Hey! Not 100% happy with this, but I needed to write this chapter to fit together the pieces of the upcoming chapters! Sorry if it's a bit disappointing! Thank you for R&R! - Beth xxxxxx

"You know, age doesn't define your right to be a mother. To love your child, care for them, experience every precious moment that comes along with being a mum. And I think that with the right support, you'll be just fine." Rita smiled as she took Holly's blood pressure.

"I'm scared. I am really scared. Like I don't even know anything about babies or what they need. But I just, I dunno, when I saw it on the screen, I knew this was right. I love my baby so much already even though it looks like an alien." Holly laughed.

Connie stood outside the cubicle, listening through the curtain. Holly had decided to keep her baby, and the surgeon was in complete awe of the young lady. At just 17 years old, she'd made one of the biggest decisions of her life and she was ready to deal with it. But she knew that would have happened if she did decide to see the screen at the ultrasound, to see such a tiny beautiful and innocent thing forming inside of you is the most amazing experience ever.

As Connie listened to Rita reassuring Holly, she felt as if she was 17 again too, she craved this comfort and advice, she needed it, her head was a complete and utter jigsaw puzzle and she longed for somebody, anyone to help her fit the pieces together.

3 weeks later

It was a Sunday afternoon on a beautiful sunny American beach and as mother and daughter finished making their masterpiece of a sand castle together, Connie watched on before turning to Grace and saying, "How about we build a sand castle, darling?"

Grace rolled her eyes, wiping the ice cream that had gone around her mouth, away, "Sand castle's are for babies." Connie laughed, and ran her hand gently through her daughter's long brown hair, smiling.

"You need to put some more sun cream on, baby. I don't want you to burn." She whispered gently, reaching in her bag as Grace started to stand up, "I'm going in the sea. Are you coming?" She stood over her mother with her hands on her hips.

Connie held the bottle of factor 50 up to her daughter with a raised eyebrow, "This first."

After an argument started by Mrs Beauchamp about the application of sun cream and a tantrum thrown by Grace, the two finally made it into the stunning waves. The sun shone brightly over the clinical lead's daughter, and Connie found herself gazing at her little girl. She was perfect, she really was. In fact, she'd never laid her eyes on something quite as beautiful as Grace. And this was the moment that Connie realised her baby was the biggest and best achievement in her life.

"Mummy!" Grace laughed splashing some water at her mum who held her hat tightly to her head screaming.

"Grace!" She giggled, lifting her up and spinning her around in the water, much to Grace's delight and she placed her hands gently on Connie's shoulders. Both had the same radiant smile stitched across their faces, both happy to be with each other again.

Connie sat crossed legged behind her daughter as she brushed her hair after a long but fun filled day at the beach. They was happy to be back in the hotel. She listened to Grace's stories with a smile on her face but the surgeon felt upset that she hadn't been there to experience these small moments in the past few months with her. She felt sad that she'd missed a lot of little special moments of Grace's life. A feeling of guilt swept through Connie, hitting her like a train.

"So that's why I've decided that I want to be Police woman when I'm older." Grace smiled proudly, turning to face her mum, "What did you want to be when you grew up?"

"You'd be the best police woman ever!" Connie smiled and then thought. She could only ever really remember wanting to be a doctor, but then she thought back to her 9 year old self. "When I was your age, I wanted to be a ballerina."

The little girl tilted her head to the side and frowned in confusion, "Then why are you not a ballerina now?"

This made Mrs Beauchamp laugh and she replied, "I began to like Science."

"Science is booooooring. Me and London hate it and Mrs Chambers. She is so horrible. She always calls London 'Paris' because that's her little sister's name, and London hates that." Grace rolled her eyes, trying to rid the image of her horrid Science teacher out of head, "London hates her little sister. She says she's really annoying but I think she's really funny. London's lucky. She has a sister to play with and she has a cute baby brother too."

"What's his name? Sidney?"

"No, his name's Adam?" Grace replied, a little confused, "Why would it be Sidney?"

"Oh never mind." Connie laughed slightly, bemused by his name.

Grace turned around and looked at her mum, "I want a sister called Selena or Ariana and a brother called Harry." Connie's eyes widened, at the fact Grace even had names for her dream siblings.

"Selena or Ariana and Harry?" She repeated slowly staring at her daughter.

"Yes. I mean, obviously you would be the Mum so I'd let you choose between Selena and Ariana." Grace told Connie leaving her Mum with a amused smile on her face.

"Grace I-" She stopped, for the first time since she'd discovered she was expecting, she actually felt like sharing her news and celebrating it.

"What?"

"Doesn't matter. Come on, let's go to bed. It's getting late, sweetheart."

After Grace speaking so fondly of having siblings, it had thrown her mother into a complete state of confusion. Connie knew that she needed somebody to confide in, and as she scrolled through her contacts, she hesitantly stopped at her friends name and dialled his number.

"What am I supposed to do!? Charlie I couldn't make the decision... What do you mean 'maybe it was supposed to happen'!? Don't be so absurd... I can't have one child with me and my other one half way across the world!... Grace said she'd like a sister or brother but she's just a child, Charlie, she says things depending on her mood. Grace is a child who likes all attention on her, I know my own daughter, she'd hate a sibling to suddenly come along out of nowhere...My life is far too busy at the moment to have something as big as this to come into it." Connie sat down on the bed in her hotel and lowered her voice, the sadness evident to her friend, "But I can't get rid of my baby, Charlie. It isn't going to fit into my life, I know it won't. But when I sat at that awful clinic, all I could picture in my head was Grace. My little girl, she's so perfect and precious. And that's when I thought, I could give someone else, someone else who deserves something so perfect and precious, a chance to be a parent."