Won't Fade Away

Chapter Three

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

AN-

Thanks again for the lovely reviews! I'm glad that you are enjoying the story! A lot of you have mentioned how sad it is, and it really is. I want to get Rose through the hardest part of grieving, if I do my job right, you'll be experiencing quite a few emotions with the gang here! There will be happier times, don't worry.

I've already finished most of the story's outline, now the hard part is just writing up all of the bits! I will update as fast as my ideas let me, please always feel free to share your own ideas with me!

One last thing, I made a big mistake in the last chapter (and realized after posting). Paul McCartney is the lead vocal on Let It Be, not John Lennon. I'm not terribly Beatles savvy, but I ought to have known based on his voice alone.

When Rose woke again the next morning, the children were not in the bed beside her. She panicked for a moment, jumping to her feet and scrambling across the floor to the door. Only then did she realize she was not in her room in her own house back in the other world. Her heart slowed a bit, and she looked around River's room for the first time since she and the children had been assigned it. There were few pieced of furniture, a dresser, the bed, some sort of trunk at the foot of it. On the dresser were several knick knacks, photos in frames. Rose stepped closer to look at them. A lovely portrait of River trussed up, one of her with Amy and Rory, one of just Amy and Rory and one of her, the Doctor, and her parents.

Rose sighed and turned back to the rest of the room, and noticed that there was an attached bath. And something was sitting on the side of the tub. She stepped over, and flicked on the lights, tilting her head at the towel, clothes and note sitting on the side of the built-in tub.

Rose Dearest,

The Doctor is going to watch over the children for a while this morning, have a bath and take some time to yourself.

River.

Rose smiled to herself and set the towel and clothes on the counter that the sink was set in. A bath sounded lovely, she couldn't remember the last time she had the opportunity to soak in a tub without being worried about what the kids were up to. With the Doctor watching over them, she truly wasn't worried.

"All right!" Smacking his hands together, the Doctor turned to look at the two people seated at Amy's dining room table, and he smiled at them. "What do we want for breakfast, then? You can have anything at all, doesn't have to be a breakfast food." He heard the plumbing start upstairs and paused to stare at the ceiling, his smile widening before he looked back down at them as Michael spoke.

"French toast?"

Johanna's face lit up and she moved onto her knees on the chair, making it easier to see over the table. "Ooh my daddy used to make French toast with powdered sugar and blueberries!" Her tiny arms flailed in her excitement, and the Doctor's hearts gave an odd, fond thump as he looked at her. She had Rose's eyes, but she certainly expressed herself the way his former incarnation had, whereas Michael was more reserved and charming, like his Mum.

"Your daddy used to cook? Well?"

"He only ever made French toast," Michael said softly. "Mum wouldn't let him make anything else."

"Well if he could do it, I certainly can!" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Amy came into the room, snatching the pan he had been planning to use. "Oi!" She stuck her tongue out at him and hurried to the fridge, grabbing eggs, milk and oil from the cabinet. "I'm making them French toast!"

"We're making them French toast," She huffed. "You have never made it and you are not burning down my kitchen." He relented with a glare, and Amy showed him how to mix the batter and then how to coat the bread before she showed him how to properly heat the oil in the pan and fry the pieces up. Once the heat element was gone, she let him dress the slices in the sugar and berries before he served it to the kids, and then to himself and Amy, who munched while cooking up more for Rory, Pete, Jackie, Ricer and Rose.

The Doctor was all too pleased with the happy faces that Jo and Michael made as they ate, and when she was full, Jo came to give him a mighty little hug before hurrying off to find Tony and tell him there was French toast. He watched Michael finish, and noted that the whole time, he had made minimal eye contact. Clearing his throat, he asked gently, "Are you all right, Michael?"

"Yeah I just," The boy took a breath. "I'm not sure what to think. What to feel."

"That's normal after a loved one dies."

"I know," He said. "But I don't know how to handle all that, and then knowing that you're my dad, too."

Amy spun to look at him, then the Doctor, and her eyes were about as wide as they could get. Sputtering, the Doctor dropped his fork and tried to think of what to say to that. "M-michael I…I'm your father I guess in a basic way, genetically, but I'm not your Dad. You don't have to feel anything for me. Your Dad is the man you knew all those years."

"Who is you, when it call comes down to it."

And I am him.

He had nearly forgotten that they were a quarter Timelord, and thus, a little smarter than your average human children. Managing a soft smile, not sure what to think or feel himself, he reached a hesitant hand to touch the boy's. "Let's…get to know each other, yeah? We'll figure out the rest after that."

Michael contemplated this, then nodded, smiling a little more. "Okay. Do you know how to play football?"

"Do I? Course I do! Why don't you get your sister and your cousin in here to eat, and we'll all play in the back?" Michael dashed off to do so and the Doctor sunk a little into his chair, looking to Amy, who was balancing finishing the cooking and glancing over to guage his expressions. When she noticed he was looking at her, she shut the pan off. "I have no idea how to play football…or how to deal with this."

"Does River know that you're their father?"

"Course she does, she understands how this all works." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't bring them back because they share my DNA. I brought them all because they belong to her. And she's family, like you and Rory are."

Amy watched him briefly, then reached to touch his shoulder. "I'll feed Tony, and the grown ups, and Rory can play with you all and help you look like you know what you're doing." She nodded to the downstairs bathroom. "Go on and clean up, you're covered in sugar."

Rose had a lovely bath, and after cleaning up after herself (River was kind enough to be so hospitable, the least she could do was keep the place as nice as it was), she finally made her way down the stairs to see about breakfast. By then, Rory and Tony had eaten and as she came around the corner of the stairs, she could see them, the Doctor and her children in the yard, playing football together through one of the windows. She smiled, rubbing her shoulder as she passed, suddenly tensing and becoming more nervous when she came into the kitchen and found Amy eating her own French toast.

The redhead looked up at her and offered her a smile, nodding to the plate of food near the stove. "Help yourself, there's plenty." She watched Rose, with her smile still intact. The blonde nodded and smiled graciously, starving now, but she paused when she saw what was on the serving plate, French toast with blueberries. Her stomach twisted, remembering the way James would flip the pieces in the pan, thrilling the children. If only they had seen him learning to make the toast when they were newly married, or how many had flown out of the pan and onto her cupboards. Or how many pans she had had to throw out after he had forgotten them on the fire.

Her eyes misted over, but she quickly regained her composure, grabbing a clean plate and a fork, she scooped some toast up for herself, and went to sit down. No sooner had she dropped into the chair than River had appeared in the doorway, awake and content after spending the night in her room on the Tardis. She and Rose locked gazes, and she smiled politely at her, and moved to get her own food while Amy jumped to her feet to dispose of her plate. Before she left the room she opened her mouth to ask a question, and then decided not to.

River sat and Rose turned her fork in the soft food, suddenly losing her appetite as the room grew thick with tension. For a while, they sat in silence. It was strange, knowing that the Doctor had married her. Not to speak, or think, ill of her. She seemed lovely, and bright. Someone well suited for him, just the idea of him marrying anyone was overwhelming. Finally, River broke the silence in the room, glancing out the window at the boys and Johanna playing in the grass. "I did not intend to speak poorly about James…"

"It's fine."

"It's not," She said firmly, with a gentle expression. "I didn't know him, neither did the Doctor, really. You did. And I believe he really was lovely after he was with you."

Rose swallowed past a lump in her throat, and nodded, appreciating the apology and the fact that someone got it. She looked up at River again. "I'm sure you've made this Doctor lovely too, since he regenerated."

"Lovely? He's not lovely, he's horrid!" She exclaimed playfully, but almost not jokingly, the only thing giving it away was a small smile on her lips as she attacked her breakfast again. "Always where he doesn't belong and always saying something to get on my nerves."

They laughed together and Rose had to set her fork down, for fear that she might fling it waving her arms around. She didn't think Amy would thank her for getting silverware stuck in her plaster. Still, it was a good feeling, one of the best that she had had in days, and she was grateful for that. Smiling over at River, the two shared a brief, friendly glance before finishing their meals to head outside and see how the match was going. Both went to sit next to Amy at the outside patio table.

They had split into teams, with Michael, The Doctor and Tony on one and Johanna, Rory and Pete on another. Michael gave his team their advantage whereas Rory gave his own that advantage, both doing all of the scoring. River fell into the spirit right away, her smile spreading infectiously onto Rose's face as she whooped and hollered and cheered. "Whoo! Yes, that's it! Get the ball, Michael!"

"Come oooonnn Jo!" Rose clapped loudly, trying to rouse the mopey looking little girl. "Don't let them win just 'cause they're bigger!"

Rory took notice of her and lifted her up under her arms, dashing across the grass to use her to smack the ball, gently enough so as not to hurt her but hard enough to send it flying, into the other team's goal. When it scored, Rose and River shot off of their feet, and Rose ran over and scooped her up, the victory handed to their team. The others all came over to shake hands, and when Rose was done kissing her daughter's face, the Doctor came over to pinch her cheek lightly. "Well done!"

"Did you see me do it!" She gasped, jumping up and down. "I was awesome!"

He swept her up as if he had a thousand times before and spun with her lifted in the air, making her beam down at him. "Yes, yes you are, you darling little thing!" River's heart caught in her throat and she smiled to herself, glancing over at Rose for a moment, smiling at the peace that was all over the other woman's face. She inched closer.

"I don't think I'll ever tell him to his face," She admitted. "But, I think he'd make a fantastic Dad if he didn't have so many cares in this world."

Rose smiled at that, nodding. "I think you're right."

Amy stood and strolled over to Rory, who was wiping his face in a clean towel that Jackie had just brought out, having done everyone's laundry. If she was going to be a guest, not only was she going to clean up after herself, she was going to be as helpful as she could. Seeing his wife in the corner of his eye, he lowered the white fabric and smiled as she stepped right up to him and pressed a loving little kiss on his lips. "What's that for, then?"

"That was wonderful, she's so happy."

They turned to watch as Jo darted across the ground, stretching her arms to her sides as if she were flying, making her brother shake his head and sigh at her. The silly things that the little girl did always made him huff a bit, Rose supposed he was just getting to be that age. Rory and Amy thought it was the cutest display of affection that the siblings could have.

"Do you want another one?"

"This one is just fine, thanks." Rory nodded to the towel in hand, and when she shot him an exasperated look, he stiffened, trying to figure out what she had meant. "Oh uh. Let's see. Another uh…" His eyes widened suddenly. "Another baby, you mean?"

"Didn't exactly get to do much with the first," She pointed out. "Weird pregnancy, weird birth, non-existent bonding until she was older."

Rory looked to Michael now, and watched the little boy observe everyone. The corner of his mouth quirked, but he sighed. "I'd love to, Amy, I would." She lit up, and then settled when he looked at her with sober eyes. "But I don't think we're ready right now. We need to get our house back, see what's going on with River. See about staying in one place this time."

"That would seem to be the better way to go about it." She let him loop an arm around her waist, settling her head into his shoulder as they continued to watch. "But I think, eventually, we'd love it."

"Course we would, daft girl," He smiled when she glared up at him. "It would be us. Just like out Melody."

Sometimes Rory Williams (Pond) said things like that, that made Amy forget he had ever made her mad in all the years that they had known one another, and those little moments made everything worth everything else. She smiled giddily, leaning more into him, imagining a little boy with his eyes and her fiery red hair.

The day came and went, much faster than the Doctor would have liked for it to. Amy made fish fingers, chips, and of course, custard for him. Rose's children had been apprehensive but had enjoyed the meal after trying, pleasing Amy to no end. Tony would already eat just about anything. Rose had nibbled, mostly at her chips, and she and River had chatted about places they had visited and their fondest moments with the Doctor. As for the Doctor himself, he had watched with a smirk, knowing the two would get on fine if they would just give each other a chance.

After dinner, they were off to bed, and the Doctor followed them to make sure Rose fell into a peaceful sleep before he left her side. He took River into the backyard and to the Tardis, where she made them tea and he immediately delved into his research. While he did consider it a very good thing that they hard all survived the trip out of Rose's world, and, that only her world had collapsed, he also found it to be strange, impossible and frightening, in a way. He HAD to know why.

Buried in books in the library, running searches on the computer, he finally came across a small passage on the database and he flipped into three books to read more about the race that had come up. River entered, her teacup and saucer in her hands, her brow quirked curiously as she leaned to look at the text he was devouring. "The Auteurions?"

"Curious," He admitted, finishing his sentence before he glanced up at his wife. "Have we met them, in your time?"

"No," She replied. "But I've read a bit. Do you think they had something to do with our currently in tact world?"

"I don't know, but I suppose we should sleep on it before investigating too much further," Shutting the book he was currently concentrated on, he sighed deeply and stood. "Good night, River."

Before he could dash off, River set her cup on his desk and grabbed his arm, pulled him against her for a brief, but tantalizing kiss. "Mmm, g'night." She winked at him and took the tea down to her bedroom. He watched her disappear into the doorway and quickly used a video link to check and make sure Rose and her children were asleep before he too dashed off down the hallway. He had a long night ahead of him, after all.

Rose stared in awe, the pain of her hard work forgotten now that the worst was over. James was standing there ahead, tears filling his darker eyes, the bloody, squalling babe that she had delivered held in his hands, near to his chest. The delivery had been rushed, her symptoms had come faster than they had anticipated. Before they had a chance to get to the hospital, she had needed to push, and Michael had been born in only a handful of such pushes.

"Oh, hello, darling!" He whispered, his voice wavering with emotion. "You darling boy," He looked up at her with bright eyes and a wide smile. "Rose, it's a boy. Our Michael."

"He's perfect." She breathed, as he walked closer and settled the baby into her arms and against her bare chest.

"You were perfect," He said softly, bending to kiss her forehead. "I love you so much, Rose. So much. Thank you for him," He stroked a finger across the baby's cheek and stared at him, eyes still glistening with emotion. "For my perfect little son."