The doctor's hearts were beating quickly as he stared at the building where Rose's flat was. It wasn't like him to be nervous; he normally faced things much more serious than going to meet a human girl. But he didn't know how this was going to go; he was still insistent that he and Rose had to take these things very slowly but he hoped they could have a normal conversation about it. He wanted a physical relationship with Rose but he was actually….afraid. He wasn't sure he could let himself give in to the strong emotions that he was barely holding back.

He'd waited a week before coming back and he hoped that it was enough for Rose to have missed him; he knew that he missed her. He'd wanted to come back the day that he left.

The doctor walked up the stairs and to Rose's flat, knocking on the door a few times before Jackie came to the door. She gave him a look of surprise before her expression turned annoyed. "Bought time you showed up" she said scowling at him as he came in the flat. "Rose's been moping for you for weeks."

"Weeks?" The doctor asked in surprise. It was only supposed to have been one week.

"Yeah, can't you tell time, space boy?" Jackie asked in annoyance. "It's been three months since you dropped her off. She's been mopping the entire time."

Rose, who was sitting on the couch glared at her Jackie. "Shut up, mum" she said muttered in frustration before turning back around and staring blankly at the telly. Her lack of interest in him and her obvious annoyance wasn't a good sign. The doctor cringed; three months…..it had been a long time. He really needed to get better about that.

"I miscalculated a bit" the doctor said, drifting a little closer to Rose before Jackie pulled him to her and whispered. "I'm going to work…..talk to her, try to get through to her. I don't know what happened between you two, but you need to talk to her. She won't talk to me. She's been a wreck"

The doctor nodded, giving her a small smile before she slipped out the door. The doctor felt unease settle over him as he sat down on the couch beside Rose. If Jackie was asking him of all people to get through to her, something was definitely wrong.

Rose stared straight ahead at the telly, not looking at him. Oh, this was going to be fun….

"Hey, Rose" the doctor said with a smile. "I've missed you. I'm glad to see you"

"You've been gone forever" Rose said glaring away from him.

"Yeah, I know….a small miscalculation. I thought it'd been a week." He nudged her arm. "Remember when I dropped you off a year later when I thought it'd only been 12 hours" he said with a laugh. He was feeling nervous, uncomfortable and he was dealing with things the way that he normally did; joking.

Rose turned to look at him; glare was more accurate a word. "Oh, yeah that was hilarious….Mickey was accused of murdering me and my mum nearly went crazy waiting for me to come home. Real funny…." She said sarcastically before looking away.

The doctor snatched the remote from Rose and turned the telly off. "Rose, stop it" he said getting a little annoyed himself. "I made a mistake. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I showed up so late, I'm sorry about…..our argument. Please, just talk to me"

After a minute or two Rose turned her body so that she was facing the doctor. Her angry expression had turned sad. "I thought you were mad at me" she said.

The doctor softened at her words. "No, I wasn't mad at you Rose….I wanted to come back the minuet I dropped you off. But you said that you wanted time, so I waited for a week. I didn't want to…..I was never mad you. I just wanted to talk about what had happened."

Rose looked down at her lap, fiddling with the strings on her jacket. "I'm sorry I got so upset about that….I just thought….." she didn't finish what she was going to say but the doctor understood. She thought he didn't want her.

"It's alright, really" the doctor said. "We can talk about it now if you want to."

Rose kept looking down; her face took on an apprehensive expression which made the doctor worry. "Rose…..is something wrong?" he asked after a few minutes.

Rose shrugged before looking at him. "Yeah….something's a bit wrong." She said biting her lip.

The doctor felt his stomach drop. "What is it?" he asked. She didn't seem like she wanted to talk so the doctor prodded her. "Rose…..whatever it is, you can tell me, okay? We'll take care of it like we always do" He tried to make his voice as calm as possible even though he suspected something was really wrong.

"You were right" Rose said looking down.

"Right about what?"

"We should have thought about what we were doing…..should have been more careful" Rose said looking off to the side.

"Why are you saying this?" the doctor asked. Rose had felt so strongly to the contrary last time they'd spoken he wondered what could have changed her mind.

"Doctor….I….." Rose started but faltered.

"What, Rose?" the doctor prodded.

Rose finally looked up at the doctor. "I'm pregnant" she said in a small, quiet voice.

The doctor felt like an iron fist had suddenly gripped his hearts. "What?" he asked, uncertainly. This had to be a mistake….it simply had to be.

Rose's eyes darted around before meeting the doctor's again. "I'm pregnant" she said again. Fear showed in her eyes; she was watching and measuring every small reaction he was having.

The doctor's breath was straining in and out slowly and his hearts were beginning to speed up in their beating. The walls of the small flat seemed to be closing in on him. His first instinct was to run but he knew that he couldn't do that. He gripped the arm of the couch and forced himself to remain calm; panicking would no doubt only cause Rose to panic. "W-what? I mean, are you sure?" he asked.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Don't you think I made sure before I told you…..I'm certain. Five pregnancy tests don't lie." she said.

Oh my God…..pregnant… "I'm assuming your mother doesn't know" the doctor said. He was fairly sure she'd have killed him if she knew.

"Of course not" Rose said. "I wanted to tell you first. I was afraid you might not show up in time…..and I'd have to tell her. But I wanted to tell you first since…..you know….it's your baby and all."

"Are you sure?" The doctor asked, a slight note of hysteria in his voice. He felt like he couldn't breathe properly.

Rose scowled. "I just told you I was sure!" she said in irritation.

"No I mean are you sure it's mine?" The doctor croaked out in hysterics. He instantly regretted letting the words slip from his mouth. Rose's face fell and he could see tears in her eyes. He hadn't meant to say it, but now that it was out there it was going to cause devastating consequences.

"Are you honestly asking me that?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Are you honestly suggesting I…" She gave the doctor a pained expression before jumping off the couch and running to her room, slamming the door behind her.

The doctor knew he had to talk to her but he remained frozen for a moment. Rose was going to have baby…..he hadn't even processed the fact that they'd actually slept together yet and now he was finding out she was pregnant, that she had been for months. Suddenly he felt a pang in his hearts; he was being completely insensitive. Rose had been carrying this knowledge for months on her own, wanting to tell him and now that she had, she'd only gotten negative response from him. As scared as this made him, he needed to stop acting like a teenage boy and do something to put her at ease. He was, after all, the one that had been a parent before, not Rose.

He got off the couch and walked toward Rose's room, not surprised to find it locked. She knew better; the doctor pulled out his sonic and opened the lock. Rose was stretched out on her bed, facing away from the door, her shoulders shaking from crying. The doctor sat on the bed behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She flinched away from his touch.

"I'm sorry, Rose" the doctor said. "What I said, it was a stupid question. I didn't mean it"

Rose flipped over to so that she was lying on her back, tears running down her face. "You're such a liar…..you totally meant it. What does that say about me?" she said quietly.

"I said sorry" the doctor said. "We just…..we just did it the one time. I was having a hard time absorbing all this"

"So you accuse me of sleeping around?" Rose asked accusingly, wiping the tears off her face. It sounded so bad coming from her.

"I wasn't accusing" the doctor insisted. "I was just asking."

Rose gave him a serious look. "I haven't…..not once….since I met you" she said. The doctor could see her lip quiver as if she wanted to cry but was trying not to. A second later she had sat up and their arms were wrapped around each other. The doctor sighed at how warm, comfortable and right it felt to hug Rose. He had missed her so much even though it had been such a short time for him. He held onto her, not even remotely wanting to let go. "I really am sorry….it was stupid of me to ask. Stupid of me to show up so late too, though I'm officially blaming that one on the TARDIS"

He was glad when he heard a small chuckle from Rose. "It's always her fault, isn't it?" she asked, still holding onto him.

"Well, she did land in the wrong time" he said, giving her a squeeze. Rose squeezed back harder, holding onto him as if he was a life preserver in water.

"I'm scared doctor" she said, her voice shaking slightly.

The doctor pulled back, his hands on her arms and gave her a smile. "You're scared?" he asked. "Surely Rose Tyler, the girl who saved me from an army of Daleks is not scared."

Rose gave a half smile before letting it fall again. "That's different" she said.

The doctor kept smiling, hoping she would soon be smiling too. "This is a baby, Rose. It's not scarier than a Dalek" he said. He was secretly terrified but he couldn't let her know that. He had to reassure her.

Rose closed her eyes. "I'm not ready…..I can't be someone's mum" she said.

"Sure you can Rose" the doctor said giving her arms a squeeze. "You'll do fantastic."

"Yeah, sure" Rose said skeptically. The doctor put his hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. "Really Rose….you'll be fine. We'll do this together"

Rose finally smiled, wiping a stray tear away from her eye. "I'm so glad you're here now…..I really thought…..thought maybe you wouldn't come back"

"I hope you didn't really think that" the doctor said. "Surely you knew I'd come back" He paused before taking her hand; she let him, and slight calm came over her face at the touch. "How long have you know?" he asked.

"About two months" Rose said. "I didn't want to accept it at first….but I took all those tests and they all came back positive. I knew it couldn't be wrong. I didn't want to go to a doctor because….."

"Because of what?" he asked, seeing she expected him to know what she was thinking.

"Well, you know….I wasn't sure everything would be…..normal" Rose said with a raise of her eyebrows. "You know….since you're kind of an alien and all" she gave him the first real smile he'd seen all day and he tried to return it. She brought up something that he hadn't thought of before. What would the baby be? Human? Timelord? Something in between? He didn't know….it wasn't like there was a case of human and timelord breeding….well none that he knew of anyway.

The doctor gave her a jesting look. "You're the alien one" he said joked before saying, "Well, I'm the only doctor you'll need anyway; the TARDIS had equipment that can scan you and…." He paused, taking it in. "The baby"

Rose looked nervous but she still smiled a little, taking his hand.