Summary: Dignified, but Hot, The Doctor and Rose settle down to grow a new TARDIS and the Doctor discovers that the Slow Path means getting to know yourself and your in-laws really well. Perhaps, too well.


Quintessentially Me - Slow Steps


He twisted and turned in the medium heavy corduroy frock coat with suede patches on the elbows and at the collar, for accents and eyed himself from every angle. He wore a string tie, instead of a bow tie, which, Rose told him, was only for tuxedos...which were traditionally reserved, or so she claimed, for weddings, funerals or other such mournful events. She had then made a face and asked him if he wanted to be depressed all the time...making him sigh and shake his head to the negative. String ties it was, she always knew just how to ask just the right questions.

Every string tie was adorned, in some way, there was a vast array of decorations and types of string to bear them and he couldn't really imagine having such a complete collection as to have them all...they were really firm statements in a lightweight package and in a pinch, the heavy, laminated string could be useful for other things. Rose really liked his stetson, though he rather thought the rather form fitting blue jeans she had insisted on were a bit much. Until he got to know denim a bit better, anyway.

There were very few places that denim didn't fit right into, he found. And they were comfortable. Somehow, his lighter corduroy waistcoat seemed to work with frock coat and jeans as well or better than with more formal trousers...he didn't get it, he really didn't, but he also didn't care as long as it kept Rose's eyes focused on his backside with that expression on her lovely face. He especially appreciated the way she kept one arm around his waist with her fingers in one of his back pockets and her thumb passed through a belt-loop in a clear statement of possessiveness. What had she done to him, to enjoy her claiming of him so much? Sure, some of it was the bond, but he was mister-anti-domestic here...and he loved it: It made no sense, really...nor did the fact that he didn't care.


The Doctor was learning, as Pete later assured him, the same thing any other long time bachelor learned when at last he fell in love...that Rose was his strength, not his weakness and she was what made each moment worth experiencing. This was quite true...though he was still stubborn about the pair of them living mostly alone and hard to reach. Any consulting was to be done on the net, or as he put it, "We'll see you after we've bonded to the new TARDIS in her working form."

Not that Jackie left it at that, the way Pete would have done. At least once a month during the warmer months, Jackie had herself flown up to visit them. The upside was that Pete had several chefs on retainer and any food she brought had been made by the experts.

Rose had insisted on this after the first and last time that her mum brought them 'home cooking'. She had simply taken the hovercraft back to Pete's place, with the 'food' and asked the chefs to each sample it...then, once they were finished hacking, asked them not to allow her mother anywhere near the kitchens again. She had returned to him with several meals worth of real food.

"Pete's chefs have promised me they will lock up the kitchens and just leave things that don't need heating in the 'overnight' fridge for snacks for the household...and they also promised to make sure any meals will be both properly prepared and home-style. They've told me they'd swear to her that we'll never know the difference and we've only to keep up our end...we'll take turns calling them with thanks while the other one keeps her busy with praise for her thoughtfulness."

He recalled snorting laughter but agreeing. She was wonderfully sneaky, his Rose.


The chief chef watched the lady of the house depart in the hovercraft and sighed, he could swear there was a lingering bad flavor that was noticeable every time she went to see her daughter and the Time Lord that had saved Earth from the cybermen...toting a meal from the cooks. The chefs all still had nightmares about the one bite Rose had insisting he and his staff try, of her mother's notion of food.

He still didn't know what she'd done to the salad and his top under chef swore Jackie had added floor soap to the gravy. The rice was a single, wet lump in the bowl...so soggy that it looked like cold grits. He shuddered at the memory and returned to work, making supper for Jackie, Pete and the baby. The rest of the staff had eaten earlier...Jackie had insisted they make sure to take care of themselves. He had to admit, the parallel Jackie was a lot easier to work for than the native one had been.

But then, the new one had been a hair-dresser for most of her life and that meant she knew what work was. The maids mostly picked up after Mr. Tyler and the baby, Jackie looked after herself, than you very much. She'd told the housekeeper that she was neither helpless nor lazy...that's when she told her what she'd done for a living in her old universe. She showed the woman her calloused hands, a clear indication she was no stranger to hard labor.

"Raised Rose by myself, didn't I? Had bills to pay, didn't I? Think I raised her and paid my bills sittin' 'round on me bum?" She'd asked Marline pointedly. "Now, you tell the rest of the help and stop thinkin' I'm like the other me, with my nose ever so high in the air."

It had cleared the air, though the maids took awhile to get used to the fact that if she entered a room where they were cleaning, she'd pitch right in and do half herself. She was alright, this new Mrs. Tyler. Everyone knew 'her' Pete had been killed by hit and run driver when Rose was just an infant, so she valued him as she should: No nagging and complaining from her, no siree.

But she still wasn't allowed in the kitchens until they were locked down for the night. Her daughter had insisted...and after sampling that...stuff...the kitchen staff agreed. The general rule was 'Do Not Allow Mrs. Tyler to cook...and if she slips past you, as she sometimes does, feed her son quickly so that he's full, warn her husband and her daughter or her daughter's husband. And...try to steal the current sample of...stuff...before anyone ingested it.

The phrase 'I wouldn't if I were you...that's Mrs. Tyler's Stuff. Made fresh less than half an hour ago...I need new locks, Boss." was never misunderstood.


"Ah...Rose...what are you doing?"

"Building a tree-house."

"Why?"

"Centerpiece for a playground for Tony."

"Which we need because...?"

"Mum and Pete are taking a vacation and we're taking Tony while they're gone. He's more hyper than you are...I don't really want to have to chase him through the forest. He's faster than I am and hard to see in the underbrush. A nice large playground with lots of things to swing from, climb on or through or under...fenced...is smart, yeah?"

"Ah."

"Well, when it's my turn, anyway. Since you have all those neat extra senses, you can take him hiking if you want...you haven't yet."

"Well, that's true. You're a bit too pregnant for that anyway."

"Also true." She smiled up at him.

"Which do you want our sons to be, both me, one me and one last me or both last me?"

"One Northern and one that pretty version...the Mr. Darcy one."

"Ah...interesting choice for twins."

"Well, that way we'll have the clothes for them when they're old enough, yeah? We don't have pinstripes and I'd rather you were the only one wearing the sig set. I can get a Jane Austen set, from infant onward, from any theatre and black jeans, work boots, jumpers and black leather jackets from...well...just about anywhere."

"True." He hesitated. "There's a good possibility you'll get two of them...each, if you have them. Our sons, and then me later, since I'm really the First for this universe. And our boys, with luck, will still be on their first bodies when that happens."

"What?"

"I forced the second regeneration, Rose. Forced regenerations do not, generally speaking, last long. They tend to be unstable."

"You don't even have that weird sounding flu you said you did, do you?"

"No."

"But...I like this you. You haven't had it long enough...and I want more of that bum."

He smiled at her. She never wanted him to go, but never hesitated to grab the new him with both hands and hang on. "I love you, too, Rose."

"Promise me one thing."

"What is that?"

"Beauty's zero room is complete and usable...so make sure to stay there until you're stable? I'll bring tea, fixings for it, food and your clothing can wait, jimjams will do until you wake up."

"What?"

"You're fighting it. I can tell. Come on then, let's get this over with so I can sort you out. I'm just glad she can't fly yet."

As they entered the partly grown TARDIS, Rose patted the console..."Hide that from him until he's stable, lass."

It disappeared as he turned around, "OI!" He protested but Rose simply pushed him toward the tiny zero room. Once he was in, she closed the door and went to find him jimjams and tea.

The flash around the corners of the door vanished as the ship sealed him in properly. No need to attract unfriendly neighbors, after all.


~*~ TBC ~*~