Ah, Dove Blue!

By: SilverLunarStar

Disclaimer: I hold no ownership over Doctor Who or its characters. I simply like to play with them and make no profit except entertainment value with them.

Note: Dedicated to my lovely Hollonsy on tumblr. Hope this helps you feel a bit better, love! This was not beta'd. Inspired by this post: mrv3000. (slash) post/65391704734/who-lligan-ohtentoo-crying-becaus e-you-can

The first time Rose Tyler saw the Doctor drunk, it's on hypervodka two weeks after they met and rescued Jack Harkness. She was quite amused with the way he staggered around as they made their way back to the TARDIS. She was quite smashed herself, but was certain she was much more coherent than the two men were. They were singing, according to Jack, forty-second century ballads of all things. She was ready to watch them dance together (as long as they didn't, you know, dance; Jack knew her feelings for the Doctor, mixed up as they were and she was certain he wouldn't betray her).

They were halfway through the chorus of Strong and True when, suddenly, the Doctor turned to her and declared, quite confidently, "Ah, dove blue!"

Rose blinked. She was certain she wasn't too drunk to have misheard him, but what… Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he gave her a silly smile and turned right back around only to walk straight into the TARDIS.

The first time Rose's New New Doctor got drunk, it was on her strawberry daiquiris, of all things. They had just left Mickey Smith back in the parallel universe and the Doctor had brought her home to her mum for comfort. Of course, being the man he was, he got impatient quickly. Before Jackie Tyler and the Time Lord could go for each other's throats, Rose said she was going out.

The Doctor, not wanting to be left alone with Jackie, promptly grabbed his coat and ran out after her.

She hid a grin when he wrapped his arm around her waist as soon as he'd spotted some guys leering at her. He'd become even more jealous than before. While at times it could get to be too much, right now she needed this. About three daiquiris later, she decided to order a pint of lager when the Doctor stole her fourth. He'd grinned brightly at her after his first sip and continued to order them continuously rather than the awful scotch he could barely tolerate. Once Rose was sure he was inebriated enough, she asked him for a dance, fluttering her lashes in a way she knew he couldn't say no to her.

Well, he did. Or he tried to anyway. He protested. Time Lords didn't dance. And they did not get drunk, thank you very much. Except he was. And he did.

Holding him close, she could smell his sweat and the booze on his breath along with the musky scent of male and something that was just Doctor. He murmured something in her ear and when she turned her head to try to hear him properly, her lips accidentally skimmed his.

He blinked, eyes wide, but she couldn't tell if it was in surprise, horror, or… something else entirely. Before the silence could stretch on, she asked him what he said and was startled to see his determined gaze.

"Ah, dove blue!" he slurred out.

She burst out laughing. "What, is that your signature drunk phrase?"

"Ish not! Ah do. Ah, dove blue!"

She shook her head. "Alright, Doctor. If you say so."

When she asked him the next day, he took her to see blue doves. It still didn't make any sense.

The Doctor had been so excited to receive his new identification and documentation that was engineered to have him exist in Pete's world that he'd begged to go out and celebrate. Rose caved in, as he knew she would, and they went to a local pub near her flat.

"That way we don't have to call a cab to get your drunk arse home," she'd teased.

While he'd pouted and whinged that he did not, in fact, get drunk (although maybe he'd spoken too soon, what with the new human biology and all…), his single heart couldn't help but warm at the mention of 'home'. It wasn't her flat that he envisioned when she did, but a simple pink and yellow human woman who had wormed her way into his hearts and where she stayed, even in the single organ he had now. Maybe even especially now. Now he didn't have the weight of the universe on his shoulders. Now he didn't have to worry about spending only a hundredth of his lifetime with Rose. Now he could spend it entirely with her. Yes, there was definitely much to celebrate.

When he ordered a whisky, smooth, he was surprised by how much his human tongue, taste buds, and throat actually liked the taste and burn of it. Rose herself had ordered rum and coke along with their water and plates of steak and chips. The steak was questionably cooked, but the chips were gorgeous, as Rose had stated (or moaned, would be more precise – hormones, he'd learned quickly enough, were something he could not control at all now).

She was right, of course.

At first, they'd been joined by Jake, Laura King, and Conner Carr, but the three had left soon afterwards when the drinks continued flowing and Rose and the Doctor's 'touchy feely' as Jake had called it, escalated.

He knew he should put a stop to it, Rose's hand right on his upper thigh, but he couldn't bring himself to care for control right about now, as his gob soon joined. "Rose Tyler, I love you."

At least, that's what he'd swear up and down he said. When she didn't reply in kind and, instead, looked at him confused, forehead crinkling, brow raised, he tried again.

"I love you, Rose Tyler."

"Doctor, what does your dove blue suit have to do with what we were just talking about?" She looked at him like he'd just dribbled on his shirt.

What had they just been talking about? He wracked his brain and tried to remember… OH! His eyes fluttered open (when had they closed?) and he gave her a wounded stare. "We were talking about sex, Rose Tyler. And how much I love you."

Rose shook her head and his proud look faltered. They hadn't?

"I can hardly understand a word you're saying. Come on, let's go home." She took his hand and pulled him towards her- their flat. It was him and her now, even if Rose was too drunk to understand what he was saying, he was sure he could get her to understand once she'd had some proper rest.

That idea immediately flew out the window when he had simply gone to snog her goodnight outside her room and they instead ended up stumbling towards her bed and shagging for the first time. And what a great first time it was.

He murmured his love and adoration for her just before sleep came to whisk them both away and it finally dawned on Rose what he'd been trying to tell her for years.

"I love you too, Doctor."