John rolled on his side through the debris underneath him, ripping his black suit, which Rose would surely scold him for. She had especially picked out the suit for their rehearsal dinner that evening, now John had gone and mucked it up. She was still waiting in the office for him in that lovely dark purple dress, the one that had made his jaw drop when she first put it on in that small, simple shop.
All he had to do was finish up his minor adjustments under the panel in the floor and then he'd be on his way. He never did like the office part of his job at Torchwood, but the field work brought him back to the good ole days along with Rose in the TARDIS. However, soon enough they could be doing so much more!
John closed the panel, got up off the dirty floor and began dusting off his suit. That tear in the left pant leg was an eyesore to say the least. Rose was going to be quite annoyed. He glanced at his wrist watch and smacked his forehead. Rose had been waiting for him for two hours now! How could have he been so daft?
He gathered his tools quickly, being sure to slip his sonic screwdriver back into his suit jacket pocket and hurried his way out of the basement level of the Torchwood building. The guard at the lift gave him a knowing smile. He and about two other individuals knew about John's secret down in the basement workshops, and had been sworn to secrecy.
"Miss Tyler is waiting for you, isn't she?" the guard inquired.
John entered the lift, cocking his head and raising his brow, "You could put it that way, yes."
John mentally went over which excuse to use this time to explain why he was so late – yet again. It was beginning to become a horrid habit that Rose would soon be fed up with and determined enough to discover John's secret. He wanted it to be saved for their wedding night; it was one heck-of-a doozy.
The lift soon opened, the guard gave John a sympathetic look, and John began marching towards Rose's office. He hoped half-heartedly that she would be too cross with him.
The door to her office was slightly ajar, inviting the ever so late fiancé to enter the decently sized room. What John saw as he popped his head in was Rose at her desk inputting Alien Sighting forms into the Torchwood database. She had her hair up in a messy clip and resting her forehead on one hand, hiding her chocolate eyes. She hadn't noticed John enter the room so he decided to sneak up behind and surprise his almost bride.
John had only been in this parallel universe for a week until he had asked Rose to begin calling him John instead of the Doctor. He was a whole new man – a human man – and he wanted to begin new adventures he'd never thought he'd ever experience, like having a wife and being mostly domestic, for example.
He had found his position behind Rose and leaned in close and whispered in her delicate ear. Rose jumped when startled and spun about to face her future husband. Her heart was pounding and her breathing had picked up its pace. She was ready to defend herself against some alien that had intruded into the Torchwood building, but was entirely relieved to see John there instead.
"Why are you muckin' about?" she tried to sound annoyed. "I've been waiting for you for two hours!"
John leaned in and smoothed back a curl behind Rose's ear. "Sorry, luv. I lost track of time, again."
Rose placed a hand on John's arm. "What was it that you whispered?"
John glanced down at his hand joining hers. "I thought that if I was going to spend the rest of this life with you, you ought to know my true name."
Rose stared intensely into John's beautiful brown eyes and felt tears forming in her own. He had trusted her with a secret that he had hidden away from the rest of the world. A secret almost everyone asked when they first encountered the man. And she couldn't feel more accepted and loved than in that moment.
John brushed a thumb along Rose's jawline, gazing at the radiant women he had before him. "No need to cry, luv. What would your mother say?"
Rose instantly gained her composure and righted herself. "Mum's going to go on about how you are always muckin' about and forgetting about important things. I can already imagine the glares you'll get from her this evenin'."
A look of distaste washed over John's face and Rose smacked his arm. "Behave yourself. She's my mum and soon to be your mother-in-law."
John's look only worsened.
Rose's hand reached just below the table's surface and snaked its way into John's grasp. The dinner had been decent, but Rose preferred chips more than this fancy stuff. But more than anything, she loved John being by her side.
"But mummy," Tony, Rose's much younger brother, tugged on Jackie's sleeve, "Rosie is still gonna stay with us, right?"
Pete leaned over and spoke soothingly to his son, "Rose's going to have her own place with John after the wedding. You can still visit though, Tony."
Tony seemed to be content with that bit of information and went back to eating his very delicious looking meal of chips and nuggets, both of which Rose would have preferred rather than some lamb-kabob.
Soon enough the final toast of the evening was made by a friend of John's, describing how John's going to be a handful and hoped that Rose was ready for spending the rest of her life with him. Ha, if Charles only knew.
The ride back to the mansion was as it always was when traveling with the Tyler's. John was scolded by Jackie for tearing a hole in his pant leg, Tony was climbing about the back seat of the limo, and Pete was busy making and taking business calls back and forth with his company. Rose watched the scene unfold around her and was quite content with her new family. She finally found someone that was her equal in every way, shape and form, despite John still being part Time Lord.
Once home, everyone went their separate ways to their bedrooms and Rose and John were soon dressing into their night clothes.
"Un-zip the dress, will ya?" Rose tried to reach for the zipper, but to no avail.
John ceased unbuttoning his shirt and approached Rose's backside. He pushed her hair to her one shoulder and found the zipper, only to pull it down slowly; being sure that his thumb caressed her back the whole way down. Rose shivered, but didn't stop John's callused hands. She closed her eyes, breathed in and out slowly, wanting to only focus on the feeling of those rough fingers. Soon enough, Rose was only in her knickers.
She turned around to face John, unbuttoning the rest of his shirt. John stared down at Rose, trying to memorize each aspect of her face, believing that he could spend the rest of his days doing so. His shirt was soon off and his mouth met Rose's moist lips. He ran his fingers through her curled hair, and clutched at her small waist. Rose's hands found their place on the sides of John's face and the two then ignored everything around them, only focusing on each other.
John led Rose to the bedside and laid her across the quilted mattress. Their mouths were moving in unsynchronized motions, but nevertheless, the two were enjoying themselves immensely. Rose's mind seemed to buzz with irrevocable happiness, a smile playing at her currently distracted lips. John could almost feel Rose's pleasure washing over him, or was that his own?
The two broke apart and stared at each other for a moment before Rose began giggling.
John's brows furrowed. "What's so funny?"
Rose ran a hand over her face. "I just – I just love you, so much," she said with a smile.
John's face matched his bride's. "Oh, yes," he chuckled. "But not nearly as much as I love you."
Rose slapped at his arm, "Oh, shut it."
The two then hopped into bed, being sure to hold each other close.
"What were you doing while I was waiting for you?" Rose's voice was somewhat muffled by the bed sheets, but John heard her loud and clear.
He cleared his throat and propped himself up on one arm. "I was working on a little project." John didn't like lying to Rose, but this surprise for her was just too good to spoil.
Rose chuckled, "I don't think I believe you. A little project wouldn't have you losing track of time as much as you do." She twisted about in the bed so that she could face John. "Out with it, Mr. Smith."
John smiled slightly. The TARDIS was to be a secret, but when Rose gave him that damned seductive look, he couldn't help but cave. He had been so sure his resolve was stronger than this, but she was going to find out sooner or later.
John hopped out of the bed and let out a brilliant smile. "Clothe yourself, Miss Tyler. I've got something to show you!"
The excitement was contagious; Rose began sporting the same smile. "Now that's more like it!"
Rose and John quickly threw on some sweatpants and worn out shirts. John tucked his sonic screwdriver into his pocket and the two were soon approaching the front door. Rose gave courteous smiles to the work staff as they were bustling about cleaning the mansion, and gripped John's hand.
The drive to Torchwood was quick, but not quick enough for Rose. She wanted to know John's secret almost desperately. Perhaps it was some alien equipment meant for some sort of entertainment? Whatever it was, Rose was sure it would be fantastically brilliant.
John drove the small car into the building's car park and led his future wife into the complex. The office floors were still bustling with agents and each gave a courtesy nod to the couple as they passed on buy. Tingles ran through Rose as though she was electrified, and she seemed to get an extra spark each time John looked back at her with his brilliant expression.
"Why're we going down there?" Rose questioned as they approached the basement lift.
John was quick to reply. "It's where I've been losing track of time for the past three years."
"Off we go, then." Rose gestured to the lift.
John gave off a cocky grin. "Eager, are we?"
"Very."
The lift got them to the basement quickly and all John had to do was lead Rose down a short corridor and flick on some lights to see Rose's expression turn to one of confusion. There before her stood a plain, grey cabinet which seemed to open via a sliding door, as per the default TARDIS exterior appearance. However, Rose couldn't recognize it without the telltale blue police box exterior.
Rose's brow furrowed as she cocked a thumb at the object. "What the heck is that?"
John laughed loudly, "Only the most beautiful thing regarding transportation."
"John, tell me what it is, will ya?"
John approached the TARDIS and smoothed a hand down the side of the cabinet. "We're going to see so many things, Rose. I'll finally take you to Barcelona and The Medusa Cascade. That is if this parallel universe has them, of course."
Rose's jaw dropped as she rushed to John's side. "Is this really…?"
John became radiant. "Oh yes."
"But how?"
John leaned against the TARDIS and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Remember, back on the beach when the Doctor gave me a bit of TARDIS coral?"
"Yeah," Rose nodded, "but doesn't it take thousands of years to grow a TARDIS?"
"That is correct, but good ole brilliant Donna said that if you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabiliser to a foldback harmonic of 36.3, you accelerate the growth by the power of 59!"
Rose giggled, "I don't care how you did it!" Rose slid open the door and stepped inside.
It was just was she expected: bigger on the inside. The console in the middle was different than what she had become accustomed to, but she wasn't going to be picky. And besides, it was John whom knew how to operate the thing anyways.
Rose began rushing about the console, a skip in her step. "So where to, John? I hear The Medusa Cascade if brilliant this time of year." She spun about and flipped up a lever. "Oh, we could travel to a distant planet and save the citizens from some Jagrafess set on turning the whole lot of 'em into mindless zombies."
"Well, Rose," John began, "we do have a special event happening tomorrow afternoon." John walked over to the console and flipped a different lever. "So only three adventures and then straight back!"
Rose grabbed onto the console, eager to see where they arrived first. But it didn't really matter to her; all that mattered was that John was by her side. He may not be the Doctor, but he was so much more. He was the man that she was going to spend the rest of her days with. And those days were going to be fantastic.
