A/N: I don't own Doctor Who.

Chapter 3: Interruption

"You know how I know that you love me?" Rose asked while sitting in the console's main chair.

"How?" The Doctor said this absentmindedly as he fiddled with who knows what part of the TARDIS.

"Because when I waddled in here like a beached whale with tea and biscuits—which I still think you should have gotten for us, considering you don't have the weight of a person growing inside of you—you still gave me that look that you make when I know you think I'm sexy."

He put down the Sonic Screwdriver, which had been whirring insistently below their conversation. "That's because you are sexy."

"Doctor, I'm only six months pregnant and I almost look like I should be having twins. I make the Globe Theatre look like a linen closet."

"You're really quite perfect. I keep telling you that, and you keep not listening."

"I am listening. You're just delusional."

"Maybe about some things, but not about you. Never about Rose Tyler." He came over to her side, scooped up a chocolate digestive from the tray, and shoved the entire thing into his mouth. He kissed her cheek with chocolate covered lips and she giggled in such a way that would put a ten-year-old school girl to shame. She weaved her fingers into his and they stood facing each other, leaning closer.

The Doctor made a loud sound as he gulped down the biscuit.

"Very romantic, Doctor." She stood on her toes and pecked him on the lips, her large stomach preventing her from lingering too long. But as she did this, he put his hands on the small of her back and gripped her firmly and gently against him, reaching out clumsily with his lips to reclaim hers. He kissed her deeply and genuinely. He smelled like electricity and the coral of the TARDIS and it made her relax into him as he continued to kiss her.

"Mmm," she hummed. "I love it when you do that."

"Do what? This?" He kissed her again.

"Well, yes, that, but also when you kiss me unexpectedly. Like now. You're quite good at it."

"I do have some pretty good moves-"

The TARDIS lurched suddenly, throwing them apart, Rose into the console chair and the Doctor onto the floor.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Her voiced was panicked.

"I'm not sure. I think we're being pulled somewhere. Blimey, this hasn't happened in a while…I don't think this is going to be anything good."

"Steer it away! We can't afford a dangerous adventure right now!"

"I'm trying, I can't!" He was frantically pulling levers and pressing buttons, trying without success to pull them off of their careening path. With another sudden lurch, the TARDIS became still. Before he had a chance to recalibrate and return them to the Time Vortex, there was an enormous booming noise from outside that shook the TARDIS in its entirety.

"Doctor, please, don't open the door. Where are we? Do you know?"

"We are the Banlux. We come for the Doctor. Surrender yourself, Doctor, and be assimilated into the Banluces or feel the full force of the Banlux Empire," said a loud voice from beyond the call box.

"Who are the Banlux?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor who was still whizzing around the console.

"They're a belligerent race, but deeply unoriginal. They assimilate other life forms into their own race and gain all of the strengths of that life form. They aren't aggressive in order to conquer in the material human understanding, so much as they purely function on the goal of attaining as many new and superior life forms to add to their collective race. A Time Lord would be a very…favorable acquisition for them. Rose, they are extremely dangerous. They think I'm the only one in here. Rose…"

"If they find out about the baby…"

The Doctor shuddered. She hand never actually seen him have such a physical reaction to fear before. She had always assumed he had experienced fear, even when he put on the brave face of a Time Lord, but she had never seen him react so acutely. It frightened her.

"I have to go, Rose. I have to go with them. I can get away, I'm sure of it, but I have to let them take me, or they'll think I'm trying to protect something, which I am. They're very clever, you see, even if they are unoriginal. You'll need to hide in here, Rose, love. Go as far back as you can within the TARDIS without getting lost. The TARDIS will hide you well. They'll search her, the Banlux will."

Rose stood silently, barely hearing his words. It was all happening so fast that she had barely processed that they were in any real kind of danger. Their lives had been so peaceful for the last few months. And now it wasn't just her life she was putting at risk…now she had the responsibility of another life, completely helpless inside of her.

"…take this, Rose," he continued, handing her a Sonic Screwdriver. "It might come in handy. I'll be back. It just might be a couple of days."

She wrenched herself out of the muffled numbness. "What if you don't?"

"I will."

"But-"

"Then you know how to drive this thing pretty well," he said, cutting across her. "Get out of here. Go wherever you have to go. Get somewhere safe. But I will get out. I always do. I have, as I've said before, some pretty good moves." He smiled at her with difficulty but tried to convey as much charisma as he could muster.

"Exit your craft, Doctor, or we shall force you out!" cried the voice again.

"I'll be fine. A little charm, a bit of deception. All in a day's work. Nothing I can't handle. I have to go. I love you."

Before she could protest, he grabbed his pinstriped jacket and slipped out the door, barely opening it enough to slip his thin body through.

Her brain kicked in before a fresh wave of panic had time to swell.

Hide, he had said. Hide she would. Low level terror coursed through her body, causing her to move. She hurried back into the bowels of the TARDIS, the ship helping her into well lit areas. Even though she was not familiar with where she was headed, she didn't feel lost, and somehow she knew the TARDIS wouldn't let her encounter anything dangerous. Finally, finding a small room with old, dusty looking red carpet and a rather decrepit looking metal dog, she turned on the light and wrapped herself in a comforter she grabbed from her room on her way.

For now, she intended to do what the Doctor told her to do. For now she was going to stay in the TARDIS and stay safe. For now, at least, she was going to wait.

A/N: Cliffhanger! More soon. Reviews appreciated. :)