Title: Domestic Battleground
Rating: T – not suitable for younger children, because I have a dirty mind.
Summary: The Doctor promised Jackie he'd take Rose back for special occasions. But a whole week with her family? Will he survive, and more importantly, will Rose?
Dedication: Jillybean, Izzy and my Mum.
Notes: Day one, meet the family.
Day One
Rose rang the doorbell, painting a smile onto her face. Inside the house a crowd of her family was waiting to criticise, question, nag, shout at, and lay into her.
Auntie Bridget opened the door. "Rose!" she exclaimed. "You made it!" She grabbed Rose's shoulder and propelled her inside, talon-like nails digging in. "Jackie! She's here! That Doctor bloke too!"
Rose managed an apologetic smile at the Time Lord before she was engulfed in a hug from her mum. She caught a glimpse of him being led off by her younger cousins before the interrogation started.
"How are you?" Jackie asked, looking her daughter over. "You're too thin. Has he been feeding you?"
"Yes," Rose answered, throwing harried smiles as relatives crowded for her attention. She caught sight of her other aunt – Julie – and Julie's husband, Sam. Uncle Jeff was skulking in the background. The older cousins were milling around – she could see Sandy, Josh, Tim and Izzy. "Where's Bella?" she asked.
"In her bedroom," Julie told her, pressing a cup of tea into her hands. "So where've you been this time? Not even a postcard, not that it's unusual…"
"Uh, Egypt," Rose managed. "Hi, Auntie Julie. Hi, Izzy." She gave a genuine smile to her favourite cousin. "How's uni?"
"Alright," the cousin answered good-naturedly. "So that was your Doctor?"
"Yes, that's him," Jackie cut in. "Go say hello to Bella, luv, and then we'll go get your dress fitted." She took the tea from her daughter. "And see what that bloke of yours is up to."
Rose didn't even bother to protest that the Doctor wasn't actually her bloke, and allowed her mother to propel her towards Bella's bedroom.
The door was slightly ajar, so she knocked lightly and stepped in. "Hi, Bella."
Her cousin looked up from her magazine. "Hi, Rose," she nodded. Bella was a tall, willowy girl, older than any of the other cousins by five years. She was serious and bookish and worked at the BBC, and Rose vaguely recalled that her husband-to-be was some sort of under-secretary or something in the government. "How've you been?"
"Oh, y'know." Rose sat down on the edge of the bed. "How's things going? Everything under control?"
"Well, I think so," Bella admitted cautiously. "Flowers, cake, food, dress…" She grimaced. "I'm forgetting something."
"Fiancé?" Rose queried.
"Out with his parents," Bella explained. "He'll be back after lunch." She sighed. "Mum's panicking," she said. "She and Auntie Bridget and Auntie Jackie…"
"They're awful, all together," Rose agreed. "So, you having a night out before the wedding?"
"Of course! You're coming, right?"
"Sure," Rose nodded. "Wouldn't miss this for all the world. One of us lot getting married! It's hard to believe."
"Yeah, well, we're all expecting wedding bells for you next," Bella warned with a grin. "Where's this Doctor of yours?"
Rose groaned. "For the last time, he's not 'mine'," she said. "And I think he got dragged off by the kids."
"Rose! Bella! We've got to go for the fittings!"
Rose and Bella exchanged smiles. "Coming, Auntie Bridget," they chorused together, standing up and leaving the bedroom.
"I'll just go check on the Doctor," Rose told her aunt, pushing her way down the hall towards the bedroom of Bella's twin siblings, Sandra and Mark. She was fairly sure the kids were there, judging from the screams.
She poked her head around the doorframe. "Doctor?"
"Rose!" The pile of children on the floor seemed to erupt, and the Doctor emerged from them. "Hi! Help!"
Rose hid a grin. "Sorry, I'm being taken out," she said. "You look like you're doing alright."
"He's fun!" declared Tommy, Bridget's eight-year-old son. "Can we take him to the park?"
"Maybe later," Jackie said with authority from behind Rose. "You keep out of trouble." She ordered the Doctor. "Come on, Rose."
Rose grinned at the sight of Tommy and Anna tugging on the Doctor's arms, and left.
Rose grabbed Izzy's sleeve in horror. "Please. Please say that's not my dress."
Izzy smirked. "That's not your dress." She waited a beat. "I'm lying, of course."
Rose stared in dismay, the chatter of her mum and Bridget fading into the background. Oh god. Why did she persuade the Doctor to bring her here? Why did Bella have to get married at all? Why hadn't the earth opened up and swallowed her whole? It had before, so why not now?
"So?" Bella was radiant. "What d'you think? We got the size right, I think – you'll have to try it on, of course."
Silently Rose wondered how – with her education, posh job, and fantastic taste – Bella had managed to choose this monstrosity for her bridesmaid dresses.
"It's great," she managed. "It's really…great." There was simply nothing else she could say.
She was going to catch hell from the Doctor, when he saw her in this.
"I'd better go try it on, then," she said with false bravado. "Changing room?"
"Over there," Izzy pointed. "I'll come with you. It'll probably be our only chance to catch up! What with all the wedding stuff, we won't get a chance later."
Rose slipped into the changing room and drew the curtain. She stared at the dress again. How could she possibly –
She would wear this, because it was Bella's wedding, and because her mother wanted her to. After everything she'd put her mum through, she could at least do this small thing…
Couldn't she?
"I know," Izzy confirmed in a low voice. "It's awful. I don't know how Bella came up with it, but what can we do?"
"Nothing," Rose said glumly. "I bet Mum fixed this whole thing, just to get back at me for that year."
"Can you blame her?" Izzy's voice was full of curiosity. "Have you even told her where you were yet?"
Rose sighed, pulling off her clothes. "No. I was travelling. I told you at Christmas."
"Yeah, yeah. So how was Egypt?"
"Hot." Rose didn't tell her cousin that it had also been several thousand years ago. Meeting Cleopatra had been an experience she wasn't likely to forget in a hurry. She looked in the full-length mirror. "Oh god. I look – "
There were no words.
"Rose? How's it coming?" Bella called anxiously. "Come out, let me have a look."
Rose took a deep breath and stepped out of the changing room.
"You look lovely," Bridget gushed. "Doesn't she look a treat, Jackie?"
Jackie nodded, not finding any words. She so rarely saw her daughter anymore…and Rose looked so grownup.
"It's a perfect fit," Izzy offered, trying not to smile. "Bella?"
"It's perfect," the bride-to-be declared. "Just perfect. I'm so glad you made it back, Rose. Now get it off, and we can go get a cuppa."
Rose retreated into the changing room and stripped as quickly as she possibly could, pulling her jeans and shirt on with relief. The dress was the worst thing she had ever worn – even including the bright orange body stocking she'd had to wear on Zinea, when the Doctor hadn't been able to keep his eyes off her breasts for more than two minutes at a time.
"This is so not good," she muttered. Maybe she could get the Doctor to send the dress into a Dalek stronghold…
"Rose? C'mon, let's get going!"
Rose exited the changing room again, the dress draped over her arm. "Alright," she smiled. "Where we going, then?"
"Costa," Izzy said instantly. "I refuse to go into Starbucks, Mum, I simply refuse."
Bridget barely looked put out. "We'll go to the café next door," she ruled.
"My treat," Jackie nodded, smiling at Rose.
"I'll call the kids," Bridget decided as they left the bridal shop. "We can meet them at the park, they could do with a bit of fresh air. Sandy and Josh can bring them down."
"Josh won't," Izzy snorted. "He's turned into a right bastard," she told Rose. "And his girlfriend's a slut."
"Isobel," Bridget scolded. "Don't talk about your brother like that." She pulled her phone out of her handbag and dialled Julie's number. "Hi, Sandy. Everything going okay?…That's good. Listen, I want you and Josh to bring the kids down the park…No, Anna can stay behind, I don't want that cold getting any worse…Oh, alright." She held the phone out to Rose as they sat down in the café. "That Doctor bloke wants a word."
"Hi," Rose said, grinning. "You doing alright?"
"Alright? They're bloody murderous!"
"No swearing in front of the kids," Rose scolded good-naturedly. "What's the matter, too domestic for you?"
"Way too domestic. I don't do family."
"Sure. You coming down the park, then?" She held up a finger to indicate that she wanted one sugar in her tea.
"I may not have much of a choice. Your grandfather's looking at me as though he wants to eat me."
She laughed. "You idiot. Come to the park, I'll buy you an ice cream."
"I'll hold you to that. Here's Wendy again."
"It's Sandy," Rose corrected before handing the phone back to her aunt. Jackie raised an eyebrow at her. "He likes winding people up," she explained. "Remember, he used to do it with Mickey."
"He was jealous of Mickey," Jackie told her astutely. "And don't think it was anything else." She sipped her tea and turned to Julie, who was putting her phone away. "So they coming?"
"Yeah. All the kids but Anna, and the Doctor." Julie shot a look at Rose. "Funny, him not giving us any other name."
Rose looked at Bella, intent on ignoring Julie. "So, Bella, are you guys going anywhere nice for a honeymoon?"
Bella nodded over her coffee. "We've rented a cottage in Ireland for two weeks. It's all we can take off from work, but it'll be good. I'll show you the website later, if you want."
"Sure," Rose agreed.
"I've heard enough about this wedding to last a lifetime," Izzy complained. "You're a great cousin, Bella, but let's talk about something else – like where Rose has been. It can't just have been Egypt."
Rose could feel her mother's eyes on her, and she fought a blush. "Oh, all over, really." All over the place, all over time. But she wasn't going to be saying that to her cousin any time soon. She drank her tea quickly. "We'd better go, the kids'll be at the park already."
"Alright, keep your secrets," Izzy sighed dramatically. They left the café and started to walk leisurely to the park, a few streets over. "But I'm telling you, if he's not yours, someone else'll grab him soon enough, and then you'll be stuffed."
"Never happen," Rose murmured in reply as the park loomed ahead of them. The kids were already there, supervised by Sandy, Josh and Tim. The Doctor was there too, trying to disentangle himself from Tommy, who seemed to have taken an extreme liking to him.
"Rose!" he said, catching sight of her. "Help!"
Rose stifled a laugh. "You're doing alright, Doctor." She waved at Tommy. "Hey, Tommy. How's school?"
Tommy, hanging from the Doctor's arm, made a face. "Boring," he declared. "But we play footy at break, and I've scored six goals!"
"Brilliant," Rose enthused. "Do me a favour? Go bother your sister Izzy for a while?" Tommy looked hesitantly from the Doctor to Izzy, who was chatting with Sandy, and decided that his sister was a better target. He let go and raced off.
"Thank you," the Doctor said fervently, brushing himself off. "I don't do kids."
"You're doing pretty well," she told him with a smile. "I do appreciate it." She waited a beat. "Besides, this is just payback."
He stared. "What for?"
"For the purple lake, of course." She linked her arm with his. "It took me three days to wash that stuff off."
Andy, Uncle Jeff's youngest son, came bounding over. "Hi Rose! Will you come on the seesaw with me?" He looked up at the Doctor. "Can I wear your coat? Will you play 'it' with me?"
It was with great amusement that Rose watched the Doctor hand over his prized leather jacket to the young boy, and then chase the boy – and other young children – around the park. He rarely won.
Didn't do family? She shook her head. Maybe not, but he was pretty good at it nonetheless.
Rose smiled at Stephen. "Hi," she greeted. "Nice to meet you."
"You too," Bella's fiancé nodded. "I've heard a lot of interesting things about you."
"All true," Rose declared, flopping onto the couch. "Probably." The Doctor moved to stand next to the couch, letting her shield him from the younger cousins. "God, I'm knackered."
"You weren't the one chasing a bunch of kids around," the Doctor muttered.
Stephen grinned. "They're a handful," he agreed. "The twins usually follow me around."
"We do not!" Sandra said indignantly from Stephen's feet.
"We just like you," Mark finished, popping up from behind his future brother-in-law. "C'mon, Stephen, we want to play on the PS2 with you." Stephen departed with a long-suffering sigh.
"Domestic," the Doctor muttered. "How many more days do we have to be here?"
"You hush, son." Grandpa Mark shuffled across the sitting room and into the armchair next to the couch. "This is a good family." He presented his cheek to Rose, and she leaned over to kiss him.
"Hello, Grandpa," she greeted. "How's Grandma?"
"You'd know if you were home more often," he said pointedly. "Your mother wants you." Rose looked uncertainly at the Doctor, who looked just a little worried. "I'll keep him safe," Grandpa Mark said with a chuckle.
"Alright," Rose murmured, getting up. "You be good." She wasn't entirely certain which of them she was addressing, and shot backwards glances at them before leaving.
"You going to sit down?" Mark asked after a moment. Folding his arms, the Doctor took Rose's vacated place. "You got a name, then?"
"Just the Doctor," the alien said guardedly. He tried to think of something to say that wouldn't start a fight. He hit upon something with at least a grain of truth. "Rose's talked about you."
Mark snorted. "That girl doesn't talk about her family, she tries to get away from us." He seemed pleased nonetheless. "What's she said? That I'm a grumpy old tyrant?"
"She told me you used to give her sweets when her mum wasn't looking," the Doctor offered.
"Hmph." Mark looked him over. "So, Doctor, what are you planning on doing?"
The Doctor blinked. "'Scuse me?"
"With Rose," Mark said impatiently. "S'not a situation any of us like, you realise. You whisking her off for eleven months out of the year."
The Doctor tilted his head slightly. "It's her decision," he said quietly. "She chooses whether to come with me or stay here. I'm not taking her against her will."
Mark shook his head. "Of course not," he said with irritation. "I'm not stupid. Anyone with eyes can see you're crazy about each other. What I want to know is what you're planning to do about it."
The Doctor blinked several times, a slight smile playing about his mouth. "I've never met someone quite as forthright as you," he marvelled. "Not even Rose."
"She gets it from me," Mark nodded. "Stop avoiding the question, sonny."
"I'm not avoiding the question," the Doctor protested. "You've got it all wrong. Rose and me aren't like that."
"Do you want there to be?"
The Doctor sputtered. "I – you – but – there's no way I can answer that?" Mark looked smug and indicated for him to continue. "If I say no, you'll ask me why not, and if I say yes, you'll do the whole protective relative thing!"
"True," Mark agreed calmly. "Alright, we'll let that one slip. Rose is too thin, have you been feeding her properly?"
The Doctor sighed and settled in for the long haul.
The Doctor was muttering under his breath, and Rose thought it best not to interrupt him. She'd rescued him from her grandfather nearly three hours ago, and he was still not calmed down. She wondered what exactly Grandpa Mark had said to him, and then thought that she'd really rather not know.
"Here we are," Bridget declared, parking the car. "Kids, out," she ordered. Izzy, Josh, Tommy and Anna piled out of the car. The Doctor stayed slumped in his seat for a moment. "Doctor!"
"Alright, I'm coming," he said ungraciously. Rose mouthed a sorry as she subtly guided him towards the front door.
"You're in the guest bedroom," Izzy informed them, snatching the house phone away from Josh.
"Oi!" her brother protested. "I need to call Jessie."
"You can use your bloody mobile," Izzy said calmly. "I need the phone."
Rose slipped past the two, thanking for the millionth time whatever higher being there was that she was an only child. The argument was resolved by the phone ringing and Bridget plucking it from their hands.
"I'll show you the guest bedroom," Anna said to Rose, pushing her glasses up her nose. "S'upstairs, in the loft."
"Thanks, Anna," Rose said gratefully. "Doctor, come on. No, Tommy, you stay there," she ordered as Tommy made to follow them.
Anna pointed them up the second flight of stairs, and then disappeared into her bedroom. Rose made her way up, opened the door…and gave a kind of choked gasp.
"What is it now?" the Doctor asked impatiently, and brushed her aside. He frowned. "Oh." He looked curiously at her. "Does all your family think we're having sex?"
Blushing faintly, Rose muttered something and dragged the bags into the room. "There's nothing we can do about it tonight," she said after a moment. "I'm tired, let's just not make a fuss, alright?"
The Doctor took a good look at her for perhaps the first time all day. "You alright?" he asked softly.
"It's just…" Rose shrugged. "The whole family together, s'hard to deal with sometimes." She shook her head. "And that bridesmaid's dress…"
"Awful?" He pulled his shoes off and stretched out on the bed.
"Worse," she confided with a sigh. "I mean, even worse than that orange body stocking." He grinned, and she pointed at him. "Don't you start, either," she warned. "Go have a shower, you've got grass in your hair," she added softly after a moment.
"Do not." He ran a hand through his hair and looked rather surprised when blades of grass fell out. "Oh. Uh. Right then." He got off the bed and went into the adjacent bathroom.
Rose rolled her eyes at his idiocy and made sure the bathroom door was firmly closed before she changed into her pyjamas. He could be such a silly git at times. She had to admit that she'd grown used to his idiosyncrasies, however, and she was very grateful that he was putting up with her family for a whole week. Even she had trouble doing that, and the Doctor was so adamant that he didn't do family.
She yawned and stretched out on the bed. She'd do her teeth when the Doctor had finished his shower. It really had been a tiring day – fending off questions from everybody about where she'd been, what she'd been doing, and about the Doctor. She'd just close her eyes for a minute…
She jerked awake when the Doctor touched her shoulder. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep.
"What is it?" she asked blearily.
"You're shivering," he said softly. "Get under the covers, Rose."
"Mm…got to brush m'teeth…"
"You'll survive," he said dryly. "Get under the bloody covers before you freeze to death." He tugged the blanket from beneath her, and she crawled underneath, closing her eyes again once she'd found the pillow. She muttered something that might have been a question, and reached out a hand towards him. "It's alright," he reassured her, knowing her propensity for nightmares. "Go to sleep."
Please review!
Day Two coming…sometime next week. I've got a busy weekend, so won't get too much writing done, but it'll be up definitely before next Friday, if not before.
