Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews, I'm overwhelmed by all the support and I'm glad to see that Turnadette is still going strong (six months to go...). I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

For a second Patrick's eyes seemed impossibly wide, then his gaze dropped to her stomach and he gripped her hands even tighter.

"You're sure?"

Shelagh looked at him. Despite the high emotion of the moment, the humour of his question wasn't lost on her - although apparently it was on him.

"Maybe we should ask a Midwife. Do you know any?"

He looked up, his face almost split by a grin.

"How far along is my wife, Nurse Turner?"

She smiled at him. "I'm not sure, I think seven weeks or so. I only realised how late I was yesterday, and it fits all the symptoms I've been having the last few weeks."

A look of panic flashed into Patrick's eyes and he looked at her intensely, trying to see through her gaze. "Are you certain this is what you want Shelagh? I don't want to rush you into anything, and I don't want you to feel pressured or -"

"Patrick. I couldn't be more certain." she replied simply. There was nothing else she could have said.

He gazed at her adoringly. "Thank you." he said simply, putting his hand on her stomach. "I love you."

"I love you too." she said, and they stared at the stars together.

Shelagh continued to work as ever, but now she went around the previously drab world of Poplar seeing everything with new eyes. The world seemed full of light in a way it never had before. Even when it rained she saw a rainbow in every drop, and the drops of dew on the petals of flowers were enough to almost bring her to tears. She felt reborn, and every morning she lay awake next to Patrick (whose hand would invariably find itself subconsciously reaching over to protect her stomach in the night ) thanking God for the surprising path her life had taken. The morning sickness she found less to celebrate about, but as she said to Patrick one particularly bad morning having woken at five and not left the bathroom until seven: "Nothing good ever came easily."

He stared at her, his brave Shelagh with her hair tied back and her tired face but sparking eyes, and he shook his head in wonder. "Sometimes, you're so stoically Scottish" he said, and kissed her forehead. Timothy chose just that moment to walk in and winced at the sight of them. Plonking himself down at the table and reaching for the toast and marmalade he cleared his throat, causing the lovebirds to spring apart.

"Morning!" he chirped, looking at the pair with a glint in his eye Patrick recognised from the mirror.

Neither of them wanted to tell many people yet. Shelagh was particularly concerned about the day she told the Nuns, but Patrick reminded her how understanding they had been about their engagement in the first place. Having seen the love lavished on Freddie, he could only image the reaction to Shelagh's baby. Personally he thought their child would be more at risk of smothering by adoration than rejection.

So despite her morning sickness and the back twinges (the cause of which seemed obvious now), Shelagh maintained her usual duties. She did tell Jane though, and asked her to act as her Midwife. It was a difficult choice, but she didn't want it to be any of the Nuns and of the Nurses, Jane had always been the one she felt the greatest connection to. Since her own engagement to the Reverend Appleby-Thornton she too seemed to be walking on air, and Shelagh's news made her grin like a Cheshire cat and briefly hug the former Nun (the only physical display of affection Shelagh - or anyone else at Nonnatus - had ever received from her). The examination revealed she was indeed seven weeks along, and Jane promised to keep her mouth sewn tightly shut. Shelagh had no doubt she would.

The most difficult moment of the first three months, came, surprisingly, not as a result of the foetus, but from a patient in the clinic one rainy Wednesday afternoon. She had just finished another check up with Molly and baby Joyce and was ordering her instruments ready for her next patient, when she heard a loud voice from the other side of the curtain.

"You lot aren't so high and mighty or pure yourselves!"

Jenny's clear voice came across too a second later.

"Could I please ask you to calm down."

"Calm down! You're accusing my husband of seeing other women! I won't calm down!"

"I have said no such thing, I simply made my diagnosis."

"I know what you said ad I know what you think! You all act so good and proper, but we all know the truth. That Sister Bernadette - Shelagh is she now? - and Doctor Turner, well, I think we all know what went on there. A harem, that's the truth of it, not a nunnery!"

Shelagh had been standing with her pinard frozen in motion above the tray as she listened to the woman's rant, but at this she could take no more. Placing the instrument in the tray she drew back the thin curtain. Jenny was standing with her arms folded and lips pursed facing the angry woman. As she saw Shelagh step forward her face dropped and she opened her mouth to desperately try to get the woman to shut up, but to no avail.

"You're all just whores, the lot of you!" the woman finished, and spat at Jenny's feet.

At this Shelagh had heard enough.

"Excuse me." she said calmly, but with an threatening undertone of restrained anger in her voice. The woman turned around and she recognised her as Mrs Jones, the syphilis patient from a few weeks previously. Her bright red face gawped for a second, then she opened her mouth to begin what promised to be a spectacular rant. Shelagh got there first.

"For your information Mrs Jones, my husband and I became engaged after I left the order, and there was absolutely no improper conduct on either side. I left for personal reasons and I will have no aspersions cast on the Order of St Raymond Nonnatus nor on my husband and myself. I think it best you leave now, Mrs Jones, and return when you feel somewhat calmer."

The sight of Shelagh in her Nurse's uniform with hands on hips and a fire in her eyes was enough to make Mrs Jones button her mouth and, bending to gather her bags, leave swiftly. And all at once, Shelagh realised what she had done. Looking around she saw Trixie, Jenny and Cynthia all staring at her with their mouths open and a host of Poplar women all staring at her, equally amazed. There was a break as she felt waves of embarrassment wash over her, and she wanted to melt into the ground. Then Molly Brown stood up, still holding Joyce on her hip, and grinned at her.

"You tell 'em Nurse Turner!" she cried. The other women waiting with their children joined in the cheer, and Shelagh blushed profusely as she battled her way over to the kitchen. She entered to see Sister Julienne standing by the sink, staring at her amazedly. The cheers dissipated while the Nurses resumed order, and Shelagh suddenly burst into tears as the adrenaline draine from her system.

Sister Julienne led her over to a chair and held her hand as she tried to stop the tears form coming. Shelagh had never felt so ashamed, and she could only imagine what Sister Julienne must be thinking of her.

"I'm so - sorry, I never meant to get so - angry! I know that it was the wrong thing, I do honestly and I'm so so sorry Sister-"

"Shelagh." Sister Julienne said with a slight hint of amusement in her voice. "That woman was abusing you, your husband, and the Order. If you hadn't said something, one of the other women would have, and that would have been a great deal more violent. And if none of them had, I would have said something myself, and that would have been even less pleasant. "

"I just-", Shelagh stuttered as she hiccupped - "didn't mean to get so angry with her! She's a patient, it was extremely unprofessional of me."

"It was necessary." Sister Julienne said firmly, holding her hand and gazing into her eyes. "Although it was unlike you. Is everything alright?"

Shelagh desperately wanted to tell her the news, but if she lost this baby she knew it would break Sister Julienne's heart as well as her own, and she couldn't bear the possibility. Praying she would understand when she knew the truth, she stuttered "No, nothing."

"Well," Sister said, patting her arm as she stood up, "sit here a few moments more and come out when you're ready. Maybe some Horlicks will help." and Shelagh could have sworn as Sister Julienne stepped out that she heard her chuckle to herself.

When she told Patrick the story he stood agape at her . All she could think was that he was disappointed in her, and she felt the waves of shame threaten again. Then, all in a second, he swept her up in his arms and kissed her.

"You are so amazing" he muttered into her ear fervently, "and I thank God you chose me."

Thank you for reading - as ever I hope you enjoyed it and please review if you have time!