A/N A bit more of a glimpse into the Doctor's thoughts on the idea of having children (plus a scene I couldn't resist writing). After this, the story moves them close to the inevitable.

Chapter 6

The Doctor met back up with Rose later that evening in the children's ward. He entered the doorway and paused in his steps as his eyes found her. He stood just watching Rose for a minute. She was holding an infant, talking softly and soothingly as she fed the child a bottle, gently rocking the baby in her arms. Upon seeing her, the Doctor's earlier conversation with T'neer came back to his thoughts and inevitable questions began to form in his mind.

Did Rose feel deprived not being able to experience motherhood since conception wasn't possible for them? This was one of the doubts the Doctor had before he asked Rose to be his Bond Mate, knowing this was something he could never give her. He could give her all of time and space – unending adventures and unfathomable possibilities stretched out before her just for the taking – but the one thing he could never give her was a child. Rose had told him she was happy without having children in their life. Was she really, though?

Watching her now, the Doctor felt a wave of guilt knowing that even if they could have children, he didn't think that was something he could bring himself to ever have again in his life – especially considering the implications of having a part-human child. He couldn't reopen a raw, ugly wound that had never properly healed, only to have his soul further ripped to shreds in the end by the cruelty of loss that seemed to hound him. The Doctor concluded it was better for him that the decision was out of their hands due to the impossibility of it, because he knew what his decision would be given the choice.

He was drawn out of his reverie when Rose glanced up and saw him standing there.

Rose felt a pleasant flutter in her chest just upon seeing him. Call it clingy or call it being in love, but she'd missed him during the day. Simple as that. A natural smile that lived in his presence blossomed on her face as her eyes met his.

She took several steps closer and greeted him. "Hi."

"Hello," he smiled warmly back, walking towards her as they met halfway. "Are you ready to head back for the night?"

She nodded, adjusting the baby in her arms. "Yeah. Just let me finish here with Kessa, and then I promised I'd say goodnight to those two little rascals down there." She indicated towards two young children sitting in their beds and waiting anxiously for her at the other end of the room – twins, a boy and a girl. They appeared to be around the age of three, but were actually a little less than a year old. It still boggled Rose's mind a bit trying to wrap her head around the age differences of these people. To her, a normal lifespan was eighty or so years. Anything significantly more or less was out of the realm of ordinary; but she realized her thinking in that way was still limited to human terms. Even after all this time, traveling with the Doctor continued to expand her horizons. Considering the sheer vastness of the universe, that would never cease.

Rose looked back to the Doctor. "Tell you what, if you could finish feeding her, I'll go tell them goodnight and tuck 'em in."

The Doctor blinked, looking between Rose and the baby suddenly being offered to him. But after a pause he nodded and extended his hands. This wasn't exactly something he did on a regular basis, but he was experienced enough. Universal expert, him. Fortunately for his sake, the Lord of Time had only been asked to feed the baby and not change a nappy.

Rose carefully placed the baby in his arms and handed him the bottle. "She likes conversation, so you two should get on quite well." Rose grinned at the pair, then turned and walked towards the children at the other end of the room.

The Doctor looked down at the baby in his arms and lifted an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well then, what shall we discuss?" He sat gingerly down in a chair nearby and resumed the feeding Rose had begun. He looked back down at the baby. Two little round eyes were riveted to his, as if hanging on the every word of this curious, spiky-haired man who held her. "Ah, I know! How about Einstein's Theory of Relativity?" He lowered his voice conspiratorially and shared a secret. "You know, they call it 'his' theory, but that's okay. I told him he could take all the credit. I was just talking earlier today about my old mate Al..."

After finishing with the children and saying goodnight to Leedra and the other nurses on rotation, Rose returned to the Doctor. She couldn't keep the grin off her face as she came back and overheard the tail end of his stimulating conversation with the baby. Somehow she wasn't surprised by his intellectual version of 'baby talk'.

Rose walked up to him just as he stood. "All set?" she asked softly, so as not to wake the now sleeping baby in his arms.

The Doctor nodded as he handed Rose the empty bottle, then placed the baby back down in the crib. If he'd needed a renewed reason to continue fighting to find a cure for these people, this child not expected to live past infancy would have just given it to him.

"It looks like you bored her to sleep," Rose whispered teasingly.

The Doctor shot her a frown as he stepped back from the crib. "I most certainly did not," he whispered back. "I stimulated her mental faculties to the point of needing rest in order to process it all."

Rose muffled a laugh as she looped her arm through his and they began walking out. "I'll remember that reply the next time I fall asleep during one of your long-winded babbling sessions and you get offended."

-:-:-:-

After dinner, the Doctor and Rose had settled together in the villa's front sitting room. Rose had gone into the library on the TARDIS and retrieved a few books, and she now sat reclining back on the sofa reading through them, picking out stories the children might enjoy hearing when she went back to the hospital the next day.

The Doctor's own reading wasn't quite as relaxed. He sat on the floor in front of her with his back leaning against the sofa as he poured over his research. He scrawled furiously at his notes – the swirling-patterned language now scattered in ever-growing piles around him on the floor.

Rose eventually got up and went to the kitchen, preparing two cups of Janyeer's version of tea. She had quickly come to love the spicy-sweet blend and made a mental note to take extra along with them when they left.

She sat back down on the sofa and placed a cup beside the Doctor, then leaned back, cradling her own mug between her hands. The Doctor briefly glanced up, reaching for the mug and taking a sip as he thanked her, then turned his attention back to his research. It was the first word the Doctor had spoken in the past hour. He'd been so engrossed in his work.

Rose continued quietly observing him through lowered lashes. Was it wrong of her to want him so badly when his attention was needed elsewhere? Her thoughts kept drifting back to that morning and the fervent kisses and tender caresses they'd shared that ended all too soon. Passion was certainly one thing never lacking between them, and they usually didn't go for any stretch of time without fully expressing it.

Rose felt as if she grew more madly in love with the Doctor with each passing day. She still found it extraordinary at times to realize they were now bonded, body and soul. The bond they shared wasn't as strong as it could have been if Rose were Gallifreyan – she couldn't withstand that. If the full magnitude of a Time Lord mind were opened to hers she would burn. It did, however, give them a subtle awareness of each other within their minds, and the link between them could be heightened during times of intense intimacy.

That shared bond between them made Rose ache for him all the more. There wasn't a single time she set eyes on him where her soul and her body didn't respond intensely. It was slightly unfair, however, because while the Doctor could drive her mad for him with a single glance, he himself possessed Time Lord barriers that allowed him to be selective with his arousal. She knew those barriers were undoubtedly up now, because with the two of them alone like this, he would never be able to concentrate on his work otherwise.

Rose knew she could make those barriers fall, though. A few touches, a few whispers, and they would fall in surrender at her feet. But as incredibly enticing as that thought was, she wouldn't try to seduce him. Not tonight. She knew he needed to keep working.

That didn't mean Rose could completely ignore her desire for him, though. Sometimes she just needed to touch him. Rose put her tea aside and leaned forward, placing a hand on his shoulder as she dropped a kiss to the top of his head. His suit jacket had already been tossed aside. Without that extra layer she easily noticed the tightness of his muscles beneath her hand, and she began kneading at the base of his neck and shoulders, feeling the knotted tension within him.

He voiced his appreciation in a long sigh and let his eyes briefly close.

"Do you think you'll sleep tonight?" Rose asked softly.

The Doctor pulled off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. "No," he answered honestly. "I need to keep working."

"Just don't try to push your sleep cycle too far or you won't be any good to anyone," she advised.

He angled his head up to look at her and smiled. "I'm fine. Honestly. But it's late and you should get some sleep."

Rose stood, sliding her hand off his shoulder and extending it out to him. "Come with me?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded as he gathered his research to bring into the bedroom. Even if Rose was sleeping, he was able to concentrate better if she was near. Rose's presence bolstered him in the midst of his current frustration over his minimal progress. There was also another reason having her near always gave him a feeling of peace. Even though a year had passed, they had come so close to forever losing each other at Canary Wharf. That was something neither would ever forget nor completely shake off, and it made them both hold on just a little tighter.

Rose changed for the night and slid under the covers as the Doctor settled beside her on the bed. He slipped on his glasses and resumed his work by the muted glow of the bedside lamp. Rose lay on her side with her head propped on her hand, gazing up at him. The Doctor's left hand instinctively reached for hers. His thumb rhythmically stroked back and forth across the warm skin of her knuckles as he continued reading a book on genetics from the 69th century. He had complained it was grossly outdated, but he still managed to find a few useful bits of information.

"You're staring at me when you're supposed to be sleeping," he finally spoke into the night's stillness, a slight smile curving his lips as he released her hand and turned a page in the book.

Rose sighed dramatically. "I can't help it. It's the glasses." She lowered her voice. "You know what they do to me."

The Doctor briefly set the book aside and turned to her, arching a brow over the dark rim of his specs. "When this is all finished, remind me again, in detail, just what it is they do to you," he said huskily as he lowered his lips close to hers.

"Gladly," she replied, just as he brushed her lips with the softness of his. It was chaste and searing at the same time – a feat only the Doctor could manage.

Rose smiled fondly up at him as he pulled back, remembering the endearing sight of him prattling on about Einstein to the baby he held in his arms earlier that evening.

The Doctor tilted his head questioningly beneath her gaze. "What's this look for, then?"

"I was just thinking," she replied, continuing to smile.

"Care to share?"

"You were good with the baby tonight."

"Was I?" he replied, sounding immediately disinterested as he reached once again for the book. "Weeell, I'm good with most everyone I meet, you know. Big, little and in between. I'm a people person, that's me. Although the term 'People Person' is highly limited in my respect. It certainly doesn't just have to be a person for me to have a brilliant way with them. Animal, vegetable or mineral, you could say. Why, just take me and the–"

Rose placed her hand on his leg, sensing his underlying discomfort as his words gained speed, retreating into babbling mode. "Doctor," she cut in, "it was just a simple compliment. It didn't carry a deeper meaning. Seeing you with a baby didn't suddenly stir feelings in me about things we don't have."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile inwardly. Of course Rose would see through his rambling for what it really was and know what he was thinking underneath. She could always read his true feelings, even when he tried to cover them. Maybe especially when he tried to cover them.

The Doctor turned his head back to look at Rose, and he surprised her with what he said next, so softly she almost missed it.

"It did me." Rose was looking back at him intently. "Seeing you with the baby, that is. It made me think that maybe...maybe you regret the things I'm not able to give you. It made me think about the things you might want but could never have."

Rose reached up and drifted her fingers down his cheek, her eyes honest and tender. "The only thing I wanted but thought I could never have was you. Now that we're together like this I have so much more than I thought I ever could. I told you before, Doctor, all I want and need is you."

The Doctor took her hand from his cheek and kissed the inside of her palm. "Rose Tyler," he spoke, almost in awe, "what did you ever see in me?"

The Doctor could have such cockiness and bravado, but when it was just the two of them alone that all fell away. He still had those moments where he measured himself according to his losses and regrets and came up short in his own eyes every time.

Rose spoke with sincerity as she looked into his eyes. "I saw you. Just you. Always."

The Doctor pulled her close and held her in his arms. How could he have ever had any doubts about them for any reason? Look at all the two of them had already come through, yet here they still were. They were the Doctor and Rose – the Stuff of Legend. They were unshakable.

Or so he thought. They were about to be shaken.