Chapter Twenty One

A/N: No reviewers.

It was incredible how much one little photograph could change. The ultrasound image of their baby was framed on the coffee table, the last thing Sue and Simon saw before they went to bed and the first thing they both thought of when they woke. In the blink of an eye, the baby had gone from an inconveniently timed issue that had to be accommodated to what it perhaps ought to have been all along; a much-wanted daughter of two people in love.

With only a month and a half to go, everything was in place for their arrival of their baby. Vix had come down from Glasgow at every opportunity, just for an excuse to decorate the nursery herself. She had originally planned for castles and fairies and fine white horses, but Sue had warned her off. She could not keep the baby's gender a secret, not from her sister, but she would rather everyone who paid a visit to their house did not have it given away just yet. In reluctant agreement, Vix had painted the walls with teddy bears instead, and set about making a special necklace for her soon-to-be niece.

The baby's clothes were a different matter, tucked away out of sight. The drawers in the nursery were filled with tiny dresses and dungarees embroidered with flowers, like a wonderful little secret between husband and wife, something to cheer them up when a day was particularly difficult. And goodness knows, working at Waterloo Road, there were plenty of those days.

Sue had never thought a time would come when she would be sad to see a year away from that school, but to her surprise, as Christine invited her into her office once again, there was a pang of sadness in her heart. A year was a long time in a school; new children would join that she would not get to meet and old favourites would leave without a chance to say goodbye.

"All the arrangements have been made with the supply teacher you selected, all the proper checks have been carried out a few times over by the council," Christine listed off her accomplishments from the jotter pad in front of her, trying to gloss over the fact that one of her supply teachers had had to be checked so thoroughly. Lenny seemed to like her now, or that was the impression she got in her lessons, but the boy still could not quite look her in the eye. "You can also arrange a couple of visit days to check how everything's going with your classes, of course, but those will come a little further down the line. Everything's set."

"It's good to know." Sue responded, not sure what else to say. Christine had made all these arrangements on double time to make sure she was ready to leave today, and she felt a little ungrateful to turn around and ask for more time herself.

"Well, I never thought I'd say this, Sue," Christine sighed, leaning back into her chair and folding her hands atop the wood of her desk, a beaming smile on her face. "But I don't know what we're going to do without you."

"You'll manage." Sue responded meekly, a little reminiscent of her early days at the school, when she felt like no more than a pupil herself in front of the headmistress. "That supply teacher's brilliant, I'm more than confident she'll be capable of handling it all."

"Well, you've been doing an incredible job these last couple of months." Christine complemented. "But needs must, and I know better than anyone on this staff that teaching will be the last thing on your mind when that baby arrives. Are you sure you don't want to start your maternity leave now? You're getting quite close to your due date."

"Christine, I still have nearly four weeks to go." Sue reminded the woman, unable to keep a hint of frustration out of her voice. She had had the same argument with Simon until she was blue in the face, not that it had done much good. "I just want to make sure everything's in place for the exams in January; it's only a couple more days and then I'm done."

"Well, as long as you're sure." Christine conceded. She had clearly seen now that she would not win the battle; perhaps Simon had tipped her off in that morning's meeting. "I'll be sorry to see you go when the time comes, Sue. I don't mind saying it."

"And I'll be sorry to leave." Sue admitted in return, standing to shake Christine's hand with a beaming smile. "Trust me, I never thought I'd say that either."

The two chuckled as they walked to the door, opening it to reveal Simon sorting through some files on a shelf. He was quick to turn to the cabinet, but his wife was not fooled; he wanted to make a final attempt to convince her he was right about maternity leave. Sue could not help but feel a little pride that she had stood her ground and won.

"Everything alright?" Simon asked, gathering up some paperwork in his arms.

Sue chuckled with a good-natured shake of her head, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Nice try. Three days. No more arguments."

The man sighed, his arms sagging a little under the weight of the documents, but he did not argue. He knew the battle had been won.

"But you'll let me know, won't you, if you need anything?" Simon pressed, following after her as she made her way down the corridor towards her classroom. In spite of herself, Sue began to laugh; her husband was behaving like the personification of a little puppy running after its owner.

"Simon, I'll be fine!" she exclaimed, though her voice did not show the irritation that was starting to bubble inside her. After all, Simon was only trying to help, and he had more right than anyone to be concerned about his pregnant wife. "It's three days of official paperwork and lesson plans. I probably won't even leave my desk and I certainly won't be out of range for my mobile. If anything happens, I'll call you straight away. Happy?"

"Happy." Simon conceded. He still did not quite look 'happy', but he at least seemed satisfied with their compromise. The two parted ways at the top of the science staircase- after Simon had insisted on helping her up the steps, of course- and Sue made her way slowly to her desk, the pile of papers amassing there a daunting sight at best.

'Perhaps I should have taken the leave now, after all.' she thought jokingly, picking up the first sheet. But she had work to do now, and there was no time to let her worries overcome her. 'I've said it a thousand times, and I meant it. It's only three days. How much could possibly go wrong in that time?'

After all the time she had spent at Waterloo Road, Sue should have known better than to tempt fate.

A/N: Bit of a creepy line to end with there, but still hope you enjoyed it! From the way he behaves in the show, I can so see Simon being the overprotective dad long before the baby's even arrived! Please review!