Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing.

Chapter 21 - Prince Charming

Every so often the subject of marriage would come up between Martin and Louisa. She felt that everything was so good between them right now, that she was frightened to spoil it. Last time round, it seemed that everything went wrong when they had rushed into setting their wedding date so quickly – she couldn't help but wonder that if they had taken their time to get to know each other better, maybe things could have been so different. So for now, she just wanted to enjoy things as they were, with no other pressures.

Martin, on the other hand, couldn't see why she wanted to wait – they were living together, they both agreed that they were happy together, so why wouldn't she agree to be his wife?

"I'm not saying 'no'," Louisa explained one day when the subject came up yet again.

"But you're not saying yes either," said Martin in frustration.

"Keep asking me, you never know, I might say yes one day," she answered back, teasing him.

Luke was changing in several ways. Once she had started feeding him occasional bottles of formula, he quickly lost interest in breast feeding because it was much quicker getting milk from a bottle, and he was really rather a greedy baby. No wonder everyone thought that he was going to be every bit as big as his father. Louisa was a little sad, but she knew she had given him a great start by feeding for several months anyway. He had outgrown his Moses basket, so Louisa had reluctantly decided to move him into his own room. The room had been decorated ready for him to move in to. Louisa was quite happy to paint it herself, but Martin insisted that they should get someone in to do it.

"You've got more than enough to do, looking after Luke and working on your Nursery project," he'd pointed out. "In any case, wouldn't it make sense to put some work the way of one of the villagers – help their income?" He knew that Louisa could never resist helping an underdog. He used the same argument to get her to agree to have someone in to do the garden once a week, just to keep it tidy.

He left the choice of décor for Luke's room up to Louisa, and was actually pleasantly surprised when she went for a traditional 'blue for a boy' theme. That's what he would have chosen had it been up to him.

Martin insisted a brand new cot and furniture was bought to replace what had been in the room.

"Who knows what kinds of microcosms of germs are infesting that cot mattress," he said wrinkling his nose in disgust.

He had also replaced both of their mattresses as soon as they had moved in. Fastidious, was how Louisa would describe him.

Louisa was becoming frustrated by how long all it was taking to set the Nursery up, getting all the necessary grants and approvals was taking forever it seemed to her. She was hoping to return to work after Christmas, but only if the nursery was up and running. The longest she could really push it back to was after the Easter holidays. Dominic, the intern from Martin's Legal firm, was working really hard to get it going, but as everyone kept telling them 'these things take time'.

When Martin had bought the house from Chris Parsons, there had been a lot of contact between Louisa and Chris's wife Jenny, sorting out what furniture they wanted back, and so on. The two women had hit it off and become good friends. Over a coffee one day in Jenny's kitchen, with Luke sleeping in his baby seat nearby, Louisa told Jenny of her frustration at not being able to achieve things more rapidly.

"Well I think it's wonderful what you have already achieved, you're a one woman whirlwind," Jenny had told Louisa. "Actually, maybe we could help each other out, thinking about it," Jenny had been a journalist on several of the broadsheet newspapers before she had her family. Now she worked as a freelance journalist.

"In what way?" Louisa asked, intrigued.

"Well, I've been asked to write a piece for the Times Educational Supplement, along the lines of 'What barriers still exist for women in education today'. I could maybe do the article on your struggle to set up a rural community Nursery for the Work Place. And the publicity just might help push things along for you – can't hurt anyway," Jenny said.

"Are you sure it would be interesting enough?" asked Louisa.

"Well that's my job, to make it interesting," laughed Jenny. "We could give it a go anyway don't you think?"

"Why not?" Louisa agreed.

The two women chatted on for a while longer, then Jenny said,

"Meant to ask, are you and Martin going to the Truro Hospital Charity Ball in November – we always go, good cause and all that, and it's usually pretty good fun. Martin's never been, but I wondered if you might be able to persuade him this year. Would be great to see you there, good excuse to dress up, black tie, evening dress and all that. Everyone stays overnight at the hotel where it's held, then they can have a few drinks if they want. Go on, say you'll twist his arm, I'm sure you have your ways and means!" Jenny pleaded with her.

"Hmm, would be fun I guess, but Martin hates all that sort of thing, I'm not sure I could persuade him, whatever ways and means I employ," Louisa replied.

"What, you mean Martin isn't really interested in 'feminine persuasion'– you know, in the bedroom?" Jenny asked her. Like a lot of people, she was rather curious about their relationship.

"If you're asking about sex, Jenny, I can assure you that Martin is more than 'interested' ," said Louisa, who was fed up with people seeming to assume that Martin was hopeless in bed. "In fact, he's an amazing lover, highly skilled in every way. We have the most fantastic sex life actually," said Louisa, looking Jenny straight in the eye, daring her to contradict her.

Jenny told Chris about this conversation later that evening, when the subject of 'whatever does Louisa see in Martin' came up, as it often did.

"I think I may be able to shed some light on this after my chat with Louisa today," Jenny told her husband. "You know how you've always said that Martin is one of the most talented and highly skilled doctors that you've ever known? Well, according to Louisa, he is equally as skilled and talented in the bedroom."

Chris found this very hard to believe, and accused his wife of making it up as a joke, but Jenny swore that that was what Louisa had told her.

xXx

Later on that evening, Louisa brought the subject of the Charity Ball up with Martin.

"No thanks - standing around having to make polite chit chat to morons, over some horrendously loud music, with food prepared by unhygienic baboons – not my idea of a fun evening," had been Martin's immediate response, pretty much as Louisa had expected.

"Well I might quite enjoy it actually," Louisa had said a bit huffily. "It would be a chance to wear something other than clothes that can withstand baby puke and poop. And it's for charity. And Joan could look after Luke, she can't wait to have him all to herself. You could at least consider it before rejecting it out of hand Martin." Louisa had left the room, disappointed but not really surprised.

Martin had looked after her in surprise – she knew he hated that kind of thing, so why even bother to bring it up?

A couple of days later Martin saw Chris Parsons after the monthly PCT meeting.

"What's this I hear about you refusing to take Louisa to the Charity Ball?" Chris had asked Martin.

"I didn't refuse, I just said it isn't my kind of thing, she knows that anyway," Martin replied defensively.

"Ah yes, but maybe it's her kind of thing? Louisa's an intelligent and beautiful woman, Martin. You can't expect her to just sit at home night after night. Come on, show a bit of charitable spirit for once," Chris had said, having been instructed by his wife to try and twist Martin's arm.

"Well, I don't know, I'll think about it," Martin said evasively.

He did think about it. Maybe Chris and Louisa were both right. He hadn't even considered that Louisa might like go, he'd just instantly rejected it out of hand, as he always had. That was pretty selfish when he considered it. Here he was trying to persuade Louisa to marry him, and yet he wasn't prepared to put up with one evening of tedium for her. Maybe he could just grit his teeth and get through the evening to keep Louisa happy.

When he got home that night, Martin threw two tickets down on the kitchen table.

"You shall go to the Ball, Cinderella," he said.

He was rewarded by an astounded Louisa throwing her arms round his neck and giving him a big kiss.

"You won't regret this Martin, you'll see, it'll be fun," Louisa told him.

"Hmm, I wouldn't bank on it," said Martin trying to be grumpy but secretly pleased at Louisa's reaction.

"Oh I'll make sure he has 'fun'," thought Louisa to herself with a wicked little smile. "It's going to be a night he will remember."