Ch 94
"So, in short, what we're asking is if one of you wouldn't mind having the downstairs office be your new bedroom." The Doctor and River sat in the living room with their eldest daughters cross from them.
"I'll take it!" Freya jumped on the offer, knowing the downstairs office was bigger than her current bedroom.
"Amelia, you're okay with this?" he asked.
She shrugged, "I guess so"
"Right, I guess that settles that, then. Are you two packed to go to Vastra's tomorrow?"
The two nodded.
"Are you sure you still want to go? You could stay here with us if you'd like." River offered, yet again.
"Mum, we've been planning this with Vastra since our birthday!" Freya reminded. "It's going to be fine."
"I... know, I suppose I'm just nervous about you being gone for so long."
"It's not like we've never been away overnight before."
"Aunt Vastra already told us how to work her phone," Amelia added. "So we can call whenever."
"You're right." River sighed. It wasn't unknown for River to be protective of her children, but she seemed to be taking it up a level ever since she had found out she was pregnant. "But we'll miss you."
"We're not leaving today," Amelia assured. "We can have family dinner tonight or something."
"Right, of course, we can." She nodded, smiling weakly, "We haven't told Arthur and Terra about the baby yet, so please don't mention it to them."
"Is it going to be deaf like Terra?" Freya asked.
River hesitated, "We...don't know yet. We've been running tests and as of right now, it doesn't look like the baby will be deaf. We won't know for sure for another few weeks."
"When do you find out its sex?"
"When you come home we can find out." River offered.
They looked quite pleased with this. "Can we help pick out a name?"
"We will consider any reasonable suggestions you make." River nodded.
"I've got an idea!" Arthur's voice piped up from the doorway.
The four of them turned their heads. "Oh, Arthur! You weren't, um, listening to all of that, were you?" The Doctor asked slowly.
"Well...kinda. I wanted to know what you were talking about! Do you think the baby's going to be a boy? I don't really want another sister."
The Doctor looked at River, smiling softly. "So much for saving the announcement..."
She squeezed his hand, looking at the kids, "Please, don't tell Terra. We want to tell her ourselves."
Arthur nodded, joining them on the couch. "Yeah, yeah. But it'll be a boy, right?"
"You know that I can't promise that it'll be a boy." River shook her head.
"Oh. Okay." He stared at her middle for a second. "It doesn't look like there's a baby in there."
"I've been trying to hide it so you three wouldn't notice." She murmured, smoothing back the baggy fabric of her dress.
Arthur looked delighted at the small bump. The twins appeared equally pleased, though tried to act a bit more cool about.
"When will it come out?" Arthur asked.
"In about five more months." River beamed.
Arthur looked focused for a moment as he counted on his fingers. "So... October? Ish?"
River nodded, "Probably right before Halloween."
"We should name it Jack," he decided, cheeks round with his smile.
River laughed, "What do you think of that, Doctor?"
"I don't think so," he crossed his arms. "We won't be thinking about names for a little while anyway. When we get closer to the due date."
"Whatever you say, my love." River leaned in to kiss his cheek.
-x-
Terra's fever was still up when the Doctor left to get the other kids from school, so she stayed home with River and Felix. They had decided to sift through some of the nursery decorations since Terra wasn't allowed to watch telly until later.
River set Felix down for another nap while they sorted through the nursery decorations. Mostly it was just looking through the last of the pictures to be put up or taken down, but Terra got distracted along the way and was rummaging through the bookshelf.
Terra had taken one of the Gallifreyan fairytales from Felix's shelf and curled up next to his cot to read it while River pruned the walls.
Felix was still asleep by the time the Doctor came home with the other kids. By this time, River had finished with the pictures and was sitting in the rocking chair, pretending to read a book of her own—though she was really just watching Terra and Felix.
Arthur came up the stairs, peering into the nursery. "Oh, you changed the pictures."
River put her book down, standing up, "Do you like them?"
He nodded, glancing at his sister and brother. Terra seemed to be nodding off. "Is she still sick?"
"Yes, she still has a bit of a fever, but she's getting better, I think."
Arthur crouched by Terra to have a look at Felix. "Mia and Freya have homework on the first day. Am I going to have homework on the first day of sixth form?"
"You might." She nodded, walking over to stand next to him, "But I don't know for sure."
He deflated slightly, then remembered it wasn't for at least another year and shrugged it off. "Did I miss anything?"
"Not really." River assured him, "We just spent the day with Felix and Terra. How was school?"
"Fine. We didn't really do anything except re-introductions and stuff," he answered. "It was kinda boring."
"I'm sure it'll get more exciting as time goes on." She offered.
He looked up at her and then down at Felix again. "When can we go on an adventure again?"
"I'm not sure, sweetie. Not for a little while, but you'll be so busy with school that you won't notice."
"I'd rather go on an adventure than do homework," he mumbled, then said louder. "Why not this weekend? Please?"
"Felix is too little. He's not old enough to go out yet." She shook her head.
"Oh," he frowned. "Well, when will he be?"
"Five months."
"We have to wait five months to go on a trip? Can't we just have one without him?"
"Five months isn't that long. Who will stay with him if he doesn't come?"
"We have a time machine. We can all go and come back and he'll only be alone for 30 seconds," he pointed out.
"No, Arthur. We will not be doing that." She shook her head, "What if we make a mistake and we come back later than we mean to?"
"Oh." Arthur looked stumped to come up with an answer for this. Felix started to wake up and Arthur made an escape back downstairs.
River turned, going to lift the baby. Felix whined as he was lifted. He caught hold of River's finger when he was in her arms and held it as firmly as an infant could, calming. River hushed him softly, rocking him back and forth.
The Doctor came into the nursery quietly. River didn't notice, her back to the door as she hummed to the baby. He watched and listened for a little while, taking in the sight of River with their baby.
Eventually, he made himself known by tapping on the door frame. She turned, smiling at him, "Hello."
He smiled back warmly. "That song sounds familiar."
She walked towards him, kissing his cheek, "Does it?"
"Yeah... where have I heard it before?"
"It's the song we danced to at one of our weddings."
His smile widened. "Of course. Now how could that slip my mind?" He looked down at Felix, wagging a finger at him. "Do you like that song?"
Felix cooed, reaching for the Doctor's finger. He fawned over Felix for a moment before Terra caught his eye. She was still asleep in her spot by the cot. "I should bring her to her room."
"I can bring her if you want to take the baby." River offered.
"Alright," he agreed, taking Felix.
Felix began to fuss as he was shifted out of his mother's arms. "It's alright, my little star," The Doctor murmured. "Mummy's right there, you're not going that far. There we are." He started humming, picking up the song where River had left off.
River went to pick up Terra, bringing her to her bedroom.
Terra stirred slightly as she was being put to bed. "[Still don't feel good.]"
"[Do you want more medicine, my love?]" River offered.
"[It tastes bed.]" She said. It wasn't really a no.
"[I'm going to get you more medicine.]" River kissed her forehead. Terra nodded meekly.
River left, returning after a few minutes with some more medicine but Terra was sound asleep again. River sat down on Terra's bed, deciding not to disturb the girl. Mr. Thomas made a quiet entrance into the room, slinking up onto the end of Terra's bed.
All three cats were getting quite old by now at just past twelve years old. Mr. Thomas wasn't as thin as Tiber, but his fur was losing shine and one could feel his shoulder blades easily through his fur. He rubbed against River.
River pet the cat, sitting and watching over her daughter. It was a long while before Amelia poked her head into the room. "Oh, there you are."
"Is everything okay?" River asked.
"Yeah, 'ts fine. Dad wants to know if you're okay with pasta for dinner."
"That's fine."
"Is she still sick?" Amelia nodded towards her sister.
"Yes, I'm afraid so." River sighed.
"Oh." She came further into the room, peering at Terra. "But it's just the flu or something, right?"
"I think so... we ran some tests and nothing unusual came up, but I think I'm going to do a few more just to be sure."
"Okay," Amelia nodded, fidgeting with her hands a bit.
"Are you okay?" River asked.
"Yeah," said quickly. "Can, um, can we practice in the range after dinner?" River often gave the twins lessons in the TARDIS shooting range but hadn't for the time Missy was on the ship.
River frowned, noticing that something was still off about her daughter, "What's wrong?"
Amelia sighed, having a feeling she couldn't wiggle her way out of this. "I just can't get everything Freya told me out of my head. I thought school might help that but it didn't."
River sighed, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "
Alright. We can go to the range tomorrow if you'd like." She didn't want her daughters to think that using their blasters was a way of releasing emotions.
"Thanks."
Amelia went back downstairs, Mr. Thomas getting up and following suit. River followed as well since Terra was still fast asleep.
The Doctor was at the stove, already getting dinner ready. Felix was tucked neatly into his left arm, making the baby appear even smaller than he was. He wasn't asleep instead watching with mild interest as his father cooked with one free hand.
"Do you need help?" River asked softly. "Oh, um." he turned around, a wooden spoon in his free hand. Felix looked delighted at the sight of his mother. "I wouldn't say no."
"Do you want me to take over with the food?"
"That'd be great," he agreed.
She took the spoon from him, getting to work on the food. The Doctor adjusted Felix in his arms so the boy could watch River cook.
"Amelia is upset." River mentioned.
"Why?" He frowned.
"She's upset about what Freya told her." She sighed, not looking at him.
"Oh. That's... understandable," the Doctor murmured. "I take it she said something to you about it."
"Yes, and she wanted to go to the range tonight." Usually, it was Freya who asked to go and mostly because it made her feel cool, not for any kind of emotional distress.
"Did you say yes?"
"I told her to wait until tomorrow."
"That's a good call," he agreed. "She didn't go into specifics, did she?"
"No, she didn't want to talk about it."
He frowned slightly at this. Amelia didn't usually bring up something that was troubling her unless she wanted to talk about it. "Do you think we would try to get her to?"
She nodded slowly, "Maybe. I think it wouldn't hurt."
"I'll try after dinner." He volunteered.
"Okay. That sounds good."
Felix grabbed onto the Doctor's finger and promptly tried to stick it in his mouth. The Doctor tutted and pulled out a pacifier, offering it instead.
"He keeps doing that. He probably needs to eat soon." River murmured.
"If you want to feed him before dinner, I can finish cooking."
"Okay." She nodded, going over to take the baby, "I'll be back in a bit."
"Would you wake Terra on your way down and see if she wants to eat?"
"Yes. Actually, I wanted to run a few more tests on her." River murmured, "I'm worried."
"Does she have any more symptoms?" He glanced from the stove to her.
"She's sluggish, and she keeps running a fever even though we've been giving her medicine." She watched him, obviously quite concerned.
"Well, she hasn't eaten much today..." he pointed out, "but if you want to do the tests, go ahead."
River kissed his cheek before going back upstairs with the baby.