"Alright," Rose announces, "I'm headed to bed." She climbs the stairs of the Tardis quietly.
"Me, too," Martha agrees yawning.
"I'll see you in the morning," Rose tells her with a smile before making her way to her very pink bedroom. She enters the room and leans against the door tiredly.
Her room is a mess as per usual. Rose had never been a very tidy person. She had told the Doctor that she was tired and that was true but Rose didn't think she could sleep without him by her side.
Hoping to pass the time, she begins to pick up her bedroom floor. She pulls the blankets up the bed and throws all of the pillows to the head of the bed. The dirty clothes are thrown into the hamper in her closet that is through her en suite. And she hangs up her clean clothes.
Bending down to pick up a couple of mascara's that had dropped to the floor, Rose notices a photo album half lying under her bed. She shoves the mascara's into a cup on her white dressing table. The dressing table is in dire need of reorganization but Rose ignores it in favor of picking up the photo album.
She plops onto her bed holding the album gently. Just looking at it brings tears to Rose's eyes. It is an album from her childhood. Her mum had put it together as rose grew up. It had pictures from all of Rose's birthdays and Christmas's and every other milestone her mum had deemed in need of being marked.
Rose hadn't even opened the book and she was already a blubbering mess. She sets the album back on the bed, wiping harshly at her cheeks. She hastily stands and makes her way to the bathroom.
In the en suite, Rose looks in the mirror. Mascara runs down her cheeks in ugly streaks. She quickly quickly undresses and moves to the shower. Turning it as hot as she can stand it before hopping into the shower.
The water burns her as it runs down her back but it is a nice distraction from her previous thoughts.
The water won't ever run hot so eventually Rose forces herself to leave the shower and get dressed into some loose flannel pajama's. They aren't very flattering but Rose is looking to impress anyone.
She stops in her tracks when she notices the Doctor casually resting on her bed with the photo album resting on his legs. He is flipping through the album at a leisurely pace. "What are you doing?" Rose blurts out.
"I, um, I was just making sure you got to bed alright," the Doctor stutters. Why? Rose almost asks her question out loud but she doesn't want him to leave and if she asked that he would definitely get defensive and scramble off to hide somewhere. Instead she smiles at him slowly.
"I, I can leave if you want." His hand reaches up to nervously tug at the hairs at the back of his neck.
"No, no." The words tumble out of Rose's mouth. "Stay."
The Doctor relaxes back into Rose's pillows. Rose watches for a minute before making her way to her dressing table. Her Tardis blue hairbrush rests in the middle. The Doctor had got it for her from a small village on Asaria they had helped save. The aliens there had insisted that they repay the Doctor and Rose. The Doctor had seen the hairbrush and insisted that that was all he wanted for their troubles.
The hairbrush was supposed to make detangling hair easier and last for an incredibly long time. Rose didn't agree with the detangling part but Rose had almost had it for a year and it still looked brand new.
As she harshly yanked the brush through her hair the Doctor carefully stood from the bed. She didn't notices him as he came up behind her and took the brush from her hand. Her eyes snapped up to look at him through her picture covered mirror.
He smiled at her gently and started to brush her hair in a much gentler motion than Rose had. He started from the bottom and made his way up. Ok, maybe the detangling does work. Just not for me, Rose thinks.
She doesn't feel any pain as the Doctor brushes her hair. She continues to watch him as he brushes her hair eyes intent upon his task. Rose nearly whines in disappointment when he sets the hairbrush down.
The Doctor catches Rose's eyes in the mirror. Time around them seems to slow. It's times like this that Rose can almost convince herself that he feels the same for her as she does for him. When he looks at her with that soft look in his eyes all Rose can think about is kissing him.
The Doctor leans down and kisses the crown of her head. "You should get to bed." Rose nods but continues to sit on her small stool placed in front of her changing table.
At long last, Rose manages to push herself to her feet. She goes to her large pink bed and removes the pillows she had placed there before. She tosses them onto the floor before folding the blankets back and climbing under the covers.
The Doctor lays down above the covers after kicking his shoes off and removing his suit jacket and tie.
Rose watched him for what could have been minutes or hours but eventually she drifted off. The Doctor continued to lay with her for hours as she dreamed. He soothed her anytime it seemed like a nightmare was becoming particularly bad.
XX
In the morning, when Rose woke up she was alone. She felt rested and hadn't had any nightmares that she could remember. There was a rather obvious Doctor shaped outline on the other side of the bed. Rose frowned. If the Doctor had stayed until Rose fell asleep, then the indent should have been gone by now. But it wasn't. And that suggested… Rose shook the thoughts away.
Maybe he had just been tired and had fallen asleep by accident, Rose reasoned to herself. No way had the Doctor stayed with her the whole night on purpose.
She got dressed before heading to the galley for some breakfast. Disappointment filled her at the emptiness of the room. Usually the Doctor and her would have breakfast together. But he wasn't there.
Rose sighed and made herself some toast and tea before sitting at the table. She wasn't sure where Martha or the Doctor were at but she was sure they would turn up eventually.
But when they still hadn't shown by the time Rose had finished her breakfast she decided to look for them herself. She found them in the console room, talking. "Just one trip. That's what I said. One trip in the Tardis, and then home. Although I suppose we could stretch the definition. Take one trip into past, one trip into future. How do you fancy that?" The Doctor smiled.
Martha smiled back. "No complaints from me."
The Doctor looked at her and asked mysteriously, "How about a different planet?"
Martha looked thrilled and the question that she asked next broke Rose's heart. "Can we go to yours?" Her hearts clenched for her Doctor. She knew how painful for him that question was.
"Ah, there's plenty of other places." Avoidance tactics. Why hadn't he just told Martha the truth?
Martha pushed, "Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?"
"Well, it's beautiful, yeah," the Doctor hedged looking uncomfortable.
Martha's face lit up as Rose's heart continued to hurt. "Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"
"I suppose it is." Another lie. He's making it sound like it's still there, Rose realized. When Rose had asked the Doctor about his home planet he hadn't lied to Rose about it at all. He had just avoided talking about it before giving in.
Martha looked even more excited. "Great big temples and cathedrals!"
The Doctor nodded vaguely. "Yeah."
Martha waved her arms around. "Lots of planets in the sky?"
The Doctor doesn't reply at first. He continues to stare at the Time Rotor as he responds, "The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."
Martha asks breathlessly, "Can we go there?" Rose's heart clenches once more for her Doctor so she loudly enters the room. The Doctor looks at her with relief written all over his face.
He looks back at Martha. Composing himself he says, "Nah. Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. Instead, this is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York."
He looks at Rose and says teasingly, "Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."
"That joke wasn't funny the first time," Rose mutters. The Doctor recoils offended but Martha doesn't hear her. Instead she nods her head in agreement to the Doctor's suggestion.
Rose quickly makes her way to the railing to hold on for the bumpy ride.