Title: Implication
Rating: T
Summary: The art of implication can be used with body movement, words, or even logic. A game develops between Rose and the Doctor to try prove their superior skills to the other. 10/Rose
A/N: Just a little story that ended up writing itself one day during my fourth period. However this is my first attempt at a story like this, so it maybe a bit bumpy. Of course any thoughts or suggests are welcome. The Ten featured in this story is a bit different than the one in my other story, "Everlasting".
"What did you expect? A library containing a book entitled 'All the Doctor's secrets, Abridged'?" he asked.
She smiled, not looking from the pages in the book. She knew he was standing behind her, hands in his pants, waiting for his answer. Just like normal he had his rather broad stance, twitching every now and then as he waited for an answer she obliviously wasn't going to give. Her smile grew as she turned the page in her book, chin resting in her hand that was propped up against the arm of the chair. She noticed when he shifted slightly; he'd never come out and ask his question again, he never did.
"Maybe." She finally answered a few minutes later, still smiling and turning another page.
He let out a sigh and she fought to keep a giggle in. He didn't like discussing how she could pin out his simple errors. He'd changed since his regeneration, he wasn't as outspoken about his ego but it was still there, coming out in his movements and how he spoke. Sure he'd deny it on all accounts but she knew him too well for that one.
Rose blinked and tilted her head back, seeing that he was hunched over her, hands still in his pockets with one eyebrow raised. Her eyes widened in surprised, and opened her mouth to say something.
"Treasure Island." He looked at the page, seemingly to automatically know what she was reading. Then again, she thought, he had probably read it several times. He tilted his head slightly as if trying to read something on the page that wasn't there. "When did you start being so fascinated with pirates, Rose?"
Rose shrugged, still determined to play her game. He caught on rather quickly, sighed and shook his head at her. Rose smirked and went back to her book. She found it was a tad more difficult to read the book when he was hovering over her like that. Finally she sighed, bent her head back and looked up at him. "What are you doing?"
"Wouldn't we like to know, Rose Tyler?" He smirked, playing the game as well. Rose stuck her tongue out in a childish pout which just made him smile in triumph more. A few moments passed before she sighed in aggravation and stood up, stretching. She glanced behind her to see if he was still looking at her, which he was, with that stupid grin of his.
"Honestly Doctor you've tried before you can't beat me at my own game." Rose said matter-of-factly before marking her place in the book and putting it down on the table rather loudly. Of course it didn't affect his stature at all.
"Are you sure about that, Rose? I believe I have beaten you on several occasions." He answered with his own matter-of-fact way. Rose huffed, folding her arms. "Ah, there! You see? I've beaten you again Rose Tyler."
"Giving someone the slip by confusing them with logic isn't how you win this game, Doctor." Rose pouted, glaring at him. His response was a simple blink, a tilt of the head, and a raised eyebrow. So far using logic to twist her in circles had worked. That's how he had always played the game. After being with her for such a long time and coming to the conclusion that's how to beat her, it wasn't? He highly doubted that, she was just trying to weasel her way out of loosing yet another round.
"It seems to have worked so far." He returned simply. Rose's eyebrows turned into a frown as she pouted again, receiving yet another smile from the Doctor. "Perhaps I should follow some friendly advice and gain a theme song to play?"
"Oh now that's just harsh." Rose grumbled. "Honestly do you have to rub it in others faces?"
"So now you are admitting defeat." The Doctor pointed out.
"I never said that."
"You implied it." He shook a finger in the air as if to emphasize the fact. "Implying just means that you use different words to dance around the fact that you are trying to hide."
"Well you would know all about dancing wouldn't you Doctor?" Rose smirked. He left himself for an opening.
"I know how to dance very well." The Doctor said rather confident in himself. "Some dances you wouldn't even know as dancing. However dancing is just another way of implication of another word. Any word can be used for implication." Damn did he know what she was implying?
"You're telling me things I already know." Rose jumped back into the chair, leaning against the back of it and wrapping her arms around the top of it. The Doctor simply shrugged. "Well you are! I'm not all that stupid you know you can stop treating me like I don't know any better."
"Because you don't." The Doctor smiled, holding a finger up. Rose blinked. "Ah, see? There I've beaten you with simple logic again. You know many things but not everything."
"Oh but you know everything?" Rose raised her eyebrows, not impressed at all.
"Sort of, yeh." The Doctor smirked in his way, placing his hands back in his pocket. Rose rolled her eyes at him. "Oh and what's with that face? You don't agree?"
"Of course I don't." Rose smiled in return, leaving the Doctor slightly clueless. "Because if you did you'd know all the forms of implication."
Alright, that one he would admit left him a bit confused and unsure. Rose wasn't stupid and could play any kind of word game when she actually applied herself. How was he going to weasel himself out of this one? Simple, he'd just take the first opening and shut the conversation down with one line and leave the room like always.
"And what kind of implications do you mean?" he asked.
Rose shrugged, twirling a piece of blond hair around her finger. "I dunno why don't you tell me? You know so much, after all you said you knew everything." She smirked. The Doctor blinked, this was getting rather dangerous…and not the kind of danger he was really used to anymore. She was doing it on purpose, that much was obvious.
The Doctor pondered a moment; he'd have to word this right in order to keep the conversation from obliviously implying something more than it was supposed to. "There are many different forms of implication." He started out, planning his attack. "You can use a different phrase for many things depending on the context it is used in."
"And an example of this would be….?"
She was playing stupid again. It annoyed him when she did this. "Politics."
"You have to use implication with politics?" She asked.
"For example if you are trying to state your opinion, but state it in a way that it would take them a moment to understand what you mean." He answered. She blinked, seeming to try and ponder that. "Alright, let's take that fight you had with Lady Cassandra."
"How did you know about that?" Her eyes narrowed.
"I know everything, remember?" He taunted and she glared. He continued on with his example. "Instead of outright saying what you did, you could have implied it with logic or history."
"Well I really didn't know any history at the time." She grumbled and he shrugged. It was just an example. She looked up at him, formulating her own attack. "So then, instead of just of just telling me you were alien you could have implied it."
The Doctor blinked. "Well you aren't stupid Rose I didn't need to imply anything." Rose scowled, that was a bad example. So far he was winning rather well. He shifted his weight to his other foot. "Another example would be—"
"Dancing." She interrupted.
"What about it?" he asked unsure about the random interjection.
"Well that term can be used in many different implications." Rose pointed out, drawing random designs on the top of the chair. The Doctor raised his eyebrow at her movement. "After all you said we, us…you know, we go out there and…dance."
"You do." The Doctor noticed exactly where she was taking this and decided to strip it of all its implication. "The human race learns many new forms of dancing! You'd be surprised at what break dancing evolves into."
Rose sighed, aggravated. He was taking all the fun out of it. And he knew it! She glared at him. "You know what I mean."
"Do I? That's the brilliance of implication dear Rose Tyler it can mean so many things." He smiled.
Rose glared, this was getting annoying. "Yes, you do. You're trying to prove to me you don't because you know everything, when of course you don't, and you know exactly what I'm talking about because you said it!"
The Doctor pretend to ponder a moment then held up his finger in fake revelation. "Ah! That's right, I remember that now." She scowled. "Well what else was I suppose to say?"
"You could have come out right and said it."
"But that would be distasteful." The Doctor pointed out. "Implication is also a much more subtle way of saying the same thing. It doesn't sound as gaudy when you imply things."
Rose saw her opening and took it. "Well, do you?"
"Do I what?" he'd taken the bait and it was too late to realize it.
"Do you dance?" Rose asked, putting no stress on the word to see his reaction.
The Doctor decided to play it safe and not go with what she was possibly implying. "I can tango, yes." He said with a smile. However he realized that no matter what he had said in this position that she could have taken any implication. Damn it.
"Tango eh?" Rose smiled; her interest peaked just a tad more. Damn it. "How well do you do the tango?"
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. He knew Rose. Rose could imply anything without using any different tone of her voice. She could sound dead serious and still be implying something. He'd have to think of a way out of this one and fast. She could be more dangerous than a Dalek at times.
"I suppose." He answered. Well it wasn't what he was looking for, but close enough.
"You…suppose." Rose restated his answer and he nodded. At least she wasn't trying to learn about chemistry. He made a mental note to stay away from that subject. "How well do you tango, Doctor?"
"Depends on your definition of good I suppose." He answered, still looking for his opening to leave.
Rose hummed for a minute, toying with him as she pretended to find the answer. "Well I suppose I count good as you know what you were doing and didn't step on anyone's feet."
The Doctor shifted again. She was doing it on purpose. Was she really talking about normal dancing or the other type of dancing? He shifted again, digging his hands further into his pockets and decided to trust the fact she was speaking about the normal dancing.
"Well it has been a while since I was able to tango." He answered honestly. Rose raised her eyebrows and he decided to ignore it. If he didn't see it didn't exist, simple as that, right? "I don't drop in every sock hop and just bust a move."
"Well why not?" Rose asked.
"I enjoy saving silly little people like yourself much more." There it was his opening to leave. He turned on his heal. "I'm going to go and get something to eat."
"We haven't finished our conversation yet." Rose jumped from the chair and followed him into the kitchen. She was being extra persistent this time.
"I believe we have." He answered, not looking at her. "We have come to the conclusion that I haven't done the tango in a long time and I don't plan on dropping into some forties club and start dancing. What more is there to this conversation?"
"You act like this is some test for science." Rose muttered.
"Well, everything can be related to science in one form of another." He raised his finger knowing she'd try to combat that. "And yes emotions can be upset chemicals in the brain, do not try to make that argument." Rose pouted.
They sat in silence as he fused around the kitchen to prepare something. He really wasn't hungry. Well he supposed he could make himself believe he was hungry but what was the point in that? After all as long as Rose thought he was doing something that he was. Implication was more than just words.
"So….can you imply things with things other than words?" She brought up.
Damn it.
"I suppose." Was all he said. He was really learning not to like the subject of implication; or at least with her when she was determined to beat him.
"You….suppose." she smiled, knowing she had caught him trying to weasel out of the conversation. He didn't like it when she implied about anything dealing with them. She wondered why. After all there wasn't any harm in playful teasing and flirting, right?
"Yes, I suppose."
"Well why do you suppose? Are you admitting that you don't know?" She attacked. He twitched, he was getting irritated and he was going to end up letting his guard down in a moment, open for any attack.
"Of course I know. That doesn't mean I have to say it though." He answered defensively.
"Or you are trying to just hide the fact that you don't know anything about how to imply something with anything other than words." That one got him. He spun around, his tan coat doing a spin as he leaned against the counter, arms on it, looking at her dangerously. She smiled; things were going to get interesting. He didn't say anything.
Rose leaned over and took an apple from the bowl on the counter. She had played this game before at school all the time with boys. She rolled it onto the counter a few times before picking it up, looking at him and biting into the apple. He stood perfectly still but she noticed the slight twitch he gave. She knew that he knew she was doing this on purpose, and that's what made it all so sweet.
The Doctor scowled. "Implication with actions still stands as implication with words. You can try to imply one thing and the other person will think it's another thing."
"Some things are universally implied though." She pointed out, taking another bite of the apple which received another hardly noticeable twitch. "I mean everything has one thing in their brain that has the same function and purpose, right?"
He knew exactly what she was implying. Damn it. Except now she had decided to become smart and use a mixture of logic, implication with words, and implication of movement. He was going to grab that apple and chuck it away if she didn't stop it. She noticed the aggravation and smiled a small smile.
"I suppose." Was all he said. If he didn't answer then she'd pester him for one and he was already on his final nerves.
"What are you upset about Doctor?" Rose asked, setting the apple down and looked up at him, leaning more on the counter to aggravate him just a tad more. "Upset that you can't answer anything about implication?"
"Oh I can, Rose Tyler, I can." He responded dangerously. She raised her eyebrows, surprised and a bit interested. He smirked; his eyes still narrowed which left her with a confused expression. "In fact I can make implication so well it doesn't seem like implication."
"So can I."
"No I can still tell what you mean by tango." Damn him.
The kettle whistled as the water began to boil on the stove top. He turned and pulled out two cups, placing one in front of her and the other in front of him as he began to make the tea. Rose watched him; he seemed perfectly fine now as if the whole conversation hadn't happened. He put the kettle back on the stove and sat down on a stool, watching his tea dissolve before looking up at her.
"You have apple on your face." He commented.
Rose blinked, was that an implication? She'd have to be on guard now; a continual game between the two to outwit the other. Suddenly he leaned over the counter and raised his hand putting his thumb on her chin. Rose froze for a moment as he moved his thumb along her chin, then sat back and pulled off some left over apple.
"See? Apple." He smiled cheerfully and wet back to watching his tea dissolve into the water, leaving her speechless.