Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing this;
I'm glad that you all seem to be enjoying it, even if you seem a little disturbed by what is happening to Sam - though I can't say this chapter makes things any clearer, I hope you like regardless.
She pushed open the doors to the dark CDU, which was now only lit by the lamp at the desk, where she found Dylan. His skin had adopted a grey tinge, as he sat staring off into the distance. She stopped a little in front of him "She's asleep. But she needs some things from home." He looked up and there was a fleeting look of realisation that she was talking about Sam across his face, before he quickly looked away again. "I'll go, but I just thought you'd maybe know what she'd like best." He glanced up at her, again, nodding his head then quickly shaking it and dropping his gaze to the table. "It's not your fault, you know." She placed Sam's locker key down in front of him and watched as he picked it up and tapped it gently against the wood, before he stood up and swiftly left the room. She had hopes that he would be heading to use said key and while this interested her greatly, she resolved that she would simply check up on him later and refrain from stalking him around the department ensuring that he was going provide Sam with some sort of comfort.
Walking into the staff room twenty minutes later she had found Dylan sat at the table staring at Sam's bag, as though wondering if he had permission to open it. She walked up behind him and placed a hand on his back before she said quietly "She needs pyjamas, and some clothes and something that'll comfort her. There is obviously something wrong." He nodded, and pulled at the zip at the very front of her bag, seeming to know that was where she kept her house keys, as he had them in his hand moments later. She lifted Sam's bag and gently placed it back in her locker, closing the door behind her, as Dylan held out the key's to her. "I'll come with you, but you're going to do this for her." He didn't respond, but at the same time she had to note that he also didn't refuse.
As he pushed the key into the lock, grateful for once at Sam's neglectful use of her alarm system, with Zoe at his heels; the first thing he noted were the subtle hints that Sam's symptoms had been going much longer than just today. The candles, in high number, were dotted about the living room - Sam had never been one for candles, she'd had a few and they were rarely used - but these indicated, at least to him, that Sam's sensitivity of the light had occurred long before she voiced it in CDU earlier that day.
He watched as Zoe stepped past him in the living room doorway and headed towards the kitchen; giving him a moment to look around the room further, picking up the raggedy stuffed cat from the sofa wondering when it had left its resting place at the side of Sam's bed. "Dylan." Zoe's voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he turned to face her as she began walking from the kitchen to stop in front of him, holding various pieces of paper in her hands. "She knew." He glanced up in confusion, unable to see what she was holding, carefully he took the papers from her sitting the cat in his lap as he sat down to read them. Zoe had smiled, a small tight smile, before she stepped back again speaking as she left the room: "I'm going to get some clothes and stuff together."
He stepped into the bedroom, some time later, taking in the unusual surroundings as he did so, the sat down at the edge of the bed, watching as Zoe rummaged through drawers, hunting for clothes - of some sort - he placed the cat down next to him and watched as Zoe carefully picked out a jumper from the drawer. "Pyjamas, Dylan?" He turn his head at the use of his name, and found Zoe staring at him curiously.
He moved quickly and began to open the drawers beside her bed, in search of pyjamas suitable for a hospital stay. "She knew something was wrong?" By the time he broke the silence which had fallen over them, Zoe was sitting by his side, one hand on his shoulder as he pulled at various sets of pyjamas before looking at Zoe blankly, completely unaware of which Sam would want. She turned around to face him before he spoke quietly again. "Do you think she was frightened?" While she wasn't sure the answer would provide Dylan with any form of comfort, she nodded her head slowly, as she turned to pick a few sets of pyjamas from the floor were Dylan had been placing them.
She placed them at the top of bag and she sat down on the bed, lifting the stuffed cat up thoughtfully; it seemed to be well looked after - which could only suggest to her that it was not something from childhood, although judging by the sparsely decorated rooms Sam kept - she didn't seem to have anything of sentimental value lying around - unless she counted the almost hidden from view photographs, which Dylan appeared to touching delicately, from the angle of where she was sitting she couldn't see what they were of. She considered joining him on the floor, but opted for sitting watching him, feeling he might need to be alone at the moment.
"Did you see her fall?" She had blurted the question, desperate to try to engage him in some form of conversation, just to see how he was without actually having to ask that question and hearing him lie. He nodded briefly, and turned to face her, bringing one of the photos with him. She moved herself down onto the floor and sat down next to him; taking the picture from his hands, as he held it out to her, blinking at the image of Sam holding Dervla's lead in the park, she seemed much younger than she did now. Unsure what to say to him, she simply handed the picture back to him. "She'll be alright. She needs to have a scan, no matter how frightened she is." Once again, he nodded, however she noticed that he still seemed to be remaining remarkably detached from the situation.
Somehow she found her way over to the corner of the room, where Sam seemed to keep her photographs, and studied them slowly, trying to distract herself from the memories that watching Sam earlier that day had pushed to forefront of her mind. "You could give us consent Dylan, if we can say she's not of sound mind." She didn't turn, simply took in the framed photographs, one showing a child she didn't recognise another of Sam on what she assumed was her wedding day with who she guessed were her parents by her side. She opted not to dwell on the fact that the photographs still seemed to be important enough for Sam to have sitting in her bedroom. She paused her hand wavering over the small frame which housed the picture of the child and considered asking Dylan who the picture was of. This thought lasted the briefest of seconds before she decided against it.
"We need to get back." She watched as Dylan nodded in agreement, and made to stand up, she followed him through to the kitchen; watching him stop at the remnants of a smashed mug, something that she'd also noticed, and assumed that the mug was the reason that Sam had seemed to hesitant to lift anything, in fear of not having a hold of it properly. As her eyes surveyed the kitchen for a second time, she picked up items which had simply escaped her notice the first time; in particular the children's dinner set, which stood in the drying rack, as she watched Dylan lift it and make sure it was properly dry before putting it in the carrier bag he found, before opening drawers and cupboards until he reunited the spoon, bowl, plastic tumbler and mug of the same design with the plate, fork and knife.
"Why do you need that?" She only asked because she knew there was no chance of Dylan acknowledging what he had just done and explaining his actions. She blinked as he suddenly left the room, as if the sight of children's dinner set had triggered a realisation, and she followed him to a door she hadn't acknowledged - and almost at once she realised she had yet to lift any toiletries for Sam. He pushed the door opening, leaving it open as he stepped inside.
She decided to grab the toiletries while she was remembering about them, but as she was picking up Sam's toothbrush, she caught sight of a smaller one in a sparkly shade of pink. While she was processing what these unusual items could mean, Dylan surprised her by appearing behind her and speaking for the first time without being prompted. "Do these match?" He held out a small dress and cardigan for her to inspect. She blinked furiously, before nodding. He nodded, in acknowledgement that Zoe had answered, before retreating back to the room he had just left.
She followed him, stepping inside the room and she spoke as she took in her surroundings: "What's her name?" He was picking out a few other clothes, and lifting a teddy from the bed, before dropping that into the pink suitcase he had opened on the floor. He glanced up from the collection of jigsaws and DVDs that sat on the shelf which he was inspecting with distaste.
"Millie." The fact that Sam and Dylan had a child tucked away somewhere, didn't altogether surprise her, had it not been for the fire she suspected she and the rest of their colleagues would still be none the wiser about their relationship.
As she allowed her eyes to drifted around the small room, she noted the first and what seemed to be only hint of Dylan in Sam's small home, in the form of a canvas picture of Sam, Dylan and who she could now assume was a baby Millie - she looked at most a few months old. While Dylan looked mostly the same, he did have a smile on his face - which made him look almost strange; Sam however looked barely twenty, yet happier than she'd ever seen her. "How old is she?" She was sure that Dylan would consider her questions to be bordering on prying but she was now aware that not only was Sam obviously unwell, she had someone who seemed to completely depend on her.
"Almost four." A quick bit of maths, allowed her deduct that Sam would've been at the very most about twenty-two when the picture was taken. She nodded, and joined Dylan on the floor to help him pick out something he could use to occupy a child. She picked out a jigsaw and a few DVDs, before moving towards a toy box which sat in the corner; opening it she selected a colouring book and pencil case.
They had locked Sam's small flat and walked back to Zoe's car in complete silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Zoe knew that she was having difficulty adjusting to that fact that not only had it taken Dylan nine months to reveal he had a wife and in fact he hadn't even been the one to reveal this fact. The fact that they'd manage to let their three year daughter have no impact on their working life had astounded Zoe; a fact that she knew was create all sorts of chaos when she returned to the hospital.
So that's the secret out more or less; we get to meet Millie next time, however..
Thursday, same time, same place :P
Anny. X.