Pete had arranged for them to stay at a hotel in Bergen and for a car to transport them to the private Vitex-Zeppelin the next morning. The journey from the beach to the hotel had felt endless and the Doctor was already itching to start growing his new TARDIS so he could keep such arduous slow journeys to a minimum. The deficiencies in transport weren't helped by the wave of exhaustion which hit their party once they pulled away from the beach, saving the multi-verses had rather taken it out of them (unsurprisingly) and the Doctor could feel his need for a post-regeneration nap mixed in with the needy cry of his new human form for sleep. Getting a regular 7 hours, 'well won't that be wizard' he thought, followed by an internal grumble about the limitations of humans. He turned to Rose, tuning out Jackie who was sat in the front seat chewing off the poor cab driver's ear. The man was nodding politely only seeming to understand half of her English. Rose, on the other hand, looked exhausted but determined to fight it. He wondered how often she had been sleeping between her work on the dimension cannon and getting back to her home universe. In their previous life, he used to complain about how much she slept always keen to move onto their next adventure, but now he would insist that she got some proper rest, at least until their new TARDIS was grown.
Before he could speak to ask her how she was feeling she beat him to it. 'Always one step ahead' he thought. "Are you okay, you're unusually quiet", she said not quite meeting his eyes and tracing circles on the back of his hand. "I'm always okay, well almost always…actually, I could do with a good forty winks, regenerations of any kind and void travel take quite a toll on Timelord bodies, let alone part-human ones. I'm surprised you're still conscious being completely human and doing all that dimension jumping".
"Oi you're also one of us too now", she replied. "And I am but..."
"What?", he said suddenly concerned at her dark (un-Rose-like) expression.
"Nothing," she said.
"I won't disappear, I am really here you know", he said taking a guess that this was as surreal for her as it was for him.
"Pinky promise", she said with a small smile on her lips and waggling a little finger.
"Scouts honour", he smiled obviously smug that he could still read the thoughts and emotions that would write themselves on her face as plain as day -at least that hadn't changed.
It was at that point Jackie must have overheard their conversation and interjected. "Oh I wouldn't trust her girl guide honour Doctor, her and Shareen were kicked out when they were just Brownies…oh, your poor Brown Owl".
The Doctor laughed while Rose shot warning daggers at her mother. He made a mental note to ask for the rest of that story later on, "Why am I not surprised…I'd probably have been kicked out of the Scouts", he smirked.
"Far too much of a trouble-maker" Rose teased. "Takes one to know one", he said indignantly and nudging her shoulder playfully.
The teasing brought a far more relaxed atmosphere to the car, and it wasn't long before the Doctor felt a head on his shoulder followed by a light snore. As Rose drifted into the world of dreams, with one hand still in the Doctor's, his other hand reached into his pocket to stroke the coral that the Timelord had given him. It made the tips of his fingers tingle, he could feel the energy…the life radiating from it. He thought of his original TARDIS, his one constant companion, and if he had a second heart it would have ached but he didn't, he needed to remember that he was no longer a Timelord and that he did not have a claim on her now. He had a separate timeline to his Timelord self that was branching off into another life, and he would have another TARDIS. However, any sadness evaporated when he realised what he had that his Timelord self did not – a full life with Rose. He once called it 'the one adventure he could never have' and once upon a time the idea of a human life on the slow path for more than a few days would have filled him with more dread than a room full of weeping angels. Now though he felt something he could not place, maybe it was the part of Donna and the humanity within him, but the urge to run and to wander almost felt dulled and for the moment right now sat with Rose he was content. His thoughts were interrupted when she shifted in her seat, her eyebrows knitting together with the tension in her forehead as if she were dreaming of unpleasant things. The Doctor touched her temple in an attempt to soothe her telepathically, however his telepathic and time senses hadn't adjusted fully to the metacrisis yet so he settled instead for stroking her hair.
Jackie caught sight of them in the driver's mirror and smiled to herself. She looked at the Doctor's reflection catching his eye. "Thank you", she said her voice thick with emotion. It was then that the Doctor realised she had been crying with what seemed to be relief. "I don't know if you both decided, you and the other him I mean that you two were to stay here, but either way thank you for bringing her back to us. I know it's what she wanted but I don't know what I would have done if she had gone back and I could never see her or hold her again not knowing if she was alive or … or" it was then that the emotion overwhelmed her and she could no longer force out the words. But she didn't need to, the Doctor nodded and simply replied, "I promised you I'd always bring her back home".
"That you did sweetheart", she sniffled. She paused before gathering herself, "Jesus look at me, I'm an emotional wreck, I swear I've just been a bag of hormones since I had Tony. Mind you, not that it wasn't worth it, I mean I know I'm biased but he's just so smart and special like his sister, I don't know where they get it from", she went on.
Not wanting to be unkind, though also asking himself the same thing, the Doctor just smiled. "I can't wait to finally meet him; I can't imagine her with a little brother". He glanced down at her sleeping form.
"Oh she's brilliant with him she is, like a second Mum. I can't wait to see her with her own...", she trailed off blushing. "Well plenty of time to think about that…" she said and quickly changed the topic, "excuse me, how long before we arrive at this hotel then?" she said addressing the driver.
"We're here", he said. Moments later they turned a corner and pulled up at what was a very plush 5-star hotel.
"Oh, that man never does anything by half. I swear if he wasn't identical to my first Pete I wouldn't believe they were the same person", Jackie babbled. The cab driver shot her a sideways glance that screamed 'crazy-lady' and climbed out of the car to go and retrieve their bags. The Doctor chuckled to himself, shook Rose's shoulder gently and moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "Rose, Rose, we're here. Wakey, wakey sleepy head".
Her eyes fluttered open, a look of confusion then relief flitted across her face as her brain caught up.
"Hello," said the Doctor with that infectious smile spread all over his features.
"Sorry did I fall asleep on you? Oh God did my mother talk you to death? Where are we?", she looked around trying to get her bearings.
"Weeellll, Yes, a bit and the hotel, come on", he said brightly hopping out of the car before offering her a hand.
Blinking back the sleepiness and pinching herself to check that she wasn't still dreaming she grabbed his hand and headed with him into the hotel.
They checked in, sensibly under a fake name suggested by Pete, the corporation and Torchwood to minimise any unwanted press or public attention – something the Doctor had failed to consider having not fully grasped the extent of the Tylers' fame and public presence in this world. After being informed that their car would arrive at 9 am the next morning they were given two keys. Jackie headed off to her own room and left Rose and the Doctor to their own devices. The Doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise when he realised that Jackie was allowing himself and Rose to share a hotel room and all the connotations that implied, after all, they had kissed on the beach and he was half expecting another famous Jackie Tyler slap and protective Mother routine. "Well we really are in a different universe, your Mother hasn't given me a telling off in at least an hour and not a word about us sharing a hotel room, I mean…" he coughed and blushed realising his words were straying into unexplored territory.
Rose just laughed at how coy he was being, over 900 years he's had to grow up and he still can't talk about sharing a bed without blushing like a teenager. She wasn't surprised at her Mother's actions; she had always been very open with her Mum about sex before her time with the Doctor. Though the memory of some of the conversations after her pregnancy scare with Jimmy Stone still made her cringe. Also, her Mother had come round to believe that they had never actually been sleeping together on the TARDIS, though it had taken years to finally convince her, and she didn't know what her Mother was thinking after the kiss earlier. Rose blushed at the memory and suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach, 'would he want her in that way?' the events on the beach and talk of a human life 'together' seemed to suggest so – but this was so new and she had only technically just met this him. Deciding to steer the conversation in a less complicated direction she replied, "Yeah well there's still time yet, plus, we have some serious catching up to do, I want to hear everything that I missed!".
The Doctor thanked his lucky stars that Rose hadn't cottoned on to what he meant about sharing a hotel room. Gosh, he was being so human, he felt like a teenage boy. He was over 900 for goodness sake and it was Rose, if they could save the whole of reality then these conversations really shouldn't be that difficult. Though the idea of telling Rose 'everything' she had missed may be somewhat of a tribulation, some of his actions without her had made him feel nothing less than ashamed. "That's only if you tell me everything that I've missed, starting with how in the name of Rassilon you built that dimension cannon – because I must say I'm impressed!", he grinned pleased that he'd managed to divert the conversation. However, Rose knew the Doctor all too well, human or Timelord, she could sense that he was changing the topic, but she let it pass not wanting to push her luck too far with this new more open man that she was seeing – it was still the Doctor after all. "Well then, how about we order up our food when we get to the room and I'll tell you about my academic adventures into trans-dimensional physics and particle theory if you tell me your favourite adventure with Donna", she said as they arrived at the door to their room.
The Doctor with wide eyes in awe again of her new-found knowledge and confidence was about to respond when they walked through the door to see in front of them two single beds, six feet apart with a bedside table between them. They both stopped, looked at the beds and looked at one another, before bursting out into a fit of laughter.
