Nope... Still don't own Doctor Who.
James sat in his office, his computer monitor bleeped quietly occasionally trying to attract his attention to what he was working on, however his mind was elsewhere. He was supposed to be analyzing read-outs that were forwarded to him from someone at Torchwood, but all he could think about was the Blonde haired love of his life. The reason he even allowed himself to be pulled out of the Crucible with everyone. He closed his eyes as he thought about that day. The fears... The anticipation.. The utter joy that Rose and his friends all made it out alive.
"Everybody lives, Rose...Just this once! Everybody lives!" James closed his eyes as he remembered a moment in his past, even though it was when he was all big eared and Northern, he exclaimed joyously that for once no one had to die. Regardless of which side they were fighting on.
He knew what his Time Lord counterpart was going to do once the threat of Davros and the Reality Bomb was destroyed. He and his counterpart had exchanged one look that said it all. While the Doctor was busy returning Martha, Mickey, Sarah Jane and Jack to their times and places he took a few moments to run off to the Doctor's bedroom to nick a few things. A spare sonic screwdriver being one of them. He also paused a moment before leaving the bedroom to look around lovingly at what was his bedroom before the meta-crisis split them into two people. It had been his home and his stability. His place to retreat when he needed to re-group and retake control of a situation.
He was scared, he didn't know what would happen. He and Rose had the opportunity to have a life together, a proper life that his Time Lord counterpart was reluctant to enter given that Rose was mortal. He had an inkling that something had been different about Rose ever since the incident on the Games-station. But he could never bring himself to insist on Rose letting him run tests on her, and of course, he ran out of time to convince her before Canary Wharf.
However Rose kissed him on the beach after asking each of them what was said the last time they were there. He knew his counterpart wouldn't say those crucial three words. Rose had to stay in the parallel universe, no matter how much it killed him to simply instead ask if it needed to be said. Opening the opportunity for James to say those words instead. Thinking back to that day, James always disliked how his counterpart practically manipulated them both.
Yet all he could think about on that beach was showing Rose that not only was he not that much different from the Doctor, but he would do all he could to be better. Rose was feeling like she was about to be abandoned again, but she didn't know how hard it was for the Doctor to walk away from them both. When she pulled him by the lapels of the suit he threw on quickly and kissed him with what he knew was all the love she had in him, his single heart swelled like it was about to break into two hearts.
The Doctor trusted James with their precious Rose without a doubt, but the Doctor was correct in that at the beginning, James was practically unstable in the emotions department. Part Time Lord/Part Human... Two sets of emotions and hormones running together in a body that should never have been created in a perfect situation. He never quite understood how Rose put up with him in the beginning. He never recalled being as short or nasty as he was when he met her during his ninth incarnation.
Today he decided... Today was the day he was going to begin planning on how to win over Rose Tyler. He knew she loved him as much as he loved her, so what was the issue? Surely it wasn't Clara. Clara was just as much his daughter than his counterpart.
"Oh how the tables have turned," he muttered to himself as he put on a pair of glasses that were laying askew off a small pile of papers.
James refused to keep an office in the Torchwood building. There were too many raw memories associated with the building. He even was conflicted about even helping Torchwood when he arrived in this universe. However after seeing how it was reformed, and the fact that Pete Tyler was the Assistant Director of Torchwood; he agreed to act as consultant in the departments that analyzed alien technology or any of strange occurrences.
Printing off the result pages, he scanned his eyes over the page. Upstairs he could hear Rose having a row with Clara. "Come on Clara... you have to get dried off and changed! We are already running late!" He could hear light footsteps coming out of the bathroom followed by heavier footsteps. Assuming that Rose was successful in getting her out of the tub, he smirked as he heard Clara declare that she was NOT wearing a dress. "I don't like them Mum! It's hard to climb a tree or run around playing ball when you have to keep pulling your skirt down!"
"Why do you even think you are going to be climbing ANY trees at Gran's place Clara Donna Tyler? Plus Gran loves you in this dress. So please.. for Gran, put on the dress and behave tonight?" James could hear Rose ask in a tired manner. Not hearing anymore on the subject, he assumed it was resolved and went back to the readings. He knew Pete would ask if there has been any developments, either at dinner tonight or first thing Monday Morning.
"Strange cracks of light... what are you?" James asked as he jotted down notes based on the results. Jagged shaped lights have been appearing randomly about London in the past week and James wouldn't easily admit that he was stumped. And that said a lot as it was not easy to stump him.
"Yeah?" James looked to the door as he heard a soft knock at the door. Seeing Rose walk through the door, he laid down the papers he was looking at and gave her the smile that he reserved just for her. Leaning back in his chair he looked at his Rose, holding out a hand to her he couldn't help but grin brighter as she not only took his hand but sat in his lap letting out a sigh. "Something wrong Rose?"
"Not really, just need a moment to gather my sanity after trying to get Clara dressed. I swear if that girl had her way, she'd wear trainers and jeans everywhere," Rose muttered as she dropped her head onto James's shoulder while he rubbed circles over the back of her hand. "if I was anywhere as difficult as she is when I was that age, remind me to give massive kudos to my mum..."
"Not really surprising considering who her parents are." James gave her a cheeky grin and an eyebrow waggle. "Prime attire for running I'd say..." Rose had to hold back a look of sadness at the mention of Clara's parentage. Deep down she wanted to be with James like she was with the Doctor. Everything in her was constantly screaming to throw caution to hell and confess all she wanted.
She wanted to tell Clara that James was her father in every way that mattered, except for the fact that he was grown out of the Doctor's severed hand in a meta-crisis. Well maybe that story was one for when she was older...
Snapping out of her thoughts as she felt a hand cup her cheek, she looked at James with a small smile. "You looked like you were deep in troubled thought lo-.. Rose." James cleared his throat as he almost let slip the precious title he called her when he was alone or he thought she didn't hear him.
Opening her mouth to reply, Rose and James were interrupted by a small giggle at James's office door. Slipping off James's lap, Rose straightened the back of her jumper and cleared her throat.
"I'll just go finish getting ready and we'll get ready to leave, yeah?" Not waiting for a response, Rose left James's office with a quick step.
Frowning for a quick moment before grinning to Clara, "Oh you think this is funny do you?" James grabbed Clara and began to lightly tickle her on her sides as he plopped her on his lap.
After a good five minutes of squirming and laughing, James let Clara down telling her she had to get her shoes on.
Standing himself, he straightened his tie and pulled on his suit jacket. Gathering all the read-outs, scans and his notes, he put them in a folder to give to Pete.
"Gran!" Clara flew across the lawn and wrapped her small arms around Jackie's waist. Grinning ear to ear as Jackie drew Clara in for a hug.
"There's my sweet girl! How are you Clara? Behaving are we?" Jackie smiled as she knelt down to properly hug her only grand-daughter. Looking up over the little girl's head she smiled and greeted Rose and James as they walked up behind Clara. Standing up she smiled down to Clara, "Go on inside love Granddad is waiting for you".
Rose smiled as her daughter ran through the open front door and gave a whoop of joy as she found her grandfather. Rose looked at her mother for a moment, sad that her and Pete were not able to have any children in the five years since they were reunited after Canary Wharf.
When James followed Clara into the house, Jackie put an arm around her daughter's waist, "everything alright Rose? You're quiet."
Rose gave Jackie a small smile, "I think my initial decision regarding James and I is starting to come back to taunt me. I see him be the father I would always hope she would have, but I sometimes wonder if-" Rose was interrupted when they reached the front door by Pete meeting them at the door announcing that James and Clara were already trying to make their own additions to the appetizers.
Muttering something about daft aliens and making bad influences on Clara, Jackie smiled to Rose and mentioned they would talk later after she chased James and Clara from the kitchen.
Closing the front door after Rose was inside, Pete smiled and hugged Rose. To this day, Pete still couldn't believe how much his life has changed for the better since he crossed the Void with his team during the battle. He wasn't proud to admit that initially he only saw Rose as a step-daughter in order to not only get Jackie safely to his Universe, but in order to keep her happy as she adjusted to being yanked from one universe to another.
Yet Rose grew on him as he saw how much she was like Jackie and how strong she was. Her determination to not only raise the child she found herself pregnant with after the breach was closed, but to find a way back to the Doctor made him admire her. Fate had a way to making things right in the end he always told himself. And he was right, this universe's original Jackie, never wanted children and didn't care if he did want them. And now because of a split second decision to comfort the Jackie he pulled into his universe, he not only had a daughter but a grand-daughter as well.
Sadly their age meant he couldn't give Jackie any children between them and they briefly considered adopting, however they agreed that they were getting too old to start at the parenting starting line. Running after a toddler Clara at the time was enough for them to fill the need to nurture and he was certainly in a position to spoil his grand-daughter, which he did so happily every chance he had.
Letting go of Rose as he heard Jackie going on about sticking fingers in things not being polite. Pete smiled, "lets go see what those two did this time".
Walking into the kitchen Rose did all she could to hide the amused smile on her face as Jackie was lecturing James. "What on earth are you teaching my grand-daughter when you show her it's perfectly acceptable to stick FINGERS into other people's food... Lick said fingers and then stick them into the next piece of food?!" Clara had already started looking down at her shoes after she had given James a "told you Gran would catch us".
"I was showing her the best way to add things into the middle of a nibble Jackie! While your cooking is excellent, what if we wanted to add something extra?" James stuck his thumb into his mouth sucking off the last bit of cheese from the Belvoir Crumpets that they were sticking their fingers into.
James had always feared Jackie and her temper. He had been on the receiving end of a slap or two from her and wasn't keen on earning another one now. He had always hoped he could one day refer to her as his Mother-in-Law after arriving on this side of the void. So in the interest of showing Rose that he could get along with her mother and that she should have no concerns on that account. He smiled at Jackie, "I am sorry Jackie. I was wrong, this was a bad lesson for Clara".
Jackie stared at James, "alright... Who are you and what have you done with James?" She wanted to call him a daft alien right there and then but Clara was still in the room and it was agreed that James's origin wouldn't be discussed with her until she was old enough to understand.
James sighed and threw up his hands as he pushed himself away from the counter, "I can't apologize for something when you were clearly upset at a wrong doing? I thought that's what we are supposed to do?" He looked at Pete in a 'help me out here' manner.
Pete spoke up hoping to resolve it before anything was said that couldn't be taken back. "Jackie accepts your apology James, don't you Jackie? Stop trying to get a rise out of him." Jackie nodded and gave James a look while being glad they didn't find the dessert. Grabbing the remaining cheese mixture from the fridge and a spoon she began to fill in the holes.
"Why don't we go outside Clara? That way we stay out of Gran's way." Pete held his hand out to Clara as he motioned to the back door. "I set up your favorite game outside and we need a third player." Pete looked to James in silent invitation, knowing the half human/half alien wouldn't be able to resist.
Knowing what game Pete was referring to, he grinned and followed them out the door with a "lovely!" James gave a smile and wink to Rose as he shut the back door behind him.
Jackie turned to Rose after she finished fixing the appetizers and opened the oven pulling out the roast.
"Rose darling, be a dear and fetch the basting spoon out of the drawer," Jackie asked as she pointed to the drawer that she needed. After Rose handed it to her and started to ladle drippings from the bottom of the pan over the roast, Jackie looked to Rose as she worked. "Want to tell me what you meant earlier when you said that you felt your earlier decision was haunting you?"
Rose sighed as she bit into one of the crumpets as she thought about the decision that was haunting her every time she looked at James. It was a week after they had arrived back to London after Norway. Pete had insisted on helping get James situated by taking him shopping and explaining that wearing the same suit every day gets strange looks from others. Later on that night, Rose and James had been sitting on the couch in her flat. Clara was still staying at her parent's house as she remembered that the Doctor told her that James was full of revenge and hatred given that he was born during battle and crisis. She trusted James, but she didn't know what would happen if he got frustrated with Clara.
"What is so wrong with having a proper name?" Rose had asked James after he mentioned the conversation with Pete about having to establish an identity since he was now a full time resident of Earth.
The TARDIS coral that he was given wouldn't take to the environment that he planted it in. This was it, no more time and space at his disposal. He couldn't take Rose to the stars anymore, she was stuck with him in a house with a child. Domesticity at its finest and it terrified him.
He leaned back against the couch cushion with his feet propped up on Rose's coffee table. He ran his hands through his hair and down his face before dropping them back to his sides as he looked over at Rose.
"Whats so wrong with being called Doctor? Isn't that my name? Who I am? Who you know me as?"
Rose looked at him and took his hand, "all Pete is saying is that you'll need documents. Identification requires legal names. That's all. It doesn't make you less than what you are. But you can't go around just calling yourself 'Doctor' here. People here don't just take that and go with it."
James looked at her as it hit him, she hadn't called him Doctor at all since the beach in Norway. She didn't think of him as her Doctor.
"So what am I to you then Rose? Yeah I think like him and act like him... All you could possibly want in 'your' doctor except I'm not going to have to watch you wither and die. Would it make you feel better about me if I took on a 'proper' identity?" James still loved her, but it hurt him to wonder if she just saw him as a normal bloke now.
Rose leaned in closer to him and squeezed his hand, "you are the one who stayed... the one who told me your true feelings. I know you both loved me, but you didn't leave me behind. The Doctor left me behind, and while I have forgiven him for it, it's hard enough to not think about it when you are his spitting image. Calling you by his name would make the hurt deeper. We have a chance at a new beginning and that includes a name for you".
Rose thought for a moment and continued, "as for what you are to me and what will become of us. I don't know honestly. When you and the Doctor were still the same person, you held me at arms length. I understand why, but I have a daughter to think about. Are you going to stay with me or is domesticity going to make you want to run?"
James looked at Rose and sighed, "I honestly don't know Rose. I'm terrified at the fact that I am grounded on the slow path. However know that unconditionally, I love you and I'm sure I will adore Clara"
"I understand, so I hope you will understand that I need to think about all this. My heart has been through enough and I have to figure this out." Rose gave him a sad smile and got up offering a good night.
Two days later they had decided to take the slow approach between them. James had a lot ahead of him and Rose wanted to concentrate on making him better. So they agreed to be friends and raise Clara together. James always held out hope that one day they could take the next step and silently cursed his counterpart for holding Rose at an arm's length.
"You still love him Rose... I see it in your face and eyes," Jackie hugged Rose after Rose told her about that night and the decision they had initially came to. "I know how much he loves you, don't be afraid to admit that maybe it's time to move to a next step. It's only natural for you two." Jackie finished as she nibbled on a crumpet.
"Perhaps mum... But what if he doesn't want to move forward like I do?" Rose sighed as she hugged Jackie tighter and smiled as Jackie declared that was bullocks.