"Nestene Consciousness? Easy," grinned the Doctor, with a click of his fingers.
"You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me," retorted Rose proudly.
His smile softened. "Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off. Unless, er, I don't know…you could come with me? This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe, free of charge."
Mickey grabbed hold of her leg. "Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing!"
"He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go…anywhere."
Rose bit her lip. "Is it always this dangerous?"
He wasn't going to lie to her. "Yeah."
She was tempted. Very tempted. But then Mickey whimpered and tightened his hold on her leg and it was like she was jerked back to reality. She shook her head as she replied, "Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum, and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so."
The Time Lord swallowed hard with the rejection, but managed a small smile, trying not to show her how disappointed he was. "Okay. See you around."
He stepped inside his ship and it dematerialised right in front of Rose and Mickey. Her stomach churned in regret. She looked down at her boyfriend. "Come on, let's go. Come on." They walked back to her flat.
Five minutes later, the TARDIS reappeared in the spot he'd vacated earlier. He popped his head out, and his hearts sank as he realised she'd already left. Sighing sadly, he thought about going to see her – he knew where she lived, after all. But then he realised that that would be tantamount to pestering her, and her mum probably wouldn't have appreciated some old man knocking on her door asking to take her daughter away. He shut the TARDIS doors again and returned to the console. And he left.
::
The Doctor wasn't really looking where he was going when he stepped out of the TARDIS, so it was his own fault when he crashed into someone. He reflexively grabbed at the woman's arms, holding her upright as he quickly apologised for nearly knocking her over. When she looked up at him, his eyebrows jumped up his forehead.
"Rose Tyler!" he greeted in surprise.
"Oh!" The breath went out of her. "Oh my god. It's you, isn't it?" she asked, her eyes widening. "You're the Doctor!"
The Doctor smiled. "Yes. Hello, Rose." His brow furrowed slightly. "How did you know it was me?"
"The big blue box was a giveaway. Plus, I recently ran into an old friend of yours who told me about how you can change your face – regeneration, isn't it?"
"Yes…" he said warily. "Which friend?"
"Sarah Jane Smith."
He gaped at her for a moment. "Oh. Wow." He swallowed. "How is she? And how did you bump into her?"
She fiddled with her earring shyly. "I've, er. I've sort of been researching into - well. Into you." She saw the look he gave her and hurried to add, "Not in a creepy way! Promise. I just…"
"Rose, it's okay." He waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'm sure I had quite the effect on your curiosity."
"Well, yeah." Rose cleared her throat. "Come for a walk?" she suggested, biting her lip.
He was quite sure he shouldn't feel so delighted by the prospect, and tried not to let his eagerness show too much. "If you want," he shrugged.
They set off along the path, and Rose admitted that she'd been keeping an eye out for the Doctor for a while.
"Why?"
"Because I – I wanted to see you again."
He sniffed casually and sat down on a nearby bench.
"Is that so wrong?" she asked, sitting down next to him, warily taking in his non-reaction.
"You didn't want to come with me."
"I did!" she interrupted quickly. "But – Mickey – I had to stay. I thought I had to stay. But as soon as you left I knew I'd made a mistake. If you'd come back and asked again I would've jumped at the chance to change my mind."
His hearts clenched tightly in his chest. "I did," he said softly.
"Did what?"
"I came back. You'd left, though, and I didn't think it'd be right to pester you by going to your flat."
Rose stared at him, gobsmacked. "You came back?"
"Yeah."
"Oh. Bugger! Wish I'd stayed in that spot a bit longer, then."
"Wish I'd landed a few minutes earlier," the Doctor admitted before he could stop himself.
Rose's eyes widened. "You really wanted me to come with you?"
He shrugged. "Well, I thought you'd be quite useful."
Her eyes narrowed, this time. "Useful?" she echoed.
"Mmm. Useful."
"For what?"
"Saving the world. Cheering me up. Company, and all that."
Her expression softened. "Oh."
"Anyway, it's all right," he said briskly. "Found someone else to bring along not long after." He watched her as she took in this news with an audible swallow.
"I see," she murmured.
"Donna – that's her name. She's brilliant."
"Right. Well. That's great!" Rose tried to smile.
"And there's Martha, too," he said next. "Medical student. Indispensable. Couldn't do without her."
"Right, yeah, okay."
"And Jack – he's from the 51st century, an ex-Time Agent. Helps me out, what with the TARDIS and - "
"I get it," Rose said, half-laughing. "No room left at the inn."
"What?" He blinked at her in confusion.
"Well, the TARDIS seems pretty full," she said, standing up.
The Doctor stood too, panicking a bit that she was apparently leaving.
"And I've got no skills to offer, so," she continued, with a sad sort of smile. "Just wanted to check you were all right, anyway." She gestured behind her. "I'll get going, then. Nice to see you. Look me up if you need me to help you take down some shop window dummies again." She flashed him a grin and turned, starting to walk away.
He moved with her, catching up easily. He cleared his throat. "Ah, you see, the thing is."
Rose glanced at him as she realised he was walking with her. "Yeah?"
The Doctor tugged on his ear. "It's just – well – I, er."
"Yeah?"
"You can still come aboard. If you want. Always room for one more."
Rose fought back a smile, trying not to get her hopes up. "But the others - "
"They won't mind," he answered her quickly.
"I was gonna say that you don't need me – you've got them."
"Right, well, yeah, I have. But - I'd quite like it if you were to join us."
"Would you, though?"
"Yes."
Rose bit her lip. "Are you sure they wouldn't mind?"
"Course not. Besides, even if they did – my TARDIS, my rules."
Rose rolled her eyes.
"But they won't mind, anyway," he amended. "They're very friendly people. You'll like them. Only travel with the best, and they are that, Rose. You'll all get along famously."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." He smiled at her encouragingly. "So – will you come?"
Her face split into a wide, happy grin. "Yes, please."
::
On their walk back to the TARDIS, the Doctor asked Rose if she wanted to go home to pack a bag and say goodbye to her Mum, seeing as they had plenty of time before the others would be getting back from their respective visits. Rose was surprised that he remembered to ask this, but agreed quickly before he could retract his suggestion.
"And I suppose you've got that, um…" began the Doctor quietly, "That Rickey bloke to tell, too."
Rose's eyebrows lifted. "Yeah – well, it's Mickey – but, um. We're not together any more, so, no problem there."
"Oh. Sorry about that."
"You don't sound sorry," Rose laughed, bumping her shoulder against his.
"I - " he paused; shrugged a shoulder. "Just thought you could do better than Rickey the Idiot, that's all."
"It's Mickey, and he's still my mate. You knew him all of five minutes, what do you know, anyway?"
"Rose, he was clinging to your legs like a lost little boy."
"He was scared! Aliens and all that are hard to get used to!"
"You managed. Martha and Donna managed - "
"Yeah, but Mickey's – I dunno. He's all right now, anyway. Started getting into all the government conspiracy stuff – that they're hiding their knowledge of aliens and that sort of thing."
"Well, he's not wrong," the Doctor conceded. They'd reached the TARDIS. "Right! I'll go back in here and you go do the domestics, and - "
"No way," she said, continuing to walk and pulling him along with her.
"What?!"
"I'm not having you fob me off with that and then disappear on me again."
"I won't!" he insisted.
"I know you won't, 'cos you're coming to Mum's with me."
"Oh no, I'm really not," he said hurriedly, trying to extricate his arm from hers.
"Yeah, you are." She glanced up at him. "Please, Doctor. It'll only take fifteen minutes, max."
He promptly realised that her wide eyes and bottom lip would be the death of him. "Fine," he sighed loudly. "Just this once. But I'm not going inside - "
"Doctor."
"Your mother came on to me when I was in your flat before, you know."
"She did what?" He blinked innocently at her and she conceded, "Right, yeah, you're staying outside the front door."
The Doctor grinned. Rose, confident that he would no longer bolt at the first opportunity, released his arm from its position under hers. The backs of their hands brushed as their arms returned to their sides. They both jerked slightly at the contact, but neither remarked on it.
::
The Doctor was right. As soon as Rose was on board, she made fast friends with Donna, Martha and Jack. The five of them became a proper team, having adventures on planets all over the universe and getting into trouble on at least half of them. Rose loved it.
The Doctor told her, one night, as they sat side by side on the jumpseat in the console room, watching Donna spin a blindfolded Jack around as they played Blind Man's Bluff, that the TARDIS had never been so full.
He had such a lovely little smile on his face and a soft look in his eye that Rose was certain his hearts felt full, too.
::
The Doctor enjoyed having such a noisy TARDIS - it meant his friends were there, and that they were happy. But sometimes he did like to take advantage of the quiet that night brought, which was why he was sitting on the sofa reading in the library when Rose unexpectedly padded into the room, interrupting his usual alone time. He looked up, a crease of worry forming in between his eyebrows. It was gone midnight, and usually she was asleep by now. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just couldn't switch off," Rose murmured. She bit her lip hesitantly. "Is it okay if I join you?"
"Of course." He patted the space next to him on the sofa and they shared a small smile.
"What're you reading?" she asked, as she settled herself beside him.
"Great Expectations," he answered. "Ever read it?"
Rose shook her head. "Only Dickens book we read in school was Oliver Twist."
"I could read this aloud, if you want."
"A bedtime story for the human?" she grinned, touching the corner of her mouth with her tongue. She had a tendency to do that.
He shrugged. "If you want," he repeated.
"Okay. Yeah. Thanks."
"No problem." He began to read from the beginning.
When he paused at one point to turn a page, Rose said softly, "You're good at this narration stuff. You've got the voice for it."
"Have I?"
"Yeah," she replied shyly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Well, at least I know if the travelling doesn't work out then I'll have a career in voice-over work," he said cheerily, and she giggled.
He continued to read, but soon noticed that Rose's eyelids were growing heavy "Shall I stop?"
"No, keep going," she said, fighting back a yawn. "It's not boring, honest – I'm just tired."
"You should head back to bed."
"Not yet," she said. "I want to hear what happens next."
The Doctor proceeded with the tale, and when she nodded off five minutes later, he carried on reading, but silently. He was planning on waking her gently after he'd finished the chapter, so that she could go back to her room. But quite unusually, he ended up dozing off himself.
When he awoke four hours later, the Doctor's eyes widened, startled to find himself turned horizontally on the sofa with Rose asleep against him, her hand resting on his chest. They must have quite unconsciously shifted around to get more comfortable in their sleep.
He didn't know what to do; he should wake her, get her to move, but he didn't want to embarrass her. And it wasn't like it was an unpleasant position to be in, stretched out alongside his friend. He took off his glasses and placed them on top of the book that had slipped to the floor during his nap. One of his arms was trapped beneath Rose so he moved it slowly out, needing to shake out the pins and needles he'd acquired. This resulted in her curling into him more, her head now pillowed between his neck and shoulder, her lips almost grazing his collar bone through his shirts. His arm less numb, he curved it around Rose's back, keeping her in her new position.
It wasn't like it meant anything. He'd hugged her quite a bit in the weeks she'd been travelling with him, and this was hardly any different. And so what if the way she'd snuggled against him with her leg thrown over one of his seemed a little too close for just friends? No one was going to know. All their other friends were in bed. Rose herself would probably wake up in a few hours and laugh it off.
And she was so warm. He hadn't slept this closely beside someone else for decades; he'd forgotten how nice it was to have someone else's warmth seeping into one's body just from mere closeness.
He tilted his head slightly to take a look at her face. She was sleeping peacefully. It would be a shame to wake her up now. A crime, almost.
So he closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep again, his arms full of Rose.
::
When Rose stirred a few hours later, she couldn't believe what she was doing. She was cuddling the Doctor. The Doctor. He didn't really strike her as a cuddly sort of person so she didn't know what to do; he wouldn't be angry with her, would he? She hadn't meant to fall asleep in here and she certainly hadn't meant to fall asleep situated in his arms.
It clicked, then. Rose wasn't just cuddling up to him; he was cuddling her back. She sighed in relief. They were as much to blame as each other, so he couldn't have a go at her about it. Still, she wasn't sure whether to move now, or wait until he woke up. Something inside her wanted to see what his reaction to their position would be. Would he make a joke of it? Shrug it off as nothing?
Did he fall asleep like this with the others now and then, too?
Just then, she felt him shift subtly as though stretching as he awoke. Rose slowly lifted her head and took in his expression. He smiled at her gently. "Good morning."
"Morning," she mumbled back, her heart hammering.
"It seems we fell asleep," he observed, making no move to get up.
"Yeah."
He chuckled and slowly sat up, dislodging their arms from around one another. "Must say, haven't had a cuddle in a while."
She swallowed thickly and tried a cheeky smile. "No?"
"Nope." He looked back at her, his eyes soft. "It was nice."
"Yeah, it was," she replied. "Best night's sleep I've had in ages."
His smile transformed into a grin. "Me too." Then, he swung his legs over the side of the sofa and jumped up, raising his arms above his head in a long stretch.
Rose couldn't help but stare at he exposed skin of his lower back where his shirt had been untucked and ridden up. When he turned around, she snapped her eyes up to his face.
"Fancy some breakfast?" he asked.
"Yeah."
He held out his hand to pull her to her feet. Her breath hitched a bit as their hands clasped firmly, and then she was standing right in front of him, barely a few inches away, and he was staring at her and she was staring right back. He released her hand and reached his own up to tug on his earlobe, spinning away from her and making for the door, the moment gone. "Let's go then. I fancy toast."
Rose quite fancied him, she realised, but she couldn't exactly say that out loud, nor did she really want to admit to herself that she had a crush on a nine hundred and something alien.
::
They moved easily around one another in the kitchen, making breakfast. She'd hand him a plate and he'd hand her the mugs and, inconceivably in sync, they made their toast and tea. When she stepped over to the fridge to grab the milk, she handed the butter to him without even looking. He passed her the teabags and she spooned in their sugar and by the time she'd set their mugs on the kitchen table, a pile of buttered toast was being placed down by the Doctor. He grabbed two extra plates, two knives, and the marmalade and marmite, so that they could grab as much toast as they wanted from the middle and add their own spreads.
"Wonder where the others are," Rose mumbled, as she bit into her slice. She stretched out her legs beneath the table and accidentally brushed his calf with one of her feet. He didn't remark on it so she settled her legs in such a way that they were casually touching his. He didn't move.
"It's still early, yet," he answered eventually, raising the mug to his lips. He burned his tongue; the tea was still too hot and he seemed distracted.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," he muttered, scraping his tongue against his front teeth and wincing.
They fell into a comfortable silence for a bit, eating and drinking, and then Rose asked, "Where are we going today?"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. You." He smiled at her.
"I…I don't mind. I don't know," she stumbled over her answer.
"Why do you look so surprised?"
"Just, I don't usually get to make a decision like this, do I?" she laughed softly. "Mind's gone blank."
"I'll take you wherever you want to go, Rose," he said. "You just say the word."
The way his voice kept dipping into that soft, murmuring tone – it was doing things to her. She didn't get why he was suddenly speaking to her like that, but she liked it. It was almost – she shook away the thought. Any affection he felt for her was just the platonic kind. She had to get that straight in her head.
"Um…I'll have a think, then. Thank you," she murmured.
"You're welcome," he grinned.
"Do you want the last slice of toast? I'm full."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
He shrugged a shoulder. "All right then, ta." He wolfed it down and she giggled. "What?"
"You. I don't know where you put it all," she replied.
"Excellent Time Lord metabolism."
"Lucky git."
His eyebrows rose. "It's not like you need to be jealous."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, you're - " he floundered for the right word. He landed on, "Healthy."
"Healthy," she said flatly.
He coughed awkwardly. "Yes. Healthy. You don't need to worry about what you eat or whatever."
"Not what Mickey used to say," she admitted. "He used to 'remind' me not to eat too many chips."
The Doctor huffed. "Don't listen to anyone else; you eat what you want. I'll never understand the human obsession with policing other people's diets."
"No?"
"Nope."
She smiled. "I'd still better be careful, though; don't want to end up not being able to keep up with you."
"You run for your life often enough; that's all the exercise you need. So eat chips and be happy."
Rose laughed. "I like you."
"Yeah?"
His eyes were sparkling at her across the table. She bit her lip nervously. "Yeah."
"I like you too," he murmured.
"That's…that's good," she whispered back.
They sat and looked at each other for a few moments, but broke their gaze when Martha and Donna came into the room. Both of them were already dressed, and it made Rose realise that she was still in her pyjamas. "I'd better go and get ready," she said hastily, standing up. "See you in a bit." She fled the kitchen without looking back at the others. For some reason, the events of the morning had all caught up with her and her cheeks were heating up. She didn't want the Doctor, or the others, to see her blushing.
::
There was a distinct possibility that the Doctor was letting himself look at Rose a bit too much. He first realised this possibility when he took his friends to a beach on Traos. The climate was warm and the ocean an inviting shade of blue, and of course all the humans wanted to linger and swim and sunbathe. At first, the Doctor didn't really see the appeal, but his opinion drastically changed when Rose emerged from the TARDIS in a scarlet bikini and matching sarong.
As soon as he caught a glimpse of her, he glanced quickly away, but there was nothing he could do to ignore the increasingly rapid beating of his hearts. His face was a mask of indifference, of course, and he maintained this for at least three minutes; right up until Jack started playfully chasing her across the otherwise unoccupied beach. The growl that emitted from deep in his chest then was quite involuntary, but Donna unfortunately noticed it.
"What was that noise for?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows.
The Doctor sniffed, and laid out the towels Martha had handed to him before she'd bounded for the sea just now. "Nothing."
Donna looked sceptical but didn't press him on it, which was unusual. Still, he wasn't complaining. The last thing he wanted was to be interrogated on why he was so agitated about his friend making moves on their newest companion. Because that was what Jack was doing, and the Doctor knew it; he'd seen the interest in Jack's eyes as soon as Rose joined them on the TARDIS. And now that Rose was looking so – so – well, so nice, and under-dressed, well, there was no doubt in the Doctor's mind that Jack would be making an attempt at seduction at some point. Which was completely unacceptable, because he wouldn't have Rose being treated in such a way.
"Relax, Jack's harmless," Donna muttered, as she sat on one of the towels. She popped open a bottle of sun cream and started applying it to her arms. "He's not gonna try anything."
"What?" said the Doctor, as he sat down beside her.
"You look all stormy and worried. But you don't need to, 'cos Jack won't do anything to hurt or take advantage of her."
"He fancies her," the Doctor said without meaning to. He loosened his tie, placing it on the towel beside him as he unbuttoned the top couple of buttons on his shirt.
"Probably, but Jack fancies everyone," Donna replied.
The Doctor sighed. "I suppose." He rolled up his shirtsleeves and glanced out across the water. "I didn't know Martha was such a good swimmer."
Donna followed his line of sight. "Yeah, she told me she was on the swimming team at school."
"You gonna take a dip?" he asked, nodding his head towards the sea. As much as he enjoyed Donna's company, he'd quite like to lie down and sort through his thoughts on his own for a bit.
She finished applying her sun cream and shook her head. "No, not yet. I'd only have to put this on all over again if I went in now. I burn badly and quickly without it." She glanced at him. "You're quite pale – do you want some?"
"Nah, Time Lord. I won't burn."
"All right then," she shrugged, and fished a book out from her beach bag. "I'm gonna read for a bit."
The Doctor nodded absently. "Okay. I might take a walk." He stood up, and began to do just that.
Rose and Jack were playing with a frisbee when he reached them. And they were playing it quite determinedly. So determinedly, in fact, that Rose was jumping about all over the place in her efforts to catch the damn thing. The sight made the Doctor swallow hard. Surely it wasn't rational, he thought, that his eyes would be drawn so hypnotically to Rose Tyler's chest in that moment. He was a Time Lord. Time Lords did not burn, Time Lords did not get drunk, and Time Lords did not stare at certain parts of his friend's anatomy.
But right now, his cheeks felt red, his mind was as incoherent as a drunk's, and his gaze was wavering from her face quite dramatically. She noticed him, then, and beamed, inviting him to join her and Jack's game. He wasn't quite sure what it was about this woman that pulled on an aspect of him he thought long forgotten, but she did, and he was helpless, hopeless, in the face of her smile.
Half-heartedly, he declined, but she persisted with those eyelashes of hers and he gave in. "All right."
After a while, Jack wandered back to their towels for a drink, leaving them on their own.
"Let's keep playing," Rose said. They'd been having quite a laugh, so the Doctor was inclined to agree with her.
He nodded, dispatching the frisbee from his grasp.
She dove sideways to grab it, and her sarong came loose with her quick movement, slipping to the sand. She kicked it aside, seemingly not caring, and threw the frisbee back to him.
It hit him straight in the head.
Her first instinct, apparently, was to laugh, but then she gasped out an, "I'm so sorry!" and came dashing over to him to see if he was all right.
"It's fine," he smiled, rubbing at his forehead. "I just wasn't expecting it."
Rose bit her lip worriedly. "Your reaction time's so good that I thought you'd have a chance to get it. And I didn't realise I had that kind of aim," she joked. "How's it feel?" She reached up and moved his hand aside, touching the skin delicately with her fingertips.
"I'll be all right, don't worry," he insisted, taking hold of her wrist to lower her hand. He met her eyes. "I forgive you." It would've been callous of him not to forgive her, considering he'd been the one so enamoured of her newly-revealed thighs that he'd not reacted quickly enough to shield his head.
She smiled back and murmured, "Good. Would hate to feel guilty for hurting you almost straight away on our little holiday."
"This isn't really a holiday," he scoffed quietly. "We're only staying a day - "
"Still," she pressed. She looked down, to where he was still holding her wrist in a loose grasp between them. His thumb glided over her forearm briefly before he dropped it completely.
She met his gaze again and something tightened inside his chest. "Rose," he whispered.
"Oi, you two!" Donna's voice interrupted them. They both blinked once before turning towards the voice. Donna was gesturing for them to hurry over, so Rose picked up the frisbee and her sarong and the Doctor most definitely did not watch her bend over as she did so. They then made their way back over to their friends.
Martha had returned from her swim and was towelling off, laughing. The reason for Donna's distress was clear. Jack had seized her into his arms, bridal style, and was gleefully threatening to run into the sea with her.
"You have to stop him," she said firmly, but her arms were wound tightly around Jack's neck so the Doctor wasn't completely sure that she wasn't enjoying it.
::
Later, they were all sunbathing on the sand, their sandwiches eaten and feeling exhausted from swimming in the sea for hours.
Rose rolled onto her front and the Doctor's eyes involuntarily slid over to her as he saw her move. This trip had been quite the education in the bits of Rose Tyler he didn't usually get to see; her bikini bottoms were skimpy anyway but now they had ridden up a little so that half of her bum cheeks were on display. He closed his eyes and day-dreamed of scenarios where she'd ask him to apply sun cream to her back and –
"Doctor?" Rose mumbled, her head still turned away from him. She couldn't sense his thoughts somehow, could she?
He gulped. "Yeah?"
"I'm not burning, am I?"
"I'm sorry?"
"My back. It doesn't look red, does it?"
"No, no," he mumbled, then cleared his throat. "No, you're fine."
"Good. Might have a doze. Wake me up if you see me starting to turn into a tomato, yeah?"
She was practically giving him permission to observe her. "Of course."
As Rose napped, the Doctor sat beside her, wrangling with his thoughts and feelings. He knew it was wrong of him to feel the things he did for her. He hardly knew her, really, compared to his other friends. She'd only be travelling with them for a month. But blimey, he was in turmoil. And it wasn't just a physical thing – he was attracted to her, that much was evident by his current state of perpetual arousal – but something profound and emotional and completely irrational was starting to develop and he didn't know what to do about it. Firstly, he never let himself feel like this about people he travelled with – for many reasons and complications, most startling of which was the transience of the human lifespan. And secondly, he couldn't work out what was so different about her that it made him want to forget all the regulations and limitations he and his people had set so deeply in his mind.
He had perfect self-control, of course, so it wasn't like he was ever going to do such a thing, but the very fact that he wanted to throw the metaphorical rulebook into a supernova unsettled him significantly.
::
Just one week after their trip to the beach, the Doctor's friends requested a picnic in a park. Given that they had spent the last six days bouncing from one planet to another, dissembling a tyrannical government or two and getting locked in prison thrice, the Doctor conceded that they deserved a bit of a break.
He landed the TARDIS on the small planet of Dex Four, a human colony in the year 3045, and they soon found an appropriately green park. The humans who had settled here had been eager to lose themselves in nature, and even the capital city had very few tower blocks and technology.
Martha and Jack went off exploring, searching for this planet's equivalent of ice cream. Donna and Rose arranged the picnic on the grass whilst the Doctor stood, hands in pockets, people-watching. It was a busy day at this particular park, and the crowds of families and groups of friends setting up barbecues and playing with their pets and children were having a strange effect on the Doctor. He felt almost wistful. Which wasn't an emotion he was completely unused to, of course, but there was something about this day -
He shook himself out of it and sat down in between Donna and Rose, helping himself to a handful of cocktail sausages.
"Has Jack seemed a bit odd to you, recently?" Donna said, as she poured out some orange juice.
The Doctor frowned. "How do you mean?"
"Yeah," answered Rose at the same time. "Ever since we stopped in Cardiff."
"What?" The Doctor was completely lost.
"I think he's met someone," confided Donna.
"What, like…" Rose waggled her eyebrows.
"Yeah!"
"Ohhhh. Maybe, yeah."
The Doctor interjected, "What's happening?"
"Jack," said Donna slowly, as though the Doctor were daft, "He's been acting weird. We think he might've been bitten by the love bug."
Rose started giggling. "Oh, god, don't call it that."
"How has he been acting differently?" asked the Doctor.
"Cor, Spaceman, you aren't half oblivious," tutted Donna, whacking his arm.
"He's still the same old Jack as far as I'm concerned," insisted the Doctor. "Cocky, flirtatious, reckless - "
"It's no use talking to you about it," sighed Rose. "You don't get it."
The Doctor was affronted. He propped himself up on his elbows and glared down at her, where she was laying with her arms pillowing her head. "Excuse me?"
"Well, you don't notice that people change, sometimes," she answered. "They become all sort of…what's the word?"
"Radiant," cackled Donna. "He's glowing!"
Rose giggled again. "Well, maybe not quite. But let's just say Mr Cupid has definitely paid him a visit."
"You've lost me," said the Doctor.
Both women rolled their eyes. "You're such an alien. It's pointless, Rose, give up. Not like the Doctor would recognise romance if it bumped him on the head," Donna said.
"Oi!" he said crossly. "I could be romantic! Just because you've never seen me be romantic, doesn't mean I couldn't be!"
Rose and Donna burst into laughter.
The Doctor harrumphed. "I'll prove it to you," he said, then scrambled to his knees. He grabbed Donna's hand theatrically and murmured, "Donna Noble, light of my life - "
"I'm gonna be sick," interrupted Donna, snatching her hand back and pretending to gag. "Practise on Rose!"
Rose, who had been laughing hysterically at the scene playing out in front of her, promptly became stoic and wide-eyed. "Uh, no."
The Doctor saw his opportunity to interpret Rose's reaction to the possibility of him acting in a romantic way towards her, and a wicked grin came upon his face. "Come on, Rose. It'll be a laugh," he said.
"It'll be that all right," chuckled Donna, watching them carefully.
"I don't think you'd be very successful - " began Rose, but she cut off her sentence when he suddenly jerked forwards, his hands coming to rest either side of her head as he looked deep into her eyes. His movement had brought one of his knees in between her legs, and as he crouched on all-fours above her, he reckoned he'd given her one or two ideas.
"Rose Tyler," he said reverently. "Brave, clever, wonderful Rose Tyler."
Rose laughed nervously. "All right, Doctor," she said, reaching up and patting his shoulder. "You've proved your point."
"I don't think I have," he breathed out roughly. "Did you know that when I left you that night, after you said no to coming with me, I felt like I'd just lost a second chance at happiness?"
She rolled her eyes to cover up the effect he was sure he was having on her.
"And my time senses felt all wrong. When I'd grabbed your hand and told you about the world turning beneath our feet - "
"You remember that?"
"Of course I do. Anyway, when I did that, it felt like something connected us; potential timelines, potential futures, all spread out before me. It was incredible. So that night when I was alone in the TARDIS again, I couldn't understand it. I was so sure - " He paused. "But now, here you are."
"You told me to forget you," she whispered.
"I didn't want you to," he replied. "I think we were meant to find one another." Her breath caught. He lifted a hand and brushed the backs of his fingers against her cheek. "Rose - "
"Bloody hell, don't start snogging in front of me!" cried Donna. The Doctor launched himself backwards.
"We weren't going to!" Rose cried back, "He was just acting, remember!"
The Doctor sat back on his haunches and met Donna's disbelieving gaze fearlessly. "You wanted me to show you I could do romance," he shrugged casually, trying to ignore the frantic beating of his hearts.
"That got a bit too realistic," Donna pointed out.
"What got a bit too realistic?" asked Jack, as he and Martha returned. "And Doctor, did I just see you lying on top of Rose?"
"Nothing and no!" said Rose and the Doctor simultaneously. They froze in surprise at their synchronized words.
"What's going on?" asked Martha suspiciously.
"Basically, we were talking about romance and how the Doctor wouldn't know it if it pinched him on the bum, and then he tried to woo me but I nearly threw up, so he made a move on Rose and it all got very heated."
"No it didn't, stop twisting it," Rose huffed.
"And I wasn't lying on top of her; I was just sort of hovering over her. For acting purposes! I was trying to prove a point. That's all."
"So he started going on about destiny and love at first sight," clarified Donna.
"Donna!" whined the Doctor. "Stop spreading such lies! I did no such thing."
Jack and Martha looked bewildered, and the Doctor wasn't surprised because that was exactly how he felt about the entire situation, and he'd been there the whole time.
"Riiiight," said Jack slowly, handing out ice lollies. "I dunno what's really going on here but this is a public park, Doc, you gotta keep your hands off Rose 'til you get somewhere private."
Donna chuckled. The Doctor and Rose looked horrified.
Martha tactfully cleared her throat, "Anyway, guess what Jack confessed to me just now."
"Martha that was said in confidence!" complained Jack.
"Ooh, what? Give us the juicy details," said Donna.
"He met someone in Cardiff."
"I knew it!" shouted Donna.
Jack groaned. Martha recounted to them all Jack had told her about a man called Ianto Jones – that he was handsome, funny, and entirely off-limits.
"He has a girlfriend," Jack admitted, shrugging. "But there was definitely some chemistry there!"
"How did you meet?" asked Rose.
"Bumped into him while the TARDIS was recharging. He works for some company called Torchwood or something. Anyway, he was scoping out the Bay. We got chatting. I know it's stupid to still even be thinking about him; not like he thought anything of the encounter, probably. But…there's something about him. Can't quite put my finger on it. But I'll get over it."
"Like hell you will," said Donna. "Doctor, take us back to Cardiff. We've got to check this guy out."
The Doctor spoke for the first time in ages, glad to finally get a word in, "Jack said he has a girlfriend."
"So?" scoffed Martha. "Doesn't mean we can't take a look."
"Where has your morality gone, honestly," sighed the Doctor dramatically. "I dunno, I'm going around with people willing to break up relationships, tsk."
"We're not gonna break up any relationships," said Jack. "And we're not gonna find him. He's from Cardiff but he works in London normally, he told me. He could be anywhere."
::
It was days later that the Doctor mentioned anything about their time in the park.
Rose looked up in surprise as the Doctor was flung into the prison cell with her. The door shut and locked behind him. So much for relying on him to come and get her.
"You all right?" she asked, noting that he was rubbing his arm.
"Yeah, just a bit bruised. You?" He came and sat next to her on the cold concrete floor.
"I'm fine," she replied, then shivered. "Just freezing."
"Here," he murmured, taking his coat off and draping it around her.
She smiled at him gratefully. "Thank you. You're lovely."
"I'm a Time Lord," he shrugged. "Won't get too cold. Superior -"
"Biology, yes, you've said," she giggled. She rested her head on his shoulder. "How long do you reckon we'll be stuck here for, then?"
"Ooh, shouldn't take Jack and co longer than a couple of hours to track us down. We'll be fine. At least we've got each other for company."
"How come, by the way? Thought you got away."
"I did."
"Then why did you come back?"
"Was trying to get you out."
"You should've waited for the others. They could've acted as a distraction, saved you getting caught by the guards."
"I didn't want to wait," he said.
Rose glanced up at him. "What?"
He met her gaze steadily. "I didn't want to wait until the others got here. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
She pulled his coat tighter around her shoulders, feeling another shiver go through her. She was eighty-five per cent certain that it wasn't because of the cold this time, though. Had his eyes always been that dark?
"I didn't mind – didn't want you getting caught too," she whispered.
"Well, too late now," he said breezily, looking away.
She tentatively rested her head back on his shoulder, worried that he would flinch. He didn't. In fact, he brought his arm up and around her shoulders, holding her against his side. "What shall we talk about?" she asked.
"We could talk about you."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You enjoying it, so far?"
"What, being stuck in a prison cell?"
He squeezed her shoulder. "No, not this bit. But generally, travelling with me – do you like it?"
"Of course I do. Why? Do you want me to leave?"
He chuckled. "No, I don't want you to leave." He exhaled slowly. "I want you to stay for – for as long as you want to stay."
She grinned up at him. "Forever, then."
His smile faded. "I wish," he murmured, so quietly that Rose would have thought she'd misheard had she not been staring at his lips and seen them move.
"Yeah?" she murmured back.
He nodded once. "Rose…"
"Yes?" She watched as the Doctor swallowed hard before speaking.
"Um, do you remember – what I said, in the park, the other day. When Donna was – when she was taking the mick, a bit. About what I said."
"When you were showing us you had a romantic soul?" she teased.
He hesitated. "Well, if you have to put it like that. Yes."
"Yeah. Why?"
"Those things I was saying…I know we were just playacting and all that, but – I wanted you to know that – that - "
Rose's heart rate increased rapidly. "That what?"
"Well, I wouldn't have said them if they didn't – if in some way they weren't true."
Her eyes widened. "You really meant all that stuff?"
"Well, I suppose – yes."
"Doctor, I…"
"I fancied it up a bit, of course. Wouldn't be quite that poetic, really, but, well, I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you and, um." He paused, his cheeks pink. "I'm glad you decided to come with me. Us. I'm glad you decided to come with us."
"I'm glad too," she said quietly. "Thank you for asking me again."
He nodded, smiling shyly, and wrapped his other arm around her to draw her into a hug. "Thank you for saying yes."