Mary sat on the edge of her bed with one hand on her bump, smiling a secret smile to herself. She'd had a restless night and was pretty tired. She hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet as she didn't want to make a fuss; but now she knew that the twinges were becoming stronger and more regular.

Next to her hospital bag she had her medical notes ready. "Mary Watson", the notes said at the top. Her new name still made her smile. She thought briefly about the woman whose identity she had taken on. Mary's medical history matched hers perfectly, right down to the same blood group, the same scar; they even had the same tattoo. Her identity now.

Mary wasn't sure what the next few hours would bring, but she was ready for it. Confident with a small dose of terror. A perfect combination. Bring it on.

She needed to phone John. He had been away unavoidably. But with the bad weather and the flooding Mary wanted him back sooner rather than later. John's current absence had been especially hard given their estrangement in the early part of her pregnancy, and there was still a part of her that didn't quite believe that John was really still with her. Pregnancy hormones had been messing with her head as well. Making her weepy at the slightest thing.

Mary paced the room as the phone rang out. Then she tried the number again.

"Come on".

No good.

Maybe Sherlock was with him. She tried Sherlock's mobile.

"Sherlock, I can't get hold of John. Is he with you?"

"No, but you're in labour. I'll be right over"

"How did you know…?" The phone went dead. Sherlock was coming over. But the person she really needed was John.

…

Mary cried out, in the grip of a contraction.

Sherlock had driven through heavy rain to get her to the hospital. Once there she had been promptly strapped to a monitor and instructed to lie on her side. Something about the baby's heartbeat decelerating during contractions. After that the midwife had left then in the small room together in the mother and baby unit away from the birthing suite. They had been waiting there for some time. Outside it was getting dark and the storm was getting worse.

To start with the contractions had been painful, but bearable, and they soon passed. But now they were much stronger and Mary was worried. Worried that no-one in the hospital seemed to be doing anything, and worried about John's absence. Sherlock had left about 15 messages on his phone, but there had been no reply.

Mary was swept up in another contraction. She tried to control her breathing through it, but on the second exhalation couldn't keep from crying out again.

"Where's the bloody midwife?" she snapped at Sherlock as soon as she could speak again.

"Maybe she doesn't think you're in active labour yet, suggested Sherlock unhelpfully, as he paced the room, avoiding the large bouncy ball that stood by the bed. Mary suspected Sherlock had been reading her baby books. "Active labour only technically begins at 4cm dilation", he informed her.

"Well, do you want to check?" Mary asked sarcastically.

Sherlock paused for a beat, and then answered precisely.

"No".

"Well go and find a bloody midwife then. And get John", she shouted after him.

Mary watched Sherlock leave the room and another wave of agony paralysed her. She was aware that there were mothers and new babies trying to sleep in the next room, and she didn't want to wake them up, but lying down allowed her no opportunity to manage her pain and to stop herself from yelling.

Sod it, she thought. If she made enough noise maybe one of the midwives would hear and get her some pain relief.

Sherlock returned alone, looking perplexed, and a bit like he didn't know what had just happened.

"They're busy", he said quickly. Apparently even Sherlock was no match for the midwives.

"Well try harder." Mary sounded exasperated. "Be rude to them if you have to".

"I was", Sherlock assured her.

Mary tried to stay relaxed as she felt the next wave coming.