SLAVES OF THE SISTERHOOD

Chapter Twenty Four

There was a stunned silence in the room for a moment until Twelve broke it.

"Just scanned my blood samples and she's with child, to put it nicely," he said to Eleven. "Assuming you found the same?"

"Yes, but I found something that your blood test wouldn't detect. Have a look at this," Eleven said, pointing to the monitor.

Ten glanced at Rose before he stood up and joined them. Rose watched with mounting fear at the stunned expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong?" Rose finally said when no one said anything.

Ten walked back over to her and knelt down, only this time when he took her hand in his he was deathly serious.

"The fetus is little more than a group of cells at the moment," he said to her. "But they're glowing."

"Glowing?" Rose said.

"Glowing with a golden light," Twelve said, turning to her. "The same light that shot out of you when that woman tried to torture you."

"What does that mean?" Rose said, wishing she could see it herself.

"I don't know, Rose," Twelve said, running his fingers through his hair. "This hasn't happened on Gallifrey for millennia and to my knowledge, not with a human. You already seem to have this Bad Wolf thing inside you, maybe it's fusing itself with the child."

"Is that good or bad though?" Eleven said to them. "We're not even sure what this Bad Wolf is and already it's laying claim to the fetus."

"So far, it's been a protector," Twelve said as he wheeled the scanner a few feet away from the bed. "It protected me from the Daleks and protected Rose when one of those nutters tried to slice it open…and I suppose it protected Jack by bringing him back to life. Beyond that, I'm not sure what it is but it doesn't seem to want to harm Rose in any way."

"So further tests are in order then," Ten said.

"Yes but we have to worry about the Sisterhood and stop them," Twelve said. "We need to sort that out before we do anything further here. I think everything will be alright until then."

"You think?" Rose said.

"I don't know, Rose, I really don't," Twelve said. "This is all new to me. And now, we also have to find a way to fit this into the scheme of things. Because I have a feeling even if we try to abort the fetus, which I don't want to, that it'll rear up and attack us or the entity will at any rate. Then we'll be flung across the room into a wall. That's my theory, that the glow is the entity not only fusing with the child but setting up a protective barrier so no one takes it."

"Which may mean," Ten said. "That if the Sisterhood tries to take it, even after birth, the Bad Wolf will protect it."

"That's my thought on it," Twelve said.

"Well, let's hope that's true," Eleven said. "We'll need all the help we can get."

Twelve glanced at Rose and told his counterparts he wanted to speak with them privately. Ten quickly bent over and kissed her cheek, murmuring that everything was going to be okay and get some rest before he followed the others out the door. He led them a storage room across the way and told them to go inside. Once the door was locked and soundproofed, he told them about his idea on how to let Rose travel with him again once she was done stopping the Reality Bomb. Ten and Eleven exchanged glances as Twelve told him his idea.

"So, you want my past self to keep Rose there, drop the clone off with Sarah Jane and then you just swing round and pick her back up again?" Ten said when he finished.

"That's the plan, yeah," Twelve said.

"Okay, so what's wrong with telling my past self to keep her there once she's finished and drop the clone off with Sarah Jane when she goes and just go on as before and let her travel with me."

"Because it might change the future if I do that," Twelve said.

"It might change the future if you do it," Eleven said. "How do you know something big isn't coming up in your timeline that Rose could muck with. I'm assuming you're the first of a new regeneration cycle since I'm on my last life here."

"Yes, I am."

"Then there are potentially more lives after you," Eleven said. "If you take Rose along, what's to stop her from messing up something in your future. Maybe…if Rose goes back with him," he said, pointing to Ten, " and lands up with me and you change, you won't be such a dour sour in future."

"I'm not a dour sour," Twelve said.

He frowned when Ten and Eleven just stared at him silently.

"What?" he said.

"Waiting on the punchline of your joke," Eleven said. "But now I'm realizing you meant it when you said that, you poor deluded thing."

"Whatever, the point is the three of us want her back," Twelve said.

"Don't forget Grumpy Gus up front. He may seize her and go back through the portal before we have a chance to lay claim," Ten said.

"Rassilon, is Rose a human being on a nugget of gold?" Eleven said. "Why don't we just draw and quarter her and each have a piece so we can lay claim to that!"

"I'm the one that married her so technically, you lot aren't her husbands yet," Twelve said.

"So…what's your point? We can't have her until we are married then?" Ten said.

"What's River gonna think if Rose is there?" Twelve said, leaning in to Eleven's face.

"Ooo, yeah, good point," Eleven said, wincing.

"Wait? River Song, what's she got to do with…"

Ten's voice faded into silence and his eyes widened.

"No!" he said to Eleven. "What she implied in The Library, that really happened?"

"Yup and it did and he's right, I can't have two wives, can I?" Eleven said.

"You think River would even tolerate that?" Twelve said.

"Um…probably not," Eleven said. "Perhaps it is best I hold off on having her for the moment."

Twelve looked at Ten who adopted a stubborn, petulant demeanor.

"Now wait a moment, I'm not married to…well, I'm married to Lizzy, I suppose, but that's not binding!" Ten said, holding up his finger while Eleven snickered. "I have no intention of taking the throne. Besides, when I said will you marry me, it was a test to see if she was a Zygon and she wasn't and it was all a big mistake, so there!"

"Now go back and say that to her face when you see her again," Eleven said to him.

"I'm alone at the moment so why can't Rose come with me?" Ten said.

"And what happens when you get to him? Is she gonna jump over his timeline and fall into my arms the moment I regenerate?" Twelve said.

"I…I intend to stay for awhile so I need companionship," Ten said defiantly.

"P'eh, keep on saying that, mate, maybe it'll come true," Eleven said, rolling his eyes.

"I don't want to go," Ten said.

Eleven and Twelve looked at each other.

"Is that his favorite thing to say?" Twelve asked.

"It's getting to be, I think," Eleven replied.

"Look, why not let Rose make up her mind and decide," Ten said to them. "If she chooses me, you lot still get her so give her the facts and let her choose where she wants to insert herself. Like we said, your timeline can end up just as altered as ours could."

"It's already altering since we're allowing her to keep the child," Eleven said. "I agree, let Rose choose."

Twelve thought it over for a moment.

"Very well but first we have to stop the Sisterhood so we need to keep Rose in here so they can't get to her and the child," he said.

"Agreed," Ten said.

"Agreed," Eleven added.

Twelve nodded.

"Very well, let's go tell the others what's happening and prepare for battle," he said.

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