'After the death of your mother, and a rather long and unpleasant day of morning sickness, I dove back in my research to learn everything I could of Solarian reproduction and pregnancies. I discovered that it progressed similar to that of humans; except that instead of a nine month span, it would only take nine days for you to be full term. Since your mother had carried you the first two days, I would carry you to the equivalent of a week. So I determined in my mind that I would simply just play 'host' to you, making sure you were healthy, bring you to your people and that would be that. Unfortunately, your mother died before telling me the location of your uncle and the refugee Solarians. So there I was; alone in the TARDIS, pregnant, and no idea of how I'd find your home. Plus, the pregnancy in itself was having its effects on me…'
'I don't want it…' the Doctor said to himself as he stared at the vile thing. He knew he was hungry; he really should eat something. But of all the thing he could eat, and he knew he had a TARDIS-full of supplies and other food, why did he want this? He had read up on cravings and was sure that there would be probably be some disgusting food combinations he'd have to force down for the growing child's sake. He had heard of stories of cravings for pickles, chocolate, watermelon; even cravings for metal nuts and bolts. And right now, he rather eat any combination of those things.
If it meant…he'd quit craving…that blasted pear.
He stuck out his finger and poked at it, grimacing at the feeling of it on his fingers and wiping them off on his suit. He hated everything about that pear. The thought of even attempting to eat it made him gag a little. He turned away and swallowed quickly. He had spent the 'third day of pregnancy' throwing up in a cardboard bowl and that one day was enough for him. Now on day four he finally had his appetite back and was finally hungry, but something kept nagging at him to eat the pear. He looked back at it and sighed. Perhaps if he just took one bite, that would be enough to take care of the craving, satisfy the child and give him some peace. Taking it in his hand, he looked at it and took a deep breath. He'd do it quick, like taking off a bandage. The sooner he'd eat it, the sooner he could go on with his life. Hesitantly, he took a small bite of the pear, and grimaced. The taste, the texture; the whole thing was vile. And for some reason he couldn't understand, he wanted more. One bite turned into two, then three, then four, until all that was left was the core. Craving finally satisfied as much as he hated to admit it, he threw away the core and looked down at the baby bump that was now starting to make itself prominent through his suit.
"I hope you're pleased with yourself in there…" he grumbled to it as he walked over to the control panel. Typing in a few numbers, he looked on the screen and let out a long breath. Two straight days of searching and no still sign of the Solarians. And no hope that he'd make it in time to find another host to carry out the rest of this miserable pregnancy. After sending out another yet signal for them to hopefully find, he tried to sit down in the chair and let out a groan of frustration; his clothes were getting tight. Unbuttoning his jacket, he repositioned himself and leaned back in the seat. He had hardly slept these past two days and it was catching up with him. This was becoming too much for him to deal with.
"I can't take this anymore." he moaned. "I can't keep anything down and when I do; it's pears, my clothes are too tight, I'm ready to gry at the drop of a hat and I have to use the bathroom every five minutes… " He could appreciate now how when Time Lord children were 'born', they weren't really born, but rather 'emerged' from the Looms a year old, dressed and toilet trained. He had never appreciated how good they had it before.
"Why any woman would willingly choose to do this is beyond me…" he mumbled as he drifted off into sleep.
It was the motion that woke him up. A strange feeling, almost like something bubbling inside him. This was unlike anything he ever felt before. His hands rushed to his stomach in concern as he felt it again. From what he could tell, he wasn't in pain, but he could sense now that something was different.
And it scared him to death.
In a flash, he bolted out of the chair and hurried to position himself in the bio-scanner, fearful that something had gone wrong and he was losing the baby. As it began to scan, the Doctor nervously waited and prayed. Seconds seemed like days as the bio-scanner kept searching for any sign of life inside him. Tears were now starting in his eyes. By all that was holy, he didn't want to lose this baby. That realization surprised him. Just hours before, he would have been willing to do almost anything to hand it off to someone else. Now, he couldn't imagine letting it go, especially not like this.
He had almost given up hope that the fetus was still alive, when he could hear a new sound coming from the scanner. As he listened to the quick pulsing sound for a few moments, he finally realized what it was. A heartbeat. There was a heartbeat that sounded strong and completely healthy. His legs threatened to crumble beneath him as he cried in relief. The child was still alive. But that bubbling… What…? And then it hit him. The beginning of day five. He had forgotten to compare it to the fifth month of pregnancy. There wasn't anything wrong; it was just moving around inside him. Slowly, he placed a hand on the small round of his stomach and waited. After a few moments, he could feel a brushing against his hand, almost like kicking. He could almost swear that it knew he was there.
"Hello there." he said to it, feeling rather silly talking to himself. But as he spoke, he felt it push against his hand and smiled despite himself. Even though there was still the slightest bit of hesitance in the Doctor's mind about this whole thing, he couldn't deny the emotions that were now raging like wildfire through his heart and mind.
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