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"Happy birthday, Mum!" Rose exclaimed as she walked in the Tyler mansion, bearing a large gift bag festooned with tissue paper.
"Ta, sweetheart. Ooh, what's this? Oh, even better!" Jackie had caught sight of the Doctor, struggling in the door with a large flat square wrapped box which didn't look heavy but was quite awkward to carry. "Here's himself," Jackie crowed as she leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek. The Doctor, unable to deflect fast enough, acquiesced. It was Jackie's birthday, after all. Rose smirked. "Well, come on then. Gifts in the lounge , and then Carolanne has made a fantastic dinner. No cooking for me today!"
"You should never cook on your birthday, Mum," Rose smiled. and because he was good son-in-law and loved his Rose, the Doctor bit back his comment about the wisdom of her ever cooking. He'd come a long way since his Ninth incarnation, after all.
The Doctor and Rose dropped their parcels off in the lounge and followed Jackie to the back of the house where Pete and Tony could be heard playing Mario Kart. Tony dropped his remote and yelled "Rosie!!", launching himself at his sister. The Doctor quickly interceded on his wife's behalf, snagging the boy and swinging him up into a fireman's carry. Tony was mostly hanging down the Doctor's back, upside down. "Wanna tackle Rosie!"
"Well, I'm Rosie's defender today and I say nope to that. In fact, I think you must spend the rest of the day, hanging upside down like a little ginger bat till the impulse goes away!" The Doctor used his free hand to tickle Tony's ribs, and the four year old squealed. Rose gave the Doctor a relieved smile. He winked. "No tackles today, Rose Tyler," he said in a low voice, winking.
"Who's ready to eat?" Pete announced.
"I'm starvin'," Rose answered.
******
Carolanne's meal was indeed worth the hype and the family was stuffed by the time they were through. Even Tony had eaten his fill, even though Jackie swore he'd given up eating until the age of six. When Pete suggested toasting with some red wine he'd gotten for the occasion, Rose said, "How about after presents? I know Mum can't wait any longer."
"She's right, the wine can wait!" Jackie was already up from her chair. She was halfway out of the dining room when she looked back at the Doctor and Rose. He had his arm around her shoulders and they were smiling that smile they reserved for only each other. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled softly. "Stop moonin' over each other. I have presents," Jackie ordered.
The Doctor snorted. "I'll never stop mooning over your daughter, Jackie."
"When did you get so sappy?" Jackie returned, grinning.
"I've always been, just needed the right girl to bring it out."
*****
They were settled in the lounge, Jackie center stage, as she inspected the new digital camera Pete had purchased for her. "Well, I don't know if I'll figure out all these lenses! Zoom lenses?"
"You said you wished you could get better pictures at Tony's football matches, right? I'll show you what to do. " Pete answered. "I made sure to get a Jackie proof camera, you know."
She smacked his arm. "And I'll be sure to cut your head off in all the pictures, sweetie. What's this big one?" She hauled over the present the Doctor had carted in. She enthusiastically tore into the hot pink wrapping paper, prompting the Doctor to wonder why Rose bothered to wrap it in the first place. "Oh, you two! I love it!"
"You showed it to me in Henrick's and hinted very strongly that you'd love it!" Rose said.
It was a large, wall mounted picture frame display. It was black, metal and shaped like a tree. The branches had hooks for various sized picture frames.
"There's more, Mum," Rose handed her the gift bag. Jackie tossed aside the tissue paper and reached in to pull out a stack of framed pictures. The one on top was Tony's football picture, with him grinning cheekily, one foot on the ball, hands on hips, eyebrow raised. Something he'd picked up from his favorite brother in law. She chuckled as she moved it to the bottom of the pile. The next one was a candid picture Rose had taken at Jackie and Pete's wedding in their new universe. Rose had caught them sitting at one of the tables, her mum's bare feet on the chair next to Pete. They were both laughing. "Oh, Rose! I forgot you took this one! " Jackie smiled. She moved it to the bottom of the pile. The next one took her breath away. It was an 5 by 7 enlargement of the picture of her and her first Pete taken on their wedding day. "This was the only picture I had of us. It was wallet sized. How did you get it so clear? It looks like the day it was taken. Better than."
The Doctor smiled. "I put it on a high- res copier at work...and I might have...sonicked it a bit."
Pete snickered. "And I might have directed him to the copier. It works better now than it ever did, so it was a win- win situation."
"You lot were conspiring. Well, I love it." She shifted it to the bottom and then was taken by surprise again, viewing a copy of a baby photo of Rose. It too had been improved by the Doctor's tinkering. Jackie began to tear up. "I only had what was in my wallet when I arrived here. Just a little money that didn't spend in this universe and a few pictures. All those things in our flat. All those memories, left behind."
"Jackie, I...I did visit the Estate after you and Rose were gone. Your cousin, Mo, I think it was...packed it up. She has your things. They are still in your family. I know that's small comfort. I tried, but I couldn't go back to your flat for a while..." Jackie patted the Doctor's arm.
"Really, it's good to know that. It does make me feel better. Thank you for tryin' at least. It did hurt to lose Rose's baby pictures. But this is good. Thanks, love. And when did you nick my wallet?" Jackie said, smacking his arm with a little more force.
"We're all conspiring, Mum. Dad nicked your wallet, the Doctor fixed the pictures, and I sneaked 'em back in when you weren't lookin'!" Rose laughed.
Jackie laughed. One more picture left, a family picture taken at the Doctor and Rose's wedding on a sunny day in the back garden. The Doctor was holding Tony on one hip, with his arm around Rose's shoulders and Pete and Jackie stood on either side of them. All the men wore black pinstriped suits (including Tony) and black Chucks. Rose wore a simple long white dress and TARDIS blue chucks. Jackie had originally refused the chucks but compromised by wearing silver sandals with her blue dress during the wedding and a pair of white chucks at the reception. "I love this picture," Jackie said,"I think it's my favorite one from the reception."
"I was right about the shoes, wasn't I?" the Doctor said smugly.
Jackie rolled her eyes. "Thank you two. I love it! Guess I'll use my new camera to fill in the last frame!"
The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look. "Welll..." The Doctor began.
"There is room for one more," Rose pointed out as she reached into her purse for a smaller gift, wrapped in the same hot pink paper. "This one you and Dad have to share, though."
"One more?" Jackie questioned as she began opening the package. Even Tony looked and he'd lost interest in gifts that had nothing to do with Thomas the Tank Engine.
Jackie tore the paper away to reveal another picture frame. In it was a black and white grainy photo of what seemed to be a small bean shaped dot in the middle. She stared, uncomprehending for a few seconds.
The penny actually dropped for Pete first and he stood up from where he'd been perched on the arm of Jackie's chair. "Rose....." he said.
Jackie looked up into the beaming faces of her daughter and son-in-law, the tears flowing before she could get the words out. "Oh, Rose." She stood up and hugged both of them at the same time.
"Do you feel like you're still too young to be a gran, Jackie?" The Doctor said, grinning from ear to ear. He was surprised that how quickly tears sprang to his eyes as well. Rose was already gone, crying and laughing simultaneously.
"Shut up, you," Jackie said hoarsely as she kissed his cheek. Pete and Rose were embracing and Tony was totally disinterested in why the grown ups were crying. "How far gone, love?" Jackie asked.
Rose wiped her eyes and said, "About six weeks, Mum. We're due around November 23."
"Oh, I am so happy...I didn't know if I should hope for this. I'm so glad for you two."
"We've been trying a while now, Mum. It finally took, but we weren't sure either," Rose told her as Jackie grabbed the box of tissues and dabbed her eyes.
"Well, Grandad? How do you feel about that?" Jackie grinned at Pete, who was shaking the Doctor's hand.
"I love it. Hey, Tony, guess what, big guy?" Pete called his son back from the Island of Sodor.
"What?" Tony asked, unsure if this meant he might get a present too.
"You're gonna be an uncle. Uncle Tony, you are," the Doctor said, swinging Tony up to ride on his shoulders.
"No, kids aren't uncles. That's big peoples," Tony said with conviction of a four and a half year old.
"You're a big kid now. That's big enough. We're having a baby, Tony!" Rose grinned.
Tony had never been more confused in all his life. The grownups could see it would take some explaining and it was a good thing an actual baby wouldn't be produced until November. "Mum has a baby?"
"No, me," Rose giggled.
"Where is it?" And that's where they left the discussion because Jackie was getting her new camera out.
"Okay, I have a brilliant idea for this first picture. Doctor, Rose by the fireplace. Six weeks, right?" She hopped up and took off for her kitchen. A few minutes later the Doctor and Rose were being directed by a camera wielding Jackie. "Doctor, behind her, arms around her, and here, Rose, hold this." She thrust a small dry erase board of Tony's at her daughter, the words "Six Weeks!" written across it. "Saw this on Pinterest. I'm doin this every 4 weeks till you're in labor, love, so get ready." She started snapping away. "I already have the scrapbook pages all figured out!" The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and grinned, the Doctor barely fighting the urge to roll his eyes. (And that was the photo Jackie deemed the best. )
Two hours later the family sat watching a movie of Tony's choice (The Lion King, so of course the Doctor was also enthralled) when Jackie spoke up. "So I guess this puts the TARDIS on the back burner?"
Rose raised her head up from her husband's shoulder. "What, Mum?" She asked.
"You know. You said it was almost ready for travel a couple of weeks ago. You can't go now."
That took the Doctor's attention away from "Hakuna Matata." "We were a little surprised by the timing, but it just gives me more time to fine tune things and calibrate the dual controls on the console. Our TARDIS will have two pilots, not six, but as our children grow we could add....." He was going into full ramble mode. The main thing he'd dreaded about telling Jackie was her probable reaction to them traveling with a baby.
"So you're takin' my grandchild into space." Her voice was flat and her eyes looked a bit dangerous. "Grandchildren if you have more."
"Mum, you knew we would eventually," Rose said, sitting up. "I want my babies to see the stars. We think we know how to....."
"Get into trouble."
"What I was going to say, Mum, was that we think we have figured out a way to travel and have a life here too. We've talked about this before, Mum!"
"Well, now the 'what might happen' scenario is happening right now and I'm scared for all of you!"
"I'll keep them safe, Jackie," the Doctor interjected. "Every doubt you have, every worry- don't think they haven't gone through my mind constantly since Rose took the pregnancy test. Probably since we started thinking of starting a family. We can do this. "
"I'll believe it when I see it," Jackie said flatly.
"You'll see it," the Doctor promised. With a huff, Jackie settled back into the sofa cushion, arms crossed. And no more was said.
They were ready to head home after the Doctor carried Tony up to bed and read him a couple of his favorite Eric Carle books. He even read a couple of Tony's favorites.
Rose declared that she was knackered and the Doctor would need to carry her home. After a quick discussion with Pete about Rose being on desk duty now at Torchwood, Rose turned to kiss her mum goodbye. Jackie had been unusually quiet since earlier.
"Bye, Mum, happy birthday, " Rose said, kissing her cheek.
"Thank you for all my presents. Think you two gave me the best one. Can't wait to meet the little one," she said, hugging her daughter. "And you," Jackie began, looking at the Doctor. He didn't know if he should expect a hug or a slap at that point, because she'd had quite a while to work up some more indignation. "Come here. Thank you, too." She hugged him.
As always, it was a bit too long for his comfort level. But he smiled. "I'm still scared to death about this, though." Jackie warned.
"So am I. On many levels. The least of which have to do with time and space travel." The Doctor smiled, but his eyes were radiating anxiety.
"The pair of you will make wonderful parents. I see it all the time when you're with Tony. Just promise....you won't take the baby away a six month old and return with a sixteen year old. Please just promise me that," Jackie said somberly.
"You have our word, Jackie. I will always make sure we make it home."
"Then that's all I can ask for," Jackie smiled. "That, and for you to let me spoil it rotten!" She smiled wickedly.
"Mum!" Rose protested, laughing.
"It's the Gran's job," Jackie asserted. And there was absolutely no doubt that Jackie would do it well.
"