Set about five years after Series Five, Martin and Louisa are still in Portwenn. James is six and they have a second child, Emma, who is about six months old.

I do not own 'Doc Martin'. 'Doc Martin' and all its characters are property of Buffalo Pictures; I am just playing round with them a little! The fiction is purely for entertainment purposes.

Chapter One

It had been a long week. The village had been inundated with influenza, everyone demanding antibiotics, it had been Louisa's first week back after her maternity leave, which was enough to stress Martin for months, James had started Year One and had decided he hated his teacher, which of course they hadn't heard the end of, and Emma's childminder had phoned in sick, leaving Martin with a teething six month old baby crawling around the surgery, much to Buddy's delight. Now, on this Friday afternoon he had decided to close surgery early, no longer able to cope with Portwenn's alleged sick, combined with the attention his daughter must now be craving. Ushering out Mrs Walker, who he now felt had earned enough loyalty points he owed her a coffin, which he would happily provide, he made his way into the kitchen. He could hear Morwenna reading some Cornish tosh legend to Emma, and smiled at her 'ooos' and 'ahhs' as the story progressed. As Emma spotted him, she gave him a delightful grin and giggled as he scooped her into his arms.

"Well, Doc, am I alright to scoot? After playing nursery nurse all week, I'll be glad to!" inquired his receptionist.

"Umm, yes... umm... thank you for your help this week, it's been ... umm... helpful" he replied, bashfully.

"Ah, no probs, hey, she's a hell of a lot easier than that James was, little tinker, especially his terrible two's, always after your doctorin' stuff wasn't he?" Martin grunted, as Emma pulled at his ears. "Listen, Doc? What you gonna give me for this week? She's hard work you know, and running the reception, and the phlebotomy stuff, and getting your supplies-"

"Yes, alright Morwenna! I'll add something to your pay in due course!"

"Aww Doc, thanks, see you Monday!" She swung out of the back door and was gone.

"Well Ems, I'm glad that weeks over, aren't you?" Martin stated. She hummed in agreement. "Been busy. Right, best clean up these dishes don't you think. That mummy's useless, says to leave it for her and here we are, cereal and banana everywhere" He hadn't had time to clear the breakfast dishes yet, another thing he'd had to adjust to for family life.

Placing Emma to sit on the worktop next to him, he started to run the water. Glancing at the clock; 3:30, he judged he had about half an hour to tidy before Louisa and James burst in and messed the whole place up again. Emma held out her hands for the scrubber and began to giggle as her daddy flicked it at her and the bubbles blew onto her face. Martin laughed. So much had changed in the last six years, he thought. There was a time when he would have settled for being a lonely, grumpy bachelor, married to medicine. Now he couldn't imagine his life without his family. He loved the sound of that; his family. They were his life, his whole world. His daily routine, his leisure activities, everything he did revolved around them; they went on zoo days, too the circus, God, last week she'd even dragged him ice skating! That had been interesting.

Having completed the washing up, he picked up Emma, still fascinated by the foamy scrubber, and headed for the living area. He noticed the family photo Louisa had put up on the coffee table. It had been taken last year, before Emma had been born. They had taken a skiing holiday to Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe during February half term. Louisa had been shocked that Martin had suggested it. Being a competent skier from university days herself, she had never expected Martin to be interested. Turns out, he was very good, as him and Chris had spent many weeks in the French Alps for a number of years, and he and Edith had been several times. They had disputed for a long time if a skiing holiday with a five year old would have been feasible, but both had seen children younger than James learning in various ski schools and decided it was worth a try. They both enjoyed teaching him a lot, and after ten days, James himself was a good little skier, much to Martin's delight. They made a sweet little family hitting the slopes every day. In the photo, the three of them were huddled around a fire in the log chalet they had hired, James sporting his favourite fuzzy hat.

Placing Emma in her bouncer, he quickly tidied the toys scattered around the floor as the phone began to ring. As he turned to leave the room, he heard the faintest of whimpers behind him, looking over his shoulder; he saw the sweetest face of his little girl staring wide-eyed back at him, desperate for him to not leave the room without her.

"Oh Ems" he said smiling, as he lifted her up and hurried into the reception to answer the phone. "Hello, Ellingham"

"Oh, hi Martin, it's Ruth. Just wandering, have any of your children stolen my padlock, it was on the table, and young Ellinghams have a reputation for taking whatever takes their eye, as I'm sure you'll remember."

"Ruth, we haven't raised our children as thieves actually, as much as I'm sure you'd like to disagree with me, so no, we don't have it."

"Oh right, ok, well, call me when it turns up" She rang off. Sometimes, Martin hated the rash nature of his aunt, she could be so assumptious! Walking back into the kitchen, he could hear James's imitation of an airplane zooming up the hill, and knew that within seconds his son would be bursting through his kitchen door. Returning Ems to her bouncer, he braced himself about a metre behind the door, ready. James flew in seconds later, landing in his father's arms as Martin swung him round, high and fast

"Daddyyyy!" cried James

"Hello, James Henry! How was school today?" He said, giving James a kiss and placing him down.

"Mr Potts is silly, he shouted at me again!" At this point, Louisa was walking through the door, undoing her scarf.

"Oh James, there must have been a reason, and don't call anybody silly, it's not nice" said Louisa, hanging up her coat and scarf on the hook behind the door.

"Daddy does" replied James quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Well daddy's naughty. Hi, Martin." She said as she reached up to kiss him. "And where's my little girl!" Walking over, she lifted Emma into her arms; Emma smiled happily at her mum. "Have you missed me today? Yes you have, I missed you! Have you been good for daddy and Morwenna?" She kissed her forehead and hugged her lovingly.

"...and, they were painting with the red, and me with the blue and I said lets mix to make purple and he shouted at me for shouting out but he always shouts because..." James was narrating today's events to Martin as Louisa checked the fridge for tea.

Suddenly, Martin felt a warm scratching against his leg and groaned in disgust as he noticed Buddy next to him.

"Oh, get out, go on" he instructed "God, I don't know why I agreed to keep you"

"Hardly" Louisa said "You make him sleep in the shed! And I know you love him really, I saw you rubbing his head the other night" She teased.

"I did no such thing!" He replied, outraged. He was convinced no one knew about his little relationship with Buddy. Ever since Joan had died, he had grown fonder of the little Jack Russell, and felt a weird connection with the animal and his relationship with Joan. He was very secretive about it, and Buddy sensed that too, but he often enjoyed the company when he was reading or working when everyone else was asleep. What fatherhood had done to him, he thought. He would never touch the thing with his hands though! That's an outrageous assumption! Ugh, vile.

"What's for tea then?" asked Louisa, now in the cupboard.

"Um, I wasn't sure what you wanted, but we could either have Cannellini bean and red onion risotto or I thought you might like pasta salad with sun-dried tomatoes as it's quite a warm evening. There's not much else in really, but I could pop to the grocers-"

"Pasta would be lovely" she said "Shall I make a start? I've got a bit of work to do later if that's ok, and James has cub scouts at five thirty too. I thought we could go into the village while he's there and call into the estate agents?"

"Yes, fine. Why don't you start your work now and I'll do tea then?"

"Oh that'd be great thanks, can I use your room?" Martin hated that. Louisa and he had argued about it a lot in the beginning. He had to admit though, there wasn't really anywhere else for her to work alone, but his surgery was his! He sighed.

"Yes" he replied rather bitterly. She rewarded him with a peck on the cheek and left. He noticed James was showing Emma a toy of his, and she was laughing back at him. He had always longed for a sibling and was so pleased James and Emma had each other. "James? Don't you have homework?"

"Umm, I'll do it at five o'clock."

"No, no, do it now James." James sighed in protest.

"But-"

"No buts James Henry, come on get it out. You can do it here whilst I'm making tea." James obeyed, reluctantly.

Turning on the oven, Martin started the washing machine and went to retrieve the pasta from the cupboard. Het set about making the tea, keeping an eye on Emma and occasionally stopping to help James. He cooked the pasta, put the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and covered with boiling water. He set them aside to rehydrate for 10 minutes, then chopped them into 1cm pieces. Once the pasta was cooked and drained, he stirred in the rest of the ingredients.

Just as he was about to announce dinner as ready, he heard a loud banging from inside the washing machine. Concerned, he switched it off and let the water drain so he could inspect it. What he found inside made him chuckle, silently. Inside the pocket of Emma's overalls was a bronze padlock. Closing the door and placing it on the worktop, he called Louisa for dinner and settled Emma into her high chair.

"Ooh, this looks nice daddy!" said Louisa as she entered. "I've just finished work, so perfect timing!" She sat herself down. Noticing the padlock on the side, she inquired "Where's that come from?"

"No idea" replied Martin, although he looked at Emma and winked. She giggled.

"So James, tell us about your day." asked his mother.

"Well, Mr Potts said that Susan Carter was the best painter he had ever seen, but I said that Jayne Mills was much better but he started saying that it wasn't my place to tell him who was good but it was his job to find out. But, I told him that I was only helping him because Susan is a rubbish painter and he started shouting and I had to stand outside for twelve minutes, so ..."

The family was so happy. They were as close as anyone could be. Each and every one of them loved each other unquestionably. Without any shadow of a doubt, the Ellinghams of Porwenn were a family like no other. As Martin sat there, listening to the musings of what his wife and children had been up to during the day, he never would have thought that very soon, a visitor from the past would throw his whole world upside down and threaten everything he had.

To be continued...

This is my first fanfic, so be nice! :D I would really appreciate anyone who has time to review! Thanks!