A/N: Okay, this story was written for the Summer Lovin' Fic-Exchange at the OhSheKnows livejournal community, it was written for the lovely Krabapple.
Warnings: Uh, kissing, and possibly the occasional sexual joke. I doubt it even merits a T rating, but better safe than sorry.
Spoilers: Not much, but there's is like one or two tiny spoilers for Season 3(so small I'm not even sure you'll notice them if you've seen it), so if you want to be extra safe, see up to "Last of the Time Lords"
I really hope you all like this. It came to me part after part and wouldn't stop lol. It's my first Doctor Who story so bare with me. There's a picture to go along with the story, though you might not really get what it is until after you've read it. Unfortunetly it's not letting me properly paste it here, so if your interested it'll be posted on my profile.
Thanks to my lovely beta's and friends! Sarah (Main), Jill (grammar) and Katie (plot ideas), thanks for the help girls, I couldn't have done it without you!
Frog pajamas and a bologna sandwhich
The blue box materialized in the middle of the room like a ghost.
"Where are we?" Martha asked, stepping out of the TARDIS to look around the room.
The space was a stark white with harsh lighting. Martha looked around behind the TARDIS to see a wall covered with scientific equipment and computers; all of them were on and seemed to be running through various programs.
Martha turned back around and walked over to the set of windows on the side of the room and looked out, "I think we're in London!" She exclaimed while making her way back to the open door on the blue box and looking in. "Doctor! I know where we are, we're in London and it looks to be Christmas time!"
"Well good thing you can tell, because the TARDIS isn't saying a word. She's not broken; it's almost like she's keeping her mouth shut," the Doctor professed, straightening up from where he had been bent over the viewing screen. He took a deep breath and began tugging on his ear before looking at her. "What makes you think it's Christmas time?" He asked as he started making his way towards her and the doors.
Martha smirked and pointed in the direction of the window, "The Christmas lights and decorations kind of gave it away."
"Oh," The Doctor said, a bit put out, while stepping out of the box. He walked over to the window and looked out. "Yup," he said. "Definitely London, I'd say around 2011."
"How can you tell it's 2011?" Martha inquired.
"The calendar kind of gave it away," he grinned while pointing to the annual hanging on a wall next to the window.
Martha opened her mouth, ready to reply, but stopped short when the door to the room opened up. Two gentlemen were revealed, one dark and one fair, both of which were wearing black t-shirts and military pants. The dark male was rather plain, but still gorgeous in her opinion, while the fair bloke had spiked up blonde hair and was carrying a plate with a sandwich on it.
"Hello," Martha said kindly while waving at them.
"Jake, check the readouts and make sure there's no damage," the dark fellow instructed.
"Sure thing Mickey," Jake replied, his accent surprisingly Geordie.
At this, the Doctor spun around from where he had been looking out the window, "Mickey?"
"Hello boss," Mickey said smirking, while crossing his arms.
"You know him?" Martha inquired looking behind her to where the Doctor stood.
"Oh we go way back, but I'm not quite sure how we got here" replied the Doctor, while once again tugging on his ear and slowly ambling towards Mickey.
"We pulled you through."
"WHAT?" The Doctor stopped suddenly, hand dropping to his side, and exclaimed, "Mickey, not that I'm not happy to be here, but your name really sticks now. Mickey the Idiot, what were you thinking?" He yelled and began pulling his hair while pacing.
"Whoa Doc, hold on," Mickey said calmly, "we pulled you through the other side."
The Doctor stopped abruptly, "What? Don't call me Doc," he said distractedly. "You mean to tell me that you rerouted a temporal spatial variation in order to technically 'tractor beam' my ship through another parallel world and its adjacent void, in order to land the TARDIS in your universe?"
"Yup," Mickey beamed.
"That…that…that is brilliant, Mickey Smith. I take it back. Mickey the idiot never really fit you," the Doctor said amazed, he excitedly walked over to Mickey, pulling the surprised man into a sudden hug. The Doctor released him just as suddenly, slipping his glasses out of a pocket and on to his face as he made his way over to Jake to take a look at the computers.
"Wait," Martha said, holding up her hand. "I'm so confused now. I get that we're in a parallel world, but Doctor, I though you said that if we ever came back the two universes would collapse?"
"They would have; if Mickey and Jake here hadn't rerouted a temporal spatial variation..."
Martha raised an eyebrow and continued to just look at the Doctor.
"Let me explain it in terms us humans can understand," Mickey laughed, "cause I'm not even sure Einstein could understand him."
"I'll have you know I taught Einstein almost everything he knew, and he would understand every word I just said," the Doctor boasted.
"Uh huh, whatever Doc. Martha was it?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, Martha Jones," She introduced herself.
Mickey nodded, "Mickey Smith." He turned to where Jake had set down his sandwich, picked it up and turned towards the table that was positioned in-between him and Martha.
"Okay, these are the universes." He separated the sandwich so that the two pieces of bread were lying on the table and held the bologna in the air. He looked around and spotted an abandoned ketchup packet left under one of the computer consoles.
"Now this piece of bread," he indicated towards the left one, before going over and grabbing the ketchup, only to open it up and spread it on the indicated slice, "is your universe, riddled with holes and cracks, represented by the ketchup. The bologna is our universe, and this nice clean slice is another universe on the other side of us," Mickey looked up, "You following so far?"
Martha nodded, "Yea."
"Good. Now thanks to the cracks in your universe, we couldn't pull you directly through from your universe to ours without the possibility of completely destroying the walls between us, or spreading the ketchup."
"And I'm guessing that would be very bad?" Martha guessed while smiling at him.
The Doctor looked up from Jake's computer to interrupt before going back to the screen. "Very right. The worlds would merge and create a major catastrophe. No one's exactly sure what would happen. Theories range from massive paradoxes being created by there being two of almost everyone in the universe, to the universes just sort of exploding. Obviously, no one's ever been able to document exactly what happens because whoever is there at the time dies," the Doctor explained before going back to the computer screen.
"Definitely not good then," Martha nodded.
"Yeah," Mickey laughed. "So what we did instead was pull you from your universe," He said jabbing the ketchup-smeared bread, "skipping over ours, the bologna," which he waved in the air, "and into this new universe here," he indicated to the clean slice.
"Now, since this new universe doesn't have any ketchup, I mean cracks, we can directly pull you from there into the bologna without harming the universes too much," Mickey stated proudly waving the bologna in front of Martha.
"So we basically jumped the bologna," Martha stated.
"Uh… yeah I guess, we made you jump the bologna," Mickey said deflated, before slapping the sandwich back together.
"Can we ever get home?" Martha asked.
"Oh, of course. We were sure the Doctor would have to and we wouldn't have done this without a sure fire way to send you home," Mickey remarked, waving off the question. "We'll just slingshot you back through and over; right back into your universe." He finished, tossing the sandwich back onto the plate still sitting next to Jake. "Of course, once you're back there again, you really won't be able to ever come back. This universe would have, sort of stitches on both sides of it, and if you came through again you'd rip those stitches right open. So, that means he's gotta get everything right this time around, 'cause he won't have another chance."
Jake picked up the sandwich and took a bite, "Bloody hell Mickey. You put ketchup on my sandwich. You wanker!"
Mickey just rolled his eyes at him.
"Now, Ms. Jones," Mickey said smirking, extending his arm to Martha and guiding her around the table when she looped her elbow with his. "It's Christmas Eve, and we have the prizewinning Christmas present for one Rose Tyler. What do you say we put a big bow on it and go play Father Christmas?"
Martha smirked back and followed as Mickey made his way to the oblivious Doctor, pulling out his standard issue handcuffs and a red ribbon from his pocket on the way.
Rose looked around the living room from her position on the couch. Her mother had done all the decorating of this modest little room herself; the only one that she had done in fact. The rest of the grand house had been professionally decorated and it had probably cost a pretty penny. There was a modest Christmas tree in the corner, and to the left of it a fireplace, which had been lit less then an hour ago by her father. All other decorations were reminiscent of the ones they had owned while living at the Powell Estate; even down to the couch and chairs, which were almost identical to the ones they had left behind. The only difference was that in the other world there had only been one couch, while here there were two.
Rose was curled into one of the pink loveseats; her four year old little sister Emily, lay sound asleep next to her, sprawled out across the seat. Rose rubbed Emily's hair for a moment. Her sister was a perfect mixture of her mum and dad; two people so in love that they had found each other across universes.
Her father coming in the room drew Rose out of her thoughts. He handed her a cup of warm, fresh wassail, so she smiled her thanks at him and gratefully accepted the cup. Rose let her eyes follow him as he walked around the seat, rubbing Emily's head as he passed, and dropped himself unceremoniously onto the other couch. She noticed he looked drawn and tired, well more so than usual, but before she could comment her mother walked into the room.
"So," Jackie said, settling down next to her husband with her own cup of the drink. "Did you give Mickey his Christmas present yet sweetheart?"
"No mum, I told you, we were hectic all day at work. I don't think I saw him or Jake at all," Rose responded, gazing into the fire, as she thought back on the day.
"Oh, thank you for reminding me Jacks," Pete said, suddenly sitting up. "Mickey asked me to tell you that he'd try and stop by this evening, possibly with your present."
"Tonight? Why couldn't he just wait until tomorrow?" Rose questioned.
Pete shrugged, "Not sure, he just asked me to pass on the message."
Rose started wondering what could be so important when the doorbell began ringing throughout the big house. Rose immediately looked to the little girl sitting next to her to find that the doorbell hadn't even caused her to flinch.
"Speak of the devil," Jackie started, as she began to get off the couch, "I'll get it,"
"No, no Jacks," Pete said patting her leg. "I'll let him in."
Pete set his cup down, and walked out the room followed by the questioning gaze of his daughter and wife.
"Wonder what that's all about," Jackie murmured.
Rose just shrugged, and got up to grab Mickey's present from where it had been nestled under the tree. She found it just as Pete walked back into the room followed by Mickey.
"Happy Christmas Mickey!" Rose smiled and threw her arms around her friend as he walked up to her. "Where's Jake? I got a gift for him too," she questioned as she handed him the brightly wrapped present.
"Ah, you know him. He had to work late," he said, shrugging at her questioning gaze. "But before I open yours, I want to give you mine."
Mickey took Rose's hand and positioned her so she was standing against the back of the couch, facing the door. Mickey told her to stay right where she was and then walked back out of the room.
There was the sound of a mild scuffle in the hallway, and a dark skinned girl, who looked to be about the same age as her, walked in the door and stood to the side. Mickey followed soon after her pulling behind him a very embarrassed Time Lord. The poor man had his hands behind his back, and a bright red bow wrapped around the bottom half of his face, preventing him from uttering a word.
"What? I…I…" Rose stuttered for a moment trying to gather her thoughts, before finally giving up and gaping at the Doctor like a fish, tears threatening to run free. She finally shook herself out of her shock and looked at Mickey, standing slightly to the side, before walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek. "It's the best Christmas present ever Mickey. I'm just jealous that my present isn't nearly as good as yours," she joked.
Mickey just smirked at her, then winked and handed her the sonic screwdriver. "You owe me one babe."
Jackie decided at that moment to interrupt their reunion with a quiet cough. "I think we should go get some more wassail. What do you say Pete? Mickey?" she said gently, herding the two men out of the room and prodding the unfamiliar girl until she followed them out to the kitchen.
Rose looked down at the sonic device in her hand. "What's this for?" she wondered aloud, and then began to snicker, as the Doctor slowly turned around to show her his hands. "Come over here," she laughed and motioned to him with her hand. "I'll unlock the handcuffs, though I do rather like the ribbon. In fact I just may leave that," she said, smirking at the Doctor.
The Doctor slowly sauntered over to her and allowed Rose to unlock the restraints, nodding when she asked him if it was the right setting.
"There," she said smiling, gently turning him around to face her again, before tucking the screwdriver back in his coat pocket, "now, for that gob of yours." Rose slowly pulled the ends of the ribbon, causing the bow to come undone. She then proceeded to gently unravel the red material from around his head. As the last bit of material fell away she saw his smile.
"Hello," he said, beaming at her with a goofy grin.
"Hi."
The Doctor continued to smile at her, before cupping her face in one palm and leaning in to gently kiss her; his other hand coming up to gently rest on her hip.
Rose reached up and wrapped one arm around his shoulders letting her fingertips play with the hair on the nape of his neck. Her other hand came up to his chest, gently grasping the lapel of his suit jacket, as she leaned in further to deepen the kiss. Her breath caught in her throat when his tongue lightly caressed her lips, persuading her to open up for him. As she complied, she could taste the unique mixture of mint, pumpkin, and just a little bit of something alien that was the Doctor. Their tongues struggled to taste each other for a few moments before he suddenly broke away, leaving Rose gasping for air.
The Doctor took a deep breath as he rested his forehead against hers. He continued to beam at her as he gently rubbed his nose against hers. "Nice jim-jams," he commented, looking down at her frog covered legs and plain green tank top.
Rose felt a blush creep up her neck and onto her face. She bit her bottom lip, slightly embarrassed, "thanks."
Forty-five minutes later found Jackie Tyler quietly peering around the doorframe to the living room while carrying two cups of wassail. She looked around for the couple before spotting her daughter sitting in the same seat she had been occupying less than an hour ago. Her younger daughter had apparently slept through all the commotion, and was once again nestled into Rose; Jackie swore the girl could sleep through an alien invasion. The only difference now was the alien; his deceptively human form currently sitting on the floor between her daughter's legs, his long coat tossed over the back of the seat. Said alien was also leaning his head down; his eyes closed, his mouth slightly open in pleasure as Rose rubbed his now jacket free shoulders.
Jackie slowly walked into the room and as she grew close to the couple, the Doctor looked up at her, and gratefully accepted his cup.
"Thanks," He said smiling gratefully at her, holding the cup between his hands as he settled it on his lap, before closing his eyes once again and bending forward to give Her daughter better access to his shoulders.
Jackie sat back down on the couch and watched the couple for a moment. She smiled as she saw Rose lean down to whisper something to him, but her smile grew even bigger when she saw the Doctor lean back to gently nuzzle Rose's cheek without opening his eyes.
Jackie was startled out of her thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to find Pete smiling at her. He sat next to her on the couch, wrapping his arm around her, which allowed Jackie to gratefully curl up into him. She watched as Mickey entered the room and sat on the other couch, but it was Rose who noticed Martha standing awkwardly just inside the room.
"Come on then," Rose invited, with a toss of her head. "You're obviously with this big lump here, which means you're the new companion. And I am truly sorry, that you have to be stuck with us of all people for Christmas Eve," She laughed, moving on to rub the Doctor's neck again.
"Oi," Jackie exclaimed. "What exactly is wrong with us?"
The Doctor snorted at this, before promptly grunting as Rose pressed hard on a sensitive spot. He glared over his shoulder at her, but she just smiled back innocently, raising an eyebrow in a silent warning. This just caused him to quickly turn back around and pout.
"Seriously though," Rose said. "Come sit on the couch, next to Mickey. Make yourself at home. Any friend of the Doctors is a friend of mine." She smiled, "I'm Rose by the way."
"Martha Jones," she replied, making her way to sit on the couch.
"I assume you've met that bloke sitting next you, already," Rose stated, gesturing to Mickey. "As for everyone else, my mum Jackie, Dad Pete, and this little fungus that seems to have attached to my waist is also known as my sister Emily," she explained pointing to each family member in turn.
"Speaking of the munchkin," Jackie yawned, standing up from the couch. "We'd better get her to bed."
Jackie made to get up, but Pete stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, "I'll get her love. You go ahead and start getting the rest of the presents from the closet."
Jackie nodded, and headed into the hallway after Pete had picked up the little girl and carried her out of the room.
"Come on Doctor," Rose said, pulling him up from the floor by his hands. "Let's go help mum; the sooner it gets done, the sooner we can go to bed." She stopped as she realized what she'd just said, flushing even more at the Doctor's grin and Martha's polite cough. "That's really not what I meant, I was simply saying it's been a long day, and…" She trailed off as the Doctor grinned even bigger, before dragging her from the room by her hand to help her mother.
After two trips each, with aided help from Martha and Mickey, they could finally sit down on the couch, their task completed.
"Your sister is definitely spoiled," the Doctor commented, but flinched when Rose playfully hit him on the arm.
"Don't I know it," Rose smiled. "The most expensive thing I got when I was a kid was my red bicycle."
"That you got when you were 12," He said smirking at her.
"It really was you wasn't it? I've always wondered about that."
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but was stopped short by Jackie hitting him in the back of the head with a tube shaped present. "'Course is wasn't him. I'll have you know I spent months saving up for that bike, kept having to pretend you weren't getting it, cause I was never sure if I was going to have enough money to buy it. Who do you think you are stealing the credit for my Christmas present to Rose? I ought to box your ear for that." She glared at the Doctor.
He just sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and grinned, before looking at Rose and shrugging.
"Cheeky." Rose said, shaking her head with a grin.
Rose walked out of the kitchen after placing the mugs in the sink and made her way to the living room to help get Martha situated. On the way there she stopped in her own room and grabbed an extra sleepwear set for Martha.
Her mum and dad had already gone to bed hours ago and she was following close behind. In the living room she caught Mickey on his way out, gave him a big huge and kiss, thanked him profusely again, and made him promise that he and Jake would come back in the morning to open their presents.
After gathering Martha from the living room, she showed Martha to a guest room and gave her the spare set of pajamas. She made sure that Martha didn't need anything else before returning to her own bedroom, only to throw herself onto the bed and take a deep breathe.
Rose laid there for what seemed like hours, the day's events replaying in her mind. She still couldn't believe it had happened. After five years of wishing and wanting the Doctor was finally here; all thanks to the efforts of her wonderful family, including Mickey and Jake. A family who had been by her side as she cried on that lonely beach, a family who would, albeit tearfully, support her decision to go back to the other universe with the Doctor. This was a family that had never doubted her love for him, or his for her. She would miss them terribly, but it was a decision that she had already made. She couldn't miss out on a second chance to spend the rest of her life with the man she loved. Nor could she give up the opportunity to travel with him to every star and planet in the universe, all within just a push of a button and a twist of a knob.
There was no doubt in her mind that The Doctor loved her, even though he had yet to complete those three words he'd begun to say on that cold beach five years ago. He seemed to be having a difficult time even starting to say the words now, as the evening had shown her. Since he had walked through the living room door a few hours ago, he had occasionally stopped what he was doing to turn towards her. He'd open his mouth, as if to say something to her, only to stand there gaping for a moment before closing his mouth and turning away with a slight redness in his cheeks.
Her thoughts came to a stand still as the The Doctor walked through the bathroom door, where he had been changing, and set his suit and trainers on the chair next to her desk. Apparently, the Doctor had approached Pete and asked to borrow some pajama's, but had decided on only needing the bottoms. Rose suddenly felt as though she was in a haze.
For being the first glimpse of this man who usually hid behind jackets and trench coats, Rose wasn't disappointed. His body was slender, but defined, and certainly wasn't scrawny in the least (as one might think while looking at him in his pinstripes and chucks). The Doctor was almost gangly, consisting mostly of arms and legs, and while he didn't have huge biceps or rock hard abs, he was still rather well built for a man so lean. The color of his skin suggested that it had almost never seen daylight, which for at least this part of his body, she knew was true. He was freckled all over his bare chest, which had just a smattering of brown hair…
And then suddenly the haze lifted, the gorgeousness of his body was still there, but it wasn't the only thing, because she could see the real him, the insecure man. She could clearly see that this was a giant step in their relationship for him, and he was as jittery as a teen waiting for his prom date to walk down the stairs, because this was completely new to him. She decided then, that this time she had to be the strong one; the one to take his hand and show him there was nothing to be afraid of.
"You don't," He started almost nervously, absently scratching his arm. "You don't mind me sleeping in here do you? I mean, I guess I just assumed that it wouldn't be a problem but if it is…" He stopped suddenly as Rose sat up on the bed and held out a hand to him.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
He let out a deep sigh and seemed to relax. Running his hand through his hair, The Doctor smiled gently at her and walked towards the bed, his hand briefly making contact with hers before he continued his way around to the other side of the mattress. As he crawled onto the duvet, she laid back down and smiled at him. He briefly leaned over her long enough to give her a quick kiss and rub noses with her, before flopping onto his belly. He laid his head down on her stomach, his face turned towards her's.
Rose gently began running her fingers through the Doctor's hair, occasionally scratching the scalp, causing him to groan. She let her other hand rest on his bare back, feeling the lean muscles there tense at the unexpected contact, before allowing them to relax with the rest of his body.
The Doctor looked up at Rose's face from where his head was resting on her stomach. She chuckled quietly at the content 'cat that got the canary' look on his face.
"You're squishy," he stated.
"Did you just call me squishy?" Rose questioned as her hand suddenly stopped moving.
"Yeah, the good kind of squishy though!" the Doctor rushed out to correct himself, eyes wide in fear of receiving a famous Tyler smack. "Just the right amount of squishy and support. The kind of squishy a guy could get used to. Squishy like a…somewhat…uncomfortable pillow, but you're comfortable, just saying if you were a pillow you wouldn't be a top of the line pillow, but as far as human stomachs go you're the best. And I'm going to stop talking now before I dig my grave any deeper."
"Yeah, good idea. Seems you've learned when you're being rude. And can't we use some word other than squishy? Squishy is just so…unappealing."
"Hmmm…how 'bout fluffy? No, comfy? Yeah, but not a good description, lots of things can be comfy. Pillow-y? Is that even a word? Doughy?"
Rose smacked him lightly on the back of his head and glared down at him.
He looked up at her sheepishly, "Guess not, hmm…" he said rubbing his face on her belly. "Cozy, that's what you are, just plain cozy. Cozy, cozy, cozy, cozy, cozy, cozy," he repeated the word in a singsong voice, slowly closing his eyes, until she placed her hand on his mouth. He blinked and looked up at her innocently. "What?" he mumbled through her fingers.
Rose just smiled and shook her head, removing her hand to see that he was grinning at her.
"So Rose," he said, looking back at the ceiling. "Should I tell you a bedtime story?"
Rose, still used to his rapid conversation changes, even after five years, went along with it. "Sure why not," she said, beginning to run her hands through his hair again.
He looked back over to her excitedly. "Rose, have I ever told you about the Zygons?"
Rose awoke in the morning to the sound of her cell phone. Half asleep and with a full-grown Time Lord lying across her stomach, it was only natural that Rose wouldn't get to it in time. Luckily, who ever was calling thought it important enough to ring back again. She finally managed to wiggle her way out from underneath the Doctor, and managed to grab the phone, and look at it the caller ID.
"Hello?" She said groggily into the speaker, stopping to listen to the reply. "Bloody hell."
At this the Doctor perked up, and lifted his head to watch her as she began to pace the room.
"Yeah, yeah, I know…I'll definitely be there. Just give me time to get dressed and eat something…yeah I'll hurry." She closed the cell phone and looked at the Doctor, who had raised a curious eyebrow. "That was work, seems we have some visitors. Not necessarily of the friendly kind," she explained while starting to get dressed.
"Well then, we'd better get out of these jim-jams and get down there! Or, we could always leave the pajama's on; I mean, they did work out well for me last Christmas. Will you call Martha's cell and wake her up? She'd kill me if I left her here asleep while there was an alien invasion going on." The Doctor grabbed his suit and chucks from the chair he'd tossed them on last night, and dug out his mobile, before tossing it to Rose. He stopped for a moment to look at her, worried she might be upset, "That's okay right?"
Rose smiled genuinely, "Sure thing. I quite like Ms. Jones. She seems to have quite a head on her shoulders. I'm sure she'll be able to help. And she seems like the kind of girl who wouldn't take your crap." Rose opened the phone and pushed buttons until she came to the tumber labled as Martha's. Pushing call and lifting the moble to her ear, she quickly informed Martha of the situation and agreed to meet her by the front door in 15 minutes.
"Thanks," the Doctor said quietly before continuing to get dressed.
Rose smiled and kissed him on the corner of his lips, freezing his movements of buttoning up his shirt, "No problem. But, might I ask what is it with you an aliens invading Earth on Christmas day?"
"I'm not quite sure," he said laughing, as he threaded the last button through his jacket.
"Ready to go save the world again My Doctor?" she questioned, holding out a hand for him to take.
The Doctor interlaced their fingers, beaming brightly as he met her gaze, "Always."