From here on in each chapter will have the name of an episode, that does not mean the chapter will be about that case, but it will relate to that period of time in the series. It may or may not contain information about that episode, and some will have my version of that episode. It will obviously not cover every episode. Hope you enjoy, and as always reviews are appreciated but not essential.

Also if anyone has the time and expertise, I am looking for a beta, inbox me if you can help.

Chapter 7 - The Blind Beggar

Six Months on from end of chapter 6.

Boyd woke up to the sounds of Christopher screaming in the nursery, there was no sign of Grace, and her side of the bed was cold, so she'd obviously been up for some time. He got out of bed and walked to the room opposite their bedroom, he pushed the door quietly, inside Grace was desperately trying to soothe their son. His face was red and he was screaming, all of her efforts seemed to be failing, and she was now pacing up and down the room gently rocking him.

"How longs he been like this?" He asked a very tired looking Grace.

"It started again about an hour ago."

"Do you want me to take over for a while? You must be exhausted."

Grace handed Christopher over to him, she gently rubbed the baby's back as Boyd tried to settle him on his chest.

"Go back to bed, I'll call you if I need you." He told her.

"Thank you" She replied and gently pecked him on the lips as she walked by.

Boyd gently walked up and down with his son in his arms, bouncing him slightly and gently shushing him as he did so, eventually he sat in the rocking chair and rocked back and forth with him. After another 45 minutes of crying Christopher tired himself out, and started to calm down, he wasn't asleep yet, but at least he'd stopped screaming, he continued to rock him and talk gently to him, until finally he went off to sleep. Boyd put him back in his cot, careful not to wake him up, and then crept quietly back to his own bed.

Grace was asleep, but stirred slightly as he got into bed.

"Has he gone back down?"

"Yeah, at long last, poor little fella, all that for a few teeth."

"What time is it?"

"4am."

"Bloody hell, we'll both be knackered in the morning."

"It'll be okay, it can't be helped." He said whilst yawning loudly.

The alarm clock went off at 6am, and Boyd was the first out of bed, he checked on Christopher, who was still sleeping, he returned with a cup of tea for Grace and woke her up gently, as she'd dozed back off after the alarm.

"Is he still asleep?"

"Yep, sleeping soundly, I just checked on him. If you want to take the day off, after last night, it'll be okay."

"That would look good, I've only been back a couple of weeks, they really will think I'm too old to cope with it all."

"Nobody will think that, Christopher was crying almost solidly from the moment we picked him up till four in the morning, who wouldn't need a day off after that."

"I'm fine, honestly, I need a cup of tea and a shower, and I'll be ready for anything."

"Well I'm gonna grab a shower now, whilst you drink your tea, I'll leave some water for you."

After he showered and dressed, Boyd got Christopher ready, and took him down stairs for his breakfast, leaving Grace time to get herself ready. They left Christopher with a child minder whilst they were at work, dropping him off on the way in and picking him up on their way home.

-o0o-

As they got to work they were called straight out to a church were a body had been discovered in the crypt, by some workmen carrying out renovations. Grace felt a little uneasy in the church, the memories of her strict catholic upbringing ever present in her mind, she genuflected as she passed the altar, it was purely an impulse reaction to her surroundings, but the priest picked up on it never the less.

"I used to be a catholic." She replied when he asked.

"No such thing as used to be." He replied.

It got Grace thinking, about her faith, they'd never had Christopher christened, they'd never even discussed it. They'd discussed getting married, so they all had the same surname, but they'd decided against it, after all, Christopher's surname was Boyd the same as his father's, and she would always keep her maiden name for work purposes, so it didn't seem worthwhile. But a christening was about so much more, his acceptance into the church, and whilst she resented her upbringing, she still had her faith, it just wasn't something she actively practised any more.

Back in the office Grace sat working on the case when her mobile rang, she noticed it was Christopher's child minders number, he'd been grizzly again that morning so she wasn't surprised by the call. Grace ended the call hurriedly and grabbed her coat and bag, she headed straight into Boyd's office.

"Do come in." He said sarcastically.

"We need to get to the hospital, Janice has had to call an ambulance for Christopher." She said hurriedly and with the sound of panic in her voice.

"What? Why? What's wrong with him?"

"She said he was having trouble breathing, he's been taken to Hammersmith Hospital."

Boyd went to speak again but Grace cut him off. "Talk in the car Boyd, we need to go."

"Okay I'm coming." He grabbed his car keys and jacket and almost ran to the car. He drove as fast as he could get away with, when they hit traffic he put the blues and twos on in his car, giving them an almost clear road to the hospital. He parked the car, and they both ran into the reception area of the hospital A&E department.

"Hi, I'm Peter Boyd, you have my son here, Christopher Boyd."

"When did your son come in?"

"In the last hour, he was bought in by ambulance, can you please just tell me where he is." Grace stood behind him slightly as he spoke to the receptionist, her mind doing overtime at the thought of her son being ill.

They were asked to wait whilst the receptionist found out what was going on, Boyd gripped on to Grace's hand as they waited, after a few minutes a nurse came out of a side door.

"Hi Mr and Mrs Boyd?" She asked them.

"Dr Foley and Mr Boyd." He corrected her.

"But you are Christopher's parents?"

"Yes, what's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Grace now responded, getting impatient.

"Christopher was admitted with breathing difficulties and a high temperature, we are doing some tests to try and find the cause, his child minder said that he has been a little grizzly recently."

"He's teething, he's been suffering with it quite a lot."

"Has he ever been diagnosed with asthma?"

"No. Can we see him please?" Grace asked impatiently.

"Yeah of course, if you'd like to come this way." The nurse led them both to a cubicle where Christopher lay on a bed with just his nappy on, a fan focused permanently on him to cool him down, and a drip going into his arm, he was awake, just laying and grizzling on the bed.

They both stood around the same side of the bed, Janice, his child minder left as they arrived, asking them to let her know when they knew what was wrong.

The nurse brought two chairs into the cubicle so they could sit by him, Grace sat and kept her finger in his little hand, Boyd sat with one hand on Grace's back and the other touching his sons hand, neither of them left his side for the next couple of hours, he dozed off occasionally, and then woke up and cried again.

It seemed like an eternity until a doctor came to see them, but eventually one did. He introduced himself as doctor Cartwright, and they listened intently as he began to explain what was wrong with their son.

"Christopher has a chest infection, complicated by the fact that he also has infantile asthma, his temperature has come down and we're giving him paracetamol and antibiotics, his breathing is a little easier now, but as he is still struggling we'd like to keep him in for a night or two."

"We thought he was just grizzly because he was teething, no one has ever suggested he has asthma."

"Infantile asthma is notoriously hard to spot and diagnose, the symptoms can often be confused with other childhood illness's, but at least now we've spotted it we can treat it appropriately."

"How will you treat it?"

"You'll need to use inhalers, we'll give you a special little mask to help you administer it, it's all pretty standard stuff, and it will be trial and error to get the doses at the right level. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask, I'm around whilst he's here, or there are other people around when we move him to the children's ward."

"Can I stay with him?" Grace asked him.

"Yep, that's not a problem, they'll arrange a mother and baby room for you."

"Thank you." She replied

As the doctor left the cubicle, Boyd rubbed his hand affectionately on Grace's back.

"He's going to be okay Grace."

"I've been so scared." She replied.

"Do you need anything from home, for you or Christopher?"

"Yeah, we'll probably need some stuff, I can't think what at the moment."

"Hey." He said to her, but she didn't respond, so he said it again. "Hey, listen to me, he'll be okay, he's a little fighter."

Grace turned to look at him, her face full of anguish, tears pricking the corners of her eyes.

"It's okay." He said to her pulling her into his embrace, she wept quietly against his shoulder.

"Earlier when I was in that church, I was thinking about getting him christened, we'd never discussed it before, and I kept thinking we should have."

"If you want to get him christened then we will okay, we'll choose godparents and get him a nice little outfit, big party, the works, whatever you want we'll have, as soon as he's better, okay?"

"Yeah." She replied, reaching for a tissue.

"Are you going to be okay on your own for a while, I'll go home and grab some stuff for you both."

Grace nodded her head, "Do you know what to get?"

"I'll just grab some basics for both of you." He placed his hand on the back of her head and leant forward and kissed her. "I love you." He whispered the last part to her.

-o0o-

Christopher was moved to a children's ward, and he and Grace were given a side room, where Grace could stay over night with him, Boyd returned with a change of clothing and some toiletries for Grace, and some clothes for Christopher, he also remembered one of his cuddly toys.

By the time he returned to the hospital Christopher was already looking a little brighter, he was now in a cot, and they were able to pick him up, as long as they were careful not to pull the cannula out of his arm, Grace put a little body suit on him, one that Boyd had bought him, it had a picture of Roo from Winnie the Poo, and the words, I love my Mummy on it.

Boyd stayed with them until around 10pm, then he kissed them both good bye and left for the night. Grace tried her best to get some rest on the small camp bed that was in the room, but if truth be told, she was too worried about her son to worry about the discomfort of the sleeping arrangements. She spent most of the night watching him, picking him up if he cried and just holding him.

-o0o-

At 10am the next morning Boyd opened the door to the hospital room to find Grace holding Christopher and looking out of the window with him, he kissed her and then took Christopher from her.

"He looks so much better today."

"Yeah I know, he had a reasonably good night, the Doctor was round earlier, they said they'll probably let him go home today."

"Hey that's good mate, you wanna come home with Mummy and Daddy?" He spoke directly to the baby, bouncing him gently as he did so.

"They said his breathing is a lot better and he no longer has a high temperature, they're going to give us some antibiotics for him, and some liquid paracetamol, and he should be back to normal in a couple of days, we need to see an asthma specialist as well, sort out what he needs."

"Okay, how are you? Did you get any sleep?"

"A bit, an hour, maybe two, but I'm okay. Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really, the beds too big without you, as someone once sang, and I was worried about this little guy." Grace rubbed Christopher's back as Boyd held him. "We're going to be okay you know, all of us."

"I know, but thank you for reminding me." She replied, stretching up to kiss him lightly.

TBC