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

CHAPTER THREE

Returning to Portwenn late in the evening, Martin and Louisa made their way to Martin's house. They had no desire to come into contact with Louisa's new neighbours the Oakwood's, or any of the other villagers on their first night back, so decided that Martin's house was the better option out of their two homes.

Being very tired they wearily made their way up to the master bedroom and prepared for bed, and were soon fast asleep. Several hours later Martin was awakened by the sound of Louisa being violently ill. Following her to the bathroom he saw her reeling from the violent spasm of vomiting that had just affected her. Getting Louisa's glass of water from beside their bed Martin brought it in and offered it to her, placing his hand on her forehead in concern to test her temperature.

"Thanks for the water Martin, sorry to wake you. I woke up feeling rotten and had to race to the bathroom to be sick. I'm feeling a bit better now fortunately." Louisa refilled her glass and had another drink of water then decided to brush her teeth. Gently Martin took her glass from her and put it down pulling her into a gentle embrace.

Leading Louisa back to their bed he helped her to get back under the covers as he stroked her hair and forehead gently. "You've been feeling off for quite a while now Louisa, haven't you?"

"Just a bit off colour, and never this bad before" she responded in a weak voice.

"I know it's highly unlikely, but is there any possibility that you may be pregnant? Have you had your period since the night you accepted my proposal?" Martin asked gently.

Thinking back, and calculating the timing in her head Louisa paled significantly before replying in a small voice. "No, now I think about it, I haven't, but it's usually quite irregular so I hadn't thought about the possibility of pregnancy yet. I know the condom broke on the evening of your proposal but the chances of me getting pregnant from our first time and at our ages, surely the likelihood would have to be pretty slim wouldn't you think?"

"I agree that it's unlikely but considering that the condom did break, it's not impossible wouldn't you agree? How about I go downstairs and get a pregnancy test kit and we can check right now, that will at least eliminate one possible reason for your ill health lately and help me to find the correct diagnosis?"

"OK Martin, it's probably a good idea" Louisa said quietly as Martin got out of bed, put on his dressing gown and slippers and headed downstairs. It wasn't too long before he was back with a pregnancy test kit and a sample jar.

Martin silently handed the sample jar to Louisa who took it and headed to the bathroom, her mind reeling at the possibility that she could actually be pregnant. Returning just a few minutes later Louisa gave the sample to Martin who used a pipette to place a drop of urine on the test strip then turned to Louisa to hold her to him as they waited anxiously for the results. After what seemed like ages, but was in fact only minutes they looked at the test strip and were both struck dumb by the result that was staring them right in the face.

"We're going to have a baby" Louisa said in a whisper, still not comprehending the results fully. "I'm going to be a father" Martin said in disbelief looking at the results once again.

Suddenly the reality of the situation seemed to sink in and a small smile started to spread on Martin's face along with a look of fear, hope and pride mixed all together. Louisa seeing this started to lose some of her fears and began to hope that all was going to be alright after all.

"I hope you're happy Martin, I know we discussed having a family in a year or so and this is earlier than we planned but now that the shock is wearing off, I'm so happy that I'm going to have your baby."

Martin pulled Louisa into him and just rested his chin on her head as she snuggled into his warmth. "I never ever thought that I would ever be a father and I will admit to you that the thought does scare me as I've never really had any positive experiences with my own father. The thought of you having my child fills me with terror and joy at the same time. I love you so much Louisa and I will do all in my power to make your pregnancy as easy as possible."

Martin gently led Louisa back to bed and helped her to get back under the covers as he removed his dressing gown and slippers and got back in his side. "Aunty Joan will be over the moon of course but I suggest we wait a few weeks to get used to the idea ourselves first before we tell anyone else."

"I think that's a good idea Martin, its early stages yet and I'd like to keep the secret just between us for a while before we let anyone else in on it." Wrapped in each other's arms they soon fell back to sleep.

In the morning they were both wakened by sunlight streaming through a crack in the bedroom curtains. "Morning Daddy", Louisa said to Martin as she gave him a good morning kiss.

"Morning Mummy" Martin said in an equally teasing tone. With both Louisa and Martin still being on leave there was no immediate need to get up and out of bed apart from hunger, so Martin told Louisa to stay where she was while he brought her up some breakfast in bed. Louisa feeling tired after her disturbed night was more than happy to comply.

Moving about the kitchen, Martin smiled to himself at the thought of Louisa being pregnant with his child. If he had been asked if he wanted children his immediate response would probably have been no, but knowing that he had impregnated Louisa had made his feelings alter in such a way that he himself could not quite believe it. Bustling around the kitchen he soon had a meal prepared. He was just about to take it upstairs when there was a knock on the kitchen door and a Yoohoo from his Aunty Joan on the other side.

Martin opened the door with some reluctance and looked down at Joan who was holding a home made casserole in her hands.

"It's OK Marty, I'm not here to stay but thought I'd drop this off while I was doing my regular deliveries. I didn't think you would have had enough time to stock up your cupboards after your honeymoon and would appreciate not having to cook dinner."

"Uhmm, thanks Aunty Joan" Martin said taking the casserole from her. "I'm sure that will be lovely."

"No problems Marty, I'll let you get back to what you were doing" said Joan noting the absence of Martin's usual pyjama bottoms under his dressing gown, and thinking to herself that she was definitely intruding.

Closing the door behind her, Martin put the casserole in the fridge and took the breakfast tray upstairs to Louisa. When he opened the door he found her fast asleep with her hair strewn across the pillow. She looked so peaceful and beautiful that Martin didn't want to wake her. Setting the tray down on his bedside table he removed his dressing gown and slippers and got in beside her. Louisa, on feeling Martin return to the bed opened her eyes and noticed the lovely breakfast that he had prepared. Sitting up she asked Martin to pass the tray and the two of them enjoyed a peaceful meal together.

"Joan dropped by a few minutes ago and left us a casserole for dinner" Martin said as he ate his porridge.

"That was nice of her I must remember to thank her when I see her next, Joan makes a delicious casserole."

"Mmm" Martin replied as he drank his morning coffee. "I thought it would be good to start looking at houses today. Now that you're pregnant I think it's even more important that we find a place with more room and that isn't always infested with infectious persons."

"How about we go for a drive this afternoon" Louisa agreed, "I'm still feeling all warm and snugly and don't want to get up yet."

"We can't stay in bed all morning" Martin argued, "we'll never get anything done."

"Really?" said Louisa as she started running her hand down Martin's chest "I can think of several things we could do while we're here."

Martin, finally getting the picture decided that Louisa was right after all and that house hunting could definitely wait until the afternoon.

Some time after lunch Martin and Louisa drove around the outskirts of the village where the larger houses were situated. After looking at several from the outside and disregarding them straight away they eventually came across a good sized family home with a lovely view of the coast, that apart from one house next to it on one side and one across the road from it, was fairly segregated from any other properties. Yet it was not too far from their respective work places. Noticing the number of the estate agent on the for sale sign Martin placed a call immediately and was informed that the owner was happy to either rent or sell the house, with a preference for a sale as they had moved abroad. He said he'd be right over to give them a tour if they'd like. Martin and Louisa agreed in the affirmative and it wasn't long before they were inspecting the house.

The house's layout was very practical and well designed and Martin and Louisa had pretty much already decided on the purchase before they had even looked upstairs where they found four good sized bedrooms, with one already painted in bright colours to suit a young baby.

Coming back downstairs they submitted an offer for the agent to take back to the vendor and headed home to wait for a counter offer. When the agent rang them back several hours later with an acceptance of their price they were stunned and elated and organised to begin renting the property at once while they waited for the sale to go through.

Martin had decided that he wished to leave the surgery furnished in case he had to provide lodgings for a locum should he and Louisa ever decide to travel away for any period of time. Therefore much of the furniture in their new house was from Louisa's cottage or newly purchased from a shopping trip they made to Truro together.

Thanks to an excellent team of removal men and rapid delivery of furniture from Truro, Louisa and Martin were able to move into their lovely new house within the week and were just now preparing for Joan to arrive for their housewarming dinner.

"Martin, do you think we should tell Joan about the baby? It's been over a week now and I'm bursting to tell someone."

Looking down at his wife who was smiling at him cajolingly Martin replied "I think so, but I'd rather not tell anyone else as yet."

"That's fine with me, but I can't wait to see Joan's face when we tell her."

Any further discussion was cut short as Joan arrived, very excited to see their new house. "What a lovely home. You two have been busy, you certainly don't muck around do you? One minute you're engaged, 3 weeks later you're married, one week back from honeymoon you've moved, you don't have any other surprises in store for me do you?" she asked jokingly.

Louisa seized the opportunity and decided to take the bull by the horns "but wait, there's more" Louisa said jokingly.

"Very funny Louisa, surely there can't be any more, you haven't had time to do anything else have you?"

"Well apparently we managed to find some time for this particular surprise. If you follow me I'll show you what it is."

Joan followed Louisa meekly upstairs and Martin wondered just how Louisa planned to break the news until he saw Louisa leading Joan to the room decorated for a baby.

"I hope you like this room Joan, because next year we hope that you'll be seeing a fair bit of it."

Joan looked at Louisa wondering what she could possibly mean until she saw the room. The expression on her face was amazing to see. First a look of incomprehension, then a look of hope, followed by a questioning look.

"Are you telling me you're pregnant?" Joan asked hoping against all hope, yet not wanting to get her hopes too high in case she was misreading the situation.

"Yes, you're going to be a grandmother Aunty Joan" Martin said as she ran into his arms and hugged and kissed him thoroughly, followed by Louisa.

"I can't believe it, you've only been married for two weeks and you're going to have a baby already" Joan seriously thought of mentioning the word contraception to them both, but was so happy she decided to be good.

"This is between the three of us only for the moment Joan, you must keep this to yourself for a little while" Louisa said sternly.

"I can do that, I'm just so happy for you both. Don't forget I'm happy to babysit at any time or on any day, just name it and I'll be there" Joan was beside herself with joy and could barely contain her excitement.

It was a lovely evening, they shared a delicious meal, and Joan's ebullient mood was contagious. Eventually Joan decided it was time to go home and after seeing her off, Martin and Louisa headed up to their new bedroom and prepared for bed. Finally comfortably settled they turned off their bedside lamps and cuddled into each other.

"Joan was right you know, things have certainly gone fast for us, especially when you consider how long it took for us to actually get together. Ironic isn't it?"

Martin considered Louisa's words and replied "Very likely, but as far as I'm concerned I'm where I want to be for the rest of my life. I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the world, I finally have a home and not a house and we're going to have a child together. After so many years of nothing, I find that within the last couple of weeks I now have everything. There is absolutely nothing else that I could possibly ever want or need. Thank you Louisa, you have made it all possible. Not only are you my beautiful wife, but you're going to be a lovely Mum" saying this he pulled Louisa to him and showed her in actions as well as words just how much she had come to mean to him.

The End

Thanks to all who have read, especially to those who have reviewed.