Adventuring (5/5)
Title - Adventuring (5/5)
Author - earlgreytea68
Rating - Teen
Characters - Ten, Rose, Jack, Jackie, OCs
Spoilers - Through S2
Disclaimer - I don't own them and I don't make money off of them, but I don't like to dwell on that, so let's move on. (Except for the kids, they're all mine.)
Summary - The Doctor and Rose take a mini-break.
Author's Notes - Thank you to jlrpuck, now the proud lessor of a new apartment. Thanks also to Kristin for all the help.
CORRECTION: Wrote a fic last night. Phew.
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
“What are you thinking?”
Rose opened her eyes, squinting at the Doctor, who had just walked onto the balcony, where she was basking in the sun. “I’m thinking that I didn’t think you actually could resonate concrete.”
He looked hurt, as he sat down opposite her. “Of course you can. What are you talking about?”
“Well, now I know that, but I really thought you’d made the whole thing up. I can’t believe you actually broke us out of prison by resonating the concrete.”
“Technically, it’s not really concrete, but that’s beside the point.”
“What’s the point?”
“I cannot believe you doubted me! Of course I had an escape plan! I always have an escape plan!”
“Liar,” she said, fondly, and then deposited her feet in his lap. “Rub them, would you? They’re all sore because you made me wear heels and so I was really barefoot most of the night while you had me breaking out of prisons.”
“I’m terrible to you,” he remarked, thumbs working at the soles of her feet.
“Mmm,” she agreed, closing her eyes. “When do we have to leave?”
He was silent for a second. “Soon,” he admitted. And then, hastily, “Unless you don’t want to, unless-”
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I’m fine.”
He looked back at her, still absently kneading her feet. “Are you, though?”
They held each other’s gazes, for a long moment, before she got up and moved to sit on his lap and press her face against him. They breathed together. “What would you think about my getting my A-levels?”
“Doing what?” he asked, vaguely, and she got the impression he didn’t grasp the concept.
She lifted her head, to look down at him. “Getting my A-levels. Going back to school, so to speak.”
He looked back up at her, then broke into a wide smile. “I think it’s a fantastic idea.”
The reception heartened her a bit. She smiled tentatively. “Yeah?”
“Yes. Do you want to do it?”
“I was thinking about it, last night, while you were resonating the concrete. I was thinking I…Maybe I’ve always been a bit upset with myself for not getting them. A little ashamed, really.”
“Well. You shouldn’t be ashamed. Look at the things you’ve done, Rose Tyler. However. If it’s what you want, then you should get it.”
“I don’t know. I’m a bit old, don’t you think?”
He snorted. “You’re a babe in arms. I’m robbing the cradle.”
“You have a different perspective on that.”
“Rose.” He cupped his hands around her face. “You looked into the heart of the TARDIS to get back to me. You never let anything get in the way of something you want.”
“I forgot who I am,” she whispered, then cleared her throat to speak more loudly. “That was the problem. It wasn’t anything you did, or didn’t do. It didn’t have to do with the kids, or with us. It was just…I forgot who I was. I thought I was this boring woman who’d achieved nothing and done nothing and existed just for all of you.”
“You’re not,” he said.
“I know. I just forgot. But you reminded me.”
“That’s my job.”
“A little saving the universe, a little saving of Rose Tyler-all in a day’s work.”
“Ah, but you are my universe.”
She smiled and snuggled against him.
He kissed the top of her head. “We’ll look into the A-level thing, yeah? When we get to your mum’s.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “Let’s go see the kids.”
“Let’s.”
They stood, gathering their multi-dimensional luggage and leaving the room hand-in-hand, heading toward where they’d parked the TARDIS just outside the hotel.
“Do you have to check out?” she asked him, bumping her shoulder against his as they entered the lobby.
“Yes. Give me a second.” The Doctor walked over to the desk, with the key to the room, to hand it in and maybe scribble his signature on the bill they were going to give him.
The blue woman behind the desk looked from him to Rose and back again.
“Checking out,” the Doctor said, cheerfully. “Here’s our key.”
The blue woman peered at him. “Wait here just a moment, sir.”
The Doctor tipped his head in confusion. “What for?”
“The police force is looking for two prisoners who stole a gondola last night and invaded the palace. No one’s allowed to leave until they answer a few questions.”
“Ah. Right. Absolutely.” The Doctor turned to Rose. “Rose?” he said. “Run.”
********
When Jackie woke, the girls were raptly watching the telly, surrounded by their dolls, who, they informed their grandmother, were also very interested in what they were watching. Which turned out to be a DVD of an old Cary Grant film, and Jackie wondered if the Doctor was a Cary Grant fan who had hooked his children or if Rose had discovered Cary Grant at some point in the last few years, since Jackie could not recall Rose ever watching a Cary Grant movie before.
Jackie made some tea and pancakes for the girls, and by the time they’d finished eating the pancakes, they were a bit whiney and kept asking when Mum and Dad were coming back. Jackie realized now that she’d never really asked the Doctor and Rose when they intended on returning, but she assumed it would be at some point in the afternoon. To distract the girls, she instructed them to take showers, and that suddenly turned into them bathing every single water-proof doll they had brought. While they were busy with that, Jackie called Jack.
“And how’s Brem?” she asked, when Jack answered his mobile.
“He’s great,” Jack assured her.
“Are you bringin’ him back?”
“We’re on our way now. Got a bit of a late start, though, so we’ve just left. We’ll be a while.”
“Fine,” Jackie replied. “See you soon.” She hung up her mobile, considered ringing Rose to see when she would be back, then decided against it. Instead, she went to check on the girls. They had managed to get water everywhere and seemed bewildered when she had to mop it up herself.
“Doesn’t your floor absorb the water?” Athena asked, quizzically.
“No, it’s a normal floor,” Jackie answered, exasperated. “It isn’t magic.”
“It’s not magic, it’s science,” Fortuna informed her, solemnly.
“When’s Brem coming back?” asked Athena.
“Soon,” said Jackie, distracted, wringing out her mop.
And then the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materializing met their ears. The girls gasped in unison.
“That’s Mum and Dad!” exclaimed Fortuna, and they both went flying out of the bathroom.
Jackie trailed behind them. They were waiting patiently for the TARDIS to blink fully into being, and then the door opened and Rose stepped out of it, immediately finding herself engulfed by the two little girls.
“Oh, hello!” she said, returning their hugs and sitting down on the floor because it seemed easier. “I missed you terribly.” She kissed and snuggled them both in turn.
“We missed you,” Athena told her.
“We washed all the dolls,” said Fortuna.
“And we watched His Girl Friday.”
“Did you?” asked the Doctor, stepping carefully around the pile of bodies on the floor that was his family. “Did you like it?”
Athena nodded. “It had interesting things to say about career women.”
Jackie blinked at Athena in surprise but neither Rose nor the Doctor seemed to think that was an unusual thing for a six-year-old to say. Rose just cuddled her again. The Doctor, blinking around the lounge, said, “Where’s Brem?”
Rose glanced around as well, before looking quizzically at her mother.
“He went with Jack,” explained Athena.
“Jack?” echoed Rose, still looking at Jackie. “Why?”
“He made a fireball,” continued Athena.
Rose looked at her then. “He made a what?”
“It was just a tiny fireball,” contributed Fortuna.
“Grandma overreacted a little bit and called Jack.”
Rose looked at her mother. “Was he being difficult? You should have rung me-”
“It was nothing. Jack was happy to take him, and I think Brem was excited to go. They’re on their way back now. Could you do with a cuppa?”
“I’d love one,” said Rose, over Fortuna saying, “Grandma wouldn’t let us dye our hair.”
“Me, too,” said the Doctor, languidly, leaning against the TARDIS with arms crossed as he watched the girls with Rose.
“D’you think this is a restaurant?” she asked him. “Come an’ help.”
He sighed heavily, as if this were an enormous imposition on him, but followed her into the kitchen. She was filling the kettle, and he moved automatically to retrieve mugs from the second cupboard on the left where they were kept.
“She seems better,” Jackie said, abruptly. “Is she better?”
The Doctor frowned at the mugs. “How long have you known she wasn’t well, and why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know until she rang me,” Jackie replied, defensively.
He said nothing, setting the mugs down on the counter. Jackie watched him for a moment.
“Well, she seems better,” said Jackie, again.
“I think she is better.” He turned, leaning against the counter and folding his arms and looking out toward the lounge. They could hear Fortuna and Athena talking over each other as they told Rose something. Jackie pulled tea out. “I’m sorry.”
Jackie looked up at him, surprised. “What?”
He was looking at her, which she hadn’t really expected. “I’m sorry. That I didn’t notice. That she was unhappy.”
“I’m not angry with you,” said Jackie, genuinely confused. How her daughter had chosen for herself such a puzzling man-no, alien-was completely beyond her.
“I really think you ought to be. I think I promised you I’d make her happy.”
“First off, I don’t remember you promising me that. You promised you’d keep her safe, which is a very different thing and another issue entirely. And, anyway, you do make her happy. If you didn’t, I’d never let you in this flat.” Jackie set about searching through the cupboards for biscuits she could serve with the tea. “Honestly, the two of you are both so hard on yourselves. You’ve got three kids, and you’re tired.” Jackie pulled down the package of biscuits and arranged them on a plate. “And don’t give me any rubbish about how you don’t need sleep, all that means is that for several hours every day you’re entirely on your own, so, when it comes right down to it, you’re probably more exhausted than Rose, and instead you’re in here kicking yourself because you needed a weekend off. Everybody needs a weekend off, even Time Lords.” Jackie placed the sugar bowl out on the kitchen counter and was startled when the Doctor suddenly pulled her into a hug. She even uttered a squeak of surprise and tried to remember if he’d ever hugged her before. It occurred to her, all of a sudden, that even 900-year-old aliens sometimes just needed the wisdom of a mother.
“Thank you,” he said, warmly.
The kettle clicked.
“I think the water’s done,” she said, awkwardly, and he released her from the hug. She turned to pour the water into the mugs, and then turned back to him, handing him his tea and saying, hurriedly, “You’re welcome. Have a chocolate biscuit.”
********
When Brem and Jack arrived, they found the rest of the family crowded around Jackie’s kitchen table, finishing up their tea. Brem hugged his mother fiercely, and then turned to his father eagerly. “Dad. I have had such an adventure.”
“My, look! Chocolate biscuits!” exclaimed Jack. “Here, kid, have a few.” He thrust a large pile into Brem’s hands.
Brem impatiently put them back on the table. “No, seriously, a huge adventure.”
“Really?” The Doctor gave Brem his full attention. “An adventure doing what?”
“So how was your weekend?” inserted Jack, jovially. “Did you have fun?”
Brem frowned at him, clearly disappointed that he was determined to interrupt his story.
“We had a great time,” answered Rose, beaming, and the Doctor smiled, pleased that she looked so happy again.
“How was the hotel?” Jack continued.
“It was nice-” the Doctor began.
“Oh, it was fine, but we didn’t actually sleep there,” Rose interjected, tongue caught between her teeth in delight as she related the story. “We spent the night in a prison cell.”
“You what?” exclaimed Jackie, looking between them.
“Dad,” grumbled Brem. “You’re trumping my adventure.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t that exciting,” the Doctor assured him.
“Did you resonate concrete?” asked Jack, looking deeply amused.
“Literally and figuratively,” said Rose.
“Well, then,” commented Jack.
“Honestly, that really doesn’t work as a euphemism, like, at all,” complained the Doctor. “I wish you’d stop using it that way.”
Rose grinned at him the sort of grin that made him wish he’d stolen the time to resonate concrete one last time before taking them back home.
“A euphemism,” repeated Brem, narrowing his eyes at his father in condemnation.
“Don’t worry, no more girls, I promise you,” the Doctor assured him. “Tell me about your adventure.”
“I was made an honorary Friddlemeister,” proclaimed Brem, proudly.
“What, of Feroy?” said the Doctor. “Did you run into Feroyans?”
Brem nodded. “Baby Feroyans.”
“Tiny little bales of hay?” the Doctor asked him.
Brem nodded again.
“Bales of hay?” said Rose.
“Yes,” answered Brem. “They’d gotten separated from their parents, and I helped them get back. Jack was going to kill them.”
The Doctor looked hard at Jack. “Jack,” he said, sternly.
“I wasn’t going to-”
“You had guns!” Brem accused.
“Guns?” The Doctor lifted his eyebrows. “You had guns? Near my child? You and your incompetent team? It’s a miracle you didn’t regenerate him.”
“Doctor-” Jack began.
“Not right now,” the Doctor cut him off, with the sort of brittle tone that brooked no arguments.
“The Doctor’s right,” said Rose. “We can settle the gun question later. For now…gifts for everyone on the TARDIS.”
The kids immediately went running out of the kitchen.
“Wait a moment,” Rose called to them, standing up and following after them.
Jackie fixed Jack with a disapproving glare. “I didn’t know you would have guns around him, when I let you take him,” she sniffed, before also leaving the kitchen.
“Doctor-” Jack began.
“We’re never going to settle the gun question, and I don’t want to have the argument again.” The Doctor stood up, prepared to follow his family into the TARDIS. “But. Never again near any of my children. Never.”
“He was supposed to be in the car,” Jack protested.
“He didn’t listen? I find that shocking, Brem’s usually so well-behaved, never displays the least bit of inquisitive curiosity about anything.”
Jack was silent for a second. “Point taken.”
“I will not have them…” The Doctor took a deep breath and swiped his hands through his hair. “It’s dangerous enough, out there. I will not have you add extra danger, Jack. I won’t.”
“I’d never hurt them,” Jack told him, firmly.
The Doctor looked at him for a second. “That isn’t how it works, Jack. You know that. That isn’t how it works.”
“I’m sorry,” said Jack, enunciating the words slowly and clearly.
The Doctor nodded once.
“You would have been proud of him, for what it’s worth. You would have been…You would have been extremely proud.”
“Oh, Jack.” One side of the Doctor’s mouth tipped up in a smile. “Of course I would have been. I am always proud of him.”
********
The Doctor left the girls preoccupied with another Cary Grant film-and didn’t his children have excellent taste? He was proud of himself-and found Brem in his bedroom, listening to New Order and scribbling away in his journal. “So.” The Doctor settled on the bed next to Brem, putting a plate of chocolates between them. “Tell me about your Feroyan adventure.”
Brem looked at him in delight. “Really? You want to hear it?”
The Doctor propped himself up on his elbow. “Of course I want to hear it.”
“I thought maybe your adventure was better.”
“With Mum? Nah, it was silly.” He leaned his head closer to Brem, whispering, conspiratorially, “I stole a boat.”
“A boat?” Brem wrinkled his nose. “What’d you want with a boat?”
“I dunno, it seemed like a good idea at the time. So. The Feroyans. Tell me.”
Brem rolled onto his back, munching enthusiastically on chocolate, and told the story from the very beginning. “Jack was driving so fast, Dad. He passed fifty-seven cars. I counted.”
“I’m going to add reckless driving to his list of offenses,” commented the Doctor, swiping his own piece of chocolate.
“The Torchwood people had no idea what kind of aliens they were.”
“Wellllllll, that’s not surprising, is it?”
“No, I know, that’s what I thought. So then we get to the place, and it’s this barn, and Jack told me to promise to stay in the car, only then I saw the bales of hay moving, and who knew what Torchwood was up to, they probably thought the cows were the aliens or something. So I got out of the car to investigate, and it turned out they were kids, and they were terrified, and Jack was going to shoot them, only I wouldn’t let him. And then we found their parents and the ship and everyone was so happy that they made me an honorary Friddlemeister.”
“Well, then we’re going to have to go to Feroy, aren’t we?”
Brem lit up. “Really?”
“Of course. We’ve got an honorary Friddlemeister among us, that doesn’t happen every day.”
Brem, looking pleased, ate another piece of chocolate.
The Doctor watched him. “You should have listened to Jack, you know.”
“But, Dad,” protested Brem, “I-”
“No, I know. As a responsible father, I’m supposed to tell you that you should have listened to Jack, you should have stayed in the car.”
Brem huffed. “You wouldn’t have stayed in the car.”
“I know,” the Doctor admitted. “It occurs to me that, if I’ve taught you anything about the universe, it’s that we don’t follow rules when following them means that an innocent creature will get killed. So.” He took a deep breath. “You did absolutely the right thing in disobeying Jack. Absolutely. Thank you for saving the Feroyans in my stead.”
Brem smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”
“Yeah. But, Brem, please be careful. Please. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you, I really don’t.”
“I’ll be careful,” Brem promised. “Are you careful?”
The Doctor looked over at him. Brem’s eyes were very solemn and very deep, and the Doctor was aware this was an extremely important question. “Always,” he promised him, truthfully. “More careful now than I ever have been in 900 years.”
“Why?” Brem looked genuinely confused by that revelation.
“Because now I have you, and the girls, and your mother.”
That seemed to satisfy Brem. He nodded. “Good. Then we’ll be careful together.”
“Yes,” the Doctor agreed. “I think I’m going to go watch movies with your sisters. Want to come along?”
Brem indicated his journal. “Maybe when I’m done.”
The Doctor nodded, picked himself up off the bed, and went back to the library. The film was still on, but Rose was seated on the couch between the two girls, papers in her lap.
“You’re awake,” remarked the Doctor, surprised.
“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. Wanted to read the A-level materials.”
The Doctor smiled at her, as he walked into the room. “You’re excited.”
She grinned, lighting up her face in a way the Doctor realized he’d been missing without even knowing it. “I am.”
“Good. Move over,” he said to Fortuna, lifting her up entirely, and she giggled as he settled her on her lap. “Happy?” he asked Rose.
She looked up at him. “Yes,” she answered, and smiled and gave him a quick, affectionate kiss before snuggling against him, still reading up on her A-levels, and the Doctor thought how he would change not a single thing about his life.
And, even better, Rose felt the same way.