A/N: Guess where I went yesterday? Yup, that's right. But, luckily, I didn't need any holes filled! And I behave exactly the way Rose does after being anaesthetised.
Can I also just say; how amazing was Recovery on Sunday night? David Tennant's performance was absolutely outstanding and Sarah Parish was brilliant as his wife. It was completely heartbreaking, and it had me in tears a lot of the time. The topic was sensitively handled and surely the programme deserves a few BAFTA nominations?! One thing though; I definitely prefer David without the beard! Although, I think that was just to make him look older as the character had a son about to go to university, but David's only 35!
And… the lovely Billie Piper was on the Charlotte Church Show on Friday!
Anyhoo, enough babbling. Enjoy! And, as always, please press that little button below and make my day!
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It was late evening on the good ship TARDIS, and the Doctor and Rose were sitting at the kitchen table slurping spaghetti bolognaise in companionable silence, occasionally reaching over to the glass bowl in the middle of the table and helping themselves to more grated cheese. Every so often, Rose would glance over to the Doctor and watch him idly twist the spaghetti round his fork, before stifling a giggle as it slipped off the end of it before it could reach his mouth. She reached round behind her and took a spoon off the cutlery rack. She pushed it towards him across the table and he smiled sheepishly as he picked it up and used it to twiddle the spaghetti onto his fork more securely. Rose watched as he did this, picking up her wine glass and taking a small sip before turning her attention back to her own dinner. The Doctor was so busy duelling with his food that he didn't notice that Rose was eating as slowly as possible, her face screwing up slightly every now and then as she chewed on the mince. It wasn't until she audibly winced when carefully chomping down on a slice of garlic bread that he noticed something was wrong.
"You okay?"
Rose sighed and let her fork clatter noisily onto the plate. "Yeah, just a bit of tooth ache is all."
The Doctor regarded her for a moment, his tongue running around the inside of his mouth. "Want me to take you home so you can see a dentist?"
"No!" Rose said rather sharply, and then she caught the look on his face and cleared her throat, speaking again in a softer tone. "No, thank you." And she picked up her fork and started stabbing at her food again.
The Doctor watched her intently, looking for the signs of pain to present themselves on her face as soon as she chewed. Bingo.
"Dammit," Rose gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. The Doctor stood up and scooted round to her side of the table.
"Let me see."
"What?"
"Your tooth. Let me have a look." And before she could protest he took her chin in his hands.
"Say 'ah'."
Rose looked at him incredulously. "Doctor, I'm not five."
He smirked at her and reached into his pocket for his glasses. Slipping them onto his nose, he motioned for her to open her mouth and she grudgingly did, rolling her eyes at the same time.
"Which one is it?"
"A er ock, ear er ack."
He pulled away from her for a second, his hands moving away from her mouth slightly.
"You what?"
"At the top, near the back."
"Oh, right. What side?"
"The right. But Doctor, I don't -"
She was cut off as the Doctor gently forced her mouth open again and peered inside.
"You smell of garlic," he noted, rather unhelpfully.
"So do you!" Rose exclaimed as she pulled away from him. "So, what's the diagnosis?"
"You have a small hole at the top of your tooth," the Doctor answered, returning to his side of the table.
"Great," she mumbled. "Soup only for me from now on -"
"You're going to the dentist."
"- and as there is no way I can give up chocolate, you're gonna have to melt that down for me -"
"You're going to the dentist."
"- Oh, and chips! You'll have to chuck those in the blender."
The Doctor pulled a face at that. "You're going to the dentist."
"No, please don't make me!" she whined, pouting and giving him her best puppy-dog eyes, a trick that usually worked on the Doctor; but tonight he wasn't having any of it.
"You're going to the dentist, and that's final."
Rose frowned at him, and then her face suddenly lit up as she thought of something.
"You have a med bay. You can painlessly fix me, right?"
He shook his head. "Nope, otherwise I'd be called 'The Dentist,'" he said, giving her a lopsided grin.
Rose didn't think that was very amusing. "So, let me get this straight. You have all the equipment needed to save a life, but you can't fix a tooth?"
"Well…" he started, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I did used to have something, but it broke. Well, I say broke, more like -"
"More like you started tinkering with it for no apparent reason and ended up breaking it," Rose cut in.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and feigned hurt. "Rose Tyler, how can you even suggest that I would just… I would just…" he sighed. "Oh, never mind. Anyway, it's completely unfixable and replacing it would take rather a long time." He jumped up and pulled Rose up and along with him as he made his way towards the control room.
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Rose was jiggling her knees up and down nervously, waiting for her name to be called. She glanced around at the posters on the wall looking for something, anything, to take her mind off of where she was. She felt a hand touch her knee lightly, and she looked up to see the Doctor smiling at her sympathetically, but also in a way that said 'please stop doing that or I'll chop your legs off.' Rose gave him a tight-lipped smile and tried to control her jerking limbs.
"Why do you hate dentists so much anyway?"
Rose looked at the Doctor and shuddered. "When I was little the dentist split my gum open when he was drilling my tooth. He was struck off not long after that. Apparently, it wasn't the first 'accident' that he'd had. And he was also an alcoholic. Anyway, from then on I've always tried to avoid going whenever possible. Why d'ya think the bathroom cabinet's always stocked with a never ending supply of mouthwash and floss? Toothpaste doesn't do as good a job on its own. I just can't stand the thought of the dentist looming over me with his drill and that manic glint they get in their eyes. It's like they get some sick satisfaction out of watching you squirm. And that awful buzzing you get in your head when the drill hits your tooth…" she shuddered.
"Oh, Rose. I know that's an awful experience to have as a kid; but that was just one dentist out of, oh, I don't know. Bejillions of them."
"Did you just say 'bejillions'?"
"Yeah… Made it up. But my point is; I'm sure this dentist's fine."
"Yeah, right. I bet you'd soon change your mind when that horrible needle is poked into that soft bit in the corner of your mouth. God, that hurts."
"Oh, that's right," the Doctor said, grinning. "You're going to come out dribbling. You'll be mindful of my coat, won't you? I don't fancy being covered in slobber."
Rose whacked him on the arm, and then caught it in a death grip when the nurse called her name.
"Rose Tyler."
"Oh, No," she whispered as she slowly got up. "Big scary dentist man time. I'm so going to kill you," she said in an offside to the Doctor.
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Rose was cranky, and boy did the Doctor know it. He was a bit annoyed that before they'd left for the dentist Jackie hadn't thought to tell him that the anaesthetic always left Rose grumpy, tired and tearful. They were now back on the TARDIS, and Rose was currently snuggled under her duvet on the sofa in the living area, watching 'Hello Dolly' on the huge TV. Apparently, this was vital to her recovery. Jackie would always make her daughter comfortable, stick on an old musical and make her a cup of tea with a straw. Now it was the Doctor's turn to play nurse.
"Okay?" he asked gently as he helped Rose with her tea, catching a bit that dribbled out the side of her mouth with a tissue.
"What do you think?" she mumbled, sniffing slightly as her eyes watered again.
"Hey now, none of that. It'll go off soon."
"You said that two hours ago."
"I know," he said, rubbing her arm.
Rose shifted and curled into him. "When this has finished, can we watch 'Carousel'?"
"'Course we can," he replied, tucking the duvet around her before putting an arm round her shoulders.
Rose sighed sleepily. Minus the dentist, she could get used to this.
