Author's Note: So this is a bit of a "pilot" chapter if I'm honest, to see if you guys like this idea or not. Even if I do decide to continue with this fic - if you guys want more - I won't be continuing it for a little while or at least until I've got a few more chapters of "Little Lynette Blake" and "A Trip to London" up. This took me quite a while to write, but I guess I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! Please let me know what you guys thought with a review so that I know if you want me to continue with it at some point :-) Happy reading.


'Marcus!'

Jean heard her mother exclaim her father's name after he had backhanded her across the face, tears filling her eyes as the sound of the slap rang in her ears and she brought a hand up to her burning cheek. She had just revealed to her parents that she was three months pregnant with Christopher Beazley's baby and she had known beforehand that her father would hit the roof, but she hadn't expected him to whack her like that. He had never raised his hand to her before.

She blinked furiously to prevent the tears from falling down her cheeks, not wanting to let her father see just how much he had hurt her, a gasp escaping her when he cupped her other cheek in his hand and forced her to meet his gaze. 'Did he force himself on you?' He hissed, the fury evident in his eyes as his hand trembled on her cheek. Jean didn't respond for a moment as she swallowed the tears that were rising in her throat, her heart sinking when she shook her head.

'No, father.' She whispered.

When her father's hand slipped from her cheek and he started to pace back and forth in front of her she risked a glance over at her mother, a lone tear scrolling down her cheek when she saw the disappointment in her eyes. 'I'll kill him.' She heard her father mutter to himself, her heart pounding against her ribs as she knew he meant it. If he saw Christopher then he would kill him for getting her pregnant and then her son or daughter would never know its father.

'If you go anywhere near him…' She hissed as she could feel her own anger beginning to flare, 'if you lay a finger on him I swear I'll get on the first train out of Ballarat and never speak to you again.' She watched her father approach her once again, his eyes dark and his jaw set.

'Is that a threat?' He growled, his face inches away from hers.

'No.' She shook her head. 'It's a promise.'

The two of them glared at one another for a moment, nothing but rage in their eyes as he had her trapped between him and the kitchen table. 'You stupid, reckless little girl.' He snarled. 'You do know that as soon as he finds out that you're pregnant he's going to leave you, don't you?'

'Is that right?' She raised a brow at him, folding her arms across her chest. 'So that's why he's promised me that he's going to stand by me and that he's going to marry me just as soon as he has the money, is it?' She fought against the urge to smirk as her father stood in shock for a moment, knowing that if she did he would backhand her again. 'Christopher loves me, father, and I love him and nothing that you do or say will ever change that. I'm not a baby anymore.'

'He loves you, does he?' Marcus cleared his throat. 'Well then, I suppose he won't mind having you live with him.' Jean's eyes widened in shock for a moment. 'I want you out of this house.'

'Marcus, don't be ridiculous!' Ivy, Jean's mother, gasped.

'I'm not.' He said, staring into their daughter's eyes. 'I mean it. In order to live under this roof, young lady, you have to abide by my rules and since you've made it quite clear that you aren't going to do that, I want you to leave. Now.' Jean glanced out of the window at the heavy rain.

Turning her attention back to her father, she frowned at him. 'It's throwing it down!'

'Then take an umbrella.' He retorted. 'I don't care what you do, but I want you gone within the hour.' He then turned on his heel and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Jean and her mother alone together. As Jean looked over at her mother she could see the hurt that was on her face.

'Jeannie.' Ivy whispered as she began to approach the eighteen-year-old.

'Ivy!' Marcus barked from the hallway, causing both she and Jean to gasp.

'Mum, please.' Jean reached for her hand, fear sparkling in her eyes.

'I'm sorry, darling.' Ivy shook her head before bringing her daughter's hand up to her lips and leaving a kiss to the back of it, tears beginning to fall down Jean's cheeks when she slipped her hand out of hers and left the kitchen in order to follow her father through to the sitting room.

When she was alone, Jean rested one hand on her lower abdomen through her dress and used the back of her other hand to wipe the tears off of her cheeks. She didn't know why she was so scared; she knew that Christopher's parents would have no objection to her staying with them and she knew that Christopher would comfort her when she got there, but the thought of being cut off from her parents terrified her. Whatever she had expected to happen when she had told her parents about the baby after dinner, it hadn't been that she would be made to leave home.

Realising that she was wasting time by just standing there in the kitchen, she started to make her way up to her bedroom for the final time in order to get her bags packed. She knew that once she left the farmhouse her father would never welcome her back again; he would never change his mind and let her come home, but she knew that she couldn't do anything about it.

Her father had made his choice and now he was just going to have to live with it.


She was soaking wet and shivering from the cold when she knocked on Christopher's front door later that night, her wet hair sticking to her face as she wrapped her arms around her frame in the hope that it would help her to warm up a little. A sigh of relief left her when she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, the tears that she had been holding back finally starting to stream down her cheeks when Christopher opened the door. 'Jeannie?' He frowned, the concern he felt evident in his voice while she sobbed on the doorstep. 'For goodness sake, come inside.'

He took her free hand in his and helped her step inside the house, allowing her to collapse onto his chest once he had closed the door behind her. Dropping her bag on the floor, Jean allowed her arms to wrap around his middle before she buried her face into his shirt. As she cried into him she could feel him running his fingers through her hair, his lips pressed to the top of her head as he ran his free hand up and down the length of her spine through her soaked dress.

'I've got you.' He soothed, pressing kisses to her crown. 'I promise I've got you.'

'I - I told my parents about the baby.' She choked out. 'Father, he - he smacked me in the face.'

She felt Christopher tense up before he placed his hands on her arms and eased her back from him. 'He did what?' He growled, feeling rage rise within him when Jean turned her head to the side so that he could see the large bruise forming on her cheek. Her whimper caused his heart to ache when he inspected the bruise with his fingers, a sigh escaping him when he took her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes. 'Oh, my love.' He leaned his forehead against hers.

'Please can I stay here with you?' She whimpered. 'Father's kicked me out and -'

Christopher's lips on hers prevented her from finishing her sentence, her eyes falling closed as she rested her hands on his chest through his shirt and sank into him. She was able to feel his hands caressing her waist while they kissed, her heart swelling with love for him when one of his hands slipped around to her front and came to settle on her still-flat belly. 'Of course you can stay here.' He grazed her nose with his after bringing their kiss to an end. 'Mum and Dad have gone to Melbourne for the weekend, but they won't mind you being here. They love you.'

A small smile graced Jean's features before she rested her head on his chest and sighed as she snuggled into him. 'Why don't we head upstairs?' He suggested after they had stood in silence for a few minutes, giving her waist a squeeze. 'I'll run you a bath so that you can warm up a little and then once you've gotten changed we can have a cuddle.' Jean tightened her hold of him, a sparkle in her eyes when she tilted her head back on his chest and looked up at him.

'I love you, Chris.' She whispered, her words holding nothing but truth.

'I love you too.' He reassured her. 'You and this little one.' She giggled as he stroked her belly.

The two of them shared another chaste kiss then before he slipped his hand into hers, picked up her bag of clothes and began to lead her up the stairs towards his bedroom at the top of them.


'I still can't believe there's a baby growing inside of you.' Christopher shook his head as he and Jean were laying in bed together later that evening, one of his arms draped over her waist as he used his fingers to draw circles onto her stomach through her nightgown and his other arm was pillowing her head as she lay with her back to his chest. 'Our baby will be so perfect, Jean.'

She smiled for a moment as she covered his hand with hers on her stomach before lacing their fingers together, her eyes falling closed when she felt him snug her closer. 'I'm scared.' She told him. 'I don't know the first thing about being a mother. I don't know how to change nappies or bathe a baby, Christopher, and I'm so scared that I'm just going to end up disappointing you.'

'Look at me, my darling.' She heard him whisper against the shell of her ear, the worry that she was feeling clear in her eyes when she turned onto her back and looked up at him. 'You never have and you never will be a disappointment to me, Jeannie, I mean that. You mean more to me than anything else on earth and I love you.' He tucked a lock of dark hair back behind her ear.

Jean couldn't stop herself from smiling as she reached up to trace the sharpness of his jaw with her fingers, her eyes drifting closed when he leaned down to give her a languid kiss on the lips. 'Oh, I love you too.' She reassured him, running her fingers through the dark hair on his chest.

'You look exhausted and no wonder.' He pointed out when he saw the tiredness in her eyes.

'I haven't been sleeping too well.' She admitted. 'I can't seem to stop throwing up in the night.'

Christopher offered her a smile as he turned onto his back and opened his arms to her, allowing her to shuffle into them before he pressed a kiss onto her temple and held her close. 'Well, I'm here to sit and help you through that now.' He reminded her. 'I'm going to do everything I can to make this pregnancy as easy as possible for you, sweetheart.' He felt her kiss his shoulder.

'I know you are.' She draped her arm across his middle. 'And knowing that only makes me love you more.' He allowed her to tangle her leg with his own beneath the quilt, a chuckle escaping him as he stretched to turn out the lamp on his nightstand before settling down beside her.

'Night, Jeannie.' He whispered into the darkness while running a hand up and down her back.

'Night, Chris.' She mumbled as she pressed her face into the side of his neck.

The two of them began to drift off in one another's arms for the first time then, allowing the sound of each other's steady breathing to send them both off into a blissful slumber.


Author's Note: Thank you all for reading this "pilot" chapter and please review! x