Author's Note: Please enjoy!

Chapter Three - Timothy's Illness

She allowed the tips of her fingers to dance along the outside of Timothy's arm while he snoozed in her arms on his bed one afternoon, a soft smile on her lips as she was able to feel his warm breath beating against the side of her neck as he was snuggled into her side. It had been almost a week since her soon-to-be stepson had come down with a head cold and it had made her heart hurt to know that he was spending all day in the flat on his own while his father was at the surgery, hence the reason she had suggested to Patrick that she stayed in the flat with Tim in the day just in case he needed her.

Her fiance had been fully on board with her idea and so every day without fail - for the last six days - she had either been sat on a chair at Timothy's bedside or laying beside him as she held him in her arms. Her love for him was so deep and so pure - deeper than she had ever imagined it would be - and she knew that that love was just going to continue to get deeper and deeper as the years passed.

Turning her head in Tim's direction she gave his forehead a delicate kiss. 'I love you.' She allowed her lips to graze his skin as she spoke to him, the hand that was around his waist tightening its hold of him before she snugged him closer and allowed him to nuzzle further into her neck. There was something so perfect about knowing that he needed her; about knowing that he didn't want her to leave him. Even though the wedding was still far off she was already starting to feel like his mother.

She had always had a soft spot for him - even before she had been sent to the sanatorium to have the triple treatment. She had known that he and Patrick had drifted apart after Marianne's passing and she had been there for him, reassuring him that even if he felt as though he couldn't go to his father about something then he could always come to her. She supposed that that was why he found it so easy to approach her and ask her to cuddle him whenever he was upset about something now.

It was a few moments later when she felt him stir in her arms and she turned his head towards him again, a loving smile appearing on her lips as she ran her fingers through his hair to help him rouse slowly. 'Auntie Shelagh?' He mumbled as he curled his fingers into the thin fabric of her dress.

'I'm here, dearest.' She reassured him with a kiss to his temple. 'How are you feeling?'

'I have a headache.' He admitted. 'Can I have some more paracetamol now?'

She glanced over at the clock for a second before sweeping her hand through his hair one she was satisfied that it had been a number of hours since he had last taken the medication. 'Yes, darling, you can. Would you like to stay here while I go downstairs and get them for you?' Tim nodded while he looked up at her, the discomfort evident in his eyes when she stroked his cheek with the back of her hand and removed herself from his hold. 'I'll be back in two ticks, I promise.' She gave him a smile.

She then drew his quilt up to his chin before stepping out onto the landing and heading downstairs to find the paracetamol.

It wasn't long until she returned to his bedroom and saw that he was sitting up in bed while leaning against the headboard, his eyes half-lidded as he watched her approach him. 'Here you are, dearest.' She kept her voice soft as she tipped two pills out into the palm of her hand before offering them to him, Timothy accepting them from her before he popped them into his mouth and took a sip from the glass of water that sat atop his nightstand.

Once he had set his glass back down on the nightstand he shifted over on the bed, Shelagh feeling her heart swell as she knew that it was his silent request for her to sit with him once more. 'Auntie Shelagh?' She heard him say once she had joined him on the bed again and had let him settle in her arms, a quiet hum escaping her as she buried kisses in his hair. 'I like your cuddles.' He sighed softly.

'I'm glad.' She smiled against the top of his head. 'You know that I love you, don't you? I may not be your birth mother and I know that I'll never be able to replace her - not that I would want to - but I do love you, Timothy.' Tim tilted his head back on her chest before pressing a kiss onto her cheek.

'I love you too.' He told her before draping his arm across her stomach again. 'Thank you for saying that you'll marry my Dad; I've missed having a Mum.' Shelagh felt her heart flutter. Even though he hadn't called her "Mum" directly, he had just revealed to her in his own way that that was how he viewed her and it made her happier than she could explain. 'I know that you have to go back to the boarding house tonight, but will you come back again tomorrow? I want you to be here with me.'

'I'll come back every day until you're well again, sweetness.' She stroked his face. 'There is nowhere else I would rather be, I mean that with all my heart.' The two of them shared a smile then before Tim buried his head beneath her chin and pressed his face into her throat, Shelagh giving him a gentle squeeze before she felt him sigh in contentment against her skin.

Even though she hadn't carried him inside of her for nine months and hadn't been the one to push him into the world or to nurse him, she would never view him as anything other than her son.

As soon as she and Patrick had been pronounced husband and wife she would be Timothy's mother for the rest of her life and just the thought of that made her all the more impatient for her wedding.

She couldn't wait to hold him in her arms whenever he was ill and never have to leave him.

She couldn't wait to tuck him into bed and kiss him goodnight every evening.

But most of all, she couldn't wait to have the title of his Mum.

A title that she knew she was going to honour for the rest of her days.

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed that and that you will all come back for the next chapter which should be up tomorrow night! Please review :-)