DISCLAIMER: It's getting harder and harder to be witty here – so, as a result, let's skip to the story. Don't own much, if anything.
Rose unlocked the door to the TARDIS and pushed everyone inside. Jackie, having seen the interior, was not shocked, but the boys were so fascinated that they froze on the spot. Dominic giggled a little and ran to the console. Rose watched in fascination as it lit up in patterns and had to make a huge effort to keep the child from punching buttons and pulling levers. "Dominic Chronos! Hands off!"
He inclined his head in her direction. "But, Mummy, she said to!" He protested, climbing into the jumpseat, his feet propped beside him, arms crossed on chest.
Lowell stood close to his mother, not as much the daredevil as his nephew.
"Mum, you can go and get bunked down if you want. I'm sure the TARDIS has made a room for you by now." Rose offered, wiggling her hand at her little brother for him to take it.
"That would be great, Rose." Her mother sighed, "And then maybe we can have tea, yeah?"
"Sure." Rose began to lead them from the control room. "Dominic, don't move. Stay right there. The Doctor will be here in a minute. I mean it. No moving, mister."
The boy smiled at her then, very much like the man she had met oh-so-many years ago. She was glad when he was born that he had not had those ears, but this smile was something new. Something about seeing him sitting in that old Jumpseat made her heart leap a little, made this all a little more real. "I won't."
Just then, the Doctor burst - for lack of a better description – into the console room, Mickey Smith trailing behind him. "Dom Dom Dom-mer! How are things over at the ole Jumpseat?" He went to stand beside his son, standing with purpose.
The boy giggled again, and the Doctor mussed his hair before letting the boy do the same to him. "Now, Mickey, we're up against something that we are going to need a little more firepower for. Hold on for adventure!" He pointed to a lever and Dominic pulled it, squealing. Mickey grabbed for anything to make him stop lurching about, finally reaching the console for support.
Meanwhile, Rose and her mother were searching for the room that the TARDIS had created for Jackie when Rose heard the TARDIS making a small purring noise somewhere deep in her mind. "So, is he letting Dominic pilot now?" Rose thought, rather amusingly.
The ship responded by opening the door to the room they were looking for. Jackie gasped at the sight before her. The room was big, and plush! Everything Jackie had even joked about finding in her dream room was in there. There was even a separate bathroom with a garden tub. She quickly took back all the things she said about the Doctor and brought Lowell into the room. "This is wonderful, Rose! Tell the Doctor we said thank you! I think we're just going to get settled in. Let me know if anything important happens."
"Sure thing, Mum." Rose bent to give her brother a kiss on the head and leaned in to hug her mother before going back into the hallway.
Rose headed back toward the console room, hearing the laughter there getting louder and louder. When she got there, she was forced to hold back a laugh. The Doctor was running around, pointing and explaining everything about how the TARDIS worked - sometimes using Gallifreyan she noticed. Dominic was gleefully pulling levers and punching buttons. Mickey was gripping random parts of the console in an attempt to hold on – to no avail. She was content to just let them bond until the Doctor handed Dominic the mallet that he kept hanging to "fix the TARDIS". Rose stepped in and took the implement in one fluid movement, which surprised both father and son. She was met with identical stares stating their displeasure.
Rose was forced at that very moment to look at how similar they were. Same ruff of hair, same way of standing, and that look in their eyes – it was if she had merely put the man before her on a copy machine and hit the "reduce" button. There were times when he looked so much like the other doctor she had known though, the one that took her hand and told her to run. And, at other times, like the one time last winter when she had bundled him tightly in her scarf, she had seen something else in boy, an other-worldliness that she had no words with which to describe.
"Rose!" The Doctor called, snapping out of her out of her thoughts. "We're going to land, you may want to hold onto something," he regarded the child clinging to his leg now. "Seems Dom already figured that out…"
Mickey was pale as he grabbed one of the supports in the console room and clamped his eyes shut. "I hate this part!"
As the TARDIS materialized in the alley in Cardiff, the Doctor called ahead to his old friend, Captain Jack Harkness. "Jack! I need you – Cardiff needs you! Rose needs you…" He spoke into the cell he was holding without letting the man on the other end answer.
Shorter chapter, I realize, but it feels like a good stopping point. Have no fear, there will be more today…else the roommate will be cornering me and asking all kinds of questions…one of those being – Susan! Where has all the hazelnut creamer gone? – a la Captain Jack Sparrow – Susan! You are using up the internets!