Ch 88
Jack, Vastra, and the younger children came back at that moment carrying armfuls of prepared food. River looked surprised, "I thought we were getting take away…?"
"[It was my idea,]" Terra signed once she put her bearings on the kitchen table.
"Did you make all this?" River asked, unable to sign with the baby in her arms.
Terra frowned with confusion at River's moving lips as Vastra answered, "[Terra helped a great deal, yes.]"
"I hope there wasn't too much arguing."
"No, no. Terra's a wonderful coordinator."
River smiled weakly, "That makes me happy to hear."
"[What are you guys saying?]" Terra signed shortly.
"[Your Mummy was saying that she's very proud of you.]"
"[Oh,]" she relaxed but only slightly. "[Can we eat now?]"
River nodded, "I'll get the Doctor."
The Doctor and Amelia were sitting on the couch in the living room making quiet conversation. River cleared her throat upon entering the room, to alert them of her entrance, "Dinner's ready."
They got up and headed to the kitchen, though the Doctor paused in the doorway by his wife. "She's agreed to go to school tomorrow."
River smiled weakly, "I'm glad. Freya agreed to go too."
"Two down, two to go." He pressed a kiss to her temple. They both knew it would be Terra who wanted to stay home for longer. "I'll call work tonight and tell them I'm taking leave early."
"I'm going to have to call too," she hummed.
"You know, I don't think I've ever taken a maternity leave before." The Doctor and River were in bed, the kids all asleep.
"Really? ...Well, there's a first time for everything."
"There's not a lot of admin involved, is there? I hate admin."
"I'm afraid so, but it's fairly straight forward." She assured him, entwining her hand with his, "Besides, they all love you at Bristol."
"I'm concerned whether they'll believe I'm having a baby..." He admitted, squeezing her hand. "I don't exactly look... the same as I used to."
She smiled sympathetically, "How old did you tell them you were again?"
"Er, 60." It sounded infantile to a man over 2000 years old.
She laughed, "You know, I've heard of human men having children at sixty. And for the record, I think you're very sexy."
"You always did have a thing for old relics," he teased, trying to hide his concern.
"Really, my love. There is nothing for you to worry about." She soothed, moving so that she was sitting face to face with him, "If they give you a hard time, you can bring me in to prove it and I'll unleash the hormones on them."
The Doctor didn't normally care too much of other people's thoughts, though the two of them did get the occasional dirty look walking down the street. He looked up at her, taking ease in her expression. "Wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of the hormones."
"I'll gladly go in there and give them a piece of my mind." She leaned in to kiss him.
His hands moved to cup her face, melting into her touch. "Thank you."
She beamed, "Don't worry, my love. I've got your back."
"I know." He whispered. "Me too."
Felix's whimpers brought River out of the memory, "Can we talk later?" River asked her husband softly.
"Course." He agreed, offering a smile.
"I'm going to stay back and burp Felix." River murmured.
"Alright," he nodded, giving her cheek another quick kiss. "I'll see you in a moment."
River nodded, going to sit on the sofa. Felix started fussing more, the unpassed burp uncomfortable for him. She hushed him, burping him gently. He whined louder until he finally spat up and instantly calmed again.
River, unfortunately, got spit up down her back. "Alright, my love. We both need to go get changed now." She brought him upstairs to the nursery first, sitting him down on the changing table.
"Where do we keep your clothes, Felix?" She murmured—of course, it was more to herself than the baby, but she knew the sound of her voice would keep him calm.
Felix watched as River started searching through shelves and drawers for the baby clothes She could feel herself getting overwhelmed the longer she searched without results, trying to think back to where she and the Doctor had decided to put the clothes.
She was starting to resort to just opening random drawers finding socks, blankets, diapers, and pacifiers, but nothing to dress the baby with. It didn't seem that there were actually any baby clothes in the room at all. "Maybe… maybe we have some clothes in Mummy's room." River murmured.
Felix gave up a toothless grin, liking the sound of River's voice. She picked him up once more, taking him to her room.
It took another minute to find, but a box of baby clothes sat in the closet waiting to be moved to the nursery. "Look at that, we found the clothes," she sighed in relief.
Felix, like before, was not a fan of being changed but settled once it was over. River then went to get her own clothes, forgetting that she needed to put something on either side of Felix to prevent him from rolling over.
Realizing the space he had for wiggling, Felix did just that, managing to turn himself onto his belly. Promptly, he burst into tears because he had no idea how to get on his back again.
River raced back to him as the sound of wailing, only half changed, "Oh, I'm sorry, darling."
Quite upset from a having a faceful of mattress, River was a welcomed sight. River hushed him, rocking him slowly. It took him longer to calm down from this ordeal, but eventually, his tears subsided.
River finished getting changed and finally brought the baby down to dinner with the rest of their family. Her usual spot between the Doctor and Terra had been reserved for her.
River sat down, Felix drooling on her shoulder.
"[You changed.]" Terra frowned.
"My shirt got dirty while I was burping Felix." River once again had to speak, still unable to sign while holding the baby.
"[What?]" Her frown deepened with unease.
River glanced at her husband, "Can you help me?"
"Do you want me to interpret or hold him?" He nodded towards the baby.
"Hold him if you don't mind."
He carefully took Felix, freeing up River's hands. River answered her daughter, this time in sign.
Terra didn't look too pleased, even with an understandable answer. River had never tried to speak with her excluding the occasional mouthed word and practicing her speech homework. Terra couldn't really lip read to begin with, and she certainly wasn't going to start now.
"[I'm sorry, Terra. I can't sign when I'm holding the baby.]" River apologized, reading her face.
"[Then why don't you have one of those baby sling thingies?]"
"[He's too little for that. He's only a few days old and putting him inside that before he's big enough could hurt him.]"
"[How?]" She looked confused.
"[There's no support for his head in the sling, and newborn babies need help supporting their heads.]"
"[What about the one that goes across your body like a banana?]" She gestured the shape of what she was describing.
River hesitated, "[That one's not so bad, but I'm not comfortable using it yet. He's still so little...]"
Terra sighed. "[But you know I can't understand you when you speak.]"
"[We're trying our best to make everything work.]"
Terra looked down at her plate. "[You promised this wouldn't happen.]"
"I don't know what to do." River sighed to her husband.
"I can hold Felix for dinner." He offered, knowing Terra wanted her mother to be able to sign.
"Okay." River nodded, glancing worriedly at the baby. Felix seemed just as content in the Doctor's arms as he was in River's, and the Doctor looked equally at ease with the newborn.
Terra pouted for a good portion of the meal regardless that River was making an extra effort to sign along with her words. When school was mentioned, Terra was quick to take the option of staying home.
"[Are you sure you don't want to go to school? Don't you miss your friends?]"
Terra stared down at the table. She didn't have as many friends as her other siblings did and the ones she did have she saw frequently over summer. "[I want to stay.]"
River frowned, "[Okay...]"
Terra looked defeated at River's expression. "[Can I be excused?]"
"[Sure.]" River nodded.
Terra hurried from the table, a quiet settling over everyone. River sighed, looking at her husband.
"I'll talk to her after dinner." He whispered, squeezing her hand under the table.
She nodded slowly, "Alright..."
Felix was starting to fall asleep once again as the kids tried to make small talk. Vastra and Jack tried to help the conversation along as well. Regardless of the effort, dinner still ended on a bit of an awkward note. Terra had left her plate mostly untouched.
"Do you want me to come with you to talk to Terra?" River asked the Doctor after dinner.
"We should both talk to her." He looked over at Vastra. "Would you mind taking Felix for a little while?"
"I wouldn't mind." Vastra shook her head, taking the baby from his arms. Felix remained asleep as his parents made their way upstairs.
River held the Doctor's hand tightly, anxious about dealing with their daughter. They stood outside her door.
"Ready?" He asked.
"I guess so." She sighed.
He offered a weak smile before opening the door. They stepped inside, flicking the lights for the girl.
Terra was hiding under her covers, refusing to look up. River walked over to Terra's bed, sitting down beside the lump beneath the blankets and shaking her lightly. Begrudgingly, the girl poked two watery eyes out from beneath the sheets.
River opened her arms up for her, wanting to comfort her. Terra didn't meet her eyes, trying hard not to let her tears spill over. The moment she fell into her mother's arms she couldn't hold back her sobs. River held her daughter tightly, humming.
Terra cried for a long time, not stopping until her body was too tired to produce anything more than shuddering breaths. River rubbed her back, continuing to hold her even when she finished crying.
"[Terra, my love, why did you want to leave dinner early?]" The Doctor started gently.
She sniffed, "[Because you only care about the baby.]"
"[Why do you think that, dear?]"
"[Because Mummy doesn't sign when she's holding him and you want me to go to school.]"
He didn't jump to defense immediately, not wanting to invalidate what she as feeling. "[We're going to let you stay home from school this week because of what happened.]"
"The whole week?" River frowned, feeling as though a week was a bit much.
"It's mostly half days anyway," he pointed out.
"But still, if we let her stay home the whole week, she'll want to stay home next week too. It'll be too hard to get her to go back."
"How long did you have in mind?"
"Two days at most."
Terra was starting to frown at all the speaking that was happening above her. "[What are you saying?]" She asked impatiently.
"[We're talking about school.]" River signed, "[You can stay home tomorrow if you really want to, but I'd rather you go to school.]"
Terra looked hurt. "[Is it because you don't want me here?]"
"[No, it's because school is important and I don't want you to miss it.]" River defended.
Terra glared away from her. "[This is what Kyle said would happen.]"
River frowned, [What do you mean?]"
"Kyle's the boy who was pushing her last school year," the Doctor recalled. One of the main reasons was that Kyle had functioning hearing aids which Terra's profound deafness didn't allow for.
"[He said that the only reason I was getting a brother was so you could have a hearing baby and now you don't even sign with me and he was right!]" Terra said this all quite quickly and was in tears yet again by the end of it.
"[That is not true at all.]" River shook her head, "[Kyle doesn't know what he's talking about.]"
"[But everything he said would happen is happening.]"
"[That's because Kyle has a younger brother too. He knows what it's like to have a baby in the house. Everything that he said would happen is happening because that's just what happens when a new baby comes to the house. It's not because we don't love you or we wanted to replace you.]"
"[He said his parents stopped signing with him and made him talk all the time.]" She whimpered.
"[Well we're not going to make you do that.]" River assured her.
"[But at dinner you talked and didn't sign.]"
"[That's because I was holding the baby. I can't sign and hold the baby at the same time.]"
Terra nodded slowly, realizing that it sounded a little ridiculous to ask River to sign without hands. "[Why did you have him then?]"
"[It's a bit of a long story, my sweet.]" The Doctor started carefully. "[When we found out your mum was pregnant, we were happy. Not because we weren't happy enough with you or your siblings, but because we love you all so much we couldn't bear to change the course we were on.]"
"[So you didn't do it on purpose?]"
"[No. Not really.]"
Terra nodded, starting to feel a bit better. They stayed with her for a while, doing their best to iron out as many of Terra's insecurities as was possible at the moment. By the end of their talk, Terra was feeling a bit better. Although she still wasn't sold on the idea of having a brother, she was more accepting than she had previously been.
They stopped when Amelia came upstairs to inform them that Felix wasn't taking his bottle.
"Okay, we're coming." River rose to go take care of it. Terra followed her mother curiously downstairs.