While it would be nice to say that the footsteps that had promptly shut the Doctor up belonged to the person he was holding his breath for, that simply wasn't the case. The person currently approaching the room was not Rose nor was it Mickey or Jake. Fact of the matter was that it was little Robbie Tyler, clutching tightly to Grady's hand. Rose had wanted him to sleep but Robbie refused upon waking and when he discovered that his sister along with two of the only people he considered family were going out he threw a fit.

Entering the room trailing behind Grady, the older man felt a tug at the door and turned back to see the blond boy staring in at the kitchen's occupants. "Hey, it's okay." he said trying to coax him in but it was to no avail. The Doctor leaned back some in his chair to see who was causing the hold up whilest Donna leaned across the table to try and spy a peek. This action didn't help at all.

Robbie inched behind Grady and peered out from behind him. "They're not going to hurt you." Grady promised and the Doctor tried to smile reassuringly. "Cross our hearts" he said, nodding his head and Grady smiled. "See, just like I told you. Now come eat or Rose will be very upset when she gets back. You don't want Rose to be upset, do you?"

The statement threw the occupantrs of the table off. How did this boy affect Rose's life other than sharing a safe house with her? Who was he? Oh Rassilion, did Rose have a baby? Is that who this child was? Was it Mickey the Idiots? The Doctor felt sick to his stomach and Donna failed to notice as she was still trying to see the boy.

"Look who's back too Robbie" he said, finally picking the two year old up in his arms since he wasn't moving despite the promise of Rose being upset. "It's Donna - look Donna's back" Grady said softly and Robbie buried his face in the mans shoulder and shook his head.

Grady offered them a tiny smile as he sat down in a chair, Robbie still in his arms. "Stubborn this one, just like his sister." Ah relief, the Doctor exhaled a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding. This was her little brother, the boy she had told him about at the beach. Finally an affectionate smile came out of the Doctor and the look of sea sickness disappated.

Still, the lingering fear of Rose having moved on, having found someone, sat in his stomach and while he liked Mickey the idea of him touching Rose was enough to make him sick and whats more is he knew that in the past Mickey had. After all, once upon a time Mickey the Idiot was Rose's boyfriend which was something the Doctor never had been.

Opening his mouth to speak finally, the tiny boy cut him off with a remarkably small voice. "Will she really be upset?" he asked sounding so small and utterly broken. Both the Doctor and Donna felt their hearts breaking.

"Who?" Grady asked, looking down as he finally pulled his face away from his shoulder. "Rose, will she really be upset?" he asked, sniffing and rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. "She was crying today" the little boy informed Grady a few tears squeezing out of his eyes as he spoke. "When she found them, she cried and cried." he said his face screwing up once more before his head sunk into Grady and the man frowned.

In truth, Robbie looked just like Rose minus the fact that he had big blue eyes. Swallowing, the Doctor looked on. Rose had cried, today, this very day. Maybe while he was in the subway tunnels or trecking back to the house with the two adults currently sitting at the table but whenever and where ever it had been he wasn't there. Though they had long since been separated the Doctor still wished to uphold the promise he made to Jackie; to keep her safe, keep her happy, and here she was in the middle of a war, crying.

"Found who?" the Doctor questioned after a brief moment which insighted more sobs from Robbie. Immediately the Doctor regretted asking the question but he needed to know so either way it had to be done. Grady rubbed the small boy's back to try and comfort him before addressing the Doctor.

"Safe house" he whispered, "A little bit away from here - housed a lot of the children, mostly orphans. It was .. It was attacked today. Rose and her lot tried to get there in time. They noticed the Toclafane disappearing and Rose well, she knew something was up - figured it out in no time but she was still too late." he whispered so that Robbie couldn't here. Of course, the boy was still crying. "Robbie was the only one who made it, hid out you see." he said and the Doctor just nodded and decided to shut up and ask question later when children weren't involved.

Turning his attention to the blond then, Grady rocked him gently, "It's okay. It's okay little man. Do you know how brave you are? Huh? So brave, so brave. I bet Rose was really proud of you, huh? You're a survivor is what you are." the dark haired man insisted but Robbie just shook his head and started crying. "They're all -- all -- all -- they all died" he sobbed, shaking his head. "And, and, and I was so -- so -- sc--sc--scared. So scared" he said clinging to Grady.

"I want Rose" he said between sobs. The Doctor and Donna had fallen silent as they watched, the Doctor biting his lower lip in thought. In his past life, he hadn't done domestic and to be truthful he wasn't the best with kids but this was Rose's brother and therefore he felt obligated to comfort him. However, he found he couldn't and in turn felt a bit sick with himself.

It was still hard to process though, that this child before him had gotten to have the past 2 years with her while he had been struggling. He felt like a terrible person .. Or .. Well … Time Lord for being a bit jealous of that fact.

"Rose will be back soon, I promise" Grady assured the crying boy who shook his head. "No -- no -- no" Robbie insisted and the Doctor finally opened his mouth to speak. "You know Robbie, I knew your sister before all this." he began gently and the Donna gave him a curious look whilest the boy he was talking to just sniffled and refused to look at him.

"I promise, I did and you know what? She was really brave and I bet she still is. Yeah? She saved my life a whole bunch of times so I bet that before you know it, she'll be back." and G-d, he really hoped she would. He wanted to see Rose though in truth he had no idea what he was going to do or say when he saw her. He was relying on Rose to take the lead and he hoped it would be good. He hoped this war hadn't killed the spirit in her and if it had he would kill the people responsible. Harold Saxon basically. The Doctor swallowed, he thought he was over this.

"You know Rose?" the silence broke after a moment, the boy still wasn't looking at the Doctor but his tiny voice rang true and the Doctor smiled. "I do, she was my" a beat "my best mate a long time ago. We got into a lot of trouble, had a lot of fun." he said with a tone of sadness since he had lost all that long ago.

"She's my best mate" Robbie said defensively after a moment, "We have fun together". Obviously the boy was very protective of his older sister even though a 2 year old couldn't do much to protect her. "Yeah." the Doctor said with a nod, "Yeah and I bet she'd want you to be happy and smiling when she got home, hmm?" Donna added with a small smile and Robbie turned to her apparently just registering her prescence in the room.

"Donna?" he asked, giving a sniffle and looking at her curiously before rubbing his eyes childishly. "…..yeah?" the woman replied after a moments hesitation. Donna was kind but she was awkward around children - just a bit. Robbie smiled a bit and nearly fell out of the chair before going over and hugging her. Donna looked relatively surprised but she smiled a bit and hugged him back.

Climbing into her lap moments after he finally looked directly at the Doctor and blinked owlishly. Despite the horrors he'd seen, Robbie maintained a doe eyed look about him - one that said that he was willing to trust people and while the Doctor hoped that was true he hoped it wasn't at the same time. Such a trait could be used to exploit and use him by others trying to stay alive.

"Who are you?" Robbie asked then and the Doctor nodded. "I'm the Doc -- John Smith." he said quickly correcting himself and watching as Robbie blinked curiously at him. "The Doc John Smith?" he repeated after a moments hesistation looking like maybe, just maybe he wanted to laugh. The Doctor smiled awkwardly, "I suppose you could call me that." the so called Mr. Smith replied and Robbie finally grinned and nodded. "You know my Rose?" he asked, emphasizing the my in it to make sure the Doctor knew they were close which caused the Doctor to smile a bit

"I do" he confirmed as Grady got up and began shifting through the cabinets. "So Robbie, what do you say to spaghetti o's?" Grady asked after a moment - a question to which the small boy nodded eagerly in Donna's lap before climbing off and running over to the lower cabinets and opening them.

"Oi little man whatcha looking for?" Grady asked as he searched for a can opener, keeping an eye on the blond out of the corner of his eye but Robbie didn't say anything as he pulled pots and pans out. "Robbie" Grady repeated after a moment, "What are you looking for?" and again the toddler didn't answer. However he couldn't ask again because he found whatever it was at the back of the cabinet and ran over to the Doctor.

"Did you know her too?" he asked, shoving a picture in his face and Grady looked over curiously at the pair. "What is that Robbie, what was it doing back there?" apparently though Grady had become invisible since he wasn't answered yet again.

Looking down at the picture the Doctor felt a pang of recognition and love as he took in a picture of the Tylers. Jackie, Pete, and Rose all stood together and they looked just like he remembered them. Running his thumb across Rose's face he nodded, "Yes." he said softly, not looking at the boy just yet and nodding. "Yes I know her." he said, his attention turning to Jackie with a smile. Jackie was a real spitfire she was, he could see where Rose got it from.

"She was my Mum" Robbie informed him promptly as if he didn't know, "…What was she like?" he asked and the Doctor blinked a few times whilest Grady looked on in silent sadness at the scene. Robbie hadn't known Jackie and neither had Grady. Jackie was one of the first to die in this war. Sometimes he felt like it was Rose's personal vendetta to avenge her mother's death.

Looking up for an answer, hoping it wasn't the one he expected the Doctor swallowed as Grady nodded and Donna sadly shook her head and looked at the boy. Oh, poor Jackie. Poor Rose. Poor Pete… poor Robbie.

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor placed the photo on the table and folded his arms behind his head - stretching a bit. "You're Mum -- like your sister -- was certainly one of a kind" Robbie smiled at this and much to the Doctor's surprise crawled into his lap and nodded. "Yeah" Robbie agreed and in return the time lord couldn't help but smile at the boy. He was endearing much like his sister.

Of course, like Donna, the Doctor was very awkward with children and so his once relaxed sitting position immediately became stiff and uncomfortable looking whilest Robbie looked up at him with big blue eyes. The next hour was spent recalling many Jackie memories whilest Robbie ate and nodded and smiled.

When time was up and Robbie was nearly falling asleep Grady informed the boy that he had to go to bed. Robbie, in turn, refused and covered his ears. "I won't go - you can't make me I won't. I won't" he said shaking his head. Grady sighed, "Robbie you need rest and -- "

"No, no I don't want to go there. I don't want to be alone, don't make me. Don't!" The trio felt a swell of sadness in there hearts and Grady faltered. "What if you went to the common room, yeah? We'll all sit with you." Grady suggested and Robbie hesitated. "Even the Doc?" he asked quietly which caused the Doctor to ruffle his hair a bit - having grown fond of the child over the past 60 minutes. "Even me" the Doctor assured him and finally Robbie gave in and nodded.

The reviews are great! Keep them coming and I'll keep these chapters coming!