looking after herself, it was clear that despite his telling off a few nights previously she still wasn't eating proper meals. She couldn't carry on like this, certainly not if she was running long distances every day. He couldn't allow her to continue hurting herself, he grabbed his coat and headed for the door before realising he was still wearing slippers and stopping to change his shoes.

"Dervla! We're going out." The dog came promptly and allowed him to attach her lead, he straightened up "We've got to go and see Sam before she does something stupid" Dervla looked up and met his gaze "Don't look at me like that." Dylan walked toward the door but Dervla didn't move. "Come on." He gestured towards the door but she sat down defiantly "I didn't say she was stupid." Dervla settled down resting her head on her front paws "Alright, alright." he threw his hands up in defeat "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that about Sam, I didn't mean it." He glared at the dog who had raised her head. "Can we go now?" she made a murmer of assent and leapt to her feet leading the way from the houseboat, waiting for her master at the path whilst he locked the door. He took her lead and they headed off in the direction Sam herself had been travelling moments before.

"Sam, Samantha!" He banged on the door to her flat but got no response, he waited a moment then turned to leave but was stopped by a whining noise from the dog at his feet. "She's not in Dervla, she must still be running." he started walking away but was stopped by his dog who was still not moving from the door. "Your right, of course." he leant against the wall beside her door and slid down to sit on the floor. "We should wait, she needs us whether she wants to admit it or not." Dervla settled down beside him to wait for her mistress with her head on Dylan's knee and his hand absently resting in her fur. That's how Sam found them a few minutes later when she finally returned from her run, to say she'd taken the long way round was a gross understatement.

"Hi," she was still trying to get her breath back and more than a little surprised to find her husband and dog on her doorstep. Both of whom scrambled to their feet on her appearance, Sam fumbled in the zip pocket of her trousers for her keys and promptly dropped them. They both bent down to retrieve the keys from the carpet but Dylan beat her to it, straightening up just in time to catch her as she swayed slightly on her feet. "Sorry," she pushed him away and took the keys "Stood up too fast."

"Hmmm" she glared at him in much the same way Dervla had earlier, the dog pushed past Sam's legs and entered the flat taking herself on a tour before returning to sit beside Sam staring up at Dylan expectantly.

"Are you coming in?"

"Yes, I brought..." he passed her the package he was carrying that unmistakably contained chips drenched in vinegar, the only way she would eat them.

"Thanks," She gestured towards the sofa where Dervla had made herself comfortable meaning for Dylan to join her but instead he followed her to the kitchen and began opening cupboards while she searched for clean plates.

"Do you have any food?" he sounded annoyed to mask the worry he was feeling, Sam just shrugged and pulled two plates from the pile of dirty washing up which covered every surface in the small kitchen and started washing them. Dylan turned his attention to the rest of the small flat which could only be described as filthy, there was a pile of dirty clothes on the floor by the empty washing machine. Dirty cups with varying levels of mould growth sat on every counter and there seemed to be rubbish everywhere. "Sam," she glanced at him then returned to sharing the chips between two now clean plates. "Sam," he sounded even more exasperated if that were possible. She pushed a plate of chips at him and took hers to the sofa where Dervla was curled up at one end on a duvet that and been left there, Dylan followed picking his way through the mess that littered the floor and sat down beside her. "Sam, you can't carry on like this."

"Why not?" He was relieved to have finally got a response from her even if she were being her usual defiant self.

"Your clearly not eating or sleeping, you have to start looking after yourself. If you don't then it's like your letting him win."

"What's the point?"

"Get up,"

"What?" She looked completely confused, Dervla however jumped to attention.

"You can't stay here in..." he gestured at the discord around him "this, your coming with us."

"But..." Dylan didn't let her speak instead propelled her out of the door and locked it behind them, leaving the cold chips she had only picked at forgotten on the table.