Monday 26th July 2021, 8am
After sleeping in, in their caravan, until they woke up, the Kent Family had just had breakfast when they decided to get ready for the day.
"Right, I'm gonna take cheeky monkey number two for a shower, alright?" Sam said as she got up and brushed her thumb gently on Ella's cheek.
"Um, it's fine. I'll take Ella, you can take Daniel, he doesn't like getting changed in the men's changing rooms because it's usually really busy." Tom said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Besides, Ella is so cute that we'll get to go front of the line won't we?" Tom grinned at his daughter.
After cleaning up, Tom filled a toiletry bag with his and Ella's things, grabbed his towel and Ella's little hooded pink towel and he was ready to go.
"Right, do you want to walk and hold on to my hand, or do you want me to carry you?" Tom asked.
"She isn't going to be able to walk all the way there." Sam stated but Ella frowned as though she knew what Sam had just said, and so the little girl crawled out of her chair and onto the floor before she carefully switched between leaning on the side, to leaning on Tom's leg.
"I think that's a 'I'm gonna prove you wrong face'." Tom chuckled as he took Ella's hand in his. "Right, let's get going." Tom smiled as he carefully went down the steps to the caravan before he lifted Ella down onto the ground because she could barely walk let alone attempt to climb stairs. Tom held the towels and toiletry bag in one hand and Ella's tiny hand in the other as they began to walk across the grass to the shower block, but he noticed that they were gradually getting slower until Ella was frowning as though she was frustrated but she was getting tired. "How about, I carry you the rest of the way, and I tell mummy that you walked the whole way?" Tom suggested. "You've done really well Ella, you can walk really far." Tom praised, even though she had only managed less than 10m and he knew that Sam would still be able to see them through the windows.
"Daddy." Ella mumbled as she reached her arms up and Tom smiled as he bent down, picked Ella up and balanced her on his hip so that he could continue the journey.
Later on in the day, Tom, Ella and Daniel were on their way to the camping site village shop to get marshmallows for their campfire whilst Sam had begun to cook dinner which they were having on a BBQ besides their caravan. Daniel was cycling on his small blue bike without stabilisers as he had learnt how to ride a few months ago with his parents' help. Of course, Ella was too young to have roasted marshmallows for the risk of choking, so Sam was just going to let her nibble on something else she liked instead.
"Daddy?" Daniel began.
"Yep." Tom replied as he walked along with Ella on his shoulders as she held on tightly but enjoyed the view from far above what she normally could see.
"Can we get a drink please? I'm thirsty." He requested.
"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely, I don't see why not. But you'll have to share it with me and Ella."
"Okay." Daniel nodded.
"Slow down." Tom warned and Daniel reluctantly applied his brakes to lower his speed.
"Heehee!" Ella giggled.
"What's so funny?" Tom asked confusedly, though he couldn't see because Ella was behind his head as he held on to her tiny shoes either side of his neck.
"She's pointing over there." Daniel stated and Tom followed Daniel's finger to find a black and white border collie sniffing around on the grass. Hang on. That's Sam's border collie! Tom thought.
"Shadow, come!" Tom ordered and thankfully, the dog obeyed and came and sat at Tom's feet. "How the hell did you get loose?" Tom asked confusedly as he took out his phone to ring Sam. "Daniel, just wait here a minute." Tom ordered.
"Hello?"
"Hello darling, you missing anything?" Tom asked patronisingly.
"Er, no. Why?" Sam asked confusedly.
"Because I've got your dog sitting in front of me who's just been on an adventure. And your children are finding it rather funny." Tom explained and Sam could hear Daniel, and mainly Ella, giggling in the background.
"Shadow? But she was in the awning with Panda and Alex." Sam stated confusedly.
"Are they both there still?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, they're here." Sam stated.
"Right, we're pretty much at the shop now so I'll just keep here with us for now. But try not to lose another one of your dogs."
"Fine but I'm not promising anything." Sam joked.
"Bye." Tom chuckled.
"Bye."
"Right, let's go and get these marshmallows, and then get you back to where you should be." Tom said as he began walking again and Shadow began walking alongside him. Soon, they arrived at the small campsite shop where there were the basics of foods, as well as things like torches, spare batteries, inflatable pillows etc for campers. But what caught both Daniel and Ella's eyes, was the pick and mix stand with loads of different types of sweets in it.
"Oh my god! Daddy, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" Daniel begged as they stood in the shop entrance because Tom was considering what to do with Shadow.
"Hang on a minute Daniel. Excuse me, would it be possible for my dog to come in here quickly? Only, I haven't got her lead on me and I don't want her running off again." Tom asked politely.
"Yeah, that's fine." The shopkeeper smiled. "There's a bowl of water down there if she wants some." She added as he she nodded to the silver bowl by the door and funnily enough, Shadow had just began drinking from it.
"Thanks." Tom smiled gratefully.
"Daddy please can we get some?" Daniel begged as Tom picked up a pack of marshmallows, some wooden skewers, a newspaper and a bottle of orange juice and placed them on the counter.
"Do you really think mummy would let you?" Tom sighed. "I had to practically get on my hands and knees for her to let us get marshmallows." Tom added and the shopkeeper couldn't contain her amusement.
"Peas daddy?" Ella pleaded as she wrapped her arms around his neck in an attempt to hug him and then she kissed the top of his head too.
"I... But... Oh fine." Tom huffed and Daniel squealed in excitement as Tom bent down and put Ella on her own two feet. "Right, just to make this clear, you two are sharing these with mummy and daddy, and each other." Tom said sternly as he bent down and picked up the smallest cup size which happened to be a large cup and he squatted with Daniel one side and Ella the other side. They spent a good five minutes filling up the cup with various different sweets and then Tom topped it with a few chunks of vanilla fudge because he knew it was Sam's favourite and hoped that it would soften her slightly. Besides, he knew that because she was on, she tended to indulge her cravings to make her feel better when she was feeling grumpy, so hopefully it would cheer her up a little bit.
"That's £7.48 please." The woman smiled as Tom placed the sealed cup on the counter along side the marshmallows, skewers, newspaper and orange juice. "Oh and I've got some colouring books here that we don't sell anymore because we've got a new supplier, would you like some? They're only going to get thrown away and sadly I can't find anyone who wants them." She offered cheerily.
"Um, yes please, that'd be great." Tom smiled and the woman put the box of books down on the floor besides Daniel who looked up at Tom for permission. "Why don't you grab two so that there's one for you and your sister?" Tom said encouragingly and Daniel did so before he went and stood behind Tom's legs; he was being uncharacteristically shy, though it was expected from Ella as she literally clung to Tom's arms in the presences of a stranger, albeit a friendly one.
"Daniel, what have I told you about not going so fast?" Sam said sternly as Daniel wheeled his bike into the awning and then came outside where Sam was cooking, using the BBQ and the firepit had a pile of wood on it, ready to be lit.
"Sorry." He apologised meaninglessly as Tom arrived just after with Ella on his shoulders again, a carrier bag in one hand and Shadow besides him.
"What're we gonna do with you eh?" Sam knelt down and made a fuss of Shadow before she sent her into the awning before she got up and noticed the heavy bag that Tom was carrying. "I thought only I sent you up there for marshmallows." Sam stared confusedly.
"You did. But then I remembered that we needed skewers so I got them, plus a newspaper to keep up to date with the news, Daniel wanted a drink so I got a bottle of orange juice, the shopkeeper gave us two free colouring books plus I may have given in to your children's persistent begging when they had seen the pick and mix stand." Tom explained before he took a deep breath.
"Mummy!' Ella proclaimed as she reached her arms out over Tom's head and Sam lifted Ella down and then held her against her chest.
"Hello." Sam smiled. "Did you pester daddy?" Sam asked and Ella looked at her father in confusion and Tom rapidly shook his head from side to side.
"Nooooo." Ella replied innocently before she laughed as Sam playfully hit Tom on the head with the newspaper.
Soon, Ella and Daniel were sat on the red tartan picnic blanket next to the fire pit - that wasn't yet lit - playing individually with their toys whilst Sam finished off their dinner on the BBQ and Tom had just gotten everything like plates and cutlery ready on the table inside because Daniel couldn't eat without making a mess unless he was sitting at a table, and Ella needed one too because she was only just getting to grips how to use a pink plastic fork after Sam or Tom had cut everything up for her.
"How're you feeling now? Okay?" Tom asked softly as he came up behind Sam and put his arms around her abdomen.
"Yeah... Thanks again, for helping me last night."
"Don't mention it. Like I said, I'm glad you're on." Tom grinned before he gently slapped Sam on the bum. "And that was for hitting me on the head earlier." Tom added before he abruptly got out of the way of Sam's hands and sat down on a folding chair with armrests.
"Mummy's on what?" Daniel asked confusedly.
"Er..."
"On chef duty so that I don't have to cook." Tom improvised quickly and Sam smiled to herself as she turned back to face the BBQ.
With the fire slowly dying but still crackling away, Sam had Ella in her lap as she sat cross legged and Tom had Daniel between his legs so that they could supervise their children closely around the small campfire. Tom was helping Daniel to roast marshmallows, whilst Ella was content with suckling away at a tangfastic dummy sweet that they had gotten in the pick and mix cup and it seemed to be lasting ages for her, though she loved the sour coating which made her pull funny faces.
"Right, this is your last marshmallow." Tom said sternly as he folded the packet over and put it on the folding chair behind him.
"But-"
"No buts. If you have any more you'll be up all night." Tom stated bluntly as Daniel held his skewer over the ashes at the edge of the fire.
"How're you doing with your sweet?" Sam asked as she looked down to see that Ella was just wiping her sticky fingers on Sam's skinny jeans which caused Daniel and Tom to chuckle. "Oh lovely." Sam said sarcastically and Ella looked up innocently which made Tom grin even more. "Where's it gone? Have you eaten it all?" Sam asked and as Ella looked up at her mother to reply, she gasped. Sam looked up out of confusion and saw the dark blue sky, illuminated by dozens and dozens of stars glistening above them. "Wow, you don't see that in Holby." Sam stated. "Here, you want to lie down? You can get a better look." Sam smiled as she laid down on her back and lifted Ella up so that she laid down on Sam's chest.
"Wow!" Daniel exclaimed as he looked up. "How many are there?" Daniel asked as he laid down besides Sam and then Tom laid down next to them on the picnic blanket so that they were all looking up at the sky.
"Well here, you can probably only see a hundred or so, but beyond the Earth's sky, there are billions and billions of stars." Tom replied.
"No way!" Daniel protested.
"Way." Tom nodded. "In fact, y'know the sun? That's a star." Tom stated.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Mummy." Ella mumbled.
"Yeah?" Sam replied, but she got no response. "Are you tired? Do you want to get ready for bed?" Sam asked and Ella nodded. "Right, I'm gonna get her ready for bed and then go to bed myself okay?"
"Yeah, we'll come in in a minute." Tom stated.
"Night mummy."
"Night Daniel." Sam smiled as she picked up Ella and carried her into the caravan. "We definitely need you to brush your teeth after all that sugar you've had, don't we?" Sam went and sat on the closed toilet seat lid, put Ella on her lap and got her small pink toothbrush out.
After putting Daniel to bed, both of his children were settled as was his wife so he got into bed where Sam was lying down with her eyes closed.
"Night night." Tom whispered as he kissed Sam on the cheek.
"Can we cuddle?" Sam asked sleepily.
"Yeah, sure." Tom nodded eagerly as he wrapped his arms around Sam's back and Sam entwined her legs with his and then buried her face in his chest. "Have you ever realised that whenever you're on, you're really clingy?" Tom whispered jokily to his wife.
"Sorry-" Sam began as she went to pull away but Tom clenched his legs and his arms to stop her from separating.
"No, no. It's a good thing. I like it when you're like this." Tom said reassuringly and Sam slowly relaxed in Tom's hold again.
"I'm glad you seem to be bonding a lot more with Ella." Sam admitted.
"Yeah, we just needed to spend some more time together, that's all." Tom shrugged, though if he compared his relationship with his daughter to the one he had less than a week ago, it was so much stronger. And he was amazed at the progress they had made.
"I love you." Sam mumbled.
"I love you too." Tom smiled as he kissed Sam on the top of her head and then he rested his head on the pillow that was usually his wife's however, she was using his chest as a pillow, and soon, they both drifted off into a deep slumber.
Coming up: Just a few months into starting Year One, Daniel is sent home with a fever and a headache, but when he later develops a rash and Sam diagnoses him with chicken pox, she can't help but worry about Ella catching it...
Thanks for reading, please review :)