Disclaimer: Doctor Who isn't mine. If it was things would be quite different. The BBC owns all and I bow before them. The versions of Peter Pan and Robin Hood referenced herein are the property of Disney.
Author's note: First and foremost I must say that my headcanon is that the Doctor and Rose do have a TARDIS in Pete's World. Not having one is not an option to me and I never thought I'd write a story where they didn't have a new TARDIS, but... that's the way it had to be for this fic. I'll guess do anything for the right line. Also, if tights are called something else in Britain please let me know. I researched but couldn't find anything conclusive online.
Rose Tyler looked down at the clothes before her in disbelief. There was a pink onesie, a white nightshirt, and a simple blue dress. What in the world? This was his great plan?
It was the night of the annual Vitex Christmas party, a costumed event for all employees and their families, and what she was looking at were pajamas and a dress that looked like it belonged on a young girl, not a wife and mother.
This was the first year she felt both children were ready to attend and the Doctor had assured her, with his usual manic enthusiasm, that he had the perfect idea and to not worry about a thing. No amount of prodding had gotten him to divulge his plans but now that she could see his ideas laid out before her she had to admit, she didn't have the faintest idea what he had been thinking.
With a sigh she pushed her thoughts aside and went to the boys' bedroom to help them get ready. No sooner had she entered though, when Jack, their youngest son, burst in to tears.
"NOOOOOOO!" he wailed, tears racing down his cheeks.
She rushed over to him and gathered him in her arms. "Shh, sweetheart. What is it?"
Jack pointed at the jimjams in her arms. "Don't wanna go to bed!" While their oldest son took after the Tyler side of the family, their youngest was the spitting image of his father and right now with his round puppy dog eyes and protruding lip he indeed looked like a miniature, pouting Doctor.
Rose couldn't help but smile to herself at that. While not wanting to go to bed was a common complaint amongst children, it was one she had never heard her either of her sons make before. Both Jack and Gal loved going to bed. Bedtime meant it was time for the Doctor and his bedtime stories and with over 900 years of them at his disposal, he always kept them entertained without a repeat (unless they insisted like they often did with the one about the farting aliens – the prevention of WWIII and the Slitheen was their favorite story ever). However, she could understand how to a four year old mind, five in the afternoon was much too early for bedtime.
She grabbed a tissue from the boy's nightstand and wiped his eyes. "It's not bedtime, Jack. This is just a costume. Like your Batman cape."
Jack sucked in a breath and looked at the pink onesie and then at his seven year old brother who was unbuttoning the white night shirt he would be wearing.
Gal quickly lifted the nightshirt, pulled it over his arms and popped his head through the top. "Remember, tonight's the Christmas party. I told you about it last year and now you get to go! Santa'll be there too!"
Jack looked back at Rose and she nodded at her son. "Your first Vitex Christmas party. Won't that be fun?"
"Okay." He pushed away from her slightly when she pressed a kiss against the crown of his head but allowed her to help him to the pajamas.
After a quick glance at the clock Rose went back to the master bedroom to put on her own… nursery clothes. That's what they were she decided, though for the life of her she still didn't know why. Even nine years after the second trip to Bad Wolf Bay, and almost a decade and a half of knowing the Doctor, her husband in some ways was still a mystery to her. One she knew she'd never fully solve, but that she loved learning more and more about each day they spent together.
She slipped on the baby blue dress with the cupped sleeves and tied the sash around her waist. She toed on the ballet flats that the Doctor had left for her and stepped in front of the vanity to grab her hairbrush when she saw a flash of green in the mirror.
No way. She stared into the mirror in disbelief. Those were the Doctor's legs all right. She'd know those legs anywhere… but were they really encased in green tights? Her mouth dropped open as everything clicked into place.
With a gasp Rose whirled around and found herself face to face with… Peter Pan. The Doctor stood before in complete Lost Boy attire. Every detail was exactly like the Disney movie from the top of his felt hat to the bottom of his brown stocking-like shoes. It was the tights though that really captured her. He looked…. good in them.
Rose couldn't help it and burst into giggles. "Peter Pan, Doctor? Really?"
The Doctor gave her a confused look. "I'm not quite sure why that's funny, but yes."
She couldn't help biting her lip as she considered her next words carefully. "You do remember that Peter wanted Wendy as a mother figure? To read him stories?" And that while I'm not showing yet, she certainly wasn't pregnant with his daughter? Because he was her partner in life and love she didn't add that with his enthusiasm and energy it sometimes seemed like she already had three children in their home.
The Doctor smiled at her. "Well, you're the mother of my children. I thought Peter Pan was rather appropriate for many reasons."
Now Rose's curiosity was piqued. "Yeah?"
To her surprise the Doctor stepped behind her and began brushing her hair. As he brushed softly through her strands he continued. "When we met I really didn't age, I showed you the stars like Peter showed Wendy, we travelled the Vortex, where like Neverland there is no time, every day I spend with you is an adventure, and of course there's the fact, I'm a little bit foxy." The Doctor met her eyes in the mirror and waggled his eyebrows.
Rose laughed and turned to poke him in the ribs. "That you are, but that's Robin Hood, Doctor, not Peter Pan!"
The Doctor put the hairbrush down and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Not in Pete's World it isn't!"
She blinked at him, her mind whirling as she realized that while their home was filled with Disney movies, she hadn't actually watched Peter Pan or Robin Hood in this universe. "Really?"
"Nope. Peter Pan is told with animals. The characters in Robin Hood aren't and let me tell you, watching Prince John suck his thumb as a human instead of a lion is nowhere near as fun."
The Doctor stuck out his lip in a brief pout and Rose went to kiss and tell him she loved that he chose Peter Pan but before she could he continued. "But all those are secondary reasons."
"And the primary reason?" Rose asked with a smile.
The Doctor cupped her cheek and drew her into his embrace. "I thought that part would've been obvious. You, the boys, our little Donna Ace," he reached down and caressed her still flat belly. "You're my happy thoughts. Even without the TARDIS you make me feel like I can fly."
Rose felt tears prickle her eyes. She knew how hard losing the TARDIS had been on the Doctor, and that he still missed his ship every single day, but she also knew that this life with her, with their children made him truly happy and she felt blessed with the gift she'd been given. "Oh, Doctor."
She heard gagging sounds as she kissed her husband but she paid them no mind for a moment as she enjoyed a simple press of lips on lips. Finally breaking for air she found Gal, wearing fake glasses and a top hat on his head and umbrella in his arms, rolling his eyes. Jack on the other hand, currently going through a "girls are icky stage," had dropped the teddy bear he'd been carrying and was pretending to throw up.
The Doctor scooped up his youngest son and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Someday Jack, you'll understand. Though please, please, please, don't take after your namesake!"
Laughing to herself, Rose grabbed a bow off the vanity and tied in in her hair, the finishing touch to her costume.
As she followed her husband and sons out the Doctor the turned to her with a look of uncertainty on his face. "Did I do good?"
Rose looked at him in surprise. "Of course you did. Why did you ask?"
The Doctor tugged on his ear. "When I dropped off the props in the boys' room I could tell Jack had been crying."
She shook her head. "He just thought it was bedtime. Peter Pan was a brilliant idea. If I didn't think it'd go to your head I'd say the same about you."
"Oi!" the Doctor exclaimed, but his eyes danced with amusement.
Rose slipped her hand into his as they reached the door and squeezed it. "You did wonderful, Doctor." She leaned over to whisper in his ear. "And later on, when we get home, I'll show you just how much I appreciate that costume… and those tights."
the end