How much does it cost to buy the rights to Doctor Who? Probably a lot more than I'll ever have in my bank account. So, no, sorry. I don't own Doctor Who.

CHAPTER 33

Collectively, Rose Tyler was at a crossroads. Playing a pretend mother to two small children in a TARDIS simulation was one thing. Suddenly discovering that you are (or will be, as in the case of Rose 9) a mother to a fully grown time lady is quite another. To say it was a shock to their systems was an understatement. The Doctor was also in shock, but at least Ten and beyond knew that his daughter had existed before today, and had met her before. Granted, it was only one day, but it was enough to make the Roses feel left out. Not to mention that he had been a father and a grandfather before. Rose assumed that he had this whole parenting thing down pat.

Now Jenny was a very sweet girl, and each Rose was surprised to feel her heart swell with maternal pride as she beheld her daughter. But Rose 10 especially couldn't help but feel cheated. She never got to hold her infant daughter in her arms. She never got to see her first steps or to hear her say "Mummy!" for the first time. (Though Rose 9 reminded her that not hearing a small child call out "Mummy" might be a good thing, especially if they ever have to go anywhere where gas masks might be necessary.) Granted, not even the Doctor got to have those things with his daughter, simply because Jenny had had no childhood. That was a concept that all the Roses struggled with: their daughter had never been a baby!

There was on board the TARDIS, however, one woman who could truly sympathize with the Roses. Though her circumstances had been much different, Amy knew what it was like to suddenly have an adult daughter. While the Doctors, Martha, Donna, and her other selves paraded Jenny around to all present, Rose 10 slipped out and went to the kitchen to make a strong cup of tea and attempt to sort out her thoughts. Amy saw her slip away and joined her.

"If you drink something a bit stronger than tea, I certainly wouldn't fault you for it!" the feisty ginger commented.

"Somehow, I don't think that drinking immediately after discovering that I'm a Mum is a good idea," Rose attempted a weak smile at her. "But, it does sound appealing, and I'm not usually one to drink!"

Amy laughed. "Completely understandable! I remember when we all learned that River was my daughter. Rory was the only thing that kept me sane!"

Rose had to smile at that. "Must be nice to have a child with a sane man. I'll never know what that is like!"

Amy really laughed at that. "Well, you're the one who fell for a mad man with a box, not me!" Her voice then softened. "But seriously, Rose. I know that this isn't easy for you."

"No, it's not," Rose admitted. "But why? The Doctors are okay with it! Even my other selves are acting like it's no big deal!"

"Think about it, though," Amy replied. "Your future selves and their Doctors have already kind of lived through this already. They might not remember, but they've already been in your shoes. The shock for them is not nearly as great. And your younger self and her Doctor are just amazed at yet another wonderful revelation about the future. Your Doctor had already met her and went through the shock stage with Martha and Donna. He's just overjoyed that she is still alive!"

Rose nodded. What Amy was saying did make sense, but it still hurt. "I still feel cheated though. It's like I'm missing something important."

Amy wholeheartedly agreed. "I know what you mean. To some, you and I are lucky. We skipped the 3 am feedings and nappy changes. We didn't have to worry about our daughters getting bad grades in school or picked on by bullies. We skipped the whole teenager drama. We get to move immediately to the 'my adult daughter is my best friend' stage. But I don't feel lucky."

"Yeah, I never got to know what it was like to tell the man I love that I was pregnant." Rose said.

"Yeah, me neither," Amy sighed. "I told the Doctor, though. I thought he'd might be upset and kick Rory and I off of the TARDIS. He didn't. But I never got a chance to tell Rory. I was kidnapped before I could. And of course, my ganger wasn't pregnant."

"I never got to hold my infant daughter" Rose said, sadly.

"I did, but only for a second before she was literally torn from my arms" Amy sighed again.

"That's even worse!" Rose cried. "You must have been so worried about her!"

"I was!" Amy was near tears at the memory. "Then I thought I had her back, but she turned out to be a ganger and fell apart in my arms!"

"That's awful!" Rose did cry. She couldn't imagine having that happen. Jenny might not have had a childhood, but at least she wasn't ripped from her arms like that.

"It was then that we learned that River was my baby. She came to the battle only after her infant self had been taken away so as not to cross her own time line." Amy paused, and shuddered at the memory, allowing one lone tear to escape down her face.

Rose enveloped Amy in a hug. She had heard all this before from Eleven and River, but hearing it now from Amy and hearing the pain that was still just below the surface, Rose felt a new kinship to this remarkable ginger.

But Amy was not here to be comforted. She had come to comfort Rose. "So, yeah. I know a bit how you must feel after suddenly discovering that you have an adult daughter. We never got to know what it was like to fall asleep with our young daughter in our arms."

Rose saw where she was going with this. Amy must've waited so long for someone to finally understand what she had lost. So Rose continued the litany. "We never got to hold her tiny hands as she learned how to walk."

"We never got to hear a little voice call us Mummy." Amy sounded wistful.

"We never got to hold out daughters' hands as they waited for the bus on the first day of school." Rose continued.

"Or hug her when she returned." Amy agreed.

"Or tell her to stop picking on the boys!" Rose laughed.

"Or tell her to eat her vegetables or she wouldn't get any cake!" Amy also laughed.

"We never got to take her to Disney movies and dress her as a princess."

"Or ground her for TPing the neighbor's house on Halloween."

"Or take the door off of the hinges because she slammed it too much!"

"Or laugh together when her science project blew up."

"Or cry together when some lousy boy broke her heart."

"Or celebrate when she graduated from preschool..."

"Or elementary school"

"Or high school"

"Or college!"

"Actually, I did get to do that!" Amy smiled, wistfully. "My daughter is a professor and a doctor!"

Rose smiled too. She had had no idea that River was so accomplished! "I suppose that that could still be in my future as well."

The two mothers embraced again, shedding tears of both joy and pain. Their untouched tea had long since gotten cold. That was how their daughters found them when they entered the kitchen.

"Mum? Are you okay?" Jenny queried, raising an eyebrow in a way that was so reminiscent of her Dad. Rose smiled. She had never been called "Mum" before.

"I'm fine sweetheart. Just a little overwhelmed. But I'm alright now." She turned to River. "Would you ladies like to join your old Mums for a cup of tea?"