Rose had woken up, unsurprised, to an empty bed. She sat up and smiled dumbly at her memories of the night before. She could almost still feel his cool hands on her bare arms, almost hear his double heart beat quickening in her ear. It had been so much more than she ever expected.
Now, it was time for adventure. She got up and quickly got ready. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she basically skipped down the hall to the kitchen where she expected to see the Doctor at the table as he was every morning. He wasn't there. Feeling a bit like she'd been stood up, but quickly shaking that off, she made both their cups just how they liked them. She walked to the console room, sipping from her mug with the Doctor's in her other hand. As she expected, he was in the grating, fiddling with something.
"Mornin'." Rose called as she entered. The sound startled the Doctor and he hit his head, cursing in another language that the TARDIS didn't translate.
"Oh, hello." He said, rubbing the back of his head. "Didn't hear you come in."
"I brought your tea." She handed him the mug, beaming. He looked at her part amused and part puzzled. "Wot? Why you lookin' at me like that?"
"You're never this chipper in the morning." He stated, like it was obvious. "I've learned to steer clear until after your first cuppa."
"Oi, I may not be a morning person, but I'm not that bad." She defended, still beaming at him. "Anyway, I wanted to ask, can I introduce where we're goin' to Adam?"
"Wotcha mean?"
"Well, you always know all about where we land and it just seems so, I dunno, smart and impressive when you do it. I wanna do it this time."
"As you wish, Rose Tyler." He pulled himself up from the grating and she and him put the cover back on.
He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about Adam. Maybe uneasy wasn't the right word, but the Doctor didn't dare say jealous. He wouldn't even entertain the idea. Jealous? Of a simple human ape? As if. And yet, the way Rose seemed to radiate excitement at the thought of showing Adam the universe made his blood boil.
He couldn't think like that, though. He was already on thin ice with himself for sleeping in her bed the night previous. He could not let himself get close to Rose like that, he was very strict about his relationships with his companions. Not that he'd had any problems like this before, far from it, he just knew he was supposed to be above it. So, in effort to not think anymore on Rose, he started messing about around the console, picking a place to go.
It didn't work very well, especially with her sitting on the jump seat watching him. He first thought Adam entering the room would help. He was also wrong about that. She answered every question he had with ease, explaining who the Doctor was and what they did. She talked and laughed and was she flirting?
Suddenly, a thought creeped into the back of his mind. She fancied this pretty boy. It would explain why she wanted to bring him along. Well, if she liked an ape like him, who was he to get in the way? It didn't bother him, not one bit. Clearly, that was a lie, but the Doctor was stubborn.
The second they landed, the Doctor bounded towards the door, Rose behind him and Adam behind her.
"Hold on," Rose stopped Adam right outside the door. "We gotta do an environmental check, so you stay put."
Adam just nodded excitedly. The Doctor and Rose squeezed out the door.
"Environmental check, clever." The Doctor praised quickly and she flashed him a smile as thanks. "So, it's 200,000, it's a spaceship... no, wait a minute, space station, and, er... Go and try that gate over there! Off you go."
"Thanks!" Rose then knocked on the TARDIS door. "Adam, out ya come!"
"Oh my god." He said, his eyes went wide as he tried to keep calm.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." She said kindly. He really didn't seem all that bad.
"Where are we?"
"Good question," started Rose, trying to sound like she was time traveling, intergalactic travel extraordinaire. "Judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year 200,000. And if you listen... engines. We're on some sorta space ship, probably space station by the looks of it. Bit warm in here, they could turn the heating down. Tell you wot, let's try that gate. C'mon!"
Both Adam and the Doctor were staring in wonder and amazement, but neither at the same thing. Adam couldn't believe he had actually traveled in time. The Doctor couldn't believe how in her element Rose had been.
The three of them walked through the gate and walked onto the observation deck.
"Here we go." Rose said, basking in the view of the earth down below. "I'll let the Doctor take it from here."
"The Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. And there it is. Planet Earth, at its height. Covered with mega-cities five moons, population 96 billion, the hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with man kind right in the middle."
Thud. There went Adam.
"He's your boyfriend."
"Not likely." Rose sighed, really hoping if he was coming along, Adam wouldn't do this every time. "C'mon, let's wake him."
Adam finally came round after a minute. Took another few to get him to get up. Finally, they were making their way to the main deck.
"Come on, Adam. Open your mind!" The Doctor said, wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders. "You're gonna like this fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture! Art! Politics! This era has got fine food, good manners, the works."
"Outta the way!" yelled a very cranky voice behind them, nearly knocking Rose off her feet.
An alarm sounded and people rushed about around them, all yelling loudly. Food stands suddenly opened around them and business started fast. Rose moved to the closest stand and started reading the menu.
"Fine cuisine, you said?" Rose teased.
"My watch must be wrong." He quickly looked down at his wrist watch. "No, its fine. Tha's weird."
"Maybe your history's not as good as you thought it was." Rose replied, almost like a question.
"My history's perfect." He said defensively.
"Then maybe it's somethin' else wrong, then." Rose suggested, trying not to seem like she knew anything.
"They're all human." Adam said. "What about the millions of planets, millions of species, where are all they?"
"Good question. Actually, that is a good question." There was a split second where the Doctor considered all this, then he put on a smile and wrapped his arm around Adam. "Adam, me old mate, you must be starving!"
"No, I'm just a bit timesick."
"Nah, you just need a bit of grub." The Doctor insisted. He was trying to get rid of him to investigate Rose recognized immediately. "Oi, mate! How much is a kronkburger?"
"Two credits twenty, sweetheart." the man in the stand informed him not entirely in a nice tone. "Now, join the queue."
"Money. We need money." He said, turning away from the man to Rose and Adam. "Have to use a cash point."
They followed the Doctor as he hurried over to a cash point and tapped it with his sonic screwdriver. A thin metal bar dropped out, and he handed it to Adam.
"There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets."
"Well, how does it work?" Adam asked as the Doctor started walking away.
"Go and find out, stop nagging me!" The Doctor cried, turning back around. "The thing is, Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook, you gotta throw yourself in. Wat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me?" Rose laughed while Adam just looked even more lost. "Stop asking questions, go and do it!"
Adam immediately hopped off, but Rose didn't follow. She wanted to keep an eye on Adam, but she also wanted to go with the Doctor.
"Off you go, then." The Doctor said, teasing. "Your first date."
"Oh, it is not." Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Once you find wot's wrong, you come find me, yeah?"
He just nodded. She jogged to catch up with Adam in the closest queue. When she turned back, the Doctor was already out of sight.
A/N: I have returned! Be warned, the next 4 chapters have not been reviewed by my beta, I just couldn't wait to post it any longer. Let me know what you think.