Rose balanced a bowl of homemade banana ice cream on her baby bump as she paced in the TARDIS kitchen. She had a magazine about raising children in one hand and a spoon in the other. It was the night cycle of the TARDIS, and she was in her twenty-fourth week of pregnancy. She woke with a leg cramp and decided to work it out.
"Rose Tyler, what are you doing out of bed?" the Doctor demanded with a long yawn. She laughed at his awful bedhead and wrinkled jimjams. "What?"
"Your hair is hilarious."
He patted it into place and went to the fridge, digging around for a snack. There wasn't much left, since Rose had been up for an hour and kept eating all that she found. He closed the door and got a spoon, helping himself to some of the ice cream.
"Inventive shelf."
"Thanks. D'you like it?" she grinned, holding her massive stomach with one hand.
"Oh yes. Great balance. I wonder what else you could balance on there."
"We could find out."
The next hour consisted of finding various objects to stack on her belly. Her record was twelve things at once, including his sonic screwdriver. After that got boring, they raided the freezer for more ice cream and sat at the table.
"At this stage in your pregnancy, our children have faces…" he informed her through a mouthful of frozen goodness.
"Faces? So they don't look like tadpoles anymore?"
"Nope. They have eyelashes and eyebrows. Even hair."
She liked that thought. "I wonder what'll look like."
"Like you," he declared smugly.
"You're in this too, you know."
"Well, yes, but I think they'll look mostly like you."
"I think you're wrong. You aren't the only one that's been reading books. I've read quite a bit on genetics."
He raised an eyebrow. "Really? What have you discovered?"
"There are two kinds of pigments when it comes to hair: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Eumelanin is the dark and pheomelanin is the light. My hair is blond and that's a recessive thing, while your hair is brown and that's a dominant thing. So chances are they'll have more eumelanin in them. That means that they'll have your hair. We both have brownish eyes, so that's pretty much a given."
"I'm impressed," he smiled. "But, I challenge you."
She smirked. "Challenge? I like where this is going."
"You're blond and your mother is blond and your father was a blondish ginger. All that blond clearly says that your genetics entail no eumelanin. Our kids will be blond or something else light."
"You just want them to be ginger."
He bobbed his head from side to side. "Well, yes. That'd be brilliant. But I'm telling you that they'll be blonds just like you."
"Want to make this interesting?"
"Now look who's wanting to bet on the children."
She took a spoonful of ice cream with a shrug. "I wouldn't bet if I didn't think that I'd win. I have something better than money. Diaper duty for a week. All on the loser."
"You are so on, Rose."
They finished eating and he forced her to get back into bed, but she would only agree if he gave her a back massage. It was killing her from the extra weight. They sat on their bed cross-legged as his fingers got to work.
"Now that we know the gender, we can talk about names…" Rose commented, sighing happily at his nimble hands.
"Right. The names. We should talk about that."
"Do you have a last name we can give them?"
"No. I was actually thinking that they should be Tylers. Let the name live on with them."
"It won't for too long. Someday, they'll get married and take his."
He scowled. "Nope. No one is marrying our daughters. I will not allow that."
"Oh no. You're one of those dads."
"I am indeed. Nobody will ever be good enough for them."
She smiled. "Of course they won't. But, we really should figure out what to call them before deciding on their future marital status, don't you think?"
"Well…I have given it some thought."
Rose waited for him to continue, but he didn't. She leaned into his hands, reminding him playfully, "That's when you're supposed to share your ideas, Doctor."
"Right. Idea sharing. Brainstorming. It's a big responsibility. Naming a child. They'll be stuck with that name forever. What if it's a bad name? What if they don't like it or it's not their personality?"
She smirked at his adorable expression. "Relax. They'll be fine. If they don't like it, they can change it. You did. Your name isn't really the Doctor."
"That's a good point…"
"Now, what did you have in mind?"
He hummed thoughtfully. "I have a first name."
"What is it?"
"Sarah. After Sarah Jane."
Rose considered it. "Sarah Tyler. I like it. It's kind of classic."
"You're sure? We can name one after Sarah Jane?"
"Yeah. She's not bad at all. Oh, I just thought of something. Two girls to name and two names each, first and middle. Why don't we each pick one first name and one middle name? It's only fair."
He smirked at her problem solving. "Good idea. One is named Sarah. That's my final answer."
"Okay, so I get to pick the other…" she trailed off and considered the options. "How about Hannah? Sarah and Hannah. Kind of go together, don't they?"
"Yes, they do. Sarah and Hannah. Hannah and Sarah. Sarah Tyler and Hannah Tyler. Fantastic."
She grinned happily. "I know. It's perfect."
"It is. No arguments here. But, I think that you should get some sleep now," he suggested upon checking the time. "It's getting late. We've been up for hours."
She groaned. "I'm not tired. And we haven't talked about middle names."
"Fine, we'll talk about that and then you sleep. And we're only talking if you're in bed."
He helped her navigate the bed and get beneath the sheets. Although he had enough sleep for the day, he got in next to her to finish their discussion. She was biting her lower lip in concentration.
"Doctor, what's your real name?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm the Doctor and that's that."
She pouted. "I wanted to name one of the children after you."
"It could be something like Sarah Doctoretta or Doctorina."
That got her giggling like crazy. "I'm serious. Maybe there's a feminine version of your real name we could use."
"Trust me when I say that there isn't. You'd be better off with Doctorizabeth."
"Doctorizabeth. How fetching."
"It's almost as good as Doctorbelle."
She had to laugh. "Well, I guess that idea is out. With no offense to your creative suggestions, of course. How about after Mum, then? Jaclyn, but not spelled the same way as Mum. J-A-C-L-Y-N."
"For which one? Sarah or Hannah?"
"Sarah. Sarah Jaclyn Tyler."
He smiled joyfully. "It's great."
She kissed him softly and settled down against his side. "Your turn to pick as long as you don't name her something like Hannah Banana or Hannah Doctorliza."
"You shouldn't have said that," he groaned. "Hannah Banana is wonderful. Now I want to use it."
"Would you really do that to a defenseless child?"
He paused to think about it. "No, I guess not. But that's her official nickname."
"Works for me. How about middle?"
After a beat, he announced, "Rosaline. Hannah Rosaline Tyler."
"Rosaline?"
"After you. Rosaline means beautiful rose."
She momentarily forgot how to breathe. They kissed for some time and then said goodnight. It was just a few hours later when it was time to get up. She didn't want to move, so she didn't. The Doctor was missing in action. K-9 entered their room with a breakfast tray balanced on his back. "Good morning, Mistress! Breakfast in bed?"
"Affirmative," she chuckled, taking the tray and patting him on the head. "Good boy."
"Thank you, Mistress!"
When the Doctor arrived, he was fully dressed and had his head buried in a book. She didn't notice, as she was far too busy contemplating the sudden change of her belly button into an outtie. He got onto the bed and turned a page, studying it closely. She glanced over.
"Good morning. Fabulous breakfast. What is in that crepe?"
"Fruit and a secret sauce. My own recipe. Did you know that the babies can hear loud noises now?" he asked as he slammed the book shut and sprawled on the bed, holding his mouth close to her tummy. "Hello, Hannah! Hello, Sarah! It's your dad! Can you hear me in there?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "They won't know what you're saying."
"Of course they will. They're Time Ladies. Very quick learners," he retorted, returning to his shouting. "It's your dad! We've picked your names: Hannah Rosaline and Sarah Jaclyn! That's what we're going to call you. Do you like that?"
The babies started kicking and her eyes grew wide. "They started kicking like they understood you."
"Like I said, quick learners. That'll be interesting. We've probably got to invent a new locking system on their cribs. They might be escape artists. Or, they might build their own sonic screwdrivers in the middle of the night."
"Please," she cackled.
He smirked. "I built my first sonic device when I was in nursery from my toy box."
"We should probably invent a new locking system, then…"
"Yeah. Probably."