It had only been a month for Tony, Trisha, Sabrina and the kids. Three months for Amy, Rory, Rose and the Doctor, but only one in linear time. Mickey and Martha's son, Gareth, was just over a month old now.
The ones who hadn't been on the adventure had been quickly filled in on the details of their adventure, well, except for the future relationship between River and Jack. As well as being told that Jack himself couldn't know what had happened.
After hearing of their adventures in 1969, Martha had recounted her own. She had said that she would have preferred chasing aliens across America during the Summer of Love rather than working in a shop in London.
As a new mother, Martha had yet to be apart from her son. At least until today, Rose thought with a smile. She had dragged Martha, Trisha, Amy and Sabrina out on the town for a spa day. They had already had massages, had their nails done, enjoyed a light lunch and were currently clothes shopping. It was good to have a little pampering.
EJ, Jamie and Gareth had been left in the care of Tony, Mickey, Rory and the Doctor. Rose had been sure that, despite the Doctor's newfound desire for more children, he would have protested spending a day on babysitting duties. Sure that he would have insisted on going over both Amy's old and new scans, instead he had seemed very eager to spend time with both the children and the boys.
In the five days since they had returned to London, the Doctor had spent many hours of his free time pouring over the information he had collected and he was still no closer to an answer. Amy had, in fact, been pregnant at one point then the suddenly it was as if she never was. No sign of miscarriage, just gone. The Doctor had a hundred ideas about what was going on, all of them were just as implausible as they were horrifying.
The sound of Sabrina's voice effectively snapped Rose out of her train of thought. "You're not thinking about buying that, are you?" her youngest asked, pointing at the shirt Rose held in her hands. "Besides the fact that the color's all wrong for you it's just ghastly."
Hastily Rose put the top back on the rack. "No, I won't be getting that one." She picked up another, much cuter one. "What about this one?"
"It's better. Not many grandmums could pull it off, but I think you could," Sabrina said with a shrug. "Don't know why you bother with the shopping, though. You have the whole of that wardrobe room to choose from.
Rose laughed. "You sound like your dad. I like to shop, something therapeutic about it. Especially after an adventure."
Sabrina gave her a small smile and turned back to the racks of clothes. Something was clearly bothering her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Rose said softly.
"It's nothing, Mum, really," the younger girl tried to reassure her.
"I'm not buying that, so spill." Rose said, crossing her arms. "Is it school? Or that boy you've been seeing? 'Cause if he hurt you…"
In a huff, Sabrina grabbed her mother's arm and pulled her away from other people's range of hearing. "It's not 'that boy' as you call him," Sabrina snapped. "I'm just, ughh, I don't know. I just feel trapped."
"Trapped?" Rose grew concerned.
"On Earth," Sabrina expounded. "I feel like I'm trapped here on one planet in one time period. I miss the excitement, the traveling, the adventure, everything we used to do. But I just feel like I'm expected to be here. To go to University and to make a proper life here."
Rose fought hard to keep her lips from forming a smile. She lost. "Why on any planet would you feel like that's what we expected of you?"
"I just thought that because that's what Tony did..." Sabrina said lamely. "I thought it's what I wanted."
"Oh love, I'm sorry. I should have noticed something was off," Rose said, pulling her into a hug.
"It's not your fault, Mum. I'm not a little kid anymore." Pulling out of the hug, Brina wiped unshed tears from her eyes on her sleeve. She hated being outwardly emotional like this.
"Why didn't you say something sooner? The only thing I want is for you to be happy," Rose rubbed her daughters back.
"I really thought that this is what I wanted. I love books and literature, always have. It's just I miss the adventure of traveling through time and space." Sabrina looked up at her mum, probably expecting some lecture about personal responsibility. Saying all the things that she had feared her mum would say when she finally admitted that Uni wasn't for her. Honestly, she should have known better.
Rose gave her a sympathetic smile. "Then take a break or quit school and travel. You could call up Mels. She's off backpacking somewhere. Join up with her while she's trying to figure out who she is, like you want to. You could take River up on her offer and try University in another century. Or you could take your pick of either TARDIS to travel in. Don't stay where you're not happy, love."
"You're not mad?"
"Why would I be? When I was your age, I dropped everything and ran away to the stars. I learned so much in that time. I learned a better way of living, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
"That was Dad, right?" Sabrina smiled.
"Nah, it was a completely different mad man with a blue box," Rose said with an eye roll. "Of course it was Dad, and it was the best decision I ever made."
"That's because in the end you got me. And where would your life be without yours truly?" The younger woman tried to look haughty.
"Cheeky," Rose smiled before becoming more serious. "It doesn't matter to me which path you choose, Sabrina. Or even if you choose to jump to several different paths. I won't even be mad if you choose to travel with Rory and Amy rather than your poor old Mum. I know I would just cramp your style," Rose said with a laugh, looping one of her arms through Sabrina's and pulling her back towards the group. "Come on, you're going to need some new clothes if you're going on a journey of self-discovery."
"Thanks for understanding, Mum," Sabrina said, laying her head on Rose's shoulder.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Want to talk about it?" Tony asked as he slid a cup of tea in front of his younger brother. The Doctor was playing with EJ and Jamie upstairs. Mickey had gone to feed and change the baby before putting him down for a nap.
"Talk about what?" Rory asked, feigning nonchalance as he sipped his tea.
"About what happened in 1969," the older man replied.
Heaving a sigh, Rory simply said, "We told you what happened in 1969. Met Nixon and a little girl in a space suit, ran reconnaissance for three months, had a row with Mum, Amy got kidnapped, saved Amy, saved human history. You know, normal stuff."
"God, sometimes you are just like Dad, avoiding talking about uncomfortable things." Tony leaned forward. "Tell me what you really don't want to tell anyone else. I know you, little brother; you need to talk about it. I promise to keep it just between us, won't even tell Trisha."
This is what they did. If there was ever anything Rory felt he couldn't take to Mum or Dad or even Amy, he came to his Tony. Rory closed his eyes for a minute, and Tony began to think that he wasn't going to say anything. Then Rory started to speak. "We're in a circular paradox. A pretty long one, too, if I'm calculating it correctly."
"Does this have something to do with why you lot were in Utah?"
"Yeah, Utah is where it started. Something happens there. It's a fixed point, but not really. Not like when Dad died. Everything about that moment had to happen, and I couldn't change a single detail.
"But with this, I think the appearance of what happened was what was fixed. So I have to figure out how to manipulate what happened because I already did." Rory trailed off and looked over at his brother. "I'm not making any sense, am I?"
Tony smiled. "Actually, I think I understood that. Not sure what it says about my sanity, mind. So, something that you can't tell me about happened in Utah and now you have to figure out how to manipulate a fixed point so what appeared to have happened doesn't actually happen."
"Got it in one." Rory looked impressed. Not many full humans could understand time. He should have known that Tony above most people would not only understand but not press to get details that Rory couldn't provide.
Dropping his voice and looking over his shoulder, Tony asked, "Is this similar to what you're planning to do to save River?" Satisfied that the Doctor was nowhere near them, Tony raised the volume of his voice a fraction. "Because you're already not sure that she can survive the assault the Library matrix will have on her once. You can't be thinking about doing something like that."
"No," Rory said, shaking his head. "I won't have to use her to fix this thing in Utah. Not sure what it is I have to use for this but I think I'll know it when see it."
"I'm sure you'll think of something, little bro." Tony paused for a moment before speaking again. "Have you talked to the Doctor about your plans for the Library? Maybe he has some suggestions. Or maybe you could use his…"
Rory cut him off. "No. I haven't talked to him or Mum about it yet. He's Dad, and he won't want us to interfere. So I'm waiting until I have everything ready to go before I make my move. You're the only one who knows that I promised River I would save her. I just can't let her die like that."
"Of course you can't." Tony laid a hand on Rory's shoulder. "But that's not all that's bothering you, is it?"
"It's Amy," Rory said softly. "There's something off. I just can't put my finger on it, and I don't just mean the whole pregnant/not pregnant thing."
Tony nodded. Rory had already told him that Amy had thought that she was pregnant and it turned out that she wasn't. "What do you think…?"
"Daddy!" An energetic, sandy haired three year old ran full stop into the room. "Daddy, can we have a tea party in the garden? Granddad said I had to ask you before we took my tea set outside. The sun's out. Please, pretty please?"
The Doctor walked into the room behind her, carrying Jamie. "Sorry, I'm not sure of the rule about toys outside. And Rose was very specific that I had to follow the house rules. I'm usually rubbish at rules."
Tony laughed, not entirely sure if his mum had meant rules for the children or for the Doctor himself. "Yes, pet, you can have tea party in the garden."
"Come on, EJ," Rory said, pushing back his chair from the table. "I'll help you carry everything outside."
After the two of them left the room, Tony stood and held out his arms. "Do you want me to take Jamie? It's almost nap time and I'm sure that you'll want to attend Miss EJ's tea party. Trisha saves the best biscuits for our princess to use."
"Yes, thank you." The Doctor handed Jamie off to his dad. "How are things? For you, I mean."
"Good, busy at work. And this one is just getting big so fast. He'll be walking soon." Tony let Jamie stand on the table, while holding him up to demonstrate the point.
"Thank you for letting me be a part of their lives. For letting me be a Grandfather to them." The Doctor shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another.
Tony shifted Jamie and leaned over to give him a hug. "You are their Granddad, and they adore you, especially EJ." Releasing the hug, Tony said, "Come on Dad, let's get those biscuits and make the tea."
The Doctor couldn't hold back his smile as he set the electric kettle to boil.
"We're home," Trisha called as the women piled into the house. "We brought takeaways." She, Amy and Sabrina set the hefty bags on the dining room table.
"Hello, love," Tony said, coming around a corner and kissing his wife's cheek. "Have fun shopping?" He hugged everyone else in turn.
"Yep, spent all your hard earned money on stuff I don't need," Trisha teased. "Where are the kids?"
"I thought they went with you lot," Tony teased back. "Just teasing," he relented when Martha looked slightly panicked. "Gareth, Jamie and Mickey are all down for their afternoon naps."
"Ah, glad to see some things never change with Micks," Rose laughed, bumping Martha's shoulder.
"Truer words..." Martha agreed.
"As for the rest of them, follow me," Tony said, waving a hand at them before leading them out of the room. "Don't worry. I took plenty of pictures and made a video." He almost wasn't able to get the words out because he was trying to stop himself from laughing.
"What are you talking about?" Rose asked, almost skipping in anticipation of seeing what was so funny.
"Just wait." Tony put his finger to his lips and stopped by the windows to the back garden.
Outside, EJ, Rory, the Doctor and a collection of stuffed animals were sitting around a circular table. EJ stood on a chair pouring tea into everyone's cups from the tea set that had been a birthday present. She was wearing her pink tutu, leotard, ballet flats and tiara. Rory was wearing a dinner jacket with a fedora perched on his head. The Doctor was dressed in his customary tweed jacket while sporting a fetching top hat and monocle.
Amy's hand stole to her stomach as she stifled a giggle. "Rory's going to be such a great dad one day." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Trisha was standing next to her and squeezed her hand in support.
"Did you send the video to Uncle Jack?" Sabrina asked her eldest brother. "This would be perfect for the funniest Doctor moments thing he's working on."
"The what?" Rose asked, not taking her eyes off the scene in the garden.
"Just Jack being Jack," Martha explained with an eye roll, since no one else looked like they wanted to chime in. "He's compiling a video of the silly, embarrassing things the Doctor does. Keeps saying it's for the kids, but I doubt it."
Rose snorted and Trisha moved towards the back door. "Tony, be a dear, wake Mickey up and bring dinner to the garden." Trisha blew a kiss at her beloved. "It's time we crash a tea party. Fish fingers and custard for everyone."
"I just hope EJ has enough hats," Amy said with a smile. "I want a big feathery one."
Sabrina grinned. "If she doesn't, I'm sure the Doctor does."
Later that night, after dinner, baths for the children, and bedtime stories, after laughter, stories and the Smiths heading home, after everyone else had gone to bed, it was just Rose and the Doctor. They sat curled together on the couch in front of the fireplace, the fingers of one of his hands trailing lightly up her arm.
"Is it always like this? Domestics, I mean," he asked softly.
Her lips curled into a small smile. "Is it all lazy Saturdays, tea parties and laughter? I wish it was, but no. There are lots of days like this. Lots of lovely moments, but there's also some not so great times. Heartbreak, arguments, school work, disappointments… You have the memories of all those days too, don't you?"
"Yes, I do. I know what James experienced and how he felt over almost all of those years." He shifted and pulled her closer to his side. "There's just a part of me wondering why I ran from this for so long. If these last few months of visits are anything to go by, maybe…"
Unable to help it, Rose gave a small chuckle. "You would have been bored in a month if you had to live a life day to day. I know a part of you wants it, but this isn't you."
"It was James, though?" He tried to keep the small resentment out of his voice. He may have had most of James's memories but he hadn't lived them. Amy had been wrong. It wasn't the same thing as the metacrisis only in reverse. James had lived every single one of the Doctor's memories but the opposite wasn't true.
"Love…" Rose turned so they were face to face. "It was the part of him that was human, the part he got from Donna. That was the only reason he could. Plus, I think that if not for Amelia and Mels, we would have left Earth as soon as our TARDIS could leave. Raised the boy amongst the stars, but then we would have missed out on our girls."
The Doctor nodded curtly. It was a silly thing to bring up, he knew that. He loved the life they had now. He loved Rose and their family.
"He was jealous of you, too, you know," she said, kissing his cheek. "When we realized we wouldn't grow old together. When we found out that he and I couldn't have more children together but that you and I could. James tried to hide it, but I knew him so well."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor mumbled against her hair.
"I think one of the only comforts he had was the knowledge that the kids and I would be loved and taken care of, by you."
"And he was right. Of course he was right," the Doctor replied. Deciding to change subjects, he asked, "Have you spoken to Mels lately?"
"She called yesterday, currently backpacking across Italy. Guess she had no real ties to Leadworth once we left. I asked again if she wanted to come with us. She turned me down, said the timing wasn't right."
"As long as she knows the invitation stands." The Doctor leaned in and kissed Rose softly on the lips.
"Speaking of traveling, Sabrina is going to take a bit of a break from school, have some adventures of her own."
The Doctor smiled. "Excellent, 21st century schools are a bit rubbish. Plenty she can learn through experience rather than books. Is she coming with us, then?"
"No, she wants to go with Rory and Amy for a bit," Rose replied softly.
"I see." He couldn't help the hurt that crept into his voice.
"None of that, my love." Rose playfully slapped his arm. "She's a growing girl that in no way wants to spend all of her time stuck with her parents. Even if we are very, very cool. I'm sure she'll travel with us for a bit, too. She just needs time to spread her wings. I know at that age I didn't want to travel with my mum."
The Doctor didn't say anything; he just held her and ran his fingers through the long strands of her hair. "Besides," Rose said softly as she laid her head against his chest. "It gives us time to figure out what exactly is going on without having to explain it to everyone."
"I love you, Rose Tyler," the Doctor whispered against the top of her head. "We'll figure out what's wrong and fix it. I promise."
"Of course we will. It's what we do." Rose smiled up at him. "And I love you, too."