Sometimes life on the TARDIS could cause one to forget things.
It was natural, really, that the Doctor would forget to celebrate a holiday or not remember to send out his Christmas cards on time because he still thought it was July. In fact, it could practically be expected that he wouldn't remember any dates whatsoever. What he wasn't used to, though, was people scolding him for it. It wasn't like it was his fault that the TARDIS's time didn't work the same way as any other time in any other place, after all.
"Good morning," Rose said groggily as she entered the kitchen, her hair a mess and her eyes still half-shut since she hadn't had her morning cup of tea yet.
"Good morning, Rose," the Doctor replied, peering at her from over the top of his book. "How're you?"
"Pretty good, slept fine and all of that. How about you? Where are we going today?" She began pouring herself tea.
Choosing only to answer her latter question, the Doctor stood up and walked over to her, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement, "Today I was thinking we could go mini-golfing on the planet of Kaboolia, and tomorrow I was hoping you'd come with me to Mustardia, it's home to the largest bottle of mustard in the universe. You'll love it, Rose! Guaranteed."
A hurt look crossed her expression for just a moment, but it was long enough for him to notice. "Oh, we're going to Mustardia tomorrow?"
He scratched the back of his neck as he tried to understand why her tone had gotten so icy suddenly, even more icy than usual for the morning bed-headed Rose Tyler he was used to. "We don't have to. You can pick where we go, if you want. Where would you like to go tomorrow, Rose?"
Rose rolled her eyes at him, before shaking her head as if she was arguing mentally with herself. "No, that's fine. Let's go to Ketchupia or whatever it's called."
"Mustardia," he provided politely, "although Ketchupia is a blast, too."
When Rose didn't laugh at his lame joke he was sure something was wrong.
"Rose, are you alright?" the Doctor frowned as she walked to the table without a word, tea in hand. "Talk to me, Rose."
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," she mumbled almost too quietly for him to hear.
He frowned at this, sitting across from her and staring her in the eyes. "It's not nothing."
"Er, what day is it, Doctor? What would tomorrow be?" Rose sipped her tea again, licking her lips and avoiding his eyes, taking a sudden interest in the old wooden table.
"Well technically the TARDIS can't follow the same time log..." he began, his voice trailing off when he saw the increasingly annoyed expression that crossed her features. "I suppose it'd be September 21st. Tomorrow would be September 22nd. Is that a problem?"
Her eyes grew a little wider as she shook her head again, snatching the book from his side of the table and mindlessly flipping through it. "Nope, not a problem at all."
They sat their in silence for a minute, her staring at the book and him staring at her. The Doctor ran all the significant things that had happened on September 22nd through his head. The Bulgarian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on tomorrow's date. Surely Rose wasn't upset over Bulgarian independence. He thought some more. François Duvalier had been elected president of Haiti on this date, was Rose upset about that?
"Rose... Are you upset about Haiti or Bulgaria by any chance?" the Doctor said hopefully, desperate to get that beautiful Rose Tyler smile back on her face.
Rose slammed the book back on the table loudly, standing up and pushing in her chair before glaring at him. "I'll see you later, Doctor." She left the room without another word, leaving him gaping at the spot where she had been sitting only moments ago.
"Oh, Rassilon, what'd I do?" he muttered to himself, looking up at the ceiling of his ship.
When he entered his room, planning to take a nice, long shower to contemplate what Rose was so angry about, he saw a strange calendar he had never seen before placed on his nightstand. The TARDIS nudged his mind a little, informing him that the ship had placed it there to tell him something. The date on it read September 21st, but he ripped that page off and saw that underneath it, "Rose's Birthday" was written in perfect print handwriting on top of "September 22nd."
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," the Doctor mumbled, pacing back and forth in his room as he held the ripped calendar page. "Her birthday is tomorrow! Oh, she's going to kill me. What do I do? Oh no..."
The Time Lord sprinted out of his room and into the console room, where he flew the ship messily to the Powell Estate in a frenzy. He sprinted out of the door and knocked on Jackie Tyler's door loudly, biting his lower lip with desperation. Jackie answered the door wearing pink pajamas and a large frown on her face. "Doctor, what's going on? Where's Rose? Why are you visiting me at five in the morning?"
He glanced inside her flat at the clock on the wall. "Oh, sorry, I'm rubbish at flying when I'm in a hurry. Listen, Jackie, I need to talk to you about something serious." A look of worry passed over Jackie's face and he sighed, "No, she's fine. Sort of. She's physically fine! Listen, it's a long story, can I come inside? Please?"
Jackie rolled her eyes and opened up the door a little wider, letting him in. He sat down at her couch and his foot tapped impatiently as he buried his head in his hands. "Tell me what happened, sweetheart," Jackie said sympathetically, sitting next to him and taking his hands in hers.
By the time he was done telling her his story, she was giggling hysterically next to him, swiping away some tears of laughter from her cheeks. "Oh, god, you seriously thought she was talking about Haiti or what was it? Bulgaria? God, what kind of man are you?"
"I'm a Time Lord! I'm not used to... Birthdays," he said the word with disgust, folding his arms over his chest and groaning. "But now she's mad at me! What do I do? I'm stuck, Jackie, completely stuck."
"Well, you could do something special for her."
The Doctor considered this, "Like what? What's special enough for Rose Tyler's birthday?"
"Get her a bunch of male strippers," Jackie suggested, grinning wildly when the Doctor's jaw dropped open and his pupils grew to the size of strawberries.
"What?"
"I'm kidding, you plum. Just throw her a party, bake her a cake, she'll love it!"
His lips curved upwards and he kissed Jackie on the forehead before sprinting out the door and yelling over his shoulder, "Thanks Jackie! I'll throw Rose the best party ever!"
He entered the TARDIS again, throwing them back into the vortex and running to Rose's room by force of habit. He stopped outside her door and placed his ear to it, hearing a strange noise that most definitely shouldn't be coming from Rose's room. Crying.
The Doctor desperately wanted to slam his head on the wall behind him, but not as desperately as he wanted to enter her room and wipe those tears away, taking her into his arms. Instead of doing either, though, he ran to the TARDIS kitchen and opened the cabinets, debating how to make a cake. What kind of cake did Rose like, anyway? Chocolate or vanilla? Or both? Or some weird, random flavor?
He frowned before pulling out the mobile phone Rose had insisted he carry on his person at all times and dialing Jackie's familiar number. "Jackie, it's me again," he mumbled, staring in the direction of Rose's room and frowning. "What's her favorite cake flavor?"
"Red velvet cake with vanilla frosting," Jackie replied simply.
The Doctor nodded and hung up the phone, sticking it back in his pocket before rubbing his hands together and staring at the flour in front of him on the table. Well, he thought to himself, here goes nothing.
Four hours later the Doctor was covered from head to toe in a white flour coating, and white frosting was smeared all across his face and his pinstripe jacket. "Janis Joplin will kill me," he said to himself as he attempted to wipe the frosting away, only smearing it more in the process.
He stared proudly at the beautiful masterpiece of a cake in front of him, three layers tall with edible ball bearings at the top and her name written on it in them in his lovely cursive writing. Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hallway, making him jump with surprise and desperately pace back and forth, debating how to best hide the cake without ruining it. In a split second he had shoved the cake into the fridge, trying to make himself look somewhat presentable for Rose when she entered. Of course, he failed.
Rose walked into the kitchen to see him looking a complete mess, whistling innocently and running a hand through his hair, only making it white with flour in the process. "Doctor?" she stared at him, her eyes red and puffy, clueing him in on the fact that she had, indeed, been crying.
While resisting the urge to wrap his arms around her, he lamely replied, "Er... Yes?"
"What happened to you?" Rose rested her hands on his hips and sniffed, examining the eggs smashed against the cabinet.
He followed her gaze to the eggs, "I got a bit angry," he mumbled. "I was, uh, having a food fight with the TARDIS. I won, as you can see." The kitchen's lights flashed as the TARDIS protested. The Doctor put his hand to the side of his mouth and mock whispered, "She refuses to admit it."
Rose nodded slowly, a confused look on her face. "So you were just having a food fight?"
The disappointment in her eyes broke his heart as he nodded quickly, wanting to keep the party a surprise. "Mhmm. Want to join us?" Please say no, he thought. When Rose shook her head he shrugged, "Suit yourself." To seal the lie he threw another egg at the ship's wall, laughing when the lights flashed again and turning to her. "You may want to get out of the war zone, Rose."
As soon as she was gone, he let out a sigh of relief and opened the fridge, checking to make sure his lovely birthday cake wasn't crushed. Sure enough, it wasn't. He cautiously picked it up and carried it to the console room, taking great care to take a path that didn't require passing by Rose's room again. One of the reasons for this was that he didn't want her to see the cake, but the more important reason was that he wouldn't be able to stand the sound of her crying again.
Upon reaching the console room he flew back to Jackie's house, opening her unlocked door and running in, cake in his hands still. He showed it to her, grinning proudly, only to have her groan, "Doctor, it's five in the morning again. Come back later?"
He frowned but complied, running back into the TARDIS and returning to her flat six hours later. "Is this time better?"
Jackie nodded, "I see you made a cake. I also see it took you a while," she nodded towards his covered body. "You look like an idiot."
"But look at the cake! Isn't it brilliant?"
After admiring and inspecting the cake closely she smiled at him, resting her hand on his shoulder, "She'll love it. Edible ball bearings, nice touch."
"They're like our inside joke," he replied, recalling he and Rose's time in Stratford.
Jackie's eyes widened, "Edible balls are your inside joke?"
The Doctor cocked his head in confusion before gasping, "Jackie! You have such a... Jackie!"
Jackie's hands flew up in defense, "Sorry. I shouldn't have assumed." The Time Lord nodded justly, turning back to his cake with the tips of his ears now pink. Jackie walked away from him towards her living room, muttering almost incoherently, "I suppose it's none of my business anyways."
"I heard that!" he called towards her.
After the Doctor was finished decorating Rose and Jackie's flat with balloons, streamers, banners, flowers, candies, and many, many more balloons, he was utterly exhausted. He fell down on their couch, looking up at Jackie. "I'm done decorating, and god, I'm exhausted."
Jackie smiled, sitting down next to him. "I made up a little guest list that I thought you could use. Just call them all up and invite them to the party, they're all of Rose's closest friends. Their numbers are on here, too, of course."
The Doctor sat up, taking the sheet of paper from her and examining it. "You want me to invite Mickey the Idiot? And Jack Harkness the flirt?"
"They're Rose's friends, this isn't your party," Jackie said, hitting him on the arm hard, emitting a loud "Ow!" from the Doctor.
"True, true." He continued reading through the list, making disgusted faces at some of the names that were on there. "Who's Melissa?"
"One of her friends."
"Alright, well, thanks for the list Jackie! I'll call them all up right away! Wait..." he stared at her, "What do I say? I don't know some of these people... What would I say to them?"
Jackie laughed, "They've all heard of you."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Heard of me? Heard what? From who?"
Rose's mother shook her head in disbelief. "You really are an alien. When Rose comes to visit me with you and she hangs out with her friends, do you think she doesn't mention the time-travelling space alien who she adores that she's been traveling around with? They all know you, even if you don't know them."
A dreamy look of contentment and joy crossed his face, "She talks about me?"
Jackie's hand hit his face hard, making him wince and clutch his cheek. "Who else would she talk about? Are you really that blind, you plum?"
"Okay, so I just call them up, say I'm the Doctor, and tell them to come to her house... Er... When?"
"Tomorrow night, maybe? Six o' clock?"
"Alright, I'll call them. But Jackie, what if they ask questions?" he worried, rubbing his hands together absent-mindedly.
"Do you really have to make everything so complicated?" She rubbed her temples and groaned, "If they ask questions I'll be sitting right here to give you answers."
Satisfied with this, the Doctor picked up his phone and dialed the first number on the list, Shareen. "Hi, is this Shareen?"
"Yeah?" a woman's voice on the other end of the phone said in an annoyed tone. "Who's this?"
"I'm the Doctor..." he said slowly, not getting a reply so he continued, "You may not have heard of me, um, I'm Rose's..." The Doctor glanced at Jackie for help, and she mouthed 'boyfriend.' "I'm Rose's boyfriend."
"Oh my god, you're him? Of course I've heard of you! The Doctor?" Shareen said excitedly, "Are you the one who's an amazing kisser? No, wait, that was Jake or Jack or something. But, anyways, hi Doctor! Nice to meet you!"
The Doctor tried not to let a growl escape his lips at the mention of Jack. "I'm throwing Rose a surprise party tomorrow at six, her place. Do you think you can make it?"
"Sounds like a plan. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person, Doctor," she said, giggling. "Bye!"
He said his good-byes and turned to the next person on the list.
It only took an hour to get through the fifteen people on the list, and the Doctor was genuinely surprised by how charismatic some of Rose's friends were. He was also surprised with how much some of them had heard about him, and after he said his name to some people they replied with "So now he shows his face." or "You're the one Rose always speaks so highly of?".
As soon as he was done with this, he walked back into the TARDIS, stretching his arms and legs and preparing for sleep. He didn't sleep very often, but it had been about a week since he had last so he decided tonight would be as good a night as any. However, when he resided in his bedroom, which was placed strategically right next to hers in case she needed anything in the night, he heard the sound of her sobs once again.
Unable to stand the sound for another second he stood up, walking into her room with a gentle smile on his face. "Hi, Rose."
She looked up at him through tear-stained eyes before turning away, burying her face in a pillow. "Go away."
"Rose, I have a surprise for you."
This caught her attention. "What is it?"
"You have to get dressed and then come with me, okay?" he grabbed her hand and helped her up from the bed, cupping her cheek and wiping away her tears with his right thumb.
"If you take me to Mustardia or Ketchupia or even Mayonnaiseia I'll whack you until you regenerate," she said defiantly, walking over to her closet to pick out an outfit. "What should I wear?"
"Something semi-formal, probably."
Rose nodded before turning around to stare at him in silence. "Well?"
"Well what?" he replied.
"Aren't you going to leave so I can get dressed?"
His face flushed bright pink as he nodded, exiting the room as quickly as his legs would carry him.
As much as he desperately tried not to let out an audible sigh when she walked out of the hallway and into the console room, wearing her short blue dress with tiny ruffles at the bottom and her hair in a beautiful bun, a few golden strands falling down to rest on her cheeks, he still failed. Rose giggled at him before stopping herself quickly, putting her hands on her hips. "What's your surprise?"
The Doctor extended his hand, wigging his fingers and she grabbed it reluctantly, allowing him to guide her to the police box doors. However, as she reached for the door to push it open, he stopped her by grabbing her wrist in his free hand. "Wait," he said with a mischievous smile. He took off his tie and wrapped it around her head, thoroughly covering her eyes and tying it tightly shut.
"Really? Blindfolding me?" Rose laughed, putting her arms in front of her like a mummy while trying to feel her way around. "What's the surprise?"
"Just you keep asking, Rose Tyler," he winked at her even though she couldn't see it and opened the doors, carefully leading her out. "Careful, there's a step here."
Rose laughed, "Okay, I can tell this is Earth easily."
"That's my smart girl," he said and she flushed the color of her name at the word 'my', making his grin grow wider. "But there are a lot of places and times on Earth I could be taking you."
She sniffed, "It's the twenty-first century. I can tell by the scent and the atmospheric pressure, not to mention the velocity of the wind."
His eyes widened, "What? How did you know how to tell that?"
"I'm just kidding. I read it on the TARDIS console as you were flying," she laughed again, only this time he joined in.
"Well, that's one way to find out."
The Doctor opened up her door silently, leading her inside and trying not to laugh as he stared at all her friends, silently watching Rose with smiles on their faces in her flat. He shut the door behind her and said to her, "So, do you want to know what your surprise is?"
She hit him hard on the arm, making Mickey stifle a laugh. "Of course I do. Can I take the blindfold off?"
"Allow me," he said, untying his tie from her head and making her gasp in wonder at what she saw. A chorus of "Happy birthday Rose!" came from the room and she laughed, hugging the Doctor tightly and burying her head into his shoulder.
"I knew you didn't forget, Doctor!" she said just loud enough for him to hear. "I knew it!"
The Doctor rubbed her back, relishing in the hug. "Actually, I did forget," he admitted, pulling her back to look her in the eyes. "And I'm very sorry, but I remember and thought this would make it up to you."
"Are you two going to be flirting all night or are we actually going to get to the party?" Jack Harkness asked with a smile.
The two travelers turned their heads towards her. "Let's party," Rose said with a tongue-out-of-teeth smile, grabbing the Doctor's hand and yanking him over to where wine was laid out on a table.
Around two and a half hours later everyone sat in a circle around the living room, all a little bit tipsy and exhausted. "Okay, present time?" Shareen suggested.
The Doctor tried not to spit out his drink after hearing those three awful words. Oh, god, how could he have forgotten to get Rose a present? No no no, this was not good, this was very, very not good. He couldn't mess up twice in such a short time! That would be a new record, even for him! His panicked eyes flickered to Jackie, who sensed his unease and frowned as if to say, 'What's wrong?'
"I'll be right back," the Doctor said politely, walking over to Jackie and tugging her out of her chair, pulling her to the kitchen where he spoke with haste. "I didn't get Rose a present! I was so wrapped up in the cake and the decorations and invitations that I forgot to get her a present! What do I do, Jackie?"
Jackie rolled her eyes. "Well first of all, how could you forget a present? But then again, don't you have a time machine? Couldn't you go get her a great present and be back here in two seconds?"
He kissed her forehead again for the second time in two days, "Jackie Tyler, you're a genius! I'll be right back!"
Suddenly, as he walked towards the front door, Rose walked towards him, grabbing his hand and kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks for putting all this together, Doctor, you're the best." His heart fluttered at her words, only adding guilt to his heavy conscience. "Were you going somewhere? I was just about to open presents."
"Umm..." he scratched the back of his neck, mind and heart racing at the same speed, a thousand miles an hour. What could he get her? Air from his lungs? No, that was his last self who said that, and that was lame. "Yeah, I'll come."
She smiled brightly and led him back to the living room as he gave Jackie one more 'help-me' glance. Jackie only shrugged in reply. "Okay, I'll start with Shareen's, I suppose," Rose announced, accepting the gift from Shareen and opening it quietly, grinning from ear-to-ear when a photo album full of photos of Shareen and Rose, along with a few of their other friends, was revealed. "Oh my god Shareen, this is so cute!" Rose hugged her tightly. "I love it so much, thank you!"
More guilt was added to the Doctor's chest, making it harder for him to breathe.
Then it was Mickey's turn, and he got her a beautiful silver necklace with a blue jewel on it that surprisingly matched the color of her dress perfectly, making Rose squeal and kiss him chastely on the lips. The Doctor's knuckles turned white as he gripped the arm of the couch he was sitting on, watching the scene. Mickey flushed and hugged Rose back, putting the necklace around her.
Jack was next, and he had gotten her a T-shirt that said, "Look out, my boyfriend is a Doctor." on it. Rose giggled like crazy at getting it, showing it to the Doctor and making him laugh too, though in reality it added even more guilt to the ever-growing list. Rose realized that that wasn't the only thing Jack had gotten her, and the other thing was a cute pair of fuzzy red socks.
"The socks are in case you two break up and you don't want the shirt anymore," he said with a small wink. "Though I don't think that'll happen anytime soon, judging by the way you two look at each other."
The guilt tower toppled down as Rose looked at the Doctor expectantly for his gift next.
He frowned, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding her eyes. "Uh, Rose, can I talk to you in private?"
Some murmurs came from the group of friends but Rose nodded, following him to the kitchen. "What is it, Doctor?" she said, noticing the way his eyes nervously flickered about and how he tugged at his ear. She grabbed his wrist and glared at him, "You always tug at your ear when you're guilty of something. What is it?"
"I... Oh, Rassilon, Rose, I'm so sorry... IforgottogetyouagiftbecauseIwassobusyplanningthepartypleasedon'tkillme," he said the last bit so quickly she couldn't hear it.
"What?" Rose said, raising an eyebrow. "You what?"
He sighed, "I forgot to get you a gift because I was so busy planning the party and making you a cake and other things. I'm so, so sorry. Please don't be angry with me." His eyes looked downward like a child expecting a scolding, and he was surprised when she started laughing.
"You think I'll be mad at you for forgetting to get me a present? You threw me a huge party, a real, domestic party, filled with my friends and candy and you even made a cake! Why would I be angry with you for forgetting a present? It's understandable, you must be exhausted!"
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something but closed it just as quickly. "Er... Yeah, I kind of am."
"Come on back to the living room, it's no big deal," she said, tugging on his arm with a small, sympathetic smile. "And stop shaking, I'm not going to hurt you. Am I really that scary, Doctor?"
Deciding it was best to be truthful, he nodded his head. "Thanks, Rose."
Luckily nobody at the party questioned the fact that the Doctor hadn't gotten her anything for the rest of the present-giving. However, after everyone left the flat and Rose and the Doctor were back in the TARDIS, she brought it up again. He flew them back into the time vortex, vaguely aware of her watching him from the jump seat with amusement in her eyes. "So, Doctor."
"Did you like the party, Rose?" he wondered, flipping a lever and grinning at her. "Was the cake okay?"
"It was all lovely. But... You did forget to give me a present."
His face dropped at this. "You said it was alright..."
"It is alright, but I just thought of something you could give me."
The Doctor nodded quickly, walking over to her and swallowing, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Anything, Rose."
She stood up and faced him, wrapping her arms around the back of his head and pulling his lips to hers. She kissed him passionately, running both her hands through his long brown hair and sighing when she released him for air. "Thanks for the gift," she said with a small smile.
His eyes were only half open and his mouth still open when his brain desperately tried to think of a coherent reply. "Um, no problem."
"Just for the record," she kissed him again chastely. "I'd be happy with this being my birthday gift every year from now on."
"Would you be happy if I gave you this gift every day? Because I just might," he winked, hugging her tightly to him and meeting their lips again.
"I think I could live with that."
A/N: Based off of a prompt from MakorraLove97 that said, "It's Rose's birthday and the Doctor wants to make it special for her." Hope everyone enjoyed reading, and remember to leave me a prompt in a review or private message if you have a good idea for a one-shot or multi-chapter story! :D Also, don't forget to tell me what you think of this story!