Title: 31 days of ficmas - "Skating".
Number of parts: 1/1.
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler.
Synopsis: "The Doctor couldn't sleep tonight. No matter how hard he was trying to fall asleep, Mr Sandman seemed to always ignore him."
A/N: The characters and universe don't belong to me. All rights go to Russell T. Davies, Phil Collinson, Susie Liggat, Steven Moffat and to the BBC. Everything else belongs to my imagination.
A/N2: All the shots of this collection have been written for the 2017 ficmas challenge organised by doctorroseprompts on Tumblr.
The Doctor couldn't sleep tonight. No matter how hard he was trying to fall asleep, Mr Sandman seemed to always ignore him. He was turning and turning all over again in the gigantic bed he only used whenever the exhaustion took over him. It wasn't because of the sheets or the pillows – they were fresh and soft like he liked them – nor because of the mattress that was perfect for his body – not too hard, not too soft. Even his pyjamas were the way he liked them. The problem didn't come from any of the bed sheets he was wrapped into or from the clothes he was wearing. No, the problem came from his mind.
Oh, he was always overthinking everything. His mind was always racing. There were so many things to think about. Past, present, future, moments that could have been, moments that never were. He could see it all and decide whatever he wanted to do. He was sometimes thinking about the war, but it was mostly after a war or a situation he had just lived during an adventure. He was trying to think of it the less possible. It was useless to torture himself with regrets and 'I should have done this instead if that.' That was a fixed point: the war happened, he ended it and he was the only survivor. Full stop!
There was another thing that was torturing him. But it was a sweet torture. A torture he liked and disliked all at once. That torture was thinking about the blonde who was sleeping a few rooms away from his. Rose Tyler. Exceptional human she was. Exceptional enough to want to save a broken Time Lord and even more exceptional for making him all domestics. Because of her, he was thinking of things he shouldn't be thinking of. Making projects he shouldn't make. It was a good thing usually, but not for him. He didn't deserve the happy dreams he was having because of what he had done. He was a survivor, a killer, and he couldn't settle down in some house, have kids and live a normal life.
That wasn't preventing him from trying and enjoying every little moment of happiness he could get. Just today, they had had another of those moments together. In her timeline, it was almost Christmas. It was that time of the year where you were having fun and running everywhere to buy gifts. So, he had taken Rose to some Christmas market on a humanoid planet. They both had wandered from one stall to another, Rose buying gifts for her mother and Mickey, and the Doctor secretly buying gifts for Rose. They had drunk mulled wine and continued walking around until they saw an outdoor skating rink. Rose's childish look and quivering lip had won and he had accepted to go on that ice.
Despite her comment on how it was her first time she was ice-skating, she had been doing fine while he was being as clumsy as a Judoon on rollers or a blind Dalek. He had been clinging to her hands, trying not to fall as she laughed and gently mocked him. She had been leading him on the ice with dexterity and he was a burden who kept falling. In the end, he had given up and just watched her. Her movements were flowing and graceful. Almost like a dance and he couldn't take his eyes off her. He had been hypnotised, and it had made him smile to himself. And once again, he was dreaming of a possible future with that blonde. It was sometimes good to dream. It was keeping his hearts warm with hope and joy, keeping him away from the rage and self-destruction burning deep down.
So tonight, all he could think of was that wonderful day he had spent with the marvellous Rose Tyler. He had a goofy smile on his lips as he looked at the starry ceiling above him. He wished that day hadn't ended. He wished he could have another one. Only the future could tell. What the Doctor knew for sure tonight was that he would never ice-skate again, and that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep as long as the blonde would occupy his mind…