Sam was 13 weeks pregnant but she was looking around 25 weeks pregnant for a singleton pregnancy. The only people who knew about the octuplets were Sam's medical team, Tom, Zoe, fletch and Sam herself because they knew how rare octuplets were and they didn't want the press to find out about it. However, there was a weak link in the group that had not been as secretive as she should have been...

"Sam, phone for you." Charlie called as he held the phone from the nurses station up. Sam waddled over and put the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mrs Kent this is Louise from the Holby Gazette. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions." She began. Sam quickly slammed the phone down out of panic before she realised that she was probably just being too paranoid and that it could've been about anything. In the end, she decided that it was probably about the complaint she had made about her landlord who wanted to change their contract so she put the thought to the back of her mind.
"Boo!" Tom whispered in Sam's ear as he playfully slapped her bum which made her jump.
"Tom, don't do that!" Sam let out a sigh of relief as she put her hand on her chest before she grimaced.
"Your chest still sore?" He asked quietly because he knew that since she had woken up, she had had achy breasts. Sam nodded before she began looking around the desk.
"You haven't seen where I've put my green pen have you?" She asked curiously as she lifted up a few files to check.
"What? You mean this one?" Tom asked as he took a pen from out of Sam's ponytail.
"I swear I am losing it." Sam proclaimed as she took the pen and wrote something down on a form.

Sam had gone out to sit down on a bench during her break, wearing her scrubs with Tom's dark blue NHS hoodie on as hers no longer fitted, when a stranger with a notepad came and sat next to her.
"Morning." The woman smiled.
"Morning." Sam said to be polite as she shuffled slightly further towards the end of the bench and away from the woman.
"You're Sam aren't you?" She asked kindly to which Sam looked confusedly in reply. "You treated my daughter last week." She lied, but Sam had treated many people and she felt uncomfortable next to the stranger.
"Sorry but I'd better-" Sam tried to escape but the woman continued to talk and Sam didn't want to be rude to a woman who hadn't done anything to her.
"Congratulations on your babies." She smiled.
"Thanks- wait. Babies?" Sam demanded as she realised that she had used a plural when she wasn't supposed to know about her pregnancy.
"Yeah, it's octuplets isn't it?" The woman asked. Sam shook her head frantically as she stood up off of the bench and quickly disappeared into the hospital away from the woman.

"What do you want to eat?" Tom asked as she entered the empty staff room becuase he knew that Sam was struggling with eating 4,400 calories a day and he often had to encourage her.
"Some woman just asked me if I'm having octuplets." Sam blurted out with a hint of annoyance as she sat down on the sofa next to her husband.
"What woman?" Tom asked worriedly but they were interrupted as the young nurse Robyn, followed by Tess entered the room.
"Congratulations!" Robyn squealed as she held her phone in her hand.
"On what?" Tom asked.
"The octuplets! I can't believe it's-"
"Wait, how the hell do you know?" Tom demanded as he stood up protectively in front of his wife.

"It's on the news." Robyn said innocently. "Wait. You haven't seen the article?" She asked as she got it up on her phone and then showed it to Tom.
"Samantha Kent, 28, is pregnant with octuplets and it is thought to be the only case that has been conceived naturally." Tom read aloud. "This is ridiculous! How the hell do they know?" He protested as Zoe entered the room.
"Sam, there's a photographer and a journalist outside they want to speak to you but I sent them away." Zoe stated.
"Right, thanks." Sam forced a smile as she got up from the sofa and then got an apple from the fruit bowl. "Tom don't worry. There's nothing they can do if we all refuse to answer questions and besides, what are you so worried about anyway?" Sam queried. She didn't like the idea of the press knowing about her situation, but she didn't see the need to panic like Tom was.
"I'm just worried about you." Tom admitted as he watched his wife bite into an apple - she didn't seem fussed at all.
"Well I'm fine, you're fine, the babies are fine so let's just get back to work." Sam ordered as she got off of the counter she was leaning against and then headed out to the department.
"Tom, if Sam's not worried, I see no reason to be either." Zoe said wisely before she too returned to her work.

Tom was sat on the floor of their living room, flicking through property magazines whilst Sam browsed potential future homes for the new family on the laptop. She was beginning to get bored because it was near impossible to find a house with enough bedrooms that they would be able to afford, along with raising a maximum of eight kids so she decided to check her emails. There was a few spam emails, one from the electricity company and one from the 'Goodbye Editor'. The Goodbye magazine was one of the most popular magazines in Britain and she was intrigued so she opened the email.

Dear Mrs Kent,
I am writing to inform you of an offer for you and your future family. Now I know you must've had plenty of requests for interviews and comments, however we would like to make a deal with you. We, here at the Goodbye magazine, would like to offer you ownership of the property to the link below, a fully paid home makeover of your choice, a 16 seater white minivan along with £10,000 spending money in return for two interviews from you and your husband, and two photo shoots. If you were to agree, the first interview and photo shoot would be during your pregnancy around 18 weeks gestation and the second would be several months after the birth of your children. If you are interested, please reply to this email to schedule a meeting, and we can discuss and if needed negotiate terms with you.
Thank you,
George Murray
Editor of Goodbye magazine

Sam was curious so she opened the link to the property, and it opened to an amazing nine bedroom property.
"Tom, look at this." Sam said and Tom got off of the floor and sat next to her on the sofa as she scrolled through the pictures.
"It looks like our dream home but, I'm pretty sure it's not in our price range." Tom said sadly.
"Well it technically costs £4.75 million but... What if I were to say it's free?"
"I'd say you're nuts." Tom replied bluntly.
"Look what Goodbye! magazine sent me." Sam said as she showed him the email.

"What? You want to do this?" He queried after reading it and Sam nodded.
"Tom, we would never be able to afford a house for all of them to have their own bedroom, this would take such a massive weight off of our shoulders just think how much better we'd feel, if we have a home sorted and fully furnished, along with some extra money and the minivan." Sam explained. "And, I really want to have a photo shoot done while I'm pregnant, as long as we can keep some copies of the photos."
"But... What if they make us look bad? I mean, I've been researching facts on octuplets and the only set of octuplets to survive so far is the Suleman octuplets conceived by IVF and the media gave them a really bad image by saying they live off of benefits and that she's already got kids. What if they find a way to make us look bad?" Tom asked.

"Well it says they're willing to negotiate terms, so maybe we should speak to them, and say that we won't do it unless they let us see the article before they publish it and that we have to agree with it. And we could say we won't do it unless they give us some extra money becuase they're obviously looking for an exclusive if they're offering so much." Sam suggested. "And we could say that we're perfectly within our rights to refuse to answer some questions if we don't want to."

"Imagine us, in a 9 bedroom house with 8 babies." Tom smiled.
"No. Imagine us in a 9 bedroom house with 8 stroppy teenagers." Sam remarked.
"I already live with one." Tom joked and Sam elbowed him.
"So I can reply to the email then?" Sam asked as she fluttered her eyelashes at him and smiled.
"Go on then. But we're not signing anything until we've thought it through properly." Tom stated sternly.

Thanks for reading :) If you want to see what the house is like then search '9 bedroom house for sale Copse Wood Way' and the property is £4.75 million! Obviously, in my story the location is different, but the layout will be the same. Please leave a review :)