By Monday, Patsy was back on the rota and Nurse Crane had assigned her to take care of the bookings for the week which was convenient as most days she finished early enough to have time to go and pick up the odds and ends she and Delia would need in their new abode.

On Thursday evening as Patsy came through the door with a bag of groceries under her arm, she literally bumped into Nurse Crane who was rushing out to attend to a mother-to-be.

As they stopped to straighten themselves out and check that the other wasn't hurt, Nurse Crane asked, "Nurse Mount, I wonder if I could bother you to join me on this one. It's Mrs Johnson. It's her first delivery and she's having twins…. An extra pair of hands would be very useful."

"Of course….Let me put this bag of groceries in my room and I'll be right with you."

Patsy quickly climbed the stairs, dumped her bag of groceries inside the door and in a matter of minutes was in Phyllis' car driving off to one of poorer parts of Poplar to assist Mrs Johnson in the birth of her twins.

"We may need to call for an ambulance," Nurse Crane informed Patsy as they wound through the streets, "Mrs Johnson has had high blood pressure in the latter stages of the pregnancy and now she's gone into labour three weeks early."

Having reached the address, Phyllis pulled her car to the curb in the space directly outside. The two midwives grabbed their bags and without the need to knock entered the tiny flat. Patsy could see at a glance that the flat was made up of only three small rooms and held only the very bare necessities and any furniture they had was threadbare and second hand if not third or fourth hand. A pram and two small cradles lay in wait in the main living area.

Inside, a neighbour pointed them to a curtained off section of the main room which served as a bedroom. Behind the curtain, lying on the bed in a lather of sweat was a very young and very frightened Mrs Johnson. Helping to take care of her until the midwives arrived were two of the women who lived in neighbouring flats.

Patsy gave them a 'thank you' as they left Mrs Johnson in Patsy and Phyllis' capable hands.

While Phyllis did all the initial checks – blood pressure, babies' heart beats, amount of the dilation of the cervix and so on, Patsy held the girl's hand…for that was all she was, a girl, no more than 16 or 17… and reassured her that everything would be alright.

"Are you expecting your husband home soon?" Patsy asked, thinking there was a more than likely chance they may need to send the girl to the hospital.

"What time is it?" the girl asked between sharp stabs of pain.

Looking at her watch, Patsy answered, "It's just gone six o'clock."

"That means he'll be down the local having a pint or three with his mates."

"Right," Patsy replied, "Let's see if we can get these babies out to show their father when he comes home."

It was while Patsy was in the bathroom looking through the pitiful collection of towels for some that could be used that she heard the sound of a male voice….a strangely familiar male voice. Having found two towels that would suit the purpose, she turned to leave but was startled to find a man standing in the doorway blocking her way.

Much to Patsy's shock, she instantly recognised him as one of the men from outside The Gates on Friday night. She could only hope that he had been too drunk that night to remember her.

"Mind if I wash my hands," he said with a leering smile as he brushed past her close enough that their bodies touched, close enough for Patsy to smell the alcohol on his breath….a move that seemed to Patsy to be quite deliberate.

"No, of course not," Patsy said hurriedly as she went to leave but before she was out of the room he had grabbed her by the wrist.

"Don't I know you?" he asked.

Jerking her wrist free of his grasp, Patsy replied with a sharp, "I doubt it."

"Yes, I do….me and my mate, Dave, we saw you and your 'friend' coming out of that 'women's club' on Friday night….you're a ….I bet I could change your mind….You're a fine looking woman." He moved in closer, his hands reaching for Patsy's waist. Patsy moved back the one or two inches available to her.

"Oh, that's right," Patsy cut in as she batted his hands away, "you were with that woman who most definitely wasn't your very pregnant wife."

The man backed away a little, realising he didn't quite have the upper hand he thought he had.

"It was Dave's last night of freedom…he got married the next day….we were out having a bit of harmless fun….that's all."

The man chuckled at his little joke. Patsy gave him a look of sheer contempt. There was a loud groan from his wife in the next room.

"I wonder what they'd think if they knew you…."

"I wonder what your wife would think if she knew what you were up to. Shame on you, Mr Johnson. Your wife's at home pregnant with your offspring while you're out gallivanting on the town with other women."

Patsy took a step to leave but the man blocked her off.

"If you'll excuse me, Mr Johnson," came the sound of Nurse Crane's voice from the doorway, "Nurse, I could do with some help here, if you don't mind."

"Certainly," Patsy replied, the relief was written on her face as the man moved away from the doorway and went to wash his hands.

"It's going to be a long night, Mr Johnson. Why don't you go and walk off some of that alcohol," Phyllis suggested before heading back to assist his wife.

It was the early hours of Friday morning when Phyllis's car arrived back at Nonnatus House. Mrs Johnson's delivery had been slow to start with but once things started moving, they progressed very quickly. The twins…two girls….had arrived safely and despite the premature birth they were in good health. However, as a precaution, Phyllis had sent Mrs Johnson and the babies off in an ambulance to St Cuthbert's to receive the care she doubted the woman would get at home from her husband.

In consideration of their long night, both Nurse Crane and Nurse Mount were excused from duties for the rest of the day.

"Are you alright, Nurse Mount," Phyllis asked as Patsy returned from the bathroom and was slipping into bed.

"I'm still a bit shaken," she replied, "but I'll be fine. It's Mrs Johnson I feel sorry for though…what a horrible lech of a husband and now she has two babies to deal with as well….I doubt he'll be much help….Maybe I'll drop in on my rounds…when he's not there, of course, and talk to her about the contraceptive pill."

"Hopefully, the babies will bring her the happiness she needs because I have a feeling he certainly won't."

When Delia popped her head in about an hour later to see where Patsy had been the previous night, both women were sleeping soundly.

oooOooo

Although it had seemed like forever in coming, finally Saturday morning did arrive. After Delia had received a clean bill of health from Dr Turner earlier in the week, they were free to move into their house and, as if an omen to their future, it was a glorious winter day with clear skies and crisp, fresh air. Today was to be the first day of the rest of their lives together and both women had great difficulty containing their eagerness. Delia had to do a short shift at St Cuthbert's and wouldn't finish work until 11am. Meanwhile, Patsy had seconded the services of Phyllis and her car to help take the last of their meagre possessions to the house.

Patsy also needed to be at the house for the delivery of the new mattress she had ordered. Much to her surprise, the delivery van had arrived right on ten o'clock as arranged, however, it took them a good half an hour of grunting and groaning, twisting and turning, sweating and swearing to haul the Queen-sized mattress up the narrow staircase, around the tight corner into the bedroom and finally lie it on the bed frame.

Once the mattress was in place and the delivery men had left (an extra pound in their pockets) Patsy made up the bed with new, crisp white sheets, a woollen blanket and the colourful, patchwork quilt she'd been given as a house-warming gift from the other midwives. Delia had been given a similar quilt for her bed too.

At midday, Delia and Patsy sat down at the dining table with the rest of the midwives and Sisters of Nonnatus House to have lunch although neither of them were terribly hungry such was their level of excitement. They picked at their food like sparrows and declined the offer of cake. It wasn't to be until almost an hour later that they stood on the front steps of Nonnatus House and said their good-byes, hugging friends or shaking hands with others, despite the fact that Patsy, at least, would be back there first thing on Monday morning and they would see Delia most lunch times. To waves from their friends, they headed off up the street, the keys to their own place safely in the pocket of Patsy's coat.

They had barely crossed the threshold and closed the door behind them when Delia drew Patsy into her arms and kissed her. It was a long and languid kiss and the first of many that day.

"I am so incredibly happy," Delia said when their lips eventually parted, "I don't know if it's possible for me to be any happier."

"Let me show you the new bed," Patsy said innocently.

"Well, maybe I was wrong. Perhaps it is possible for me to be happier," she answered with a mischievous smile as Patsy grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs.

Both women lay on top of covers of the bed, testing the new mattress for comfort and firmness.

"Just think, Pats, no more sneaking in and out of rooms every night. We can sleep together every night without having to worry if someone is going to see us or disturb us….no more surprise knocks on the door…"

To prove the point, Patsy rolled towards Delia, dipped her hand into her hair and drew their mouths together once more, kissing her tenderly at first but as the kiss deepened and Delia felt the warmth of Patsy's tongue entering her mouth she couldn't help an unrestrained moan of pleasure.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on their front door. Both women sat up in disbelief. Who could possibly be knocking on their door and why now of all times? Patsy looked at the time. Three o'clock. She promptly rose from the bed and made her way downstairs with a confused Delia close behind her.

Patsy opened the door to the young man who had served her that morning a week ago at the music shop. He had with him what looked like a small suitcase. Patsy invited him in and directed him to a small table in the living room she'd set up near a power outlet. Delia watched on curiously as he then unwound a short cord from the back of the 'suitcase' and plugged it in. It wasn't until he opened the case up that Delia could see clearly that it was a record player which he obligingly set up for them and ran through the instructions once more.

"What's all this?" Delia asked once they were alone again.

"I thought we could do with some music in our home," Patsy explained as she took out the three records she had also purchased and placed one of them on the player. As she moved the arm across the turntable, the record began to spin. Carefully, she dropped the needle onto the vinyl disc.

At the sound of the first few bars of Nat King Cole's fingers tickling the ivories, Patsy encircled Delia in her arms and their bodies began to sway to its rhythm.

"Let there be you,

Let there be me…"

Delia laughed happily as Patsy whirled her around the room in time to the music then drew her in close again.

"I love you, Delia Busby," Patsy said in a voice well above a whisper for perhaps the first time.

"And I love you," Delia replied with a giggle as Patsy spun her around by the hand, first in one direction and then in the other then held her close as they kissed once more.

Let there be cuckoos,

A lark and a dove,

But first of all, please,

Let there be love."

A/N: This story is now complete. I hope you enjoyed the read. I loved researching the music for this fic... do yourself a favour and go listen to some of those early sixties tunes.