Sunday 3rd August
Sam opened her heavy eyelids to a throbbing headache but she smiled when she saw the box of paracetamol and a bottle of water next to the mattress that had obviously been left by her husband was was besides one of the incubators. She opened up the box and opened it to find that there wasn't actually any tablets in the box.
"I hate you." Sam grumbled as she let her head hit the pillow again and then grimaced at the pain that moving had caused her. Tom looked over, saw that his wife was awake and smirked at his little trick on her.
"Want some painkillers?" Tom asked smugly.
"I am perfectly fine." Sam lied as she very slowly sat up.
"So you'll be fine to give Aaron his midday feed then."
"It's midday?" Sam moaned.
"Nah, I'm just kidding. I've only just finished giving him his 9am feed." Tom stated as he approached his wife, squatted down in front of her and handed her the tray of paracetamol tablets. "There you go." He smiled.
"Thanks." Sam mumbled before she took two tablets along with half a bottle of water in an attempt to ward of her headache sooner rather than later.
"Aaron's in a particularly irritable mood today so Mr Solis is keeping fifteen minute obs on him just in case there's something wrong, and he doesn't want him to be handled unless he's being fed." Tom stated.
"Irritable?" Sam queried.
"Yeah, he's cried quite a few times this morning and he's managed to kick the BP monitor on his foot off twice." Tom explained.
"What does he think is wrong?" Sam asked as Tom helped her to stand up and then they went over to the little boy's open incubator.
"Nothings necessarily wrong, he said babies can just have periods of moodiness sometimes." Tom stated.
Tom had gone to the toilet, and Sam was wandering around NICU, when Aaron began crying again. Sam made sure that there were no other adults around, before she went over and gently picked him up to give him a cuddle because she didn't want to just let her boy go uncomforted.
Within seconds, Aaron settled and he snuggled his face into Sam's breast but Sam almost jumped out of her skin as she heard the door behind her open.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Tom asked because he knew his son wasn't meant to be handled because he displayed signs of having a problem, however Mr Solis almost looked relieved.
"Sam, when was the last time you held Aaron?" Mr Solis asked curiously as he looked at the satisfied baby in his mother's arms as he held onto her breast even though she had a shirt and hoodie on.
"Um... Yesterday afternoon I think." Sam stated. "Why?"
"Well, I don't think anything is wrong with him, I think he was just missing his mummy." Mr Solis stated.
"Really?" Sam asked confusedly.
"Yes, babies have a very good sense of smell, and their mother will have a very distinctive smell to them and by now he can recognise your face and your voice. He was probably just after a cuddle." Mr Solis stated happily and Sam and Tom both felt a weight being lifted off of their shoulders.
"Do you know, how much easier it would be to look after you if you could speak?" Tom cooed as he brushed his thumb along Aaron's cheek.
"Right, I'll leave you to it then. And um, I'm guessing you'd like to make Aaron's feed a breast feed rather than out of a bottle. Then he'll be a very happy boy." Mr Solis hinted before he left the room.
After ensuring that all of their children were settled and happy, Sam and Tom sat on their mattress with their laptop and camera, ready to sort out which pictures they were going to sell, and to who because they wanted to get the most possible money for their children's future.
"Right, before we start this, are you 100% sure that you want to sell a breastfeeding picture? Because I know it'll get lots of money, I just to make sure that you're happy about this." Tom asked sternly.
"For the millionth time, yes." Sam huffed.
"Oi, I've told you a billion times, don't exaggerate." Tom joked and Sam elbowed him.
"Right, let's get down to business..." Sam smiled.
"I cannot believe this." Sam admitted as she and Tom sat, finished after selling a mere eight different photos to various magazines, newspapers and news channels, with their jaws hitting the floor from shock at what they had done. "We've just earned, £1.2 million without even trying... I... Oh my god!" Sam laughed as she really didn't know what to so with herself. "We're millionaires. We're actually... With the money we've already got, we've got about £1.95 million pounds and we..."
"I think we'll be able to manage that trip to Disneyland when the kids are older." Tom stated as both of them could do nothing but grin.
"Tom breath." Sam said worriedly as she leant forward but he looked confusedly at her.
"Don't worry, I'm not having a panic attack." He stated and Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"You looked like you were gonna pass out." Sam protested.
"Yeah from the shock! My heart is beating like there's no tomorrow but I'm fine, honestly. Right, seeing as you still haven't had that coffee that I promised you this morning, shall we go downstairs to the cafe and then get some air in the peace garden?" Tom suggested.
"Okay. But we'll have to go out the side entrance to avoid the cameras." Sam stated.
Sam and Tom were sitting snuggled together on a bench in the peace garden in the wonderful sunny weather, though the odd breeze did give Sam goosebumps. She had gotten a decaf coffee because she was due to feed Aaron in an our for his midday feed, and she didn't want to pass a lot of caffeine on to him, or he wouldn't sleep very well. Whilst Tom was being his usually child-like self with a hot chocolate with whipped cream.
"Remind me to never drink again." Sam joked halfheartedly.
"Have you still got a headache?" Tom asked softly.
"A bit." Sam admitted.
"Well I did-"
"Don't say 'I told you so'." Sam whined.
"Fine." Tom huffed. "But I would just like to point out that I did advise to you to not drink the entire bottle."
"That's just like saying I told you so!" Sam protested as she elbowed him before they settled down again and listened to the chirping of the birds for a few minutes.
"Wow... We've got nearly two million pounds." Tom said quietly.
"And we've got a £4.75 million mansion too." Sam stated smugly.
"And just a few months ago, it was me and you in a one bedroom flat." Tom laughed.
"Mm, and I was the size of a whale. Well, I still am actually." Sam stated as she pulled her hoodie over her stomach.
"Of course your not. Sam with the way you're dressed at the moment, you wouldn't have thought that you've had a baby, let alone eight." Tom stated.
"Tom, I gained 145lbs from the pregnancy, and I've only lost about half of that." Sam complained.
"Yeah, and you're still bleeding and you're still weeing a lot so you're continuously losing extra fluids. Your milk has come in so that's probably several pounds of milk." Tom explained. "Sam, as soon as you start exercising again, the weight will just fall off. And I'm sure when we move back home tomorrow then we'll start eating healthier so you'll lose more then. Trust me, you don't have anything to worry about." He said kindly and Sam snuggled her face against his arm to hide her blushing cheeks.
"Hang on, I do not wee a lot." Sam protested as she suddenly sat up properly.
"Yes you do!" Tom laughed.
"No I don't!"
"You do, you still get up in the night to go." Tom stated.
"So? Some people have a small bladder." Sam argued weakly.
"Yes but you don't, you never used to go in the night. Don't deny it, it's just the aftermath of having a baby - not something to be embarrassed about." Tom stated.
"Everything is embarrassing after having a baby!" Sam protested.
"Like what?" Tom laughed.
"Oh I don't know, maybe bleeding, saggy boobs, saggy stomach, no shaving and stretch marks. Not to mention the leaky bladder situation." Sam stated.
"What leaky bladder situation?"
"The one where I leak if I sneeze, cough or even so much as move." Sam retorted.
"Well if you had started doing your pelvic floor exercises ages ago like I told you, you wouldn't be having this problem." Tom stated smugly.
"Don't say that this is my fault or I swear I will turn on the water works." Sam threatened as she pointed her finger at him.
"Wow, will you calm down. You are really, really hormonal today." Tom stated.
"I blame the coffee, it's making me hyper." Sam joked halfheartedly.
"It's a decaf." Tom stated. "And that comment has just made me realise that you're in one of those funny, niggly, odd moods." Tom concluded to himself because he knew if he said anything to her, it would provoke a reaction.
"Are you ignoring me?" Sam demanded as he didn't even look at her. "Tom?... Fine y'know what, I'm gonna go back to NICU." Sam snapped before she slowly stood up and then stormed off with her empty cup of coffee.
Tom had left it a little while for her to calm down before he returned to NICU, and when he did, he found Sam breastfeeding Aaron, and talking to him. Tom quietly closed the door behind him so that she didn't know he was there, so he could listen to what she was saying to their son.
"... and we can't wait for you to come home soon... Y'know, daddy's got to go back to work in a few days, to earn money for us, so it's just going to be you, me and your brothers and sisters during the day. Though it'll probably be much easier for you to sleep when he's not here because he is quiet loud isn't he? Mind you, I can already see his cheekiness coming out in you. For example, having a wee when I changed your nappy yesterday, that wasn't very nice was it?" Sam smiled as she tickled his chest.
Tom didn't want to scare Sam so he went back over to the door, and opened it to create a sound. She turned around and saw her husband, so she gave a small smile.
"Sorry for being a bit insensitive." Tom apologised.
"No, I'm sorry. You were right, I was in a mood." Sam admitted.
"So you're not now?" Tom asked cautiously as he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"No... Anyway, we're millionaires, we're supposed to be celebrating." Sam smiled. "But not with alcohol, not after last night." She added and Tom chuckled.
"Well what how you want to celebrate then?" He asked curiously because he knew intercourse was way out of the question for her.
"Um... A nice shower together tonight?" Sam queried.
"Yep, I'm up for that." Tom nodded. "After all, it will be our last night of sleeping on the floor of NICU." He stated.
After Tom had waited the usual few minutes for Sam to give herself a quick wash, Tom entered the dimly lit, steamy shower and snaked his arms around his wife's body.
"Can you wash my hair for me in a little while?" Sam asked.
"Of course." Tom nodded. "Can you... Sit on my lap for a little while?" Tom asked suggestively as he folded down the small disabled chair under the shower head, and then sat down on it.
"I can if you want to be covered in blood." Sam remarked as she folded her arms across her chest.
"C'mon... I miss your body." Tom admitted as he gently pulled her onto his lap with her legs straddled around his waist. It was the first time that they had had sexual contact like that in ages because sex had not been allowed since Sam's bed rest began at 24 weeks.
"This feels weird." Sam admitted quietly as she buried her head in his chest and under his chin and then wrapped her arms around his torso to keep her stable in case she slipped on his wet body.
"Weird, but nice?" Tom queried.
"Weird but really nice." Sam stated and Tom smiled to himself as he gently gave her back a rub. "I bet you can't wait to go back to work." Sam said sarcastically.
"Mm, totally." Tom grumbled.
"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Sam smirked.
"I still don't think it's fair that you get so much longer than me. I mean, I'm not saying that you should have shorter time because your body has been through a lot, but I think that new dads should have more than two weeks off for paternity leave." Tom stated. Admittedly, he did have several weeks of holiday left that hadn't been booked off yet, but he wanted to save those for when his children would need looked after, whereas now that they were in NICU, he couldn't actually do anything and they could manage without him.
"Mm. I think you should have longer too but, it's law, you can't do anything about it." Sam mumbled into his chest.
"You're not falling asleep on me are you?" Tom asked as he pulled his chest apart from hers to see that she was looking exhausted.
"No." Sam shook her head innocently but he could see right through her.
"Right, let's start washing your hair." Tom said as he stood up with his wife, and found a pool of diluted blood on the white chair, along with blood trickled on his groin too and Sam's cheeks flushed as red as the blood was. "It doesn't matter." Tom said reassuringly as he detached the shower head and rinsed all of the blood away before he folded the chair back up, and picked up Sam's shampoo bottle. "You're so short." Tom smirked as he stood above her and began to massage the shampoo into her roots with ease because of his height advantage.
"I am not short." Sam argued.
"Yes you are!" Tom laughed.
"No I'm not, you're just tall, I'm normal height." Sam stated.
"Well, you're still my little shortie." Tom said smugly.
"Don't call me your 'little shortie'." Sam ordered.
"Why not shortie?" Tom smirked and Sam turned around and hit him where no man should be hit. He quickly bent over and clutched his groin tightly as he tried to fight the pain. "You cow, it was only a joke." He groaned.
"Sorry, I thought you'd move out of the way." Sam admitted, but she felt really guilty now that she had actually hurt him. "Tom, I'm sorry." Sam said worriedly as she placed a comforting hand on his back. "I didn't mean to hurt you this much."
"Don't worry shortie." He joked halfheartedly whilst he remained in the double over position.
"Right just for that, you still have to rinse my shampoo out, and condition it." Sam stated.
"Brilliant." Tom groaned sarcastically. "Jesus Christ Sam, I feel sick."
"That's probably caused by the sight of your disgusting feet." Sam retorted.
"You're one to talk, your toenails are like claws, they're that long." Tom stated.
"Well sorry, but I'm not in the position to be able to cut them at the moment." Sam stated. "In fact that's another job for you. When we get out of the shower, you can cut my toenails for me." Sam smiled.
Tom took a few more deep breaths before he stood up properly but kept this hands over his groin.
"I might not be able to father any more kids now." Tom moaned.
"What? You actually want nine kids?" Sam queried.
"I was joking." Tom stated. "Right, c'mon I'd better rinse your hair."
Sam and Tom were slowly packing their bags whilst they sat on the mattress because they only had one night left to spend in NICU.
"My balls are still throbbing." Tom grumbled.
"Yes I'm sure our 8 day old kids wanted to know that." Sam remarked. "Besides, my uterus is still contracting so we're even." She added.
"Yes but you having a c section was planned, we planned to have a baby. You just randomly decided to hit me in the Crown Jewels." He exclaimed.
"How do you know that I haven't been planning it?" Sam asked innocently.
"Right that's it." Tom smirked as he leant forwards, pushed her back on the bed and then got on top of her.
"Tom!" Sam squealed and he chuckled as he smoothed his hands over her chest before he lunged in for a passionate kiss. Whilst he kept her mouth occupied, he slowly but firmly rubbed his crotch against hers. "Wait what if Mr Solis comes in?" Sam asked as she tried to catch her breath back.
"Well then, he can either watch, or leave us alone." Tom replied bluntly as he resumed his kiss and dry humping.
"Uhh... Tom..." Sam purred. "Tom wait stop." Sam said quickly and Tom immediately came to a halt.
"What's wrong?" He asked concernedly.
"I... May or may not need a wee." Sam admitted timidly and Tom smirked.
"Tough luck, it'll just make it better." Tom joked as he leant in again but Sam pulled away with an outraged look on her face. "Sorry, no of course you can go." Tom suddenly realised that he wasn't being very nice so he climbed off of her and she silently slipped out of NICU.
Both Tom and Sam knew that they hadn't had sex in months, and that he was ready but Sam wasn't - neither mentally nor physically. And he was trying to be understanding. But as a male, it was harder for him to understand Sam's situation.
"I'm sorry." He heard his wife say as she came back in after a few minutes.
"What? No, don't you be sorry. I'm sorry, I should have let you go as soon as you said you needed to go." Tom said as they both approached each other and embraced in a hug.
"Look, I know we haven't done anything in ages... So if you do want to go out, and find someone who-"
"No no no no no don't even think that I would do that Sam." Tom said as he looked into her eyes. "It's called making love for a reason, and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else but you. So I can wait, as long as it takes for you to be ready."
"Even if it's months?" Sam sighed.
"Even if it's years." Tom stated reassuringly as he stood up and wrapped his arms around her. "Although I do sometimes wonder if you're just with me for the money." Tom joked and Sam pulled away as she laughed.
"I put more money into our bank account than you did when we merged them." Sam argued.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just messing with you... Shortie." He smirked.
"Do you want me to hit pinky and perky again?" Sam threatened.
"No, please don't." Tom begged as he covered his crotch with both hands.
Thanks for reading, coming up what happens when Tom has to go back to work and will Leah manage when she is taken off of the ventilator? Please review :)