We walked out of the TARDIS. Mum and Dad were back from where ever they had gone. Dad was comforting Oliver; apparently my little brother did not like the fact that both Maris and I had disappeared into a blue box.

Mum started walking over to us. She looked more than angry. She got right up in the Doctor's face. "Who the hell do you think you are?" she shouted at him. "You've been gone five years! You leave poor Rose standing alone on a beach, pregnant and alone! How could you!"

The Doctor closed his eyes and quietly said, "Nice to see you too, Jackie."

"She was pregnant with your child! Your little girl! How could you leave her!"

The Doctor took a step back and put his hands up in front of his chest, palms toward Jackie. "I didn't know she was pregnant! Jackie, Rose didn't tell me! I didn't know about Maris until about a half hour ago!"

Jackie looked at the Doctor, her mouth open, like she didn't know what to say. She turned her head toward me. "You didn't even tell him? Why didn't you tell him!"

I sighed. "Mum, I didn't want to hurt him."

Jackie shook her head. "I don't know what to do with you." She turned and walked away. Mickey, Dad, and Oliver had already gone inside. Jackie called from the front porch, "Well, come inside. No reason to be standing around outside."

The Doctor looked at me. "You didn't tell her that you didn't tell me?"

I sighed again. "Come on, Maris. Let's go inside." I took my little girl's hand and the Doctor, even though he hesitated, took her other hand. We all walked to the house.

-_-_-_-_-_-

I went up to my room. The Doctor followed me, but I closed the door in his face and locked it. I was angry. Why would I lie to him? I couldn't believe that he thought that about me!

"Rose, please open the door," he quietly said.

"No," I replied.

"I have a sonic screwdriver and I will unlock the door if I have to."

I sighed, got up and opened the door. He pushed his way inside and sat down on my bed.

"Rose, what's going on?"

I sat down on the floor, my back to the door. "She's your daughter and you just want to run tests to be sure. Don't you trust me?"

The Doctor smiled at me. "Rose, I'm testing Maris to see what the differences between her blood and typical human blood are. I'm not doubting you. If you say she's mine, then she is."

He put his right hand behind his head as he leaned on the bedpost. "What I want to know is how this whole thing happened because I know that you and I never..." He trailed off. I knew what he was talking about.

I stood up and walked over to the bed. I sat down next to the Doctor and leaned on his shoulder. "I can't explain it either. I just know that when I look at her, I see your eyes and your personality."

He looked at me and put his arms around me. "I know."

-_-_-_-_-_-

We stayed like that for a while, just holding each other. Neither of us had any idea what was going on. Even though I had raised Maris for five years, I honestly didn't know how I could have had the Doctor's daughter. We had never done anything like that. I'd only kissed him once, and I was possessed by Cassandra when it happened. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but still.

I guess I fell asleep after a while because when I woke up the next morning, I was under my blankets, still wearing the clothes I had worn the previous day. The Doctor was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, staring at the ceiling. He noticed me making noises and his focus went to me.

"Good morning," he quietly said.

"How long was I asleep?"

"About seven hours. It's still dark outside." He stood up and stretched. "The TARDIS is finished with the analysis, if you'd like to find out what's going on."

I looked at him.

He smiled. "I haven't seen them either. Go ahead and get dressed. I'll wait for you in the hall."

-_-_-_-_-_-

We walked into the TARDIS. A blue light was flashing on the console, one I'd never seen before. Or maybe I had just forgotten. It had been so long since I had been in the TARDIS everything seemed new.

The Doctor looked at the readout of the screen above the blue flashing light. He got that really confused look he gets when something doesn't make sense. "But how?"

"What is it, Doctor?"

He looked up at me. "Maris has a little bit of the Time Vortex inside her blood cells. Never seen that before." He thought for a moment, his gaze moving toward the ceiling.

"Oh! The Time Vortex! That's it!"

He looked back at me. "Rose, you remember when the Daleks were on Satellite 5 and you came back in the TARDIS to save me? Before I regenerated?"

I nodded.

"Well, apparently, when you had the Vortex inside of you, there was a link between us. I'm connected to the TARDIS which is connected to the Vortex which was connected to you. I took the Vortex out of you, but not before..."

I realized what had happened.

The Doctor sighed. "The TARDIS took my DNA, knowing I am the last of the Time Lords, and put it inside of you. It did it out of survival of my species."

"But she's still your daughter, right?"

"Oh yes, she is definitely my daughter. There's no doubt."

"But there was almost a year between when you regenerated and we were separated. And I was still pregnant for six months after that."

"The Time Vortex and the DNA had to assimilate itself to the human reproductive cycle. Plus, the gestational period of a Time Lord is different than a that of a human; ours is eleven months, not nine."

I looked at him. "So eleven months I'm pregnant–"

"Ten, probably. Differences in the physiological makeup would have required a longer human gestational period, but a shorter one for a Time Lord."

"Okay, ten months, then. So the other seven or so months, my body was adjusting?"

"From what I can tell. But I don't think we'll be able to find out for certain. Wouldn't be in your body anymore."

I nodded and kept quiet for a few moments. "So Maris is part Time Lord?"

"It would seem so," the Doctor answered.

I was just about to hug him when someone knocked on the TARDIS door.