A reviewer on "Bad Case of Lovin' You (Doctor, Doctor)" (murtaghismyhottie) requested more one-shots where the Doctor finds out more of Rose's taste in music. I had to comply. This fic is entirely their fault.

Suggestions are appreciated. This is probably going to reflect what's on my MP3, and I mostly listen to classic rock. Then again, we don't really know what Rose's music tastes are, do we?

Chapter One
Magic Man

The Doctor, once he was sure that Rose was occupied elsewhere in the TARDIS (namely, taking a shower before going to bed), snuck into her room and nicked her iPod from where it was lying on the nightstand. Ever since she'd played Robert Palmer's "Bad Case of Lovin' You" (and then Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me") he'd been curious to see what other artists she listened to. Naturally, the only solution was to steal her iPod the moment he had the chance. In this case, it had meant waiting until his companion was preparing herself to go to bed.

Now that he had his prize, the Doctor stole out of Rose's room and headed for the library. In case Rose decided to check up on him—though that was highly unlikely—he could always use the façade of reading a book as a cover.

Once he was inside the TARDIS library, the Doctor plucked a random book from one of the shelves—only later would he realize it was Agatha Christie's Murder on the Oriental Express—and made himself comfortable in his favorite chair close to the fire. He propped the book open, set the iPod on Shuffle, and rested it between the pages. Eyes closed, he waited for the first song to come on.

He didn't have to wait long. An electric guitar solo filled his ears, the intro to an early 70s-era Heart song. Now if only he could remember which one . . .

Then the lyrics started.

Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong, you know.
A pretty man came to me.
Never seen eyes so blue.
You know I could not run away.
It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream.
Seemed like he knew me;
He looked right through me, yeah.

He remembered meeting her in the basement of the clothing store, back when he'd been all blue eyes, close-cropped black hair, big ears, and leather jacket. She'd frozen when he'd grabbed her hand and told her to run.

"Come on home, girl," he said with a smile.
"You don't have to love me yet, let's get high a while.
But try to understand, try to understand,
Try, try, try to understand
I'm a magic man."

The Doctor scoffed. Since when had he said that? Oh, wait, he was reading too much into the song. Again.

Winter nights we sang in tune,
Played inside the months of moon.
Never think of never, let the spell last forever.
Well, summer lover passed to fall.
Tried to realize it all.
Mama says she's worried, growing up in a hurry, yeah.

Well, Jackie Tyler certainly had been worried. She'd had a right to be, given Rose had been gone for a year. (For them, it had been a few days, but that wasn't the point.)

"Come on home, girl," Mama cried on the phone.
"Too soon to lose my baby, yet my girl should be at home."
But try to understand, try to understand,
Try, try, try to understand
He's a magic man, mama, ahh, he's a magic man.

Come to think of it, that was what basically what Jackie had said to Rose, and probably what Rose had been thinking. And, in a way, the Doctor supposed he could be viewed as a magic man: He came and went in a mysterious blue box, took Rose to distant planets and times. And he had the ability to regenerate, though he didn't want to change out of this form yet. Why would he?

"Come on home girl," he said with a smile.
"I cast my spell of love on you, a woman from a child."
But try to understand, try to understand, oh . . . ooh.
Try, try to understand.
Try, try, try to understand he's a magic man, oh yeah.
Ooo, he's got the magic hands.

Well, I don't know about that, the Doctor thought. Okay, maybe. Truth was, he was hopelessly in love with her. A Time Lord in love with a human? If any of his people had found out . . . But there weren't any more Time Lords. He'd killed them all in the Time War. He'd had no choice.

And yeah, in a way he supposed he had done as the song said. Now home was the TARDIS and wherever Rose—his pink-and-yellow girl—was. She'd helped to make him better, and along the way they'd both fallen for each other. Rose was only nineteen when he'd first met her, still a child, but she'd grown and matured while she had been traveling with him.

So, if this song was sort of from Rose's point of view, did that mean she was in love with him? He'd noticed the looks, the somewhat provocative clothing (he was still a bloke, after all), but . . .

"Come on home, girl," he said with a smile.
"You don't have to love me yet. Let's get high awhile."
But try to understand, try to understand,
Try to understand, oh, try, try, try to understand
He's a magic man, oh yeah, oohh.

Okay, yeah, Rose probably was in love with him. Great. Brilliant. Fantastic. Molto bene.

So why wasn't he happy about realizing that?