Minor difference in this being set in two different places – but it has to happen for the story to make sense.

As the Christmas treat was a little late, seems only appropriate that New Year one was too (not this has anything to do with New Year, mind you.)

As ever, I hope you do enjoy and I am grateful for any feedback.

"Sam we need to go," Tom called from his position by the open front door, where he appeared to looking out waiting on something. However he turned his head and acknowledged that Sam had neither responded to his words nor made any attempt at moving. "The taxi's here." Tom tried again, before opening the door a little more – so the taxi driver could see that someone was indeed planning on getting into his cab and paying him a fare before he decided to drive off – and walking a little further down the hallway. The moment that Tom caught sight of the object of Sam's attention, he found himself realising that actually leaving the house was going to be that little bit more difficult than he'd anticipated. "Sam!" Tom said, raising his voice a little in order to gain Sam's attention.

However it seemed to do the trick; Sam stopped chewing down on her bottom lip, seemingly in worry and turned to look at Tom, before again focussing on the scene in the living room and meeting her sister's gaze momentarily speaking. "You know where everything is don't you?" Sam glanced towards Jessica for the briefest of moments, waiting on a reply, before she returned her gaze to Laura who was currently held in her younger sister's arms.

"Sam!" Jessica exclaimed in indignation, though Tom couldn't blame her, Sam had gone over all that Jessica would need to know multiple times since she'd arrived an hour previous all delighted smiles and new teddies. Jessica's excitement had baffled Tom to some extent she'd seemed overjoyed at the prospect of babysitting her seven month old niece who was teething, and given the painful cutting of teeth, he couldn't fathom why.

"Samantha." Tom found him stating a clear warning tone, he suppressed a small smile when Sam turned around and seemed to consider leaving.

"Ok, ok," Sam seemed to mutter to herself in preparation and she turned to Jessica suddenly taking Laura into her arms, kissing her head softly, as the little girl looked up at her mother with big, blue eyes seemingly unfazed by the events which were occurring. Sam handed Laura back to Jessica and whispered a softly goodbye to her sister then grabbed Tom's hand pulling him down the hallway, probably before she could change her mind about going out for the night.

Jessica followed them to the front door, closing it behind herself once she'd aided Laura in waving goodbye to her parents, before locking it as Sam had instructed and removing the key and taking it into the sitting room with her. "So baby," Jessica muttered to Laura, who did at least seem to recognise that either she was the baby or indeed the only person in the room and strain her neck to look up at Jessica. "What can we play with?" Jessica asked the infant rhetorically, and Laura seemed to babble incoherently in response; she'd not mastered any combination more than once as of yet, Tom had informed her earlier other than 'mama' and it appeared that 'da' was still not in Laura's immediate plan.

Zoe's birthday cake had arrived in a way which had made Sam cringe, and she was considering making it known to Tom the moment they got home that she'd like nothing of the sort when her own fortieth birthday arrived, and perhaps her thirtieth just in case. However, somewhere during the cake and singing Linda – who Sam had last spoken to ten minutes beforehand when she appeared to be trying to gain as much information as humanly possible over where and with who Laura was – seemed to have constructed herself a dance routine which appeared to be making getting her lips around the straw in her drink far more difficult than it should've been.

As amusing as Sam found Linda's antics to be, when she herself was stone cold sober, she still found her eyelids drooping and put that particularly occurrence down to her miserable daughter, who'd woken them both at three, five and then seven, wailing over the pain that her one tiny – barely there – tooth was causing her. Sam was almost asleep against Tom's shoulder when she shook herself suddenly and realised that she'd be much better off at home – they'd survived the majority of Zoe's party and could be sure that they'd collected enough blackmail material against their colleagues to ensure that they'd be able to swap shifts so as not to miss anything important for the rest of Laura's life. "I want to go home," Sam stated somewhat sleepily from where she rested her head, eyes still closed, on Tom's shoulder.

"Why don't you give Jessica a call and then make up your mind?" Tom had asked in response seeming to misunderstand her intentions and reasons for wanting to go home and did not consent immediately, causing Sam to frown and forcing her into a more upright position to get her point across.

"I want to go home." Sam repeated with more force, and instead of arguing Tom this time, lifted his drink to his lips and finished it quickly, before standing up and looking down at Sam who was still sat on the sofa of the rather posh wine bar they'd inhabited all evening.

He nodded, and reached down to pull Sam's hand trailing her to her feet, and pushing her off in the direction of a very merry Zoe. "You go say goodbye, I'll call a taxi and be back in a moment." Sam nodded her consent to this plan and stalked off, somehow manoeuvring herself around a dancing Linda and some of younger nurses.

Tom had been swift and the goodbyes were much shorter a fact for which Sam was increasingly grateful; not only because Tom's return had rescued her from Linda who had wrapped her arms around Sam's neck pleading with her to dance and it wasn't that she didn't trust Jessica with her baby, she just missed Laura. Sam noted that she'd never even left Laura half the amount of time she'd left her tonight and truly did hope that her little girl had been okay – she mused that the lack of communication of Jessica would certainly make it seem so.

She and Tom got through the front door in relative silence, hoping that they'd not wake Laura upon their return. However when Sam reached the sitting room and found Jessica sat staring at the television screen, despite the fact that there was barely any sound.

Sam stepped closer and noted the tear stained skin of Laura's face and instantly felt incredibly guilty; however Jessica made no comment that Laura had been a problem, and she'd found every teether which Sam had left in the fridge and trialled them all. Laura had obviously had other ideas and appeared to have constructed her own method of pain relief from the way in which her tiny fists held Jessica's index finger tightly as she chewed down on it. Sam watched as Laura eyed her interest and loosened her grip on Jessica's finger, before extending her arms to take her daughter from her sister.

Sam offered Laura her own finger in return, but instead Laura had pursed her lips and nuzzled against her chest, yet when Sam noted the only half-finished bottle on the coffee table she wasn't surprised that Laura was still hungry. "She wouldn't take anymore," Jessica offered seemingly following Sam's gaze, but before Sam could say anything herself Tom had replied.

"No." He said was though in agreement. "She doesn't like a bottle as much," Tom offered as way of explanation.

"I'm going to go up to bed, if that's okay?" Jessica announced suddenly and Sam wasn't sure that it was a question however she nodded regardless, thinking for a moment of the removal of Laura's cot from her own room and back into hers and Tom's to set up the camp bed for Jessica and the conversation, albeit brief, of perhaps needing a house rather than the flat. Tom was watching her curiously, Sam could see, but he said nothing and simply came to sit by her side.

As ever, thank you for reading

Ax