Ms Surgeon

He was grinning at her, as he said it!

"Yes, loon," she scoffed at him, "I'm gong to marry you, have your baby but right now I'm going to take your pants off, either here or somewhere more private."

Doris was grinning at the two of them, and Walt said:

"Excuse us, folks, we need a private place. Ignore the doctor's cries of passion!"

There was general laughter at that, with Jackie blushing and nodding to all around, who were clapping just then.

His leg was indeed fine, and they came back to the ball. They danced one more dance, which seemed to be his limit.

"Jackie, I love you!" he said.

"You can call me 'Sam' if you want or Samantha," she said."I'll be a new 'Sam' for you, and I know that I owe Sam an explanation. Can we do that tonight?"

"Yes," he said gently.

He kissed her then, they stopped dancing and embraced into the kiss with sighs heard from all around.

They left after that, with Jackie getting a special hug from Doris before they went. During the hug, Jackie whispered to Doris:

"Thanks for all your help, honey, and, by the way, I need a Matron of Honor. Will you?"

Doris, teary eyed, said a simple 'yes' and hugged Jackie again.

They wanted to be in time to talk to Sam at home. They decided on the way there that Walt would be the one to tell Sam what their plans were.

When they got there, they discovered that Sam was in bed with a story book with Mr Twig. They asked Judy to wait for a minute, while they went to talk to Sam.

The little girl gave them her best gap-toothed smile, as they entered the room.

"Look, Mr Twig," she said, "It's Poppa and Dr Jackie!"

She opened her arms for the hugs that she was expecting from them, first from Walt and then from Dr. Jackie.

"Sam, honey," Walt said, "We need to talk to you and I think that Dr. Jackie has a secret to share with you."

"Ohh," giggled Sam, "I like sharing secrets, it's for best girlfriends."

Walt sat on the edge of the bed and Jackie stood behind him, with her hand on his shoulder.

"Dr. Jackie and I are going to be married," Walt said.

Sam smiled and then looked puzzled.

"Honey?" Walt asked.

Sam was close to tears as she said: "Oh, Poppa, I love Dr. Jackie but I thought we were going to wait for a new Samantha."

"Well, pumpkin," Walt said, "I guess that I'd better let Dr. Jackie tell you her secret now. I'll just go and give you girls some privacy."

He went out and Jackie sat down on the edge of the bed. She stroked Sam's face and said:

"Sam, I want to show you a card that I have in my wallet."

While she spoke, she brushed a tear away from Sam's eye and bent down and kissed the little girl. Then she produced the identity card and said to Sam:

"Sam, this card shows my own full name."

Sam took the card and began to cry lustily.

Jackie held her and let her cry, and only slowly did Sam calm down. The first thing that she did was turn to Mr Twig and say:

"Mr Twig, we've got another Samantha! Dr Jackie is a Samantha, that's the secret."

She turned back to Jackie sand said: "I love you Dr Jackie Samantha."

"I love you too, honey," Jackie said, "And I love your Poppa very much."

"Can we live together again?" Sam asked,"In the house with the bed that has a roof?"

"Sure can," Jackie said, as Walt came back into the room, "And I bet that you and I can go shopping and find a bed like that for you and Mr Twig!"

"Oh, can we?" Sam almost squealed, then she turned to Walt and said:

"Poppa, Poppa, we're going to live in Dr Jackie's house and I'm going to have a bed with a roof over it for me and Mr Twig."

"Great news, pumpkin," he said, joining the two ladies.

"And, I think that there's one more thing that we need to tell you," Walt said to the grinning little girl, who was hugging Jackie and Mrs Twig.

"Jackie," he said softly.

She leaned down to Sam and said: "We're going to have a baby!"

"Yay!" Sam sang out, "I get a sister or brother." She made sure that she told Mr. Twig right away.

They realized that Sam was too excited to sleep just then, so they took her downstairs for some hot chocolate. They were joined there by Judy, so that they could share all the good news with her.

When they were seated around the table, Sam spoke up and said:

"Aunt Judy, did you know that Dr Jackie is 'Big Sam'? And I'm going to be 'Little Sam'. Isn't that nice? Mr Twig and I are so happy about it."

They all laughed at her enthusiasm.

Epilogue:

Walt and Jackie/Big Sam were married shortly after that. Doris and Judy stood up with Jackie for the wedding. Between Walt's basketball team and the hospital staff, it was a large and lovely affair.

They decided that their honeymoon would be a trip for the four of them, Mr Twig included. It was Disneyworld for all of them.

The big house where Walt had been hurt was sold, as was his own house and the three of them, with Mr Twig, settled into Jackie's large home.

Once they were home and moved, Jackie and Sam went shopping and picked out the canopy bed that she wanted so badly.

Gradually, Mr Twig exited from the scene but he never lost his place of honor in Sam's room.

Jackie and Walt were good partners in all ways, and with the birth of little Jacqueline their family was complete.

The End