Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
Duty Bound - Chapter 23
As Louisa and Luke sat having their breakfast one morning during half term week, Martin walked into the kitchen carrying his medical bag, having been called out earlier that morning. When his 'on call' duties covered these hours, he started his surgery later to compensate.
"Hope I didn't disturb you too much when I went out," he apologised. His phone ringing in the quiet of the night or early morning was always disturbing, however low he turned the ringer down, he knew. But Louisa didn't want him to sleep in the spare room any more even when he was on call. She had got used to going back to sleep when he went out, what she found much harder was trying to sleep in their bed by herself, especially as she loved the way that Martin liked to cuddle up to her and put his hand on her belly before he went to sleep. Louisa couldn't wait for him to be able to feel the baby kick and move, she knew that he would be really thrilled by it. Her big tough, gruff Martin had turned into a big softie as far as this pregnancy was concerned, it was a side of him she could never have imagined, or rather she never let herself imagine, when she'd been pregnant alone and in London. He regularly brought home his foetal heart monitor, and on the pretext of 'checking her over' listened to the baby's heartbeat, both of them wearing big silly grins on their faces as they listened. She was being more relaxed about letting him fuss and look after her, because it let him show how much he cared, how much he'd changed – at least in showing how he felt, she knew that actually he had always been very sensitive and caring under that hard exterior that he chose to show the world.
"No, it's fine, I quickly went back to sleep," she replied, kissing his cheek as he made himself some coffee. "Why don't you go and rest before you have to go to work, I'll keep Luke as quiet as possible for you."
Luke was preoccupied at the moment – Louisa had bought a new bowl for him, one that had a big sucker on the bottom to fix it to his high chair tray, and he was trying very hard to lift it and to work out why he couldn't.
"No, it's not worth it, I'm wide awake now," Martin replied. His call out had been to a young child with breathing difficulties, and even though the boy had now gone off to hospital in an ambulance, his mind was still very active analysing all the symptoms and possible diagnosis.
Soon after they had started sleeping together, they'd agreed that it was not a good idea to start any romantic activities if Martin was on call, there was nothing more frustrating that having to stop when his phone rang, as it invariably did at a critical moment. Bearing in mind Louisa's current needs, Martin thought he'd better say something to her.
"So er...I don't think I can easily come back at lunchtime today with it being a late start for my surgery session this morning, so I suggest that maybe we have an early night tonight instead, if you still... umm... 'need' me," Martin said to her. She'd told him it was his duty to satisfy her needs and he was going to be very conscientious in not neglecting these duties for as long as they lasted.
"Sounds perfect to me," Louisa replied, cuddling him from behind and leaning against him.
"So, what are you going to do today, what are your plans?" Martin asked her, to distract him from the response that her close physical contact always elicited from him.
"Well, Luke isn't going to nursery, we are going to have a lovely day together, aren't we?" Louisa told Luke as he banged his spoon in his porridge in frustration at not being able to pick up his bowl.
"I thought that while I'm playing with him, I can sort out his toys and put away some of them that he doesn't play with any more. I need to go up in the loft anyhow, I'm struggling to fit into a lot of my normal clothes, and I've got all my maternity clothes stored up there that I need to sort through before I buy any more, so I thought that I could put the toys away at the same time," Louisa explained.
"You're not going up in the loft by yourself, that means going up the ladder and climbing over things up there," Martin told her, horrified.
"Oh for goodness sake Martin, we've got a proper loft ladder, and all I want to do is put a bag up and get a bag down, nothing heavy or difficult. Don't worry so much," Louisa told him.
"No, Louisa, I really would prefer it if you waited until I'm home, and then I'll do it for you," Martin pleaded with her.
"Well I suppose I could get everything bagged up ready, and then you could give me a hand when you get home. But it really isn't necessary," Louisa sighed "Anyway, later on Joan's coming down and we're going to walk down to the playground with Luke, he loves the swings there."
"You're going to brave the village – good luck to you then, hope you've got all day," Martin told her, thinking about his experience with the nosy villagers wanting to know all about Louisa's pregnancy.
xXx
Of course, all the toys that Luke had shown no interest in at all for ages suddenly became a lot more interesting as soon as she tried to put them away, as fast she put things in the bag, he was pulling them out again, so Louisa gave up, deciding that it was a job better done while he was having a nap. So she took him upstairs with her, making sure to close the stairgate. She started to sort through her clothes, putting those that were too tight in a pile on the bed. Having taken her eyes off Luke for just a minute, she realised that he had gone into their ensuite bathroom, and was happily putting yards of toilet paper into the toilet pan - it was already quite full. Blast Martin for not putting the lid down this morning – she supposed he'd been in a rush going out to his call.
"Luke, no!" she told him. He looked up at her, pointed and said 'Look.. water', before putting some more paper in. He was fascinated because the paper changed as it absorbed the water.
"I said 'no'Luke." Louisa now picked him up, carried him out and firmly shut the bathroom door. Luke didn't like this one bit, and cried and struggled to get down.
"Come on, let's go into your room and find something else to do," Louisa said to distract him. She sighed, realising that there was no point in trying to get anything done with Luke on the loose, she might as well just enjoy playing with him until Joan came.
When Joan arrived, she walked round to the kitchen, looked through the window before opening the door and calling out 'onlyme'.The kitchen looked as if a bomb had hit it. Luke had finally managed to prise his bowl away from the highchair tray, and it had taken him by surprise as the sucker had suddenly released the bowl, flinging the contents everywhere. Louisa had decided to clear up the mess when Luke was asleep later, it was too difficult with him trying to 'help'.
"We're up here Joan," Louisa called down to her.
As Joan made her way to the stairs, she saw toys all over the lounge floor as she glanced in, and she smiled to herself as she remembered Martin's clinically tidy house before Luke's arrival. She went upstairs and saw Louisa's pile of clothes on the bed and on the floor – Luke had found it fascinating pulling them off the bed, once he started pulling they just slid down, he discovered.
"I see you've been having great fun young man," Joan said, holding out her arms to Luke. He laughed and went to her, saying 'Nannie' – he couldn't quite manage 'Grannie' yet. Joan was more than happy to be called 'Nannie' by him, any version of the title was fine by her.
"I can't get anything done with him around, that's for sure," Louisa told her with a resigned sigh.
"Not worth trying, is it, that's what we say, don't we Luke?" Joan said to Luke, who chuckled in agreement as she cuddled and kissed him.
"I know you're right, but I've got so much to get sorted this week while I'm off, but I didn't want to send Luke to nursery every day. I thought he'd let me do something, but no..." Louisa laughed too as Luke was now shaking his head and saying 'no' with her.
"Look why don't I take him to the swings and let you get on for a bit?" Joan suggested. "You'll get things sorted in no time at all without your 'helper'."
"Would you mind? If I come to the village we'll be ages judging by Martin's experience of people wanting to know all about our new baby," Louisa said as she patted her tummy.
"Why don't you give me his lunch to take? We can have a little picnic, it's a lovely autumnal day out there, then he can make as much mess as he likes and it won't matter. And maybe then he might have a nap in his buggy if we have a slow walk back afterwards," Joan suggested. Luke had started to be difficult about having his nap, meaning that he was tired and grouchy by late afternoon when it was too near to bedtime to let him have a sleep.
"Yes, well, maybe that would be a good idea if you don't mind. You've seen the mess in the kitchen of course. Was Martin like this? Into everything, so inquisitive and ..." Louisa struggled to find the right words.
"Difficult? Yes he was, but it was only because he was such an intelligent little boy. He needed to understand everything, how things worked, how they came apart. Looks as if Luke is a chip off the old block I'd say," Joan explained. She thought she wouldn't tell Louisa just yet about the dead animals dissected on her kitchen table because Martin wanted to understand their anatomy – that didn't happen until he was a fair bit older after all.
xXx
As Louisa finished packing away her clothes that no longer fitted, having quickly cleared up the kitchen and lounge once Luke had gone out with Joan, she heard the phone ringing so went to answer it.
"Hi, it's me. Wasn't sure if you'd be in or not, thought you might be out with Joan, going to the park," Martin said.
He was still worried that Louisa was going to go up in the roof by herself,. He was concerned that she might have another fainting spell if she was lugging bags up and down the ladder, so he wanted to check up on her and remind her not to do it until he got home. He knew what she was like after all, last time she'd been shifting heavy furniture around at seven months pregnant, and Joan was just as bad, she'd been helping her, even with her osteoporosis.
"No, Joan's taken him out to let me finish my sorting. It was a nightmare with Luke 'helping' me, but now I've got it done in just a few minutes by myself," Louisa explained.
"Oh I see. So you haven't been up in the loft yet." Martin was relieved.
"No, I've only just finished bagging it all up," Louisa told him. She had been planning to go up in the roof if she'd got all the bags ready, but now realised that the lecture she would have to endure from Martin wouldn't be worth it. Let him squeeze himself up into the cramped roof space to find the bags she needed if that's what he insisted on, she decided.
"Good, I'll do it tonight for you. All by yourself are you then?" Martin asked her.
"Yes, Joan's taken a picnic for her and Luke to have at the park, and then she's going to take him for a long walk in the hope that he'll go to sleep in the buggy," Louisa told him.
"Actually I've had a couple of cancellations, so I could come home at lunch time, if you... umm...need me for anything at all?" Martin suggested. He wasn't sure how long this current phase of Louisa's was going to last – a couple of days, a couple of weeks – if he was really lucky a couple of months maybe? He supposed that a lot depended on how quickly her bump expanded. In her first pregnancy she'd already been pretty big when she'd first returned to the village at six months pregnant. Her naturally slim figure meant that the bump had been pretty obvious, so he was guessing that she would probably be the same this time round.
"Well Martin, I'm sure that I could find something for you to do for me," Louisa quickly responded.
"Well then hopefully I'll be back about 1:30 today, and my first afternoon appointment now isn't until 3:15 but I really will need to eat something this time," Martin said to her. His early start on the call out meant that he was now rather hungry - last time he'd come home he hadn't actually got round to eating any lunch. Pauline had looked at him very oddly when she'd found him in the kitchen searching for something to eat when he'd just been home for lunch.
"I'll make you a sandwich, it'll be ready and waiting for you after you've competed your... duties," Louisa promised him.
xXx
This time when Martin reached their bedroom he had already removed his jacket and tie and was quickly undoing his shirt. He needed no persuasion to join Louisa in bed, the anticipation created by their phone call meant that he was pretty keen and eager. However the way that Louisa had acted towards him last time had played on his mind, it had been different and exciting to him, so he found himself whispering to her,
"Say it again, what you said to me last time, tell me exactly what you want me to do."
This time it was Louisa that was a little shocked, but she repeated the same earthy words that she had used last time, to the same great affect. Their lovemaking was intense and quick, with no need for any elaborate foreplay.
Afterwards, as they happily cuddled together, Martin started to ask,
"Louisa, last time when you were pregnant, did you..."
But their conversation was cut short by the sound of the kitchen door opening and then slamming closed, as Joan returned with Luke. They had been too preoccupied to notice that it had started raining, meaning that Joan had cut short her walk. Luke had already gone to sleep in the buggy anyway, so she'd decided to bring him home to carry on his nap. Usually once he'd gone off he slept pretty soundly, so she tucked his buggy in the corner of the kitchen for him to continue his snooze, snoring gently. He definitely took after Louisa in some things, Martin liked to point out.
"Only me, back from our walk a bit early because it's started raining," Joan called upstairs.
"Ah... umm, I'm just trying on some of my clothes Joan, I'll be down in a minute," Louisa quickly shouted back down.
"OK, I'll pop the kettle on, make a nice cuppa," Joan called back.
"Come on, you'd better get some clothes on pretty damn quick," Louisa said, pushing Martin out of bed as she also leapt out and started throwing her clothes back on.
After a few minutes, Martin appeared in the kitchen.
"Oh hello Marty, come home for your lunch have you?" Joan had seen his car outside on the drive, so she'd made sure that she'd made a lot of noise as she came into the empty kitchen, just in case. Probably a wise move looking at the state of him, she thought with a knowing little smile to herself. She would have disappeared for a while longer, but it was tipping down with rain now.
"Ah...umm.. yes, that's right, and to help Louisa put something up...in the loft," he replied, not looking her in the eye. Not all his shirt buttons were done up, nor was it tucked in properly, Joan noticed. He'd certainly been helping Louisa to put somethingup, that was obvious.
Louisa now appeared in the kitchen too. She looked very healthy and flushed, her cheeks were glowing, Joan noticed as well.
Why on earth it had taken these two so many years to get together when they obviously couldn't keep their hands off each other, Joan was at a loss to understand. Once this next baby was born, they would certainly have to make sure they got a reliable contraceptive sorted out, otherwise they would be having a very large family indeed the way they were going on, she thought to herself.
xXx
That evening Martin undertook Luke's bedtime routine because he'd been out in the morning so hadn't got Luke up as he usually did. Louisa loved the fact that Martin was now so involved with his son when his job allowed him to be. He was always very thorough and efficient in handling him, but he too found it a challenge to anticipate what Luke was going to get up to next. It wasn't really naughtiness they realised, it was his naturally inquiring mind, his need to know and understand things that was emerging now that he was an active and mobile toddler. They would have to work out ways to allow him to satisfy his curiosity whilst still ensuring his safety. If this is what Martin had been like as a small child, but with parents who were not interested in allowing him to develop, Louisa could begin to understand how he had learnt to keep his feelings to himself. That was not going to happen with Luke. Neither was he ever going to be punished by being smacked or hit with a belt or being locked in a cupboard under the stairs, of that Louisa was certain. Seeing how Martin was with Luke, she knew that he wasn't capable of treating his little boy that way.
Once Luke was finally asleep for the night, they sat down together on the sofa in their lounge. Martin brought up the subject that he'd been trying to ask about when they'd been interrupted by Joan.
"So...umm..in your previous pregnancy at this stage, did you experience the same increase in your...feelings that you are now?" he asked.
"In what way?" Louisa asked him, having a pretty good idea what he wanted to know but deciding to make him spell it out.
"You know, your increased needs...your desires...your libido," Martin explained.
"You mean was I a raging nymphomaniac then too?" Louisa asked, raising her eyebrows at him.
"Well, I wouldn't have put it quite like that... I'm just curious to know if what you are experiencing with this pregnancy differs very much from your first. Just for comparison purposes," Martin tried to explain.
"It wouldn't have done me much good if I had felt the same way, I was on my own in case you've forgotten, unless I'd gone out and picked someone up off the street or hired a male escort," Louisa told him, rather annoyed at what he seemed to be implying.
"No! No that's not what I meant. I've been carrying out some research into the various hormonal side effects in pregnancy. Some findings indicate that because male foetuses produce more androgens –the sex hormone that increases libido – an increase in sexual desire in pregnancy suggests that a male child is being carried. So as you had a boy last time, I'm interested in comparing the hormonal balance of your two pregnancies to see how similar or different they are," Martin told her.
"Right. I see." Louisa smiled a little smile to herself. Typical Martin, he had to find a logical explanation, had to find the medical reason to explain why she was feeling as she did – he'd always found hormones and their effects fascinating. He seemed to be suggesting that this would be another baby boy, but she was trying not to think about that, she didn't want to know the sex of the baby until it was born. Even when she had the next detailed scan she didn't want to know – all she needed was confirmation that the baby was healthy and normal, that was all that was important as far as she was concerned.
"Actually Martin, if you want to know the truth, I felt so tired, stressed, and worried when I was pregnant on my own in London that sex was absolutely the last thing on my mind. I felt a lot happier and relaxed once I was settled back here in the village, but by then I was huge as I'm sure you recall, so again, sex was the last thing on my mind. And anyway, you were unavailable to me," Louisa pointed out.
"I see." Martin felt all his guilty pangs at Louisa having to cope on her own last time resurfacing. It must have been bloody awful for her if she was actually admitting it to him instead of telling him it had been fine as she usually did.
"But you are available now Martin, and with all this talk of libido and hormones, I think we should carry out some medical research of our own," Louisa told him as she moved across to straddle his lap, kissing his neck and loosening his tie. "Unless of course you're too tired, if I'm wearing you out with all my hormonally induced nymphomaniac demands." She thought it best to distract him, she didn't want him to start feeling guilty again about her time on her own in London.
"I never shirk my medical duties, Louisa, surely you know that by now," Martin responded as he pulled her closer and kissed her. He was now more determined than ever to make sure that Louisa was properly looked after and didn't have any worries this time round - which meant that he felt very torn about updating her with the latest news that he'd received about Terry Glasson.