"I'm rubbish at this, aren't I?" She groaned, dropping onto the jump seat.
Rose was starting to regret her decision to learn to fly the TARDIS. Since the Doctor left Mickey and her on the spaceship during his impromptu rescue mission in France, Rose had wanted to be able to fly home, if needed. The Doctor had immediately deemed it unnecessary (she disagreed), refused to teach her (she complained a lot), claimed the TARDIS was his ship (duh), and listed his high-almighty Time Lord reasons why it was a bad idea (which were mostly complete rubbish, Rose was sure). It was only after Mickey left that he had given in. She suspected he was only teaching her to try and lift her spirits, but she wasn't about to complain.
Flying the TARDIS proved much harder than she anticipated, and she'd managed to almost crash three or four times. Well, at least she thought she did. How she could manage to crash in the space-time vortex, Rose had no idea. The Doctor would frantically take over every time something went a tiny bit wrong, so she assumed she was about to crash.
The Doctor tried to look less panicked and ran a hand through his hair. He turned to her and put on a smile, "You are not rubbish, Rose, you're brilliant!" She raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed. "Well, maybe not brilliant. Swell? Dandy? Hunky-dory?" Her other eyebrow rose to join the other, and he grimaced. Her performance was hardly worth the "hunky-dory" status.
Rose read his expression and gave a weak smile. "Liar," she poked him. "Face it, I'm gonna end up ripping a hole in the space-time continuum, or whatever."
The Doctor blinked. "Do you even know what that is?"
"No idea, but I can probably still damage it somehow, the way I'm goin' at it."
The Doctor shook his head and decided to change tactics. Winking at her, he teased, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to get us in trouble anyway! Although," he tilted his head, "you do seem to do that on a regular basis. One of the most jeopardy-friendly people I know, you are. Well, maybe the most. Well, actually the most…."
"Oi! You are more than me!" She was smiling fully now, enjoying his teasing. "Anyway, I might get it eventually. Tryin' to take it all at once is a bit much. I'll just keep helpin' you, and I'll pick it up!"
The Doctor grinned at her, glad he got to see her beautiful smile again. "Yes you will, you'll be fantastic! Now, off we go, then, to the Falurian system! 'Bout time I took you to see the frozen waterfalls of Ballerina. Can you believe that, a planet named Ballerina, and it has nothing to do with dancing!" He began to bounce around the console, pushing buttons and flipping levers. "Grab that lever there and keep it steady," he instructed Rose.
She did as she was told and even pressed a button before the Doctor managed to. Luckily it was the right one and he grinned happily at her. Rose smiled back and they continued to work in sync until they managed to land the TARDIS without the usual bump.
"There we go, nice and steady landing! Haven't had one of those in years!" The Doctor swept Rose into a hug, spinning her. "See, Rose, you did beautifully!"
She laughed and squeezed him, "Much better than normal, too! Bet it's 'cause I was helpin'." She pulled back and looked at him, eyes twinkling.
"But Rose, you're absolutely right! Better with two, remember?" He widened his eyes at her pointedly.
She smiled up at him, tongue caught in her teeth. "Always."
The Doctor squeezed her to him again. "Brilliant!"
Well, there it is! That's my first fanfiction. Thanks for reading, and please review! I'd love to hear what you think. [: