Just in case anyone missed it, yesterday there was a bit of a mix up with my chapter order so I uploaded 2 chapters in one day (47 & 48)! I've now double checked and this is the write chapter to put up today! (I've got a couple written in advance.)

Saturday 14th December 2019, 9:30am

"Well if she really doesn't like it this much, why don't you get in the big bath with her?" Sam suggested as they attempted to give Ella her first wash in the baby bath down, since her stump had fallen off, in the living room but she wasn't having it. Meanwhile, Daniel was finding the situation quite funny. Both parents were rather wet as Ella had been fidgeting and screaming so Sam ended up just holding the naked infant against her chest.

"Me?" Tom queried.

"Yes, you." Sam replied bluntly.

"Wouldn't she prefer you in the bath because she's used to being on your chest?" Tom asked.

"Yeah but I don't think she'd prefer lying in a bath of red water." Sam retorted and Tom then realised what she meant.

"Why would the water be red?" Daniel asked innocently.

"Because..." Tom began before he looked at Sam for support.

"Nevermind, I'll just go and get the water running. You go and put a pair of swimming trunks on." Sam ordered her husband as she carefully stood up with Ella against her chest, grabbed a towel to keep her warm and then made her way upstairs.

"Told you it would work." Sam said smugly as she put her arm around Daniel's shoulder whilst they sat on the bathroom mat besides Tom, who was in the bath of clear water wearing swimming shorts and holding his baby on his chest.

"I didn't say it wouldn't." Tom replied as he gently rubbed the back of the little girl who was curled up on his chest in the fetal position - she was still a little 'screwed up' from the birth, meaning that she couldn't fully stretch her arms and legs out yet, so the most comforting position to be in, was one that she had adopted for the first 9 months of her life.

"Right, how about while daddy and Ella have a bath, you come downstairs with me and help me write a shopping list?" Sam suggested to her son. "And then once these two are dressed, we can all go christmas shopping yeah? Because we need to get the stuff for our first christmas dinner, don't we?"

"Yeah!" Daniel nodded excitedly - Sam and Tom hadn't had a proper christmas dinner for years because they had seen no point in going to all the effort when their son wouldn't eat it or enjoy the significance of it. However, now Daniel was looking forward to it and he would eat almost anything that Sam and Tom put in front of him so they were going to have a full christmas dinner that year.

"Come on then." Sam smiled as she took Daniel's hand and they both headed downstairs.

Sam had spent a little extra time rewriting the long shopping list in neat hand writing so that it was in order of how the shop was laid out so the fruit and vegetables were first, then the toiletries etc because she knew how Daniel liked to help with the shopping and this was certainly the biggest shopping trip of the year. Tom was pushing the trolley whilst Daniel zoomed around with the shopping list and Sam had Ella in a sling tightly against her chest and she was fast asleep as they entered the shop.

"Do you need any more pads?" Tom asked whilst Daniel was out of ear shot. "I can distract Daniel for a few minutes if you want to go and get some." He offered as they both knew how inquisitive he had been once when Sam had picked up a box of tampons months ago and they had never fully answered his questions about what they were and why he couldn't have one - they just distracted him with a new toy.

"No, I've got plenty. But thanks." Sam smiled. It was just ten days until Christmas Eve so the shop was packed full of people and every thing was related to christmas whether it was the party food, the decorations and even the small clothing range.

"Daniel, slow down and stay near us. It's busy, we don't want to lose you in here, do we." Tom warned.

"But I was just getting these." Daniel stated as he lifted up the bag of carrots which seemed quite heavy for him.

"I know but just wait for us next time." Tom said as he put the carrots into the trolley. "Why don't you go and get a bunch of bananas, and get the sticker for them?" Tom suggested and Daniel grabbed the nearest bunch without checking them like Sam would normally do, and then he ran to the set of scales where he just had to tap the screen a few times to get a sticker with the price on them.

"We definitely aren't going for a walk in the park this year on Christmas Day." Sam said sternly as she remembered that one year, when she was pregnant with Daniel, Shadow protected her from that beastly dog and the following year, Tom had saved a woman being attacked and ended up with a broken nose. "Can we just agree that we're not going outside the house on Christmas Day other than the garden?"

"Yeah sure." Tom nodded. "You look adorable like that, both of you do." Tom smiled as he peeked over the sling to see his daughter safely tucked away with her eyes closed and her hands screwed up into little balls in her scratch mitts.

"Mm. I'm just waiting for her to make a funny smell or start screaming and make everyone in the store look at us." Sam admitted.

"Well, just for the record, if that does happen, I'll be taking Daniel and running away from you so I don't get any disapproving looks." Tom smirked.

Monday 23rd December 2019, 9am

It was the first day that Tom was returning to work and thankfully, Zoe tended to give people with children priority for time off at christmas so Tom only had to work one day before he would have three days off and then return on Friday 27th December. However, despite it being his first day back after two weeks of paternity leave he knew it wouldn't be relaxed because one: he worked in and emergency department. And two: he had brought his four year old son, Daniel with him to give Sam a break so that she only had to look after Ella at home.

"Tom." Zoe said sternly and Tom slowly turned around from his locker to find Zoe standing with her hands on her hips as she looked down at Daniel who was sitting on the sofa whilst his dad had gotten changed into his scrubs.

"Ah Zoe, I think Daniel's got something to say to you." Tom hinted as he looked over at his son and Daniel jumped up and put his hands behind his back.

"Dr Hanna, please can I stay here today? I promise I'll be on my best behaviour." Daniel said politely.

"And..." Tom prompted.

"Oh and I won't get in the way." Daniel added.

"Tom, not that I'm doubting your parenting skills but do you really think this is a good idea? What if he sees something he shouldn't?" Zoe asked.

"He won't. Besides, when I had appendicitis and when Daniel was in paeds for his ASD operation, Daniel saw several things that you wouldn't have thought he would like but he seriously isn't bothered by blood." Tom stared. "Please? Come on, he'll cheer the patients up. And I've already had loads of the nurses offering to help look after him if I'm caught in an emergency."

"Fine but I don't want your patient numbers to be affected by this." Zoe warned.

"They won't." Tom stated and so Zoe left the room. "Right, you get to wear this for the day." Tom stated as he took off his badge that read 'Dr Kent - Emergency Paediatric Specialist' and put it on Daniel's shirt. "And you have to wear this." Tom added as he put a Santa hat on Daniel's head. "Let's go and treat some patients." Tom announced as he took Daniel's hand and walked out to reception, then through to cubicles where there was a stack of files for people waiting to be seen to.

"So what do you actually do?" Daniel asked as he sat on a spinny chair whilst Tom picked up a file and read through the details.

"You see this pile here? Well as a doctor, I take one and treat the patient down here if I can. If not, we move the patient up to a ward so for example a poorly child would, go up to the children's ward. We just have to make our way through this pile. And if there's an emergency, we deal with that first and then go back to dealing with the files." Tom explained.

"So once this pile is gone, you can go home?" Daniel asked innocently and then Louise came over and dumped several more files on top of the file.

"Not quite. There's always a pile there because it keeps on growing, so we just have to work as fast as we can, and then we're going to go home at 5pm this evening." Tom stated as he took Daniel's hand and they walked over to the first cubicle but Tom paused outside of the curtain. "Listen, I know you're probably going to have a lot of questions, but can you just write them down in here and then I can answer them later yeah?" Tom asked as he handed his son a notepad and pencil.

"Okay." Daniel nodded as they entered the cubicle.

"Hello Mr Shaw, I'm Tom, I'll be your doctor for today. I understand you collapsed?" Tom questioned as he was determined to get through as many patients as he could so that Zoe wouldn't complain about Daniel affecting his work and so his son could come to work with him again some time.

"Yeah I just, suddenly felt hot and I went outside for some air. The next thing I knew I woke up on the pavement so I came in."

"Okay, I'm just going to take a listen to your chest." Tom stated as he kept an eye on Daniel who was already writing in his notepad whilst he used his stethoscope. "Okay. Mr Shaw you've got what's called murmur, which could be something and nothing. But to be on the safe side, I'm going to send you up to Darwin which is our cardiology ward where a doctor who specialises in heart problems will give you a thorough check over."

"I've got a heart problem?" Mr Shaw asked worriedly.

"Not necessarily but trust me, you'll be in the best of hands once you get up on the ward. All you have to do it sit here and I'll come and get some porters to take you up as soon as they can. Okay?"

"Right, thanks doc." He nodded and so Tom followed Daniel out to the nurses station again.

"Ah Max, I need you to take Mr Shaw up to Darwin." Tom stated as he held out the folder.

"Will do." Max nodded as he took the folder and sped off so Tom picked up another file.

"Will he die?" Daniel asked.

"No, course he won't. He's done the right thing by coming in here and getting treatment." Tom replied.

Tom and Daniel sat on the sofa during their lunch break, eating their packed lunches that Sam had made for them whilst Fletch came in and made a cup of tea.

"So what do you think so far? You want to be a doctor when you're older?" Fletch asked curiously.

"No. I want to be a soldier." Daniel replied eagerly as he took a green plastic army man toy out of his pocket which he had wanted ever since he saw Sarge in Toy Story, he had dozens more at home.

"Really? I thought you wanted to be a nurse like uncle Fletch." Fletch joked, though Tom did have some concern about Daniel's obsession with the army because he changed rapidly from wanting to be a teacher one day to a chef the next but he kept on coming back to wanted to join the army which Tom feared had come from Sam's side.

"No! You made that up!" Daniel laughed.

"Tom, I need you in resus now!" Zoe ordered as she came into the staffroom bond ran out as fast as she arrived so Tom jumped up and followed her, but before Fletch could stop Daniel, Daniel went after his father too.

Tom burst into resus after Zoe to find a toddler fitting on the hospital bed as the nurses kept him steady.

"What's happening?" Tom demanded.

"I-I don't know he just... He wasn't speaking and then he collapsed and he started shaking so I called the ambulance." The mother explained disjointedly. "Please, tell me he's going to be okay." She pleaded.

"They're doing everything they can for your son." Charlie said reassuringly.

"Right, he's gone into VF let's shock him." Tom announced as he grabbed the crash trolley and put the two salmon coloured patches onto the young boy's chest whilst Ethan gave chest compressions after the fitting had stopped and the monitors began bleeping. "Clear." Tom announced. "And, shocking." Daniel watched as the boy's chest rose into the air as his dad put two paddles on it and then fell back down and then Ethan began chest compressions again. "Right, let's try again. Clear." Tom ordered. "Shocking." Suddenly the boy gasped for air and his eyes opened.

"Oh thank god, you saved his life! Thank you so so much." The mother let out a huge sigh of relief and as Tom looked up, he noticed his son standing there.

"Daniel?" Tom questioned worriedly as he went and crouched down in front of him.

"You just saved his life." Daniel whispered.

"Well yeah, it's part of my job." Tom replied softly.

"I want to be a doctor." Daniel announced and Tom let out a sigh of relief that Daniel wasn't frightened by the experienced, but he was instead, inspired.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I wanna be like you and mummy." Daniel nodded.

"I can't thank you enough." The mother said and Tom stood up and received a rather abrupt hug from her.

"I'm just doing my job." Tom smiled.

"Well thank you anyway. I don't know how you do it."

"Right, there's a paeds bed free now." A nurse announced after she had come up off of the phone.

"Okay, let's take him up there. You're son will be looked after now okay, he's gonna get the best possible care." Tom said reassuringly as they wheeled the bed out and the mother quickly followed. "Right, shall we go and finish our lunch now?" Tom chuckled and Daniel grinned as he took his father's hand and followed him back into the staffroom.

5:15pm

Tom opened the front door and Daniel entered first and went straight through to the kitchen where Sam was cooking dinner.

"Hello, how did you get on today?" Sam asked.

"It was really cool! I wanna be a doctor just like you and daddy." Daniel stated eagerly.

"Really? I thought you wanted to be a teacher." Sam replied.

"Keep up mummy, that was yesterday!" Tom said patronisingly and Sam smiled as they both kissed each other briefly after spending so long apart from their significant other. "What've we got for dinner?"

"I some how managed to find the energy to make carrot and coriander soup." Sam stated as she stirred the orange concoction on the stove. "I've just got to use the hand blender to make it smooth, stir in the cream and it'll be ready." Sam added.

"Where's Ella?" Tom asked curiously.

"She is fast asleep upstairs." Sam replied.

"Come on Daniel, shall we go and check on her?" Tom suggested and Sam warned them to keep the noise down as they both headed upstairs.

10pm

With Daniel tucked up in bed, Sam laid on her side in bed with Ella propped by a pillow as she suckled milk from her mother's breast. Tom laid just besides them, gently stroking Sam's hair as they kept the environment quiet and dimly lit to keep Ella sleepy so that she would go to bed after the feed.

"Could you get me a bottle of water please?" Sam asked.

"Have mine." Tom offered as he handed her the cool bottle of water that he had gotten out of the fridge mere minutes ago.

"Thanks." Sam had a satisfying drink before she handed it back to him and he put it on his bedside table.

"How was work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is it still as chaotic as it was before I left, or is Zoe finally getting it under control?" Sam asked.

"Um... I'd say it's gotten better. But then again, I was working Monday 9-5 shift and that's never too busy." Tom shrugged. "What've my girls gotten up to?" Tom asked quietly.

"Er... We had a bath together, and then she had a nap, and when she woke up around lunchtime, I gave her a massage with some baby oil. She really likes massages." Sam explained. "But I tell you what she absolutely hates; being left alone. If she's awake, you can't leave her alone, even to go the toilet, she just screeches until you come back." Sam smiled. "I had to take her with me to the toilet and balance her on my lap." Sam admitted. "Listen, I'm happy to do her next feed at about midnight roughly but I expressed some more milk and it's in the fridge downstairs so would you mind doing the first two feeds tomorrow morning? Because I could really do with a good night's sleep." Sam asked.

"Yeah sure. I'd love to." Tom smiled. "Come here, shall we let daddy burp you rather than mummy because I seem to be having more luck without getting you to throw your milk back up." Tom smiled as he gently lifted Ella, who had finished feeding, up and held him against his chest. He laid a muslin cloth over his shoulder just in case as he gently rubbed her back whilst Sam did her bra back up and pulled her shirt over her chest. "Please tell me she didn't just spit up." Tom begged as he had hear Ella make an odd gurgling sound. Sam looked on Tom's shoulder to inspect it and found it dry.

"No, you're clean. She probably just burped." Sam stated as she laid back down and brought her knees up a little bit for comfort as she curled up, facing her husband and daughter.

"How is your recovery going?" Tom asked kindly.

"Um... Pretty good. It's still a bit sore, I must admit and going up the stairs is quite painful but I'm getting there." Sam stated.

"And how is the bleeding?"

"Um... It comes and goes. It's mainly light but it gets a bit heavier when I feed her." Sam replied honestly.

"Go on, go to sleep. I'll put her to bed in a little while." Tom said softly as he tucked a bit of hair behind Sam's ear."

"Okay. Thanks." Sam smiled and Tom watched as it took no longer than a couple of minutes before she was asleep. After winding Ella, he put her to bed in her bedside sleeper next to Sam, before he too went to sleep, with just a couple of hours until Ella would awake, demanding her next feed.

Coming up: Sam takes Ella to the doctors after a concern about her daughter's health.

Thanks for reading, please review :)