Title: Domestic Travels

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from 'Doctor Who' episodes, books, or general canon, is not mine. Izzy, Tim, Rose's extended family and the storyline are mine, however.

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground' and 'Domestic Space'. I highly recommend reading at least the latter, because otherwise a lot of this won't make any sense. This is the third instalment in the larger 'Domestic' universe.

Notes 2: Gallifrey is back, through means unknown to any except Bad Wolf. Old friends have appeared, and more will come, as time and space are woven into knots by Bad Wolf. Something is very wrong with the fabric of the universe, and the Doctor is torn between protecting his wife and unborn child, and saving Gallifrey. Things are going to get a lot more complicated. He never really planned for domestic.

Chapter Eight
The room was silent, all eyes focused on the couple at the bed. Rose, laying down, a baby held close to her. The Doctor, sat on the bed, holding another baby, gazing at it in wonder.

Susan stood near the door, careful not to get too close to either her future mother or her future uncle. Nyssa washed her hands at the sink in the corner, watching the family with a smile. The other former companions had crowded into the infirmary, eager to see the Doctor and to ensure Rose was alright. The Master stood to one side, watched over by Ian.

"Twins," the Doctor murmured. "It was twins." He glanced up at Rose, a strange expression on his face. "We have children."

Rose smiled tiredly at him. "Yeah," she said. "That alright?"

"Yeah," came the immediate answer. "Wow. He's so tiny." He touched the baby's toes gently. "Oh, my little boy," he said softly, not quite cooing but almost. Rose hid a smile, and shifted her daughter slightly as she started whimpering. The Doctor looked up immediately, concern written across his face. "She alright?" he wanted to know.

"She's just hungry," Nyssa said authoritatively, approaching the bed. "Are you going to breastfeed them, Rose?" The new mother nodded her head. "Alright then." She glanced over at the others. "Would you mind leaving?" she offered to them. "You can wait in the outer room."

"Of course," Sarah murmured. "We'll…we'll keep an eye on the Master." The Time Lord in question snorted, but the majority of his attention remained focused on Rose and her two babies.

"Come on," Tegan said curtly, glaring at him. "Move it."

The room slowly emptied, and Rose peeled away the robe she'd been dressed in by Nyssa.

"She'll instinctively want to suck," Nyssa instructed her quietly. "Just bring her to your breast." Rose adjusted herself, placing her nipple next to the baby's mouth. The child's mouth opened, and a moment later Rose gave a sharp gasp.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor demanded quickly, shifting slightly on the bed so that he was facing her more. "Rose?"

"Just…sort of hurts a bit. Like an ache," Rose managed after a moment. "S'that right?" she asked of Nyssa.

"Yes, it's perfectly normal," Nyssa nodded. "I'll leave you two alone for a bit – I'll be outside with the others." She departed, and Rose stretched out a hand to the Doctor.

"I love you," she said softly.

"I love you," he answered her, watching as she fed his daughter. "I was so worried," he confessed.

"I'm fine," she assured him, resting her head on the piles of pillows behind her. "I was a bit stupid, but…"

"Yeah." The Doctor's expression changed suddenly. "Accessing the power of Bad Wolf when you were alone and pregnant – "

"I've done it before," Rose cut across him. "When I was with Alistair and Doris, I had to use Bad Wolf." She stroked her daughter's arm. "I had to - I had to have you with me," she said helplessly. "And the Master was asking all these questions, and saying stuff…"

"What kind of stuff?" he wanted to know.

"He said Bad Wolf was a legend," she answered after a moment. "In all sorts of places. What did he mean, Doctor?" The baby in her arms released her breast, and she gave a slight grimace. "I mean, I know what Bad Wolf is, I know what I am – but what does that have to do with legends or whatever?"

The Doctor exhaled slowly. "Rose…"

"Theta, please," Rose entreated. "I need to know the truth. I thought I did, but…"

He looked down at his son as he answered, needing to avoid her eyes. "Bad Wolf…there are legends in...thousands of worlds about the Bad Wolf. There's similarities in a lot of them. Several different themes to the myth – like the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, they're told from different points of view."

"That's the one where he took her down to the underworld, right?" Rose said, struggling to remember. "And she ate something that meant she had to stay there…"

"That's right." The baby in his arms started to wail, and with a little difficulty the couple swapped children so Rose could feed their son.

"So there's myths about me," Rose murmured. "Good ones and bad ones."

"Destroyer, creator, mother, child, lover, sinner, saint," the Doctor said lightly. "I've got books…"

"So you knew about Bad Wolf before I became it?" Rose asked, voice dangerously calm.

"I didn't know it was you," he said quickly. "I had no idea until it was you until it actually happened. And my people…we were always discouraged from finding out about Bad Wolf. Not many of them knew about it, really. Romana knows a little. The Master…we were at school together, and we read about Bad Wolf by ourselves. So he probably knows as much as I did."

"Did?"

He gave her a genuine smile. "Yeah. I know a lot more about you now, my Rose. My Bad Wolf." She glanced away shyly. He changed the subject abruptly. "So. What're we gonna call them?"

Rose made a face. "God, I have absolutely no idea. I was thinking Jack, but then –" She stopped suddenly, eyes wide. "Where's Jack? And Ace, they're not in here are they?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose and then fell.

"Ah," he said.

Jack stood in the control room of the Master's TARDIS, frowning down at the screen before him.

"This doesn't make sense," he announced, more because he wanted to say it than because Ace was listening to him. She wasn't; she was investigating the wiring behind a roundel. "Ace," Jack said after a moment, trying to distract her so that she didn't fry the console by accident. "According to this, we're the only life forms on the ship."

"But that's impossible," Ace pointed out, putting the roundel back and fixing it into place with a thump from her clenched fist. "Even if the Master had left, the others would still be here. He was drugging us – he couldn't have got them all out like that."

"Exactly," Jack nodded. "It doesn't make sense." He switched the scanner to external, and raised his eyebrows. "Huh. The Doctor's TARDIS is there."

"It is?" Ace joined him and peered over his shoulder at the screen. "He still hasn't got the chameleon circuit fixed yet, then?"

"I don't think he wants to," Jack murmured. Ace shrugged. "So the question is…where's the Master?"

"If I know the Doctor, he's already got the Master tied up in knots," Ace said decisively. "Come on."

"Ace, wait –" Jack called out, but Ace had already opened the door and was leaving the Master's TARDIS. "He doesn't half pick them," the man muttered, following suit. "Ace, wait! We don't know –"

"Hello, Jack," the Doctor greeted cheerfully, standing at the door of his TARDIS. "How's things?" He grinned, and then switched his attention to Ace. "Ace, you're looking great." His grin grew even wider.

"Do you have Rose? Is she alright?" Jack demanded swiftly.

"Oh, she's fine," the Doctor said dismissively. "Tired, of course, but it was a tough birth." He shook his head, feigning confusion. "Dunno how we missed that it was twins…"

Jack stared, mouth open and eyes wide. "Twins – she's given birth? It was twins?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded smugly. "Girl and a boy, both a little underweight but otherwise healthy."

"That's fantastic," Ace said, smiling broadly. "And Rose is okay?"

"She's fine," the Doctor nodded. "Jack? You alright there?"

Jack finally managed to speak. "You – she – I'm an uncle!"

"Twice over," Ace put in. "You gonna stand there like an idiot, or are you gonna go and see them?" Jack didn't need telling twice – he hurtled past the Doctor, almost knocking him over, and disappeared inside the police box. Ace's smile faded a little, and she looked the Doctor over. "Interesting," she commented. "You told me about regeneration, of course, but…"

"It's not as if I can choose what I'm going to look like," he retorted. "You coming in, then?" He held the door open for her, and then closed it behind her. "And don't say it – everyone's said it."

"You've redecorated," Ace said cheekily, ignoring his long-suffering sigh. "It's very different." She moved across the control room to greet some of the other companions who were milling around. The Doctor, with a fond shake of his head, returned to the medical bay.

He found Jack and Rose both cooing over the children. Jack had the little boy, and Rose had her daughter.

"We've really got to name them," he announced his presence. Rose smiled up at him. "Well, we do. We can't just go around calling them 'boy' and 'girl'. It's not healthy for them. They need names."

"Well, like I said, I was thinking about Jack…" Rose trailed off as Jack looked at her, clearly unsure whether to be pleased or appalled. "But then that would get confusing," she finished. "Plus you don't need any more ego!"

"It's a lovely thought," Jack said. "But you're right, it could get very confusing." He stroked his finger down the baby's nose. "What about Pete?" he suggested.

The Doctor tilted his head, watching Rose. "S'a good name," he allowed. But Rose shook her head.

"No, I couldn't," she said. "I'd never be able to say it without…anyway." She smiled down at her daughter. "That doesn't help this little angel."

Then she froze for a moment, staring at something beyond the physical. She bit her lip, and moved to lay her child in the crib next to the bed, and then she looked at her husband.

"I think there's something wrong," she said quietly. "You need to check the scanner." The Doctor frowned at her. "There's something wrong," she repeated. "Please." She reached to take her son from Jack.

"Oh god," Jack muttered. "How could I have forgotten? I just assumed Ace would tell you…"

"Tell me what?" the Doctor demanded sharply. "What's going on?"

"There's a fleet of ships heading here," Jack explained. "Dalek ships." The muscles in the Doctor's jaw tightened. Rose made a noise and held her baby close to her. "Hundreds of them."

"And you just…forgot to tell me this?" the Doctor asked, cold fury lacing his words. "Jack –"

"I must have brought them back," Rose said quietly. "When I brought back Gallifrey…what if I turned back time, instead of reopening Gallifrey's possibilities?"

Jack nodded. "That's what I figured," he said, not entirely without sympathy. "It would explain a lot."

"But we ran tests, projections," the Doctor murmured. "Romana and me…if we didn't pick it up, then how…" He looked straight at Rose. "We've got to go back to Gallifrey," he said decisively. "We can work from there."

"What about everyone else?" she wanted to know. "Sarah, and Nyssa, and everyone?"

"We can't just drop them back where they were," Jack nodded. "They deserve more than that."

"I've a feeling we won't have to worry about them," the Doctor said slowly. "It's a bit complicated, but…" He shook himself. "Anyway, before anything else happens, I want to have a chat to the Master."

"Don't hurt him," Rose cautioned. "He didn't really hurt me, or any of the others."

"That's beside the point," the Doctor said, folding his arms. "Messing about with time? He knows better, or he ought to." His expression turned sulky for a moment. "Did better than I did, in the academy."

Rose laughed. "Oh, you're not jealous, are you?"

"No," he said quickly. "Right, you stay here, and I'll –"

"Oh, no," she interrupted him. "You're not going anywhere without me." She motioned for Jack to pick up her daughter. "C'mon. If you're going to talk to the Master, I'm going to be there."

"Is there anything you will allow me to say in my defence?" the Master inquired the moment the Doctor entered the small room that had become a temporary cell.

"Not likely," the Doctor snapped, and held the door open for Rose and Jack, each carrying a baby. He took note of the fact that the Master flinched back slightly at the sight of Rose. "Right. Let's get the obvious out of the way first."

"Yes, let's," the Master drawled. "What…delightful children, my dear Doctor."

"Thanks," the Doctor returned, refusing to be perturbed by his old school-mate. "I'm ecstatic. We're thinking of calling them Rassilon and Omega." His companions both choked back laughter. The Master raised one eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. "Not that it's any of your business."

"No," the Master conceded, tilting his head slightly. "But there is something that is." His gaze moved to Rose again.

"Don't you look at her," the Doctor ordered, voice low and fierce.

"It's alright, Doctor," Rose said absently. "I don't care."

"I do," the Doctor snapped, as did Jack. They exchanged grimly amused looks, and then the Doctor turned back to the Master. "Why did you take all of them? What could you possibly hope to gain?"

"Your attention," the Master said silkily. "What else? I hoped to lure you into a trap."

"Liar," Rose said flatly. "You want something else. If it was just the Doctor you wanted, you wouldn't have got all the companions from all over. The other Doctors'll be turning up now, and you know it."

"They don't know I took the Doctor's pathetic crowd," the Master sneered. "How could they?"

"Because I know," Rose shrugged one shoulder, careful not to displace the baby. "And I'm Bad Wolf."

Once again the Master flinched, and this time the Doctor spoke up.

"What have you heard?" he asked. "Why are you so afraid?"

"And you're not?" the Master demanded in return. "You know the myths as well as I do."

"Better," the Doctor said calmly. "Since I've seen the creation of Bad Wolf." The two Time Lords looked at each other for a long moment, and then the Doctor looked to Rose. "I don't think you know what Bad Wolf is," he said, still speaking to the Master. "You have no idea."

"I know enough to know it's dangerous!"

"I'm dangerous?" Rose said, laughing. "Oh, that's a laugh." She pressed a kiss to her son's head. "Most dangerous thing I ever did was take him near my mum," she continued, jerking her head towards her alien husband. "I'm not dangerous."

"You've been the destruction of a hundred worlds," the Master pointed out, folding his arms. "How can I say anything but?" A muscle twitched in the Doctor's jaw.

"She hasn't done that," he said. "Not yet – not ever. And you can't exactly talk."

"Perhaps not," the Master accepted, inclining his head. "As I said, you will not allow me to say anything in my defence."

"I've heard it all before," the Doctor muttered. "Centuries ago." He took his daughter from Jack's arms. "This is the present. This is my present. And you think I care for your petty schemes?"

"No." The Master looked away momentarily. "But you cannot blame me for being true to my nature."

"This isn't your nature," Rose said quietly. "You're a Gallifreyan. A Time Lord. If I know anything, it's that none of you are naturally inclined to hurting others. What did the Doctor ever do to you? Is it just that you were at school together? You're both hundreds of years old, grow up a bit."

"Oh, if only it were that simple," Jack put in, concealing a smile with difficulty. "I'm sensing some unresolved sexual tension…"

"No!" resounded through the room from both the Doctor and the Master. They bore twin expressions of horror on their faces.

"But could you picture the Castellan's face, if we ever did?" the Doctor added reflectively after a moment.

"I should go and check on the others," Susan murmured, leaning against the wall. Her eyes didn't move from Jack. "Some of them…they're quite confused."

"Yeah, I guess they are," Jack nodded. He sat on the armchair, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on his knees. "I think they're alright though."

"Still, I should…" Susan trailed off. She wrapped her arms around herself. "Are…are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "The Master didn't do anything to us."

"He shot you," she reminded him, stepping closer. He touched his stomach and shrugged.

"Stunned me," he corrected. "Wasn't out for long. No permanent damage, just one heck of a bruise. It'll heal in no time." She still looked worried, so he offered her a smile. "Promise," he added. "C'mon, you know me – I'm indestructible."

"You're human," she retorted, "and fragile. That's the first thing my grandfather taught me when we arrived on Earth – and it's true! I saw friends die, killed by the Daleks, and then you –" Her breath caught in her throat.

Alarmed, Jack rose and crossed the room. "Susan, what? What's wrong?" He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "C'mon, tell me."

"I was scared," she whispered after a moment. "I was so scared. He had Grandma, and you, and – and Grandfather was so worried, I've never seen him like that before, he didn't know what to do, and all I could think was –"

Jack cut her off, dipping his head and pressing his mouth to hers. She froze for a moment, then her eyes closed and she leaned into him. Her hands rested on his shoulders, his on her waist. Her lips parted, his tongue slipped into her mouth.

Then:

"What the hell is going on here?"

Jack and Susan separated at once. Susan's fingers went to touch her lips; Jack shoved his hands in his pockets as they faced the Doctor.

"Hi," Jack said, offering a tentative smile. "Rose asleep?"

"What were you doing to my grand-daughter?" the Doctor demanded coldly, advancing on Jack. The human took a step backwards, then another. He tried, but as ever it was hard not to be intimidated by the Doctor.

"The main difference in that is 'with'," he said quickly. "It's what I was doing 'with' your grand-daughter…and that isn't helping, is it?" The Doctor opened his mouth, about to start on a rant of epic proportions, when Susan stepped between them.

"Stop it," she snapped. "Stop it!"

Startled, he closed his mouth.

"I know everything you're going to say," she said in a low voice. "But it's my choice. Just like it was your choice to love Rose, and you can't say nothing good's come of that. If you and Rose weren't married, weren't together, I would never have been born, and your entire existence would have been different. Who's to say that Jack and I can't – can't be together?" She paused. "Unless you don't trust Jack?" she suggested.

"I trust Jack with my life," the Doctor said, gaze moving from Susan to Jack and then back again. "But I cared for you when you were a child. It might have been centuries ago for me, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten. And don't you think this family's confusing enough without adding Jack to the mix?"

"He's already part of the family," Susan retorted. "And you know it!"

"Doctor? What's going on?"

The Doctor turned to see Sarah Jane in the doorway, eyebrows raised.

"Turlough sent me to tell you that the Dalek fleet will be here in three standard hours," she continued when no-one said anything. "And the Scottish man – Jamie? He's getting rather upset."

The Doctor sent a glare at Susan and Jack. "This isn't over," he warned them before leaving the room, Sarah trailing after him.

"I'm sorry," Jack offered after a long, silent moment.

"Don't be," Susan said quietly. "We should talk to Rose – she could probably help us with Grandfather."

"Susan, what –"

She turned, a strange expression on her face. "Jack, don't. Don't say anything." She stepped towards him and pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. "I've got to go and help Grandfather. We'll talk later."

To be continued.

There'll be one more chapter to this, just to warn you, and then the next installment will start. I'm not making any promises with regards to updating - my ME's quite bad at the moment, and I'm spending too much of my time asleep to do much writing! As always, thanks gor your reviews - they mean a lot to me.