The Doctor instantly feels Rose's body stiffen against his tight grip. He looks down to catch her eyes, for some amount of confirmation to the thoughts running through his head at that moment. Her diverted gaze over his shoulder should give him confirmation but his curiosity allows seems to get the best of him.

He slowly lets her go, his hand lingering and brushing against the soft skin of hers as he walks pass her. He can feel her eyes on him as he walks the short path from Rose to Donna. The space between Donna and him feels like it takes millennia to close. Thousands of thoughts run through the Doctor's head as closes the space. Could it really be? Why don't I feel the tingle in the back of my mind? Cries continue to come from the bundle as Donna holds it away from her body like its diseased.

When the Doctor finally closes the gap, he takes the small and fragile bundle from Donna's arms and held it close to his body just as he had done with Rose only moments before. He can see the relief in Donna's eyes and face as he briefly looks from the bundle to her and back. He turns to face Rose who's looking down at her hands, her face pained.

With one hand placed securely around the bundle, he uses to other to pull the cloth away. He gives a strangled breath as familiar chocolate velvet eyes stare back at him through tears. He traces the lines of the toddler's face while wiping the tears from its eyes and cheeks. The child can be no more than a year old, not yet able to walk or express itself. Pulling away the cloth from the head of the child, he smiles a million watt smile. Ginger hair. He runs his fingers through the young child's hair as he looks up back at Rose.

Rose is staring at him, her hands brought up to her mouth in anxiety as she watches him interact with the child. It was simple; the child has his coloured eyes, her nose and her bone structure, and his lips. This was impossible, Gallifreyians are sterile after the curse that was put upon them, he thought to himself as he looked back at the child. However he knew when it came to Rose, impossible was thrown out the window.

Bringing the child eye level to him, he examined the child. He let out the breathe he didn't realize he was holding when he felt the double thump thump against his body. Two hearts. He could feel Donna's eyes on him as she processed the bundle in his arms. With large rounded eyes and incoherent babble, she quickly moved her gaze from the Doctor and the child repeatedly.

"Doctor!"

The child began to cry again as the Doctor held it against him. He glared at Donna as she stared at him in shock.

"Since when were you a father?" Donna asked as he moved towards the Doctor but keep her eyes on the child in his arms.

"I've always been a father, Donna." The Doctor simply replied as he turned his gaze from the child to Rose. "I just didn't know about this one. Why did you lie, Rose?"

Rose closed the space between the Doctor and her, her arms hugged tightly closed to her body. "I didn't lie, Doctor. I wouldn't lie about something like that." Rose couldn't help but let bitterness fill her tone. She was the one who spent nearly over a year carrying the child, almost die from complications and have it to be born early. "I didn't know at the time."

"When?" It was a simple question, there were times he remembered them being together and then there were times when it was all a blur.

"After the planet under the black hole and the Beast." In relative Earth time, Rose had been at least three months gone when Torchwood, The Daleks and the Cybermen happened.

"What's his or hers name?" The Doctor asked as he looked back down the child.

"John Adric Tyler." Rose smiled sweetly as she walked closer to the Doctor.

"Adric?" He asked in surprised as he stared at Rose with wide eyes.

"I'll explain later, Doctor.■ She smiled as she took his hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

⌠How did you get here, Rose?" the Doctor asked as he looked down at her.

Rose's face took a solemn look and she pulled up her wrist to reveal a device that looked like Jack's time manipulator but more fancier and high-tech. "Torchwood never learns no matter what universe it is, Doctor. They found out about John and I had to flee. I haven't seen my mum and Pete for almost a year," Rose's eyes gleamed with unshed tears. "They wanted to run test on him because of what he is. I couldn't let them do that to a child."

The Doctor pulled her close to his body with his free hand. She buried her face against his chest as the tears fell. Minuties passed as the four of them stood on the abandoned street. With a sniff, Rose took her face from the Doctor's chest and looked him dead in the eyes.

"It was a week ago when the rift became active. All these strange signals and messages. I was running from the guards that somehow found my trail when I was pulled back here." She looked down at the device on her wrist then back at him. "This was beeping like mad when I was pulled back."

The Doctor pulled her close to him again and couldn't bare to let her go. He didn't know what he sealing off when he closed to Void. He left an innocent young girl pregnant stranded in a world she clearly didn't belong in. She looked so different but in many ways, she was the same as he remembered her. Motherhood and running for her child and her life aged her but she was none less beautiful than she had been on that god forsaken beach.

"You're safe now. I promise, no one will harm a hair on your head or his. I'll make sure of that." The Doctor replied as Donna smiled back at him.

He was happier than she had ever seen him and that made her happy. In the short time she had been with the Doctor, she had become close to him. They had faced so much together from flying wasps and Pompeii, she glad to finally see a true smile she had never seen before, form on his face.

"Well, there you go sunshine," Donna smiled as she looked back and forth at the Doctor and Rose. "Looks like you've found your mate."