Murdoch was very uncomfortable with this revelation. "I'm going to go check on Ben."

When he stood up and no one tried to stop him, (indeed neither sister even seemed to notice he had spoken, Julia was simply staring at Ruby open mouthed), he continued out of the room, feeling extremely relieved once more. Since he had nothing else to do he figured he might as well do what he had said he was going to do, so it was up the stairs with him. He pushed open the door slowly, silently, and was pleased to note that his son was still fast asleep, even after the unusual events of the evening.

Oh to be young, he thought, smiling. That boy can sleep through anything.

Since he really didn't want to go back downstairs he went into the master bedroom and looked for something to do. When he couldn't find anything, he began pacing back and forth, his thoughts unintentionally coming back to that which he had purposely tried to avoid.

Ruby pregnant? What a terrible state of affairs! To be with child out of wedlock was one of the worst sins a woman could commit! But he wasn't going to condone her for all eternity, after all it took two to accomplish this most undesirable of goals and besides that, his wife had been in a similar situation herself once upon a time. And since Murdoch prided himself on not being a hypocrite, that was the end of such thoughts, the circumstances were what they were, this had nothing to do with him. At least, that's what he tried to tell himself. The problem was, given who the mother was and who the father most certainly was, there was no way he wasn't going to get sucked into this mess. With that thought in mind, he sighed and headed back downstairs so that he could give moral support to the two distraught women.

Better late than never.

By the time he arrived in the kitchen again, the sisters were embracing and Ruby had ceased to shed tears. They parted when they saw him and looked at him quizzically.

"Have you been gone this whole time?" asked Julia, slightly annoyed, releasing her hold on her sister.

Murdoch tried not to look as guilty as he felt when he said, "I thought it best that I leave, given the...topic."

"Oh William," said Ruby in a surprisingly chipper voice considering her utter woe only minutes ago, "you're such a baby!" That last word registered a split second after she said it and it appeared she might start crying again but she mastered her emotions and hurriedly changed the topic. "Oh heavens me!" she said fake yawning, "Am I ever tired!" She started walking away from them, saying, "I'll be in the guest room if anyone needs me."

"Did you invite her to stay here?" he asked as they watched her leave.

"What do you think, William?" responded Julia, slightly bemused. "Ruby simply does whatever she wants. But tonight I'm inclined to let her get away with it."

"As am I."

Julia turned to face him, placing a hand to his chest and said, "It's clear that you have no desire to be part of this unfortunate situation and I don't blame you but I'd very much appreciate it if you would. Ruby is a hand full at the best of times, I shudder to think how she will behave given her current...condition."

He took her hand in his and said, "I of course will help you in whatever way I can, Julia." She smiled warmly at him and they kissed briefly. "I'm sorry for leaving earlier, I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay, William." She smirked, "If we didn't even notice you were gone, I suppose your presence wasn't exactly required."

Murdoch smiled slightly. "No I suppose not." There was silence for a moment. "Did she tell you who the father is?"

"Yes but you don't need me to tell you who. I'm sure you can hazard a guess if you haven't already done so, it's not hard."

Oh boy.

"I'm sure I also don't need to tell you that it would be best to keep this under wraps for as long as possible. Or at least until Ruby is ready to share this information with others."

"What about George? Surely he has a right to know?"

"Of course he does, William, but, well, Ruby needs some time to work up the nerve to tell him."

This must be the first time she has ever shied away from something!

"I see. I'll do my best to hold my tongue."

"Thank you, William."

Murdoch didn't particularly want to do Ruby any favours but at the same time, it wasn't his place to interfere in such matters. So for now he would abide by their wishes.

Needless to say, he was not looking forward to going into work tomorrow morning. Sooner or later, George would learn of Ruby's presence in Toronto and it wouldn't be long after that before he knew everything. And then what?

The next day felt like it would go on forever. Murdoch kept checking his pocket watch and was dismayed to find the seconds ticking by slower and slower every time he did. To make matters worse, there was no current case or invention to distract his thoughts and eventually Brackenreid noticed his anxious manner and called him into his office. When he passed by their desks, (and even in Murdoch's current frame of mind), he noticed that something was amiss with George. He seemed to be very agitated himself but thankfully it didn't appear to have anything to do with the baby. For some reason George kept stealing glances at Higgins as if he wanted to say something to him but couldn't work up the courage. Whatever that was about, Murdoch didn't have the foggiest.

"Close the door, Murdoch." He did. "I couldn't help but notice you seem distressed. Are you concerned for Ben's safety? Do you want me to post a constable outside your house for piece of mind? After we got Bobby back, I needed to do this so I completely understand if that's what's worrying you. Just say the word, me old mucker, and it's done."

"No, that is not the issue, sir, but thank you for the consideration."

"Then what's the problem, Murdoch?" he enquired, confusedly. "Why do you appear to have ants in your pants?"

"Well," said Murdoch slowly, "I'd like to tell you, sir, but it's not my place to say. It's a rather sensitive matter."

Brackenreid raised his eyebrows at that and then chuckled. "What, is this some sort of woman's intrigue?" Murdoch regarded him impassively. "It is, isn't it? Let me guess, one of Julia's friends had an affair!" Murdoch continued to give nothing away. "No? Well if not that then I bet someone's pregnant who shouldn't be!" Murdoch's eyes widened involuntarily and he prayed the inspector hadn't noticed. He laughed again, "I'm right aren't I? Who's the unlucky bloke?" Again Murdoch seemed to have no control over his body. His eyes darted sideways towards George and Higgins. It was only for a second but Brackenreid followed the lightening fast movement.

"Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. "Are you telling me one of those two clowns is going to have a child?"

"No, sir," said Murdoch hastily, "I haven't told you anything." Then he promptly left and prayed Brackenreid had enough common sense to not mention this to his wife. Though he wasn't sure it mattered at this point. If Margaret caught even a whiff of gossip from her husband's direction, she would use her vast connections to try and find out what the secret was (assuming she couldn't get it out of him) and if she succeeded, word of this pregnancy would spread throughout the city like wildfire. And he hated to think what such a scandal would do to George's reputation. This was worst case scenario though, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Finally the work day was at an end and Murdoch hurried to gather his things together so that he could high tail it out of there. He had forgotten how tiring and difficult it was to be the keeper of secrets. It had been a long time since he had had to withhold information from anyone. The last time he could recall one causing him so much discontent was when he came back from the Yukon. He had desperately wanted to confess his sins in relation to the jailbreak but Brackenreid wouldn't let him. And then he had desperately wanted to tell Julia why he never came to the wedding but he could never justify it after she had been married for many months already. What was the point in bringing up a painful topic that would lead to nowhere?

He hoped with time this burden would be much easier to bear, just like the previous ones. Either that or he no longer had to keep the secret. It would be very easy to accomplish this right now. All he had to do was call George into his office and tell him he was a father. But if he did that, Brackenreid would see and know the truth and that worst case scenario would become a reality. And besides which, George still seemed to be perturbed by something else altogether. There was no need to add to this.

With his things together, he was about to leave when he saw George head towards the side exit. He rarely ever went out that way so Murdoch's interest was peaked and he followed him, making sure Brackenreid was not watching lest he get any ideas into his head. He thought he had lost him when he heard voices around the corner, where there was a dead end alleyway. He fully planned to leave right away as it would be rude to eavesdrop but when he heard who was speaking, he found he couldn't.

"...tell him yet?" asked a woman's voice. Murdoch had heard it many times before. It was Dr. Grace!

"No, I'm sorry," said George, "I couldn't bring myself to."

She laughed and said, "I don't know what you're so afraid of, George. Henry and I broke up a long time ago. He's not going to mind. He's going to be happy for you."

"I'm not so sure about that," he said anxiously.

"You worry too much," she said. "Let me put your mind at ease."

There was the unmistakeable sound of kissing and Murdoch stood there horrified. Things just kept getting more and more complicated! And now he was privy to yet another secret he didn't want! Serves me right for eavesdropping! I should have known better!

Now he dreaded going home, knowing full well that Ruby would be there just waiting to crack him open like an egg. If anything, she was even worse than Margaret when it came to getting to the bottom of things. Her reporter instincts had always been killer and he didn't see why this time would be any different. But it was.

All through dinner, Ruby didn't seem to have any clue that he was hiding something from her. This was particularly odd as even Julia had caught on immediately to his distracted manner. Ruby seemed just as oblivious to the goings on as Ben was and she didn't have the excuse of being preoccupied with playing with her food. Then again, she was paying Ben an awful lot of attention so maybe it wasn't so surprising after all.

Julia took Murdoch aside later and asked him about it. He certainly didn't want to be a gossip and burden her with something she'd likely feel compelled to tell her sister but found he couldn't help himself.

"George is courting Dr. Grace," he blurted out.

Julia raised her eyebrows at that. "And how did you come to know this?"

Murdoch gave her a guilty expression. "I happened to overhear it."

"Really, William?" she said, laughing, "I never took you for an eavesdropper."

"This isn't funny, Julia."

"It is a little." He stared at her seriously. "All right, it isn't at all but what can we really do about this new development? George was well within his rights to start courting again. He made no promises to my sister. They were not engaged. She saw to that quite thoroughly."

"I would say being intimate with one another counts as a binding contract, especially now that there is a baby on the way. Let us put an end to this farce and bring them together to discuss their future. Though I suppose there isn't much to discuss."

"What do you mean?"

"I would have thought it was obvious, Julia. They must get married. The sooner the better."

"Oh really?" she said, clearly annoyed. "I didn't marry the man I had relations with back in university."

"That was different. You were not in love with each other."

"And what makes you so certain that they still are?"

Murdoch was shocked by this question. It had never once occurred to him."Are you saying they aren't?"

"What are you two conspiring about so seriously?" said Ruby from nearby, when only moments before she had been intently playing with Ben in the living room.

"Oh nothing at all," said Julia and she stormed off.

Ruby stared at Murdoch curiously so before she could question him, he grabbed Ben and said it was time for his weekly bath. Ben squirmed and tried to get away but Murdoch easily tucked the kicking boy under his armpit and carried him to the tub.

For the first time ever, Julia went to bed angry at her husband. He had tried to smooth things over with her previously but she flat out refused to talk to him. He didn't understand why she was behaving so irrationally in this regard but in the end it was her prerogative and that was that.