Realising They Can't Waste Time...

Part 2

...and she can admit her feelings to someone, at least.

Rose turns her head at the sound of Shareen's voice. "Hi, Shareen! How are you?" she asks, jumping off the Doctor's lap and running over to her friend without a backwards glance. He watches after her, smiling at the girls' mutual enthusiasm at seeing each other. Rose's mood looks to have considerably brightened. He supposes that after the last few days, Rose needs someone that's not him to talk to. Plus, Rose must get lonely in general, not having a girl around to talk to about...girly things.

(He resolves to bring her to see Shareen more often. Of course, he knows as he resolves this that this will not happen. As we've already established, he's selfish and wants Rose with him constantly, not off having fun without him.)

He frowns, realising what an idiot he is. It appears, without him really noticing, he has become quite (very) attached to Rose Tyler, and actually, physically, needs her with him otherwise he'll go insane.

But he also realises he can't exactly go up to them and snatch Rose back, so he'll let them get on with it and hopefully she won't neglect him too long.

"I'm fine, ta, you?" says Shareen.

"Mmmhmm," Rose replies, shrugging. She's not exactly bouncing-off-the-walls-happy right now, but seeing her friend after so long is cheering her up more than mulling over her thoughts and feeling sorry for herself would.

"So where have you been?" asks Shareen excitedly.

"Oh, here and there," says Rose. Parallel World. Where Mickey Smith is now residing, remember him? she thinks to herself sarcastically. She decides that she'll have to evade any questions about Mickey that Shareen may ask, because she doesn't think that she'll be able to make up a plausible explanation for him not being around now that she feels so guilty.

Shareen seems to accept this as a sufficient answer, having got used to Rose's recent ambiguity. "Haven't seen you for ages. Still travelling with that dishy bloke over there, I take it?"

Rose laughs. "Dishy?" (Oh, course he is. She knows that.) "Um...yeah."

"Well, as I said before, you have my approval, that's for sure," Shareen grins.

Rose's eyes widen. "Oh, no no no. We're not like that, remember?" she tells her.

"Riiighhht," her friend says disbelievingly. She hadn't believed her the last time she'd seen them both and Rose had told her they weren't 'like that.'

"Seriously, we're still not...you know. We're just friends," Rose insists.

Shareen laughs. "You were cuddling a little close over there to be 'just friends,' Rose. I know what I saw."

"He was just comforting me, that's all. It's been a rough day."

Shareen raises an eyebrow. "Ok, so say I believe you...why aren't you doing him? I would," she tells her, raking her eyes over the Time Lord on the swing appreciatively.

"Shut up," Rose hisses. Trust Shareen to immediately pounce on this particular subject, within minutes of their conversation and with him in possible hearing distance. "He'll hear you!"

(Too late. He already did. Super Time Lord Hearing, after all. He smiles to himself and pretends to watch the family in front of him play football.)

"Ah, so here we go!" laughs Shareen, pleased to have gotten a reaction out of her friend.

"No, it's not that. I just don't want him getting the wrong idea."

(His smile disappears. He frowns, dejected.)

"I think it's a bit late for that, from what I saw of the look on his face when you were sitting on his lap just now."

(Bugger, he thinks. Rather ineloquently for a man of his stature, but oh well. What was that look on his face like, then? He should really be more careful so that people don't notice the way he...well. The way he...sort of...you know. Cares about Rose.)

Rose can't deny that she's interested in this. "Oh?" she prompts, trying to sound indifferent but failing. Epically.

Shareen smiles. "See. You are interested. Why don't you just tell him?"

(He listens closely to what Rose has to say to that.)

"There's nothing to tell."

(Oh. Bugger.)

At Shareen's narrowed eyes, Rose elaborates. "It's...complicated."

(His eyebrows shoot up. Oh...Blimey...)

"Come on, I've got plenty of time before work. Let's go and get a coffee. Bring him, if you want. Or don't, if you want to talk about him," says Shareen suggestively.

Rose bites her lip. "I'm not sure if I can - "

"Can what?" asks the Doctor, suddenly coming up to stand by Rose. "Hello again, Shareen," he greets cheerfully.

To Rose's dismay, her rather confident and experienced-with-boys friend actually blushes at the Doctor. "Hi there," she beams, her smile slightly flirty. Rose frowns at that, but doesn't say anything. "I was just trying to pry Rose away from you for a bit, before you go swanning off the face of the Earth again."

The Doctor and Rose both bite their lips to stop from laughing at that very accurate turn of phrase.

"Well, go on then. Have fun," he says, smiling widely.

(He's decided to be good, and let go of her for a while. She probably needs some space away from him after what he's done, anyway. And Shareen looks so hopeful at having a good ol' chat with her best mate again.)

Rose turns to face him. "Are you sure? I thought you wanted to get going?"

"Nah, we can stay here another night if you like. The TAR -" he pauses, realising that Shareen's standing right there. He glances at her, and sees that she's rummaging through her bag so is probably not really listening anyway. He's noticed that human women do that a lot. Well. Okay, so he doesn't really notice much about the character traits of other human women, because...well, recently his focus has been on Rose and Rose alone, and considering she doesn't carry around a handbag, he's basing this particular evidence on Jackie. She's forever losing her keys or something, and someone'll be talking to her, and she'll just nod and mumble when she is clearly distracted. Thus, he concludes, Shareen's not listening. "She's still a bit dodgy from the crossing dimensions thing," he says quietly to Rose. "Could do with some rest time."

"Ok. So...do you want to come with us?" asks Rose hopefully, as Shareen returns her gaze to them, popping some chewing gum in her mouth, and she chokes back a retort about how obviously smitten Rose is with him if she can't be without him for five minutes.

"Rose, you're with him all the time. I'm sure you can be apart for a teeny tiny little while, can't you, Doctor?" she whines instead.

He hesitates in his response, staring at Rose. Then he turns to Shareen, blinks a few times. "Yeah. Course we can! You two go. I'll just...find something to do."

"Good. Come on, Rose. Let's go to the pub."

"I thought you said coffee?" laughs Rose, throwing the Doctor a small, grateful smile over her shoulder as they walk away from him.

"Oh, don't be so boring. I want a proper drink with my friend, is that so bad?"

"No, but knowing you, you'll get me drunk and make me reveal all sorts of scandalous things."

(The Doctor raises an eyebrow. He sort of wishes he could hear such things.)

"You know me so well," laughs Shareen, and she spins around to call to her friend's 'just friend.' "Bye Doctor! I'll have her home by twelve! Well, unless she pulls, of course," she grins, and Rose elbows her in the ribs. Shareen doesn't miss the scowl that covers his face at her last sentence before she turns around and smirks. He's got it bad.

"What?" she says, regarding Rose's elbow. "You said you're not together."

"Doesn't mean I want to go out with someone else. It's too difficult, what with travelling all over and that."

"Course," she smirks. "That's the reason."

...

A few hours and several drinks later, Rose and Shareen are laughing hysterically over a funny story from when they were younger.

"And then you were like: uh-oh...shiiiit..." laughs Rose.

"I was so embarrassed. Jamie said he hasn't looked at a toilet brush the same way since."

"I'm not surprised!"

Shareen giggles into her glass as she takes a swig, then looks up excitedly and asks Rose, "So, fancy going somewhere else? A club or something?"

"Hang on, didn't you mention something about work earlier?"

"Yeah, I phoned in sick while you were in the loo. I told 'em that I...ooh, hello," she replies, changing the sentence half-way through. "Look at them..."

Rose turns around to regard a couple of men that Shareen's enthusing about. "Eugh, Shareen – I swear you used to have more taste."

"Nah. I just have to take what I can get. Not all of us are as lucky as you, Rosie."

Rose blushes. "Mmm. Well. Like I said. Nothing going on there."

"It's actually probably illegal or something, though, the way you have your Doctor but don't...well, have him, if you know what I mean. It's like, you have the chance, but you're ignoring it...it's ridiculous."

"We're just friends."

"Yeah, heard that one before, funnily enough. You've said it about seventeen times already this evening, only to go on talking about him all night anyway..."

"I haven't been talking about him all night," Rose denies huffily.

"You sooo have."

"Whatever." She blushes an even deeper shade of pink, and Shareen grins.

"Rose fancies the Doctor," she singsongs.

"Shut up," hisses Rose. "I do not love him."

Shareen's eyes widen. "I didn't say you did. I said you fancy him..." she laughs evilly and Rose shrinks down in her seat. "...which means...you do love him, because you wouldn't have denied it so blatantly if you didn't..."

"Not true," Rose mutters.

"Rose is in looovvvee," Shareen sings this time.

"Shareen! Stop it! I'm not."

"Prove it."

"What?"

"Prove it. Go and snog one of those guys over there."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because that's just wrong. I'm not going to walk up to some stranger and - "

" – kiss them? That's a bit rich. You ran away with a stranger once, remember?"

"That was different."

"Because you love him..."

"I didn't kiss him. I've never...we've never...oh, just piss off," she finishes, when Shareen wiggles her eyebrows at her.

"But you want to..."

"No! No, I don't. We're just friends. Why would I want to ruin our friendship by pouncing on him like some horny human girl who can't control her hormones?"

"As oppose to what?" Shareen asks, of course unaware of the fact that the Doctor is an alien. "A horny human man who, for some strange, strange reason, took you away from home, showed you the world, but has never, ever made a move on you? He is way too controlled."

Rose rolls her eyes. She can't exactly tell her that actually, he's a Time Lord, so god knows whether he can even feel that way, let alone feel that way about someone like her.

"They say, 'never kiss a friend,'" rationalises Rose calmly.

"Yeah well, 'they' – whoever 'they' are – would even see that that rule doesn't exactly apply to you two. For one thing, you're way more than friends. Maybe not physically, but emotionally..."

Rose scoffs. "What are you like," she mutters despairingly.

"...and I saw the way he looks at you. Oh, it's so romantic."

"Since when have you liked romantic?" asks Rose, laughing.

"Since I've seen you two together and oh...I want that. I want someone to love me like he loves you. He'd walk the earth for you, he would."

Rose swallows thickly, but her mouth is so dry, she can't form a retort to that.

"And you'd do the same for him..." Shareen continues, growing sappier by the second, no doubt fuelled by her slightly tipsy state.

And then some, thinks Rose. "Shareen - " she begins, the word croaking out.

"And don't you even deny it anymore, Rose Tyler!" she chides. "Love is in the air!" she sings loudly, causing some other people to look at her curiously.

"Shareen, stop it," Rose says. She suddenly doesn't feel so well. Having her feelings talked about like this. She's learnt how to keep these things to herself, but now Shareen is reading her like a book.

"What's up with you, eh? Just tell him. He feels the same..."

"You don't know that. You don't know him. We can't be like that. Ever," Rose insists.

Shareen narrows her eyes. "He's not gay," she states. It isn't really a question, because she doesn't really doubt her assumptions. She can usually tell someone's sexuality a mile off.

Rose snorts at that. "No." Then she thinks for a moment. "At least, I don't think so," she amends. After all, Time Lords? Did they even sway that way or what? Did they even sway any way? How would she know? He's never mentioned anything about that. Which is probably a good thing. She doesn't fancy that conversation with him. It would be weird. And make things slightly more tempting, hearing him even utter the word sex.

She coughs awkwardly. Anyway...

"Then why don't you just...seduce him?" Shareen asks seriously.

Rose laughs out loud. "Seduce him? Don't be silly," she giggles.

"Why not? You can't go on like this, it's not healthy," Shareen tells her gravely.

"I'm fine. I don't even miss that sort of thing."

"Either you're a liar, or you just haven't experienced it properly, then."

Rose rolls her eyes. "Not all of us are insatiable, you know," she says pointedly.

"Evidently. You're not normal."

"Thanks," Rose scoffs.

"No, but seriously. How can you physically resist?"

Rose sighs. "With great difficulty," she admits at last.

Shareen's face lights up. "Wahay! So, seduce him!"

"Shareen, I can't. I can't risk it. I won't risk it."

"You'll regret it."

"What?"

"You'll regret it, when you're on your deathbed thinking over your life. You'll be all: 'I had a great life, but I wish I'd shagged him at least once, just to see what it was like.'"

"Oh, shut up. Course I won't."

"Yes you will. You're in love with him. You're practically a couple in every other way. Sex will only change things for the better, with you two."

Rose frowns contemplatively. "I don't know..."

"You just need to test him a bit. Or tease him a bit. Same difference, really. But you have to do it. Tonight. Then ring me, and let me know how it goes."

"No, Shareen. Anyway, things aren't...well, it's not exactly the best time right now. Plus, I'm knackered."

"Rose! Stop being so uncooperative! This is the most excitement I'm going to get all week. I want to play matchmaker, please let me," pleads Shareen, sounding suspiciously like a whining child.

"I'm...I'm nervous," admits Rose.

"Then get a few more drinks down you. That'll loosen you up a bit!"

Rose sighs dramatically, but she can't deny the little part of her that's lighting up with excitement at the prospect of telling the Doctor how she feels. Not half as reluctantly as she is trying to sound, Rose agrees, huffing out a "Fine."

"Yes!" exclaims her friend, who bounces up to the bar and orders a couple of vodka tonics. This is going to be so much fun!