Prompt 47: "You can't keep pretending it didn't happen, because guess what? It did!"

Summary: Patrick and Shelagh find out about Tim's new curiosity.

A/N: Per an earlier tumblr convo, here we are! This turned into less of a funny and more of a serious teen-sex talk, but I think that's really important, so here we go.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The first time Tim offered to help out at the surgery during half term, Patrick and Shelagh had been relieved. The influx of patients from the neighboring clinic was still running everyone at Nonnatus ragged and while the idea of finding a replacement for Nurse Gilbert so soon was a bit sickening, they couldn't deny that they desperately needed the help. Besides, Tim was no stranger to the inner workings of the medical side of Poplar and since they'd found a suitable babysitter for the time being (a very kind, intelligent young woman in Tim's class named Paulette), Tim wasn't needed at home to watch Angela and Teddy. They'd originally thought he'd be thrilled with the freedom, especially given his recent behavior, but all he wanted to do was come to the surgery.

When Tim offered to help again the next day, they were surprised, but still so overwhelmed that they didn't question his motives and happily packed him in the car with them in the morning, teenage grumpiness and all.

The third day, they were slightly suspicious, especially given how frustrated Tim had been with them lately, but he was extremely useful and he didn't take out his moodiness on the rest of the staff, so they let him be and accepted the help.

The fourth day, Shelagh was convinced something must be wrong and she confronted him over breakfast.

"Timothy?" she asked quietly, eyes scoping the room for Patrick in case Tim actually did want to talk. That would never happen with his father around these days. "Is everything alright?"

"Everyfings finnne." he replied with a mouth full of toast as he nodded.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, please, you don't want to encourage Angela." she chided on instinct, choosing to ignore the eye roll that was looking more and more like Patrick's with every passing day. She paused for a moment, but decided she needed to know. "Tim, you know your father and I love having you help at the surgery…"

She trailed off, unsure of how to phrase her question and hoping Tim would finish her sentence for her. As expected, he instead just stared at her, waiting for the 'but' of criticism he thought was coming.

"You've never wanted to spend your half term working with us before, and I suppose I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong?" Shelagh asked affectionately.

"Why does something have to be wrong for me to work at the surgery?" Tim asked, annoyed. "I've done it loads of times."

"Yes, but normally at your father's insistence." she countered. "You've never offered before and I didn't know if perhaps something else was going on that you were trying to avoid?"

"There's nothing going on." Tim grumbled, pushing his plate away. "You told me that dad was doing too much and that I needed to respect that, so I thought I would offer to help. Now you're angry because I'm doing what you asked?"

"I'm not angry, Tim." Shelagh took a deep breath, gathering her patience. "And you don't need to raise your voice-"

"-around Angela and Teddy. I know." Tim gestured dramatically to his younger siblings. "You know I am capable of hearing."

"Timothy..." Shelagh warned, her voice sharper than she wanted, but her nerves were quickly fraying.

"Why don't I just stay home, then, mum?" Timothy asked sarcastically. "Why don't I stay and sit in my room so you and dad don't have to worry about me."

"Tim, that's not what I meant, and Paulette is going to be here, so you don't have to-" Shelagh tried to reason, but he was already headed upstairs.

"I'll see you later." he shouted before slamming the door. Shelagh groaned and looked down at Angela, who was now covered in milk having been distracted from her cereal by the argument. Shelagh turned her eyes skyward; it was not going to be a good day.

It wasn't a good day.

The argument with Tim had left Shelagh in a terrible mood that wasn't helped at all by Patrick trying to help her and muddling the new patient files and Nurse Crane's back going out again. By the time they closed the surgery, Shelagh was exhausted and she couldn't decide whether she was happy or not that Patrick wasn't on call that evening. On the one hand, she wanted him there to help her and she knew when the stress broke later, she would need him besides her. On the other hand, he'd been trying to make up for messing up the files all day by taking on other tasks for her that meant he was being slower at his actual job and while she knew he meant well, she was going to throttle him.

"Shelagh, why don't you go lie down for a bit?" he suggested as they approached the front door. "I can have dinner ready in no time."

"No, you can't, and you know that." she sighed. "Just go and see Paulette out and I'll start dinner."

"Darling, you've had a terrible day. I truly-"

"Patrick, please." Shelagh cut him off harshly and immediately took a breath and took her hand off the door handle to turn towards him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be taking this out on you." She apologized and he took her free hand in his.

"I'm sorry. I should have let you handle everything today instead of getting in the way." he apologized. "I just don't like seeing you upset. You never did tell me what happened this morning." Shelagh shook her head.

"It doesn't matter. Tim was...simply having a bit of a morning." she considered elaborating at his raised eyebrow, but she was too tired. "I'm sure it's nothing, Patrick. Just a misunderstanding."

"Yes, we seem to be having a lot of those with him lately…" Patrick grumbled. "Suddenly, university can't come soon enough." he teased. Shelagh smiled for the first time in hours.

"You don't mean that and you know it." she admonished. "Come on, it's far too quiet in there; I don't trust it."

Patrick grinned and opened the door for her, thrilled to see her smiling after all his efforts.

Their smiles quickly dropped when the reached the sitting room and saw Tim and Paulette entangled on the couch.

"Timothy!" They both shouted simultaneously. The two teens leapt apart and Shelagh and Patrick watched with dropped jaws as both of them adjust their shirts. It did not go unnoticed that both Tim and Paulette had to do up several buttons.

"Mrs. Turner, I'm so sorry." Paulette stuttered.

"Where are Angela and Teddy?" Shelagh asked, eyes still darting between her son and her babysitter.

"They're fine, mum." Tim assured, embarrassed. "Teddy's asleep and Angela's playing in her room. We didn't abandon them…"

"You don't get to give cheek right now, Timothy." Patrick snapped. "Paulette, grab your things and head home."

"Yes, Dr. Turner." Paulette replied quietly as she moved quickly for her bag.

"Wait." Patrick called out. He reached into his pocket for her wages. "I'm assuming and hoping that the two of you weren't...otherwise engaged...all day." He handed her the money and Paulette thanked him and Shelagh profusely before running out the door. He'd have to discuss whether or not the young woman was returning later on with Shelagh, but for now, he had bigger problems.

"Tim, go upstairs and fetch your sister for dinner. We'll talk about this afterwards."

"Dad, I-" Tim tried to defend himself as he felt Patrick's disappointment.

"Now, Tim. Your mother and I have had a very long day and I don't think she wants to have this conversation before we've eaten."

Tim groaned and stomped his way upstairs to get Angela while Patrick headed to the kitchen. Shelagh had left Teddy sleeping and was movingly rather aggressively around her cabinets.

"Did Tim just go upstairs?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Patrick sighed.

"And you let him?" Shelagh asked, shocked.

"I told him to." Patrick countered.

"Patrick, we can't just send him to his room anymore. We know it doesn't work." Shelagh nearly shouted in frustration. "What if we'd gotten home an hour later? What if things had gotten out of hand? Do you really want to have a son and a grandson less than a year apart? You can't assume he'll do the right thing all the time just because you tell him to and you can't keep pretending it didn't happen, because guess what? It did!"

"Shelagh, stop!" Patrick put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to stand still and look at him. "I sent him upstairs because we all need a moment before we have this conversation - a conversation I assumed you wanted to be there for." Shelagh's breathing slowed and Patrick felt himself calm with her. "I don't approve of what we walked home to and you know that, but...Shelagh, he's a 16-year-old boy. Maybe we shouldn't have left him home alone with a 16-year-old girl?"

"He wasn't alone, Patrick. He was supposed to watching Angela and Teddy." she corrected before pausing. "But, yes, we shouldn't have."

"Finish up dinner and I'll see to Teddy. It's going to be a long night." he sighed with a kiss to her cheek.

"Yes it is." Shelagh agreed, her heart twisting at the sight of Patrick with their youngest son knowing in another 16 years she might be back in this exact situation.

They were sure nothing could be as awkward as that dinner, but the three eldest Turners discovered they were very wrong as they sat back down at the table after the little ones were asleep. Patrick, Shelagh, and Tim started at each other in silence for several moments until Shelagh finally started talking, their morning conversation suddenly making a bit of sense.

"Tim, have you been going to the surgery to avoid Paulette?" Shelagh asked bluntly. Patrick and Tim looked at her in confusion. Whatever she was going to ask, they didn't expect it to the be that.

Tim shifted awkwardly in his seat, avoiding eye contact with his parents as he formulated his answer. Shelagh smiled inside. No one had yelled and her question wasn't met with a sassy retort and an eye roll.

"It wasn't planned." Tim started quietly. "I mean, today, I mean…"

"These things are never planned." said Patrick. "Tim, what would have happened if your mother and I hadn't come home when we did?"

"Dad!" Tim exclaimed, going red in the face.

"It's a fair question, Timothy dearest." Shelagh placated. Tim deflated a bit. His mum hadn't called him Timothy dearest in so long and while a part of him hated it, a part of him knew she was using it now because she was truly worried. "You've been the son of a doctor and a midwife for some time and you've grown up in and around Nonnatus." she paused. "I believe it is safe to say that you are more...knowledgeable...that most people your age about certain topics?" Shelagh looked at Tim for confirmation, but he kept his head down.

"I think what your mother is trying to ask, Tim, is why you would do something like that when you know the consequences better than most people?" Patrick asked. Shelagh nodded and they waited for Tim to answer.

"We didn't do anything." Tim tried, but he knew the argument was lame. Whether or not he wanted to admit it to his parents, he wasn't entirely sure how far things would have gone if they hadn't come home, or even how far he wanted them to go. He didn't realize until he'd started kissing Paulette that 'mushy stuff' - as he'd called it for so many years - wasn't always a clear process. He was so overwhelmed at the time that he wasn't even sure if he would have remembered to use protection had it gone that far and it scared him. "I don't know, okay! I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come home." he admitted.

"Why would you even start something like that when you were watching your brother and sister?" Patrick asked.

"I told you, we didn't mean to start anything!" Tim snapped.

"Tim…" Patrick warned and Tim simmered down.

"Itookthemfromthesupplyclosetyesterday." Tim murmured into his hand.

"Sorry?" Shelagh asked.

"I took them from the supply closet yesterday." Tim said quietly, but clearly. His hand fished around in his pocket and he reluctantly handed over the small handful of rubbers he'd snatched.

"You just said you didn't plan any of this." Patrick pointed out, anger growing. "You didn't mean for any of this to happen, but you took condoms from the closet?!" he paused, realizing. "Is that why you've been so insistent on coming to the surgery?"

"No!" Tim shouted. "I swear, I really did want to help out, but yesterday...Nurse Dyer asked me to fetch another heat lamp and when I went in the closet I saw...I don't know why I took them, I was just curious."

"Curious about what would happen if you spend today with Paulette?" Patrick asked indignantly.

"Patrick." Shelagh put her hand on his arm. He sighed and rubbed the stress from his forehead. How had she suddenly become the calm one?

"I'm sorry." Tim apologized earnestly.

"I know." Shelagh sighed. "But Tim, you know better than that, and you certainly know better than that when we're trusting you and Paulette with Angela and Teddy."

Tim melted under Shelagh's disapproving gaze. He could fight with his father, but there was something unnerving about upsetting his mum that he still couldn't shake at 16.

"Now," Shelagh continued, "I'm going to take these back to the surgery tomorrow and you are going to spend the rest of your half term helping me with paperwork, do you understand?"

"Yes, mum." Tim's acceptance came with a bit of an eye roll, but it all could have been much worse, so they let it go and watched as their eldest son slunk up to bed.

Patrick sighed and put his face into his hands.

"He took condoms." Patrick muttered. "Our son stole condoms from our own surgery and then we caught him on the couch with a girl."

"At least we caught them." Shelagh offered, though she knew it was no comfort to either of them. "We're going to need a new sitter."

"I know." Patrick sat up. "Preferably one who's at least 60…" he looked over at Shelagh, who seemed to be deep in thought, her fingers twirling the small package. "Shelagh?"

"Do you think we should keep these?" she asked.

"For who?" he asked, confused.

"For us." she answered quietly, but firmly. "I know we never talked about it."

Patrick thought hard as he felt Shelagh's nervous energy growing.

"We don't have to, if you don't want-" she spoke quickly, but he kissed her to stop the rambling he knew was coming.

"Shelagh, it isn't a question of just what I want." he promised. "We've never had to think about it since…" he trailed off, he didn't need to finish the heartbreaking sentence. "Do you want more children?"

"Do you?" she asked in return. He looked at her pointedly. "I don't even know if it would happen again, but...I don't know if it would be a good idea, Patrick."

"May I ask why? I'm not agreeing or disagreeing." he encouraged.

"Well for a start, neither of us are getting any younger," she ignored the quip she knew was on his lips, "and truthfully, we're so busy now, I don't know how we would handle a fourth."

"We would find a way, Shelagh, you know we would." he assured her, though there was another question he had to ask. "Shelagh, are you alright with using birth control? I know you fully support it for other women, but for you?"

"I think so." she replied. "Years ago, I probably wouldn't have been, but I've changed so much since then and, well," she blushed, "we've been together many times with no expectation of children."

He grinned happily.

"Well, in that case, I think we ought to test these out." he teased, coaxing her up from the table and towards the master bedroom. "It's not entirely sanitary to put them back in the closet and it would be a shame to have them go to waste."

"An absolute shame." Shelagh agreed as she happily followed her husband.

47 down, 3 to go!