Prompt 16: "Choose Me"
Summary: Timothy overhears two very different conversations while he's in the hospital with Polio.
A/N: This one's a little different because it's from Timothy's point of view technically, but I realized I needed to start playing around with formatting a little because some of these prompts are going to have to be altered or heavily reimagined to fit into a realistic Turnadette situation and while I'm open to AU, I don't really want to go extremely OOC. Here we go!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"I promise I'll be right back, Timothy dearest."
Timothy heard Shelagh's voice and felt her kiss on his forehead as she slipped her hand away from its place in his ruffled hair. He couldn't wake to tell her he knew she'd be back. Shelagh and his father hadn't left his side in days. Eventually, his dad had to leave every once in awhile to see to patients, but Shelagh never left. When she did, it was only for a moment and he supposed she must have been running to the lav. He knew when she'd been crying. He could hear it in her voice when she returned. He had nothing better to do than listen at the moment, despite the fact that the doctors seemed convinced he couldn't hear them. He'd been in and out for most of the time, but over the past day or so, he'd been mentally there, if not physically.
He wished he could wake up and tell them how sorry he was. He never meant to ruin the wedding and he never meant to hurt his dad or his step-mum-to-be. He knew their hearts were breaking. He wished he didn't know. He wished he was sound asleep and couldn't hear them trying to convince each other that everything was going to be okay when neither of them knew if it would.
A nurse came by to check his vitals. He heard the tell-tale sounds of the pen on the clipboard and the jostling of his IV. Another nurse quickly joined her. That was odd. Was something wrong? There were never two of them during checks.
"What is it, Nurse Cunningham?" the first nurse asked, annoyed. "You know Matron will kill us if she sees you over here."
"I'll risk it." Nurse Cunningham said eagerly. "I overheard a conversation between Sister Julienne and the Matron today."
"What do I care?" the brisker nurse asked.
"Well, if you stop being a prat, I'll tell you." she snapped. "I know where I recognize her from. You know, Ms. Mannion."
"Did you figure out where Dr. Turner found her?" the formerly detached nurse was suddenly very interested and Timothy was very uncomfortable.
"You wouldn't believe the scandal. Ms. Mannion is Sister Bernadette!" Nurse Cunningham whispered excitedly.
"What?" the other nurse had clearly finished her checks on Timothy was now redoing her motions to look busy. "There's no way. That mousy little nun?"
Timothy desperately willed himself to wake so he could deck the woman in the face.
"Apparently she's been taken off the secondment list - permanently. She's leaving nursing when they get married." the hinting tone in Nurse Cunningham's voice confused Tim until the other nurse bluntly explained.
"You don't think she's got one in the oven?" she asked aghast.
"Why else would they risk the public humiliation? Who would marry a nun unless they had to, you know?"
A door opened at the end of the hall.
"Shh, she's coming back. I'll see you later."
The nurses hurried away as Shelagh's familiar footsteps made their way back towards Tim. He just wanted to hug her. He didn't think she heard what the terrible nurses were saying, but he couldn't bear it. He knew people were gossiping about them and he'd gotten used to people stopping their conversations when they saw him walk by, but he didn't know people were being so vile. Shelagh was one of the best people he'd ever known, how could anyone be so mean to her?
"I'm here, love." Shelagh whispered into his hair.
He wanted to wake up. He wanted to wake up and hug her and call her mum. He wanted to stop that crack in her voice that told him she'd been away longer than she meant to be because she was sobbing in the lav.
"Shelagh, how is he?" Tim smiled to himself. His dad was here. At least Shelagh wasn't alone anymore. Tim felt ever safer as he heard Patrick hurry to his bedside.
"No change according to his charts." Shelagh sighed. "He's still with us, though."
"Thank you for staying with him, my love." Patrick sincerely thanked as he sat across from her.
"I couldn't be anywhere else, Patrick. I couldn't bear it if…" she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"I know." he understood completely. They sat in silence for a moment. "I heard you tell him you loved him first, by the way."
Tim grinned inside. Shelagh had told him that. He'd wanted to make her welcome and said he would call her mum if that's what she wanted and she had promptly told him in no uncertain terms that that decision wasn't about her comfort, it was about his, and she had no intention of ever replacing his birth mother. She then told him she'd fallen for him first and his dad second and joked that she was actually marrying Patrick so she could have him as a son and his dad was a consolation prize. He knew it wasn't entirely true, but it made him feel so loved in a way he never dared hope for.
"Oh no, Patrick, you weren't supposed to hear that." she laughed. It was good to hear her laugh.
"I don't blame you, you know?" They were teasing words, but it didn't sound like his dad was teasing.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I didn't make it easy for you, not like he did. I'm sorry." he apologized.
"I don't understand…" she questioned.
"I should've told you sooner." he insisted passionately. "I wanted to. I wanted to long before you were even diagnosed." He laughed in self-ridicule. "I know it's ridiculous, but...I couldn't bear how much pain you were in. You always seemed so sad and I wanted to march straight into Nonnatus and tell you how much I cared and to just say "choose me", but I let this drag on and I hurt us both."
"Patrick, you know that's not true." Shelagh tried to comfort him. "If you had done that, we wouldn't be here and I think you know that."
"I just wish everything didn't hurt so much." Patrick cried and gave into the sobs that had been threatening their escape since he'd left Jack Smith's house and chastised himself for the split second of wishing the boy and his son had switched places.
"Come here." Shelagh whispered.
Tim hadn't heard his dad cry since his mum died. It was horrible. Shelagh was crying too, he could hear it and he hated it. It was nearing the new year. They should've been married by now. They should've been all sitting around at home over his Christmas break and he should be playing with his presents.
He realized suddenly that he'd never seen his dad cry in front of anyone before. He cried alone in his room after mum died, but he didn't cry at her funeral and Tim couldn't remember him ever crying in front of his birth mum. He cried in front of Shelagh though.
This was why, he realized. This was why his dad and Shelagh were willing to 'risk public humiliation' as the nurse had put it. They weren't just the awkward, mushy type of love, they were part of each other.
They had to be married. And soon. He had decided. Plus, his dad still owed him Brylcreem.
He heard gasps from the adults.
"Get the nurse!" His dad exclaimed.
16 down, 34 to go! Hope you enjoy!