Written for the Time Petals 100 prompt "Exhaustion."
"How are you doing, Rose?" Martha asked gently.
The look directed her way might have been called menacing, if it weren't being delivered by a shivering blonde, dressed in a pink hoodie and clutching a plastic pail to her chest. "I'm exhausted, and I keep throwin' up. How do you think I am?"
"Believe it or not, this is all perfectly normal."
"How's my favorite Torchwood agent these days?" Owen asked, with his usual lack of beside manner.
"My back hurts, my ankles are swollen, and you've stuck me on desk duty," Rose snapped irritably.
"And going from the tone of voice, I'd say you're a bit sleep deprived, besides," he noted mildly.
"See how much sleep you get, when you hafta get up an' pee every couple of hours."
"Believe it or not, this is actually a perfectly normal process. Surprisingly so, given that you had to go and shag an alien. I mean, if you were thatdesperate -"
He was lucky that the nearest item within throwing distance was the pillow on the examining table.
The Doctor ran a cool cloth over Rose's face, then leaned in to kiss her forehead. "You're doing just fine, love," he murmured encouragingly.
"I'm so tired," she sobbed.
"I know you are."
If Rose were thinking clearly, she might have noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and how red his hand was from her clutching it, but she was too exhausted to notice, and he wasn't about to mention it.
"Everything's proceeding normally," he continued softly. "You're almost there."
"I've never been so exhausted in my life," Rose sighed, gazing rapturously at the tiny bundle in her arms. He was sleeping now (And oh, how she envied him!) Tiny eyes were shut and an adorable tuft of brown hair stuck straight up.
"That's perfectly normal, sweetheart," Jackie reminded her. "For both of you," she added, nodding fondly towards her lanky-limbed son in law, sprawled across one of the stiff visitor's chairs.
