Five Times the Doctor and Rose Tried Role-Playing, and One Time It Worked (1/2)
Title - Five Times the Doctor and Rose Tried Role-Playing, and One Time It Worked (1/2)
Author - earlgreytea68
Rating - Teen
Characters - Ten, Rose, Sarah Jane, Jack
Spoilers - None, except vaguely for the Chaosverse, I guess.
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.
Summary - Preeeeeeetty much what it says on the tin.
Author's Note - Thanks to chicklet73 for the beta! She claims it brightened her day, which makes me even happier!
This story started out as a Serious Sarah-Jane-and-Rose-Chat fic. Then the characters had other ideas.
The icon was created by swankkat , commissioned by jlrpuck for my birthday.
1
“I’m glad he had you,” said Rose, abruptly, over a bright blue tropical drink, and Sarah Jane looked at her.
“Well.” She considered. “He didn’t have me like that.”
Rose shook her head a bit, fiddling with her drink, swiping up some of the sugar that lined the rim with one finger. “No,” she said. “I know. I didn’t mean…” She licked the sugar off her finger and then looked very seriously at Sarah Jane. “I mean this,” she said, earnestly. “You had no reason to…I mean, after everything that happened…”
“Everything that happened where?” asked Sarah Jane, gently. “A man I loved once, who I hadn’t seen in years, fell in love with someone else. A girl who loved him back. That’s all that happened. I never held it against you. Oh, Rose. Did you think I did? I didn’t want you to think that.”
“No, I didn’t…I didn’t think you held it against me…”
“Did you think I held it against him?” asked Sarah Jane, dryly.
“Well…” Rose hesitated, then came out with it. “He’s obnoxious, right? I mean, he can be. I don’t really know what happened between you - and it’s none of my business to know - but I’m sure he handled it poorly because he’s rubbish at relationships. And then, even after I met you and realized…I wasn’t friendly. We weren’t friendly. To you. And I-”
“Rose, you were a very young girl,” Sarah Jane interrupted, “and you were in a relationship with a man who, as you say, is rubbish at them. I understand why you didn’t ring me to go for cosmos together, I do.”
“Still,” said Rose, into Sarah Jane’s pause. She took a sip of her bright blue drink and looked around them. The hotel bar was crowded, and Rose honestly wasn’t sure how she and Sarah Jane had ended up here alone. She had spotted Sarah Jane, and had thought it had seemed like a good time to thank her, and now they were sharing what felt to Rose like an awkward drink. She wondered briefly where everyone else was, if she should excuse herself to go check on her children. Or the Doctor, which was sometimes - often - the same thing.
“He’s better than he was,” remarked Sarah Jane.
Rose looked at her.
“At relationships,” Sarah Jane clarified. “He was rubbish at them, it’s true. But he’s much better at them, now.”
“Lots of difficult training,” said Rose, and then, “You knew him before. Before he…lost everything. I can’t imagine what he was like then. But now, it’s not so much that he’s better at relationships but that he, well, needs them more. He’d never admit that, but I think it’s true.”
“I think you don’t give yourself enough credit. He’s changed, yes. But you’re you. I don’t think anyone else would have had children with that man. I don’t think he would have let anyone else get close enough to make that a possibility.”
Rose, feeling both pleased and self-conscious, sipped her drink. “That was kind of an accident,” she admitted. “The kids.”
“Really? He never really talked about it. He just showed up one day with two small children and this look on his face like…I could never have refused him help, Rose. I thought he might collapse to pieces in front of me. You seem to think I had some sort of choice in the matter, but the truth is, you have to help someone who looks the way he looked. You’d help your worst enemy if he looked like that.”
Rose looked into her drink and told herself not to cry over the idea of her Doctor looking that devastated, being that devastated. “Well,” she said, forcing cheerfulness into her voice, “thank you anyway. Really, seriously, honestly, thank you.”
Sarah Jane smiled. “It was nothing, Rose, really. Got a freshly painted house out of the deal!”
Rose smiled back. “Good.”
There was a moment of silence.
“He’s a good father,” Sarah Jane said, suddenly. “I’m not sure I would have predicted that. I mean, not that I would have thought he’d be bad at it, but…”
“I’ll confess it surprised me, too,” remarked Rose.
“Really?”
“I was terrified, having a baby with an alien. I tried to pretend that I wasn’t, especially because my mum already thought I was completely mad, but I…I got so very lucky.”
“We need to keep in touch more,” Sarah Jane said.
“Go out for cosmos?” asked Rose, with a small grin.
“If you like. Or anything.”
“I’d like that,” said Rose, truthfully. She had few real friends, even fewer who knew the entire truth about her and the Doctor. And she genuinely liked Sarah Jane.
“Be back in a tic,” said Sarah Jane, grabbing her purse and sliding off the bar’s high seat.
Rose nodded acknowledgment, and sat at the bar and sipped her drink. Someone slid into Sarah Jane’s vacant seat, and Rose turned to tell them it was occupied. The Doctor, she saw. “Oh,” she said. “Sarah Jane is-”
“Come here often?” he asked, mildly.
Rose lifted her eyebrows. “Oh, are we playing a game?”
The Doctor looked studiously innocent. “What?” He held out his hand for her to shake. “I’m Horatio.”
Her eyebrows skidded even higher, as she shook his hand. “Horatio? Really?”
“Yes,” he said, stubbornly, a bit of a pout to his lower lip.
“Sarah Jane is really coming back any minute.”
“What’s your name?” he asked, pointedly.
“Florence,” she said, saying the first name that came into her head.
“Florence,” he repeated, sounding disappointed.
“Something wrong with the name Florence?”
“Wellllll, it’s just, you’re a beautiful woman, I thought you’d have a sexier name.”
“We can’t all have names as sexy as Horatio,” drawled Rose.
“I suppose that’s true,” the Doctor allowed. “So, anyway, going back to my original question: Come here often?”
“Oh,” said Rose, carelessly. “Whenever I…feel like an adventure.” Rose twisted a strand of hair coquettishly around her finger, enjoying herself a bit now.
The Doctor looked indignant. “We have adventurous lives!”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Doctor-” she began.
“Doctor,” said Sarah Jane, returning to the bar. “What are you up to?”
“The world’s worst role-playing,” responded Rose.
The Doctor frowned. “I was…you know, I was getting better at it.”
“No, you weren’t,” said Rose.
“We have to go to dinner anyway,” grumbled the Doctor.
2
“I’m a good role-player,” said the Doctor.
Rose, startled out of a doze that had been more like the beginning of a solid sleep, said, dazedly, “What?”
“Role-playing.” She felt him shift around on the bed next to her. “I’m good at it.”
“Can we have this conversation when I’m not trying to sleep?” she requested, wearily.
“Yes. Absolutely.” He was silent for a second. “You really don’t think I’m good at it?”
“Doctor,” she complained.
“Right, right, sorry. You’re trying to sleep.”
Rose snuggled into her pillow, closing her eyes and listening to the Doctor breathe. She liked when the Doctor shared the bed with her as she fell asleep, found it soothing to have him beside her.
“I bet I could play a good cowboy. Do you have any fantasies about cowboys?”
“Do you know what roles we’re going to play?”
“What?” he asked.
“The roles where I regenerate you unless you let me go to sleep.”
There was a moment of silence. “That doesn’t sound like very much fun,” came his voice, in the darkness.
“It depends on which role you’re playing in the scenario,” muttered Rose.
“You’d be less cranky if I let you sleep more, wouldn’t you?” remarked the Doctor.
Rose huffed into her pillow.
3
She felt bad in the morning for being short with him about his role-playing ability. Truthfully, they’d never tried role-playing before. It had just never seemed to Rose to be something the Doctor would enjoy, although now it seemed silly to her that she had thought that, because role-playing did seem like the sort of playful sexual diversion he’d enjoy. She wondered, really, why she’d never broached the topic with him before.
At any rate, if he wanted to try role-playing, she was willing to give it her best shot. So she deposited the kids with the rest of the group and found the Doctor with Jack in the same hotel bar where she’d been with Sarah Jane. Jack was drinking, but the Doctor, of course, wasn’t. Rose took a deep breath, walked up to the bar, and leaned against it between the Doctor and Jack. She looked pointedly at the Doctor. “Come here often?” she said.
He lifted his eyebrows and opened his mouth and said, “I…”
Rose smiled. “You should buy me a drink,” she said. Then she looked at Jack. “And you should get lost.”
“Is this some kind of role-playing thing?” asked Jack, eagerly. “Maybe a role-playing thing that involves three people?”
“No,” said the Doctor, leaning around Rose so he could see Jack. “It’s not. Good-bye, Jack.”
“Fine, I know when I’m not wanted.” Jack stood up with his beer. “Doesn’t happen very often, but I can recognize the signs. Have fun, kids.” He winked at Rose.
“So.” Rose sat in the seat Jack had vacated. “That drink?”
“Absolutely.” The Doctor gestured at the bartender. “What would you like?”
Rose considered, trying to think of a drink that was very unlike her. “Scotch on the rocks.”
The Doctor nodded toward the bartender, who had heard and began making the drink.
“So,” said Rose. “Come here often?”
“My first time,” replied the Doctor.
Rose caught her tongue between her teeth. “Then it must be my lucky night. Want to tell me your name?”
“Sidney,” he said, firmly.
“Sidney?” echoed Rose. “You had all this time to think up a sexy cover name, and you came up with Sidney?”
“Well, what’s your name?” asked the Doctor, defensively.
“Henrietta,” retorted Rose.
“What kind of taste do you have in names, anyway? Our children are so lucky I was involved in the decision.”
“You named our son after radiation, Doctor.”
“It’s Sidney,” he corrected her.
“It is not. I would never have children with a Sidney.”
“Why not?” he frowned.
“Because I would never shag a Sidney.”
The Doctor looked at the bartender. “Never mind,” he said. “I am no longer buying her a drink.”
Rose stood up. “I’m going to have a drink with Jack.”
“How does Henrietta know Jack?”
“What a ridiculous question, everyone knows Jack.”
The Doctor considered. “Alright, I’ll give you that one.”
4
On the planet Wdknsi, they were given a spacious suite that looked out over Wdknsi’s famous multi-colored sea, and Rose stood at the window and watched the undulating hues of red and green and blue and orange, as they swept and swirled into each other.
She heard the bedroom door open and close.
“This place has a three-headed seal,” said the Doctor.
“A what?” She glanced at him.
“A three-headed seal. You know, the marine animal? Only with three heads. Lots of great aquatic life, actually. To thank us for saving the Queen from her assassination attempt, our children are being given a royal guided tour.”
Rose smiled sardonically and turned back to the window. “They’re going to want a three-headed seal, you know. If those kids had their way, the TARDIS would be a menagerie. A traveling zoo.”
“Speaking of royalty,” said the Doctor.
“Were we?” asked Rose. She turned her head to glance at him, but was surprised when he turned out to be right behind her, hands moving to rest warmly on her waist. Rose smiled at the reflection she could just discern in the window’s glass. The Doctor was going to seduce her, she thought. That was why her kids were on a royal guided tour.
“You could be the Queen of Wdknsi.” He leaned down and planted a kiss at the base of her neck.
“Oh, could I be?” she asked, amused.
“Mm-hmm,” he murmured against her skin. “You could be the Queen of Wdknsi, and I could be the lowly footman.” He was drawing a line of kisses along the back of her neck, pushing her hair up and out of his way as he went. “The forbidden lover,” he said, and kissed the corner of her jaw.
“Are we trying this again?” she inquired. “Really? You didn’t think the first three times were disastrous enough?”
“Welllllll, fourth time’s the charm,” he said.
“That’s not how the saying goes. The third time is the charm.”
“Not on Wdknsi. On Wdknsi it’s the fourth time. Are you paying attention, your Majesty? I don’t think you’re focusing.” He closed his teeth around her earlobe and tugged.
Rose closed her eyes involuntarily at the sensation. Fine, she thought. He wanted to give role-playing a try, then they would. “What makes you think,” she murmured, turning her head a little bit in the hopes that he would take the hint and kiss her lips. He didn’t, dodging her. “What makes you think I should let you take such liberties?” she completed her question, sighing as he nibbled a bit on the sensitive skin over the pulse point on her neck.
“What do you mean?” he mumbled.
“Well, a footman? With his hands on the Queen?” She deliberately moved his hands upward from her waist, placing them over her breasts. “What makes you think I should allow this?”
The Doctor’s mouth moved away from her neck. “Well,” he said. “But you seduced me.”
Rose opened her eyes. “What?”
“I’m just saying, you seduced me. What with, you know, being the Queen and all. The Queen seduces the footman, not the other way around. And I must say, if you’re going to start to worry about how I’m taking liberties now, it’s sending some mixed signals, your Majesty. Running a bit hot-and-cold.”
Rose stepped away from him, dislodging his hands from her breasts. “You are the worst role-player in the entire universe,” she said.
“Oh, and you’re some sort of award-winning role-playing actress?”
“We’re not supposed to be this concerned with how the footman and the Queen got to this position!”
“You’re the one who brought it up!” he pointed out.
“I was trying to be sexy, you were supposed to just go with it. You lack spontaneity,” she accused.
He looked speechless with astonishment. “I do not! I am very spontaneous! I’m always doing spontaneous things and taking us spontaneous places!”
“Can we just have a regular shag and get this over with?” asked Rose.
The Doctor sighed and said, “Fine.”
5
The Doctor had been scribbling furiously for a little while now, over in a corner of the library, away from where she and the kids were watching winged horse polo live from the planet Fru. Rose was not interested in the winged horse polo and was instead watching the Doctor, who kept crossing things out and crumpling up pieces of paper and starting all over again.
“What are you doing?” she asked, finally.
“Nothing,” he answered, distractedly.
Rose drew her eyebrows together in thought but just then Athena made a comment about a particular winged horse in the competition and Rose replied to it and for a little while she let the Doctor write in silence. Until, finally, she could bear it no more. What was he doing? He wrote sometimes, infrequently, mostly mathematical equations when he was trying to figure something out. So what was he trying to figure out, and why wouldn’t he tell her, and why did he look so frazzled by it?
Rose, leaving the kids on the couch, walked over to the Doctor. “No, seriously,” she said. “What are you working on? You look about ready to tear your hair out over it.” She put her hands on his shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting gesture and looked down at the paper in front of him.
“It’s nothing,” he said, curtly, trying to hide it.
Rose was suspicious. “Doctor, what are you-”
“Fine,” he snapped, keeping his voice low. “I’m working on a character.”
“Working on a what?”
“On a character. Welllllll, two characters, to be more specific. For us.”
“Characters for us?” echoed Rose, in bewilderment. “What do you mean?”
“For…you know.”
She didn’t know. “For Halloween?” she guessed, because it was the only thing she could think of.
“Bloody hell,” said the Doctor, and ruffled his hair.
Rose took advantage of the movement to grab at the fresh piece of paper he was working on. “‘Aphorianalette, lost princess of Brefferdon, on the run from -’ Doctor, what is this?”
“Well, that’s a character for you,” he said.
Rose kept reading, and her eyes widened a bit. “Oh,” she said, finally. “I get it. A character.”
“Well, it took you long enough,” he muttered.
Rose sank into the chair beside him, reading. “You named yourself Humphrey? Do you have any concept of what an attractive masculine name is?”
“See, this is why I wanted to do it this way. If you don’t like the name Humphrey, now we can change the name Humphrey without getting into the whole thing, you know, while we’re trying to do the actual role-playing.”
“So what happens after Aphorianalette realizes that Humphrey King of Seausette, is a…” Rose flipped the page over. “That’s all you wrote. What is he?”
“I don’t know,” confessed the Doctor. “A vampire, maybe?”
“A vampire?”
“Wellllll, they’re supposed to be sexy, aren’t they?”
Rose sighed and glanced over at her kids. They were watching winged horse polo, but she was also convinced they were doing their best to eavesdrop on their parents. She dropped her voice even lower. “Were you going to script the sex scene for us, too, or were you going to allow for some improvisation there?”
The Doctor looked frustrated. “I just thought that we could, well…I mean, it would…To be honest, I didn’t even want to do this until you told me I was bad at it, so I’m blaming this whole thing entirely on you.”
“You’re very, very good at almost everything else, though, so what does it matter?”
“Am I?” he asked, reluctantly.
“Yes,” she said, and combed her fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck.
He was silent for a second, then: “What do you mean, ‘almost’?”
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