Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my overactive imagination

The Gravel Road

Chapter 11

'True love travels on a gravel road. It's not the journey that's important, it's the destination that matters.'

Roger Fenn

Louisa smiled contentedly as she lay back in the hospital bed, watching as Martin sat cradling his new born son in the chair opposite, too choked up with emotion to be able to say very much at all.

Martin had been an absolute nightmare when the baby had decided to come early – and rather fast. The baby hadn't been due for another couple of weeks, and he'd been called out to a home visit up on the moor, where there was no signal for his mobile phone. And of course, that was when things had suddenly kicked off with her waters breaking and strong contractions starting straight away. Unable to get hold of Martin, and fearful that she could give birth on the journey, she'd been unwilling to call Joan to take her to hospital, so she'd dialled 999 for an ambulance to get her to hospital.

Martin had finally got the urgent voicemail messages she'd left and had arrived at the hospital at the same time as she'd arrived in the ambulance. Completely rattled at how all his carefully prepared plans for the safe delivery of their baby had gone to pot, he'd shouted and blustered at the staff as they made their way in, telling them how to do their jobs, calling them incompetent and useless, until she'd been on the verge of telling him to go back outside to calm down.

But then things had suddenly become very serious when she'd felt the urgent need to push, as their baby started the final phase of his entrance into the world. And at that moment Martin had focused and calmed down, and had been at her side giving her his full support, until the safe arrival of their son was announced by the sound of him crying as he took his first breath, just as dawn was breaking on that summer morning.

The midwife that Martin had been particularly rude to now looked over at him, and saw tears rolling down his cheeks as he held his son, so she mellowed enough to smile over at him. She'd seen it so many times before, these big, gruff men overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the emotions that surged through them when they first held their baby in their arms. Mother Nature was pretty clever really.

"Right Mrs Ellingham, get you that cup of tea shall I, now that you're all sorted and comfy?" she offered. It had been a normal, straight forward birth, no problems at all with either mum or baby.

"That would be lovely, thank you," said Louisa, still fascinated to watch Martin's reaction. She'd worked out a while ago that Martin's problem wasn't that he didn't care, or that he didn't feel emotions. No, it was quite the opposite in fact. He cared very deeply indeed, so much so that it scared him and that's what had driven him to shut out people in the past, scared because he felt so out of control.

xXx

She'd returned to Portwenn at the end of the school term, just in time for Christmas. To start with she'd stayed with Martin at his house, until Mr. Strain had vacated White Rose Cottage and then they'd moved there. It was fine for now, but they knew eventually they would need somewhere larger. They'd got married very quietly at Bodmin Registry Office, officially because it was the nearest one, but also because the 'Bodmin' connection had seemed quite appropriate, all things considered. After the previous fiasco, they'd both agreed to keep this wedding very quiet and low key. However, Holly had insisted on coming down from London to be a witness, claiming that she'd earned the right, having been the one to give Louisa a rather large nudge in the right direction.

"Glad you came to your senses Lou. Best thing all round, although I am sorry to be losing such an excellent teacher," Holly had said, as she'd kissed her friend to congratulate her after the brief ceremony.

"Yes, well, we would have got there and worked things out in the end anyway I'm sure," Louisa had replied in a somewhat prickly manner, finding her friend to be her usual rather bossy and interfering self. No doubt Holly was relieved to have her spare room back, and not to have to deal with the scandal of an unmarried pregnant teacher at her school, Louisa was under no illusions about that either.

"Umm… thanks, you know… for making Louisa phone me," Martin had mumbled, as Holly had reached up to peck his cheek too. He couldn't really say that he liked the woman, but he was eternally grateful that she had pushed things along in the way that she had.

"Yes, well, call it the serendipity affect if you like. You saved my life, so that I'd be around to play Fairy Godmother to you and Lou," she'd told him. Holly had warmed towards Martin, seeing as he'd done the right thing by Louisa in her book. Plus she was thinking that maybe he could introduce her to some of his old consultant colleagues, as time was ticking by and she'd worked her way through all of the eligible men of her acquaintance, still with no luck in acquiring a decent husband.

Joan was thrilled to see Martin and Louisa get back together, having felt rather guilty that she might have influenced Martin when she'd tried to console him by telling him that 'She was never going to make you happy - chalk and cheese the pair of you' when they'd split up after the concert. And she was over the moon at the thought of this baby that she was going to be able get her hands on now.

Most of the villagers had been very surprised when they'd heard about Martin getting Louisa pregnant. However, he quickly discovered it meant they held him in new regard now, because it proved that he was no better than them. That grumpy old git Doc Martin was just a normal red blooded geezer after all. So he'd got their Miss Glasson up the duff, but it was okay, because he was doing the decent thing by bringing her back to the village and marrying her.

Louisa had gone back to work at Portwenn School, ending up as Head Mistress again, of which Martin strongly disapproved, when Mr. Strain was quietly pensioned off. But Louisa was determined to carry on as she'd originally planned, whatever he said about it being too much for her. And he was a fine one to talk. Much as he claimed to dislike all the disgusting and annoying villagers, he worked incredibly hard on their behalf, with long surgery hours, evenings and weekends spent researching the latest treatments, all while continuing to make his own house calls.

Never having had a social life before, he struggled to make time for this now, having been used to such a solitary existence for so many years. Neither had found it very easy to adapt to living together, and it certainly hadn't been a bed of roses all the time. They still argued and had numerous misunderstandings, but nothing serious enough to cause a major rift between them, and certainly neither would want to go back to living on their own again.

xXx

Having struggled to get his emotions back under control, Martin came over and sat on the edge of the hospital bed next to Louisa as he carefully handed the baby back to her, leaning over to gently kiss her cheek. She smiled as she felt his stubbly, unshaven cheek brushing against hers, a consequence of his having been up all night. She liked to see him not as perfectly groomed as usual; it made him seem more human. He tried to speak, but the words just wouldn't come out properly.

"Umm… I… just wanted…he's…you…" he tripped clumsily over his words.

"It's OK Martin, I know," Louisa reassured him. She cuddled the baby up to her so naturally, as if she'd been doing it all her life, Martin noticed.

"So, are we agreed then? On his name I mean? I think it'll suit him, don't you?" Louisa looked at him enquiringly.

"Err… yes, I suppose so," Martin agreed. He studied his son's funny screwed up little face again, actually thinking that it was hard to imagine quite what suited him at the moment. But he'd learnt enough during these past few months of living with Louisa to know that thoughts like these were probably best kept to himself, so he refrained from voicing it out loud.

"Welcome to the world, Alexander Martin Ellingham." Louisa whispered, as she tenderly kissed the baby's head.

No one was ever going to tell him that he wasn't wanted. No one was ever going to shut him in the cupboard under the stairs, or hit him with a belt or a table tennis bat. He would not be sent away to boarding school, and no one would ever be allowed to get away with bullying him. And he would always know that he was loved very much indeed by both his parents.

The End

Authors Note

Some people have commented that the Martin I portray in my stories is too 'nice', and that he wouldn't say as much as he does. In my defence I would reply that I've largely based him on the series one version of the Doc, the one who quite often leaves his jacket undone and even takes it off sometimes; who has a wonderful dry sense of humour with some great one line retorts, and who attends Elaine's Dad's wedding to Carmen even though he doesn't have to, and where he even tries to pay Louisa a compliment. He also opened up enough to both Louisa and Roger Fenn to explain to them all about his 'blood thing'. And finally, why would Louisa bother with such a rude and unpleasant man if he didn't at least try to make some sort of an effort with her?

That's just my take on things, we all have our own opinions and interpretations, and that's what makes it all so interesting reading all the different FF.

Thanks to Little Guinea for all her help, and to Rob for reminding me of the word 'Serendipity', which I then had to use in a story somewhere!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read this story. It would be very nice if you would now take the time to leave a constructive review. Happy Docmartinitis xxx