"Go ahead out with it." The Doctor broke the silence sometime later giving up any pretense of sleeping. Something was on Rose's mind, he could practically feel the tension radiating off of her. It was becoming obvious to him that neither of them was going to get any sleep until they'd had this out too.
"Hmm what?" Rose startled out of her thoughts at the Doctor's unexpected voice, glancing up to meet his gaze.
"Whatever it is that's churning away in that beautiful head of yours. I can practically see your wheels turning."
"Oh," Rose found that she suddenly couldn't make eye contact with the Doctor. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. Go back to sleep."
Letting out a soft sigh the Doctor reached up to gently grip Rose's chin. "Rose whatever it is it's not nothing. Something is clearly bothering you, please just tell me about it. Whatever it is it can't be any worse than my emotional baggage."
Rose couldn't help the slight wince that last part caused "It's nothing really please just let it go."
"Rose," He wasn't going to back down.
Rose knew she was beat, there was no denying the Doctor when he combined that look and that tone. "It's just something that I've wondered about off and on over the years. Don't feel like you have to answer or talk about it if you don't want to."
"Rose don't ever feel like you can't ask or talk to me about things." The Doctor adjusted their positions slightly so that they were lying face to face again. Leaning forward he rested his forehead against Rose's running his hand down her arm to entwine their fingers together.
"It's just that you say that you had a wife and children, and grandchildren, but you don't ever really talk about them, just a lot of vagueness. Don't get me wrong I completely understand why you don't and the pain those memories must cause you." Rose closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, before opening them to meet the Doctor's once again. "It's just that I wonder sometimes 'what were they like? How did your wife and you meet? How many children, grandchildren did you have? What made you decide to steal the TARDIS and leave them behind?' You know those kinds of things."
The Doctor took his own deep breath, trying to order his thoughts before answering. "You're right I don't talk about my family in detail, not dwelling on them is the only way I know of to keep me going day in and day out." The Doctor brought their joined hands up to kiss the back of Rose's "But maybe….maybe it's time that I stop trying to avoid the pain and honor their memory. So Rose Tyler what would you like to know?"
"Everything, start from the beginning."
And that's exactly what the Doctor did. It wasn't easy and he found himself struggling for words more often than not. All of those memories were churning up all kinds of emotions in him, emotions he'd spent years burying. Talking about his past, his family was probably one of the hardest things he'd had to do but he knew that it was necessary, that he needed to do it if he was going to be able to move on and start this new phase of his life with Rose and their child. He didn't know how long they laid there talking but by the time they'd drifted back off to sleep the sun was well on it's way above the horizon.
"I'm going to need to get a job, a real job." The Doctor blurted out several hours later, the realization that he now had a family he had to support pulling him from sleep; kids weren't cheap after all.
"Hmm," Rose made a noncommittal sound, snuggling in closer to the Doctor's side not ready to leave the comforting embrace of sleep.
"No really Rose I need to find a job and soon." the Doctor started getting animated. "We have a baby on the way, we're going to need to get diapers, formula, clothes, a crib….hell we're going to need to find a bigger place -."
"Doctor," Rose placed a finger over the Doctor's lips. "There will be plenty of time for that and you know my parents will be more than willing to help out if needed."
"No," he pulled back slightly. "No, there will be no financial aid from your parents. Don't get me wrong I love them and know they'd do it in a heartbeat no strings attached, but Rose this...this is something I want, no need us to do on our own just the two of us."
"Yeah ok, I get it." And she did she really did.
"Thank you." He leaned forward to give her a loving kiss.
"There's always Torchwood." Rose half heartedly suggested already knowing the answer but feeling like she should put the option out there anyway.
"No." Yep there was the answer she'd expected. "I was thinking maybe…."
"Maybe what Doctor?"
"Maybe I could teach." The Doctor glanced away suddenly feeling shy. "I mean I've done it before, sort of anyway, and I kind of actually enjoyed it."
Rose couldn't help the knowing grin on her face. "I think you'd make a great teacher."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at how quickly she'd agreed. "You've been thinking about this already."
"Possibly." Rose brought a hand up to caress the Doctor's cheek. "I've known pretty much from day one that you would never accept a job at Torchwood even a different, better version, too many memories and emotions tied to the place for you. Knowing that I started trying to think of other things you could do when the time came and you decided a job was something you wanted and naturally my mind kept bringing me back to teaching. It's something you've always been fantastic at, I know from first hand experience how easy and fun you can make learning new things."
"You've never said anything about this before; me getting a job and what it should be, why?" The doctor brought his own hand up to push a lock or Rose's hair behind her ear.
"Didn't want you to feel like I was pressuring you, pushing you into something you weren't ready for yet."
"Rose Tyler what did I ever do to deserve you?" The Doctor pulled Rose in for a slow leisurely kiss.
Rose briefly pulled back slightly, "No idea but if you figure it out before me you'll let me know, yeah."
"Yeah." With that the Doctor pulled Rose back in deepening the kiss this time.
It didn't take long for the overwhelming need and desire they felt for each other to take over leading to a nice leisurely afternoon of bodily exploration while bring each other to heights of passion and pleasure.