wishiknewwho | Serendipity: Trimester the First (2/4) [Birthday Fic for <lj site="livejournal.com" user="nipplemugg

Title: Serendipity
Author: wishiknewwho
Character/Pairing: TenII/Rose
Rating: Teen-ish
Summary: The Doctor decided to call it serendipity, that moment when fate and desire collide.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who and it's probably just as well that I don't because it'd be nothing but hugs and hair ruffling for the foreseeable future.
Spoilers: Post-JE
Author's Notes: Sorry the updating has been all wonky lately. My life feels like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos and I've gotten the hippo who never gets the marbles. I wish I could say things will get better soon, but I'll probably be very sporadic on all things in the Whoniverse until the Christmas holidays. Again, much love for

nipplemuggins. She's a great person and deserving of every word I write for her.

Thanks to the ever-awesome

salimali for the beta.

The Doctor sat on the sofa, idly playing with the edges of the cushion as Rose watched him nervously. She’d told him that she’d needed to talk to him, but she’d been evasive as to what about. He wondered if he should be worried, but they’d been so happy these past months. There hadn’t been the smallest sign that anything was wrong. But then, he wasn’t always observant; maybe he’d missed something.

“What is it, love?” he asked, afraid he might come out of his skin if she made him wait any longer.

Rose was sitting in the chair across from him, not next to him on the sofa like she normally would, and the distance worried him. Perhaps she’d decided that he wasn’t what she wanted. Thinking back, she had been rather angry with him a couple of weeks ago for the whole trainer incident. But he hadn’t meant to track in the mud. Surely she wouldn’t be about to chuck him after just that little argument.

But there had been other arguments, lots of little ones and a few not-so-little ones. She might’ve had her fill of him, could be tired of waiting for him to adjust to being a human. He swallowed and tried not to panic. If she really was leaving him, he had to be rational. He would carefully explain to her why they were so perfect together. He couldn’t lose her. She was the only thing he had and the only thing he ever wanted. His life was nothing if Rose Tyler wasn’t in it.

“Rose,” he started, leaning towards her. He was ready to make his case before she could even begin to dump him, but she cut him off before he could begin.

“I think I might be pregnant,” she said, her voice wavering on the last word. She blinked, looking like she might cry at any moment. She bit her lip, waiting for him to respond.

He couldn’t speak. This was...this was the opposite of what he was expecting. He wasn’t losing Rose, not at all. He was gaining someone, another person to join their little family, to bind them together forever. Someone to love and take care of and watch grow. His throat felt tight and his single human heart felt like it might beat out of his chest.

“Say something,” she whispered, wiping furiously at her eyes. “I know we haven’t really planned it, but I thought, after that talk we had the other day, that you’d be...”

“Hush,” he cut her off, joy bubbling up and making his voice sound all wobbly. “Just hush. I’m not upset, Rose. I’m so happy I can’t speak.”

Finally, her face broke out into a grin. “Really?” she asked. “Because it’s okay if you’re not. If you need time to adjust...”

“Stop being silly,” he said, getting up and pulling her from the chair, wrapping her tightly in his arms and lifting her off the floor. “I’m thrilled. A baby, Rose.”

“A baby, Doctor,” she agreed. He pulled back a little, reaching down to put his hand on her stomach. She covered his hand with her own.

They grinned goofily at one another, competing to see who could have the bigger smile. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “So the test confirmed it and everything?” he asked. He wanted to know all about it. He’d had children before, but it had never been like this, never the result of love and passion and simply living. He wanted to be involved in every single moment of their child’s life, right from the beginning.

Rose shook her head. “I haven’t taken one yet.”

His face fell. “What? But you said you were...” His voice trailed off.

She took his hand. “I’m regular like clockwork, love. And I know that something is going on. I feel different.”

“Right.” He gave a little nod, then pulled her towards the door. “We’ll just get a test.”

“Okay,” she said. “But do we have to do it right now? I was going to run some errands later this evening.”

He shook his head firmly and pulled her along behind him, pausing only for a moment to let her put on her shoes. “Nope. We have to do it now. I don’t want to get my hopes up if it’s a false alarm. And the waiting will kill me.”

“Okay, okay,” she said laughing and letting him drag her out the door.

The Doctor walked briskly to the chemists’, Rose’s hand clasped tightly in his. He didn’t speak, barely acknowledging her as she rattled on about something that had happened at work the day before. He had a single-minded purpose and he wouldn’t be distracted. He’d been so excited when she’d told him she was pregnant, and now that could all be taken away. He knew that they’d only tried once and that their chances weren’t too high. He also knew that there would be other months, that they could try again, and she would likely get pregnant soon.

But that didn’t matter to him right then. He had it set in his head that this baby, phantom though it may be, was the one he wanted. He didn’t want to think about what might happen if the little piece of plastic showed him any different.

Once in the aisle with the pregnancy tests, he found himself flummoxed. There were so many, lined up neatly on three shelves. He’d thought there would be only one, figuring there was really only one way to pee on a stick. He turned to Rose, hoping she’d help.

She gave him a small smile, then reached up and took one off the shelf. “I think this one will do.”

He sighed in relief. “There’s not any chance of getting you to do it in the bathroom here, is there?”

“Not a chance in hell,” she said, leading him to the till.

Back at their flat, he paced nervously around the bedroom while Rose sat cross-legged on the closed toilet seat.

“Can I check it yet?” he asked.

Rose shook her head. “I thought you had this great sense of time. You know it hasn’t been five minutes.”

“I know,” he said, impatiently tapping his fingers against the doorframe. “I just thought we could check early. Just to make sure everything is going okay.”

Rose laughed, but it wasn’t a mean laugh; it was the laugh that told him she thought he was adorable. She got up and came to stand in front of him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

“It’ll be okay, love,” she said softly. “If I’m not pregnant this time, we’ll try again.”

“I know,” he said, kissing the side of her face and then the corner of her mouth. He couldn’t explain to her why he wanted this baby so desperately, because he didn’t understand it himself.

They held each other until Rose pulled away. “Let’s go and see,” she said, taking his hand in hers and leading him to the bathroom.

~o~

The Doctor learned three things early on in Rose’s pregnancy. Number one: morning sickness was a misnomer; it could happen at any and all times of the day. Number two: morning sickness was bad. Number three: hormones were worse.

It was Sunday morning, two weeks and a day after the little piece of plastic had plainly shown them two purple lines, had shown them what their future would hold. The two of them had been coasting along on a little wave of euphoria, thinking of names, wandering around baby shops, and trying to figure out if they could turn the office into a nursery or if they should just try to find a bigger flat.

But then the morning sickness hit. It started very early, in those wee hours before the sun even rose. They were still in bed, sleeping, tangled up in one another as they had been every night since coming to this universe. The sudden movement woke the Doctor and he blinked in the dim light.

“Rose?” he asked. There was no answer, but he could make out the faint light coming from the en suite bathroom. He was just climbing out from under the covers when he heard the noises. Moving swiftly, he made it to the bathroom in record time and opened the door carefully.

Rose was hunched over the toilet, pale and sweaty, her hair plastered to her forehead. She gave him a weak little grimace. “I didn’t want to wake you,” she said, her eyes glassy.

“Oh, love,” he whispered. He grabbed a flannel, wet it, and wrung it out before kneeling next to her on the cold tile. He pressed the flannel to her forehead and then her wrists, hoping to ease some of her nausea.

Rose closed her eyes for a moment and took slow, measured breaths. “I think it’s passing,” she said, sinking until she was sitting on the floor.

He nodded, wishing there was something he could do. It didn’t seem fair that the baby was half his, yet she had to do all of the suffering. “Do you want something to drink?” he asked. “Some water? Something fizzy?”

“I’d like to rinse my mouth out,” she said.

The Doctor nodded again and got to his feet. He made his way quickly to the kitchen, filled a glass with water, and returned to find Rose leaned over the toilet again.

“I don’t think I have anything left,” she said weakly.

“Shh,” he soothed her, handing her the cup and helping her to take a couple of small sips. They waited a few moments, making sure the water would stay down, before he got her to her feet.

“I’m so tired,” she said.

“I’ve got you,” he said, lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the bed. He settled her under the covers and then went around to his side and climbed in with her.

“I feel awful.” There were tears in her eyes, and he felt terrible for her. Rose was strong, independent, and he knew that she hated being like this.

He took her hand in his and pressed her fingers to his lips. “I love you,” he murmured. “Thank you for doing this for me.”

“For us,” she amended, giving him small smile.

He pulled her closer to him and threaded his fingers through her hair, repeating the motion until she fell asleep.

He hoped that her sickness morning would be a singular event, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he was wrong. Something told him that it was just the first morning of many. He was right.

The Doctor knew what he was getting into with Rose Tyler. He knew that she could be moody and that she had a terrible temper when things didn’t go her way. He just had no idea how much that could all be exacerbated by an onslaught of pregnancy hormones.

First there was the crying. Rose had never been much of a crier before. She’d been on the verge of tears plenty of times since he’d known her, but she’d always managed to keep it in check so that he could easily ignore it.

But now the tears came regularly and with little provocation. It started one evening in front of the telly. They were watching a science programme, nothing out of ordinary for them.

It was about halfway through when he noticed that Rose was rubbing at her eyes and her shoulders were almost imperceptibly shaking. Thinking she might be about to be sick, he got up to grab the bin. But then he noticed the tears on her cheeks.

“What is it, Rose?” he asked, moving closer to her on the sofa, wrapping his arms around her.

She buried her face in his neck and let out a shuddering sigh. “It’s just so sad,” she said.

“What is?” he asked, confused. Maybe he’d missed something; perhaps someone she cared for had died and she’d forgotten to tell him about it.

“Those poor scientists,” she wailed, still clutching him and soaking his shoulder.

He pulled back a little and quirked an eyebrow at her. “On the telly?” he asked, still confused.

She nodded. “Why are you crying about them?”

“Because they’ve been trying so hard to get their telescope to work. And then it broke. They looked so devastated.” Rose sniffed and wiped at her eyes again.

He couldn’t help it. He knew better, but there was nothing he could do. The laughter came out before he could stop it.

Later that night, as he struggled to get comfortable on the sofa with his feet dangling over the arm, he decided that the hormones were bad, and Rose’s temper was much worse than her tears.

~o~

It was all worth it though, he decided, as he held Rose’s hand at the prenatal visit. He watched closely as the sonographer lifted Rose’s shirt and spread the jelly-like goo over her tummy. He smiled as Rose squeaked at the cold substance on her skin and held her hand tighter.

“Nervous?” she asked, looking up at him with a small grin.

“Nah,” he said, smiling back at her. “You?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s not going to have two heads, is it?”

He burst out laughing and the sonographer and midwife looked at them. “Sorry, inside joke,” he said, hoping she’d have the sense to not ask any questions.

Rose gave him a cheeky smile and turned to look at the screen. The sonographer ran the device over her tummy and moments later they heard a soft but steady thumping.

“That’s the heart,” the midwife said. “Everything sounds just fine. And there’s your baby.” She pointed at a little white mass on the screen.

Both the Doctor and Rose leaned forward. The Doctor felt his breath catch and he blinked his eyes a couple of times. That tiny little amorphous blob that looked like a cross between a peanut and a ghost was all his and Rose’s.

“Hi, baby,” he said, waving at the screen, not caring how ridiculous he probably looked.

Rose beamed. “He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?”

“What makes you think it’s a boy?” the Doctor asked, confused. He moved in closer to the screen, trying to see if Rose was seeing something he wasn’t. “Can we know the sex yet?”

“Not for another couple of months,” the midwife said with a smile. “Right, everything looks great. The baby is healthy and developing normally. Do you have any questions?”

The Doctor’s head swam. He had about a million questions, but he couldn’t get his mind to slow down enough so that he could focus on one. Perhaps he should make a list. Or keep a little notebook. That way, the next time they came he could ask all of his questions and write down the answers. He shook his head.

“I’ll let you get changed then,” the midwife said as she and the sonographer left the room.

The Doctor turned to Rose once they were gone, handing her a paper towel. “Why do you think it’s a boy?” Maybe she had some sort of mother’s intuition. But then, he’d been so sure it would be a girl. If there was such a thing as mother’s intuition, then surely there was father’s intuition as well.

“I just have a feeling,” Rose said, cleaning her belly with the paper towel. “He’s a boy.”

The Doctor shook his head, smiling at her. “Nope, I think it’s a girl.”

“Do you want to make a bet on that?” Rose challenged, grinning as he helped her down from the table.

“Absolutely,” he said. “What should the winner get?”

Rose wrinkled up her nose. “I’d like to see you change the first ten dirty nappies.”

“Well, you won’t,” he replied. “Because I’m not going to lose. It’s definitely a girl.”

Rose shook her head at him. “And what do you want if you win?” He definitely did not like the way she put so much emphasis on the word if.

“When I win, Rose Tyler,” he said, putting his own emphasis on when, “I will require that you give me a kiss whenever I ask.”

Her face softened a little at that. “I always kiss you,” she said. “Anytime you ask. And even sometimes when you don’t.” She took his hand in hers, actually looking a little worried that she didn’t show him enough affection.

He smiled at her and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I know that,” he whispered. “Only once I win, I plan to ask you more.”

Before he knew what she was doing, she’d grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her. He followed her as she backed up, putting his hands on the table for support. “What about me?” she said, her voice low. “Can I ask you?”

“Oh anytime,” he said, bringing his lips to hers and kissing her slowly and sweetly, the type of kiss he knew would make her weak in the knees. After a moment, he pulled back, kissing her cheeks, nose, eyelids, anywhere he could reach. “We’re having a baby, Rose.” He placed his hand over her stomach and smiled smugly at the little shiver he felt under her skin.

She covered his hand with her own. “I never thought I could be this happy.”

And with those words, his life fell into place. He knew that he had everything he’d ever wanted, and he’d ended up with the best deal, the day he was left on that beach in Norway. He’d do it all over again if it led to this moment.

“I can’t wait to feel her move,” he said, moving his hand a little, trying to feel the little life inside.

Rose leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Not her,” she said. “Him.”

Trimester the Second

Current Mood: okay

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

novacancymind.livejournal.com

yayz! i'm the first to leave a comment!

this was an excellent chapter in a lovely fic and i enjoyed it immensely :) i kept expecting them to reference the bet in 'Tooth and Claw' when talking about whether it would be a boy or girl ;)

it's surprisingly realistic- or maybe you just write well enough to convince us it would be this easy! i've read so many angst-y Handy/Rose fics that this is a nice treat!

Nova out ^^

From:

Serendipity: Trimester the First (2/4) [Birthday Fic for <lj site="livejournal.com" user="nipplemugg

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