A/N This is the first fic I've ever written and I really enjoyed it!
Sadly I don't own any of the characters from call the midwife, but I wish I did!
It was early June when eight year old Angela Turner was walking home from school with her friend Gracie and Gracie's mummy. Normally it was Angela's mummy who walked home with her but daddy said that mummy can't walk to far incase she got tired. Angela didn't usually mind though, she'd been very excited ever since mummy and daddy had told her that she was going to be a big sister. She knew how special this baby was, everyone kept calling it a miracle baby, because her mother wasn't supposed to be able to have babies from her tummy. That's why Angela was adopted. Angela was usually very comfortable with this fact, her parents had told her everything ages ago, but today this fact was troubling her.
During playtime that day Angela had been out playing catch with Gracie and a few other friends when Angela had missed the ball and it had bounced over to the other side of the courtyard.
"I'll get it!" Shouted Angela as she scrambled off to get it not wanting to waste any of their playtime. As soon as she bent down to pick up the ball she heard a voice behind her.
"I'm surprised you're in such a good mood, seeing as you'll be leaving soon." It was the voice of Caitlin Jones, a year 5 who had hated Angela ever since Angela had beat her in the school science fair. Angela turned around to face her.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not going anywhere." She said, wondering what trouble Caitlin was trying to start now.
"Well you're adopted aren't you? My mum says you are!" Caitlin replied, " and your mum's having a baby of her own so she won't want you anymore! You'll be sent back to the orphanage soon!"
"Stop being so silly! Mummy and daddy would never do that!" Angela huffed and stomped back over to her friends.
"We'll see about that!" Caitlin called after her.
Angela had spent the rest of the day thinking about Caitlin's words, trying to tell herself that it was stupid, that her mummy and daddy loved her too much for that, they told her that and showed it to her everyday. But still, the second Shelagh opened the door to Gracie's mother dropping Angela off, Shelagh knew there was something wrong. Angela's smile wasn't as wide as it usually was and her hug wasn't quite the same; normally it was a quick cuddle before Angela told her mother what had happened at school that day before she went off to play. Today Angela clung to her mother tightly like a she would after she'd been hurt or had a bad dream.
After repeatedly insisting to her mother that she felt fine, Angela went off to her room to read a book, but found that she couldn't concentrate. Her mind kept repeating Caitlin's words over and over, wondering where Caitlin had gotten such an idea and if it could possibly be true. "Mummy and daddy wouldn't do that though, would they? They love me. Mummy was just getting worried about me now. But Caitlin is older than me. And older people usually know more things. Maybe that's why they're so excited for the baby. Maybe they don't like looking after me and playing with me. Maybe they want a child who will ask them less questions. Mummy always says I have a lot of questions. But she liked it when Timmy asked questions. But maybe that was because he's related to daddy." The more Angela thought about it, the more worries she seemed to come up with. She became so wrapped up in it all she didn't hear her mother call her to help set the dinner table.
"Angela! Didn't you hear mummy calling you?" Angela looked up as her daddy walked into the room. Patrick's heart broke as he looked down at his little girl sitting on the floor, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Sweetheart what's wrong?" He asked quickly, desperate to make his daughter feel better. He bent down to pick Angela up and held her close as she began to cry. "Hey, come on, let's go see mummy, yeah?" Patrick said quietly as he struggled to think of what to say.
As Patrick carried Angela into the living room he called to Shelagh who was still in the kitchen. Shelagh turned and rushed through as soon as she saw that Angela was upset.
"Angela what's wrong?" Shelagh asked hurriedly desperate to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. Angela's cries continued as they settled themselves on the sofa.
"Sweetheart?" Shelagh asked again.
"You're going to send me away." Angela replied quietly, staring down at a spot on the floor.
"What? Angel girl, why would we ever send you away?" Was Patrick's confused reply.
"Well you're going to have a new baby now," Said Angela as she pointed to her mother's ever growing bump,"and this baby might not ask silly questions and it might not be as clumsy and it'll be related to you. You won't want me anymore!"
"Angela Julienne Turner! I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life! Your father and I love you, we will always want you and we will never send you away. Where did you get such an idea?" Shelagh's reply was insistant, she couldn't believe her daughter would think something like this.
"Caitlin Jones said that when you had a baby of your own you wouldn't want me so I'd have to go to an orphanage." Angela replied sadly, still unwilling to look either of her parents in the eye," and you only got me because you didn't think you could have a baby, but you can now so you don't need me!"
"Angela, we do need you! You're our daughter. Yes, we adopted you because we couldn't have a baby, but that doesn't we've ever loved you any less than we would've if you'd come from my tummy. This baby just means our family is going to get bigger and there'll be more love to go around. You're part of this family and we'll never send you away!" Replied Shelagh earnestly, wrapping her arms around her daughter and holding her tight.
"Promise?" Asked Angela, finally looking up at her parents.
"Promise." Came her parents' simultaneous reply.
And later, after her parents had given her cuddles, tucked her in and read her a story, Angela thought about how much her parents loved her, how she would always be part of a family and how exciting being a big sister was going to be.