A/n – this sort of runs alongside series 6. I thought Joey was quite curt a few times to various people during this series. Apparently there really was a diet published in newspapers during the early 90's giving advice about what sort of diet to follow to increase your chances of conceiving the gender you preferred.

Chapter 10

Martina held the front door for Dobbin, the sleek grey cat belonging to her neighbour. She bent to give him a stroke and was rewarded with a rich purr, before she climbed the stairs to her own flat. Going in she found Joey sitting on the floor with Teddy next to him, who was attempting to roll a ball to his brother. Micky was haring round retrieving it from wherever it went and laughing with the sheer joy that only the very young can find in repetitive activities.

Seeing his mam, Micky stopped chasing the ball and ran forward arms outstretched calling, "mammy."

Martina's face broke into a smile as she stooped to pick him up. Not to be overlooked Teddy held up his arms, Joey picked him up and placed him in her other arm. She kissed them both, then Joey, before sitting on the sofa with them.

"When you've got a minute read this. "Joey handed her a newspaper.

She glanced at it and frowned. "Umm," was all she felt like saying.

"With that in mind I'm preparing a special dinner, you just stay there with the boys."

"Are you sure you want to cook Joey?"

It wasn't that he didn't try, but he had more misses than hits on the culinary front and she felt in the mood for a lasagne or bolognaise not some faddy, fangled, mumbo, jumbo meal.

"Positive." He beamed at her and she didn't have the heart to protest any further.

She ran her eyes down the article whilst cuddling her sons. Dear Lord was Joey seriously suggesting they went for a third child, or was it just another ploy to turn her completely vegetarian?

She stood up and carrying one son on each hip went to the kitchen where she put Teddy in his high chair with a toy and Micky at the table with some crayons.

"Well?" He looked around as they came in.

"Are you suggesting we have another baby Joey?"

"I am, yes. They reckon there's a 77% chance of you conceiving a girl if you follow that diet. You said you wanted a daughter. No harm in trying is there?"

Martina was lost for words. A bit of her desperately wanted a girl, another bit of her didn't want to risk a third son, not that she'd be without Teddy of course she wouldn't, but. She sighed. And then there was Roxy. Though to be fair he hadn't rendezvoused with her when she was convinced he would. As far as she could tell he hadn't seen her since February. Perhaps Roxy had found someone. Another baby though would leave her even more tied to him.

She settled for, "I dunno Joey, I need to think about it. I mean Teddy's only 6 months."

"Course sweetheart, no sweat."

He turned back to the cooker. Martina filled the kettle, before sitting down with her sons.

"How's things at Kelsall Street?"

The last few months had been more hectic than normal. What with Mongy being run over, Aveline's baby being born in Oswald's car, and Julie moving herself and Francesca in to her boyfriend's place without telling Billy, Joey had been constantly on call. Recalling Julie's move out and Leonora's move in made her smirk. Jack and Adrian had lusted after her big time, but although she'd offered Adrian a job, it was Jack she'd taken a fancy to. Nellie was horrified and Martina had been treated to a number of Nellie's rants on the subject. She couldn't see anything wrong with Leonora herself, so she was ten years older than Jack, but he was thirty-one, hardly a boy. Joey, however, had been quite rude to her on occasions, which was out of character for him. Normally he was scrupulously polite to everyone.

"Yeah ok, mam's looking frazzled though. Aveline's being a bit demanding."

Martina's smirk got wider, I bet she thought wryly. From the moment her baby had been born Aveline had been living up to the sobriquet of Princess. She did absolutely nothing for her husband and daughter, had Oswald running around after her, doing all the caring for the baby whilst still running the church full time, and what he didn't do Nellie did.

"Is everything alright at the shop?"

"It's going well. Billy's great with customers. Dad loves having Jack around on the allotments. You know how handy he is. With his help I've nearly finished another floor at Hope Place."

"What about Adrian?"

"Well, under protest he covers the shop whilst Billy does his sandwich round. It's not really his forte though. But he does his bit, because that's…"

"How we are, family," chanted Martina as she got up and went to the cupboard for the coffee.

"Yes," he smiled at her, "but no coffee sweetheart."

"You can't be serious Joey."

"I've made you some blackcurrant tea."

She rolled her eyes as she accepted the cup.

"Are we all eating this?"

"Modified for Micky, I've added some meat to his, and usual for Teddy."

"How long?"

"About 15 minutes."

She nodded, then began to play with the boys.

Martina opened the door, the flat was unusually silent. She wondered what particular family crisis had occurred now. In the past when Joey had been a regular visitor to her at the DHSS she'd assumed that he'd made up the constant stream of problems. She knew better these days. Maybe they were just struggling because Nellie had gone away for a few days with Derek. Not that anyone other than Martina knew that, Nellie had told them she was with an old school friend. Since Aveline had walked out on Oswald and moved back to Kelsall Street, Nellie had been getting more and more stressed. It didn't help that Lilo lil was back and Nellie knew it, despite the boys covering up for Freddie. And Shifty was on bail waiting to go to court after his escapade with a stolen bus. Being involved with the Boswells certainly ensured there was never a dull moment. She went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Joey had cleared out everything that was not part of that bloody diet. She looked in the cupboards, and he'd got rid of the coffee.

She decided to take advantage of the peace and quiet and get a nice long bath.

Relaxing into the bubbles her mind drifted off. Would another baby be such a hassle? She'd go back to work and it'd be Joey doing the day-to-day grind. Martina was thankful he did, much as she loved her kids she was relieved to escape back to work every Monday. Joey seemed to revel in just being with them, taking them out to different places, and braving toy libraries, crèches, and mother and toddler groups. Whenever she had them the sheer relentlessness of it drove her potty. Fortunately Joey wasn't big on domestic chores, or cooking, so she had an excuse Saturdays to do the housework, escape to the kitchen most evenings and Sundays tended to see them round at Kelsall Street where they were spoilt rotten by the Boswell clan.

Roxy though. Another baby would put back her ability to look after them alone by another few years.

She was no further forward when the sharp ring of her phone disturbed her reverie. Although she thought it was utterly pretentious, Joey had insisted on buying her a mobile.

"Hi."

"Martina it's Joey. Look grandad went for a wander, fell and broke his hip and he's in The Royal. I've been there all afternoon, but I'm just going back to Kelsall Street to pick the boys up. Oswald's been with them. We won't be long."

"How is he?"

"Sober for a change."

"I meant grandad." Martina was particularly fond of him, her own grandparents were dead and she missed them a lot. Grandad had accepted her without question and she him. Martina couldn't make her mind up about his wanderings, he'd found his way to the DHS unaided and had been perfectly coherent about what he wanted. Whenever she talked with him she found him cogent and as sharp as a pin. Still whilst a broken hip would stop him from disappearing all over the place, it would put even more pressure on Nellie. As for Oswald, although Martina had to admit to herself that she'd always had a bit of a soft spot for him, she did feel incredibly sorry for him. Why he'd ever married Aveline she couldn't conceive, they had nothing in common and Aveline's behaviour seemed to have driven him to drink. He'd told her once that his father was an alcoholic, and it looked like he was heading the same way. Men following in their father's footsteps again. She shook her head, not something she wanted to think about right now, Joey morphing into Freddie.

"Sleeping like the proverbial at the moment, and he's in the right place. But we've no way of letting mam know."

"Ok Joey, I'll get dinner on." She wouldn't follow up the comment about Nellie, not that she did have an address, all she knew was that they were spending a few days at a hotel in the Cotswolds.

He blew a kiss down the phone before he rang off. Martina cleared her mind of Boswell problems as she got out of the bath and thought instead about preparing dinner.

Joey, balanced on a chair, placed the fairy on top of the tree. "Straight?"

Martina considered, "bit to the left."

He adjusted it. "Now?"

"Perfect."

He stepped down and hugged her. "I can't wait to see their faces tomorrow morning when we bring them in."

"No, it'll be lovely for them." Martina returned his hug. At least this Christmas Eve he was at home, not off with her as she'd been expecting. "Shall we have a drink?"

"Why not, eh?" He let go and went to the cupboard. "Usual?"

"Please." She sat down.

"I'll just get some ice and lemon."

"Lime."

"Ok, ice and lime then," he smiled.

"Let's drink to Christmas and us and the boys and family." He sat next to her and pulled her close.

"To us all," she acknowledged.

They clinked glasses.

"What's happening this year at your mam's?" Martina snuggled down next to him.

"She's got everything ready for a spread, so we won't be invaded like last year. I've made it clear that we'd be stopping here Christmas Day. She does understand, I think she'd like us to go for tea, but I've not said anything." He looked at her, "perhaps we could go to dinner Boxing Day?"

"Yeah, let's see how it goes. She'll have stacks of food whatever we do."

Martina was privy to the knowledge that Derek was going to live with his daughter in London, and knew just how devastated Nellie was. Lilo Lil had made an unexpected visit to the DSS recently, and she wondered whether Freddie would be at home or not. She felt they ought to go to see Nellie at some point Christmas Day, though she didn't want to promise more than she could deliver.

"But I was thinking more of Jack," she informed him.

"Well now he's moved in with Leonora I imagine they'll have dinner together at 41. It's what you'd expect isn't it?"

"Nothing with your family Joey is what you'd expect. How's she taken it?"

He took a sip and considered. "Not all that well really, especially with Adrian getting it together with Irenee. She thinks Irenee is just with Adrian because he's had a poem turned into a successful film, got a bit of cash and a nice car."

He smiled, "when I ran into May Mathieson I didn't expect Adrian to find a special someone, I just thought it'd be nice for grandad to have a chat about old times with Edie's sister."

"I think it's sweet, Adrian deserves a bit of luck, besides he's had to listen to you lot boasting about your conquests for years. Anyway Adrian and Billy will be at home. And given how things are with Aveline and Oswald at the moment, surely her and Ursula will be there."

"I suppose so, I mean Aveline's got it a bit too easy hasn't she? Mam doing all the washing, shopping, cooking and cleaning, Oswald doing virtually all the child care, and me mam doing what he doesn't."

Martina kept quiet, it was the first time Joey had ever criticised Aveline.

"It's not fair on Oswald is it? And now she's on some save The Liver Birds kick."

Family trait she thought being unfair on your partners. "No it's not." She paused, "Joey, why don't you like Leonora?"

"Er, I don't know sweetheart. I don't dislike her but well, she just grates on me for some reason. I'm not sure why though." He shook his head. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well I've noticed it." She finished her drink and took his empty glass to get a refill.

"I'll have to be more careful in future." He was surprised Martina had picked up on it, mind she'd always told him she knew everything. God he hoped not. Especially not the phone calls. Ever since Teddy had been born Roxy had been hassling him with phone calls.

"It's Good Friday and I'm giving you another chance Joey," her voice was low and enticing. "I'm at me mam's for Easter weekend so we can at least have dinner."

Joey clenched his jaw, "I told you Roxy, me baby was born last Saturday. I'm going nowhere."

"Just a meal Joey, just a couple of hours. I'm not expecting you to stop the night." Her voice dropped to a throaty whisper.

"No Roxy. I'm needed at home." He killed the call and switched his phone off. If anyone needed him they could ring Martina's number.

The following Friday.

"Hello yes?"

"I'm giving you one more chance Joey. I'm picking the kid up at the weekend so I'll see you Saturday night at the Adelphi." She spoke firmly.

"No, no you won't. I've a two week old baby, I'm needed at home."

"Joey, don't be like that, you owe me.." her voice became harsher.

"I don't owe you anything Roxy." Joey interrupted.

"What about Christmas Eve Joey? And half-term? You were quick enough then to jump into my bed, and you won't be getting it at home will you?" She spoke breathily, enticingly.

Joey slammed the phone down, disgusted.

It rang again and again so he switched it off.

He shook his head, angry with himself for getting caught up with her once more.

Either side of half term. "Lets not quarrel Joey. Have dinner with me when I bring the kid up to me mam."

"I can't Roxy, it's too hectic at the moment," he answered whilst every fibre of his being was yearning to say yes.

"Just a quick drink then Joey, in the afternoon before I collect the kid. You can't deny me that Joey."

"No, look Roxy, this has got to stop. It's too late for all this. I'm sorry, goodbye." He put the phone down and burst into tears.

Since then she'd gone quiet and he'd heard nothing till yesterday, when he'd been doing some last minute shopping.

"Right Joey this is your final chance. I'm up for the holiday. I'll be at the Adelphi Christmas Eve. I'll expect to see you there around seven." She rang off before he had a chance to answer.

He sighed Roxy, oh Roxy. What was he going to do? Keep away son, keep away, don't be like dad. Don't go near the Adelphi, you know what'll happen. And it's not fair on Martina. He made up his mind to steer clear, perhaps then she'd get the message and leave him be. He picked up the last item and made for the checkout.

And he had stayed away, been at home where he should be, decorating the front room for his kids, a surprise for Christmas morning. Perhaps now she'd stop bugging him, and he and Martina could get on with the rest of their lives.

"Cheers," he clinked her glass as she sat down.

"Cheers yourself," she responded. A better Christmas Eve than last year anyway, she thought.

"You know what Joey, maybe we could think about another one."

"Great." Joey was made up, "come here then and we can start right now."