The trip to the hospital was awkward. Mickey refused to speak to either of them and the Doctor seemed confused as to why exactly Mickey kept shooting him death glare's and Rose remained a light shade of pink.
When they finally arrived the feud was soon forgotten when they were escorted up to Jackie Tyler's room.
"Oh… I should wait out here," the Doctor said as soon as he spotted Jackie. Rose smiled slightly. Even this universe's Doctor was afraid of her mother.
"It'll be fine," Rose assured him but on seeing the Doctor's very reluctant face she hesitated. "Ok, you can stay here. But don't go anywhere."
The Doctor nodded and Rose opened the door to her mother's private room. Her Mum was groaning, evidently not in the late stages of labour yet. Pete was next to her clutching her hand and Mickey had stood in the corner looking decidedly put out.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Jackie asked sitting up, her brow covered in perspiration.
"Sorry, Mum," Rose said quietly. "I had something important on at work and they took ages to let Mickey in. I came as soon as I could."
Mickey shot Rose a very dark look and she was sure she heard him mutter something about 'lies' and 'Doctor'.
"Yeah well, next time I'm having your baby brother do you want to lay off the work?" Rose knew that her Mum wasn't really mad; she was just worried about her daughter. After all Rose hadn't exactly been coping well since she lost the Doctor.
Hours went by and the baby failed to make an appearance. Jackie, stressed and annoyed, was becoming snappier and Mickey, despite resenting the Doctor, went out to sit with him after being told off for the third time.
Night crept in and everyone grew tired. At three in the morning Pete told Rose to go and get a drink, stretch her legs, that sort of thing. Rose willingly obliged and left the room sighing. Mickey had fallen asleep in his chair. But the Doctor was as awake as ever, glasses perched on his nose, reading a medical leaflet about PMT.
Rose had to try very hard not to burst out laughing at the serious look on the Doctor's face as he read. It was only when he spoke that she moved.
"Are you going to stand their all night?" He asked without looking up, causing Rose to jump.
"I'm going to get a drink, did you want one?" Rose kept her voice low so as not to wake Mickey.
"Sure," the Doctor stood up. "I'll come with you, could use the exercise."
The pair wandered down the corridor to the coffee machine in the waiting room. Rose had the feeling the Doctor was watching her and it was starting to bother her. When she'd got drinks for herself, Pete, Jackie and the Doctor she turned to him.
"Is there something you want to ask me?" She handed him two drinks and picked up the other two.
"What gives you that idea?" The Doctor followed her back towards the room Rose's Mum was currently residing in.
"I can feel you staring at me," she replied shrugging. "Something I picked up…"
Rose suddenly clammed up realising what she was about to say. The Doctor frowned slightly but didn't comment on it.
"There is something I wanted to ask," he said sitting down in his chair again. "Why does an Earth girl need a Time Lord to come all the way to her home planet when there's no threat?"
Rose bit her lip looking at her feet awkwardly and muttered something about 'be back' before entering her mother's room and handing over her parents drinks. She returned and sat opposite the Doctor, taking her own drink off him.
"It's complicated…" She sighed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
They sat in silence for a moment before the Doctor opened his mouth to speak. Rose got there first however remembering something that had troubled her earlier.
"Anyway, how'd you know my name?" She looked the Doctor straight in the eye and for the first time since she'd known him (well if he was anything like his parallel self) the Doctor looked away.
"Guess we're both hiding something," he said grinning sheepishly. Rose nodded.
"You go first," She said smiling slightly. "And I'll explain everything."
"Well," the Doctor sat back in his chair taking a sip of the weak coffee in his hand. "See the thing is I've been receiving messages… like echoes through time, about an earth girl called Rose Tyler. It's been happening for years, but only to me. No other Time Lord has received the messages, just me. They all say the same thing, something about Rose Tyler contacting me by the name 'The Doctor'. But that's not the weird thing; I mean this has happened before. Species sending echo messages to Time Lords, but mine… well according to the frequency pattern they came from me. I've been sending the message to myself and I have to figure out how in order not to cause a paradox obviously… so I guess that's part of why you called me to Earth. You need help with something and I find the technology to send myself the message at the same time."
Rose looked slightly stunned. Then realisation hit her like a ten tonne truck and it wasn't a nice feeling.
"You haven't been sending message to yourself," she said. "My Doctor's been sending messages to you."
"Your Doctor?" The Doctor in front of her frowned.
"Yeah," Rose took a deep breath and began to explain everything.
She started with how she'd met the Doctor in the other universe, what had happened in the time war, all the adventure's they'd had before he regenerated. She told of how her feelings had grown and her Doctor's affections had been fairly clear, always holding her hand, always hugging her, sending her flirtatious grins in the most serious of circumstances. Then she reached their final battle together. The army of ghosts. Rose began to break down, her voice wobbling dangerously as she recounted the last time she saw her best friend in the flesh. The four months of not knowing if he saved Earth and the teary goodbye in Bad Wolf bay.
The Doctor in front of her looked on sadly as Rose cried bitterly for her long lost love. The one person who'd ever made her happy.
"So why would he be sending me messages?" The parallel Doctor asked gently. Rose wiped her eyes and looked up smiling through her tears.
"Because we're in danger. He always did everything he could to keep me safe," She frowned for a moment. "What did the messages say exactly?"
"Well when I receive them it's like a memory, a hologram of myself appears and I say…" The Doctor paused trying to recollect the exact words. "Find Rose Tyler. Find the Earth girl. She'll know you and she'll explain everything. But you have to find her. Find her and tell her three words…"
The Doctor faltered. Rose looked up and stared at him intently.
"What three words?" She asked.
"Bad Wolf bay," the Doctor replied.