Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property ofBuffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.

Chapter 34 - Stork Approaching …..Prepare The Gooseberry Bush

Martin was driving Louisa nutty. With just over two weeks to go until her due date, she was at the same stage of pregnancy that she'd been when she'd had Luke. Martin was extremely nervous and on edge because he was worried about getting Louisa to hospital in time once she went into labour, so he kept asking her if she was sure that she was alright, did she have any niggling pains, was her backache any worse as that could be a sign of early labour etc etc. He checked her blood pressure regularly too, and almost seemed disappointed when it was normal, Louisa felt that maybe he was looking for an excuse to get her to hospital anyway.

"Martin, for goodness sake, when the time comes believe me you will be the first to know, but for now stop questioning me all the time," she finally told him. If he didn't back off a little she felt she was going to scream at him.

Joan wasn't much better either. She usually called in most days anyhow, but recently she'd been popping in both in the morning and the afternoon on various pretexts. Louisa suspected that she was under instruction from Martin to keep an eye on her while he was at the surgery.

"I can collect Luke from Nursery for you if you like, save you having to push the buggy back up that steep hill. It's not so bad for you in the morning when it's downhill," Joan offered helpfully.

"That's very kind of you Joan, maybe I'll take you up on the offer next week, but for now I like getting out and having some fresh air. I just take it nice and easy walking back up," Louisa responded.

"Right, well, if you change your mind…." Joan told her. She was very excited about the new baby coming, she remembered how wonderful it had been the first time she'd held Luke as a new born baby, but she knew that she would be needed to look after Luke, spend time with him so that he didn't get too jealous of the new baby, which was fine with her, because it was what she loved to do anyway.

Now that she'd finally accepted some financial help from Martin, she could relax a little more knowing that all her bills were covered each month. The pressure was off with regard to growing her crops, she could just concentrate on the ones that she enjoyed growing, that didn't demand too much of her time. After Christmas she and Martin had gone out looking at new cars for her. She refused point blank to let him buy a brand new car for her when she saw how much the estate models that would suit her were, but they had compromised when they'd found one that was only just over a year old and with very low mileage, it was a much more reasonable price – although Joan still winced at the figure. However, because not that many people could afford to buy new cars due to the recession, Martin had been able to thrash out a good deal with the garage that was selling it.

Now Joan loved driving her new car. It had a heater that actually worked which was wonderful during the winter – in fact everything in it worked properly, and if it didn't, she could take it back to the garage to fix it under guarantee. She also had her own car seat for Luke in the back, meaning that she could easily transport him if required. So she was determined that she would help out in any way that she could for Martin and Louisa in return for all the help that they had given her.

xXx

"Wretched April showers," Louisa thought to herself as she slowly walked down the hill from their house. She was on her way to White Rose Cottage. The last tenants had moved out, and before the next lot moved in, she wanted to check out a few things that had been highlighted by the letting agent as needing attention. She thought she could use the time in the afternoon before she collected Luke from Nursery.

However, it was now beginning to rain quite heavily, so she decided that she might as well call into Martin's surgery to avoid getting soaked. She'd forgotten her umbrella, but these showers usually passed quite quickly, so she shouldn't have to wait long. She wasn't sure if the back door would be open – when Martin was busy in surgery he tended to lock the back to make sure that no one could just wander in, so she went in through the front entrance.

As she walked into the waiting room, all eyes turned to her. At eight and a half months pregnant she was a subject of great interest.

"Ooh, Mrs Ellingham, I'll just get the Doc for you, is it…you know….has your time come?" Pauline asked, quickly reaching for the phone to call through to Martin. She knew that he'd hit the roof if she didn't tell him straight away, he was very jumpy, telling her every morning, and again in the afternoon, that if his wife rang she was to tell him immediately.

"No, Pauline, don't bother him, there's no emergency, I'm just dodging the rain. I'll head into the kitchen, and get out of the way," Louisa said.

As she walked through the waiting room, she could feel everyone's eyes on her – well on her huge belly anyhow.

"Not long now then my dear," said Mrs Poustie, patting Louisa's bump. Why everyone felt it necessary to touch her bump, she had no idea, but they did, as if it was public property.

"Still a couple of weeks to go yet," Louisa replied with a strained smile.

"Could be early though, all of mine were early," Mrs Batty joined in, nodding knowingly.

"Yes, she's got that look about her, hasn't she?" Mrs Northcott agreed, as if Louisa wasn't there.

Louisa began to feel some sympathy for Martin's view that the villagers could be annoying.

As Louisa disappeared towards the kitchen, Pauline decided to tell Martin about her presence anyway – she didn't want to feel the rough edge of his tongue, he was obviously very concerned about Louisa and when she was going to go into labour.

"What? I'm busy," Martin answered the call. He had the locum with him who was going to stand in while he was off after the baby came. Doctor Teresa Mason seemed reasonably competent, and by having a decent handover Martin hoped that maybe he wouldn't have a disaster zone to return to. She was a middle aged woman with many years of locum experience as she enjoyed the variety of covering different surgeries. She had a no nonsense manner about her, which Martin rather approved of.

"I just thought that you'd like to know that your wife is here, that's all," Pauline told him tetchily.

"Why, what's the matter, did she say…" Martin was suddenly all attention, ignoring the patient he was with. Mr Armstrong was here for his very boring routine check up, so he didn't mind the interruption at all. In fact he was all ears listening to the conversation, trying to glean some juicy gossip.

"She said there's no emergency, she's just come in out of the rain that's all, so she's made her way to the kitchen," Pauline explained.

"Ah right. Good." Martin replied. He turned to Doctor Mason.

"Are you alright to carry on, I should just check that my wife…" he explained.

"You go right ahead, I'll be fine here," she replied, actually relieved to be allowed to get on with some doctoring by herself. She'd been warned about Martin Ellingham, brilliant doctor but not the easiest person to get on with.

Martin strode out and into the kitchen. He caught his breath as he looked at Louisa, still so beautiful even at this stage of pregnancy. He knew that Louisa thought that he was being overprotective, but he just couldn't help worrying about her, he was worried about her giving birth, worried about ensuring that she got to hospital in good time.

"Is err, everything alright?" he asked her.

"Everything is fine Martin, I'm just waiting for the shower to pass, then I'm going up to White Rose Cottage to see what the letting agent is on about with that list of problems he sent me," Louisa told him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? It's a steep walk, and you shouldn't overdo things, you should be resting, your labour could start at any time now," Martin fussed.

"I'm just going for a slow walk – or rather a slow waddle. I thought I'd check out what needs doing before I collect Luke from Nursery, that's all Martin. Nothing's going to happen just yet, I think if anything this baby will be late not early. It was only the car accident last time that made Luke come early, you know that," Louisa reassured him.

Truthfully she was getting rather bored at home. Emma was coping brilliantly in her role as Acting Head at the school, so didn't need much help from Louisa. She'd got the baby's room ready as far as she could, and had washed all the baby items. She'd packed her bag ready to take into hospital with her. Her nesting instinct had well and truly kicked in and she'd spring cleaned virtually the whole house, Also, not sleeping very well at night had given her time to reflect on a lot of things from the past, and it had made her curious to look around White Rose Cottage again.

"You will tell me won't you, I mean if you have any twinges or anything, not like last time…" Martin fretted.

"Of course I will," Louisa assured him.

"And you do have your mobile phone with you, and it is charged up, just in case you need to contact me?" Martin asked.

"Yes, I have it right here in my pocket. Now, shouldn't you get back to your patients rather than gossip idly with your wife hmm?" Louisa asked him.

"It's alright, the locum doctor is dealing with them," Martin explained.

"Oh yes, what's she like, how's she getting on?" Louisa asked.

"Seems adequate. Female patients seem to like her anyhow. I've told her not to pander to them or she'll find that her consultation times will shoot through the roof and she'll never get through the list," Martin replied.

"Ah right, well I'm sure she'll take on board all your helpful tips." Louisa felt a bit sorry for the locum, she could well imagine how controlling Martin could be, he was so conscientious about his job, and about his patients that he professed to dislike so much, that he was no doubt finding it very hard to hand everything over to someone else. Chris Parsons had assured him that Doctor Mason came very highly recommended, and was also pretty flexible with regard to dates, which was handy as they didn't know exactly when this baby was going to make its appearance. Martin was planning to take off two weeks after the birth.

"Look, it seems to have stopped raining now, so I'll be on my way. I think I'll leave by the back door rather than brave your very full waiting room again, I seem to be a topic of great interest to your patients," Louisa said.

"Yes, it would seem that a large number of villagers have nothing better to do than infest my surgery and indulge in gawping and gossiping," Martin agreed, as he went over to the back door with Louisa to see her out. He'd been subjected to a barrage of questions from nearly all his patients recently about the impending arrival of their baby.

Pauline was just walking towards the kitchen when she saw Louisa stretch up to kiss Martin on his cheek. She was surprised to see Martin reach for Louisa to return the kiss, the soft expression on his face and the clear look of love for her in his eyes catching Pauline by surprise. But as soon as he was aware of Pauline's presence, he pulled back, cleared his throat and opened the door for Louisa.

"Yes, now just make sure that you don't overdue things, give me a call if there are any…developments, otherwise I'll see you back at home," he said as Louisa left. His face was now wearing his usual stern expression, but Pauline had caught a glimpse of the Martin that usually only Louisa saw.

xXx

Louisa let herself into White Rose Cottage. She stood in the entrance area and slowly looked round. She'd let it out fully furnished when she'd left for London, it had all been very hastily arranged and it had been the simplest solution. She'd convinced herself that it was about time that she tried pastures new, thinking that Holly was right, it was claustrophobic here in the village, so maybe she should try out some new challenges in London. But in reality she'd simply been running away, unable to face everyone after the non Wedding, but most of all unable to face the thought of bumping into Martin on a regular basis.

So now she looked around, seeing her familiar pieces of furniture. Most of her small personal items had been stored away in the attic, quickly boxed up and put there before she left. She'd managed to retrieve these items between tenants, and now some of these things, such as her pictures, were hung in their house – White Rose House.

She looked fondly at her white grandfather clock and then at one of her rocking chairs which she'd forgotten about. She tried it out and thought that maybe she'd ask Martin to bring it up to their house, it was very comfortable and might be nice to sit in to nurse the baby. Then she stepped down into the kitchen, which seemed to be in reasonable condition, the letting agent had said that the oven wasn't working properly, which she was surprised about as it wasn't that old. She thought that it might well be a problem with the electrics again, this old cottage had always been a bit quirky as far as wiring was concerned. An electrician would have to be called in to have a look at it.

She stepped down again into the living area, looked round and then made her way out to the patio with its fantastic views across the harbour, and of Martin's surgery. She opened the doors and felt the fresh sea air sweep through her hair. She loved it out here, in fact she loved her little cottage, it had always felt so welcoming to her, and even today it didn't fail, she'd felt a warm rush as soon as she'd stepped through the door. She was glad that she hadn't had to sell it to help pay for their house now, she really appreciated the fact that Martin was in a financial position to complete the sale anyway, and he'd been right that it was a good investment to continue renting it out. She never had any trouble getting tenants for it as available property was so scarce in the village. The income it generated more than covered the mortgage and other expenses, leaving her with some extra income from it. Why Martin's father had been so scathing about Martin's financial skills she had no idea, because he was actually very astute, but then his father didn't really know Martin at all.

Standing out on the patio, Louisa remembered the times that she'd been out here with Martin. Although he'd never exactly said so, she was pretty sure that he'd always felt relaxed and comfortable in her cottage, despite having to mind his head on some of the beams.

She remembered fondly the time they'd been out here on the patio just after Martin had asked her to marry him. They'd been discussing their wedding, and she'd him told how the vicar had had a cancellation for three weeks time, fully expecting him to think that was far too soon for them to get married. But he hadn't, he was of the same mind as her - why wait, they wanted to get married, so just get on with it. He'd seemed surprised that she also felt that way, in fact surprised in general that she had agreed to marry him – he didn't seem to realise that she'd wanted it, dreamt of it, for so, so long.

Then he'd leant in to kiss her. A kiss that he initiated, his confidence growing now that he understood that she reallywanted to marry him. It started as a soft gentle little kiss which he broke away from to gaze at her, then he'd started kissing her again but more intently now, and Louisa found herself stretching up to him, wanting and encouraging it to develop into something more…..and then his blasted phone had rung. He had actually hesitated for a few seconds before answering it, and Louisa found herself saying,

"I don't suppose you could just ignore it, could you?" But of course, ever the professional doctor, he'd felt obliged to answer it, ending any further romantic prospects for that evening as he'd left to attend his patient. It had been like that for them on so many occasions unfortunately.

Sighing at the memory, Louisa made her way back indoors, and slowly climbed the steep narrow wooden stairs to the bedroom and bathroom.

She stood and smiled to herself as she looked in her bedroom. The room where they'd finally lost their inhibitions together. The room where Martin had completely surprised her by being such a wonderful lover. The room where Luke had been conceived.

She went over and sat on the edge of the bed, and slowly ran her hand over it. He'd been pretty amazing in bed, she'd never expected him to be so commanding, so passionate, and yet so thoughtful a lover. She'd expected him to be shy and awkward as he was in everyday life. It had been so exciting, so thrilling an experience, like nothing she'd experienced before. Somewhere along the line in his past he'd acquired some pretty impressive skills. She'd never let herself dwell on how exactly he'd learnt those skills, but knowing what she did about Edith now, it was pretty obvious. She shuddered and steeled herself to stop having those thoughts. They both had history before they met and it was no good worrying about any of that now.

She also remembered with a slight smile that although they had not felt any awkwardness in the heat of the moment whilst making love, afterwards had been a rather different story. She'd felt very shy about being naked in front of him. He might be used to seeing his patients undressed, but this was completely different, so in the morning she'd kept herself covered up while she'd reached out for her dressing gown to slip on. And as for seeing himnaked – well she had to admit that she'd been very curious to check him out properly because she'd been pretty impressed by how well endowed he'd seemed…..but he'd already been dressed when she woke up in the morning, and she'd had to wait until the next time to see him in his full glory again.

Looking at her watch and realising the time, Louisa jumped up telling herself,

'Well, this has been a lovely trip down memory lane, but now I need to get on, not long until I need to collect Luke."

With that she quickly checked the patch of mould that the agent had told her about in the corner of the bathroom. Of course if the tenants remembered to open the window after their shower or bath, it wouldn't get like that, she thought rather crossly, but it would be fairly easy to get sorted, it was nothing major.

As she made her way down the stairs, her mobile phone started to ring. She let go of the stair rail to fumble in her pocket to answer it.

"Hello Martin, let me guess you're ringing to…" she never got to finish the sentence because she lost her footing on the wooden stair and slipped, falling heavily onto her behind.

"Ow!…Oh God…." She exclaimed, dropping her phone.

"Louisa! What's the matter….Louisa…?" Martin shouted down the phone. He'd rung up to say that he would come over to the cottage to collect her so that she didn't need to walk back up the hill. He could leave the locum in charge for the last few patients.

Louisa sat on the bottom stair and reached out for her phone – luckily it was still working.

"I'm alright Martin, I just slipped on the stair," Louisa told him a little shakily. The fall had jolted her, much as falling on the hard floor in the pub had when Martin had 'helpfully' pulled a chair out for her.

"Are you sure that you're alright? Look, don't move, I'll be there in just a minute," Martin told her, quickly gathering his things together as he spoke on the phone.

"I'm fine Martin, honestly, it was just a little slip," Louisa told him, only to find that he'd hung up. Presumably he was now already on his way. She slowly heaved herself up, rubbed her bruised bottom, and went to open the front door in preparation for his arrival.

Sure enough a few minutes later she heard Martin's car pull up outside the cottage, and he ran in through the door.

"Before you ask, I'm fine Martin. I landed on my backside which is very well padded in case you hadn't noticed," Louisa told him as she sat at her table. She was feeling a little shaken up though.

"Are you sure, sounded like a nasty fall, let me check you over properly. Come and lie down on the sofa over here," he instructed her. He methodically checked her over, and listened to the baby's heart with the foetal monitor - everything seemed normal. Next he carefully palpated her bump, and as he did so, he realised that it felt different from usual.

"Is that a contraction you're having right now? Any sign of your waters breaking?" he asked her anxiously.

"That's just a Braxton Hicks contraction Martin, just a practice one, and no, my waters haven't gone, and yes I would tell you," Louisa assured him.

"But how can you tell, it could be a real one," Martin persisted.

"I get them all the time, and they don't feel the same as a real contraction, trust me I know," Louisa replied.

"But maybe you should get checked out at the hospital, just in case," Martin worried.

"You've just checked me out, I'm fine, the baby's fine, so I don't need to go to hospital, I just want to collect Luke and go home," Louisa told him firmly.

"Right. Yes, well I suppose that would be the best place for you now, I'll collect Luke while you wait in my car, then you're going home to rest – no argument, doctors orders," Martin said.

xXx

Martin was on edge all evening, watching Louisa for signs that the baby was on the way. He'd been convinced that history was repeating itself when he'd heard Louisa falling down the stairs and that the baby was going to be making a fast arrival, so his heart had been in his mouth as he'd run into her cottage. But he had to admit that she seemed fine now, she had agreed to let Martin get on with organising their supper while she rested on the settee in the lounge. It wasn't easy, as he was trying to keep Luke occupied too.

"Don't worry, Luke can stay with me while you get on," Louisa told him as she relaxed with her feet up, as instructed by Martin. Luke went and got some of his favourite books, and climbed up next to her. There wasn't a lot of room for him on her lap now, but she cuddled him up next to her while she read the books with him. He was tired after being at Nursery, so he was happy to sit with her, clutching his favourite teddy that Martin had given him. Louisa had bought several books that had stories about a new baby arriving, and they read these together now. He was too young to really understand what was happening, he was still only a baby himself, but she was trying to prepare him as best she could. Looking down at his little blonde head and his chubby little finger pointing out things in the books as he told her what they were, Louisa felt a strong surge of protective love for him. She looked up as Martin came into the room.

"Do you think we can love another baby as much as much as we love him? Is he going to be really upset by the new baby?" Louisa couldn't help fretting as she tenderly brushed his hair with her fingers.

"Bit too late to worry about all that now," he pointed out. "He'll be fine, he's in a happy secure environment after all."

"Yes, I know you're right. We'll just have to give him extra love, won't we?" Louisa agreed, giving Luke a big hug and kiss, making him giggle.

"I came in to say that supper is ready. Are you sure that you're feeling alright now?" Martin asked her, concerned.

"I'm fine Martin. Probably got a big bruise coming on my bum, that's all. Maybe you could give me one of your soothing back massages a bit later when Luke's in bed?" she suggested.

"I'm sure that could be arranged. Anyhow, come and eat," Martin said, picking Luke up and carrying him into the kitchen.

Louisa smiled as she watched them disappear together in the direction of the kitchen.

xXx

It was very early in the morning on the day that the baby was due – it was a Sunday.

Martin was woken by Louisa whispering in his ear.

"It's time Martin," she told him.

"Mmh?" Martin replied sleepily.

Louisa couldn't believe that after all his fussing and worrying she was having trouble waking him up.

"Martin! My contractions have started! Time to get to the hospital," she told him more urgently, shaking his arm.

Suddenly Martin was wide awake.

"What! Are you sure, when did they start, how far apart are they?" Martin quizzed her.

"Yes I'm sure, they started about an hour ago, and they're about ten minutes apart, but not too strong yet," she calmly told him.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" he demanded to know, leaping out of bed to get dressed.

"No point in waking you until I was sure. I've rung the maternity unit and they say I should come in now," Louisa replied. He'd been sleeping so soundly for a change that she'd decided to be really sure before she disturbed him.

"Umm, right, you'd best phone Joan to come over then, while I get dressed." Martin tried to quickly focus his brain as he tripped over trying to get dressed in a hurry. He'd run through this scenario so many times in his head but now that it was actually happening it seemed unreal.

At that moment Louisa felt another contraction coming, so she stopped what she was doing to concentrate on her breathing until it passed.

"Think you'd better make that call, Martin," she managed to tell him.

Martin quickly phoned Joan before throwing the rest of his clothes on. Louisa was already dressed ready to go in loose sweat pants and top. By the time that they had put her things and the baby seat in the car, Joan had arrived.

"Good luck, keep in touch, let me know how things go, and don't worry about Luke, he'll be fine," she told them as they got in the car to leave.

Luckily there was no traffic around at all as it was still very early in the morning. Martin kept looking over Louisa – she seemed so calm. Her contractions were coming steadily now, still about every ten minutes but maybe getting stronger. He was checking how close they were, worrying about whether they were going to get to the hospital in time.

"No sign of your waters going?" he enquired.

"No, but I'm sitting on a towel, just in case. Wouldn't want to ruin your beautiful leather seats, would we?" Louisa joked with him, before another contraction hit.

As they pulled into the hospital Martin heaved a huge sigh of relief – they'd made it without any calamity befalling them, so he could relax a little now knowing that help was to hand. Martin offered to get Louisa a wheelchair, but she told him she was OK to walk, so she slowly made her way to reception and booked herself in.

xXx

Martin was amazed at how calm Louisa was, she seemed to be coping so well. Now that they were in hospital, and everything was under control, he managed to unwind a little himself too. His worst nightmare had not come true; they had made it to the hospital safely.

Then Louisa's waters went, and everything speeded up. He held Louisa's hand, and let the midwife carry on down at the business end – he conceded that she was the expert, having only ever delivered one baby himself. He concentrated on supporting Louisa as much as he could because the pain was now very intense for her.

"Use the gas and air Louisa, nice deep breaths with it, won't be too much longer now," the midwife told her as Louisa shouted.

"I am NOT doing this EVER again Martin Ellingham, no more babies after this one, you can go ahead and have the snip."

"Fine with me," Martin agreed as he supported her while she bore down and pushed as hard as she could.

Finally the baby made its arrival into the world, and immediately started crying, much to everyone's relief.

"Is he alright Martin?" Louisa asked anxiously as the midwife quickly cleared the baby's airways.

"No….that is… I mean…it's a girl!" Martin told her in a rather surprised voice.

Louisa had been so sure that she was having another boy that she just had to ask him,

"Are you sure Martin? A girl, really?" remembering that he'd been a bit confused when he'd delivered Isabel's baby, first telling her it was a boy, then realising his mistake and hastily telling her that she had a girl.

"See for yourself," the midwife said, as she cut the cord and passed the baby to her.

"A girl, oh Martin, we've got a little girl!" Louisa cried emotionally, once she was sure.

Martin was a bit shocked – what on earth did he know about girls? Although logically he knew that there'd been a 50/50 chance of them having a girl, all he'd had been able to imagine throughout Louisa's pregnancy was having another boy like Luke, another baby the same as him. He'd just about got used to dealing with a baby boy, but a girl…well, he realised that he was just going to have to get used to it, his daughter was here now.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Louisa said, as she gazed at her baby and checked out her tiny fingers and toes.

All Martin could really see at the moment was that the baby had lots of dark hair, and a screwed up little face, but he remembered how upset Louisa had been when he'd dared to voice an observation about the shape of Luke's head when he'd been born.

"Umm…can't really tell yet," was the best that he could manage.

"Do you want to hold her, have a closer look – or would you rather wait until she's been cleaned up?" Louisa asked, wondering if any hint of his blood phobia would return at such a highly emotional time. The baby did have blood over her.

"Errr….I'd like to hold her now," Martin said, much more confident in handling babies now, but still a little scared of how tiny and new she was. The blood phobia was not rearing its ugly head at all, he didn't even think about it.

Martin carefully took the precious bundle from Louisa and looked down at the newborn baby in his arms. His and Louisa's baby. A surge of protective love washed over Martin as he studied her, even though she was still rather blue and very messy.

"Right, we need to get baby cleaned up and checked out, you can have her back in just a minute," the midwife said, taking the baby from him.

"How are you feeling now?" Martin asked Louisa, concerned. He'd felt so helpless watching her, the love of his life, going through such excruciating pain.

"Fine, a bit tired and sore, but so happy," Louisa said, taking his hand to squeeze it.

Martin leant over to tenderly kiss her cheek.

"Thank you. Thank you for going through all this. We men get off pretty lightly really in the procreation business, don't we?" Martin told her guilty.

"It was worth it Martin, worth every minute now that we've got our baby girl. Thank you for giving me a baby, for making her with me," she told him emotionally, kissing him back and hugging him hard.

After a little while, they broke apart, both rather tearful. Martin cleared his throat to cover up his feelings and then watched as the midwife cleaned the baby up, then weighed and measured her. He remembered how Luke had cried all the way through this procedure, but the little girl didn't, she gave the odd cry as she was washed but mostly she just gazed around her.

"She weighs 3.55 kilograms, that's 7lbs 13oz, and she measures 50.8 cm which converts to 20 inches long," the midwife informed them.

"Oh, so she's not as big as Luke was even though she's full term and he was early," Louisa said.

"Well it's a medical fact that boys are usually bigger than girls," Martin informed her, feeling more comfortable reverting to his medical role.

"And she's a Sabbath baby, you remember how the old rhyme goes?" Louisa said.

"What rhyme?" Martin asked, puzzled.

"Surely you remember the old rhyme about what type of child is born on each day? For Sunday it goes 'And the child that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe and good and gay". It's the best day to be born on," Louisa explained.

"Oh right, well I'm not so sure about the 'gay' bit," Martin said disapprovingly.

"Oh Martin, it just meant happy in the old days, so lets just leave it at that shall we?" Louisa told him, slightly annoyed that he always had to point out these things.

Just then the paediatrician arrived to carry out a full check on the baby, and of course Martin watched avidly to make sure that nothing was missed.

Finally all the checks were done, the baby was given the all clear, and then dressed. The midwife passed her to Martin while she checked Louisa and made her more comfortable.

Martin looked down at his and Louisa's baby. Now that she was all clean and had pinked up, he could see that she was beautiful. He still couldn't quite believe that they had produced a little girl, a daughter. She had a mass of dark spiky hair, long dark lashes, and delicate porcelain skin, just like her mother. Luke had been a definite boy right from the beginning, taking after Martin in his build and with his blonde hair, but this little one took after her mother, she was the image of Louisa, and Martin fell in love with her instantly. She lay quite contentedly in his arms and he found that he couldn't stop looking at her, wondering how he could have fathered such a beautiful little creature.

Louisa looked over at Martin as he gazed in awe at his daughter, and her heart melted to see him so entranced.

"Any suggestions as to what we're going to call her then? We rather concentrated on boys names didn't we? I thought you'd seen that we were having a boy at the scan when you didn't come up with many suggestions for girls names," Louisa told him.

"No, no, I didn't see, I just couldn't imagine ever having a girl I suppose," Martin replied as he now passed the baby to Louisa to hold.

Louisa looked intently at their baby.

"Katie Rose. I think she looks like a Katie Rose, what do you think Martin?"

"Mmm. Yes actually I rather like that, Katherine was on both our lists. As I told you, it was my Grandmother's name, and it's Joan's middle name too. Rose or maybe Roseanne is a good choice for a middle name, but I would also like her to have your name, Louisa too, just as Luke has Martin for his middle name. Maybe Katherine Roseanne Louisa," Martin suggested.

"That's a rather long name for a tiny baby, and don't you think it's a bit fancy having three names?"

"Well Luke has," Martin pointed out

"Only because we weren't married when he was born so he's got Glasson as well," Louisa reminded him. "Well we can sort out the finer details later maybe, when we've both got more used to the idea of having a daughter, but I think we agree on Katie Rose don't we? It's a very pretty name, so I think it will really suit her."

"Yes, I think it will. Look I'd better go and phone Joan and let her know our news, she'll be desperate to know," Martin suddenly thought.

"Yes, of course. Gosh I think she'll be really surprised to have a Granddaughter," Louisa smiled at Martin as he left the room. It had been rather a surprise to both of them to have a daughter after all.

xXx

Louisa stuck to her plan to stay in hospital for as brief a time as possible, so she came home on the same day that the baby was born. She'd been born at 9.30 in the morning, so by late afternoon Louisa and the baby were given the all clear to leave, although Martin still felt that she was rushing things.

Louisa heaved a sigh of relief as she walked into their house. She knew that she'd be far more comfortable recovering at home, and that she was very lucky to have the support of both Martin and Joan – but with an active toddler they were going to need all the help they could get, she realised.

Martin insisted that she go straight up to bed when they got home, as he carefully carried the baby up too in the car seat.

Once safely settled, Joan brought Luke in to see them. Joan resisted the urge to make a big fuss about the baby while Luke was there, she could do that later, for now she knew that it was more important to consider Luke's feelings.

"Where's my Luke, come and give Mummy a big hug," Louisa told her son, as Martin helped him to climb up on the bed with her. She'd only been away for the day, so Luke wasn't at all worried as he often spent the day with Joan. After giving him a big hug and kiss, Louisa said to him,

"Look, here's our new baby, isn't she sweet?" as she showed him his sister, now fast asleep.

"Baby, sleeping," he said pointing at her and then turning back to his mummy for another cuddle. It looked just like the dolls they had at nursery, rather boring as far as he was concerned.

Although Louisa felt pretty sore everywhere, she made sure that Luke had a nice long cuddle with her before Martin led him away – it was his tea time, far more important to him than some little doll that Mummy had brought home, so he happily went with his Daddy.

"Just make sure you rest, don't try to do anything, that's what Joan and I are here for. When the baby wakes up, I'll pick her up for you to breastfeed her," Martin instructed her as he left, under instruction to give Luke his undivided attention for now.

Up to now Joan had been very patient, itching to have a good look at the baby, but understanding that Luke would be jealous if they had all ignored him to look at the baby.

"Oh Louisa, she is gorgeous, she's like a little doll, a proper girl," Joan said emotionally, studying the baby intently and not being able to resist putting her finger into the baby's hand. Although tiny, she had long, elegant fingers, not like Luke's chubby ones.

"She is, isn't she, but she was a bit of a shock to both of us as we both thought that we were having another boy, and she is nothing like her brother at all," Louisa agreed, also studying the baby.

"And Katie Rose, nice of you to carry on the name Katherine, and I think it suits her," Joan said happily.

"I think so too, we've still got to sort out the final details of her names, but I think that's what we're going with," Louisa replied.

"And how was the birth? Martin seemed to think it had been straightforward when he phoned me, but was it very painful for you?" Joan asked, concerned. Never having given birth herself, she could only imagine what it must be like.

"Well I'm not going to lie, it was bloody painful, but it was over pretty quickly, and looking at the result it was more than worth it. Mind you, I think I did threaten Martin that he was going to have to have the snip before I let him anywhere near me in the future," Louisa told Joan, laughing.

"Perfectly understandable reaction," Joan laughed too, but thought to herself 'They'll certainly need to sort something out considering how easily Louisa seems to get pregnant'

"Would you like to hold her?" Louisa asked Joan, knowing how desperately she would want to.

"I'd love to, but she's asleep, I wouldn't want to disturb her," Joan replied, trying to be restrained and sensible.

"Oh go on, it's alright to give her a cuddle Joan, after all how often do you get to hold a baby on the day it's been born?" Louisa told her softly.

Joan carefully picked up the precious bundle and held her in her arms. Just as before, when she'd first held Luke, she burst into tears at the sheer pleasure holding a new born baby gave her.

xXx

Over the next few days, Luke seemed to take everything in his stride. They made sure to give him plenty of attention, and sat down on the sofa with him and let him hold his new baby sister, but he quickly got bored and wanted to go and play. When she was asleep, they focused on him, and kept him to his normal routine as much as possible. And most people were very kind, when they brought a present for the baby, they gave him a little present too, so he'd been having a lovely time. He didn't like it much when the baby cried, and he wasn't quite sure what was going on when Mummy fed the baby, but new experiences happened every day at his age, so he just accepted these ones, and anyway he was very happy that his Daddy was around much more than usual and spending time with him.

Martin wasn't the only one who felt more confident with a new baby this time round. Louisa worried far less about everything and the baby seemed to respond to this, meaning that most of the time she was pretty contented and settled. Martin usually picked the baby up and brought her to Louisa for each feed as she was breastfeeding, and then took her to change her, wind her and settle her to sleep. Louisa happily let him, knowing that he'd be back at work soon, so it was best to let him carry on all the time he was off, she decided.

xXx

Martin kept thinking about something that Louisa had said, and so he couldn't help asking her one day,

"Did you mean what you said, you know when you were giving birth, about me having a vasectomy because you don't want any more babies?"

"Well I think that was just a heat of the moment reaction really, you shouldn't pay too much heed to anything I said then," Louisa told him.

"So are you saying now that you wouldn't want me to have the procedure?" Martin asked, remembering how upset Louisa had been when he'd mentioned it before, and how it had eventually led to them having this baby.

"To be honest, I don't really know how I feel at the moment Martin. But realistically I know that we've been incredibly lucky to have produced two beautiful healthy babies at our ages. I used to think that I wanted lots of kids, but now I think that I'm probably more than happy with the two that we have, and I don't think youreally want any more, unless you've had a major change of heart. So it's something we can think about in the future, you having the snip, but there's no rush, is there?" Louisa replied, looking at him sharply.

"No, no, no, of course not, I didn't mean…..I'm not suggesting…I'm not rushing you….." Martin was horrified that it sounded as if he was in a hurry to resume their sex life.

"Good, right, well we'll consider all the options sensibly and logically when the time is right," Louisa told him, satisfied with his response.

xXx

Martin insisted that the nursery be redecorated immediately. The blue décor in there was not all suitable for a girl as far as he was concerned.

"Katie should have a proper girl's room, just as Luke has a proper boy's room," he decreed. He was horrified when Louisa wanted to use some of the pink baby clothes passed on from Isabel that she had never got round to giving to the charity shop.

"I don't want my daughter in hand me downs, we can afford new things for her so why should she have horrid old things?" he argued, encouraging Louisa to place an order for some things on the internet. Of course they had also had many presents for their new baby too, everyone loved buying pretty pink frilly clothes, and the house was filled with all the pink congratulations cards.

One evening after Luke had gone to bed, Martin was sitting cradling his daughter, just gazing at her adoringly.

"He's besotted, isn't he?" Joan said to Louisa quietly, as they watched him unnoticed from the doorway.

"He certainly is," Louisa replied happily.

"She's going to be able to wind him round her little finger, isn't she?" Joan observed.

"Oh yes. No question there." Louisa agreed again.

"And heaven help any boy who takes an interest in her when she's older, no one will ever be good enough for her as far as he's concerned," Joan said with a big smile on her face.

"No, he's going to be ridiculously protective of her, isn't he?" Louisa smiled back. It was wonderful to see him being so tender with his tiny baby daughter, and he'd been pretty fantastic with Luke as well, they had a very special bond between them. Who could have imagined that the cold, repressed and seemingly unemotional man that she hadn't married could have turned into the wonderful husband and father that he was now.

THE END

Thanks to all those who have taken the time to read and review all 34 chapters of 'New Beginnings'. Your perseverance has been appreciated. Much love to you all xxx