Chapter Three
o0o
At the mention of Torchwood, Rose perked up. It was something tangible that could actually help them. Without the TARDIS or even the sonic, their options were limited. They could hardly walk into a hospital and ask for a scan. Torchwood was really their only option.
"Torchwood. Right," she agreed. "We've got medical facilities there. Scanners, stirrups- you name it. Torchwood is good." Rose then groaned. "Doctor, have you thought about how we're gonna sneak out?"
For a human-Time Lord metacrisis, sometimes he was thick. Thickety thick. He stared at her and then at the door, horrified. "Both out of the house and into Torchwood? Dunno if you noticed, but the Tylers are always in the media over here. And if we want to get transport straight to Torchwood, we're gonna need Pete."
"Which means Jackie," the Doctor filled in.
"Which means Mum," Rose confirmed. "And she is going to be mad."
Jackie Tyler was mad but the Doctor kept that to himself for the time being. Rose's safety was his priority at the moment and he needed to get her to Torchwood as soon as humanly possible. The phrase struck him as odd as his brave Rose steeled herself for the onslaught.
"We need to get there, Doctor. If it all checks out and I'm really havin' a baby, which by your reaction, might be coming sooner rather than later, we need to bite the bullet, yeah?"
All he could do was extend his hand.
o0o
"Oh there you are!" Jackie's high-pitched voice wailed as the Doctor and Rose entered the dining room. "We've been waitin' for you all morning. Tony said you were awake ages ago!"
Tony and Pete sat at the table, Tony tucking into breakfast and Pete was reading the newspaper. Jackie was mercifully in the kitchen, although the Doctor remained unsurprised at the volume her voice carried. He gripped Rose's hand tighter.
"Just ignore her," Pete said cheerfully, not tearing his eyes away from the paper. "Or she'll get stuck into you about the pink robe Tony says you were weari-"
His gaze had fixed on Rose.
"Rose, what happened to your belly? Did you eat a watermelon?" Tony asked from his spot next to Pete.
"Dad, we're gonna need a ride to Torchwood," Rose offered as Pete continued to gawk. His eyes sped from Rose to Doctor and back again, slowly piecing together what was about to send Jackie into a tailspin.
At that moment, Jackie Tyler walked into the dining room. "Torchwood? But you only just got back! I'm sure the Doctor doesn't want to spend his first day here at Torch-"
The plate of toast Jackie was holding fell to the ground and her hand flew to her mouth. In a second, Pete was standing, sending Tony back to his bedroom and flipping open his phone, direct number to Torchwood.
The Doctor breathed in and stepped forward, standing between Rose and Jackie. "Now, Jackie, we don't have time for this. We have to go."
Jackie shrieked in response. "What the hell have you done to my daughter?"
"Mum, it's not his fault," Rose reasoned from behind him. "We don't even really know what's goin' on, yeah? Dad's sendin' for the car and we're going down to Torchwood to sort it all out."
Jackie shot the Doctor a vile look and weaved around him to Rose. "But Rose, you're pregnant!"
"Is Rose having a baby?" Tony asked from the doorway. Jackie began to fuss over Rose and the Doctor bent down in front of Tony. "Tony Tyler. I have a really important job for you to do. Is that alright?"
Tony took a moment to think. The sound of Pete barking orders and Jackie and Rose talking in hurried tones distracted him seemed to distress the boy and the Doctor hoped the whole mess would be sorted soon. After all this was over, if he was going to be a Dad again (and sooner, rather than later), he would owe his child and Tony a day filled with jumping castles and clowns and balloons. "Tony, I need you to go upstairs to your room. I want you to find all the toys and clothes you can find that you don't use anymore. Can you do that for me?"
Tony nodded enthusiastically. "Is it for the baby?" The Doctor ruffled Tony's hair in response.
"Tony Tyler, I reckon you can keep a secret. Rose is having a baby and I'm betting by tomorrow, you're going to be an Uncle."
Tony grinned in response and ran off just as Pete shut off his phone. "Jake's sending the car and the lab is being set up," he confirmed. He blinked a few times and motioned to his arguing wife and daughter. "She didn't slap you?"
He rubbed his face, feeling a phantom slap from two regenerations ago. "Not yet." Pete nodded and leaned in close. "Is it possible it's something else?"
The Doctor sighed. With each passing minute, Rose's stomach grew. That meant the human-human-Time Lord foetus inside too was growing. The time for suspicion and doubt was gone. Deep down he knew exactly what they were going to find on the Torchwood scan. They were going to find a baby growing at an accelerated rate, with partial Time Lord physiology.
It wasn't a matter of what they would find anymore. It was a matter of why it was there to begin with. Overnight conception was a rarity, even amongst the stars. Everything about Rose seemed normal but there was still so much he stood to lose. He had only just gained his life and he didn't want it all crashing down around his feet. He didn't want to waste his second chance.
He ran his hand through his hair. "No."
Pete nodded in understanding and the pair of them moved towards the still bickering Rose and Jackie. Pete gently placed his hand on Jackie's arm. "Jacks, they've got to go," he said calmly.
In typical Jackie form, she wrestled her army away from Pete. "Then I'm goin' too." The Doctor locked eyes with Rose. He didn't want any unnecessary stress but time was short and an argument with Jackie was going to waste even more time.
"Fine," the Doctor muttered just as there was a knock on the door.
"Pete? It's Jake," a voice called out. "Lab's ready and the car's here."
Rose extended her hand and the Doctor grabbed it instinctively, giving it a quick squeeze. "We'll figure this out, I promise you."
Rose gave him a soft smile and he fell in love with her all over again. "Yeah, I know. We always do."
He ignored Jackie's hysterical instructions to Pete about what to do with Tony and tried to calm his pounding singular heart. Two would have thumped right out of his chest, already.
"Alright you two, let's go then," she moaned. "Bloody Torchwood."
Rose squeezed his hand again and he wondered what he had done to deserve the comfort of the beautiful, pregnant woman beside him.
o0o
Torchwood was nothing like he expected. For one, the exterior looked run-down and was an eyesore. Once they cleared security, it was a lot of people with earpieces, running up and down hallways.
Jake had escorted them through the hallways and nearly everyone had stopped to stare at Rose. Most of them had respect enough to keep their distance from their ranking officer and Jackie had already barked at them to shut their gobs more than once.
The Tylers were certainly to be feared. Finally, they had arrived at the lab and the Doctor had sprung into action. He set up scanners and even without his sonic, managed to alter the equipment to his liking. It wasn't as thorough as his technology on the TARDIS but by Earth standards, it was more than adequate.
The Doctor had averted his eyes as Jackie had helped Rose into a Torchwood-issue paper gown. Jackie had rolled her eyes as the Doctor looked away. "I know how you two got into this mess so don't go lookin' all innocent."
"Mum!" Rose scolded as she tried to maneouver herself onto the bed. The voices of Jake and the guards outside drifted through and the Doctor imagined their presence here was making its rounds around the base.
The Doctor finally stole a look at Rose as Jackie positioned a blanket over her legs, leaving her stomach exposed. She had grown again. "You don't have to stay. I'll be fine, really," Rose tried to reason with her as the Doctor began to attach small electrodes to her stomach. "What about Tony?"
Jackie waved it off. "Pete's got it under control. Maria's comin' in to look after him so Pete'll be here soon."
"Everythin' alright?" Rose asked and the Doctor knew she was trying to keep the blind panic out of her voice. He was trying to put a brave front on and she was following suit. Defenders of the Earth didn't panic and neither did the Doctor. Mostly.
He gave her a tight smile. "Why don't we take a look and see?"
The machine Torchwood had acquired wasn't from Earth and if the Doctor was correct, was used on a species that carried more than one offspring at a time. The machine would scan Rose's womb and display the image in holographic form and feed the data through to the supercomputer hooked up on the side. The Doctor briefly wondered how often Torchwood would come across alien pregnancies but pushed the thought from his already racing mind.
There was only one alien pregnancy on his mind right now. Well, half-alien in any case. Probably closer to a quarter but that was something the fancy now-beeping machine would tell him.
Suddenly, the screen on the computer lit up and a 3D image popped up between him and Rose. Rose gasped and the Doctor's one very fragile heart skipped a beat. There, on the screen, was the outline of a baby.
Rose's hand flew to her mouth. The Doctor wished it was him sitting next to her, holding her hand instead of Jackie, who was equally mesmerised by the squirming image in front of them.
"Oh my God! It's a baby!" Jackie shrieked. "Rose, would you look at that!"
The Doctor felt relief wash over him as he stared at the perfect, tiny, quarter of a Time Lord child floating in the space between him and his perfect, beautiful Rose. "It's actually a baby," Rose added, her hand now outstretched as if to touch the image in front of her. Her other hand rested on her stomach and the image shifted to show the baby reacting to her touch.
"Doctor," Rose breathed, her eyes still transfixed. "That's..."
"That," the Doctor said, trying to maintain composure when all he wanted to do was scream and cry and maybe jump on that couch over there, "is a baby." He stared at the image a little longer. "Rose, move your head to the left a bit."
She did and her eyes lit up. "Is that a...?"
He couldn't help but grin and nodded in response.
"What? What is it?" Jackie asked, trying to lean over Rose to see what she was seeing.
Rose gently pushed her back. "Mum, it's a boy."
