Yay, more fluff! It's really my favourite thing to write, as fun as it is to write angst I prefer to write sweet little happy things. Although, most of my angsty things end up happy in the end anyway, so it's all good really. Anyway, I'm babbling.
"On your marks, get set...GO!"
Rose walked into the kitchen to see the Doctor sitting at the kitchen table, with Tony sitting on the table opposite him. It wasn't so much the fact that Tony was rather precariously perched on the tabletop that made Rose raise her eyebrows in combined amusement and exasperation, as the fact that they appeared to be having a competition to see who could eat a banana the fastest.
"Doctor, is that exactly sensible?"
Both the Doctor and Tony turned to her in one movement, hands and faces frozen in the act of attempting to ingest what Rose deemed to be too much banana at once.
"Bu' 'ose," the Doctor struggled to force out the words, "'anana's a' goo'!"
"As good as they may be, I will not have you choking my brother and yourself." Rose sighed. "You're more of a child than he is most of the time."
Tony swallowed the last of his banana and laughed, pointing a chubby finger at the Doctor in delight. "You're like me! How old are you Doctor, three or four?"
Rose smirked, glad that her brother was also taking the Doctor down a peg or two – it was those Tyler genes, she was certain of it. The Doctor, for his part, simply swallowed his mouthful of banana and prodded Tony in the chest with one finger. "Oi, none of that, or do you want me to take the Cat in the Hat and chuck him out of the window?"
Tony drummed his sticky fists on the table and thought about that for a moment before saying confidently: "you can't throw it out of the window."
"Oh, can't I?" asked the Doctor, raising one eyebrow evilly. Rose loved the way he treated Tony like an adult – she could see how much Tony adored being with the Doctor, simply because he and the Doctor were equals rather than an adult and a child. There was no being patronising or condescending where the Doctor was concerned.
"No you can't."
The Doctor moved forward until he was face to face with Tony, narrowing his eyes. "And why not, Tony Tyler?"
"Because you love the Cat in the Hat and you would be sad if you threw him away." Tony smiled at the Doctor almost smugly, and Rose stifled a snort of laughter at his next comment. "Also, Rose would get you." He looked over at her with a pleading expression in his brown eyes and Rose's heart melted. "Wouldn't you, Rose?"
"You bet I would," agreed Rose, glaring at the Doctor. "Don't you dare think about throwing it out the window, or you'll be dealing with me!"
Tony turned to the Doctor, and there was no doubt this time that his expression was definitely smug. "So there," he said, before sticking out his tongue. Rose was aware that her mum was trying to stop Tony from doing that, but the fact was that she was loving every moment of this exchange and would not interrupt it to scold Tony for something that she did a lot, especially where the Doctor was concerned.
The Doctor's eyes flickered between Rose and Tony, and he sighed, slumping back in his chair. "OK, I give in. You and your bodyguard," he gestured towards Rose who was standing with a hand on her hip, an eyebrow raised, "have defeated me. Victory banana?" He plucked a yellow fruit off of the bunch on the table and proffered it to Tony.
"No thanks," Tony declared, batting the fruit away, "if I eat too many of those I might be like you!"
Rose laughed very loudly at this, taking in the Doctor's insulted yet undeniably amused expression with delight before plucking Tony from the kitchen table and whirling him around, not minding the sticky, banana covered hands that clutched around her neck. Tony was still giggling, but his giggles quickly made way for a yawn and Rose thought it was probably time for his nap. About time too, he and the Doctor had been causing havoc for most of the day, not even a child who had eaten an unhealthy amount of bananas could have enough energy to keep going for much longer.
Rose quickly picked up a cloth and wiped Tony's sticky hands and face, watching fondly as his eyelids began to droop. He snuggled close to her, burying his face in her neck and beginning to breathe deeply. It often astounded Rose how he could go from manic excitement to complete calm in a matter of seconds. Not unlike someone else she knew.
The Doctor himself had cleaned up the remnants of squished banana and banana skin from the table and was watching Rose gently holding Tony in her arms. As Rose looked up at the Doctor, she caught an unfamiliar expression flicker across his face, but it was gone before she could pinpoint exactly what it was. Suddenly feeling awkward with no idea why, she mouthed to the Doctor that she was going to put Tony down to sleep and took him over to the corner of the lounge, lying him down in the small cot that her mum had brought over once before when Rose had babysat and never taken home. She smiled at Tony's sleeping face, pulling a blanket over him and walking away, flopping down on the sofa.
She let her head fall back and closed her eyes, enjoying the peace and quiet that was only broken by the slow breathing of the toddler asleep in the corner. She felt the sofa cushion move beside her but didn't open her eyes. Rose could feel the Doctor next to her, the heat and presence of his body as tangible to her as though she were actually touching him.
"So," the Doctor said, and Rose was suddenly aware that the awkwardness she had felt in the kitchen was still there, bubbling underneath the Doctor's skin, evident in the tension she could feel rolling off his body in waves.
Rose waited for the rest of the Doctor's sentence. It didn't come.
"Doctor," she replied without opening her eyes, "the idea of you starting a sentence and not finishing it is, quite frankly, slightly unnerving. Normally you'd have finished about 7 sentences in the time it's taken you to say one word, so I'm suggesting you actually spit out what you want to say pronto, before I have to beat it out of you." Her tone was relaxed, with a bit of the dry wit that Rose was sure she had absorbed from the Doctor's previous regeneration.
She had expected to at least feel the Doctor laughing next to her, even if she didn't hear him, but from what she could feel he had not moved a muscle, and Rose felt tension knot in her stomach at the thought of the Doctor being silent and unmoving. That never meant things were going well.
Rose opened one eye, squinting sideways at the Doctor. He was looking at his hands, twining his long fingers together. Something in the action made Rose ache somewhere inside – she felt like it should be her hand that was joined with his, the idea that he had no-one's hand to hold but his own seemed fundamentally wrong. Rose reached out to try and hold one of his hands, but froze when she felt him move away from her touch.
She yanked back her hand as if it had been scorched, staring at the Doctor with wide open eyes that she was certain showed all the shock and hurt that she was feeling. Whatever was wrong with the Doctor, Rose would never have thought that he would feel bad enough to deliberately refuse to hold her hand.
"Tell me," she blurted out before her brain could catch up with her mouth, "tell me right now."
"What?"
"Don't be stupid. Tell me what the hell is wrong with you right this second, or I swear I will grab a frying pan and whack you on the head with it until you do."
The right side of the Doctor's mouth curled into a half smile at this. "Needless violence, Rose, you know I don't like it."
"It's not needless." Rose could feel her hands beginning to tremble, anger and confusion and hurt stopping her from thinking straight. "If anyone needed a bit of violence to stop them being a prat it's you, so either tell me or I will hit you. Hard."
Get ready for the angst, I've nearly finished the next chapter so it should be up tomorrow, that is, if I manage to get any sleep. Please enjoy and review if the urge takes you - allons-y!
