Author's Note: So, to those of you who have been experiencing the doom and gloom that seem to hang over my posts for this week, here's some feel-good fluffiness just to remind you that it isn't all bad. Please read, review and tell me what you think!
Hope you like it! :)
…
Rose was putting her foot down. "Doctor," she said exasperatedly, "It's time."
"No," the Doctor said adamantly, "No, no, no—not happening."
"You can't just leave it!" Rose implored, "Honestly, sooner or later you're going to have to face this problem. And I'm saying sooner."
"I'm the last of the Time Lords," he told her, sounding more like a five-old-year than anything else, "I do what I want."
"Yeah? Well, I'm Rose Tyler and I'm telling you that you can't postpone this any longer!"
"Nope," he said, popping the "p" and folding his arms angrily, "No, nah-ah, no way."
"Alright then," she told him, "I'll let you off the hook, no strings attached. I'll never bother you about it again, in fact— if you just tell me one thing."
The Doctor made sure to keep his guard well up. Rose wasn't going to sway him this time with those big, brown eyes of hers. "What?" he asked warily.
"Can you remember the last time you washed that coat?"
The Doctor gave a scoff of indignation. "Of course I do!"
"Well?" she prompted, "When was it?"
He muttered something completely unintelligible.
Rose raised an eyebrow sceptically. "What was that?"
"Hundred years, give or take," he muttered, louder this time.
"Right," Rose nodded curtly. Then she proceeded to take his coat from where it hung on the coral pillar by the TARDIS entranceway, "I'm taking this over to the dry-cleaner. I'll be back around noon."
She shut the door behind her with a sigh. Laundry day was never easy with that man. She looked down at the coat in her hands and laughed despite herself. She was actually glad to be spending a few hours away from him, for once. He was probably in there right now, putting on his best Oncoming Sulk. He tended to get rather pouty when he didn't get his way, after all.
Honestly though, as much as she loved his trench-coat, it really was time it had gotten a good wash. With all the running he did in it and all the sitting on it they did when they were rest-stopping on the odd alien planet, she shuddered to think how dirty the old thing really was. Especially since it had been a good hundred years since it had last been clean…
"So you actually got him to agree to washing the coat, then?" her mum asked as she entered the flat and placed the coat in question on the kitchen table.
"Well, he didn't try to run away with it like he did last time, at least," Rose told her, starting to empty the coat pockets.
"I reckon a good washing is past due for that old thing," Jackie said, wrinkling her nose, "What with him wearing the same thing every day of his life. I'd recommend just buying him a new one, mind. This one's a bit past its prime."
"Nah," Rose gave a small smile, "I'd never tell him to do that. He loves this coat."
"Alright, then," Jackie said, still sounding slightly doubtful. She moved over to help Rose with the pocket-emptying business, "Blimey, what doesn't this man have in his pockets?!" Jackie pulled out a string of at least twenty colourful handkerchiefs and looked at them disbelievingly, "Who does he think he is? A bloody magician?"
Rose laughed, pulling out several lint-balls, a few screws and a suspiciously bomb-looking object out of the pocket she herself was working on. "He just likes to be prepared," she said, "You come to expect the unexpected when travelling in the TARDIS."
"Sounds about right," Jackie said, holding up a photo she had found in one of the coat pockets for Rose to see. She had an asking expression on her face.
"Oh, yeah," Rose blushed, "'Forgot about that."
The picture was of her and the Doctor, looking particularly touchy-feely as they stood just outside of a newly built Colosseum in ancient Rome. It had been the second time they went (after the whole business with her being turned into a statue) and the trip had mainly been for sightseeing purposes. They had asked a particularly drunk Roman to take the picture for them, seeing as he would probably write the experience of using a camera off as a drunken hallucination anyway. It had been good fun to teach him how to do it, and the man had had quite the steady hand for someone as inebriated as he was.
"He's carrying pictures of the two of you around with him now?" her mum asked sceptically.
"Yeah, I've got one, too," Rose said, taking her copy of the photo out of her back-pocket and showing it to her mother, "It's for when we lose each other during exploring and such. This way, we can show people what the other one looks like."
"Alright, then," Jackie said with a small eye-roll.
Rose put the photo back in her pocket. "What?"
"Nothing," she shook her head. After a moment of silence in which Rose gave her a prompting look, Jackie sighed, "It's just—you'd tell me if things were getting—serious between the two of you, wouldn't you?"
Rose went to sit beside her mother, taking her hand and looking into her eyes earnestly. "Of course I would, Mum. Why would you even ask something like that?"
Jackie looked at her for a long moment, seemingly trying to discern something in her eyes. Finally, she held up a small, white square to Rose's face. "You sure about that?" she asked quietly.
Rose looked at the square blankly. It was a napkin. And she knew exactly where it had come from. She had no idea what it was doing in one of the Doctor's pockets, though.
Rose always felt the need to omit some of the more perilous adventures she and the Doctor had when talking to her mum about travelling. One of those adventures had been their recent trip to Krop Tor, a planet suspended in orbit around a black hole. They'd cut it close, and as a result things had been very—intense between her and the Doctor during the trip.
At one point, they'd even talked about a potential future together. Granted, the conversation had only lasted a few sentences, but the fact that it happened had caused something to shift in their relationship. A general sense of closeness that had been steadily growing ever since.
As she looked at the little napkin in front of her, it caused another little shift inside of her.
The napkin from the kitchen run by the Ood had little scribbles on it. Scribbles that formed a picture.
A picture that depicted a blueprint.
The drawing showed the layout for a tiny, two bedroom house, complete with ensuite and guest bathrooms. There was also a kitchen, a little living room and even a small garden outside. What really caught Rose's eye, however, was a room that was off to the side of the house.
"Rose's Studio," it read.
She had been good at drawing and art in school, but since she'd left she had never really pursued the hobby again. Not until the Doctor had found her absently doodling one day, at least. He had instantly insisted that her talent be cultivated and not long after promptly introduced her to a young Leonardo Da Vinci for art lessons. She had been so touched by the gesture that she'd complied just to keep him happy. As it turned out, though, the lessons had been more enjoyable than she'd expected.
She had been drawing again ever since, much to the Doctor's delight.
"Well?" her mother asked softly, "Are you going to explain this to me?"
Rose felt her heart warm at the sight of the little blueprint. She could feel small tears welling up in her eyes just at the sight of it. A proper house, he'd said. She'd seen it in his eyes; the idea had absolutely terrified him.
"I don't know," she told her mum. Her voice sounded all thick with emotion and she cleared her throat, "I don't know, Mum. We were just talking and he—I had no idea he would do something like this," she said honestly.
She would tell her mum as much of the truth as she possibly could. She knew that Jackie already thought that her and the Doctor were doing a little more than just travelling together, them being all alone in the TARDIS…
"It's alright, sweetheart," she said, pulling Rose into an unexpected hug, "I understand."
…
At noon, after having dropped off the infamously dirty coat and picking it up again, Rose returned to the TARDIS. She smiled when she walked into the console room to find a pair of sneakered feet sticking out from underneath the console.
A bit of tinkering always did him good when he was in one of his moods.
Upon hearing her footsteps, he swiftly slid out from his working place, a big, goofy grin on his face. His face was adorably smudged with some oil on his cheek. "So, the deed's done, then?" he asked her as she handed him back his coat.
"Yeah," she told him with a laugh, "And I see that you've been getting some work done around here as well." She moved forward and, licking her finger, wiped the oil stain from his cheek.
"Thanks," he smiled at her.
"Anytime," she answered.
She helped him as he shrugged into his coat. He brushed his hands over all his coat pockets with a pleased look on his face. "Right!" he said delightedly, "Everything seems to be in order."
Rose noticed that he left the pocket in which he had kept the napkin for last. As he checked the pocket and found that the square wasn't there, she also caught the small flash of panic in his eyes.
"Looking for this?" she asked, holding the object in question up for him to see.
He paled. "Rose," he said quietly, "That's not—I mean, that's just something I—"
"It's alright," she told him, moving forward and handing him the napkin. She placed her hand on his chest and looked him straight in the eye, "I understand."
They stood like that for quite a long time, just staring into each other's eyes.
"Really?" he asked her quietly.
"Course," she smiled at him, "I always understand."
The Doctor returned her smile. "You do," he said.
"I would've loved it, by the way," she told him.
"What?"
"The art studio," she said, "It was a really thoughtful touch, you adding that."
"Yeah?" he asked her.
She grinned, briefly lifting her hand to touch his face before pulling him into a close hug. "Yeah," she said.