The hospital was peacefully quiet. Visiting hours had ended for what felt like a day, but she had managed to convince the staff to let her stay. Pete's name really had impressive weight in this universe, and, although their relationship was scratchy at best, Rose wouldn't let that priviledge go to waste, especially when her mum needed company during her labor hours. More than anything, to fill her gob, but Rose didn't mind.

Now that her mum had finally dozed off, Rose walked through the hospital corridors, peeking at the half-closed doors, and took a seat in a waiting room with no lights. Stargazing was a thing she did now when she needed to think, as if watching the open space cleared out her mind. Not that Cardiff had that many stars inside the city, but they did the trick.

In a few hours, she'd have a brother. A baby brother, with her same mum and dad… Sort of. She had given up on the thought of getting a sibling to treat like a doll years ago, and things were so different now she wasn't sure how she'd act around him.

First off, he wouldn't be a plaything, Rose guessed. Selfish little girl once, the only good prospect of no longer being an only child was to have a new toy. Now, the baby was more of a blessing, a little miracle of the merging of two worlds. And it wasn't hers to take the best of.

Their age differences would matter a whole lot more, too. She would be left to babysit now and then, trusted with him like a proper adult. She would take care of him and protect him. She could buy him things, take him places, teach him to walk, to talk, to make friends, to go out on dates, and quite literally tell him of the worlds and what was out there.

But she couldn't make up her mind whether to tell him about the Doctor or not.

This wonderful man who had showed her the universe — both of them —, who had taught her how to live a better life and make a difference, who wasn't even human, who had given her mum the chance to be with her beloved once again, who had made him possible… wasn't here. Wouldn't be here, ever. The man that had left a hole inside her. The man whose memory alone was capable of bringing her to tears. The man who changed faces. The man who could travel time and space. But not there, never there.

Wouldn't he sound like too much of a myth? Wouldn't the idea make her brother yearn for adventure in the stars a bit too much? After all, if anyone knew how withdrawal from that kind of life dragged someone, no one better than herself to be twinkle-toe about it.

And that brought on the next point: it'd become her mission to take care of her little brother. Protectiveness was already a thing she felt over her mum's belly, just imagine once the kid actually got out of there.

A star flew away and caught her attention. She didn't know those stars, and she was on a mission to return to the ones she had even visited once or twice. The vortex manipulator was inside her pocket and she took it out. Even in times like these, she clung to it like a good luck charm. Little gizmo that held her entire fate; the sole chance to get back to that wonderful man.

What would happen when — if — she found her Doctor? She'd never see her little brother again. The little person wasn't even born yet and the thought already made her feel a pang in her chest.

The four o'clock's ring startled her. The hospital was still in sleepy silence, calling her to her mum's bedside.

A sigh after, she resigned trying to find answers. Couldn't have them, really. Most of those things weren't her choice. And the one that was was a tad too out there for her to figure out at such an ungodly hour.

Either way, she was determined to be a good sister, for as long as she could.