A/N:

Summary: A family bed is not always the most effective way to ensure a good night sleep. And some people should never be allowed to travel on their own.

Notes: Why no chapter yesterday? Because right at the very last moment I had something thrown at me that took me into the early evening, thereby not giving me any writing time at all...

Today I had better luck and therefore strove to do a double-chapter worth of writing to make up for it. I present to you almost 10.000 words of pure and utter drivel. HA!

Seriously. Brax and Rose heavy for much of it. And awfully deep and emotional for it as well. Figured it was time to air something out and get rid of it once and for all. And I didn't feel like it would work out quite as effectively (or end as well) if the discussion took place between the Doctor and Rose. So this is what you get instead.

For the second part of this offering I do only have one comment for you in case you're wondering: No, Rose cannot regenerate.

I hope you enjoy. I'm hoping that this'll roller coaster you just a wee bit... :)

~~ooooOOOOooo~~

As was typical when Rose opted to have a family bed rather than sleep alone, she didn't get a very decent chance of getting any actual sleep. While they'd all dropped off within minutes of forming a four-person snuggle fest lit by the flashes of TARDIS-induced lightning outside, it didn't take long for the squirming to start. It also didn't take all that long for the tight pack of vertically straight-lined bodies to start to twist and turn and lie in a more horizontal manner.

Rose had managed to maintain a somewhat light sumber, such was her conditioning, but it was a constant battle against fingers and toes up her nose, across her face, and digging into places that no tiny fingers should be poking at. So, when Mark finally gave up and decided to climb over the top of his mother to get out of bed and head into his own room, Rose was already well and truly awake. Mark managed to get an arm and leg either side of her, his small face over the top of hers when he worked out his mum was still awake.

"Sorry," he muttered quietly, his nose against hers as he looked sleepily into her eyes. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't think that climbing over me like a monkey would have that result?"

He slumped to put his entire weight on her belly, his forehead on her chin. "Had little other option, really."

She gave him a cuddle and kissed the top of his head. "Roadblock Aly is a hard one to get by, isn't she?"

He looked to where his sister was lying almost completely sideways with her head against her father's chest and let out a breath. "For someone that little, she certainly takes up a lot of room." He lifted his head. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep in my bed. Got a test at school in the morning, best I get a bit of sleep, yeah?"

Rose nodded slowly. "Need me to arrange to postpone it for you? Call you in sick, maybe?" She tenderly ran her thumb along his sweaty little cheekbone. "You can hang out with your father for the day. He'll love it."

"Tempting, but Nah," he drawled with a whisper. "Easy peasy one, really, that I should get over and done with. Could do it in my sleep." He let out a breath as a wide yawn he didn't bother to cover with his hand. "And besides, Tonza Brax is pretty strict on me going to school every day. All about education, that one."

"I outrank him, you know."

"He doesn't think so," he whispered with a sigh. "He says you're an enabler to my mischief, so he needs to step in and be the adult." He gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Anyway, I'm tired. Night night, mum. Love you."

"Love you, too, baby," she breathed out with a pat on his behind as he finally crawled off the bed and let out a wide yawn as he padded out of the room. She watched him walk and waited until she heard his bedroom door closed before she rolled back onto the mattress and stared up at the ceiling. At her side, she heard her daughter let out the softest of sleepy whimpers, which was answered by a small snuffle and indecipherable mutter of comfort from her father.

Nice that the both of them were completely out for the count. She wasn't. She was now properly awake. It was halfway tempting to poke and prod at the both of them to wake them up, but she didn't need the full day of tantrums that came from Alirra when she hadn't gotten enough sleep.

She considered trying to get back to sleep and wanted to use the soft sounds of her husband and their daughter sleeping beside her to lull her back into slumber, but when Alirra's foot jabbed painfully into her side, Rose gave up. With a hard sigh, she slowly rolled out of the bed and padded on bare feet to the doorway. She wore long flannel pyjama pants and a loose sleep shirt but grabbed her short robe by sheer habit. She slipped it on and tied it as the waist with a yawn and a stretch and carefully navigated her way down the stairs without switching on the light.

There was no surprise at all that there was a light on in the living room. Braxiatel had been somewhat purple with rage when she and the Doctor had returned from Kucail, and the two Time Lord brothers had gotten into a heated argument about it despite neither of them being to blame for what had happened. It took Romana stepping in between them to calm the situation down any. Bless that woman, she'd sent both of them to opposite ends of the house and barred them from even looking in each other's direction for the next twenty-four hours…

…And they'd actually listened to her.

So that said, it made sense that Brax would be burning the midnight oil trying to work a solution of sorts to the breach of the CIA network. If such a breach existed. The heat in the room had left Rose far too timid to suggest that perhaps there was a leak in the Agency, but it was what she believed to be the case here. As far as she knew, Braxiatel's security coding hadn't been beaten by anyone – not even the Doctor – so it made little sense that it was hacked into so easily now by an amateur.

She stepped into the living room, which was lit only by a holo-display of a Gallifreyan portable computer system. Looking across from the back of the couch, she could easily tell it was Braxiatel at the keyboard. Even though he was navigating himself inside a new regeneration, which could have provided her at least a little question as to the identity of him, the set of his shoulders and the sharp focus on what he was doing left no doubt at all. It seemed that this posture was definitely a trait that would hold across all incarnations.

She approached slowly from behind, ready to give him a "Boo" to startle him. But the annoyed grunt and hard finger poke at the enter button warned her that he was frustrated. Startling him was probably not the best course of action to take unless she wanted to be on the receiving end of his ire. Instead she hummed out a sound of warning that she was in the room with him.

"Morning Brax," she ventured without the usual chirp of greeting in her voice. She was too tried to even try to fake it.

"Three AM is still night, Rose," he corrected her with shortness in his tone. He didn't take his eyes off the monitor, nor the hand he held at his chin as he let his eyes scan the information on the screen. "You need your sleep. Go back to bed."

"Can't," she breathed out with a light whimper. She dared lean over the back of the couch with her arms around his head and shoulders and kissed at his cheek. "My bed is full of a tiny little girl who knows how to take up the entire bed and a husband who's too much of a sap to move her."

He brought up a hand to hold at the cross of her forearms at his chest. There was firm tenderness in his voice. "Then go sleep in her bed."

"You've seen the size of her bed, haven't you?" She sighed. "No bigger than Tiallu's bed."

"Romana doesn't take up a lot of room," he offered, his eyes still on the monitor. "Go take my place with her for the rest of the night. I'm quite sure she won't mind. In fact, she would probably appreciate the company."

She rested her head against his and looked at the display ahead of him. It held several windows that cascaded across what looked like two displays rather than just the one. She could read parts of it, the simpler pieces of data, but for the most part it looked far too complicated to even try.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

He petted her arm with his hand. "I take it that's a no on joining Romana, then."

"Not tired anymore," she said with a yawn against his ear.

"Oh, obviously not," he drawled out sarcastically. "Yawning is in no way an indication of one's fatigue or tiredness."

"Plenty of reasons for us to yawn than just tiredness, Brax," she said with a huff as she released him from her hold and straightened up to a stand. She kicked up a leg to climb up over the back of the couch and dropped onto the cushion beside him. "So, what are you doing, anyway?"

He looked up at the back of the couch and then made an effort to let her know that he was unimpressed with the way she climbed over the couch to sit with him with a deliberate look at the path she took. "You know full well that I chide the children for doing what you just did."

She hummed and shrugged. "And I support you chiding them for it."

"Yet, you do the same thing."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know, you're trying awfully hard to evade my question, Brax, which is awfully rude of you."

A voice from the armchair snorted out. "Rude certainly does seem to be his default setting, Rose."

Rose gasped out with startled fright and flinched back hard into the couch cushions. Her hand held at her chest trying to tame her thundering heart. "God!"

"Ahh no," Narvin said with a slight chuckle. "Not quite."

"I – I didn't see you there," she said with a light pant in her breathing. "I'm so sorry."

"Being invisible really is part of my job," he said with a light smile on one side of his mouth. "I'm used to not being seen by others. Quite prefer it that way if I'm being honest." His smile stretched to the other side of his mouth. "Pleasure to see you again."

She swallowed. "Give me a chance for my heart to stop hammering in my chest and I'll say the same to you." Beside her, Braxiatel chuckled lightly. She slapped his arm. "You could've told me he was there, Brax!"

"Why would I do that?" he queried with a shrug. "When he's trying so hard to be invisible?"

"You arse," she accused with a shake in her head. "Anyway. Going to go fix myself a coffee." She looked to Narvin. "You want one?"

"If it's not too much bother," he answered with a smile and a nod. "I'd definitely appreciate it."

"I'll have one as well," Braxiatel said with a smile.

"Yeah, you have two hearts and two legs," she countered as she walked to the hallway. She pointed a finger at him and flicked it in the air toward the kitchen. "You can go get your own."

"You're in my hearts," he countered almost facetiously as though it would be the one thing he could say that would have her make him a strong brew.

"Not buying into it," she called around the wall.

He chuckled as he went back to task. The chuckle and accompanying smile fell fast as he leaned forward and his hand came up to cup his chin. "I don't understand, Narvin," he said after a moment. "I've gone through this over and over again, and I can't see any part of this coding that would allow a non CIA entity into the network." He huffed out with annoyance. "I can't explain it."

Narvin leaned forward in his chair, finally revealing himself from the shadows. He leaned his elbows into his knees and shook his head as he let out a hard exhale. "That's very worrying."

"I can try and fortify it further," he offered with a light tap of his finger on the trackpad of the keyboard. "But it's moot, really. I've tried every possible avenue that one might take to get in, and I can't bypass any of the security protocols."

"I know," he stated quietly. "I've been repeatedly notified of your attempts. Even if you could get by just one layer of security…"

"You get a ping and I get shut down," Braxiatel muttered with a nod. "Yes, which is how I intended for it to work." He lifted his eyes to his old friend. "I don't want to make any accusations, but there really is only one other possibility."

"That I have a rat in the Agency," he admitted with a slow nod of his head. "I really had hoped that wasn't the case."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?"

Narvin shook his head. "It could be any number of Agents," he said with a huff as he sat back hard in the chair. "Rassilon increased Agency numbers by 300% when the war closed…"

"I didn't think there were that many people left in the Capitol."

"Many of them were from the fighting infantry," he clarified. "At the end of the war, with the state of Gallifrey, many couldn't return to their pre-war occupations." He exhaled with a sad shake in his head. "Nothing left for them to return to, really. The planet is decimated. The only thing they could be given to earn a wage and support their families was a role within the CIA."

Braxiatel snorted. "Rather have been killed in the war…"

"And you think you're better off here with a bounty on your head?" he argued. "Exiled from Gallifrey and all you've ever fought for and forced to hide like a ground mole?" He leaned an elbow down on one of the chair's armrests and cradled his jaw in his fingers. "Having to sneak around, watch your back, hide in the shadows…"

"It's worked well enough for you for several centuries, Narvin." He said with a flick of his eyes toward him. He looked back to the display. "And the life I have here right now isn't bad, all things considered."

He shifted his eyes to Braxiatel. "You once told me that family was best when it wasn't in your face, when it was done from afar." He tilted his head curiously. "Your mind has been changed on that?"

"Depends on the family member you're referring to," he answered with a shrug. "Some of them are a joy to be around. Others? Not so much."

Rose chuckled as she entered the room with a pair of mugs in her hands. "Oh, you love being around him, Brax. Don't pretend otherwise."

"I wouldn't say love," he disagreed with a smirk. He took a mug from her and smiled his thanks as he took an immediate sip of it. "Oh, now this is what makes being around family worth it. A good mouthful of coffee beautifully stained with the throat burn of that Mountaineer moonshine."

"Just a dash," she said with a wink. "Because I think you need a hit of something stronger than caffeine right now." She pressed a hand on the coffee table to lean forward and pass Narvin his own steaming cup. "There you go. I've got a full pot brewed and staying hot in the kitchen if you need anymore."

His smile was wide as he leaned forward and inhaled a deep sniff of the aroma through his nose. He looked up at her with genuine gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you very much, Rose. Your hospitality is very much appreciated."

Rose looked toward Braxiatel. "Hear that, Brax? The pair of words that begins with the letters: 'T' and 'Y'? That's what you're supposed to say when someone takes the time and effort to do something for you." She looked to Narvin. "You are very welcome. If you need anything else, you just let me know."

"I don't wish to be any imposition to you, but I thank you."

"Oh, I like you," she said with a light giggle. She looked to Braxiatel. "Can we keep him?"

"No Rose, we can't." Braxiatel lifted his eyes to Narvin. "Do you mind? You're making me look bad here."

"You don't need my help with that." He drew back a mouthful and purred longingly at the taste on his tongue. "Wonderful. Simply wonderful."

Rose grabbed a small cushion from the edge of the couch and took a seat beside Braxiatel. With no words at all, she put the cushion on his lap and patted it for comfort. She then kicked up her feet to lay along the couch and set her head on top of the cushion.

Both men looked at her with very wide eyes, but it was Braxiatel who actually chose to make comment on the fact that her head was now on his lap. "Ehm. Rose? Just what are you doing?"

"Getting comfortable," she answered. "So I can watch what the two of you are up to."

"And that requires you to put your head on my lap?"

"I want the couch, and you're on it," she answered with a shrug and a wriggle to get more comfortable. "So, yes. Would you like to move?"

His eyes narrowed. "This is usually where I'd get as bullheaded as you usually are and say: No. I'm good with it if you are…"

"Then okay." She said with a smile. "Stay. You're quite comfy."

"You didn't let me finish," he huffed. "I said that I'd normally get bullheaded. However, this is a situation where bullheadedness will only get the two of us in trouble if either one of our mates happens to walk in the room. I'll move."

"Oh grow up," she huffed.

"You're the one with your head on my lap," he countered. "You ask me…"

"Which I'm not." She rolled onto her back to look up at him. She opened her mouth to speak and really only managed to exhale a full breath out of her mouth. There was an oddly uncharacteristic look of defeat and upset in her eyes as she shifted her shoulders and made to get up. "Fine. I'll get up."

He stopped her with his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her with question. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," she answered with a roll in her eyes.

"No, you're not," he observed with a sigh in his voice and a light wince of apology on his face. "Which reminds me that I never did ask you how you felt about what happened on Kucail, did I?"

"You don't typically ask about my feelings," she remarked with a one-sided smile. "And 'sides. Fighting with your brother was far more important."

He arched his chest downward to look into her eyes in the analytic manner he used when worried about what was stirring within her. He tsked and shook his head as he let one arm circle around her head and leaned the other across her belly. "Okay. Aside from what I already know about, what happened?"

"You mean aside from meeting my husband – who had no clue who I was – and who then tried to pick me up and take me across the universe with him?"

"Okay, I didn't know about that," he admired with a pinch in his brows. "Thete might've forgotten to mention that."

"Or you were too busy wanting to rip him apart when we materialised, which then got you put in time out by Romana…"

"There is that," he said with a sigh. He then tenderly stroked her head. "I'm very sorry, Rose. I fully expected that Thete would have gotten you out of there the moment he saw his younger self…"

Narvin laughed at that. "Like you can talk," he challenged.

"Do you mind?"

"Not often," he answered quickly as he drew back another taste of his beverage. "Oh, this really is quite good, you know."

Rose looked up at Brax. "Any chance that either you or the Doctor could tinker with a Nespresso machine so it'll work on Gallifrey? Might be nice for Narvin to have one in his office for those long nights stuck behind his desk."

"Thete's the tinkerer," he said with a shrug. "Not me. But I'm sure if you ask him, he'll acquiesce to your will. Will probably modify and upgrade it while he's at it."

She rolled her head to look toward Narvin. "If I can get it arranged, you want?"

"I would very much appreciate it," he answered with a smile.

"Consider it done," she said with a sigh and a roll of her body to match the positioning of her head. "In the meantime, I think I might see if I can sleep."

Braxiatel sighed and settled himself a little more comfortably in the seat, resigned to having her head on a cushion in his lap for the next little while. "Fine," he said on a breath. "Of course, you know this means it'll only make my work here more awkward."

"Bit like my entire life over the last few years, yeah?" she said with a soft sigh.

He didn't answer to that one, although he sorely wanted to. Really, what could he say to her? He made do with simply stroking her hair with one hand as he quietly spoke with Narvin about how to further strengthen the security of the server and tighten the accesses now that he was in it.

Rose wasn't listening to them at all. Her eyes were wide and unfocused as she let her mind swing back over to her morning, and the enlightening adventure she'd had with not one, but three incarnations of her husband … and to the revelation that had probably hit her harder than losing him in the first place.

Another lover.

She hadn't quite had time to wrap her mind around that one. While one part of her couldn't fault him for finding comfort in the arms of another in the 400-odd years he didn't know who she was, it was a very very small part. The rest of her felt a rather large mixture of anger and hurt about it. That angry part of her wanted to know who this woman was, to find her, and to growl territorially at her. The hurt part of her wanted to make sure that this woman was at the very least a good person... Someone worthy of her heart breaking over.

She tried to picture what this woman must have looked like. Was she blonde or brunette? Was she beautiful, or plain? Was she human, or another Time Lord? Why did they ultimately separate? Did they simply grow apart over time, was she somehow taken from him by death or some other means?

So many questions. She really wanted answers.

"Brax?" she whispered quietly, not entirely sure if she wanted to get his attention or not.

Time Lord hearing meant she got his attention well enough. "Yes, Rose?"

She swallowed back a lump and held herself as steadily as she could. "C-Can you tell me about her?"

The hand on top of her hair stilled in it's gentle stroking. "Tell you about who?" His voice was low and deep, an indication to her that he had a feeling just who she was referring to without having to ask.

"The one he fell in love with", she answered, not knowing the name of the woman. She felt the flow of an escaped tear roll from the corner of her eye and across the upper bridge of her nose to fall with a quiet splat onto the cushion.

"Narvin," he said with quiet urgency. "Can you give us a minute?"

"Yeah," he answered with knowing in his tone. "I need to refresh my coffee, anyway."

Rose shifted her head with the intent to look at him, but only managed to get sight of the bottom length of his black and white tunic. 'Milk's in the fridge, sugar on the counter."

"Thank you," he answered gratefully as he left the room.

Rose waited until she knew he was outside of earshot and let out a light groan as she lifted herself from Braxiatel's knees. She didn't lift her eyes to him, instead she let her head hang low and pressed her hands into the cushions either side of her hips. "I need to know, Brax."

"How did you find out," he asked with a deep voice that held the slightest bit of frustration.

"It slipped out," she admitted as her eyes fell on the rock on her finger that had brought about the admission. She lifted her hand and admired the ring a moment before she removed it and set it on the table. She pointed toward it and then drew her hand back to rub at the base of her now naked finger. "He saw that and told me he'd been looking for it to give to her."

"Oh Hell, Rose," he muttered with rub of his eyes with his thumb and index finger. He then picked it up and handed it back to her. "Please put it back on."

"I don't know if I should," she said with a gulp. "I mean, yes he gave it to me … but then he fell into another woman's bed and decided he wanted to give it to her instead."

"You're making it sound so much more simple – and much more sordid – that it really was." He tried again to give it back or her. "Please. Don't let him see you without it."

She lifted her head to look at him, face to face. There were tears in her eyes and tear tracks down her cheeks. "Was she at least a nice person?"

"You need to speak to Thete about this," he urged. "Not me." He thrust the ring at her again. "Please, Rose. Please put this back on."

She let up a laugh and looked to the ceiling. "He's not going to talk to me about it, Brax. God, if he was, he'd have brought her up by now, don't you think?" She looked back at him. "I just need to know, was she a nice person? Did she love him as much as he loved her?" She inhaled deep. "Because I need to know that. I need to know that if he …" She swallowed with a wince. "That if he found love again, that she was worthy of it."

He held the ring up to her with the tips of his thumb and fingers. "I don't beg, Rose. It's not in me to do so, but I'm really going to beg and plead with you on this." He was more forceful with the presentation of the bauble to her. "Please put this back on."

She huffed out a hard breath and shook her head. With a wipe of her hands on her thighs, she pushed herself to a stand. Her arms immediately folded tightly across her chest in a self-comforting hold of herself. "Why can't you just answer my question?" she growled as she showed her hand with its naked and bare fourth finger. "Why are you more concerned about whether or not I'm wearing the ring?"

He stood quickly, grabbed her hand in his and slipped the ring back onto her finger. "Don't take that off again," he demanded as he held that hand inside of both of his. "I don't like what you taking it off implies."

"There's no implication to be had," she said with a roll in her eyes. "It was just a … oh, I dunno … a statement. The one thing that finally brought about the confession that he'd fallen in love with someone else."

His head shook and the look in his eyes was one of fierce warning. "That ring was given to you by my brother. You accepted it as his token of the love he has for you. To our people, taking it off is a rejection of everything he feels for you." He was clearly angered by it. "I will take any anger, hostility, upset, and dramatics you want to throw in my direction over what you've suffered this past while. I'll wear all of it on his behalf without question and support you as best I can." He opened his hands to reveal hers between them. "But I won't – under any circumstances – allow you to so blatantly and carelessly throw the beat of his hearts back at him because you're in a snit about something that you've sorely overblown and overestimated in your mind."

"In a snit," she repeated as she pulled her hand forcibly from between his. Her eyes flared with anger. "My heart breaks because I find out that while I was suffering and alone, he was off flitting about the universe falling in love and sharing a bed with another woman, and you call it a snit."

"You were never alone," he corrected her sharply. "Never. Romana and I have been with you every day in your timeline since you were torn from each other. We did our very best to make sure that no matter the circumstances you and your children were never alone."

Her voice softened to a whimper of apology. "And don't think for a second that I don't appreciate and love you for what you've done for us," she said. "I do, Brax. I love you more than you will ever know. I could never have survived any of this without you." She lifted her head and drew in a shaking breath. "But neither you nor Romana could possibly ever take away the loneliness that comes from losing a lover. You could never hold me like him. Love me like he did. Make me feel completion like he did. Losing him left a void inside me that could never be filled by anyone else – no matter how much they tried." Her voice shuddered and her shoulders shook. "And to know that he got that from someone else, and that he didn't have to suffer like I did. That hurts more than losing him did."

"I know," he ventured empathetically despite not fully understanding the pain of it himself. How could he?

"Was she worth it?" she asked with a lift of her eyes to his. "The woman he loved. Was she good enough for him."

"He'd argue that he's the one not good enough," he answered with a hard exhale. His eyes shifted away from her for only a moment as he considered the best track to take if he was going to be the one forced to answer her questions. "But, yes. Charlotte was a good woman – as far as humans go anyway."

"Charlotte," she repeated in a whisper more for herself than asking him to confirm the name.

"Charley, he called her," Braxiatel added with a much more levelled confidence in his tone. "Born in the early twentieth century on Earth to wealthy, aristocratic family." He cleared his throat and frowned. "Although that's quite irrelevant, I suppose."

"Was she a good person" she pressed again. "That's all I need to know."

"She was," he clarified with a nod of his head. "Quite a remarkable young woman, I suppose. Intriguing and pleasant on the eyes."

"You seem to know a lot about her."

He flicked his eyes to hers. "Not for any reason you're assuming," he said softly. "She and Thete met under very dangerous temporal circumstances. When he saved her, he intercepted and changed a fixed point that led to anti-time being released into the universe. It is this that captured my attention toward her as it is my – was – my job to eliminate and counter such circumstances. I never met her personally, and quite frankly had no real desire to do so." He sniffed with disdain. "A walking fracture in the timeline, an anomaly that should have put his hair on end and made him ill." He shuddered but straightened himself up. "Of course, while all other Time Lords would have worked to set the timelines back on their proper track to eliminate those somewhat queasy feelings of the walking anomaly in stride at their side, Thete took it as a challenge and made it his mission to protect her."

"And in time fell in love with that anomaly," she said with a long and high-pitched sigh. She looked off to the side and closed her eyes as she shook her head slowly. "Of course he did."

"Whether or not his hearts began to beat for her is a question only Thete can answer," he answered her with a light frown of apology. "My own thoughts are no, that they merely resided in each others hearts rather than requiring the other to keep them beating." He petted the space in between his own hearts. "Only the owner of them can tell you for sure."

She nodded slowly and looked off to one side. "Yeah."

He reached out to hold her arm in one of his hands. "There is something you can take from me, though," he offered. "Something that I know to be fact."

She looked at him. "And what's that?"

"It was an unconsummated affair," he offered gently. "His virtue was left intact."

She snorted. "And how do you know that?" she challenged. "Because he told you that?"

He shook his head slowly. "He wouldn't have needed to, and I never asked." The expression in his eyes was soft and sincere. "Because I now for a fact if he'd crossed that line with her. If his hearts truly beat for her, then he wouldn't have simply resigned himself to her loss like he did. He would have fought the entire universe and all of reality to get back what was his." He cupped her face in a tender hand. "Like he would for you."

She cupped her hand over his and leaned her cheek heavily into their hands. "I want to believe you, Brax. I really do." She blinked a tear. "But if what you're saying is true, and that his hearts were still mine – why was he looking for your mother's ring to give her."

"That's a question only he can answer, Rose," he said softly. "And it's not one I'm going to even try to answer for you." He pressed his lips together and dropped his hand from her face to take her left hand in his. He drew it to his lips and kissed the stone softly. "But I know that he gave this to you. It's yours. As are both of his beating hearts." He lifted his eyes to hers. "Don't you ever doubt the depth of his feelings for you. He's here, now. He wants you to take his hearts, hold them, and never ever give them back."

"I love him," she admitted with a high whimper. "So damn much it's killin' me. I'm so scared of losing him again. I – I won't survive it."

"None of us will let that happen," he promised her. "Never again. Like it or not, you're stuck with that insufferable fool for the rest of your life."

"I think I need to break," she whimpered as she lifted a hand to cover at her mouth. "Brax, I'm too tired to hold it back anymore." She panted against her hand as her tears dribbled down over her fingers. "I don't want to break alone, but I can't break in front of him. Help me?"

He uttered one of the milder Gallifreyan swears and trust himself forward to snatch her inside his arms. He held her tightly against his chest and dropped his nose into her hair as she collapsed against him. He dipped at the knees awkwardly against her sudden weight, but in that awkward position he managed to hold them both in a stand. "Come here," he offered firmly as he turned his head to press his cheek onto the top of her head and closed his eyes against her shaking. "I've got you, Rose. Break. I'll hold you together as best I can."

When her arms circled tightly around his waist and she erupted into great, gulping sobs, he opened his eyes to look across the room into the darkness. In the darkened archway that led to the stairwell he saw the figure of his brother hidden in the shadows. The Doctor stood with a stiffness in his shoulders that lent a looming and powerful posture to him. To anyone it would be a figure to strike fear inside their heart, but to the brother of him, this wasn't a proud and looming man lurking in the shadows; it was a man standing inside his own indecision of just which pathway he wanted to take right now: Run to, run from, or merely stand in quiet penance to his mate's heartbreak.

He took a step forward but Braxiatel held up a hand to him. A stop sign to put him in a holding pattern between all three of those indecisions. He kept his hand held up and his eyes on him as he spoke gently to help the woman in his arms work through her despair. It was a rare moment that Rose would break and finally release her emotions, and he was going to let her shatter completely against him if she needed it. He also knew beyond all doubt if Thete stepped in right now, that she'd swallow it all back down and pretend she was perfectly fine… Even though she was anything but, right now.

It took a very long moment for her gulping sobs to finally ebb off into hiccups and whimpers. She found more strength in her legs to stand support her own weight and loosened the tight, choking hold she had of her arms around his waist. She still fell against him, but at least now he wasn't trying to hold the both of them up on their feet.

"I'm sorry," she muttered wetly against his chest and the silk fabric of the waistcoat he wore over a crisp white dress shirt.

"No apology needed," he said with his eyes still on his brother lurking in the shadows. "At least, not from you." He drew in a breath. "Not really from him, either, I suppose."

"I hate the universe," she gruffed in a muffled voice.

"She's certainly a temperamental one, isn't she? Always playing favourites."

Rose lifted her head and set her chin on his chest. "Any chance you can work some of your hypnotic magic and let me go to sleep for a bit?" She inhaled hard. "I'm so exhausted, and unless I've got some help, I'm not sleepin'."

He lowered his chin to look down at her. "Are you sure?"

"A couple of hours," she said with a nod. "Enough to give me somethin' before I have to get the kids ready for school. I can steal in a nap before I pick them up if I have to."

"I can wrangle the children for you," he offered. "Get them to school. Give you a good eight or so."

"You've just regenerated," she answered with a sigh. "Another new good-looking man dropping the kids off, they'll all start thinking my bedroom's got a revolving door on it."

"Since when do you care what that lot think?" he said with an indignant sniff.

"Please, Brax?" She stared up at him with her red-rimmed eyes inflated to the biggest and most pleading state of being possible. "I'll owe you big."

"You owe me nothing," he assured her as he cupped her cheek and concentrated his focus on her eyes. "Sleep," he said after a short moment. He was quick to drop an arm to hook underneath her knees when her eyes immediately closed, and she collapsed into deep slumber. He lifted her up against his chest with a mild grunt and looked toward where the Doctor still waited in the darkness.

"Come get your mate," he ordered him.

The Doctor appeared almost immediately. He held his arms out as he walked, ready to take Rose into his arms. "Thank…"

"Don't," Braxiatel interrupted sharply as he handed her across. "The more I hear about Kucail, the more pissed off I'm becoming."

"If it helps at all in lessening your indignance and disgust at me, I'm in agreement with you," he said with a light growl of frustration in his tone.

"With just what, exactly?"

"That I'm an infuriating, ignorant, and insufferable woprat," he answered. He looked to his brother and shook his head. "For a moment I stood in your shoes, Brax. I didn't like it one bit."

"Welcome to my entire existence," he said with a roll in his eyes as his anger fell just slightly to mere annoyance. "Do me a favour and take her into your bed. Hold her till she wakes, make sure her dreams are good ones. The Gods know she needs them these days."

"Yeah," he agreed as he pressed a kiss to her hairline and walked toward the stairs. He paused at the bottom and spared a glance back to his brother. "Thank you," he said with unmistakable sincerity in his voice. "For everything."

"Didn't do it for you," he answered with a shrug as he slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. "But yeah, you're welcome. Now please. Leave me alone, I'm busy."

He turned his back to his brother to walk back toward the computer, which was getting dangerously close to going to sleep and kicking out any unsaved changes from his programming. He caught the rather stunned expression from Narvin waiting in the doorway. The CIA Coordinator held a coffee mug in between two hands that had a noticeable shake in them. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slightly agape.

"Just how many of those have you had?" he asked with a lift in his brow. "Just so you know, there is a limit to how much caffeine you can put in your system before you get overstimulated and jumpy." He chuckled to himself. "Although, I imagine you having any form of frenetic energy might be an amusing state to see you in, so let me brew another pot."

"You are the most unempathetic individual I have ever met," Narvin remarked with an even and almost curious tone in his voice. "In fact, I've heard you say on several occasions that you have such marked difficulty in appropriately conveying any form of sympathy toward others that you don't even bother to try."

"You have a point, I take it?"

Narvin flicked his eyes to the stairwell, and to the last thud of footfalls as the Doctor made it up to the carpeted second floor. "What I just saw…"

"You did not see anything," Braxiatel corrected him. "And you will certainly never mention it. Am I understood?"

"If you say so." He took a sip of his coffee and swallowed noisily. "Though it's not in my nature to ignore things – particularly things of that nature." He smirked to one side. "I'm almost impressed."

"Just to confirm," Braxiatel muttered somewhat threateningly as he took a seat on the couch. "No regenerations left, right?"

"Why do you ask?" he queried cautiously.

"Asking for a friend…"

~~oooOOOooo~~

Rose circled her arms around the steering wheel of Braxiatel's Explorer and let out a harried and stressed out exhale against the glassy Ford symbol at its centre. The hypnotic suggestion he'd provided to let her sleep had run a little longer than the couple of hours she'd requested of him. When she had finally roused inside the tight embrace of the Doctor sleeping peacefully and protectively against her back, it was already well into the morning.

If there was ever an Olympic event in getting two grumpy children out of bed, fast tracking breakfast, getting them dressed and their teeth brushed while trying to make them both lunches, then she'd be up for a medal, no worries at all.

She'd demanded the use of his Explorer over her Escape mainly due to the difference in speed and handling. She was way behind schedule and if she had any hope in hell of getting the kids to their schools on time and couldn't use the TARDIS to get them there (cursed rules and regulations of using alien technology on Earth), then she needed the sporty beast to do it.

She'd made it with only moments (and surprisingly not a single swear) to spare.

Now finally alone and able to breathe, she did so in a pant. She counted to ten with each breath in an attempt to calm herself and finally found herself able to smile and relax properly. She did so with a smile and sat back up in the seat and settled in against the soft leather.

She truly loved this car. Big, mean and beautiful, she'd find any excuse to drive it. Now that she had it, she was going to actually drive the damn thing! She looked to the passenger seat at her side and noted that she'd taken the correct handbag on this trip – the one that had her full wallet inside it. There was a mall about an hour outside of central London that she wouldn't mind visiting. The kids were growing, she needed more clothing for them. Shoes. Winter coats for next season…

…Early baby shopping for Brax and Romana, perhaps.

Oh sweet retail therapy. Yes. That is precisely what she needed right now. Take the beast, escape the Time Lords, and get in some sorely needed shopping. Brilliant. She leaned forward to flick the volume control for the radio and cranked up the breakfast show tunes. She sang along with a bright smile on her face and turned out of the carpark and into the main traffic.

It was on the third song and at least five kilometres away from the school that Rose started to notice that something about the traffic wasn't quite right. This was a path she'd travelled twice daily for more than two years now without variation to her route. It was a quiet drive for the most part, with the bulk of the morning traffic utilizing the busier thoroughfares. She could pretty confidently state that she knew each and every vehicle, and every single face that appeared in her rearview mirror. This was the school-run route, no self-respecting non-parent driver would voluntarily take themselves into soccer-mum territory.

So what was that shady black car sitting on her tail, swerving and weaving in such perfect time with her own dancing driving that they may as well have been one car. She flicked her eyes to the rearview mirror to try and identify the driver. All she saw was a man in thick black sunshades wearing a … white tunic with a black vest draped over the shoulders.

That was the same tunic and vest set that Narvin wore. That meant this person was very likely either a CIA agent, or a rather clever cosplayer readying for comicon. Either way, she wasn't going to take a chance. She let out a low curse under her breath and flicked a switch on the steering wheel.

"How can I help you?" the vehicle asked her in a scratchy and robotic voice.

"Call Brax on his mobile," she ordered firmly.

"I don't see any entry for Brax," the car answered. "Would you like to try your command again?"

She huffed out and slumped in the seat. That's right, he wasn't listed as Brax in her phone. It might be his picture that graced the screen when he called, but the name was a little more ring-tone appropriate.

"Call Daddy Cool," she tried instead. "Mobile."

"Calling Daddy Cool on mobile," the car answered dutifully. "Please wait."

She pulled up to a stop behind another vehicle and drummed her thumbs on the top of the steering wheel in wait for the traffic to start moving again. Her eyes remained on the rearview in a close watch of who was following her. Hopefully it was just one of Narvin's agents putting a tail on her at Brax's request.

In a perfect world.

The car connected with Braxiatel's phone. Rose pursed her lips in a soundless whistle as it rang on his end. She was hardly surprised that he didn't pick up and that her call went to voicemail. She huffed out with annoyance as he spoke his greeting, then grit her teeth.

"What is the point of having a mobile if you never answer the damn thing, Brax? Like, really? I'm out and about in your car, all by myself with a crazy Time Lord lunatic trying to hunt me down, and you don't think that…. Ugh. Never mind my usual you never pick up rant. Look, I'm being followed, yeah? Looks like one of Narvin's guys are playing shadow games with me. Is this something you've set…" She ended with a startled yelp and cried out as a large pickup truck suddenly collided with the side of the Explorer. The seatbelt snapped in tight as the force of impact shattered the glass window and threw her sideways in her seat.

The Explorer spun a full and very violent 360 degrees before it came to a jumping and hissing stop in the middle of the intersection.

"Brax," she managed out with a strangled tone as she fought against the deflating airbag. "I – I've been hit. I've had an accident…" She groaned out long as she felt the pain in her neck, back, and across her chest. "It's a bad one. I think I might've broken your car," she whimpered out just in time for the message service to warn her that her message was too long and had to be cut off. "And no, I'm not okay."

She drew in a couple of deep breaths and undid her seatbelt, inhaling deeply now that she wasn't so constricted by the accident-tightened hold of it. She put her hand on the door release and, although her side of the vehicle was completely crumpled, managed to get the door opened. She slid painfully out of the seat and onto the road. With a stagger and a hold at the dented roof of the car to support herself despite her aching, she looked toward the truck.

"Are …" she gulped against the pain inside her chest. "Are you okay?"

She pushed herself forward with a shove of her hand on the car and staggered with an obviously hindered gait away from where she could smell leaking petrol. "Is everyone okay?"

"Oh, my Lady Rose," a slightly familiar voice called out with false humour. "We are all very fine, thank you for asking. You, on the other hand…"

Rose stilled and slowly shifted her head toward the voice. Her eyes blinked rapidly at the face of a man she remembered from Phiroi's capsule; a soldier who had been brought in after being injured in the field of battle. He hadn't been a pleasant individual, and had made her assistance a living hell with his refusal to be seen to by an insignificant and disgusting species as a human.

"Feroiian," she greeted with a low grunt in her voice. "What are you doing here? I thought you loathed this planet."

"I do," he confirmed. "As I do your entire, filthy species."

"Pleasure to see you too," she muttered facetiously.

Feroiian looked toward another man dressed in a similar uniform of a white tunic with a floor length black vest draped over his shoulders. "Told you. Get her away from the Cardinal, and she's an easy capture." He snapped his fingers. "Secure her and prepare for transportation to Drincons. Notify the King of the Drinconians that we have his prize. He can contact Rassilon for his reward … and then we can get ours."

She felt a strong set of arms come around her arms and across her chest. She immediately and instinctively struggled for freedom, only to find that there was no chance of escaping the arms of a focused Time Lord.

"Let me go," she demanded. "I swear to you when Brax and the Doctor find out…"

"By the time they do, you'll either be dead or in Rassilon's science lab," Feroiian corrected with a laugh. "Not really all that effective on the protective front, are they? You were so easy to find." He snapped his fingers again. "Come on Ehren. The sooner we leave this useless rock, the better." He looked around himself. "This planet gives me the creeps."

Back during her time on Gallifrey, Rose had signed on to take a self defence course. She'd begged both Romana and Leela into attending it with her. It was another one of those things to do when her husband was at work and she was left alone to her own devices.

Leela had complained about it at the time, citing that not only did Rose have the Doctor as a protector, but she was always in the presence of her two wolves, who would never let anyone get near her. Romana had agreed and added that she'd offer protection of Chancellery guards if she felt that she was in any danger at all. Being a family member of the sitting president, she could be afforded such protections.

Rose had shaken her head at the both of them. She wanted to know how to defend herself in the rare event she was off by herself. She'd taken those classes with gusto and excelled quite brilliantly at it as well. Romana and Leela had both enjoyed the experience – particularly the drinks they all shared in the Magnolia orchard of Rose's home afterward. Many times, the three of them ended an evening of self defense classes drunkenly defending themselves against marauding magnolia tree trunks before passing out on the red grasses in front of Rose's home – only to be discovered by their very amused husbands in the very early hours of the morning.

If she had learned anything from those defense classes, it was that a strike in the nads – as a human might have as part of their arsenal – was not anywhere near as effective. There was, however, a very sensitive nerve cluster located on the left shoulder that could almost always guarantee escape if executed correctly. If she did it right, she could drop this guy on his arse and leg it out of there.

She bit at her lip and increased her breathing somewhat as she planned out the appropriate attack in her mind. The lessons from the rather large and bossy boot-camp-style instructor shifted into her mind as she flicked through the pages to recall what to do when grabbed from behind: Lock your form. Stomp on top of the foot of your attacker with your heel. Dig that heel in – and pray to the gods you're wearing some form of heels, ladies as that is the most effective footwear in this case – spin on that heel to face your attacker. Grab a firm hold of his left wrist, and slam the very butt of your palm – hard ladies, as hard as you can - into his left shoulder and watch that thug fall. Then no matter what, run!

She watched inside her mind's eye how they'd practiced that attack and then gave a firm nod to herself. With a deep inhale, she grit her teeth, let out a loud grunt and performed that manoeuvre with such perfection that her boot-camp-instructor would have clapped and growled with pride.

Yes, my Lady Rose! That's exactly how it's done. Ladies, you could all learn a thing or two from this vicious little flower.

She scuttled backward with a slight stagger as Ehren staggered and then dropped to his knees with a stunned and disorientated sway. She took the smallest of seconds to self congratulate, then reminded herself that self-congratulations and bragging could come later. Right now, she had to finish up that manoeuvre and leg it the heck out of there.

Oh, she ached and hurt from the accident. There was a long gash that ripped clear down the length of her leg from her hip to her knee, but she couldn't let that stop her. She spun and she legged it with only the slightest of limps in her stride. She held her teeth in a tight grit and fought against the swimming in her mind from the bump to her head. She ignored the heat of blood running down her calf and into her runners. She ignored the ache in her chest and a potential broken rib from the seatbelt.

What she couldn't ignore, however, was the sudden and explosive heat that ripped painfully into her shoulder. She couldn't ignore the way her arm suddenly lost all voluntary movement to hang limp and low at her side. She couldn't ignore the spreading heat and pain as it exploded across her chest and travelled down into her hips, legs and feet.

"You shot her!" Feroiian shouted out angrily. "That's a Drinconian weapon, the damage will spread and kill her!"

She heard him let out a cry of frustration as she felt her entire body give out and she fell to her knees on the road.

"She's no good to us dead, you blithering idiot!"

Rose fell forward, her face down on the tarmac. She panted out short and hagged breaths as she felt the pain of the weapon surge though her body. She had no way of escaping now, no way of letting the Doctor know where she was, or even to say goodbye to him … or tell him that she loved him, and to please take care of their babies.

"I love you," she whimpered pathetically to the road, imagining the smiling faces of her husband and children in front of her. "God, I love you."

The angelic sound of whining and wheezing filled her ears, and Rose dared smile with hope that the Doctor was here.

The panicked yells of the men behind her erased that hope.

"That's the Presidential capsule," Feroiian called out worriedly. "Get out of here, for the sake of the Goddess. That's Rassilon!"

Rassilon. Oh. Brilliant. She supposed right now it didn't really matter. She could feel the darkness upon her now and the serenity that being so near death gave her. Darkness fell on her, but not before she heard the sound of a creaking capsule door and then the violent exchange of taser fire, followed by the heavy pounding of running feet on the Tarmac toward her…

~~oooOOOooo~~