A Rose by Any Other Name

By Zoey Rowan
Rating: K+
Pairing: 10th Doctor/Rose
Warnings: None
Music: E.T. - Katy Perry
You'll Be in My Heart - Phil Collins

AN: So, I've seen bits and pieces of the new series of Doctor Who over the past few years, but I've never made an effort to watch them all in order. So I've been watching them lately, and the last episode of season 2: Doomsday, got me to thinking. Mind you, I tend to watch movies late at night when I can't sleep, so this idea jumped out at about 2 am. I've been mucking about with it all day, so I hope y'all enjoy it. Pretty much, in our universe, this takes place in season three after...oh, I'd say Family of Blood? IDK, I'm pulling that out of my ass, lets go with that because that's the episode I just finished. :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Rose or Jackie or Pete or Micky. I only own Rose's bundle of joy. Oh, and Caroline. Yes, that is a Primeval reference. I am convinced Torchwood and the ARC all exist in the same imaginative plane.

It was hard to believe it had been over seven months since she had held him in her arms.

All day she had watched the baby, silently accepting her family's congratulations and mutely greeting friends of her dad's. For hours and hours she smiled and nodded and allowed dozens of people she didn't know to touch and hold her baby. She never said a word, merely nodding or shaking her head in response to the people around her.

Whenever someone asked about the baby's name or about the father, Jackie or Pete or Rose's new friend Caroline would jump in and direct the conversation away from such things. Pete had quietly asked Jackie where Micky was, since he had stayed around for a long time after the portal between worlds closed. But a couple of weeks before Rose went into labor, Micky had stopped visiting. No one in their circle of friends knew where he had gone.

That night, after everyone had said their goodbyes and given one last kiss to the baby, Rose carefully got out of bed and crossed the cold tiled hospital floor to the bassinet. Carefully, she shifted the blankets until she could lift the child into her arms.

Large, pale gold eyes opened slowly and focused on her. The doctors had been startled by the unusual color of the baby's eyes and the unnatural intelligence that some in the hour's old infant's golden eyes.

Thankfully, Pete had used his extensive connections to make sure none of the doctors or nurses who assisted in the delivery or follow-up care would leak information about the baby's unusual anatomic differences. They hadn't been sure if the baby would be born as a human or a Time Lord or a bizarre combination of both, so Jackie and Rose had laid plans to keep the child safe. As Rose cuddled her child close, she could feel the double thump-thump thump of the infant's twin hearts. If word of the baby's unusual additions became public, even Pete, with all his connections, wasn't sure he could keep Rose and the baby safe.

"If only your daddy could see you, munchkin," Rose whispered as she walked to the window and looked up at the night sky. "He's out there, you know. Well, not in our sky, but in our home universe. He's out there, fighting aliens, saving people and having a glorious laugh, riding around in his bloody blue TARDIS through time. He once said he used to be a dad. I bet he'd be a brilliant dad, one of those that'd let you get away with anythin'." She paused and shifted her grip, hugging the silent child closer. The baby's silence had worried the doctors from the moment of birth. Unlike any other baby, they hadn't heard a peep from the child, not even a birthing scream. "I told him it was Mum, not me, that was pregnant. Didn't want him to worry. Sometimes I kinda wish I hadn't. He would've found a way to get us back, probably almost blow himself up doing it." She chuckled softly before turning away from the window and pressing a kiss to the baby's nose before carefully returning the child to its bassinet. She stood by the cradle for a moment, stroking the baby's full head of dark brown hair.

"You are the only one of your kind, little one," Rose whispered as the baby fell asleep again. "A human mother and a Time Lord for a father. What crazy things will you achieve?" An idea crossed her mind and she bent down to whisper a few words in the child's ear.

TDRT TDRT

Across the cold dark nothing of the Void, a mother's words, filled with longing for her partner, traveled. Across space and time and alternate dimensions to whisper in the ear of the lonely traveler.

The Doctor jerked up, banging his head on the underside of the TARDIS's control console, startling Martha into silence, as a familiar and beloved voice whispered in his ear before flitting away.

"Your name is Gallifree, after your dad's lost world. Gallifree Tyler, the newest Time Lady."

Finis