Feels Like Home

Coming Home

Sophie pulled into the driveway she knew all too well, her father's ancestral home situated near Canterbury in Faversham, her home for the last 27 years. She hadn't seen her childhood home for 12 months as she had been away with work.

She worked for Doctors without Borders and had been on a 12 month placement having worked in Europe to help in hospitals. She had driven to Geneva 12 months ago as she wanted to have her car with her in Europe to be able to experience the countries on her rare days off.

The drive had taken her 20 hours, she had hit a lot of traffic on her way through France and she had stopped five times for naps behind the wheel of her trusty Ford Focus.

She unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbed the large travel bag from her passenger seat, grabbed her large rubbish bag with her snacks and meals from where she had eaten on the go before she opened her door and stepped out into a fresh Kent hair.

God she was so pleased to be home. She stretched her body out and worked out the kink in her neck, it was late and she'd powered through after she'd managed to get an early ferry from Calais and because she slept on the ferry, she drove all the way back from Dover, stopping only for a wee and a quick bite to eat.

She walked up the few steps to the familiar door, stuck her key in the door and let herself in, not expecting anyone to be up as it was after 10pm and she knew her father would usually be in bed by 10pm.

She slipped her Converse shoes off at the door and tucked them into the shoe stand before placing her bag next to them, to ensure she didn't wake anyone she quietly closed the door behind her and made her way silently through the house, pausing as she heard the TV and she turned right at the first door and entered the large living room.

Her father had his back to her as he was watching the TV, he was clearly just flicking through the TV and had been watching some sort of Action film as he let out a deep sigh and turned the TV off.

As the TV darkened Richard saw his daughter's reflection in the dark TV and he smiled brightly, turning around to face her, his happiness and joy clearly etched on his face.

"Soph sweetheart! You're back!!! Welcome home!" He rose from his chair, practically ran round it and captured his daughter in his arms and hugged her tightly. He kissed her temple and pulled back, holding her shoulders, taking in her appearance. "I wasn't expecting you until the morning, sweetheart."

"I made good time from Dover and I napped on the Ferry before you say anything..." she smirked knowing that he was going to tell her off.

"Good girl, are you hungry? I've cooked."

Sophie scoffed, raising her brows, mocking him warmly. "You? Cooked? Come on..."

"Okay, so I ordered Chinese. What's the difference?"

"There is a huge difference, Pops. Glad to see you're still eating well. You know that stuff is just full of salt" Sophie said with a roll of her eyes, her Doctor's head going on immediately "you need more vegetables!"

"Well, if the Chinese can live to 100 eating this stuff, then so can I and besides you know Charlie and I cannot cook... and I can't keep gatecrashing Alice's... You know me and your brother are useless without you," her father said with a laugh as he pulled her into another bone crushing hug. "It's so great to have you back home Poppet, how long are you back for?"

Sophie smiled into his shoulder. "It's good to be home. I am not sure, depends when they need me again but a few months I hope... I might look for a job at home instead of all the travelling"

He released her from his embrace and gestured towards her the door and her car outside and asked "have you got loads of stuff to bring into the house?"

"A couple of boxes. I can get them tomorrow though."