It wasn't until a week later that they left the parallel world. Arrangements had to be made about what would happen with their money, saying their goodbyes, and packing all their things. Pete took some convincing, saying they would be better off here with all his money and him taking care of him. But Jackie wouldn't budge, and told him that wherever Rose was going that's where she belonged.
They gathered up their things and packed them all into the TARDIS, Jackie insisted she'd bring half their furniture with them and shoved it into a spare room. Naturally she also asked if she could bring some of Pete's money and if it would work in the other world. It would work, and they could bring all of it. Except he'd have to change his name, since Pete had been dead for at least 20 years back home.
The Doctor dropped off Jackie, Pete, Tony and even Mickey (since his gran had gone) into Cardiff instead of London. He found them a place and got all their ID's and information organized. Jackie was easy of course, saying she simply had survived and was in hiding. Pete had to change his last name to Sanders, to which they all agreed on. Jackie also changed her last name, as well as Tony's. Now Rose was the only Tyler officially left.
Rose liked her last name and the Doctor was glad she decided to keep it because he did too. Rose also grew quite fond of the Ponds as she learned more about them and they told her what they had been doing with the Doctor. They told her most everything, except the part about River Song and the Doctor.
Overall it took about a week for them to leave the parallel universe and a week for them to settle down again, giving the Doctor plenty of free time with Rose Tyler.
"Well Jackie, all settled in now?" The Doctor hugged her and smiled. "Hope this house is alright. Five bedrooms, 3 baths, basement. I don't know how many Pete had or how many you were used to or-"
Jackie shushed him and pulled him into an embrace once again. "It's perfect Doctor thank you."
He nodded as Rose went to hug her mum, Pete and Tony goodbye. She knew she'd be back, so she wasn't too worried about never seeing them again. And before they left again Jackie gave a stern warning to keep her daughter safe or you'll have her on his tail. Jackie Tyler on his tail was scarier than anything he had seen or could ever imagine.
"So Rose, Ponds, where to?" The Doctor smiled happily, twirling around on his heels as he began to pull buttons.
"Home for us, for now." Amy grabbed Rory's arm and smiled at him. Rory held her tightly back before Amy continued. "Give you some time alone,"
Amy winked at them which caused Rose to blush a deep shade of scarlet, and for the Doctor's ears to turn bright red.
"Doctor," The red haired girl walked forward, eyes in disbelief and mocking pleasure. "Are you… blushing?"
"No!," He turned from them and covered his ears with his hands. "No blushing for me, The Doctor, a 1000 year old space alien."
"It's been a hundred years for you, Doctor?" Rose asked as she strode forward towards him. "Really?"
"Since you? Yes," He turned to her, the blush was gone now, instead there was guilt. "I didn't know a way back, and then I met Amelia right after I regenerated…" The Doctor babbled on about their whole first adventure explaining that for two years he didn't have a chance to go see her again, and the other years he'd been traveling on and off with them. They lived in an apartment, while he saw the stars and saved worlds. Same old, same old.
"You don't need to explain yourself Doctor, I'm not scolding you."
"I wasn't alone though, all that time I had… Doesn't matter who I had I wasn't alone." He had River. But River seemed to show up less frequently as time went on, the thought saddening him. He knew one day he'd never see her again, and he knew why.
Rose opened her mouth to speak but decided to not press it and nodded instead. Of course the Doctor had moved on with his life. She was gone, he thought she was happy, he didn't know she wasn't. But it still didn't make that hurt any less.
"So, Ponds, back to the Pond life?" The Doctor began to pull levers and as soon as the TARDIS started to move Rose grabbed onto the console, a smile growing on her face. Oh, how she missed this.
Amy and Rory got out of the TARDIS and said their goodbyes. Amy told him that he'd better see her back here in a week, 12 O'clock sharp. The Doctor nodded and hugged her, although he'd probably be late. Even with a time machine the Doctor was rubbish at showing up to places on time.
"Rose Tyler," The Doctor shut the door to the TARDIS and put on a goofy smile for his pink and yellow human, "My Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth."
They ran to each other, embracing each other. The Doctor lifted her off the ground, a truly happy smile on his face, and spun her around. He could feel her laughing into his neck as he did and put her back down.
"Is it alright, that I changed? Still the Doctor, eh?" He asked her as he pushed some wandering strands of hair behind her ear.
"My Doctor," Rose grabbed her hand, a giant grin still etched onto her pretty face.
"Rose Tyler, how i've missed you." The Doctor once again hugged her tightly before running around to several different controls of the TARDIS. "So where to? We could see anything, the stars, planets, the creation of planets- don't worry I'll keep us safe- oh! How about we go see this beautiful planet? Planet of Crystal, has a name, but even I can't pronounce it. There's a crystal bridge linking the planet and their moons. And the people are simply delightful."
Rose let him babble on about different places, about four of them, until she interrupted him and spoke up. "Bring me somewhere… fantastic."
"You got it," With a few pulls of some levers, pushing a few buttons the Doctor grabbed onto the console edge, getting ready to embark on another adventure with Rose Tyler. "Geronimo!"
They landed on a planet that was entirely consisted on Christmas traditions and the holidays. All year round it snowed, and the people there looked more like elves than humans. They were short in stature with pointed ears making Rose begin to wonder if they actually were elves.
"Festivmas, a planet of Christmas." The Doctor linked their hands together as he smiled down at her, his other hand placed in his coat pocket. "And I'll tell you what Rose, these are actual elves."
The Doctor whispered the last words and hastily added to his sentence. "But don't call them that, they're technically called elevians, but you would know them as just elves."
"So then where's Santa?"
"You're looking at him," The Doctor smiled down at her as he eyes widened in response to his words.
"You're Santa?!" Rose exclaimed.
"Red bike when you were twelve? Yeah. But only sometimes, every few years I give Santa a break during the holidays and take over him. I also got you that Barbie dream house when you were seven." He said it as casually as he could, but he was secretly delighted that Rose was so enthusiastic about it.
"So you knew me before you met me?"
"Well, you were just a name on a paper then, now you're much more."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." He smiled.
They walked in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until they reached a shop at the corner of Candy Cane Lane and Cookie Road and entered.
The shop was full of winter things, and Rose hadn't realized until them how cold she was exactly. Her hands heated up quickly to the point they burned a little in the warm shop, and she began to look for mittens. She had found some with a cat face on them and even a matching hat. The Doctor laughed at her as she put them on but then continued on saying how "of course he would buy them."
He whipped out some universal credit card after picking out a red and white striped hat, that looked like a candy cane, and paid for the items.
"How does that work? The credit card I mean," Rose asked as they strolled along the snow covered sidewalk, the air smelling of freshly baked cookies.
"Oh, well I did a lot of favors around the universe, saved this planet twice actually. Works on most places I've been, except Earth. Very ungrateful your people, and not technologically advanced in the least. Just kinda let me buy what I want, never buy much anyways so it doesn't make much of a difference to anyone. And even if I do, I jump around to different times so no one notices."
"Mhm," They continued walking for about an hour, Rose taking in the sights.
It was Christmas, looked like Christmas. There were lights strung up on every house on every window, decorations of snowflakes were strung from street lamps, and mistletoe hung from overhangs and doorways. It was snowing lightly, which the Doctor told her was a everyday occurrence. The sweet melodic voices pierced the air as they walked past a group of carolers, red songbooks held in front of their faces. Rose even noticed that one of the girls had the same gloves and hat as her. Rose enjoyed the simplistic, calm planet until she smelled the distinct scent of hot cocoa and dragged the Doctor over to a stand nearby.
"Best hot cocoa in the universe, here," The Doctor sipped the cocoa and looked thoroughly confused when Rose started to laugh at him when he finished the sip. "What?"
"You have a whipped cream mustache," She pointed as the sweet sound of her giggles persisted through the air around them. Even this made the Doctor smile.
Rose took a sip of her cocoa, the same thing happening to her as she suspected. They both laughed together, joking as they made their way back to the TARDIS.
They had finished their drinks by the time they got them and tossed them in a garbage pail, licking off the last remnants of their froffy facial hair.
The TARDIS's warmth felt nice against Rose's skin as she walked through the door. She removed her coat and deposited on the seat near the console. Rose hadn't noticed, but the TARDIS began to hum her song again, making him smile brightly at her.
"Why you so happy Doctor?" She asked, sitting down, gloves still on her hands.
"The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS just how it should be. How could one not be happy?" The Doctor smiled at her and walked over to where she was sitting and pushed her hair behind her ear once again.
Rose smiled. "Of course,"
The Doctor reached over and pulled some green leaves out of her hair, until he realized they weren't just any green leaves. These leaves had small red berries attached to them, which he immediately recognized.
"Rose Tyler, did you plan this?" He held out the mistletoe in his hand to show her, a smile still on his face. He definitely wouldn't mind if she did, he would love to kiss her.
"Nope,"
"Do you go by that human tradition?" He asked hopefully, bending down so he was eye level to her. His legs shifted to get as close to her as possible without touching, as he desperately awaited an answer.
"Now I do," They both leaned into each other, lips growing closer each passing second. He had to only be two inches away from her perfect pink lips when the TARDIS door swung open.
In surprise they both jumped, the Doctor to his feet and Rose in her chair. Looking over he saw a tall curly haired women standing there in nothing but a loose grey halter dress with boots.
"Hello Sweetie," She smiled at him, not noticing Rose was in the room.
Before Rose could say anything the Doctor answered her question. "Hello River,"
Yay! Since you guys reviewed and said you wanted more I happily complied. But now River's in the mix ;) Leave a review and let me know what you think! :D Thanks for reading!
-Naomi