Rose's heart raced as the TARDIS materialized. She and the Doctor had just come from a planet on which the main form of recreation was diving off cliffs without any protective gear. Their destination now, though, had her a bit more nervous.
They were landing in her mother's flat.
She'd brought home blokes before, of course, but after their last visit, with her mother understandably upset about the fact that Rose had gone missing for a year, Jackie had already been cross with the Doctor, unhappy at the thought that he and Rose might be together. Rose wasn't sure how well her mother would take their new relationship without more time to adjust first.
"Do we have to tell her? Can't we just visit?" Rose looked at the Doctor, who was staring intently at the monitor on the console.
"She's your mother." Blue eyes met hers. "We don't have to say a word. Especially if it means I won't get slapped again." He grinned. "I've triple checked, and we're definitely not a year late this time. As for the rest of it, that's up to you."
Rose laughed and took a step toward him, and he turned to face her, placing his hands at her hips when she stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
"I won't let her slap you again," she said, putting her hands on his chest as she dropped back down to her normal height.
He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to hers. "Good."
His voice had dropped into that particular gravelly tone that managed to do distracting things to her insides, and Rose bit her lip.
"Keep looking at me like that and we won't have to tell her a thing." He slipped his thumbs just under her top, stroking the sensitive skin and leaning forward.
Knock knock knock.
"Rose? Rose, are you in there?"
At her mother's voice, Rose jumped away from the Doctor. His hands dropped to his sides, then crossed over his chest.
"Suppose we should go say hello, then," he said before nodding toward the door.
"Right." Rose started walking toward the exit, feeling the Doctor following behind. She'd only just opened the door when her mother flung her arms around her.
"Oh, I missed you!" Jackie pulled away and led her daughter out of the TARDIS and into the living room. "You said you could be back in ten seconds, and I knew you weren't really gonna be back so soon, but a week, Rose, really? After being gone for a year?"
Rose resisted a glance back at the Doctor when she heard the TARDIS door shut. "We got stuck somewhere. Someplace safe," she clarified before her mother could latch on to that, "but we were there for about a week, so I guess that's when we came back here."
"It's better, if we're gonna visit anything like regular, if we let roughly the same amount of time pass for each of you." While the Doctor spoke, Rose moved to the sofa, watching the Time Lord who was being watched very closely by a protective mother. "That way there isn't a problem if you phone each other or the like."
"But you didn't phone, neither of you," said Jackie, turning her glare from the Doctor to Rose. "Didn't know you were even coming until I heard that noise, and then you were right here in my living room! Could've flattened me in my own home."
"There was a scrambling field. It's why we were stuck," said Rose, crossing her legs. "Phone didn't work. And we wouldn't have landed on you." She glanced at the Doctor, who nodded.
"Won't land in your flat again, Jackie," he said. "Not unless you tell me otherwise."
Jackie sat in the chair next to the sofa. "And then you came straight here afterwards? After you got away from whatever was blocking your phone?"
"Well…" Rose looked at the Doctor, who moved to sit next to her on the sofa.
"We made just one quick stop," he answered.
It was true enough, thought Rose. They'd only stopped for a few hours on that cliff-diving planet. And she really wasn't about to tell her mother why they'd stayed in the vortex for so much longer than they'd needed to. She crossed her arms to keep herself from taking the Doctor's hand. If her mother was already upset, she wasn't about to add to it.
Jackie looked between the two of them appraisingly, eyes narrowing again.
"Fine. I'll make us some tea, then." Jackie rose abruptly and moved into the kitchen, and Rose leaned her head back, closing her eyes.
"How long were you planning on staying here?" The Doctor asked, his voice low enough that her mother was unlikely to hear from the kitchen.
Rose opened her eyes and looked at him. "Dunno. Thought maybe at least through supper."
He nodded. "Alright."
She watched him a moment. "Is that gonna be okay? I know you don't do dinners and families and all that."
"Dinner with your mother can't be any worse than when you brought that pretty boy on board." Despite the fact that his tone fell somewhere between a pout and a reprimand, his eyes sparkled at her.
"Least I knew that was a mistake before we'd even landed on Satellite Five." She paused. "We didn't do anything, me and him. Just, you know, for the record. In case you were wondering."
"I know, but thanks for saying."
Jackie returned before Rose could ask how he'd known nothing had happened between her and Adam.
"How do you take your tea, Doctor?" Jackie was carrying a small tray with everything they'd need, and she set it on the table in front of the sofa.
"I can make my own cup, but thanks."
"Suit yourself." Jackie sat, watching the Doctor expectantly.
He leaned forward, quickly fixing Rose a cup as he often did in the mornings when she was too tired to make her own. He handed it to her, then looked at Jackie.
"What do you want in yours?" he asked.
While the Doctor finished pouring the tea for her mother and for himself, Rose watched, bemused. It was still new to her, still a bit weird that she and the Doctor were involved, that they kissed, that they slept together. Seeing him in this domestic scene with her mother, it was even more bizarre.
"You weren't here very long last time," said Jackie, sipping her drink while the Doctor sat back beside Rose with his own. "Did I tell you about Janice?"
"No, don't think so."
Jackie carried the conversation through their tea and biscotti, going on about people who lived on the estate and about various family members. Rose responded as needed, and the Doctor remained quiet.
"Give me a mo' and I'll get this cleaned up," said Jackie finally, gathering dishes and moving back to the kitchen. "What do you want for supper, then? I was thinking maybe a roast," she called from the kitchen.
"Doesn't matter," answered Rose. She faced the Doctor, swallowing when she saw how close his face was to hers. She bit her lip, and his eyes darted to the movement, darkening. He was holding himself still, watching her, anticipatory awareness lacing his posture as it had the night before when she'd come out of the en suite wearing pyjamas that left very little to the imagination.
She heard the water running in the kitchen as her mother washed the dishes. Just a kiss wouldn't hurt, would it? And besides, he was tolerating all this for her, and he deserved something in return for it, right? She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
As their lips touched, everything else faded away. She couldn't feel the couch under her, couldn't hear the background noises of the estate, and as the Doctor's hand threaded through her hair and he deepened their kiss, she didn't register that the kitchen sink had stopped running.
"What do you think about-" started Jackie. Rose pulled away with a gasp, but not quickly enough. "I knew it! I knew you were getting up to something in that box. My daughter's shagging an alien!"
"Mum." Rose stood.
"And you, Doctor," Jackie continued, "you said you'd take care of her. Is this how you take care of her? By shoving your tongue down her throat?"
"Mum!" Rose put herself between her mother and the Doctor, though she felt him stand from the couch. "Stop it. You don't understand."
"I understand you're just a kid, and he's an alien. Are you being safe, at least? Or should I expect alien grandbabies?" She glared at the Doctor over Rose's shoulder, her hands on her hips.
"I'm nineteen years old, Mum. I'm not gonna be having kids anytime soon. Don't worry about that."
"Don't worry? Of course I'm gonna worry. You're off traveling, and I know it's not always safe, and you're not even here on this planet, and now I have to worry that he's taking advantage of my daughter?"
Rose felt the Doctor place his hands on her shoulders, and she took a breath, trying to remain calm.
"He isn't taking advantage of me, Mum. I chose this. We both did, together."
"Are you sure?" asked Jackie. "Is this really what you want, Rose? Like you said, you're only nineteen. Twenty now, sort of. How do you know you won't regret it? That you won't change your mind after you've shacked up with an old alien?"
Rose felt the Doctor tense up, his hands tightening slightly on her shoulders.
"It's not like that, Mum. I'd be with him, no matter what." She covered one of his hands with hers. He'd had a hard enough time with their age difference, with their difference in life expectancies, and though he hadn't been very vocal about his concerns, she knew it still bothered him on some level. "Traveling with him, making things better, doing what's right… The relationship we have, it doesn't change that."
Jackie looked at the Doctor. Her expression softened at whatever she saw on his face.
"You'd better not hurt her," said Jackie, the anger gone from her voice.
"I won't," said the Doctor without hesitation.
~O~O~O~
"Don't take too long before you come see me again," said Jackie, hugging Rose goodbye after they'd finished eating.
"We won't," said Rose, pulling away when she heard the Doctor open the TARDIS doors.
"Oh, no you don't," said Jackie, moving away from Rose and pulling the Doctor into a hug. "You take care of her, you hear me?"
"Of course," he said, extricating himself from her embrace and darting into the safety of his ship.
Rose laughed. "Goodbye, Mum."
"Goodbye, sweetheart," said Jackie, waving until Rose had closed the TARDIS door behind her.
Inside, Rose joined the Doctor at the console, grinning, her tongue between her teeth.
"She hugged you."
"I know! Think I preferred the slap."
Rose giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, resting her face against his back while he worked near the monitor.
"Thank you, Doctor."
"For what?"
"For everything."
At the seriousness in her tone, the Doctor turned around in Rose's arms, wrapping his own around her. "It's yours. Everything, I mean."
Rose pulled her face from his chest and looked up at him. He'd told her, shown her before, that she was important to him, that he loved her, though he'd never said the words. They weren't needed. They were there when he'd said he could save the world but lose her, there when he'd released the Dalek, risking the universe for the chance to save her, there every time he touched her.
She leaned forward and kissed him, trying to show him how she felt, putting the unspoken words into action.
She would stay with him.
He wouldn't be alone.
She was there in every way she could be.
He returned the kiss, tasting her, lips and tongues moving against each other until Rose felt her world spinning. She pulled back slightly, catching her breath, feeling his hearts race against her palms.
"We should probably leave my mum's flat before we go any further with this," she managed, and he grinned.
"Good point." He turned back to the console, and Rose moved around to the controls he'd shown her how to use, activating them when he signaled. Soon, the TARDIS was safely back in the vortex.
"Now," she said, walking back to the Doctor and placing a hand on his chest, "I think you were about to show me everything that's mine." She let her hand trail down his chest and he took it, running his thumb across her knuckles.
"I am, at that." His voice was low, his eyes fixed on hers.
"My Doctor," she breathed, and he pulled her to him again. Once more, the world faded away. The Doctor could show her the universe, and she loved that, but in that moment, all that mattered was that the two of them were together.