Siobhán is dying and asks Brian if he will take care of their son.

Radio Times: Brian gets a shock to the system.

Characters: Brian, Eddie, Lilian, Matt, Siobhán

• What? No drink! Lilian is disappointed to find that Eddie is so serious about the competition that his training session will be dry; it was her idea after all. Maybe later.
• Matt has lost Lilian and suspects that she is out drinking somewhere. Brian gives him a clue: he has seen her car on the edge of the village. Then Brian gets a phone call. It’s from Siobhán; she is in Borchester and wants to see him.
• Matt interrupts the training session, confident that he has caught Lilian in the act – of drinking. Eddie and Lilian are indignant to a degree that only the guilty could manage.
• At Siobhán’s hotel Brian is immediately struck by her appearance: she is pale and clearly unwell. She explains that a month ago she was diagnosed with cancer – a mole on her back. She has had an operation but now they have discovered secondary cancers in her liver, too advanced for surgery. She will begin chemo-therapy in Dublin next week; she has come from there having left Ruairidh with her mother. She is determined to try everything possible to stay alive, for Ruairidh. But the doctors have been very straight with her and she knows what she is facing; telling others is hard and she needs someone strong enough to accept what she is really saying. She could face the treatment more easily if she knew that she had done everything possible for Ruairidh. He is not happy with her mum. If she dies, will Brian take care of their son? He is quick to say that he will; he will love him and care for him and he will grow up on the farm as his son. Siobhán is more realistic: it is not a decision for Brian alone; Ruairidh needs a mother too. Brian must go home and talk to Jennifer and listen to her. Ruairidh is innocent of anything Siobhán and Brian did; if Jennifer can find it in her heart to accept that, then Brian can say yes.