Let me know what you guys think. I promise the baby shower is coming. Thanks for reading!
After Rose had tucked away all the noodles she could hold plus four eggrolls, she pushed back from the table and stretched, yawning wide.
"Right." declared the doctor, "Bedtime for you, I should think." Rose hummed in agreement.
"Are you kidding me?" asked Jack. "It's only nine thirty! What's a guy supposed to do for fun around here?" The doctor just shrugged.
"Well, I dunno if you're interested," said Micky hesitatingly, "but me and me mates were thinkin' of going downtown later. They turned the old cyber-factory into a club. It's s'posed to be industrial chic or whatever, all the big fans and all…"
"Sounds perfect!" Jack grinned. Mickey gave a nod.
"Oh Doctor, can't we go too? I'd love a spin on the dance floor!" Rose batted her eyelashes at the doctor.
"Don't even try it, Rose Tyler." The doctor wasn't willing to trade Rose's health for a night of clubbing. "You need to put your feet up. The only thing in store for you tonight is a hot bath and bed." he said firmly. Rose pouted adorably.
"For once, I agree with the Doctor." Said Jackie. "Cor, that phrase feels unnatural in the mouth, doesn't it?" Mickey nodded, and Jack let out a mirthful snort. "Still this time he's right. Rose, you really should be taking it easy from now on. There'll be no running around while you're here." Jackie stared pointedly at her daughter.
"Oh, alright." Rose conceded, yawning again. "But you and Mickey better tell me all about this new club." She told Jack insistently.
"Aye, aye Cap'n" said Jack raising his hand in a mock salute.
A little while later found the doctor climbing the main staircase, arms full of pillows. "We could have just stayed in the TARDIS…" he grumbled to himself. He walked down the hall to dump the load in one of the guest bedrooms. Rose was just coming out of the steamy en suite bathroom in a terry cloth robe when the doctor tossed the cushions onto the double bed.
"Did you bring my body pillow?" she asked.
"Right here." The doctor pulled a long bolster from the pile.
"Lovely." said Rose, grabbing it from him and heaving herself onto the bed.
"Rose, I was trying to set up an infrastructure here!" whined the doctor in reference to the complex arrangement of pillows Rose now required to sleep. "Don't you need to put on your pajamas or something? You'll catch cold if you fall asleep in that damp robe."
"Well," said Rose, a spark of mischief in her eye, "I wasn't really in the mood for sleeping just yet."
"What else do you need?" the doctor blew a puff of air in frustration. "You've had your bath, you've got your pillows, you can't possibly be hungry, what else could you want?" he asked, being dense.
"You." answered Rose seductively.
"Oh, you mean… I, well… In your mother's house?" the doctor spluttered. Rose just nodded. "But what if they hear us?" he asked.
"Oh c'mon Doctor, their room's miles away from ours! And besides, you never worry about Jack hearing when we're in the TARDIS." Rose countered.
"That's because I always assumed the TARDIS was soundproofing our room. I ought to double check that now that you mention it, but that's beside the point. You're parents are in a whole different category than Jack." The doctor explained.
"Oh, it's not like they don't know you've shagged me!" exclaimed Rose in frustration. "I've got the evidence right here." She motioned to her round belly.
"Yeah, and remember how well your mother took that news." argued the doctor.
"You don't fancy me anymore." said Rose in a small voice.
"What?!" asked the doctor, flabbergasted. "How could you possibly think that?" He moved onto the bed to cradle her. "You are the most beautiful creature in all of time and space, and if you think I don't want to make love to you every second for the rest of eternity your dead wrong." The doctor stroked Rose's cheek.
"You're not just saying that?" asked Rose hopefully, though her eyes shone with unshed tears.
"Rose, my Rose, how can I make you believe that I want you?" asked the doctor desperately.
"I can think of at least one way." Said Rose cheekily, starting to smile again. The doctor frowned.
"I want to, trust me, I definitely want to, but I just can't when you're mum's only a few rooms away. Besides, I know you're exhausted. You can't fool me, Miss Tyler."
"M'not" argued Rose, but another big yawn belied her argument.
"Why don't you just relax, and I'll give you a massage?" asked the doctor.
"Okay," Rose gave in, "But we've got to find some alone time tomorrow."
"We will. I promise." swore the doctor. "Even if I have to whisk you away to the year twenty twenty-seven, I will get you alone tomorrow." he said, darkly. Rose blushed, as the doctor kissed her. After they broke apart he moved behind her to rub her shoulders. Since Rose could no longer lay on her stomach, the doctor lay sideways and propped himself up with pillows to reach her whole back. After about twenty minutes of running his hands up and down Rose's soft skin, the doctor was beginning to regret his previous decision. His fingers were beginning to move dangerously astray when Rose let out a loud snore. The doctor was jolted back to reality and quickly removed his hands from the luscious woman before him. He gently woke Rose to half-consciousness in order to help her into her pink cotton maternity nightgown and then tucked her into the nest of pillows, drawing the duvet up and around them both.
Thousands of Dalek ships surrounded them, stretching across the galaxy as far as the eye could see. How had they gotten this powerful? How could he possibly stop them? The doctor pulled his hair in agonizing indecision. In the end it all came down to the press of a button. It was such a simple action with such terrible consequences. How could he destroy so much life? Yet how could he let the war continue when he had the power to end it? The doctor felt his fingers caress the red button in front of him, and then squeezing his eyes tight, as if blindness would protect him, he slammed his hand down. The pain was as instant as it was agonizing. Yes explosions rattled the TARDIS, but the real effects were felt through the doctor's mind. He could see the flames; he could hear the screams all through the telepathic link. As punishment for ending a war, the doctor was forced to experience the death of Gallifrey and watch every man, woman, and child perish along with it. The nothingness that came next was almost worse than the inferno. All Time Lords shared a telepathic link, but now the Time Lords were gone all that was left was a deep, wanting hole in the doctor's mind. Never again would he feel the comfort of another filling that space. The doctor lay curled up on the floor of the TARDIS gasping in horror at the new world he had wrought.
It was at this point in the nightmare that the doctor typically awoke. However many times he dreamt of that fateful day, the memory never dimmed. Although he didn't sleep as much as Rose, the doctor fought what little sleep his body needed in fear of this dream. He always woke aching. Like a gaping wound that could never be healed, the doctor learned to ignore his telepathic isolation while making friends with humans. Since the Time War he had never been foolish enough to allow himself even the smallest fragment of hope that he would meet someone who could enter his mind. He loved Rose deeply, but secretly wished she could enter into his mind the way he sometimes entered her. Of course this was impossible, only a Gallifreyan could truly share the link.
Still fast asleep and curled up with Rose, the doctor whimpered as he re-lived the awful scene. He felt himself press the button, and then the tidal waves of pain and guilt that always followed. The dream was always the same, ending with the doctor on the floor, but this time it didn't end. Instead of awakening to the dark room and Rose's warm body, the doctor dreamed he was still in the TARDIS, except it was fading away. Though still prone on the floor, the dream doctor could feel it happening. He sat up and saw that he was no longer in his ship, but some place of nothingness. It was like floating inside of a cloud; only soft whiteness surrounded him. In sharp contrast to the typical agony of the dream, the doctor now felt a sense of calm stealing over him. Where was he, and what was going on? As he was asking himself these questions, the doctor noticed a small, pulsing, blue light. He reached for it, but in this strange atmosphere the doctor couldn't tell whether the light was close to him or far away. Although he couldn't determine the much about the light, the doctor felt sure that it was what projected the feelings of peace that had interrupted his nightmare.
"What are you?" his dream-self asked the light. In response something truly shocking happened. For just a moment, the light disappeared from view, but popped into that yearning, empty place in the doctor's mind. Even though it only lasted a few seconds, the sense of relief was enormous. The presence felt joyful, not threatening, and it acted as a balm to the sting from the memory the doctor so often re-lived in sleep. As soon as it had come, it was gone, and the doctor gasped at the unexpected jolt. It was now the doctor awoke, panting slightly and very confused. None of it made sense. Why would the same nightmare he had been having for years suddenly come with an alternate ending? What kind of force could possibly have infiltrated his memory? Yes, the new dream had felt comforting, but the doctor wasn't ruling out the possibility of a sinister influence. And if he wasn't mistaken, just as he awoke the doctor could swear he heard a very small giggle…