"Em, sweetheart, wake up."

The young woman blinked several times before she slowly came round. Taking a deep breath, she carefully pulled herself up to lie against the pillows, wincing as the movement tugged at the stiches in her abdomen. A look of concern crossed Serena's face and she stepped forward and pressed a hand to her girlfriend's cheek.

"Steady, darling." Serena cautioned. "Mind those stitches."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." The older woman promised gently. "Osgood's in labour."

A bright smile crept slowly across Emily's face as she realised what she'd just heard. "Really?"

Serena nodded, perching beside her on the hospital bed. She wrapped an arm around her girlfriend, allowing Emily to snuggle into her side, as she stretched her legs out along the bed. Throwing an arm over the older woman's waist, Emily exhaled as she pulled the stitches again. Covering the sound quickly, she pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Serena's collarbone.

"Plenty of time for that, later." Serena chuckled.

"Worried one of your colleagues might walk in?" Emily teased.

"Yes, actually." Her girlfriend replied simply. "That would ruin the moment, slightly."

Emily sighed, resting her head on Serena's chest. "When can I go home?"

"At the end of the week, all being well." Serena promised, dropping a kiss onto her hair. "I've arranged some cover for myself so that I can be around to look after you."

"My own personal sexy nurse." Emily lifted her head so that she could wink at Serena, making the older woman chuckle. "Excellent!"

"Behave."

"Make me."

Serena laughed again at the challenge, capturing her girlfriend's lips with her own in a long, lingering kiss. Emily hummed contentedly, attempting to deepen the kiss, but Serena pulled back, rubbing their noses together before settling back against the pillows.

"Tell me what happened." She implored her girlfriend. "I need to understand."

"It wasn't Mum's fault; it was completely my fault. I was supposed to be cataloguing artefacts but I couldn't resist the stupid orb thing. They were studying it in one of the other labs, but Mum sent me out of the way. I needed to know what it was and what it was for. I went into the lab when Mum had gone." Emily sighed. "And then… she turned up, obviously. The Doctor is never far away from trouble."

"The Doctor…" Serena's expression twisted with distain. "Of course."

Emily looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. "Apparently we couldn't detect any readings being given out by the sphere, but she could. We thought we were getting somewhere when the whole thing just… clamped shut. She went into the TARDIS to check something and then… BAM."

Serena jumped at the sudden interjection. "What?"

"It opened and this… this face burst out of it. It said… something like, 'only the Doctor can save us' and then vanished."

Understanding suddenly blossomed over Serena's face. "Oh… that's why you wanted to tell the Doctor that it was only her. I thought…"

Emily scrunched up her features in confusion. "What did you think?"

Struggling against the wires that were hooking her up to the monitors, she reached out to Serena. The older woman took her hand, holding it tightly and raising it to her lips so that she could press a kiss to her knuckles, before pressing it to her cheek.

"What did you think?" Emily repeated softly. When her girlfriend failed to answer, the brunette sighed deeply. "Sweetheart… for someone so brilliant, you're really slow on the uptake here, aren't you? I love you, you daft mare."

"Why?"

The disbelief in Serena's eyes caused a physical pain to shoot through Emily's chest. She was surprised that the monitor beside her hadn't registered it. Emily knew that Serena's reluctance to believe in her feelings for her came from her ex-husband's behaviour and was exacerbated by the knowledge of what Emily had been like before they'd met. That would normally have been more than enough to send the twenty-year-old running for the hills – or the TARDIS – but something about Serena made Emily want to stay; to hold on tight until she finally got the message.

"To be quite honest, I don't know." She admitted simply.

"Right."

"You're a pain in the ass." Emily continued. "You question everything, you don't understand just how much I care about you and you always, always have to be right and have the last word on everything."

"Well, that's quite the list of–"

"Shut up, Serena!" Emily laughed at the expression on the older woman's face. "But none of that matters, really, because I adore you anyway. We've really got to stop all this…" She shook her head. "The worry, the questioning… we've got to trust each other around other people, or…"

"We?" Serena asked, picking up on the word.

"We." Emily agreed. "I'm just as bad. I get jealous when anyone pays you more than the normal amount of attention; male or female. I have never, never felt like that about anyone else. I never thought I would… never wanted to. But when I see people flirting with you, however harmlessly, I want to storm over and punch them in the face."

Gazing at her for a moment, Serena started to laugh. Emily stared in completely bemusement as the older woman wiped her eyes and struggled to stop giggling. She failed miserably, her laughter becoming infectious and causing her girlfriend to chuckle, still completely unaware of the joke.

"Oh, we make a fine pair." Serena gasped out at last.

"I agree." Emily nodded, kissing her quickly. "So… what do you say? We stop questioning and second guessing everything and just accept that we're 'a fine pair'?"

"Yes." The older woman nodded, tucking Emily's head into the crook of her neck and dropping another kiss into her hair. "That sounds like an excellent idea, my darling."

Moments passed in comfortable silent and they were both on the verge of sleep when Emily's eyes shot open and she sat up again, dislodging Serena who grumbled sleepily.

"Osgood! Rena… you need to go and see what's happening. I want to know as soon as the babies are born."

"Gordy's there and I'm sure your mother–"

"Please? Gordy could probably do with the company, too."

With a slightly frustrated sigh, Serena nodded. She kissed Emily quickly before leaving the side room and closing the door firmly behind her. The younger woman smiled contently, settling herself back into her cocoon of blankets for a nap.

18:54 – Mum: Congratulations, big sister! First baby just been born. Henry Thomas Osgood Stewart, 6lb 8oz. x

19:07 – Mum: Second baby born! Alice Ruth Osgood Stewart, 6lb 3oz. Both doing great… absolutely perfect! Osgood is phenomenal. x

19:24 – Gordy: The babies are so cute, Em. They're not blue and have the right number of heads and limbs! You need to come and meet them ASAP. I think Serena's on the case.

19: 32 – Rena: I've convinced Sacha to let you leave the ward. I'm on my way up to get you now. Be ready to meet your brother and sister. Love you xx