A/N: Wow! 41 reviews so far! Thank you all so much, I really appreciate your support.

Now, on to Step 4... xx

Chapter 4: Jealous Much?

Rose woke up slowly, and pulled her pillow over her face to try and mask her ferocious headache. She tried to work out if she was still in her mum's flat. She strained her ears, and vaguely recognised the familiar hum of the TARDIS between the throbs in her forehead. She groaned, the sound way too loud and echoey in her temples. Just for a moment, she wished she was back in the flat. Her mum had always been an expert with hangovers. Rose never knew what she fed her, but she was always as good as new by lunchtime. She knew the Doctor was a particularly caring soul, and had taken care of her every need when she'd sprained her ankle on an alien moon a few weeks ago. But he was also an advocate of 'no second chances,' and she guessed that he'd consider a hangover to be self-inflicted and therefore would offer no comfort.

So consider her amazement when she heard a loud rapping at her door, followed by the Time Lord's cheery voice: "Morning! I've got you some tea!"

Rose grumbled incoherently from under her pillow. Despite her grumpiness, she was glad he was there. He opened the door with a loud clatter, but Rose refused to take her pillow off her face.

"Thought you might need this." He perched on the edge of the bed with a bounce – and without spilling a single drop of the tea. "So where do you want to go today? I was thinking maybe 1776, watch the Declaration of Independence being signed."

He stopped as Rose threw her pillow behind her head, and leaned up on her elbows.

"You can only stay here if you're quiet," she whispered, her voice croaky and her eyes barely open. Her hair was knotted and frizzy, but at least she'd had the good sense to take her make up off before she fell into bed.

The Doctor smiled sympathetically, and lowered his voice. "Feeling rough?"

Rose impulsively took his question as a remark about her appearance, and immediately ran her fingertips under her eyes and smoothed down her hair. The Doctor saw her fussing, and tried to backtrack.

"No no no no no, I didn't mean you look... Rose, you always look... great."

Rose couldn't help smiling despite her headache. "Do I?"

The Doctor just smiled, and passed her the mug. She accepted it gratefully and held it to her lips, breathing in the warm steam. She took a small sip.

"What have you put in this?" she inquired, grimacing at the unexpected taste.

"Just a little pick-me-up. Drink it, you'll feel better."

Rose reluctantly took another sip. It tasted like a mix of every herbal tea she'd ever tasted. She shifted under her duvet, and the Doctor couldn't help but notice the skimpiness of her attire. She grinned when she saw him look away awkwardly: it wasn't as if she'd worn the lacy little nightie on purpose...

"Is something wrong, Doctor?"

He shook his head, trying not to catch her eye. "Nope, nothing wrong."

Rose finished her drink, and put the empty mug down on the bedside table. She felt her headache dissipating.

"Hmmm, that does feel better." She shuffled closer to the Doctor, and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Thank you, Doctor." She grinned at him, her warm breath brushing against his neck.

He managed nothing but a small whimper. She really knows how to torture me!

"I... um... okay, scrap 1776, I've got a good idea. Get up!" One more glance at her flimsy nightwear. "Get dressed." He left her room and shut the door behind him.

Rose giggled to herself, wrapping her arms around the soft duvet. She felt a little guilty: she really had gone overboard with The Test., but she wasn't the type of girl to leave a job half-finished. She headed over to her wardrobe.

Time for Step 4...

----

When Rose appeared in the control room the Doctor just stared.

She really must do this on purpose.

"Are you sure that's entirely... practical?" he managed to venture after several moments of awkward silence.

Rose looked down at her appearance. She'd chosen her simple outfit carefully: a fairly short black skirt with a white fitted shirt and black boots. Not her usual choice, but she felt that a special effort was needed for STEP 4: MAKE HIM JEALOUS.

"What's the matter, don't you like it?"

The Doctor took a moment to clear his throat. "Of course I do, it's... um... yeah. But I think it's a bit too much for today."

Rose sighed, resting her hands on her hips. "Why, where are we?"

The Doctor grinned, and ran over to the door, opening it wide so she could look out.

"The Gofforrian Racetrack!"

----

Rose had grinned excitedly to herself that morning while choosing her outfit. This'll get him looking, she'd thought. She'd even spent extra time doing her hair. But now she felt less than wonderful, wrapped up in the Doctor's long, brown coat, her breath hitting the cold air in front of her face like a cloud of smoke. Her dusty and slightly grimy surroundings made her wish the Doctor had left her in bed.

The Doctor, on the other hand, was loving the whole experience, grinning from ear to ear as he chatted to various passers by. Rose clung to his arm, trying not to fall over in her boots. They pushed their way through the crowd until their hands met with a metal railing. The Doctor leaned over it excitedly, peering over to the right. A whole line of shuttles of all shapes, sizes and materials were ready and waiting at the bottom of a vast, rattly ramp that ended abruptly about forty meters in the air.

"That's the start line," he explained. "All the shuttles head off at the same time, leaving the atmosphere and circling round the system before landing on the next planet along. It's an annual event, and people come from all over the galaxy to participate. Or just to watch."

But Rose was only half-listening. She'd spotted someone who could help her with Step 4: the pilot of the nearest shuttle was proudly polishing his ship, and smiling in her direction. He seemed fairly human in appearance: blond hair, green eyes, slightly muscular. Not Rose's type at all. But, she thought to herself, all's fair in love and war.

The Doctor was oblivious. "Wait here, I'm going to see if I can get a brochure." He disappeared into the crowd. And almost as soon as he had, the blond pilot ventured over. Rose smiled politely, feeling a bit awkward now that the Doctor wasn't actually there.

"Good luck with the race," she said.

The pilot beamed at her. "Thank you. Does that mean I have your...full support, Miss...?"

"Rose," she replied trying not to cringe at his cheesy comment.

A loud klaxon sounded, indicating that the pilots should take their starting positions. Blond Pilot, as Rose decided to call him, winked at her and headed back to his shuttle. Rose nearly gagged.

I don't think this guy would even have a chance with Jack!

She shifted in her boots, and suddenly noticed that the Doctor was back at her side. How long has he been there? By the look on his face, he'd been there long enough.

"What's he want?" he asked, not taking his eyes from his brochure.

Rose sighed, regretting the whole situation. "Just... asking if he had my 'full support'."

The Doctor gave a disdainful look. "Really?"

Rose couldn't help but smile at his face. "Yeah. Cheesy line, I know, but... he's a race-car driver."

"Race-shuttle driver."

"I wonder how fast he can drive?"

She didn't have to wait long for her answer, as the klaxon sounded again and with a deafening roar the whole amalgamation of shuttles shot from their starting positions, up the ramp, and off into the atmosphere in less than a second.

"Wow," Rose breathed. "Impressive."

Rose was referring to the race, but the Doctor understood her to mean the pilot. He felt something dark flutter in his chest. What could it be? Could it be... jealousy?

It was too much for him. With a set jaw and a determined face, he took Rose's hand and dragged her back to the TARDIS, the tails of his coat flapping around Rose's ankles.

----

"Well, what do you think?"

"Yeah, this is a lot better."

"Bet your pilot friend can't do this!"

The two of them were sat on the step of the TARDIS with the door wide open, their legs swinging over the edge into nothingness. Rose refused to let go of the door frame despite the Doctor's assurances that the TARDIS was protecting them and it was therefore impossible to fall out. Rose's eyes sparkled in awe as she saw yet another shuttle fly past them along the unmarked race track, 13,000 miles above the planet's atmosphere. She watched as a trail of almost sparkling dust was left in the shuttle's wake, and floated away in a nonchalant fashion. She squeezed the Doctor's arm and he grinned, every trace of jealousy now gone and replaced with pride of his wonderful ship.

"He's not got a time machine."

Rose giggled. "No one's got a time machine. Except for you."

"Except for us," he corrected, smiling down at her.

Rose grinned, then turned back to the race. Another shuttle was approaching.

"Oh look, there's Blond Pilot!" She laughed at the poor pilot's astonished face at seeing two people hanging out of a blue box in the middle of space. "Wave, Doctor!"

The Doctor chuckled, and they both waved cheesily at the confused blond.

Rose looked back at the Doctor and smiled.

Step 4: Make him jealous... I just can't do it to him. How could anyone else come close?

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A/N: Hope you liked Step 4. Next time Rose contacts Shareen for a little more advice.

Thanks for reading, please stop to leave a review! xx