Chapter Text
Almost three (linear) years later.....
The TARDIS materialized by a familiar brook at twilight. The sky was purple and the first fireflies of the night were beginning to show off as the door opened and Rose stepped out. "D'ya think Anna needs the pink jumper?" the Doctor called from inside.
"It's warm, Doctor, I don't think she does," Rose answered.
"I'm gettin it. Where'd it go?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "On the jumpseat," she sighed, resigned. He was very overprotective. Whenever she complained he always said he had earned the right. Anna never really was bothered by the cold and Rose's own physiology, changed by Bad Wolf and pregnancy, rarely was affected either. But the Doctor's precious girls were protected. He always saw to it.
Rose stopped to look around.
They had decided on the spur of the moment to take their daughter to the brook where so many of their life changes had been revealed to them. It was an important place to them. Even after all the years of traveling that had come before, Rose had come to think of this forest is the place where they discovered their life together could really begin.
So many things changed. She was pregnant for eleven months. They travelled (very carefully) for eight of them, then took to the slow path until after Anna Charlotte was born. They lived in the TARDIS, parked in Rose's room on the estate, and there she watched her Doctor embrace domestics with a passion.
"Believe it or not, I can adapt," he had informed her when she was doubtful he could manage it all, "For your information, Rose Tyler, I started doing domestics the day you moved your tea mug in and put that ridiculous tea cosy your mum knitted in my galley."
His relationship with her mum was also better than she had ever expected. Following the Tyler Slap for getting her daughter up the duff, the Doctor had managed, with his no-nonsense earnestness, to assure Jackie that he was more than ready to be the father their child deserved.
They also had to break the news that he was the husband as well, as they had bonded later on that first night by the brook. Jackie, in shock, didn't seem to have any slaps left in her, and Rose could see that the Doctor was grateful for that.
They'd had a legally binding ceremony on Earth as well, and that had appeased her. Jackie liked to have a go at her 905 year old son-in-law, but she loved him as if he was her own.
The Doctor had been relieved when their girl had been born with her mum's nose and ears, but her eyes were his piercing blue-gray. She had curly strawberry blonde hair, which delighted the Doctor to no end. "She's practically ginger!" he had exclaimed. It had brought tears to Jackie's eyes. Anna's hair color reminded her of Pete's.
The TARDIS communicated pure joy to them when Anna was born in the infirmary. She watched over her Thief and her mother Wolf and their child with all the protection she could give. Rose felt the constant hum of the TARDIS in her head, always reassuring, sending her waves of love. Rose didn't doubt that the heart of the TARDIS had made all this possible, and she loved the time ship as much as she loved her husband and daughter. The TARDIS was family.
The Doctor and Rose never had to baby-proof the ship. Anna couldn't have been safer. The TARDIS even favored Jackie with a guest room of her own. Rose was proud of the Doctor's new-found ability to keep his opinion to himself about that.
As for Mickey, he was coming around. It was hard to resist Anna's charms.
It didn't hurt that a young medical student named Martha had needed him to repair her car and they had ended up dating.
Jack had even made a reappearance in their lives, taking on the role of enthusiastic uncle. Rose had felt terribly guilty and sorry for the immortality she'd granted him. Jack told her it gave them all the opportunity to have each other as family, for a very long time.
Rose hadn't revealed the truth about her enhanced life span to anyone other than Jack. Rose reckoned that they would break that news in time. The Doctor didn't push it, but he hoped that she would open up to her mother eventually. She'd have to, Rose knew. She wasn't going to age.
But other than her anxiety over her mum's reaction, life was good. They helped wherever they could, but mostly they traveled.
They promised Jackie they'd always be careful with their timing. She feared they'd leave one afternoon with an infant and return with a sixteen year old and she'd have missed it all. Jackie needn't have worried. They made sure Jackie would see her beautiful granddaughter growing up.
And Anna was indeed growing up, more brilliant every day. Time was moving too quickly for Rose's liking. At the same time she wished she could keep her baby little forever, she loved watching her grow. Anna was two, and very inquisitive. Her curiosity reminded Rose of her Doctor's wonder and love of all life. Rose knew she'd adore the fireflies.
"Doctor, the fireflies are gonna be gone by the time you get out here! It'll be mornin'!"
The Doctor grumbled loud enough so Rose was sure to overhear, "Mummy thinks I'm being slow and I'm just bein' careful, right, Anna Banana?"
Rose chuckled. She'd long suspected he'd chosen the name Anna so he could rhyme it with his favorite fruit.
At long last he finally stepped out, Anna in his arms. She was indeed wearing the pink cardigan.
"Bugs, Daddy!" Anna gasped, a chubby finger pointing at the flashing lights hovering around her.
"Fireflies," the Doctor instructed cheerily.
"Fi-flies," she repeated. Anna was in awe as her father extended a hand and a small bug landed on it, lighting up. Anna started to reach for it.
"Gentle, sweetie, just look for a minute. He's blinkin' out a message to a girl firefly he loves. Wants her to meet him at the third pine tree on the left," he quipped, directing a wink at Rose, who snickered.
"You speak firefly now?" She gave him the tongue touched grin he loved. "Apparently, Time Lords are not immune to dad jokes."
The Doctor shrugged. "I'm a dad."
That he was. From the moment Anna grasped her teary-eyed father's finger moment after birth, to his patience with her foot-stomping tantrums, the Doctor was amazing. Rose and Anna were precious to him and he showed them every day how much he loved them.
"Here, Anna Banana, stretch out your hand and hold real still," he murmured. Anna tried to comply, although her excited toddler energy fairly vibrated through her tiny hand. Finally one very brave firefly landed on her palm and she sucked in a breath.
She started giggling, wrinkling her nose. "Bug tickles!" Her parents' laughter joined hers.
He put her down and they were throughly entertained by Anna, chasing fireflies as the twilight deepened into dark.
Eventually Anna started to yawn, so Rose spread a large blanket on the ground. The three of them lay on it, staring up at the stars above their heads. She'd seen nebulas in space and stars being born but Rose never tired of stargazing on Earth with her husband and daughter.
"That's Cassiopeia, see? Look, that star, and that one there...and this over there.....see the shape?" The Doctor pointed out the shape in the sky.
"Cassie," Anna yawned. She pointed her finger and tried to imitate the shape he traced, connecting the stars in the sky. Anna's eyes were heavy and she soon tired of connecting the dots. She snuggled into her daddy's coat and soon her breaths evened out.
The Doctor wrapped a protective arm around Anna. "I love you," he murmured. "Both my precious girls."
She kissed him over Anna, sound asleep, clutching his coat in a tiny fist. "And we love you," she whispered, caressing his face.
The fireflies darted around them, lighting up the night. Rose marveled that this was her life. This man, this child and all of time and space.