A/N: Busy weekend... not much time for writing ... but I did manage to put this together rather quickly.
But I have to go do adult things now like cleaning up and laundry and trying to wake up a teenage boy who thinks that sleeping in until 12:00pm is totally acceptable.
I want to sleep in until 12:00 ... Why am I not allowed to do that?
Please enjoy this wee chapter. Things will start to move quickly from here...
Thank you as always for your comments. They're a great inspiration.
~~oooOOOooo~~
The sky was in sunset and bright with a colourful wash of reds, oranges and purples when the Doctor finally emerged from the home he shared with his wife. There was a cool breeze coming in off the mountains that immediately chilled his bare arms, but he didn't shiver with it. He simply lifted his head with a smile and let that breeze kiss at his cheeks and dry his lips. The setting suns meant that the Schlenk blooms would soon open and it wouldn't be long until the orchard was alive with that most magnificent scent.
He certainly loved this time of day. Day coming to rest and night coming alive with vivid displays of majesty that two suns in the sky would never offer.
There was a call off in the distance, a low noted howl, which drew the Doctor's attention from his quiet contemplative reverie. A smile crossed his handsome face as he lowered his head to look out into the distance. That howl was the call of his male Dahrama wolf toward his mate – an invitation to mate, he surmised, given the husky tone that danced across the treetops. The female's returned howl was one much more playful, one that suggested if he was feeling a bit frisky, then he'd have to find her first.
That made the Time Lord chuckle. Between the two animals, the female was definitely the most playful. Her mate was the far more serious of the two – a protective and proud spirit partnered with a free falling playful soul. Very well suited toward the Human and Time Lord that they'd chosen to be their companions.
A shrill sound he'd never heard before captured his attention. It wasn't an unpleasant sound by any means, but it was certainly a valiant attempt to join in the conversation between mates. The call was met with amused howls from the Dahrama pair, but not in a manner to suggest it was an unwelcome intrusion.
His eyes shifted to the source of the sound, and the small smile on his face fell into an open-mouthed expression of complete awe.
Rose stood at the very edge of the small creek than ran through the property. She was now only days away from birthing their child, and while she complained endlessly about being fat, ugly, and the size of a whale, he'd never found her to be more beautiful. She'd long ago foregone the desire to dress in the ways a woman dressed back on Earth. Now, she dressed in the attire of a Gallifreyan woman, with flowing skirts and Empire-waisted dresses. Typically she went for the brighter fabrics, but today she was more subdued in a soft cream dress with bell sleeves and an asymmetrical belt line that hung low at the back, and threaded up over the top rise of her belly. The light chilled winds lifted the skirts from her ankles and to flap lightly against her shins. The reflection of the setting suns off the waters at her feet shone through the thin fabric to give him a perfect silhouetted view of the figure she hid underneath. The perfect baby swell, her still toned thighs and arms, and even the shape of heavy swollen breasts that had long ago given up the fight against gravity to find comfort instead against her stomach's swell.
She looked absolutely magnificent. He could almost cry at the majesty and perfection of the woman who had given him her heart and would soon give him a child…
…And he just might've allowed himself a few moments to do just that, had he not heard a wet sniff and shuddered inhale.
Her name was in his mind as he quickly left his reverent viewing position and approached her. Her name then fell from his lips with concern as he saw a line of tears on her cheek glittering in the sunlight.
"Rose?"
On hearing him speak her name with such concern, Rose quickly sniffed a deep inhale and wiped quickly at her eyes and nose with her sleeve that she'd captured in her hand. Her gave him a smile, not necessarily fake, but not exactly happy, either.
"Doctor. I didn't see you there," she managed to say without waver in her voice. "I didn't think you'd be up and about so quickly."
The fact that it was sunset and not sunrise, and she was expecting him to be unconscious should have him giving an indignant snort of protest. Typically. But not today. Full climax lovemaking did tend to completely shatter him and send him into a few hours of unconsciousness that would rival a regenerative coma. Typically he wouldn't take his side of their lovemaking that far for that very specific reason, but she had insisted that she was quite done with carrying a "five-stone damn watermelon" and that sex – and the messy kind - was the best way to bring on labour. Something about his – ehm – seed being helpful in softening the cervix or some such nonsense. He couldn't really argue, well he could have tried to, but basic self preservation meant that even the attempt was a dangerous endeavour to engage in. That meant he had to give it his all on this round…
…Brilliant though it was, it was damn exhausting. Still. It was a small sacrifice for him by comparison to what she was about to head into. He was happy to answer her demand.
But that wasn't exactly where his mind should be at right now. Rose. Tears. Focus.
"Are you alright?" he asked her as he let his hand find hers. He coaxed her into facing him with a light rug of his grasp.
She further deepened her fake smile. "I'm okay." She wiped at her eyes and gave them a roll as she showed him her damp fingrtips. "You're worried about these? Don't. It's just, you know, hormones. The Beautiful landscape."
He lifted his hand to brush off her cheeks with the back of his fingers. "I know you better than that," he offered. "These aren't happy tears." His eyes dropped to her belly. "Is it the little one?"
Rose blinked and dipped her head to guide herself into a turn away from him. She looked back over the creek to the magnolia trees of the orchard. "He'll be here soon," she said softly. "Happy and healthy, with a Mum and a Dad who love him…"
"Very, very much," he assured her.
"A mum and a dad," she repeated softly.
The Doctor noticed a fresh tear fall from her lashes. He also noticed a wince on her face and a light falter in her posture that leaned her just slightly off to one side. Her breath deepened and became controlled and slow. "Rose?" He shifted his hand to her belly, sweeping around the swell with the palm of his hand. "It's tight," he remarked with a furrow in his brow. "Very tight." The hardness quickly released along with Rose's breath, and his eyes flashed wide with revelation.
"Rose," he gushed with both panic and excitement. "It's time?"
"No," she said with an almost desperate shake of her head. "No. Not yet. Not at all." She rubbed both hands up and down her belly either side of her popped-out navel. Her movements took his hands from her belly. "I-I'm not ready. Not yet."
"I don't think the readiness is up to you or I, Rose," he cautioned with a smile. "It's up to him." The Doctor attempted to touch again at her swell, but was basically rejected from doing so when she stepped back. He didn't push the issue, but he didn't step back either.
"No, Doctor. You don't get it. I'm really not ready."
"I understand your apprehension, Rose," he offered with as little condescension as possible. "But it's a little late to back out now, don't you think?"
"Time machine?" she tried meekly. "We can go back, and maybe..?"
"Let me preface this comment by expressing just how much my hearts beat for you Rose," he warned before taking a long breath. "You're being just a little unreasonable and irrational right now."
"Oh," she warned with a shake in her head. "You haven't seen me being unreasonable and irrational…"
"I imagine there's far more to come," he admitted as he pressed his hand to the small of her back. "Now let's go back to the house and prep for transport to Arcadia."
She remained firm, her back stiff, and her feet planted in the soft soil. "No, Doctor. Really. I'm not playin' about. I don't know if I can do this."
"Again," he urged her with a little harder of a press of his hand into her back. "Too late to back out now. Like it or not, ready or not, we're about to become parents. So come on, Rose. I really think it's time that we took you to the hospital."
"Do you know how to change a nappy?" she challenged him, still unwilling to move. "And make sure his little bottom is properly dry and powdered so that he won't get a nappy rash?" She panted as she felt the twinge of another oncoming contraction. "And how much to feed him? When to feed him? How to work out what he wants when he cries? What if I'm not a good enough…." Her words shifted to a long moan as the contraction hit her at full strength. "Oh, God…"
"That's it," the Doctor decided firmly. He moved his hand from her back to grab at her arm instead. "We're going to the hospital. No more arguments."
"I can't," she whimpered out breathlessly as she tugged against him. There was sheer panic in her eyes as she battled both his grip, and the grip of her womb – one holding her up, the other trying to push her down to the ground. "I'm scared Doctor."
"We both are," he muttered in a less assuring way than he had intended to. "But with everything we do, Rose, we'll do it, and get through it, together."
She shook her head and tugged against him. "I can't," she whimpered, tears streaming down her face.
Her terrified expression, and her unwillingness to accept that the birth of their child was imminent despite whatever apprehensions or arguments she might have, punched at both of his hearts. He stopped trying to drag her to the house, and instead drew himself to a stand in front of her. He lifted his hands to cup at her face and dipped backward enough that he could look her in a straight line to her eyes.
"What do you need, Rose?" he asked her with desperation in his tone. "What can I do to help you right now?"
She broke at his question, dipping low in the shoulders and looking up into his eyes like a frightened child. Her voice was tiny. "I need my mum."
His brows pinched with confusion. "Your mother?"
She nodded desperately. "I know you said we can't … I can't see her or contact her until the timeline's right…"
"That's right. Rose," he assured her. "Until it's stable, and we know the correct point in her timeline, we can't…"
"But I need her," she whimpered. "I've been through some stuff that she should be here for, Doctor. We've done it together, you'n me. And I've been okay with that, because that's the way of the universe an' all." She swallowed, winced, and rubbed at the lowest part of her belly. Her eyes closed as she tried to maintain control as a smaller contraction tightened up her womb. "But not this. This is big. This is bigger than the both of us, and I can't do this without her."
"Rose," he murmured somewhat pathetically. "We can't…"
"Then I'm not doin' it," she growled. She then hiccupped and started to cry hopelessly. "I'm not … I can't do this." Her voice fell to a manner so pathetic, it was practically infant. "I want my Mum."
"I-I" He stammered in a manner completely lost. He stumbled as she pushed past him toward the house. Oh, he had no idea what to do right now. "How could he deny her the impossible when she was about to give him the same?
His eyes were locked on her retreating form as he pulled a phone from his trouser pocket and thumbed a now very familiar number. He looked down at the screen when he heard the chiming sound of the other end ringing. It only took a short moment for a chime to sound and the rather unimpressed expression of his brother's face appeared on the screen.
"What is it Thete?" He answered with a sigh. "I'm busy right now. I'm at the capitol for council session. can we speak later?"
"I'm afraid not," he answered. There was definitely worry in his tone, and this was picked up by his brother.
"Is everything okay?" He coughed into his fist and nodded to a passing person just off-screen. "Lord Spandrel," he greeted.
The Doctor heard his brother's name spoken in greeting and waited until enough of a moment had passed that his brother might be free from other Time Lord ears. "Rose is crying."
"Living with you," he came back quickly. "I would imagine that would be a rather frequent condition."
"I'm not jesting," he muttered with a sniff. "And there are, in fact, quite rarely tears., thank you"
Braxiatel looked off screen. "I'm needed in less than two minutes. Can you make the purpose of you call a little more worthy of my time than for you to tell me that your wife is upset with you?"
"I need your help," he blurted. "And very quickly."
Braxiatel's brows lifted. "By quickly, you mean after the council session, or right this instant?"
The Doctor looked up to his home as the sound of a pained moan ghosted across the grasses. "Rose is in labour."
Braxiatel's mouth fell open and his face lifted in an a-ha expression. "I see. There is very little I can offer you on that except to arrange transportation." He snapped his finger to someone passing off screen. "Nappesh, come here…"
"No," the Doctor interrupted; I have that covered."
Braxiatel shooed away the young man who he'd called. "Then what do you need from me?"
His eyes fell into a somewhat uncomfortable wince. "Rose. Well. Well…" He cleared his throat. "She wants her mother."
"I see," Braxiatel breathed out slowly. "I'm still not quite sure what this has to do with me."
"I need you to find her," he said with impatience. "Find the safest place in her timeline where I'm not at risk of returning to her in my elder incarnation, and bring her here to Gallifrey."
Braxiatel gave him a big, wide, broad, and very fake smile. 'Of course brother. Why, that's the simplest, easiest favour that you've ever asked of me. No problems in the slightest – one I'm happy to arrange."
The Doctor breathed out a long breath of relief, fully ignoring the every obvious facetiousness of his brother's remark. "I'll transport Rose to the hospital. Please collect her mother and meet us there."
Knowing that Braxiatel would no doubt argue and tell him how impossible it was to arrange such a thing and so he would be out of luck – so to speak – the Doctor quickly hung up the phone. ignored it as it buzzed against his hand with a return call from his brother. He ignored it when it buzzed again.
"You can do it, Brax," he muttered to himself as he tossed the phone into the bushes at the front door to his home. "If anyone can, it's you."
~~oooOOOooo~~
Romana watched with curious eyes as Braxietel punched his fingertips into the face of his phone, no doubt in her mind at all that he was desperately trying to reach someone. Judging by the rather angry and exasperated expression on his face, and the cursing underneath his breath as he tried again, and yet again, she deduced that the Doctor had in someway managed to upset him…
…And right before a Council session of all times.
She excused her self from a conversation she was engaged in with another council member, and quickly moved across the floor toward her husband.
"Is everything okay, Brax?"
He growled as he tried yet again to reach the Doctor. "I would like to add an addendum to today's council session," he answered with a grunt. "I would like to ask the floor that we introduce a motion to have my brother permanently exiled from Gallifrey and rendered unable to ever reach me ever again."
She let out a rather long suffering sigh. "What has he done now?"
"Rose is readying to birth their child," he said with a sigh of his own. "And as usual, with my brother, he threw me a demand and hung up on me before I could tell him to go to the ends of Kasterborous and not ever regenerate."
She shook her head at her husband's concerted effort to remain indifferent to the news, but smiled. "I will forward your apologies to council. Go be with the two of them."
"I have no desire at all to be party to this event," he muttered dryly.
"That's woprat dung, and you know it," she challenged. You've been as eager for this day as have the two of them." She put her hand on his arm and softened her tone to amusement and understanding. "Go and support your brother. I have a feeling he's going to need it." She smirked. "Evantiquen is still in recovery from the birthing of his little one – and that was two full celestial cycles ago. Your brother is a strong man for sure – but I think this just may test his resolve."
He sniffed in hard. "Before I can do that, he's made a request of me that I do need your permission for," he began. "It violates several of our protocols."
"And what might that be?"
"She's requested the support of her mother. Her Earth mother," he clarified.
Romana rolled her eyes. "Well, as she is a Human woman, I would expert that her mother be on Earth, Brax." She watched him nod rather sheepishly. "And I will also expect that you had anticipated a request of this nature and have already made the appropriate investigations as to the most suitable moment within her timeline to being her here?"
"You give me far too much credit."
"And you don't give me anywhere near enough," she charged. "Make it happen. You have full permission from the office of the President. Send in Castellan Andredaselus with an official invitation from the Presidential office. That will make permissions through Traffic control and the Transduction barrier faster."
"If you are sure."
"I insist," she said firmly. "She is key to the salvation of our people, then the very least we can offer her is this rather simple request."
Braxietel gave her a small bow of thanks. "Best of luck for a productive meeting," he said with a smile. "It is such a shame to have to miss it."
Romana laughed. "The rest of us could be so lucky, now do as your brother asks. I will see you at the hospital later."
He took a very swift look around and then dropped to place a soft kiss to her cheek. Gallifreyan words of affection ghosted across her cheek toward her ear. In a moment, he was gone. She sighed at the uncanny ability of both of the Lungbarrow brothers to be able to make such swift departure, and turned when she heard a young military captain call for her.
"Captain Farmuh," she greeted as he approached. "What can I do for you? Please make it quick, we start session in a few moments."
"With apology Lady President, but I have news from the Terrapau system."
At the mention of the constellation that she had requested observation on only weeks ago, her breath exhaled through her lips slowly. "What have you brought me?"
He passed her a folder, red and gilded in gold. "Reports from Terrapau suggest that the Daleks are fortifying their battle troops on the planet of Askola."
Romana winced and looked quickly over the files contents, of the images produced by the scout capsule stationed on the moon. "Askola is non hostile," she breathed. "They have no way to defend themselves against one Dalek, let alone five battle ships."
"Scout team is requesting support to intervene. They feel that if we can deplete their armies here, it could be another three to seven celestial cycles before they can start to spread through the Terrapau system and move toward Kasterborous."
"Is it the belief that Kasterborous is the intended target of the Daleks?"
"We believe so," he huffed out darkly. "We will need more time than that if we are to adequately prepare ourselves for that eventuality."
"Do it," she hissed out as she slapped the file against his chest to hand it back. " Send in as many battle capsules as the ships the Daleks have on Askola. Keep my office briefed on a minute-by-minute basis. If we have to pull a retreat, then I want to make sure it's done in time." She shifted to turn away, but turned back toward him. "Send in three Genesis Ark units. Try to get as many Askolians off planet as possible. They can be transported to Ferrioum until such time as their home is clear."
He shook his head. "But, Lady president. Askola's timeline, it's…"
"I don't care," she interrupted with a hiss. "The planet may have a limited future, but it doesn't mean its people must suffer the same fate. Retrieve as many as possible."
He dipped his head in a bow. "As you wish, my Lady president."
The council chamber doors hissed open. A large man, dressed in full Time Lord ceremonial robes called to the council members. She looked to the chairman of council and set a gold dome helmet on her head. She didn't look back at the young military captain as she adjusted the heavy seat of her cowl.
"Rassilon with you," she offered him. "And Rassilon with your soldiers. Gallifrey thanks you all for your service and will welcome home out victors."
~~oooOOOooo~~
