This started out with me pondering the wardrobe analysis and the fact that more and more Shelagh has been seen in the nurses uniform. It's been quite a transformation since Sister Bernadette to now- from being a midwife to a caretaker of Timothy- to medical secretary- to adoptive mother- to being back to a nurse once again... and this story came out of it... surprisingly for me, it's going to be more than one part...
It had been two years since Sister Bernadette had returned to being Shelagh, and even to this day, she couldn't believe the journey and transformation she had been through. If someone had told her five years ago that she would be wearing the trademark nurses uniform, she would have probably laughed and shook her head in disbelief. It wasn't something that had crossed her mind- until a certain doctor wouldn't leave her mind.
Sister Bernadette was having trouble concentrating on the simple menial task in front of her. Her mind kept going back to the conversation that she had with Dr. Turner earlier that day..it had been a simple one- autoclave, cooking, his son Timothy and Mrs. Jenkins. But, it had pricked something in her heart...almost as if she had stopped seeing him as a doctor and started seeing him as a man- a man who looked as if he was the one who was lost and not his son.
It would happen again to Sister Bernadette- each time she was called out onto a task and Dr. Turner would show up, she would have to prepare her heart for the sight of him. One of the worse times to get over was when they had shared a cigarette after the birth of the twins. She had performed the task to the best of her ability, and she found herself soaking up his praise. The shared cigarette just bolstered her confidence and the touch of his hand on hers sent shock waves through her... and from then on, she found herself stopping the daydream of sharing more than just a cigarette with him. If she had been honest with herself, that was the moment that had started the great confusion in her...
Timothy Turner hadn't helped the matters- if anything, he was their matchmaker. From her tender nursing care of him after he fell at the playground and was brushed off by his father when he arrived at the clinic- Sister Bernadette could well remember the days her father had been gruff and dismantled when she had interrupted him at work. She had taken him under her wing- and he thanked her with a drawing. The drawing was now safely kept in her room- she knew she wasn't supposed to keep personal possessions, but this one cried out to her to be kept.
Shelagh smiled as she unfolded the drawing... such a simple one. Timothy and Sister Bernandette walking down a road holding hands... It was one of her greatest treasures- even now as his stepmom- because it always served as a marker in her transformation from Sister Bernadette to Shelagh...