She woke up to soft singing in a language she didn't know or understand – quite a feat since the TARDIS translated the spoken and written word, as he had told her on their first adventure.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes and brushing her blonde hair behind her ears Rose sat up, looking blearily around the room for the source of the music. It was a gentle, lilting melody, but lively at the same time. It was soft and sweet and powerful – a gorgeous blend of acapella syllables even when she only heard them as sounds, not able to interpret them as actual words.
Rose turned to the right to ask her husband about the music (maybe the TARDIS played strange music on occasion?), but he wasn't there. Suddenly awake with a shot of adrenaline coursing through her system, her brown eyes roamed the room frantically, passing right over the man in the rocking chair next to the cradle before she did a double-take, a relieved sigh rushing from her lips.
It was him singing, she realized a moment later as she watched him rock their baby gently, cradling their son's small body close to the warmth of his two hearts and using his feet to propel the rocking chair forward and back, forward and back.
The words flowed from his lips as if he knew them by heart, the melodic language tumbling from his mouth like the smoothest satin. It was breathtaking.
His song went on for another minute or so, captivating Rose enough to keep her from drifting off despite her tiredness. A part of her wished for the song to never end, but eventually it did, her husband's voice fading away, melding the quiet tune seamlessly into the relative silence. The TARDIS hummed quietly with a joy she felt wash over her, a deep sense of contentedness she hadn't felt before. Her Doctor rocked their little boy for a few more moments before lowering his head to press a soft kiss on their child's forehead and standing up gently to lay him in the cradle.
Rose stood up silently, closing the gap between the bed and the rest of her small family in a few short strides and sliding her hand into her husband's as she drew level with him, both of them gazing down at the child nestled in his blue blankets.
They stood there, the two of them, not saying a word, for a few moments.
"That was beautiful," Rose whispered finally, letting her head drop onto his shoulder. She paused again before continuing. "What was it? The song?"
His grip on her hand tightened a little, as it always did when he needed just a little extra support. His other hand came around to sandwich hers between both of his and he rubbed her fingers gently with his thumb.
She was just about to let it go as a lost cause (there were some things he just didn't talk about, and she respected that) when he answered.
"I was singin' him an old lullaby from Gallifrey," he said, his voice back to that Northern accent she had learned to love so much, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I remember it from when I laid in that same cradle all those years ago..."
His voice drifted off and Rose squeezed his hand back before pulling her fingers from his grasp and putting her arm around his shoulders, leaning her head against the shoulder closest to her while her thumb rubbed the other.
"I want to make sure he knows the language."
The TARDIS hummed and beeped once, softly, after he had spoken the last words, as if in approval. Rose reached across herself with the hand not already resting on his shoulder and laced her fingers through his again.
"Sounds like you're off to a good start," she breathed into his ear, rising up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek.
"I didn't mean to wake you-" he began, but she cut him off with a soft chuckle and another kiss, this time on his lips.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
I needed a bit of fluff after writing so much angst...
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As always, thanks for reading. :)