Don't Blink - 14/?
Title: Don't Blink - 14/?
Characters: Rose, Ten
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
~ One~ Two~ Three~ Four~ Five~ Six~ Seven~ Eight~ Nine~ Ten~ Eleven~ Twelve
~ Thirteen~
Their lives continued, bumping along from day to day as they tried to make sense of it all. The Doctor read and made notes and tried to draw conclusions based on the few clues that had been left to him. He didn’t get very far on his best days, and he was frustrated by the fact that nothing appeared to be taking place until the 1980’s, when Sally Sparrow was born. The potential thirty-eight years that they might have to wait until getting home weighed on him.
He had, however, agreed to stop wearing his suit. It had come back from the cleaners in perfect condition, but he knew it was only a matter of time before these ordinary human cleaning techniques wore it down to shreds. It hung in the wardrobe in Rose’s bedroom, ready for the next special occasion.
In the meantime he had conceded, with much ill-grace, to wear regular clothing. Rose thought he looked very nice, and told him so. He thought he looked ridiculous. Plain trousers and shirts and jumpers, and it all had to be washed and ironed and folded away. He was rather immune to the styles of the day. Where Rose giggled at outlandish colors and bellbottoms, he saw only clothes. Having spanned time and space and too many alien cultures to count, there was very little that could shock his sensibilities, clothing-wise.
Rose lent her support as the Doctor tried to solve their problem. She went to work and folded dresses and rang up sales and was spoken down to by well-bred ladies who had no use for ordinary shopgirls. She paid for their rent and for their food, although she strongly suspected the Doctor was making use of his psychic paper and sonic screwdriver when she wasn’t around. Things she hadn’t bought kept popping up around the flat. Small tools, wires, tabloid papers.
The strain between them was not as obvious, but it was there. The constant worry about what would happen could not be avoided, no matter how much they both wanted to. Still, they both tried to keep things normal and upbeat.
“What have you got planned this weekend, Rose?” Iris asked one Friday afternoon. It was a slow sales day, and Iris was sending out the monthly bills for the store’s charge account customers.
Rose leaned against the counter. “I don’t know. The Doc- John’s been working on a project and he’s been pretty busy.”
“All the more reason to go out and have some fun!” Iris grinned at her. “You’re both young. Live it up a bit!”
“What about you?” Rose asked with real curiosity. Iris was in her late twenties, and she was very pretty. Yet Rose had never heard her mention so much as a casual date.
“Oh, I’ll do the shopping, clean up my flat, the usual,” Iris said lightly.
“What, those are your plans? You’re young, Iris. Live it up a bit!”
Iris smiled to show her acknowledgement of those words turned against her. “I do have fun. I go out with my mates now and then. We’ll probably go out to eat or something.”
“Any male mates in there?” Rose teased.
Iris actually blushed. “Maybe. One.”
“What’s his name?” Rose demanded instantly. “How come you’ve never mentioned him?”
Iris set down her pen. “We’re just friends is all. I don’t think he thinks of me that way.”
“Well, you won’t know until you try.”
“I’m too traditional,” Iris sighed. “I can’t just make the first move.”
“Why not? Maybe he’s too afraid to do it.”
“Rose!” Iris went back to her accounts. “You are so bad.”
Making the first move on a bloke you fancied was hardly being bad, but for this era, and for Iris’s upbringing, Rose could see how it was. She really did miss her proper time and place sometimes.
“You’ll never know until you try,” she finally said.
“Is that how you met John?” Iris glanced up from her accounts book. “Did you ask him out for a drink?”
Rose opened her mouth and then closed it. “Not exactly. We kind of bumped into each other once. And then he bumped into me while he was, er, looking for something.” The words were so non-descriptive, and in no way conveyed the beauty and magic that had happened to her beginning with those murderous shop dummies. But Iris would never be able to understand all that. Iris would never be able to feel the turn of the earth.
“Well, it’s obvious that he adores you. He can’t take his eyes off of you whenever I see you together.”
Rose smiled tentatively. “Yeah?” She heard the pleasure in her voice and inwardly rolled her eyes at herself. She was being such a dork!
“Yeah. Not to mention the way he’s been showing up to walk you home every night.” Iris nodded toward the door, and Rose turned to see the Doctor walking in. He was wearing dark trousers and a blue button-down shirt. Under the shirt was a blue t-shirt, and over it all was a short brown coat Rose had brought home for him. It saved the wear and tear on his long brown coat.
“Is it time to go?” Rose asked absently, her attention focused on the Doctor.
“I’ll see you Monday. You can take off.”
Rose’s focus was still on the Doctor. His eyes were fixed on hers as he walked over.
“You ready?”
“Yeah. Be right back.” Rose smiled and ran back to get her things.
“Did you get a lot of work done today, John?” Iris asked, unlocking the till to count up the money.
He had been staring after Rose. Now he blinked and brought himself back to the present.
“Yes, I did, thank you. Lots of work, some progress. I’m hopeful for a breakthrough very soon.”
“And what’s your subject again? You’re a student, right? A graduate student?”
“Here I am!” Rose linked her arm through the Doctor’s, sparing him from making up lies about coursework and professors. “Bye, Iris!”
“Bye.”
“So did you have a productive day?” Rose asked as they walked down the street. She hitched the strap of her bag over her shoulder and shifted the tote bag that held her lunchbox and other odds and ends that she brought to work with her.
The Doctor reached for the tote bag, easily taking it from her despite her trying to tug it back.
“I did, actually. Someone from Sally Sparrow’s time will be intersecting with our time here very soon. I’m working on a way to be able to track them down when they appear.”
Rose looked at him quickly, feeling a spark of hope. “I thought you said nothing would happen until 1995?”
“Oh, I never said that! We may have to wait that long for the DVD production, but things will be popping up for us to handle in the meantime.” The Doctor smiled cheerfully, as though this was not a fact that Rose would have liked very much to have known earlier.
“But you let me think that we’d have to just, just sit here and wait!” she cried indignantly.
“Well, I may have thought that,” he admitted, rubbing his ear. “As it turns out, however, once I looked through everything that Sally Sparrow left me-”
“You’re just now reading it all?” she demanded. “Doctor!”
He flinched at the condemning note in her voice. “Things have been a bit busy around here,” he said defensively. “Anyway, yes, I have now read everything, and yes, things will happen.”
Rose sighed and opted to let it go. The thought that she wouldn’t be waiting around for a few decades cheered her.
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Well, it’s not even finished yet,” he pointed out. “I assume it will work, because Sally Sparrow said so. Also, I’m brilliant, so anything I come up with is bound to work.” He grinned down at her.
“Sally Sparrow said so,” Rose murmured. “Sounds like a nursery rhyme.”
The Doctor chuckled. “Sally, Sally, Sparrow mine, saw an Angel and fell through time.”
“Not bad,” she approved. Then, feeling she was taking a chance but knowing she had to, she ran her tongue over her lips and glanced his way. “You look nice today.”
The Doctor grimaced. Giving up his suit and coat had been the most difficult thing he’d done in a while. He still felt like a small boy playing dress up in a grown man’s clothing, but he had to admit that the fabrics were comfortable. The coat Rose had given him didn’t have transdimensional pockets, of course, but there was still room for the things he liked to carry around. Luckily he was able to keep wearing his white trainers.
“You do look nice,” Rose insisted. “It’s high time you stopped wearing the same thing all around the galaxy.”
“I liked doing that,” he said moodily.
“Quit.” She bumped him with her elbow. “What have we got planned? Anything?”
“Well, no alien invasions or mysterious occurrences that need investigating. So it looks like a night of eating takeout in front of the telly.”
That sounded like the best plan ever to Rose. “Marvelous. Let’s do it.”
They got Chinese takeaway on the way back to the flat. Rose paused to check their mailbox, now labeled with a small card that read Smith. A faint niggle of guilt crowded her, and she glanced at their landlady’s door. Sweet old Mrs. MacMurray thought they were married, and here Rose hadn’t even let the Doctor know. If he’d noticed that the box said Smith and not Tyler or Tyler and Smith, he had not commented. She decided it would just have to be one of those things that she didn’t tell him for his own good.
“Rose?” The Doctor was stopped on the stairs, carrying their food and her bag.
“Coming.” Rose quickly checked the box. “Empty.”
“We’ll have to start up a few magazine subscriptions.”
Once inside Rose slipped off her shoes and dove into the food. The Doctor moved more slowly, watching her in amusement as he took off his coat.
“Did you skip lunch?”
“No, but this smells so good!” Rose sat in front of the television, food in her lap.
The Doctor turned the television on with the sonic screwdriver. “You’re going to get grease on your dress.”
“Lo mein noodles. Don’t care.” Rose fished out the chopsticks, considered them, and abandoned them for the plastic fork.
The Doctor shook his head and went to the kitchen, taking two bottles of Coca-Cola out of the refrigerator.
“Here you are.” He aimed the sonic at the bottlecaps to loosen them up and set one down beside Rose before sitting next to her.
“When did you get Coke? The cupboards were pretty bare this morning.”
“Today.” He unfurled a paper napkin with a flourish and handed it to her.
“You did the shopping?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised!” He dug out a box of food and opened it, careful to protect his lap with a napkin first.
“Well, it’s only that you hate to go shopping.” Their argument about doing domestic was still fresh, and while Rose didn’t want to bring it up again, she felt it was only fair to address it.
“Sometimes the shopping is fun,” the Doctor said reluctantly. “And sometimes it needs to be done.” What he didn’t say, and what he felt guilty about, was that he’d been expecting her to work all week and still do all the shopping for food and other necessary items. It was getting harder and harder to listen to his internal arguments that she was better at that sort of thing.
“Did you pick up some tea?” she couldn’t help asking.
He slanted her a look and then a grin. “I did.”
“Then all is well,” Rose said grandly.
They ate in a comfortable silence, sharing bits of food with each other. The evening news was on, and the talk was all about the upcoming trip to the moon.
“That’s a brilliant day.” The Doctor nodded to the television. “The Americans will land on the moon. The first tiny step on the way to space exploration. I’ll take you there, as soon as we have the TARDIS back.”
Rose smiled. “I’d like that.”
Dinner was done and everything cleared away. Rose was about to change into something more comfortable than her work clothes when there was a knock on the door.
“Are you expecting anyone?” she asked.
“No. Who would I be expecting?”
The Doctor went to answer it, opening it cautiously.
“Oh, it’s Jeff!” he said to Rose over his shoulder. “Hello, Jeff.”
Jeff did not waste time on pleasantries.
“I’m going to the movies with a friend. Want to come along? You two don’t get out much lately.”
Rose considered this. “What are you going to see?”
“2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“Your friend won’t mind if we tag along?” Rose had heard of the movie, of course, but she’d never seen it.
Jeff scowled. “Probably not.”
The Doctor smiled. “Is it the pretty blonde we saw at the pub last time we were there?”
Jeff sighed. “Kitty. Yeah. What’s a bloke gotta do to make a girl know he likes her?” he demanded to Rose.
“Er...”
“I mean, it’s not like John just hit you over the head one day and dragged you off to the altar! There are steps involved in this process!”
“What altar?” The Doctor asked in alarm.
“We’ll meet you downstairs,” Rose told Jeff before shutting the door. “I just need to change.”
“What altar, Rose?”
“Let me just get out of this dress!” she called, running down the hallway to her bedroom.
The Doctor stood there with a frown on his face until he heard Rose calling him.
“Doctor!”
“What?” he called back.
“I need a hand with the zip! It’s stuck!”
“What do you need to change for?” he asked, walking into her room. “You look very nice.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks, but it’s been a long day in tights and this dress. Can you undo it?” She turned around, presenting him with her back. The green dress slipped off of her shoulder, the zip in back snagged halfway down her back.
The Doctor swallowed. He could see the back of her pink bra, and there was a lot of smooth skin showing. He stood there, unable to move.
Rose glanced at him over her shoulder, her hair brushing her shoulders. “Doctor?”
As she moved the arm holding the dress against her body shifted, and he could see the lacy cups of her bra. He cleared his throat and reached out for the zipper.
“Certainly. We’ll have you out of that dress in just a jiffy.” He heard his words and froze. She didn’t say anything, so he decided he was safe and pulled the zipper down. It had snagged on the dress’s material but now pulled free and let him zip it down to the small of Rose’s back. It stopped just above her pink knickers.
Rose stepped away from him and turned. “Thanks.”
“Yep. Anytime. I’ll just wait out here -” The Doctor turned to go and promptly tripped on something that had caught on his shoe. He had superior Time Lord reflexes, but those reflexes had no hope against a partially dressed Rose Tyler. He stumbled, trying to catch himself. Rose reached for him and managed to pull them both off-balance and onto the floor in a heap.
“Oof,” she said heavily. The floor was hard and the carpet rather thin.
He’d landed on the floor beside her. “Oh! Sorry. Are you okay?” He levered himself up on one arm and scanned her for injuries.
“I’m okay.” Rose was suddenly breathless. The dress had slipped down around her waist in the fall, and her bare skin was pressed against the Doctor’s shirt as he hovered above her.
“Good.” He sounded equally breathless, and as he gazed into her eyes he lowered himself back down so their faces were only inches apart.
“Rose,” he whispered.
Rose closed her eyes. This was it. She had been waiting for so long, and finally here was proof that he wasn’t indifferent to her. If the expression on his face didn’t convince her, the hardness of his body did. She opened her eyes and smiled.
“Hello,” she whispered.
“Hello,” he whispered back.
His head moved closer to hers, his eyes intent on her mouth. She parted her lips, waiting, and was jolted by the sudden knocking on the door.
The Doctor jerked up and cursed. “What the-”
“Five minutes and I leave without you!” Jeff hollered through the door.
“Damn him,” the Doctor muttered.
Rose became aware of her state of undress. The knock had broken the spell, and now she shifted uncomfortably underneath the Doctor. He caught his breath as she moved and Rose stopped, realizing what her movements would be doing to him.
“Doctor?”
“For once,” he murmured, “Just once, I’m not going to be interrupted. I”m not going to stop myself.”
“What-” Her words were swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her. Rose closed her mind and enjoyed the feel of his mouth on hers, running a hand through his hair while holding his head in place with her other hand. He kissed with single-minded dedication, and Rose fully approved.
It might have gone on for some time, but Rose had to breathe, and she pulled away and gasped for breath.
“Sorry,” the Doctor said. “I forgot that you can’t hold your breath as long as I can.”
She smiled up at him, arms around his neck. “I didn’t mind.”
He cleared his throat. “Then perhaps we ought to-”
What he thought they ought to do was never heard. Another knock came at their door, and they heard Jeff yelling.
“Meet me at the Red Umbrella Cinema!”
“I think he got tired of waiting for us,” Rose murmured.
The Doctor sighed heavily. “I’ll let you get dressed.” He moved off of her and got to his feet somewhat clumsily. He held a hand out to Rose and helped her stand. “I’ll be out there.” He nodded toward the front room.
Rose nodded, suddenly feeling shy. She waited until he had closed the door behind him to move.
“Everything all right, mate?” Jeff asked cheerfully when the Doctor opened the door.
“I thought you were leaving!” the Doctor said indignantly.
“Thought I’d give you a few more minutes, mate. Everything okay?”
The Doctor gave him a withering glare. “Just fine, thank you,” he said from between clenched teeth. “Rose is just getting changed.”
“Thanks for coming along,” Jeff said as they stood in the hallway. “If I thought Kitty would like to be alone with me, well, I’d jump at the chance, but this way she’s more likely to be nice to me.”
The Doctor frowned in puzzlement. “Is she a friend?”
“Knew her at uni.” Jeff shrugged. “She’s hot and cold. One minute acts like an ice princess, the next she’s flirting with me. Can’t get anywhere with her.”
“With who?” Rose asked from behind them. She had changed into a white blouse and dark trousers with the narrowest leg she could find. Her hair was brushed and pulled back in a ponytail. She locked the door to the flat and stood in the hallway, looking at them expectantly.
“Kitty,” Jeff said gloomily.
“She may or may not be Jeff’s girl,” the Doctor explained, taking Rose’s hand. She glanced at him as their skin touched, uncertain how to react. His attention was on Jeff, and Rose decided that they would act just like they always did, and never mind that they had just shared an amazingly hot kiss on the floor of her bedroom. If there was one thing they were very good at doing, it was pretending things hadn’t happened.
They walked to the cinema, just a few blocks away. Rose was glad they had ended up in a central location. Walking when the weather was nice was not a hardship, and it saved money spent on buses and the Tube. On occasion they had caught a taxi ride with one of their alien friends, but it didn’t happen too often. The nice thing about the aliens was that they all instantly recognized Rose and the Doctor, and they all refused to charge them fare.
The three of them kept up a casual conversation all the way, with Rose’s hand securely in the Doctor’s. Once, as they waited to cross the street, he glanced down at her. She smiled up at him and he smiled back, two people sharing a lovely secret.
“There she is.” Jeff moved away from them in front of the cinema, hurrying to meet a blonde girl standing by herself.
“So that’s Kitty.” Rose looked at the other girl appraisingly. “She seems nice.”
The Doctor snorted. “Jeff’s a bit less than level headed, though, isn’t he? So she surely can’t be that together.”
Rose slapped his arm. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” he demanded innocently. “Surely you’ve noticed that he’s a bit careless.”
“Well, he’s young and single. That’s how guys are.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes.
“You wouldn’t know, of course,” Rose couldn’t resist saying. “You not being human. Or young.”
He fixed her with a very stern look, but Jeff was there and talking before he could say something in retaliation.
“I got the tickets. Ready?”
The film was dated, to Rose’s eyes, but the reactions of everyone else told her that it was an amazing movie for the time. She sat beside the Doctor, with Kitty on her right and Jeff to the right of Kitty. Rose didn’t know what Jeff and his friend were getting up to, but the Doctor kept her entertained by whispering facts about the film, the actors and historical inaccuracies. Rose snuggled down in her seat, content to share the popcorn.
“I think Keir Dullea is so handsome,” Kitty whispered to Rose toward the end of the movie.
“Me too,” Rose whispered back.
A snort from Jeff’s direction let them know that he had heard and wasn’t impressed with their opinion.
Kitty rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”
“Does he have reason to be jealous?” Rose whispered.
Kitty snorted into her popcorn.
By the time the Hal computer was dismantled, Rose had had it with the movie. It had gone on and on, and not even the Doctor’s comments were enough to keep her interested.
“I don’t see what’s so great about it,” she complained as they left the theater.
“Are you kidding?” Jeff asked in surprise. “That was amazing!”
“What was the point of the baby at the end? I don’t get it. Was he going back in time to start over?”
“Well, I don’t know! But it was amazing.” Jeff glanced at Kitty for confirmation, but she was looking away.
“Star Wars was better,” Rose muttered.
“Star what?” Jeff repeated.
“The HAL 9000 was a bit creepy,” Kitty admitted suddenly. “I’m glad there’s nothing like that around in real life.”
Jeff snorted. “The way computers are built? There’s no way they’ll ever be small enough to fit in with everyday life.”
Rose thought of tiny computers in mobile phones, in iPods and laptops. She suppressed a smile but couldn’t help looking over at the Doctor.
“They’d never believe you,” he told her.
“Believe her about what?” Kitty asked.
“Oh, Rose thinks the movie had amazing special effects.”
“It did,” Kitty responded. “Why wouldn’t we believe that, Rose?”
“Oh, you know.” Rose gestured vaguely, then caught sight of a clock in a storefront window. “Is it really midnight?” She looked around, realizing that it was dark. Walking out of the movie theater, it had seemed natural to have the dark continue outside.
“Midnight and ten seconds,” the Doctor confirmed.
“The night’s still young!” Kitty looked excited. “Shall we go try that new disco?”
“You two go ahead.” The Doctor took Rose’s hand. “We’re going to get back. It’s been a long day.”
Kitty looked slightly disappointed. Jeff didn’t look disappointed at all.
“Cool,” he said. “We’ll see you later.”
“Bye.” Rose waved as they turned and left.
“I am so ready for bed,” Rose yawned as they walked back. She heard the words as she spoke them, and she blushed furiously.
If the Doctor took her words at anything other than face value, he didn’t how it.
“Eight hours of shut eye for you, Miss Tyler. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir,” she said lightly.
They didn’t talk much on the way back. When they entered the hall of the building, Mrs. MacMurray’s door opened just a crack. Rose heard music playing softly, and a think stream of light came through the door.
“Good night, Mrs. MacMurray,” she said politely.
The door closed again, and they heard the locks engage.
The Doctor shook his head as he ushered Rose up the stairs to their flat, a hand at her back.
“She’s an odd one.”
“Maybe she’s just lonely.”
“Then she’d do better to open the door all the way and say hello,” he pointed out.
“Well, maybe she’s shy.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes as Rose unlocked their door.
“What?” she asked defensively. “Maybe she is!” She locked the door as he turned the lights on.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “I’m going to do some work.” The Doctor nodded to his work area.
“Okay. I’m going to bed. Good night.” Rose hesitated, then came to a decision. She stepped in close, stood on her toes, and quickly kissed his cheek.
“Good night,” the Doctor echoed, watching her walk down the hallway. The door to her bedroom opened and closed. He heard her go to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. He heard her get in bed, turn off the light and fall asleep. And still he stood there, the feel of her lips on his face burning like fire.
He was in too deep, and he had never been happier.
Fifteen
Characters: Rose, Ten
Summary: AU. What if Rose had stayed through Doomsday and was the one to end up in 1969 with the Doctor? How would they get back to their proper time? Would they want to?
Rating: PG
~ One~ Two~ Three~ Four~ Five~ Six~ Seven~ Eight~ Nine~ Ten~ Eleven~ Twelve
~ Thirteen~
Their lives continued, bumping along from day to day as they tried to make sense of it all. The Doctor read and made notes and tried to draw conclusions based on the few clues that had been left to him. He didn’t get very far on his best days, and he was frustrated by the fact that nothing appeared to be taking place until the 1980’s, when Sally Sparrow was born. The potential thirty-eight years that they might have to wait until getting home weighed on him.
He had, however, agreed to stop wearing his suit. It had come back from the cleaners in perfect condition, but he knew it was only a matter of time before these ordinary human cleaning techniques wore it down to shreds. It hung in the wardrobe in Rose’s bedroom, ready for the next special occasion.
In the meantime he had conceded, with much ill-grace, to wear regular clothing. Rose thought he looked very nice, and told him so. He thought he looked ridiculous. Plain trousers and shirts and jumpers, and it all had to be washed and ironed and folded away. He was rather immune to the styles of the day. Where Rose giggled at outlandish colors and bellbottoms, he saw only clothes. Having spanned time and space and too many alien cultures to count, there was very little that could shock his sensibilities, clothing-wise.
Rose lent her support as the Doctor tried to solve their problem. She went to work and folded dresses and rang up sales and was spoken down to by well-bred ladies who had no use for ordinary shopgirls. She paid for their rent and for their food, although she strongly suspected the Doctor was making use of his psychic paper and sonic screwdriver when she wasn’t around. Things she hadn’t bought kept popping up around the flat. Small tools, wires, tabloid papers.
The strain between them was not as obvious, but it was there. The constant worry about what would happen could not be avoided, no matter how much they both wanted to. Still, they both tried to keep things normal and upbeat.
“What have you got planned this weekend, Rose?” Iris asked one Friday afternoon. It was a slow sales day, and Iris was sending out the monthly bills for the store’s charge account customers.
Rose leaned against the counter. “I don’t know. The Doc- John’s been working on a project and he’s been pretty busy.”
“All the more reason to go out and have some fun!” Iris grinned at her. “You’re both young. Live it up a bit!”
“What about you?” Rose asked with real curiosity. Iris was in her late twenties, and she was very pretty. Yet Rose had never heard her mention so much as a casual date.
“Oh, I’ll do the shopping, clean up my flat, the usual,” Iris said lightly.
“What, those are your plans? You’re young, Iris. Live it up a bit!”
Iris smiled to show her acknowledgement of those words turned against her. “I do have fun. I go out with my mates now and then. We’ll probably go out to eat or something.”
“Any male mates in there?” Rose teased.
Iris actually blushed. “Maybe. One.”
“What’s his name?” Rose demanded instantly. “How come you’ve never mentioned him?”
Iris set down her pen. “We’re just friends is all. I don’t think he thinks of me that way.”
“Well, you won’t know until you try.”
“I’m too traditional,” Iris sighed. “I can’t just make the first move.”
“Why not? Maybe he’s too afraid to do it.”
“Rose!” Iris went back to her accounts. “You are so bad.”
Making the first move on a bloke you fancied was hardly being bad, but for this era, and for Iris’s upbringing, Rose could see how it was. She really did miss her proper time and place sometimes.
“You’ll never know until you try,” she finally said.
“Is that how you met John?” Iris glanced up from her accounts book. “Did you ask him out for a drink?”
Rose opened her mouth and then closed it. “Not exactly. We kind of bumped into each other once. And then he bumped into me while he was, er, looking for something.” The words were so non-descriptive, and in no way conveyed the beauty and magic that had happened to her beginning with those murderous shop dummies. But Iris would never be able to understand all that. Iris would never be able to feel the turn of the earth.
“Well, it’s obvious that he adores you. He can’t take his eyes off of you whenever I see you together.”
Rose smiled tentatively. “Yeah?” She heard the pleasure in her voice and inwardly rolled her eyes at herself. She was being such a dork!
“Yeah. Not to mention the way he’s been showing up to walk you home every night.” Iris nodded toward the door, and Rose turned to see the Doctor walking in. He was wearing dark trousers and a blue button-down shirt. Under the shirt was a blue t-shirt, and over it all was a short brown coat Rose had brought home for him. It saved the wear and tear on his long brown coat.
“Is it time to go?” Rose asked absently, her attention focused on the Doctor.
“I’ll see you Monday. You can take off.”
Rose’s focus was still on the Doctor. His eyes were fixed on hers as he walked over.
“You ready?”
“Yeah. Be right back.” Rose smiled and ran back to get her things.
“Did you get a lot of work done today, John?” Iris asked, unlocking the till to count up the money.
He had been staring after Rose. Now he blinked and brought himself back to the present.
“Yes, I did, thank you. Lots of work, some progress. I’m hopeful for a breakthrough very soon.”
“And what’s your subject again? You’re a student, right? A graduate student?”
“Here I am!” Rose linked her arm through the Doctor’s, sparing him from making up lies about coursework and professors. “Bye, Iris!”
“Bye.”
“So did you have a productive day?” Rose asked as they walked down the street. She hitched the strap of her bag over her shoulder and shifted the tote bag that held her lunchbox and other odds and ends that she brought to work with her.
The Doctor reached for the tote bag, easily taking it from her despite her trying to tug it back.
“I did, actually. Someone from Sally Sparrow’s time will be intersecting with our time here very soon. I’m working on a way to be able to track them down when they appear.”
Rose looked at him quickly, feeling a spark of hope. “I thought you said nothing would happen until 1995?”
“Oh, I never said that! We may have to wait that long for the DVD production, but things will be popping up for us to handle in the meantime.” The Doctor smiled cheerfully, as though this was not a fact that Rose would have liked very much to have known earlier.
“But you let me think that we’d have to just, just sit here and wait!” she cried indignantly.
“Well, I may have thought that,” he admitted, rubbing his ear. “As it turns out, however, once I looked through everything that Sally Sparrow left me-”
“You’re just now reading it all?” she demanded. “Doctor!”
He flinched at the condemning note in her voice. “Things have been a bit busy around here,” he said defensively. “Anyway, yes, I have now read everything, and yes, things will happen.”
Rose sighed and opted to let it go. The thought that she wouldn’t be waiting around for a few decades cheered her.
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“Well, it’s not even finished yet,” he pointed out. “I assume it will work, because Sally Sparrow said so. Also, I’m brilliant, so anything I come up with is bound to work.” He grinned down at her.
“Sally Sparrow said so,” Rose murmured. “Sounds like a nursery rhyme.”
The Doctor chuckled. “Sally, Sally, Sparrow mine, saw an Angel and fell through time.”
“Not bad,” she approved. Then, feeling she was taking a chance but knowing she had to, she ran her tongue over her lips and glanced his way. “You look nice today.”
The Doctor grimaced. Giving up his suit and coat had been the most difficult thing he’d done in a while. He still felt like a small boy playing dress up in a grown man’s clothing, but he had to admit that the fabrics were comfortable. The coat Rose had given him didn’t have transdimensional pockets, of course, but there was still room for the things he liked to carry around. Luckily he was able to keep wearing his white trainers.
“You do look nice,” Rose insisted. “It’s high time you stopped wearing the same thing all around the galaxy.”
“I liked doing that,” he said moodily.
“Quit.” She bumped him with her elbow. “What have we got planned? Anything?”
“Well, no alien invasions or mysterious occurrences that need investigating. So it looks like a night of eating takeout in front of the telly.”
That sounded like the best plan ever to Rose. “Marvelous. Let’s do it.”
They got Chinese takeaway on the way back to the flat. Rose paused to check their mailbox, now labeled with a small card that read Smith. A faint niggle of guilt crowded her, and she glanced at their landlady’s door. Sweet old Mrs. MacMurray thought they were married, and here Rose hadn’t even let the Doctor know. If he’d noticed that the box said Smith and not Tyler or Tyler and Smith, he had not commented. She decided it would just have to be one of those things that she didn’t tell him for his own good.
“Rose?” The Doctor was stopped on the stairs, carrying their food and her bag.
“Coming.” Rose quickly checked the box. “Empty.”
“We’ll have to start up a few magazine subscriptions.”
Once inside Rose slipped off her shoes and dove into the food. The Doctor moved more slowly, watching her in amusement as he took off his coat.
“Did you skip lunch?”
“No, but this smells so good!” Rose sat in front of the television, food in her lap.
The Doctor turned the television on with the sonic screwdriver. “You’re going to get grease on your dress.”
“Lo mein noodles. Don’t care.” Rose fished out the chopsticks, considered them, and abandoned them for the plastic fork.
The Doctor shook his head and went to the kitchen, taking two bottles of Coca-Cola out of the refrigerator.
“Here you are.” He aimed the sonic at the bottlecaps to loosen them up and set one down beside Rose before sitting next to her.
“When did you get Coke? The cupboards were pretty bare this morning.”
“Today.” He unfurled a paper napkin with a flourish and handed it to her.
“You did the shopping?”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised!” He dug out a box of food and opened it, careful to protect his lap with a napkin first.
“Well, it’s only that you hate to go shopping.” Their argument about doing domestic was still fresh, and while Rose didn’t want to bring it up again, she felt it was only fair to address it.
“Sometimes the shopping is fun,” the Doctor said reluctantly. “And sometimes it needs to be done.” What he didn’t say, and what he felt guilty about, was that he’d been expecting her to work all week and still do all the shopping for food and other necessary items. It was getting harder and harder to listen to his internal arguments that she was better at that sort of thing.
“Did you pick up some tea?” she couldn’t help asking.
He slanted her a look and then a grin. “I did.”
“Then all is well,” Rose said grandly.
They ate in a comfortable silence, sharing bits of food with each other. The evening news was on, and the talk was all about the upcoming trip to the moon.
“That’s a brilliant day.” The Doctor nodded to the television. “The Americans will land on the moon. The first tiny step on the way to space exploration. I’ll take you there, as soon as we have the TARDIS back.”
Rose smiled. “I’d like that.”
Dinner was done and everything cleared away. Rose was about to change into something more comfortable than her work clothes when there was a knock on the door.
“Are you expecting anyone?” she asked.
“No. Who would I be expecting?”
The Doctor went to answer it, opening it cautiously.
“Oh, it’s Jeff!” he said to Rose over his shoulder. “Hello, Jeff.”
Jeff did not waste time on pleasantries.
“I’m going to the movies with a friend. Want to come along? You two don’t get out much lately.”
Rose considered this. “What are you going to see?”
“2001: A Space Odyssey.”
“Your friend won’t mind if we tag along?” Rose had heard of the movie, of course, but she’d never seen it.
Jeff scowled. “Probably not.”
The Doctor smiled. “Is it the pretty blonde we saw at the pub last time we were there?”
Jeff sighed. “Kitty. Yeah. What’s a bloke gotta do to make a girl know he likes her?” he demanded to Rose.
“Er...”
“I mean, it’s not like John just hit you over the head one day and dragged you off to the altar! There are steps involved in this process!”
“What altar?” The Doctor asked in alarm.
“We’ll meet you downstairs,” Rose told Jeff before shutting the door. “I just need to change.”
“What altar, Rose?”
“Let me just get out of this dress!” she called, running down the hallway to her bedroom.
The Doctor stood there with a frown on his face until he heard Rose calling him.
“Doctor!”
“What?” he called back.
“I need a hand with the zip! It’s stuck!”
“What do you need to change for?” he asked, walking into her room. “You look very nice.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks, but it’s been a long day in tights and this dress. Can you undo it?” She turned around, presenting him with her back. The green dress slipped off of her shoulder, the zip in back snagged halfway down her back.
The Doctor swallowed. He could see the back of her pink bra, and there was a lot of smooth skin showing. He stood there, unable to move.
Rose glanced at him over her shoulder, her hair brushing her shoulders. “Doctor?”
As she moved the arm holding the dress against her body shifted, and he could see the lacy cups of her bra. He cleared his throat and reached out for the zipper.
“Certainly. We’ll have you out of that dress in just a jiffy.” He heard his words and froze. She didn’t say anything, so he decided he was safe and pulled the zipper down. It had snagged on the dress’s material but now pulled free and let him zip it down to the small of Rose’s back. It stopped just above her pink knickers.
Rose stepped away from him and turned. “Thanks.”
“Yep. Anytime. I’ll just wait out here -” The Doctor turned to go and promptly tripped on something that had caught on his shoe. He had superior Time Lord reflexes, but those reflexes had no hope against a partially dressed Rose Tyler. He stumbled, trying to catch himself. Rose reached for him and managed to pull them both off-balance and onto the floor in a heap.
“Oof,” she said heavily. The floor was hard and the carpet rather thin.
He’d landed on the floor beside her. “Oh! Sorry. Are you okay?” He levered himself up on one arm and scanned her for injuries.
“I’m okay.” Rose was suddenly breathless. The dress had slipped down around her waist in the fall, and her bare skin was pressed against the Doctor’s shirt as he hovered above her.
“Good.” He sounded equally breathless, and as he gazed into her eyes he lowered himself back down so their faces were only inches apart.
“Rose,” he whispered.
Rose closed her eyes. This was it. She had been waiting for so long, and finally here was proof that he wasn’t indifferent to her. If the expression on his face didn’t convince her, the hardness of his body did. She opened her eyes and smiled.
“Hello,” she whispered.
“Hello,” he whispered back.
His head moved closer to hers, his eyes intent on her mouth. She parted her lips, waiting, and was jolted by the sudden knocking on the door.
The Doctor jerked up and cursed. “What the-”
“Five minutes and I leave without you!” Jeff hollered through the door.
“Damn him,” the Doctor muttered.
Rose became aware of her state of undress. The knock had broken the spell, and now she shifted uncomfortably underneath the Doctor. He caught his breath as she moved and Rose stopped, realizing what her movements would be doing to him.
“Doctor?”
“For once,” he murmured, “Just once, I’m not going to be interrupted. I”m not going to stop myself.”
“What-” Her words were swallowed by his mouth as he kissed her. Rose closed her mind and enjoyed the feel of his mouth on hers, running a hand through his hair while holding his head in place with her other hand. He kissed with single-minded dedication, and Rose fully approved.
It might have gone on for some time, but Rose had to breathe, and she pulled away and gasped for breath.
“Sorry,” the Doctor said. “I forgot that you can’t hold your breath as long as I can.”
She smiled up at him, arms around his neck. “I didn’t mind.”
He cleared his throat. “Then perhaps we ought to-”
What he thought they ought to do was never heard. Another knock came at their door, and they heard Jeff yelling.
“Meet me at the Red Umbrella Cinema!”
“I think he got tired of waiting for us,” Rose murmured.
The Doctor sighed heavily. “I’ll let you get dressed.” He moved off of her and got to his feet somewhat clumsily. He held a hand out to Rose and helped her stand. “I’ll be out there.” He nodded toward the front room.
Rose nodded, suddenly feeling shy. She waited until he had closed the door behind him to move.
“Everything all right, mate?” Jeff asked cheerfully when the Doctor opened the door.
“I thought you were leaving!” the Doctor said indignantly.
“Thought I’d give you a few more minutes, mate. Everything okay?”
The Doctor gave him a withering glare. “Just fine, thank you,” he said from between clenched teeth. “Rose is just getting changed.”
“Thanks for coming along,” Jeff said as they stood in the hallway. “If I thought Kitty would like to be alone with me, well, I’d jump at the chance, but this way she’s more likely to be nice to me.”
The Doctor frowned in puzzlement. “Is she a friend?”
“Knew her at uni.” Jeff shrugged. “She’s hot and cold. One minute acts like an ice princess, the next she’s flirting with me. Can’t get anywhere with her.”
“With who?” Rose asked from behind them. She had changed into a white blouse and dark trousers with the narrowest leg she could find. Her hair was brushed and pulled back in a ponytail. She locked the door to the flat and stood in the hallway, looking at them expectantly.
“Kitty,” Jeff said gloomily.
“She may or may not be Jeff’s girl,” the Doctor explained, taking Rose’s hand. She glanced at him as their skin touched, uncertain how to react. His attention was on Jeff, and Rose decided that they would act just like they always did, and never mind that they had just shared an amazingly hot kiss on the floor of her bedroom. If there was one thing they were very good at doing, it was pretending things hadn’t happened.
They walked to the cinema, just a few blocks away. Rose was glad they had ended up in a central location. Walking when the weather was nice was not a hardship, and it saved money spent on buses and the Tube. On occasion they had caught a taxi ride with one of their alien friends, but it didn’t happen too often. The nice thing about the aliens was that they all instantly recognized Rose and the Doctor, and they all refused to charge them fare.
The three of them kept up a casual conversation all the way, with Rose’s hand securely in the Doctor’s. Once, as they waited to cross the street, he glanced down at her. She smiled up at him and he smiled back, two people sharing a lovely secret.
“There she is.” Jeff moved away from them in front of the cinema, hurrying to meet a blonde girl standing by herself.
“So that’s Kitty.” Rose looked at the other girl appraisingly. “She seems nice.”
The Doctor snorted. “Jeff’s a bit less than level headed, though, isn’t he? So she surely can’t be that together.”
Rose slapped his arm. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” he demanded innocently. “Surely you’ve noticed that he’s a bit careless.”
“Well, he’s young and single. That’s how guys are.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes.
“You wouldn’t know, of course,” Rose couldn’t resist saying. “You not being human. Or young.”
He fixed her with a very stern look, but Jeff was there and talking before he could say something in retaliation.
“I got the tickets. Ready?”
The film was dated, to Rose’s eyes, but the reactions of everyone else told her that it was an amazing movie for the time. She sat beside the Doctor, with Kitty on her right and Jeff to the right of Kitty. Rose didn’t know what Jeff and his friend were getting up to, but the Doctor kept her entertained by whispering facts about the film, the actors and historical inaccuracies. Rose snuggled down in her seat, content to share the popcorn.
“I think Keir Dullea is so handsome,” Kitty whispered to Rose toward the end of the movie.
“Me too,” Rose whispered back.
A snort from Jeff’s direction let them know that he had heard and wasn’t impressed with their opinion.
Kitty rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”
“Does he have reason to be jealous?” Rose whispered.
Kitty snorted into her popcorn.
By the time the Hal computer was dismantled, Rose had had it with the movie. It had gone on and on, and not even the Doctor’s comments were enough to keep her interested.
“I don’t see what’s so great about it,” she complained as they left the theater.
“Are you kidding?” Jeff asked in surprise. “That was amazing!”
“What was the point of the baby at the end? I don’t get it. Was he going back in time to start over?”
“Well, I don’t know! But it was amazing.” Jeff glanced at Kitty for confirmation, but she was looking away.
“Star Wars was better,” Rose muttered.
“Star what?” Jeff repeated.
“The HAL 9000 was a bit creepy,” Kitty admitted suddenly. “I’m glad there’s nothing like that around in real life.”
Jeff snorted. “The way computers are built? There’s no way they’ll ever be small enough to fit in with everyday life.”
Rose thought of tiny computers in mobile phones, in iPods and laptops. She suppressed a smile but couldn’t help looking over at the Doctor.
“They’d never believe you,” he told her.
“Believe her about what?” Kitty asked.
“Oh, Rose thinks the movie had amazing special effects.”
“It did,” Kitty responded. “Why wouldn’t we believe that, Rose?”
“Oh, you know.” Rose gestured vaguely, then caught sight of a clock in a storefront window. “Is it really midnight?” She looked around, realizing that it was dark. Walking out of the movie theater, it had seemed natural to have the dark continue outside.
“Midnight and ten seconds,” the Doctor confirmed.
“The night’s still young!” Kitty looked excited. “Shall we go try that new disco?”
“You two go ahead.” The Doctor took Rose’s hand. “We’re going to get back. It’s been a long day.”
Kitty looked slightly disappointed. Jeff didn’t look disappointed at all.
“Cool,” he said. “We’ll see you later.”
“Bye.” Rose waved as they turned and left.
“I am so ready for bed,” Rose yawned as they walked back. She heard the words as she spoke them, and she blushed furiously.
If the Doctor took her words at anything other than face value, he didn’t how it.
“Eight hours of shut eye for you, Miss Tyler. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir,” she said lightly.
They didn’t talk much on the way back. When they entered the hall of the building, Mrs. MacMurray’s door opened just a crack. Rose heard music playing softly, and a think stream of light came through the door.
“Good night, Mrs. MacMurray,” she said politely.
The door closed again, and they heard the locks engage.
The Doctor shook his head as he ushered Rose up the stairs to their flat, a hand at her back.
“She’s an odd one.”
“Maybe she’s just lonely.”
“Then she’d do better to open the door all the way and say hello,” he pointed out.
“Well, maybe she’s shy.”
The Doctor rolled his eyes as Rose unlocked their door.
“What?” she asked defensively. “Maybe she is!” She locked the door as he turned the lights on.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “I’m going to do some work.” The Doctor nodded to his work area.
“Okay. I’m going to bed. Good night.” Rose hesitated, then came to a decision. She stepped in close, stood on her toes, and quickly kissed his cheek.
“Good night,” the Doctor echoed, watching her walk down the hallway. The door to her bedroom opened and closed. He heard her go to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. He heard her get in bed, turn off the light and fall asleep. And still he stood there, the feel of her lips on his face burning like fire.
He was in too deep, and he had never been happier.
Fifteen