Disclaimer: Doc Martin, the program and characters are the property of Buffalo Pictures.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Discretion.

Martin's good mood lasted for the rest of the day and that night after Phil was in bed he was able to tell Louisa of his orientation at the hospital and the operation he had performed with Jeff.

"It was as if I'd never been away, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I'm glad I don't do it full time. It's great as a break from routine every now and then, but the stress and occasional monotony of full time surgery is something I can do without." said Martin.

Louisa thought that Martin looked much more relaxed and confident within himself since he'd helped Jeff with the surgery, and realised that going on to the casual roster, no matter how much extra pressure it put on him, was something that Martin needed to do.

"I'm so glad things went well for you Martin, and I'm sure that Truro hospital are ecstatic to have been able to add you to their casual list, I've just got to do a few things before I head up to bed, how about reviewing a few more surgical procedures?" said Louisa, looking forward to the effect that this had on Martin.

"That's a good idea" said Martin as he headed off to his desk.

Later that night, Louisa found that not only the reviewing of surgical procedures had an interesting effect on Martin, but performing surgery seemed to as well. That night, it was quite some time before she got any sleep.

The next morning, Shirley picked up Chris and they headed off to Truro for Chris' interview. Shirley dropped him off at the hospital while she went off to do some errands.

Chris' interview went well, but there was some concern as to his current state of health, so the hospital thought it best to start him off with assisting other surgeons with their operations. Chris was happy with this, so signed an employee contract there and then. He was also given an orientation, and several of the staff members wondered at his surname and if he and Martin Ellingham were related, but no one questioned him fortunately. Chris was given his hours, and noticed that he was rostered to assist with a procedure on Monday morning with a Jeff Stone, he was very excited and couldn't wait for the following week, but he knew he'd have a busy weekend ahead of him reviewing various surgical procedures.

Ringing Shirley's mobile phone to let her know he was finished for the morning, Shirley picked him up and they went to look at various second hand car places. Chris decided that he really needed to get himself a small second hand car now that he was working, and thought he would be safe to dig into his savings to purchase one now that he had some more money about to come in. Finally settling on a small second hand Ford Fiesta he filled out the necessary paperwork and paid his deposit and was told he could collect it the following Wednesday. Feeling like celebrating, he took Shirley out to lunch as a thank you for all of her support and her friendship, and presented her with one of the necklaces he'd made. Shirley was touched she had seen Chris at his lowest and was now glad to see him starting to enjoy life again.

After Lunch, Shirley drove Chris home, and stopped off to visit one of her dear friends in Portwenn, this was another reason that she never minded popping in on Chris and driving him around every now and then, as it gave her an excuse to drop in on her. Once home, Chris immediately set to work reviewing surgical procedures, by the end of several hours, he was well and truly ready for bed, and slept right through, and even had pleasant dreams for a change. On Saturday, Elizabeth decided to drop in and visit Joan for the morning, followed by an afternoon exploring the village on her own. She was determined to find out a bit more about Chris, but knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with either Joan or Louisa, she just didn't know why. Leaving Joan's house just after lunch time, she parked her car at the other side of the village and headed off to the chemist's shop, timing her visit to coincide with her last one in the hope that Chris might be there again.

She wasn't far from the shop when she began to get the feeling that she was being watched, turning around she couldn't see anything but still had that feeling. Chris, who had just hidden behind a nearby shop wall when he saw Elizabeth about to turn around was thankful that he was now much more steady on his feet. He would have loved to approach Elizabeth and talk to her, but was feeling tongue tied and very self conscious of his burns scars, so found himself following her from a distance, almost compulsively with no thought as to what he was actually doing. Elizabeth carried on walking, but this time she surreptitiously checked the reflections from nearby shop windows and actually saw Chris not far behind her staring at her in what appeared to be admiration. Elizabeth suddenly stopped and turned around and just caught a glimpse of Chris running away from her once again.

Elizabeth quickly headed off in the same direction and followed Chris at a distance this time, to see if she could see where he went. She seemed to be much more adept at keeping her presence from him a secret, or maybe it was the fact that Chris was just intent on getting as far away as possible. Whatever the reason, Elizabeth eventually saw Chris entering the house opposite Joan's. "Now that's interesting" she thought to herself. "Joan and Louisa obviously know who the man is, yet they won't tell me anything about him. I wonder what the mystery behind him is. I'm certainly going to see what I can do to find out, but not today as it's getting late and I need to get home. " Walking back into the village, Elizabeth collected her car and drove back to Truro, all the while wondering what on earth was going on.

Monday soon arrived and Chris was ready at the hospital in plenty of time to meet his fellow surgeon. Jeff turned up that morning and was told that he was going to be assisted by Ellingham, the new casual surgeon. Chris was a bit puzzled as he thought that Martin was going to be doing Fridays and not Mondays, but figured there was a reason for it, and who was he to complain as Martin was an excellent surgeon. In fact he could probably let Martin take the lead again and just assist which would be a nice start to the morning.

Jeff went in to chat to his patient before he was sedated and then headed off to get prepared for the operation. While getting into his scrubs etc, he noticed a tall man who was already there.

"Who are you?" asked Jeff

"I'm Chris Ellingham, are you Jeff Stone? I'm supposed to be assisting you this morning"

"Oh said Jeff, looking at Chris carefully. When I was told Ellingham was assisting me, I thought they were referring to Martin Ellingham as it's not a very common surname. Yes I'm Jeff Stone, nice to meet you."

"Yes it's not a very common surname is it?" said Chris leaving it at that.

Chris enjoyed the time in surgery, he felt comfortable with the way that Jeff worked, and believed that he was able to assist him adequately, he was even pleased that the amount of time standing on his feet hadn't affected him adversely, but was sure that if he pushed it and tried to do too many more hours he would soon find himself not coping.

Finishing up Jeff said "Thanks for your assistance today it was a big help. Looking closely at Chris, Jeff could swear that he had some facial similarities to Martin. Are you by any chance related to Martin Ellingham?" He asked.

"Yes, we're related" said Chris, then quickly said "You remind me of someone too, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Never mind, no doubt it will come to me" he said. "I enjoyed working with you this morning, no doubt we'll be seeing each other around as I'll be working 3 mornings a week for the foreseeable future" then Chris quickly turned and left before he could be questioned any more about his relationship to Martin.

The rest of Jeff's day went to plan, and he even managed to finish early for a change so was glad to get home to Clare and Amelia. When he arrived he found his Mum was there too, sharing a cup of tea with Clare.

"Hi Mum, nice to see you, have you two had a nice day?" he asked as he joined them at the kitchen table.

"Yes, got lots of house work done, and dinner's nearly ready" said Clare.

"You'll never believe what happened to me at work today" said Jeff. "I had a new casual surgeon rostered on to work with me, they said his name was Ellingham so naturally I thought it was Martin in on a Monday morning for some unknown reason or other, but it turned out to be this older guy called Chris. Nice enough bloke and a competent surgeon. He looked a little bit like Martin and he admitted to being related but wouldn't elaborate as to how. Before I could question him any further he was out the door as if he didn't want to be asked any more questions. Poor bloke looks like he's been through the wars though, thoroughly scarred down one side and walks with a bit of a limp; it would be interesting to know a bit more about him".

"Clare, that's the interesting man from Portwenn that I was telling you about, you know the one from the chemist. His name was Chris too and he was badly scarred, and his voice sounded a lot like Martin's. I've also discovered by accident that he lives opposite Joan's house, yet whenever I try to get information on him from them they change the subject. There's definitely something going on there, but I don't know what" said Elizabeth.

"I wonder how he's related to Martin?" pondered Clare. He's about the same age as you would expect his father to be, but surely at least one of them would have mentioned it if he was Martin's father?"

"No doubt they've got their reasons" said Jeff. "I don't fancy prying into Martin's business, especially as we've only just met. No doubt we'll find out sooner or later if they wish us to know."

"You're probably right" said Clare, thinking that she'd see if she could find out anything about Martin's parents from Louisa next time they were chatting, discretely of course.

"Yes, that's true" said Elizabeth who thought she'd ask Joan if she had any brothers or sisters next time she saw her, discretely of course.

Back in Portwenn, Chris arrived home tired but exalted from his morning of surgery, he found it hard to contain his excitement so after his evening meal he rang Joan.

"Hello" said Joan picking up her phone

"It's me Joanie" said Chris "I assisted with an operation today and it felt wonderful"

"That's good news, how was your leg, did it cope with the hours of standing still without any problems?" Joan asked

"It was fine; all of my exercise seems to have paid off, both literally and figuratively, thanks to getting back into shape so soon I'm able to work again, something that I thought I'd have to give up forever."

"So how are you going to get to work on a regular basis, you don't appear to have a car?"

"I put a deposit on a second hand Ford Fiesta on Friday, and should be taking delivery of it on Wednesday so I should be set"

"That's good news, did you like the surgeon you were assisting today"

"Yes, he was very friendly and very good at his job. His name escapes me at the moment, but no doubt it will come back to me when I'm not trying to think of it. I'm rostered on again for Wednesday so had better go and do some more study, thanks for letting me know about the positions going at the hospital Joanie. I owe you one. Bye." Chris hung up the phone and went to do a bit more study before heading off to bed for another good night's sleep. His nightmares seemed to be coming less frequently now.

Wednesday soon arrived and Chris was back at the hospital assisting with another operation. If things continued to go well, he would be able to perform minor surgical procedures on his own soon which was something to look forward too. Finishing for the morning Chris headed to the second hand car yard and completed the rest of the paperwork and paid the remaining money on his car. Driving off he felt young again and at peace with the world. Filling up the car with petrol he headed back home to Portwenn enjoying the autonomy of owning his own car and being able to go wherever he pleased whenever he wanted to. Things were going so well until his car broke down on a deserted road out of mobile phone range.

Chris was good with his hands, but had never been mechanically minded. Previously he'd only ever owned new cars so hadn't experienced much in the way of car troubles but now he found himself in a bit of a situation. He had been sitting in his car for half an hour, wondering what to do when a little car drove up and stopped behind him.

Chris got out of his car, thankful that it looked like some assistance had finally arrived. When he saw the driver at first he was ecstatic and then he quickly became embarrassed and flustered. Elizabeth had been on her way to visit Joan and had seen a car broken down by the side of the road, seeing that the driver appeared to be elderly she thought she'd be safe enough to stop to see if they needed help and was very surprised when she saw that Chris was the one in trouble. Now she had him at a disadvantage, and she intended to make the most of it.

"Hello Chris, you look like you're in a spot of bother" she said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I'm not very handy with cars I'm afraid. I can tell you that the car has just stopped, but I couldn't tell you why."

"Hmmm, said Elizabeth, no matter. If we can't get it going, I can always either give you a lift to Portwenn, or drive on and send someone back to help but I am actually quite handy with cars so may have some success in getting it going. It comes from having driven around in a lot of old second hand cars in my time. My husband always preferred older cars as he was always carting around some animal or other and didn't want to have to worry about a new car."

"So, I hear you're Martin's Father" said Elizabeth taking a stab in the dark.

"Who told you that?" said Chris. "Did Martin say anything he asked hopefully?"

"No, but you just did" she said. "So why didn't you mention it earlier?"

"It's a long story" said Chris

"We appear to have the time" said Elizabeth

"Let's just say that although I may have been Martin's biological father, I never really filled the position."

"Are you saying Martin's adopted and you're the biological father? Elizabeth asked.

"No, that's not it. If I tell you, you must promise not to tell anyone else, or mention anything to Martin regarding this. Can I trust you?" Chris asked

"OK, you have my word. I won't ask Martin anything regarding you, or Joan?" said Elizabeth.

Chris slowly and thoroughly explained to Elizabeth about his past, his abominable treatment of Martin and marginally less offensive treatment of Joan. He told of Margaret, the cold hearted woman that he'd been married to for so many years, who had married him for his position and their sexual chemistry and not much else. How his immaturity and self centeredness combined with her calculating self obsession had made Martin's childhood years a living hell, and it wasn't until only recently that he'd seen himself for what he really was. He had done his best to repay Martin financially for the money he'd given him to stop him from ruining Joan's life and he'd also moved close to them to feel just a bit closer to his family even though understandably Martin wanted nothing to do with him. He hadn't yet met his grandson and had only spoken to Louisa once briefly during a medical visit. Chris left nothing out, knowing that if Elizabeth had any favourable feelings for him before, they would certainly have vanished by now.

"You certainly sound like you used to be an arrogant and self centred man, and it appears that you're now paying a heavy price for your iniquities" said Elizabeth. "It also sounds like your poor choice in a wife enhanced your poorer qualities and stunted your good ones. Maybe her leaving you was the best thing that could have ever happened to you. Look at you now, you've developed an improved relationship with your sister, Martin isn't worrying about you being in the village. He may have no feelings for you at the moment, but he does not actively hate you either. You also have an interesting hobby and it sounds like you've just started work as a surgeon according to my son Jeff.

"So that's why he looked familiar to me" said Christopher. "Jeff's your son then?"

"Yes Jeff's my son, and a very good friend of Martin's, and his wife is a very good friend of Louisa's just as I'm a good friend of Joan's. I haven't been affected by your past behaviour like them though, so I'm willing to take it on trust that you've changed your ways and am willing to be friends. Just try not to stalk me through the village streets of Portwenn OK?"

"You have a deal" said Chris, happy to have found a friend. He may be strongly attracted to Elizabeth, but friendship was better than nothing, and it wasn't as if he had a lot of friends to call his own at the moment.

Elizabeth then had a look under his bonnet, went back to her car and got out a small toolbox. Going back to Chris' car she made a small adjustment to a loose wire and got Chris to try to start the car again.

The engine sprang to life and Chris thanked Elizabeth profusely. Elizabeth then followed him back to Portwenn, and dropped in to visit Joan as she'd promised her she would earlier. True to her word however, she didn't mention Christopher once.