Discovered
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Rose sat, tied up to the rail again, just staring at her legs. There was nothing else to do. The Doctor could hardly look at her, and all he would do when she tried to talk to him was apologise.
Then again… it was almost interesting. Curious at the least. She couldn't really tell since it was so slow, but she'd been watching a long time. She could have sworn those bruises had already begun to fade.
She tried to focus on the bruises instead of anything else. Instead of the pain, or the Doctor's avoidance, or the horrible lack of connection from her children. It was so worrying. Nothing. Not a peep from them since last night. She knew that they would be worried and scared. Should even be getting worse, but she couldn't even feel them when her gut told her that they should be screaming out for her by now.
"It's already fading," she said aloud, half to the Doctor, half to herself.
"Rose…" he sighed.
"No, really. I swear it was darker a few minutes ago."
"Rose, I'm-"
"If you tell me you're sorry one more time, I will kick your house elf butt, old man!" she teased threateningly.
"This should never have happened," he said mournfully.
"Yeah, well, it did. I'm okay, now. I'm over it. But to say the truth, I'm more worried about you."
"I'm not the one who was nearly beat to death!" he said bitterly.
"And I'm not the one who's been here for a year. He's using me against you, you can't let him do that. No matter what he does to me… just… don't let him get to you."
"Easier said than done."
"…How are you going to stop him?" she asked.
"Martha's helping. We've got a plan. She's got a job to do down there; she's not travelling the world for nothing."
"She sounds brilliant."
"She is." A moment passed in silence and he looked down to see that Rose was staring at the ground, dejectedly. He realised how what he had said would have sounded to her. "Martha's smart," he said. "She's a medical student. I met her at a hospital that had been transported to the moon." That got a little smile out of her. "But I tell you what, it took her a lot longer to believe in aliens than you did. And we were on the moon, surrounded by Judoon, she'd heard that I had two hearts through her stethoscope, and she still didn't believe I was an alien until a scan said I was non-human!"
Now Rose really laughed. "I seem to recall that I ran out of a room of aliens on out first off world adventure."
"Yes, but you were overwhelmed. All I had to tell you was that me and the TARDIS were alien and you just said 'okay' and moved onto the next question. I actually had to prove to Martha it was a time machine by playing a cheep trick."
"Maybe she just needed the facts. When things got weird, I just tended to go with it. It was easier."
"Yep, and then you asked questions till your heart was content… or, well, actually, you knew when to stop. You paid attention. Never pushed on things you knew were bad subjects."
"Well why would I? It was obvious when someone didn't want to talk about something. I knew the difference between secrets and upsetting thoughts. I didn't want to hurt them."
"No, you were always like that," he smiled. But he noticed that she still wasn't smiling. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just worried about my family," she said quietly. It wasn't a lie. He watched as she once again sipped her hand into her pocket. She'd been doing it since she'd gotten here. He couldn't help but wonder what she was keeping hidden.
"You should get some sleep," he told her. "I don't think tomorrow's going to be pretty."
Rose nodded, knowing she probably wasn't going to get anything more out of him tonight. With her hand still in her pocket, she snuggled down and attempted to sink into the escape of darkness.
She wasn't even aware, that as she slept, her hand slipped from the dress. The letter still clutched tightly in her fingers.
?...DW…?
The doors slid open and both Rose and the Doctor stirred. Neither of them were fully awake as the Master jumped across the room on tiptoes. He was wearing nothing but a black - rather small - silk bath robe, his hair was mussed from sleep… or an activity no one really wanted to think about him doing.
He leant down so his face was right beside the Doctor's as the tiny man woke up and looked at him. "Guess what?" he grinned. The Doctor said nothing. "We've located Miss Jones. I'm on my way to fetch her in a moment actually." Still the Doctor said nothing. "Come on, not even a reaction to that? I know the whole plan. That silly little gun and everything. She doesn't have the last part yet… and she never will. I'm going to kill her. And you never know, if I'm in the mood, I may just kill Miss T- Well, what have you got there?"
He looked down to see Rose, still trying to shrug off sleep, a piece of paper curled in her hand. At his question she seemed to wake up fully and shove the paper in her pocket. But he jumped towards her and prised it from her hands, nearly ripping it.
"No!" she cried as she struggled. But he won in the end. He looked down at the crumpled paper in his hands. It was a letter. Still unopened. The messy scrawl on the back read 'Doctor'. "Stop! Give it back, it's not yours!" Rose cried. She was panicking. She didn't know what was in there. But she could guess.
"Ooh, it's for the Doctor!" he crooned. "What is it, a love letter?" He tore open the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper, folding it out to read it.
"No! Please don't!" Rose cried desperately, pulling against her restraints. She was so desperate to stop him from reading it, that it didn't even occur to her that her reaction was making him want to read it more.
"Hey Doctor," he began reading aloud, his cheerful voice drowning out Rose's. "If you're reading this then something has happened in the parallel world and we couldn't come with Rose. We hope that you found her quickly. Of course, by now you would have noticed two things.
One, Rose doesn't seem to remember much. I'll explain that later. But her memories are seriously jumbled. Nothing will be in the right place and she'll have forgotten a lot. She'll recognise you, but there is a very good chance she won't know who the hell you are.
And two, depending on when we sent her through, you would have noticed that Rose is either pregnant, or has kids."
Rose stopped her shouting as he read this and both men looked at her in shock. The Doctor had a little bit of pain in his eyes, the Master's, however, were full of a vicious mirth.
"Pregnant!" the master laughed. "Oh, this is just too good. And I guess it makes sense. The belly and the breasts and everything. But… you don't actually look pregnant at the moment. Have you already had your kids, Rose?" Rose just glared at him in stony silence. She would not tell him anything.
The Master turned back to the letter. "She's eight months along as I'm writing this, so I don't know whether she'll come through before or after the twins come.
If she is still pregnant, you're really going to have to help her. She doesn't know that she is. She kept forgetting that she was pregnant and freaked out about it quite a bit. In the end we put a perception filter on her stomach so she won't see it. It's quite funny: at the moment she doesn't understand why we're treating her… well, like a pregnant woman."
He laughed at that. It really was just too priceless. He carried on with the letter, using a melodramatic voice.
"So, erm, time for that explanation. I'm afraid this is the hard bit. See, Rose wanted to get back home, so she took on the Dimension Cannon project (it's how we will get - 'got' from your point of view -her back). Only… something was wrong. She wasn't feeling your loss, just in her heart, but also in her head… if that makes sense. (For you, it probably does). She kept saying how empty and alone she felt, and it wasn't just an emotional thing. At one point we did some brain scans (she got into a bit of an accident, nothing too serious) and we saw that you could actually see it on the scan. An entire extra part of her brain had been opened up for use, and it was almost bruising from the lack of contact. After hearing what she's said about you, there may be a chance she is somehow telepathic. (Mind explaining that one to us?)
Yeah, so… Rose kinda went mad. She was so driven by the emptiness, so desperate to get back to you that she dedicated her life to that Dimension Cannon. She spent every single second she could afford in there. She was sure she had fixed it, but the breach wasn't open. But that just wouldn't register to her. She kept pulling it a part and rebuilding it. She was so obsessed with it that she refused to sleep or eat. All she could do was try and fix that blasted device.
Everyone was worried about her. She was wasting away and she didn't even notice. In the end we did the only thing we could think of. And we are sorry. We are so, so sorry. Please tell her that. We gave her one of our trial drugs. It's called 'Confusion' and pretty much, it scrambles the brain and keeps the user clueless as long as they use it. We only wanted her to stop. But things just kind of got worse from there. We panicked, and the only thing we could think to do was keep her on it."
Suddenly he was it a fit of laughter as he saw Rose's expression. She was staring almost blankly ahead. Her eyes were filled with tears and her mouth was slightly open. It's like what he was reading didn't quite comprehend to her, but she knew it was true.
"Oh! Oh, this is just too brilliant!" he cried. "Months of not having a clue, of being confused and a complete stupid airhead who didn't even know you were pregnant and it was all because of the people who supposedly loved you! I can't wait to see what other juicy secrets this thing holds."
At that, Rose blanched. The Master continued.
"And just so you know, you better not think that Rose was suicidal or anything like that. It's not who she is. She is strong willed, and that made her desperate to get back. I'm sure that if she noticed what she was doing to herself she would have stopped. But she couldn't.
Don't worry too much, it doesn't have any side effects and she won't have any of the drugs when she comes through. If you're there, it'll be safe to let her remember. And we know that you'll look after her. We feel horrible, but we told her that the drugs she was taking were to help her remember, when really they were making her forget.
So anyway, on with the explanation… We don't think Rose knew she was pregnant. - Ooh, now we're getting to the good stuff, aren't we, Rosie! - She wouldn't have noticed for a while. She was too upset about you to begin with, and then she was too obsessed with the Cannon. And she never told anyone or wrote it down or took a test as far as we know. We didn't notice until we took her to the hospital after she nearly killed herself from malnourishment. She was already four months along.
It was quite a shock for all of us… especially when the scans picked up four hearts. At first we were astounded that Rose was having quadruplets… but then we took a closer look at the scans. It only showed two bodies, so that could only mean that the babies had two hearts. And well, there's only one two hearted alien that Rose has come into contact with, let alone loved.
So yeah, since your 'brilliant Time Lord mind' has probably gone into shock right now, the twins are yours… Or at least there's a 99% chance they are.
(Man, and here we all were thinking it was all unresolved sexual tension between the two of you)."
He looked up at the Doctor who's already large eyes were now as wide as they could go. His tiny mouth was hanging open in shock. Little things were coming together in his mind. Rose had been pregnant. Rose had been gone just under nine months. A week before they were separated, they ran into a sonic pulse that had wiped away all fears and inhibitions causing them to act on their greatest desires, and leaving them with no memory of it. There had been a decent amount of time that the both of them had been under its influence. Rose had kissed him the first time it had happened to her. At the time, deep down, he wanted nothing more than her…
"Oh! Oh, this is too much!" the Mater cried joyfully. "You have kids! You have pathetic little half-breed kids! What else does it say…
So yeah, when Rose gets her memories back, please tell her how sorry we are. Look after her. And look after the twins. It's a boy and a girl by the way… and I want that little boy to be called Mickey, got that!
Hopefully we're still okay. The breach has been open for a month or two now, so if it's still open, we'll come through.
Mickey.
(Jackie, Pete and Jake send their regards too).
Well, well, well. I don't think this night could get any better," the Master sneered. "Not only have I found Martha Jones, but I've also found the Doctor's children."
"You don't know where they are!" Rose hissed.
"On the contrary, Miss Tyler. See, Martha Jones is being taken to a safe house. A slave quarters in Bexley." He grinned when he saw her eyes widen in fear at the reaction. "The same slave quarters that I found you in. So, if I'm not mistaken, where your children still are."
"Don't you dare touch them!" she spat at him, her face darkening into a scowl.
"Or you'll do what?" he laughed at her state, chained to the wall. "I'm just bringing them back. Did you know that separation from the mother is dangerous for Time Tots? They need that contact. It's painful without it. You don't want your children to be in pain, do you Rose?"
"Please! Just don't hurt them!" she begged, a tear running down her cheek. Laughing, he turned and left the room. "No!" she shouted from behind him, straining against her bonds. "Please! Leave them alone! Don't touch them! If you hurt them I swear I will-"
"Rose!" the Doctor called to her, trying to calm her down. The Master was gone, and yelling at him was useless. He watched sadly as she broke down in tears.
"I-I didn't want him to know about them," she sniffed. "It's why I didn't tell you. I wanted to, but I was afraid he'd hurt them. And now…" she let out another sob and he clung desperately to the bars, wishing he could be beside her.
"Rose, it will be alright," he told her, pushing his shock to the side for a moment. She needed him right now, and that was more important. "But the Master is right. If they are separated from you for too long then they could even die. They've already gone two days…" He regretted saying that when he saw that she was shaking. "How old are they?" he asked softly.
"Six days. They're six days old," she told him. "I gave birth the night that I came through."
He smiled a little. "And their names?"
"The - the little boy is Jack Mickey Tyler. And the girl is Gallifreya Aria Tyler," she told him.
"Her name is beautiful," he told her, tears in his eyes. "But really, don't you think Jack's got a big enough ego without having a child named after him?" He smiled when this managed to coax a sob strangled laugh from her.
"I didn't remember who he was at the time. But his eyes were so blue that they must have reminded me of him… Are you alright?"
"Me?" he cried incredulously. "I'm a little surprised. I mean, I'm suddenly a dad again. I don't remember it happening, but it did. I'm more worried about you… what you've been through… are you okay?"
"I'm scared," she whispered. "I'm scared he's going to hurt them. I'm scared because I can't feel them in my head…"
"You could feel them?"
She nodded. "Yeah. When they were born there was just this… connection. I don't know, but I felt what they wanted. I felt their love, and their comfort… Even when I got here I could feel it. They were scared, they wanted me back. Then I woke up that night and they were just… gone!"
"That - that might have been my fault," he said sheepishly. "I felt two children reaching out. I knew that if they kept going, the Master would notice them. So, I cloaked them. Hid them from anyone remotely telepathic."
"They're safe?" she asked hopefully. "They're okay?"
"I assume so," he replied. "I've been blocked off from them too. But they should be okay." Neither of them cared to mention that would not be the case in a few moments. Neither of them could, nor wanted to.
"C-can you unblock them?" she asked him. "If he's going to find them anyway, I want to feel them. I need to. I need to know they're okay."
After thinking about it a moment, the Doctor relented. Going into the Archangel Network, he removed the cloak he'd placed around the two young minds he'd protected. The second he did so, he felt an intense relief flood through them. At the same time he saw the same relief come over Rose's face. He knew that they had connected with her again.
Then, the two minds brushed against his. Gently he opened up to them. He felt their joy as they discovered who he was, as he felt the love they already held for him.
And for the first time since this year began, his tears were of happiness.
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And the reason for her confusion is revealed! Some very clever people guessed it by the hint where Mickey told her that she wouldn't need her pills. I can kind of just see Rose having this total mental moment where she is so desperate to get back that she does nothing but tear the DC apart and put if back together again. It would only be worse if she were being driven by the need to feel another telepath.
And the Doctor and the Master find out about the twins. Hang on for the next chapter to find out what happens to them!
