Saturday 6th June 2015
At 27 weeks pregnant, Sam was exhausted and unfortunately for her. It had turned out to be a very hot, dry summer. Even at the beginning of June it was absolutely scorching and so Sam was lying down on a picnic blanket out in the small grass garden whilst Shadow laid down on the cool grass in the shade. Sam was also in the shade of their neighbour's trees, but she could still look up and see the clear blue skies with the occasional fluffy cloud floating by. Tom had gone food shopping so she was left on her own to have a nice peaceful rest for her body to keep stressfree during the heatwave. She looked beautiful in her short denim shorts and tight jersey top and sports bra because it showed off her large bump but the stifling heat was just too much for her and going inside was only worse because it was hot in there too. She had been drinking plenty of water to ward off dehydration, but she was still sweating like a pig. However she had enjoyed going to work for the last few days because the hospital was kept cool by airconditioning.
Tom had just carried all of the shopping into the kitchen and he poked his head outside the back door just to check on Sam, only to find that she hadn't moved since he had left over an hour ago, and she was still lying with her sunglasses on so he couldn't tell if she was asleep or not. He wished that he had taken Sam with him because inside the tescos store was freezing cold and he had been reluctant to leave her in the hot weather. However he had got Sam and Shadow a little surprise so he began to pack the shopping away so he could set it up.
He had gotten a 3m by 2m rectangular swimming pool that was 50cm deep. It wasn't massive but Tom had only wanted to get a pool for the garden that he and Sam could cool down in. And of course because of Shadow's love for a bath after a muddy walk, he assumed that she would enjoy the pool too. They already had an electric pump for air beds and things like that so Tom inflated it and still Sam did not stir. Thankfully, the heatwave hadn't yet resulted in a hosepipe ban so Tom attached the hose to the tap that they usually used to water the plants and he put the end of the hose in the pool to fill it up before he went and ran the hot tap into the washing up bowl, and he boiled the kettle several times so that the water wasn't too cold, though admittedly it probably didn't make much difference.
Throughout the afternoon, Tom had been playing with Shadow with a water gun and tennis balls as he messed about in the swimming pool in his blue swimming trunks, and Sam was yet to wake up. However the sun had moved since she had settled down on the picnic blanket and so by 2pm, the sun was already shining directly on part of Sam's face and her arm so he decided to wake her up.
"Sam..." He said softly as he squatted down besides her and gently rubbed her arm whilst he was careful not to get her wet as he knew that that would not be a good way to wake her up. "C'mon open your eyes." He smiled as Sam groggily woke up and then stretched her arms and legs out before she sat up. "Guess what new toy I got Shadow." Tom smirked as Sam's eyes fell upon the bright blue and white swimming pool before she looked back at her husband who was only in his swimming shorts with his hair spiked up in different direction where he had behaved immaturely with the water.
"How long was I asleep for?" Sam croaked as Tom gave her a helping hand up.
"A couple of hours." Tom replied. "I didn't want you being in the sun." Tom admitted as he glanced down at the picnic blanket that was illuminated by the suns rays.
"What, even though you covered me in sun cream this morning?" Sam retorted.
"Yep. Now go and get a bikini on and then I can put some more sun cream on you." Tom smiled cheekily. Sam rolled her eyes before she padded inside.
Tom wolf whistled as Sam exited the house in a beautiful coral coloured one piece swimsuit tied behind her neck that showed off her 27 week bump and she had a beach towel too.
"I thought I requested a bikini." Tom said sheepishly.
"You did. But when do I ever listen to what you say?" Sam retorted as she tied her hair up in a tight bun to keep it dry.
"You want me to put sun cream on your shoulders?" Tom offered as he picked up the factor 50 sun cream. He had only used the factor 15 for his skin, but he wanted Sam and his baby to be safe on the scorching sunny day.
"Yes please." Sam closed her eyes as she enjoyed Tom lovingly rubbing the lotion into her tense shoulders and on the backs of her arms. He then went around to her front and began rubbing it into her chest down to the top of her swimming costume which causes Sam to raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought that as a doctor, you would know that that's not my shoulders." Sam quipped.
"Oh I know these aren't your shoulders, they're much, much nicer to look at." Tom whispered before he pecked Sam on the lips.
"Do my legs." Sam ordered. "I can't bend down that far." She added and Tom chuckled before he knelt down on the grass and covered her in cream until she was completely protected from the sun.
"I know you can't bend down this far, you haven't shaved your legs." Tom said seriously.
"What? I thought I had-"
"Calm down, I'm just messing with you." He admitted. "Right. We can just let this soak in. And in the meantime, watch this." Tom smiled as he picked up a wet tennis ball. "Shadow!" Tom shouted and the panting border collie came sprinting out of the house and sat in front of Tom. "Ready... Fetch!" He ordered as he threw the ball into the swimming pool and Shadow showed no reluctance as she launched herself into the pool, grabbed the ball in her mouth and then ran back to Tom. However once she had given him the ball, she shook herself free of some of the water in her fur and Sam ended up getting sprayed by her.
"Lovely." Sam said sarcastically.
"Well, you're gonna get wet sometime." Tom announced as he dropped the tennis ball, heaved Sam up and carried her bridal style into the pool.
"Don't you dare drop me in there." Sam threatened.
"I wouldn't. Well I can't, but only because you're pregnant. If you weren't I probably would drop you." Tom admitted as he put her onto her feet in the pool in the water that came up to her knees.
"What did you get when you went shopping?" Sam asked curiously.
"Quite a lot." Tom replied simply. "But I got burgers that we can do on the BBQ tonight with salad and a corn on the cob and for tomorrow, I thought we could have a creamy mushroom sauce with chicken and pasta. And we could eat it al fresco." He explained. "Listen I know you've been having trouble sleeping at night because of the heat so why don't we rent an air conditioning machine for the bedroom for a while?" Tom suggested as they both slowly waded around in the cool water.
"No, it's not worth the money. I'll be fine. And besides, I can always go for a midnight swim now." Sam replied. "Just being in here for a few minutes is enough to cool me down. Plus I might just start spending my weekends in a swimming costume full time. It's a lot cooler." Sam stated as she placed her hands on her bump.
"And I have no objections to that." Tom smirked. "By the way, I've got you a few small presents in the kitchen. And there's some more strawberries for you seeing as you seem to be going through a pack of them every day." Tom smiled. Sam's eyes lit up as she heard about the strawberries so she got out of the pool and grabbed the towel from the picnic blanket. She dried off her legs and wrapped the towel around her before she went into the kitchen where there was a carrier bag left on the side. She washed the strawberries in a colander by the sink, before she grabbed a knife and cut the top off of a single strawberry. "Are you craving strawberries? Because you haven't had any cravings yet and I think that this might be one." Tom stated as he came in in just his swimming trunks.
"It's not a craving. I always used to eat strawberries in the summer when I was a kid, it just reminds me of when I was little and spending summers in the park with my friends." Sam admitted before she put the knife down after having a few and she moved back to the carried bag. "Plus they're healthy and they taste nice." She added. Sam opened the knot at the top to reveal a bag containing a jar of Nutella, lip balm, a new clear nail varnish that she always liked to wear to keep her nails protected, a new album that she had wanted, a pack of marshmallows and some skewers.
"I though we could have a fire in the chiminea tonight and roast some marshmallows." Tom admitted.
"Thank you but, why are you always getting me little presents?" Sam asked curiously. "I mean I like them an' all, but you really don't need to."
"I get you little presents because as a doctor, I know how much your little body is doing at this very second. And you probably assumed that I know you're pregnant and that's it, but I really, really appreciate what you're going through and I want you to know that I'm here for you." Tom explained and Sam smiled to herself as she shyly looked at the floor.
"Thank you." She spoke up eventually as she briefly went on her tiptoes and pecked Tom on the lips.
Tom was watching TV whilst Sam waddled into the kitchen for a glass of water, only she noticed a plant on the windowsill and it was almost certainly coriander that had been bought from tescos. Presumably Tom had gotten it for cooking something, but Sam remembered that her old fashioned mother - who had been a house wife - always grew herbs and spices because she had the time to do so. And Sam always picked at them when she wasn't looking.
For old times sake, Sam picked a few leaves, washed them, patted them dry with kitchen roll and then put them in her mouth and the intense flavour was better than she remembered so she had a few more. But Tom had heard the tap running several times on and off where she had been washing the leaves and he came out to find her picking more leaves off of the coriander plant.
"What on earth are you eating that for?" Tom laughed as he leant in the doorway.
"It's nice. Try some." Sam said as she offered him some of the leaves.
"I'll pass thanks." He chuckled. "I got that to make a curry on Monday night." He protested.
"Well it's Saturday now so it's got a few days to grow back." Sam replied simply as she put the leaves in her mouth.
"Now this has got to be a craving." Tom stated.
"It's not!" Sam protested. "I just used to have it when I was younger and plus it's not wrong to eat something that I like is it?" She moaned.
"No but it's just odd that you're eating plain coriander leaves by themselves." Tom stated. "Anyways, how about I get the chiminea started?" Tom suggested.
"Yeah okay. But keep Shadow out of the pool now, she needs to dry off." Sam warned as Tom stepped outside into the garden.
"I will." He huffed like a child as he quite enjoyed making Shadow play fetch in the pool.
It was beginning to get dark and Sam and Tom were sitting next to each other cross legged on the picnic blanket just a metre away from the clay chiminea that was roaring away and keeping them warm whilst the evening chill was arriving. They had already had a few roasted marshmallows with a bit of melted Nutella and so they were just relaxing on the peaceful summer evening.
"I have a confession to make." Tom admitted.
"That sounds ominous." Sam replied worriedly.
"Well when I went shopping, I... I may have bought a few beers and put them in the bottom of the fridge." Tom admitted apprehensively.
"I know, I've seen them." Sam said bluntly. "Tom have a drink." Sam ordered. "You don't have to stop just because of me, and don't sound so guilty about it. I'm not expecting you to go without alcohol for nine months."
"Phew." Tom let out a mock sigh of relief before he unwrapped himself from the blanket but he kept Sam under it, before he went into the kitchen where Shadow was curled up in her basket because they didn't want her being outside where her fur would get smoky and she would need a bath. He grabbed a can of beer from the fridge as well as Sam's new bottle of clear nail varnish before he went and sat down again. "Right, c'mon I've never painted someone's nails before but how hard can it be?" Tom smiled as he took a sip of his beer and then balanced it on the grass as he got in a position for Sam to stretch her legs out.
"Well it can't be any worse than the job that it'd do on my toenails because I can't even reach them." Sam retorted as she kept the blanket around her shoulders whilst she extended her legs and put her feet on Tom's lap. She was wearing a dark blue hooded onesie with two wet handprints on her abdomen and the phrase 'HANDS OFF THE BUMP'.
"Jesus, your feet are freezing!" Tom stated.
"My feet are always freezing." Sam stated bluntly as they often had play fights in bed as to whether Tom would let Sam put her feet in between his to warm them up and they would end up having a childish game of 'footsie'.
"Right. I'm going to bed." Sam announced tiredly as she dropped the blanket off of her shoulders.
"Alright, I'm coming too." Tom stated as he stood up and then he pulled Sam to her feet too. The fire was almost finished in the clay chiminea, it was on fresh green grass and it was safely burning out so Tom grabbed the two empty cans of beer and the blanket and picnic rug before he followed Sam inside and locked the back door. "Right. Stay... Stay... Good girl, stay..." Tom said sternly to Shadow - who was still in her bed - as he attempted to get her to sleep in her bed rather than joining him and his wife in their double bed where space was already tight. "Stay." He said finally before he switched the kitchen light off and went into the bedroom. Sam used the bathroom first then got into bed. And Tom was just coming out of the bathroom when Shadow padded in, jumped up on the bed and curled up by Sam's feet.
"She's annoying when you wanna stretch your legs out but I don't want to kick her off." Sam admitted sleepily as she lifted her head from her pillow.
"She's not gonna hate you because you make her sleep in her own bed." Tom stated.
"It's not about her hating me, I just don't want to be cruel." Sam whispered as Tom laid besides her and they both looked up at the ceiling once the lights had been turned off.
"Well I have no problem in kicking her off." Tom said smugly.
"I know; that's why she likes chewing your shoes and not mine." Sam retorted. "Well, that and because they stink." She added cheekily.
"Oi, bedtime means quiet." Tom ordered.
"Yes Mr Kent." Sam huffed before she closed her eyes to rest after a long day of doing almost nothing.
Coming up: Sam and Tom have an argument and Sam ends up in hospital. Is it anything serious?
Thanks for reading, please review :)