Call the midwife belongs to the BBC, Jennifer Worth, and Heidi Thomas McGann

Dedicated to some of the most amazing friends a girl could ask for. Love you xxx


It wouldn't do, Patrick pondered as his wedding grew ever nearer, for the bed he had slept in with his first wife to be the bed he brought his second wife home to. Shelagh deserved far, far more than to lie in the bed that had been his for far longer than she had known him.

So here he was, standing in the small furniture shop near the clinic. There were a few beds here, among other pieces of furniture, but those could stay. He knew she wouldn't have an issue with any of it being from his first wife, the sofas and chairs that she had bought and sewed and stitched to create their home together. She wouldn't have an issue with living in the house they had decorated together, because Shelagh was like that. It was a part of him, of the wife he had loved and the mother Tim had loved, and she would never come between that. Her kind nature just made Patrick love her all the more.

Shelagh wouldn't even have an issue with the bed, would rather he saved the money, Patrick knew that. But he wanted the bed he brought her home to, to be just theirs, always theirs. To never have had anybody sleeping in other than him, and her.

This bed was perfect, he thought, and before any doubt could slip into his mind he bought it, arranged for the delivery men to deliver it that afternoon. Shelagh lived an isolated life at the moment, and his heart clenched at the thought. But she thought he was working, and Timothy was at school, so his flat was empty. It would be safe for the bed to be brought home now rather than later. Because if she saw it, he knew he'd doubt his choice.

It was a lovely bed, one which he hoped to have many happy memories with. But it wasn't the usual choice of a newlywed, especially an established doctor who could afford a more luxurious one.

The bed was surprisingly narrow, not too narrow, it would still happily fit two people upon its soft mattress, but narrower than expected. But Patrick suffered each night, loneliness destroyed his sleep as each night he was forced to part from the woman he loved as she returned to her boarding house. Each night his dreams tormented, each night he woke alone. This bed would change that. This bed meant he wouldn't have to reach too far before his hands would touch hers.

This bed he picked for purely selfish reasons. He couldn't bear to be parted from Shelagh for too long, even if it was only by a few inches in their bed, even if it was only sleep that kept them apart.