Today was the day. Today was finally the day. After almost two and half years of trying to get pregnant, and nearly nine months of an actual pregnancy, today was the day they were going to meet their little girl.
He was terrified.
Rose had awoken him early that morning, telling him it was time.
"Time for what?" he groggily asked, snuggling closer to her side. He placed his hand over her bulging belly and rubbed it soothingly, until he felt the muscles beneath his palm spasm and Rose inhaled sharply.
"Bloody idiot," she said affectionately, albeit breathlessly. "Baby's comin'."
The Doctor took action immediately, and he didn't stop. He gathered the bags they'd had packed for days and loaded them in the car, and was about to load Rose into the car and drive them to the Torchwood hospital, when Rose stopped him with a giggle.
"You may want to change into something other than just your pants," she teased.
He cursed himself ("Breathe, Doctor, we've still got a bit of time,") and hastily donned the nearest pair of jeans and a jumper, before helping Rose into sweatpants and an overlarge sweatshirt, and he drove them to the hospital.
And then they waited. The Doctor paced, and Jackie fretted, and then the Doctor fretted, and Rose was getting anxious, almost to the point where it was putting stress on the baby.
"C'mon, Jacks," Pete urged as the Doctor tried to comfort a frantic Rose when there was a blip in the equipment and they lost the baby's heart rate for a few seconds. "You can visit when the baby is here. C'mon, love. You know how long these things take, and you know it's not good for Rose to be all worked up like this."
Pete finally persuaded Jackie to leave them be.
"I'm so sorry, Rose," the Doctor said for the thousandth time. He had stopped pacing and was now sitting beside her on her bed. She was curled against him, as much as she could be, and was trying her best to breathe and be calm.
She whimpered into his shirt.
"Hurts."
"I know, love, I know," he whispered, rubbing at her back as she cringed against him every few minutes. "But we're almost there, eh, love? All that time and effort, and we'll have our baby by the end of the night."
Well, not exactly.
Midnight came and went, and there was still no baby. Rose wasn't even in active labor yet, and the Doctor was getting worried again that something was going wrong, despite the reassurances from the doctors and nurses that everything was progressing normally.
But there was one horrible hour where Rose's blood pressure suddenly dropped and she was in and out of consciousness for several minutes. The baby's heart rate spiked, and the doctors were talking about a cesarean birth, and the Doctor started yelling at everyone around him as Rose was unconscious. They had to remove him from the room. He found Jackie and Pete still waiting, and he yelled at them too, before Jackie wrapped him in a hug and told him it would be okay.
"I can't lose them," he whispered into her neck, clutching at her as she offered him support. "I can't."
Nearly twenty agonizing minutes after being banished, a severe-looking nurse came out and told him off for getting in the way of the doctors and nurses that were trying to help his wife and unborn child, and he told him Rose was now awake and stabilized and was asking for him, but there would be hell to pay if he got her all worked up again.
He nodded impatiently and pushed past her and into the room. Rose was a bit pale and frantic-looking, but she relaxed when she saw him again, and tears clouded her eyes.
"No tears, love," he whispered as he gathered her into his arms. "No tears. You just relax right now, okay. How about I read to you, eh? We haven't made it very far in our Harry Potter reread, have we? How about we give it another go from the beginning?"
And so he read. Rose dozed off a few times, and the Doctor took those opportunities to cuddle up beside his wife and rub at her dropping belly, in awe that he and Rose created a little life that were soon going to meet.
The rest of the birth went smoothly. There was the typical shouting and squeezed hands and blood, and the Doctor stayed right beside her on the bed, helping her and supporting her as much as he could.
Just when Rose tearfully thought she couldn't do it anymore, she did it, and at 11:36 in the morning on a beautiful spring day, a squirming, bloody baby was placed on her chest.
The Doctor felt like he couldn't breathe and as though the Earth had disappeared from beneath him as he saw his daughter for the first time. She was pink and wrinkly and bloody and screaming, but she was perfect.
"You did it," he whispered to Rose with glistening eyes. He pressed his lips to her sweaty temples. "We did it. I'm so proud of you, Rose."
The baby was taken for just a moment to be cleaned and measured before she was returned to her eager parents.
"She's perfect," the Doctor said as the baby latched onto Rose's breast. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rested his hand on their daughter's back, holding his family closer.
"Yeah," Rose mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut.
The baby had detached and was sleeping, and Rose followed shortly thereafter
The Doctor carefully lifted the baby from Rose's chest and onto his shoulder. He nuzzled his cheek against tiny little temple, and he felt his throat swell shut.
"Hello, darling," he whispered raggedly, peppering the gentlest of kisses across his daughter's cheeks and forehead. "I'm your Daddy, and I love you so very much."
The baby grunted and wriggled around, wrapping her tiny little fists into his shirt as she burrowed her face into his neck before settling again. He held her impossibly closer, relishing her soft warmth and fresh baby smell.
"You are so loved, my darling," he whispered, settling in closer to Rose, who was still sleeping peacefully. He leaned down and pressed a long and lingering kiss to Rose's forehead, silently thanking her for everything. "You are so perfect, just like your Mummy."
The Doctor continued talking softly to their newborn and he sporadically dropped kisses to both Rose's and his daughter's foreheads. He had never felt happier or more at peace than in this moment, with his two favorite girls, his family, enveloped in his arms.