She scraped another glob of slime out of her hair, tossing it out the window angrily. This was not how she had seen the day going when she woke up next to a very friendly and perky half-Time Lord. In fact, she'd had much different plans when he'd rolled on top of her. That is, until her damned mobile had started ringing and Pete's urgent and apologetic voice had come over the line begging her to come sort some alien mess or other.
Now all she wanted was Chinese takeout and a hot bubble bath. Maybe the Doctor would even wash her hair before holding her while she caught some much deserved sleep.
But when she turned onto their street and was blocked by fire trucks, those plans dissolved as well. Especially when she saw their building in flames and a smoking head of brown hair sitting on the edge of an ambulance bay.
She parked at the edge of the street, getting out of the car and running down the block towards him. "Doctor! Oh god, Doctor, what happened?"
He stood up and caught her in his arms, holding her tightly. "I'm fine," he murmured into her hair, a gentle hand moving up and down her back in soothing circles.
She pulled back, taking his face in her hands as she checked him for damage. Through the soot and singed hair, he didn't seem to have any serious injuries. "What happened?" she repeated.
He ducked his head, scuffed his trainer on the ground, and fiddled with the edge of his charred tie. He mumbled something that was completely drowned in the cracking of something collapsing in the building above them.
She grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up at her. "What. Happened?" she repeated, ignoring the frantic voices of their neighbors around them.
"Rose, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He tried to pull her back into his arms, but she stood staunchly away from him until she got the story. "I was just trying to make you a birthday cake, because the bakery around the corner couldn't make that chocolate cake you loved from Hargeth V and, really, how was I supposed to know your oven was so inefficient, you never let me near it, and the hardware was not exactly compatible with the sonic, and…"
She sighed, hanging her head. This was the reason they had gotten as high an insurance policy as they had, but she was so exhausted it wasn't something she even wanted to deal with.
"We'll get over to the house, get this all sorted out in the morning, okay?" She turned away from his wide, sorry eyes and spoke to the fire chief, getting permission to take him with her.
He didn't speak until they were nearly to her mum's house. "Rose, I—"
"Doctor, I'm tired, alright? I've had a long, hard day, and all I really want is a bath. We'll talk about this later, okay?"
He stared at her even as she kept her eyes on the road. He sighed, reaching over to squeeze her leg. "Okay. Happy birthday, Rose." She sighed, shaking her head. Happy indeed. Just their kind of happy.
She turned into the drive, pulling the car around back of the house. "I'm sure she's still got the room ready from when we stayed over a few nights ago."
She didn't look back at him as she trudged up the stairs, opening the door. It was dark inside, and no one was around. She shut the door behind him, taking a few steps towards the stairs.
The lights crashed on, accompanied with a cacophony of sound. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" a dozen different voices were shouting her way. She froze like a deer in the headlights, blinking around at them. Work mates, along with little Tony and her parents, stared back at them, looking in concerned confusion at the slimy and smoking pair of them.
Jackie didn't miss a beat as she stepped towards them, a genuine smile on her face despite the drip of slim on her carpet. "I knew this dunce would find some way to screw it up. Happy birthday sweetheart." She reached forward to hug her daughter, thought better of it, and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. "Why don't you two pop upstairs for a shower, then come back down and join us for the party."
Rose's eyes were watering as she squeezed her hand back. "Thanks, mum." She mounted the stairs, the Doctor close behind her. His hand touched the small of her back before reaching forward to grab her hand and squeeze it as well. She held on tightly to let him know he was forgiven—for now.
"Don't you two take too long up there, now," Jackie called out to them when they reached the second floor.
Rose turned around to splutter something back, but the Doctor continued to back her up towards the bathroom. "And that leads me," he murmured close to her ear, "if you want your present now, or later, after the party."