As soon as the doorbell rang Sam felt the pit of nerves in her stomach reach a fever pitch. It felt as though there as a million and one butterflies fluttering around her abdomen and the sensation was almost bad enough to make her throw up.
Noticing Sam's obvious nerves, Zoe left the dinner table she was preparing and went to open the door, greeting Tom with a frosty 'hello' before standing aside to allow him in. He entered the kitchen and gave Sam a small smile, allowing her to see him for the first time since the police station. He looked worn out and also nervous, but other than that he seemed fine.
The small smile playing about his lips eased Sam's own nerves just enough for her to release the breath she had no idea she had been holding.
"Hey." Tom said quietly.
"Hi." Sam replied, giving him a small smile.
Following some polite conversation about the weather and how terrible TV programs are nowadays followed by a joke from Zoe about how Sam was watching children's TV the dinner table fell into silence save for the clattering of cutlery on plates as everyone cut up and ate their food. Sam decided that as they reached the end of their dinner it was time for her to start up some more conversation.
"Are you having any luck finding us jobs?" Sam asked Zoe.
"Maybe. St James say that they could probably take on around half our nurses part time and the rest full time once they have recovered, though they said they won't take any unless they attend counselling sessions. As for doctors…. they're saying they will take on anyone who wasn't injured full time and assess anyone who was to see if they are still able to do their jobs and…"
Suddenly Zoe excused herself form the table to answer a phone call that she muttered something about 'sorting all our problems' before stepping into the living room. Both Sam and Tom stared after her with a confused expression on their faces before turning back to the dinner table and each other.
"So…" Tom said slowly.
"So…." Repeated Sam.
They both smiled at each other for a moment before Tom opened his mouth to speak.
"How are you doing?" He asked with concern in his eyes.
"I'm ok I guess. How are you?" She asked back.
"Alright minus a headache." He replied with a smile.
"I'll bet. Vodka Tom? Really?" Sam said in mock disdain with an amused expression.
"Yeah... not sure what exactly I was thinking." He said while scratching the back of his head with an awkward grin.
Just then Zoe let out a shriek and Sam and Tom both left the table and rushed into the living room.
"Are you ok?" Sam exclaimed, placing a hand on her shoulder as she stared at her phone in an expression Sam assumed to be disbelief.
"We have to drive down to Caterham first thing tomorrow." Zoe said in an unreadable voice.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"All three of us?" Tom asked at almost the same time as Sam.
"Yes all three of us and Mark James. Apparently the family of the man who created the bombs want to give us some kind of compensation." Zoe said, still staring at her phone.
"Why me?" Tom asked, "I mean I barely had anything to do with this guy!"
"That's a question you'll have to save for tomorrow. In the mean time I think we better get some sleep. So Tom…" Zoe began.
"Tom can stay here." Sam said quickly.
"Are you sure?" Tom and Zoe asked simultaneously.
"I'm sure. There's sofa in the spare room that pulls out into a bed," Sam said, warranting an evil look from Zoe before adding, "I only found it earlier when I was cleaning."
"Fine." Zoe said curtly as Tom nodded.
They all quickly cleaned away the food they haven't eaten after estimating that they only had around seven hours before they had to leave again. Sam got upstairs and collapsed on her bed after her shower without bothering to get under the covers, as she was determined to get enough sleep to ensure that she didn't feel like a zombie for most of tomorrow.
Unfortunately her mind didn't want to shut off….
…
Sam was running through the hospital behind Mark like there was no tomorrow. In reality there may well not be for the inhabitants of Holby City hospital. As soon as they entered recess they knew it was probably already too late, as Sam could see the bombs through the window. Mark applied the chemical as quickly as he could but it was clear he wasn't going to be fast enough. He signalled to Sam to run and tore out of recess after her, shouting to everyone nearby to start running too.
The scene dissolved and Sam found herself standing in a dark room somewhere in Afghanistan, a man pointing a gun at her back. He was whispering something to her that she couldn't quite hear, but whatever it was was terrifying her, forcing her to hold back the wave of fear that was threatening to overcome her.
Again the scene changed, and Sam found herself standing back in the ED. Everything stood still around her yet she could still move. She walked over to where confused doctors and nurses were just about to start running, and she saw herself and mar, a motion blur frozen in time. Suddenly the whole scene started to move around her and she found herself standing right outside the ED doors as everything exploded…
Sam awoke screaming but found that her cries were quickly stifled by someone stroking her hair in a soothing motion and muttering comforting words in her ear. Whoever this was were holding her like a child, and she found herself moving so she could sit on their lap as they rubbed her back. She was drenched in sweat and shaking like a leaf, but this person had a strange calming effect and she could feel all her fear slipping away.
"Do you want me to stay?" Said a voice that Sam immediately recognised as Tom.
Sam opened her eyes and looked up at him, his calming gaze settling her fears until they were pretty much nonexistent.
"Stay." Sam said as she allowed him to tuck her under the covers and climb in himself.
…
Something tells me you've all been waiting for this…
I'll be updating from now until Monday (At least) seeing as my teachers left off the homework a bit and I have been writing chapters through the week :)