A/N: We're going to be a bit angsty again at the beginning of this chapter but it will get better I swear. Please review.

Own nothing.

Chapter 2: Domesticity

It always rained a funerals. Despite the hot, sunny weather July had given London on the day Miranda Jacqueline Prentis was laid to rest it was heavy with rain, thick stormy rain that penetrated your clothes and left you sticky with the humidity. The rain was welcome though, in the rain no one could see you cry. The ground was open, six foot down with the small wooden casket slowly descending into its dark embrace, lilies and violets arranged elegantly on top. All around young and old sobbed quietly as the vicar spoke, having to repeat himself several times as the thunder crashed out above him. From the air only the tops of umbrellas surrounding the small, rectangular excavation would have been seen, a wreath of black that symbolised the solemn situation.

The Doctor hated funerals, he especially hated them when one of the dearest people in his life was clutching to him in desperation as her heart broke for the scene before her. He scanned his eyes over the crowd, noticing those he recognised as Rose's family and friends and those he did not, all united in their grief. Jackie stood by the grave side, supported by her cousin as she bid a final farewell to here mother, her eyes focusing on nothing or no one. The Doctor felt Rose's hands grip a little tighter around him and he wrapped the long black coat he had found for the occasion tighter around her shuddering form, protecting her from the onslaught of the rain. Mickey stood to one side, looking dejected but resigned as Rose chose the embrace of a Time Lord over his. He rationalised that perhaps it was easier to cling to someone who had passed through death rather than someone as fragile as herself.

The service came to an end and the mourners rushed towards their cars to escape the rain. Seeing Jackie sink to her knees by the graveside, not caring for the mud now caking the base of her skirt, the Doctor quickly handed the quivering Rose to Mickey, assuring her he wouldn't be long. At first she had tried to resist but seeing the distraught figure of her mother as the Doctor walked towards her she obliged, looking back only long enough to see the Doctor slip off his jacket and laying it on Jackie's shoulders before kneeling beside her.

Jackie didn't even acknowledge the man beside her as she stared down at the small, wooden box, the tears blurring her eyesight before the were reluctantly pushed away by fingers, her manicure half bitten away with stress. The Doctor slipped his arm firmly around her shoulders, letting her lean her weight against him as he raised her to her feet. She resisted but her body was weak with grief, making it easy for the Doctor to remove her from the graveside. They made slow progress across the grave yard which looked foreboding and desperate in the stormy light. He could see Rose and Mickey huddled beneath the archway of the small church, watching them as the Doctor tried to stop Jackie stumbling in her heels across the grass. As their feet hit the stone of the road the Doctor nodded silently to Mickey before offering his free hand to Rose which she took gratefully. It was only as they made their way to the car that the rain finally stopped.

XXXX

"Doctor? Doctor are you in there?"

The Doctor wriggled out from beneath the console as he heard Rose's voice echo out in the TARDIS, pushing up to his feet and pocketing the sonic screwdriver.

"I thought you were going to see that friend of yours…Sarah…Sharon…"

"Shareen," said Rose, her fingers fiddling with the hem of the red t shirt she wore over a knee length denim skirt and small white plimsolls, "I was but I didn't fancy it in the end. Shareen's idea of making me feel better would be to get me absolutely legless."

"So you thought you'd come and bother me then," said the Doctor, the laughter making his eyes sparkle as he teased her. It had been four days since the funeral and he had retreated back to the TARDIS when life in the Tyler household began to get a bit too domestic. He mused that it was probably around the time he had found himself at the kitchen sink, complete with bright yellow rubber gloves and up to his elbows in washing up liquid, that he beat a hasty retreat back to the TARDIS. He didn't begrudge Rose the time at home, she needed to recover and help her mother but that didn't mean he was going to spend his time watching re runs of Bonanza or waiting with baited breath as some ridiculous interior designer turned a perfectly functioning kitchen into something from A Year in Provence.

Rose gave him a cheeky smile, her tongue poking out between her teeth like it always did when she was planning on some wicked deed or adventure, "Well if you don't want my company then…"

"I never said that Miss Tyler," said the Doctor leaning against the console, "What did you want to do?"

"I don't know, go somewhere," said Rose, "Do something, just you and me. I've been cooped up in that house for too long and Mum's had to go to the solicitors today to sort out Nan's will. Just thought we could spend some time together. I don't mean go off in the TARDIS, I promised Mum I'd stay for a little bit longer but I don't know, could we go somewhere?"

The Doctor smiled as Rose pouted prettily, wringing the base of shirt in her hands and making herself look no older than five and impossibly cute. He laughed at his own weakness, the last Time Lord reduced to a servant by a girl almost nine hundred years his junior as soon as she fluttered her long, heavy lashes.

"I think that can be arranged," he said, "Did you have anywhere in mind?"

"Well there's a fair over on the common."

"I don't do fairs…"

"I'll buy you some candy floss."

"Done," said the Doctor grabbing his long, trench coat from the back of the chair and following her out of the TARDIS. He glanced up at the estate around him, "Do you want to go and fetch Mickey the Idiot?"

Rose slipped her hand into his and tugged him towards the exit of the courtyard, "Just you and me," she said, "He's been really over protective since we got here and its really starting to get to me, I don't need the fuss. I know he means well and that but he asks me if I'm alright after every sentence and I'm beginning to think its his version of a full stop."

The Doctor huffed out a laugh as he pictured the scene, turning to Rose with an amused smile, "Just you and me then but I'd better get that candy floss or there will be consequences," he said turning on the voice he often used when teasing his enemies.

"I'm actually shivering," said Rose, her voiced equally laced with sarcasm before bursting into peals of laughter as the Doctor joined her, realising it was the first time she'd laughed since her Nan had died.

XXXX

The view over London was pretty spectacular, even the Doctor was forced to admit it, as they paused at the top of the rickety old Ferris Wheel. The summer heat had been somewhat dispersed by the storm a few days before and it had left the atmosphere comfortably warm and clear, allowing the view over towards the city to be unmarred by smog or haze. Rose swung back and forth in the small cradle, causing the Doctor to curse in some unknown language and grip on to the support bar.

"Not scared of heights are you?" said Rose, rocking the cradle all the more.

"No!" said the Doctor indignantly, "I just don't trust some old gypsy fair ground ride to take our combined weight when you put extra strain on the flimsy bolts holding it together. Keep still woman!"

Rose stilled in her seat as she watched the colour physically drain from the Doctor's face, making a mental note to mention his reaction to her mum when she got home. The Doctor shot her a pained glance as the wheel began its descent, juddering and creaking like it was going to fall apart if the wind just blew in its direction. He was off the ride in a second when their cradle came to a stop at the base of the ride, not even pausing to help Rose as his feet sought the comforts of terra firma.

"I'd better be getting my candy floss now," said the Doctor as Rose came to his side, an amused grin on her face, "And I'm picking the next ride."

"I can't believe my Time Lord is scared of heights," said Rose as she slipped her hand into his, leading him across the busy fair to the large refreshments stall that was selling everything from candy apples to chilli dogs.

"Your Time Lord isn't scared of heights," said the Doctor, grinning manically at the size of the candy floss stick Rose ordered, "Besides, who says I'm your Time Lord anyway?"

Rose handed over the money to the woman behind the counter before turning back to the Doctor, pulling a piece of candy floss from the stick and holding it to his lips. She smiled as he took it with a grin.

"You're my Time Lord because I treat you so well," she said taking a bite of the sticky, pink sugar strands herself, "God I've missed this stuff. You know of all the places we've been we've never had candy floss."

The Doctor stole the stick from her grasp and made off through the fair, his long strides forcing Rose to jog a little to keep up, struggling to win back the confection he was now making short work of.

"That's because only humans can have such a passion for the most tooth rotting substance in existence," he said with a mouthful of the offending food stuff.

"Says the alien with pink on the end of his nose."

The Doctor's hand coming up to brush away the candy floss was enough of a distraction, giving Rose enough time to steal back the half eaten stick and make off at a jog across the fair, hearing the indignant cries behind her. She felt a strong arm close around her waist, anchoring her before another came round and stole the candy floss out of her hand once more.

"Mine I believe."

"Says who?" said Rose, wriggling in his arms but to no avail, "I paid for it."

"I went on a dodgy ride to earn it," said the Doctor, releasing Rose and holding the candy floss above his head as she made a grab for it, "Speaking of dodgy…"

Rose looked over her shoulder to where he had nodded and saw the large ride behind her. The wooden frame was painted with movie scenes, scantily clad women held their arms up in fright as Dracula or a Mummy bore down on them. Very fifties B movie. The soundtrack of shrieks echoed over the noise of laughter and machinery that was created by the rest of the fair. The words 'Ghost Train' sprang out in bright neon paint at the top of the ride, dripping with painted slime and blood.

"Fancy a ride?" said the Doctor.

"You won't get scared will you?" said Rose sweetly, laughing as she turned back to the Doctor to see the incredulous expression on his face.

"I think after nine hundred years of facing the nasties of the universe I can cope with a rubber model of some oogly boogly…and I am never using that phrase again," he said tossing the now bare wooden stick into a nearby bin and stuffing his hands in his pockets, "Come on then."

Rose hadn't even had a chance to reach her pocket before she noticed the Doctor handing over some change to the unimpressed looking attendant, dressed head to toe in a black vampire outfit. He regarded Rose and the Doctor with surprise as he led them to the car behind a gaggle of squealing twelve year olds. As he pulled down the lever to set the ride moving he gave them a pointed stare.

"Just keep it PG in there," he said as they disappeared through a curtain to be assaulted by a falling skeleton and several jets of air that made neither of them jump.

"What does that mean? Keep it PG," said the Doctor between pulling faces back at the rubber models jumping out at him with pre recorded screams.

"I think he thought we were coming in here to make out. That's what all the teenagers do."

Even in the darkness Rose could have sworn she saw the Doctor blush and she let her hand find his in the darkness between them, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Well I'll have him know I'm no teenager," said the Doctor, leaning back against the seat, "I think that would be a much scarier exhibit than this attempt, lots of hormonal adolescents playing tonsil hockey on a fair ground ride…now that's frightening!"

"You're mad," said Rose before shrieking in surprise as a plastic spider fell from the ceiling, brushing against her hair. She stiffened as she waited for the Doctor's inevitable laughter that he was currently trying to hide, forcing his body to convulse beside her.

"Shut up!" she snapped before any sound could escape his lips, "I don't like spiders."

The Doctor's hand left hers as he placed an arm around her shoulders, "You're alright," he said, his voice strained with repressed laughter, "I'll protect you."

Rose shrugged him off before breaking into giggles herself, leaning back against his side when she'd quieted.

"God I'm a wimp," she said as the ride continued unnoticed around her, "After everything we've done I jump at a plastic spider."

"I suppose it was quiet a large spider," said the Doctor, his fingers toying with the hem of her top at her waist, "I'm glad to hear you laughing again."

"Can't help but laugh when I'm around you."

"Oi!"

"Its true, you always make me laugh, in a good way I mean," said Rose, gripping onto the side of the car as it made its juddering way up to the next level, "Is this thing not over yet?"

"It's the TARDIS of fair ground rides," said the Doctor batting away some torn pieces of cotton that hung down in his face from a mummy that had seen better days, "So, what are we going to do after this? I swear if we go back the TARDIS is going to make me homeless, she's not been appreciating my…hmm…modifications."

"You've been fiddling."

"It was that or Neighbours," said the Doctor as the car rapidly descended back to ground level and they emerged from the ride into the light of day once more.

The Doctor offered his hand to Rose to help her climb out of the car and led her down the steps, throwing a cheeky grin at the attendant.

"See, no hickeys, we behaved," he called much to the annoyance of several parents nearby who quickly covered their children's ears.

Rose couldn't help but snigger as they swiftly made their way out of the hustle and bustle of the fair. Once they hit the street once more they returned to a more leisurely pace, enjoying the warm sunshine of the afternoon.

"So how does dinner and a movie sound?"

"Like a date," said Rose causing the Doctor to raise an eyebrow in her direction, "And a bit too domestic as well. Where's my Doctor gone?"

"If you don't want to go then…"

"No!" said Rose a little too quickly, "That is…I do want to go but isn't a bit, you know, normal for you?"

The Doctor smiled and took her hand, "Perhaps but today is for you, not me and besides we have been travelling together for well over a year now and I have never taken you out to dinner properly so its about time I did."

Rose beamed up at him, "You're so different, you know that? The old you, the…"

"People change," said the Doctor, softly knowing that sometimes his companion still missed his old incarnation, "I was different back then and we were different back then."

"I know," said Rose before dragging him a little quicker down the pavement, "So where are you taking me?"

"Up town, Leicester Square Odeon and some Italian restaurant or something," said the Doctor, "I've never done this before so I'm just making it up as I go along."

"Well it sounds perfect," said Rose, "Come on."

XXXX

Rose shrieked in fear and buried herself a little deeper into the Doctor's jacket as the zombie on the screen proceeded to devour to brain of some blonde cheer leader who had crossed his path in the creepy forest at three in the morning. The Doctor laughed quietly beside her, holding her shoulders a little tighter as he felt her shake.

"Rose its just a movie," he whispered, not really needing to as the small, back street theatre they had opted for rather than the expense of the Odeon only held about four other people. One couple, clearly well into their forties much to Rose's disgust, were currently making out five rows in front and had been since the start of the picture and another couple of people we're dotted well away from the back row where Rose and the Doctor sat beneath the projector. Rose had commented in amusement as the Doctor had led her into the back row of the theatre but he'd merely insisted that it was going to produce by far the best view and meant he didn't have to sit there with his glasses on all evening.

Rose shifted comfortably in his embrace and turned her attention back to the screen as the screaming stopped.

"Its creepy," she said, "Why you chose a horror movie I don't know? I'm going to bring back my linguine!"

"That's going on the list."

"The list of what?"

"The list of 'Things I never thought I'd hear Rose Tyler say'. I'm going to bring back my linguine just made it," said the Doctor, "I thought we'd go with horror, keeps in with the theme of the day."

"We go on one ghost train and that's a theme?"

The Doctor shrugged before turning his attention back to the screen, giving Rose a running commentary as she turned her face away from the pictures once again. She pinched his arm firmly as he went into minute detail of the current blood shed, causing him to yelp out in pain and earn several unappreciative hisses from those actually watching the film. Rose whimpered as she heard the crushing of bone and then the slurp of a brain being eaten once again.

"You know in some cultures brain is a delicacy?"

"Doctor, shut up, that's disgusting."

"Oh like she'd be wandering around wearing that in a forest," said the Doctor causing Rose to look back at the screen to see a young woman wearing a low cut top and ridiculously high heels wandering along the forest path.

"The same way you once wandered around Victorian Cardiff in a leather jacket and jeans."

The Doctor ignored her remark and turned his attentions back to the screen. The plot continued to twist and turn before him, more monsters and zombies plaguing the small American town. He suppressed a yawn, only content to stay for the benefit of Rose. Since she had come to him that morning in her plea to go out he had intended to take her mind of the troubles of the passed few days if only for the shortest time, he had hated seeing her down and had willingly embraced the domesticity of the situation for her sake. He felt Rose shift against him, her cheek finding a comfortable place on his shoulder.

"Do you believe in ghosts Doctor?"

"No," he said, "I believe that people think they see ghosts but what they're actually seeing can be explained."

"Like the Gelth in Cardiff?"

"Precisely, every horror story or tale of monsters can usually be explained away by either science or common sense. I don't believe in the supernatural at all."

"Not a thing? What about if you can't explain something?"

"Then I still have things to learn or perhaps its not meant to be explained but ghosts and ghouls are not going to bother my sleep tonight unless I've got you crawling in beside me at three in the morning."

"I only did that once, Jack made me watch The Exorcist."

"Then why didn't you crawl into Jack's bed?" said the Doctor, fondly remembering that night. He was in his older form, catching about an hour's sleep in between some work on the TARDIS when he'd heard the door to his room open and the sound of small feet padding on the wooden floor. He hadn't needed to even open an eye to know who was with him or why she was there, merely throwing back the covers for her to get in. He never did get that work done.

"Jack never cuddled as well as you do."

"So you're only with me for my cuddling talents?"

"Sounds about right."

"That's charming that is."

"Well I'm hardly with you for your choice in movies."

The Doctor groaned dramatically, running a hand over his eyes, "I think I'm getting domesticated, we sound like an old married couple."

"You'll never be domesticated," said Rose reassuringly, "And we don't sound like a couple, we sound like a Time Lord and his companion bickering in a cinema. Now hush, I think Paris Hilton might be about to say something intelligent."

The Doctor received several more hisses as he laughed out loud.

XXXX

Rose barely had her key in the door when she heard her mother's shrill tones calling out to her. She heard the Doctor groan behind her as the blame for Rose's all day absence was laid firmly at the door and she could have sworn she saw him reach a hand to his cheek in remembrance of the infamous slap he received. Rose reached a hand back for him to hold as she pushed open the door to the small flat, wandering down the hallway to the sitting room where Jackie stood, hands on hips, and giving them an unimpressed glare.

"Where the hell have you two been? I've been trying to ring you for hours."

"Sorry Mum," said Rose, "We went to the cinema and I turned my phone of, must have forgotten to turn it back on again. How did it go at the solicitors today?"

In a move that shocked both Rose and the Doctor, Jackie stepped forward and enveloped her daughter in a hug, a huge smile on her face, "Oh Rose you wouldn't believe it," said Jackie pulling back and guiding her to sitting on the sofa, "Your Nan, she left us so much. She inherited a house from her great aunt many years ago and she never sold it, she left it to you and me in the will along with everything else."

"A house?" said Rose, "Where?"

"Penrith in the Lake District, some big old house in the middle of the country," said Jackie, "I've got the keys and we can go and take a look at it tomorrow. I was trying to ring you to tell you. We'll have to get up early to get the train."

Rose shot a look up at the Doctor and he nodded already knowing her question.

"We could take the TARDIS," said Rose, "Then we wouldn't have to get up so early."

"Go in the…is it safe?" said Jackie warily.

"Completely," said the Doctor, "I'd best go and make sure we're good to go in the morning."

He went to go to the door before swinging back into the room and bending down to press a kiss to Rose's cheek, "See you in the morning."

"Yeah," said Rose, blushing slightly, "See you in the morning."