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?

Notes: Day Three. Dress, movie and worry.

Dedication: My brother, because he's actually reading the 'Iliad' right now. Go Ed!


Day Three
Rose had been hoping to avoid this. She'd wanted to just wear the dress on the day, to minimise the amount of teasing she'd be getting from the Doctor.

It was not to be. Bridget had hung the dress on the inside of the door while they had been sleeping, and Rose was woken to the sound of the Doctor laughing.

She threw her pillow in his general direction and pulled the blankets over her head. It was way too early to be awake, she was positive. He could just shut up.

Only he didn't. He kept laughing, and after a minute Rose sat up and glared at him.

"What is it?" she demanded. Then she saw the dress and gave a whimper. "Oh god."

"Oh god, alright," he agreed gleefully. "That has to be the worst thing I've ever seen." He paused. "Well, except –"

"Alright," she interrupted crossly. "Did you have to wake me up?" She took a good look at him and raised her eyebrows. "You could have got dressed first," she added.

The Doctor looked down at himself. "You've seen me in less," he excused. "Besides, this was too funny! You've actually got to wear this!"

"Yes," she muttered. "Go get dressed before that towel falls off." She pulled the blankets over her head again and muffled a giggle. Yes, she'd seen him in less than a towel – several times he'd actually conceded to wearing local dress, and Ancient Egypt had been one of those times. Loincloths, in Rose's opinion, were highly suitable for certain Time Lords. But she'd never seen him wet and half-naked. In Shireen's words, yummy.

There was a knock at the door, and a moment later Izzy had poked her head around the door. "Morning," she greeted cheerily. "Mum wanted to know if you'll be down in time for breakfast, 'cos she'll save bacon if you are." She looked around. "Where's the Doctor, then?"

The Doctor chose that moment to walk out of the bathroom wearing only his trousers. "Rose, you seen my jumper?" he demanded, barely glancing at Izzy.

"No," Rose managed in a strangled voice. "We'll be down in a minute, Izzy."

Izzy, mouth wide open, nodded and disappeared. Rose grabbed the Doctor's pillow and flung it at him.

"You are such an idiot," she said on his look. "You have no clue." She'd never hear the end of it from Izzy and Bella now – especially after what the Doctor had said yesterday during their argument.

She shivered involuntarily. He'd said that he had no plans…

Not that it mattered, she told herself decisively. He was the Doctor, and she was his companion, and there was no room for anything else.

Even if she wanted it, she concluded, idly watching him finish dressing.

An hour later, they were comfortably ensconced on the couch in the sitting room. Arranged around them on various chairs, beanbags and cushions were Michelle, Sandra, Mark, Andy, Mandy, Tommy and Anna. Rose was under instructions to not let the kids out of the room except for bathroom breaks, so she'd put a movie on.

The Doctor was fascinated by 'Shrek 2'. He swore he'd met a cat just like Puss in Boots, and that he'd been bleeding profusely at the end of their encounter. Rose retorted that it didn't matter to her, because Puss was adorable and Antonio Banderes was hot.

"I like this version of Pinocchio much better than the Disney one," Michelle observed during the scene where the wooden boy was handing Mission Impossible style. "He's fun."

"He's gay," Sandra added. "Like my teacher."

"He's just gender-confused," Rose put in. "Shut up, it's nearly the best bit."

The boys threw pillows at the girls when they sang along with the Fairy Godmother. When the song was over, Rose collapsed back on the couch, leaning in to the Doctor.

"That's what a hero should be like," she said decidedly. "White horse, sword swinging."

"Cool song in the background," Michelle added.

"Would a blue police box do?"

Rose blinked, not entirely sure if he'd actually said that. She glanced up at him, but he appeared absorbed by the transformation of King Harold into a frog.

"I like Donkey better than Puss," Andy declared. "He's more funny."

"But Puss is sweet," Anna objected. "Donkey's just a donkey." She threw a kernel of popcorn at her cousin. "What's he got that so special?"

"He's funny," Mark said firmly.

"He's annoying," Michelle put in. "He's like a little kid – 'are we there yet, are we there yet'. It's stupid."

"But that's the whole point," the Doctor said, taking some popcorn from the bowl in Rose's lap and flicking a kernel at Mark. "He's your inner child."

"He's a pain," Michelle disagreed. "Rose?"

"He's annoying sometimes," Rose allowed. "But Eddie Murphy annoys me, so." She threw some popcorn at the Doctor.

"This means war," he warned. "Boys?"

Rose shrieked as without warning the Doctor dislodged her and pushed a handful of popcorn at her hair. "Hey!"

The sitting room became a battlefield between the boys and the girls, as popcorn was thrown and subsequently trampled into the carpet. Shrieks of laughter echoed through the house as the cousins plus one chased each other around with handfuls of sticky popcorn. Chairs were upset and cushions went flying.

"What is going on here?"

Time seemed to freeze, which at least two people in the room knew was scientifically impossible. The only sound was the flutter of popcorn falling to the ground. All eyes were on Bridget. Her eyes roved the room. The children waited in trepidation.

"Alright," she said finally. "All of you into the garden. Strip to your underwear and hose off. I'll get clean clothes. And then Michelle, Mandy and Anna can clean this room up. I can't believe you'd make such a mess."

Slowly the children filed past her. Bridget turned her attention to the eldest two, who had stayed put. Rose had been straddling the Doctor, shoving popcorn down his jumper. She scrambled off him now, managing to poke him in the ribs as she did so.

"Ow," he complained.

"Baby," she muttered. "Uh, sorry, Auntie Bridget."

"Sorry!" Bridget shook her head. "Well, at least you two have made up. Go shower, the pair of you. I don't know, at your age…" She left, muttering to herself. Rose looked at the Doctor.

"It was your fault," she said innocently. "You started it."

"I did not," he protested. "You threw popcorn at me."

"Well, you didn't have to shove popcorn down my top," Rose countered, squirming as she stood up. "Damn, it itches! I must have half a bowl down here…" She looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and pulled the shirt over her head.

"Rose!"

"S'not anything you've not seen before," she said, shaking popcorn out of her top and off herself. "I'm wearing a bra." She flung the top at him, grinning at the sight of him gawking. "I'm getting the shower first."


An hour later, Rose was cursing herself for doing…whatever it was that she'd done. She wasn't sure whether it was the shower, the topless bit, the domesticity, or the kids. But the Doctor had vanished.

Not just gone-down-the-pub/shop/park/cinema vanished, either. Really and truly vanished.

Vanished as in his TARDIS key was gone. As had one of his bags.

Gone as in when Rose went to where they'd parked the TARDIS, it wasn't there.

Rose leaned against a wall and took several deep breaths. Okay. The TARDIS was gone. That didn't mean anything. It could mean something completely normal – sometimes he tinkered around on it and it took him elsewhere, but he always – always – came back for her. He wouldn't leave her in a strange time and place…

But this wasn't a strange time and place. Horror filled her. He hadn't – he couldn't have left her for good? Some of his things were still at Bridget's, but nothing important, nothing he couldn't pick up anywhere.

He hadn't left anything important…except her.

She kept taking deep breaths, sliding down to sit on the concrete ground. She would not panic. She would not. He wouldn't leave her without saying anything. Some of her things were in the TARDIS – he wouldn't go with those.

He wouldn't go without saying goodbye.

A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and she looked up to see her mother. Jackie joined her on the ground, hugging Rose close.

"He's – it's gone," Rose said, her voice surprisingly steady. "He's probably just…checking something. S'always playing up, the TARDIS is. Can't…can't land anywhere right."

Can't land anywhere right. Oh god, she thought, what if he does try to come back and the TARDIS lands him five years wrong, or something? What if he didn't try to get back to her? What if he didn't care enough for that?

"Okay," Jackie said quietly. "You want to come in for a cuppa?"

"No," Rose said quickly. "No, I'm just gonna…just gonna wait here for a bit. See if he…"

"Okay," Jackie nodded. "Give us a ring if you need anything, yeah? I'll be at Julie's." She got up and started to walk away. She paused and turned back. "Rose…is there anything you want to tell me? About you and the Doctor, maybe?"

A million things sprang to mind. The Doctor taking her hand in the basement of Henrik's. Almost dying at the end of the world. Cassandra, the last human. Blue-skinned plumbers. Blue gas aliens. Charles Dickens. William Shakespeare. The Battle of Hastings. The attacks at Flanders. Besieging the Winter Palace in Russia. Saving children from earthquakes in far-off planets. Swimming with the creatures that called themselves mermaids. Running through icy caverns to escape strange aliens, fleeing for their lives.

Feeling safe anywhere the Doctor was.

Rose shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "Nothing." Jackie nodded, resigned, and left Rose to her vigil.

Rose sat on the ground for half an hour, then moved to a nearby bench. It was more comfortable there, and after a while she lay full length on it and cloud-watched. She saw a Dalek, a Tree, a duck and a crocodile before she sat up again, bored and anxious.

What if he didn't come back? No, that couldn't happen. He'd promised her – he'd said that he wouldn't leave until she told him to, and she hadn't told him to, she wouldn't ever.

She couldn't. Not with everything she'd seen and been through, not after knowing him, not after falling in –

"Rose?" Izzy stood in front of her. "Can I sit?" Rose nodded silently, and Izzy joined her on the bench. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Rose said blankly. "You?"

"You don't look fine," Izzy said bluntly. "What's up?" Rose shrugged. "Where's the Doctor?" Rose shot her a look. "Uh huh. Wanna talk about it?"

"No," Rose said. "S'not that I don't – I mean – I don't know. It's complicated."

"Sure. Why?" Izzy tilted her head. "Because he's older? How old is he anyway, thirties?"

Rose shrugged again. "Dunno, never asked. He doesn't do birthdays – not his own, anyway. M'birthday last year, he made a huge deal out of it. Made such a big fuss. Baked a cake and everything."

"He baked?" Izzy looked suitably impressed. "Was it edible?"

Rose smiled. "Oh yeah, it was amazing. All chocolate and butter icing."

Izzy nodded slowly. "So…he's not your boyfriend but he baked a cake for you?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Rose said firmly. "He's just not. He's…different. Better than that." She remembered telling Mickey that – years ago, it seemed. "He's the Doctor, that's all."

"And you love him."

Rose opened her mouth to protest, but something stopped her. Some small part of her that forced the truth. She gave a small shrug and looked at where the TARDIS had been.

"Doesn't matter," she said. "S'not how it is with us. It's just not. It never was."

"Never was?" Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Mind explaining that to me?"

"It's –"

"Complicated," Izzy finished. "I get it." She sighed. "Look, Rose…you're setting yourself up for hurt."

"I'm not."

"You bloody are," Izzy said forcefully. "You think he's gonna take you around the world forever?" Rose looked at her with hooded eyes. "'Cos he's not."

"He'll take me as long as I want to go," Rose said quietly. "He promised."

"And you actually think he'll keep that promise?" Izzy pressed. "Where is he now?"

"Just leave it," Rose snapped suddenly, standing up. "I don't see why you all think it's any of your business what I do, with or without the Doctor! I'm grown up, I'm not a little girl anymore, and I can make my own decisions! After the things I've seen!" She didn't notice Izzy's eyes staring past her, or the rumbling noise. "It's my business, and if I want to make myself bloody miserable, I'll do it, alright?"

"Miserable?"

Rose whirled around. The TARDIS was back, and the Doctor was standing in front of it, a frown on his face.

"Miserable?" he repeated. "You're miserable?"

She slapped him and ran off.


The Doctor tried to make himself even smaller. There were reasons, he reminded himself grumpily, that he didn't do families. This was one of them.

Jackie Tyler. Possibly one of the most formidable women he had ever met, and that was saying a lot. He'd thought her a twit when he first met her – and she was, really – but when it came to her daughter, Jackie was immovable. Terrifying, in fact.

Grandpa Mark was similarly firm in his defence of his family, as the Doctor had discovered on his first day to this family circus.

The two of them were currently in Julie's sitting room with him. Mark was sitting in the armchair he usually occupied when here, and Jackie was standing, hands on her hips, quivering with rage.

"I was only gone an hour or two," he offered. "Right?"

"That's not the point!" Jackie exploded. The Time Lord winced. "Are you completely stupid? She asked you to be here with her. You take her off to God knows where and then when she asks you for one thing, you can't even stick around for three days without wandering off to who knows where!"

"You didn't even tell her you were going," Mark chimed in disapprovingly.

"Do you have any idea how frantic she was?" Jackie demanded. "She thought you'd left her here, she thought you'd got tired of her or something. That she'd done something wrong!"

He looked horrified. "I didn't think of that."

"You never do, Doctor!" Jackie stepped forward and the Doctor flinched backwards. "You never think about how you affect the people around you!" She paused for a moment. "You took my daughter away from me," she said then. "And I forgave you because of the look in her eyes when she sees you and that TARDIS. But you terrified her today, and if you ever do that again – I'll make sure you never fly off again."

Grandpa Mark frowned. "I'm missing something here," he said into the silence that followed Jackie's threat. "Someone want to clue me in?"

"Not now, Dad," Jackie said tiredly.

"I'm…I'm sorry," the Doctor said quietly. "I didn't…I just…"

"Don't explain yourself to me," Jackie said curtly. "Rose is the one you should be talking to. I know you were worried after your fight yesterday – but you knew she'd come back. She thought you wouldn't. Just remember that."

Mark tapped his foot on the floor. "Jackie," he said warningly. "Explain what you said before. Right now. Doctor?"

The Doctor scratched his cheek and looked at Jackie. This was really her call. He didn't approve of her telling him, but…

"Oh," he said suddenly. "That kid…Izzy? She saw the TARDIS land. Might be a bit confused."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course. That's just great, that is. Well, Doctor, you explain to Dad. Tell him how you whisk his granddaughter to all ends of the universe on a regular basis." She folded her arms and looked at him.

"Right. Um. Well." The Doctor glanced around. "I'm off to find Rose, then. Bye!" He bolted.


"I'm sorry."

She ignored him, concentrating on painting her nails.

"I should have said I was going out."

She didn't answer.

"Will you look at me, Rose?"

She gave him a cursory look, then returned her attention to her nails. He sighed in exasperation.

"Look, you knew I'd be coming back."

"No," she said sharply. "I didn't."

He sighed again. "You're being silly. I told you I wouldn't leave you, didn't you?"

"Do you think that stopped me being terrified?" Rose demanded, putting the lid on the bottle of nail polish and looking properly at him. "Yeah, you did tell me you wouldn't leave, but this is also my planet in my time and my family, so how do I know you won't suddenly decide this is what's best for me and go disappearing off into the universe?" She waved her arms about. "I was so –" The words choked in her throat and she turned away to hide tears.

"Rose…" The Doctor stepped closer to her. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just…needed to get away for a bit. I don't do family, Rose, I just don't."

"I know," she said softly. "I just…you should have told me."

"I know."

"I thought I'd done something wrong," she said in a small voice.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Rose, no! There's no way you could do something wrong." He stepped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. "No way. You understand?"

They stared at each other for a moment, and then her arms were around his neck and his hands had slid down to her waist and they were kissing.

It was the strangest, most beautiful moment in her young life. His skin was slightly cooler than hers, and his thumb rubbing gently across the skin at her waist sent shivers running through her. She could feel both heartbeats in his chest. His lips on hers were soft and gentle and oh-so-wonderful. She never wanted to let go, never wanted this moment to end, never wanted –

He pulled away slightly. She was breathing raggedly, and looked up at him with trepidation. Was he just going to brush it off? Or would he…

"Rose," he said in a strange voice. "I…"

"Don't say it," she said quickly. "Don't say that you shouldn't have done that. Don't say anything like that. If you want to forget about it, fine, but don't…don't say anything."

"I wasn't going to say that," he said quietly.

"Oh." She bit her lip. "What…what were you going to say?"

"I don't know, actually." He tilted his head. "I, uh, might need to retrace my steps, as it were. See if I can remember what I was going to say."

She took a breath. "Oh. Okay."

He kissed her again. He pulled her close against him and she moaned. This was perfection.

"No," he said after a while. "No, I definitely wasn't going to say…whatever it was you didn't want me to say."

"That's good," Rose murmured, leaning against him and listening to his heartbeats. "'Cos I'd have to kill you, if you did."

He chuckled and his chest rumbled underneath her cheek. "You might have to line up. Your mum's a scary woman."

"What did she do?"

"Threatened to kill me if I ever leave you like that again."

Rose pulled back and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Yeah, well, don't do that, alright?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No." he cupped her cheek. "Not going to do that again. I promise." He made to kiss her again, then withdrew. "By the way, both Izzy and Grandpa Mark now know I'm an alien."

"What?"


Please review!

Next chapter up as soon as it's written, which at the rate I'm going will be...Thursday or Friday.