"ROSE!"
The Doctor raced toward his fallen companion, heedless of the threat that still remained to himself.
"DOCTOR. COMFIRMED ENEMY. EXTERMINATE."
The Doctor looked up from cradling Rose in his arms, and the power radiating from his look paused Dalek Bas in his tracks.
"Oh that's right. Exterminate. Like the Time Lords did to the rest of you!" His voice was so full of anger that he wouldn't have been surprised if they could hear him all the way back on earth. "Where is your great army now, eh?! They're gone. And now you've taken the one thing in this universe that matters to me, and you are going to pay. YOU will be exterminated!"
The Doctor didn't know what he was going to do, but he had nothing left to lose. He was about to charge the Dalek head on when he noticed something peculiar. There was a sign on the wall, directly behind the Dalek, some sort of directive for the layout of the ship, but that was not the strange part. The odd thing was what was written on the sign, what he was sure had not been there a moment ago. The bold, white letters spelled out two short words, two words that he didn't think he would ever see again: Bad Wolf. Suddenly, the room was suddenly bathed in golden light. The Doctor turned and saw Rose, on her feet again, shining with light, one hand still pressed to the TARDIS, the other outstretched toward the Doctor and his enemy.
"I see it now. This is the end and the beginning. The Bad Wolf returns home when home is gone, and life exists renewed. Dalek, I banish you from this place, from this time, from this universe. You are gone."
A stream of gold light extended from Rose's hand and enveloped the Dalek, which then dissolved into mist as it was transported away from the Time Lord ship, back to its distant origins in the Time War. The Doctor tentatively stepped toward Rose, who turned her face to him and he saw her eyes filled with the spinning Time Vortex. He had no clue if she was still alive or if the Vortex was using her body as a portal. How it even remained in her he had no idea - their very first kiss should have removed it all from her, leaving her safe and clean of the influence of the Time Vortex. She opened her mouth to speak again, and the Doctor waited for the Bad Wolf to assess him.
"Doctor."
With that final word, the glow left the room, Rose's eyes fluttered shut, and she slumped against the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor grabbed her before her head hit the floor and was relieved to feel a shaky breath shudder through her body. He pushed at the door of the TARDIS and found it open for him, though the old key had been removed from around his neck in the hospital bay. He carried Rose's convulsing form into the console room and rested her gently on the jump seat. He found his sonic screwdriver in his breast pocket and fired up the console to do scans when the silence stopped him short. Rose's laboured breathing had stopped. The Doctor dropped to his knees beside her, twining his fingers with hers and looking frantically at her still body.
This can't be it, not now. Our life is finally coming together, I saved her! I SAVED HER!
"I SAVED HER! I! SAVED! HER!"
The Doctor's voice broke and he stood up, silent and still. His TARDIS hummed quietly, and his two hearts beat in his ears and none of it mattered. The universe had defeated him again. For the first time since arriving in this world, he wished to change places with his double from Rose's universe. To be separate from her but to know she was happy and alive, living in ignorant bliss of the horror that was knowing that she was gone.
The Doctor didn't know what to do with himself. A high pitched wail broke through his shock and he silently begged the TARDIS to stop, that he couldn't bear the grief of two. But the sound didn't stop, and he thought he would go mad from the noise and the tide of emotions flowing through him. Then the wail turned into words.
"DOCTOR! Help me!"
Rose could feel the fire coursing through her veins, burning her from the inside out. It felt like she had been dipped into a pool of lava and was slowly being melted away. Every nerve in her body screamed in agony.
"Doctor!" she cried again.
"Rose, you're ok!" His exclamation rattled her. She was decidedly not ok, and had she been able to talk through the pain, she would have told him just that. She heard him gasp, and the secret that the kind Time Lady who nursed her back to health had whispered in her ear was confirmed as she was blinded by energy swirling around her. The strange awareness she had felt since waking in the hospital bay, the signs on the Gallifreyan ship that Rose could suddenly read. The Doctor might not fully understand yet, but Rose knew without a doubt that she was about to change from the pink and yellow human the Doctor loved so much. But this was not what she remembered from the last time, when her leather-clad, big-eared Doctor changed into a beanpole with pinstripes and wild hair. The energy was concentrated around her stomach and the pain there was becoming unbearable.
"Doctor - what's - it - doing!?" She shoved the words out through teeth ground in pain, trying to prevent another scream from shredding her vocal cords.
" It doesn't make sense Rose! I mean, - you? then the Dalek - and the energy - baby - energy!" Rose watched his eyes get wide and his face start to break out in the grin he always wore when he thought he was being clever. She would have smacked him across the face if she wasn't in immobilizing pain, but at the same time it was oddly comforting to be in crisis mode with the Doctor by her side. It brought back memories.
"Explain," she worked out through gritted teeth. But instead of launching into an incomprehensible babble of explanations as per usual, the Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS, then gently picked up Rose and carried her inside. He couldn't get farther than the console before the energy surrounding her body threatened to scorch him. She saw through hazy eyes as he slowly backed away.
"Rose, listen to me. I know it hurts! But… You can't regenerate while you're supporting another life form, so… so your body is sending your regeneration energy to the baby. For now."
What?! What does that even mean? She tried to bring her mind back into focus and sure enough, she could feel the child inside her growing. Rose was about to yell at the Doctor again when the fire in her blood was replaced with a painful contraction. The golden light subsided and the Doctor rushed to her.
"What do I do?!" Rose asked in desperation.
"I don't know! You're having contractions!"
"YOU THINK?!"
"Well what do you want me to do?!"
"Something! Haven't you done this before?"
"No! You'd think in 900 years of time and space I'd have seen somebody give birth, but I couldn't even see my first kid's. Old Gallifreyan traditions, you know-"
"DOCTOR!"
Honestly, she thought, how did Mum do this twice? But then, she supposed her mother hadn't also been dying from both a Dalek laser and a burning Time Vortex at the time. The hours melted away and Rose wondered if it would ever end, when she heard the Doctor exclaim over the sound of her own voice. Quieting, she listened to a shrill cry and saw the Doctor lifted a tiny infant in his arms. Wrapping the child in his coat, he handed it to Rose, who was now lying silently on the ground.
"Rose, it's a boy!" he told her, smiling so wide that she thought his face might just tear. Slowly, she looked down into the face of her son. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Exhausted, she handed the baby to the Doctor and was about to sit up when she felt her blood begin to boil.
"Doctor, get away!" He did as she said. Her fingertips and toes started tingling, and within seconds the sensation had swept through her whole body like wildfire. Her head was forced backwards and as she stood up, the world erupted into golden light.
The Doctor stood back, helpless, watching as the form of his wife was engulfed in glowing energy. While he couldn't see her clearly, he himself had done this enough times to know that she was in pain. It's okay, Rose, it'll be over in a minute, just hang in there. He hated to see her suffer any more than she had already, but he also knew that this had to happen for her to survive.
The whole thing only lasted about thirty seconds total, and soon the swirling mist disappeared, leaving just the three of them alone on the TARDIS. Stumbling a bit, Rose made her way over to the Doctor, who was examining her new form.
"WHAT?!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Rose, panic rising in her voice.
"Nothing, it's just… You're ginger!"
"What?"
"Your hair! Why do you get to be ginger? I've always wanted to be ginger!"
"Doctor! Is now really the time?"
"Well, I suppose… But it's just not fair! Otherwise, though, you look exactly the same. I guess after the baby there wasn't enough energy left to give you a whole new body, just heal your old one."
"Doctor, the baby! Is he okay? Let me have him!"
"Well, there's no need to shout! Here," said the Doctor, handing the infant to Rose, who took him and started crying.
"He's beautiful."
"Yes he is," the Doctor said softly, his eyes watering as well. "So," he said quickly, brushing away the tear on his cheek. "What should we name him?"
Rose thought for a minute. "William," she said finally. "William David Tyler."
"William. I like it," declared the Doctor. He peered at his son, so tiny and helpless, and his hearts erupted in a love that he didn't think could ever be matched. "Hello, William. Welcome to the universe, little buddy."
After taking a long soak in a bathroom that she had found while wandering the halls of this new TARDIS, Rose approached the centre of the control room where the Doctor was standing. She had taken a shower and discovered that he had been right: even after regeneration, she looked exactly the same, aside from the sudden change in hair colour. Even, she had been surprised to discover, scars that she has since childhood still remained.
"So," she said to her husband, who was pushing buttons and flipping switches on the control panel. "I was just thinking. How on earth are we gonna explain all this to Mum and Dad?"
He laughed. "Well, I suppose the hair would be easy enough. The kid, not so much." He glanced over to the corner, where their recently born son was lying asleep, cleaned and wrapped up in a baby blanket that the Doctor had "found in a closet somewhere", but Rose suspected that it was a bit more personal and wouldn't put it past this TARDIS to manage to produce some of the Doctor's old things. Rose walked over to the child and, careful not to wake him, picked up the baby in her arms and began to rock him back and forth.
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out."
The Doctor nodded and threw a few levers dramatically.
"You ready to go meet your family, William?" Rose whispered to her sleeping son. She felt a familiar jolt, and the TARDIS engines roared to life.
When they landed back on Earth, about a block away from the house, Rose turned to the Doctor and asked, "So, how come I'm alright? I mean, after you first regenerated you passed out and slept for near 12 hours."
"Well, I expect you don't need to, as you only really half regenerated. Since most of the energy went to William here, the rest of it was all used up on you, so there's none left over." Rose was relieved to hear this. She didn't fancy the idea of spending the day unconscious in her bedroom.
As they approached the house, the Doctor carrying the baby, Rose started to imagine how her mother would react to the situation. Whatever happened, she was sure there would be a lot of shouting involved.
Fortunately, she didn't have much time to worry. They arrived at home in minutes, and Rose reached the door first and grabbed the doorknob.
"What's wrong?" asked the Doctor, when after a few seconds she had still not opened the door.
"Nothing. I'm just enjoying these last few moments of peace before Mum finds out what's happened." She turned the knob and stepped into the house. "Mum?"
She heard footsteps approaching, and an agitated cry of "What?" before her mother entered the room.
"My god, Rose, what have you done to your hair?"
"Yeah, I'll get to that in a minute. Mean time, you may want to sit down." Unfortunately, her warning proved to be too late.
"What's that the Doctor's got? Oh god." Jackie stepped back in horror and brought a hand to her mouth. "Is that a baby? YOU'VE GONE AND KIDNAPPED A BABY?!"
"No, we haven't! Mum, this is, er, this is…"
"Your grandson," offered the Doctor. "William."
Jackie froze, completely dumbfounded. "What the hell are you two on about?" she said finally.
"Like I said, you may want to sit down." They moved to the kitchen, and, slowly, Rose and the Doctor told her the whole story.