Title: Everlasting

Rating: K+

Summery: Rose and the 10th Doctor stop off in London for Christmas just a few months after the regeneration has taken place. Both still adjust to each other has changed, as well as how they've changed themselves. (10/Rose)

Authors Note: More kind reviews means more acts to the story. We have a bit darker angst parts this chapter than the previous ones, but only to be expected when you dabble in the minds of people that watch ones close to them change. Still based within Christmas and sometime during The Christmas Invasion however. Thank you to everyone who reviews and enjoys this little ficclet. This is certainly the longest chapter thus far, so if you are here a bit longer don't be too surprised.

If there had been one important thing that he had learned after his regeneration it was something he had learned on his own.

Snow was cold and it was awful to stand in for extended amounts of time.

And yet, he was able to take his hard earned shelter within his beloved ship, hiding from the daft little humans who ran about from convenient store to convenient store looking for the perfect gift that their significant other wouldn't remember in three months. Inside he was safe from the cars and rude drivers; it appeared that the Christmas spirit would come on Christmas Eve. Until then it was hell living through.

However the celebration was important to Rose and that's why he had bared the two weeks and not left for a much saner place…if you could call the third moon of Jevoian sane, then again it had to be compared to the crazy isles of the large stores Rose had gone into searching for gifts. But in the end Rose had asked for him to come, very shyly he noticed. He had wondered why at first, but then remembered how his previous incarnation hated shopping. Well he could understand now, but still Rose had asked so he had complied. She was filled with life and dragged him from store to store all the time in his sleepers. Of course he had gotten odd looks, but he was used to them, and just smiled and waved. Silly little humans and their amounts of money spending. He never understood it.

Now he sat in his comfortable chair in the library of his beloved ship, his feet up as and head tilted against the back of the chair, looking up at the ceiling. He had shifted every now again as he thought, something he had become quiet adapted to in the last three months. After all he had a lot of time to do so, as Rose had been very distant in the beginning. Even after explaining the regeneration process to her, she was still hesitant to take his hand or give any physical contact. There could have been many reasons for this, one she wasn't emotionally over the change, two she could have been afraid that in some odd way that he would regenerate again, the list went on and on. But in one adventure she had taken his hand, seeking comfort, and that was when things had begun to look brighter. He never bothered to ask her why she was like that, but he felt that if he pushed the matter it would just make a small gap into a giant rift.

Well that was interesting. He was afraid of Rose. No, he corrected himself. He was afraid of loosing Rose. She was a wonderful companion, as were all his other companions, except a few, which Rose happened to bring on board, but there was something a bit different about Rose. Maybe it was the fact that after the regeneration she hadn't left or the way she would always try to prove how she could know more than him. He tilted his head. Maybe it was because Rose was so much like him? He sighed, he didn't know, but he didn't want her to leave because he had changed. Even now, three months later, it was still a large worry for him. A worry of slipping up, saying the wrong thing, and causing her to demand a passage home.

He admitted, when she said she'd like to return home, he was afraid, even more so when she asked if she could set the time herself. He uneasily let her; of course it was obvious that she thought he was just uneasy about anyone else beside him setting the TARDIS. When they arrived it had taken him a moment to gather the courage to follow her out of the TARDIS, and least to say he was surprised to find it Christmas time. Rose was so happy and had asked him if they could stay for the holiday, like it was his job to decide where she would go or not. After a moment of being baffled he had agreed, making a happy witty remark to hide his shock. Of course to ruin the moment Mickey came as he heard the TARDIS siren. That had been a nightmare to explain. The daft boy thought that someone had killed him and abducted Rose. Honestly, if someone had killed him, the Doctor had no worry with Rose taking care of herself and the enemy. She was a smart young woman and he had seen her time and time again prove herself able to take care of a situation. Another reason why he liked her he supposed.

He lifted his wrist up, looking at the time. Rose had once again gone shopping, and said she would return by six. It was four now, giving him another two hours of thought, or he could attempt to try and do something. Now that he thought about it, Rose had been teasing him lately about his apparel. He certainly couldn't wear his former self's clothing, it was much too large, but he had grown to like his current outfit. But, then you couldn't go about saving other people in your sleepers, he sighed. And next came the one of the things he had begun to dread about his regeneration process, the fitting.

If there was one thing she had learned from the previous three months, it was that the Doctor was one hell of a shopper himself.

Even though he'd never admit it, he was rather enjoying himself. Rose would stand in the isle as he looked over each item on the shelf carefully and mumbling things about them to himself. Occasionally he would pick up some obscure item and jokingly talk about how she should buy it for whomever she was shopping with at the time. One time it was a sort of plush doll that he had tossed at her exclaiming it would be perfect for her mother. She had giggled and tossed it back at him, saying it suited his new apparel better than anything in her mother's house. He had carefully reexamined the plush doll and asked her if she was sure, which she replied that she was very sure. He had simply shrugged and tossed it back into the bin, offering his arm for them to continue.

However one thing he didn't enjoy was how rude people could be. Rose found herself not caring, adjusted to how people acted when shopping for the holiday, but the Doctor seemed absolutely shocked. He had decided then he would rather go and be eaten by some raging swamp monster on some moon she'd never heard of before rather than shop with such "arrogant little people" again. This had upset the other consumers but he had snapped at them when they attempted to explain their reasons. She sighed.

Maybe Time Lords weren't fit for twenty-first century shopping.

It was just another thing to add to the list. She had been keeping a mental tally of what was different about him in her head, and it was starting to grow longer than what was staying the same. This worried her. If he could change in other aspects, he could easily be bored with her and send her back to her boring little life. She sighed as she walked down the street, her hands in her pockets as her shoes crunched in the fresh snow. He didn't seem bored but rather enthralled in everything, but then again maybe he was just pretending to so she would stay. Rose sighed in frustration; it was getting harder and harder to understand him. The thought crossed her mind to steal his slipper again just to rid weighted thoughts.

However she found herself in front of the TARDIS within seconds, or maybe she had been standing there and didn't notice. She pulled the key out and opened the door, stepping inside, into the warmth that the ship greeted her with. She couldn't help but smile as she removed her scarf and her coat, a slight skip in her step as she walked up the ramp to the console panel. The ship gave a slight hum of life at acknowledging her presence.

She supposed that within these three months she had changed as well. Her memory of the final moments on the Game Station had returned to her, but she was certain it wasn't of her own accord. A memory recalled itself, of when he told her that the TARDIS gets inside your head. She had pondered this, wondering what more there was to it. Of course he hadn't spoken much about himself back then, but he could now. Whatever the reason, she had fit most of those final moments back together before he regenerated, but it left her more baffled than anything.

Time for a chat.

Rose walked down the halls of the TARDIS, peaking into the rooms looking for him. He wasn't in the library, his room, or the kitchen, or the bathroom. She found herself just wandering the halls until she had found an open door. She recognized the room as the wardrobe room and poked her head inside, seeing that it was slightly messier than usually, but that was usually her causing the messes. She stepped inside, seeing the small pile of the Doctor's bath attire in a chair and feeling herself freeze. There was a stumble beside her and she turned slowly to look, this time she was the one adorned in the helpless 'deer-in-headlights'.

He looked up at her, obviously surprised to see her there. She opened her mouth to say something but found herself unable to say something, her mind was completely blank. He must have noticed because he smirked as he folded the collar down on his white dress shirt. She watched him turn back to the mirror and begin placing his tie on.

Since when did he wear a tie?

"What are you doing?" she managed to say from her blank slate mind.

He tilted his head and turned it slightly to look at her, one eyebrow rising as if she had asked the most moronic thing in the whole universe. She felt so stupid then. It was obvious what he was doing, but so foreign, she had never seen him actually get dressed. Then again three months ago he wouldn't even think it possible that changed his attire at all.

He noticed this, she knew he did. His eyebrow returned to it normally was and he stopped attempting to fiddle with his tie and smiled at her. He turned to her, hands in his pockets taking a bit wider stance as if he was trying to get her approval. She took a step back, tilting her head and looking him over from head to toe. She stopped as she noticed he tensed, what he actually cared what she thought about his apparel? This was certainly an interesting development.

"It's missing something." She concluded.

"What would that be?" he asked a bit softly, perhaps he was concerned about what she thought.

"A vest. A matching one, with your trousers." She concluded, pointing to his pants. He blinked and looked down at the pin stripped ones, eyebrows rising as if it had dawned on him. He looked up at her and one of his witty smirks appeared on his face, the same one that showed up when he had realized there was a adventure waiting for them. This was going to be very interesting.

She walked past him and into the closet behind him. His eyes followed her as she moved into the closet, slowly turning and watching. She quickly thumped through the jackets hanging in, giving quick glances at him, and looking him over before returning to her search. He didn't fail to notice the small smirk that would appear on her face, which made it an adventure in itself. Here he was, standing there while a woman dressed him. He couldn't recall letting it happen with any other of his incarnations. Maybe that is what made it so enthralling. He moved quietly behind her, watching as she would pause and study the jackets with the most careful expression, looking for any faults or clashes.

Rose noticed that he was standing behind her, not moving, but standing and studying her. She shifted a bit; it was so odd finding herself being watched by him. Sure he often id it, but it wasn't like this. Usually it was just to see what she was thinking, but he was actually watching her now, studying her almost as if she was a work of art. She hit herself mentally, that was a stupid assumption. He was probably just watching her to make sure she didn't choose some god awful neon green. Still it made her a bit uneasy and faulty, but she forced herself to focus at the topic at hand. She suddenly froze as her hand hovered over hers.

"What about this one?" he asked.

She looked at the one that she had paused at. It was brown like his pants; in fact it looked like it matched perfectly. She wrinkled her nose at the thought of why it was separated from its match but shoved it off and pulled the hanger off the rack, turning around, and looking up at the taller man behind her. He looked down at the jacket, looked at her, and gave his adventurous smirk. Damn.

Whatever made him smile like, she wished it didn't.

He took the jacket and walked out of the closet, facing the mirror again as he went to place the jacket over his shirt. However she took the jacket from his hands, tossed it on to the chair, and put her hands on her hips. Well this was certainly surprising; he wasn't expecting Rose to be flinging his clothes about. He glanced at the jacket, then at her, and where she was pointing. He looked down, finding his tie was still undone. He frowned and gave a slight glare at the tie. Something told him to wear it but he couldn't get it to work right.

Rose must have known the fact because she took him by the shoulders and spun him to face her, catching him off guard and startled. She took the two ends of the tie and began to tie it together, being very precise in her measurements. He wondered idly where she had learned it, but some part of his mind decided against asking about it, too busy being mesmerized by it all. However he was brought back from his thoughts quickly as Rose pushed the knot up too far, giving him a slight choke. Her eyes widened and she pulled it down a bit, taking a small step back.

The Doctor gave a cough before straightening his tie and grinning at her sheepishly at his very uncharacteristic choke. She smiled back and picked up the jacket, handing it to him. He placed it on; tugging at it to make sure it was on completely and fit. He looked back up to see that Rose was now another closet of the room. Deciding quickly that he didn't want to know what she was looking for, he turned his attention to buttoning his jacket up. However he stopped on the second button when he found a mess of light brown soft leather in his eye line. He looked up through the brown hair that cascaded into his eyes at her as she smiled in triumph.

"What's this then?" he asked.

"Are you honestly that blind?" she retorted teasingly, holding it up. "It's a trench coat, Doctor. Think about how cold it is going to be outside. You don't have as much muscle now so layering is going to be your best option to keep warm."

His eyes narrowed playfully, still looking up at her through his hair. Rose paused a moment and felt a tingle go up her spine with just how dangerous he looked. "Are you saying that I'm scrawny?" he narrowed his eyes a bit more, lowering his voice.

Rose offered a brave smile. "Sort of, yeh." She repeated his previous incarnation's catchphrase.

He stayed still for a moment, keeping the expression on his face and his head tilted down, eyes peering up at her. But slowly a smile formed and he snatched the coat, placing it on quickly. He tugged at it, shifting in it with a thoughtful full face before nodding in approval. He peered in the mirror, fixing his long gelled hair and looked at Rose.

"Well let's go give it a test run." Rose's face fell, he noticed. "What?"

"I thought….we were staying here." She said softly, hurt. He frowned, she hadn't caught on to his meaning and now he had gone and hurt her feelings. He gave a slight frown, blowing the hair from his eyes in frustration. Sometimes she was so…well, human.

"That's not what I meant." He corrected himself, and Rose looked at him. "After all your shops are much more dangerous than any planet or moon I can face." He gave a smirk and slowly she smiled back, understanding his joke. He winced and rubbed his arm as she punched him, maybe he was getting scrawny. She giggled at his pain and he gave a slight glare, stuffing his hands in his pockets as some form of protest.

"So why so eager to try out the attire?" she questioned.

He smiled. "Simple." She looked baffled, just like she was supposed to. Whenever she was baffled her lower lip would stick out, her head would tilt, and her nose would scrunch up in silent protest. He looked down at his wrist, moving the layers of clothing and looking at the watch that lay below. "Its five forty three and twelve seconds." He looked up at her. "You said you wouldn't be back till six. This means that you came back early to get me and drag me back out into your crazy world of shopping." He wasn't going to complain. He might not have openly admitted that he disliked how the people acted in stores, but it gave him something to do, and he didn't feel as lonely.

His reasoning was too quick for her brain at the moment. She was still trying to understand how he looked so classical, like a Roaring Twenties wealthy man, but still like he belonged in the twenty first century. Perhaps it was a gift to all Time Lords, or perhaps he was able to adjust so well. Her brain finally figured through the dashing appearance and snapped back to the present, which was him looking at her rather oddly. She smiled weakly and nodded.

"Alright. Let's go then."

He walked past her, his hand going and grasping hers as he passed. She entwined her fingers between his, squeezing his hand lightly. His eyes slowly gazed on her through their corners, and he squeezed back. Rose's eyes drifted down to their hands, and for the first time in three months something registered in her brain.

His hand was smaller and the fingers longer, but his grip was still the same.