Author: Raven Shadowrose

Rating: M

Pairing: ?/?

Summary: Sequel to Epiphany, Jeff and Dixie are trying to have a baby, what happens when it is likely to be more difficult than they first thought?

Disclaimer: I do not know or own any of the characters from Casualty, any original characters and the story are my property and I do not give permission for either of them to be used.

A/N: This is a direct sequel to Epiphany, please read that first to understand this story :) Reviews are welcome :)

Thank you to BeethovenRIP and chan. nelson4444 for your reviews, I really enjoy reading them. I hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Dixie sat in her office, she was about to phone the ambulance trust and let them know that she was pregnant; she would have to do it before she reached fifteen weeks so it may as well be now. She curled the phone cord around her fingers and waited for someone to pick up. 'Hello, Holby ambulance trust.'

'Hello, can I speak to someone from human resources please?'

'What is it regarding?'

'I need to inform someone that I am pregnant.'

'Please hold.' Dixie tapped her fingers on the surface of her desk and winced at the tinny rendition of Greensleeves that was currently playing down her ear, it really wasn't helping her headache. Dixie wished that they would hurry up and answer the phone.

'Hello, human resources, Emma speaking.' Dixie vaguely remembered that this was the woman she had spoke to about her operation when she needed to book time off to have the operation and then recover.

'Hello, this is Kathleen Collier from Holby.'

'How can I help you?'

'I am calling to inform you that I am twelve weeks pregnant.'

'Congratulations, I will need to take some details from you if that is all right.'

'Thank you, of course it is.'

'Are you planning to go on light duty or remove yourself from active duty?'

'If it is possible I want to go to work at the ambulance dispatch when I am five months pregnant.'

'Okay, when are your next scans?'

'The fifth of October and the seventh of December.'

'All right, you can have time off for those. When will you be looking to start maternity leave?'

'I wish to take the rest of my annual leave at the same time, starting on the twenty-third of January and start actual maternity leave on the twentieth of February.'

'Will you be wanting to take the full year?'

'Yes, I will be doing.'

'All right, I will have a information pack sent out regarding the rates of pay you will receive whilst you are on maternity leave.'

'Thank you.'

'Do you have someone in mind to cover for you while you're away?'

'Yes, Tamzin Bayle will be covering for me.'

'All right, I have all of the information that I need for now, if we need to know anything else then we will contact you directly. Do you have any questions?'

'No, not at the moment.'

'Very well, take care Kathleen.'

'You too.' Dixie put the phone down, she had done it, there was no going back now, she felt as if she was being put out to pasture but she was taking herself off active duty for the baby, she would always put him or her first.

Jeff too had babies on his mind, two months was a very long time for Dixie to be working on the crew, what if something happened to her or the baby in that time? Their job could be very dangerous at times and he worried every day that they might get caught up in something that could cause harm to either Dixie or the baby. He was probably worrying over nothing but the worry was in his mind a lot these days, what if they got called out to the Farmead Estate? The people on that estate wouldn't hesitate to hurt Dixie if they decided to, the fact that she was pregnant wouldn't matter to them. He started to trace patterns across the top of the table with his fingers, he had picked up the habit from Dixie and now couldn't get rid of it. Jeff was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Tamzin open the door and come into the room. 'Jeff, are you all right?'

'Oh, Tamzin, I didn't hear you come in.' Tamzin joined Jeff at the table and drank some of her coffee.

'Is everything all right, you seem very distracted.'

'It's just Dixie and the baby.'

'What's wrong?'

'She won't go and work for ambulance dispatch until she is five months pregnant.'

'You want her to go sooner, don't you?'

'Yeah, I just want her and the baby to be safe.'

'Have you told Dixie how you feel?'

'No, she reacted badly enough when I stopped her picking up a box that I thought was too heavy for her.'

'So, she's being her usual self then?'

'Yeah, stubborn and refusing to move on the point.'

'I'm sure she knows that you're just trying to look after her.'

'I suppose so, I really wish she would slow down though.'

'You really should tell her, maybe she won't react as badly as you think.' Jeff sighed, Dixie wasn't someone that took advice easily, even if it was good advice.

Dixie went into the changing room, she opened the box of uniform that had been delivered to her this morning. It was the first chance that she'd had to look at it. Dixie sighed, she didn't want to wear a bigger size but she had no choice, her belly was going to get bigger and she was already struggling to do up her trousers when she got dressed. She took off her current shirt and replaced it with the bigger one, it was a little on the big side but at least she would have room to grow into it. She changed her trousers too and buckled her belt around her waist, she felt more comfortable but knew that it would only be a matter of time before she was ordering another bigger uniform. She had enough sets of trousers and tops to keep her going for now, her only hope was that she didn't have to go up another size for quite a while. Dixie looked at herself in the mirror, the new uniform didn't look too bad, if people didn't look too close then they wouldn't be able to tell that her uniform was a bigger size.

Jeff went into Dixie's office only to find it empty, he wondered where she had gone, she hadn't told him that she was going anywhere. He was a little bit worried about her, she had collapsed before, what if something like that had happened again? Jeff forced himself to try and think logically, maybe she had just needed to go to the toilet or into another part of the station. He went to their ambulance, she wasn't in there, he knew that he was probably just being daft and that she was totally fine but he was really worried about her. He closed the doors to the ambulance and went to the changing rooms, she had to be there, if she wasn't there then he wouldn't know what to do. He pushed open the door and saw Dixie stood in there. 'Dixie, I thought you were supposed to be in your office letting the trust know about the pregnancy.'

'I was, I just came in here to sort a few things out.'

'I went to your office and you weren't there, I thought that something had happened to you or the baby. Why didn't you tell me where you were going?'

'I didn't think you needed to know every move that I am going to make in a day.'

'You're getting bigger every day Dixie and you need to be careful.' Jeff heard Dixie sigh, didn't she get that he was worried about her, that he wanted to take care of her?

Dixie couldn't believe what she was hearing, she thought that they had got past all of this, she had promised to be careful, what more did Jeff want from her? 'Jeff, will you stop treating me as if I'm just a baby bump, I feel like I'm a glorified incubator.'

'What do you mean?'

'I feel as if I've got a sign attached to me telling people to be careful as I'm pregnant. I'm still me Jeff, there's just a whole lot more of me now.'

'Exactly, there's not just you now, there's the baby too.'

'I know, I'm being careful and that should be enough for everyone but it isn't, I feel as if people are treating me differently and I don't like it.'

'It might be something that you have to get used to Dixie.' Dixie sighed, she didn't want to get used to being treated differently, why couldn't people see that she was still Dixie? 'Are you still going to ambulance dispatch at five months?'

'Yeah.'

'Have you thought about going earlier?'

'Earlier?'

'It would be safer for you and our baby.'

'Jeff, I am not going to be one of those women that sits around for her entire pregnancy and eats sweets all day, that is not the woman you married.'

'There's only so long that you can be action woman Dixie.'

'I know that, at five months I will go to work at dispatch and I'll probably hate every minute but I will do it. If I feel I need to go earlier then I will go earlier but I will be the one to make that decision.'

'Right, do I have any say in this?' Dixie knew that she was on shaky ground, she didn't want this to end in another argument.

'Jeff, I know that you care for both me and the baby and I appreciate that, I'm not saying that you shouldn't care but will you please see me as Dixie?'

'All right, if you promise to tell me that when you're going to go some place else.'

'Okay, that's fair, if I have to leave somewhere that I've told you I'll be then I'll let you know.' Dixie smiled at Jeff, she was relieved that they'd managed to have a civilised discussion about the pregnancy and taking it easy.

Jeff felt a bit happier now, Dixie wasn't going to go to the dispatch any earlier but she had promised to tell him if she was going to go somewhere else. He had been so worried when she hadn't been in her office. He looked closer at Dixie, something was different about her, something that he couldn't put his finger on, he looked again and then he realised exactly what it was. 'You've started wearing a bigger uniform.'

'How do you know? I thought that nobody would notice.'

'I know you Dixie, that is how I noticed.'

'It's not that much bigger, only one size.'

'Are you worried about it Dixie?'

'A little, I feel so very fat.'

'You're not fat princess, you're pregnant. Come here love.' Jeff held his arms open and hugged Dixie when she stepped into them. 'My beautiful Dixie, don't worry so much.'

'I'll try.'

'Good, we're going to go shopping at the weekend and find some maternity wear for you.'

'Please don't put me in pink.'

'As if I would do that.'

'I'm glad.' Jeff stroked Dixie's hair, there were a few little niggles here and there but mostly they were coping well with Dixie's pregnancy. She understood that he cared for her and was willing to meet him some of the way, it was a good start. Jeff hoped that once her second trimester started then Dixie's moods should even out and she'd be a bit more settled.

Dixie supposed she was going to have to get used to people treating her differently, her bump wasn't exactly something that she could hide from the people around her. She was trying to think of it as good that they cared enough to notice that she was pregnant and might need more help than usual. She was trying to limit the amount that she was lifting and doing, the midwife hadn't told her that she couldn't lift things but she figured that it was a good idea to take it easier. The one thing she would not put up with was people touching her stomach, she'd seen it before where random people would go up to pregnant women and touch their bump. There were certain people that were allowed to touch her; Jeff and the kids were allowed but she wasn't comfortable with anyone else touching her. Dixie liked that Jeff often slept with his hand resting on her bump, it made her feel safe and secure. If anyone else decided to just touch her that then they would get a severe telling off, her belly was not public property. Dixie smiled at the thought she could always tell them that she had swine flu or something similar. She was roused from her thoughts by her radio going off. 'Come on Jeff, no rest for the wicked, we have work to do.'

'Indeed we do princess.' Dixie linked her arm with Jeff's and they went to the ambulance together, she really was going to miss this when the time came for her to stop working as part of the crew.