Chapter Twenty-Nine
It took a while to get everyone stitched back together: Jack's injury was severe enough in the light of the sickbay that even the Doctor looked concerned. Zoe was able to wash the slime off under a pressure shower that nearly stripped the flesh from her bones before she got the dial at the right number, but she was still numb when she emerged thirty minutes later with bruising beginning to purple her skin. Rose's gash was easy enough to heal and all of them were in general good spirits after dealing with the Zygons. Once they were they rested, fed, and showered though, the Doctor told them that he was taking them somewhere special and wouldn't answer any questions as he inputted the coordinates and flew them there with a surprising lack of bouncing around.
Nibiru: a planet renowned for its beaches and resort-like atmosphere that was perfect for rest, relaxation, and, if so inclined, sexual activities.
The Doctor gave none of them the opportunity to ask questions or protest the decision if they wanted to, which no one did when they saw the old, tattered brochures that their tour guide and designated driver pressed into their hands. He gathered his friends up and politely, but firmly, kicked them out of the TARDIS with credit sticks and a warning not to get into too much trouble whilst he told them that he would be doing some maintenance work on the TARDIS. In the aftermath of her ill-treatment by the Zygons, Zoe resented his stern command to Jack and Rose to take care of her and she threw him the finger before stomping off. Her dramatic exit was sadly ruined when he called after her to tell her she was going the wrong way.
The Doctor proceeded to spend two weeks cleaning out the TARDIS scanners and recalibrating everything he had put off for years. He hadn't been in the right frame of mind after the Time War to do anything more than the most basic maintenance on his girl, but he was feeling much better ever since he'd met Rose Tyler in the basement of her workplace and been thrown into her family life. He hummed as he worked, enjoying getting his hands dirty in his ship's innards, bopping his head along to Zoe's collection of cheesy pop music: she had exactly zero taste in music, with the sole exception of her love for Queen, but the music she did listen to was catchy and he found himself singing along to Kelly Clarkson without realising it. The only thing that he found he was missing as he stripped the TARDIS circuits down and cleaned them with an old toothbrush was his friends. He wouldn't have minded their company as he worked.
However, even he was self-aware enough to realise that the maintenance he was conducting was boring even to Jack, who loved tinkering in the TARDIS and flirting with her as he did so; he was still upset that his ship liked the flirtation. So, he let his friends roam free out from under his watchful eye on Nibiru, happy to listen to the stories they brought back to the dinner table each night as they progressively grew browner and browner from their time spent out under the hot sun.
For Jack, Rose, and Zoe, it was fun to explore the planet. Normally they didn't get more than a couple of days in each destination, and sometimes not even that, so it felt like a proper holiday to have a seemingly indefinite time to explore. After the first four days of exploring the city, drinking in bars, meeting new people, and getting into the usual trouble that tourists did, the three of them took a short break to the revered coastal resort of Ishtaf. There they frolicked on the black sandy beaches, drank a lot of fruity cocktails that had a tendency to burst into flame when they touched the tongue, and to watch Jack flirt with everyone who crossed his eyeline. Zoe was often left on her own during those evenings away, as both Jack and Rose found people to spend the night with: at first they felt guilty, but she waved off their concerns as she had her books and she was happy with her own company.
It was whilst in Ishtaf that Zoe heard of a dance festival that she thought would interest Jack and Rose. Upon their return to the TARDIS a day later, she checked the database and told them that the dance festival happened once every 100 years on Nibiru and it drew people from all over the galaxy. It was all she needed to tell them before they started making preparations to go. Zoe wouldn't go with them, much to their disappointment, but she couldn't think of anything worse that she would want to do with her time. It sounded like it would be loud and full of happy, drunk people: Perfect for Jack and Rose who loved nightclubs, and dancing, and being surrounded by people all having fun, but it just sounded exhausting for Zoe.
Not that it stopped her getting in on the fun of preparation.
In one of her therapy sessions over the past month, Yatta suggested finding a hobby because apparently reading didn't count if it was something she already did. Zoe wasn't sure about that logic but Yatta hadn't led her wrong and so she looked for something that she could focus on if she was feeling overwhelmed. Inspired by Rose's art, but unable to reproduce it, she looked for something creative to do, and it was Jack who gave her an unexpected nudge in the right direction when she walked in on him doing Rose's make-up one evening. She asked him to teach her and, despite not wearing make-up frequently and having to learn as she went along, she got quite good at it thanks to his patience and a plethora of YouTube tutorials.
Jack was always willing to be a living dummy for her to work on, and he had the most amazing skin to work with: smooth, unmarred, even coloured, and oddly symmetrical, which made it easier for her to learn. Rose normally kept them company, curling up on Zoe's bed, laughing and encouraging her to try bigger and brighter things. Having followed the sound of their laughter late one night some weeks ago, and discovering what they were doing without him, even the Doctor let her apply make-up to him.
He did chase Rose around the console room to try and get the picture she took of him back though.
"Oh my god!" Zoe exclaimed on the night of the dance festival when she turned around to pick up some more glitter; she threw her hands over her eyes but it was already too late as the sight of Jack's penis had seared itself into her mind. "Jack, clothes! We have rules for a reason!"
"Oops, sorry, Zo." He apologised good-naturedly, grabbing a towel from the back of a chair and wrapping it around his waist. "Forgot you were here."
"Are you decent?" She asked in a pained voice.
"Never."
"He's decent." Rose said with a laugh. "You can look now."
Tentatively, Zoe lowered her hands and peeked at Jack.
Decent was not an adjective that many people would choose to use to describe Captain Jack Harkness, but he was, at least, covering the parts of him she had no desire to see. She thought about asking why he walked around Rose's room naked but she wasn't sure she actually wanted to know. The two of them got on like a house on fire and when they found something funny, it was impossible to get them to stop laughing. They sparked off each other and would get into the strangest of trouble: the Doctor once had to bail them out of a prison cell on Reylar after they'd been arrested for disturbing the peace. In that case, they'd been singing Spice Girls loudly at the top of their voices and it was considered an affront to the good citizens of Reylar. The Doctor was not impressed when he paid the fine to get them out, and had given them a stern lecture about behaving properly on a planet they needed to come to for Zoe's therapy.
The next week, they started singing S Club 7.
The Doctor threatened to lock them in the TARDIS if they didn't behave.
His jumpers went missing shortly after.
Zoe's relationship with Jack was different: he was kind and brotherly to her. He was an excellent listener and very intelligent, not Doctor level but smarter than anyone else she knew, and he was able to help her find the right books to help her understand the Fourth Dimension: he was also able to explain it in a way that didn't make her feel like an idiot. The Doctor once called her an undercooked potato when she struggled to understand an theory she'd asked for clarification on. Jack just broke it down into pieces for her and told her she was a baked potato with extra butter, which she thought was kind.
There was only one thing that she wanted to change about Jack and that was his propensity for nudity. According to the Doctor, nudity was so common in the 51st century that there were no social hang ups about it: clothing was optional in a number of public spaces with the exception of government buildings for employees. Most chose to wear clothes due to the changing weather, but at least 10% of the population in Earth went about their daily lives completely nude. The context was important to understand why Jack occasionally wandered about the TARDIS naked. The first time Zoe had run into him when he was naked, she literally ran into him. She'd emerged from the library, pleased with her find, and walked straight into him.
After laughing at her horror, the Doctor spoke to Jack and suggested that since he was travelling with two women from the 21st century, he might find an easier way to break them into the norms of the 51st century. Jack was an easy-going man and generally remembered to throw boxers on, particularly if he suspected Zoe might be about, but he did occasionally forget. While Zoe was horrified, Rose had absolutely no problems appreciating Jack's naked form and it made Zoe wonder about her sister and she whether were actually related.
Then again, Jackie Tyler would have loved having a man like Jack walk around the flat naked, so maybe Zoe was the changeling child.
"You want me to do your make-up?" She offered, her face still burning from an unexpected penis sighting but she was trying hard to be as accepting of Jack's culture as he was of hers because the Doctor told her it had to go both ways and she refused to be closed minded.
"Yes, please." Jack said, sliding into the seat that Rose, face perfectly made up, vacated in front of her. "I'm thinking big, I'm thinking bright, and I'm thinking sparkly."
"To match your personality then." She teased, tugging on his ears and he gave her an upside down grin.
"What do you think of this?" Rose asked, holding a short red dress up against her dressing gown clad body.
Both Zoe and Jack looked over with identical expressions of critical thoughts on their faces.
"You'll sweat until you're dehydrated in that material." Jack told her.
"You sure you want to wear a dress?" Zoe asked, smoothing moisturiser over his perfect skin to create an even base. "All that dancing and your thighs'll chafe all to hell."
Rose pulled a face. "Good point. Okay then...this?"
She held up a sparkling pant suit and they nixed the idea. They went through a series of outfits as Zoe applied Jack's make-up - big, bright, and sparkly just as requested - before Rose decided on a short, sequinned black dress with a low cleavage. Jack promised her he had some spray that would make sure chafing didn't happen, and Rose slid into the dress, as unconcerned with her nudity as Jack was with his, but at least Zoe was used to her sister's naked body. Zoe was putting the finishing touches onto Jack's eye make-up, her tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on getting the right sharpness to the wings, when the Doctor walked in with a perfunctory knock.
"Done!" He declared triumphantly. "Everything is fully functional and we can -" he stopped talking and took in the state of Rose's room. "Are you going somewhere?"
"There's a dance festival tonight." Rose told him, trying to decide on a pair of shoes that matched the outfit but would also be comfortable for the night's festivities. She held up a pair of sparkly slip ons. "What do you think?"
"Too much black." The Doctor said absently. "But I'm done. We can go."
"Sorry, Doctor." Jack said. "Rosie and I are off dancing tonight. You wouldn't want all of Zoe's hard work to go to waste, would you?"
He turned his head and fluttered his beautifully made up eyes at the Doctor. Both Jack and Rose knew that the quickest way to get the Doctor to agree to something was to incite the power of Zoe: he was widely accepted as a soft touch when it came to her. His reluctance left him to be replaced with resignation. He dropped down onto Rose's bed and unearthed a pair of white sparkly slip ons to hand to Rose as they would better compliment her outfit.
"But what am I going to do?" The Doctor asked with a pout shadowing his mouth.
"You can spend time with me." Zoe suggested, putting the make-up away neatly in the case Jack had picked up for her on Reylar shortly before his second arrest.
He visibly perked up. "You're not going?"
"Have I ever given you the impression I'd enjoy a dance festival?" She asked, amused as she moved back from Jack so he could stand up and put on the rest of his clothes, such as they were. "I was planning to stay home and finish my book, but I might be persuaded to do something else. As long as there's food involved; I'm feeling a little peckish."
"There's a literary festival in the 34th century that you'll enjoy." The Doctor said thoughtfully. "Been meaning to take you for a while actually, and if I recall, there's a really nice Japanese restaurant close to it."
"Woah, wait just a second." Rose said, pulling back from the mirror where she was putting the finishing touches to her hair. "You're going to leave us here?"
"I'll come back for you in the morning."
"Will it be the right morning?" She asked dubiously and Zoe snorted at the look on the Doctor's face.
"Getting naked!" Jack called considerately over his shoulder and Zoe was the only one who clapped her hand over her eyes.
"You know, your case was a one-off." The Doctor told her. "I don't make it a habit to go around running late. Besides, the TARDIS is running perfectly now thanks to my underappreciated hard work. You won't even know we're gone."
Rose looked doubtful and, sensing her mood, Zoe waved to get her attention. "I'll make sure he comes back on time. Promise. I'll make him triple check everything."
"Decent!" Jack declared and she peeked through her fingers. He was wearing clothes and looking extremely handsome whilst doing so. "Relax, Rosie. Even if he does get the date wrong, I've got my Vortex Manipulator. We won't be stuck."
Rose looked a bit more comfortable with that reassurance. The Doctor just looked offended.
"You two ready?" Zoe asked, cutting in to forestall an argument. "Got your money sticks? Got your phones?"
"Yes, and yes." Jack replied, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "Thanks, Zo."
"Have fun." She beamed up at him. "Have sex with lots of people."
"Thanks, I will." He said, pleased at her encouragement. "I'll keep an eye on Rose too. Don't you fret."
He booped her nose and Rose hugged her. "Have fun at your book festival, you nerd."
Zoe just flipped her off with a grin and all four of them left Rose's bedroom in a state of explosive disarray. She watched them leave the TARDIS, hand in hand and bouncing excitedly towards the sight of the festival, the setting sun framing them with golden light. With the doors open, the noise was already beginning to rise high up into the air and sweep across the land. She shut the door on the noise and turned around to look expectantly at the Doctor.
"Literary festival, you say?"
Delighted to have her to himself, he threw a lever on the control panel and enjoyed the expression of excited expectation on her face.
They landed on a sunny day and Zoe skipped back into the TARDIS to change into something more appropriate for summer weather: the leggings and T-shirt she wore to lounge around the TARDIS in wasn't really appropriate for the outside worlds. She re-emerged in a pretty sundress, using some of Jack's thigh spray that was left on Rose's bed, and she rubbed some sun cream into the back of her neck, sunglasses propped on the top of her head. Her hair was growing back in nicely and Jack had taught her a few style tricks for her shorter crop that she liked. She stopped at the sight of the Doctor and stared.
"You're not taking your jacket?" Zoe asked, surprised.
"It looks a little hot." The Doctor said. "And I didn't want to listen to you nagging all day."
"I don't nag." She said and he opened his mouth to argue the point but she cut him off. "You look nice. Almost like a real bloke."
"Oi!" He protested, corners of his mouth tugging up into a smile. "I am a real bloke."
"If you keep saying it, one day it might come true." She said with her mouth turning up at the corners, and she held out her hand, wriggling her fingers at him as though he would say no to holding her offering. They left the TARDIS and she breathed in deep before looking surprised. "Is this Earth?"
"Yep."
"Oh my god, I thought we were going to another planet." She laughed, putting her sunglasses down over her eyes. "This is so weird. Earth in the future."
"You've spent time in Earth's future before." The Doctor said, leading her out of the field he'd parked the TARDIS in. He put his hands around her waist and lifted her over a turnstile to save her climbing it. "Utah and France."
"Utah was 2012," she said as though the near future didn't count, "and we spent most of that time running from a Dalek. I didn't actually get to see any of the future then. I'll give you France though." Their fingers intertwined again. "It's just weird. It kind of feels like another world but not, because certain things are similar, like the sky, and the air. It smells the same, you know?"
"Less pollution in this century." He replied, enjoying her observations. "It really smells the same to you?"
"I think so." She said. "Or maybe I'm just tricking my mind into thinking it does. It just...it smells like home."
"London does not smell like this." The Doctor said. "This is fresh air. London is the exact opposite."
"It's not that bad."
"I have actually been in rubbish dumps that smelt better than London."
"For someone who seems set against London so much, you sure do spend a lot of your time there." Zoe said teasingly. "Do you think if you landed in Jakarta, Indonesia when you first arrived on Earth things would have been different?"
"That I would have spent all my time there instead?" He questioned and she nodded. "Maybe, maybe not. It was the sixties and neither Susan nor I could have blended in well there. At the time, I was more conscious of not letting the locals know we were aliens."
"How times change." She chuckled. "How long did that last?"
"About three months." He confessed. "And then Barbara and Ian just walked into the TARDIS and the game was up."
"I still can't believe you didn't think about locking the door." She shook her head. "Alien lands on Earth with his big old spaceship and he doesn't even consider locking the door."
"I didn't think humans would just walk in." He protested and she grinned at his exasperated, fond tone. "I know better now!"
"Didn't Tegan also just walk straight into the TARDIS?"
"Not the point." The Doctor told her and she laughed, warm and bright. "Remind me to stop telling you things."
"Never." She smiled up at him. "I like it when you tell me things."
He felt absurdly pleased at that and he felt his ears start to warm. To distract himself from the feeling growing in his stomach, he started to point out landmarks to her. The literary festival was taking place in Poland that year and, never having been to Poland in her own time, Zoe was interested in the history he was telling her. Despite her teasing to the contrary, she enjoyed it when he played tour guide as he knew lots about everything and nothing. She was considering asking him to take them to Poland in her time for a short weekend break when they turned the corner and walked into the entrance of the literary festival without any warning.
There must have been a sound dampening field over the festival because they passed under an archway of books and it was as though their ears popped: a roar of noise hit them like a wave and it took a moment for Zoe to adjust. When she did, she looked around in delight: rows upon rows of beautiful market stalls were filled with books. The shops along the streets had been temporarily converted to hold books instead of their usual wears; people were dressed up as their favourite characters and she was thrilled to recognise a lot of the characters from Harry Potter amongst the crowd; its appeal apparently enduring well after its time. There was a faint smell of the food stalls that were dotted about and Zoe rose up onto her toes to try and peer through the masses.
She dragged the Doctor into the crowd of people, excitement and curiosity pushing her along the smooth streets.
"I'm a little surprised." She said some time later, carrying a bag of purchased books in one hand. "Given all the technology available in this century, I wouldn't have thought that people still read physical books. I would have assumed that e-books were the way to go."
"There's a good market for them," the Doctor replied, "but most people still prefer the comfort of a physical copy."
"What about on Gallifrey?" She asked, distracted by a stall of brightly covered books and she pulled him towards them.
"Oh, physical books all the way." He said, finding her occasional mentions of his home less painful over time: a pain shared was a pain lessened he discovered. "Academic articles and textbooks were usually electronic but they always had a physical copy as well. There was a move to go fully electronic when I was a child. I remember Brax complaining about it. There were some groups protesting outside his library and he wanted them gone. Nothing ever happened with it though."
"I'm trying to imagine Time Lords protesting," Zoe said with a bemused look as she browsed the books in front of her. "All I can think of are solemn old men standing a vigil in those robes you showed me."
He snorted. "You're not far wrong, but it was the Gallifreyans who were protesting. They were the ones who produced the books and they viewed it as another form of subjugation by the elite."
"Was it?" She asked curiously, handing over some money to pay for the books she decided on.
"Perhaps a little." He said, tilting his head to look at her purchases before she slipped them into her cotton bag. "Let me carry that for you."
"I've got it."
"Please." He requested and she handed it over with a show of reluctance but he felt better for carrying it. "Now you've two free hands to search for books, although we do have all of these on the TARDIS."
"You have all of these." She corrected him. "I need to build my own collection, thank you very much."
"It's not as though you're going anywhere anytime -" he caught himself before he finished the sentence but it was too late.
After that first night, they didn't talk about the glimpse they had had into their futures. The fact that Other Zoe was from a point in his future where he had a different face and she was a professor indicated that they had years together they weren't expecting. It took at least eight to ten years to have the educational background to become a professor and, depending on her field of study, maybe longer. When she came aboard the TARDIS nearly six months before, she told him that she would stay for one year, maybe two, before she would leave for university. Neither of them expected her to return to travel with him, but the visit from Other Zoe showed them differently.
The Doctor kissing her and Other Zoe kissing him left their future together seemingly intertwined. Not that they had spoken about that, holding the memories close to their hearts and secret in their minds.
"I'll still need them for university." Zoe said, cutting through the uncertain tension that arose between them. "Can't keep calling you every time I want a new book to read."
"I wouldn't mind." He said and his tone was just a little too honest and heartfelt. She glanced away from him, cheeks pink. He felt awkward and glanced around. "You hungry?"
"Always." She answered and he was amazed at how much food she could pack into her tiny human body because she always seemed ready to eat.
"It's not Japanese but it's just as good." He said, steering her towards a food stand that had meat on a rotary like in a kebab shop. "Just don't ask what it is."
She closed the mouth she'd opened to ask just that question.
The literary festival was a great success even if Zoe did, perhaps, go a little overboard with books that the Doctor helped her carry into her bedroom. They spilled across the floor and he knew that she would happily spend all night sorting through them and putting them in order of how she wanted to read them. She was rather precious about her system and he quickly learnt it for fear of having something thrown at his head as Jack had had done when he browsed through her books and put one back in the wrong place. Instead of letting her sit amongst her spoils, he took her to Planet One for a picnic.
"But how can you be sure this is the oldest known planet in the universe?" Zoe asked, using the machete he'd given her to beat back the dense foliage that they were trekking through to get to their destination, which was the best picnic spot in the universe: at least according to the Doctor.
"I'm a time traveller." He said. "Of course I'm sure."
"Well, was it the first planet to form or the first planet to support life?" She asked, ducking a low hanging branch.
The heat in the jungle was oppressive and her skin glimmered with sweat but he seemed entirely unperturbed by it and kept his green jumper on. He made a concession to the heat by pushing the sleeves up to his elbows. She tried and failed not to be distracted by his forearms.
"The first planet to form." He replied. "Gallifrey was the first planet to support life."
"Now I think you're talking our of your - oh."
They broke free of the dense jungle and stepped into a wide open field with grass greener than she thought was possible. Flowers as large as the TARDIS bloomed out of the earth in a huge array of colours, the likes of which she'd never seen. Butterflies as large as tigers lifted up off of the ground, their colourful wings flapping a breeze across her sweat glistening skin, cooling her down. A soft, gentle smell of exquisite beauty gently rushed across the field and she swayed as the delight of her surroundings left her feeling soft and happy. The Doctor watched her expression, entranced.
"What do you think?" He asked quietly, loathe to brush the expression off her face.
"I think it's wonderful." Zoe breathed, eyes shining. "Thank you."
He took her hand and led her to a less grassy area where they set up their picnic. They spread the chequered blanket across the grass and he set down the wicker basket he had carried with them through the jungle. It was full of her favourite foods: chicken sandwiches, fruit salad, stuffed vine leaves, the ginger ale he made that she loved, and the leftover banana cake Rose had made the other night to coax him out of repairing the TARDIS. It wasn't often the two of them got to do something alone, not that he minded; He loved Rose and Jack even if he would never be able to tell them, but he did feel closer to Zoe due to the sheer weight of knowledge she possessed about him. He watched her pop a piece of watermelon into her mouth and he remembered the taste of her when she'd kissed him.
He hurriedly looked away.
She chewed on her sandwich, watching him. He shifted under her gaze, suddenly self-conscious. "What?"
"Just..." she started, lowering her sandwich and swallowing. "I don't think I've ever told you."
"Told me what?"
"How glad I am that you came back for me." Zoe said honestly. "I said no to travelling with you, but you made an exception for me, and I'm really, really glad you did. Travelling with you...I love it."
Like a sun dawning across the plains, a smile appeared on his face. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." She replied through a wide smile. "So thank you."
After Planet One, they explored the ruins of Tanagra, the home of the once mighty Tanagran civilisation that spread democracy and peace throughout the galaxy for aeons before they fell victim to a vicious plague that wiped them out. He assured her that there was no lingering plague on the planet, and also offered to take her to Tanagra at its height but she was happy stomping around in ruins, dust coating the bottom of her legs. He didn't complain too much when she took them on a hike through the mountains around the capital city of Gracia and found a waterfall that shone a beautiful rainbow out into the desolate environment around them. He yelped in surprise when she threw herself off the cliff edge and screamed her delight all the way down, disappearing beneath the glittering surface. She resurfaced and, even from the height he stood at, he could see her smile.
"Come join me!" She called up to him and he removed his jacket and his shoes and left them next to hers: her laughter kept him company on the way down.
She seemed more interested in swimming circles around him and trying to get hold of him than exploring the underwater ruins beneath them. She dove beneath the water and he let out a startled sound when her hand wrapped around her ankle and tugged him under the surface. They spent a few hours playing in the water and jumping from the waterfall before her long day – the literary festival, Planet One, Tanagra - started to catch up to her and they put their shoes back on and made their way back to the TARDIS. She wore his leather jacket over her soaked dress and she swayed into him as she walked, looking relaxed and happy.
He sent her off to bed with a kiss on the forehead and begged off joining her as he had work to do on the TARDIS; she was sleepy enough that she didn't notice his lie as he had fixed all the TARDIS problems in the two weeks they'd spent on Nibiru. The truth was that he needed a little distance from her so that he could catch his breath.
He chastised himself as he lay under the console of the TARDIS, his googles on the top of his head, beating himself up. He was a ridiculous old man, pining after a seventeen-year-old girl as though he was a lad of two hundred again. If his old friends on Gallifrey could see him now: Romana would laugh herself sick at him; the Master would most likely join her though his amusement always had a cruel lilt to it. In all his years of travelling in the TARDIS with humans, he had never come close to the attachment he wanted to form with Zoe. He loved his friends, dearly and without complication, each and everyone of them filled a special place within him, but Zoe was threatening to rise above them all and he wanted it to stop.
Humans were good at ending relationships; he'd seen it happy hundreds of times. He took out his phone and accessed the Internet, except it wasn't called the Internet because that was a human word but it came close enough for his purposes. He spent the next six hours Zoe was sleeping trying to find a way to stop his feelings for her. The advice ranged from finding a new hobby to having the memories cut out of him. He felt there was a middle ground missing somewhere and was scowling at the under panel of the TARDIS when Zoe emerged, dressed in a fresh pair of jeans and a soft looking grey jumper.
"Hello." Zoe smiled at him, bending double to peer at him beneath the console. She looked a little bemused. "I thought you'd fixed everything that needed fixing."
"A little tune-up can't hurt." The Doctor replied, glad she couldn't see his treacherous ears that burned at the sight of her. She had no idea what she did to him. Why would she? She'd spent her life in the shadow Rose inadvertently cast over her. "Sleep well?"
"For the first time in a long time, I didn't have any nightmares." She replied, happy and warm, and he pushed out from beneath the console to sit up, delighted.
"That's wonderful."
"I'd forgotten what it was like to sleep through." She admitted, one hand holding the opposite elbow. "I was thinking I'd make banana pancakes if you're hungry...before we go and get Rose and Jack."
"I'm always hungry for banana pancakes." The Doctor said and he went to push his body up off the floor but she stretched out a hand and he took it: he doubted he was capable of ignoring her touch.
For all his fear of domesticity, which he had lost long ago when Levokania died in the explosion, he liked to watch Zoe potter about the kitchen. She seemed as though she fit there, humming away as she worked, and he remembered watching Levokania move about the kitchen: she moved quicker, constantly dropping things as her mind ran at 100 miles an hour, but she had always laughed. It was the thing he missed the most, or at least the thing he noticed the absence of the most, in the days and weeks after her death: the echoing silence where her laughter had once been. Zoe was quieter than Levokania, but they had the same curiosity that burned within them, the same drive as they strove for a better life, the same passion for learning. He wished Levokania could have met Zoe as the two would have been great friends.
"Circles or funny shapes?" Zoe asked over her shoulder, drawing him from his melancholy.
"Funny shapes, of course." The Doctor replied as she was incapable of making the perfect, round pancakes that were in the pictures of various cookbooks, though she did like to try.
"Here you go," She said, serving the pancakes with a smile and sitting with him. "Pancakes à la Zoe."
"The best kind." He assured her and she beamed at him.
"Where are we going next then?" She asked him around bites of food. "When we pick up Rose and Jack?"
"You think they'll want to go somewhere?" He asked. "Fiver says they'll be too hungover to do anything for days."
"I'm not taking that bet." Zoe scoffed. "I look like an idiot to you?"
No he thought. "Think they'll be on time?"
"No." She laughed. "Rose has never left a party in her life. She once had a barney with Shareen at Shaz's 16th but Rosie still stayed the whole night. Said it seemed rude to leave."
The Doctor snorted. "Jack's the same, I reckon."
"Worse." Zoe grinned, and she looked at him with laughter in her eyes and affection on her mouth that he couldn't stop himself.
"You know, we do have a time machine." The Doctor said, moving to clean the dishes up before she could stand up. He remembered Rose's expression when she walked in on him doing the washing up. It was a mundane and domestic activity, and not what she had expected from a man who promised her all of time and space: Zoe took it much more as a given that he would do the washing up, particularly if she did the cooking.
"Is that what this is?" She asked with an expression of exaggerated surprise plastered across her face, looking around the TARDIS kitchen in wonder. "I thought she was just a fancy police box. Gosh, Doctor, I wished you'd have told me sooner. Imagine all the places we could have visited if only I knew."
The TARDIS flashed her laughter above them, the lights going on and off.
"Oi, don't you start." The Doctor warned his TARDIS fondly, his hands soapy. "What I mean, you annoying ape, is that we don't have to go back for Jack and Rose just yet. We could take a little side trip."
"A side trip?" She asked, curiosity peaked and she leaned back in her chair so she could face him properly, her long legs stretched out in front of her, tapering off into her favourite boots. There was a smile pulling on her face and he knew he had her. "Where to?"
"I thought I'd put her on random and see where she takes us." He replied, stacking the crockery to dry. She wasn't a particularly messy cook, a fact that he appreciated. "But if you want to go straight back, we can."
"Well..." she drew a pattern with the tip of her finger on the surface of the wooden dining table: a purchase from the carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth, back when the Doctor was new to Earth and Susan wanted a table at which to eat. "Like you said...we do have a time machine."
"That's the spirit." The Doctor grinned at her, drying his hands on a tea towel and offering them to her. She took them and he pulled her to her feet, making her laugh as he turned her around as though they were dancing.
Definitely a ridiculous old man he thought with a smile at the back of her head.
"Can I drive this time?" She asked him, her fingers linking with his.
"Absolutely not."
"One day, Doctor, you're going to wish I knew how to fly the TARDIS." Zoe warned him with a mirthful expression.
"I'll take my chances," he replied and booped her on the nose.
