The mother-in-law

A/N Well, here is part 3 – your wanted to know what Jackie's response to the news was…… so here it is! Thank you to all my reviewers, damn I missed the hearts, I usually remember but I'll keep checking that! As to the price of the Chris doll, you can only get him by buying the regeneration set (which includes David as well as Chris) which is £19.97 off Amazon…. Cough cough hint hint Mum for Christmas cough cough… So….enjoy! Oh yeah – TCI never happened, ok? The Doctor regenerated into David in the Tardis, they went off on their travels again, didn't go back to see Jackie, then a little while later, the Doctor regenerated back into Chris..come on, you know the story! And if you don't, go read the first two chapters then!!

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The Doctor stood outside Jackie's flat door taking deep breaths. Rose was smiling at him, repressing her giggles and smoothing down his jacket and patting his hair.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?" The Doctor anxiously asked Rose as he stamped his feet in frustration and nerves.

Rose smiled. "Because my mother has a right to know when her one and only daughter is making her a grandmother." Rose's face twisted into a grimace as she thought about that. "Uh oh. She's not gonna' be too happy when she hears that's her new name. She'll think she's gonna be grey soon." Rose looked back up at the Doctor. "And, of course, it'll all be your fault."

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Thanks for that, Rose. That made me feel tonnes better."

"Pleasure." Rose smiled and patted his shoulder. "Go on. Get it over with."

The Doctor nodded, forced his shoulders back into what looked like a masterly position, raised his head, put his hand to the bell and pressed it. Immediately he heard footsteps and a shrill voice yelling "I'm comin', I'm comin'. And if it's that advertising boy then you better get scarce - I don't want no new boiler!"

The Doctor silently whimpered and made to turn away from the door. However, Rose was there to stop him and turned him back round. She held his shoulders square to the door, whispering in his ear "Oh no you don't. You're not getting away this easily." She smiled. To think that the great Doctor, master of time and space, who could save planets as easily as pop down to Tescos, was terrified of only one thing: Jackie Tyler.

Suddenly, the door popped open with a click to reveal a tousled and irate woman, still in her dressing gown. She was glaring as she opened the door, but when she saw Rose she beamed. "Rose!! You're back!! At last!! And you're alive!" She pushed past the Doctor to get to her daughter and held her tightly to her. "Mickey and I thought we'd never see you again after last time you left." Jackie pulled away from her daughter. "What happened? How come he's still alive?" Jackie jerked her head in the Doctor's general direction. The Doctor opened his mouth to retaliate with some witty speech but Rose stopped him quickly.

"Mum, I think we'd better go in! Don't want to keep us out on the doorstep forever, do you?"

Jackie shook her head and pulled Rose in, leaving the Doctor to close the door. As Rose was tugged into the living room, she looked back at the Doctor, who was shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Jackie went and put the kettle on, keeping a string of conversation about what all their friends had been up to going on the whole time. As her voice floated into them, moaning about the way Marie's daughter dressed ("Like a real tart, you know"), the Doctor sat down gently and rubbed his hands again.

He looked at Rose and whispered "How the hell are we supposed to tell her if we can't get a word in edgeways? Well, you might be able to stop her, but she'll never shut up at anything I have to say!" Rose opened her mouth to reply but before she could Jackie came back in.

"Anyway, how come you're back here? Last time you came, you said that you couldn't come back." Jackie shot a filthy look at the Doctor.

"Yeah, but I wasn't gonna' just go off and never see you again was I? I'm still gonna' come and see you often!"

Jackie sniffed and looked into her mug of tea. Rose stared pointedly at the Doctor until he could no longer bare it, so he cleared his throat and put his mug of tea down.

"Er… Mrs Tyler…Jackie…Rose and I have got something to tell you….."

Jackie looked up from her mug of tea and glared at him.

"If you're gonna tell me that you've harmed my daughter in any way or that she's got some disease that means she can never come back here again then I swear I'll murder you…"

Rose raised an eyebrow and coughed pointedly. Jackie stopped talking and looked back at the Doctor. The Doctor didn't seem too happy at the sudden focus on him and started rubbing his hands again. "Um….er…" He looked up at Rose. Rose smiled at him and nodded encouragingly.

"Well, um…" He rubbed his knees, got up and went over to stand by Rose, looking at her pleadingly. Rose got the message and thought that she better help him out.

"Mum…there's no way I can come back forever now."

Jackie looked aghast but didn't say anything as she was vaguely cottoning on to what the Doctor and her daughter were trying to tell her. The Doctor knelt by Rose and took her hand. They entwined their fingers in each others and then Rose guided his hand to her stomach. They looked at each other gently and then slowly, their glances went up to Jackie.

Jackie opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish for a few moments, then looked at the Doctor. "I suppose this was all part of your plan, take a young innocent girl away from her family, show her a bit of the world, show off with your flashy space ship and then get her pregnant!"

"Mum.."

"Jackie, that's not what I did at all!"

Jackie snorted. "Don't give me that rubbish!"

The Doctor stood up and strode over to the fireplace. He put his hands on the mantelpiece and stared at the wall. All was quiet for a few moments. Suddenly, a northern accent broke the silence.

"When I asked your daughter to come with me, I meant what I said. I wanted her to come and travel with me, be my companion. I was drawn to her, for some strange reason, during the short time I'd spent with her. Rose was, and is, no ordinary human. She looks where the rest of you don't, and sees what you can't even begin to see. She saved my life." The Doctor turned and looked at Rose. "I was lonely and I wanted a companion. Perhaps I did want to show off a bit. I wanted to believe that there was something good in me, that I wasn't a total idiot, a betrayer…. a killer. Gradually as I spent more and more time with her, I began to feel something for her. Something, that has put the human race in jeopardy on a number of occasions." He smiled. "So I'll just say that now and apologise to all the people who have been hurt because I loved a human girl." The Doctor turned to Jackie. "I could never have in my wildest dreams imagined, or hoped for what has suddenly been given to me. I dare not think on it too hard, for fear that I might wake up, and it's all a dream - I'm still alone in the Tardis, with no companion. Your daughter has brought me new life, Jackie. She came into my life at a time when I was at an all time low. She was there to show me what was really inside myself."

Jackie looked amazed at him. The Doctor went to stand with his hands on Rose's shoulders. He stroked her hair absentmindedly before gripping her shoulders tightly. He looked up at Jackie. The look on his face was something she'd never seen before. It was so intense that she was almost scared. The Doctor was pleading with her, with every fibre of his being: especially his eyes. Their blue depths were deep and tragic. "Don't take them from me." He whispered.

Jackie put her hand to her mouth. She couldn't be that cruel. She went over to them and crouched down by Rose. She stroked her face as her own broke. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she whispered "I'm going to be a grandmother." Suddenly she reached forward for Rose and mother and daughter hugged. The Doctor chewed his lip nervously. Would the mother accept?

Jackie sniffed and wiped her eyes. She reached up for the Doctor's hand and squeezed it, holding Rose's hand in her other hand. "Now mind you, I don't want you calling my grandchild some stupid name, you hear? Nothing with more than four syllables and something you can spell easily. And I want to see it, all right? I'm not having you two racing round the universe dragging a baby with you who knows no other life!"

The two laughed and the Doctor put his arm around Rose and hugged her to him. Jackie let go off their hands to wipe the running mascara off her face. "See what you've done now? Look, I'll go and refresh my face and then I'll get us a really nice meal. And this time you're staying, all right you?" She looked at the Doctor. "Don't you go tearing off round the galaxy just yet!" Jackie hurried off into her room and they heard her muttering something about "Knew she'd be the death of me.. now what am I gonna' tell Bev when she rings?"

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and smiled. "Knew you could do it." Rose said playfully, brushing something off his collar. The Doctor blew his cheeks out and ran a hand across his forehead.

"That's enough domestics for me today, thank you very much."

"Aw, come on, I'm sure we can get one more out of you?"

"Oh yeah, and what might that be?"

Rose pulled the Doctor closer towards her and parted her lips, her eyes glinting mischievously.

The Doctor grinned. "Now that's not domesticity. And even if it is, that's one domestic thing I can put up with, quite frequently…"

Rose laughed and leaned closer to the Doctor and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her back and smiled to himself. Life was good.

Suddenly there was a bang as the front door blew open.

"Jackie, I was wonderin' if you could get me something to eat? I got something for you from the corner shop.."

Mickey's voice stopped mid-sentence as he saw the couple together in the living room. Rose broke off from the Doctor and turned around. They quickly sprang apart, almost guiltily.

"Mickey.." Rose started, playing with a strand of her hair. She tucked it behind her ear and subconsciously put her hand on her stomach. Mickey looked startled at the two and couldn't take his eyes off Rose.

"Never thought I'd be a grandmother until I was grey. Sharon said I don't look a day over 30 the other week. Hold on, is this baby gonna' be alien? That would be brilliant if that nosy Caroline found out that my daughter had an alien baby.." Jackie barged into the room, brushing her hair. "Ah.." She said, as she noticed the still scene before her.

"Mickey, look, there's no reason for you to get mad, I broke up with you when we met you in Cardiff! Don't look at me like that!" Rose cried as she continued fiddling with her hair.

"I'm not looking at you like anything" Mickey said. "Um.. I think I'll go now, see you Jackie." He mumbled. Mickey made for the door but the Doctor hurried after him.

"Look, mate" The Doctor started.

"Hey." Mickey put a hand on the Doctor's arm. "You won her, fair and square. How could I compete with a time traveller.." He opened the door. "No hard feelings, Doctor." Mickey nodded and strode off from the flat.

The Doctor closed the door and went back in to Rose and Jackie. He flopped down onto the sofa and rested his head back against the top of the sofa. The two women looked at him. With his eyes closed the Doctor looked to the ceiling.

"Bloody domestics" He muttered.

A/N You know the drill – REVIEW!!