EastEnders spoilers follow.
EastEnders' Linda Carter has revealed the truth about her pregnancy to Jack Branning as she gave birth to her baby in tonight's dramatic scenes.
Fans will know that Linda (Kellie Bright) and her husband Mick (Danny Dyer) have decided to pretend that Linda's baby is Mick's, even though the father of the baby is actually her former lover Max Branning (Jake Wood).
Recent scenes have seen both Max's brother Jack (Scott Maslen) and his ex-wife Rainie Highway (Tanya Franks) begin to suspect that Linda is hiding something, and the situation came to a head tonight as Jack confronted Linda – right before she began to experience contractions.
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With Jack convinced that Linda was faking her contractions to avoid having the conversation, he continued to demand answers, insisting: "If there's a tiny chance that that baby's his, then he has a right to know!"
Later, Linda's water broke and Jack was convinced that she was telling the truth after all, but with Mick distracted by the fire, Jack was left panicking as no one else was around to help deliver the baby.
"I shouldn't be the one that's doing this!" Jack insisted, prompting Linda to reply: "You should. You're its uncle, Jack.
"You're my baby's uncle, and it needs you. Please don't hate me. Mick knows everything, I just wanted my baby to have a good life, a family. And now, I know he's coming back. I know I can't hide forever, but I know Max – he's already taken Abi, he's going to ruin everything."
"He's not coming back," Jack reassured her. "I didn't call him. I just wanted to know the truth, that's all."
With Jack on the phone to the paramedics, he was left rushing around the house in a bid to try and help deliver the baby, but before long he heard the sounds of a baby crying in the next room as Linda had delivered a baby girl.
"Please don't let Max take my baby," an exhausted Linda later pleaded with Jack. "Let us be happy. Let me and Mick be a family."
Later, Mick realised what had happened when the ambulance turned up, and Jack watched on as Linda and Mick shared their first moments with their new baby, wondering what to do next.
Linda and Mick were keeping the secret in a bid to avoid Max turning up and getting involved in their lives again, but now that Jack knows the truth, is it only a matter of team before the secret is out?
EastEnders airs on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays on BBC One.
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