Hey everyone, thanks for being so patient with me! The new season of Doctor Who is out now so my excitement/inspiration for this story had returned! Yay!

First of all I'd like to say a big thank you to ileana425 for informing me that this story has officially been approved by the international fangirl federation.

Most exciting thing that's happened to me since I got my picture taken with David Hewlett. That's right, I'm an ubernerd. And for everyone who seems confused about the issue, I may use a lot of British slang and spend over half my life speaking in a British accent, but I am in fact Canadian! It's a bittersweet thing. Anyways! Moving on. At least one good old reference in this chapter! And Rose and The Doctor will talk... oh by. Hope you enjoy. ~Tygger

Chapter 2

"Excuse me?" Rose stared at him, not quite registering what he'd said.

"You," he said slowly, "have two hearts."

"She has what?" Jackie shrieked.

"Now, Jackie, calm down." The Doctor soothed, "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for this."

Crack! The Doctor's head whipped to the left as Jackie's hand connected with his cheek, "Logical? What's happened to my daughter?"

"Mum!" Rose protested, "That's not helping. Doctor what's happening?"

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted, "But I'm going to find out."

"Mummy?" They all turned to see River, now sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She blinked at the strange people around her, searching for her mother, "Mummy?"

"Are you my Mummy?" The Doctor muttered under his breath.

Jumping to her feet, Rose smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand, "I'm here, River, I'm here."

"Did we do it?" She asked, clinging to her mother. Her little green velvet dress crumpled around her white stocking covered thighs as Rose hoisted her up onto her hip, "Are we there?"

"Yeah, we're here." Rose soothed, stoking her thick, curly hair.

River's eyes scanned the room, "Is Daddy here?"

"Um," Rose froze, staring at the Doctor, unsure of what to say.

"Mummy," River prompted, "Is Daddy here? He said he'd be here."

Rose shifted her weight from foot to foot and awkwardly stared at the floor, "Um… Daddy… Um."

The Doctor watched her scrambling for a few minutes before it occurred to him what he needed to do. Nervously, he placed his hand on Rose's shoulder and smiled at the little girl, "I'm right here, River."

"Daddy!" She beamed, seemingly not surprised by his appearance, "You regenerated!"

"Yes I did!" He agreed.

Suddenly her face went pale and she looked sick and tearful, "Did the bad aliens get you? Did they hurt you?"

"Only a little bit." He offered, "It wasn't so bad."

"River," Rose smiled nervously, "Mummy needs to talk to Daddy for a minute, why don't you get Uncle Jack to show you how that big computer over there works?"

"Okay," River nodded, whipping her eyes and grinning. Rose set her on the ground and she ran off towards a large, important looking computer, "Uncle Jack! Uncle Jack! What does this button do?"

Rose grabbed the Doctors arm and pulled him a little farther away from where her mother and Jack where desperately trying to keep River from pushing every button in sight. She dropped his arm, "Doctor, I'm so sorry he dumped this on you! He knew you didn't do domestic things and I told him we'd be fine, but he…"

"Shhh," The Doctor reached out and ran his fingers through her hair. Stepping forward, he cupped her face in his hands and leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes, "It's alright, Rose. I told you to go with him and have a life. I never hoped to see you again. Now that I have you back, how could I be mad that you brought that life with you?"

"I… He…" Rose sputtered then burst into tears, leaning into the Doctor's embrace.

"Shhh," He soothed as he held her and stroked her hair, "Shhh, it's okay."

"I love you," she murmured into his shirt.

"That was fast," He commented, "Usually it takes people a bit to warm up to the new face."

"It's not the face that matters," She decided, "It's the man underneath it."

"I am a bit different," He pointed out.

"Have you started killing people?" She questioned, "Starting wars? Ignoring cries for help? Stopped laughing? Stopped running…?"

"No," He shook his head, "That's all about the same."

"Well, then," she shrugged, whipping her eyes, "You really aren't all that different in ways that matter, are you?"

He opened his mouth and raised one finger as if to respond, then thought and shook his head, "No, I guess I'm not then."

Suddenly there was a loud crash as a tray of medical equipment clattered to the ground and River's small voice was heard offering an apologetic, "Oops!"

Rose laughed and headed for the medical bay, "That'll be my baby, getting into trouble again."

"Rose's baby," The Doctor muttered to himself, watching her scold the child, "Rose's baby… our baby?"

"Confusing, isn't it." Jack grinned, "That whole, suddenly having a kid thing has happened to me a few times."

"With your track record," The Doctor replied, "I don't doubt the world is full of little mini Jacks."

"There's not that many!" He protested, "Like… eight… maybe."

"You have eight kids?" Jackie cut in.

Jack shrugged in response, "I think so?"

"You thinks so?" She rolled her eyes, "Men! You should know so…!"

"Anyways!" The Doctor piped up, attempting to steer the conversation away from the topic of children, "Jackie, I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened in Pete's world."

"Right," She nodded, "That's easy. It started when the aliens arrived…"

Yay, finally done with Chapter 2! Don't worry, there's obviously more to come! Until next time! ~ Tygger