'I'm not ready. Oh God.' Lizzie said.

Seeing that Lizzie looked as though she was going to faint, Elizabeth dashed forward and guided her into a seat. Nobody else moved an inch; not even the prospective father. Despite everything that had happened in the last few minutes, Lizzie gripped Elizabeth's hand and stared up to her for guidance.

'Carson.' Elizabeth shouted.

Elizabeth looked through the crowds for him, and eventually located him sat on the floor with his head in his hands. This was her fault, she thought sadly. If she could just find somebody who could help – Carson. Her Carson.

'John I need you to find Carson – our Carson. And I need somebody to get a medical team in here now.' She said.

Taking her orders, John left the room and the crowd began to back away as Lizzie cried out in pain, leaving Elizabeth alone to support Lizzie.

'How far gone are you?' She asked.

A look of worry came into Lizzie's eye, 'I'm not full term; thirty six weeks.'

'And the pregnancy has been healthy?'

'Yes – no problems at all.'

'I've requested our Carson to come, is that okay?'

'I just want my baby to be okay.' Lizzie said, on the verge of tears.

'Our Carson is a fantastic Doctor and a very caring man – he will do everything to make sure both you and the baby are okay.'

Lizzie's nodded at Elizabeth and held onto her bump as if she thought it would help protect the baby. Seeking to reassure her, Elizabeth continued to hold onto her hand and stroke her hair whilst anxiously looking for Carson to appear. Other people had clearly recovered their shock and were starting to offer to locate Meredith which Elizabeth didn't exactly relish, but agreed anyway.

Thankfully, Carson managed to make it into the mess hall before Meredith with his medical bag and immediately set about checking Lizzie's blood pressure and getting her into a more comfortable position in the floor, all the whilst soothing the clearly terrified Lizzie. Surreptitiously, John who had witnessed Elizabeth's own panic, slipped his hand into hers. She looked at him and was struck by a massive desire to feel his arms around her. It was a desire she didn't give into though – things really didn't need making any more complicated at this moment in time.

Soon after Carson arrived, a medical team turned up with a trolley and Lizzie was taken to the infirmary. Jonathan followed with his head hanging and given that their Carson had already been escorted to his quarters to recover, the crowds left and went back to their work. Meredith marched into the room, with Rodney following like his shadow and then immediately marched back out when he realised that there was nothing to see here and, on Rodney's advice, went to the infirmary.

Now they were alone, John turned to face Elizabeth and, uncharacteristically, gave Elizabeth the hug she had so been longing for. She buried her head into his chest and held him tightly.

It was almost ten at night when Elizabeth received a message to go down to the infirmary. The news that Lizzie had given birth to a healthy baby boy had circulated the city and Elizabeth couldn't have been happier for Lizzie who had lost so much but gained far more. Begrudgingly, she was even pleased for Jonathan who she hoped would learn from this to step up and be a good father.

She quietly opened the door to the private room where Mummy and Baby Weir were residing and smiled as she saw Lizzie cradling her son and took a seat. Lizzie looked at Elizabeth and smiled gently before looking back at her son. Elizabeth copied her action and saw that he had certainly taken after his father with his spiky black hair and his mother with his milky white skin.

'He's perfect,' Elizabeth observed.

Lizzie looked at her again, 'I know. I wanted to thank you for helping when I went into labour, I can see why you make such a fantastic leader. And I wanted to thank you for telling me about Jonathan.'

Lizzie quickly looked away again.

'I never meant to hurt you.' Elizabeth admitted.

Lizzie laughed, 'Well it did hurt, but I'm glad I know.'

'Has he been to see – what have you called the baby?'

'Andrew. After our -'

'Father.' Elizabeth said.

They exchanged a poignant look. Elizabeth's father had died when she was just ten years old after crashing his snow mobile. He had been the most caring and devoted father imaginable during his time and Elizabeth still missed him to this day. It was good for her to know that his memory would go on.

'Jonathan was here when he was born. I think Andrew is the only person that he's ever really loved and I'm glad of that.'

'That's good.' Elizabeth said approvingly.

'You kissed him.' Lizzie said with a faint pang of hurt in her voice.

'I did.' Elizabeth said sadly.

'And is it because of John – your John? Lizzie asked.

'I think so.'

Elizabeth looked uneasily across at Lizzie, who looked so open and wasn't judging her. After everything that happened she was still there, talking to her and trying to help. She's twice the person that I am, Elizabeth thought to herself. And she knew that this was the one person who would understand her feelings for John which is why she was so tempted to tell her.

'I slept with him last night.' She admitted.

Momentarily, Lizzie looked shocked, but quickly covered this up and looked searchingly at Elizabeth.

'Is this because of Jonathan?'

'Sort of – I've been so confused about John, and then he – Jonathan – came along, and opened up this side to me that I didn't even realise existed and all the feelings I have for John just came to the fore. The crazy thing is I don't even like Jonathan.' Elizabeth laughed.

'Do you want to be with him?'

'Yes – no. I don't know. I love him, at least, I think I do, but my job, it's just so demanding. I don't think I have the time to be in a relationship at the moment.'

'John is probably the only person in the world who appreciates just how demanding your job is, if you want it to work, it can.'

She was right, and deep down, Elizabeth knew that the thing that was preventing her from taking things any further with John was her. And him, a little bit. From what she knew of him, he wasn't big on commitment and a bit of a player. Could she ever be enough for him? And, more to the point, could she ever trust him? With so many questions playing on her mind, Elizabeth said goodbye to Lizzie and kissed Andrew on the head before heading to John's quarters in search of the answers.