They were back at the flat within two minutes, the Doctor carefully carrying Rose as she squirmed. It didn't hurt, it just felt weird.

Jackie started cooing round Rose like a mother hen as soon as she was in the bed and safely on her bed. The Doctor rolled his eyes knowing that it was about to get as domestic as domestic could get.

"How far apart are the contractions?" Jackie asked, brining in blankets, bowls of water, hot water bottles and god only knew what else.

"Mum," Rose panted. "I'm fine."

"Rose, love, you gotta tell me how far apart-"

"Every ten minutes," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. Rose smiled at him and Jackie looked puzzled.

"How do you know?" She asked suspiciously.

"Sympathy pains," the Doctor replied avoiding eye contact. In truth he was taking what little pain there was on purpose and making himself suffer so Rose wouldn't have to.

Ten hours later Rose was bored more than anything. She lay on her back staring at the ceilings as she felt her baby trying to kick its way into the world.

"It won't be long now," Jackie said, rubbing her daughters hand.

"About another hour," the Doctor whispered from Rose's other side, gently brushing her hair out of her face.

"How do you know?" Rose asked frowning slightly.

"Not the first time I've had to do this, remember," the Doctor said rubbing her cheek.

"What do you mean, 'not the first time'?" Jackie demanded. "You two haven't..?"

"No," the Doctor replied firmly. "This just won't be my first child."

"You mean you've got another girl shacked up somewhere?" Jackie looked at him furiously as though she were going to hit him.

"Time Lady not girl and no, because she and my child died during the Time War," the Doctor replied darkly, not taking his eyes off Rose. Jackie sat back down beside her daughter stunned.

"Oh, sorry," she mumbled.

"You didn't know," the Doctor said quietly.

Rose was bored to tears by the time the next hour had passed but luckily the Doctor was right and she did indeed find herself on the brink of giving birth.

The Doctor took her hand, grinning. She tried to grin back but couldn't manage it. Despite feeling no pain she felt exhausted and could only just hold on to consciousness.

"Rose?" She could hear her mum and the Doctor talking to her, but she couldn't make her ears listen anymore, she just wanted to sleep.

The Doctor put a hand to Rose's forehead.

"She's burning up," he said quietly. He looked back at her and could see that though she was awake she wasn't really aware of anything. "Rose, you've got to push, you can't rest yet, c'mon, you can do it."

Rose knew that she had to push but she couldn't muster the strength. She guessed it was the pain that got most women through childbirth, but then again, she reasoned, most women gave birth to human children.

"Rose, listen to me," the Doctor put a hand to her face. "You need to push. Remember what happened to Jack? Well the same thing's going to happen to your baby if you don't push."

Rose took several breaths trying to rouse herself and muster the energy to push. After several failed attempts she looked up at the Doctor again.

"I can't," she whispered feebly.

"You can," the Doctor replied encouragingly. "I promise you can go to sleep as soon as we're done. You're starting to develop an infection Rose, if you don't do this now, you won't have the chance."

Rose tried again, desperately willing her baby to pull through, to be all right. She couldn't think straight, she couldn't even hear the Doctor anymore, and the only thing that concerned her was her baby.

"We've got a head," Jackie said triumphantly looking up. The Doctor grinned and looked back at Rose, who was now so pale that she looked white against the pink of her duvet.

"C'mon, Rose," he said grasping her hand tightly. Her grip was beginning to fail and it was all she could do to keep her head up. The Doctor contemplated reaching out to her with his mind, but decided that in her fragile state she might not survive it. "Just a bit longer. One last big push."

Rose didn't know how she managed it, but she mustered the strength from somewhere to finally give birth before collapsing and slipping out of consciousness completely.

"Right," the Doctor said. "Jackie, I need you to look after the baby. I have to make sure Rose is alright."

"Don't you even want to know what gender it is?" Jackie asked as she wrapped the tiny child up in a blanket.

The Doctor paused as the fact that he was now a dad hit him full on. For a moment he couldn't speak as he looked at the small bundle of wriggling child that was his, his and Rose's.

"What is it?" He asked, swallowing as his throat suddenly became dry.

"Boy," Jackie replied smiling. The Doctor couldn't help laughing then.

"Fantastic," he glanced at Rose. "But if he's healthy then he'll have to wait. I know it sounds horrible to send him away when he's only been here a few minutes, but Rose needs me and if the mother dies, the child will suffer, trust me."

"Die?" Jackie stared at him wide eyed. "She's not going to die is she?"

"Not if I help her," the Doctor said. "Just take the little Tyler and keep him happy for a bit until I can get Rose's temperature down."

Jackie stared at her daughter for one last time before heading out of Rose's room and down the hallway. The Doctor turned back to the nineteen-year-old shop girl lying on the bed, shivering, a cold sweat breaking out despite the fact that she was boiling.

"Oh Rose," he said brushing the hair from her face. "You're so brave, you can't give up now."