I am terribly sorry for the amount of time it has taken me to update anything lately. I've been studying like mad. Well, I hope you do enjoy. xx
Rose tapped her fingers in agitation as she drove home. The Doctor had told her to take the car back home and he would just grab a cab when he finished work. The nausea in her stomach told her not to argue. She was being irrational about this whole thing and she knew it. He loved her. He loved her dearly and that was sometimes the only thing that she was certain of in the world. The thought that one girl could come between them would have seemed ridiculous to her when she was travelling in that blue box in another universe. But living this human existence, she was all too aware that these things happened. Men got bored with their wives and ran off with younger women. Rose shuddered at the thought. Even though she was sure that the Doctor would never do that to her, it didn't stop her from worrying about it.
Almost as soon as Rose set foot in their home, she found herself resting her forehead against the cool porcelain of the bathtub. Just waiting for another wave of sickness to send her propelling towards the toilet. She didn't feel so sick anymore and she didn't feel like she had been taken with an illness. But every few minutes a sense of overwhelming sickness would sweep over her, sending her retching. The phone ringing from the living room reached her ears. With a groan Rose stood, her body feeling achy and tired. She was fatigued beyond belief.
"Hello?" She said meekly, sinking down into the soft chair. Her mother's voice started prattling on at a mile a minute, and Rose internally groaned. She didn't need this right now.
"You listening, Rose?" Jackie questioned suspiciously, and Rose jumped at the direct question.
"What? Yeah, course I am." It was a weak lie even to her own ears.
"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Rose rubbed her fingers against her forehead, letting out a tired sigh.
"Yeah…I just, I think I need to go to a Doctor."
"Are you sick? Love, what's wrong?" Jackie's voice wasn't exactly melodious to her ears, and Rose recoiled slightly from the receiver.
"Nothing much. I just keep getting these…flashes of sickness. And I feel tired. It's probably just a virus." There was a long pause on the other end of the phone.
"You have any other symptoms, Rose?" She thought for a moment and lay back on the sofa.
"No. Not really. No headaches or anything. I don't think I'm running a temperature either." There was another long pause, during which Rose checked the connection just to make sure Jackie was still on the line. It was unusual for her mother to remain silent for so long.
"Rose….I think…I just think I know what's wrong with you." Her voice held barely contained excitement, and Rose frowned down at the phone.
"Mum, what are you talking about?" She wasn't in the mood for any games or riddles.
"Is it a possibility, Rose…that you may be pregnant?" The excitement bubbled over in her voice, and Rose could just see her mother beaming as she said it. Her heart skipped a beat as she sat bolt upright.
"No." She said without hesitation.
"…Rose, it is a possibility. And it sounds like you're having the same symptoms I had when I was pregnant with you-"
"No. It's just not a possibility. Me and the Doctor…we're…we're careful, mum." She said delicately, not really willing to broach the subject with her mother.
"So were me and your dad." Jackie retorted back, and Rose's eyes widened. Could it be a possibility? She supposed there was a slim chance. But…she wasn't ready. She was young…and the Doctor and her…they weren't in the right place for that. He had said they would try but she had thought she had more time than this. Much more time.
"No…I…I can't be." Rose whispered, more to herself than her mother.
"Sweetheart? Is it…is it a bad thing for you? Do you not want a baby?" Rose stood up and pressed a palm to her forehead, her eyes starting to sting.
"No, it's not…it's not that I don't want to, mum! It's too soon, it's…I can't-"
"Rose, before you get yourself worked up, just take a test. No point making plans for something you're not sure of." Jackie quickly cut in, her excitement and enthusiasm dying as she heard Rose's voice clog with emotion.
"Yeah…Uh, look, mum, I'll call you back. I have to go now. Ill call you later." Without waiting for her mother's reply, she stood and started pacing the living room. She couldn't be pregnant. She couldn't be. She wasn't ready.
The Doctor's hand was aching with the effort of grading the rest of the exam papers. It was a tedious part of the job. Looking for the same answers and grading it so systematically was rather boring. It was one part of the job that the Doctor actually didn't like. But thankfully, Delilah had volunteered to help grade the papers, so at least his work load was halved.
His eyes flickered up to her once or twice, just to make sure that she was getting on alright. She sat on one of the students desks, the papers in her lap and one leg swinging idly. Her red hair cascaded like a curtain, hiding her face from view. The only sounds coming form her were the sounds of the pen sweeping across the page and the delicate humming from her throat.
"Yes, John?" Delilah's voice startled him out of his daydream. He looked up again to see her setting the last of her pile down.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." The Doctor smiled to her and diverted his attention back to the papers on his desk.
"You were staring at me, John, why?" He sighed and looked up, a small furrow in his brow as she slid off the desk and walked idly over to his.
"I…If you want to be honest I was admiring your hair. Or the colour of it to be precise. Always wanted ginger hair…seems it wasn't meant to be. Not in this body anyway."
"You do make me laugh when you go off on one like that, John." Delilah laughed and flicked that flaming waterfall over her shoulder. The Doctor eyed it for a moment more with barely disguised envy before once more looking at the paper he was almost finished with.
"How's Rose doing?"
"She's fine. Just felt a little ill." The Doctor said distractedly as he moved onto the last paper. Delilah hummed her acknowledgement before bringing a chair to sit beside him.
"I'll keep you company until you finish that then. I'd feel bad leaving you to it." The Doctor offered her a brief smile as he scanned the page for the key terminology he expected to see.
"It'll only take me a minute."
"Then it'll be especially rude if I just walk off now." Delilah countered, and the Doctor inwardly laughed at her sharp tongue. She wasn't so bad really, once you got used to her. True to his word, grading the last paper took less than a minute, and he placed it on top of the stack.
"Well…I'll see you tomorrow then, Delilah." The Doctor said as he made to stand up. He pulled his coat on, anxious to get home to Rose and see how she was doing.
"John, can I ask you something quickly?" Delilah stood and tucked her chair in. He paused in his motions and waited for her to continue.
"You like me, right?" The Doctor hesitated for a moment.
"Well, you're a lovely girl. Of course I like you." That was apparently what she wanted to hear, as she smiled to herself and walked towards him, stopping almost immediately in front of him. The Doctor's eyes widened as her emerald ones found his.
"I feel like…like I can connect with you, John."
"Really? That's…-"
"I do. Truly. I really like you, John. A lot." She said meaningfully, and the Doctor swallowed.
"Delilah, I-"
"John…" The Doctor hopped back, suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable being in such close quarters with her.
"Look, Delilah, I've got to go. Rose is at home, waiting for me. Terrible thing if I kept her waiting." He put extra emphasis on Rose's name, hoping to deter the conversation.
"Do you love her?" She queried, looking at the floor intently. The Doctor stopped and really looked at her. He felt rather bad for her.
"Yes. And I'm sorry, but if we're going to continue to work together, then we have to keep this strictly professional." Delilah sighed and offered her hand to him.
"I'm sorry John." He realised that the hand she offered was meant for a handshake. He hesitated only a moment before clasping her hand with his.
"It's fine. Let's just forget this ever-" The rest of his reply was muffled as her lips covered his. The Doctor was frozen with shock as Delilah kissed him softly, and he was unsure whether to just wait for her to finish or to push her away. In the end he resolved to do both. As he turned his head away he pushed her away as gently as he could.
"Delilah. Listen to me, we can't-"
"I know…That was…I just wanted to see what it felt like." She offered him a half smile. The Doctor looked down at her, still unsure of what to do.
"Well, look John. I'll see you tomorrow. And starting next lesson, we can be strictly professional…I'll see you later." She pulled on her coat, threw him a smile and left the room.
As the Doctor sat in the taxi, his thoughts seemed to be leaping over one another as they pushed for attention. He wasn't mad at Delilah and he wasn't mad at himself. He hadn't done anything and she had promised that nothing more would happen. But it was just the guilt. Especially when Rose was already insecure about the situation with the assistant jobs and especially with Delilah's presence.
"You alright mate, you've been rather quiet?" The cab driver looked back at him. The Doctor was sure he was just making polite conversation.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a lot of my mind, you know." The cab driver smiled at him in the mirror.
"Is it a girl?" The Doctor shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.
"Sort of. Maybe. Well…"
"Problems with the missus?"
"Possibly." The Doctor said quietly, looking down at his converse. The cab driver looked at him once again in the mirror and noted his humble demeanour.
"You did something didn't you?" The Doctor's head snapped up, shocked at the man's bluntness.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to mate. It's not my business." They spent some time in silence, the Doctor looking out of the taxi window. After a while the taxi slowed to a halt outside of the place that the Doctor had come to call home.
"Here we are." The Doctor paid him, and just as he opened the door, the man called back to him.
"If I were you…I'd just tell her. No point keeping it quiet. She'd find out sooner or later."
The Doctor hesitated for a moment before stepping into the flat. He took the cab drivers words to heart. It was true…if he didn't tell her she'd find out from someone else and it would be ten times worse. He didn't even do anything. It's not like she could be mad at him. He hoped.
"Rose?" He called out as he shrugged off his coat, his heart sinking as he resolved to tell her.
"In the bedroom.". Quickly, he opened the door to the bedroom, giving her a smile as he spotted her sitting cross legged on the bed, twiddling her hands together.
"Rose…you feel alright now?" He crossed the room and sat on the bed opposite her, his heart hammering.
"Yeah…yeah, I feel…o.k. I suppose.I don't know...I've got something to tell you, Doctor-"
"Rose. Can I go first? Please? I've got something I need to tell you." He watched Rose sit back obediently as he worked up the courage to even open his mouth.
Well, that was an extra long chapter for you. Hope you did like...and uh, tell me what you thought! xx