Rose smiled. "There's five of us now. Me, Mum, Mickey, Dad, and the baby."
"It's not-" she shook her head. As the lie was coming out of her mouth, she regretted it.
"My mum's." The Doctor nodded.
"I love you."
"Quite right, too. Well, if it's my last chance to say it, here go's. Rose Tyler, I-"
It had been nine months since Bad Wolf Bay. Rose had lied. She was pregnant, and it was the Doctor's.
She cradled John, who was three months old, and carefully walked down the steps of her flat. She had bought it after John was born. He had the Doctor's eyes, a wonderful chocolate brown. She kissed his head and lay him down of the couch for a moment. Picking up the phone, she dialed Pete's number.
"Hey," she said, stroking John's hair.
"'Ello, Rose."
"Look, I can't take the job yet. John's still young, and I don't want to leave him yet." Pete sighed.
"Okay, Rose. But keep in mind that Torchwood could really use someone like you." Rose nodded, then remembered he couldn't see her.
'Yeah, I will. Bye." She hung up and picked up John again.
"Hello, my beautiful, beautiful darling." He gurgled happily. She kissed his hair, and took him upstairs, putting him in her bed. She curled up next to him and they fell asleep.
FIVE YEARS LATER
Rose picked up John from day care.
"Hello, my beautiful, beautiful darling." She smiled at him. He grinned at her. John had proved to be his father's son. He started talking early, and was really quite brilliant.
"Hello, Mum!" She took his hand.
"How was day care?" He wrinkled his nose.
"Bad. Mrs. Avery just yelled at me all day." Rose laughed.
"Not everyone is as smart as you, sweetie." John smiled up at her.
"Tell you what," she said. "How about we go and visit Gran?" John started to bounce around excitedly.
"Yeah!" John adored Jackie, and the feeling was mutual.
She buckled John up in the car.
The next day, Rose was going through alien sightings when one stopped her cold.
STRANGE BLUE BOX SPOTTED NEAR CARDIFF
She shot up and ran outside her office.
"I need a team now." People started assembling, since after all, she was Rose Tyler, and she had experience.
Her and her team traveled in a van to Cardiff. And then she saw it. The TARDIS. She jumped out of the car and ran as fast as she could to the top of the hill. She ripped the key off the chain around her neck, and inserted it into the blue box. With a small click, it opened. And then she was pushed right back out as a man with gravity defying hair and chocolate brown eyes tackled her in a hug.
"ROSE! I knew it, I thought I was here!" Rose gently pushed him off.
"Doctor." He grinned a wild, crazy grin and she threw her arms around him.
"Doctor, I love you." He smiled.
"And I love you too." They stared into each other's eyes for a moment before the Doctor clapped his hands.
"Well! We only have another hour and a half before the rift closes, so..." he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the TARDIS.
"Doctor, wait." He froze and looked at her with big puppy eyes.
"You want to come, right?" She smiled.
"Of course, but I need to get John." The Doctor's smile fell.
"John? Who's John?" Rose smacked him lightly.
"He isn't a love interest. He's my son." The Doctor's mouth fell open.
"Oh... Well, I suppose we should go get him." Rose pulled him back to the Torchwood.
When they got to the day care, John came running out at them.
"Mum!" He cried. The Doctor observed him from his spot. He had a mop of brown hair and big brown eyes. He looked hauntingly familiar.
"John, this is the Doctor." John's mouth fell open. He looked at the Doctor with awe.
"Did you really battle the Cybermen?" The Doctor nodded.
Rose pulled out her phone.
"Mum, the Doctor's here. I'm leaving, okay?" The Doctor heard a muffled reply.
Rose explained the limited time, and said goodbye. She had John say goodbye too.
They ran back to the TARDIS, and he started to set the location. After the TARDIS was floating in the right universe vortex, the Doctor sat down next to Rose. John was sleeping, snoring in little puffs.
"Whose is it?" She opened her mouth, to finally tell him, to tell him John was his. But just as the words were at the tip of her tongue, she exhaled and couldn't do it.
"It was a man at work. We were partying, and we were drunk..." the Doctor nodded, looking pained.
"Yeah." They sat there for a moment and then Rose yawned.
"Time for bed," he said. She nodded, and he picked John up... and then almost dropped him.
"Doctor!" She screeched, lurching forward to catch her son.
"Rose," the Doctor said in an odd voice.
"Why does John have two hearts?" Rose froze. She laughed nervously.
"Um... about that..." he glared at her.
"You said that it was a colleague! You said you were drunk!" Rose glared at him.
"It wasn't a whole lie! You were drunk, and when we woke up, I thought it didn't mean anything!" The Doctor threw up his hands. "Why don't remember this?" Rose hung her head and whispered softly, "Because it hasn't happened yet." The Doctor stared at her.
"What do you mean?" Still not looking at him, she started to talk.
"It was at New Earth. I was in the hospital, and I saw you. We went to get some drinks, because I thought it was you, and I thought we were done. But it was a future version, and I didn't know that until after when I saw you at the hospital." She sighed guiltily. "I'm sorry." Mermories were starting to come back. He vaguely remembered a drunk night, and a familar blonde...
He shook his head. "It's okay... So I'm John's father?" She nodded.
"Dad?" The Doctor looked down and saw John looking up at him.
"Yes?" John squealed and threw himself into his arms.
"How long was I gone?" He asked, slowly rocking John.
"Five, almost six years." He observed her.
"Ha, you don't look a day over twenty!" She looked down, not meeting his gaze.
"That's cause I'm not, at least not physically." The Doctor stared at her in confusion.
"Bad Wolf. I'm like Jack, I can't die." The Doctor gaped at her for a moment, then pulled her into his arms. Here he was, with a family, his Rose who couldn't die, and his son who was a Time Lord.
You are not alone.
EPILOUGE
Rose laughed as John pulled her outside the door.
"John, I don't think this is a good idea," she said to her sixteen year old son.
He grinned at her. "But Mum! I've always wanted to go on an Uncle Jack adventure!" Rose shook her head.
"Trust me, you don't," she reassured him, remembering the exploits she and Jack had done before.
"Jack can be a wee bit inappropriate," the Doctor said, appearing beside Rose.
"Aha, see? Listen to your father." John looked behind him.
"But can't you just tell him to curb himself a bit?" Rose sighed and nodded. John shrieked and ran toward the Torchwood building. The Doctor pulled her closer to him and whispered something. She blushed. Together, they walked up to Torchwood, just in time to see Jack and John bound out of it, laughing.
"Jack, if you hurt my little baby, I will personally hunt you down," Rose warned him. Jack grinned.
"Don't worry, Wee Time Lord is safe with me."
"Mum," John whined. Rose waved goodbye. Walking back to TARDIS, she held the Doctor's hand.
"I worry about him," she said to the Doctor. He waved his hand.
"Aww, he'll be fine." Arm in arm, they walked to the TARDIS and went to explore the unvierse.