Chapter 20 Baby Bump
"I can't believe she's talking. Were all the children on Gallifrey like this?" He nodded, "Even more so. Remember I told you I wasn't very smart compared to the others. I couldn't even read when I was born.
Mother couldn't read Gallifreyan so neither could I. Father had to teach me later. Almost too late. I was a whole six months old before I wrote my first dissertation on quantum mechanics." Rose sat back and nodded trying not to show her ignorance. Of course, she thought, doesn't every 6 month old baby have student debt?
"A child of eight is equivalent to a human at, well, 30 or more. That's when they take you to the vortex and decide if you're good enough to be a Time Lord. I still don't know why they took me. Minimum standards I suppose." "Stop it!" Rose was upset. "I told you I wouldn't hear anything like that anymore. As far as I'm concerned you had an advantage over all of them and they would have been a lot better off to have more like you."
Alice began to cry. "Oh sweetheart. It's ok, Shhhhh." Rose rubbed her belly and started to hum a lullaby. "She's so sensitive. There now." Rose changed her tone to a higher pitch. The baby stopped. "How about if daddy goes and gets us some ice cream? Yes he will. Yes he will." The Time Lord smiled and went to the kitchen as ordered.
The end of April came and went. Past the Gallifreyan end of term. A human term would put her delivery in July. That meant that she would be due, well, anytime it suited her. Alice could already talk. The terrible twos lasted just over three days when everything seemed to give her a tantrum.
Kicking and screaming in her present location was very difficult on Rose. Just how do you discipline a child when you can't send them to their room? Her father simply explained to Alice that it was impolite, and good girls have more grace and nobility. Alice agreed and that was all there was to it.
They were having whole conversations now. He had begun to teach Alice by reading to her. He would sit next to Rose and read aloud books that were their versions of fairy tales, frightening, that led to poetry, literature and philosophy. Then he started with basic math, but in a few days was up to algebra and geometry. Then Gallifreyan history, geology, astronomy, biology, electronics, physics.
The rate at which she was learning seemed to double every day. Alice drank it all in like a sponge. Rose listened to it all herself for a while, but when he went on to the higher sciences she couldn't keep up.
"She's going to think I'm so stupid. I don't know what to say to her now." Rose felt a little cheated. The baby wasn't even born yet and she felt as if she were missing her being a toddler or a teenager for that matter. "Will she even need me when she's born?"
"Don't worry Rose. Her mind is developed, but her body is not. She will still need to learn all the physical things. How to swallow, walk, verbalize, and blow her nose." Rose laughed at the thought of a child who could calculate the rotation of a pulsar but not be able to crawl.
"And there are things that you will be able to teach her that I can't. All my knowledge is just facts and figures. Once she's born, I'll just need to remind her of what she already knows. You're going to have a harder job. Teaching her how to handle her emotions for one. Her social skills. Her self-esteem, generosity and kindness, sharing and disappointment.
She'll rely on you to know how to be a woman, and a wife, and a mother. And love Rose. You will have to teach her about love as you taught me. She will watch you in every detail of our lives. She will see us as parents and friends and lovers. And imitate us until she finds her own way. She will grow up, free from prejudice and restrictions and blossom in this place."
By early June Alice decided she had learned all she could from where she was, and Roses water broke. She had watched several programs on how it was all supposed to work out. Good in theory, but she was unsure about it in practice. They had rehearsed what to do and quickly got to the Tardis infirmary. It had been prepared for use for months now. Alice had moved into position and was ready for the first contraction.
The Time Lord was focused and professional outside, but completely panicked on the inside. Rose was terrified, but confident in him. They had discussed going to a hospital when the time came. It would be much safer if anything were to go wrong. But, Rose's pregnancy had been textbook, she trusted in his abilities and didn't want to leave the planet if they didn't have to.
She knew that if something were to really go wrong, the Tardis could get her to safety in moments. He had pre-programmed her flight path to the best facility he knew.
When the contractions started he gave Rose a neural block for the pain. Rose silently thanked whichever Time Lord had discovered that bit of technology. She felt a tightening, but that was all. The Tardis monitored both the baby's vital signs and Roses, all very stable. It took a little over four hours of waiting and then pushing. Rose was worried about Alice remembering the trauma of birth, but he assured her she would not be affected by it.
Once the contractions were close together it only took a few minutes for her to be born, and it was almost effortless. 7 pounds 6 oz, 21 inches long, dark brown hair with golden tips and beautiful brown eyes with long lashes.
After cutting the cord and cleaning her, he held his crying daughter wrapped in a towel, completely awestruck, and desperately in love. "She's so beautiful Rose." he said, laying Alice on her chest. She stopped crying at that moment, looking exhausted. Rose looked at the squirming bundle, counting fingers and toes, and was overjoyed.
Then, soft music filled the room. The beautiful delicate song that Rose had heard from the music box in Alice's room. "What is that song?" His eyes took on a faraway look and he smiled, knowing it was the Tardis welcoming their child. "It's the Tardis, she knows." he explained. "My mother used to sing it to me. It's one of the few memories I have of her."
Rose beamed at him. "I wish they could all be with us right now. Your parents and mine. She looked down at their child. They would be so proud and love her as we do." He wondered. Just how proud would his father be? A grandchild even more human than his son.
Alice started to cry again. Having recovered from being born she was hungry and ready to get growing. Rose held her to a breast and Alice began to suckle. Rose was so indescribably happy. She looked up with wonder at the man she loved. Tears were streaming down his face as he bent to gently kiss first her and then Alice.
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