Chapter Seven; The Next Time Lord

"Well that worked like a dream." Mickey said sarcastically when suddenly The Doctor came around the corner and spotted Rose still stuck inside the tiny plastic pool.

"Don't laugh." She told him as he simply just grinned at her.

"Sorry, can't make any promises." He told her as he tried to hold his laughter inside of him. "Here, take my hand." He said as he reached it down to her and pulled her up helping her out of the pool.

"Where's the dog?" she asked him impatiently as he turned his head and looked to see Shadow coming out of the bushes slowly and guiltily.

"Ah there you are you little troublemaker." He told him as the puppy lowered his head and whimpered while placing his tail between his legs as The Doctor walked over to him and picked him up. "C'mon you little fur ball, let's get you dried off." He said as he started to carry him away.

Once everybody was dried off they all went back inside the apartment. The Doctor flopped down on a recliner with a bag of chips while Rose and Mickey sat down on the couch. All of a sudden Shadow jumped up beside The Doctor and pawed his shoulder. "Hey, where are your manners this is my food you already got your own." He told him before the puppy started to cry. "Oh alright, but just one." He told him as he tossed him a chip and rubbed the top of his head before he jumped back down again.

"So what happened?" Mickey asked him. "You know when you went to the shadowlands." He said.

"Not much surprisingly." The Doctor answered with his mouthful of chips.

"Speaking of manners,.." Rose began giving him a look of disgust as he flashed her a grin and started to lick his fingers. Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Anyway, did you find my dad?" she asked him.

"Yes," he began as he sat up straight. "I did. He cleared quite a few things up for me actually." He said.

"So then why is the dream world merging with this one?" she asked him.

"Do you remember that dream you had about the prophecy of the new time lord?" he questioned.

"Yeah," she began with a nod. "what about it?" she questioned him back.

"Well according to your father that prophecy was about his grandson." He explained.

"You mean our son? He's the one that they were all talking about?" she asked him.

"Yes but I wouldn't worry about it too much. According to the prophecy he's the one who's going to end the time war." He answered.

"But that's impossible," Rose began with a shake of her head. "he's not even born yet and the war has just barely started. Is it really going to be that long until it's over?" she asked him.

"Unless a paradox happens and another alternate universe is created then I'm afraid so. That's why we have to stick together and make sure that he is never out of our sight." He answered with a shake of his head.

"It's kind of hard to believe isn't it," Mickey began. "that somebody can really be that powerful when he hasn't even been born yet." He said.

A little over a few months later….

Rose helped her mother water her flowers while she started planting new flowers. At the same time Mickey had been teaching The Doctor how to drive since when the time came he wanted to be the one to drive his wife to the hospital. "Alright, so you turn the key into the slot that I showed you, that's called the ignition." He explained.

"Alright, I've got that." The Doctor began as he placed the key inside of it and turned the engine on. "Holy shit that's almost as loud as the TARDIS." He said with a gasp of bewilderment as Mickey laughed.

"Alright make sure you put your seatbelt on before you put it in reverse." He said.

"How do I do that again?" The Doctor questioned as he buckled himself in.

"With that lever down there. That's called the gearshift, but make sure that you put your foot on the brake pedal first." Mickey told him as The Doctor looked down at the carpet.

"Now which one is that one again?" he wondered aloud.

….

"I wonder how the driving lesson is going." Jackie began when she turned to look over at her daughter who slowly placed her hand on her stomach. "Rose, are you alright?" she questioned her.

"No,.." she began with a groan while she started breathing heavily.

"Oh my God." Her mother said with a gasp. "Doctor!" she hollered as she ran around the corner.

The Doctor looked up at her from out the window. "It's Jackie." He said as he quickly turned off the engine and removed the keys from the ignition at the sight of his mother in-law. He quickly threw off his seatbelt and got out of the car. "Jackie," he began as he slammed the door behind him and ran up to her.

"Where's Rose?" he asked her anxiously.

"Her water just broke, she's going into labor." She answered.

"Oh my God,.." he began. "Rose!" he shouted as he started running up the hill.

Meanwhile Rose had collapsed by the side of the house. "Doctor, please hurry." She said to herself while continuing to breathe heavily.

"Rose!" The Doctor cried as she quickly turned her head to see her husband running towards her. "Darling are you alright?" he questioned her.

"The baby,.. he's coming. It hurts, it really hurts." She moaned.

"It's alright Rose, I've got you." He began as he helped her up. "Just hold on. Since I don't know how to drive yet Mickey will take us to the hospital. Just keep breathing." He told her as he helped her down to the car. "It's alright, you're going to make it, I promise you that." He whispered soothingly.

….

"Alright Rose, just lay back and we'll let you know when to start pushing." One of the nurses told her while The Doctor stood by her side holding her hand.

"Doctor, I'm scared. What if he doesn't make it." Rose whispered as The Doctor leaned over to her and started running his fingers through her hair.

"He will be, he'll make it out just fine." He told her as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Alright Rose, his heartbeat is slowly dropping it's time to push him out now." The nurse told her.

"Alright Rose, push. C'mon you can do it!" The Doctor told her encouragingly. A lot of things were running through her mind. She didn't even have any morphine yet, and what if the baby had two hearts when he was born. Even though her brain was full of all of this anxiety and worry she knew that she couldn't lose the baby. Especially since the entire planet depended on him. Rose gathered up all the courage left inside her and pushed, and before she knew it, a beautiful six pound little baby boy was born.

She felt tears of joy run down her own face as the baby started to cry. She felt an instant relief knowing that he was alive. The Doctor looked like he was about to cry himself while the other doctors cleaned the baby and he placed a tender kiss on Rose's lips. "You did it, I love you so much. He's so beautiful." He whispered as Rose brushed her tears away.

"Dad, do you want to cut the cord?" one of the other doctor's asked him while placing the scissors inside his hand. After Rose's husband cut the cord, one of the nurses wrapped the now silent infant inside a little blue blanket and handed him over to his mother. He had a little patch of brown hair on the top of his head and he slowly started to open his dark brown eyes.

"I can't believe it, he looks just like you." Rose said with a sniff as she looked up at her husband and bounced the baby inside her arms a little bit.

"Yeah he does." He began. "So we never did figure it out, what are we going to call him?" he asked her.

"Peter." She answered. "After my father. That is if you don't mind." She said.

"Yeah, sure that's fine. He looks like a Peter." He told her.

"Do you want to hold him?" Rose asked him as he grew a nervous expression onto his face.

"Gee I dunno, it's been quite a long time since I've done this. I don't want to drop him." He said.

"It's alright, you won't." she told him. "I promise." She added as she slowly handed the baby over to him. "Just remember to support his head." She said as The Doctor took his newborn son inside his arms.

"Hullo Peter, I'm your dad." He told him as the baby simply just cocked his head and stared at him cross eyed. "You don't seem very impressed." He said as Rose giggled.

"Don't worry, he will. You're going to be a great father I just know it." She told him.

"Well, I can't promise anything but I'll do the best that I can." He began as Peter grabbed onto his finger and clutched onto it tightly. "After all, I'm only human." The Doctor said as he smiled down warmly at him with loving eyes and kissed the top of his head.