Degrees and the Doctor

Thanks for all the reviews. I think it's very likely going to be weekly updates from now on but I'll write as fast as I can. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me

After the Doctor's departure, Rose spent the first hour or so making her new room feel more like home. She had brought a lot of her things up from the TARDIS and spread them around. Looking around, Rose felt she had done a good job. The room was a typical university bedroom, very similar to the ones she had seen in her friend's prospectuses back on Earth. The only differences really were that there was a screen on one of the walls that bulletined news across it and visual and audio messages could be sent directly to her. There were a few other hi-tech gadgets scattered around that Rose enjoyed playing with.

Suddenly a noise attracted her attention. She darted to the door and peered out to see what was going on. The first of her new hall mates appeared to be moving in two doors down. Feeling rather apprehensive, Rose moved quietly down the corridor in order to introduce herself.

"Hey, I'm Rose Tyler," she smiled, after knocking politely at the door, "I'm in the next but one room down."

The new student looked up from where she'd been putting clothes into her drawers and smiled. "Hi, I'm Jenico but I generally go by Jen."

Rose nodded and took a closer look at her new friend. She had a human body shape but her skin was entirely blue. Then, she realised where she had seen Jen's species before; they had been the attendants on Platform One all that time ago.

"Are you from Cres… Crespa…"

"Crespallion," said Jen, "Yeah, its part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, in Complex fifty-six. It took me quite a while to get here but I'm so glad I did!"

The girls laughed together.

"Are you from Earth then?" Jen asked, "You look human,"

"Yeah, I am," Rose replied, "Didn't have to come as far as you."

They laughed again until it was interrupted by the sound of another arrival. Grinning at one another, Rose and Jen ran to the door and looked out. There seemed to be a small crowd outside the room in-between both of theirs, made up of aliens with what appeared to be a cream coloured light coating of fur covering their bodies, beneath their clothes. They didn't have any hair and their heads seemed to be slightly larger than normal.

"Can I get through please?" requested a loud voice,

"Kall, can't you see we're kind of busy here!" said a slightly posh voice,

"I too would like to be busy if you would just let me through!" returned the original voice, in annoyance, before the crowd parted and a tall male alien of the same species as those in the crowd strode through.

"Afternoon," he said, catching sight of the staring girls, "Take it one of you is my new neighbour?"

"Yeah, that's me," replied Jen with a smile and introduced herself, "Good to meet you,"

"Likewise. The name's Kall in case you didn't hear the dulcet tones of Lavia down there," he said,

"Lavia?" asked Rose, suddenly,

"Yeah," Kall said, turning his intense blue gaze on her, "We come from the same planet- Piripi. We were in the same college and lovely Lavia likes to make herself known,"

"You don't sound like you like her very much," said Rose,

"Ask me that again in a weeks time and see if you like her," Kall smirked, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Rose," she answered, wondering if Kall knew about what she was doing here, "I'm in the room the other side of Lavia,"

"Ah right. So that's the four of us on this corridor," Kall said, "Should be an entertaining semester. Right, well, I suppose I better go and get moved in. See you later, ladies!"

"Bye Kall!" chorused Rose and Jen, watching as he fiddled with his key card and then disappeared into his room.

Jen sighed dreamily. "He is so cute!"

"Yeah," Rose agreed, "OK, I'm going to finish unpacking. Maybe we can go get a coffee or something in a bit?"

"I'd like that," Jen replied, "See you later then!"

Rose was lying on her bed, daydreaming, before a knock at the door broke her out of her stupor. She leant up on her elbows and beamed when she saw Jack standing in her doorway.

"Hey," she greeted,

"Hi Rose," he replied, entering the room and closing the door behind him so they could have some privacy, "I've got your papers,"

"Thanks," she replied, taking them and beginning to rifle through them, seeing her first day programme, general instructions and an example of the catered menu, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Jack said, coming and sitting down next to her, "I like your room,"

"Yeah," Rose shrugged, "Not as nice as my one on the TARDIS but it'll do. How's yours?"

"Not as nice as this!" her friend said, with a trace of bitterness in his tone, "I don't suppose us lowly janitors deserve as much luxury as you students."

Rose put her arms around him. "I wish you could've been a student too, Jack, but you know what the Doctor and Philip said,"

"Yeah, yeah," Jack grumbled, with a smile, "Being a janitor means I can search buildings without arousing suspicion, I know."

Rose smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "It's gonna be weird for all of us but it won't be long before we're outta here and going on crazy adventures again."

Jack looked at her in surprise. "I think the Doctor's rubbing off on you. You're becoming wise,"

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Rose laughed, before suddenly freezing, "Jack, am I seeing things or does this say I'm enrolled on the Physics course?"

He read the sheet that Rose was brandishing and grinned, "That's what it says, honey,"

"But I don't have the faintest clue about Physics!" Rose said,

"Look on the bright side; who's the Physic's lecturer?"

Rose thought for a second before a mischievous smile spread across her face. "Oh, this is gonna be so great!"

"Hey Rose, you coming for dinner?"

Rose looked up from her book to see Jen and Kall standing outside her door.

"Sure," she agreed, bounding up and over to them, "Oh, hi."

She smiled at Lavia who didn't return her smile. She refused to let that faze her however. "You're Lavia, right? I'm Rose,"

"Hello," Lavia finally muttered,

"Right, we going to find some food then?" asked Kall, cheerfully, "I'm starving!"

The quartet moved down the corridor and found the escalator going down. They jumped off at the bottom and looked around.

"OK, which way to the canteen?" asked Jen, to the world at large, "Did anyone bring their map?"

A chorus of no's greeted her ears and she sighed. "Alright, let's try… this way!"

They quickly walked down the deserted corridor, constantly looking for a sign but finding none.

"I think we're lost," said Kall, at last,

"Typical," Lavia sniffed,

"No, wait, there's somebody!" Jen cried.

Rose looked and her heart leapt as she realised it was the Doctor.

"Excuse me, sir," she said, brazenly when they reached him, "Can you tell us where the canteen is?"

Their eyes met and he grinned. "Sure, I'm on my way there now. Come on." He began walking in the opposite direction to which they had come. "So undergrads then? I'm Doctor John Smith by the way…" He caught Rose rolling her eyes from where she was walking next to him. "What are your names?"

"Kall,"

"Jenico, but I prefer to be called Jen,"

"Rose,"

"Lavia," said the third girl,

"Nice to meet you all," the Doctor said, glancing at Rose and raising an eyebrow slightly. She smiled at him and nodded quickly. "What courses are you taking?"

"Physics," grinned Rose, her tongue poking between her teeth. The Doctor winked and grinned,

"We all are," contributed Jen. They had discovered this earlier in the day and apart from Lavia, they had fallen about laughing. It was very rare that students studying the same course live together. It was normally mixed up. "You're the Physics lecturer, aren't you?"

"Yup," he answered as they turned a corner and entered the noisy canteen, "I look forward to seeing you in my classes then."

The four students nodded and bid him goodbye as he walked off, briefly brushing Rose's hand with his own as he passed, almost as if by accident. But Rose knew it wasn't an accident.

"C'mon," she smiled happily, "Let's go see how good the food is!"

Rose shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her as she tiptoed down the dim corridor. It was just past two o'clock in the morning and try as she might, she couldn't get to sleep. Giving it up as a bad job, she had quickly gotten dressed and snuck out of the room. She quietly tapped at the door she had come to and waited for a few moments until it was opened. She gazed pleadingly at the unsurprised face of her lover, who let her in without a word, firmly closed the door and then pulled her into a warm embrace.

"Rose, you shouldn't be here," he whispered, brushing her hair away from her face,

"I couldn't sleep," she replied honestly, "And I wanted to talk to you,"

"Couldn't you have picked up the 'phone?"

"Wanted to see you too," said Rose, snuggling closer to him, "Don't make it sound like you don't want to see me!"

"Of course I want to see you. If I had my way, you'd never leave my presence," said the Doctor, framing her face with his hands and kissing her, "We just have to be careful. Philip is the only one who knows of our relationship and we don't want to put him in an awkward position if we get caught,"

"I know," Rose sighed, "I'm sorry,"

"It's OK, my love," he replied, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh yeah." Rose broke away from their embrace and went and sat on his bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. "This Physics things worrying me. I don't know very much about it so how am I supposed to actually do a university course in it?"

"I'll help you," replied the Doctor, "We'll get through it somehow. Plus, you won't actually be taking the degree anyway. Chin up!"

Rose smiled tiredly at him as he cupped her chin.

"So, what are your friends like?" he asked, sitting down next to her,

"Jen and Kall are a laugh. We're getting on really well. But Lavia…" She sighed deeply. "Lavia's not really that nice and she won't be friendly which might be a problem if I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on her,"

"Maybe she's just homesick or shy," suggested the Doctor, "Give her time to adjust and maybe she'll open up,"

"Maybe," said Rose but doubting it, "I'll try my best to get through to her though,"

"That's my girl," said the Doctor.

Rose suddenly yawned widely and her head fell onto his shoulder. "Suppose I better be getting back to my room," she mumbled,

"D'ya wanna stay here tonight?" the Doctor asked, "Just tonight though. We can't do it too often,"

"I haven't got my pyjamas though," she said, holding firmly onto his hand as he pulled her upright,

"Well you're not sleeping naked in my bed. Neither of us will get any sleep!"

Rose giggled and watched as he glanced around the room before quickly shrugging off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt before handing it over. "Here you are, wear this."

She nodded and quickly stripped down to her underwear before putting on his shirt. The Doctor watched appreciatively in between getting ready for bed himself. He then pulled back his duvet and gestured to Rose to get in first. She did so whilst bringing the cuffs of his shirt up to her nose and inhaling.

"Mmm, smells of you. I could sniff this all day."

The Doctor grinned and slid into the single bed, spooning up behind her. He entangled their feet and put his arms around her.

"Night Doctor," he heard her sigh sleepily.

He kissed her neck before bidding her a goodnight and closing his eyes.

"Doctor?"

"Mmm?" he questioned, reopening one eye,

"I can't believe you used the name Doctor John Smith yet again!"

The Doctor chuckled.

Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received