Rose has a nightmare, and next day they go shopping

Many thanks to the lovely Veritascara, for slogging through grammar corrections

-0-

Rose was quiet, thinking it over, and in that moment Mickey and Jack climbed back in the vehicle. Rose leaned forward, letting go of the Doctor's hand to give Jack a hug. "M' so sorry, I didn't mean to do it, Jack."

He was startled at first, but then Jack shot a glance at the Doctor, giving Rose a gentle squeeze back before she pulled away. "S'okay, Rosie, I came to terms with it a long time ago. Besides, it's allowed me to save a lot of lives. I take it the Doctor explained it to you?"

She nodded, shifting back into her seat. The Doctor slowly reached over for her hand again, and she promptly took it. His taut frame relaxed.

Jack looked back at them as Mickey started up the vehicle, "Next stop, Cardiff."

-0-

Rose's heart beat so loudly she could hear the pulse of it in her ears. Her feet slapped against the ground as she ran. She was always running–it seemed like. The surge of adrenaline and the thrill of adventure were her friends, but not here. Here she ran through a long tunnel of darkness. All around her, pinpricks of light were winking out.

Fear coated her stomach, twisting it as she ran towards the blue box at the end of the tunnel. Inside, it held all the answers and the hopes of two universes. It held the love she craved, that her very soul cried out for. Her path to him was not clear. It was filled with French courtesans, with aliens that chased after her, and with men with guns. Metallic voices called out things like "exterminate" or "delete"–echoing harshly in her ears.

The end of the tunnel was finally in sight, just a few more feet to go, when she slammed into a massive white wall. It sprang up from the ground–this immense, smooth, hard wall–separating her from her hopes and dreams. She couldn't stop herself; her body crashed into it, shocked by the abrupt end to her flight. Her fingers scrabbled along its surface, desperate to break through.

She couldn't get through the white wall, but suddenly she could see through it. Her heart leapt with joy as she saw the Doctor on the other side, his slender frame covered in brown pinstripes and wrapped in that long coat. The Doctor's eyes focused on her for a moment, and then her heart sank when he turned around and started walking away. Desperation surged through her as she clawed at the wall, calling out, "Doctor, Doctor, I'm here. Don't go!"

He turned around slightly, as if he had heard her, before turning back and continuing to walk away. Rose's world narrowed, burning stars crashing to the ground as he got further and further away. "Doctor, don't leave me, please! Don't go!"

The newly minted Doctor John Noble braced his hands on the railing of the balcony to their hotel room. It was very early in the morning when he had woken from sleep. At first he had just laid there, wondering at the warm weight of Rose Tyler curled against him. Somehow, out of all of this, he had managed to hang on to his hearts' desire. Well, his singular heart's desire. He only had one now, but if anything, the love he felt for Rose had only grown, not shrunk.

So many thoughts started buzzing in his head; he was unable to fall back into sleep. Afraid he would wake her, he carefully eased away from Rose and climbed out of bed. It wasn't an easy feat, the way she had been wrapped around him, but he managed. Rose had always been a bit of a deep sleeper. He knew that from the times he would burst into her room on the TARDIS to wake her for some mad adventure, most of the time being chased back out again with a thrown pillow.

Now there was no TARDIS–just each other. Well, no TARDIS yet. The piece of coral he had would take time to grow. Less time, thanks to Donna, but still time. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to resent that fact, because he had his pink and yellow human with him. He had had a taste of life without her, and life with her, TARDIS or not, was better. He opened the door to the balcony to get some fresh air, and possibly, he hoped, to calm his thoughts.

Standing out there, he was glad it was dark, because he was clad only in his thin undershirt and boxers. Neither of them had extra clothes, though there was the promise of shopping tomorrow, or rather later today. He found that oddly appealing, which was strange. He was forced to chalk that up to whatever influence Donna had on his creation.

The Doctor shivered slightly at the chill, forcibly reminded of the lack of control he had over this human body. On the trip to Cardiff, he had barely managed to mask his reaction to Rose's closeness when she leaned against him. When he shifted in his seat, she had almost pulled away, but he kept an arm around her, reassuring her everything was fine. He was glad Rose didn't seem to have seen Jack's grin in the rear-view mirror.

When they got to the hotel, there had been an awkward moment about sleeping arrangements. In the end, neither had wanted to be apart, so they curled up together in one of the beds. They weren't ready quite yet to push things further, regardless of what his body thought, so it was just sleeping. At that point he was finding himself tired enough that he could mostly keep his mind off tempting things. Instead, just having Rose near was enough.

He went back to ignoring the slight chill, returning to his previous thoughts. Later, he was going to need to make a list of everything they would need for growing the TARDIS. Hopefully Torchwood had some equipment they could use; otherwise, they would have to use the Vortex Manipulator to go shopping. Ooooh, more shopping. Wait, wait–that was a Donna-like reaction. Another one.

Then, behind him, he heard Rose crying out. The Doctor whipped around and sprinted inside towards the bed. She was in the grip of some sort of nightmare and calling out for him, or the other him. Regardless, he was the one here; he was the one who would take care of her.

"Rose, Rose, wake up. You are having a nightmare." Sliding into the bed, he gently gripped her shoulder, calling for her in a coaxing voice. For a moment, she struggled against him; then she awoke with a jerk. "Doctor?"

"I'm right here; I'm not going anywhere."

Rose felt his cool touch as he drew her close, and she burrowed into him. ~He didn't leave me. He's here. He's right here,~ her mind chanted for a moment. Then, under her ear, she heard only one heart beating–one singular, human heart beating–and it all came crashing down.

Rose's grip on him loosened for a moment, and then it returned, redoubled. The Doctor simply wrapped his arms tightly around her as her shoulders jerked, and he felt a sudden dampness on his shirt. Closing his eyes, he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. "Shhhhh, it's alright. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." His own voice broke a little, thinking of the pain he and the other Doctor had put her through. "Just let it out, Rose. It is okay." The Doctor rocked her gently, rubbing her back with one hand.

"You, he, left me. Three times, you left me. Th' first time, Mum, Mickey, and a yellow truck got me back. An' I found my way back after I fell, and this last time, he left me behind again." The words came out, laced with pain, anger, and grief.

The Doctor flinched slightly, as her words hit home. The first time, he was doing his best to save her life. Since she said that she fell, she wasn't referring to Canary Wharf as the second time. No, it was the damn stunt he pulled on the spaceship coming back to haunt him. The third time, oh, that was all the other Doctor, trying to make decisions for other people. The self-hatred twisted in his belly, shifting towards the other Doctor, as well as a bit for himself. Because he was that man, at least he had started out as that same man. What he did now, though, that would make the difference.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Rose." His arms tightened around her again. "I know those are just words, but if you let me, I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. I love you, Rose Tyler, and my choice will always be to stay with you."

She shuddered, and then a tiny part of her relaxed, just letting her grief flow. He held her, the man that chose to follow her, letting her cry herself out. Eventually, they both fell back asleep that way, in a tangle of limbs, of grief and comfort.

~~~~~

The next time the Doctor surfaced, light was shining in his eyes, and a cool breeze made him shiver. Opening his eyes, he realized the door to the balcony was still wide open. Carefully climbing out of bed, so as to not disturb Rose, he moved to shut the door and draw the curtains closed.

Turning back around, he studied Rose for a moment, curled in bed, her face wiped clean of emotion. She slept peacefully, looking no older then the day they first met. The experiences that shaped her were absent on her sleeping face. A small smile danced on his lips; finally, he could be with the woman he loved.

Ruffling a hand through his hair, he realized with a grimace that he must be a mess. Giving a last look at the sleeping blonde, he moved towards the bathroom. A shower and a shave, apparently, would be the first order of the day–and a toothbrush, definitely a toothbrush, as well.

~~~~~

An odd buzzing sound penetrated Rose's sleep, dragging her towards wakefulness. Opening her eyes, she found herself in an empty bed, the space beside her cool to the touch. Light leaked from around the curtains and the bathroom door. The buzzing noise came again, and her sleep-fogged brain cleared enough to realize it was her phone. Dragging herself out of bed, she reached for her jacket draped over the chair. Fishing her phone out of the pocket, she answered it.

"'Lo?"

"And a good morning to you, sunshine. Sleep well?"

"Hey, Jack. Well enough, anyways." Rose stretched, glancing over to the bathroom where the sound of running water had just shut off.

"So how did that test drive go?"

Rose groaned, "Jaaaaack."

"Fine, fine, I'll stop. Listen, I was calling to see if you guys were ready to for me to swing by and pick you up to get something to eat and get started on the shopping expedition."

"You are going with us?" Rose was amused by the prospect.

"Hell, yes. It's not everyday you get to play dress up with a Time Lord, or even a part Time Lord."

At that moment, the Doctor stuck his head out the bathroom door, and Rose's heart skipped a beat. His hair was still damp from the shower, and he just had a towel slung around his hips. He gave her a questioning look.

"Rose, you still there?"

Blinking, she focused back on the conversation. "Yeah, Jack, give us about half an hour, maybe, and we should be good to go." The Doctor's expression cleared in understanding, and he ducked back into the bathroom.

"Alright, Rosie, but really, I think you should take more time to . . ."

"Jack!" Amused, Rose stopped him before he could go further. "I'm hanging up now; see you in a half hour."

"See you two then, doll."

Bemused, she hung up the phone and put it in the pocket of her jacket. As she did so, she heard some rather colorful swearing from inside the bathroom. With a chuckle, she padded towards that door to hopefully rescue the Doctor from whatever crisis he had managed to find in there.

~~~~~

After brunch, as they had managed to sleep in, Jack took them shopping. Rose had given him one of the packets last night to change into money. It would take time and care to exchange the full extent of what she had into cash, but they had plenty now to get them started. Shopping with Jack and this version of the Doctor was definitely an interesting experience. Jack had gone shopping with her before, back when they traveled with their first Doctor. So she already knew he had excellent taste. What surprised her was how the Doctor became so enthused about this project.

"No, no, that's not a good color for you; try this, and it's even on sale!" Both Rose and Jack were rather bemused by the selections he put in her arms, shooing her towards the dressing room. Actually, it seemed like the Doctor was surprised, himself, at his actions. Sometimes, she could see him stop in his tracks with a rather perplexed expression on his face. But he would shrug and carry on. At one point, she had to drag him away from an argument with a sales clerk about the price on a certain article of clothing.

The good thing about this was that he seemed to have a better grasp on money and bargain shopping. The downside was that he insulted over half of the sales clerks. The threat of Jack going into the changing rooms was enough to keep him from spending too long in there.

By the time they piled back into the black SUV, they were loaded down with bags and plenty of clothes. Jack smiled and twisted around in the driver's seat to look at them. "So what's next on the agenda for you two crazy kids?"

Rose smiled at him. "Jack, you don't have to spend all this time helping us."

He just shook his head. "Not a problem. I'm enjoying it, actually. It's nice to do some simple, normal things for a while."

She gave him a wry smile. "I know what you mean. I s'pose the next thing would be personal items we need to pick up–like shampoo and stuff. Eventually, we will have to figure out a place to live. The hotel is okay for a couple of nights, but we are going to need space for us and our little project."

With a sigh, she leant back against the seat, tipping her head back. "Not too domestic for you, Doctor?"

"Nope!" With a smile, he popped the p. "With you, it's not so bad."

Jack shook his head with a smile. "Alright, next stop, personal stuff. As for a place to live, we'll need to get your new identities set up first, anyways. So we can take a list of what you need and find options later for you to look at."

At the shop, it didn't take Rose long to find what she needed. However, the Doctor got stuck in the hair care section. They finally had to buy five different kinds of product for him to try out later. For some reason, the store employees didn't appreciate him wanting to try out the product in the store. "But Rooooose, how am I going to know what's going to work best? Some of these might be complete rubbish."

She just rolled her eyes, while trying not to laugh, "Rude." Rose gave him a shoulder bump as they moved towards the front of the store.

"That's me, rude and still not ginger. Why couldn't I have gotten that from Donna instead of only having one heart? Completely unfair, I tell you." Rose listened to his grousing with good humor.

"Could be worse." Rose smiled at him, the tip of her tongue sticking out in her smile.

"How could it be worse?" The Doctor eyed her as they carried the bags out to the vehicle.

"You could have gotten more Donna parts and less you parts." She carefully watched his expression, humor lacing her tone.

For a moment he was puzzled, and then a horrified expression slid over his face. "Oh, Rose Tyler, that's just cruel." Her laughter, though, was music to his ears.

When they piled into the SUV, Jack was on the phone, with a serious expression on his face. "They found what now?" He glanced back at the Doctor and Rose, who had quieted, looking at him. "Alright then, we'll go check it out." There was a slight pause, and then he smiled as he responded, "Oh, I think you will find they are a couple of experts."

"What's up, Jack?" the Doctor was the first to ask.

"Oh, nothing too major, just something we should check out." As he spoke, he started the SUV up, pulling out of the parking spot. In the distance, some strange lights flickered, and there seemed to be smoke rising.

Rose grinned and turned towards the Doctor. "I think they are playing our song. Care for a dance, Sir Doctor?"

He grinned back at her, "Oh yes, Dame Tyler."