Hello. So, why did I made Jane like lemon in her tea now. I like lemon and honey in my tea personally, but that's a side note. I thought the sourness of just lemon would sort of be a manifestation of how Ryder has become a stronger person. It's hard to eat lemon without your face folding in on itself. :P

And I am looking forward to school again. My brain always starts to feel like mush during breaks when I don't have have much to do as far as my brain is concerned. Except writing fanfiction apparently.

But we don't care about me right now. We want to know what's happening next. Just so you know; I think that this might be my favorite chapter to write thus far. Besides the conversation with Danny Mott. (Wow that was forever ago!) Happy reading! :D

"Hello? Pregnant woman going into labor over here." Right. Okay. New new Ryder? New new TARDIS crew member on the way? Meat eating plant making it's way toward us? I grin to myself like a lunatic. This should be fun.

"Right yes. Right. Okay. We need a towel, a bowl of hot water, and a...what does a bowl of water have to do with anything? How can you be having the baby now? Wait! Focus. There's a hungry plant coming this way. Do you think you can hold it?" I raise my eyebrows at the Doctor's panicking rant. The last part makes me brace myself for Rose's explosion.

"Hold it in?! It's not like I have to pee! There's a bloody person coming out of me!" I cringe as Rose shrieks. The clanging around the bend alerts me to the fact that the plant is here. No more time for this.

"Oi. Shush. I'll get Rose back to the TARDIS, since the Doctor is the only one who understands how that thingamajig works." I point to the device that came out of the Doctor's pocket. Something about the plant operating on a frequency and the right one will kill it before it eats any more of the people New Hampshire.

"But...she's my wife. I should be there..." The Doctor protests but Rose lets out a groan as a contraction hits.

"No time for that. We have to get her back to the TARDIS but if someone doesn't take care of that thing, we won't make it before 'lunch' time."

"Oh come on! Let's just go!" It seems Rose is finished discussing it.

"The faster you deal with the giant Venus flytrap the sooner you can come help Rose." With that I put an arm around Rose and half carry, half drag her back toward the TARDIS.

The Doctors indignant voice follows after us. "It's not a giant Venus flytrap. It's a Aldrovanda muscipula from the planet Sarracenia." I ignore him. What do I care? There's a woman about to have a baby.

Trekking back to the sentient ship isn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Not that that means it's easy. No. It's definitely not easy. We stumble through the doors and rush her to the medbay. I thank the TARDIS for bringing it closer to the control room. I've never helped anyone give birth before. The Doctor was planning taking her to Martha. But I know Rose is going to have to do all the work now. We might not make it to Doctor Jones-Smith in time.

Another contraction hits. "Argh!"

"It's alright Rose."

"Don't tell me it's alright. You're not the one with a baby time lord coming out of you."

I decide that it might be best to not anger at the moment. She's stressed out enough. I time the contractions as the come. "Where is he?"

Her contractions are at five minute intervals when the Doctor finally shows up with green goo in his hair. "What happened to you?"

"The frequency caused the plant to have an external combustion of indigestion."

"You mean you got barfed on by the plant."

No idea what he would have said to that because Rose cries out. "Argh!"

She's ready to give birth, and there's no time. So I hold her hand, or rather she cuts the circulation out of mine, while the Doctor preps for his son to make it into the world. Juniors first cries are some of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard. "It's a boy."

Of course we all already knew that. But it's still a good way to announce new life I suppose. "Hello little Raggedy man." As Rose holds her son for the first time and the proud father beams at them, I quietly exit the room. They need this moment as a little family, and I need a shower. And I need to get some feeling back into my hand.

DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW DW

Junior is barely three weeks old when We take him to meet the rest of the crazies. When we get there, I'm as much as an attraction as he is. New face and all that. Wilf is happy I survived in some way but continued to apologize profusely.

Mickey manages to take in stride. He's no stranger to regeneration. It's a little harder for Martha to swallow it, but it still fascinates her. Donna barely notices. She just shrugs it off as another weird alien thing that should just be thought of a normal. I guess it is the norm for us in a way. Of course, she's getting married to Lee in three days so distraction is to be expected.

I manage to get a hold of Jack. He's off in space somewhere trying to escape all the guilt of killing me the first time, but I convince him to come seeing as how he's not the only one here who has "killed" me so he should just get over himself. Of course, Donna and Lee have become quite fond of him and I have a feeling she would kill him a few times if he didn't show up. So he agrees as long as he can "bring a friend." I ask him why he bothered to ask. He'd just bring his friend despite my answer.

The rehearsal dinner is when shows up. And it's also when he brings his friend. Meta. It's hard to get him alone but I finally do. "Hello."

He smiles at me. "Hello."

"I guess someone told you some sort of explanation about this." I gesture to myself and my different face.

"Yeah. The Doctor filled me in on what he could. Spoilers and all that. I gathered I did something. I'm guessing it killed me."

I skeptical. "He told you that?"

He shrugs. "Not hard to figure that one out. Donna was way too happy to see me. So was Wilf." He pauses. "Motherhood seems to suit her." He nods toward Rose.

"Yeah. It does." Realization dawns on me. "You haven't seen her yet have you?"

"Not since the day you call Journey's end."

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be. I'm ready to see them now. When I get back I'll let you know."

"Yeah." I know now where he was that day. That day that he disappeared. He was here. And this is the day he meant. The day we had ahead of us. Which means that this is probably the last time I'll see him. At least in person.

I don't realize that I've started crying until he's holding me in his arms. We stay that way for a while. I wish I could kiss him. But I won't. He's not quite ready for that, and I like the idea that my first kiss with him was his with me. So I leave it at that.

The next day, the wedding goes off without a hitch. Donna gets it all. The white dress, the church bells, and the cake and flower finery. It really is quite the epic wedding. Not the elopement of Mickey and Martha, not the small family affair of the Doctor and Rose, but a wedding to rival the royal family. It's very Donna.

Meta gives Donna a lotto ticket and winks at her. "Oi that's cheating." She's rebuking him but she stuffs it into her bra anyway and gives him a kiss. There's tears in her eyes but the happiness of getting married and seeing her brother out ways the bitterness of having to tell him goodbye.

But the day does end. And goodbye does come. As Jack prepares to take Meta back to when he belongs, I hear his voice in my mind. "When you need me, I'll be here." And I know he'll always be there, because I'll always need him.

I look down at the little baby in my arms. The Doctor is spinning Rose on the dance floor. I smile as he looks up at me with his mother's bright eyes. "Well little Raggedy man, I think it's time to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a girl who got on a plane. And you wouldn't believe where she landed." And so I tell him the story. The true story. My story.