Disclaimer: Doc Martin, the program and characters are the property of Buffalo Pictures.

CHAPTER TWO

Louisa watched Martin in silence as he drove them to their hired cottage. Many of the villagers had desperately tried to find out the location of their honeymoon destination but as yet, as far as they knew their secret had remained just that. Neither of them liked big crowds and a small cottage just to themselves without phones or constant interruptions seemed like heaven to them both.

Louisa had been feeling the stress of the wedding all day and the comments from all of the villagers had really upset her. She feared that if Martin hadn't pulled her to him in such a loving embrace when he had, she might have made a horrible mistake and called off the wedding. Thankful that Martin would never need to know of her last minute misgivings Louisa sat back in her comfortable seat and looked at the scenery as they approached their destination.

Eventually they arrived and Martin got out of the car and then walked around and opened Louisa's door. Releasing the boot of the car with his remote he removed their luggage and together they walked to the door of the cottage. Placing their cases on the ground, Martin then began the search for the front door key.

Eventually finding it, he was able to open the door. Turning around he did something he'd dreamed of doing ever since proposing to Louisa. Bending over Martin picked Louisa up and carried her over the threshold. Louisa hadn't expected such a romantic gesture on Martin's part and was quite ready to actually remind him of the tradition so was pleasantly surprised when he scooped her up and she found herself cuddled into his arms.

As Martin put her down he kissed her briefly before collecting their bags and brought them inside, shutting the door behind him. Their food for the week was also in the boot but he decided to bring that in later on. Looking around the cottage they saw a small but serviceable kitchen, a living area with a comfortable sofa and an armchair facing an open fireplace that was set and ready to be lit. Down a small hall was a tiny bathroom, a small laundry and a large bedroom, complete with a new bed according to the people that had rented the cottage to them.

Martin took their luggage and placed it in their room. "Are you hungry? It's been a long day and we skipped the reception, I can cook us a meal if you'd like?"

"That would be lovely Martin" Louisa replied, thinking that it would give her an opportunity to get out of her wedding dress and into something more comfortable.

"I'll just get changed and come and give you a hand with the meal." Louisa disappeared into their bedroom and Martin went back out to the car to get their supplies for the week.

When he returned he heard Louisa calling to him. "Martin, you won't believe it, I could just kill Pauline" her angry voice could be heard from the front door.

Leaving the food on the kitchen table Martin hurried in to their room to see what the problem was. "Just look at this. Someone, and I'm guessing it was Pauline or Isobel, has been through my suitcase and altered my packing. I've only got one thing to wear out in public and the rest of my clothes have been replaced by these" Louisa started pulling out various forms of lingerie in many shades, shapes and sizes. "I'm going to kill her."

"Ah, mmm, umm" Martin replied with his eyes riveted on the garments strewn across their bed. "Maybe some of my clothes would be suitable for around the house" opening his case Martin started to search for his sleeping t-shirts, and in his case found that much the same had happened to him. "I'd say it's Pauline, she's the only one who had access to both of our houses today and as I'm her employer I get the privilege of killing her first. What did she think she was playing at?" Martin stormed as he looked at his case that had had some additions to it since he last packed. Fortunately his original packing was still in place but in addition to his packing, it now contained underwear of a variety of shades and styles and a pair of boxer shorts that were sitting on top that were emblazoned with the words 'world's greatest lover'.

"I'll kill her, and I swear that if she wasn't the only qualified phlebotomist in town, she'd be in the unemployment queue as soon as I return to work".

"I don't know Martin, I think these would look quite cute on you" Louisa said as she held up the boxers.

"Not as cute as this would look on you" Martin said holding up a sheer nightgown from the pile that was lying on the bed.

"I'll tell you what" Louisa said "how about we get the fire going so it's not so cold in here and I'll model this if you model the boxers. Would you say that's a fair exchange? But first I need to get out of my wedding dress. Can I wear one of your shirts please Martin, I've nothing else left that I can put on that will keep me warm?"

After finding a shirt for Louisa, Martin headed out to light the fire. Once it was burning well he heated up some soup in the kitchen and they ate it with some toast at the small table. Finally no longer hungry Louisa picked up their plates and took them to the sink. As she leaned forward to begin washing them, Martin who had been admiring her beautiful figure was unable to hold himself back any longer. He came up behind her, turned her around and pulled her to him for a brief kiss.

Louisa kissed Martin back, and was soon opening and removing his suit jacket to get closer to him. Louisa's response emboldened Martin further and he began to run his hands along her back. Their height difference made it hard for him to do much more at the moment so lifting Louisa up he carried her to their bed. Throwing their suitcases on to floor they continued undressing and when they were finally down to their underwear Louisa asked Martin if he had brought the condoms in with him. No longer thinking clearly, Martin had to stop and think where they were, until finally remembering that he had some in the glove box of his car for emergencies and the others were still in his toilet bag in his suitcase. Groaning in frustration he was just about to dig through his case to find his toiletry bag when he found several small packets on the floor. Apparently Pauline had struck again and filled one or both of their cases with a multitude of condoms.

"Here's one" Martin said as he looked at the packet in his hand. Looking at the fine print he noticed that it was supposedly strawberry flavoured. A piece of information he decided to keep to himself, 'what on earth was Pauline thinking?' he thought to himself. Sorry to have slowed down the momentum Louisa pulled Martin down to her for another kiss and he was soon lost to rational thought once again.

Later on they snuggled up to each other, Louisa laying in Martin's arms with Martin holding her to him gently just enjoying being in each other's company with no interruptions, or fear of any interruption. "I'm so glad we chose such a deserted place for our honeymoon Martin, we've never really managed to get any time together for ourselves, between your job and mine, not to mention my pesky neighbours we can never seem to manage any time to ourselves." Louisa said.

"I've been thinking about that and I think it would be good if we can buy a house a bit further out of town. The surgery's not really equipped for a quiet life and your cottage is going to be too small for the two of us. If we ever want to be able to spend any time together without constant interruptions I think we really need to move, don't you?" Martin stroked Louisa's arm gently as he looked to her for her thoughts on the matter.

"That's a lovely idea Martin but the houses on the edge of town are very pricey, could we really afford one?"

"I've looked at the prices and with our two wages, plus the money I receive from several investments we can comfortably afford to buy one of them if you think you'd be happy there."

"I'd love it Martin that would be perfect. We'd still be close enough to the school and the surgery to get to work easily, but not so close that we'd be continually interrupted by the villagers. Can we start house hunting as soon as we get back?"

"As soon as you'd like" Martin was thrilled with Louisa's response to his suggestion and pulled her closer to him staring into her eyes adoringly. He felt so content at this very moment that he almost shuddered at the thought that he nearly let the words of the Reverend Porter ruin this day for him.

Seeing the look of complete adoration in her husband's eyes, Louisa pulled him to her for a kiss and once more their passion ignited. The next morning Louisa felt a bit washed out but put it down to the previous long day. Getting up she went to have her shower then came back to their room wrapped in a towel. Putting on a sheer nightgown with matching dressing gown she sat down on the bed to do her hair. Martin watched in fascination before eventually getting up to have his shower. When he returned he found the boxers that Pauline had put in his suitcase sitting on the bed.

"You said you'd model these for me, remember?" a laughing Louisa smiled into his eyes as she held the offending garment up to him. Pretending reluctance he was far from feeling, Martin took them from her and put them on. Louisa sat back and enjoyed the view of her husband dressing in front of her and in clothes that she had personally selected.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Louisa asked as she headed out to the kitchen. The day was quite chilly still so Martin topped up the fire while Louisa made them a nice breakfast. Martin enjoyed his porridge but was continually distracted by Louisa's dressing gown slowly coming undone to reveal the sheer nightgown underneath. By the time breakfast had finished Martin was no longer feeling chilly and was in fact feeling quite warm, and when Louisa looked up to see his burning gaze she began to feel a touch warm herself.

As far as honeymoons go Martin and Louisa didn't do a lot of sightseeing and in fact saw very little apart from the inside of their cottage and in particular their bedroom, yet as far as they were concerned their honeymoon had been perfect. They had managed to spend the whole time without unwanted interruptions and they had grown much closer as a result. When it was time to leave and go back to their real life they were both sad to see the end of their shared idyll, and both determined to purchase their own house as soon as possible.