Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognise, and any made up planets belong to my beta Aphy who manages to make this readable.
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The Doctor groaned as he slid out from his resting place underneath one of the TARDIS's consoles. Give it a day or two to re-charge and then he and Rose would be back to saving the universe.
It had actually been a relatively quiet week. They had stopped an evil alien race from taking over Paradia, visited the moons of Epsilonica and gone shopping on New Vega. Of course, shopping with Rose was an ordeal in itself, especially as he had given her her 'wages' the day before. Aliens and monsters he could deal with, but Rose in a shopping frenzy? No way.
The only reason they were taking a break was because the TARDIS had blown a couple of circuits on the last time jump. Nothing critical, but enough to make landing 1000 years off the mark a real possibility. Better to be safe than sorry when you're playing with time and space, so they had parked in the vortex for a while to repair and recharge. And to let Rose play with her new stuff of course.
Talking of Rose, the Doctor hadn't seen her in ages. Where was she? The TARDIS was big, but not big enough to totally disappear in. Filled with a sense of purpose the Doctor strode off on his self-appointed task of finding Rose Tyler.
Rose spun round with a grin, gleefully laughing at the way her new skirt had made orbit around her. It had been ages since she'd had a chance to buy new clothes and stuff. Most of her wages had always gone on food and things; never had she had enough to buy a whole new wardrobe. What with her new outfits and the period costumes the TARDIS provided, say hello to a new Rose Tyler.
Rose carefully hung the skirt up on one of the never ending supply of coat hangers the TARDIS kept sending her. Now for the finishing touches. You couldn't look great in skimpy clothes without a tan. And as Rose doubted the Doctor would accommodatingly take her to a nice sunny planet and let her sunbathe, it looked like the bronze glow would have to be out of a bottle. Now where had she put it? There it was, on the bed.
Grinning, she snatched up the bottle of moisturising fake tan and headed for the bathroom.
After locking the door Rose carefully read the instructions on the bottle. 'Apply liberally to skin and rub in well. Make sure to cover all areas needed as the colour change is remarkable.'
'All over then' thought Rose. 'Better get the Doctor to do my back.'
Where the hell was she? He'd looked in her bedroom, the wardrobe, everywhere he could think of, yet no Rose had appeared. Just as the Doctor was about to give up, a voice sounded from a nearby bathroom.
"Doctor?" Rose's voice sounded almost questioning.
"No, it's a Slitheen come to take over the TARDIS for his own personal gain. Of course it's me you idiot." Slightly put out by the fact that she had been right under his nose the whole time he had been looking for her the Doctor didn't even try to keep the sarcasm from his tone.
"No need to be sarcastic, I was only asking. Anyway, could you do me a favour?"
"Depends."
"Oh for gods sake, just get in here and put this stuff on my back will you?"
"Fine."
Slightly apprehensive of what he might finds the Doctor obeyed orders and headed for the bathroom. Once he opened the door, however, he decided that it might have been better if he had run as fast as possible in the other direction. For Rose, whilst applying the cream, had stripped off to just her knickers. Not that there was anything wrong with her knickers, but there was still the definite lack of a top that worried the Doctor.
"Well, come in then, even you can't put this stuff on me from back there." She was facing the wall and didn't turn anything except her head. "I'm trusting you not to look by the way."
"Right." The Doctor's mouth was dry and he swallowed, trying to get rid of the nervous feeling that had settled in his stomach. He was alone in a room with a half naked Rose and he was expected to put cream or something on her back without giving in to the temptation of looking down. Not good. Not good at all.
He cautiously approached and picked up the bottle, squirting a decent amount of flower smelling lotion into his hand and warming it before slathering it over Rose's back, all the while doing his best to not think about the warm skin under his hands or the body that was exposed in front of him.
It was almost impossible to totally ignore it though. He was close enough to smell her, a mixture of the lotion and her own personal smell, and his hands were travelling far too close to areas they shouldn't be going for him to be comfortable with the situation.
His own body was betraying his thoughts now. As long as she stayed still he'd be fine. As long as she didn't move backwards he could still escape from the room with some dignity and without embarrassing the both of them. Nearly finished. There, it was rubbed in.
"I'll be in the control room," he got out as he fled the room at a pace that was best described as a sprint. Time for the first of what was likely to be a whole host of cold showers.
Rose was beginning to regret ever having the idea of having the Doctor do her back. It was torture! Dreams didn't do the man's (or alien's) hands justice. And it was driving her crazy! They were roaming around rubbing cream in and she had to stand there pretending nothing was going on when all she actually wanted to do was turn around and snog him senseless. Or press back and see if it was having a similar effect on him.
Then again, from the way he ran out of the room it had. 'Time for a shower' thought Rose. If she didn't relieve some of the tension she was feeling something was going to explode.