TenxRose One-Shots

Joy of Motherhood

This part was suggested as an accidental team effort between @jordieblob16 and @BadWolfSherlock so thanks for the idea and here it is!  TentooxRose :)

Rose decided that being a mother was really, really hard.  Harder than fighting Slitheen, mostly because it was frowned upon to dump vinegar on one's children, no matter how much the very frustrated twenty-something wanted to.

The Doctor came home to find her completely passed out on the couch, the telly on and forgotten.  He dropped his bag at the door and knelt next to the couch for a moment, watching her.  "Rose," he said quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"You're taking the baby next time," she muttered, rolling on her side, facing him.  She opened her eyes, looking blearily at him.  "Do you want to cuddle while I cry of exhaustion?"

The Doctor chuckled and crawled up onto the couch next to her, where she cuddled into his chest and gave a content little sigh.  He stroked her back thoughtfully, feeling how exhausted her body felt.  "Altha's still at preschool, how are you so tired?"

He realized about the moment the words had left his mouth that they were very probably the wrong words.  He wished he could regenerate, because he was pretty sure he was going to need that ability in about ten seconds.

Rose lifted her head slowly, staring down into his face.  "I don't know if you noticed, Doctor, but we had another baby.  Said baby has to be fed every two hours.  Said baby cries all the bloody time, and I'm the one home with him.  And he's finally sleeping and now I can die."  With that, she collapsed back onto his chest, eliciting an involuntary 'oof' from him.

"Fair enough," the Doctor said sheepishly.  "How long until he needs fed again?"

Rose choked on an exhausted sob.  "Twenty minutes."

He pressed a kiss to her hair.  "I'll take care of Elliot, okay?"

It didn't even matter that she'd said anything because she had completely fallen asleep within the four seconds she hadn't been talking.  The Doctor smiled to himself.  He knew at first she feared he would get bored with the slow way when they returned from Norway, but really, it couldn't be more exciting.

He'd screamed more than Rose had when she was delivering Altha, and by the time they had Elliot he was a seasoned professional.  But Rose rolling out of bed every couple of hours to care for the baby had wrecked both of their sleeping schedules, and there really wasn't a thing for it.  So while it was fair to say they were both exhausted, Rose was nearing 'dead on her feet' territory.

Thanks to being a human-TIme Lord hybrid, the Doctor was able to count off twenty minutes easily and go feed the baby when the time came, silently congratulating himself for it.  Rose had shown him all the things he needed to do, and he did them with flawless ease. 

He managed to get to Elliot before he started crying them, sitting with the baby in Rose's rocking chair and lifting the bottle to his mouth. 

"There you go," he whispered quietly, wanting the child to get more used to the sound of his father's voice.  "Your mum's exhausted, you should really give her a break.  It's been a long four months for her, you understand."

It soon became clear that the baby was more intent on his dinner than his father, but that never stopped the Doctor.  "I used to think I wouldn't be able to be with your mum," he said softly, "You'll learn about all that mess when you're older, aliens and other me and the TARDIS," he smiled at the thought.  "You're going to have quite the childhood, Elliot, because your mum and I, well, we're very jeopardy friendly."

After the latest feeding, the Doctor kissed his son and tucked him back into his crib before falling on the plush couch (that they'd thankfully indulged in when they moved out of the Tyler mansion) next to his wife.  "Altha comes home in a half hour," he murmured against her hair.

Rose turned to cuddle into his chest again.  "We'll sleep for a half hour, then."

***

Altha, a five year old ball of energy, arrived home at three o' clock precisely and ran around, playing with her toys for an hour and a half.  Luckily, that gave Rose some time to finish resting while the Doctor played with her. 

Eventually though, Altha decided that 'mommy should be awake' and that they should also play hide and seek.  The Doctor knew Rose should probably get up anyways, so she'd be able to catch sleep that night.  Luckily, she was in an agreeable mood when she was awakened and agreed to play hide and seek with her little family after dinner.

It was so painfully domestic, sitting around a table in a kitchen next to a room with carpets.  Rose watched with a small smile playing on her face as the Doctor cut up bits of chicken for their daughter, talking to her enthusiastically as he did so.  He looked up and saw her staring.  "What?" He asked, his tone full of amusement.

She shook her head but smiled just a bit wider.  "Nothing."

Later, they did end up 'playing hide and seek', but the Doctor and Rose had learned to play it a very specific way now that they had kids.  Rose threw the Doctor a wink and they played along for a bit and hid for Altha to find them.

The trick was to hide in obvious spaces to build the child's self-esteem, and to not be able to find the child 'easily'. 

So when it was the Doctor and Rose's turn to hunt for Altha, they counted to twenty and sat down on the recliner couch to watch telly.  Eventually, the little girl realized what they were up to and emerged from her hiding space, giggling.  She snuggled in between her parents, and Rose was more than willing to turn it into a three way couch cuddle. 

The Doctor wrapped his arm around both of them and dropped a kiss to Rose's hair.  This was very much it, for both of them.  A very simple statement on their forever.