The serene, museum-like atmosphere of the house gave way to a far more jovial and chaotic one as Patience's husband arrived home with the rest of the children in tow. Though it seemed children was a relative term, Rose realised as they entered the foyer to greet the family, the two eldest children appeared to be about her age in terms of physical development and the third was not much younger in appearance. The rest of the children seemed to range from about sixteen to eight years old and every one of them was dressed in the same rich reds and golds and oranges that seemed to be a theme throughout the household. As they all began shedding their coats, the oldest children stooping to help the youngest with buttons and toggles and stowing things neatly away, it became apparent that all but the oldest two were wearing some sort of school uniform comprised of a short red tunic over fitted trousers, secured around the waist with a belt.

Following The Doctor's lead, Rose hung back at the foot of the stairs, staying out of the way as Patience all but vanished into the small crowd, easily locating the man who must be her husband and helping him with his coat. He was handsome, Rose couldn't help but notice, wavy blond hair and warm, kind, if slightly mischievous smile as he slipped his arms around his wife, landing a quick kiss on her lips which earned him a chorus of complaints from the younger children.

Next to her, The Doctor sucked in a breath, distracting her from the sweet display in front of them and drawing her attention instead to where he was looking, right at the young man she had decided must be one of the eldest children. Had he been a little older, he likely would have been almost a carbon copy of his father, and unlike his younger siblings, wore a long red robe with an embroidered gold trim suggesting that he was no longer attending the same school as the others. It wasn't, however, his looks that had made The Doctor react, so much as the fact that he was staring straight at them, his face shifting from confused to concerned. In fact most of the children had seemed to notice them and were one by one beginning to stare in curiosity.

"Mother…" The oldest boy turned his frown on Patience, "What-"

"Oh yes!" Patience cut him off, pulling away from her husband and making her way back over to Rose and The Doctor, "These are your father's cousins, Rose and The Doctor. Their transport broke down nearby, so they will be staying the night."

For a long moment, no one said anything. It was obvious from the looks on the childrens' faces that none of them were buying that lie, but they seemed to have the good sense to not question their mother. Their father, on the other hand, seemed to take her word for it, instead doing a rather poor job of hiding significant discomfort at their presence, his smile growing strained, "Really? Just happened to be passing by, did you?"

"Erm, well…" The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "We're actually not quite where we intended to be…"

"Darling," Patience cut in gently, "It's alright. Why don't we all just get ready for supper."

For a long moment the tension was palatable as Patience and her husband seemed to share some sort of silent exchange, then he sighed slightly, clapping his hands together, "Well, you heard your mother. Go change for dinner."

There was another moment of hesitation and for a moment Rose thought one or two of the kids might argue back, but they seemed to know better, all but the oldest two and Anliss making their way up the stairs to change out of their school uniforms. And awkward silence fell over the foyer once the children were gone as they all seemed to try to figure out what to make of each other until Patience mercifully cleared her throat, motioning to the eldest children, "Doctor, Rose, this is Dunvald and Greya, our eldest two. Greya, darling, why don't you and your brother make our guests comfortable in the sitting room while your father helps me finish up dinner?"

The young man, Dunvald as he'd been introduced, looked like perhaps he was going to argue, but his sister grabbed his arm, giving him a gentle tug towards the set of doors on the right hand side of the room, closest to the front entrance, "Of course, Mother, we'll look after them." She paused and gave Rose a warm smile, though there was a notable twinkle in her eye that reminded Rose of The Doctor when he had a plan he didn't want everyone to know about just yet, "It's right this way."

A little nervous, Rose glanced at The Doctor only to find him already moving to follow, whatever thoughts or feelings he had about how this situation was going hidden behind one of his infamous stormy expressions.

Scrambling to catch up, she followed The Doctor and the two eldest children into the sitting room which, much like the rooms upstairs, seemed far too large to be accommodated by the floorplan that the house suggested it possessed. The dark wood floors from the kitchen were featured here, too, meeting almost seamlessly with the same wood panels that had covered half the walls in the foyer, though above them the wallpaper was a stark white and gold instead of red that was echoed in the predominantly white, almost persian looking rugs that each set of furniture seemed bunched around. Much like the kitchen, one end of the room featured a large, arch shaped window with a window seat that looked out over the front yard and allowed an abundance of late afternoon sun to stream in, the stained glass border of the window dappling the rich red wood of the grand piano that sat before it. Despite the majesty of the window, the fireplace was clearly intended to be the main feature of the room, the dark wood and red velvet antique furniture all seeming to be carefully positioned around its huge wood and green marble mantle which dominated the far wall almost as much as the painting of the severe looking dark haired couple that hung above it. The whole thing was a little too formal to be truly comfortable, in Rose's opinion, and The Doctor seemed to agree on some level, eying the painting and then taking a seat as far away from it as the sofa would allow.

Sitting beside him, Rose watched Greya buzz around the room, picking a knit blanket off the couch across from them and folding it, like she wasn't going to be able to settle with it not in it's proper place. She was far more like her mother than her father, Rose noted, not just in her petite frame and long black hair, braided and twisted into a tight bun at the base of her skull, but also in her energy and mannerisms, and yet, as she took her seat across from them, her piercing blue eyes landing on them, Rose imagined that this is what everyone else in the universe felt like when The Doctor grilled them.

Seeming to share her nerves about how Greya was regarding them, The Doctor shifted uncomfortably beside her, eyes darting from her to Dunvald, who had found a place leaning against the mantle. Some sort of silent exchange seemed to pass between them for a moment before The Doctor cleared his throat, "You're not going to buy the whole-"

"Cousin story?" Dunvald cut him off, raising an eyebrow, "Not even for a second."

"It's going to take a little more than a new face for us to not recognize our own father." Greya pointed out, "I'm surprised you didn't recognize yourself out there."

"Well… it turns out I'm not very good at that." The Doctor admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You're lucky you didn't." Dunvald's voice had a low, warning tone to it, like he was the parent and The Doctor was a child that needed scolding, "You of all people know how many laws you're breaking by being here."

"It wasn't intentional, Dunvald." The Doctor frowned at the young man, "It shouldn't have even been possible. And believe me, we will be leaving as soon as our Tardis is physically capable."

"Do you to have to fight?" Greya sighed, like this was a common occurrence, "What's done is done, there's no use squabbling about it now."

"That's an interesting opinion for a member of the guard." Dunvald scowled at his sister, "He's putting the entire family at risk by being here."

The Doctor frowned deeply, "Believe me, that is the last thing I want. If there was any other option..."

"Because your friend is an alien?" Greya guessed, giving Rose a curious look, "I have a lot of questions about that, by the way. And the name."

"Questions he shouldn't answer." Dunvald pointed out.

The Doctor rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Your brother is right, it's probably best that I don't."

"Can I ask a question?" Rose ventured, hoping to break the tension a little.

Though Dunvald continued to look guarded and suspicious, Greya's expression turned from curiosity to that same warm, understanding smile as Patience had offered her earlier, "Of course you can. Rose, was it?"

"Um, yes." She tried to keep the nervous wobble from her voice as she glanced between the three Gallifreyans, "How do ya know who he is? He looks so different…"

"Oh, well… we're kin bonded." Greya provided, like it was obvious.

"There's a stronger than usual telepathic bond between close immediate family members," The Doctor elaborated, "Parents and children, close siblings, spouses, ect. Helps us recognise each other if one or both were to unexpectedly regenerate."

Rose couldn't help feeling a bit impressed, "Oh, that's quite clever actually."

"Does make situations like this a bit awkward, though." Greya pointed out.

"Because situations like this aren't supposed to happen." The irritation was clear in Dunvald's voice, but it earned him only a withering glare from his sister.

"Thank you, Dunvald, we've established that already. There's no point in continuing to harp on it." She snapped, then turned her attention back to Rose, "So, were abouts do you-"

"Shhh, they're fighting!" Interrupted a girl's voice, making a poor attempt at a whisper. Glancing over to the door, Rose noticed that it had been cracked open slightly, just enough for three little faces to be peeking through. "Ooops…"

The child in the middle disappeared from the crack in the door, but clearly did not escape quickly enough to avoid coming face to face with Dunvald as he strode across the room and yanked the door open. A girl of about ten and two boys of about eight and twelve, all with various shades of brown hair and blue eyes, practically tumbled through the door, wide eyed and clearly a little sheepish about being caught.

The older boy seemed to recover the quickest, straightening up and giving the room what he no doubt considered to be his most charming smile, "Oh, hi guys!"

"It's very rude to spy on people, you know." Dunvald informed them, hands on his hips, a clearly unimpressed look on his face.

"We just wanted to see!" The girl protested, crossing her arms and pouting at the accusation.

Dunvald frowned even more, "Oh, well, that makes it all okay then."

"You can't blame them for being curious." The Doctor protested as the eight year old's bottom lip began to tremble, holding his arms out to the boy and pulling him into a hug to comfort him, "It's not every day your dad from the future turns up."

"You're too soft on them." Dunvald declared, moving to sit on the couch next to Greya, seeming to sense he'd lost any semblance of authority when The Doctor countered him. "You never would have let me get away with that."

"I know." A regretful tone entered The Doctor's tone as he gazed at the young man, "I wish I had."

An odd look passed over Dunvald's face and whatever further arguments he had seemed to die on his lips, which the younger kids seemed to take as a signal of victory, clambering onto the sofa with The Doctor and Rose. Settling between them, the little girl beamed at Rose, flipping one of her long, dark brown braids over her shoulder, "I'm Nix!"

"That's a cool name." Rose smiled in spite of the tension that was still obvious in the room, "I'm Rose."

"Theodax." The lanky pre-teen boy on the other side of her declared. He was slightly fairer haired than his sister, but nowhere near as fair as Dunvald, but clearly shared his sister's precocious nature. "Are you an alien?"

"Theo!" Greya protested, "That's very forward!"

Rose blinked in surprise at the question, but quickly recovered, shaking her head, "No, it's alright. Yeah, I guess I am an alien. I don't usually think about myself like that."

"Why?" The little boy in The Doctor's arms piped up, peering at her from behind his bicep with big blue eyes. Like most of his siblings, his hair was a shade of brown, but he clearly hadn't grown into that lanky frame that seemed prevalent in the other children, instead still being quite round-cheeked and soft with baby fat.

"She probably thinks we're the aliens." Theodax pointed out.

An even more confused look crossed the boy's face, "I'm not."

"You would be if you went to another planet." Theodax countered in a tone of voice that earned him a disapproving look from his eldest two siblings.

"That's enough, you two." Dunvald scolded, "Shouldn't you be setting the table for dinner anyways?"

"Klia said we were doing it wrong." Nix announced, the corner of her lips twitching upwards in a way that made Rose suspect that it had been intentional. "She said we should go be out of the way."

"Well, you haven't done that very well, now have you?"

An almost comical look of anger flashed across Nix's face as she opened her mouth to snipe back at her brother, but mercifully, whatever argument was about to break out between the two was interrupted by the door opening once again. The girl who poked her head in the room was, like all the rest of the children, pretty, maybe around fourteen years old with shoulder-length blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, though Rose couldn't help but think her mum would say her looks were rather spoiled by the sullen look on her face.

"Mother says you can come to the table now."