"Mr. Teddy, we have to trudge onward through the Duvet Desert!" the Doctor declared from his place on the bedroom floor.
Rose cracked open an eye. She was trying to take a nap on their bed, but his voice woke her. She couldn't see him. "Doctor?"
The head of a teddy bear appeared at the edge of a bed followed by the head of a plush Ood. The toys looked at each other and sunk slowly out of view. She chuckled as a different teddy bear and a Hath did the same thing. They did a little dance, and she couldn't stop laughing. It was like a puppet show. She could see his fingers gripping the toys and hear him humming background music.
"Doctor, what are you doing?"
"Doctor? Who's he?" the Doctor's high pitched voice replied.
"I don't know, Miss Teddy. Must be someone really great," he answered himself in a deep voice.
"Blubblublub…" he gargled as the Hath.
"I agree with Mr. Hath. He must be clever! Let's scale the wall to the desert."
Gradually, the toys were tossed onto the bed. Rose caught Mr. Teddy and giggled as the Doctor's head appeared. He crawled onto the bed, collecting the toys. He made them walk across the duvet on their treacherous journey, providing dialogue.
"We must make it to see the goddess!" the Ood declared.
"Yes, we must!" agreed Miss Teddy.
"Blublbulbulbublbublbgargle," the Hath commented, causing the others to laugh.
The Ood looked over. "But what does Mr. Teddy think?"
Rose held it up. "Yes, we must make haste!"
"What's happened to your accent, Mr. Teddy?" Miss Teddy wondered.
"Ey, me-ah accent-ey is fine-ey! Who wants-ah pasta sauce-ah?"
The Doctor smirked, breaking character. "Italian? That's your Italian accent? And here I thought your Scottish accent was awful."
"Belt up. You can't just throw me under the bus like that."
"It's called improvisation, Rose."
She scowled. "Just get on with the play-pretend, you man-child."
"Oh no! We've come to the Mountain of TimeTwins!" the Ood cried. "We must scale it!"
Gently, the toys scaled her large stomach and stood atop the mountain. "We did it!" the toys cheered. "We claim the Mountain of TimeTwins for toy kind! To the goddess!"
The toys walked up her body and gave her kisses on her neck and face. He followed, flicking his tongue across her neck and earlobe. He kissed her and instantly went back to the game with his toys, going on about new adventures. She started to laugh.
Stopping the playtime, he stared. "What?"
"You're going to play with the toys more than the children."
"I'm only rehearsing."
"Rehearsing?" she repeated with a confused expression.
He sprawled out the wrong way on their bed, situating his head between her baby bump and chest. "Well, yes. I haven't been a father in a very, very long time. Not to mention that I'm much older now and a lot has changed. I have to admit that I'm concerned."
"About what?"
"What if I'm not a good dad anymore?"
She smiled and took his hand. "It's not something you unlearn, Doctor. You are or you aren't. And I know that you are. Don't bother worrying."
"How am I going to tell our girls, the last children of Gallifrey, that I was the one to destroy it? That they'll never really know where we came from?"
"They'll understand. I did. Besides, you're going to be their dad. You could blow up half the universe and they'll love you all the same. There's just something about a father and daughter relationship. But don't actually blow up half the universe to prove my point."
He grinned, feeling much better. "Thank you, Rose."
"Don't mention it. I expect you'll do the same when I start to panic about being a mum."
"I'm looking forward to it."
At that point, she went back to trying to nap and he had this third conversation with the TimeTwins that day. "Hello in there. Your dad again. Don't worry. I'm not reading history books or mathematical formulas this time."
"Thank the stars for that," Rose commented with a small yawn. "My head hurt for an hour after all those numbers."
"Yes, I know. You've said that. It'll help make them smarter."
"They're already going to be too clever for their own good. What if you make them so smart they take over the TARDIS as we sleep?"
He scoffed. "Please. They won't be tall enough to reach the console for at least six to seven years. And that's pushing it."
"They could pull over something to stand on."
That made him grimace. "Maybe we should glue everything down to be on the safe side."
"They could stand on each other's shoulders. You want to glue them down too?"
She laughed as he pondered. "Oh no. They'll band against us. They might start a revolution. What'll we do then?"
"Fight back, Time Lord. We're too stubborn. No one gets the drop on us."
"That is true. We've beaten Daleks, Cybermen, werewolves, cat nuns, televisions, living mannequins, humans with zippers about their heads, zombies, possessed Ood…"
"Don't forget the bat things in that school."
"Right. Can't forget those," he chuckled. "Surely two children won't be a problem."
She smiled. "It won't be easy. Crying all night, vomiting, dirty diapers…and that's just as babies. Wait until they're teenagers. If they're anything like I was, we'll have our hands full. That reminds me, Doctor, what are we going to do about getting them with other children? They need to be social."
He hummed. "That might be an issue. They're not going to be like most children. I think that we should wait until they're older before putting them with normal humans or everyone might find them to be a bit weird. We could get them with famous child prodigies like Mozart or Picasso or Shirley Temple, though. They'll be great musicians, artists, and actors!"
"We'll see about that. I guess it'd work. I just don't want them to be socially awkward. Mum would have a field day with the photographs."
"Like that one school portrait where you had that dreadful hair and that ridiculous shirt! Oh, and that huge necklace with the big beads—"
"Keep talking, mate. I'm very close to a hormone rampage."
He smiled nervously. "Lovely photograph. Really. Very becoming."
"Right. Nice try."
They chuckled and he moved to her side, pulling her into his arms for a nap. It wasn't ten minutes later when she winced. He looked at her worriedly. "Rose?"
"Nothing. Just felt a twinge. Probably a muscle cramp."
It happened again, but it was worse. Her hands went to her stomach and she cringed. It passed and she took a deep breath. The Doctor was sitting up and on alert, watching her closely. She tried to give him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine. Really. Maybe I ate something that didn't agree with us."
When it happened yet again, it was even worse. He got up instantly. "That's it. We're going to the medical bay. Can you walk?"
She couldn't answer from the pain, so he shakily scooped her up. He almost dropped her from the weight, but his adrenaline had kicked in and he made the short journey down the hall. She was on the bed and he was in work mode. He tried to ignore the fact that if the babies were lost, he'd not only lose his children but Rose as well.
He got to work running tests. Rose was panicking, as could be expected. "Doctor, I'm only at thirty-two weeks. I can't be having our girls now."
"Relax, Rose. Trust me."
That calmed her down somewhat. She knew the Doctor wouldn't let anything bad happen to her or their daughters. He hummed thoughtfully and took her hand. "Can you do something for me?"
"Now?!"
"Yes, now. Stand up."
Shakily, she stood up as he supported her. After a few minutes, she was feeling slightly better. She looked at him curiously. "What's going on with me?"
"Braxton Hicks. It happens to a lot of women. They're just the sporadic uterine contractions. Completely harmless. Nothing bad is happening. Well, other than the pain. They'll go away."
"So I'm all right?"
He grinned. "Quite. You might be dehydrated or in need of relaxation. Follow me."
She smirked as he led her back to their bedroom, ordering her to wait. When he returned, he handed her a tall glass of water and vanished into their bathroom. She drank the water, awaiting further instructions. He came back with a mischievous expression. "Okay, Rose Tyler. Lose the clothes. You're having a warm bath. And make sure you do some relaxing breathing while you're in there."
"A bath?" she answered unsurely. "I don't know if I can sit still after that excitement."
"But you must. There are bubbles…"
That swayed her enough, but she paused when she got to the doorway. "Well?"
"What?"
"Lose the clothes, Doctor. You're joining me in the bath."
"But I don't know if I can sit still."
She scoffed. "There are bubbles. And me."
"All right, I'll join…but only if I can rehearse with the rubber ducks."
"Only if I get to rehearse with the mermaids."
That brought a smile to his face as he tossed his suit coat on the bed. "You drive a hard bargain, but I gladly accept."