Voices drifted through the flat door, reaching the Doctor's ears as he returned from the shops with the groceries.
"Are you sure you want to keep travelling?"
The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver in hand, ready to unlock the door, but at Jackie's question, he froze. Jackie had been slightly more accepting of Rose travelling with him since he regenerated, but he knew she still wished Rose would stay home and settle into a less dangerous life. As the person forced to watch time and again as Rose risked her life to save whole planets, he couldn't really blame her for that desire.
But losing Rose… The Doctor suddenly couldn't breathe, and he waited for her reply.
"Mum, don't," she said, and he knew from her weary tone that the conversation had been going on for a while. "I've told you—that life out there, I love it."
Air whooshed back into his body, and the Doctor sagged against the door. He suddenly realised he was eavesdropping on their conversation, and had a brief attack of conscience. Should he let them know he was here?
Rose's next words captivated his attention, and all thoughts of making his presence known disappeared into ether.
"I love being with the Doctor, Mum. I know you want me to be safe, and he does everything he can to make sure I am."
"But what if one day, you end up like Mickey?" Jackie pressed.
The Doctor flinched. When they'd landed in the parallel universe and Rose had seen Pete's picture, it had been her he'd been afraid would want to stay—though in retrospect, he should have known she wouldn't abandon her mum for a father who didn't know her.
Jackie wasn't done. "He says he'll always bring you home, but what if one day, something happens and he can't?"
The ensuing pause seemed longer to the Doctor than it actually was. He strained his ears and could hear shuffling sounds that he matched with Rose slumping back in her seat and brushing her hair out of her face, the way she did when she was exasperated with someone.
"Mum, you don't get it," she said finally. Her voice was carefully patient, like she knew her temper was wearing thin and she didn't want to get into a row with her mum. "This isn't my home anymore. It hasn't been for almost two years. The TARDIS, and the Doctor… They're my home."
The Doctor's fingers went numb, and a moment later he heard the crash of glass breaking when the shopping bag hit the ground. He looked down and cursed when he saw the red wine seeping out onto the concrete.
Tthe door swung open. "Oh, you've made a mess," Jackie griped. "Well, bring the rest of it inside. I'll have to go out for wine myself, I guess."
The Doctor carefully picked up the food that hadn't been ruined and carried it into the kitchen. "Sorry, Jackie," he apologised as he set it down on the counter. "I was juggling the bags and the screwdriver and I guess the handles slipped from my fingers."
"I should've known better than to ask you to go out," Jackie grumbled as she put on shoes and gathered her purse. "Alien or not, all men are useless when it comes to doing the shopping." She pressed a kiss to Rose's cheek. "I'll be right back, sweetheart."
The Doctor turned around and busied himself with wiping wine off the food and putting it away. He was trying not to think about Rose's words and how warm they made him feel, and he knew if he looked at her right now, he'd launch straight into a ramble that would give his eavesdropping away.
"You heard me and Mum talking, didn't you?"
He slowly put down the milk and turned around, apologies ready on his tongue if she seemed upset by his eavesdropping. But instead, she was smirking at him, her tongue peeking through her teeth in a way that should not distract him as much as it did.
"Ah… would it be good or bad if I did?" he asked, just to be on the safe side.
Rose rolled her eyes and stood up. "Sit down, you daft alien," she muttered as she filled the kettle. "We only have thirty minutes, tops, before Mum gets home and I want to be done talking before then."
The Doctor took the chair opposite Rose and watched her make them tea. "At the risk of sounding daft, what are we going to talk about?"
She looked at him over her shoulder while she waited for the tea to steep. "About the TARDIS being my home."
Again, the simplicity with which she stated that—like it was an obvious and incontrovertible fact—made it hard to breathe for a few minutes. When Rose handed him his tea, the Doctor used the prop to give himself a few more seconds to gather his courage. The familiar, comforting aroma of sweet, milky tea braced him, and he finally looked her in the eye.
"Did you mean it?" he asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.
From the way Rose's eyes softened, just a touch, he knew he hadn't quite managed it. "Yes, I did," she said, speaking as distinctly as possible. "Doctor, you promised I could stay with you for the rest of my life, remember?"
He nodded; he remembered that night vividly.
"And you promised me that you'd treat me like a partner."
The Doctor winced a little at the memory of that conversation. Looking back at the trip to France from the distance of a few weeks, he could see more clearly how close he'd come to bollocksing everything up.
"I did," he said when he realised she was waiting for a response.
Rose set down her tea and crossed her arms over her chest. "Then stop being so worried I'm going to ditch you and come running back home. You always end up acting like a twat, ordering me around," she said bluntly. "It's ridiculous, because I'm never going to leave you, Doctor."
"Rose," the Doctor wheezed, and her stern features finally softened completely. He stretched out his arm and sighed when she took his hand, resting their clasped hands on the table.
There was more he wanted to say. He wanted to ask her if she'd meant it when she told her mum that he was her home. If she'd meant that the way it sounded like she had, if she meant it the same way he would if he told someone that Rose Tyler was his home.
But the words, as usual, got caught in his throat. He settled instead for rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, and when she returned his caress with a brush over his double pulse point, he knew she understood.
There was a time and a place for everything, and this moment, sitting at Jackie's kitchen table, was not the time for the conversation that would change their relationship. As much as his desire to be with Rose made him clamour impatiently for that conversation, he relished the quiet contentment that came from finally being on the same page.