Time for another update. I think it only fair Billy gets a slightly happier ending as well so that storyline starts here. I've borrowed a few lines of dialogue from episode 3 in this chapter as well.
Whilst Jordan Sinclair was big news outside of Shoe Lane, inside was another story. Alan Cowdrey was moving on and up, and joining the bench. It had been a difficult decision for him as he had made Shoe Lane what it was, but his son needed him now. By becoming a judge, he would be much more available for his son whilst he received treatment for his mental health problem.
He broke the news to Martha and Clive personally over lunch, thinking it the right thing to do. They were the two who had been at Shoe Lane the longest and helped make it the success it was today. He had watched them climb the ranks together- pupils, tenancy, and finally now they were both QC's. There was only one position as Head of Chambers however, and as two of the most senior barristers at Shoe Lane they would almost certainly be looked upon to enter the competition to take up the reigns.
He had some words of wisdom for them too. They were parents to a young child, just like he had been. He had not been aware how much the position would take him away from home, when he became head, and how much it would damage his relationship with his son. He wanted them to be aware of that before they entered the race, as he didn't want the same thing happening to them.
On their return from lunch, Clive was summoned to the CPS offices. When he reappeared at Shoe Lane, it was obvious that the leaked press report from the Sinclair trial wouldn't damage his career that much. The CPS wanted him to prosecute Sarah Stevens, a mother accused of murdering her disabled daughter. Whilst the defence was claiming assisted suicide, the CPS wanted a murder charge brought against the woman. Martha was pleased for him. He was a very good prosecutor, and deserved to be involved in such an important case, the result of which, could help change the law in future similar cases.
Unfortunately Olivia didn't completely see it that way. Being such an important case meant lots of preparation beforehand. That meant working at the weekend, and not much else.
"Daddy, can you play wiv me?" She asked as she approached Clive clutching a few of her favourite toys. Her mother was occupied for the present doing laundry, and she was a little bored. Luckily she knew her Daddy would keep her entertained.
"Daddy's got to work, I'm afraid," he explained, hating himself for doing it. He had never refused a play request before, but he was determined to do an excellent job with this ground breaking trial.
Realising she wasn't going to get a playmate, she did the next best thing and decided to sit on the floor by his chair, playing by herself, whilst Clive continued to work. Martha saw the scene as she passed by with a load of dirty bed linen and knew she was going to have to occupy her daughter for the day before Clive was driven to distraction.
"Let's go to the park," she suggested once she had put the washing machine on.
"Ok Mummy," Olivia agreed, standing up and allowing her mother to put her coat on her. "Daddy come to," she instructed.
Clive didn't hear her as he was to engrossed in his work. "Not today Sweetie," explained her mother, as she led her daughter out. "Daddy's got lots of work to do today,".
He was in much the same position, when they returned over four hours later. Mother and daughter had gone to the park, and then out for some lunch before going shopping. On their return he took a little break to hear what they had got up to, and to have a bit of dinner with the pair, before returning to the desk where he spent the evening, whilst Martha had been on bath and bed duty.
"You coming to bed?" Asked Martha as she turned the television off before retiring to the bedroom.
"In a minute," he acknowledged, but was still there an hour later when Martha was about to put the light out after having read some of her book.
Making her way back out to where Clive was, she crept up behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. Looking over his shoulder, she started to read some of the brief. It was definitely a meaty one.
"It's going to be tough for me, Marth," he started to say as he dropped his pen and covered her hands with his. "The whole thing is just...tragic. A life not lived. Speaking as a father, I don't know how she could do it to her daughter. I would never be able to do the same thing to Liv if she were in the same situation,".
Not really knowing how to reply to him, Martha changed the topic slightly. "I'm not sure what it means that you'd rather stay up with this work than come to bed with me," she teased, wanting to keep things light before heading off to bed.
"Never," he responded, as he turned in his seat, grabbed Martha and deposited her in his lap. He was pleased to note she appeared to only be wearing a dressing gown. Realising that perhaps he had ignored her for the whole day, he should really make it up to her and pay her a bit of attention. Somewhere along the way, this involved getting naked. "Is this chair going to hold us both?" He questioned as he lowered her onto his arousal.
"Should do. But we have to be quiet," she warned. "There's no bed for us to be jumping on this time if we get caught!".
"Clive, I need to call another witness," Martha said to Clive towards the end of the trial. It was turning into quite a depressing case, but she thought she had finally figured out what had happened after talking to Sarah Stevens.
They were handling going up against each other a lot better this time, although it had had a rocky start when Clive and Martha had found out that Martha was going to be Mrs Stevens defence barrister. They had just got back from a nice lunch to find Jake depositing a load of files for Martha in their office. Billy had walked in shortly afterwards, pleased as punch and muttering something about the "titanic's arse" when Clive had thrown a file down in disgust and stalked out the office. For Billy, this case was too big a deal to pass up, and wanted someone from Shoe Lane to be involved in the defence of Sarah Stevens. With all his wheeling and dealing he had managed to persuade her solicitor to use Martha.
Martha had found Clive alone in the pub later in the day. He had apologised to her for walking out but admitted he was tired of them always being on opposite sides and fighting in court. Together they decided that this was going to be the last time it happened, and that they would ask Billy to make sure it never happened again.
Back to the present day, and Clive was just looking at her. "Do you honestly think I'm going to fall for that again?" He questioned, thinking back to when she had told him exactly the same thing in the Jordan Sinclair trial. "I'm getting a strange feeling of déjà vu. And I remember that it didn't work out so well for me last time,".
"This is completely different Clive. And I meant what I said that I would never do anything like that again,".
"Ok. Who do you want to call?".
"Fraser Stevens," she revealed. Sarah had unwittingly revealed that she was protecting him and that he had given his sister the drugs that would kill her.
"The youngest son?" Clive asked and Martha nodded solemnly. "Oh Christ! What the hell went on in that house?".
"I think Fraser has the answer,".
"What's this for?" Asked Clive as Martha hugged him after the trial had finished.
"For not pressing charges against Fraser," she answered.
"Oh. Ok then," he replied as he wrapped his arms around her as well.
"Ouch" muttered Martha as Clive unintentionally caused her some pain whilst embracing her. She was still a little sore from where Sarah Stevens had slapped her in the face after being particularly brutal to her husband when he was on the witness stand. "Can we get Liv and go home?" She asked as she withdrew from Clive's arms. This case had been so heartbreaking, she just wanted to spend time with the people she loved the most.
"Anything you want," Clive replied, wanting to do exactly the same thing as Martha.
They quickly gathered their belongings and headed to Olivia's nursery. Martha scooped her daughter up as soon as she was close enough,and proceeded to give her a big hug. She needed to after the case.
"Mummy, you're squishing me!" Olivia exclaimed, not used to being hugged so tightly. Martha released her hold, but only a little.
They got her into her car seat, Martha took the front passenger seat whilst Clive got behind the steering wheel. Half way home and Martha's mobile phone started ringing. Rummaging in her bag she located it, noticing it was Billy before she answered it.
"Hello Billy," she started.
"You won, Miss,".
"I don't think anyone won really. I find it all rather depressing,".
"Well you know what I mean," Billy started backtracking. "You got her off the murder charge,".
"What do you want Billy?" Martha asked.
"I was wondering if you could pop into chambers with Mr Reader? I need to tell you both something,".
"We're on our way home, Billy," Martha explained. "Why don't you come over for some dinner?" She asked as she looked over at Clive for agreement as it was his turn to cook.
"I'll see you later," Billy agreed after a while. Martha hung up wondering what Billy wanted. He hadn't been himself for a little while, and anytime she asked he just changed the subject. Maybe she would find out what was going on with her friend that evening.
Billy arrived as Martha was finishing off Olivia's bath, leaving Clive to let him in and offer him a drink.
"Is dat Unca Billy?" Olivia wanted to know as Martha was towelling her dry.
"I think so," replied Martha as she reached for her daughters pyjamas and started dressing her.
"Can I say hello?" She asked her mother.
"You can say goodnight," Martha corrected, knowing her daughter was procrastinating in going to bed now there was an exciting visitor. Lifting her onto her hip she entered the living room where Clive and Billy were chatting.
"We've just come for our goodnight kiss," she announced as she passed her daughter around for kisses and hugs and wishes of sweet dreams from everyone before taking her back to her room. Lying with Olivia on her bed, she read her a story before she herself kissed her goodnight, and settled her down. Leaving her night light on, she closed the door and headed back to the living room.
"She go down ok?" Clive asked as he handed Martha a glass of red wine.
"Think so," was Martha's reply as she took a grateful sip of her drink. However she was to be proved wrong not long after, when the three adults had just sat down to dinner. "What are you doing out of bed?" She asked Olivia when she saw her appear in the room looking wide awake.
"I thought Unca Billy might like a present," she explained as she walked towards them with a picture she had drawn.
"Thank you very much Little Miss," Billy replied taking the picture from her.
"That's very nice of you Liv," said Martha, " but back to bed," she instructed.
"I can't sleep Mummy," Olivia replied.
"Doesn't really look like you've tried," Martha retorted knowing her daughter wasn't keen to go to sleep now they had company. "You've only been in your room about twenty minutes and you've drawn a picture as well," she explained but picked her up and deposited her on her lap. "Maybe you'll be better on my lap,".
As the adults ate, they kept their conversation limited to work stuff, to show Olivia she wasn't missing out on anything, and she eventually fell asleep against her mother.
"Want me to take her?" Clive enquired, to which Martha nodded.
Whilst Clive was out the room, Martha started clearing the table and loading the dishwasher.
"You two are very good together," remarked Billy as he watched her in the kitchen.
"Thanks," replied Martha as she set the washer going. "I wouldn't have believed we could ever be a couple when you introduced us to each other on our first day,".
Clive returned to the room, and they moved to the more comfortable sofas with a cup of coffee.
"So what did you want to talk about Billy?" Asked Martha after they had each made themselves comfortable.
Billy didn't reply immediately, instead he stared into his coffee, working out how he was going to tell them his news. In the end, he decided to keep it simple. "I have prostate cancer," he blurted out. "I've known for months, but, um, haven't told anyone. Err, it's not easy to say this but I have to go into hospital tomorrow for an operation,". After a little silence, he commented mainly to himself, "I've said it now. That wasn't so bad,".
"What operation?" Martha wanted to know, when she had recovered from his news.
"It's called a robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy,".
"Which means what exactly?" Clive asked.
"It's a fancy way of saying I'm having my prostate removed by keyhole surgery really," Billy explained.
"And the robot?" Clive asked.
"Does the surgery apparently. Isn't it amazing what they can do these days?".
"And then you'll be ok?" Asked Martha, a little concerned Billy wasn't telling them everything.
"Yes, Miss. I've had tests and they think the cancer is still confined to my prostate, so they should remove it all. There are a few possible side effects from the surgery, but it will get rid of the cancer which is the main thing,".
"What side effects?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, Miss," Billy answered.
"Why not?" Martha wasn't letting this go.
"It may leave me impotent," Billy replied, deciding if she wasn't going to give up questioning him, he would be quite blunt about things. Martha went quiet at his answer, whilst Clive looked a bit embarrassed. This was way too much information for him. "You two are the only ones who know what operation I'm having. I've told the clerks I'm having an operation, but not what it is for. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone either," he explained, to which Clive and Martha agreed. "I'll be off for about six weeks recuperating and I will be expecting lots of visits, just to warn you. I don't want anyone forgetting about me! I would appreciate you keeping an eye on Chambers for me as well. I don't want to return to find that the doris has taken over and changed it beyond recognition," he ended on a joking note, referring to Harriet.
Explaining they were going away for the weekend as Clive's parents were celebrating their forty fifth wedding anniversary, they agreed they would visit Billy who would still be in hospital on the Monday, as it was a bank holiday. After a bit more chat, Billy decided to get an early night and departed after getting good luck wishes from them both.
"What a day!" whispered Martha as she sidled up into Clive's arms after he had joined her in bed. "I'm glad it's over,".
The next day was a quiet one at work for both Clive and Martha, and not just because there was no arguing between Billy and Harriet. Neither had much work to do after the finish of their trial the previous day. That suited them both, as they were leaving at lunchtime to get ready for the weekend away.
Billy's absence was the talk of chambers that day, but Clive and Martha honoured Billy's request and kept their silence. As lunchtime approached, they packed up their desks, wished everyone a happy bank holiday before departing for home via the nursery.
Packing proved rather interesting for Martha who had decided to do Olivia's first. The first thirty minutes were spent convincing the three year old there wasn't enough room in the suitcase for her to take all her toys with her. After a good discussion, they had narrowed it down to three, plus some colouring pencils and paper and the promise of the iPad to keep her entertained. After that, the clothes packing was a breeze, with Olivia picking out what dress she wanted to wear for the party, plus some other summer clothes for the rest of the weekend.
Clive's parents lived about an hour away from London, in the Home Counties. It was a very large house in a gated community, with an indoor pool and very large garden. For Clive it had never really felt like home. His parents had moved there shortly after he had been sent away to boarding school, so he only spent his holidays there, which had made it difficult to make friends when he was at home.
Martha had been amazed the first time she had visited. The house was so different to the one she had grown up in. Before this visit, Martha had always stayed in a bedroom which she shared with Olivia. This would be the first time Clive and her had been there as a couple. To make it more acceptable to the little girl that she would be staying in a room by herself, Clive's parents had decided to redecorate the room in her favourite colour, and also get some new furniture installed. Clive and Martha knew, but it was going to be a surprise for Olivia.
Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad, and they made good time. Martha was glad, as she had been outnumbered in the car and had had to sit through Kylie's greatest hits for the journey. Richard and Rosemary Reader were waiting on the drive for their visitors. They had been alerted to their arrival when Clive had had to buzz at the gate. Once the car had come to a stop, Martha got out and freed her daughter from the car, whilst Clive started unloading their luggage.
"Hello Grandma," greeted Olivia from Martha's hip.
"Hello Darling," replied Clive's mother as she took her only grandchild from her mother. She then greeted Martha and told her how happy she was that Martha and her son had finally come to their senses and got together.
A little while later they were all round the dinner table. Conversation turned to Christmas.
"Mum, it's only August for gods sake," replied Clive appalled, when his mother had asked about Christmas presents.
"You know I like to do my shopping in good time. I just want to know what people want,".
"A baby sister," requested Olivia. Ever since that day in chambers, she hadn't stopped asking her parents for one.
"Is there something we should know?" Asked Rosemary getting excited. She would love to have another grandchild to spoil.
"No Mum," stated Clive before quickly changing the topic.
Bedtime was great fun for Olivia. Her new bed had a ladder up to it, and a den and desk situated underneath it. Surprisingly, it only took about half an hour before she settled down really easily, having satisfied herself that she had tried out all of the play things fully. Once she was settled, it allowed her parents to enjoy a nice evening with her grandparents.
After everyone had called it a night and retired to bed, Clive and Martha were spooned together. Just as she was slipping off to sleep, Martha felt Clive's hands begin to wander and slapped them away. "Clive stop it!" She whispered.
"Come on Marth. You're the first girl I've had in this room. I think we need to celebrate," he explained as his hands started wandering again.
"Clive! We are not having sex in this bed with your parents next door,".
"We'd just have to be quieter than usual," he reasoned with a smile.
"No way!" She replied. "Unlike Liv, they'd know exactly what was going on,".
"Spoilsport!" Teased Clive when he realised he wouldn't win this argument, and settled down to sleep behind her.