A slightly longer short fic, pretty much I was just typing having no clue where it was going. Please review- because it makes me happy :) Thank you my 3 lovely reviewers from You owe me a tenner - talkstoangels77, Kimber McLeod and Naomitrekkie- it's a really nice feeling to be appreciated.
I don't own DW, I think I would know if I DID...
This is set: somewhere after S4, maybe a little linked to my other fic The Journey's Ending differently, with the whole idea of the Doctor baking...maybe this is set before they were in the tree...so Rose is already familiar with the Doctor's cooking expertise.
Rose's nose twitched at the strong pepper smell coming from the Tardis kitchen, she winced. The Doctor…was…Cooking? She decided to be tactful in her approach and slipped quietly into the room. He was facing away from her, crouched down on his long limbs and peering into the oven. She cleared her throat and he jumped.
"So…whatcha doing?" she asked stepping closer to peer over his shoulder.
"Baking" he muttered quietly as he avoided her eyes.
"Uh huh…and what have you got there in the oven?" she rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer. Suddenly he sprung up startling her and upsetting her balance. She'd reached out to steady herself when strong arms wrapped themselves tightly around her and held her.
She blew out a little puff of air "Whew, nice save." She grinned up at the Doctor's concerned face, "Could you warn me before you do that?"
"Sorry" he apologised looking sheepish.
Rose frowned at him, sceptical of his nervous behaviour "Riight". She removed her arms from the Doctor to rest on her hips "..Oven?" she sniffed "Is that Garlic?"
"No" he said sulkily.
Rose stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and gave him the stare she had learned from her mother. "Whatever it is you've used an awful lot of pepper."
He gave her a puppy dog look and mirrored her hands on hips, "I don't know why I owe you any answers it's MY kitchen after all and you're a guest."
Rose's eyebrows disappeared into her fringe and she took a half step away from him, "A 'guest'?"
"When I say guest…I mean friend." He squinted plaintively "Best friend in the whole wide universe and all of time?" he tried, reaching out to take her hand and squeezing.
Rose scoffed and waited impatiently.
"Cookies." He whispered.
"Huh?" Rose asked puzzled, leaning closer.
"Therearecookiesintheoven."
She frowned and took a moment to decipher his garbled sentence, she raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"What kind of cookies involve pepper!" she burst out finally, then something else occurred to her "Not to mention garlic! What are you doing?"
The Doctor's mouth pressed into a thin line and he glared.
"I'm trying-" he began.
"That's true enough." Rose agreed with a smirk.
The Doctor fought down a smile, "Rose. It's our anniversary tomorrow." He explained patiently.
Rose choked, "Excuse me?"
He led her over to the table and guided her into a chair, "The two year anniversary of the day we met… give or take a few years apart." He grinned, "We had chips?" he prompted gently with a nudge.
She matched his grin, "You're baking for our anniversary? How do you even know how long it's been after being shut in here for so long?"
"'Shut in here'?"
"And I mean that in the nicest possible way, this is our home after all. It's just that we pass time by not the other way around...you can't exactly use a calendar or a watch in here. "
"Well…I'm brilliant, does that really require explaining?"
"Alright then." Rose chuckled, squeezing his hand. She sighed and rested her head tiredly on the table, "So" she muttered into the table "What kind of cookies are they?"
"Cinnamon…garlic and chives." The Doctor looked down at the back of Rose's head waiting for some kind of reaction. "Well, you don't like banana muffins and you really wouldn't have liked the raspberry, sage and orange ones."
Rose's shoulders shook and he realised that she was giggling as she got louder and raised her head and looked at him. "Doctor" she begun carefully "How many batches have you made?"
He considered the question and she could see him counting in his head, "Five, I had to get it right you see."
She took a quick glance around the room, "And where are they? Hidden?"
The Doctor looked a little guilty for a moment, "Well I had to taste test them an-"
"You ate them ALL?" Rose asked aghast and started giggling again as she shook her head at him. "I cannot believe you, honestly at your age."
The Doctor stuck his tongue out at her and she smiled fondly, "Right, well how are you latest batch going?"
His eyes widened in surprise and he was out of the seat and opening the oven before she could register he'd moved at all. Green smoke wafted out and they both covered their noses. "Ugh" the Doctor grunted shutting the door and turning the oven off. "Now if I hadn't been distracted-"
"OI" Rose protested "That was green smoke in there buddy" she got out of her chair and waved in the direction of the oven "that is not my fault…what else did you put in there anyway?"
The Doctor fidgeted with an oven mitt, "Well you're always going on about how you wish you'd eat healthier so I went through the cupboards and I found some seaweed."
Rose rolled her eyes, "SEAWEED that we collected at the beach? You can't just use any old seaweed you know, and come on Doctor it must have been pretty dried up by now."
"It was crumbly."
She took a couple of steps forward until she was right in front of him, "Happy Anniversary." She said pulling him into a firm hug; she buried her face in his neck " I want you to promise me something."
"What?" he asked arms holding her close.
"I don't want you to bake…alone. Ever." she said poking him in the back to illustrate her every word.
He pulled back a little so he could see her face, "But Rose-"
"No and we'll be following a recipe, thank you very much. No improvising."
The Doctor made a face, "I've tasted your baking remember, do you really think that's going to turn out much better?"
Rose frowned, "Better then seaweed, cinnamon, garlic and chive cookies? Well yeah I'm pretty certain I can beat that! At least what I bake is edible."
He scoffed, "On what planet?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing" he shook his head "Isn't it time for you to be going to bed?" he looked at his watch, "It's about midnight…or at least we've been up about seventeen hours and you must be tired…we had that rhino chasing us today…that was different."
"Not so different." Rose muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing" she smiled, "So what are you going to do with the cookies?" she asked glancing at the oven.
He pursed his lips, "Welllllll" he said in a considering tone.
Rose jumped onto his train of thought, "Oh no you don't! You can't eat that, there was green smoke!"
The Doctor pouted and Rose rolled her eyes, she grabbed a hold of either side of his suit and pulled his face close to hers. Inches apart he blinked his liquid brown eyes at her "You are eating those cookies over my dead body. If you're hungry we'll go out." She sighed "Actually I'm peckish too, come on." She said pulling him along behind her and away from the oven. "My treat…as usual."
****
The couple stepped out of the police box and Rose hurriedly put on her gloves while the Doctor locked up. It was freezing. She played with her visible breath for a moment and then pointed, "Hey, I dare you to lick that pole." She said playfully to the Doctor.
He smirked, "Nuh uh. I remember what happened the last time." He said giving her a rakish smile, "I double dare you."
Rose smiled serenely, "I've still got the pictures as proof, and there is no way I'm giving you the opportunity to get your own back."
"But you said you destroyed them."
Rose's grin turned wicked and she took off in a sprint, "Well I lied!" she tossed over her shoulder with a giggle, leaving the stunned Doctor in her wake.
He took a moment to gather himself and then took off after her, following her laughter. He caught up with her easily (he'd had a lot of practice after all). Rose squealed as his long arms wound around her waist and he picked her off the ground and swung her around, "Gotcha, you timorous beastie." He growled as she burst into giggles.
"Oi, I'm treating you to a night out and you chase me down the street. How ungrateful." she grinned cheekily over her shoulder.
"I'll show you ungrateful." he grinned spinning her around and pressing a quick kiss to her grinning mouth. She gaped at him in shock.
"Oh", she mumbled a little breathless.
"Oh?" The Doctor grinned an eyebrow raised.
Rose dropped her eyes to his chest, which was at her eye level "So that's all I get after two years of being dragged around the universe and shouting you chips?" she pouted.
Suddenly the two of them became aware that they were drawing a crowd, Rose blushed burying her face in the Doctor's shirt and moaned quietly. He smoothed a hand through her hair, "Always have to the centre of attention, don't you?" he whispered. Choking back a laugh as she brought her foot down hard on his foot.
Without a word she pulled away from him, clasping his hand in hers and dragged him inside the nearest shop. She ordered, paid and sat next to the Doctor. She picked up a magazine and flipped through it, resolutely ignoring the man next to her. She was so grateful when the food was ready that she grabbed it in one hand (with a smile to the girl serving her) and the Doctor with the other and was out the door as fast as her legs would carry her. They were halfway back to the Tardis before either of them spoke.
"So" the Doctor begun as he threw an arm around Rose pulling her close "the 64 thousand dollar question is: are you going to offer me a chip?"
She smirked, but didn't pull away.
"Oh so it's going to be like that then?" he asked pulling her to a stop and into his arms he gave her a confident grin "Can I kiss it better?"
She giggled and batted at him with the arm not holding the chips tightly to her, "Ugh, even Mickey wouldn't use such a cheesy pick up line."
He scowled at her, "Oi, Don't compare me to Mickey the idiot, or any of your other ex boy toys." He complained sourly.
"Oh, did I hurt the oncoming storm's widdle feelings." She cooed tracing his jaw with her finger.
He glared, chips forgotten. Rose bit her lip before standing on her tippy toes and pulling his face down towards her, she rubbed her nose on his. "How about an Eskimo kiss, you big sook."
The Doctor sniffed haughtily, "S'gonna take more then that."
Rose gave a dramatic sigh, and shoved the packet of hot chips into the Doctor's arms, "Hold these. Come here." She ordered throwing her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his, fiercely. After a second he pulled her even closer and deepened the kiss.
She pulled back after a long moment and met his gaze, "Are we all square now? Can we go inside, it's chilly" she rubbed her arms, battling her Goosebumps.
"Y-y-yeP" he stuttered, popping his 'p'.
"Good." She said quickly grabbing the chips out of his arms and hurrying back to the Tardis. She turned when she got there and saw he was still standing there looking after her, a couple of fingers pressed to his lips. "I thought you were hungry." She called "I'll eat them all." She threatened as she opened the door.
He shook himself and walked swiftly to the doorway where Rose waited, "Oh." He murmured, still looking a little stunned and continued in walking past her into the console room.
Rose sighed and looked down at the bundle clutched tightly to her frowning, "Doctor" she pouted, "the chips are cold." She made a face walking across the grating as she watched the Doctor flit around pressing buttons, ignoring her. "Ugh, right. That's it! Next time we get chips you can pay."
"Pass them here then, if you don't want them." He said reaching out a hand without looking, palm up.
She narrowed her eyes, "Well they're more edible then your cookies at least." She dodged his arm and made a run for her room. "Possession is nine tenths of the law," she yelled as he gave chase.
So what did you think? Review so I can find out. Currently I'm working on an almost finished Freaks and Geeks fic...might post that tomorrow. Yay! so happy True Blood is back, it was missed.
