"Not as good as stars, but they'll do," Rose murmured with a smile as they walked through the garden, lit only by delicate strings of lights draped over the bushes and above their heads. The night air was brisk but not yet cold, and as they ventured further into the garden, the sounds of the party started to fade.
The Doctor snorted. "I'd pick stars every time," he replied, gazing up at the twinkling lights with his companion.
She nudged him gently with her elbow. "A couple or five more hours, you said, then she'd be alright. She'll be all charged up and repaired, ready to take us out to see more stars."
The Doctor turned to her, not for the first time that night admiring just how beautiful she was. Even at night she shone, radiating light and happiness to everyone around them that so desperately needed it after the events of the last three days.
Rose was dressed in a floor length, pale pink gown, pleated in a Greek fashion from her waist down. Several shoestring straps came up over her shoulders and overlapped down her back. The Doctor glanced down. He was in a tux, in accordance with the party. He had attempted to get away with wearing his leather jacket, but their hosts, the Silf, would not budge on their etiquette.
"It's your turn," Rose reminded him, keeping up their lazy pace along the gravel path.
He chuckled again. "What, we still playing that? Thought you ended it by dancing with that extremely short bloke back inside. He hopped away lookin' like he'd been stepped on."
"I did," Rose giggled. "That's why we came out here, numpty, I didn't want anyone else asking me to dance after that! Besides, I started, so you have to finish." She led him around a corner and sat on a stone bench, shivering slightly as the cold rock went straight through her lithe dress. She ignored it, waiting until the Doctor sat beside her then nodding expectantly at him. "So, Doctor," she intoned dramatically, "truth or dare?"
He exhaled deeply, seemingly legitimately weighing up each option. Rose was impressed. They'd decided to play to keep themselves amused for the rest of the duration o the party; the Silf deemed it rude should you leave before it was over. The game had basically consisted of them daring each other to dance with various guests and eat a number of the less-than-appetising local delicacies. Rose had excelled in the dancing part; the Doctor had also enjoyed seeing her try to quell her disgusted expressions at the foods he gave her to try.
The Doctor sighed again, glancing at Rose. "I can only imagine the dares you've got planned for me in that head of yours," he said, nodding at her gleeful expression, "so, truth."
Rose's shoulders slumped, and she let out a puff of breath that swirled out like smoke in the cold air. "I wasn't ready for that," she complained, but he only shrugged. A small smile lit on her face as she thought of the millions of questions that were suddenly at her disposal. Of course, she couldn't ask anything too personal; one, because she knew that he wasn't above declaring the game over and refusing to answer it like she did when she was thirteen, and two, because despite the nature of the game, she wanted to protect his privacy. They could still play without her being invasive, right?
Rose sat for so long trying to think of a question, chewing on her cherry flavoured lips, that she started to get cold. The air had turned icy without her noticing, and now snow was starting to float down, lightly settling on her hair.
"Rose?" She started and focused on the Doctor. "D'you want to go back inside? Getting cold out and that dress…" The Doctor felt the back of his ears and neck turn red as he realised where his sentence was going and abruptly stopped talking.
Rose smirked at him and shook her head. "This dress?" she queried, tongue touching her teeth, clearly enjoying herself.
"Can't be warm," the Doctor finished firmly, slipping off his jacket and tucking it around her shoulders before she could protest. "Come on! Out with this question or we'll head back inside before you catch pneumonia. Not a good feeling, that, I've heard."
Rose shook her head again. "It's not," she responded, tugging absently at his coat and pulling it tighter. If she'd known she would've ended up wearing his jacket, she would've let him complain until the Silf let him wear his leather one.
Rose opened her mouth to ask the question, but was interrupted by an eruption of loud, flowing music from the hall where the party was being held. Strings and piano and double bass all worked together in harmony to create the legato piece, and before she could stop herself, Rose let out a chuckle as she thought of some of her dances from the night. None had been to a piece like this.
"It's the final song," the Doctor informed her, seizing her hand and pulling her up as he stood. "They always play it louder." The snow was getting thicker, large white flakes reflecting off the twinkling, pale yellow lights as the flurries came down.
"Tell me a secret," Rose said suddenly, his hand slipping out of hers as she halted on the path. Beneath the building crescendo of the music, she could hear the crunching footsteps of other partygoers out in the garden as they made their way back to the grand hall. The Doctor turned back, his expression confused.
"Tell you a…"
"Secret," Rose finished, nodding, squinting up at him through the snow. "Truth or dare. You picked truth. Tell me a secret, or something you've never told anyone else. Something no one else knows."
His eyebrows raised but he didn't refuse it. Instead he chuckled and shrugged, moving back towards her. "Have we danced tonight, Rose Tyler?" he asked, offering his hand. She slid her hand into his, and the Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her as close as he dared.
Rose smiled into his shirt, slipping her arm over his and curling her hand over his shoulder. "Don't think this counts as an answer, I'm still waiting," she informed him, and was rewarded with a quiet laugh as he led in the slow dance around the now snow-covered courtyard.
"I wasn't prepared either, give me a minute," he replied, murmuring into her ear. What could he tell her? There were millions of things he could; also millions of things he didn't want to. Things he'd done, thought, experienced, all that had shaped him into the person that needed Rose Tyler to make him better. He could tell her that, couldn't he? She made him better. It was true, after all, and he'd never told anyone.
The Doctor snapped out of his reverie to hear the song lightly fading away, ending on the one lingering note from the violins. He also noticed Rose was now shivering in his arms, and the snow was settling on both their heads and shoulders. Idiot! he berated himself, quickly, brushing the snow off her back. Knowing their luck, she would almost definitely get sick now; a cold at least, if nothing more severe.
"Come on, inside with you," he told her, starting to lead the way.
"You haven't d-done it yet," Rose reminded him, managing to give him a teasing smile despite her obvious shivering. Her lips held a tinge of purple; the blue of cold mixed with the red of her cherry lip gloss, and her skin was so white she looked like a porcelain doll in her pink dress, wearing a snow dusted tuxedo jacket. She looked like she belonged in a snow globe.
Rose pressed into his side as they neared the hall, her teeth chattering audibly, so he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, lending his body's warmth. They reached the arch leading back into the hall when Rose stopped and pulled away, looking up at him expectantly. The effect was shattered, though, when she couldn't contain her shivering for long.
"Come here, look, you'll freeze," he told her tenderly with a chuckle, pulling her back into his arms, fully this time, and cocooning her in warmth. Leaning down, he gently pressed his lips to her ice-sprinkled hair and whispered, "You make me better, Rose. You… I… I need you. Always making me better."
She was freezing cold and could hardly feel her fingertips, but the Doctor's warm breath in her ear and his whispered words made all that worth it. Closing her eyes for a moment in happiness, Rose smiled.