21 Talking Out of Turn

Lost in his thoughts, the Doctor walks along the hallway to their room. He's made several laps around the table in the kitchen before he realises how distracted he truly is. Smiling a bit wanly, he pushes affection toward his ship for leading him here. An apology cuppa is always a good plan—plus, Rose may be less likely to smack him if he's holding two cups of hot tea.

Humming tunelessly to himself, the Doctor goes through the familiar little ritual of making his wife tea. Thinking on the domesticity of his actions, another more genuine little smile flirts around the edges of his mouth. In his head he can hear his own past Northern-accented voice grumbling about how docile he's become, which is at odds with how contented he actually feels. Well, except for the fact that he's neck deep in an argument with the target of his domestic attentions.

Reaching into the refrigerator, the Doctor pulls out a brand new carton of milk to add to the tea. He's halfway to returning it, when he realises what he has in his hands. Gazing at the carton, he reaches for the TARDIS with his mind.

/I thought we were out of milk. Wasn't Rose looking… Oh, you clever girl!/

The TARDIS hums at him distractedly, but refuses to acknowledge him further. Smirking at his magnificent and very meddling ship, he finishes his business with the tea, picking up the cups and continuing to their room.

Making it this time, the Doctor nudges the door open with his hip, looking around the space for Rose. Quietly, he walks around the small suite of rooms that has emerged through the time he and Rose have been reunited. Not merely a bedroom any longer, there's also a sitting room, another small and very private library, his study, and her workroom. Finding all of them empty, he ends up back in their bedroom, wearing a slightly confused expression and two still steaming cups of tea in hand.

That's when he notices the lump in the bed and the tuft of blonde hair poking above the covers. An understanding, though slightly sad smile touches his lips. Making his way to his side of the bed, the Doctor sets the cups down and pulls the covers aside to join Rose.

He isn't at all tired, having slept just last night, but then, he isn't pregnant. The amusing and vaguely ridiculous line of thought that follows is interrupted by Rose rolling over in her sleep, a worried expression creasing her brow. Wrapping himself around his unresisting wife, the Doctor pulls Rose into his arms and rests his chin against the crown of her head. Rose relaxes against him, snuggling close. Well, at least she isn't cross with me in her sleep, he thinks, smiling against her hair.

Thinking over the nearly two years that have passed, the Doctor reminds himself of all they've come through together. It's been a whirlwind for him; but for Rose, the struggles, adventures, and sheer level of metamorphosis has been extraordinary. He needs to remember to be more patient with her. Pondering his wife, the Doctor holds her close to himself, feeling her dream, but lost to his own musings.

"Here, sweetheart, I made you a proper fry-up. Look at you. How you ever do all that runnin' 's beyond me, skinny you are. Doesn't Himself ever feed you?"

Blinking her eyes open, Rose finds herself looking at the ceiling of her old bedroom at the Estate. Wow, was it really that pink? Turning her head against her pillow, she observes her mum laying out a tray next to the bed heaped with food, all steaming and gorgeous. Her eyes cause her belly to growl; the smell though, makes her a little nauseous.

"Mum?"

"Well, who else, the Queen? Might be friends with Harriet Jones, you are, but it's jus' your 'ol mum today," the figure replies with her own brusque good humour, looking at her daughter with deep eyes. Eyes filled with too much understanding and a sadness that twinges at Rose's heart—no…hearts!

"Mum! I…this must be a dream," Rose says, sitting up quickly in bed, the covers falling to her lap as the room swims in a moment of vertigo. Clutching at the pillows around her, Rose waits for the room to settle. "I'm dreaming. Mum…why…why am I crying?" Rose asks puzzled, putting a hand to her cheek where she'd felt the tears gathering. Looking at the fresh moisture on her fingers, she presses the other hand between her breasts, feeling both hearts beating strongly. Looking back up at her mum in confusion, Rose can see tears gathered in her eyes as well.

"Oh, Rose, sweetheart. He told me everything. The Doctor, he…"

"Rose. Rose, wake up. You're dreaming, luv."

Starting awake, Rose finds herself in the Doctor's lap—her head against his chest, fists clinched in his shirt, silent tears staining the fabric.

"Doctor? Why am I crying?" Rose asks again, disoriented as the dream begins to fade.

"You said that in your sleep, Rose. I've no idea, but I started trying to wake you since it didn't seem like a very pleasant dream," the Doctor replies, worry etching his brow.

"My mum was there. She'd made me breakfast. She looked…so sad, or…something. She said you told her." Rose passes a hand across her forehead, pulling hair out of her eyes, and sits up in the Doctor's lap, a hand still pressed to his chest between his own hearts.

"What did I tell her?"

"I don't know. I think she said 'everything,' whatever that means. It's fading already. God, my room was soooo pink. The food looked great, but the smell made me feel sick; I remember that. Oh, and I was me." The wide-eyed expression on her face has the Doctor confused now.

"Ummm…and who else would you be in your own dream, Rose?"

"No, I mean this me, the new me, Time Lady me. I had two hearts in the dream. I felt them," Rose answers, trying to remember more. But either way, she'd never had two hearts around her mum; she would have flipped!

"That might have been me. You started to move around like you weren't happy so I shifted us about. You probably heard my hearts in your dream."

"Yeah…maybe…yeah, you're probably right. I was so sad, Doctor," Rose says distantly, almost too softly for him to hear.

"I know, Rose. I'm so, so sorry that you had to leave them behind. I know you miss them," he says, pulling her close in a hug.

Hugging him back and hearing the reassuring sounds of his hearts pushes the dream even further away. Now, the memories from before she decided to take a little kip all coming flooding back.

Feeling her stiffen in his arms, the Doctor, too, knows that the argument has caught back up with them. "Rose, I…"

"No, Doctor, let me. I'm the one who needs to apologise; I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to blast you like that with all those horrible images. I got so mad, so fast. I felt like I wasn't in control anymore, and I could hear myself telling me to shut up, but I couldn't…I just couldn't." The words tumble from Rose, tripping over themselves to get out of her coherently.

"Doctor, do you have any idea what it would do to me, in my own last seconds, to know that you'd died alone? I'm so afraid, all the time. There's so much going on, so fast; Dougie leaving, me pregnant…Whatever crazy song ending crap that was with the Ood… -sob- God, the baby! He could maybe live without us after he's born, but not yet. -sob- Doctor, I'm lost. All I have is you and the TARDIS. -sob- Please…. -sob- …Please don't leave me alone again!"

The pleading and uncontrollable tears completely break the Doctor's hearts. Rose is always so strong—the one who holds them all together. She's radiating nearly overwhelming terror, and it's his fault for not realising how fragile she'd been feeling. Once this business with Io is fixed, he'll find them a leisure planet to spend a couple of weeks on with Donna and Jack. Maybe he should find them somewhere to stay for the rest of Rose's term—Earth would be the obvious choice…maybe. Shifting those thoughts to the 'work on later' part of his mind, the Doctor focuses on Rose's need in the moment.

Wrapping himself around her physically and coiling their energies together, the Doctor rocks her in his arms, whispering to her in Gallifreyan anything that comes to mind, but mostly reassuring her that they'll be fine. Reassurances of every kind, anything to bring her back to herself. Soon, the worst of the emotional storm has passed. Rose lays quiet against him and his thoroughly soaked shirt; small hiccups every now and then all that remain of the outburst.

Sliding them to the edge of the bed, the Doctor sends a thought and a request to the TARDIS. Receiving an affirmative, he repositions Rose and gets to his feet, lifting her effortlessly.

Carrying his wife into the en suite, he walks them directly into the rapidly filling bath tub, clothes and all. A hot soak is exactly what they need.

Rose protests weakly that they're still dressed. The Doctor just grins at her as he sets her gently on the edge of the tub and gently undresses her, dropping her tank and shorts to the floor. Seeing her naked, pregnant, and glowing slightly in the steam, sends a spasm of desire spiking through him. Blushing at his response, he straightens and begins undressing himself, turning away slightly so Rose won't see his face, and hopefully won't notice the hormone release. His jumped up sexual responses are the last thing she needs at the moment. This bath is for her, not his randy self.

Instead of sliding into the water as he thought she would, Rose stands, placing her hands over his, stilling them in their attempts to loosen his tie. Turning him toward her, Rose places a small hand under his chin silently asking him to look at her. Blushing again, he opens his eyes and nearly falls down at the depth of emotion in hers. Need, love, fear, desire …all there, shining and vulnerable. And now he perceives the release of her own hormones—the same ones that had momentarily embarrassed him earlier. With four busy hands, it takes very little time to litter the room with the remaining articles of clothing.

The beginning of their lovemaking is silent, punctuated only by breathing and small groans or sighs, but it doesn't take long before their usual joking good humour takes over. The warm, wet air filled with laughter and satisfied shouts of cathartic release.

An hour or so later, the floor is well and truly wet, the bath nearly emptied and then refilled. The two lazy Time Lords are currently draped over one another enjoying the hot water, now slightly lavender scented. The Doctor is making fantastic sculptures in the water with Rose's hair—or he's trying to anyway.

Smiling at his child-like delight in something so simple, Rose is struck once again by how mean she'd been to him earlier. "Doctor, I…"

"No, Rose, no more apologising. Someone's always going on that I should stop blaming myself for everything. It's good advice; you should heed it, too." The twinkle in the eye that he flashes at her before returning to his underwater antics belies the mock seriousness of his tone.

"Cheeky!" Rose exclaims, flicking some water at him with her fingers where she's idly stroking her hands through the hair along one of his legs.

Not able to entirely shake the melancholy, Rose continues musing, "Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed. Like I'm responsible for every living thing and they don't know or care that I feel that way."

Looking up from his game, he allows himself to see that Rose's normally sparkling gold energy is darker, made sluggish by the depressing direction of her thoughts. Wondering if he should add some more B vitamins to her daily, the Doctor responds to her musings.

"I know exactly what you mean, but…," sighing, he begins again, "Oh, Rose, you're so human, even after everything that you've been through. You're amazing." He underscores his words with his own feelings of regard and wonder for her, hoping it will help to pull her from this mood.

"Am I, really…so human?" The sad, lost look on her face worries the Doctor, who pulls her close again, desperate for her to not feel so alone.

"Yes! And don't ever feel like that's a bad thing Rose Tyler, even after everything that's happened. Your compassionate humanity is what makes you so…well, so human. You see the entire Universe through that filter, and that makes it a much better place. Humans try so hard to figure everything out, how it all works. They just need to know, need to understand, and that's you, Rose. You see the best in people, no matter their kind, and you want to understand them. Rose, you are…"

At this moment, their son awakens and reaches out with his own bright leaf-green energy looking for his mother. Sensing his father near also delights the littlest Time Lord. Shooting out little thought spikes of awareness, tinged with a little worry for his mum and happiness at everything around him, his parent's minds buzz with his happy mental babble.

Feeling the innocent depth of their son's love and joy finally breaks the depressing bubble that was weighing on Rose. A sun bursting through clouds after the hurricane has passed, her energy immediately lightens, and her smile brightens the room. The Doctor's sense of relief and mirrored happiness has them laughing delightedly as they play with their unborn child, mentally hugging and reassuring him that it's a good day, and all is well.

During their bath, the Doctor was struck by an idea. He's no clue why he hadn't thought of it before, but for whatever reason, now is the perfect time. Once they're dressed, he grabs Rose's hand. Leaning in to whisper in her ear, she giggles at him, and shrieks delightedly as he pulls her out of their room and heads down the hall.

"Run? Easy for you to say. You're not attached to a beach ball that weighs a few kilos," she says, laughing their way down the hall to the Console room and beyond to the Infirmary.

Groaning, she pulls him to a stop as they enter the room. "Doctorrrrr…what now?"

"Oh, no, Rose! This is going to be great. You're going to love it. Can't believe we didn't do this before. Just stand here," he says, positioning her on a disk mounted in the floor that she'd never noticed before. Moving to a set of controls on the wall, he begins fiddling with them as he explains what's going to happen. "It will turn you around once, but just stand there; you don't have to be perfectly still or anything. There'll be a bit of blue light…."

"Oi! It tickles! Doctor, what are you…"

"Just…a…second, annnnnnd, voila!"

A few meters in front of them a shaft of blue-tinged radiance bursts into existence as the lights in the Infirmary dim. Suspended in its centre…is their baby in 3D black and white perfection, slowly rotating. He's playing with his fingers, flexing them, and sticking them in his mouth. Rose stands in a daze, mouth slightly open, and gawking in wonder at the apparition before her. Unconsciously moving forward, the image wavers crazily.

"Stay on the disk! Sorry, Rose, but for the image to be real-time you have to stay there," the Doctor says, looking to his wife and seeing her nod distractedly before his own eyes are pulled back to the image of their son.

"Doctor, is it like an ultrasound?" Rose asks, awed.

"Welllll, yes…no, not at all really, but I guess considering what you've experienced…yes, if it makes you feel better," he says, still focused in the revolving image.

Picking up the first thing she can reach, Rose flings a bar of soap at him, winging it off his shoulder.

"Oi! What was…" Seeing the look on his wife's face, he realises what he'd said. "Oh, that was a bit rude, sorry. It doesn't use sound waves at all. It's actually reading the location of all your atoms through the use of quantum streams, but it takes a lot of energy; and for the time signature of your atoms and this image to align, you have to stay on the emitter."

"Doctor, that's our son," Rose says in quiet awe.

"Yes, yes it is," he replies proudly. "He's not really that big yet. The translation matrix scales the image to the maximum allowed by the size of the beam emitter."

"Shut up, Doctor," Rose says quietly, fixated on the image of their son.

Grinning in delight at the success of his surprise, the Doctor turns to focus his attention on their child, as well.

The boy in question stretches his legs as best he can, and Rose lets out a little squeak, moving her hands to her belly as she feels what she can see happening in front of her. Reaching out a blind hand to him, she beckons the Doctor to her side. Taking his hand, she places it on her belly as they watch the movement they now both feel. Struck by the moment's poignancy, the Doctor is at a complete loss for words. Reaching for his wife and son with his mind, he wraps them both in his love for them. A contented little smile blossoms on their son's face, and he snuggles in, yawning, and promptly falls asleep.

"Have you thought about any names?" Rose asks quietly, watching the sleeping baby, her hands still on her belly.

"Uh…no, I haven't…should we? There's still another 6 months to go. I guess I never thought about it. Never thought I would ever think about it again, really. Baby names, blimey!" Glancing over at her husband's profile and grinning, Rose can see his eyes never leave their son, but his eyebrows are high as he's affected by the thought of naming their child.

"Gallifreyans were kind of weird with the way they named things, Rose."

"Oh, I know, ridiculous, you lot are. I have no idea why you were called Theta, all the references I find are mathematical or odd. I assumed your mum was having a joke on your father liking the Greek myths. And the name you were given at the Schism is filled with overlapping and contradictory symbology…and then there's Lungbarrow." The Doctor can hear her roll her eyes at his House's name. That's fine, he'd never liked it either. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind something more… Well, more…"

"More human?" The Doctor supplies with a grin, turning to look her in the eyes. "Not at all, Rose Tyler. You may name our son anything you wish. Oh! How about Alonso? Allons-y Alonso! I've always wanted to say that. Well, by always, I mean from now on…always. What do you think, Rose—Alonso Tyler?"

"Errrmm, well, I was actually thinking of the names we might like together, so I've a short list, and we can pick two or three, but no; not Alonso."

"Ohhhh, alright, so what were you thinking?" His obvious disappointment is adorable, but gone in a second as his curiosity reasserts itself

"My list is Peter and Michael or Mickey, of course. Maybe Jack, but he doesn't need a fatter head." Those were the easy ones, names from her past that she'd obviously pick. The next two, Rose wasn't sure how he'd react to them. "And also, Jamie and Alistair."

The look of profound surprise at her choices does nothing to immediately reassure her, but the wave of delight and affection that caresses her mind alleviates any worry.

"Rose, I…I don't know what to say…."

"Wow! That is so cool!" they hear from across the room. Startled, they turn to see Io standing just within the doorway of the Infirmary.

"Sorry, I heard your voices, so I came to see what's up. That's your baby, he's beautiful! Is that a quantum imager, Doctor? This is off the charts, great ship by the way. She led me all over the place. Awesome, pool room; boy, this place is huge. I had no idea that dimensional transcendentalism meant She also had the possibility of infinite spaces. Are they laid out in spherical layers or as separate bubbles all riding the central core?"

Finally looking at her hosts, Io finds them regarding her like she's grown stalks for eyes—she almost checks. Blushing in embarrassment, she realises that she'd been blithering on without hardly stopping for breath, let alone allowing anyone to get a word in edgewise.

"Sorry, I just got excited. I'm out of practise with the whole company thing," she apologises, ducking her head and shuffling her feet.

Bursting into laughter, Rose clutches her sides and wipes tears from her eyes. "Oh, Io, you have nothing to apologise for," Rose tells her.

The Doctor steps back from Rose with a smile, and begins switching the equipment off, bringing the lights back up.

"It's just not often that someone else can fill so little space with so many words!" Rose says, eyes twinkling.

"Oi! I can hear you two," the Doctor retorts, but without heat. He'd found Io's stream of conscious queries and statements perfectly understandable. He probably won't mention that, though, as it would just illustrate Rose's point. Grinning, he turns back to Io to answer a couple of the previously voiced questions.

"It is, in fact, a quantum imager. Would you like to see more of it? This one is several generations ahead of the last ones you would have seen. And the TARDIS creates Her spaces as layered spheres that also can contain bubbles of additional spaces. I assume, this is racial memory, as opposed to applied knowledge?" he asks, looking particularly professorial.

"Oh, ya. While my education is unusually thorough for a 19th Century Human girl, it doesn't include quantum physics or the quirks of dimensional transference. Though my own species, as you mentioned earlier, uses the multiple small bubble method to store our excess energy or to acquire more. But, that's as far as my personal knowledge extends. I am not an engineer. I prefer literature to almost every form of anything mathematical." Sticking her tongue out, Io makes a sour face, saying, "Math, ew!"

"Well, I was about to suggest that you two could tear apart the imager on your own, because I'm starving. How about lunch, and we can figure out a plan to deal with these Sentinels of the New Dawn?" Rose suggests.

"Humans, ruled by your stomachs, you lot!" the Doctor says, grinning. Rose and Io are both about to reply hotly, when his own stomach betrays him, its grumble heard throughout the room.

"Humans, eh? Seems more like a living creature problem to me, Doctor. And you are definitely living. Come along, man-critter of mine. Let's make our guest lunch like proper hosts." Holding out her hand for him, Rose sees the eye roll and only grins at her absurdly handsome and consummately incorrigible husband, wiggling her fingers until he takes her hand. Pulling her close to his side, he kisses her head. Laughing, they head out of the Infirmary and toward the Kitchen.

Io follows after them, shaking her head at their antics. They're so cute it makes her want to puke! Nah, she thinks…smiling to herself.

A/N: Sorry, posted from my phone, and that was interesting! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, bit of an apology, bit of baby cuteness. :-) Thank you for the reviews and support. You're all so inspiring! Cheers! :-D