Complicated

By the Plot Thinens

The Talk that needs talking about - Chapter 51

The Doctor, Jack and Rose had run back into the TARDIS laughing. They could not believe that Jack had managed to trip up all the guards that had been watching them with just some dental floss and a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. They had slipped away after that and Hideki had led them back to the TARDIS that his mother and grandfather had hidden in their woodshed. It had been close though they could hear the sounds of angry guards running up and down the streets of Kyoto looking for them. But with no evidence that they had been there and disappearing without a trace probably meant that no harm would come of Hideki and his family. Rose recalled how the whole adventure had started.


"Well, look at you all beaming and smiles." Smirked Rose as the Doctor danced around the TARDIS setting in coordinates. This was as chipper as the Doctor had been in a few days, but his mood had improved last night and Rose was very happy for him to be this way, as him being in a good mood gave Rose more confidence to drop the bomb of information that had been sitting in her womb for almost a month and a half now.

Rose's confidence had stemmed from her activities with the Doctor in bed last night. They had not engaged in copulation, but it was damn well near it as far as they went. That step Rose had decided a while ago was up to the Doctor, but there were other things that she could try her luck with besides that. When Rose had gone to the bathroom that night to get ready for bed her usual jimjams had been replaced with something that was silken and a bit skimpier. They were still pajamas but a tank top and shorts. Rose didn't know if it was her hormones getting messed up, thanks to the current state she was in, but she felt that suddenly being on the prowl for her Time Lord didn't seem like such a difficult task. She was going to get to second base tonight or die trying. She didn't quite understand how it was, but the Doctor was the father of her unborn child. And Mummy wanted her baby Daddy and she was going to have him. This was her attitude, surprising even her, as she looked at herself in the mirror. However, no sooner did she step out into their bedroom and see the Doctor sitting there on their bed reading a book on theoretical physics and looking a bit sullen, she deflated. That was right. Her husband was not a human with human needs and wants. He was just as content to sit and read as he was for her to kiss him. Rose padded over to the bed and the Doctor looked up and smiled. She loved his smile but everything about him was often an enigma to her and it would be nice if every once in a while he'd give some faint hint that he might want her in that way at least to hope on.

"Ready to get in your eight hours?" Asked the Doctor as Rose slid in under the covers. He couldn't help but notice that she was dressed a bit differently from usual, but she was covered, so what was the big deal? He wasn't about to make comments on what she was wearing unless it pertained to aiding her in avoiding getting thrown in some jail for indecent exposure for a time period or planet. Rose nodded that she was ready for bed but then she felt another streak of boldness from the feel of his weight on the mattress.

"Doctor, do you think that you could get under the covers with me tonight? You can just slip out later, you won't wake me." Asked Rose of her husband. The Doctor put his book down on the nightstand and looked at her not knowing what to say next. It was different from how they usually did this, Rose was the one who got under the covers and he was the one that laid on top of them so not to disturb Rose when he left. Still it wasn't an unreasonable request. They were just covers. He nodded and lifted up the duvet to let himself in. At the sensation of the covers lifting up, Rose felt her heart skip a beat as muscle memory of times the Doctor as John had done this simple action time and time again. He did it the same way, one arm to pull it up and then skillfully slid in. He then let the duvet down and settled his head on one of the pillows.

"Better?" He joked to her as they stared at each other eye to eye. The Doctor shifted and using his arms as a pillow behind his head he got into a comfortable position that without him realizing it looked damn good to Rose. There he was just there in front of him no covers as a barrier. And that's when Rose realized that she had him in their bed, all the way in the bed, in spite of herself and her previous disheartening thoughts she felt an animal-like instinct take her over and with a breathy,

"Definitely." It was at that moment that the rational part of Rose's brain shut off and caution along with any behavior that she usually would fear could be viewed as too ape-ish was thrown to the wind. Later she would definitely have to blame it on hormones, but at the moment she did not care. Rose got on her knees and slid over to the Doctor before climbing on top of him and resting her rear end firmly on his stomach with the both of them still under the covers. Effectively pinning him to the spot, and looking at him with wolfish eyes. The Doctor looked rather surprised by the action but did not try to move and just stared back at Rose, wondering what she was doing and more importantly what was she going to do next? This was very different from any usual contact between them and certainly not the way a snog traditionally began. Her nerve still in tack Rose leaned in closer to him and ran her hands up and down his jumper covered chest, slightly cursing the wool fabric, before resting both hands just below his collar bone. She could feel his rapid double hearts beat which was alien but yet so inviting to her. Rose then exhaled and laid her chest flush against his and began kissing at his bottom lip.

"My Doctor." Rose breathed out between kisses as she applied more pressure against his lips and body. The Doctor huffed out Rose's name in surprise and tightened his hold around Rose. He was very much enjoying the pheromones and endorphins resulting in this experience with Rose. The kiss continued in this fashion until Rose had to unfortunately stop for air. She was finding herself very winded and that was when she remembered that her body's normal functions and energy levels were being water down to accommodate two lives and hearts instead of one. And one of those hearts belonging to an alien hybrid probably didn't make the strains on her body any easier. She cursed her own physiology and realized that she needed her sleep. Laying one more teasing kiss on the Doctor's lips she rolled off of him. She could have sworn she had heard the Doctor whimper a bit at the ending of the intimate contact, but she was too tired to give it much thought and cuddled into his side. She fell asleep very soon afterwards.

The Doctor, now having calmed down after the experience that he had just shared with Rose, stared at Rose's sleeping form in astonishment. Naively he had not seen that coming, and definitely not at such an unbridled level. Perhaps he should have since Rose was dressed so differently for bed he thought as he stared off at the room she had emerged from. He then looked back at his book and wondered how he could have been more interested in looking at the dusty old thing over her when she had just come out of that joining room. What they had just done had not been unpleasant at all and he was actually expecting that Rose was going to try to take this further but she had stopped. Which was probably a good thing since he didn't know what would have happened next? Was Rose trying to tease him or was she just being overly cautious about how far he had wanted to go with this? Either way he didn't think that lying under the covers from now on would be such a bad thing. In fact he would tell anyone that asked that being under the covers in a bed was much better than being on top of them. This was probably one of the most pleasant co-sleeping experiences he had had yet, well unless he counted John's memories. Which some part of his brain reminded him, he shook the memory only a little and looked down again at Rose. He watched her sleep curled up next to him looking so sleepily content where she was with him, the ugly, old, and war damaged, git Time lord. It defied logic, her feelings for him, and the fact that they transcended the death of his human persona. At times he couldn't believe his developing…oh hell already well developed feelings for her either. He knew that nothing that came out of this relationship could be lasting, be it her deciding to leave for whatever reason or her death that would come soon enough, but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to be close to this human for as long as he could and the more time he spent with her the more he was seeing that that desire was unavoidable. He was the loneliest thing in the universe but he could forget that as long as Rose was with him. He let out an exasperated sigh at his own mixed emotions and gently placed a kiss on Rose's forehead. It was then that the Doctor realized that that had been the first kiss he had ever initiated with Rose. He didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that she had not been awake to feel it, but he snuggled Rose closer to him and closed his eyes. Maybe just a few more minutes of staying with her like this wasn't too out of his way.


"Why Doctor Smith, I believe that is in appropriate conduct between university employees. I might just have to make a report to human resources." Snickered Rose as she playfully swatted her fiancé's hand off the small of her back. It had also been very close to being a bit lower than that. John laughed and whispered in her ear,

"You're one to talk. I've caught you doing worse to me in my office. Like that time you came for a surprise visit last week when I had only a half hour before my next class." Rose blushed at the accusation said in such a tone and declared that she had only grabbed his rear end once in his office and anything else had been just normal snogging.

"Scandalous." Stated John in a voice trying his best to mimic the voice of one of John's coworkers, Rachael, who they had overheard talking about them when they had come out of his office a little disheveled after their lunch break a week ago. The two of them were getting rather impatient for their wedding night, but John was remaining strong to his convictions of waiting until they were married. He was also respectful as they could be about the professional environment that they were working in. It never went beyond tamed snogging and any shenanigans in his office were done behind a locked door. John had actually been approached by his department head about it, but not to be reprimanded. He had come to tell John that Rachael had tried to rat John out for coming out of his own office looking ruffled with his not a student or assistant girlfriend. The department head had told her to mind her own business and that he and his own wife sometimes came out ruffled from his office if the two had been away from each other long enough. Afterwards Rachael had shut up and dropped the subject. The two had had a laugh and that was it.

John was removed from his thoughts as he noted that they were now approaching the university shop which he loved and hated. He loved it because that was where he could find Rose, but hated it because it stole Rose away from him for hours on end. The cruel building was a paradox. John took Rose's hand and led her through the doors before laying a tender kiss on her lips and promising to see her later. Rose smiled,

"Not if I see you first." John then left for his tonight's lecture in the lab. Rose let out a sigh and went to the back of the store to help with stock. Just one more week and they would be married she thought.

"You know, Rose. You could probably land that man easily if you put out a bit more." Snickered one of her coworkers. Rose just laughed back. If they only knew that they were already engaged and she had not had to put out anything to get a proposal. It was kind of fun having a secret engagement, it felt like a love novel of old. Sometimes she was tempted to tell but she figured that the surprise of an engagement announcement couldn't top the surprised look from people a week from now when you told them that you were already married.


Rose had woken up that morning to find that the Doctor was still holding her. At least she was pretty sure he was. The moment that she had felt herself coming around to the waking world, about eight and 15 minutes later from when she nodded off in the first place, she felt the bed shift gently and someone rise from the bed. This was followed by soft footsteps and the door gently closing. He had stayed the whole night! That thrilled her but then terrified her. She was now alone and the moment she had gotten up she was sick to her stomach, 'Not good, that was too close.' These were her thoughts as she ran for the toilet. When she was done being sick she knew without a doubt that she had to tell him today.

It was great having Jack to confide in but that only did so much for her. She had thought about either calling or just telling her mother in person. But there was no way that Rose could tell her mother that in person without Jackie tearing up her Time Lord husband even though they were already technically married. She was more worried that Jackie would never keep it a secret if she told her Mum. If that happened then she would never be able to go back to her Mum until she first told the Doctor. So no asking mum for advice on this one. She would have to face the music like a big girl. Cautiously she had approached the subject from the side and hoped that if she led the conversation one way then it could lead to another. One thing that she really wanted to ask was if John had wanted children and maybe the Doctor could answer. And if she liked the answer then maybe it would give her the confidence to discuss the matter further.


"Doctor, you have all of your memories as John, yeah? So if I asked you a question about him you could answer it?" Asked Rose as she fingered the strings on her hoodie nervously. She had thought about wearing something a bit more fetching to help aid in keeping the Doctor in a good mood but in the end she had favored comfort in jeans over flare in a skirt. Shifting from side to side in her sneakers she waited for the Doctor to respond.

"What's this all of a sudden, Rose? What do you want to know?" Questioned the Doctor wondering where this was going.

"Well, it's just lately I realized that there were a few things that we never discussed when you were human and I kind of wanted to know the answers… If you could tell me." The Doctor was now very worried. He supposed that it should only be natural that she should have unanswered questions. He never really gave her that many answers, after all. But somehow it felt like a step back to him. Was he doing so little to fulfill her needs for companionship that she wanted to use him to reminisce about his human form? He didn't know if he should feel bad for her or himself. He thought that she had come to accept him as the Doctor. Or was that it at all? Maybe her trusting their relationship enough to ask these questions was really a step forward. She had been so reluctant to rock the boat with him on any subject lately. He didn't know why she was so scared, he didn't have any plans to dump her off anytime soon. If he were honest with himself he didn't really want to think of the time that she would leave as all his companions had to do for one reason or another. He still wanted Rose around for as long as they could though.

"What's the subject?" Asked the Doctor as he appeared to be doing something that looked rather complicated. He didn't really know how to feel. On one hand he felt awkward thinking back to his time as a human. On the other he felt jealous like as if he were competing with his human self for Rose. And if he had a third hand, he felt understanding but at the same time insecure over how well he was doing as Rose's for lack of a better word 'boyfriend'. Did he feel that if she was looking back, was he not doing a good enough job keeping her looking forward to her time with him? Was he jealous of John? Was he intimidated by the memories of John Smith and the fear that he couldn't live up to them even as an impressive Time Lord? Was that why he was avoiding talk of domestics so much? Or was he just over thinking things. He was being stupid he thought and reminded himself again that Rose had been thrown into her situation suddenly and with little explanation. It was just a few questions, perfectly reasonable.

"Domestics mostly. Just curiosity on a few things, but I'll understand completely if you don't want to talk. I know how much you hate domestics. It's just for me it was weird at first, after you changed, but now I feel a lot more comfortable asking you." Replied Rose trying to be as nonthreatening as possible to her domestics skittish Time Lord. The Doctor indeed felt uncomfortable about talking about domestics, but he had agreed with himself to try and meet Rose half way and be more accommodating to the human things that mattered to her. Besides he was in such a good mood for their destination to come that he doubted a few domestic questions about his life as a human could pull him down. He probably was even in a happy enough mood that he could handle a request later to go back to get milk on Earth for the TARDIS fridge. The Doctor looked at her expectantly and Rose took a deep breath. And he was surprised by her first question.

"Well one thing I'd like to know that I'm confused about is, were you fully human when you were John?" She asked hesitantly. It seemed that she was curious about his anatomical properties as a human and it seemed an odd start but at least biology was a topic he was more comfortable with and didn't seem too domestic to start with. He hoped that they didn't get more domestic than that. Pulling some levers and deciding to take the conversation at face value, as recapping and comparing notes, he answered,

"Completely, indistinguishable from any other human. Nothing special to grab attention." The Doctor then continued at a fairly tricky part of operating the console giving Rose half his attention. Compared to his Time Lord self, the Doctor thought John was nothing too special though Rose would have liked to argue that. Both men, the man he was and the man he is now, were of equal importance and both dear to her heart. Just in different, but at the same time, in similar ways. Boy it didn't get any easier being the Doctor's wife. She decided it was now or never and went on to change the subject and nonchalantly asked,

"It's just we never talked about a few things that might have come up down the road later on like about planning a fam…" It was then that the TARDIS lurched to a stop and Rose wobbly fell back into the Jump seat. It was a little rough but nothing Rose thought would cause damage to herself or her passenger. Rose shook her head and getting her wits about her made to continue her conversation with the Doctor but his attention was already in another place. The Doctor shouted in excitement that they had arrived. Rose wanted to get back on subject and clear her conscience of the secret she was keeping from the father of her child, but she knew that besides flat out shouting it out, she wasn't going to get him to listen to her once he got as energetic as this about a destination. And just shouting out that he was the father of her child was not the way she wanted to place this information on him and was far too dramatic or cliché soap operaish for her. She would have to wait for him to calm down. She let out an exasperated sigh and wondered if the universe was conspiring against her or something.


The commotion had also summoned Jack to the console room and before the two humans knew what was happening, they were being shuffled out of the TARDIS and into a twilight evening in a small wooded area in what appeared to be an ancient looking Asian city of some kind. Rose saw lovely flowering trees that were bathed in moonlight and heard the sounds of crickets and lazy night quiet suburban noises in the nearby distances. Oil lamp lights could be seen off in the distances as well and besides that the only other light source from the moon was the warm orange glow of the TARDIS' outside lights. And as if it were not picturesque enough the sounds of a small river or stream could be heard in the distance. Rose felt a sense of relaxation cover her in the apparently early summer atmosphere and let out a calm breath. Perhaps this would be a good place to talk, sure Jack was there but he already knew and was good at disappearing when he knew he wasn't needed at the moment.

The Doctor was equally as relaxed but paradoxically excited. He had planned to come a bit earlier in the day but they could always either wait for morning the traditional way or cheat. It was a weeklong party he was bringing them to after all. He wondered if they were in the historical district. Historians in this time had gone to reproduce every detail of ancient Earth life regardless of the civilization. Happy that he seemed to be in the right place for once the Doctor proudly announced,

"Japan, Tokyo. 2136. Just wait until you see the party I have in store for you!" The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and pulled out his Sonic to light the way to the nearest street, but Rose pulled back.

"Actually Doctor we really need to talk about our…" Rose started once again but as if the universe was actually against her they heard the sound of a child screaming for help and the sound of a few angry men. The group looked at each other in horror and ran for the direction of the sounds of the distressed child as fast as they could.

When they had gone down the dirt road a ways the time travelers came to an ornate wooden bridge and saw before them the sight of a dirty looking and roughed up child being restrained by three men. One of which had a knife! The three men were short by comparison to the time travelers and dressed in what Rose thought at first were bathrobes but then realized that they were Japanese style clothing and the men wearing them were in fact Japanese. The child, also Japanese, had clearly been struggling for a bit against his stronger capturers and having lost their patience with him had opted for more extreme measures. And if it was not clear enough what they were about to do on this seemingly lonely and disserted path, a thatch sack with Rocks tied to it was at the men's feet.

"Oi, What do you think you're doing that that kid?!" Shouted Rose at the men in shock, this had gotten the men's attention over even the fairly loud sound of the running water under the nearby bridge. Now, very nervous, they turned their paper lantern to the direction of the woman's voice. It was darker but they could clearly see three extremely tall people dressed in strange costumes, perhaps on stilts, and in wigs. For a moment they all wondered if a troupe of traveling street performers of some kind had stumbled upon them. Seeing that the situation was escalating the men realized that they were going to have to dispatch the bystanders too. One of them lunged at Rose but before they could even move a step closer the Doctor had sprung upon him and rushing at him, socked the attacking man hard in the gut. This knocked the wind out of the attacker and he toppled over on to the ground.

"You bastard!" Shouted the man with the knife, but the Doctor was already on him as well. Using moves that resembled some form of Aikido the Doctor threw the man over his shoulder while holding onto the hand that still held the knife. The man landed hard on the ground on his back and the now knifeless man was gasping for air in the dirt having had the wind also knocked clear out of him.

"Ugh 1336, not 2136. Still, close enough." Grumbled the Doctor at his mistake and tossed the knife into the river next to him, he then looked down at his would be attacker.

"Don't feel so bad, mate. I was O Sensei's star pupil, even gave him a few helpful pointers too." Smirked the Time Lord at the confused and gasping man. The Doctor mused at old memories of having tested his Venusian Aikido against the Earth version's greatest master. The man on the ground the Doctor felt should consider himself lucky to get such an amazing sneak peek at a martial arts form that's own founder wouldn't be born until 1883.

Jack not wanting to miss out on the fun engaged the man holding the child. That man then threw the child at the Doctor hoping that it would provide enough of a distraction for the cowardly man to get away as he was clearly out classed in size and fighting skill. The man's plan did just that. As the Doctor caught the screaming child from the air the very weight of him put the Doctor off balance enough that both he and the child fell into the darkened moving water below.

"Doctor!" Shouted Rose and Jack in unison as they thought they saw the current pull him and the child under the bridge. They then rushed to help him. The cowardly man took his chance and abandoning his fallen comrades ran away into the night.


Author's Notes:

Sorry it took me so long guys, but reading the script for Bad Wolf made me realize that I had another opportunity to tell a new story. I only had two problems. I needed to think of a new interesting plot on practically on the spot. And two, I knew nothing about 1336 Japan and needed to do some historical research so I wouldn't be as likely to write some cliché feudal Japanese fanfic that would insult any readers I have of Japanese ancestry with my ignorance. So I decided on a little thing domestic enough to be just outside of any major historical events and epic enough that it would not bore you. Even as I write this I hope I can make good on that idea. Wish me luck, I'm taking a page from the Doctor's book and making it up as I go….but I usually do it so well. Also Aikido is a form of self defense originated in Japan and founded by a man called Morihei Ueshiba, whose students called him O Sensei.