I wanted to fill in some gaps in Shelagh & Patrick's narrative following the proposal. This chapter follows on directly from the kitchen scene in S2E08. Future chapters will focus on Nonnatus House and (hopefully) on the wedding. I have several more scenes in my head and they seem to write themselves, so I hope to get them scribbled down and published before too long. This is my first attempt at Turnadette fiction so reviews would be most welcome and encouraging. :)

As she watched him reverently kiss the ring he had just bestowed on her she broke into a smile of pure joy, her heart soaring and singing with a love she didn't yet know how to express. He straightened up, his two rough-hewn hands tenderly covering hers. He met her beaming countenance with a dazed gaze and sought her eyes to try to anchor himself. His mind was racing even as he stood stock still. How could this beautiful creature be his? How could it be that a rumpled, careworn, staid, middle-aged, man such as he was the object of the utter adoration he saw shining from her eyes? He drew a stuttering breath and took a step towards her, clasping her hand to his chest so that she might feel the thundering of his heart. He needed to be certain that his eyes weren't deceiving him, that his mind wasn't just conjuring up a scene which he had dreamed of through many months of silent, solitary longing.

"Do you have an answer for Timothy?"

"I think you know my answer," she affirmed quietly, a small smile playing on her lips.

"I think I need to hear you say it." The earnestness in his voice made her heart clench and her fingers unconsciously clutched at his jumper. Her smile faded to seriousness as her lips parted and she fixed him with a look which matched his own.

"Yes. Yes, I will marry his Dad. I don't think can bear the thought of not becoming your wife."

Something within him broke and a look of wondrous delight overcame him. He swept her up into his arms, swinging her round and burying his face in her hair.

"My love," he whispered. "My life."

She placed her palms flat on his chest and stepped back as her set her down again.

"Dr Turner! Please try to contain yourself."

"Forgive me, my love." He grasped one of her hands and brought it to his lips once again, turning it over and placing a tender kiss on the barely visible scar near her wrist. This time, instead of snatching her hand away, he heard her sigh, sensed her smile. The memory of that painful day, when he had thought all was lost, was still vivid in his mind. When he had been unavoidably called away, she had stepped in, acting like a mother to Timothy, consoling him and inspiring him in equal measure. And when she finally allowed him to tend to her injured hand, he had been unable to resist trying to convey just what she meant to him, to them. He had felt his behaviour `unforgivable but she had bestowed acceptance on his actions, making it clear that she wasn't rejecting him. And, though the months of suffering and separation which followed were almost beyond endurance, she had found her way back to him, emerging into the shrouded daylight to offer him her certainty, her future. And now she had anointed him with a joy unlike any he had ever known. They would be husband and wife. They would be a family.

"Shall we go and tell him?" Her eager question interrupted his reverie. He smiled his approval and, still holding her hand, he turned and led her out of the hall.

Timothy, who had been sitting fidgety and impatient in the car, leapt out of it as soon as he saw the door begin to open. As he raced towards them Shelagh released Patrick's hand and took a step back, lingering in the doorway. This was a moment between father and son and suddenly she felt unaccountably nervous to be privy to it. Timothy skidded to a halt in front of his father, breathless and eager.

"Dad! Dad! Did you ask her? Did she see what I wrote? Did she say yes?"

"Slow down Timothy! One question at a time!"

Dr Turner put an arm around his son's shoulders and moved to stand behind him as they faced the doorway.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Shelagh caught Patrick's gaze over his son's head, a momentary look of surprise and panic flitting across her face. 'Tell him' his eyes said to her, a twinkle of joy suffusing their rich brown depths. She drew strength from them and drew in a breath, leaning down and smiling at the young boy.

"Hello Timothy," she said shyly. "Was there something you wanted to ask me?"

Her shyness seemed to transmit itself to him and he looked down at his feet, shuffling them in embarrassment.

His dad ruffled his hair affectionately. "Come on Timothy, you helped me prepare a gift for a special someone didn't you? Don't you want to know what she said when she opened it?"

Timothy shuffled his feet some more. Then, gathering his courage, he looked up at Shelagh.

"Please say you're going to marry my Dad? he pleaded, "He said he loves you very much and he wants you to be my new Mummy. I want you to be my Mummy too. My Dad said I could ask you."

She felt tears pricking her eyes. A surge of love for this nervous, needing little boy swept through her and she stepped forward to draw him from his father's arms into her own.

"Oh Timothy! I loved what you wrote and I'd love to be your new Mummy."

Timothy stepped back, a huge grin now splitting his face.

"You said yes!" A declaration, not a question.

He hugged her tightly again as she smoothed down his ruffled hair as affectionately as his father had mussed it. Seeing Patrick wipe a surreptitious tear from his eye, she reached a hand out for him, beckoning him to join them in the embrace.

His slipped his fingers into hers, kissing them where they joined. He placed his other hand on his son's shoulder and murmured, "Thank you Timothy. I think we're going to be a very happy family."

Hope you enjoyed it!