Stand-by Me

Intensive Care

Two days later Iain finally finds time to go and see Sam who is up in the intensive care unit close to Darwin just in case she's needs to go back into theatre. He makes his way up to ICU and asks where he can find Sam, he finds out where she is from a nurse who is on the reception and he heads into to find her. He walks past many rooms and then he gets to the middle one and finds Sam, in bed still connected to the incubator.

Iain walks over to Sam and sits on the chair beside her and takes her hand, "Sorry, I haven't come to see you yet. Busy working as usual... I've got a trainee with me now, she reminds me of you. Strong, bold and overly brave" Iain smiles and then he sits in silence for a while just watching her breathing slowly with help from the machine.

He looks down at Sam's lifeless body and sighs "You better get well Samantha... because you still owe me a drink" Iain sighs and strokes her hand.

Iain just sits there quietly once again making sure she's fine, watching over her like a guardian angel devoted to Sam. A strange feeling is building inside of him, he's unsure of it Iain had felt this a long time ago. Was is love or just plain coincidence whatever the feeling was it was eating him up inside and making him feel rather bashful around Sam.

Soon two neuro surgeons arrive into Sam's room, Iain looks up for his resting position in the chair and makes eye contact with the surgeons, "Hello?" He says.

"Oh hello, you must be a relative of Samantha Nicholls?" The first surgeon speaks.

It takes Iain a few seconds to process what they said but he accidently nods as he's exhausted from his shift earlier in the day, "I'm Dr Mohammed Hussain and this is Mr Lloyd Footman, we've just performed the major brain surgery on..." Dr Hussain is cut off by Iain.

"What! Nobody mentioned any major brain surgery to me" Iain says in complete shock.

"Yes... it would explain the mass amount of bandages on her head" Mr Footman says sarcastically which Iain doesn't really like.

"Right... and did this surgery go well?" Iain questions curiously.

"We've managed to remove the mass clot on Samantha's head but we're unsure yet if the surgery has left her able to function on her right side as we couldn't wake her during the surgery due to the extent of her injuries... we're going to bring her round in a few days so we can get a better idea of what is next for Samantha" Dr Hussain speaks and Iain just nods along with him as he knows Sam could possibly be left paralyzed or could have had a stroke.

Iain sits quietly as the doctors examine Sam and they take some notes before leaving, while they're out of the room Iain takes this chance to look through her medical file which has been left on the side so he can take some notes for when she's back at work on ways to tease her such as her middle name and minor things like that.

He reads through her notes and comes across her middle name and date of birth, even when dating her in Afghanistan he never really knew her birthday, she has always been extremely private. He reads and smirks to himself and then glances over at Sam.
Iain couldn't believe it her middle name was Liliana, this was pure gold for his little office pranks and he planned once she was well enough to return to work to put this name all around the locker room.

"Samantha Liliana Nicholls, ay... just you wait" Iain smirks and sits back down beside her,

Once the doctors leave the room another Nurse comes in and checks up on Sam and changes her drip and checks the Blood transfusion which is currently taking place, "Are you okay?" The nurse questions Iain.

Iain looks up from his lap and nods "Oh, yeah sorry" Iain smiles.

The nurse smiles happily at Iain and looks down at Sam, "She's a paramedic right?" She questions and Iain nods. "I recognise her face... would you like a cup of tea or coffee?" The nurse asks and Iain nods again.

"Tea would be nice, milk, no sugar" He smiles politely. The nurse leaves and goes to get Iain a cup of tea.

Iain sits up and looks at Sam's charts again he reads through her vital signs chart and notices that her brain activity is on the rise. After a few minutes the nurse returns which a cup of tea and a blanket for Iain.

"I gather you're stopping here?" She smiles and tries to hint if they're together.

"I'm on earlies but I will be back tomorrow just to check up on her before my week off. Off on a lads' weekend with mates from med school" Iain explains as he takes the cup of tea and sips it.