They'd always been touchy-feely around each other, she'd observed. Well, maybe not touchy-feely because that implied a sexual relationship. And if Jackie knew one thing, it was what an intimate couple looked like. And she knew her daughter. She knew the flirty little smile that she reserved for the Doctor.

And the Doctor, even back when he was all ears and blue eyes and leather, had touched Rose often. He had been so stoic then, only smiling around Rose. And his laughter was reserved for her as well. Only for her.

Jackie was a woman who knew a hurt person when she saw one. One night when Rose has decided to sleep over, she'd found that the Doctor was a very hurt man.

She'd been unable to sleep and got up to make herself a cuppa. As the water boiled away merrily, Jackie had heard the front door open. She'd peeked around the kitchen entrance and saw the Doctor sneaking in. His hands quieted the door as it closed. He was reaching for Rose's door and Jackie was about to stop him when she saw that he was shaking. Rose had said he didn't get cold so it wasn't from the chill outside… The Doctor knocked softly and she was shocked to see Rose's door open only a moment after. Normally it would take a hurricane to wake her daughter up.

Rose rubbed at her eyes and yawned and Jackie heard the Doctor apologize for waking her. His head was bowed and she watched Rose touch his cheek. Whispers were exchanged and she watched as Rose took the Doctor to the parlour, knowing that she wouldn't approve of finding her daughter in her bedroom with a 900 year old alien. And Jackie had been almost tempted to go and tell Rose that it was alright, she trusted the Doctor not to do anything. But she dared not interrupt as the two of them sat on the couch. She hid against the wall, her eyes peeking out through the little window that viewed into the parlour.

What she saw shocked her.

Her daughter, nineteen year old Rose, was cradling the Doctor to her like he was a child. With the way his head was near her breasts, she wondered if he was taking advantage of Rose's kindness. But when Rose murmured softly to him and kissed his head Jackie knew he wasn't using her daughter. The way he clung to her like Rose was his life-saver in the middle of an ocean… It was tragic, really. The Doctor didn't make any noise to indicate that he was crying, but somehow she knew he was.

"Rose… My Rose." It was said so quietly that Jackie wasn't sure she'd heard herself correctly. But the way that Rose nodded to him and dropped another kiss on his temple proved that he had said what she thought he'd said.

Had she gotten it wrong? Were they really together?

"My Doctor." Rose crooned, her hands moving over his back.

No more words were spoken, and the two fell asleep right there on the couch – the Doctor now under Rose and she resting half on him and half on the couch. Jackie bit her lip – it was a rather intimate position and she wondered once again if they were together. She snuck past the two and into her room.

Once she awoke for work a few hours later, the Doctor gone and Rose was safely tucked into her sheets. A small note was left one her bedside and Jackie couldn't help but read it.

'Thank you' was all it said.

Jackie left for work and when she got home, they were both gone.

Jackie was a perceptive woman who knew her daughter well and knew that the way she and the Doctor held hands was innocent.

This new Doctor was all big hair and smiles and skinny nothingness. It was odd to think he was the same man.

But the very moment that Jackie saw the Doctor take Rose's hand, she knew he was exactly the same man. The lips were a little different, and the teeth, but that soft smile was the same.

Their hands still fit together perfectly, if that smile on her daughter's face was anything to go by. That smile also told Jackie how desperately Rose loved the Doctor. And the Doctor returned that smile.

Now if only they would do something about it.

Because it so obvious they never have. The tension was nearly visible and Jackie wondered how long it would take for that rubber band to snap and come back to whap them in the wrists.

fin

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