While writing the Mrs. Tishell parts a piece of music brought her thoughts of Doc Martin to life in my head. I found a video of Hilary Hahn playing Mozart's Violin Concerto #3 in G Major. I enjoyed her interpretation the best.

Chapter 33

Quid istuc est?

"Love is irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."

- Robert Frost -

He opened the door to see if it was raining once again but it seemed to be drizzling. Now the decision to drive or not to drive, wet dog smells penetrating the leather interior of the car, no I think I will walk.

Buddy danced around me, why I have no idea, but every time I allow him to come along, he dances.

It feels good to stretch my legs and breathe in the heavy salty air the stormy winds are pushing at us. A slow walk to clear the mind or just to remember what has happened the last few weeks.

A smile (yes, a smile) crossed my face as I recalled an evening listening to music in the lounge. Louisa was reclining while I rubbed her tired swollen feet in my lap. The sound of her giggle pulled me from the last movement of the sonnet, I turned my head to see what was funny and noticed how she had her hands pulling on her top to smooth it close to her stomach. There they were moving, kicking, and punching to the movement of the music. I removed my hands from her feet, and placed them on my children; the intensity of their movements was the strongest yet.

"They started a few minutes ago and the rhythm changed as the music changed," she said. "But with this kicking and moving my bladder is complaining. Help me up, Martin."

I pause to look out at the sea, mucky whitecaps slamming into the bulwark that protects the boats anchored.

This brought another memory; the incident with my mother played heavily in my mind. Was I wrong in the way I spoke to her? I had carefully considered each thought, a cogitation dutifully recorded in my journal for Dr. Hayes. Each item went over with him but I am still angry. Will I be able to forgive her as Dr. Hayes suggested?

ME/LE

It was raining again, with the old saying in buckets of cats and dogs, or something like that, when I reached the chemist's shop. I turned in the doorway out of the rain,

"Buddy, go home," I said to the mangy four-legged wet ball of fur. Of course, he didn't listen to me but sat defiantly with those black beady button eyes saying, no.

With a humph, I open the door and quickly close the shop door ensuring the very wet dog didn't squeeze through between my legs into the shop. Why couldn't the dog walk around the large puddles like I did?

Girding myself for whatever Mrs. Tishell will say or do when she heard the bell, but she didn't pop up from behind the counter. I stood in the shop listening for the usual 'I'm coming' and the sound of feet coming down the stairs, but it never came. The quietness of the shop was surprising; the only sound from the turbulent waves attacking the sea wall and the thunder. Frustrated, I walked around the counter to look upstairs and called out, nothing only silence. Why didn't she lock the door and put up her closed sign if she wasn't open, I thought. So, I moved to the back of the shop near her door where she stores the medication; turning the knob I discovered it is locked. That is good I thought.

I noticed another door, that was open, and thought I heard the humming of chorale music so I walk to it. Something I didn't notice was the wetness I left on the floor from my slicker, dripping puddles every time I stood still. The rain started as I turned from the Platt, soaking me before I made it to the shop.

I took slow measured steps making sure my feet were firmly on each step so as not to slip, I didn't realize my height would be an issue and didn't duck the exposed timber near the top step. My head hit it, knocking me backward enough to throw me off balance to ensure I slipped on the stairs. I let out a guttural oof as the back of my head hit the stair tread and I slid roughly down the stairs to the solid stone floor where my body came to a stop. The last vision before everything went black was a smiling psychotic face belonging to Mrs. Tishell.

ME/LE

Meanwhile, Joan and Ruth travel from the farm to the cottage to visit Louisa.

"Look, Joan, Martin is at the surgery, please drop me off. There is a question about medication on one of those medical files we went through. Something isn't right with my memory," Ruth states.

"Do you want me to come back for you later or are you going to have your nephew bring you?"

"Martin should be able to drive up the road to his place for lunch. See you soon."

Ruth walks into the surgery reception and notices the open consultation door but Martin wasn't at his desk.

"Morwenna, is Martin available?"

"Sorry, no. He went to pick up our medical supply order. He should be back soon if you wish to wait?"

"I can wait for him; I had a question about one of the files we went through earlier in the week."

"Doctor Ledford is here and might answer your question. He's in the kitchen making a sandwich," Morwenna adds.

"I don't want to bother him when he is eating his lunch. I'll wait for Martin."

Twenty minutes later and still no Martin, Ruth interrupts Morwenna with a request to see Doctor Ledford.

"How may I help you, Doctor Ellingham?" the GP asks.

"My nephew asked me to consult on a case of psychosis and showed me some medical records; there was one that I noticed a problem associated with medication but we were interrupted and he had to leave for an emergency. I wanted to look at that file again if I have your permission."

"Whose medical file did you see?"

"Sally Tishell."

"I haven't seen her as a patient, only spoke with her concerning prescriptions. Let's see if Morwenna can locate the file."

Morwenna quickly found the file in question and asked if Ruth needed the others she and the Doc had gone through.

"No, just the one. Thank you, Morwenna."

They went into the consulting room, Ruth went over the entire file once again, looking for what was bothering her.

"I see Sally Tishell is on Baclofen* for her neck," Ruth notes.

"Looks like she has been on it for a few years."

"No…no, no… How could he be so stupid?"

"What?" Doctor Ledford asks as Ruth points out the medication prescribed this past May. "Doctor Ellingham didn't prescribe the medication, who is Doctor Williams?"

"He must have been the temporary doctor," Ruth states. "Wait, Morwenna please come here," Ruth asks the receptionist.

"Who was the locum before Doctor Ledford?"

"That would be Doctor Williams. He tripped over his shoes on the stairs and tumbled down them and broke his neck. He wasn't very good; he spent more time in the pub than here seeing patients. Doc didn't like him very much."

"Thank you Morwenna."

Let's see Mrs. Tishell came in for an exam and left with an antidepressant prescription. He didn't check her existing medication. These two medicines don't interact well with each other. She hasn't been in since that visit for Martin to see this combination."

"Wouldn't she know not to mix the two since she is the pharmacist for this village?"

"If she stopped taking the muscle relaxant then she should be fine, but if she didn't then that is a whole different story. There is no follow-up here, there always is with these types of antidepressants. Why would she need such a high dose to start with? If this man wasn't dead, I would have him before a medical board of inquiry for negligence," Ruth said.

ME/LE

Since being accepted into the Ellingham family, informally by Doc Martin as his official shadow it is no surprise on this rainy-day Buddy sat in the pouring rain outside the chemist's shop.*

ME/LE

Over the past few months, she'd been fighting to resist the feelings she had for him, but slowly succumbed to the urge each time he came near her. It was unnatural in the way her desire for him became so intense it shocked her greatly so she avoided him, whenever possible, but here and now there was no way of escaping it.

Looking down at the unconscious body of Doctor Ellingham, she reached out to feel for his pulse and finds a very strong one. "Oh, Doctor Ellingham, what have done to yourself?"

She looks down at him, 'My love… how I have loved you'. Touching him sends her mind the teasing thoughts of all of her fantasies since the first time he walked into the village. Watching him walk from her hiding spot inside her shop just hoping he would notice her. The way he walks up the hill from the Platt with his strong muscled legs carries him quickly around the village. His strong forearms made her sigh with thoughts of them wrapped around her each night. His scent is so masculine; she wanted to bury her nose in the base of those tie-collared shirts, he always wore. He was the man among boys in this village. She whispered everything she wished for as she lifted his head placing the pillow, which she found in an old trunk that held the blankets, under his head. For once she wanted to have a serious discussion with him; pick his brain. His intelligence intrigued her. He was a complex man to whom she felt attracted since the first time they met.

Slowly, she reaches over his prone body to touch his face, a face that never looked her way. Recalling the times he touched her, so seldom, that only one comes immediately to mind… She was lying on the ground in her shop in pain, that woman had called him to her. He knelt behind her and grabbed her head easing the pain and electrical shocks passing through her fingers. For such a large man his touch is so gentle, nothing like she felt before.

"I felt your love when you saved my life, but your feelings for me stopped when I got better."

Her mind returns to the present, her caress slowing as she sees the injury the wooden beam caused. As she sits on the last step, she takes his hand, holding it as she speaks her mind.

"For years, I have wanted for you to look at me; to want me. I wished for your touch, the look of want from your eyes, but you never gave me anything. I thought of every way to gain your attention, but nothing. We are so compatible – age, education, social standing but you always chose her. I thought you were as lonely as I was, I gave you hint after hint, and you never noticed. She bewitched you as she played with your feelings. One minute you are together then you're not. Then you're getting married and then you're not. She disappeared the day of your wedding showing her true colors, but no, you let her back in, and then marry her. That child could be ours. Those twins could be ours."

All she could think about was him, and it was infuriating especially when her husband was nearby. She couldn't stop watching him this summer as he walked past her shop's front windows, or as he shopped at the greengrocers and fish market, the need became stronger each day since his return from London.

She is startled from her fantasy by the sound of the clicking door and the bell above jiggling.

"You wait here while I get rid of whoever is upstairs and lock the door," she says as she touches her finger to her lips and lays it on his. With one last look toward him, she stood up to climb the stairs as quickly as she could.

The last person she thought she would see was her husband. "What are you doing here?" she says, "I thought you were heading back to work."

"We are delayed for another hour due to the weather, luv. The guys were talking and I noticed Jonah's boots tied to his duffle and realized I forgot to pack mine."

Relieved he would leave within the hour, she hurriedly decides to send him upstairs to retrieve his new boots. "Well go upstairs and find them before you miss the bus."

"I left them downstairs after I put the water proofer on them. I didn't want you upset about the smell. Let me get them and I'll be on my way unless you rather go upstairs one last time before I leave," he says wriggling his eyebrows in an expression of hope.

"Wait, you're soaking wet and I don't want your muddy wellies leaving a mess besides slipping on the wood stairs. I'll go get them," she says as she hurries to the back of the shop to the basement stairs. She quickly finds them next to her boxes of new supplies and climbs back up the stairs to confront her husband.

"Goodbye Luv," Clive says as he sees she is in that nervous mood again when she practically shoves his boots into his chest.

He wraps his arms around her waist, giving her another passionate kiss, and turns towards the door when he remembers noticing the scruffy little white dog sitting in the rain watching the door. "Sally, make sure you lock the door when I leave if you are not behind the counter, I don't want anything happening to you," he says as he turns back to his wife. "Mmm… did you notice this dog sitting at your door?"

"What are you talking about?" she asks as she walks over to the door and looks out the glass pane. "Oh, I believe that is Joan's dog. It once belonged to that farmer… McIntyre before he died. Joan is always taking in strays. I wonder what it is doing here, just sitting in the rain?"

Clive opens the door and no sooner had the door opened Buddy rushes in.

"Oh, Clive, why did you let him in," she screamed.

Just as Clive was moving to search for the dog the door opened once more.

"I'm closed," she shrieked.

The deep male voice announced, "Clive, the bus is here. Geta move on."

With his nose to the ground, Buddy made his way to the basement.

The door closes behind the man. Sally turns to yell for her husband to forget the dog, that she would find it by following the wet paw prints.

She grabs ahold of him and simply pushes him out of the shop into the rain.

ME/LE

Meanwhile downstairs in the basement; I wake to the sound of voices. My vision is blurred as I try to look around the stone walls around the room. They look like they're bleeding moisture, with a muted plink, plink of dripping water from above; slowly I recall what happened. The pounding headache is my first self-diagnoses that I have a concussion. How long was I nonconscious? As I try to gather my thoughts of the events since I entered the shop… wait… what did that woman say?... it was risible to hear – her babble of love… for me? For a minute I thought I was hearing a Monty pylon skit that Louisa loves to watch on the telly. I need time to think, but my head hurts along with my lower back. 'Louisa, I need you'. That was my last thought as I fell unconscious for a second time.

ME/LE

It is well past Martin's day at the surgery and Louisa is pacing around the house with concern. If he was called out on an emergency, he always had Morwenna call her. Joan said Ruth was with Martin so everything should be fine, but she had an awful feeling something was wrong.

Then Joan called Ruth and discovered he had not returned after leaving earlier to pick up medical supplies and nappies at the chemist.

ME/LE

Returning back to the scene at the shop: Practically pushing Clive out, the door to his workmates, Sally locks the door and turns her close sign around. Taking a steading breath, she grabs the broom as she walks in the direction of the last sighting of that dog. Reaching the door frame to her basement, Sally can see the little white dog at the bottom of the stairs, sitting next to the unconscious Doctor Ellingham. She slowly starts down the stairs and reality begin to set into her mind as she sees the man again. Doctor Ellingham could be seriously injured; how much time has passed since his fall? She stops herself halfway down trying to get her emotions in order when she hears someone banging on her door. Taking a second look at the doctor, she turns to ascend the stairs once again.

"Mrs. Tishell, open up. I need to find the doctor," he yells when Sally comes into view.

It seems at this moment the emotional dam breaks open and she comes face to face with regret for what she was doing. Quickly moving to the door, turning the lock, and pulling it open Mrs. Tishell starts talking before Penhale udders another sound.

"I need an ambulance. Doctor Ellingham fell down my basement stairs and is unconscious."

Joe Penhale, who always knows what to do in a real emergency pulls out his radio to broadcast the request. When they have acknowledged the 999, he pulls out his phone to call Morwenna to inform her of the Doc's whereabouts.

"Joe, let me get Doctor Ledford down to the shop. Have you spoken to Louisa?" she asks.

"No can do, I have a crime scene here that needs securing," he says.

In the meantime, downstairs Mrs. Tishell tries her best to get to the doctor but Buddy is guarding him and his growls get louder the closer she steps down to him.

Finally, there are rushing footsteps on the floor above her head, she turns to see Doctor Ledford with his bag at the doorway of the basement.

"Hurry doctor, he hit his head on the low beam and slipped on the stairs. He wasn't paying attention to his height and didn't realize my beams are so low," she rambled on. "He's been unconscious the whole time and this dog won't let me near him."

Jim Ledford knew Buddy quite well and easily made his way down to Martin and the dog. As he got closer, he spoke softly to Buddy telling him, he was a good dog protecting his friend but he needed to let him pass so he could help him.

Buddy moved but he moved to lay near Martin's head and started licking along the side of his head; comforting his friend.

Soon it seemed half the village was in the shop but in reality, it was only Sally, Joe Penhale, Jim Ledford, Ruth, and the ambulance crew, the rest were kept outside standing in the rain with Chippy Miller blocking the entry.

When the still unconscious Doc was finally loaded into the back of the ambulance, Ruth and Jim Ledford were getting into his vehicle to drive over to the Ellingham house, when Buddy jumped in to join them.

"PC Penhale, I will need you to escort Sally Tishell to the hospital," Ruth started to explain when Penhale interrupted.

"I need to inform Louisa about the accident and get her to the hospital," he said in his nasal voice.

"No, PC Penhale. Your job is to take Mrs. Tishell to the hospital to see Doctor Chris Parsons. I spoke to him earlier and he will have a specialist look in on Mrs. Tishell in the A&E," Doctor Ledford stated firmly. "You are not a medical person and Mrs. Ellingham is in her third term, any news about her husband needs to come from a doctor."

Ruth was on her phone keeping Joan informed with the hopes to keep Louisa calm. "Joan, we are leaving now, make sure Poppy knows that Phillip will need around-the-clock care until she hears from Louisa or Martin."

Carefully driving through the village in the rain, Jim pulls into the car space of the Ellingham residence knowing that their plan was a good one and that they just needed to keep Louisa calm and get her to the hospital. Ruth had spoken to Chris Parsons while the emergency techs worked to get Martins' unconscious body up the stairs and into the ambulance. Chris would have someone ready to help Mrs. Tishell with adverse medication reactions, and Doctor Rawle would be on call for Louisa if she started to have any trouble.

When Ruth opened the door, she could hear that Louisa was not calm. She turned to the locum,

"I think you are needed more than I am."

She called Buddy into the house and took him to the loo under the stairs to towel him off.

Doctor Ledford moved toward the sound of a woman clearly in distress. When Ruth finally made it to the lounge, she could see Joan on the phone talking to somebody, Poppy was holding a very upset child, everything was not going to plan. Ruth hadn't been a woman in labour for many years, actually, she couldn't remember many at all, but she could tell Louisa was going through a contraction when they arrived.

"Louisa, Martin will be fine. He is on his way to the hospital for the bump on his head. He slipped down the stairs in Mrs. Tishell's shop. Let me take your blood pressure and see what is happening here," Doctor Ledford spoke softly as he tried to calm Louisa.

ME/LE

The whaling siren made my head hurt, the rest of my body felt stiff and sore, and the pressure in my head concerned me. 'I could hear Louisa crying but she wasn't crying for me. She was crying for her babies; she lost her babies because of me. No, it can't be true. It's in my head. Joan and Ruth will make sure she is calm and reassure her. Calm, speaking of calm, I need to calm down myself. Slow steady breathing; in and out. Keep calm for Louisa. Wake up Martin; it is time to wake up. I need to be calm for Louisa.'

ME/LE

Doctor Ledford worked his magic on calming Louisa down but she was continuing to have contractions. Ruth was on the phone with Doctor Rawle throughout the time while Joan and Jim worked to calm Louisa down.

Suddenly the door burst open with a puffing Melanie franticly looked around, hearing before she saw her friend. 'The text from Poppy was right on – Louisa was freaking out. If I rush into the room, it would only heighten Louisa's stress.' On her way to the cottage, she tried to recall the lessons Doctor Ellingham instructed and discussed with Poppy and herself, calmly she entered the room and became the professional in charge of Louisa's health.

"Louisa," she said as calmly as she could to catch her attention. "Louisa, let's get you comfortable," she said as she helped Louisa recline back on the sofa before she lifted her feet onto the table.

"Doctor Ellingham instructed us on ways to help Louisa if a situation like this happened. Joan in my bag are my I-pod and headphones, can you pull them out?"

Looking back at Louisa, Melanie reached over to grab a pillow at the end of the couch and slipped it under Louisa's legs.

Doctor Ledford, place your thumbs on both sides of her vertebrate at the base of her skull and apply pressure for one minute."

"Wait a minute, why are we doing this?" a confused Doctor Ledford asks but is interrupted.

"Doctor Ellingham instructed us on the massage therapy that works with the vagus nerve*. The techniques help lower her blood pressure and hopefully stop the contractions caused by her elevated blood pressure and relax her. The Doc researched alternate forms of medicine and worked with Poppy and me for the past month. This technique is called acupressure point* to help Louisa when something like this happens. Please just do as I ask."

The site of her I-pod waving next to her face caught her attention. "Thank you, Joan."

She quickly pulls up the music she needs and starts it, and then she places the earphones over Louisa's ears.

"Louisa, relax to the music; just like we do during your yoga classes. Breathe in and out just like you learned."

Without taking her eyes off her friend, "Ruth, please fetch a glass of cold water." She says as she slips Louisa's shoes off.

Melanie continues setting up for her job and she calls out to the other aunt. "Joan, take Louisa's arm like this – she shows her where to place her thumb above the wrist and put pressure here."

When Ruth returns with the glass of water, she watches as three people quietly work on Louisa. Each is in a different position around her; Doctor Ledford is behind her head, Joan has her left arm in her lap, and Melanie is massaging the bottom of her feet. She places the glass on the table and inquires what she could do to help.

"In five minutes take Louisa's blood pressure again and see if this is helping. But first, place your hand over the area of her uterus to see if the contractions have slowed or stopped. We need to call Doctor Rawle and let him know what is happening. I know the Doc was worried Louisa wouldn't make it to thirty-five weeks if she was stressed into early labour."

"We were talking to Doctor Rawle when you came in and took over. Ruth, see if he is still on the line?" Doctor Ledford coldly said.

Ruth picked up the mobile from the table where Joan had laid it when she started searching Melanie's bag and put it to her ear. "Doctor Rawle, are you still with us?"

She listened to the man, her eyes going from Melanie to Louisa. "Right, hold on." Ruth took the sphygmomanometer and took Louisa's pressure. Then she placed her hands on Louisa's stomach, with a gentle brushing of her hands around to feel the differences. "Doctor Rawle, she said into the mobile, "Her pressure is 135/90." Ruth listened for a few minutes, only relaying what was needed for Doctor Ledford.

"Louisa, Doctor Rawle would like you to come to the hospital to check on the twins," Ruth whispered to Louisa.

Ruth picked up Louisa's mobile, scrolling through her contact list until she found the name Parsons.

Noticing the call on his silenced cell as Louisa Ellingham, Chris answered. But it wasn't Louisa but Martin's aunt. She gave him the rundown on what happened to Martin and what they were dealing with Louisas' pregnancy. He informed them that Martin hadn't arrived at the A&E but expecting him soon. He ensured all would be ready when his friend arrived and would contact Doctor Rawle.

Ruth finishes the call and then explains her conversation to Doctor Ledford and Joan.

"Do you think she is stable enough for us to drive her or should we call for an ambulance?" she asked.

"Take her pressure again," he replied as he felt around expecting the intense contractions, but not finding them.

"Blood pressure has lowered another two on the systolic to 133, but her diastolic is still holding at 90," Ruth says as she reads the display.

Standing and walking down the hall, Ruth grabbed Louisa's SUV fob from the basket and handed it to Joan upon her return. The surprised expression made Ruth smirk,

"You don't want me driving these back roads in this weather and Jim's going to be busy with Louisa in the back seat, so it is up to you to drive us to the hospital," Ruth said with authority. "Melanie and Doctor Ledford will sit in the back with Louisa, and I will join you upfront." Then Ruth ordered everyone to gather what was needed for the trip.

Joan and Melanie went out and removed Phillip's car seat and move the vehicle closer to the door.

Ruth called up to Poppy and explained the decision and was ensured that Poppy would stay with Phillip until she wasn't needed any further. "Oh, and Buddy is downstairs in the pantry drying off."

"Don't worry Doctor E, Phillip and I will be fine and I'll take care of Buddy."

Doctor Ledford returned his medical gear to his bag and helped Louisa to walk to the door for their trip to Truro.

Once everyone was loaded into the vehicle, Joan drove off into the village. Some of the nosey villagers tried to stop Joan for information, better known as gossip, that they could get. Joan slowed down, and then quickly accelerated when Ruth's firm 'Don't Stop' is shouted, sending many jumping out of the path of the SUV.

Once out of the village, Joan relaxed a bit and started to enjoy the feel of the new vehicle. "Did Chris say how Marty was doing?" she asked as they cruised down the road.

"As far as Chris knew, Martin hadn't arrived at the hospital," Ruth said. "He said he would call when he knew more."

ME/LE

They had just made the turn onto the roundabout just past Mitchell when Chris called with an update on Martin.

"Louisa, Chris says Martin is fine. He currently having an MRI as a precaution. He will stay in the hospital for a day or two for concussion protocols. We will know more by the time we arrive at the hospital," Ruth announced to everyone in the vehicle.

"Joan, how much further?" Doctor Ledford asked with a concerned face.

He had just taken Louisa's blood pressure and was not happy with it or her breathing.

"Melanie, can you do more of the acupressure until we reach the hospital?" he asks as he noticed Louisa starting to get uncomfortable.

"About thirty minutes, depending on traffic."

"Ruth, call Doctor Rawle and tell him this," he said as he passed her a pad of paper.

Ruth read it and turned back toward Louisa and saw the concern on his face and the grimace on hers.

ME/LE

Earlier; The ambulance arrives with a very upset and fully awake Martin Ellingham. Everyone could hear the former surgeon's authoritarian voice when the electric doors slide open into the A&E. Chris moved quickly to meet up with the stretcher and has it moved to the first empty room, instantaneously closing the sliding door and curtain for privacy.

"Chris, I have to be released immediately, Louisa is going to be upset that I haven't come home for lunch and it could send her into premature labour."

"Not until the A&E staff give you a complete evaluation. Martin, this is non-negotiable – answer their questions fully… it's your brain we are talking about here. The more complete answers you provide the faster I can help you. I had them order an MRI to make sure we aren't dealing with bleeding. You were unconscious for quite a while."

A grumbling sound with an additional humph for good measure was made before he answered. "Fine. Does Louisa know what happened?"

Chris looks around the A&E examination room, trying to decide his answer, knowing one could send his friend right out the door back to Portween to his wife. Looking at his friend, he said, "She is aware of the accident. Your aunts are driving her to the hospital as we speak." Figuring a little truth mixed in with incomplete information was safe.

Their conversation is interrupted when a knock on the glass, is answered with the sliding of the door and movement of the curtain. An A&E doctor, in scrubs, walks in and pulls the curtain closed again behind him.

"Doctor Parsons," he says as he nods his head in respect to his boss. "And my patient, Doctor Ellingham. Let's get a look at you now," he says as he walks over to Martin with his hand extended to shake the hand of the well-known formidable former surgeon.

"Doctor Grant, it is a pleasure to meet you," he says as Martin is slow in accepting his hand.

The sound of a throat clearing behind the doctor and Martin's eyes looking toward the sound, Doctor Ellingham reluctantly shook his hand with a mumbled, "Yes."

Ignoring the tension in the room, Doctor Grant continues, starting with the examination of his patient. "I understand you knocked your head on a wood beam and lost your balance, falling back on some stairs; did you hit the back of your head when you fell?" he asks as he examines Martin's head with his eyes and hands.

"Yes."

Chris rolls his eyes at the one-word answer from his friend.

"My data from the ambulance technician says, you were unconscious when they arrived and did not gain conscious for over half of the trip from Portween."

No response was given.

After a few minutes of silence as he wrote his findings of the head examination he continued talking to his patient.

"I will conduct the standard concussion protocol. To start with, Doctor Ellingham, provide your date of birth."

"My date of birth is twenty-eight, eleven, nineteen sixty-one," he says. As he is acquainted with the protocol he continues. "I live in Portween for the last five years as the GP. I am married with a fourteen-and-a-half-month-old son. My wife is currently pregnant with twins and in her thirty-fourth week of pregnancy. I do not have retrograde amnesia. The accident happened as I made my way down the basement stairs of the chemist's shop looking for the pharmacist. I didn't duck in my hurry and struck one of the floor support beams of the level above. My shoes and rain slicker were wet; I lost my footing on the wet stairs first striking my lower lumbar region before the back of the cranium. I was conscious as I slide down the stairs, crashing into the stone wall that stopped my forward progress. I remember rolling flat onto my back before I fell unconscious. Which means I don't have antegrade amnesia. My main complaints are tightness in my lower lumbar, painful, tender torso from the impact of the stairs and the stone wall, and a headache."

Doctor Grant continues writing as Martin spoke; when he finished, he continued his examination. Starting with his patients' eyes – "Pupils are equal, no change from the earlier observations by the medical technicians." He physically manipulated his patient's neck before moving to the extremities. "It is noted that once you regain consciousness, you didn't have any drowsiness. Do you feel drowsy now?"

"No."

"Doctor Parsons, since you are acquitted with Doctor Ellingham, do you see any confusion, change in his behavior, or his speech pattern?"

"No, he is Doctor Martin Ellingham through and through, right down to his one-word answers," he says as he notices the sneer in his direction. "Martin is never one to answer private questions fully, even though he knows he should tell his physician everything to ensure the medical treatment is thorough for his health. We discussed this before you arrived and with what I've seen with your examination, I don't see signs of severe trauma or a hematoma. But saying that, I know his wife would be very upset if we didn't make every effort. I would like an MRI of his head and x-rays for his lower lumbar as a precaution."

"I agree." Turning back to his patient, "Now if the MRI comes back without complications, I will set guidelines on your release from the hospital."

Chris could see that his friend was going to refuse to stay so he interrupted. "Martin, we will work out the logistics. For now, get the pictures and the results, and we'll take it from there. Louisa will be here soon and your decision can be made together."

Mumbling under his breath, he knew Chris was right, but he didn't have to agree until Louisa was here. He knew this whole episode could cause her pregnancy some problems; he had to keep them, all three, in mind.

The sound of the door sliding and the movement of the curtain pulled everyone's attention to the young woman. "Radiology is ready for your patient, Doctor Grant," she said.

End of the chapter

ME/LE

I know I left you hanging but I needed to do some more research (PC Penhale) and in reality, I have left you readers without a new chapter for several months. This chapter was difficult with all the scene changes and the many scenes will continue in the next chapter. I wanted the story to be easy to follow the incidents all at the same time, if I didn't – sorry I confused you but it is how my brain works (ADHD). I rewrote it several different ways and finally decided on this version. My editor is in Ireland on vacation so this is unedited.

Quid istuc est? translation What do you Mean? Latin to English on Google Translate.

Parts of this chapter is a tribute to Dodger; Buddy in the show. Due his age of 16 needed to be retired. But I understand he made a visit to Martin Clunes somewhere off camera.

Vagus nerve, also known as the tenth cranial nerve, is the longest nerve of the autonomic nervous system which controls involuntary body functions The nerve is tasked with regulating critical body functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing and digestion.

Acupressure Point is modern reflexology treatment, there are certain acupressure points that can be effective to reduce high blood pressure when applied in the right way. Doctor Ledford performed GB20 technique. Joan used PC6, this one is of the vital pressure points to lower blood pressure. Melanie performed KD1, it drains the excess energy from the upper part of the body, helping you feel relieved. Information found on Modern Reflexology. A side note; L14 is the most important acupressure points for blood pressure, but this acupressure for blood pressure should not be massaged or pressed by pregnant women, as it can induce labour prematurely.