Disclaimer: Doctor Who is not mine.
Author's note: Takes place in the alternate universe, so not quite within my preferred chronology. I couldn't resist this, though. Features Rose with the 10th Doctor. Sort of.
#####
Lullaby
Rose Tyler stood by a window, holding a baby in her arms. She was watching how tendrils of mist were uncurling between the trees as the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon. The baby she was holding made a small noise and she turned her attention to him, smiling gently. His brown eyes were so like hers it was like looking into a mirror, but he also bore a striking resemblance to his father. Rose loved these moments in the evening, when it was just her and the baby boy and everything in the world was calm and quiet. She had loved him from the moment the nurse had laid him on her arms and now, several weeks later, her love for him seemed to know no bounds.
Since he was born, the baby had been her salvation. The grief and loneliness was still a gaping hole in her heart, but he had changed everything. She now had a purpose, a reason to wake up every morning. She was determined to be strong, not for herself but for this baby boy. To her, he was hope personified, a tantalising glimpse of a better future for the human race. Rose was determined that all she and her loved ones had sacrificed should not be in vain.
As she cradled the child almost reverently, she began the hum. The tune rose from within the confines of her broken heart and echoed in the silent room. She had never been musical, but somehow the melody transformed her average voice into something almost magical and took her far away from planet Earth. The boy enjoyed the tune, yawning widely but keeping him brown eyes stubbornly open. When Rose came to the end of the song, she became aware of her surroundings once more.
"It's a lullaby from Gallifrey", she whispered to the baby, "the Doctor used to sing it to me when I couldn't sleep in the TARDIS. I wish I knew the words for it, but in any case they wouldn't mean anything without the TARDIS translating…" She could not quite bring herself to voice the absence that plagued her every waking moment. She could barely say the Doctor's name, let alone talk about him. "In any case, I like the tune and you seem to like it too," she smiled at the baby.
Rose considered her reluctance to speak about the Doctor, all the while swaying gently to encourage the boy to sleep. Perhaps her silence was not the way forward after all. Perhaps children like the one she was holding should be told about the Doctor and all that he had done for them. Who knew, it might help Rose herself to deal with her grief. Besides, if even a memory of the Time Lord could linger on the alternate planet, perhaps some of his wisdom and goodness could be passed on. The Doctor deserved to be remembered, even if he would never walk upon this Earth again.
"I was working in a shop when I met the most extraordinary man", Rose began her tale, hugging her baby brother closer as she felt the first tears start to fall, "he told me to run and saved my life. And that was how I met the Doctor…"