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Fic Commentary
After a delay, the final commentary part of Signing Up.
The Doctor drifted awake and rubbed his cheek. It was...wet. Was he...? No. Yes. Ew. He'd been drooling. He slowly opened his eyes to a form in the chair across from him. He focused. Rose was watching him, sipping a drink. He quickly sat up, and she snorted into the mug.
He blinked groggily at her, realising daylight was shining through the windows. "What?"
"Your hair's a bit...fluffy at the moment."
He patted at it and she smirked.
"How long have you been sitting there?"
"Mmm, not long. An hour."
"An hour??"
"I've never seen you sleep before. You snore a bit."
"I do NOT."
She stood up and walked into the kitchen, getting a second mug. "Sure you don't," she replied, amusement in her voice.
"I can't believe I fell asleep like that. It was...overpowering! Hmm. Must be a mechanism that's coded in the DNA. Sleep is related to brain function, and yours truly," he knocked on his head, "is still Time Lord up here."
Rose handed him a mug. "So you don't need to sleep, but your body's going to anyway?"
"Apparently."
Rose sat down next to him, looping an arm through his and putting her feet up on the table. "So...sorry about last night."
"There's something to be sorry about?"
"I don't know. It just seems like..." She sighed.
"I know things haven't exactly gone like you thought they would. And--"
"Let's do something," Rose interrupted.
"Hold on, sorry?"
"I'm tired of talking right now. Aren't you tired of it?"
"Well..."
"Let's get out of here and do something."
The Doctor slowly broke into a smile. "Right! Come on!" He jumped up, grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.
Ten minutes and an annoyed Pete Tyler later, and they were driving down the road in his convertible.
"So where we off to?" Rose asked.
"Don't know! More fun that way!"
She grinned at him. One of those one-hundred-percent-pure Rose Tyler grins.
"Chips! I want chips! Let's go find some!"
"It's too early!" Rose protested.
"We'll find some!"
They got sidetracked by a department store. The Doctor quickly swerved the car -- Rose shrieked something he couldn't make out -- then jumped out and grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her into the shop.
"Wow, shopping? Thrilling!" Rose commented, extremely amused. "This would be the Donna bits in you, wouldn't it?"
"Nah. Well, maybe. Dunno, really. But I need some extra clothes. And glasses. I really miss my glasses."
"You're actually going to wear something besides your suit?"
"Already went to blue, so the sky's the limit!"
"Really?"
"All right, no. But I need new shirts and ties. And, um...a couple of other things. I got dressed really fast."
Rose cleared her throat and quickly murmured, "I think Men's is this way."
They walked deeper into the shop. "Oh, hold on. You do have money, don't you?"
Rose grinned. "I should have figured. Started out as a cheap date, and now is draining my bank account. You wanted me for my money, didn't you?"
He grinned back. "Yup."
"Since I'm paying and all, I know you like to stick to a certain look, but any chance you could get a different coloured suit?"
Hmm. She had teased him about the blue back on the TARDIS. "I guess I could get something different. More fashion options that way. I'd have to make some modifications to the pockets again, but that wouldn't take long. Ooh, I could get another brown--"
"No," Rose interrupted.
He looked at her, startled.
"Just how about something new?" she quickly added, trying to keep her tone light but somewhat failing.
"Yeah. Sounds good," he said, also trying to match her light tone. And also somewhat failing.
Rose wandered over to a table a little ways away.
Why shouldn't he have another brown suit? He loved that suit. And he'd been in it just as much as the other him.
He frowned at the shirts in front of him, looking through them. He picked a few out, and then went to the ties. He heard Rose come up next to him, her hands going to another set of ties.
"Sorry. Seems like I'm apologising all the time now," she remarked. "We can get you a brown suit if you'd like. It's what you used to wear, after all."
She was in his head again. Not really, of course, but... "How about," he tried, putting a tie down on his growing pile of clothes, "we forget the new suit for now? Too much of a hassle converting it anyway when I've got better things to do."
"You know, you could wear an unconverted suit."
"Don't be daft. Where would I keep my ducks?" He bumped her shoulder.
"I don't know. They seem pretty happy in the bathroom."
"True, they do see the light of day now. Probably were going quackers before."
"Oh God," Rose groaned, trying to suppress a grin, and bumping his arm back.
"You know what I need now? Jim-jams! If I'm actually going to sleep, I'm going to need something to sleep in! Ooh!" He spotted a rack and dashed over, grabbing a yellow and white polka dot set. "What d'ya think?" he asked, holding it up.
"Erm..." Rose said with a nose-scrunch. "No. Just no." She picked up a solid t-shirt and flannel bottoms and handed them to him. "Much, much better."
"Really? Sort of plain."
"Trust me."
He did.
The boot loaded up with bags and the Doctor's new glasses in his pocket, the next stop was a chippy where they were the first customers of the day. Their portion of chips obtained, they strolled down the sidewalk dotted with other pedestrians.
Rose grabbed some chips out of the paper the Doctor was holding. "Not bad."
"Not bad at all. And none of that extra...stuff on it. Why anyone would ever want to cover up their chips is beyond me. Still, though, I miss the newspaper. There was something about that."
"That inky taste?" she teased.
"Yeah," he grinned. "Must be."
Clouds were in the sky, but overall it was a nice day. The sun peeked through here and there and leaves rustled in the early fall breeze. All-in-all, really quite--
"This feels weird," Rose stated.
The Doctor gave her a quizzical look.
"I mean, not you," she quickly added. "I just mean not working on the Cannon anymore. And not dealing with the end of the universe. It all became part of every-day life."
"A well-earned holiday," the Doctor commented, throwing a chip in his mouth.
"But it's not, is it? Everything's changed again."
"This is a tiny bit better than dealing with the end of the universe, isn't it?"
"Slightly," Rose said with a grin.
The Doctor held out the paper containing the lone last chip. Rose took it and he tossed the paper in a bin.
"It's just weird," she said again.
"Got that part - by weird you didn't mean me, you meant working on the Cannon and so on."
"But don't you think this is weird?"
"Ah, not talking about 'working on the Cannon and so on.' In other words, me. On the strangeness scale, it's not at the top by a long shot. Take, for example, being put on trial by a potential future evil self that exists between incarnations."
Rose blinked and shook her head. "All right, that probably has this beat."
"Oh! Or combining forces with four of my past selves in order to defeat a man... Although, hold on, he wound up getting what he wanted in the end."
"So, a 'no' on defeating him then."
"Well, it was very much a 'be careful what you wish for' thing."
"Hmm. Be careful what you wish for," Rose said absently. "Weird."
"What's weird?"
"Sorry. It's nothing."
"Or it's something?" the Doctor prompted.
"It's silly. Forget I said anything."
"Just tell me. If it's silly, I promise not to laugh," he offered. "You've said 'weird' one too many times, and it'll drive me bonkers for years if you don't tell me."
Rose's expression was thoughtful.
The Doctor gave her an encouraging smile.
She glanced away and took a breath. "Back before I came to this world, when I was still with you, sometimes I'd wished that the whole Bad Wolf thing had changed me. Made it so I couldn't die. So I could be with you forever."
The Doctor felt his blood go cold. He nearly stopped walking.
She continued. "And here you are... You changed."
"Rose, I would never want that for you."
"Yeah, well, I never wanted this for you," she countered. "Stuck in some human life. 'Don't you dare make me domestic,' you said once."
"Think I said 'this place,' not 'me.'"
"Close enough."
"And recalling that precise conversation... Heh." The Doctor smirked.
"What?"
He scratched at the back of his neck. "I sorta meant Mickey, and you traipsing your boyfriend through the place."
"Bad experience having a couple on board once?"
"Actually, no. I just didn't want to be reminded you had a boyfriend."
"What, you mean... Already way back then?" She looked genuinely surprised, but also sported a small smile.
"Well, you know. Yeah." He grinned at her, and she began to grin back. "Of course, you seemed to take that as some sort of signal to start dragging in random men," he added with a mock huff.
"Oi! There were only two! And I kinda did start dragging them in, didn't I?" Her tongue poked out of her grin. "Since we're confessing things and all, I sorta did it because I was falling for you and thought it was completely daft to be falling for you. What would some 900-year-old alien want with me?"
"Want you to not have boyfriends, is what."
Rose laughed.
He pulled Rose to a stop, his hand going to her cheek. "Oh, your laugh. Don't ever stop laughing, all right?"
"I can stop sometimes though, yeah?" There was her tongue again.
"Here and there," he conceded.
"That's a relief."
His hand didn't seem to be moving. "Your laugh is the one thing...no, strike that. It's one of many things I missed."
"I missed you talking to me a mile-a-minute." She was staring at his lips, which had an intoxicating effect.
"Really?" he asked, those mile-a-minute words not coming at the moment.
"Really. One of many, many...many things too."
"Yeah?"
She stepped closer, closing the remaining gap between them. "Oh yeah." Her eyes were back to his - those amazing eyes. He leaned down and kissed her, softly at first but quickly it became more.
The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, pressing himself against her and pulling her to him. She did the same. The taste of Rose and chips on his tongue and her hand in his hair. No space between them and it still didn't feel close enough.
Was he hearing bells? Oh, her mobile was ringing.
"It'll go...voice mail," Rose said, her voice breathy between kisses.
The phone stopped and the Doctor had a moment of realising he was making out in public before deciding he did not care.
The phone rang again. Rose stopped this time, which was incredibly disappointing.
"It could be important."
"Well, you're a very important person," he teased without a hint of sarcasm.
She squeezed his side and reached for her phone.
"Rose, here. Yeah? No way."
The Doctor grinned and waved at a passer-by who was giving them a very odd look in their current pressed-together state, still clinging while Rose was talking on her mobile.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," she said and then hung up with a twinkle in her eye. "How do you feel about stopping an alien invasion?"
They ran.
Hand-in-hand they sprinted back to the car. The next moment they were flying down the road in the convertible, both grinning like loons.
On rushing into the stark interior of Torchwood One, two people ran over to them.
"What have we got?" Rose asked, as they all strode down a long corridor.
"One hostile. Landed the craft near Pratts Bottom."
"One?" the Doctor interjected. "Ooh, that's a massive alien invasion right there. And hostile you say? Did he/she/it have a weapon?"
The two men gave him a suspicious look.
"It's all right. He's with me," Rose reassured them.
The Doctor wiggled his fingers at them. "Hello! Now about the hostile part of this?"
"There was lots of yelling," the shorter of the men said.
"What was he/she/it yelling?"
"Not sure. It was some foreign tongue."
The Doctor skidded to a halt. "Hold on. Yelling? Unidentified yelling?? That's the hostile part of it? And do you know if it's a he, she or it? Because that's getting exhausting to say."
"He. Maybe? Um...there was arm-waving too."
The Doctor rubbed his face and groaned.
"Where's he now?" Rose asked.
"Holding cell. Level 3."
"Right. Thanks. We'll go it alone," she said, walking over to the lift. The Doctor followed her into it, crossing his arms over his chest. "They're not bad guys. Just a bit...high strung," Rose explained.
"You people need a translator. A device, I mean. Why don't you have a translator? That technology shouldn't be beyond you."
"We've got something in the planning stages. But the funny thing about this Earth is it hasn't had very many aliens stop by. Most the stuff we deal with is of Earth origin. So it hasn't been a big priority here."
"Really? Hmm."
"Ahead in some things, behind in others, I guess." She mimicked his crossed arms. "So... I thought you were supposed to be all guns-blazing now."
The Doctor blinked. "Sorry?"
"Just what you said on the beach. The other you, I mean. About you. Oi, all the 'you's gets confusing."
"Oh, that. Rose, in all the time you've known me, even when we first met, have I ever been an idiot? No, no, don't answer that. But lone, unarmed, yelling, possibly male alien is hardly 'break out the nukes' time. He starts talking about having a craving for eating toes, then we'll...have a different discussion. Born in battle," the Doctor muttered. "How about 'born in the fire of the burning TARDIS?' Very phoenix-like, that. As well as a bit more flash than something like spectrox toxaemia."
"Spectra what?"
"Oops, story for another time," the Doctor said, nodding at the opening lift doors.
As they approached the holding cell, Pete joined them from another direction. "Sorry for bringing you in here, but gotta say, we're not exactly used to stuff like this."
"So I hear. If you want my advice -- and even if you don't -- you need to push that translator to the top of your priority list."
"Already done."
"Better late than never, I suppose," the Doctor remarked dryly.
The Doctor moved forward, getting a better view through the thick, clear wall of the cell - probably lead acrylic or hyperglass. Eyes stared back at him and the Doctor snorted out a laugh.
"Congratulations, you've captured the universe's equivalent of a football hooligan."
Green twinge to his skin, the Hartalan was shorter and stockier than your average human, and completely hairless due to a non-mammal-like lineage.
The Hartalan spoke, naturally, Hartalanian. "Laugh it up, you hairy, brainless git!"
The Doctor spoke Haralanian back to him. "Hairy? Yes, and ruggedly so. But brainless? Nah, got one of those."
The Hartalan jumped up and rushed to the wall. "THANK YOU, TRA! Let me out of here! If that was a no-parking zone, I'll pay the fine or move it or whatever! You've no right to hold me!"
Pete jumped back at the movement, but Rose stood her ground next to the Doctor.
"Not exactly a no-parking zone as such. I'm the Doctor, and you are...?"
"Blah."
"Blah. Really? I mean, fine name. Good job by your parents. So, Blah, why are you here?"
Blah reached into his pocket and extracted a piece of paper that he plastered against the clear wall. The Doctor took out his new glasses and studied it.
"Ah," the Doctor said. "Well, here's your problem. You're on the wrong planet."
"Bugger me. Where am I?"
"Earth. Human-based and a bit on the skittish side. You're in the right galaxy but the wrong solar system. Opposite end, actually."
"I knew only 50 credits for a guidance system was too good to be true."
"Right," the Doctor spoke in English again. "Blah here is just trying to get to a music festival and accidentally wound up on the wrong planet. So mark him in the non-hostile category."
"Poor guy," Rose commented. "Can we give him a lift back to his ship? It'd be the decent thing to do."
"Yes, exactly! Don't want him to miss the opening act! Mind springing the fellow?" the Doctor asked Pete.
"You're sure."
"I'm sure. OH! Paper? Pen? I want to give him some directions. Go right, ahead three paces, turn left at the flashing neon cow... That sort of thing. Well, not literally, of course. It's not actually a cow."
Pete handed over some paper and a pen that the Doctor pocketed.
"You know..." Rose frowned. "We're gonna need a blanket. And a hat."
Blah, bundled up and secured into the back seat of the convertible, peered at them from beneath a pink knitted cap. "Reminds me of being hazed."
"Gotta love ridiculous rituals," the Doctor replied, starting the car and racing off in the direction of Pratts Bottom.
"I wish I could talk to him," Rose said, glancing back and giving Blah a smile.
"Not much of a conversationalist, actually."
"Just tell him hello from me. Or something." She turned sideways in her seat.
"My friend here says to say hello," the Doctor told Blah, watching him through the mirror.
Blah looked at Rose. "She's not my usual type, but I'd give her a go. I've got an extra ticket to the festival, and she looks like she can party. Yeah, she can come with me if she wants. Especially if she can cook."
"Ooh, sorry. Horrible cook. Actually, she's not allowed to leave the country right now - attempted poisoning of this bloke. Well, I say attempted... They'll never prove a thing, though! Fingerprints are lousy evidence. And DNA. Who believes DNA these days?"
Blah stared at Rose.
"What'd he say?"
"Pretty much hello, and it's nice to meet you."
"Awww." She gave Blah a grin.
Blah shrank into the blanket.
They found the small craft hidden in a wooded area thanks to Blah's tracking device - the Doctor always meant to install one of those on the TARDIS but never seemed to get around to it. Maybe now.
He quickly scratched out directions on the paper and handed them to Blah with, "Sorry for the inconvenience. Next time spend the money on the guidance system. You could have wound up in the States and, well, dissection's never pleasant."
"Bye." Rose smiled and waved to Blah.
Blah blinked and sprinted onto his ship.
"His way of saying goodbye," the Doctor commented.
"Ah."
"Probably should..." he pointed to the car.
"It's so my turn to drive." They hopped in and sped away from the space ship's starting engines.
"You know, it's funny," Rose said as the Doctor watched the craft shooting upwards. "I've never heard you speak another language before. The TARDIS always translated."
"Five billion languages and fortunately Hartalanian is one of them."
She smiled at him. "Guess this is just a day of firsts, isn't it?"
"Guess so." He grinned.
Her mobile rang again.
"I thought you were supposed to be on holiday," the Doctor grumbled.
"Could you get that? I don't have my earpiece with me."
"What??" the Doctor asked, completely alarmed.
"My very non-Cyberman earpiece."
"Your very non-Cyberman earpiece you'll be letting me look at before you ever use it again, right?"
"That's the one."
The Doctor answered the mobile. "Hello?"
"Please tell me you've eaten today."
The Doctor held the phone out away from him. "It's Jackie."
*
Rose juggled bags as she unlocked the door to the guest house. The Doctor shifted the bags in his own hands.
"You know, Mum would be impressed."
"As she should be. I am the king of shopping! Hmm. On second thought, let's keep that one to ourselves, all right?"
"Just as well. If she were here she'd make you model everything. Everything."
"No. No, no, no. No."
"Might even take you with her next time out."
The Doctor shuddered. "Now that's just cruel. Besides, I think I've got enough clothes now." He dropped the bags by the counter and glanced into the lounge. "You know what we need? A DVD player. Or maybe they're beyond DVD players here already. But we definitely need movie night again. Ooh, please tell me they have Disney in this world."
Rose was staring into the bag of take-out -- the chicken they swore to Jackie they'd not only get, but eat tonight -- but wasn't touching it.
"Parallel Earth to Rose..."
She turned her attention to the bags of clothes, a smile spreading on her lips. "This just reminds me of something. Something from ages ago."
"Uh, movie night?"
"No."
"Eating together?"
"No, not that."
He followed her gaze to the bags on the floor. "What, the clothes?"
"Signing up."
The Doctor blinked in confusion and Rose retrieved something from a drawer. She walked into the lounge.
"C'mere a minute," Rose instructed.
The Doctor scratched his head and did so.
Rose grinned and held out her hand. In it was a key. "Tell you what. Guest house key. About time you had one.
The key. The clothes. Rose's words came back to him, the ones she'd said when they'd barely known each other yet when she'd handed him a big bag of clothes... Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Ha!
The Doctor slowly grinned. In one swift move grabbed the key and pounced. Rose, that was. The key went in his pocket.
With a new centre of gravity, they lost balance and tumbled onto the sofa, him with an 'oof' and Rose with a giggle.
He grinned. "Whoops. I tripped."
"You have the best lines, you know that, yeah?"
"Well..."
Rose kissed him. Whatever he was going to say went completely away. He circled his arms around her and she threw her arm around his neck. The other hand found its way underneath his jacket. He half-registered that as worthy of further thought, but was much more interested in her lips--
She pulled back. NO!
"So. When you said you dressed quickly...what exactly don't you have on?" Rose bit her lip.
There was only one response to that.
"Mrrff."
She smirked. "Such a smooth talker."
The Doctor cleared his throat, twice, wondering why his brain had chosen now to stop forming words.
"I suppose if you're not gonna tell me, I might have to find out some other way." Her fingers brushed against his jaw-line, desire in her eyes.
He smiled and made some sort of noise, which he really hoped sounded affirmative. He was absolutely, positively in agreement with every last aspect of this line of discussion.
"Hmm. Completely speechless. This could be serious. Maybe we should eat something. And we don't want it to get cold, after all." Rose looked at him innocently.
That jump-started his tongue. "Oh, completely full! Couldn't possibly eat another bite from five hours ago! In fact..." he jumped up and quickly threw the take-out bag in the fridge. "...all ready cold. Aww, too late. Shame, really."
"All right," she said with a giant grin. "What about the bags of clothes by your feet? Probably should put those away first. Someone could trip."
The Doctor scooped them up and flung them through the open door of her bedroom. "Sorted!"
She joined him at the doorway. Her hand moved up and a finger traced the seam of his shirt. "Too bad you're not wearing a tie."
"Huh? Whatever! I can go get one--!"
"Forget it," she interrupted. "I'll make do." Her lips were on his as she grabbed his lapels and pulled him into the bedroom.
*
The Doctor woke up, aware of senses other than sight. The sound of Rose breathing softly against his chest, and rain outside the window. The smell of her completely surrounding him. His mind able to find her presence. The feel of her skin against his, soft and warm. Taste...well, that was morning breath as much as he'd like it to be Rose.
He opened his eyes to messy blonde hair.
It might have been cheesy to say -- or to even think -- but he couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. This all-encompassing, perfectly content, down-to-his-toes happy.
Maybe cheesy was good.
He took in his surroundings. First time in her bedroom, and he wasn't exactly paying attention to it last night. There weren't very many personal touches, just like the rest of her place. Maybe she never expected to stay that long. Or maybe it was just because she had no past in this world.
The Doctor did a double-take at a picture stuck in the corner of her dresser mirror: the TARDIS! Then he realised it wasn't the TARDIS, but simply some old photo of an actual police box. He decided right then he'd try to coax the new TARDIS into a police box form again. Why mess with perfection?
The only other picture was of Rose holding Tony, mountains in the background. Switzerland, maybe? He was glad she'd gotten away at least once. And that maybe she'd had some fun since she'd been here.
He picked up a book on the nightstand and grinned. Introduction to Physics. Oh, brilliant! Rose was teaching herself physics! Positively brilliant! Stupendously brilliant!
He kissed the top of her head.
She murmured and stirred, swallowed a couple of times, and shifted. She peered at him with half-closed eyes, her hair sticking in every direction.
"You are so beautiful, it hurts," he said. "Yes, yes, I know that's cheesy, but this morning I've decided that cheesy is good."
Rose's lips quirked into a sleepy smile. "You're not bad yourself," she said after clearing her throat.
"Ah, cheesy for cheesy, bordering on a cliche! Upping the stakes! Let's see. Hmm. Ooh! 'How you doin'?'"
"Well, that's just dumb." Rose grinned, becoming more awake by the second.
He gave her a pout.
"Morning," she said.
He smiled. "Morning."
"So how are you liking the whole sleeping thing?"
"If it happens after what we did last night, I am all for sleeping. Hooray for sleep! I might even make a flag I can wave! Or...ooh, write a song about it! Or...both!"
Rose smirked. "You do realise that sometimes you'll have to sleep without doing that first, yeah?"
"Not interested."
As she smiled at him, he felt her chuckle more than heard her.
Yup. Down-to-his-toes happy. "Rose?" he said. "I love you."
A sudden flicker across her eyes and her smile faded, which had the immediate effect of clenching at his heart.
"What? Rose, what?"
Her gaze dropped, as if she couldn't look him in the eyes.
"Please please talk to me."
"He's still..." was all she could get out.
Oh.
He sighed softly and pulled her closer. If he lived to be 100 in this body, he'd still never know what he did to deserve Rose caring so much about his happiness, wherever he was.
She also sighed. "I'm sorry."
"No. You don't have to be sorry."
"It's strange. It feels a bit like I'm cheating on you with you," Rose admitted.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. "I don't expect you to stop thinking about him. Ever."
"But...?" she prompted.
"No 'buts.' You wouldn't be you if you didn't care."
She seemed slightly sceptical. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
Rose looked positively relieved, and it was then that the Doctor realised how much guilt had been on her mind since they'd gotten here. And while he couldn't erase that guilt, bottling it up would eat away at her.
"If you ever want to talk about it," he quickly added, "just do it. Fifty years from now, I'll still be willing to listen. And if you don't want to talk to me, talk to someone. Anyone. Your Mum."
Rose shook out of her melancholy and became slightly amused. "All this talking about things. Donna really did a number on you, didn't she?"
The Doctor smirked. "I guess she did. But seriously, Rose..."
She kissed him on the cheek and lingered. "Thank you." She put her head back down, letting her fingers run over his chest. "Fifty years from now. I like that."
"Me too."
"You don't have to worry, you know. I know it's you. Really you. Not just someone who looks like you." She looked back up at him. "And I love you. I do. So much."
It was his turn to feel relieved. He kissed her head again.
She smirked. "My problem is I had to go and fall in love with the Doctor. You know what a pain you are? It means loving you no matter what you look like, or have or don't have. Even if you'd regenerated. Although, I've gotta say," she said, propping herself up, "I'd miss this hair. Really, really miss it." She ran her fingers through it.
He closed his eyes with a "Mmmm." Right at this moment she could have asked him to do anything -- anything -- and he would have done it. "My hair would have missed you too."
Rose giggled. "Goof."
Rose repositioned herself. It was simply no longer enough contact, so he repositioned himself as well. The rain continued to fall outside, which made it seem doubly comfortable under the blankets.
"So..." Rose said after a few minutes.
"The answer is, 'yes, it's completely possible to live the rest of our lives right in this spot.'"
More giggling.
"Just put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door outside and we're set."
"Ah, but one of us would have to get out of bed to put the sign on the door," Rose replied.
"Always knew you were smart."
She tapped against his shoulder. "This sounds sort of like a dumb question, but...what exactly are you going to do?"
"Hold on, I'm currently formulating a pulley system that will take care of the sign thing."
She gave him a light swat. "I mean about, you know, life. Work? A job?"
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, that. I hate to have to say it, but you're gonna have to do something. There's always Torchwood."
"I was thinking about trying my hand at an office job, something at a desk, loads of paperwork, chatting at the water cooler on coffee breaks..."
"You're not serious."
He wrinkled his nose at her. "Me at a desk job? Pffft. Actually, I had this idea about travelling about in space and time."
Rose stared at him.
The Doctor blinked at her reaction. "You...you would come with me, right?" Had she gone white-picket-fence domestic on him in the last couple of years?
She frowned. "Are you having some sort of regeneration sickness after all? Doctor, the TARDIS is gone. Remember?"
He wiggled his eyebrows at her, then got out of bed, quickly finding and dressing in new t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. She did the same, the confused look not leaving her face. She followed him out into the kitchen where he stopped and opened the microwave.
Rose stared. "There's a rock in the microwave. Doctor, what's a rock doing in the microwave?"
"Having its particles excited every 24 hours. Defrost setting." The Doctor grinned and tapped his head. "I wish you could feel it. Up here."
"Oh my God, you've lost it, haven't you?"
"Rose, you asked me once if I could build a new TARDIS and I said I couldn't, because TARDISes aren't built, they're grown. Well... Say hello to a new, very much growing, TARDIS."
Her mouth dropped. She stared at him. Then at the coral. Then back at him. Finally back at the coral.
"Seriously? That's going to be a TARDIS? Really?"
"Yup! It's going to be our TARDIS."
"That's...that's...!" He was pretty sure her excitement was mirroring his own at the moment.
"Amazing? Brilliant? Stupendous? Dare I say 'fantastic' even?"
"YES! How long's it gonna take?"
"Would you believe nine months?"
"No way!"
"Way!"
"And we're really going to travel again?"
"We're really going to travel again."
Rose flung her arms around his neck, laughing. "This takes care of all birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of my life!"
He grinned from ear to ear. "Good, because that desk job for some money is really, really out."
She hopped out of his arms. "So nine months, eh? What are we going to do until then?"
"Ooh, I've got the perfect idea!"
"Yeah?"
"Oh, yes!" he said, excitement building in his voice. "It involves something in the bedroom!"
Rose's eyebrows went up. "For nine months?"
"Although considering I'm involved, I'd say it'd take about half that time."
"Hold on... What?"
He grabbed her around the waist, steering her back towards the bedroom. "Rose Tyler, I'm going to teach you physics!"
She tackled him.
The Doctor drifted awake and rubbed his cheek. It was...wet. Was he...? No. Yes. Ew. He'd been drooling. He slowly opened his eyes to a form in the chair across from him. He focused. Rose was watching him, sipping a drink. He quickly sat up, and she snorted into the mug.
- I've no idea why I find drooling so funny. :D
He blinked groggily at her, realising daylight was shining through the windows. "What?"
"Your hair's a bit...fluffy at the moment."
- The mental picture is this:
He patted at it and she smirked.
"How long have you been sitting there?"
"Mmm, not long. An hour."
"An hour??"
"I've never seen you sleep before. You snore a bit."
"I do NOT."
She stood up and walked into the kitchen, getting a second mug. "Sure you don't," she replied, amusement in her voice.
"I can't believe I fell asleep like that. It was...overpowering! Hmm. Must be a mechanism that's coded in the DNA. Sleep is related to brain function, and yours truly," he knocked on his head, "is still Time Lord up here."
- I had to make up something because sleep really is related to brain function. And if he's still Time Lord, his sleeping habits shouldn't have changed. I sort of like the thought of him sleeping regularly now though. A bit too much, actually since sleeping seem to play heavily in the sequel. :D
Rose handed him a mug. "So you don't need to sleep, but your body's going to anyway?"
"Apparently."
Rose sat down next to him, looping an arm through his and putting her feet up on the table. "So...sorry about last night."
"There's something to be sorry about?"
"I don't know. It just seems like..." She sighed.
"I know things haven't exactly gone like you thought they would. And--"
"Let's do something," Rose interrupted.
"Hold on, sorry?"
"I'm tired of talking right now. Aren't you tired of it?"
- I was tired of it. All this serious discussion and they hadn't gotten to be "the Doctor and Rose" yet.
"Well..."
"Let's get out of here and do something."
The Doctor slowly broke into a smile. "Right! Come on!" He jumped up, grabbing her hand and pulling her out the door.
Ten minutes and an annoyed Pete Tyler later, and they were driving down the road in his convertible.
"So where we off to?" Rose asked.
"Don't know! More fun that way!"
She grinned at him. One of those one-hundred-percent-pure Rose Tyler grins.
"Chips! I want chips! Let's go find some!"
"It's too early!" Rose protested.
"We'll find some!"
They got sidetracked by a department store. The Doctor quickly swerved the car -- Rose shrieked something he couldn't make out -- then jumped out and grabbed Rose's hand, pulling her into the shop.
- Not exactly sure why I sidetracked into clothes shopping. I think I started thinking about clothes washing and the fact he'd been in the same clothes the whole time and EW.
"Wow, shopping? Thrilling!" Rose commented, extremely amused. "This would be the Donna bits in you, wouldn't it?"
"Nah. Well, maybe. Dunno, really. But I need some extra clothes. And glasses. I really miss my glasses."
"You're actually going to wear something besides your suit?"
"Already went to blue, so the sky's the limit!"
"Really?"
"All right, no. But I need new shirts and ties. And, um...a couple of other things. I got dressed really fast."
- Heh. I can just picture Donna. "Oh my GOD. Put on some underpants, why don't you?" "You're watching me dress?" "NO."
Rose cleared her throat and quickly murmured, "I think Men's is this way."
They walked deeper into the shop. "Oh, hold on. You do have money, don't you?"
Rose grinned. "I should have figured. Started out as a cheap date, and now is draining my bank account. You wanted me for my money, didn't you?"
He grinned back. "Yup."
"Since I'm paying and all, I know you like to stick to a certain look, but any chance you could get a different coloured suit?"
Hmm. She had teased him about the blue back on the TARDIS. "I guess I could get something different. More fashion options that way. I'd have to make some modifications to the pockets again, but that wouldn't take long. Ooh, I could get another brown--"
"No," Rose interrupted.
He looked at her, startled.
"Just how about something new?" she quickly added, trying to keep her tone light but somewhat failing.
"Yeah. Sounds good," he said, also trying to match her light tone. And also somewhat failing.
Rose wandered over to a table a little ways away.
- Oh, Rose. She can try not thinking about it, but it'll just come out like this.
Why shouldn't he have another brown suit? He loved that suit. And he'd been in it just as much as the other him.
He frowned at the shirts in front of him, looking through them. He picked a few out, and then went to the ties. He heard Rose come up next to him, her hands going to another set of ties.
"Sorry. Seems like I'm apologising all the time now," she remarked. "We can get you a brown suit if you'd like. It's what you used to wear, after all."
She was in his head again. Not really, of course, but... "How about," he tried, putting a tie down on his growing pile of clothes, "we forget the new suit for now? Too much of a hassle converting it anyway when I've got better things to do."
"You know, you could wear an unconverted suit."
"Don't be daft. Where would I keep my ducks?" He bumped her shoulder.
"I don't know. They seem pretty happy in the bathroom."
"True, they do see the light of day now. Probably were going quackers before."
"Oh God," Rose groaned, trying to suppress a grin, and bumping his arm back.
"You know what I need now? Jim-jams! If I'm actually going to sleep, I'm going to need something to sleep in! Ooh!" He spotted a rack and dashed over, grabbing a yellow and white polka dot set. "What d'ya think?" he asked, holding it up.
- Okay, I threw this in here the day that some Hamlet rehearsal shots came out. In one of them DT's wearing a yellow and white polka dot shirt. It's...not good. That boy really needs someone to dress him.
"Erm..." Rose said with a nose-scrunch. "No. Just no." She picked up a solid t-shirt and flannel bottoms and handed them to him. "Much, much better."
"Really? Sort of plain."
"Trust me."
He did.
The boot loaded up with bags and the Doctor's new glasses in his pocket, the next stop was a chippy where they were the first customers of the day. Their portion of chips obtained, they strolled down the sidewalk dotted with other pedestrians.
Rose grabbed some chips out of the paper the Doctor was holding. "Not bad."
"Not bad at all. And none of that extra...stuff on it. Why anyone would ever want to cover up their chips is beyond me. Still, though, I miss the newspaper. There was something about that."
"That inky taste?" she teased.
"Yeah," he grinned. "Must be."
Clouds were in the sky, but overall it was a nice day. The sun peeked through here and there and leaves rustled in the early fall breeze. All-in-all, really quite--
"This feels weird," Rose stated.
The Doctor gave her a quizzical look.
"I mean, not you," she quickly added. "I just mean not working on the Cannon anymore. And not dealing with the end of the universe. It all became part of every-day life."
"A well-earned holiday," the Doctor commented, throwing a chip in his mouth.
"But it's not, is it? Everything's changed again."
"This is a tiny bit better than dealing with the end of the universe, isn't it?"
"Slightly," Rose said with a grin.
The Doctor held out the paper containing the lone last chip. Rose took it and he tossed the paper in a bin.
"It's just weird," she said again.
"Got that part - by weird you didn't mean me, you meant working on the Cannon and so on."
"But don't you think this is weird?"
- I find their mutual clumsiness when talking about their relationship sort of cute. Most the time. Two people who love each other deeply, but yet sometimes it's hard to say what they mean.
"Ah, not talking about 'working on the Cannon and so on.' In other words, me. On the strangeness scale, it's not at the top by a long shot. Take, for example, being put on trial by a potential future evil self that exists between incarnations."
Rose blinked and shook her head. "All right, that probably has this beat."
"Oh! Or combining forces with four of my past selves in order to defeat a man... Although, hold on, he wound up getting what he wanted in the end."
- References to "The Trial of a Time Lord" and "The Five Doctors." I like throwing in classic series references whenever it fits. :) Makes it seem like New Who is less in a vacuum that way.
"So, a 'no' on defeating him then."
"Well, it was very much a 'be careful what you wish for' thing."
"Hmm. Be careful what you wish for," Rose said absently. "Weird."
"What's weird?"
"Sorry. It's nothing."
"Or it's something?" the Doctor prompted.
"It's silly. Forget I said anything."
"Just tell me. If it's silly, I promise not to laugh," he offered. "You've said 'weird' one too many times, and it'll drive me bonkers for years if you don't tell me."
Rose's expression was thoughtful.
The Doctor gave her an encouraging smile.
She glanced away and took a breath. "Back before I came to this world, when I was still with you, sometimes I'd wished that the whole Bad Wolf thing had changed me. Made it so I couldn't die. So I could be with you forever."
The Doctor felt his blood go cold. He nearly stopped walking.
She continued. "And here you are... You changed."
- Bringing up that fannish wish that Rose would regenerate in order to stay with the Doctor forever. (I even did it myself in Inertia.) But RTD turned it upside down so that the Doctor was the one to change for Rose instead of Rose for the Doctor. And thinking about it, it does seem to fit better. After all, it was the Doctor's issues that really were the hangups in their relationship – Rose was in it 100% no matter what. Get rid of the Doctor's issues and you get rid of the hangups.
"Rose, I would never want that for you."
"Yeah, well, I never wanted this for you," she countered. "Stuck in some human life. 'Don't you dare make me domestic,' you said once."
- In Inertia, the Doctor's fairly horrified at Rose becoming Gallifreyan. And I think Rose would be pretty unsettled about the opposite as well. She doesn't want him to be this domesticated person. That'd just change who she fell in love with.
"Think I said 'this place,' not 'me.'"
"Close enough."
"And recalling that precise conversation... Heh." The Doctor smirked.
"What?"
He scratched at the back of his neck. "I sorta meant Mickey, and you traipsing your boyfriend through the place."
"Bad experience having a couple on board once?"
"Actually, no. I just didn't want to be reminded you had a boyfriend."
"What, you mean... Already way back then?" She looked genuinely surprised, but also sported a small smile.
"Well, you know. Yeah." He grinned at her, and she began to grin back. "Of course, you seemed to take that as some sort of signal to start dragging in random men," he added with a mock huff.
"Oi! There were only two! And I kinda did start dragging them in, didn't I?" Her tongue poked out of her grin. "Since we're confessing things and all, I sorta did it because I was falling for you and thought it was completely daft to be falling for you. What would some 900-year-old alien want with me?"
"Want you to not have boyfriends, is what."
Rose laughed.
He pulled Rose to a stop, his hand going to her cheek. "Oh, your laugh. Don't ever stop laughing, all right?"
- I'm still not quite sure if this works now. Originally this was going to be the first time that Rose laughed since JE, and so it was something the Doctor was making note of. But I decided Rose was allowed to laugh earlier. So this is now just a sort of random "I like your laugh" thing. :D
"I can stop sometimes though, yeah?" There was her tongue again.
"Here and there," he conceded.
"That's a relief."
His hand didn't seem to be moving. "Your laugh is the one thing...no, strike that. It's one of many things I missed."
"I missed you talking to me a mile-a-minute." She was staring at his lips, which had an intoxicating effect.
"Really?" he asked, those mile-a-minute words not coming at the moment.
"Really. One of many, many...many things too."
"Yeah?"
She stepped closer, closing the remaining gap between them. "Oh yeah." Her eyes were back to his - those amazing eyes. He leaned down and kissed her, softly at first but quickly it became more.
The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, pressing himself against her and pulling her to him. She did the same. The taste of Rose and chips on his tongue and her hand in his hair. No space between them and it still didn't feel close enough.
Was he hearing bells? Oh, her mobile was ringing.
"It'll go...voice mail," Rose said, her voice breathy between kisses.
The phone stopped and the Doctor had a moment of realising he was making out in public before deciding he did not care.
The phone rang again. Rose stopped this time, which was incredibly disappointing.
"It could be important."
"Well, you're a very important person," he teased without a hint of sarcasm.
She squeezed his side and reached for her phone.
"Rose, here. Yeah? No way."
The Doctor grinned and waved at a passer-by who was giving them a very odd look in their current pressed-together state, still clinging while Rose was talking on her mobile.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," she said and then hung up with a twinkle in her eye. "How do you feel about stopping an alien invasion?"
They ran.
- This section of the fic is about getting them to their new normal. They're still the Doctor and Rose and so there's still fun and adventure and being adrenaline junkies, but there are those extra perks now. :D
Hand-in-hand they sprinted back to the car. The next moment they were flying down the road in the convertible, both grinning like loons.
On rushing into the stark interior of Torchwood One, two people ran over to them.
"What have we got?" Rose asked, as they all strode down a long corridor.
"One hostile. Landed the craft near Pratts Bottom."
"One?" the Doctor interjected. "Ooh, that's a massive alien invasion right there. And hostile you say? Did he/she/it have a weapon?"
The two men gave him a suspicious look.
"It's all right. He's with me," Rose reassured them.
The Doctor wiggled his fingers at them. "Hello! Now about the hostile part of this?"
"There was lots of yelling," the shorter of the men said.
"What was he/she/it yelling?"
"Not sure. It was some foreign tongue."
The Doctor skidded to a halt. "Hold on. Yelling? Unidentified yelling?? That's the hostile part of it? And do you know if it's a he, she or it? Because that's getting exhausting to say."
"He. Maybe? Um...there was arm-waving too."
The Doctor rubbed his face and groaned.
"Where's he now?" Rose asked.
"Holding cell. Level 3."
"Right. Thanks. We'll go it alone," she said, walking over to the lift. The Doctor followed her into it, crossing his arms over his chest. "They're not bad guys. Just a bit...high strung," Rose explained.
"You people need a translator. A device, I mean. Why don't you have a translator? That technology shouldn't be beyond you."
"We've got something in the planning stages. But the funny thing about this Earth is it hasn't had very many aliens stop by. Most the stuff we deal with is of Earth origin. So it hasn't been a big priority here."
"Really? Hmm."
- My idea of their Torchwood is somewhere between Yvonne/Torchwood One and Jack/Torchwood Three. It's not quite the finely-honed organization we saw in Doomsday, but yet it's better organized than Jack's crew.
"Ahead in some things, behind in others, I guess." She mimicked his crossed arms. "So... I thought you were supposed to be all guns-blazing now."
The Doctor blinked. "Sorry?"
"Just what you said on the beach. The other you, I mean. About you. Oi, all the 'you's gets confusing."
"Oh, that. Rose, in all the time you've known me, even when we first met, have I ever been an idiot? No, no, don't answer that. But lone, unarmed, yelling, possibly male alien is hardly 'break out the nukes' time. He starts talking about having a craving for eating toes, then we'll...have a different discussion. Born in battle," the Doctor muttered. "How about 'born in the fire of the burning TARDIS?' Very phoenix-like, that. As well as a bit more flash than something like spectrox toxaemia."
"Spectra what?"
"Oops, story for another time," the Doctor said, nodding at the opening lift doors.
- This is something I felt the need to mention. Even if Ten II had actually
Also, spectrox toxaemia is what made Five regenerate.
As they approached the holding cell, Pete joined them from another direction. "Sorry for bringing you in here, but gotta say, we're not exactly used to stuff like this."
"So I hear. If you want my advice -- and even if you don't -- you need to push that translator to the top of your priority list."
"Already done."
"Better late than never, I suppose," the Doctor remarked dryly.
The Doctor moved forward, getting a better view through the thick, clear wall of the cell - probably lead acrylic or hyperglass. Eyes stared back at him and the Doctor snorted out a laugh.
"Congratulations, you've captured the universe's equivalent of a football hooligan."
Green twinge to his skin, the Hartalan was shorter and stockier than your average human, and completely hairless due to a non-mammal-like lineage.
The Hartalan spoke, naturally, Hartalanian. "Laugh it up, you hairy, brainless git!"
The Doctor spoke Haralanian back to him. "Hairy? Yes, and ruggedly so. But brainless? Nah, got one of those."
The Hartalan jumped up and rushed to the wall. "THANK YOU, TRA! Let me out of here! If that was a no-parking zone, I'll pay the fine or move it or whatever! You've no right to hold me!"
Pete jumped back at the movement, but Rose stood her ground next to the Doctor.
"Not exactly a no-parking zone as such. I'm the Doctor, and you are...?"
"Blah."
"Blah. Really? I mean, fine name. Good job by your parents. So, Blah, why are you here?"
Blah reached into his pocket and extracted a piece of paper that he plastered against the clear wall. The Doctor took out his new glasses and studied it.
"Ah," the Doctor said. "Well, here's your problem. You're on the wrong planet."
"Bugger me. Where am I?"
"Earth. Human-based and a bit on the skittish side. You're in the right galaxy but the wrong solar system. Opposite end, actually."
"I knew only 50 credits for a guidance system was too good to be true."
"Right," the Doctor spoke in English again. "Blah here is just trying to get to a music festival and accidentally wound up on the wrong planet. So mark him in the non-hostile category."
"Poor guy," Rose commented. "Can we give him a lift back to his ship? It'd be the decent thing to do."
"Yes, exactly! Don't want him to miss the opening act! Mind springing the fellow?" the Doctor asked Pete.
"You're sure."
"I'm sure. OH! Paper? Pen? I want to give him some directions. Go right, ahead three paces, turn left at the flashing neon cow... That sort of thing. Well, not literally, of course. It's not actually a cow."
Pete handed over some paper and a pen that the Doctor pocketed.
"You know..." Rose frowned. "We're gonna need a blanket. And a hat."
- Ah, Blah. Can't say I really had any inspiration from anything for him. I just wanted something simple for them to take care of without launching into a whole new plot.
Blah, bundled up and secured into the back seat of the convertible, peered at them from beneath a pink knitted cap. "Reminds me of being hazed."
"Gotta love ridiculous rituals," the Doctor replied, starting the car and racing off in the direction of Pratts Bottom.
"I wish I could talk to him," Rose said, glancing back and giving Blah a smile.
"Not much of a conversationalist, actually."
"Just tell him hello from me. Or something." She turned sideways in her seat.
"My friend here says to say hello," the Doctor told Blah, watching him through the mirror.
Blah looked at Rose. "She's not my usual type, but I'd give her a go. I've got an extra ticket to the festival, and she looks like she can party. Yeah, she can come with me if she wants. Especially if she can cook."
"Ooh, sorry. Horrible cook. Actually, she's not allowed to leave the country right now - attempted poisoning of this bloke. Well, I say attempted... They'll never prove a thing, though! Fingerprints are lousy evidence. And DNA. Who believes DNA these days?"
Blah stared at Rose.
"What'd he say?"
"Pretty much hello, and it's nice to meet you."
"Awww." She gave Blah a grin.
Blah shrank into the blanket.
- Is it weird I was amused at the Doctor being all, "dude, she's SCARY" to get Blah to back off? And going that route instead of "she's my woman."
They found the small craft hidden in a wooded area thanks to Blah's tracking device - the Doctor always meant to install one of those on the TARDIS but never seemed to get around to it. Maybe now.
He quickly scratched out directions on the paper and handed them to Blah with, "Sorry for the inconvenience. Next time spend the money on the guidance system. You could have wound up in the States and, well, dissection's never pleasant."
"Bye." Rose smiled and waved to Blah.
Blah blinked and sprinted onto his ship.
"His way of saying goodbye," the Doctor commented.
"Ah."
"Probably should..." he pointed to the car.
"It's so my turn to drive." They hopped in and sped away from the space ship's starting engines.
"You know, it's funny," Rose said as the Doctor watched the craft shooting upwards. "I've never heard you speak another language before. The TARDIS always translated."
"Five billion languages and fortunately Hartalanian is one of them."
She smiled at him. "Guess this is just a day of firsts, isn't it?"
"Guess so." He grinned.
Her mobile rang again.
"I thought you were supposed to be on holiday," the Doctor grumbled.
"Could you get that? I don't have my earpiece with me."
"What??" the Doctor asked, completely alarmed.
"My very non-Cyberman earpiece."
"Your very non-Cyberman earpiece you'll be letting me look at before you ever use it again, right?"
"That's the one."
The Doctor answered the mobile. "Hello?"
"Please tell me you've eaten today."
The Doctor held the phone out away from him. "It's Jackie."
*
Rose juggled bags as she unlocked the door to the guest house. The Doctor shifted the bags in his own hands.
- Still the one to let them into the guest house.
"You know, Mum would be impressed."
"As she should be. I am the king of shopping! Hmm. On second thought, let's keep that one to ourselves, all right?"
"Just as well. If she were here she'd make you model everything. Everything."
"No. No, no, no. No."
"Might even take you with her next time out."
The Doctor shuddered. "Now that's just cruel. Besides, I think I've got enough clothes now." He dropped the bags by the counter and glanced into the lounge. "You know what we need? A DVD player. Or maybe they're beyond DVD players here already. But we definitely need movie night again. Ooh, please tell me they have Disney in this world."
- They probably don't. Or if they do, Disney probably does horror films. :D
Rose was staring into the bag of take-out -- the chicken they swore to Jackie they'd not only get, but eat tonight -- but wasn't touching it.
"Parallel Earth to Rose..."
She turned her attention to the bags of clothes, a smile spreading on her lips. "This just reminds me of something. Something from ages ago."
"Uh, movie night?"
"No."
"Eating together?"
"No, not that."
He followed her gaze to the bags on the floor. "What, the clothes?"
"Signing up."
The Doctor blinked in confusion and Rose retrieved something from a drawer. She walked into the lounge.
"C'mere a minute," Rose instructed.
The Doctor scratched his head and did so.
Rose grinned and held out her hand. In it was a key. "Tell you what. Guest house key. About time you had one.
The key. The clothes. Rose's words came back to him, the ones she'd said when they'd barely known each other yet when she'd handed him a big bag of clothes... Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me. Ha!
- And finally we get to the title.
The Doctor slowly grinned. In one swift move grabbed the key and pounced. Rose, that was. The key went in his pocket.
With a new centre of gravity, they lost balance and tumbled onto the sofa, him with an 'oof' and Rose with a giggle.
He grinned. "Whoops. I tripped."
"You have the best lines, you know that, yeah?"
"Well..."
Rose kissed him. Whatever he was going to say went completely away. He circled his arms around her and she threw her arm around his neck. The other hand found its way underneath his jacket. He half-registered that as worthy of further thought, but was much more interested in her lips--
She pulled back. NO!
"So. When you said you dressed quickly...what exactly don't you have on?" Rose bit her lip.
There was only one response to that.
"Mrrff."
She smirked. "Such a smooth talker."
The Doctor cleared his throat, twice, wondering why his brain had chosen now to stop forming words.
"I suppose if you're not gonna tell me, I might have to find out some other way." Her fingers brushed against his jaw-line, desire in her eyes.
He smiled and made some sort of noise, which he really hoped sounded affirmative. He was absolutely, positively in agreement with every last aspect of this line of discussion.
"Hmm. Completely speechless. This could be serious. Maybe we should eat something. And we don't want it to get cold, after all." Rose looked at him innocently.
That jump-started his tongue. "Oh, completely full! Couldn't possibly eat another bite from five hours ago! In fact..." he jumped up and quickly threw the take-out bag in the fridge. "...all ready cold. Aww, too late. Shame, really."
"All right," she said with a giant grin. "What about the bags of clothes by your feet? Probably should put those away first. Someone could trip."
The Doctor scooped them up and flung them through the open door of her bedroom. "Sorted!"
She joined him at the doorway. Her hand moved up and a finger traced the seam of his shirt. "Too bad you're not wearing a tie."
"Huh? Whatever! I can go get one--!"
"Forget it," she interrupted. "I'll make do." Her lips were on his as she grabbed his lapels and pulled him into the bedroom.
- And we fade to black. If you know me, you know I simply can't write sex scenes. They come out sounding completely ridiculous and so I don't even try anymore. And since it's obvious that they're not going in there to play Canasta, I wasn't too worried about the lack of it. And while it might seem like the fic's been building to it, I like to think of the actual climax (pardon) as being the moment Rose feels comfortable enough to say she loves him.
*
The Doctor woke up, aware of senses other than sight. The sound of Rose breathing softly against his chest, and rain outside the window. The smell of her completely surrounding him. His mind able to find her presence. The feel of her skin against his, soft and warm. Taste...well, that was morning breath as much as he'd like it to be Rose.
- Had to throw in another Time Lord sense over the 5 human ones.
He opened his eyes to messy blonde hair.
It might have been cheesy to say -- or to even think -- but he couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. This all-encompassing, perfectly content, down-to-his-toes happy.
Maybe cheesy was good.
He took in his surroundings. First time in her bedroom, and he wasn't exactly paying attention to it last night. There weren't very many personal touches, just like the rest of her place. Maybe she never expected to stay that long. Or maybe it was just because she had no past in this world.
The Doctor did a double-take at a picture stuck in the corner of her dresser mirror: the TARDIS! Then he realised it wasn't the TARDIS, but simply some old photo of an actual police box. He decided right then he'd try to coax the new TARDIS into a police box form again. Why mess with perfection?
The only other picture was of Rose holding Tony, mountains in the background. Switzerland, maybe? He was glad she'd gotten away at least once. And that maybe she'd had some fun since she'd been here.
He picked up a book on the nightstand and grinned. Introduction to Physics. Oh, brilliant! Rose was teaching herself physics! Positively brilliant! Stupendously brilliant!
He kissed the top of her head.
- Hee. I think the Doctor would be thrilled to find out Rose has been studying stuff like this for the Dimension Cannon. Intelligence is a huge turnon for him. Like this:
She murmured and stirred, swallowed a couple of times, and shifted. She peered at him with half-closed eyes, her hair sticking in every direction.
"You are so beautiful, it hurts," he said. "Yes, yes, I know that's cheesy, but this morning I've decided that cheesy is good."
Rose's lips quirked into a sleepy smile. "You're not bad yourself," she said after clearing her throat.
"Ah, cheesy for cheesy, bordering on a cliche! Upping the stakes! Let's see. Hmm. Ooh! 'How you doin'?'"
"Well, that's just dumb." Rose grinned, becoming more awake by the second.
He gave her a pout.
"Morning," she said.
He smiled. "Morning."
"So how are you liking the whole sleeping thing?"
"If it happens after what we did last night, I am all for sleeping. Hooray for sleep! I might even make a flag I can wave! Or...ooh, write a song about it! Or...both!"
Rose smirked. "You do realise that sometimes you'll have to sleep without doing that first, yeah?"
"Not interested."
As she smiled at him, he felt her chuckle more than heard her.
Yup. Down-to-his-toes happy. "Rose?" he said. "I love you."
A sudden flicker across her eyes and her smile faded, which had the immediate effect of clenching at his heart.
"What? Rose, what?"
Her gaze dropped, as if she couldn't look him in the eyes.
"Please please talk to me."
"He's still..." was all she could get out.
Oh.
He sighed softly and pulled her closer. If he lived to be 100 in this body, he'd still never know what he did to deserve Rose caring so much about his happiness, wherever he was.
She also sighed. "I'm sorry."
"No. You don't have to be sorry."
"It's strange. It feels a bit like I'm cheating on you with you," Rose admitted.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. "I don't expect you to stop thinking about him. Ever."
"But...?" she prompted.
"No 'buts.' You wouldn't be you if you didn't care."
She seemed slightly sceptical. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
Rose looked positively relieved, and it was then that the Doctor realised how much guilt had been on her mind since they'd gotten here. And while he couldn't erase that guilt, bottling it up would eat away at her.
- My idea is that there really will always be a part of Rose that hurts for the other Doctor. But as long as she doesn't have to feel guilty about it and knows it's okay to think about him sometimes, I think she'll be able to deal with it.
"If you ever want to talk about it," he quickly added, "just do it. Fifty years from now, I'll still be willing to listen. And if you don't want to talk to me, talk to someone. Anyone. Your Mum."
Rose shook out of her melancholy and became slightly amused. "All this talking about things. Donna really did a number on you, didn't she?"
The Doctor smirked. "I guess she did. But seriously, Rose..."
She kissed him on the cheek and lingered. "Thank you." She put her head back down, letting her fingers run over his chest. "Fifty years from now. I like that."
"Me too."
"You don't have to worry, you know. I know it's you. Really you. Not just someone who looks like you." She looked back up at him. "And I love you. I do. So much."
It was his turn to feel relieved. He kissed her head again.
- In my mind they'll have ups and downs, but they'll wade through whatever because they're them.
She smirked. "My problem is I had to go and fall in love with the Doctor. You know what a pain you are? It means loving you no matter what you look like, or have or don't have. Even if you'd regenerated. Although, I've gotta say," she said, propping herself up, "I'd miss this hair. Really, really miss it." She ran her fingers through it.
He closed his eyes with a "Mmmm." Right at this moment she could have asked him to do anything -- anything -- and he would have done it. "My hair would have missed you too."
Rose giggled. "Goof."
Rose repositioned herself. It was simply no longer enough contact, so he repositioned himself as well. The rain continued to fall outside, which made it seem doubly comfortable under the blankets.
"So..." Rose said after a few minutes.
"The answer is, 'yes, it's completely possible to live the rest of our lives right in this spot.'"
More giggling.
"Just put a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door outside and we're set."
"Ah, but one of us would have to get out of bed to put the sign on the door," Rose replied.
"Always knew you were smart."
She tapped against his shoulder. "This sounds sort of like a dumb question, but...what exactly are you going to do?"
"Hold on, I'm currently formulating a pulley system that will take care of the sign thing."
She gave him a light swat. "I mean about, you know, life. Work? A job?"
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, that. I hate to have to say it, but you're gonna have to do something. There's always Torchwood."
"I was thinking about trying my hand at an office job, something at a desk, loads of paperwork, chatting at the water cooler on coffee breaks..."
"You're not serious."
He wrinkled his nose at her. "Me at a desk job? Pffft. Actually, I had this idea about travelling about in space and time."
Rose stared at him.
The Doctor blinked at her reaction. "You...you would come with me, right?" Had she gone white-picket-fence domestic on him in the last couple of years?
She frowned. "Are you having some sort of regeneration sickness after all? Doctor, the TARDIS is gone. Remember?"
He wiggled his eyebrows at her, then got out of bed, quickly finding and dressing in new t-shirt and pyjama bottoms. She did the same, the confused look not leaving her face. She followed him out into the kitchen where he stopped and opened the microwave.
Rose stared. "There's a rock in the microwave. Doctor, what's a rock doing in the microwave?"
"Having its particles excited every 24 hours. Defrost setting." The Doctor grinned and tapped his head. "I wish you could feel it. Up here."
- The thought of the Doctor microwaving the TARDIS to grow it was just too good to pass up. :D
"Oh my God, you've lost it, haven't you?"
"Rose, you asked me once if I could build a new TARDIS and I said I couldn't, because TARDISes aren't built, they're grown. Well... Say hello to a new, very much growing, TARDIS."
Her mouth dropped. She stared at him. Then at the coral. Then back at him. Finally back at the coral.
"Seriously? That's going to be a TARDIS? Really?"
"Yup! It's going to be our TARDIS."
"That's...that's...!" He was pretty sure her excitement was mirroring his own at the moment.
"Amazing? Brilliant? Stupendous? Dare I say 'fantastic' even?"
"YES! How long's it gonna take?"
"Would you believe nine months?"
"No way!"
"Way!"
"And we're really going to travel again?"
"We're really going to travel again."
Rose flung her arms around his neck, laughing. "This takes care of all birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of my life!"
He grinned from ear to ear. "Good, because that desk job for some money is really, really out."
- Another mental picture of this from New Earth and "Traveling with you, I love it!" "Me too!" I'm so glad there's a deleted scene of Ten II getting the TARDIS coral from JE. Like the other Doctor said, the Doctor and Rose in the TARDIS. As it should be. Oh, I think they could have managed without it, but I love that they'll be able to live the life they both love.
She hopped out of his arms. "So nine months, eh? What are we going to do until then?"
"Ooh, I've got the perfect idea!"
"Yeah?"
"Oh, yes!" he said, excitement building in his voice. "It involves something in the bedroom!"
Rose's eyebrows went up. "For nine months?"
"Although considering I'm involved, I'd say it'd take about half that time."
"Hold on... What?"
He grabbed her around the waist, steering her back towards the bedroom. "Rose Tyler, I'm going to teach you physics!"
She tackled him.
- "Ooh, talk physics to me, baby!" :D