Revelations

FOUR

Ok, so I lied...this is going to be more than five chapters long. It's these background chapters! I wrote a list of everything I wanted to include about Rose's background and thought: "this'll be fine as just one chapter." Nope, that is not how this has worked... there are still 11 more points to cover in some way. So another background chapter on Rose after this. I'm thinking this might be about seven or eight chapters now...but I think it's best I stop speculating :)

It's also not easy writing about something that hasn't happened to you personally or anyone you know well, so I apologise if my facts are slightly off. This will become very important next chapter, I suspect. But none of what Rose is going through I have been through in any way, just so you are aware.

Enjoy and I'll try and get the next chapter up soon! :)

....

London – Early 2000s (three weeks later)

It was the fifth morning in a row that Rose had woken up early, rushing to the bathroom, and emptying the contents of her stomach into the porcelain toilet bowl.

At first she had assumed it to be the doing of a bug she had picked up at school somewhere or was the result from the amount of stress she had been under lately. That, and she had also been missing Theta more than she thought she would. It had been three weeks now since she had seen him last and she had no way of keeping in touch with him; he had always refused to tell her where he came from and had never given her anything as simple as a number.

But no, there was no doubting that it was beginning to look like something else entirely. Rose thought back to the last day she had spent with Theta and what had happened between them. Could it be that she was...? No, she couldn't be, surely? She was too scared to find out – what would her mother say for starters? But there signs were all there: she was sick constantly, tired constantly and had even worked out that she was late. Her monthly cycle had never been something she had been particularly good at keeping track of, but even without the most regular cycle she knew that she should've started by now.

Tears welled up in her eyes and, eventually, she stopped throwing up. She knew she had to find out, this wasn't going to go away. For all she knew right now, there was nothing to worry about and she wasn't pregnant.

But that didn't stop her from worrying.

After all, like already said, the signs were all there.

Thankfully, her mother had either stopped noticing Rose's morning trips to the bathroom or Rose had just gotten better at being quiet (it was probably the latter, let's be honest). It was a blessing really. It meant Rose could go back to bed for a few hours and not worry Jackie too much when she awoke. Despite that, Rose knew that Jackie could tell something was up with her daughter. It was mother's intuition and Jackie had a lot of it. However, Rose was more than thankful that her mother was someone who would wait for her to talk first.

~oOo~

When Rose awoke again at a more reasonable time, the first thing she noticed was that the flat was silent.

Rolling over, she checked the time on her bedside clock, it read: 12:48. Her mother would be at work now then.

Breathing a sigh of relief at not having to face her mother straight away, Rose forced herself out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower. She was still feeling groggy and a little queasy but, for the most part, she felt alright. A shower would do her good and then some toast. She had learnt – very quickly – that anything more than toast in the morning and her stomach would rebel. It was ridiculous how many times she had thrown up on the way to school in the last few days alone.