Wednesday 2nd September 2020, 6am

Sam hadn't been able to sleep, just like the previous day as they were still awaiting their results of their genetic tests and she expected them to be able to get their results that day at the hospital. However, once Sam made her way downstairs to get a drink of water, she found an A4 brown envelope on the door at by the front door and on it was a yellow post-it note.

'Your results were ready by the time I finished my shift tonight and I thought I'd drop them off so you don't have to go to haematology, Zoe.'

Sam forgot about the bottle of water and quickly ran upstairs because she wanted more than anything to know the results, but she wanted to find them out at the same time of her husband.

"Woah, where's the fire?" Tom asked as he came out of the ensuite after using the toilet.

"Zoe dropped our results off." Sam stated as she held the envelope in her hands.

"Have you opened them?" Tom asked and Sam bit her lip nervously as she shook her head.

"You tell me what it says." Sam ordered as she handed him the envelope.

"Alright." Tom nodded as he slowly opened it and then Sam watched as his eyes skimmed through the paperwork. "Right. You and I are definitely carriers, but neither of us has VWD." Tom stated. "And Daniel... Isn't a carrier. He hasn't got the gene." Tom announced happily as it was the best possible knew that could've come out of the situation.

"Oh thank god!" Sam exclaimed as she reached up and hugged Tom. "Y'know I've spent hours thinking about how to explain to Daniel that he could have kids that carry the gene." Sam admitted.

"Yeah me too." Tom nodded.

"We've still got to talk to Ella about if she has kids though. She can't avoid it, she'll either have a kid that carries the gene, or a kid that has the disease." Sam said sadly.

"We've still got years until we reach any of those tough decisions, come on. Let's go and say good morning to our little princess." Tom smiled as he took Sam's hand and lead her through to the nursery where their 9 month old daughter was lying the wrong way in her cot with not much room above her head or below her feet, but plenty of room to her side, and she had fallen asleep sucking her thumb. "Why does she always sleep in odd positions?" Tom laughed softly as he put his arm around Sam's shoulders.

"Maybe because she fidgets a lot. Just like her father." Sam smirked. "Y'know, just looking at her, you'd never know that there's anything wrong with her. Until of course, she falls over or has an accident. And then there's the whole problem with when she starts her periods. If she's as young as I was, she'll be petrified." Sam shuddered at the thought of such an ordeal that her daughter would one day have to go through.

"Well, she's got a bloody supportive mum - pun intended - to help her through all of that." Tom smiled. "Ah, hello sleeping beauty. Did you know someone's talking about you?" Tom asked as Ella began to stir and she pulled her thumb out of her mouth.

"Uh. Uh." Ella grunted as she slowly got up and sat on her bum before she reached out for Sam.

"Milk machine, your services are required." Tom grinned and Sam rolled her eyes as she lifted Ella out of her cot, and got cosy in the rocking chair in the corner of the room before she unbuttoned her checkered night shirt, unclipped her bra and began feeding her beautiful daughter. "We can manage Ella's condition." Tom said adamantly. "She's a fighter just like you and I'm sure she'll be fine, as long as she doesn't want to be a wrestler or a rugby player when she's older." Tom joked as he used his foot to gently rock the chair backwards and forwards for Sam and his child.

Tuesday 1st June 2021, 8pm

Ella was 18 months old, whilst Daniel was 5 years old and both were as hyper as each other. Of course with Ella's condition, the entire house was 'Ella-proofed' meaning that all sharp edges were covered, all hard floors (except the bathrooms) had been replaced by soft carpet, and baby gates were everywhere so that Ella couldn't climb, crawl, toddle or walk anywhere unsupervised. It was beginning to get dark and Daniel's bedtime routine had begun whilst Ella was already fast asleep in her cot whilst Daniel was being read a story too by his mother and father when suddenly, all the lights went off and they were in near darkness with only a little light coming in from the window.

"Mummy?" Daniel asked worriedly.

"It's alright. It's probably just a bulb that's blown." Sam said reassuringly.

"You two stay here, and I'll go and check the fuse." Tom stated as he carefully made his way downstairs whilst Daniel grabbed the torch that he used to go to the bathroom in the night and switched it on. Sam kept her hand on top of Daniel's so that he knew that she was there for a few minutes until Tom came back up. "Er... Not good news. It's not just our house, the entire street is out by the looks of it." Tom announced as he peaked out of Daniel's bedroom window. "The power has completely cut out. That means that the fridge and freezer isn't working and the stuff in there is going to spoil." Tom stated.

"Well it's a good job that we need to go shopping then isn't it?" Sam concluded. "Right, let's finish your story off and then-"

"No. I can't go to sleep without lights." Daniel said pleadingly as he held on tightly to Sam's hand. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't Daniel, don't worry." Sam smiled. "Maybe it'll only be for a few minutes or so." Sam suggested to her husband.

"Well we'll just have to wait and see." Tom stated.

"Do you want to come downstairs with mummy and daddy then? We can play a game of monopoly?" Sam suggested as it was Daniel's favourite game because it involved basic maths and he liked to show off his skills that he had learnt in his first two terms of school, as well as what Sam and Tom had taught him.

"Yeah!" Daniel said eagerly.

"Alright, I'll take you down because it's dark, but we'll get some torches out and light a few candles to make it lighter." Sam said as she scooped her child out of bed and the three went downstairs. They all sat around the square board on the carpet and Tom light several candles and put them in the fireplace so that they weren't too close to be knocked over, but they kept the room warmly lit.

"Do you want to be the banker?" Tom asked as he put the box between him and his wife - they always cheated using the banker's money to help Daniel by telling him that it's okay to 'borrow' money from the bank if you ask nicely or that mummy and daddy will sell them properties to match his colours at a very fair price.

"Um- did you hear that?" Sam asked abruptly.

"Hear what-"

"Sshh!" Sam ordered abruptly.

"Mummy." She heard sobbed and she could tell it was Ella who currently had a vocabulary of less than a dozen words but Sam and Tom could understand what she was saying most of the time anyway because of their strong bond with her.

"I'll be right back." Sam stated as she jumped up and ran upstairs to her daughter's bedroom where Ella was in a cot bed because Sam had feared that she would injure herself as she always tried to climb out of her cot. But Sam was still worried about Ella falling out of bed so she always got to her daughter as soon as she heard movement in the night to check on her - a simple fall could have serious consequences that weren't necessarily life threatening but they could cause her a lot of pain. Sam ran into the bedroom to find Ella sitting up in her bed in floods of tears as she cuddled her favourite teddy bear, Ted, against her chest. "Hey baby, what's the matter?" Sam asked softly as she used the torch on her phone.

"Nu nu." Ella hiccuped as she pointed to the bottom of her wall and Sam realised that Ella's pink night light was no longer working without the power, and she knew her daughter couldn't sleep without it.

"You don't like the dark do you?" Sam asked softly as she used a hello kitty tissue from Ella's besides table to wipe her daughter's tears away. "Me, Daddy and Daniel are playing a game downstairs, I could do with a little helper. Could you come and give me a hand?" Sam asked and Ella nodded as she kept a tight hold of Ted. "Okay, come on. But no tantrums, I know you're probably tired but you can have an extra nap tomorrow to make up for it." Sam said sternly as she picked up her daughter and carefully carried her down the stairs in her pink pyjamas. "Ella can't sleep because her night light has gone out so she's going to help me." Sam said softly as she sat cross legged and put Ella and Ted in her lap.

"But she puts all of the pieces in her mouth." Daniel moaned.

"She won't do if she's got Ted." Sam said softly as she stroked her daughters soft, brown, straight hair that reached her shoulders.

"Tell you what. This is probably a really bad idea at this time of night, but seeing as the freezer and fridge aren't working, how about I go and get us an ice lolly each?" Tom suggested.

"Ooh can you get the smoothie ice cubes that Ella likes?" Sam asked. "And bring in some tissues too in case she makes a mess."

"I'll have an orange one please." Daniel requested and soon, Tom returned with three ice lollies and an ice cube tray with several pink ice cubes in that Sam had made freezing a strawberry and yogurt smoothie in them. "Thank you."

"Cold!' Ella exclaimed as she held an ice cube in her hand and gummed and chewed on it as it soothed the backs of her gums where her molars were beginning to come in.

"Right, let's play monopoly." Tom announced.

Wednesday 2nd June 2021, 7am

Sam slowly opened her eyes to find that she was lying on the living room floor cuddling her daughter who was curled up in front of her. And besides her, Tom was on the sofa with his arm around Daniel and both were fast asleep. Then it clicked, it was a school day and it was daylight outside so it must've been time to get up. Sam was confused until she realised that their alarm clocks were upstairs in their bedroom and they were plugged into the wall socket so they would've been reset if the power had come back on. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gasped at the time.

"Tom, Daniel and Ella up now." Sam ordered abruptly as she got up to her feet and began to put the monopoly game away.

"What?" Tom croaked.

"Tom, it's 7am; we're gonna be late for work and Daniel's gonna be late for school." Sam stated bluntly and so Tom opened her eyes and then gave Daniel a gentle shake.

"Crap." Tom muttered. "Come on mate, up you get."

8:30am

"We made it, we're not late." Sam announced as she and Tom burst into the staffroom before they had to stand up and catch their breath back.

"I take it you haven't heard then." Fletch grinned as he was the only one in the staffroom other than Sam and Tom.

"Heard what?" Sam panted.

"Zoe's not in today." Fletch smirked and Sam let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Did you have a power cut last night?" Tom asked curiosity as Fletch only lived across the street from them.

"Yeah, the power came back on about midnight." Fletch replied.

"We went to bed at about half eleven." Tom moaned.

"When he says we went to bed, he really means we fell asleep on the living room floor and I was cuddling Ella and Tom was cuddling Daniel because neither can go to sleep without a light." Sam explained as she dumped her things into her locker.

"I've barely seen you all day." Tom sighed as he sat down on the sofa next to Sam in the staffroom as he took his lunch break.

"Mm, I've been in resus all morning." Sam admitted as she had some of her smoothie. "Listen, I've been thinking. And..."

"What have I told you about that?" Tom joked.

"Seriously, you know we've got all of the money sitting in the bank that we won on the postcode lottery?" Sam began.

"Yeah." Tom nodded.

"Well I think I've found something that I want us to spend a fraction of it on." Sam admitted.

"Please tell me you're talking about a boob job." Tom pleaded jokily.

"Yeah I'm really going to get a boob job when I'm still breastfeeding Ella aren't I?" Sam said sarcastically as she had once again extended breastfeeding with Ella so that she now had one feed early in the morning, and once feed just before bedtime. Most of her nutrition came from cow's milk and solid foods but Sam liked to keep breastfeeding as a bonding time where she and Ella could spend some time together.

"Sorry, go on. What were you thinking of spending the money on?" Tom asked.

"Well..." Sam began.

Coming up: After Tom agrees with Sam's idea, what will they have spent the money on? And then there's some girly time between Ella and Sam, and some fluff between Sam and Tom.

Thanks for reading, please review :)