Rose makes a move to get a fork she dropped on the floor but the Doctor swoops in and stops her.
"None of that now, we don't want you hurting yourself or the baby." He kisses her humungous belly as he stands up, fork in hand.
She rubs a hand across the middle of her stomach and the baby inside kicks. She half smiles, even though she has felt the baby kick before it never fails to lift the corners of her mouth. Rose supports her back with her hand and walks over to the breakfast table.
"Eat you pancakes dear," she says soothingly and kisses the top of Claire's head.
"I'm not hungry," Claire says stubbornly, crossing her arms.
The Doctor chuckles, this must have been what Rose was like when she was little. The little girl with the blonde curls and brown eyes is so stubborn and so perfect, and so completely his -and Rose's of course-.
"Come on Love, we can't do anything fun until you eat," he tries to convince her to eat.
She narrows her eyes at the pancakes, and picking up her fork, prods them repeatedly. She spears a small piece and puts it in her mouth. "Happy?"
Sassy, did he forget to say sassy?
"Yes, very," Rose replies to Claire, but looks at the Doctor when she says it.
Rose and the Doctor share a look, smiling as if to say 'We made it and look what we've made in the process.'
Claire breaks the trance between he parents. "What are we going to do today daddy?"
Rose looks at Claire's plate and finds that her pancakes have all been eaten.
The Doctor sweeps her off the chair and spins her around. "I think mummy said we are going to the zoo!"
"Yay! The zoo! Can we look at the elephants?"
"Sure sweetie, we can look at the elephants." Rose brushes the hair away from Claire's forehead and smiles at her enthusiasm to see her favorite animal.
The doctor and Claire walk over to the front hall, followed very slowly by Rose. He plops Claire down on the floor and opens the closet door to pull out two sets for shoes, a pair of large red chucks and a similar, much smaller pair. Claire sits down on the ground and wiggles her toes. The doctor kneels down to help Claire with her shoes and then puts on his own. He stands up and goes over to the closet again, this time taking out a very pink set of trainers for Rose. Since she is so pregnant she is unable to put on her own shoes without assistance.
The Doctor, Rose, and Claire walk all over the zoo –well, just Rose and the Doctor, because at some point Claire ended up riding on the Doctor's shoulders-.
"Can't we see the elephants again?" the little three year old whines.
"We've seen them three times today!" the Doctor protests.
"But they're elephants!"
This time it's Rose's turn to chuckle. "Sure love, we can see the elephants one more time before we go."
They trek over to the elephant enclosure and Claire wiggles to get down. The Doctor sets her down gently and she sprints over to the railing that separates her from her favorite animal. She waves her arms wildly, trying to get the attention of at least one of the animals.
When this fails she turns to her father. "Daadddddy," she says sweetly.
"Ohhhhhh no, I'm not doing that again. I got enough weird looks the first time." The Doctor backs away with his hands up.
"Please daddy?"
Rose shows him a bemused smile. "Yes Doctor, will you?"
Claire flashes him a look that melts his heart.
"Fine, I'll do it," he grumbles.
Claire jumps up and down and claps her hand. He pulls a face at Rose, who covers her mouth with a hand, trying to hold back a laugh. The Doctor stoops over so his hands almost touch the ground. He holds one arm up to his nose in a poor imitation of a trunk and sways back and forth. Raising his 'trunk,' he trumpets like an elephant. Rose tries to suppress a laugh and manages to do so.
The elephants in the enclosure swing their heads towards them, trumpeting back softly. The Doctor repeats the noise, at this though Rose burst out laughing. A few elephants meander over to where the Doctor, Rose, and Claire stand.
"Hi ell-i-fants!" Claire shouts at them. They trumpet back loudly and she giggles, "They understand me!"
"Of course they do dear, they are smart animals," the Doctor tells her.
One of the elephants in the back of the pack trumpets and he straightens up quickly shouting, "Oi! She's my wife!"
Rose raises her eyebrows. "What did they say?"
He blushes profusely. "Nothing! Nothing at all."
Rose gives him the 'you-better-tell-me-or-else' look but he doesn't bend.
"Let's go now." He takes Claire's hand and wraps one arm about Rose's waist.
They get home after a full day of animal watching and Claire is tired out, a very unusual thing to happen. She falls asleep on the walk up to their front door in the Doctor's arms. Rose unlocks the door and removes Claire's coat and chucks, placing them –very quietly- in their respective places. The parents rest Claire on her pink bed and pull the duvet over her.
The Doctor marvels at how much like Rose his little girl is. Her bedroom is almost all bright pink, the exact shade Rose's was on the TARDIS in fact.
"We have to go to the grocery mart sometime tomorrow," Rose whispers in the Doctor's ear.
"But now we have to sleep."
They cross the hall to their room and strip off their clothes. Rose slides under the covers along with the Doctor. He pulls her close to him, careful of her belly, and she nuzzles up against him. Soon both of them have fallen asleep.
He wakes up in the middle of the night, panic constricting his chest. Then he feels Rose's form against him and everything is ok again. He kisses her neck softly, gentle enough not to wake her up, but strong enough to assure him she's still there. He falls asleep for a few more hours and wakes up again around four. His half Time Lord body needs a lot more sleep now than it did before and five years ago he would have gotten out of bed and tinkered until Rose woke up, but not now. Not now that he has his Rose, not now that he can hardly stand to be separated from her.
He gazes at her sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling in even breaths. He feels her heart beat on his chest, the rhythm remarkably similar to his two hearts. This is how he lays for the next two and a half hours until the alarm goes off. Rose shifts and blinks a few times, eyes locking with the Doctor's. She smiles, her face the picture of pure bliss.
"Morning," she mumbles sleepily.
He kisses her forehead. "Good morning Love."
She hums happily and snuggles closer. He strokes her hair and lets her lay there for a few minutes before helping her get up and dressed. She goes into Claire's room to find that she is already up, dressed, and playing with her mini sonic screwdriver –without all the dangerous settings of course-.
"Ready for breakfast, honey?"
Claire sets the screwdriver down on her night stand and jumps up onto her bed. "Yes mummy!"
"Ok! Let's go then." She takes Claire's hand and they proceed to the kitchen, where the Doctor has already managed to make a mess.
There are two pieces of blackened toast on top of the fridge –which is nowhere near the toaster might I add-, and another piece of barely toasted bread on the stove next to the fridge. The Doctor is standing on a chair, blindly groping for the two toasts on the fridge.
"What did you do?" Rose says, mouth hanging open.
He jumps; obviously surprised they are already in the kitchen. "Well, you see the toaster wasn't working nearly as efficient as it could be," He rubs the back of his neck. "so I soniced it…" He winces as Rose groans in annoyance. "It seems that the spring action was tweaked in process and well… toast was shot up here."
Rose sighs and Claire clambers up on one of the tall breakfast nook chairs at the table.
"Ah ha!" the Doctor shouts in triumph as he hold up the two blackened toasts. "I think we'll be having cereal for breakfast this morning though."
After arranging all the bowls, silver wear, glasses, and milk on the table –in what could be mistaken for a circus juggling act- Rose writes a list as to what they need to get at the store.
"Daddy, you have toasty toast crumbs in your hair!" Claire giggles.
"I do?!" A horrified look passes over his face at the thought of anything unwanted being in his magnificent hair.
Rose snorts and reaches across the table to brush them out of his hair.
At the store Rose grabs a cart that she can use to support herself with as they walk around getting groceries. The Doctor flits around, showing Rose things he thinks they 'need'.
"Rooooooose can't we get the jaaaaaam? We haven't tried this type yet!" He holds up a jar of mixed fruit and cinnamon.
"We don't need any more jam!" She takes the jar and examines the contents on the label. "Besides, this has pears in it."
The Doctor's eyes widen and he backs away. "I don't want that then! Put it back!"
She shoves the jar towards him. "You put it back, you brought it over here."
"No Rose! I can't touch that, it has pears!"
Rose rolls her eyes and Claire takes the jam from her. "I'll put it back mum. I don't want you and daddy fighting."
"Oh honey." Rose kneels down –with great effort- and hugs Claire. "We aren't fighting. Daddy is just being silly." The Doctor helps Rose stand up and she says, "Let's go pick out a treat, yeah?"
She takes Claire's hand and leaves the cart to the Doctor. He follows them to the candy aisle, but stays far behind and out of the way. He watches them talk and pick out a treat. This is what he's always wanted. Ever since the kiss on the beach –and even before that the whole Time Lord him had fleeting daydreams about being domestic- he knew he wanted to get married, have children, and watch her grow old next to him, together.
Claire bounces over to him. "Daddy! Look what they have!" She holds up a little package of edible ball bearings.
"Brilliant!"