Chapter 2
Despite the many differences between her home and Pete's World, Rose quickly discovers Londoner's voracious appetite for gossip is universal. Since her mysterious appearance five years ago, the young, blonde heiress to the Vitex fortune appears in at least one tabloid every month. She has, at different moments, been: the most eligible bachelorette in London, girlfriend to two different footballers and a cricketer at the same time, secret wife of a banker in Monaco, promoted at Torchwood because she cried at a board meeting, fired from Torchwood because she cried at a board meeting, admitted to rehab for a sex addiction or drugs or both, abducted by aliens, delivered to Pete and Jackie by aliens, and, most recently, The Daily Sport reports she lives in sin with a mystery bloke. She laughs with the Doctor when the last two headlines appear; they are close to the truth.
A jet would be much faster, but for the Doctor's birthday, Rose decides to indulge in a bit of luxury. When she tells the Doctor they're taking Pete's zeppelin, the Jacqueline Prentice, he blanches. She tells the Doctor that since the media knows she's living with someone, she may as well show off her sexy mystery bloke. Still, they like some privacy. Her plans will take them far off the grid, and she figures anyone stubborn enough to follow them probably deserves a blurry photo of something.
As they board the ship, the Doctor notices Rose is nervous. He can't smell certain emotions like he used to, but he knows her tells. She bites her lower lip or chews on her right thumbnail or looks up and a little to the right when she's nervous. He sits beside her, squeezes her hand and beams a reassuring smile. She smiles back, wanly.
"I've never known Rose Tyler to be nervous about a bit of flying."
"No, no. It's not that. 's just, I want everything to go right."
"Oh, don't you worry. Me? I'll be happy anywhere. No need to worry at all."
"It's your birthday. I'm allowed to worry a little bit," She smiles back, genuinely this time. "You're not, though."
"Fair enough." When they reach altitude, the Doctor takes Rose's the hand and pulls her out to the observation deck. Comfort and luxury aside, the Doctor loves zeppelins. He has two reasons. The first is observation decks. On shorter flights, he spends almost the entire time there. The Doctor is often quiet on the deck; he watches the miniature landscapes pass below, eyes full of wonder and joy.
The second reason he loves zeppelins is the sound. When there is no observation deck, or the flight is long or mostly over the ocean, the Doctor inevitablyw curls up for a nap. She asked him once why he seemed to like sleeping on zeppelins. When he told her the hum and vibration of the airship reminds him of the TARDIS, her breath caught in her throat. He said he never slept better than when he slept on a zeppelin, the nightmares weren't as acute. Since that day, she finds excuses to use zeppelins for travel, and never disturbs his naps.
The Doctor keeps guessing where Rose is taking him. He makes guesses based on location and direction. He tells her he's pretty certain they're headed to somewhere in Scandinavia, looks carefully at her in order to detect the smallest of tells.
"I'm not telling. That ruins the point of a surprise," she laughs, proud of her ability to keep him in the dark. She feels a twinge of guilt, though. Surprises are always a bit risky, especially this.
"Ah, Rose Tyler, Keeper of Mysteries."
"How many titles've you've given me now?"
"Eighteen. Well," he pauses, seems to count imaginary objects in the air. "Seventeen. No, wait. I count that one, even though I didn't say it out loud. Eighteen."
"What are you talking about?"
"Aha! No chance! I get to have my own secret. It's only fair."