Title: After the honeymoon 2/2
Fandom: The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Author: Ceindreadh
Characters: Matthew, Lucien, Jean, Alice
Rating: 15
Spoilers: Set after the telemovie Family Portrait
Summary: After the honeymoon it's time to return to 'normal' life
Word count: ~ 2,200
Disclaimer. I don't own the characters, I'm only borrowing them, and no copyright infringement is intended.

[part 2]

"I'm pregnant," said Alice.

"Bloody hell!" said Lucien, "But how?"

Alice raised an eyebrow at him, "I know it's been four months since you practiced medicine, Lucien, but surely you haven't forgotten the basics." Matthew choked back a snort of laughter.

"Forgive me, Alice, Matthew," said Lucien, recovering his composure somewhat. "But you must admit, it is most unexpected."

"It was a little, yes," said Alice. She and Matthew exchanged glances.

"Well do tell me, how are you feeling? What doctor are you seeing? How far along are you?"

"Lucien," interrupted Matthew, "Stop hounding my wife with questions."

"What?" said Lucien, "Oh yes, forgive me Alice."

"Ignore him, Lucien," said Alice, "He just loves saying those two words."

"Well it's not like I have much opportunity to use them, overmuch," said Matthew, a mock scowl on his face, which soon melted into a smile. He pulled his attention away from Alice. "We haven't exactly told anyone about it. Rose and Vera were our witnesses in Melbourne, and I have a suspicion that Parks has figured it out, but apart from that, you two are the only ones in Ballarat that know."

"You just wanted to see my face when you told me," said Lucien, smiling.

"Yes, well, partly," said Alice, "But I didn't want it getting back to the hospital board until I'm ready to tell them. They may be…difficult."

"But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Matthew, firmly. "Won't we, love?"

"We will," said Alice, smiling at him. For a few seconds it was as if they were the only two in the room until Lucien, discretely cleared his throat. "And in answer to your questions, I had some morning sickness, but that's passed now. I saw a doctor in Melbourne, a woman I'd trained with, and I'm roughly four months along."

"Four months," said Jean, "Wouldn't that make it…" She looked at Alice, who blushed slightly and nodded.

"Anyway," said Alice, "I was hoping Lucien, Melbourne is too far to travel for regular appointments, and I was hoping…well, if you would be amenable to taking me on as a patient…"

"I'd be honoured," said Lucien, "Jean will book you in for an appointment as soon as it suits you, but first, I think we should drink a toast to this happy event."

Several hours later, Jean and Lucien were alone in the house, doing the washing up.

Matthew had left to bring Alice home, accompanied by Lucien's gentle teasing about not being out late on a work night. Matthew had retorted that he would be staying with his wife that night. "Figured you two lovebirds might want a bit of peace and quiet."

"Who would have thought it?" said Lucien, an amused smile on his face as he dried the dishes that Jean had washed. "Matthew and Alice, married in secret and now going to be parents." He noticed that Jean seemed a little distracted as she put a plate on the rack. "Penny for your thoughts, love?"

"I was thinking about Alice," said Jean, as she scrubbed vigorously at a plate. "Having a baby…at her age. It's going to take a lot out of her."

Lucien's face was serious as he replied, "Yes, indeed. It's going to be a lot to deal with. But she's fit and healthy, although I'll know more after I've had a chance to examine her. She's not the only woman to have a child at her age, but obviously yes, she'll need looking after."

"She's a year older than I am," said Jean, carefully keeping her focus on the basin of soapy water in front of her. "You and I…we never really discussed that properly…what with everything that was happening coming up to the wedding."

Jean had been doing some final packing a few days before the wedding when, Lucien had come into her room. Looking as embarrassed as she'd ever seen him, he'd produced a packet of condoms. "I wonder if perhaps, well, maybe we should take these with us…if there's room of course…"

Jean had blushed slightly at the sight of them, "Of course," she'd said, with careful lightness. "Best to be prepared," she'd added. "They can go in that case," she'd indicated the one that was open on her bed. Lucien had put the packet down and opened his mouth, "Jean…we…"

"No time to talk now," Jean had said, bustling him out of the room. "Too much to do." Closing the door behind him, she'd looked at the packet for a few seconds before hurriedly pushing it to the bottom of the case and covering it over with a pair of pyjamas. Even covered up though, the packet weighed on her mind as she continued working. The church would have had plenty to say about the matter had she been able to mention it, but they had cast her loose when she'd needed them. But just because the church had failed her in respect of her impending marriage to Lucien, did that really mean that she could fail it in other respects. Jean knew that she and the church would never see eye to eye on the issue of divorce and remarriage, but she still wanted to follow its teachings in so far as she was able.

Finally, she closed the suitcase, put it on the floor and pushed all thoughts of its contents from her mind. After all, she reasoned, if Lucien wanted to use those things, well, that would be on his conscience. And besides, she'd thought brightly, at her age, it wasn't exactly as if there was going to be anything 'prevented' as such. "No," thought Jean "it's more for…convenience…for hygiene while we're travelling."

"You and I…we never really discussed that properly…what with everything that was happening coming up to the wedding," said Jean, "There was just so much happening, so much planning. I suppose I thought that it wasn't really a priority. I mean, at your age…at *my* age…I thought it wasn't really anything to be concerned about."

"Matthew and Alice may well have felt the same way." Lucien smiled, but Jean didn't return it.

"I'm younger than Alice," said Jean, finally looking at him, "So it's not as if it would be out of the question."

Lucien put down the dish towel. "Are you saying that you'd want to have a child…our child?" He kept his voice deliberately neutral.

"I'm already a grandmother, you're a grandfather. To start again at our age. It would be difficult, but not impossible." Jean glanced away from him, "I've raised two sons. And while I'll admit that maybe I didn't always make the right choices about them," she held up a hand to stop Lucien's protests. "Perhaps there were things I should have done differently, but I made the decisions that I thought were best at the time and for better for worse, I had the opportunity to raise them my boys. But you…" She took Lucien's hands in hers. "You were parted from Li when she was so young, you've missed out on so much of being a parent. Don't you want to have that chance again?"

Lucien sighed heavily, "The greatest regret that I will ever have in my life is that I wasn't able to protect Li and Mei Lin when Singapore fell. And if there was any power on earth that could change that, give me back that time, give me a chance to be a father to my daughter again, then yes of course I'd take it. How could I not?" He squeezed Jean's hands, "But the past is what it is, and I can't change it. To bring a child into this world in an attempt to redress my failure with Li…that wouldn't be fair, to either you or the child."

"You have so much love to give, you'd be such a good parent," said Jean, "I don't want to deprive you of the chance to be one."

"No my love," said Lucien, pulling her close to him, "Don't ever feel like that. If it's all right with you, we'll leave the baby business to Matthew and Alice." He could feel Jean relax against him and he knew he'd made the right decision. Then a thought flashed into his mind. "But what if we didn't have a baby…" He pulled away from Jean, so he could look her in the eyes, "Not too far away from us, there's an orphanage full of children, older children, who would love nothing more than to have a set of parents to love them. Who wouldn't mind if those parents were a bit long in the tooth."

"You mean, adopt?" said Jean, "But wouldn't you mind that they weren't well, yours?"

"If you and I had found each other ten or fifteen years earlier," said Lucien, "Do you think I would have loved your boys any less because they wouldn't have been mine? Do you think that you would have cared for Li any less because she wasn't yours?"

"Of course not," said Jean.

"We both have so much love to give. Maybe it's something we should think about. Not immediately of course, for now, call me selfish but I don't want to share my love with anybody but you. But maybe when things have settled, hmm? There's plenty of time."

"Yes," said Jean. She glanced at her watch, "But right now it's time to finish cleaning." She yelped in shock as Lucien picked her up in his arms, "Lucien! Put me down, I'm not finished."

"The dishes can wait until morning. How about we have an early night and 'not' make a baby." Lucien nuzzled at Jean's neck making her laugh.

"All right, but you can finish the washing!"

"It's a deal," said Lucien as he carried her away.

Several miles away in Alice's little cottage, she too was looking distracted. "Penny for your thoughts," said Matthew as he poured the tea.

Alice was silent for a few seconds before replying. "Did you think that Jean seemed a little…distant tonight. After we'd told her our news, that is." She lifted the cup to her lips but didn't drink.

"Can't say I really noticed," said Matthew, "But then again, once Lucien gets going, it's difficult for anyone to get a word in edgeways!"

Alice put down the cup and looked at him, "I was afraid that perhaps, well perhaps we'd offended her. I mean, having sex outside of marriage, isn't that considered a mortal sin in her church?"

"I'm not sure that Jean is putting too much store by the church's teachings anymore," said Matthew, "Not when she had to choose between it and Lucien." He saw the look on Alice's face and put his arm around her. "Jean Beazley, Blake," he corrected himself quickly, "Is one of the least judgemental people that I know. Yes, maybe she'll be thinking we're not doing things the way she would have, but she'll also be thinking that we're old enough to make our own decisions and that's all there is to it."

"I hope you're right," said Alice as she leaned against Matthew. "I'd hate to have her think badly of us, especially…" she hesitated before continuing, "There's so much I want to ask her. All the medical books I've studied, well, they explain the biological processes I'm going through, but most of them were written by men and I just feel that somebody who's been through it will have a better perspective."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to help."

"And I was also hoping…to ask her to be there with me…when the time comes…" There was a barely noticeable catch in her voice.

Matthew however was well used to noticing everything about Alice. "I'm sure she'll say yes. Jean won't let anybody down if she can help it. And Lucien will see you right as well." He pulled Alice closer to him. "Now that we've spilled the beans to that pair, probably time we started letting a few other people know. Maybe look at getting a place together with room for a little one?"

Alice sighed, "I know. There's so much to think about, and only a few months to do it. It just feels like it's actually happening." She turned to look at Matthew, "These last few months, it's almost felt like we've been on a sort of honeymoon as well, just you and me and now we're back down to earth and have to face the real world. I don't think the hospital board will be quite as understanding as Jean and Lucien. And you know what it's like for gossip. People are going to talk."

Matthew kissed her gently on the forehead, "Let them talk. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it…together. One thing at a time, yeah? Tomorrow we'll get Lucien to give you a once over and then you can sit down with Jean and ask her anything you need to know. The honeymoon period may be over, but that just means that now it's time for our life together to start." He kissed her gently on the lips. "And I for one am looking forward to it."

Alice smiled back at him. "And so am I."

The End
(for now anyway)