Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. But I have high hopes that I might acquire it someday…
Author's Note: This is the fourth fic in my one-word prompt series, as well as being my first DW fic! This is an AU fic of Nine's series.
"I want to go up there."
"Up where?"
"Up there with the stars."
Her statement had startled him out of the task of grading papers, so he stopped, put his pen down, and prepared himself to listen.
When she saw that he had his full attention, she continued, " 'S like, we're stuck on Earth all our lives and we'll never know what's out there in the stars. We'll never know if there's life out there, we'll never know what alien languages sound like, or what their food tastes like. We're stuck on this rock until we die, but, just once, I want to know what it's like to walk through the stars."
He sat back in his chair and rubbed his hand tiredly down his face. He sometimes forgot how young she was, how restless she could be. She was just nineteen, making her very young indeed, which made him a very bad man (according to her mum), but she had such vitality to her, such energy, that it overwhelmed everything else. She invigorated him, taught him to hope and dream again.
"An' what would ya do, up there, amongst the stars?"
"I dunno, go sightseein', I guess."
"What, on your own?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, well, I guess, you, you could…" She mumbled the rest and blushed.
"What was that, Rose? I couldn't quite catch it."
She blushed even harder and mumbled slightly louder, "You could come with me. That way I wouldn't be alone. There'd be you."
"Yeah, there would be me. I'd like that, wandering the stars with Rose Tyler. Sounds like paradise. 'Course, you'd be stuck with me."
Rose bit her lip and smiled at him. That smile did things to him, made him desire things that he had to stop himself from acting on. You're too old for 'er, he told himself constantly, too old, to mean, too ugly, too Northern.
"Yeah, but stuck with you, Doctor, that's not so bad."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
"Well, Rose Tyler, I can't take you out to the stars, not yet, but do you know where I can take you?"
She shook her head, her eyes bright with curiosity.
"Chips. Great little chippy down the road from mine, open all hours."
Her smile could challenge the sun, and he basked in it like a man starved for light.
"Yeah, I want chips. Could murder some right now, actually"
"Fantastic! Your wish is my command, chips it is!" He gave her his most manic grin as he pushed away his work and gathered up his battered leather coat.
"But you're not done!"
He waved away her protests, "The work will keep. Rose Tyler wants chips and chips she shall have!"
She grabbed him suddenly and pulled him to her. Before he could react, she had him by the ears and was tugging his face down to hers. She captured his lips, taking him by surprise and slipping her tongue into his partially opened mouth.
His breath whooshed out of his lungs and he gathered Rose to his chest, taking control of the kiss, tangling his tongue with hers. When they finally broke apart, they were both short of breath.
He looked at her, eyes wild and cheeks flushed, "What was that for?"
She bit her lip again and smiled, "Thing is, Doctor, I don't need the stars if I've got you. You're better than all of that, better than everythin'."
He gazed at her with pure wonderment, "Rose Tyler, I―"
She kissed him again, quickly this time, and pulled back, "Yeah, me too." They stared at each other silently, their hearts too full to say anything.
Rose was the first to break the silence, "Chips?"
He nodded in agreement, "Chips."
They walked out into the night, hands clasped together, speaking quietly to each other about chips and stars.