I'm surprised by the amount of guest reviewers who want to see Rita and Dylan get together! I'm not sure if I could really make Dylan/Rita work romantically without giving Dylan a complete personality change. I do think he cares for Rita but not necessarily in a romantic way. Whoever Rita ends up with, it probably won't happen for a few chapters yet, I think she'd probably want to concentrate on her daughter for a while before she thinks about letting someone else into her life.

Anyway, enough rambling. I hope you like this update :)

Lofty tapped on the door to Rita's office and pushed it open before she'd had chance to respond a few weeks after her conversation with Dylan, "Rita have you...what's wrong?" he asked, as he saw Rita sat in her chair, her arms wrapped around her stomach as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"She's not moving" Rita whispered, "I can't remember when I last felt her kick."

Lofty poked his head out of the office, "Dylan's free, can I…?" Rita nodded and Lofty gently squeezed her hand, "I'm sure she'll be just fine, she's probably just asleep or something, getting ready to keep you up all night" he tried to reassure her before approaching Dylan at the nurse's station, "Dylan can you…"

"It's Dr Keogh whilst we're on the ward" Dylan interrupted him, "and no I can't, I'm busy."

"It's Rita…"

The colour drained from Dylan's face, "where is she? What's happened?"

"She's in her office, she says she can't remember when she last felt the baby moving."

"Get me the portable ultrasound, cubicle 6 is free, I'll take her in there" Dylan said, his pen falling to the desk as he raced off to Rita's office.

"I'm sorry" she whispered as she looked up to see Dylan rush into her office.

"There's no need for you to apologise, now I've sent Ben to get the portable ultrasound, can you walk to a cubicle or do you need me to fetch you a wheelchair?"

"I can walk" Rita whispered.

"Okay" Dylan carefully helped Rita from her chair, "tell me if you change your mind."

"Thank you" Rita whispered, saying nothing as Dylan's hand came to rest in the small of her back as they walked over to the empty cubicle, the simple touch giving her the comfort she was so desperate for.

Dylan nodded in thanks to Lofty who was waiting in the cubicle for them with the requested equipment, "can you check her temperature please, and her blood pressure?" Dylan asked, Lofty helping Rita onto the bed as Dylan closed the curtains, "is there anything else wrong? Any cramping or bleeding?"

Rita shook her head, "I've got backache but I've had that for a while."

"And you've been attending all your antenatal appointments?" Rita nodded as Dylan gently felt her bump, "and there's been no other complications?" he asked, knowing that, as the baby's father, this was information he should already know.

"Only me passing out from dehydration but you know about that?."

Dylan nodded, "and you've been drinking plenty of fluids? Your fingers are looking a little swollen, can you do a full bloods for me too?" he asked Lofty.

The nurse nodded, "her temps 36.8 and her bp's 110 over 60" he told Dylan.

"My fingers have been swollen for a while" Rita told Dylan, "my ankles are swollen too, my midwife checked for protein at my last appointment, she said I was okay."

He nodded, "I'd still like to send off another sample to the lab just to be sure, your blood pressure…"

"That's a normal reading for me" Rita told him with a nod before glancing at the ultrasound machine, "can you...please? I need to know."

Dylan nodded, "I assume I don't need to warn you about this?" he said as he picked up the gel, Rita helpfully rolling her top up and folding down the waistband of her trousers.

Rita shook her head as Lofty slipped from the cubicle to get what he needed to take a sample of Rita's blood. She watched Dylan's back as he looked at the monitor, the position of the machine meaning she couldn't see the image, "Dylan…" she whispered, her heart breaking as he turned to her with tears in his eyes.

"Oh God no" he saw her face fall, "no, no, she's fine, she, she's sucking her thumb, she's got a nice strong heartbeat look" he stepped back and moved the monitor so Rita could see the grainy image on the screen, "she's okay" he whispered as he watched their baby on the screen, her tiny feet twitching occasionally, the thumb of her left hand firmly in her mouth.

"Oh" Rita began to sob in relief, her whole body shaking as tears rolled down her cheeks, "I'm sorry" she sobbed, "I'm sorry."

"No it's okay, should I...do you want me to get Zoe or someone?" he asked, not sure how to deal with Rita's emotions.

"Give her a hug" Dylan jumped, he hadn't even noticed Lofty return, "give her a hug" he repeated as he put down the tray he was carrying before leaving Rita and Dylan alone.

"Would you like a hug?" Dylan asked awkwardly, managing to sit on the bed beside Rita when she nodded, "it'll be okay" he tried to reassure her as she instantly curled into him, sobbing into his shoulder.

"I thought I'd lost her" Rita sobbed.

"You haven't though, it's been a long time since my obs and gynae rotation so I'm not sure exactly what she's doing in there but she's okay, her heart's still beating and she seems to be a good size."

"Thank you" Rita sat back on the bed and wiped at her eyes, "I'm sorry" she whispered, gesturing to the side of Dylan's shirt where the gel from her stomach had rubbed against the white cotton.

"I've got a spare in my locker" Dylan said as he stood from the bed and passed Rita some tissue to clean off her stomach and wipe her eyes, "I still want to send off some bloods and maybe a urine sample just to be certain."

Rita nodded, "okay"

"This one's empty I think…" Connie frowned as she drew back the curtains to the cubicle, "is everything okay?" she asked before turning to Robyn who'd followed with her patient, "cubicle 2" she said, waiting until Robyn had left before stepping inside the curtains and pulling them closed again as she waited for an explanation from Dylan or Rita.

"Nurse Freeman was worried, she couldn't remember when she'd last felt her baby move."

Connie frowned again and gestured to the ultrasound machine, "and is everything okay?"

Dylan nodded, "everything seems fine, I'm going to send off a blood and urine sample to be certain."

Connie nodded and looked at Rita, "get your things and go to my office when you've finished here, I need to talk to you and I'll call you a taxi so you can go home and rest."

"Thank you" Rita nodded.

"Would you like to go somewhere this weekend on the boat?" Dylan asked nervously as he passed Rita some tissue to clean the gel off her stomach before taking a sample of her blood once she was sorted, "we can talk and work something out about…" he gestured to Rita's stomach as he gave her a ball of cotton wool to hold in the crook of her elbow.

"You can say it you know" Rita told him, "the baby, our baby...your daughter."

"We need to sort something for our daughter's sake, I erm, I know I might not have been the best father figure so far but I'd like to be a part of her life if you'd let me?"

Rita nodded, "I never intended you to keep you away from her."

"Thank you. Would you like me to pick you up?"

Rita shook her head, "I'll drive over, about 10 on Saturday okay?"

Dylan nodded, "yes, that will be fine, he held out a small pot, would you like me to give you some privacy so you can…?"

Rita shook her head, "I'll go to the ladies, trust me Dylan, there is no way that pot is going to be big enough!" she said as she shuffled to the edge of the bed, taking Dylan's hands as he offered them to her to help her stand, "I'll send this off myself" she told him, "and I'll see you on Saturday."