Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine. If it was things would be quite different. The BBC owns all and I bow before them.
Written for timepetalsprompts on tumblr and their weekly drabble prompt: innocence. Please note, this is not my headcanon for the Doctor and Rose's life in Pete's World, just where my muse went.
"Is mummy going to die?"
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies. The Doctor recalls reading that in a book. Looking into Alli's tear stained face, he wipes them away before picking her up and rocking her. He's brought her in first, before little Jack.
He'd explained about the appendectomy but clearly his reassurances had gone by the wayside at the sight of her mum unconscious and surrounded by tubes.
He's glad that today her childhood, her very innocence will be maintained.
"Not for a long time sweetheart."
At that moment, the familial bond flares and Rose opens her eyes.