A/N: There are 40 chapters total in this story. It's a long denouement :o
Chapter 29 – Oval Or Square?
As Leah, Gwen and Rose got back in the early evening laden with bags full of toys, they found the Hub bristling with activity. A little concerned, Rose quickly stopped Jack as he walked by pushing a wheelchair, asking him what was going on.
"The Doctor wants to move to the TARDIS," he said, and moved off again. Rose glanced at Gwen, who nodded reassuringly.
"Leah, I'm just gonna go to Daddy, okay?" Rose said gently. "Stay with Auntie Gwen for a bit."
Leah nodded as her Mum rushed off to follow Jack, watching her go.
Gwen looked down at Leah and beamed. "Let's take all your new stuff to your room then, shall we?" she said, grabbing Rose's extra bags and grunting slightly through the weight. "God only knows where it's all gonna go."
It was around twenty minutes until the Doctor was finally laid into his and Rose's bed in the TARDIS, groaning quite badly. Martha gave him a painkiller to compensate before commencing a quick check over as Rose sat on the bed next to him, holding his hand.
"Well, the good news is, you're no longer dehydrated or malnourished, and you can slowly wean yourself back onto food over the next few days," Martha began, checking the notes she'd made. "I also might be able to take out the stitches soon. Your burns are also healing, your blood levels are fine, and your bones are well on the way to knitting back together."
"And the bad news?" the Doctor wondered.
"Oh, there's no bad news," Martha assured him, smiling. "Just good. Despite your little wander around this morning, but I'll forgive you."
The Doctor gave a half-smile. "Thanks."
"And no getting up for at least another twelve hours," she said sternly.
Jack looked at Rose and grinned. "If you've still got those handcuffs, now's the time to use them."
Rose laughed. "I just might."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Don't break him again just yet," he said, grinning before he and Martha rapidly left to let them get on with it.
Rose looked at him, kissing him gently. "Wander?" she asked.
"Shadow Proclamation turned up," the Doctor said, and instantly Rose looked like she was about to explode, so he quickly continued, "they won't be bothering us again."
"Oh thank god," Rose breathed.
"And the Master," he carried on. "Who also won't be bothering us again if he knows what's good for him."
She leant over to kiss him again. "Why did you wanna move?"
He looked a little embarassed. "I need to sleep next to you again."
She laughed, then stopped at his expression. "... What's wrong?"
"Well... you know I used to have nightmares? They stopped when we bonded and started sleeping together... But I had one again earlier."
Her face dropped, realising how damaged he still was. She reached up to his cheek. "Tomorrow I'm gonna take you outside."
He looked at her. "What?"
She offered him a small smile. "Trust me. You need it." Then quicker than a flash, she changed the topic. "Better go and make some dinner," she said, sliding off of the bed and moving towards the door. "Don't go anywhere," she joked, and closed the door behind her.
"Rose! Wait!" he yelled, reaching out. "Wait!" But she was already gone. He sighed, looking around the room for something to entertain him. "Oh!" he exclaimed, reaching out to a copy of Cosmo magazine on Rose's bedside table, flicking through with interest.
"Is Daddy better now?" Leah asked quietly, sitting at the kitchen table as Rose prepared dinner.
"No, he's not well, it's going to take him a while to get better," she replied gently.
"Oh," Leah said, a little disappointed.
"But that doesn't mean you can't go and see him," Rose continued. "He just can't get out of bed at the moment so you'll have to go to him and take your toys if you wanna play."
Leah instantly perked up again. "Can I go now?"
"No, I'm sorry, Leah," Rose said gently. "Dinner's almost ready and then you need to have a bath and go straight to bed, we've had a really long day and I need to look after your Dad. You can tomorrow, okay?"
Leah nodded, but was clearly disappointed again.
Rose looked at her, sympathetic. "Why don't you help me make dinner?" she asked, turning to the girl with a chopping knife in her hand. Leah stared at her for a moment, then rapidly shook her head, before covering up her face.
"Okay," Rose said, turning back.
"Rose, have I got an oval face or a square face?" the Doctor's voice asked as she opened the door, registering him sitting up in the bed reading her copy of Cosmo.
She giggled. "More oval than square."
"Apparently I should apply blush just under my cheek-bone and fade in a smooth arc towards the top of my ear to define my cheekbones..." he mused.
"Yes, darling," Rose said insincerely, grinning. "Leah wants to say good night."
He nodded, sitting up slightly and marking his place on the magazine, putting it on the bed. Rose let the girl in and she jumped up onto the bed to her Dad in her pyjamas, reaching up for a hug and a kiss.
"G'night, Leah," he said, hugging her tightly. "Sorry I'm being useless at the moment. I promise I'll make it up to you."
She nodded, looking a little happier than when she'd come in. "Night night, Daddy."
"Sleep well," he said and she slipped off of the bed again to go back to Rose. He picked up the copy of Cosmo again, resuming reading before Rose returned to find him completely absorbed in it.
"I worry about you," she mused, staring at the sight.
He just beamed as she peered at the magazine, and quickly realise what issue that was...
"Umm," she began. "Did you read the bit in the mag about..."
"Sex positions? Yeah," the Doctor replied.
"And did you happen to notice..."
"That you'd highlighted a few?" the Doctor finished again. "Yeah, I did. Not that I'm rejecting it or anything, but I think on a few of those I need to be double-jointed."
She snorted with laughter, taking a seat in front of him and kissing him gently. "I'm gonna make you some soup, get your medication then you're going to sleep."
"Yes, Mother," the Doctor replied as she got up, pecking a kiss to his lips before moving to the door.
The Doctor absently flicked to the next page of the magazine. "Ooo! Perfume smelly thing!" he enthused, and Rose could only roll her eyes.
The next morning the Doctor had decided to scan himself to check if there was going to be any lasting damage, and in the presence of Rose and Jack he had said everything looked good. It was then Rose that helped him get dressed ready for the Welsh weather, and loaded him in a wheelchair to wheel him out of Torchwood onto the Plass, leaving Leah in the care of Jack.
They went out into the rain, splashing through puddles rapidly forming on the ground – but to the Doctor it felt a whole lot different. Rose pushed him to the railings along the boardwalk so he could watch the ducks and parked the chair right next to it, giving him a view out over the bay of a miserable rainy day in Cardiff.
She moved around to smile at him. "All right?"
His face broadened into a smile. "... Just hit me that I haven't been outside for two-and-a-half months."
She nodded. "Me and Leah felt like that. It was kinda shockin'. Fresh air feels weird, yeah?"
"A good weird," he said, reaching up to take down his hood and leaning back in the chair to stare at the sky just to feel the droplets on his face. "I missed the rain. How could I miss the rain?"
She laughed. "This is why I brought you out."
"You were right, I needed this," he said, smiling at her. "Thanks."
She just smiled in return, but dived to help him when he suddenly pushed himself onto two feet and limped over to sit on the railings.
"Okay?" she asked, a little worried his boney frame would topple backwards at any moment.
He nodded. "You worry too much."
She laughed, taking a seat opposite him as the rain continued to pelt down on them, the sea breeze hitting them full in the face. But the Doctor didn't seem to care, so neither did Rose. She just took his hand and the both of them stared out to the horizon.
She looked back at him, but he was looking at the water. She could feel him through the bond, trying not to cry. She helped him down and back to his chair, and reached forward to draw his hood back up again, brushing a piece of stray hair from his forehead before kissing him.
"It's okay, you can do it now," she whispered. "No one'll see."
That was all he needed. He started sobbing unashamedly in the Welsh rain, his shoulders shaking with the tears. She leant forward and took him into a wet embrace, just holding him for a few moments to let him expel everything that had been building for probably months. But he'd been holding it back, acting like everything was okay for the benefit of people around him. He might've seemed invincible at times, an unshakable rock for her through the bad times – but although he was an alien, he still had feelings. And now he was crying. But because he was crying, she felt like crying... But she had to stop herself – she had to be his rock this time.
She drew back from him only when it felt right, cupping his cheek and gazing into his watery eyes with her own. He still had bruises and cuts all over his face, memories of what had been.
"Tell me how you feel," she said gently, wiping a tear from under his eye away with her thumb.
"Broken," he croaked.
She nodded, understanding. "Talk to me."
"I was so stupid," he whispered, looking at the ground. "Giving Leah to him... Why the hell did I do that? I nearly killed her. I'm never going to forgive myself, you must hate me..."
She leant forward to kiss him. "I don't hate you, I don't blame you. With the whole of Earth and all the Judoon in the Proclamation on the hunt for you two, you didn't have any choice. I know there was nothin' else you could have done."
"Yeah, I could," the Doctor sobbed. "Anything would've been better than that. Anything at all..."
"Hey," Rose said sternly, forcing his head up to look at her. "I know why you did it, and in your shoes I would've done the same. None of what happened was your fault, everything happened because of the Master. Please don't blame yourself. Everything's fine now."
He sniffed, shifting closer to her. "I thought Koschei... I thought he was still alive in there, somewhere... But he wasn't. I was trying to resurrect the dead. Koschei is gone, consumed by hate. My best friend is dead, and has been for a very long time." He swallowed, closing his eyes. "I wonder when Theta died."
Rose took his chin, gently lifting his head up to meet her. "From what I saw, Theta was kind and loyal to his friends, even when he knew he was goin' down, and he didn't take any credit for anythin'. Theta didn't die, Doctor, he just grew up. And he's sittin' in front of me right now."
He looked at her. "Really?"
"Really," she confirmed.
He sniffed back the next tear, gazing at her under the hood. He leant forward to kiss her this time, tender and loving, all the time staring into her eyes, arms around her.
"I need to tell you something," he croaked.
"What?"
"When I did the scan earlier, there was a problem."
"What problem? You said everythin' was fine?"
"Well, when I was imprisoned they got quite a lot of drugs in me, my fever was sky high, I wasn't getting hardly any food or water, they beat me, and other things, and now... Well... I didn't want to say it in front of Jack, but..." He paused to swallow, staring at her, urging her to catch on.
Her eyes widened. "You mean you're..."
"Yeah," he said. "It's not going to heal, not until I regenerate."
Rose looked at him. "How bad is it?"
"I can get it up and ejaculate, I just can't make you pregnant again."
She kissed him. "Fine by me."
He stopped her, pulling back. "That's really okay?"
"Of course," she replied. "We don't have to worry about me getting pregnant, now. And we have two kids already, I don't think we ever thought of having a third. Did you?"
He shook his head.
"Besides, if I want another baby, all I've gotta do is push you in front of a bus," she said, almost seriously.
He laughed. "Well, I'm glad that's sorted," he said, and she smiled in return. "I love you."
"Quite right too," she replied and they both laughed, just holding each other in the rain. When they finally drew away the Doctor was wiping at his eyes.
"Martha's right, I'm turning into a middle-aged human," he muttered with a weak grin.
She beamed at him. "The day you turn into a middle-aged human will be the day pigs fly," she assured him, pecking a kiss on his lips.
The Doctor was about to hold her again, when something caught the corner of his eye. He drew back and looked up to the sky, frowning slightly. Rose followed his gaze, her jaw slowly dropping as she slowly realised that it was a pig falling down from the sky towards the sea, squealing as it went. It landed in the water with a splash.
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other.
"Um... That doesn't count, right?" the Doctor asked mildly.
"Did I just see a pig falling from the sky?" Rose asked slowly.
The Doctor suddenly shot to attention, realising. "Oh my stupid brain! The rift! I completely forgot! C'mon!" he yelled, grabbing her hand and yanking her to her feet, pulling her back the the Hub.