Rose met the man quite by chance, just as she was walking alongside the entrance to the department store she often shopped in. He was striding towards the building intently, even though it had just closed for the night, and she felt compelled to let him know this.
His shoulders shrugged inside a battered leather jacket. "Go anywhere I want, me."
"But you can't - it's closed - my mate works in there and they've all left for the evening."
He ignored her, and went inside, easily stopping any alarms that must have been in place with a flick of a strange pen-like device. Rose hesitated, wondering if she ought to call the police. Then, he popped his head back out of the doorway.
"Can't stop to explain why, but you're really gonna want to move as far away from this building as possible," he said, flinging a plastic arm, of all things, in her direction.
She stared at him in confusion. "But - "
He waved something in front of him, something that looked suspiciously like a detonator.
"What the hell?" she demanded. "Are you gonna blow this place up?"
"For the good of the planet, trust me."
"Why on Earth would I trust you?"
He flashed her a grin. "I'm the Doctor."
She'd lingered not too far away from the store, biting the side of her thumb. She'd called the police, and the ambulance service, and the fire brigade for good measure. Anonymously, of course - although she reckoned that Doctor fella would know exactly who'd ratted on him, considering she'd been the only person to have seen him holding the bomb, and all.
If he survived, that was.
The sound of sirens filled her ears, but at a distance. Which was good, she supposed, as she watched the building explode in front of her; at least no one was hurt, even if they had failed to stop the man from his quest in blowing a harmless shop up. She turned to walk away, unwilling to be caught up in the chaos that followed.
A hand came down on her shoulder and she jumped, a gasp of fear lodging in her throat when she turned to see her assailant. He'd got out, then.
"You called the police," he said, frowning at her.
"Well, yeah. You blew up a shop."
He smiled slowly. "It's not what you think."
"I don't - why would you do that?"
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."
"Try me."
"Aliens."
Rose scoffed, and walked away.
He called after her, but didn't follow, "No, really. What was your name?"
"Like I'd tell you!" she exclaimed, before she could help herself. Then, she quickened her pace. It was late, and she'd missed her bus, and she dug into her handbag and found her pepper spray, just in case this strange man followed her on her way home.
He didn't follow her home. Rose let herself into her mother's flat rather than make the trek to her own, because it was closer and she was tired and worried. She flopped down on the sofa with a sigh. It was then that she realised she was still holding that bloody plastic arm he'd tossed at her. Why she had clung onto it without even being aware of the action she had no idea.
The plastic arm only went and bloody attacked her the next morning, didn't it.
She wasn't even surprised when the Doctor arrived at the flat, after tracking its location. She was just grateful he could stop it, even if it did require a bit of rolling around on her mum's living room floor trying to pry it off one another. Luckily, nothing was broken, and when Jackie Tyler strolled into her living room to find her daughter and a middle-aged bloke talking in hushed voices over tea, she was too tired to question the fact that there was what looked like part of a plastic mannequin placed on her coffee table.
"So what you're saying is, some alien somewhere is controlling that arm from another location?" Rose asked the Doctor quietly.
"Yep."
She frowned at him. "I'm gonna need to see it to believe it."
"Nah, you don't need to come with me. I just wanted to fill you in."
"Yeah? And what if you're just some nutter who came up with some far-fetched story to stalk me, eh? What if you were the one controlling the arm in order to get in here and play the hero?"
He blinked at her. "Ah. Yeah, I suppose I do seem a bit dodgy."
"You think?" she scoffed.
"What's your name, anyway?"
She shifted, still a bit uneasy about telling him. "Rose. Rose Tyler."
"Well, Rose Tyler, it would have been much easier if you'd not brought that arm home with you, you know. Then I wouldn't have had to track it to your mum's flat and we would never have had to see each other again."
"You were the one who chucked the thing at me!"
"I didn't think you'd take it home as a souvenir!"
"What else was I supposed to do with it?"
"I don't know, chuck it in a skip or something." Then, he muttered under his breath, "Another stupid ape."
"What did you just call me?" she hissed at him. "Look, if you're just gonna be rude, you can get out."
"Fine by me," he said, standing up.
Rose grabbed hold of his arm, internally cursing her own curious nature. "No, wait," she said, through gritted teeth. "I wanna know what's really going on. Do you work for the government?"
"No," he laughed, sitting back down beside her. "Why'd you think that?"
"I dunno," she shrugged, "Meet you once, see you do something suspicious, meet you again; feels like a conspiracy. Makes sense you work for the government. Or against the government. Oh my god, are you a secret agent?"
The Doctor stared at her, his lips twitching. "No, Rose. I'm not a secret agent."
"A corporate spy?" she tried next.
"Nope."
"What, then?"
"Just the Doctor."
"No team or employer or partner?"
"Just me." He paused, averting his eyes for a moment, before looking back at her with determination in his gaze. "I work best alone."
Later, of course, Jackie had woken up a bit, and once she'd showered and dressed for the day, she was full of questions for Rose and the mystery bloke in her sitting room. Rose struggled to explain at first, then simply switched on the news, which was airing the story about Henriks. The Doctor excused himself to the loo so that Rose could come up with some reason for his presence, which happened to place him as a detective investigating the event.
"Well, now that your job's been blown up, you're gonna have to start looking for something else, love," said Jackie pragmatically. "Either that or try to sue. You ought to get at least some compensation, surely? I'll ask that Detective bloke when he comes in - "
"Look, Mum, just leave it for now, all right? We'll talk about this later."
"But Rose, you've got your rent to think of and all that - "
"Mum, it'll be fine, stop worrying."
"I knew you shouldn't have started working at Henriks," Jackie tutted, just as the Doctor re-entered the room. "Thought it was gonna be trouble, I did, right from the off. You never know where you are with these big department store types."
The Doctor gave Rose a curious look. She widened her eyes at him, as if trying to telepathically convey that he should not say anything.
When Jackie went to the kitchen to make some more tea, the Doctor turned to Rose and said, "You didn't work there."
"Hmm?"
"Henriks. That shop I blew up. You didn't work there, so why are you telling people that you did?"
Rose tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear nervously and leant in close. "Because people don't know about my real job, all right?"
He grinned at her excitedly. "What, are you a spy or something?" he teased.
"No," she said, rolling her eyes. "It doesn't matter what I am. It's none of your business."
"It's my business if I'm complicit in your lies," he pointed out.
"Argh, just back off, will you?"
He lifted his hands. "Fine, fine, you don't have to tell me."
"I know. Glad to hear you know it too."
The Doctor's lips twitched into a smile. "Anyway, you gonna help me or what?"
"Thought you said you worked best on your own," she pointed out, folding her arms and giving him a look.
He sighed. "All right, well maybe I admit that I could do with a hand." He glanced at the shop dummy one, lying on the table. "One that isn't plastic."
Rose raised her eyebrows.
"Please?" he grumbled.
"Okay!" she grinned excitedly. "Let's go."
Rose couldn't believe where they'd ended up. If someone had told her earlier this week that by this evening she would be underneath the London Eye saving a completely mad, completely irresistible man - no, alien - from a giant vat of more alien and its plastic dummy guards, well, she'd have asked that someone if they'd taken a knock to the head.
Luckily, Rose was so used to getting asked the strangest things by her sometimes lovely, sometimes a bit bonkers (and she meant that in the nicest possible way) clients, that she took most of this in her stride. Her leap across the room via a rusty chain, utilising her gymnastic skills (skills she'd acquired when she was little, yes, but made a lot of use of in her current occupation), was, she thought, rather good, and it wasn't until the Doctor was holding her in his arms once she'd landed that she realised what she'd actually just achieved. She smiled at him, because he was beaming at her, and then they legged it out of there because the Nestene Whatever-He'd-Called-It wasn't happy at her inspired manoeuvre.
Panting for breath on Westminster bridge, Rose leant against the Doctor and mumbled, "That's - that's - what just happened?"
The Doctor chuckled. "Ah, so now the shock's kicking in. Come here," he replied, drawing her into a friendly hug. "Thank you. Rose Tyler, you just saved the world."
She shook her head rapidly. "I…that was mad."
"Did you like it?"
Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. "I almost got killed! By living plastic!"
"Yeah, but did you like it?" he smiled.
Rose rolled her eyes. "You get off on this danger, do you?"
He shrugged. "Adrenaline, Rose. Helps me forget."
Her expression softened. "Forget what?"
"Doesn't matter. Do you want to travel with me?"
Rose blinked at him in surprise. "What, just like that? Was that an audition or something?"
He shrugged again. "Could've been, if you want."
"I…don't know. You're - are you really an alien?"
"Time Lord," he replied, reiterating what he'd confessed to her earlier on, when they'd travelled in his bigger-on-the-inside ship to the Embankment. It had actually transported them halfway across London. Rose still hadn't got over that.
She realised he was reaching for her hand, and she gave it to him willingly. He pressed her palm against one side of his chest, then the other, and she felt the two racing hearts and had to steady herself with her free hand on his upper arm.
"Two hearts," she murmured.
"Yep."
"I barely know anything about you," she whispered. "I just met you…"
"And I just met you. Come with me."
She met his eyes. He was staring at her so intently. "You might regret this offer, you know."
"I won't. You'll come?"
"No, I need - I need to think about it. Can we…can we go to my flat? For a bit. Have a cuppa. I need to know more about you, about this…mad life. Before I properly sign up. Yeah?"
He hesitated. She got the feeling he didn't usually ask several times. Didn't usually give anyone the chance to think about it before throwing themselves into danger - she certainly hadn't thought about what she was doing earlier, had just followed him in, had trusted him even though he was a perfect stranger. But he must have seen something in her eyes, something that said, "I'm almost definitely gonna say yes, if I can just have some tea first," because the next thing Rose knew, he was linking his hand with hers and leading her across the bridge.
"A cuppa it is. I'll take us to yours in my TARDIS - whereabouts do you live? Not going back to your mother's, are we?"
She frowned uncertainly. "You're not gonna whisk me off to Mars in that thing, are you?"
"Why would I do that? I'm not a kidnapper, Rose."
"I know, it's just…can you even drive that thing accurately?"
"Got us here, didn't I?" he asked indignantly, pointing to the Thames. "Almost right where we needed to be."
"All right," Rose shrugged, following him into the ship. She shuddered a little as she took in the console room again. "God, this is unreal. How's it even work?"
"Do you really want a lesson in transdimensional physics?"
Rose laughed. "Nah."
"Thought not."
Soon they were in Rose's flat, sipping tea from mugs and staring at each other from opposite sofas.
"Now I feel like I'm auditioning," muttered the Doctor, in between a couple of Rose's incessant questions.
"I just need to know what I'm getting myself into," she replied defensively. "It's sensible, right?"
"Right," he answered, smirking only slightly.
She narrowed her eyes at him. The doorbell rang. Rose sighed. "I'll just get rid of whoever that is."
"Hey, can I help you?" she asked the man whose back was facing her, as she answered the door.
"Hello, I'm - I'm here for my appointment," the man smiled hopefully as he turned around. His smile faded when he looked her up and down.
Rose ran a hand through her hair awkwardly, realising that she was in her jeans and t-shirt — not her usual attire for meeting clients. "I'm really sorry - Michael, isn't it?" The man nodded. She continued, "I should have called you to cancel. I'm not feeling very well. I won't be able to follow through with our appointment today."
Michael frowned. "Oh. But I was really looking forward to it."
"Tell you what, I'll give you my…manager's number, and she'll sort you out with someone else, yeah?"
He shrugged. "Okay, then, I suppose that'll be all right."
"Thanks, Michael. I appreciate you being so understanding," she said, as she rummaged around in her hall table drawer to find her boss's business card. "Aha! Here you go. Ring her anytime."
"Thanks. Bye, then," he mumbled, turning to wander back down the hallway.
"Bye! Good luck!" Rose called out in reply, then shut the door with a click, resting her forehead against the wood. "Whoops," she mumbled to herself. She had got so caught up in solving the mystery with the Doctor earlier that she'd neglected to check her diary for work appointments. It was very unlike her to be so disorganised.
Straightening up, she turned and went back into her living room. The Doctor was staring at her curiously. "Appointment?" he asked. "What are you, a therapist or something?"
"Of sorts," she murmured, then cleared her throat awkwardly.
"You do seem like a person who is easy to talk to," the Doctor smiled.
"Er…yeah, suppose so." She fiddled with the hem of her t-shirt. "Look, Doctor, maybe I should just be honest with you." She blew out a long breath. "The thing is…"
"What is it?"
She swallowed hard, certain she was about to ruin everything. "The thing is, what I do, it's…it's not seen as, um. Well, it's not exactly seen as the best kind of occupation. I mean, I…what I'm trying to say is, that man at the door, Michael? He was coming here to…"
"To what?"
"To pay me to have sex with him," she said finally, then bit her bottom lip.
"Oh," he murmured. He shrugged. "Okay."
"Yeah." She shifted her weight onto her other foot, glancing at him anxiously. "Changes things, don't it?" she murmured sadly.
"What?"
Rose sniffed. "Well, you don't want anything to do with me now that you know I'm a prostitute."
"That's — that's not true, Rose Tyler," he said, his brow furrowing. "I'm just surprised, that's all. But it doesn't alter my opinion of you in the least."
She barked out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. "Yeah, right."
The Doctor shrugged again. "It doesn't. I don't judge about things like that. Anyway, it's nothing to do with me, is it? It's your life, your decisions."
Rose sighed, "So what happens now?"
"Offer still stands."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. I'd really like you to travel with me, Rose."
"How many trips are we talking? And what do I have to do? You know, in return…"
He gave her a funny look. "Listen, I know you're used to dealing with transactions and business deals, but there's none of that involved here. The TARDIS can go anywhere, free of charge."
"But…why? Why me?"
"Because I like you. You're friendly and we work well together. You saved my life. I need the company. Do I have to give you any more reasons than those?"
"Well, no, but - "
"Good."
Of course, Rose didn't tell her mum where, exactly, she was going. She was unfortunately used to keeping fundamental secrets from her. Still, she made sure the Doctor took her back to see Jackie now and then, and they came up with excuses about where they had been. Substituted Spain for the planet Saj Lu; Greece for Woman Wept; Japan for Justicia. Jackie wasn't happy about her daughter flying around the world with a man she perceived to be twice Rose's age, but she was at least pleased that Rose was happy. It wasn't until a few weeks later, when the Slitheen infiltrated Downing Street, that everything had come out in the open.
Rose was surprised by how much of a relief it was, to not have to hide something huge from her Mum anymore.
Rose often lay awake at night, staring at the coral walls of her new bedroom, smiling into the dark, feeling lucky. Sometimes, very occasionally, she didn't smile. Sometimes she cried. Because it could be tough, this time and space thing, this saving worlds thing. Meeting people and losing them. But it could also be fantastic, seeing things she'd never believed she would see, never believed could be real.
On the one hand, her experiences with the Doctor had opened up Rose's mind and made her realise just how important it was to live life to the full, to help other people, to have fun whilst doing it. On the other hand, the adventures and running around left little room for other things. The Doctor let her rest, of course, sometimes even let her sleep in late whilst he fixed something to do with the TARDIS. But…
She didn't know where she stood, exactly, with him. She felt like she knew him, despite his centuries of secrets. She felt like they were the best of friends, that they could trust each other with their lives.
He held her hand, a lot.
He never kissed her.
There was something there, something more - she knew it, could feel it. The way he looked at her sometimes - the way she thought she probably looked at him - but he never ever said, and so neither did she.
Every once in a while, to get a rise out of him, to get some sort of reaction, Rose would casually bring up her occupation. Or she'd drop into conversation the fact that she hadn't been without for so long. That she missed sex.
He barely ever even batted an eyelid.
It was infuriating.
"I'm not a victim," Rose said firmly.
"Didn't say you were."
"You say you don't judge me. What about the people who pay me, though, do you judge them? Because you shouldn't. Not all of 'em. Some of them are right tossers, true, but mostly I get such a variety of people visiting me, it's not — you can't think of them as all the same type of person, you know? Some guys are just bored or lonely, or they come to me 'cos they can't get a girlfriend, or they're too shy or want to know how it all works before they have a relationship."
"All right. But it's still none of my business, so I don't know why we're even discussing it."
After a few months of living with him, Rose took a leap of faith, somewhat unlike the leap she took that day beneath the London Eye.
"Doctor…"
He replied with an acknowledging grunt. Rose cleared her throat. "Doctor, can you come out from there for a sec?"
The Doctor heaved a sigh, put down his spanner, and shuffled out from under the console. When he looked in her direction, his eyes promptly widened and his mouth dropped open.
"Hi," she smiled, tongue touching the corner of her mouth. She put her hand on her hip, subtly shifting her chest towards him as she fiddled with the belt of her dressing gown, undoing it swiftly.
He swallowed thickly, unable to stop his eyes from travelling up her bare legs. "Um. Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?"
"It looks like you're standing in my console room in your underwear."
"Well, then."
He coughed awkwardly, then seemed to realise he was still sitting on his arse staring up at her. He scrambled to his feet, and tried to appear nonchalant and unaffected when he replied, "So, may I ask why you're doing that?"
"The tension in this TARDIS is getting ridiculous," she shrugged. "Figured we could have some fun. Sex is a great stress-reliever, you know." She stepped towards him. "Plus, I want to."
He smiled at her blandly. "You don't have to do this."
She looked affronted. "I know I don't."
"Rose - "
"I want to," she repeated insistently, running her hands up his chest, bunching the soft material of his jumper in her fists as she stood on tiptoes to close the distance between their mouths. His hands came up to her shoulders and pushed her away before she had the chance. She swayed back on her feet, and raised her eyebrows. "Don't you want to?"
"I don't do that sort of thing," he told her. "Sorry."
Rose let go of his jumper. "Oh. What, like, 'cos you're an alien?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "No. Yes." He sighed. "Sort of."
"But you're attracted to me," she stated. "You can…have sex with humans?"
"You're very full of yourself."
"You have to be perceptive in my line of work," she pointed out. "I can read the signs."
"Yes, well, I don't really dabble in that sort of thing myself."
Rose sighed and moved away from him, sitting down on the jumpseat. "You'd best help me pick up some new clients, then."
"I'm sorry?" he squeaked.
"I miss it. My job. Sex. It's about the only thing I do miss about Earth. And Mum, of course."
"Right…"
"I wouldn't bring them back to the TARDIS, obviously. Maybe if you just land us somewhere where there are compatible potential clients, and I'll find a hotel or something - "
The Doctor frowned. "You think I'm gonna let you go and get yourself into trouble on some planet you don't know your way around on?"
"What, so I can bring them back here?" she asked him innocently.
He flinched. "I didn't — I didn't say that."
"Don't know what the compromise is, then." The Doctor just stared at her. Heaving a sigh, Rose stood, and tied her dressing gown closed. "Want a cuppa?"
He nodded, and they both headed to the kitchen. She made their tea whilst he plonked himself down at the table, looking sullen. Rose pressed her lips together to hold back a smile when she handed him his mug.
"Thanks," he said gruffly, not looking at her. He took a sip of tea, which was still far too hot, and made a noise of displeasure when it burnt his tongue. He put the mug on the table with such force that Rose rather thought he was taking his annoyance out on the crockery.
"You said you didn't have a problem with my job," she said quietly.
"I don't."
"Then why are you all grumpy now that I've mentioned it?"
"I'm not."
A ringing sound went off in the console room.
"Saved by the bell," Rose muttered, as the Doctor jumped up to see what the crisis was.
Minutes later, they discovered exactly what was going on. Rose arrived in the console room, fully dressed by that point, to find the Doctor mumbling about a mauve alert.
What happened next changed things, somewhat, between them.
A dashing conman, an ex-Time Agent, in military uniform. A Captain. Well, not really. World War Two and a young mother and child and back to the TARDIS with an extra passenger.
Rose was pleased. The Doctor didn't seem to be.
She cheered him up with a dance around the console, but she couldn't help but think this was likely the only time he'd let her so close again.
One evening, Jack and Rose were lounging on one of the sofas in the library, chatting as they sipped at their beer. The Doctor was sulking in a nearby armchair, pretending to read a book.
"So, Rose," said Jack, a mischievous expression on his face. "What's the weirdest thing a client's asked you to do for them?"
She rolled her eyes. Maybe it had been a mistake to confess her most recent occupation with him. "I don't kiss and tell," she replied primly.
Jack chuckled, "Oh, come on. Give us the juicy details. I can assure you that nothing you say will shock me."
"I respect my clients' right to confidentiality," she insisted, but her lips were twitching.
"All right then. Let's talk about you instead. What's the thing you've most enjoyed?"
"I'm not talking about this," Rose laughed.
He leant forwards, whispering conspiratorially, "Favourite position?"
She fiddled with her earring. "Why do you want to know, hmm?"
"Just curious," he smirked.
Rose decided to throw him a bone. "From behind."
His eyes lit up. "Mmm, much deeper that way, huh?"
She let out an embarrassed squeal of disbelief at his words, rolling onto her front and burying her face in a cushion. She was not nearly drunk enough to be having this conversation with one of her best friends, right in front of her other best friend. Glancing up, she sneaked a look at the Doctor, who was still pretending that he wasn't paying any attention to her and Jack.
Jack patted the back of her leg soothingly. "It's all right," he grinned. "No need to be embarrassed. You can talk to me about anything." He paused for a moment as she turned onto her back again, shaking her head at him fondly. "So, what about you two, then?" he continued.
"What do you mean?"
"You and him," he clarified, gesturing with his head to the Doctor.
Rose felt her cheeks heating up. "Oh, no - we're not - we don't - " She glanced over at the Time Lord, whose posture had turned rigid.
"Oh," Jack said awkwardly, his eyes darting between his friends. "I made a mistake…sorry."
"No, it's okay," Rose said quickly, clearing her throat.
"I guess I just assumed…" Jack trailed off.
"Yeah. Easy assumption to make, I s'pose," murmured Rose. She tilted her head to indicate the Doctor. "He reckons it'd be taking advantage, or something."
Jack frowned. "What? In what way?"
Rose shrugged. In her peripheral vision she saw the Doctor get to his feet, plonk the book he was reading onto the seat of his armchair, and stride out of the room.
"Uh-oh," said Jack. "Looks like he didn't appreciate the turn our conversation took."
"Nope," Rose sighed. She fiddled with the hem of her pyjama top distractedly. "I think…"
"Yeah?" Jack encouraged.
"I think he wants me," she admitted quietly.
"But you don't want him?"
"No!" Her head jerked up to meet Jack's sympathetic gaze. "I mean, no, it's not that. I do - I - I really - " She floundered, then gave up, throwing her arm over her face in defeat.
"Hey, what is it?" asked Jack kindly, squeezing her knee.
"I've not…I've had boyfriends in the past, yeah? But they've always come second to my job, 'cos they couldn't handle it, so I just…let the relationships fade out."
"I see."
"You do?"
"Yes. You're scared because of the way the Doctor makes you feel. You love him, so you wanna be with him, but he won't let things happen between you, for some godforsaken reason."
Rose gaped at him, then shut her mouth with a click.
Jack continued, "So you can't have him, and ordinarily you'd use your job as a distraction, find someone else. But you can't, this time. Because it's deeper than that, with him."
"You sound like you know from experience," Rose murmured.
"Oh, no," Jack said breezily. "I'm great at moving on."
She arched a disbelieving eyebrow at him, but didn't press the issue. "I don't know what to do." She paused. Then, wincing, she confessed, "I tried to seduce him. He rejected me. Said he doesn't do things like that. And I've tried to get over it, to accept that me and him are only ever gonna be just friends."
"No success?"
"Not really. I can't get him out of my head. So it's - it's no use finding someone else." She let out a frustrated groan. "God, I miss sex."
"Well, if you ever change your mind about the someone else thing, I'm always happy to help," he grinned.
Rose smiled. "Thanks, Jack. I just…I dunno. It's silly to wait for someone like him, isn't it? Stupid to think he'd be interested."
Jack rolled his eyes. "You said earlier that you think he wants you. He does, Rose. He's interested. My bet is, he's just got all these hangups about the fact that you're - "
"An escort?" Rose snorted derisively.
Jack looked outraged. "- his best mate!"
"Oh."
"And you travel with him. You spend your every waking minute together."
"I know," Rose sighed. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, then said, very quietly, "I think I love him, Jack."
Jack's eyes softened, and he crawled over to her, drawing her into a hug. "I know, honey. I know."
A little while later, Rose excused herself, claiming she was too tired to stay up drinking with Jack any longer. On her way to her bedroom, though, she poked her head around the Doctor's door, which was slightly ajar.
"Doctor?" she murmured, into the darkness of the room.
"What, Rose?" he grunted in reply.
Her heart hammering, she continued, "Can I come in? Just for a sec." He was silent. She tried again, "Promise I won't try to seduce you or anything."
It lifted her spirits to hear him chuckle at that.
"All right." He rolled over to face her, and patted the bed.
She smiled uncertainly, and closed the door behind her as she entered his room properly. Sitting down next to him, her legs drawn up beneath her, she met his gaze and asked, "Why'd you leave, earlier?"
The Doctor closed his eyes briefly. "Seemed like you two needed to have a private chat."
Her brow furrowed. "How do you mean?"
"I could predict where the conversation was going," he said gruffly, rolling onto his back and staring up at the ceiling.
Rose wasn't sure how to respond to him, wasn't sure what he was getting at, so she waited for him to carry on.
"So?" he asked shortly. "Did you take him up on it?"
"What?"
"Jack's offer."
"Jack's…what?"
"I'm not daft, Rose."
"Seriously, Doctor, what are you going on about?"
"As soon as he knew we weren't - " he cut off, clearing his throat, then continued, "I imagine he had a proposition for you."
"Oh. You mean - are you asking me if he - "
"Right, none of my business," the Doctor said quickly, interrupting her. "Don't know why I mentioned it. Let's just forget - "
"I didn't."
"Hmm?"
"I'm not gonna."
The Doctor turned his head on the pillow to look at her. "No? He's interested."
"He's interested in you, too. Are you gonna sleep with him?"
"No," he couldn't help but laugh.
"Well, then."
"But you're attracted to him." She didn't deny that, and he swallowed hard. "So there's a difference."
"He's extremely handsome," Rose conceded. "But I don't want to be with him like that."
"Ah."
She inched closer. "Can I have a cuddle?"
The Doctor's eyebrows shot up his forehead.
"Please?" she asked.
He smiled gently. "Come here."
She snuggled in close, smiling into his t-shirt as his arms came up and around her. When he dropped a kiss to the top of her head, her arm tightened his grip around his waist, and she heard him let out a contented sigh.
They lay in silence for a while, Rose listening intently his hearts beating under her ear. The Doctor spoke first.
"Rose, it's for the best," he said quietly, his voice resigned.
"Hmm?"
"You and me. Just…staying like this," he clarified, and she glanced up to see his throat working as though there were a lump in it. "It's for the best."
Disappointment laced through her, but it was nothing she hadn't already known he would say, at some point. "Okay," she whispered simply.
His embrace somehow grew fiercer, his grip on her tightening, squeezing her to him. She wished he would do this more often. Not the rejecting part; that she could do without. But the intense cuddling, now that was something. It was ridiculous how just that could be enough for her after a few years of shagging several times a week. She supposed that was what being in love with an impossible alien did to a person.
"I'm sorry," he murmured.
She squeezed him back. "That's all right." It wasn't, not really, because her eyes were stinging and there was a strange pressure on her chest that had nothing to do with them attempting to hug their way into being one entity.
Jimmy Stone had broken her heart, once. It had not felt like this.
When she woke up the morning after, half her body was still sprawled across him, her leg situated in between both of his. She lifted her head. His eyes were still closed. Pressing a kiss to his cheek, Rose disentangled herself from his embrace, and crept out of the room.
She bumped into Jack in the corridor. Of course. Heaving a sigh, she stopped him before he could insinuate anything.
"No, we didn't. We just talked. Had a bit of a cuddle. Established it could go no further. So that's that."
Jack frowned sympathetically, and gave her a hug. "You're not used to being rejected, are you," he murmured.
Rose pushed away from him. "That's a bit cruel," she said quietly, swallowing her hurt.
"No, I - I didn't mean it to be. I just mean, in your line of work - "
"I know what you meant."
"Rose, you're beautiful. And believe me, he knows it. He's just - he's - " Jack couldn't even decide how to finish that statement.
"I thought maybe, you know, 'cos he's lonely, he'd want…" she trailed off, and shrugged. "But he's not that sort of man."
"At least you know you're not just eye candy to him," Jack winked.
Rose forced out a small laugh. "Somehow that don't even make me feel any better."
The Doctor changed, right in front of her. Disappeared and transformed into a new man.
The Doctor broke her heart, once.
It had not felt like this.
"I really thought you'd left me. For a bit. Thought I'd lost you," Rose whispered Boxing Day evening, as the Doctor slung his arm around her shoulders to her pull her into his side. They were sitting watching telly in Jackie's flat, sharing the sofa, sitting incredibly close together.
"Nah. Still me," he said brightly.
She leant her head against his neck. "I wish you'd told me you could do that. I was terrified."
"I know," he said, his tone quieter now, more serious. "I'm sorry." He looked down at her just as she looked up. "It'll take some getting used to. For me, as well as you. But I promise nothing's changed, not really. Not between…not…"
Rose nodded slightly, and reached up to peck his cheek, before snuggling back into his side. "I know."
"Did you…see anyone. At Christmas. When we stayed at yours for a bit," the Doctor said, one evening when they were back on the TARDIS. They had taken a few weeks off for the Doctor and the TARDIS to recover from his regeneration escapade, but several days ago they'd returned to travelling the stars.
She glanced over at him, where he was standing in her bathroom doorway. Her toothbrush was hanging out of her mouth - he'd made her jump with his sudden appearance. Popping the toothbrush into the holder and spitting out her toothpaste, she thought about what he'd asked. Once she'd rinsed her mouth, she turned and leant against the counter, arms folded, eyeing him warily.
"Other than Mum and my friends, you mean?"
He tugged on his ear. "Yeah."
"When?"
"I dunno; maybe when I was fixing up the TARDIS or something."
"You asking if I took on any clients?"
His fingers moved from his earlobe to scratch at his neck. "Maybe?"
"Why?"
The Doctor's posture stiffened. "Oh, well, I just. Wondered."
She half smiled at him. "No, Doctor. I resigned from all that. Retired, if you like, " she teased.
His expression remained sombre. "You didn't - you didn't do that for me, did you?"
Rose rolled her eyes. "Doctor, I can hardly hold down steady employment when I'm dashing off across the universe, can I? Besides. Don't think much can live up to watching a star being born, eh?"
He smiled at her indulgently. "That's an altogether different sort of rush and you know it."
"Yeah, well. Make do on my own, for now," she grinned, then pushed past him to go to bed.
He whirled around and stared at her. "Right. Yes, of course you…yes."
She felt his eyes on her as she got under her duvet and settled her head on her pillows. "Where are we off to tomorrow, then?"
"Hmm? Oh. Um, not sure. The Seventh Ring of Kaputaro, maybe?"
"And what's there?"
He sat down on the end of her bed. "Rocks and ash, mainly."
Rose wrinkled her nose up.
"And the perfect view of the Ario star formation," he added.
She smiled. "Now that's more like it."
Things had started to change. He was touching her more. Hugging her tighter, kissing her temple, stroking his hand down her arm before linking their fingers together. Turning up at her room at night to talk with her until she fell asleep. Accidentally falling asleep on her bed with her.
Or, well. He said it was accidental.
"What's got into you?" Rose laughed one evening, spotting him sulking in the armchair in the library.
"Nothing," he mumbled sullenly.
She moved over to him and sat on the arm of the chair. "Come here." She drew him into a hug, which he returned gratefully. "I'm all right, you know," she whispered, stroking her fingers through his hair. "If you're brooding over what happened today, you don't have to. I'm safe, we're safe, and we're home."
"You lost your face."
"And I got it back."
"I should've listened to you. You worked it out and I just - "
"Doctor, stop," she commanded, cupping his face with her hands. She met his eyes. "I'm fine. You were fine, just now, at the coronation. Even coaxed some dancing out of you, didn't I? We haven't done that in ages." She grinned when she saw his lips twitch. "Is that a smile?"
"No," he smiled.
She leant in and gave him a soft kiss, just brushing the corner of his mouth. "Cheer up. I'm going to bed. Come if you like."
"No, I'll…I'll stay in here and read for a bit. Not really tired."
"If you're worried about dreaming - "
"I'm fine, Rose. Really. You go to sleep."
She sighed, not really satisfied with his answer. "All right. But you come see me if you want a cuddle, yeah?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I'm not a child, Rose."
"Never said you were. Though you do act like a five year old sometimes…"
"Oi!" he laughed, grabbing her round the waist, pulling her firmly into his lap. "You'll pay for that," he told her, his fingers inching up her ribs, tickling.
"No, don't, don't," she giggled, grabbing at his hands. He ceased his motions and just held her. She smiled at him conspiratorially. "You know, one client I had really liked that."
The Doctor's eyebrows jumped up. "Eh?"
"He liked to be tickled. With a feather. All over, 'til he couldn't bear it anymore."
"Blimey," he replied. "Sounds intense."
"Different strokes for different folks," Rose shrugged. They glanced each other, realised her double entendre, and collapsed into laughter.
"Different strokes indeed," the Doctor said, as she collected herself and got off his lap. "Go on, to bed with you," he continued, and Rose swore she felt his hands on the backs of her thighs, pushing her away.
When Rose had settled into bed that night, she was alarmed to discover that she'd run out of batteries.
"Doctor."
"Mm?"
"You're in my way."
"Oh. Sorry!" He moved away from the doorway to her living room. They'd come to her flat for a couple of days respite in London, having just had a terrifying experience beneath a black hole. Involving Satan. Yeah, Rose was going to be dreaming of that one for a while, she reckoned.
She nudged him aside as she sifted through the post in her hands. "Blimey, look at all this. We've only been gone, like, two weeks since I last popped in to check this stuff." She scrunched up her nose at the bills amongst the junk mail. "Ugh, oh god. Wish I didn't have to deal with all this."
"You don't," the Doctor blurted out.
"What?" she asked absently, turning around to face him.
He cleared his throat. "I know you like having a place to come back to when we visit London, but, well. We could always stay at your Mum's, then. We usually visit her anyway. Then you could get rid of all this…" He gestured around them.
"This is my home," Rose said automatically, then caught herself. "Actually, no it isn't," she realised.
The Doctor's eyes widened hopefully.
"All my stuff's on the TARDIS," she continued, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
"And so am I," muttered the Doctor.
She smiled. "Yeah. So are you."
"Do you, er, do you really need this place, then?"
Her tongue crept out to touch the side of her mouth as she smirked at him. "What, don't you want this place as a bit of security, should we decide to settle down on Earth?" she teased.
The Doctor just laughed. "Yeah, as if."
"As if what?"
"As if you'd want to do that."
"Pretty sure of that, are you?"
"Yes."
"You're the one who's scared of domestics, not me."
"Rose. You ran away from all this for a reason. Bills and traffic and beans on toast - "
"We eat beans on toast on the TARDIS occasionally, you know," Rose interjected.
" - it's not the life for you."
"And you're the one who changed the subject when I suggested we'd have to share a mortgage."
"When we have the TARDIS, who needs a mortgage, hm? Besides. I would have. Shared, that is. If we'd not got the old girl back."
Rose chucked the post onto the coffee table and came over to him. "I know."
He reached for her hand unconsciously, entwining their fingers. "Just thinking of you, that's all," he sniffed. "Take away the stress of rent and such, wouldn't it, if you just…left this place for good. Not like you aren't living with me full time anyway."
"You've not grown fond of this place, then?" she teased quietly.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You never have any biscuits in. Of course I'd prefer to visit your mother's over this dump."
"Oi!"
"I'm just kidding," he laughed, looking around. "It's actually quite a nice little place. If you like that sort of thing."
Rose danced two of her fingers up his chest playfully. "I prefer bigger on the inside, myself."
"Naturally," he preened.
"All right. I'll talk to my landlord later. I'm keeping that sofa, though."
"We already have plenty of sofas - "
"I've got good memories of that sofa."
The Doctor winced.
"Not those sort of memories," Rose laughed. "I meant when we stayed here for a bit. Over Christmas and New Year."
"Ah."
They had still been adjusting to the Doctor's new self, but that hadn't stopped them snuggling up on the sofa at every opportunity in the evenings. It had been a bit like playing house, but Rose had been just as eager as him to get back to the TARDIS, once the ship and the Doctor had felt ready to get back to normal. So it wasn't that she'd miss this place, or the potential it contained. Rose was more than happy to snuggle the Doctor in the TARDIS for the rest of her days.
"You don't have to say goodbye to this place, you know," the Doctor murmured. "It was just a suggestion."
"I know."
"If you think you might want to, I dunno, return here someday, then…"
"Promised you forever, didn't I?"
"I hope so."
"Well, I did. And I meant it. What if you get sick or something, though? You have to admit, this was a good place to have as a base when you were recovering from your regeneration. You would've felt a bit cooped up at Mum's."
The Doctor shuddered. "We'll just cross that bridge if we come to it. Besides. There are always hotels."
Rose smirked a bit at the thought of booking a hotel room for herself and the Doctor, and all the connotations therein.
"Not for a dirty weekend," the Doctor teased, reading her thoughts immediately.
"You're no fun."
He shrugged. "There are plenty of better places in the universe for a stay of that sort than a rubbish hotel in London."
Her eyes popped out of her head, her heart starting to race. "You - ?"
The Doctor just smirked enigmatically and changed the subject, darting into her kitchen as he asked, "So, cuppa?"
Blinking at the spot he'd vacated, Rose answered, "Yeah. Sure. Ta."
"You know, I get such a rush from our adventuring that these days, I barely think about all the sex I'm not having," Rose commented casually one day, over toast and tea in the TARDIS galley, after a particularly adrenaline-fuelled week filled with near-misses and a hell of a lot of running.
The Doctor, quite used to this kind of comment from his companion by now, simply chuckled, and took another sip of his tea.
"However," she said next, getting up from her chair and walking around the table to him. She perched on the edge of it. "Sometimes, it has the opposite effect."
"Does it now," he said, hiding his smirk behind his mug.
"Mmhmm. Sometimes, we're running, hand in hand, and then we'll get back to the TARDIS, and I'm panting for breath, and you're laughing and dancing about the console, piloting us away from all the trouble we've just caused, and…" She trailed her hand across his shoulder, up his neck, and slid her fingers through his hair. "Would it kill ya to give me at least a nice snog now and then?"
He placed his mug down on the table carefully, then looked up at her. "I suppose not," he murmured. He placed his hand on her thigh, his thumb stroking softly. "I just…I don't want you to think that it would be because of — of - "
"My job?" Rose filled in for him, raising her eyebrows. "Doctor, in case you haven't noticed, I haven't really had any work in a while."
"But - "
"I've sort of tended my resignation to myself in that regard, remember?" she said next, lifting his hand off her briefly to slide onto his lap, then replacing it on her thigh. "This life with you? Much more fulfilling."
"Yeah?"
"Mmhmm." She looped her arms around his neck. "I know you want to, Doctor. Why don't you just let yourself?"
"The way I — the way I feel, Rose, it's not just…"
"I know," she said gently, meeting his eyes. "Me neither. So there's nothing stopping us - "
"Another reason I've held back from you, though, is that…well, I'm rather worried that I'll be the jealous sort, you know? And I know that you love your job, so - "
"What did I just say? It's not my job anymore."
"But if, I dunno, if you decided you wanted to go back to it, to go back to Earth - "
"I'm not going anywhere. We've discussed this already. This is my home now. And seriously, Doctor. I can be a one-man woman if you'd only say you want me," she said, a slow smile spreading across her face.
The Doctor chuckled nervously. "Really? You wouldn't — I dunno, resent me, for that?"
"Nope," she replied. "God, Doctor. I just…I want you so much. And I want us to be together. Properly, I mean, instead of all this dancing around that we're doing." She didn't mention how eager she was to see the places he'd hinted at the other day. Places in the universe specifically designed for them to get up to naughty things.
His breath hitched. "Do you — do you mean that?"
Rose stroked her fingers along the nape of his neck. "Yeah. Would you want that?"
He reached his hand up to her face, sliding his thumb across her cheek as he cupped her jaw. "I used to think it was better for us to just keep things as they were. Friends. For your sake, and for mine. But really, I - " He swallowed hard. "I've always wanted to be with you."
"Doctor?"
"Mm?"
She hopped off his lap. "Finish your tea, then meet me in my room."
"Wait," he murmured, grabbing her wrist as she made to leave. "Can't we just…"
Rose shrugged, smiling a bit shyly at him. "I was gonna go change out of my pjs into something…sexier."
He shook his head. "There's really no need."
"I thought…"
He stood up, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Rose."
Her pulse raced as he dipped his head. "Doctor," she replied softly, tilting her hips into his as his mouth met hers.
Rose chuckled, just a bit, after their gentle kiss got tongues involved.
"Oi, am I that bad?" the Doctor laughed, pulling back slightly.
"It's not that. I just…" She beamed up at him. "Kept wondering, all these months, how Time Lords kiss."
"Have I bored you with my thoroughly conventional human-style snogging?" he teased. "How else would I do this?"
She looped her arms around his neck. "Dunno, you're always going on about this species and that species and how they communicate with their eyebrows and kiss with their ears or whatever."
"I've kissed you before. On the Gamestation. And in Rome."
"I know," she said impatiently, giggling again. "I just…that wasn't proper kissing."
"Well," he sniffed. "It wasn't the time nor the place for proper kissing."
"No?"
"Nope. Proper kissing," he continued, ducking his head again, trailing his nose across her cheek, "Can be thoroughly scandalous."
"If you do it right," Rose finished, grinning, before nipping at his bottom lip with her teeth.
The Doctor groaned and gathered her closer. "Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it okay if I use the rest of today to properly kiss you everywhere?"
"Are we talking everywhere as in, in every room on the TARDIS, or everywhere as in, everywhere on my body?"
"Both," he murmured, his voice low.
Rose shivered. "That is completely okay with me, yep."
He grinned. "Good."