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The heatwave was going strong after three weeks of ninety- plus degree temperatures, which the growing TARDIS absolutely loved. She was sprouting rooms at an accelerated pace now and the console, which was always the trickiest part, was nearly calibrated and ready to go.
Rose also seemed to be growing at an accelerated rate, not that the Doctor would ever tell her that. Six months down, three to go until their baby daughter would make her debut, and Rose had suddenly popped out. The Doctor absolutely adored it. Rose was a just a bit ambivalent, particularly after she couldn't fit in her regular clothes. All concern about her waistline faded away, though, once she felt a little foot and a little elbow pressing against her palm. She had taken to wearing form fitting maternity tops that the Doctor also adored and her mother shook her head at. She told her mum that she really didn't want to wear a tent but she did politely pick through some of Jackie's hand me down maternity tops, to keep the peace.
It was too hot this day to wear anything form fitting, however. After spending the morning in the pool with Tony and Mum while the Doctor tinkered with the TARDIS console, she retreated to her cool, comfortable cottage. Rose showered and put on her husband's Beatles concert t-shirt and a pair of stretchy maternity shorts. She put her hair up in a messy bun to get it off her neck, then realized she was hungry again. Time for second lunch, she supposed.
The cravings had been weirder than she had expected. Of course, there was the stereotypical pickles, and ice cream (but usually not together, unless the ice cream was butter pecan), orange things (juice, oranges, soda) along with anything Italian or curry. Pizza was wonderful, Chinese takeaway was not. She was, ironically always craving Jelly Babies, to the Doctor's delight. It was like a scientific experiment, the Doctor had pointed out. "What does the little miss want today?" It had disappointed Rose that the little miss did not want chips. The Doctor had remarked, "We should have known immediately. We really didn't need to take a pregnancy test," when she had gone off chips very early on.
She started rummaging through their kitchen. They had shopped only the day before but there was nothing she wanted. "What do you want, Susannah?" she spoke aloud to the baby. Rose kissed her fingers and touched them to the 20 week ultrasound picture stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet. She was immediately disappointed. Still nothing.
******
The Doctor worked hard on the console while his wife swam all that morning. He'd gotten a lot done, and made a discovery. He wanted to share that with her and maybe even get a dip in the pool himself. He also hoped he'd catch a glimpse of her in her bathing costume, but there she was in the kitchen, in one of his shirts, foraging for food.Well, the sight of her in one of his shirts was almost as good, he thought. He had been crazy for her before she was pregnant but now that they had conceived he could not keep his hands to himself.
Rose was looking a bit exasperated when he entered the kitchen. He came up behind her as she reached up to a cabinet. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he slid his hands down over her abdomen, under his shirt to touch skin, unerring in his quest. He found what he was looking for. His thumb stroked over her belly button, which had also popped out. "Hi, love. Did I tell you this was my new favorite thing about you being pregnant?"
Still looking at the cabinet, Rose said, "Thought it was my boobs."
"They're still on the list. This is new." He nuzzled her neck, then kissed it. She leaned back against him, humming happily.
The Doctor felt a small poke against his palm and grinned widely. "Hi, little lady," he said. "Okay...that tops the list too. I have a lot at the top of my list right now." He nuzzled her again and started to kiss the side of her neck. It felt so good. He couldn't keep his hands off her and she felt like she spent most of her time aroused by him, due to all those lovely hormones, and well, him. She felt desire pooling......and the unmistakable sensation of her stomach growling. It made the Doctor chuckle against her neck.
"I wonder how amused you'll be when I tell you that right now it's a race between horny and hungry...."
"And hungry's winning," the Doctor concluded. He stroked his hand over her distended abdomen one more time, then took his hands out from under the shirt. "If I feed you could horny make a comeback?"
Rose burst out laughing, then gave him her tongue- touched grin. "I think the odds are in your favor," she said cheekily.
"Well! What would Dame Rose and the little Lady Susannah like?" He clapped his hands together and rubbed them, looking at her expectantly.
"That's the problem. I don't know what I want. I can't find anything here that's appetizing at all! I'm getting quite frustrated because we just shopped and there's nothing here I want."
"Should we call for takeaway?"
"That would take too long." She sighed. "I'm not trying to be a pain, you know."
"I know....you're being pregnant. ". She shot him a glare. "Not trying to be funny....this is just to be expected. You have a craving. You want what you want except that you don't know what it is you actually want. So it's my job to figure out what it is you want, and hopefully you want what..."
The word "want" was starting to lose its meaning as he kept repeating it. "Could we just cut to the chase? The two of us are peckish." Dangerously peckish, he could see. He led her to a kitchen chair.
"Have a seat. Let's see what we have here? How about a sandwich..." The Doctor pulled a loaf of wheat bread out of the bread box.
"Mmm...do we have any white left?" Rose suggested. Now that Jackie could afford it she had become an organic, whole wheat proponent. She couldn't always buy the best when Rose was little and she was determined to now that she had Tony. The Doctor found that that was one area in which he and Jackie agreed. But there were times when Rose, feeling nostalgic for her childhood, just wanted a plain old loaf of white bread.
The Doctor decided it was best not to argue and found a mostly eaten loaf of white bread. "Toasted or not?"
"Not."
He searched in the cabinet. "I've got Nutella, crunchy peanut butter...there's marmalade in the fridge...ooh, marmalade, that sounds good...jam, oh now that's nice. I still remember that jam Chloe's mum had..."
"You stuck your fingers in it. Yes, I remember. But you were too busy lighting the Olympic torch for me to discuss manners with you."
The Doctor grinned broadly as he recalled it. "That was brilliant."
"Hungry is winning by a good mile, love."
"Oh, yes." The Doctor refocused his attention on the refrigerator. (Stopping, of course to throw a kiss in the direction of the ultrasound picture, making Rose smile. She could not wait to see their daughter in his arms.)
"Peanut butter sounds good, actually," she suggested, hoping to keep him on track.
"I think you should have something else with it, don't you? Jam.."
"Not in a jam mood, Doctor."
The Doctor, who was never not in a jam mood, didn't quite understand but as it was her sandwich.... "Bacon?"
"Ugh, no ta."
He thought of a better idea than jam, and there were few ideas better than jam. "Banana. PB and banana. Makes up for not seeing Elvis."
She grinned. "Nope, love. Wish I still had that dress, though. Wish I still fit in it. What else've you got?"
"Wellllll.....celery, not good for a sandwich. Excellent poison detector, though...Oh, you bought that sausage again? I thought we were laying off the processed stuff!"
"I'm pregnant," she said, by way of explanation.
"Ha, we should put that together. Peanut butter and sausage on white." He looked back at Rose, who had raised an eyebrow in consideration.
"What? Really?"
"I wanna try it."
A few minutes later her sous chef husband had put together a lovely white bread sandwich. He cut round slices of sausage and pressed them into the peanut butter, the song "What I Did for Love" going through his mind. "You probably should only eat this once in a while. It'd probably stop your heart if you ate it much more than that. Annnnd, one sandwich of love for the missus."
"Sandwich of love, I like that...." She accepted the plate gratefully and while the Doctor turned back to the fridge to get milk, she decided to try a bite.
The Doctor was pouring milk into two tumblers when he heard, "Oh, bloody hell, that's just disgusting!" behind him. In a flash Rose was up on her feet and waddling faster than she had since the second trimester started. She headed straight for the downstairs loo. The Doctor sat down at the table with a sigh. There were times that he just could not win. He took a drink of his milk and eyed the sandwich.
*****
Rose felt a bit better after her sprint (fast waddle) to the bathroom. She wasn't quite as hungry anymore, but still, she found that she could eat. A banana, she thought.
She came into the kitchen with a little less urgency that when she had left it, to find her husband sitting at the kitchen table, merrily polishing off the Sandwich of Love. "Really?" she asked, baffled. She took a banana off the hook.
"You know, this really isn't bad! Realized I was a bit peckish too."
"Did you, now?"
"Think I've discovered a new favorite sandwich," he said around a mouthful. She sank into the chair next to him, peeling her banana. "Decide to go with the banana, then? Bananas are good," he said with a smirk.
"So I've been told," she grinned back.
The Doctor polished off the last of the Sandwich of Love, reaching out to rest his hand on the baby bump. Then he jumped up and exclaimed, "Oh! Can't believe I forgot to mention....bring the banana!" He jumped up and extended his hand to her, waggling his fingers. She never could resist that invitation. He gave her a tug to help her up and he lead her out to the back garden, where the TARDIS was growing. She had been growing in the shed behind their house, but she she grew too big, the Doctor and Pete had dug a little pond. Now there seemed to have appeared overnight a fully grown oak tree growing in the middle of the pond. "She's grown a room you need to see," he said with a mysterious smile. He snapped his fingers in front of the trunk and a section swung open like a door. Beyond the threshold she saw familiar coral struts and the lights of the time rotor. It felt like coming home every time he took her out here. Rose followed him across the stepping stones he had placed in the pond. They stepped across the threshold and Rose reached out to pat the first coral strut she came to. She could feel the hum of their TARDIS in her head. Coming home, she thought again. They had made a lovely home in the Tyler guest cottage, it was true, but this TARDIS was the place she felt the most comfortable.
Their new TARDIS was bonded to both of them. The console was built for two pilots (with the capability to grow as they added more, the Doctor had told her with a wink.). Besides the console room, they had a kitchen, an infirmary and a bedroom now, but the Doctor had pointed out that once they were in the vortex the rooms would grow exponentially. She loved their TARDIS and they could feel her love for them radiating in waves.
"Come with me, love." The Dpctor beckoned. Hand in hand he walked her down the corridor to what would be their bedroom. "Wait 'til you see what our brilliant girl has done now." They crossed the bedroom to a door Rose hadn't seen before. When the Doctor opened the door Rose gasped.
Their brilliant girl had created a nursery for Susannah. The walls were a beautiful sunny yellow with pink accents. Above her dark brown crib hung a moon and star mobile, and on that wall a series of Gallifreyan letters were painted, gorgeous circles in dark pink. "Does that say 'Susannah?'" Rose asked in a shaky voice. Tears were beginning to shimmer and fall.
"Yep," the Doctor replied, popping the "p" but starting to sound a bit rough as well. "Look at the border," he added, pointing up to the top of the wall, just under the crown molding. More symbols painted in pink lined the perimeter of the room.
"Susan, Martha, Sarah, " he read, then pointed to the fourth set of symbols. His voice cracked a bit as he read it, "Donna." The names he had combined to come up with the spelling for their Susannah. "Then of course, the middle names. Jacqueline and Rose. What do you think?"
She couldn't speak. She nodded emphatically and threw her arms around his neck. He embraced her tightly. She finally found her voice after a while. "Our TARDIS is brilliant," she said, smiling rather brilliantly herself.
"That she is."
"Oh, it's real now, isn't it," she whispered. "You, me, Susannah and the stars."
"As it should be," the Doctor agreed. He smiled at her with such love that the hunger for food she had was replaced by hunger for him, (and hungry definitely lost the race), they kissed, slowly, deeply, tasting each other breathless until she broke the kiss and took his hands and lead him through the door to their bedroom. For the first time on their TARDIS they made love on their new bed surrounded by the softly lit roundels giving the room a golden glow.
Afterwards, they lay on their sides facing each other, still touching and craving skin contact even though they were well sated. Rose was still catching her breath when the Doctor sighed, "Good Saturday."
"That it is, and we still have the whole evening," Rose murmured and then kissed his forehead.
"Our TARDIS made our baby a nursery, which you love..."
"Absolutely."
"And I made you a sandwich and you rejected it...."
"Yeah, really, don't make that one again for me. Not something I care to repeat. But I still love you."
"I love you too, despite your weird pregnant tastebuds." They both burst out laughing at that. His hand found her abdomen again, and he was rewarded with a good kick to his palm.
"She doesn't want it either, Dad." Rose yawned. A little late afternoon kip sounded very lovely. She snuggled into her Doctor and her eyes began to drift closed.
"Get some sleep, Mum," the Doctor murmured in his wife's ear, and she smiled as she dozed off.
The Doctor wasn't particularly sleepy, but he didn't want to move. After all, he was in his TARDIS, next to a sleeping Rose and their child. He relaxed, let his mind drift and with the hum of the TARDIS in his head, he could just barely see their three timelines weaving together like strong, unbreakable golden thread. Somewhere along the lines, more threads joined. He couldn't quite see how many.
It was always easier for him to read timelines in the TARDIS, but they were never as clear as they were when he was a full Time Lord. It didn't bother him anymore. There was something lovely about not knowing everything. The potential was there, that's all he needed to know. All was as it should be.