What's happened so far: Martin and Hester have finally got married! Despite problems such as Hester's sister and her husband announcing their separation on the wedding day, they were overcome and the happy couple are now Mr and Dr Crane! We now join them a few days after the wedding, on their honeymoon.

"What a charming city!" Martin Crane said to his new wife, Hester. He was glad that Hester had also wanted to visit the city of Boston for their honeymoon. Martin had always wanted to go there.

"Indeed," Hester replied as she wrapped her arms round her husband.

The two walked on, until Martin need to go to the toilet. He got out his guide book - Let's Do Boston! The "Are We There Yet?" Guide - and looked for the nearest public toilet.

"How about there?" Hester asked, pointing to a bar on the map. "They're bound to have one in there."

"'Cheers'?" replied Martin. "Sounds like a good bar. Let's go and have a drink as well."

Hester agreed, and they walked down Beacon Street towards the bar named 'Cheers'. Walking down the steps - the bar was below a restaurant named Chez Poubelles - the Cranes found that the bar was closed. A sign on the door said, "Closed for Building Work! Reopening Next Monday."

"Maybe that restaurant has one Marty," said Hester as they walked up the stairs. As they walked up to Chez Poubelles, they noticed a woman with a three year old son walking past.

"Mommy, look!" said the kid, pointing at the bar.

"No Clifford, bars are for drunks. You will never go in a bar!" said his mother. "Look Clifford, a mailman! Let's go and look at him instead."

As Clifford and his mom walked off to watch the mailman, Hester smiled at Martin.

"I wonder if we'll have problems like that with our kids," she smiled.

"Yeah, could you imagine us stopping our son going into Cheers?" laughed Martin. Then he went into the restaurant to use its toilet.

-----

"Martin....." said Hester erotically. She was sitting on the bed wearing not that much. "I'm cold. Come and warm me up....."

"Coming dear!" said Martin, jumping on the bed. "I'll have you feeling hot very soon....."

-----

It was 3 weeks later. Martin and Hester had returned from their honeymoon and were settling down to married life. At the moment, they were living in what had been Hester's house, now their house.

It was a Tuesday afternoon, and both were at work. Martin was on the trail of a woman whose idea of fun was seducing men and then robbing them, and Hester was with one of her patients, Mrs Cookson.

"Mrs Cookson, I believe you have a problem known as.....excuse me!" For the third time that hour, she ran into the bathroom and threw up.

"Dr Wins - Crane, are you OK?" Mrs Cookson asked.

"I'm fine!" called Hester. "We're here about you, not me!"

"But this is the third time!" exclaimed Mrs Cookson. "I can come back next week if you want."

Hester came back out. "I think I've caught that bug that's going around. I'm sorry Mrs Cookson for this inconvenience. Could you come back next week?"

"Yes, of course I could. Get better soon, Dr Winslow."

"Crane," smiled Hester as she corrected Mrs Cookson. Hester had had no problem with becoming Dr Crane rather than keeping her maiden name. "See you next week." And she left, heading for her mother's.

-----

"Dr Peters is ill himself with that bug, and I know you keep lots of medicines around the house Mom, so i thought I'd come to you."

"OK dear, what exactly is wrong?"

"Well, I'm throwing up a lot. A lot. And....."

"Stop right there dear. I think I know what you are talking about. When is your next period due?"

"A few days time, why, you don't think....pregnancy?" Hester suddenly realised what her mother was talking about.

"Wait until your period is due, then if you miss it take a test," Rose told her daughter. "Although, if you're anything like me..... I threw up for the Western hemisphere when I had you and your sister."

"Thanks for that graphic description Mom," said Hester as she ran to the toilet again.

-----

On the day that Hester's period was due, it didn't arrive. Thinking that maybe it could be a couple of days late, Hester told no-one except her mom. However when it still hadn't happened 5 days later, Hester decided she should get a test.

She nervously awaited the results in the now recovered Dr Peters' surgery. Rose sat with her.

"Dr Crane, could you come through?" the receptionist said. Hester and her mother walked into the room to await the results.....

-----

"Hester, Mom and Dad have invited us around tonight. They've got a television set!" Martin told his wife. It was true. Martin Senior and Lorraine had been saving for a while, and now they had finally got a TV set. They were one of the first families in the road to get one, and so everyone was going round for a "TV Dinner", a phrase coined by Martin Sr. personally, Martin Jr didn't see the phrase catching on.

"Coming dear," Hester said quietly. She looked very pale.

"Are you OK?" Martin asked. "What did the doctor say?"

"I'll, um, tell you later," Hester replied. Martin knew something wasn't quite right, but he also knew his wife wouldn't talk about it until later, like she'd said, so kept quiet as he drove towards his parent's house.

"Stop! Marty, stop!" Hester screamed.

"We're almost there!" Martin told her.

"Stop! I need to get off!" she replied. Martin stopped the car and Hester ran out. Martin ran after her to find her throwing up again.

"Hester, you're still throwing up? That's the 2nd time today, plus the mood swings, and the visit to the doctor and.....whoa, whoa, whoa! You're pre...pre..."

"Pregnant?" she replied as she looked up, smiling. "I was going to wait until we got to your parents before telling you, but yes. Martin Crane, you're going to be a father....."

What?" Lorraine Crane asked.

"That's right Mom, or should I say Grandma!" Martin smiled. Everyone cheered and the TV dinner quickly turned to a celebration dinner for Martin and Hester.

"When's it due?" Vivian asked.

"Sometime around March next year," Hester told her.

"You know what?" Martin told his wife on their way home. "We must have conceived the baby when we were on our honeymoon."

"Boston will be an important place for him then," Hester replied, "that is, if it's a he."

"My mom seems to think so," Martin said. "She knew I would be a boy, and she knew Walt would be a boy, and she knew Vivian would be a girl. Amazing. Actually, when she was pregnant with me, apparently everyone said I would be a girl, but no, my mom said it was a boy, and sure enough she was right."

-----

Hester Crane was feeling a bit sad. Martin was at work again. He was on a stakeout and as such was hardly ever home. Hester had to smile a bit. Martin was working all this overtime to get extra money for the baby, but at the same time she hardly got to see him.

Her bump wasn't showing yet - she was only 2 months pregnant, plus she still hadn't managed to lose all that extra weight she'd had before her wedding. She was with Mrs Cookson again.

"Mrs Cookson, the only way you are going to overcome your fear of radios is to accept that no, they are not really Russian spies who are spying on you."

"OK Dr Crane," Mrs Cookson said. Hester sighed. Mrs Cookson was here every week with a new phobia. Last week it was light switches, before that paper cuts. After Mrs Cookson, the last patient for the day had left, Hester packed up her things and left. She decided to go to her mother's. It was better than an empty house.

-----

"So Marty, are you ever going to go home?" Artie Walshe asked his friend. "You're here more than the criminals are."

"I just want the best for this baby," Martin replied. "I never want him to go without."

"Him?" asked Artie.

"It's a long story," Martin said.

"Anyway, go home for a bit. Take some time off. Trust me. You remember when Joe Pearson's wife was pregnant? He was home with her a lot and she said that really helped her."

"Maybe," said Martin, feeling torn. Artie decided to change the subject.

"You thought of names yet?"

"Not really, although if its a boy, he won't be Martin John Crane III. I always hated being a 'Junior'."

"Crane, Walshe, there's been a murder on the Seafront. Get yourselves over there pronto!" Lt Casey told the two. As they left, Martin decided that he would go home straight afterwards and make his wife a romantic dinner. With his mom's help of course, as Martin was a hopeless cook.

-----

"There we go son, I hope she enjoys it," Lorraine said as he left.

"OK Mom, thanks." Martin kissed his mother as she left. A few moments later, the postman arrived with a letter for Martin. As Martin opened it and read it, he let out a gasp.

-----

Hester was on her way home. The car had broken down and Duke, who knew how to fix it, hadn't gotten around to doing it yet. As such Hester was walking home.

It was a nice July evening, and Hester was enjoying her walk. She had read somewhere that if you are healthy when pregnant, the baby would be too.

"Hey missy, hands up!" Hester turned around to see a teenager, aged about 17, with a gun behind her. "I said hand up!"

Hester did so, but turned around so she was facing the teen. She knew what to do here. "Alright, but I might as well let you know, my husband is a police officer."

"Yeah right."

"Oh yes," Hester said calmly. "Whatever you take from me, he'll find it and get it back, and lock you up." The teen's arm started wavering.

Just as I suspected, Hester thought to herself. He doesn't want to shoot me.

"You know what, I'm not going to rob you," the teen said nervously, and he ran off. He tripped over a man walking past and dropped his gun, which Hester picked up and put in her purse. She then walked over to the police station to hand it in and report the boy.

-----

The police station was very busy, and Hester managed to phone Martin to let him know where she was. Martin sounded like he was feeling ill.

"Marty, are you OK?" It was odd. He had been asking her that very same question not that long ago.

"Uh, I have something to tell you. You're not going to like it. Come home, quickly."

Hester quickly made her excuses and left. Artie Walshe offered to give her a lift home, and as they drove Hester wondered what it was Martin wanted to tell her.

"Hester, my ex-girlfriend is pregnant with my baby."

"Hester, I've met someone else."

"Hester, I've got cancer and have got just 3 weeks left to live."

These three scenarios and more were swirling around in her head. Artie arrived at the Crane house and dropped her off, and Hester ran inside.

The dinner was on the table, uneaten.

"Oh Marty, dinner's lovely," she said as she sat down.

"Hester, you're not going to like this at all. But....." He showed her the letter he'd received earlier. "I've been drafted."