Setting the papers down, Jack rubbed at his fatigued eyes. He had been at this for hours and he hadn't even made a dent in the IN stack. Requests for his written statement on the incident, drafts of a new checks and balance system to prevent such a cover up from happening ever again and even formal requests for him to run for office had been flooding his desk for weeks now. If nothing else, it was a distraction from the funeral processions and crying widows. Ianto's sister had been kind enough to check in on him every few days. She was so much like her brother, making him take a break to eat the food she'd cooked him, insisting he at least take in a nap occasionally, only she was worse, being a mother. He smiled at the thought. Like a mother hen.
"What are you so smiley about then?" Jack jumped, cursing as he knocked over an entire stack of finished papers. The Doctor chuckled from his place leaned against the doorway, pushing off and moving to flop in the chair across from Jack's. Jack was gaping at him.
"What," the Doctor asked. "Have I got something on my face?"
"Um..." Jack pointed down at the obvious round belly the other man was sporting through the open suit jacket. The Doctor looked down.
"Oh! Right. Sorry," he said, lifting up the white T-shirt that replaced his usual button down, revealing the bulge. He spoke to his belly, stroking it affectionately. "Come on now. Don't be shy. Come out and say hello to your uncle Jack."
"Doctor, what are you-"
Jack froze as he saw something inside start to move. A little foot could be seen pressing out. Hands outlined as well as the creature turned and sort of climbed. His eyes went wide as the belly button started to stretch. It went from being a tiny little dimple to a gaping hole though the Doctor didn't seem to be in pain. Soft, brown hair poked out first. Then a pale, forehead emerged closely followed by a chubby little face. There was a head, a baby's head, poking out of the Time Lord's naval. Amber eyes looked at Jack with obvious disdain at having their nap interrupted.
"This is Murray," the Doctor explained, smiling down at the little one. "He's actually the reason I popped in. I wanted to ask if you'd be his God father."
The Time Lord looked up, grinning when he saw Jack, face pale and gaping.
"How...why...he's in your," Jack stumbled over his words, trying to comprehend what he'd just seen.
"Oh," the Doctor started. "If I'm going to have to explain all this can we order something first? I'm starving."
xXxXx
"Okay," Jack said as he watched the Doctor tuck into his walnut chicken and rice. "So you have a...a pouch then?"
He nodded, swallowing his mouthful of chicken before speaking. "Yes. You see, where humans descended from apes, the Time Lords are descended from marsupials like your Kangaroos and Wallabies and what not."
"Okay. That much makes sense. But why do YOU have a pouch? You're a guy."
"Exactly. Males are capable of carrying the offspring as well as producing eggs." Seeing Jack's confused look he elaborated.
"When a Time Lord's eggs are fertilized, they're transferred to the father's pouch where they either mature or die off. There can be millions of them in there and it all dwindles to one or two. The one's that aren't strong enough to make it are absorbed as nutrients. Once they're old enough to open their eyes they come crawling up to start feeding directly from the parent. Much tinier than human babies at that point. They're only about the size of a grapefruit then. They start a growth spurt then. Murray's only been out of the pouch for three weeks now and he's already the size of a human newborn. He'll be slowing down soon. Usually once they reach about twelve to fifteen pounds they get to a growth rate typical of your babies. Then they're in and out of the pouch and feeding from papa until they reach a year of age."
Jack shook his head to clear it, trying to process this new information he'd received about the Time Lord.
"Okay, wait," he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Feed from you how? And who did you have a kid with?"
Finally, the Doctor looked a bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck as his cheeks turned pink.
"Well, I um, had another run in with the Master,"
"And slept with him?"
"You don't understand, Jack. I know you could never do it but there's a lot more history between him and I than you know. We grew up together. He was my first everything. First friend, first dance, first kiss, first love. It's hard to forget something like that. He wasn't always the way he is now."
Jack's eyes were hard and unyielding. He couldn't forget what the master was now. The Time Lord sighed, poking at his food with the plastic fork.
"I'm not asking you to understand or even accept it. I'm just asking for your help. It would appear he's gone for good this time and I need to know that my son has somewhere safe to go if something should happen to me. That's why I came. Oh!"
The Doctor jumped, lifting his shirt again. The belly button stretched and the little one came climbing out, revealing all of him this time as he exited fully and crawled up his father's torso.
"Looks like you're about to get the answer to your feeding question. I thought he was getting a bit fussy."
"Should I look away or leave you alone or something?"
"Doesn't matter to me. It's pretty much the same as a human woman only I'm not a woman."
Jack watched as the Doctor pulled the neck of his shirt down and over, allowing Murray to latch to the nipple there and smiling.
"So you make milk," Jack said. "Then why isn't your chest swollen?"
"Ah. That's the difference. Time Lord males don't start producing until the baby latches on. We make it for as long as they're drinking. You humans produce constantly and are left with excess which causes the swelling and wastes more nutrients and energy than necessary."
Jack watched the baby feed from the Time Lord in astonishment. While he still found it hard to believe the Doctor was sitting here with a baby, the look of parental pride on his face as the man watched his child suckle was so genuine. It made him look more beautiful than ever to Jack. There was so much joy there and it showed in his eyes as they sparkled.
"So. This is my godson then?"
The Doctor looked to Jack, realizing this was a yes and grinning. He gave a little giggle, the tip of his tongue pressing behind his front teeth. Jack smiled back at him.
"Brilliant."
The Time Lord jumped his smile fading.
"Ouch! No biting! I swear, you're as bad as your father with the biting. People say I have an oral fixation."
