amberfocus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amberfocus) wrote2012-03-23 09:03 pm
amberfocus) wrote2012-03-23 09:03 pm
Entry tags:
You're What?: Chapter Forty-Seven
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alizarin_skiesTitle: You're What?
Author:
amberfocusCharacters/Pairings: Nine/Rose, Jack Harkness, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith
Genre: Baby!fic, Romance, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Hurt/Comfort
Rating: Adult
Betas:
amyo67, theteshSummary: An unexpected pregnancy causes huge emotional upset in the lives of the Doctor and Rose. With Jack the only voice of reason, will this child lead them to happily ever after or tear them apart forever?
Previous Chapters: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/262898.html
It had taken more effort than the Doctor was used to exerting on a yearly basis to soothe Jackie’s fears. Although Jack had calmed her down a lot she was still very worried about Rose, who simply shrugged and headed to the refrigerator despite having just eaten two sandwiches and half a platter of fruit. She took out a pizza box and proceeded to heat up three slices.
“Is that normal?” Jack asked as Rose scarfed them down.
The Doctor nodded. “Her body is trying to make up for all the energy it burned,” he said. “Quite a lot went into the detachment of the umbilici. Now she needs to consume a large quantity of calories as the baby stabilizes in what amounts to practically a new environment for him.” His eyes shifted to Jackie. “She’ll be fine.”
“Well, you look all right,” Jackie finally admitted grudgingly.
“I am, Mum.”
Jackie let out a large sigh. “We need to talk about tonight,” she said, not quite looking at the Doctor. “You’ll have to move that machine out of Rose’s bedroom, and Jack you’ll need to bunk elsewhere tonight so Rose can have her old bed back.”
“What?” Rose and the Doctor said in unison.
“It’s the night before the wedding,” Jackie said. “You can’t sleep together. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the Doctor said. “I am not letting some silly Earth superstition keep me away from Rose when she’s this close to term. Besides, we’re already married twice over.”
Jackie crossed her arms across her chest. “It is not a silly superstition,” she declared. “And until you marry her according to the laws of this country, this planet even, you’re not married.”
“You’re talking nonsense. Your silly Earth customs pale in comparison to what we have!” he growled.
“Quit talking down to me, you, you alien, you. Our customs are just as important, even more so since Rose is the bride! And everyone knows that the bride’s traditions are what count!”
The Doctor was starting to get a good head of steam going. “That shows what you know! Backwards planet, you think just because—.”
“Doctor, please,” said Rose softly. “This is my planet you’re talking about. Maybe it doesn’t matter to you, but it matters to me. I want to be married here.”
“Rose, I didn’t mean it like that. She just—.”
“She’s my mum. I don’t expect for you to love her,” Rose said, patiently ignoring the choking sound the Doctor made when she said that, “but I do. Let her have this one. It’s my last night to spend with her. The rest of my life belongs to you. You can give her this.”
“And what if the TARDIS sends me hurtling off into the Vortex instead of into the alley behind the estate?” he asked, worry strong on his face. “You know she has a mind of her own. I could miss the wedding entirely.”
“Well, if you’re that worried about it, leave the ship there, but Rose can sleep in my room.” The Doctor began to look far more agreeable until Jackie added, “And I’ll sleep in her bed, so that if you had any ideas about sneaking out to see her, you can just nip that in the bud right now.” Then her face softened. “Look, the pair of you have had your share of bad luck already,” she said gently. “If we can guard against it, even with a custom you think is silly, why wouldn’t you want to?”
The Doctor sighed. He knew when he was defeated. One determined Tyler woman was hard enough to stand up to, but two he had no prayer of resisting for long. He was really glad, come to think of it, that they knew the baby was a boy.
“If anything goes wrong with her,” he began.
“I’ll get you. I promise, Doctor,” Jackie said. “I would never risk Rose’s life. Or Charlie’s.”
“All right,” the Doctor finally acquiesced with a sour look on his face. Rose reached over and stroked his face, cradling his jaw. He closed his eyes, her touch soothing his fears and easing the wrinkles from his forehead.
“I’ll be all right.”
He’d just have to trust that maybe this time the universe would be on his side for a change.
Rose sighed as the Doctor took himself off to sulk in the TARDIS, a determined Jack promising Jackie that he’d make sure the man behaved himself and didn’t try to sneak back to Rose later that night. She shook her head as they went, hoping that maybe Jack could talk a little more sense into the Doctor. He was very good at that.
“I just wanted some time alone with you, sweetheart. It’s my last chance,” Jackie said.
Rose took her mother’s hand and laced their fingers together. “I know. I just wish the two of you could find a way of coping with each other that wasn’t quite so…mean.”
“He just has a way of getting under my skin,” her mother replied. “I try, really I do, but it’s like he picks exactly the right words to make me furious.”
“I will come home, Mum, you know that. We’ll visit. I want Charlie to know his grandmother,” she said, her fingers tightening in a reassuring squeeze. “And I want him to know where he comes from. Not just the Gallifreyan side of him, but the human one.”
“Your husband—.”
“Oh, you admit he’s my husband now, do you?” Rose asked in a knowing tone.
“Yes. But don’t tell him that. I just want to see you married. Now, that man of yours, he needs to know how important we are to you. Me, and humans, and this planet.”
“He doesn’t really mean what he says. He doesn’t think humans are backwards and that our customs are all ridiculous. He speaks without thinking sometimes, but he’d never have…he’d never have loved me if he believed those words,” she said. “Besides, Earth is his favorite planet, outside of the one he lost. He’s spent more time here than anywhere else in the universe.”
“He will take good care of you, won’t he, Rose?” asked Jackie with intense worry.
“He does and he will,” Rose soothed. “And Jack will be with us, too.”
“Jack’s a good man,” Jackie said. “You’re very lucky to have him in your life. You know that, don’t you?”
Rose swallowed hard. “Yes, Mum. I know exactly how lucky I am to have Jack in my life.”
“He’s very handsome. How come you and he never…?”
“I’ve been in love with the Doctor since… I don’t even remember not being in love with the Doctor, you know?” Rose said.
“Yes. Your father and I were like that. Love at first sight.”
“And Jack, well, it would be easy to love him. In many ways, I do love him. But it’s not the same. It’s not this intense, burning love. It doesn’t have the fire or the passion or even the quiet intimacy.”
“But you would have…”
“I would have, if the Doctor hadn’t stepped up,” Rose said, her voice filling with the remembered pain of the first few months of her pregnancy. “He was there and he so clearly loves me and I think he could have made me happy, and been the best step-father, but the biggest part of my heart would always have belonged to the Doctor. He’s the love of my life. He’s what I want.”
“I know. You do know that Jack’s in love with you, don’t you?” Jackie said after a while.
“Yes,” she said in almost a whisper.
“He’s in love with the Doctor, too,” Jackie said steadily.
“I know,” Rose said.
“It’s not fair to him to stay with you,” she said.
“But he wants to stay with us. I’ve talked to him and he doesn’t want to go.”
“If the day comes though, when he needs to, you’ll have to let him,” Jackie said.
Rose looked down at her swollen stomach. “I know that, too.” Tears filled her eyes at the very thought of losing Jack, but she knew her mother was right. “Can we talk about something else? It’s the night before my wedding. I don’t want to cry.”
Jackie smiled gently. “Come on. Let’s get your nails painted and your hair set in soft curlers and I’ll tell you all about Cousin Mo making a fool of herself over this young bloke she met in line at the Tesco’s.”
After a couple of hours of gossip and girl talk, Jackie tucked a weary but happy Rose into her own bed and went off to Rose’s small and somewhat lumpy bed. She was worn out and fell immediately into an only slightly worried sleep, and could not find it in herself to be upset when she woke the next morning and found the Doctor wide awake and wrapped snugly and defiantly about a snoring Rose.
Jackie shook her head. “Didn’t really think you’d stay away,” she said in voice modulated low enough to keep Rose from stirring.
“Then why’d you try?”
“You know why. I’ll be lucky if I see her once a year after this,” Jackie said.
“Is that what you really think?” the Doctor asked. She nodded. “Look, I know we don’t get along, Jackie, but you are her mother. You’re Charlie’s grandmother. You’re the only one he’s going to have. I understand the importance of family. You’re ours. We’ll come back often. Rose won’t have it any other way.”
A soft smile crossed her face. “Really?”
“I promised you once that I’d keep her safe. Haven’t I done that?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, I’ll bring her home, too. I promise.”
“And have family dinners when you do?”
His lips twitched. “Unless there’s a good plasma storm brewing.”
“There’ll always be one of those, somewhere,” Jackie replied.
“I’ll bring them home. Charlie needs to have that fighting spirit that only you and your daughter can put into him.” His voice was almost admiring and something relaxed in Jackie as she finally believed him.
“She needs to be up in half an hour if I’m going to get those curlers out and style her hair. I need to get started on brekkie, too. Rose requested a proper English fry-up. Would you like anything?” she asked.
“Sounds good to me. And you should probably double Rose’s portion. She’ll wake starving from yesterday still.”
Jackie nodded and left them alone.
The Doctor woke Rose with slow, sweet kisses and gentle caresses. “Mmm,” Rose said as she blinked her eyes open. “Hey! You’re not supposed to be in he—.” He broke her off mid-word with a kiss that was neither sweet, nor slow, but searing. She felt arousal stirring deep within her as he made her mouth his treasure trove.
“Do we have time?” Rose asked when he finally released her. She could feel how much he wanted to make love to her.
“Not really, and even if we did we’d need to wait another twelve hours before it was safe for your body to handle an orgasm,” he admitted reluctantly. She made a moue of disappointment. “We’ll have our honeymoon night to look forward to,” he told her. “It’ll be safe tonight.”
He kissed her again and then slid out of bed, reaching back for her hands and helping her to maneuver her bulky frame into an upright position and then heaving her to her feet. “Your mum’s making breakfast,” he said.
“She saw you in here?”
“We’ve come to an understanding. Now go pee and eat your breakfast and then you and Jackie can get started on making you the most beautiful bride who ever walked this planet. Or any other,” he added.
“You’re turning into a romantic old sap,” she told him.
“You love it.”
“You know, I really do.” She smiled at him delightedly and then scooted into the loo.
Ch. 48: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/531771.html
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Looks like we're getting right down to it; just a few chapters left. Will the Doctor and Rose make it through their wedding without Rose going into labor or aliens deciding to take over the planet? I guess we shall see, but the Doctor *did* say that he's rubbish at weddings. ;)
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Aww, so very sweet. I don't know what it is, but there's something amusing about Jackie and Nine interacting, no matter the mood.
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What a wonderful surprise to wake up to! Gorgeous chapter.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
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I absolutely loved the scene where the Doctor and Jackie were finally able to come to some sort of understanding. It was honest and sincere and just wonderful.
Can't wait for the wedding!
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I enjoy the humor you inject in your stories especially this:
The Doctor sighed. He knew when he was defeated. One determined Tyler woman was hard enough to stand up to, but two he had no prayer of resisting for long. He was really glad, come to think of it, that they knew the baby was a boy.
The conversations between characters was pitch perfect. There is such a powerful undercurrent of emotion that you are able to convey between Rose and Jackie, and then the Doctor and Jackie. It seems everything is starting to lay flat and maybe the universe will be kind to the Doctor for a change and grant him the happiness he so desperately craves.
I am certainly looking forward to the rest. Thank you for a wonderful chapter!
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Oh, I'm glad you liked the humor. I do like putting it in, but sometimes it's so subtle I wonder if people see it so I'm always happy when they do.
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