A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first part of this! Someone pointed out (quite rightly)that an encounter between Phyllis and Sister Julienne could be all the more interesting because it was not easy. That got me thinking, and as a result this one-shot has turned into a three-parter. Here's the second bit and the third will follow shortly.

Some days later Phyllis was returning to Nonnatus after visiting a new mother and very much looking forward to a hot meal. It was a dreary day; rain poured down in sheets rather than drops, and she had to peer through her windscreen to see where she was going, foot hovering cautiously above the brake all the while. To this day she went cold at the memory of the incident with the Antoine boy, at how close she'd come to killing a child.

A flash of familiar blue (startling against the greyness of the day) caught her eye, but it took a second look before she was certain and then she wasted no time, immediately pressing her brake to the floor. In a matter of moments she was out, kneeling beside a sodden—and from the looks of it, rather stunned—Sister Julienne.

'Sister?'

The other woman looked up, blinking. 'Nurse Crane. I ... I must've gone over something sharp. My tyre's gone—'

'Did you come off?' Phyllis interrupted, taking in the nasty gash on the nun's cheek and her pallor.

True to form, Sister Julienne did not answer the question directly. 'I was lucky not to go over the handlebars.' She rose slowly, pain flickering across her attempt at a smile. 'I assure you, I'm perfectly all right.'

Phyllis snorted. 'Don't be ridiculous. You're not holding yourself proper and with all due respect, Sister, you look like something the cat's brought in after it's spent all night playing with it. I might be overstepping the mark, but isn't it time you left the bicycle riding to the young ones?'

The nun's gentle smile remained fixed in place.

'Thank you for your concern, Nurse Crane, but I manage.'

Not for the first time, Phyllis found herself longing to shake the stoicism out of her. She nodded towards the bicycle, now looking decidedly the worse for wear.

'In that case, you'll have to find another vehicle. That one's done.'

A fine line appeared between Sister Julienne's brows as she studied the bicycle in her own turn. 'I fear you may be right. I'll ask Fred to look at it tomorrow. Hopefully he will perform his usual miracle. In the meantime, I must wheel it home—'

Phyllis couldn't let her continue.

'You'll do no such thing!' she interrupted. 'It's raining entire zoos of cats and dogs. We can do without your bike more easily than we can do without you.' Only years of professional discretion prevented her from from snapping, Haven't we lost enough?, instead finishing with a more temperate, 'Just you put that bike and yourself into my car and we'll be off home in no time.'

Rather to Phyllis's surprise, Sister Julienne did not argue. Together they hoisted the nun's bike into the boot—an awkward procedure that required both of them and nearly resulted in Phyllis letting slip oaths that were significantly fruitier than her usual Hell's teeth. At last it was done, and she held the passenger door for Sister Julienne, closing it once the other woman was safely ensconced inside. Her frown deepened as she returned to her own seat; she didn't like the looks of Sister Julienne at all.

Her concern was justified when Nonnatus's ever-collected Sister-in-Charge leaned against the window, one hand going to her forehead.

'Do you have concussion?'

Sister Julienne straightened, her hand dropping.

'It's just a knock, Nurse Crane. I'm sure I'll be fine after some rest.'

Phyllis gritted her teeth. She was wasting her time; getting something out of Sister Julienne would be a greater miracle than getting blood out of the proverbial stone.

At least, it'd be a miracle for me.

Her lips twitching in a carefully-hidden smirk, she turned the car away from home and headed for a house well-known to all the denizens of Nonnatus House, and to Sister Julienne most of all.

The nun's stare was reproachful. 'Nurse Crane—'

'You need looked at,' Phyllis insisted, ignoring that reproachful stare (she was made of sterner stuff than the young nurses) and getting out of the car before Sister Julienne could protest further. The keys were left dangling in the ignition; Sister Winifred was the only one of the sisters who could drive (after a fashion), and in any case she doubted Sister Julienne was physically capable of making a break for it.

Their presence had been noted. Even as Phyllis marched towards the front door, it was already opening, throwing a yellow shaft of light across the garden.

'Nurse Crane? Phyllis?' Shelagh came running out. 'Is there an emergency? Why didn't you—' She broke off, her eyes going wide as she spotted the car's remaining occupant, and Phyllis hastened to explain.

'Sister Julienne took a nasty tumble.' The other nurse was already at the car, opening the door and crouching (in the rain, for pity's sake!) beside the patient. Phyllis followed. 'I think she's hurt worse than she's let on—to me, anyroad.'

Shelagh had pulled off her cardigan and was wrapping it around Sister Julienne as she helped the older woman out of the car, talking all the while.

'Look at the state of you, Sister. Phyllis, could you get the kettle on? And let Patrick know—he's putting Teddy to bed.'

Shelagh was a good head shorter than Sister Julienne, and the nun's willingness to lean on her said all that needed to be said. Knowing she was very much a third wheel at this point, Phyllis moved to follow Shelagh's instructions and found she'd been forestalled. Dr Turner was running down the stairs as she entered, followed by Timothy.

Good lad, she thought, as the doctor passed her. He must've overheard. She gave Timothy a grateful nod; he could be a cheeky so-and-so, but he was a good kid.

'I put the kettle on before I called Dad,' he mouthed and she gave him a thumbs-up sign before shrugging out of her cloak. Something told her they wouldn't be getting home any time soon.

'...absolutely soaked, Sister,' Shelagh was exclaiming as she and Dr Turner ushered Sister Julienne in between them. 'How long were you out there for?'

'I'm... I'm not certain.' Sister Julienne's voice was unusually subdued. 'I punctured my wheel and ... to be quite frank, I don't remember much after that. When I regained consciousness I was on the ground, with this'—she gestured towards the seeping gash on her cheek—' and my bicycle was even worse off than I was. I'd just pulled myself together and was trying to see whether the bicycle was fit to be wheeled home when Nurse Crane arrived—'

'Thank God she did!' Shelagh blurted.

The nun's answering smile reached her eyes, Phyllis noted. 'My dear, I'm a little harder to break than you or Nurse Crane seem to believe. I'll admit I'm shaken, but as I tried to tell Nurse Crane, I will be fine after some rest.'

'You mean you'll be fine after some rest for the next few days,' Dr Turner cut in. 'Don't try to argue, Sister. I'm going to stitch that cut and I want to check the blow to your head. Then you're going home to a hot bath and bed and I'll be giving instructions that you're not to stir from it until we're sure you haven't taken further harm.' He paused to add, 'It's times like this we miss Sister Evangelina. She would have kept you in your place.'

Phyllis drew herself up. 'I believe you'll find I can be just as squashing as Sister Evangelina, Doctor.'

Sister Julienne's eyebrows went up. Shelagh looked torn between amusement and ... awe? The doctor laughed outright.

'I'll keep you to that, Nurse Crane. Sister, Shelagh?' He gestured towards a room at the back, and Phyllis watched them vanish into it. Timothy followed with tea before returning to hand Phyllis a well-sugared cup of her own, much to her surprise.

'Thanks, lad. I don't mind admitting I'm glad of it.'

'I thought so.' Timothy perched on the arm of the settee where Phyllis had seated herself, gangly limbs stretched in front of him. 'You're probably shocked too. It's not every day you find your boss in a heap in a puddle, is it? Especially when it's Sister Julienne!'

'She wasn't quite a heap in a puddle,' Phyllis murmured, although she knew Timothy's statement could easily be the literal truth. It had been too dark to tell.

Silence descended. Phyllis sought for something to say before it became awkward; it was the least she could do in return for the boy's hospitality.

'How's school?' she asked at last.

Timothy rolled his eyes. 'Boring. Most of it's useless and I already know the stuff we do in Biology and Chem anyway. I know more than the teachers,' he added unselfconsciously, before grinning. 'I don't think they read The Lancet.'

Phyllis grinned back. 'I should think not.' She sipped her tea. 'Is that what you want to do, medicine?'

'I've got Junior Cert and General to get through first. Dad says concentrate on those and then see—' He shrugged.

'Good advice,' Phyllis pointed out. 'A sound general education is never wasted in my view. Ah!' as the doctor and his wife returned with Sister Julienne between them, her cut neatly stitched and her cap looking distinctly lumpy, as though there was a bandage under it. Shelagh's free hand clutched a limp piece of fabric that Phyllis belatedly recognised as a veil.

'Is Sister fit to go home?' she demanded, standing. Sister Julienne's eyes were heavy, and she was paler than she'd been before.

Phyllis saw the nun's lips compress, but it was Dr Turner who spoke.

'She's patched up and ready to be turned over to you, Nurse Crane. Get her home and warm, but don't let her sleep for good few hours. Then keep her ... squashed ... for a few days. Sister, I'll pop in on you tomorrow and I'm sure Shelagh will too.'

'Naturally,' Shelagh agreed, and Sister Julienne looked from one to the other, her expression softening as she took Shelagh's hands in both of hers, a gesture Phyllis had seen many times before.

'God bless you both. Very well, Doctor, I promise I'll be good. Nurse Crane?'

Now it was Phyllis's turn to force a smile. The immediate crisis, such as it was, was over, and that infernal black dog had dug his claws in once again. She attempted her briskest self.

'I'm ready when you are.'

The journey home was a silent one.

I'm always amused by how much everyone fusses over Sister Julienne's health (Evangelina, Phyllis, Sister Winifred) despite the fact that she's probably the same age or younger than Evangelina/Phyllis, and apart from her collapse in S3 seems as strong as a horse. Thus this approach! The real encounter is in the next bit, though, so watch this space...