I don't own Doctor Who.
Anyway, this oneshot is set just about after the incident involving the Sycorax and before the Christmas dinner with the Tyler family. Enjoy!
The Doctor bounded into the TARDIS, Rose following close behind.
"Ah, time to reacquaint myself with you, old girl!" he patted the walls of the TARDIS affectionately and the sound of content whirring could be heard within the blue box. He then walked up to the closet (if one could call that that; it was too huge to be even considered a thrift shop) and began rummaging around.
"What are you looking for, Doctor?" Rose asked, leaning against the stair railing. The Doctor whirled around, a frown on his face, which was an interesting juxtaposition to the fluffy pink and white feather boa that was slung around his neck.
Rose giggled at the sight in front of her.
"Surely, Doctor, your tastes haven't changed THAT much."
"I wonder where this came from. Who would ever have the stomach to prance around in this thing?" he muttered, before flinging the boa back into the pile and turning towards her.
"It must have changed quite a bit for me to find this leather jacket rather distasteful and unflattering," he answered Rose, poking dismally at the loose-fitting black jacket that he donned. After several moments, seemingly to have abandoned all clothing endeavours, he started examining his face and hair in the full length mirror in front of him.
"Ooh, I didn't have time to see myself properly just now, what with the regeneration process taking so much out of me," the Doctor said. "I can't believe I'm still not ginger. The probability of being ginger this time was so high…" he muttered in annoyance, checking individual strands on his fringe for any sign of a reddish tinge, and sadly, finding none.
"You would think, in all your Time Lordy-ness, that you could control how you would look like after you regenerate," Rose said, her tongue in her cheek to stifle a laugh. She still couldn't get used to the fact that he was the same old Doctor, despite his earlier display of courage and intelligence only exclusive to the one and only Time Lord. His previous regeneration wouldn't think twice of looking himself in the mirror with such a vain perspective.
"Now, that's pushing it a bit too far, don't you think?" he cocked his head to the side, before thoughtfully adding, "Wow. It seems that my new self is more down-to-earth. Like just way down… down. Literally. I wonder why that is so?"
"Probably because you grew shorter since you changed?" Rose hazarded a guess, smirking.
"Really?" He looked more closely at the mirror. "Oh no, I AM shorter. How could I not have noticed that? My trousers have gone past my boots. Time for a little wardrobe change," he had a maniacal glint in his eye as he held up a pair of cream-coloured Converse All Stars. "Say hello to the new me. Hmm, rather dapper, if I do say so myself."
Rose shook her head in amusement, before saying, "I'll be downstairs to make tea. Come find me after you've sorted out your fashion crisis. And I thought I was bad," she muttered the last sentence under her breath, to which the Doctor called out from upstairs, "I heard that, Rose Tyler!"
Rose raised her eyebrows. Woah, his senses had surely heightened. At least, his sense of sight (if his newly acquired taste in fashion was any testament to that) and sense of hearing.
She wondered if the rest of them were as sensitive. Time to test them, she mused to herself.
Going into the kitchen, she made two cups of coffee instead.
I wonder how overly sweet beverages will go down with him, she thought cheekily, taking the sugar bowl from one of the cabinets.
Not that she hated coffee or anything, but she couldn't resist annoying the Doctor. Now that he was so candid, she just wanted to annoy the socks off him.
Speaking of socks, she saw a pair of fluffy black ones padding down the stairs. Hurriedly, Rose dumped a handful of sugars into one of the cups of coffee and grabbed both of them.
"Ah, great! Wonderful indeed. You decided to drink coffee for a change?" he quirked an eyebrow which coincidentally matched the colour of the pinstriped suit he changed into.
"Um, yeah. Thought it'd be- uh—" Rose stopped halfway through her sentence as she saw the Doctor taking a cup and swilling it around, putting his nose to the lazy swirls of steam rising from the cup.
"Wait, Doctor—" NO. He'd unintentionally mixed up the cups and there was no way to tell which one had the sugars and which didn't! Her little experiment was messed up.
"Ah, this coffee smells like it's come from ground coffee powder." He took another whiff. "Processed Arabica beans. Harvested from… let's see. I'm guessing it's the coffee we bought on our last trip to the New Kingdom of Kefa. But wait! There's something else in here. Doesn't smell right and it probably doesn't belong in coffee. Dodgy, that…" He trailed off, narrowing his eyes at the cup of caffeine.
Oh-kay, Rose thought. So either his senses really did become more sensitive, or this new Doctor was really particular about the origin of his beverages.
She started to bring the cup to her lips, but the Doctor's hand on hers stopped her in her tracks.
"Hmm?" She flicked her eyes towards him questioningly.
"I don't think you should drink that. Quality control these days, disastrous, really," he shook his head and got up from the sofa, taking the mugs of coffee with him.
"I'll be popping over to the kitchen to make some tea instead. Good old tea. And some biscuits to go along with it. Just to tide us over till we get to a chip shop."
At this, Rose sighed. So much for making coffee. On the bright side, the Doctor apparently saved her from a certain death involving dodgy coffee beans.
"Sounds good, thanks!" Rose smiled at him and leaned back on the sofa.
She wondered if he still remembered his ninth self. If he remembered that he kissed her. Truthfully, she was quite uncertain of the fact since the Doctor's change was rather drastic, and she doubted that the new, rather chipper Doctor was anything like her old one.
Honestly, Rose was tired that they had to start over from square one if the Doctor were to forget that they kissed. It hurt massively that after all they had been through, they would have to start over. However, he never really went into the details of regeneration so there was always that small chance…
The clinking of plates that the Doctor had set down on the console shook her out of her musings.
"Here's your tea! Made it just the way you like it," he grinned, and she was comforted by the fact that he probably didn't lose his memory. Perhaps he did remember everything after all. "And banana cream pie! I found this in the fridge. The best food on earth. Well, apart from bananas themselves. Well, since they were made of bananas, I could probably classify them in the same group."
"You still like bananas?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?"
"Oh, I don't know. Because you demonstrated such a weird preference to things before this, I'd thought you did a complete change. Like the clothes, and the… rest. It's all so different, and I can't really get my head around it as quickly as you did. Not that I'm supposed to, of course—you have done this regeneration thing quite a number of times, and it's understandable that you adapt to the idea more quickly than some human like me."
"Was that so? Nah, I haven't really changed that much. Still the same old me, just with a different face. You and I, the Doctor and Rose, in the TARDIS as it should be," he chirped cheerfully. "And for the record, Rose Tyler, you are not just "some human"," he added quietly after that.
Her heart thumped slightly faster at his insinuation. Or was she just reading too far into his actions?
She swallowed. "Good to know. Because I really missed you, Doctor. The old you. The new you. Urgh, I just missed YOU. I was so afraid I'd lose you!"
"Hey, don't worry. It's going to be the same as always, okay?" he slung an arm around Rose's shoulders and pulled her to him, as if it were the most natural action in the world. She relaxed into the silky fabric of his new suit, seemingly pacified.
Maybe he didn't forget.
"Even though you're shorter?" she mumbled into his sleeve, although her eyes showed that it was meant to be a light-hearted comment.
"Is that a good or a bad thing?"
"It's good enough for me." With an endearing smile, she leaned closer and settled comfortably in the somewhat-embrace.
His hearts clenched oddly at that statement. Rose Tyler, a human, was accepting him, the last of the Time Lords. He felt that he didn't deserve that. All he managed to bring her was trouble.
He wished that he could stay like that forever. Like what he claimed; him, her, in the TARDIS, as it should be.
But he knew better than to think that they'd have a happy ending. Forever was not possible, especially since he had the potential to see forever.
At least for now, they had a miniscule moment of solace in the fabric of time. And he was determined to make the most of it.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
He jerked upright and looked down at the pink-and-yellow figure that was Rose Tyler.
"I never got to apologise," he said quietly.
"Apologise? What for?"
"Not telling you about regeneration."
"Why? You didn't have to, nothing was your fault."
"I'm so sorry for scaring you like that. I just want you to know that I am really the same person, and if it makes you feel any better, I don't know my new quirks any better than you do. Other than the fact that I've got myself a fightin' hand," he wriggled the fingers of his right hand comically. "But I can tell you this: inner me is exactly the same. I remember who you are, I remember everything. So if it's any consolation, as an apology from me, I'll give you free reign of what we're going to do right now. Well, almost free reign. I still insist on going to the chip shop."
"Free reign, eh?" she interlaced their fingers and dragged him to the part of the console nearest to the kitchen.
"Wait a second; I give you free reign and all you want to do is venture into my kitchen? What about the stars? What about the whole universe that's waiting out there?" The Doctor said in surprise.
"No, it isn't like that. I was thinking… That I need some clarification. On- on your new regeneration." Ah, darn. She still couldn't ramble to buy time even though she was subject to it almost every day.
"Oh-kay," the Doctor said slowly, still unsure of her intentions.
"Wait here." Rose rummaged around the kitchen for a few moments, before emerging, arms laden with various goodies and snacks.
"Binging, I see. What may be the reason now?"
"I'm not binging!" she smacked his arm playfully. "It's tea time."
"Really? Because according to my impeccable sense of time, it's just past dinner-"
"On earth. But as you can see, we're in the vortex. And as they always say, 'any time is tea time in the vortex'."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes.
"Who ever said that?"
"Not the point. Anyway, just take a seat here—" she placed the plates and packets of food on the floor, sat down on the TARDIS grating and tugged at the hem of his suit, "–and we can now begin our clarification of intentions."
"Right. Not meaning to burst your bubble or anything, but we need to go restock the kitchen after we're done here," he said sternly, appraising the selection, or rather, lack of selection of food spread around them—she had emptied the kitchen of biscuits, fruits, vegetables, crisps and intergalactic delicacies.
"Let the feast begin!" Rose exclaimed, eyes twinkling, and the Doctor shook his head in amusement but complied.
Not long after, the Doctor was seriously worried for their digestive systems. Not so much him, per se, with the superior Time Lord biology and all, but for Rose, who had sampled various foods in his fridge and kitchen cabinets (which were obviously bigger on the inside— he wouldn't settle for anything less), such as Venusian custard, banana cream pie, and shrieked when something green and gooey which she thought was jelly until it started moving off the plate by itself.
They had a laugh as they shared the food together, the Doctor cringing and grimacing at food he didn't like.
"Now, pray tell, why in the world would this regeneration hate pears? I thought I'd always liked them. Well, either that or I've never had the need to eat them before." He made a face and spat out the chunk of pear he bit.
"Go ask your Time Lord biology, then," Rose supplied, popping another crisp into her mouth.
After sampling most of the food she had brought out, they finally leaned back against the base of the console, sighing.
"Remind me never to give you free reign when it comes to eating. I hope you haven't forgotten that we're going to the chip shop," he said matter-of-factly.
"But we haven't even had dessert!" Rose exclaimed, looking around her for anything she might have missed out.
"I think chips are enough, thank you very much," he reasoned seriously, suppressing a smile as he saw how Rose was as enthusiastic as ever. What did he ever do to deserve her company on his ship?
"I wonder… If you like the taste of rose." She leaned over and playfully streaked a finger down the lapel of his suit.
"What… What?" He stammered, blinking at her. Rose looked up from her position leaning on him.
"Why are your hearts suddenly beating so quickly?" she asked, smirking at his agitation.
She got him there. He was trapped.
"N- Nothing! I was thinking that by tasting, you meant like asking me if I liked eating bits of you— Gosh, now that didn't come out right either, did it?" he groaned, to Rose's amusement.
Yup, he couldn't deny the fact that he was digging his own grave the more he tried to quash the misinterpretation.
"Yeah, it did come out a bit wrong. But it's alright, just close your eyes." Rose couldn't help but giggle at how the Doctor was reacting to this.
Reducing the Doctor, the Last of the Time Lords, to awkward, cute, but gorgeous mush. And she was loving every minute of this. She definitely wouldn't have got such a reaction from the leather-clad Doctor.
With a feather light touch, her fingers danced around the line of his jaw and she could see his eyes screw shut tighter and tighter, as if the mere closing of his eyes would wish her fingers away.
"Ticklish, are you?" she said, to which he replied with a strangled noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a sigh.
And at that, she picked up one of the last foods that she got from the kitchen: a small bag of dried rose petals that her mother passed to her before she left for the TARDIS, a gift from one of her mum's friends, apparently.
She slipped a petal into his mouth, and he furrowed his eyebrows, taking cautious nibbles of the soft material.
He stopped mid-chew.
"Rose petals? Ha-ha. Very funny," he said sarcastically, opening his eyes.
"They're edible. Mum said so. She said that it was—"
"Good for cooking, I know. Seen it in Mesopotamia. The country, not the planet. Did you know that they were one of the first civilisations to incorporate the flower in their cuisine? Anyway, that isn't important. What's more important," he said, fixing her with a penetrating stare, "is that you initiated a false alarm."
"False alarm?" she asked innocently, in spite of the Doctor's feral grin.
"Yes, false alarm in which I have been put through to believe was some very important life event, but was actually groundless."
"Why, if that assumption's the case, it's not a false alarm at all," she leaned closer and one of the Doctor's hands slid behind her back. "Because…" She leaned forward almost imperceptibly and the Doctor automatically followed suit, eyes fixated on hers. They simultaneously stopped, foreheads touching, lips merely millimetres from each other.
She noticed they had both stopped breathing, but hey, who was she to ruin a moment? Anyway, he had his bypass system to help.
Seized by an impossibly large amount of courage, she decided that it was either now or never. Now that the Doctor practically confirmed her suspicions, it was time to act on that gut feeling she so usually relied on to get out of intergalactic trouble. As Rose neared him, she was overwhelmed by how comfortingly familiar he smelt— the whiff of TARDIS grease from when he was tinkering with the TARDIS a while ago; and the metallic scent of raw time and space. It was this that gave her the courage to follow through with what she intended.
Rose placed a soft hand on the Doctor's jawline and closed the gap between them. He shuddered against her fingers initially, but soon relaxed into her touch and returned the kiss, tilting his head slightly which prompted Rose to thread her fingers through his gorgeous hair to get that much closer.
The taste of the rose flower lingered from before. It was addictive, especially since it was on him and she decided she liked it.
As the kiss deepened, she felt his eyelashes tickling against her cheek from when they fluttered shut. She let out a sigh as the emotions coursed through her.
He hadn't forgotten.
The last time they did this, he was dying—dying to save her. They were both almost dying. And this time, it felt good to know that it wasn't just the sadness during the throes of death that made that kiss special; the magic that lingered in that one last life-saving kiss was very much present in this moment as well, meaning that nothing had changed between them; if anything, they had become closer than ever before.
Despite the drastic physical changes, it was without a doubt still her Doctor, who currently had an arm behind her back, splayed fingers tightening their grip on her jacket; she could feel the same spark she did on that night, except now it was better and much stronger.
They slowed down to a stop and broke this kiss, breathing heavily. They remained in each other's arms, regaining their breath as Rose shot him a dazzling smile, and he returned it, giving her an even brighter smile if it were possible.
"You know what? I actually found that rather enjoyable."
He chuckled, hands now finding his way to hers and interlocking their fingers firmly together.
"Which part? The eating part or the kissing part? Because really, the eating part is something I hope I would never do again; well, not eating per se but that little fiasco we had just moments before-" his eyes twinkled mischievously as Rose gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "That reminds me, my dear Rose. Remind me to remind you to get some nibbles the next time we get back to Earth. I love nibbles!" he said, running a hand through his already mussed hair, and Rose reached out to pat it down, but obviously, that didn't do anything to neaten his short, not-ginger hair. Not that it wasn't perfect the way it was initially.
"Right. By any chance, would rose petals qualify as nibbles?" she asked teasingly, and he pulled a face.
"Nah, I've discovered I hate rose petals. Don't tell your mum that, though— I'd very much prefer keeping my face symmetrical. But the real thing, on the other hand…" He smiled wolfishly, wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, her giving him a signature tongue in cheek smiles as she pulled his head down and buried her hands in his hair for another feverish kiss.
After many minutes, they finally pulled away, the Doctor grinning his thousand watt smile that could practically light up the room, his hair ruffled again in the most sensual way possible- at least, to Rose.
"-Now that, I wouldn't mind," the Doctor confirmed, lacing their fingers together.
"You can ravish me later," she joked, but lowered her gaze as she saw that the Doctor was indeed taking it seriously, looking at her with a predatory gleam in his eyes.
"After the chips?" His tone was almost hopeful and Rose couldn't help but laugh.
"After the chips."
A/N: So hi everyone!
I finally had some time to spare after my exams so I channelled my happy-energies into writing this! Please do leave a review; I'd really like to know what you think of it, heh. Thanks! :)