Ch 6

The next day, the Doctor came into their room holding two cups of steaming tea. He bent over to kiss River. "Morning, love." She stirred, squinting up at him as her eyes adjusted to the light of the room.

"Good morning, sweetie." She smiled. He handed her the cup of tea before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Slept well I take it."

She nodded, sitting up and taking a sip of her tea, "Very well thanks to you."

"I do what I can" He grinned. "When you're ready, I've already but the paint in the nursery so we can start painting." He was jubilant.

She beamed, "Let's start right now." She was excited to get started. He set his tea down, offering a hand to help her up. She took his hand, struggling to stand up. He held out a second hand, pulling her to a stand. "There we are" She sighed once she was finally on her feet, looking down at her belly, "This is certainly getting in the way of things."

" 'This' will be out of the way soon enough." He took her hand and they started walking to the yet-to-be nursery. She followed after him, stopping in the doorway of the room, looking around.

A few already opened midnight blue paint cans were in the middle of the room. There were long paint brushes so they could reach the ceiling. He scratched the back of his head. "I didn't know if you wanted a lighter shade or not.."

"Well, I think the room will be a bit dark, but as long as you like it, it's fine." She answered, not terribly displeased with the color. He smiled. "I love it" He briskly went to the center of the room and picked up one of the brushes and dipped it in the paint. She followed, beginning to paint one of the bare white walls.

After a while, the paint fumes began to give her a headache, but she didn't want to stop. He set his paint brush down when he finished one of the walls and up crept behind her, wrapping his arms just above her bump. "Finished one of the walls."

She jumped a bit, surprised by the feeling of his arms around her. "You're fast." She murmured, leaning back against him as she looked up at her wall which was barely half finished. "Or maybe I'm just slow."

He chuckled. "I think it was the first one. Do you want help?"

"I can do it on my own, thank you very much." She let her head fall back to rest against his shoulder, as she grinned up at him, "You can start on the next wall."

"I'd rather stay right here." He enjoyed having her lean on her while she painted. "And we can a break once you're done here. Finish our tea and get some of these fumes out of our systems." He scrunched his nose at the smell of the wet paint.

River smiled, "Mmm, I like your idea much more." She continued to paint until the whole wall was done. "Break now?" She asked, eager to get out of the smelly room, thinking it probably wasn't the best place for a pregnant woman to be.

"Yes, these fumes are getting to my head. There's not telling how you feel right now." He looked a bit concerned, wondering if she had a headache or something. He happily lead her away from the drying paint. She put a hand to her throbbing head, happy to be out of the room.

"I think I need some water." She murmured, "And perhaps a place to sit." She hadn't realized exactly how bad her headache was until now. He brought her back to the bedroom, handing her the now cold tea they left on the nightstand.

"Maybe I should finish the painting. I don't think It's such a good idea for you to be in there until the paint dries."

She nodded, not arguing with him for once, "I think that might be best."

"It won't take too long. I'll be done and then we can put the furniture in when the paint is dry. Feeling better?" He asked when she'd finished her tea"

She nodded, "A bit, thank you. Do we even have proper furniture that we can use?" She asked.

"We have my old cot and..." He thought. "Er.. that's it. I think we might need to go shopping"

"We can go after you finish painting, alright?" She smiled softly, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Sounds like a plan." Is wasn't more than thirty minutes later that the Doctor returned to the room, paint splotches covering his clothing. She looked up from the books she had been reading, laughing when she saw the paint bits all over his clothes.

"I think you might need to change before we go out, my love."

He blushed and chuckled. "Yeah.." He stripped of his cloths, searching the dresser for some clean ones. She watched him as he stripped off his clothes, her eyes fixed on him intensely as she bit her lip. He turned as he buttoned his shirt. "What?"

She licked her lips as she watched the last bits of his bare chest disappear beneath the buttons of his shirt. "Nothing, just these pregnancy hormones have made me very..." She tried to find the proper word without sounding crude, "frustrated."

"Frustrated?" He raised an eye brow. "In what way?"

"In the arousal sense." She purred, standing up and moving towards him, "Let's just say, it doesn't take much to get my blood pumping thanks to these bloody hormones." His face turned scarlet as he was pushed against the dresser. She kissed him hungrily, her hands moving from his chest up to his hair.

"River...!" His words were lost as her lip press against his again. He couldn't help but kiss her back, moving his hands around her.
"Hmm?" She hummed, sucking on his lower lip. She smiled in satisfaction as he felt his hands move around her.

"Oh, you make it so hard to resist you." He stepped forwards and pinned her down in the bed, not moving his mouth away from hers. She laughed against his lips, trying to push her body up to his, having a bit of difficulty with the added weight. He chuckled, moving down so his head was between her thighs. He pushed her dress up and her knickers down.

She whimpered, her chest heaving as she tried to look at him over her protruding stomach. One hand rubbed her leg while he began licking her swollen clit. She moaned, her back arching as she grabbed fistfuls of the bedding. He grinned seeing the effect he had on her.

He slipped his fingers into her, rubbing against her inner walls. She choked out a gasp, trying to rock her hips down into his fingers, her whole body flushed pink with arousal. He went deeper. Faster. He reached down with a spare hand to grip his length. She moaned and whimpered, clutching onto the sheets as she squeezed her eyes shut. He knew that they were both close. He withdrew his fingers and pushed his cock into her. He held himself on his hands above her, careful of her belly.

She nearly came undone when he pushed into her, extra sensitive now that she was pregnant. She kissed him needfully, clutching onto his biceps. He thrust into her, fast enough to please her, but slow enough to not be too rough. He let out a low groan as the peak drew nearer. She continued to whimper, struggling to hold herself together as he thrust into her. Hearing his low groan nearly sent her over the edge. He leaned down to kiss her, not faltering in his pace. He moaned into her mouth. She groaned, lightly nipping at his lower lip as her nails sunk into his arms.

He moved his head down, kiss a line down her neck before reaching her breast. He sucked at it, leaving a red mark where his mouth was. She groaned, pushing her upper body closer to him, eager for more. He obliged, tracing circles with his tongue around her nipple, lightly sucking every now and then.

"Oh, sweetie..." She breathed, her chest heaving as she tightened her grip on his arms.

"Are you really going to hold out so long?" He smirked knowing that it was taking her a lot of willpower not to come right then and there.

She smiled up at him, "Just because my body's more sensitive than usual, doesn't mean I can't hold out for as long as normal." She pushed her hips up towards his.

"Yes I don't doubt that" He grunted at her movements. "But as much as I'd love to spend the rest of the day here with you, I would like to get the shopping done before dark"

She stared up at him for a moment, "Fine, but promise me we'll do this again later."

"Promise" he said, kissing her just to prove his point. She kissed him back, her hips moving up to meet his again, unwilling to hold out any longer.

In a swift move, he pushed into her, deeper than before causing them both to go over the edge. Her body trembled as her walls tightened around his length, her body arching into his. She panted, trying to catch her breath. He grinned. He loved seeing her unravel like that beneath him. He pulled out gently, still trailing kisses on her warm skin. She sighed contently, smiling as he pressed kisses to her skin.

"I love you." She murmured.

"I love you more." He teased, pulling her so she was sitting up.

"But I love you the most." She teased right back, fixing her dress so she was all covered up again. He zipped he trousers into place, still grinning.

"So where to next?" He clapped his hands together. "Out of all the baby stores in all of the universe, which one should we go to?"

She thought about it for a moment, "I don't know, which one is best?" Her beaming expression, was quickly overcome with surprise as she moved a hand to her belly.

"River?" He really hated when she did this without telling him what was going on. He sat next to her. "What is it?"

She held her breath, not speaking for a moment, "I could have sworn I felt her kick just now." She finally said, letting out a disappointed sigh, "Just wishful thinking I suppose."

He looked confused. If River felt something, it would be highly unlikely to be a figure of her imagination. He put a hand where hers was and waited a few moments.

She looked over at him, "What are you doing?" She asked, a bit confused as to why he was doing this.

"You said you felt her kick. I just want to see if you were right" He waited a few moment more, nothing happened. The glimmer of hopefulness that had been in her eyes vanished when nothing happened after a few more moments.

"I thought it was her." She whispered. She felt another kick-like flutter a mere moment after she spoke and she looked over at him. "Maybe I'm just going crazy..."

His eyes were wide. "No, your not crazy" He looked up at her, a smile creeping on to his face. "I felt that one! But, that's impossible! Unless there another one, or-or some medicine or..." He was at a loss for words. It was impossible, yet there it was. The small kick of a child from inside River.

Her face paled and her eyes grew wide, "What do you mean another one?"

"I'm not saying there is... it's a possibility..." He trailed off, entertaining the thought, the possibility of there being a second child. She stared at him, her hearts pounding, just the thought of there being two babies terrified her.

"But...wouldn't we have know before now? Would we have seen another baby on the ultrasounds we've done?"

"There are time when the second twin is hidden behind a placenta." He head was pounding. Could it really be that they were having twins? The thought seemed unreal and yet the possibility was right there before them.

River continued to stare at him, still looking rather pale. She had been having enough worries thinking about having one baby, but two? That was too much for her, she didn't think she was ready for that. "Doctor..."

"W-we can't be sure, can we? I mean, there are other explanations for this, right?" His breathing was a bit more heavy and her was pacing in front of her.

"I-I don't know...Do you think maybe what we just did could have done something?" She asked, her mind still flooded with the idea of twins.

"I don't know, maybe?" He was pretty much in a full panic. Not knowing what else to do, he took her hand and swiftly went to the medbay. River's heart was pounding, she had promised the Doctor she wouldn't get stressed, but that promise was going out the window at the moment. Her breathing was slightly labored as they went to the medbay, the stress and panic of the situation catching up to her. The machines were already set up for them when they entered the room.

"Don't lie down this time" If it were twins, the likelihood would be that they'd have to be at a different angle to be able to see them. He frantically put the gel on her stomach and searched with the probe.

Every time he said the word "twins" she felt like she was going to pass out, and she probably would if that ended up being the case. A part of her prayed that it was just Freya, completely terrified of being a mother of two babies at the same time.

He stared at the image on the screen. He starred for the longest time. He could speak. He couldn't even stand and he sat silently next to her before his knees had the chance to buckle. He felt like he was going to pass out, but didn't. Every time he tried to for words, they were lost.

She stared at him, "Doctor..." She whispered frantically, "Doctor, what is it?" Her head was spinning.

"T..." The words still wouldn't come. He tried again. "T..."He cursed himself for not being able to so much as make a syllable. He pointed squeezed her hand and pointed a quaking finger to the screen.

There was Freya, peacefully resting, undisturbed by the outside world. And there was her placenta, just above her. Behind that was the upper body of another child. River wasn't sure if she was going to vomit, cry, pass out or simply all three. She stared at the screen for another moment before darting for the bathroom, definitely vomit.

Her whole body shook as she heaved into the toilet, her face turning a frightening shade of white. The Doctor immediately was shook out of his daze at the sight of his sick wife. He dashed after her and pulled her hair out of the way just in time. Managing to find his voice, he was able to say her name.

"River.." It was full of worry and concern at the sight of her pale face. She couldn't speak as she felt another wave of sick pass over her, vomiting again. She trembled on the floor, her forehead and neck clammy. She tried to push herself up, only to have her legs give out from beneath her. He was instantly by her side supporting her weight. "It's okay, I've got you River." He bent down and sat on his knees, eye level to her. He didn't know what to do. The last time she was sick like this was at the beginning of her pregnancy. He doubted that water and saltines would help much now.

She struggled to catch her breath, her stress levels definitely higher than they should be, "Are...are you sure that we're having t...t?" She couldn't get the word out either, nearly vomiting for a third time. He was afraid that saying the word would cause her to pass out.

"Twins. There's no question." He own heart was racing, but all of his attention was on her. He new that this would be stressful, but he never imagined this much. "Breathe"

She did her best to continue breathing somewhat normally. She shook her head, so many different thoughts running through her head all at once. It made her head hurt and her heart hammer harder in her chest. Like her husband, she couldn't manage to find her voice. She could only look up at him in distress. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arms her and pulled her into his chest, he could feel her heart pounding.

"It's going to be okay, River. We can handle this. It's going to be fine." He was starting to feel a bit better, himself. Another baby. Knew that he wanted more kids. A little brother or sister for Freya. He didn't expect it to happen like this, but he knew it'd be okay. River on the other hand was feeling the exact opposite.

She hadn't told him about her worries of being a mother. Twins meant two little lives she was responsible for. Two children she would completely screw up if she was a bad mother. Two little people that were depending on her to keep them safe from the people like the Silence out there that would do anything to harm them. She had had her doubts about have one baby, two was too much. She could handle a lot of things, but this wasn't one of those things.

"River..." He broke the silence after minute, or maybe hours, he didn't know. "Do you want to talk?" He knew they'd have to discuss this sooner or later.

She swallowed, her gaze fixed on her fidgeting hands. "What's there to talk about?"

"That was a pretty extreme reaction. There's clearly something on your mind." He pointed out.

"It doesn't matter what's on my mind. There's nothing we can do about any of this, so it doesn't matter." She didn't want to make him upset by saying she didn't want another baby, and she didn't want him to think horribly of her if she did tell him.

"What do you mean? Of course it matters!" He stroked circles in her back. "Your thoughts on this matter to me. Everything you say matters to me because you're my wife and we're in thing for the long run." He paused. "I.. I know this isn't exactly what you wanted, but we can make it through."

"I don't want another baby." She whispered, her distress showing in her words. "Doctor, I wasn't even completely sure I wanted one baby. You think that we'll be able to handle this, but I don't agree. You're so much more...parental than I am. I don't think I can do it, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

He didn't know what to say. He was a little taken back and even a bit hurt, but he knew where she was coming from. She'd been raised to kill, not to care. But she was so much more than the psychopath she was raised to be. "River, you will make a great mum. I know because you already love our children so much. You've gone out of your way to care for them and make them happy" He thought of when she showed him her secret room. "We can do it. We already are doing it and you're right. There's nothing more we can do, but I can tell you that you are going to be amazing mother and love these children the moment they're placed in your arms." He mustered up a smile. He truly did believe that every thing would be just fine and he tried his best to make River believe that, too.

She swallowed, unable to look at him. She knew that she had disappointed him with her words. She thought that he didn't understand where she was coming from, he hadn't been through what she had been through. She truly didn't want twins, but that choice wasn't up to her anymore. She would make another sacrifice to make him happy. She had grown accustom to putting his happiness before hers, and rarely ever complained. So she nodded slowly, seemingly agreeing with him on the exterior.

He kept his arms around her wanting to believe her. "Are you still feeling sick?" He tried to keep his voice soft.

She shook her head slowly, remaining silent. She wanted to lock herself away for hours so she could do all the things she felt she couldn't in front of him: cry, scream, throw things across the room. She wanted to have that little room all to herself again, where it was just her and Freya, or at least so she thought.

"Do you want me to stay?" He could sense that she might need some time alone to process this.

"I don't care." She whispered, breaking her silence. She didn't want to deny him of staying with her, believing it would hurt him if she said no.

He looked at the floor, "I'll... go. Make some food or fiddle with wires." He carefully released her from his embrace and got up.

She didn't move to stop him, turning and vomiting again just as he was leaving. He glanced back at her, not exactly wanting to leave her, but knowing they both needed some thinking room.