Doctor Who © The Beeb
The Doctor stretched out his sore muscles. Whatever it was he'd done the day before, he was going to be paying for it today. His superior Time Lord physiology didn't often afford him pains and aches, but oh, when it did, he was in for it. He could already feel those little twinges in his calves which signified a fair bit of running. Or dancing, actually. Not that dancing was usually something he thought of when analyzing his muscular aches, but for some reason, it was sticking out in his mind.
Where was he, anyway?
A cracked eyelid told him it was morning, wherever he was. He was in some kind of bed, which was nice, if this were a prison. He didn't remember being captured or anything, but then again, everything was sort of blurry (and not because he wasn't wearing his glasses.) Whatever he drank last night, it must have been a hell of a party to affect him. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd been inebriated. And three of those were since he'd met Jack.
Ah, okay, some of it was coming back now. Jack, Rose, Venus in 3015. That would explain the headache. And the passed out Time Agent on the couch across the room. And possibly the blonde girl who was wearing his jumper and was quite comfortable with her head on his chest. And with a slightly smaller percentage, the ring on his left hand.
Not that he was complaining, mind you. Winding up in a comfortable motel room with your best friend draped across your torso, and having apparently gotten married to said friend the night before… well, there were worse places to be, he supposed. He caught himself grinning as Rose groaned painfully against him, and he felt the hum of it against his side.
"Oh God."
He had to quickly shut down his smile when she looked up at him through eyes which were cracked open just enough to see him. It wouldn't do for her to see him laughing at her. Hangover pain or not, she wouldn't hesitate to slap him for it.
"Oh God."
"Hello."
Perhaps the cheery attitude wasn't exactly appreciated this morning, because Rose positively glared holes in him. Which, he should admit, he wouldn't have though so effective, seeing as though her hair was a wild halo around her head, and there was glitter in it. Come to think of it, there was glitter all over the bed. Wonder how that happened?
"What did we do last night?"
"You wanted to come to Venus."
Rose twisted her head very gently to where Jack was snoring on the couch. She blinked a couple of times.
"Why is Jack dressed up like Elvis?"
"You know, I don't know."
"This is somehow all your fault, you know."
He shook his head.
"I told—
"Don't you dare. Where are we?"
They both looked around the room, which was unfamiliar.
"Not the TARDIS."
"Ever so helpful, you are."
Rose was a grouchy hangover sufferer, that much was obvious. He patted her hand with his, and watched as her eyes got large.
"Is that—
"I think so, yeah."
"Tell me we didn't—
"Not like I would marry Jack."
They faintly heard a grumbled "I did buy you that drink" from the couch. The Doctor contemplated how much energy it would take to throw something at the ex Time Agent, but decided it just not worth it. Yet.
Rose lifted the hand that was tucked between them and watched the new sunlight glint off of the pretty diamond ring. Well, technically it wasn't diamond. It was Carbinide, a gem that was related to the carbon based Earth diamond, but was found on Melanos Major, a moon that was close to Arcadia… when it existed.
"Wonder what my name is, now."
"What do you mean?"
She looked up from the ring to meet his eyes.
"Well, we had to give them some name for you. Wonder what it was."
"Welcome to Venus, Rose Marion Sigma," the voice garbled from underneath the throw pillow. The light had apparently been too much for Jack to handle. The Doctor hoped he wouldn't suffocate himself in his post-drunken haze delirium.
"D'you just carry a ring around?"
The Doctor pushed a bit of Rose's hair out from under his nose. It tickled, even though it smelled like strawberries.
"Actually, it's a biodamper. Meant to mask your genetic code from anybody targeting you."
Rose laughed a little, but carefully. Her head must be pounding like a drum.
"Functional, yet sparkly. My kind of jewelry."
He smiled, and shifted his weight around. His foot came into contact with something that didn't feel like sheets. He lifted the covers to see what it was, blushed, and then put the covers back down.
"What?"
He cleared his throat.
"I think you left your pants somewhere in the room, because you definitely aren't wearing them. However, you are wearing my jumper, however that happened."
Rose looked for a moment like she didn't understand what he meant, and then burst out laughing. He even heard Jack giggling over on the sofa.
"What?"
"It's not quite as scandalous as you imagine. We are married, after all."
Of course, that leant thousands of fantasies and images that would well do to stay out of his head. The most prominent was them waking up in just this fashion, minus the headache and the Time Agent, and in his bedroom on the TARDIS. There was also a weird urge to use one of those drawers on the dresser in his room for Rose's knickers. He cleared his throat again as they continued to laugh at him.
"Next time a tree flirts with you, you'll have to fess up. Not that I would have minded being your concubine, either. Wonder what she would have done, then."
In an effort to finally stop blushing, and to stop the ridiculous images that were passing through his mind, the Doctor slid his legs out of the bed. He stretched out his arms and grimaced at the torrent of glitter that fell off of his jeans and onto the floor.
He decided that he could get quite used to waking up like this when he looked back at Rose, who had fallen back onto the covers, snuggling her face into his pillow and drowning in his wool jumper. The image screamed "angel" as the glitter littered the bed around her and glinted in the sunlight. He smiled a little secret smile.
"I should call Mum."
Alright, strike the "angel" comment. Seeing Rose smirking wickedly told him that she knew exactly what Jackie would say, and that he'd be getting a slap for sure when they finally got back to Earth.
"Hey, I'm sure this was your idea."
Jack had perked up enough to sit up and offer his exalted viewpoint.
"Actually, that was all you, Doc. Said it sounded better that "plus one"."
Rose pointed a finger at him.
"See? All your fault."
The Doctor batted his eyelashes at her and raised his voice a pitch.
"Come on, Doctor. How bad can it be? It's just Venus. Even in the solar system! We'll use sunscreen, please?"
"Alright, we're both to blame."
He grinned.
"Bonnie and Clyde, we are."
Rose nodded, and then grimaced.
"Partners in crime!"
Jack was searching around the couch and the table near him.
"Uh, guys? I can't find the room key. There was a room key, wasn't there?"
Both the Doctor and Rose shrugged, making the Doctor realize that the bit of cloth he felt at the foot of the bed must have been Rose's bra. He was quick to volunteer to find out exactly where they were.
"I'll just… go and see where we are. And if we're actually registered. And if we did anything really embarrassing. And where Jack got the jumpsuit. And where the glitter came from. And—
"We get it, Doc. Rose'll get dressed again while you're gone. You can quit doing that babbling thing now."
Seeing Jack grinning at him like a loon, and with a nod, he grabbed his jacket and was out the door and down the hall. After finding the desk and asking the appropriate questions, he was glad to find that they had actually registered and paid for the room. The Honeymoon Suite, actually. The staff there that morning were peeking at him through their lashes, making him wonder if it was because there were three people in the Honeymoon suite, or if they'd really done something stupid. Telling the clerk that they would be checking out soon, he walked slowly back to the room. When he got near, he could hear his companions talking.
"Oh, quit looking at it."
"Jealous?"
Jack chuckled.
"No. But if he comes back in and you're staring at it like you are now, you're likely to scare him."
"Is it a bloke thing to be frightened of weddings or rings or anything related to marriage?"
"No, but the Doc isn't exactly a bloke, you know?"
"Oh, I know. I wish—
"What?"
"No, I'm being a silly human."
"Well, I'm a silly human, too. You can tell me, Rosie."
"I wish this were real, that it meant something. Not that we'd laugh it off and never mention it again, ya know?"
It was a moment before he heard Jack answered, and the Doctor wondered what was going on.
"I know, Rosie, I know."
The tone of voice that Jack used worried the Doctor. Did Rose think he was going to laugh it off, and forget about last night?
As if he could. No, waking up with Rose's head on his chest was something that he would definitely try to repeat. If it had been a companion that he really didn't feel anything towards, sure, he might suggest they forget it ever happened, but not Rose. Never Rose. He wouldn't even try to tell himself that he didn't love her. That would be both futile and a bad habit for someone with his name. 'Doctor, heal thyself' only worked so far, and that kind of denial would make him look like a hypocrite. No, there was no mistaking that Rose was the most important thing in his life now. Rose and the TARDIS were his entire universe, and that was okay. In fact, it was better than okay, it was fantastic.
To think, he agreed with a Dalek. Never thought that would happen. "…the woman you love".
But it was obvious Rose thought he would brush her aside, and that wouldn't do. He straightened his shoulders and knocked on the door. They'd have to find the key eventually.
Jack let him in as he was fastening one of his bracers. Rose walked out of the bathroom dressed once again in her jeans and trainers. There was a slight blush on her cheeks as she handed him his jumper. He was tempted to tell her to keep it, but wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought of walking out of the hotel in just his jacket. He was only encouraged as he caught her looking at his stomach when he raised his arms to put his jumper back on.
Oh, it smelled like Rose. That was beyond nice. Slipping his jacket back on, he grinned at his two companions. He held out his hand to Rose, loving how she took it without question. Jack looked between the two of them and grinned in that cocksure American way.
"Where to next?"
Rose was looking at the ground, and he made sure that he waited until she was looking up at him before he answered.
"Chips sound good right now, don't you think?"
Rose smiled at the familiarity of their little habit.
"Yeah."
They walked out of the room and down the hall. The desk clerk called out his goodbye as the three walked through the lobby of the lavish hotel. He tucked Rose's hand into the crook of his arm and she raised her questioning eyes to his.
"Besides, I need fortification if we're going to be calling on Jackie today."
The surprised smile on her face rivaled the sunlight as they walked out of the hotel, beginning their newest adventure together, the way it should be.
I got the "Venus in 3015" part from Luna Lovegood5's story "The Contents of a Pocket", and decided I wanted to write that part of the story. :)
Reviews would be fantastic!
