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Jackie turned to the window a good ten seconds before the sound she waited for every second of every day even reached her ears, barely noticing when she poked Tony in the eye with a raw carrot stick she was trying to persuade him to eat. He bawled, Pete, his phone call being interrupted, complained and she waved her hand impatiently, upending the plate of vegetables in her hurry to run from the room and out into the front garden. Her maternal instinct was correct; the sound that met her ears at that moment thrilled her to the core. Rose was home!
She skidded to a stop just at the beautiful blue box had finished materialising, only a few feet from where she stood. The Doctor and Rose exited the ship with their fingers woven together, muttering to one another and grinning conspiratorially. Jackie frowned, barrelling forwards and throwing her arms around her only daughter before she had the chance to even take a breath.
"Why didn't you ring? I could've got in stuff to make shepherd's pie! Oh, look at you!" she smiled, leaning back and taking in Rose's beaming smile and shining eyes.
"Good to see you, mum," she laughed, kissing the older woman fondly on the cheek. Jackie whipped around without replying and gathered a spluttering Doctor into a bone crushing cuddle, bemoaning loudly how thin he was and how she would most likely have a bruise in the morning.
"Excuse me? I'll have you know no-one has ever gotten a bruise from cuddling me. I'm quite a good hugger, or so they tell me," the man in question replied indignantly, the corner of his mouth twitching almost imperceptibly into a smile. Jackie smacked him playfully and turned on her heel.
"Come on, get yourselves inside. Pete and Tony will be so glad to see you!"
She hurried off, magnificent in her elation to have her only daughter with her once more.
Rose and the Doctor followed a few paces behind, lowering their voices to barely more than a whisper while they continued their previous conversation.
"Let's not tell them, yeah? Let's wait until they notice!" Rose giggled, waggling her left hand and making the ring there sparkle in the afternoon sunlight.
"She'll probably kill me. Should have asked her permission first, shouldn't I?"
"Well if you'd planned it then you could have."
"She'll kill me for opening my gob and blurting it out, then. It wasn't exactly romantic, was it?"
"It was perfect. Much better than any of the candlelight or champagne crap."
The Doctor snorted. "Oh, yes. I'm sure Jackie Tyler will see it that way!"
The moment they stepped inside their senses were assaulted by a tumult of noise and movement. Tony, his left eye red and streaming, came bolting out of the living room literally screeching in delight, bypassing his older sister completely and leaping like a flying fox into the Doctor's arms. The man grunted under his unexpected weight then hoisted the little boy higher, clutching him to his chest and grinning at the shining face before him.
"Happy to see me then, Tony Tyler?" he laughed, nodding at Pete who was currently pacing the hall having a rather heated conversation on his mobile phone.
"I've missed you, Doctor!" Tony pouted; wrapping his short arms around the man's neck and nuzzling into him in a way that almost made Jackie want to weep for the loveliness of it. Rose, on the other hand, was less than pleased.
"Um, excuse me! Tony, what about me? Don't I get a cuddle?" she complained, marching over and poking the six year old in the leg. He looked round, his already huge smile only widening further – his tongue trapped itself between his teeth just the same way hers did.
"Rosie!" he screeched, turning in the Doctor's arms and leaning awkwardly into his sister's embrace. The Doctor passed him over with a grin, making sure Rose held him securely before letting go: she sagged a little under his weight, realising how much he had grown in the few short weeks they had been away.
"I've missed you, big man," she murmured, inhaling his talcum powder and blackcurrant jelly scent, making sure she committed it to memory; it had suddenly struck her he wouldn't remain this sweet little boy forever.
Across the hall, Pete swore in frustration and disconnected his call. Running his hand across the dusting of gingery hair on his head, he quickly gathered Rose into a cuddle, Tony and all.
"I'm sorry, Rose – there's been a massive cockup at Torchwood and there's a real risk a shedload of national secrets will leak to the media. I need to go in and deal with it: major damage control. We'll have dinner when I get back though, yeah? I'm sorry, Jacks," he added, pressing a fleeting his to his wife's cheek then speeding out of the front door. She watched him go with pursed lips.
"Alright then, guess it's just us. Come to the kitchen and we'll have a cuppa and you can tell me about where you've been since you left."
Even flexing her hand to the point of snapping a tendon didn't seem to make the ring sparkle enough to get Jackie's attention. Rose gripped her mug so tightly that her knuckles went white, raising it to her lips much more often than she normally would and therefore finishing three cups of tea in record time. The Doctor watched her with amusement, snorting once or twice when a look of sheer frustration crossed her face. They conversed about their adventures as if nothing was new, with Tony gaily sticking pasta shells on paper at the breakfast bar opposite.
"What made you come home anyway? The high flying life getting a bit boring, is it?" Jackie queried, draining her cup and filling it once again from the huge teapot in the middle of the kitchen table. She also refilled Rose's, who crossed her legs under the table to fight back the overwhelming urge to pee that was quickly settling on her.
The Doctor answered, "Oh, not at all, Jackie! Our life never gets boring – you want to try it sometime. Rose just wanted to share our last escapade with you, and we didn't see the point in waiting." His smile was enigmatic as he sipped his beverage, turning his mischievously sparkling eyes on Rose. She grinned in reply, setting her mug down and leading ostentatiously on her left hand: the angle so perfect that her new diamond sparkled in the artificial light.
"Where did you go?" asked Jackie, apparently blithely unaware of the humungous hint being dropped. Her daughter rolled her eyes and the Doctor actually guffawed.
"Glasgow."
"Glasgow? What the hell do you wanna go to Glasgow for?!"
"We were meant to go to Paris – it's the Doctor's birthday, see – but it seems his navigation skills are even worse now than they were before," Rose smirked, raising an eyebrow in his direction.
"Your birthday? Bloody hell I didn't know! Happy birthday sweetheart!" Jackie cried, running around the table and throwing her arms around the Doctor and planting a wet kiss on his cheek. For once he accepted her affection without grumbling, instead choosing to thank her quietly as she returned to her seat.
"What did you do in Glasgow, then?"
The Doctor smiled. "Well, you know! Got to know the locals, tried the local cuisine, saw the sights…"
"Ran a two minute mile so we didn't get arrested…" Rose added, stretching her arms out in front of her and splaying her fingers wide right under her mother's nose.
"Did a bit of shopping as well, so I see. Nice ring, what did you bring me?" she asked, rising again to prise the PVA glue out of Tony's hands before he glued his lips together.
That was when it hit her. Jacqueline Tyler had never been a woman that was easily surprised – but this realisation slammed into her suddenly with the force of a sixteen wheeler lorry. She straightened up slowly and turned even more slowly, her heavily pencilled eyes wide. It seemed to take a great deal of effort to place one foot in front of the other and take Rose's hand in her own, gazing raptly between the rock on her finger and the beaming smile on her face. She turned to the Doctor, whose own grin was so wide it stood a chance of actually cracking his face.
"You're pregnant!" she gasped, her eyes immediately flying to Rose's annoyingly flat stomach. She searched for the faint curve of the abdomen, knowing how huge she'd been with both her children and that it was likely her daughter wouldn't be any different. The Doctor spluttered, choking on his tea.
"I'm sorry, what?" Rose asked in confusion: that had not been the anticipated response.
"An alien baby – will you be alright? I mean I know he says he's human now but it won't hurt you, will it? 'Cause if it does I'll kill him. But, oh! I'm going to be a gran! And me so young!"
"This isn't a shotgun wedding, mum! I'm not pregnant!"
Jackie's face fell momentarily, before springing back to life: her expression was more alive than Rose had ever seen. Her lined face practically shone.
"Plenty of time for that, I suppose. Oh, Rose! I'm so pleased! Congratulations!" she laughed, enveloping her daughter in a tight cuddle. The Doctor surveyed the scene with quiet elation – he'd never expected to marry again, least of all to staunchly independent Rose, but he was thoroughly pleased at the way things had turned out. He was less pleased, however, when Jackie started towards him for his third cuddle of the day, her eyes beginning to brim with tears of utter surprise and joy.
While he was swathed in her arms, she wailed, "I can't believe I'm going to have a half alien son-in-law!"
It was early evening when the Doctor slipped out of the kitchen where Jackie was messing around with roast potatoes: Rose had disappeared a while ago, and any prolonged absence worried him. He found her curled up on a bench in the back garden, her eyes focused on the hazy sunset. Silently, he plonked himself down next to her, recognising that something was wrong and she would talk when she was ready.
Several minutes passed before Rose voiced her thoughts, her voice a little gruff with repressed emotion.
"I don't want a big fancy wedding, y'know."
"Good, neither do I."
"I never have. I never fantasised about it or nothing when I was growing up. I just…"
He waited patiently, tracing nonsensical patterns on her arm with a feather light touch. Rose gulped loudly.
"When we were talking to mum, and she was nattering about bridesmaids and stuff, it made me realise…"
"It made you realise how many people we love will be missing," the Doctor finished for her, the realisation causing a painful constriction around his heart.
"Mickey could have been my chief bridesmaid. Martha too. Sarah Jane."
"Donna. Oh, brilliant Donna, my best man. And Jack… He and Wilf as ushers."
"Shareen."
"The Brigadier."
The pair lapsed into silence, both absorbed in their individual sadness. Their wedding would be perfect in its own way of course, but the space left by absent friends would be unbearable. Neither of them felt any guilt about the other Doctor: after seeing him happily regenerated through the final remnants of the telepathic link, any unresolved issues in that department had been put to bed. But these other people… They would forever hang over their heads like a dark cloud.
"I miss them so much," Rose muttered, snuggling as close to the Doctor as was physically possible. She needed to feel that he was here, solid and real, under her hands. He breathed in her scent, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of her waist so desperately he may well leave a bruise.
"I know."
Over dinner, Jackie made a proposition that shocked everyone. Pete was so surprised he managed to miss his food entirely and chip one of his teeth by biting down on the metal prongs of his fork. She glanced around the table with apparent embarrassment, unsure as to what she'd said that was wrong.
"I only asked if you could take me for a quick spin in that machine of yours," she mumbled, returning to her soggy broccoli with an endearingly downcast expression.
"Where would you want to go?" the Doctor asked, his curiosity winning out over his natural aversion to the idea. Pete shot him a look, which he studiously ignored.
"I dunno… Anywhere."
Rose, warming to the idea, chimed in, "OH! We could take you to this beautiful planet called Emeraude. It's in the Arnel galaxy, and everything is made of emerald. They hold these amazing markets in their biggest cities where you can get pretty much anything from anywhere. That's where I got your Bazoolium."
The Doctor frowned. "You have an entire universe of planets at your disposal and you choose to take your mother shopping?! How very human. How very female. Well I can tell you right now, Rose Tyler, I am not carrying all your bags again!"
"Shut up! It's one of the most peaceful planets we've ever been to. No chance of running into trouble there, is there? And mum loves a bit of shopping, don't you?"
"You know me too well, Rose. That settles it, then! Pete, take the day off work tomorrow, you and Tony are coming with us," Jackie ordered, narrowing her eyes at her son as he tried to stow some sweetcorn under his napkin. Pete shook his head.
"No can do, Jacks. I've got a load of paperwork to fill in after today's shambles. I can take Tony in and he can muck about in my office. If Rose says it's safe, I trust her. They'll look after you. Just make sure you're home in time for tea."
Tony, much to everyone's amusement, seemed to have been listening to the conversation and delivered the words, "Um, hello? Time machine!" in a perfect caricature of the Doctor at his most Chiswick temp-ish. Pete gave him a good natured clip around the ear for his cheek.
Jackie deliberated for a moment, and the Doctor felt an uncomfortable sweat beginning to form on his forehead – what exactly had he just agreed to? His worst nightmare personified, it seemed. Rose seemed happy, however, which made it just bearable. Jackie took a decided bite of overcooked pork.
"Good. Tomorrow we go on an adventure. Me, in space! Can you believe it?"
Uh-oh.