Chapter Text
“What do you mean you shrunk the kids?” Rose asked.
Her voice calm and steady but with an undertone of something that reminded the Doctor of Jackie right before his mother in law reintroduced his face to her palm.
Time for damage control.
“Rose, love,” he began, springing to his feet, “Shouldn’t you be lying down? You gave birth yesterday which, if my memory is correct and of course it is, that takes a lot of effort. Olivia’s asleep now but I have a feeling that won’t last long. You need your rest! How about I go make you some tea? How does that sound? I’ll make you some tea, you go upstairs, have a nice kip, and I’ll sort out our little problem, sound good?”
“Doctor…”Rose nearly growled, “Those are our children.”
“I know, really, that I have not forgotten. Really there is no need to worry!”
Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Is it… is it reversible?”
“Yes, of course! Of course it’s reversible! How stupid do you think I am that I would just leave a shrink ray lying around without a backspace?”
“Why do you even have a shrink ray in the first place?”
“Well… I built it. They don’t exactly sell them on the street.”
“I wonder why?” She deadpanned, giving the Doctor a pointed look, “You still haven’t answered my question.”
His hand flew to the back of his neck and he averted his eyes from his wife’s glare.
“I… uh… I was going to… uh… well you know how Jackie and Pete still have those empty cottages that the servants used to live in? Well,” he barreled on without waiting for an answer, “I was going to ask him if we could have one so I could… so I could shrink it and the kids could have their own little place to play...” he trailed off and risked a glance at Rose.
“You wanted to shrink an entire house? For our children?”
“It’s perfectly safe, I swear. I’ve already tested it on a few things.”
“Is that where mums couch went?”
“Ummm…”
“Oh Doctor,” Rose sighed and started to laugh.
She took a few steps toward the Doctor and wrapped her arms around him.
“You aren’t upset anymore?” he asked, his hands hesitantly coming to rest on her back.
“Of course I’m upset you bloody alien! You shrunk our children!” She said, still laughing, as she tucked her head under her husband’s chin.
“Okay?”
“Only you would want to shrink a whole house for your kids!”
“I would do anything for them,” he answered seriously.
“I know you would, and that’s one of the many reasons why I love you. I would ask why you didn’t just try and build one. It would give you something to do when I’m at work but then I remembered how long it took you to put the crib in the nursery up.”
“Hey! The instruction manual was faulty!”
“Of course it was. Now come on, I would like my children full size again,” Rose said, stepping out of the hug.
“Okay, right, yes,” the Doctor ran his hands through his hair and scanned the floor until his eyes found the three tiny people in question, “There they are!”
Rose followed his pointing finger and gasped.
“Oh my god.”
“Stay right where you are,” he said sternly, looking down at them over his glasses before fiddling with the sonic and pointing it at the shrink ray.
They squinted at the bright flash of blue light. After it had faded they came face to face with a very guilty looking Griffin, a terrified Calvin, and a confused Winnie.
“Mummy!” Winnie cooed, popping her thumb out of her mouth and toddling over to her mother.
Rose lifted her daughter on her hip and glared at her two sons.
Calvin immediately burst into tears.
“I told him it wasn’t a good idea, mummy, I swear! I tried!”
“Calvin…” Rose started but was cut off as his wails increased in volume.
“Calvin…” she tried again.
“I’M SO SORRY!” he bawled.
“Calvin Isaiah, get ahold of yourself please!”
He sniffed and hiccupped and wiped his snotty nose on his shirt sleeve but quieted down.
“Thank you. And as for you Griffin Elliott Tyler-Noble, what on earth were you thinking! You know how dangerous some of this stuff can be and both your father and I have told you numerous times that you are not allowed in Dad’s workshop unsupervised. Now both of you, off to time out while we decide your punishment.”
“What about Winnie, doesn’t she get into trouble?” Griffin winged.
“Winnie is two,” the Doctor said, “Now listen to Mum.”
The two boys sulked and plodded out the door.
“Oh, and Griffin?” Rose called out, “Your sonic, please.”
Griffin grumbled and stomped back to give his mother his sonic screwdriver before stomping back out.
“He reminds me of you, you know, when he does that,” Rose chuckled affectionately before putting her daughter back on the ground.
“Why don’t you go play in your room, okay honey?”
Winnie nodded and put her thumb in her mouth as she ambled off.
“Alright,” Rose said straightening up, “What are we gonna do then?”
The Doctor didn’t respond and Rose looked up to see him staring at her intensely.
“What?” she asked.
“I love it when you get all disciplinary,” he murmured with a grin, his hands going to her waist and pulling her close.
“Mmmm,” Rose hummed, licking her lips, “We really should get a lock for the door…”
“Oh yes.”