A few days later The Doctor and Rose took their new baby home from the hospital. Shortly afterwards Pete and Jackie came over to meet their new granddaughter. "Oh my goodness," Jackie began when suddenly the tiny baby was placed inside her arms. "I remember when you were still this tiny." She told Rose while gently bumping the baby up and down before the baby started to fuss.
"Uh oh, I think somebody's hungry." The Doctor said. "I'll go heat up her bottle." He said before he got up off the couch and went into the kitchen.
"Shh,.. Rachel,.." Jackie whispered as the baby continued to cry. "Daddy's going to get you taken care of." She assured the baby while she bent down and kissed the top of her head even though she knew that the screaming infant couldn't understand her. A few moments later The Doctor returned with a tiny pink bottle and quickly poured a tiny bit out onto his arm and tested it before handing it to his mother in-law.
"There you go Jackie." He told her as he sat back down and Jackie held the bottle up to the baby's lips and she immediately started sucking on the nipple and drinking her milk. Rose smiled at how adorable her baby was while she drank and constantly blinked her bright blue eyes up at her grandmother.
"So Doctor, are you good with her?" Jackie asked him.
"Oh yeah, he's very good with her. I can tell already that Rachel's got him wrapped around her tiny fingers. He's a great dad, although I have to admit, he gets a little apprehensive when it comes time to changing her nappies." She told her as she flashed a grin over at her husband.
"Well yeah, it's hard to believe that something so small can make a stink all the way up to Gallifrey. I just didn't want the smoke alarms going off or anything." He said as he wrapped his arm around his wife while she leaned her head into his chest and giggled. She wasn't sure whether or not he was teasing her, but either way, Rachel wasn't the only one who could act incredibly cute sometimes. The Doctor smiled down at her and pressed his lips to her forehead.
That's when Rachel had decided that she had had enough milk and refused to drink anymore. "That's it?" Jackie asked her with uncertainty and disbelief. "You didn't eat very much." She said as she set the bottle back down on the coffee table.
"Well she was just born a few days ago and she still has a very tiny stomach." Pete said as Jackie placed a towel over her left shoulder and brought the tiny baby up to it and started patting her back and rubbing it in small tiny circles before pressing her lips to her forehead. It wasn't long before the baby let out a rather small belch and then started to fuss again.
"Uh oh," The Doctor began as he started wrinkling his nose. "I have a feeling I know what she's upset about this time." He said as Rose giggled again.
"Don't worry, I'll change her and then I'll put her down for her nap so we can have some time alone to talk." She said as she stood up and took her baby inside her arms soothingly hushing her crying and kissing the top of her head.
Later on that day after Rachel was asleep and both her parents went home, The Doctor and Rose went to their bedroom and went to go lie down inside the bed. They undressed themselves and climbed under the covers. The Doctor took his wife inside his arms and gently kissed the top of her head. That's when all of a sudden Rose felt a cold chill come over her and she started to cough.
"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked his wife out of concern.
"No,.." Rose groaned with a shake of her head as she started to cough some more. "I don't feel so well." She admitted as The Doctor placed his right hand over her forehead.
"Oh my, you're burning up." He told her. "I think you have a fever. Stay here for a moment and I'm going to go get the thermometer." He said before he got out of bed again, stood up, and put on his robe before leaving the room. A few moments later he returned carrying the thermometer inside his hand. "Alright now open up." He instructed as she opened her mouth while he started shaking it.
That's when at that moment they heard their baby crying through the baby monitor. "Oh no, Rachel's awake." Rose said as she started to sit up but The Doctor simply shook his head at her.
"Don't worry about it I'll get her, I want you to stay in bed." He told her before he stuck the thermometer inside her mouth and then turned off the monitor before hurrying out of the bedroom and back towards the nursery. As soon as he had made it into the room he started wrinkling his nose again and waving his hand in front of his nose. "That figures." He began. "You're getting a big kick out of this aren't you?" he questioned her as she continued screaming on the top of her lungs.
"Alright! Alright!" he cried nervously while hushing her at the same time before he started to cautiously pull apart her diaper. "Seeing as that I don't have much of a choice, your mummy's sick so I have to do this myself." He said as he made a disgusted face after he finally managed to open the diaper. "Hold on a second." He told her before he quickly rushed into the kitchen and opened one of the drawers and then grabbed a clothespin and placed it on top of his nose pinching it shut.
"Perfect." He said to himself in a nasally voice before hurrying back into the nursery and stepping on the trashcan pedal before picking up the dirty diaper, crumpling it up, and then disposing it inside of it. Then he removed the clothespin and grabbed a baby wipe and then started wiping the baby's bottom. "Phew," he began as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Hard part's over. Now you just hang tight while I get you a fresh nappy." He told her.
Once Rachel had a fresh diaper on, he set her down in her playpen while he went to go check on Rose. He removed the thermometer from her mouth and placed it under the lamp to read it.
"What does it say?" she asked him before letting out a rather large sneeze.
"A hundred and one. I think you're just coming down with a pretty bad cold." He told her. "Even though I'm not a doctor." He said. "Or that kind of a doctor anyway. Now you just get some rest and I'll make you some hot chicken soup. I want you staying in bed all day and drinking plenty of fluids." He instructed.
"But what about Rachel?" she asked him.
"I already told you, don't worry about Rachel because I'll take care of the baby. I love you so much and I'm more concerned about your health. So I want you to get some rest so that you can get better. Besides, we don't want the baby getting sick." He told her as Rose nodded before she started a round of sneezing fits. The Doctor started pulling a bunch of Kleenex's out of the tissue box before handing them to her so she could blow her nose when all of a sudden Rachel began to cry again.
"I'll be right back darling as soon as I heat up the baby's bottle and feed it to her. Then I'll give you your soup." He assured her before he dashed right back into the kitchen. "I know Rachel, I'm coming!" he cried as he turned on the stove and started heating up what was left inside of it. As soon as it had finished warming up, The Doctor dabbed it out on his arm and tested it again before he set it down on the coffee table and then picked Rachel up out of her playpen and gathered her inside his arms and made sure that her head was supported.
Then he slowly started carrying her over to the couch. "Shh,.." he whispered softly as he tried to soothe her crying. "It's alright Rachel, Daddy's got your baba ready for you." He told her gently before he picked up the bottle again and brought it to her lips. He smiled down at her as she started to suck and then slowly bent down and kissed her cheek. His single heart beat full of love for her while she continued to drink.
For he knew that even though she was a lot of work, she was worth every second of it. He started to hum The Sidewalks of New York while she drank before he started to sing a little of it. "Eastside, Westside, all around the town, the kids sang ring around Rosie, London Bridge is falling down. Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O' Rourke, we tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York." He sung softly while she continued her meal.
Later on that evening after The Doctor made sure that his wife was fed and properly taken care of, he decided to give his daughter her very first bath while he started getting her ready for bed. He filled her tiny pink baby bathtub full of water, making sure that it was a good temperature before setting it up on the counter. Then he removed her out of her playpen and set her on the couch where he started undressing her before wrapping her up in a white towel while leaving her diaper on.
"Alright Rachel," he spoke softly. "bath time." He told her as he carried her over to the counter and laid her down inside the tub. Then he wrung out a soft yellow sponge before softly dabbing her face and washing it. Then he dabbed it back inside the water and wrung it out again before continuing to wash it until he deemed that it was clean enough. Then he lathered his hands with baby shampoo before scrubbing and massaging it onto her head. After that he used the bright pink cup that he had out on the counter next to him and dipped the cup down in the water to rinse it.
He poured it over her head with one hand before shielding her eyes with the other hand. Then he unwrapped her from the towel and removed her diaper before continuing to wash the rest of her body with the sponge. He was rather surprised how quite she was the whole time he was bathing her, and before he knew it, her first bath was over. He carefully picked her up before laying her back down on the towel and rubbing her skin with baby lotion and then getting her into her pajamas.
He placed a pink dummy (pacifier) inside her mouth while he carried her back to her cradle. Then he placed her down inside of it and gently rocked it back and forth while he hummed the lullaby song to her as she drifted off to sleep. He smiled down at her and kissed her goodnight before quietly leaving the room and turning off the light. Then he went back to his own bedroom and smiled at his beautiful wife who was sound asleep inside the bed. That's when The Doctor finally realized that even though he was an alien, he suddenly felt like the luckiest person in the world.