Author's Note: This is a follow on to Absolution.
Life in the Fast Lane
"Is your mother inviting all of London?" the Doctor hissed to Rose once Jackie had disappeared into the kitchen for a cuppa.
"Did you think she would have a small affair when she can throw a massive party?" Rose laughed. "How many times does her only daughter get married?"
"Eighteen times," the Doctor countered. "No. Wait. You married Tillun, so nineteen."
"Never divorced him before I married you," she teased. "Does that make me a bigamist?"
"Never legal. And, you'd be a widow now, anyway. He's long since dead. Over twenty-eight hundred years dead. Not to mention, you and I were married before you married him."
"True." Rose tucked the little card into an envelope the Doctor had neatly addressed and sealed it before beginning the process all over again with a new invitation. "Which one was that one? The marriage before we found Das."
"Remember when we went to Dhetwen?"
"Dhetwen?"
"The planet with the bazaar and all those glittering leis."
"Oh, right. Dhetwen. What about it?"
"We were married according to the local custom… You put that lei on me."
"So that's why you tried to keep me from doing it," Rose smirked. "Just thought you were too important for a flower necklace."
The Doctor didn't answer. He hastily scrawled addresses onto the two remaining envelopes.
"There. Finished. May we go now?"
"Still another box left to do."
He groaned his displeasure loudly: "We'll never be able to go home."
"What's so important?" Rose asked, before sealing another invitation. This one going to one of her mother's friends she'd only met once or twice.
The look he gave her was worse than his usual 'you just dribbled on your shirt' expression of frustration, but it still took a few moments for Rose to figure out his train of thought.
"If you're going to be like this each month, I'm not going to let you chart my cycle anymore," she informed him.
Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes at her, reminding Rose for the world of her little brother when he didn't get his way.
"I shouldn't have agreed to start before the wedding. You're going to attempt to interrupt everything because 'it's time', and we'll have to drop everything and have sex. Am I right?"
He simply continued to pout.
Rather than scold him again, Rose shoved another invitation into an addressed envelope and sealed it before setting it on top of the stack her mother was going to come back and put postage stamps on.
Because of his ridiculous behavior, she debated on torturing him further by not even allowing him in bed with her that night, but she wasn't sure she could put up with his antics if she did that.
"If you don't stop acting like a child, I'm starting my birth control regime again."
"You wouldn't," he gasped. "That's not fair."
"My body. Perfectly fair."
His mouth wrinkled in disgust as he shot her a dirty look. Which was the moment Jackie returned with not just one, but three cups of tea.
She glanced from the Doctor to Rose and them back again before shaking her head and asking what the problem was now. Both quickly muttered, "Nothing", before hastily looking very busy.
No one said a word until Rose picked up a pen and scribbled a note on a scrap of paper and passed it to the Doctor.
I don't want you to think I'm a baby machine, it said.
"I don't think that," the Doctor whispered before writing back, It's just 9 mos is a long time to wait already.
Rose smiled and wrote, You really want one, don't you?
The Doctor grinned and nodded enthusiastically.
With an eye roll, Rose laughed and patted his arm, assuring him they'd head back to their flat in an hour.
"So, Aunt Flinn is going to fly in for the wedding," Jackie said.
"Will she be cutting her holiday short to do that?" Rose asked, knowing this alternate version of her aunt loved to spend a good few months on an island holiday that time of year.
"No, she adjusted her schedule."
Rose nodded silently and stared at the card in her hand that happily invited her to the wedding of 'Rose Marion Tyler and Dr. John Smith' before glancing over at 'Dr. John Smith'.
He was back to work neatly printing out the addresses on the envelopes, moving with a little more speed in hopes of leaving even earlier if they finished sooner.
His enthusiasm wasn't catching for her. Honestly, she was terrified about the whole thing. So much could go wrong and leave both of them devastated. She already had a history that proved her doubts were justified.
Setting the invitation aside, she picked the pen back up and wrote beneath her last note: Just don't get your hopes up too high.
It wasn't until he finished writing out the final line of some cousin's address that the Doctor turned to read what she'd written. His face turned solemn and he looked at her with concern.
He knew what she was afraid of.
If that happens we NEVER have to try again, he wrote and gave her soft look.
"Okay," Rose agreed.
"I promise," he reassured, reaching across the table to hold her hand.
The sincerity in his voice and his face left her feeling guilty for being frustrated with him before. He honestly meant well, but he was simply too enthusiastic about some things at times.
Pulling her hand free so she could finish the last few invitations for the night, Rose laughed.
"I'm still taking the chart and thermometer away from you, though."
Author's Note: I have a few outstanding projects I want to get out of the way before I get back to work on the sequel to Absolution, but I will be getting to it soon, so look for it by September.