Disclaimer: BBC owns all, I'm just playing happy families with them.
The Wonder of You
It was quite incongruous, really.
The complex technology and science he handled with ease, the most complex concepts in all the universes effortlessly comprehended, the myriad worlds he saved while barely breaking a sweat. Those things, so incredible for anyone else seemed so routine for him. No magic, no mystery.
No, it was actually the simplest, most normal things in the world that filled him with an endless sense of wonder.
None more so than what rested under his hand right that very moment.
His eyes widened, the corners crinkling in delight, feeling the delicate flutter of tiny limbs as his baby turned in Donna's belly.
"She recognises her Daddy alright" Donna smiled as she reclined on the sofa, one hand clasped in the Doctor's as he knelt beside her and leaned his head closer in, feeling the emanating warmth.
"How do you know it's a she?" he challenged good-naturedly, turning towards her, a playful glint in his eyes.
"Oh, the never-ending booting she's giving my stomach kinda gives it away" Donna stated, "Trademark trait of all Noble women"
The Doctor's head nodded almost imperceptibly as he imagined Donna giving Silvia a hard time even before her birth, but quickly decided to venture no further back down that line of thought.
"Mmm, good point there" he agreed. "But in-utero activity is not the sole determinant of gender, she, he…it could still be a he, you know….I mean, doctors….usually not this Doctor mind you…have been known to get it wrong. Statistically speaking, it, he, she is just as likely to be a boy or a girl, and a lot depends on the time of month conception takes place, and the mother's nutritional intake, whether it's crossing its legs at the crucial time, and…"
Donna squeezed his hand before his verbal diarrohea threatened to run away with itself.
"And, I'll have you know" he continued at last "I am known as a rather vigorous man myself. How do you think you got this way in the first place?" He waved his hand over her rounded stomach in illustration and grinned cheekily.
He's got me there, she thought.
He laid his head back on her belly and exhaled softly. "I can hear her heart beating" There was that wonder again. "I hope she has your heart" he said, glancing up to catch her still-amused expression.
"Well, if she takes after you, she'll have both my heart and yours" Donna joked "But she better have your brains".
"Now hold on there a moment!" he admonished her gently "I won't have anyone talking about my Donna like that, not even you. I thought we had already established that you are brilliant and a genius." He held her gaze to let the seriousness and truth of his words sink in.
"Okay, okay, I admit, Super Temp, Most Important Woman in Creation and all that, but I still don't get most of that technobabble you spout and if she can do the sorts of things you can, there'll literally be no stopping her…"
"There'll be no stopping her because there is no stopping her mum" he stated emphatically "and I, for one, hope she has even half your determination and courage and spirit and fire, because if she does then there's nothing in this or any other universe that will be able to hold her back".
Donna couldn't speak then, the tears welling up in her eyes threatening to spill over. "Mustn't upset the baby" she said, trying hard to smile even as her face crumpled and reddened.
He reached out to wipe away her tears, and shifted towards her head, so as to be able to stroke her cheek.
"Whatever he or she is like, as long as she's healthy and we're here to love her, it's gonna be okay" he reassured her.
He looked down at their joined hands, catching the glint of a wedding band and remembering a time on a rooftop long ago. Then he looked back up and for a moment was lost in the blue-green of her eyes, the tears rendering them glittering and endless.
"Sometimes, I still can't believe how we got here" he said, the wonder returning to his expression.
"Well, I can remind you how it started…."she responded, raising her eyebrows suggestively and shifting so she could pull him into a searing kiss.
When they finally paused for breath, he was frowning slightly. "Actually, as I recall, it was something more like this…." he began, before kissing her back with slow, languorous passion.
"But as far as she, goes" he said when they finally parted, smoothing Donna's stomach again "there is one thing I have to insist on".
"And that is?"
"She has got to be ginger".