He blames the Illyrian rum for sending him stumbling into the wrong bedroom. Not that he realizes it's the wrong room at first. No, he's already minus his shirt and one trouser leg before he realizes that there's someone already in the bed. And she's awake.
"Shit!" Jack's hurry to get back into his clothes only makes things worse as he loses his balance and topples onto the bed. "Sorry," he mumbles, avoiding eye contact. "I'm not... I mean I don't usually..."
Rose is smiling even as she shakes her head at him. "And you were so smooth when we met."
"I didn't know you a week ago. You were just a mark. Now..." He shrugs, hoping to leave it at that.
Luckily, Rose seems to agree. "I guess a lot's happened since then." She extends a hand to him. "You don't have to go, you know. 'Specially if you're having trouble stayin' upright."
"You sure?" Jack is surprised, but grateful. It's cozy here, and more importantly, dark. He wasn't looking forward to braving the brightly-lit corridors of the TARDIS again.
"I trust you." She smiles again. "And you're not the first bloke I've had to nurse through a hangover." She hands him a bottle of water from beside the bed. "Drink that." He takes the water. "And just how'd you get yourself into this sorry state?" she asks, brushing a refreshingly cool hand across his forehead.
"Illyrian rum. Doesn't interact well with human physiology."
Rose lies beside him and begins to gently massage his temples. "Why'd ya drink it then?"
He could tell her that someone else was buying, and he didn't want to seem rude, and besides that the guy buying was gorgeous, but he's not sure he has the energy. So instead he just emits a low groan, one that's stopped by the gentle press of her lips against his.
She's got nice lips, he realizes. Soft. Maybe he should have just stayed in tonight after all, he considers as he drifts back to sleep.
He joins her again the next night, and they continue like this for a week or so, sharing a bed, sharing backrubs and clasped hands and chaste kisses, but Rose doesn't take things any further and Jack doesn't try to. She's surprised at this, but Jack remains a perfect gentleman.
The Doctor corners her one morning while Jack heads for the shower. "How long's this been going on then?"
His voice is playful but she sees the twinge of jealousy in his eyes. As if he has the right, after he's given her nothing but glances since the night they picked up Jack. "How long's what been going on?"
The playfulness is gone, his expression stern. "I saw him leave your room just now."
"And that calls for an interrogation? I thought the TARDIS could tell you everything goes on inside her, anyway." He doesn't answer. "All right then." She continues past him into the control room.
He grabs her wrist gently as she passes by. She considers pulling free to keep walking, but she stops and turns to look at him. The jealousy is gone from his eyes, now they're just waiting, pleading. "Rose," he says.
Part of her wants to let him think it, just to make him stew for a while. But the Doctor's too important for her to play games with. "It's nothing," she says quietly. "We haven't done anything."
"A week, he's been spending the night in there, for nothing?"
She nods, and can't resist a tiny jab. "I guess us stupid apes just get lonely after a while. All we've done is cuddle, though, really."
"Cuddle, huh? I'd wager he wants to do more than that."
Tears prick at her eyes. They're here, alone, in this place they've been so many times before, and the best he can do is to have a go at Jack. "At least someone does," she says, desperate to escape his gaze.
With a hand on her shoulder he blocks her escape. "Don't." And then his lips on hers put an abrupt end to any thoughts she had of running away.
The Doctor's lips are cool, and she shivers, but doesn't pull away. Instead she welcomes his embrace as he deepens the kiss, sliding his hand from her shoulder and letting it drop to her waist. She grips the railing that surrounds the control room with one hand as the other reaches around his back.
And then as she leans in closer to press against him, straddling his leg, he breaks away, and finishes the sentence he'd begun. "Don't ever think you're not wanted."
"Doctor..." She reaches out and catches his sleeve, but he pulls it free of her grip and continues down the corridor to the library. She sinks into the jumpseat beside the control panel, pulling her knees up to her chest.
"Rose?" She looks up to see Jack enter the control room, shirtless and toweling off his hair. Normally she might have taken a moment to admire the view, but she's too wrapped up in the kiss she just shared with the Doctor. "Rosie, what's wrong?"
She's not sure how to respond. She knows Jack wants her, wants both of them to be completely honest. She hasn't actually mentioned her feelings for the Doctor to him, but she doesn't doubt he's caught on. And she has to tell someone. "He kissed me. Reallykissed me. And then he just...took off."
"And you're just going to let him?"
"What else can I do? If he's not ready..."
Jack sits beside her. "He'll never be ready. That's not who he is and you know it. But he's crazy about you."
Rose shakes her head. She's never tried to pursue someone she was interested in, never sought out something just for herself. She's never met anyone like the Doctor before, though. "What about you, Jack?"
"I never had a chance with either of you, and I knew it from the moment I came on board." He pulls her into his arms and drops a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't miss yours."
The Doctor hurries down the corridor toward the library, pausing only briefly to drape his jacket over a chair before entering the attached washroom. He lets the water run cold and splashes his face, then scrubs at it with the towel until it's raw. He gazes into the mirror, wondering how he could have let his guard down so completely.
He doesn't want to ask her to leave; he's not sure he could bear to. Still, it's probably best if he keeps his distance for a while, give her some space. Give himself a chance to get used to seeing her with Jack. It shouldn't upset him, really. His two humans, together. It's how it should be. His mind made up, he exits to the library.
Rose is waiting for him.
"Don't do this to me, Doctor."
It's not what he expected to hear. Her face isn't what he expected to see. She's hurting. It's a face he's seen too often since they've been travelling together. "Why?" He doesn't mean to say it out loud.
"Because it's driving me crazy!" she yells, unable to contain her feelings any longer. "Every time I think you're reachin' out you back away again. I just wanna know if we have any chance of bein'... well, more than just travelling companions. Y'know. I need to know where I stand."
"And if we don't... if we can't... then what. You leave?" Maybe, he reconsiders, it would be for the best if she did.
She shakes her head. "I could never."
"Why?" he asks again.
"You know why, even if you're too stubborn to accept it. 'Cos I love you."
He drops into a chair, afraid to let himself look at her. "You shouldn't."
"D'you really think that's gonna stop me?"
He lets a smile cross his face. "No." She crosses the library to stand beside him and slips her hand into his. He knows what she said. But she's so young. She could change her mind in a week or a year, when the glamour of travel wears off. He's seen it a hundred times; eventually they want to go back to their old lives, or move on to something better. And then... He looks up at her, gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "Are you sure?"
She smiles, that infectious smile that brightens up her whole face. "Course I am." She sits on the chair arm. "Before I met you, with Jimmy and even with Mickey, sort of, I always just kinda settled. For what I thought I could get. I never thought there was anything more than that, never bothered to fight for what I wanted. But then I met you, and you showed me the universe, and there's so much out there. And I think about staying with you, and, well..." she pauses, chewing her lip, "it don't feel like settlin'."
He looks up at her, at the girl who followed him, who offered to stand by his side when he was so completely alone. He still doesn't deserve her, but he knows he's not going to change her mind. So at last he gives in, pulling Rose into his lap, allowing himself to feel the simple pleasure of her touch, her body in his arms, her lips warm and rough against his. And this time he doesn't stop until she pulls away, gasping for breath.