A/N: Thank you all for your well wishes, my son is still struggling but his school have been amazing to support him and have a new strategy in place which I hope will help him better. For those who have asked about my author page, I had some issues on facebook with publishing it so instead I have made a profile you can add if you wish. It's under the name B A Henwood Author if you'd like to keep up-to-date on any Autumn Changes publishing plans.

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Six

She could feel the sweat dripping down her skin on every part of her aching body as she huffed and fell back on to the mountain of pillows behind her. The voices surrounding her blurred together, she could only just make out their efforts to keep her positive and encouraging her to push again. But Lindsey could tell that her energy was slipping away. Her labour had been long, she had been at this for the last eighteen hours with contractions and slow dilation and now she was delivering her baby.

"Linds, you've got to keep pushing." A voice whispered in her ear.

Lindsey opened her eyes and looked at George with a weak smile. His hand was slowly stroking her forward, offering her a little comfort whilst she was in agony.

"I'd…love…to see…you…do…it…" she growled shakily.

George chuckled as he offered his hand to her. She took it with a scream as another contraction flowed through her body. Closing her eyes, Lindsey gathered all the strength she could and pushed with all her might. All she could focus on was pushing and pushing until finally, it was all over.

She fell back on to the pillows once more and tried to catch her breath, her eyes still closed as she heard the cry of her baby for the first time. Tears fell from her eyes as she opened them to see the midwife smiling down at her as she presented the baby to her for the first time. Lindsey smiled happily as the baby continued to cry, his face red and his skin being wrapped in thick towels and blankets to keep him warm. Leaning forward, Lindsey held out her arms and held her son to her chest tightly, smiling as his cries settled when Lindsey placed her nose to his.

"He's so beautiful." George said in a whisper.

Lindsey felt George sit on the edge of her bed, his hand moving around her to hold them both to him. In that moment it didn't matter how rough the last few months had been. It had been confirmed that George was the carrier for the chromosome deletion their child and Lucy had. They were still awaiting an appointment with a geneticist to discuss what this would mean. The last few months had been filled with a lot more changes too. Lindsey's father John Younge had moved to London to support her and the baby, selling up his property in Scotland and buying a three-bedroom house in South London whilst also transferring within his job. Lindsey had moved in with her father and the spare bedroom had been set up as a nursery for the baby.

Financially, Lindsey had already worked out that after having nine months of paid maternity leave, she would qualify for Child Benefit once the baby was born and would look into Disability Living Allowance once her child was born too to support them further. She would possibly qualify for Universal Credit when she went back to work part-time, and she and George would split the childcare between them. George seemed to be sincere in his wish to be there for her and the baby. He had taken up renting her old flat once she had given the landlord her notice. He had luckily been given the supervisor role he had told her about all months ago and was working full-time and gave her whatever was left of his wages to put towards the baby. George had been there for every additional appointment she had in the last few months, had attended the consultant appointments regarding the health problems their child might experience and had managed to take an additional two weeks holiday on top of his two weeks of paternity leave to help her with the baby.

Lindsey watched as George stroked their son's cheek gently and the baby opened his mouth and started making a fuss.

"You can start to feed him, how were you planning to do it?" the midwife asked.

"Breast. Do I need to do anything else?" Lindsey asked with a yawn.

"We'll clean you up, it will only take five minutes, and then you can go ahead." The midwife smiled.

Lindsey nodded as she passed the baby to George and allowed the midwife to clean her up. Luckily, she didn't need stitches, she only had a small tear which would heal naturally. When it was all finished, George handed her back the fussing baby and she held her son to her breast and tried to find a position she was comfortable with to feed. The midwife helped her adjust her position, how to hold the baby the right way and made sure the baby boy was latched on properly. As her son fed from her, Lindsey looked over to George.

"He needs a name." she said tiredly.

"Do you still like the idea of naming him after grandparents?" George asked.

Lindsey nodded. She had found out from George that his other two children had been named after Jane's grandparents and she liked the idea to name her child after hers. If their baby had been a girl, she would have been called Penny Rose. But as their child was a boy, a different name would be chosen.

"So, your grandad was called James?" Lindsey asked quietly.

George nodded.

"He was the only one who actually cared about me. He did a lot for me before he died." He replied.

"Mine was called Jonathan. My dad is named after him, but my grandmother shortened it to John when my dad was born." Lindsey stated.

"Jonathan James…Younge-Wickham?" George suggested.

Lindsey nodded her agreement.

"JJ for short." She said happily, looking down at the baby suckling at her breast.

Outside their little bubble of happiness, nothing else mattered. They still had to discuss their future together if they had one as a couple that is. But right now, nothing else mattered to Lindsey other than the health and wellbeing of her newborn son. At the moment, she didn't want to deal with complications of Down syndrome or a rare unnamed chromosome deletion. She did not want to worry about learning difficulties or speech therapy and physiotherapy referrals. Breastfeeding her son for the first time was all she wanted to worry about.

ooOoo

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Elizabeth could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall in the doctor's office as she sat patiently, waiting for the doctor to return with her blood test results. It had been two weeks since Christmas, and she had gotten herself an appointment to solve why she had been feeling very run down for the past month or so. The doctor had asked her if it was possible, she could be pregnant, but she had firmly shut that down. She had told the doctor that she was infertile so there was no chance that could happen. Instead, the doctor had ordered some routine blood tests to find out if there was anything amiss. The doctor had thought it was strange because the symptoms she had been presenting with indicated a pregnancy but if she was infertile and unable to get pregnant then there was obviously something else going on.

The door opened sharply, and the doctor entered, carrying some paperwork as he closed the door behind him. She watched as he took a seat on the other side of the desk, placing the paperwork down as he looked at her.

"Ms Bennet, thank you for waiting. I have discussed your results with a colleague, and we have determined that you around eight weeks pregnant according to the levels of pregnancy hormone we found in your blood test." The doctor announced.

Elizabeth felt her heart skip a beat in shock. She felt the blood leave her face as she processed what she had just been told.

Pregnant.

But how could she be?

The whole reason her marriage ended was because of her inability to have a child with David.

"I'm sorry…I don't understand…you conclude that I'm…" Elizabeth stammered.

"Pregnant? Very much so, Ms Bennet. The hormone levels indicate around eight weeks. Every symptom you described to me suggested pregnancy and we carried out the blood tests to determine what the cause of those symptoms were because you informed us you were infertile." The doctor replied delicately.

"This is…" Elizabeth said quietly, not knowing what to say.

"I understand that this is a shock. But if you wish to continue the pregnancy then I'm going to make a referral to the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit at the hospital to book you in for an early scan. This should generate an estimate date and confirm the pregnancy. From there, the midwife will be in touch to get you in for your first community midwife appointment and book your dating scan at twelve weeks." The doctor informed her.

"Okay…"

"You can have a termination if you feel that you cannot continue with the pregnancy. You have time to make the decision that's right for you."

She could not hear anything more about terminations and early scans. She felt that her brain was going to explode the more information the doctor gave her. She was not sure what she was going to do. For months she had mourned a loss of not being able to conceive a child and now she was told that she could conceive? That she had conceived a child?

The doctor handed her some leaflets as he picked up the phone to call the unit at the hospital. She briefly scanned the front of each one. Each one giving away what they were about and where she could seek support. As the doctor chatted away on the phone, the only thing that was going through her mind was talking to Will. How would he react to the news she was having his baby? Would he be angry? Would he be happy? Would he be shocked just like she was?

The doctor hung up the phone and printed off the appointment letter, handing it to her with a smile. Elizabeth thanked the doctor for his time and exited the office, leaving the surgery and sat in her car for a little while. She was shaking as she chucked the leaflets on to the passenger seat and starting crying. Out of relief or out of shock, she didn't know.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sat in the car crying. Not until her phone started ringing and vibrating in her coat pocket. Wiping her eyes, she took a deep breath and pulled the phone out of the pocket and saw that Will was calling her. She pressed the answer button and placed the phone to her ear.

"Hey." She said softly.

"How did you get on?" Will asked.

Elizabeth inhaled shakily. Her hands were trembling. She did not want to tell him over the phone. It needed to be in person.

"Can you come to the surgery?" she muttered, trying to hold back more tears.

A moments pause.

"Lizzy? Is everything alright?" Will asked, his voice filled with worry.

"I can't tell you over the phone, Will. Please. Can you come and get me?" Elizabeth pleaded, letting out a cry.

"Alright. I'll ask Alice to take Mia out for some dinner so we can talk at home privately. I'll walk over and drive back, see you in a bit."

Hanging up the phone, Elizabeth cried some more before wiping her eyes and taking slow and deep breaths to calm herself, she did not want to be a blubbering mess when her boyfriend came to get her. Looking into the mirror, she noted how puffy her face looked and then looked to her left and picked up the leaflets, shoving them into her coat pocket with her phone.

She wasn't sure how long had passed before she heard a tapping on the window. Opening the door, she climbed out of the car and hugged Will tightly. Letting out a shaky breath, Elizabeth felt Will's arms circle around her and hold her close. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking up at him.

"Lizzy, what is it?" Will whispered.

"Not here." She muttered.

Will nodded and gestured for her to get on the passenger side of the car as he scrambled into the driver's side. The drive home was a silent one and when Will didn't need his left hand, he held hers supportively. When they arrived back at the house, they locked up the car and entered quickly, sitting on the sofa as Elizabeth tried to find the words to tell Will what the doctor had said, but Will was the first one to speak.

"Lizzy, whatever the doctor said…however bad it is…we can get through it together…I promise you that I'm here for whatever happens…" Will said softly.

"Will…It's not that…I just never expected…"

She felt a tight squeeze of her hand whilst his other cupped her face as he shifted closer to her.

"It's okay." Will reassured her.

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. Those eyes filled with concern and love for her. Her heart was beating faster in her chest.

"Will…the blood test…it confirmed that I was…pregnant." Elizabeth said slowly.

"Pregnant?" Will asked with a slight splutter.

Elizabeth nodded her head, waiting for his reaction.

"Lizzy…you're…" Will stammered.

She nodded. If she had the hormone present in her blood then she was, indeed, pregnant.

"According to the doctor. I have to go to the hospital for an early scan in two days." Elizabeth sighed.

"Pregnant…" Will said, still in shock.

The couple were silent as they processed what Elizabeth had just told her boyfriend. The only sounds that she could hear were the sounds of their breathing.

"How...what do you think about it?" Will asked, coughing slightly to clear his throat.

"I'm in shock…I guess," Elizabeth replied quietly, "To believe I couldn't…and then to find out that I am…"

"I know." Will said softly, squeezing her hand.

"It's a lot to get my head around. For months I have mourned for the fact I might never get to have my own biological child and then I came to terms with it by accepting that I could foster or adopt a child in the future. Spending so much time with you and Mia has helped me heal and I cannot wait to officially be her mother and start our future together properly…but this is just…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"Unexpected?" Will offered.

Elizabeth nodded her agreement.

"That's why I cried. Because I was led to believe that I couldn't have a child, Will. But here I am. Pregnant with your baby."

Will smiled and placed his hand gently on her stomach, still flat but soon would expand and be home to their growing life.

"Our baby," Will corrected, his smile widening, "I love you and I know you'll be an amazing mother, Lizzy. You already are."

"I can't terminate this pregnancy, Will. The doctor gave me some leaflets about my choices but after everything I went through with David…"

Will leaned forwards and kissed her softly before cupping her cheek in his hand.

"I want this baby too, Lizzy."

Elizabeth sighed with relief.

"You know what this means?" she chuckled.

"What?"

"I'm becoming a mother of two in the summer."

Will laughed and nodded.

"You are indeed. Where shall we go from here?" he asked.

"First I think we need to go to the scan and then I need to clear some things up with David. I thought I had firmly closed that chapter of my life but just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean that I'm completely clear of problems. David owes me some answers." Elizabeth replied.

"Whatever you want to do, I'll be right by your side." Will vowed.

Thanking him, she leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his circle around her waist. The news that she was carrying a child was still a shock for her and Elizabeth knew that it would take some time for her to get her head around it. But, it seemed, that while it was unexpected, her events that had happened in her life over the past few months were supposed to lead her here.