AN: My plan from the start was to use Just Love Me as the beginning of a new series. When the first prompt for 52 stories in 52 weeks was, "A story titled, 'A New Beginning,' I knew exactly what I wanted to write.
Nervous energy pulsed through the Doctor as he walked into the darkened console room. He draped his coat over a coral strut and walked slowly down the ramp towards the console, his hands flexing at his sides. It was January 3rd, 2007, and he and Rose were finally leaving the Powell Estate.
After New Year's Eve, after they'd finally straightened out all the misunderstandings between them, and after Rose had come home, he'd assumed they would leave the next day. Her desire to stay, "Just for a few more days, Doctor," had sent a tremor of unease through him, but he'd tamped it down and smiled his agreement.
But now… He rested his hand on the power control and took a deep breath. It was time to go. He threw the lever and something settled in his hearts when the time rotor lit up. From there, his fingers moved faster with each dial that needed to be adjusted, each switch that needed to be flipped.
Are you ready, old girl? he asked his TARDIS. She chimed happily, and when he twisted one more control, the time rotor started its slow chug up and down as she prepared to shift into the Time Vortex. The Doctor listened to the familiar wheezing sound of the engines, and he couldn't contain a wide grin.
The door opened, and his hearts stuttered when he caught sight of Rose. She was gorgeous, as always, but it was the way she looked at him that made him want to forget about the message he'd gotten on the psychic paper and carry her to his bedroom.
The brilliant smile on the Doctor's face stopped Rose in her tracks. Did he know what he did to her when he looked at her like that? The sly wink as he pulled the final lever and sent them into the Vortex suggested he did.
He nodded towards her usual spot at the console, and she accepted the invitation eagerly. She dropped her hat along with her bag and laid her coat down on top of the Doctor's before joining him. Her TARDIS flying lessons came back to her quickly, and she automatically moved to adjust the stabilisers when they hit some turbulence.
"So where are we going?" Rose asked once the ride had evened out.
"Further than we've ever gone before." His gleeful smile sent a thrill of excitement down Rose's spine. She'd missed this, she realised—the travelling, the newness of everything, the excitement of seeing things no human of her time ever would.
"Oh, go on," she wheedled. "Tell me?" She took his hand and looked up at him with the smile she knew he couldn't resist.
The Doctor prided himself on being unbreakable, able to hold firm against all forms of coercion. But when Rose Tyler looked at him like that, with her head tilted slightly and her tongue just showing through her teeth, all his defences crumbled.
"Oh, all right." He sat down on the jump seat and tugged her down beside him. "So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted."
Rose bumped his shoulder with hers. "That was our first date."
"We had chips." He hummed happily when she laughed. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in."
The TARDIS landed gently, and the Doctor jumped to his feet and grabbed his coat. He bounded down the ramp, then leaned against the doors and crossed his arms over his chest. "Come on then, Rose Tyler. Our adventure awaits."
Rose laughed at the Doctor's exuberance, but when she stepped out of the TARDIS onto the alien planet, awe silenced her. They'd landed in a meadow, and on the other side of a harbour, a futuristic city gleamed in the sun. Flying cars whizzed overhead, carrying people in and out of the metropolis.
A strong breeze blew hair into her face, and the Doctor brushed it back for her. Then he took her hand in his and turned to face the city.
"It's the year five billion and twenty three," he told her. "We're in the galaxy M87, and this? This is New Earth."
"That's just… That's just…" She laughed, unable to express the emotions coursing through her in any other way.
A happy sound came from the back of the Doctor's throat, and he squeezed her hand. "Not bad. Not bad at all."
"That's amazing," Rose breathed. "I'll never get used to this. Never." She let go of the Doctor's hand and bounced slightly, feeling the give of the springy turf. "Different ground beneath my feet, different sky." She paused when a new scent reached her nose. "What's that smell?"
The Doctor bent down and picked a handful of grass and brought it to her nose. "Apple grass."
Rose took a deep breath, and the crisp, fresh aroma of apples filled her nostrils. "Apple grass."
"Yeah, yeah." The Doctor smiled so widely that little crinkles formed around his eyes.
"It's beautiful." Rose stared at the Doctor for a long moment, enjoying his happiness. "Oh, I love this," she said as she slipped her arm through his. "Can I just say—travelling with you, I love it."
The Doctor's Adam's apple bobbed, and she thought he heard what she hadn't said. He faced her and used his free hand to brush her flyaway air back over her ear again before resting it gently on her neck.
"Me too," he whispered as he leaned in slowly.
"Yeah?" Rose searched his eyes, looking for a hint that he might love her as much as she loved him.
The affection there warmed and deepened. "Oh yes," he confirmed, and his lips were so close to hers that she could feel the breath from the words hit her mouth.
When Rose's eyelids fluttered closed, the Doctor crossed the last centimetre separating them and kissed her tenderly—just a soft press of his lips to hers. When she curved her body against his and grabbed onto his lapels, he rested a hand on the small of her back, holding her close.
A car buzzing close to their heads interrupted the kiss before it could become a full-on snog. The Doctor and Rose looked at each other for a moment, wide-eyed, then broke into peals of laughter.
"Come on!" He took her hand and ran across the meadow.
When they reached a flat spot that wasn't directly under a main flight path, he dropped her hand and took his coat off, spreading it out on the grass. Amusement twinkled in Rose's eyes as he flopped onto his back and crossed his feet at the ankles.
"Well? Are you just going to stand there?" He looked pointedly at the spot next to him.
Rose lay down beside him, her movements slightly more graceful than his had been. When she rested her head on his chest, the Doctor closed his eyes for a moment, then wrapped his arm more tightly around her shoulder, holding her securely against his side.
Her thoughts hummed at the edges of his awareness, and a muscle in his jaw flexed. Rose had always been slightly more telepathically open than the average human, but he hadn't realised that going into her mind to erase the memory of Bad Wolf would lay the groundwork for a telepathic connection between them.
And since she knew nothing about shielding, her mind constantly projected her thoughts towards him. It would be so easy to just lower his barriers and take a peek, but that would breach every rule of telepathic etiquette he'd been taught.
"Penny for 'em," he said after a moment, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Her head shifted on his shoulder. "What?"
"You're lost in thought somewhere."
"Oh." Rose pushed herself up on one elbow and looked down at her Doctor. How did this face look so right to her already, when she'd known it for less than two weeks?
She traced the high arch of his eyebrow and the strong line of his jaw, and curiosity sparked in his brown eyes. "You're so different," she murmured, even though it wasn't quite what she was thinking. "These laugh lines," she continued, lightly touching the skin near the corner of his eye. "You didn't have them before."
The Doctor looked up at her soberly. "Didn't have much to laugh about, me," he said, a hint of his old accent peeking through.
"And now you do?"
He sighed, and for a moment, his age showed in his eyes. "I regenerated into that body when the war ended," he said. "It was born of pain and loss."
"What about this one?"
Something flickered in his eyes, almost too fast for Rose to catch it. Then it disappeared, and the Doctor smiled at her. "Well, pretty much anything is happier than war, right?"
Rose looked down at him. "S'pose you've got a point there," she allowed. She knew, somehow, that the Doctor was hiding something from her. Her memory of the Game Station had remained hazy, but she remembered enough to know his glib answer about singing a song and making the Daleks run away was a lie.
She wanted to push for answers but the same instinct that told her he was hiding something told her to leave it alone—for now. But eventually, Doctor, you'll tell me the truth.