Thursday 24th September 2015

Tom arrived home after his first day back at work, and he had his fingers crossed that he wouldn't arrive to a very stressed out Sam and a crying baby. Thankfully, as he opened the door he was met with silence. He checked the living room where the puppies were play fighting amongst each other as they had just begun to walk, but only very slowly. Shadow was licking one of them clean so Tom left them to it and checked the kitchen which was empty before he entered the bedroom and he smiled. Sam was lying on top of the duvet on her side with her arm around Daniel who was in a blue vest and his nappy, wriggling about and mouthing on the tail of the border collie toy that Sam had loosely in her hand.

"Come here mate, let's let mummy get some rest." Tom whispered as he scooped his boy up into his arms and then he pulled a blanket over his wife to keep her warm. "His about we go and cook her some dinner." Tom said softly as he held the toy dog to keep his son quiet before he walked towards the kitchen.

Tom was just switching the oven off to keep their dinner warm when he heard Sam clear his throat and he turned around to see her leaning in the doorway.

"I knew you'd like that." Sam smiled as she nodded to the blue sling that Tom was cradling his son in - the one that she had gotten him for his birthday.

"Ah hello sleepy head. You're just in time for dinner." Tom announced as he put on the oven glove and took the Pyrex dish of crispy, bubbling lasagne out of the oven and put it on top of the oven.

"Mm, you cooked dinner." Sam smiled as she sat down at the table for two where the plates had been laid out with a glass of lemonade each.

"Yep. And someone needs feeding soon." Tom stated as he served the dinner up onto the plates and then sat down with Daniel still in his sling against his chest. "So how was your day?"

"Well I'd just gotten changed this morning when your little monster needed a nappy change, and when I opened his nappy he weed all over my shirt. Then, just after I'd cleaned myself up, he puked all down my clean top. Other than that, he was a little angel." Sam shrugged sarcastically. "How was your first day back at work?"

"Pretty quiet actually."

"Really?"

"Nope. It was as chaotic as it usually is." Tom stated bluntly. "But seeing as you've put up with my little monster, as you put him, why don I run you a nice candle lit bubble bath after dinner and you can have some time to yourself while I take Daniel and Shadow out for a walk in his pushchair or something?" Tom suggested.

"I hope you don't mean you're gonna put Shadow in the pushchair." Sam remarked.

"Haha, very funny. So what d'ya say?"

"Go on then. But only if Daniel can sleep in between us tonight."

"Mrs Kent, we have a deal." Tom nodded smugly.

"Right, your steamy, bubbly bath with rose oil awaits you." Tom announced as he opened the bathroom door to find Sam waiting in her thin grey dressing gown with her hair tied up in a high bun and a towel over her arm. She walked into the room to find it lit only by small candles dotted around the room and the bath was filled up and the surface was coated with bubbles.

"Thank you." Sam smiled as she went onto her tiptoes and kissed Tom on the lips before hung her towel on the radiator to warm it up for when she got out. She was still bleeding and she couldn't use tampons because of the risk of infection, but the flow was very light so she decided that there was no harm in taking a bath. If anything, it would do her good and help her to unwind after the tiring day.

"Right, I'm gonna take Daniel and Shadow for a walk in the park so I'll see you in a bit. Just relax." Tom smiled before he closed the door leaving Sam alone. Daniel was already in his carrier that Tom just needed to secure to the buggy, before he put Shadow on her lead, grabbed her tennis ball and headed for the park.

"Sam... Sam wake up." Tom ordered and Sam opened her eyes to realise that Tom was looking down at her and she was still in the bath. The candles had been blown out and the light was switched on. She immediately covered up because she had been in the water long enough that the bubbles had dissolved leaving clear water that showed Sam's body just two weeks after she had given birth. "Come on, you're freezing, you must've fallen asleep. It's a good job I wasn't gone for very long." Tom said concernedly and it was then that Sam realised that the water was very cold. Tom had already pulled the plug out and so as she got up, he wrapped a towel around her body and embraced her into a hug as he lifted her out of the bath and rubbed his hands up and down her back to warm her up.

"Where's Daniel?" Sam croaked.

"Daniel's fine, he's still in his pushchair. We've only just got in and I called to check on you but there was no response so I opened the door and found you with your mouth a couple of millimetres away from the waterline." Tom explained bluntly. "How about I take Daniel into work tomorrow?" Tom suggested after a few moments.

"No, I can handle looking after our son." Sam argued as she pulled apart.

"I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying that you could do with a break. Look at you, you're exhausted Sam. You're a brilliant mum, but everyone needs a bit of rest." Tom stated and he could tell by Sam's expression that she was considering it, she just needed a little more persuasion. "There's at least four bottles of your milk in the fridge so I've got enough to feed him, and I'll stay in cubicles tomorrow so he'll be perfectly safe. You can catch up on sleep and have a long weekend. The ED is always quiet - well, at it's quietest - on Friday mornings and I'll be finished before it starts to get busy. What d'ya say?" After a few moments, Sam gave a small nod before she pulled the towel around her tighter. "Come on, let's get you dressed, you must be freezing." Tom took Sam through to the bedroom after checking that Daniel was still asleep, and he got her out a grey tracksuit style onesie that he knew she'd need to keep her warm because he had agreed that Daniel would be sleeping with them that night and that meant that they couldn't use a duvet. He also grabbed her a clean bra, pair of underwear and after some hesitation about being too personal, he grabbed her a sanitary towel as well. "I'll leave you to it."

"Thanks." Sam said quietly as Tom left the room before she began getting changed.

Friday 25th September 2014

"Tom, am I hallucinating or are you standing there with a baby strapped to your chest?" Zoe questioned as she saw the man with a front carrier with a baby facing his father's torso that was fast asleep.

"You're hallucinating." Tom replied and Fletch stood by the nurses station and laughed. "Look, I know it's not strictly following protocol but Sam needs a break. Besides, he's the quietest baby in the world. You won't even know he's here."

"Plus, he's quite the hit with the female patients." Fletch added slyly to which Tom gave him a squint. "Not to mention some of the nurses."

"Right, what's his name?" Zoe demanded.

"Daniel Thomas Kent." Tom stated proudly.

"Well Daniel Thomas Kent, one funny smell, any noise or one negative comment from a patient and you're out." Zoe said sternly to the sleeping infant before she stormed off.

"Have you told her that you've named one of your dogs after her yet?" Fletch asked jokily.

"No and it's going to stay that way." Tom replied. "But... If it does get out, then I'd like to make it clear that Sam named Zoe Zoe, I only named one of the puppies and he's called Alex after Alex Ferguson."

"Good choice." Fletch nodded.

"So have your kids come up with a name for your pup yet?"

"I told each of the kids to come up with their two favourite names, and then we could all vote on which was their favourite. But of course, they all voted for their own suggestions and we got nowhere." Fletch explained. "I think we're just gonna end up drawing names out of a hat." He added before he picked up the next patient's file - thankfully, Tom had pleaded with Tess and the pair were allowed to work together for the day so if Tom came into any difficulty with Daniel, he had a spare pair of hands as well as back up for any particularly annoying patients.

"What've we got?" Tom asked as he pulled on a pair of gloves whilst they walked over to cubicle nine.

"Elizabeth Bell, 11 years old and she's come in after fainting at home whilst getting ready for school. She banged her head but she's had a head CT which was clear and the wound has been sutured by a triage nurse, we just need to get to the bottom as to why she fainted." Fletch explained before they opened the curtain to find a young girl with long curly brown hair with a freckled, pale face sitting cross legged on the bed with her father sitting besides her. She had a small row of neat stitches across her forehead. The girl was smiling and Fletch whispered to Tom that she hadn't stopped smiling since she'd come in.

"Hello Elizabeth, my name is Tom and I'm your doctor for today." Tom stated and the girl's smile widened as she noticed the sleeping baby in Tom's carrier against his chest.

"Is he yours?" She asked.

"Elizabeth, you shouldn't ask such personal things." The man scalded. "Sorry, I'm Dean, her father." He stated as he shook Tom's hand.

"It's alright, and yeah this is Daniel, my son." Tom replied softly. "Now I understand you fainted this morning, has this happened before?" He asked curiously.

"Once a couple of weeks ago in PE and a few more weeks before that in the shower." The girl nodded.

"Okay, and have you been feeling unwell at all in general?"

"Bit tired but that's probably because I've only just started secondary school and I have lots of work to do."

"Okay, Dean do you know if your daughter has always been this pale?" Tom asked.

"I'm not sure to be honest. I-"

"Dad only found out that I existed a couple of weeks ago and now we see each other nearly every day." Elizabeth interrupted happily.

"Okay, Fletch could you take Dean for a cup of tea please I just need to ask Elizabeth a couple of things in private." Tom requested and the man immediately looked concerned. "It's nothing to be worried about, honestly, it's just routine." Tom stated and reluctantly, the man left with Fletch, leaving just Tom, Daniel and Elizabeth in the cubicle. "Elizabeth, have you started your periods?" Tom asked softly and suddenly, the girl's smile disappeared and she became shy and her pale cheeks flushed red. "It's alright, I'm a doctor. I deal with this kind of stuff every day." Tom said reassuringly and slowly, she nodded. "Okay, I know this is very personal, but are your periods heavy?"

"I think so." She gave a small shrug. "But mum says it's okay because hers are too. Why? Am I really ill?" She asked worriedly.

"No, no sweetheart. I'll just need to do a quick test, but I think what you have is iron deficiency anaemia. It's basically a very common and treatable condition where there isn't enough iron in your blood. I'll do a blood test in a minute, and if the results say that you are anaemic, then I can give you a prescription for iron supplements and you can go home and get some rest. How does that sound?"

"Thank you Mr Tom." The girl beamed as she wrapped her arms around Tom from the side so that she didn't squash Daniel, but she still gave Tom a warm, strong hug before she leant back on the bed again.

"You're very welcome." Tom beamed. "I just wish that all of my patients could be as nice as you. You're a very polite young girl. Right, I'll go and get the equipment for your blood test."

"Is everything alright?" Dean demanded as he returned with a cup of tea.

"Dean, I think your daughter has what's called anaemia. Have you heard of it before?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, her mother had it when she was pregnant with her." Mr Bell stated.

"I thought you didn't know that she existed until a few weeks ago." Tom stated confusedly.

"I didn't, but when I did find her, her mother gave me an earful of how awful her pregnancy was and how ill she got." He stated.

"Right well, there's no need to worry. I just need to perform a quick blood test and if I'm right then she just needs to start taking iron supplements and if the problem persists, she may have to see a gynaecologist about going on the pill to lighten her periods." Tom explained and the man looked back to see his daughter who's cheeks were burning from embarrassment. "Elizabeth, there are millions of girls who are on their periods right now. It's such a common thing and there is nothing to be embarrassed about, okay?" Tom explained after getting closer to the bed so that he didn't broadcast his statement. "I'll go and get the equipment."

Tom was sitting on the sofa in the staffroom with his shoes on the floor and his feet in front of him so that his knees were up and supporting Daniel as he gave him a warmed up bottle of Sam's breast milk. He had turned the lights off to keep Daniel calm and everything was going perfectly well when Tom's phone began buzzing in his pocket. He slowly used his spare arm that wasn't holding the bottle or his son to answer the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hiya, how're you getting on?" The familiar sound of his wife's voice smiled as she no longer sounded exhausted, but full of energy presumably after a long lie in because he had left work that morning and she had been fast asleep.

"We're fine. Daniel's just having his lunchtime feeding and he's been an angel all day." Tom replied.

"Could you please find a way to get Zoe to wind him after his feed and see if he pukes over Zoe's work clothes?" Sam smiled evilly.

"I don't think she'd approve of that because she's been watching me like a hawk ever since she's seen Daniel so we'd better behave."

"Alright. You haven't been taking him near patients with anything contagious have you?"

"Nope. All we've treated this morning is a young boy who fell out of a tree and broke his scaphoid, a teenager who I diagnosed with diabetes, a baby with a burned tongue because her formula was heated too high and a little girl who had anaemia." Tom explained. "I think Tess is a bit soft with babies because she's giving me and Fletch all the good cases this morning."

"Well she did used to be a midwife." Sam stated.

"Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, how has your day been? What've you gotten up to?"

"Um... I had a nice lie in- Oi that reminds me, did you have a shower with him this morning? because it's supposed to be my turn." Sam moaned.

"No, I didn't have a shower with him, I thought you could have one with him tonight." Tom said reassuringly as he then realised that Sam enjoyed showers with their son just as much as he did. "Carry on." He prompted.

"Um, I got dressed, watched a movie with some popcorn and then I went down the high street to a couple of the estate agents and got quite a few magazines so I thought we could start looking at houses... I mean we don't have to start moving yet but the process can take several months sometimes so I just thought that-"

"Yeah yeah, no that's a good idea. We can have a chat when I get home about it. Ooh, someone's finished his milk. Daniel you wanna speak to mummy?" Tom smirked as he put the phone on speaker.

"And what am I supposed to say?"

"Whatever you want. Don't worry, I'm in the staffroom and it's empty." Tom stated.

"Daniel if you puke on daddy's boss I'll give you an extra bottle of milk." Sam joked.

"I am not getting him to puke on Zoe!" Tom protested.

"Too right you're not." Zoe said sternly as she entered the room.

"Hi Zoe." Sam said awkwardly as she could hear her on the speaker phone.

"Hi Sam." Zoe replied as she grabbed a file that she had left in there earlier.

"Right, I'd better get on so I'll see you later alright?" Tom said.

"Yep. Bye."

"Bye." Tom put the phone in his pocket before he slipped his shoes back on and stood up with Daniel against his chest.

Sam was standing by the front door after hearing Tom's car pull up outside their apartment, and she was eager to see her child - it was the longest time she'd spent without him since he had been born.

"Where's Daniel's mummy?" Tom teased as he opened the front door and immediately, Sam scooped her son out of Tom's arms and gave him a big cuddle. Tom smiled as he had brought Daniel in from the car by hand rather than bringing him in in his carrier because he knew that Sam would want a hug.

"He's got his 'I've just been woken up and I'm grumpy' face on." Sam laughed softly.

"He missed you really." Tom chuckled. "Did you miss me?"

"Hmm. Let me think about that... Maybe a little bit." Sam admitted sheepishly.

"What's for dinner?" Tom asked curiously as he hung his coat up.

"Oh so just because I've been at home all day, you expect me to have dinner sorted?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

"No. Of course not..." Tom said innocently.

"Nah, I'm only joking. We've got chicken, noodle and black bean stir fry and there's a pack of prawn crackers in the kitchen." Sam stated. "Ooh I missed you so much!" Sam squealed as she hugged her son once more.

"I think he missed your breasts." Tom stated jokily and Sam looked down to see that both of his hands were one one of Sam's breasts and he was sucking his own lips - a sign that he was hungry and wanted feeding. "You go and feed him, I'll finish dinner off." Tom said as he opened the baby gate on the living room that was keeping the puppies in there and Sam went in before she sat on the sofa, put a pillow on her lap and laid Daniel on it. Shadow had been curious of Daniel since his arrival and the puppies who were once again play fighting in their box were deemed safe to be left alone so Shadow went and sat next to Sam on the sofa. Sam unbuttoned the top of her shirt, unclipped her nursing bra and pulled both aside before she latched Daniel on - she had perfected the technique to look like a natural over the past two weeks, before she kept one arm supporting Daniel's head against her chest and used the other hand to gently stroke Shadow on the head.

Tom had been keeping an eye on them so once Sam had finished feeding and just sat there with her sleepy son on her lap, Tom served up dinner and sat next to Shadow on the sofa. They both had their dinner, looked at the estate agent magazines and discussed moving into their first house before they went to bed.

Coming up: How will Sam react when Fletch and his kids come to collect one of Shadow's puppies?

Thanks for reading, please review :)