Back again and the two are finally going to have to settle down. Is this the time for a mortgage?!
Playing House
"This? This is where we will live?" Rose exclaimed the second after they left the strange and technical airport, surprised by the scene in front of her. This was a far cry from what she expected, she was sort of assuming everyone would have their own hovercraft like they did in the movies.
"Of course…why? What's wrong?" the Doctor asked, trying to look around and see what had shocked Rose so much. For him, this was no surprise, but then again nothing really was.
"It…it looks exactly like home," Rose whispered, walking onto the sidewalk of what looked like the 21st century London, almost exactly identical.
The Doctor let out a snort that earned him a sharp glance from Rose, but continued on nevertheless. "That was sort of the point…they had a big revival movement a few years ago and rebuilt a few Earth cities to different time periods, London just so happened to be chosen for the 21st century. Is this a good thing or does it make you miss home more?"
"It's fantastic…just fantastic," Rose murmured, declaring that he was going to buy her chips this instant to celebrate her good luck.
After finishing up eating their chips, Rose had wondered aloud about what they were going to do next. Thankfully, the Doctor seemed to have a plan, explaining that she looked rather tired and really should go to bed as it was already past dark.
"But Doctor, we don't have anywhere to sleep," Rose explained. For being such a genius, he really could be dense at times. She knew the day was rapidly approaching where they would have to get a place and pay a mortgage. "Speaking of which, we really need to find a place soon. I really don't like living out of a suitcase…"
"A few days, okay?" the Doctor asked. Rose would have complained, but she could already tell from the look on his face that if she mentioned it again he would entirely block her out. And she couldn't stand for that to happen right now, she needed him right now more than ever and she didn't want him to be alone either.
…
Two whole weeks had passed since then that first day arriving at London and Rose had yet to bring up settling down officially. She knew the time was rapidly approaching where they couldn't pretend this was a holiday any longer and frankly, despite their many jokes about domesticity, she wasn't sure how the Doctor would respond.
"Doctor, should we plan today?" Rose asked. She winced slightly as she said the words, they sounded so silly to her but she was running out of options. Ever since the first day, Rose had brought up a question like that every morning without fail. She sighed in defeat when she saw the Doctor spin around so that his back was facing hers, something she had gotten rather used to since they had gotten stuck here.
"Well, I was actually thinking something else," the Doctor began, sure to bring up something that sounded so interesting that she gave up and joined him for an adventure, and maybe a little bit of trouble. "We have been running so much these past few weeks you must be getting tired. We could go to the park and maybe have a picnic."
However, Rose had had quite enough of his games and stormed over so that she stood directly in front of him. "Doctor!" she huffed. That sure did get his attention, as she had put her hands on her hips, appearing a bit like her mother right before she slapped him. "You can't keep doing this. I know you want to put it off, but we've got to face the inevitable. And I think it should be today. Don't you?"
"Rose…" the Doctor began to say, searching his mind for another distraction. It wasn't Rose that was the issue at all, it was just the fact that he had to settle down. That was what he had been running from practically his entire life and now it was all he had left to do. He would have to get a job eventually, the money they had received was going to run dry eventually. Not like that fact was affecting the other members of the crew that had escaped Krop Tor. All of them had left to vacation at exotic locations, knowing exactly what would be waiting for them when they returned.
Rose, not going to take no for an answer, took more drastic measures. She stepped closer to him until she was just inches away from his face, but he still wasn't budging one bit. Trailing her hand up his chest, she gripped onto his tie, slowly pulling it so that he was even closer to her, their foreheads practically touching. Rose cocked her head to the side, wondering when the Doctor would finally crack. Deciding to go a little farther, Rose yanked his tie once more so that their foreheads were firmly pressed together along with their noses. She could feel his body pressed up against hers, practically begging both of them to go farther. Glancing up a bit, Rose was surprised that the Doctor's eyes had closed and he had just licked his lips, already moving them closer to hers, closer and closer until. "Don't you?" Rose repeated. She said the words right before the Doctor's lips met hers, she could already feel his breath against her lips and knew he was less than a millimeter away from her.
At the words, the Doctor's eyes flew open in surprise. He realized, a moment too late, that Rose had just been playing with him as she practically twirled away from him, ending up a few feet away with a smirk slowly filling her face. With a sigh, the Doctor ran his hand through his hair, trying to ignore the fact that his face was burning bright red. He wasn't actually going to kiss her, he thought confidently, he had been in on the joke the whole time too, he was sure of it. "Fine."
"Glad to see you finally came to see the light," Rose joked, getting some things she needed from the hotel room. She was honestly sick of living in a hotel, even if it was nicer than she was used to. "We need to know where we are going to look though."
"Oh, I have a few possibilities…" the Doctor explained, surprising her when he pulled out a file folder.
"Huh? When did you do this?"
"At night I get bored," the Doctor mumbled with a shrug. Truthfully, he wanted to make sure that Rose was happy here and loved where she lived. It was easy on the TARDIS, the room was just automatically made to her tastes. But here he had to try and it was proving to be a lot more difficult than he had originally predicted.
Rose stood still for a moment, pausing as she glanced at one of the sheets she was secretly already fond of. "Yeah, I know, I know. Your genetically superior Time Lord body only needs one or two hours of sleep a night," Rose said, sending him a wink as she continued, now imitating his voice. "You humans, always sleeping all night long. Think of what we could be doing while you lounge around in bed all night."
"Oi, I'm not that bad," the Doctor said, adding on another word when he thought back to when he had a Northern accent. "Anymore."
…
"This here is the kitchen," the nice woman, Erin, who was trying to sell them the apartment downtown said as she led them down a narrow hallway. "I really do think this flat would be perfect for the two of you. In fact, my boyfriend and I have one that is very similar to this and it works out quite nicely for us. It isn't too small that you feel cramped, but big enough so that you can start a family sometime soon."
At the mention of starting a family Rose lowered her head, hoping she wouldn't blush. She wasn't sure if the Doctor even heard, he was probably still in the closet testing the walls with his sonic screwdriver. Erin's words made her think though. She was stuck here, probably for the rest of her life. Most women settled down and had kids, but she had always assumed she would be traveling with the Doctor like she had promised. However, now it made her really wonder. Would she meet someone and settle down? Surely the Doctor would never do something so domestic… In fact, she shouldn't even think about that possibility, it would only end up hurting her in the end anyway. No sense dwelling on a fantasy world.
"Thank you…we will get back with you soon," the Doctor said, suddenly appearing behind her and extending his hand to Erin. Obviously this flat didn't make the cut either, he had such ridiculously high expectations. "We have another appointment and are running late," the Doctor lied smoothly as Erin led them to the street.
"That flat was…nice," Rose mumbled, thankful that Erin had not stuck around, once they left the third apartment they had toured that day. In truth, it had not lived up to their expectations at all. This was tougher than she thought, the Doctor was so particular about everything and he seemed to think everything was much too small.
"Indeed, maybe we could live in a shoebox! You would be okay with that, right? There was an old lady who lived in a shoe….her name was Rose Tyler and she was blue," the Doctor joked, pretending to be hurt when Rose smacked his arm when he said she was old.
However, Rose had noticed that she recognized this area, it was only a few blocks away from where the Powell Estates were at her Earth. "Doctor…you think they are there? The Powell Estates I mean…"
"Only one way to find out," the Doctor announced, holding his hand out to her, which she quickly took, as they made their way down the strangely familiar road.
"There it is…" Rose whispered. "I can almost imagine that my mum is in there making us tea. She would chide us for being gone so long, give me a big hug and kiss, slap you for taking me away, and then kiss you and declare that you were her favorite boy," At the words, Rose felt her eyes fill with tears, remembering how that would never happen, not anymore.
Rose was going to bring up seeing if there was an opening for them to get a flat there, but she knew it would only make for an awkward situation. All of the places they had looked this morning were so much nicer than her past home and he had declared they were too small. He would act polite and interested, but he wouldn't want to live there after he was so used to the infinite size of the TARDIS.
Thankfully, the Doctor understood Rose's silence and put a comforting arm around her, hoping that she didn't cry. "Hey, I have a house we should look at. I think it is perfect."
"A house? I thought we were going to get a flat…" Rose mumbled. She didn't say much else though, she was too curious by the excited look on the Doctor's face as he drug her to a taxi, rambling off an unknown address.
After about a fifteen minute drive, the Doctor nudged her, announcing that it felt like home already. She glanced out the window, holding back a gasp at what she saw. They were on the edge of this strangely familiar London. Not many houses were around, so it was obvious which one they were looking at. All she noticed at first was that it was TARDIS blue.
"So, what do you think?" the Doctor asked, practically skipping up behind her, a far cry from the slumping he had been doing the rest of the day.
"It's sorta big…" Rose explained. Truthfully, she adored the house, but she wasn't going to say so just yet. She was still a bit shaky on the currency, but she could tell the price tag on this house was quite high, even if they had their money from the expedition.
"I love it…" the Doctor breathed out, plopping down onto the couch in the living room as the older woman trying to sell them the house, who Rose didn't remember the name of, began to talk to him. She wasn't surprised the Doctor loved it, it was absolutely perfect for him. It was large for two people, as it had four bedrooms and three bathrooms. In addition to that, the kitchen was huge, complete with all of the finest appliances of course.
"I'm sorry, I think this is a bit out of our price range," Rose interrupted, yanking the Doctor off of the couch. She couldn't let him get his hearts set on this house if they couldn't afford it.
Despite the Doctors futile protests, he agreed with her and left the house, turning around and looking one last time before he followed Rose. What she didn't see was his smile, as he had just found not only the house they were going to put a mortgage on, but a home as well.
…
"Seriously? This is all ours? I didn't think this would all happen so quickly!" Rose squealed out the next day happily, walking around the house that she had assumed was too expensive for them to even think about, particularly excited about the fact that there was a cozy attic room that she knew she would spend a lot of time in. The Doctor had woken her that morning announcing that he had done it, gotten a mortgage and that they had a place to live now. It surprised her how quickly he had done it all, as he had been dragging his feet so much at the beginning.
"Yeah, why so surprised Rose?" the Doctor asked, knowing from the look she gave him exactly what she meant. "Well, I went to the University where Ida works a few weeks ago and they hired me on the spot to start whenever I wanted…offered quite a bit of money as well, so this'll be perfect for us."
"You already have a job?...Geez, I better get on that real soon then, you are so much better at this than me," Rose exclaimed, walking around the rooms and deciding exactly how she was going to decorate it, as she had never had a chance to do this before.
Rose was surprised when she saw the Doctor looking at her confused. "Huh? I thought you knew you didn't have to get a job…"
"Why wouldn't I? I need to support myself and stuff…"
"I can do that," The Doctor quickly responded, not noticing the glare Rose was giving him for his assumption.
"No, no you can't just do that Doctor," Rose exclaimed, giving him a glare worthy of Jackie Tyler as she continued. "Look, I know that you are basically a genius and I don't even have my A-levels, but that doesn't mean I am incapable of doing anything for myself!"
The Doctor was surprised by Rose's response, assuming she would be relieved. "That isn't what I meant by it, I just want you to be happy here Rose. After all, it is my fault you are stuck here in the first place…"
"Please don't get down on yourself again. You know I don't blame you," Rose repeated the words once again slowly, knowing they didn't get to the Doctor by the still hurt look in his eyes.
"Wanna make a deal?" the Doctor asked, holding his hand out in a form of a truce.
Rose sighed as she contemplated her choices. She knew exactly what the Doctor was doing, he was trying to do the same thing she had done when she had convinced him to go house shopping. That plan in itself had worked much better than she had expected anyway, but she wasn't going to fall for his tricks. He sure had fallen for hers, she could almost feel his lips about to touch hers as she thought back to that vivid memory. "Maybe," Rose said, moving closer to him as she did so, two could play this game.
"Give it a week. You can decorate the house and make it livable for us then too," the Doctor explained, continuing when Rose's face remained open. "Just one little week. I can make more than enough money for the two of us so that isn't even an issue. Seven days and if you don't like it you can get any job that you want."
"Seven days?" Rose asked, nodding her head as she thought about it. She could humor him by agreeing, but she knew she would get a job eventually. She couldn't be more of a burden on him than she already was, even though he assured her time and time again that she could never be that for him. "You want me to play house and decide?"
"Precisely Rose Tyler," the Doctor said. He knew he already got her on this deal, it was already a definite yes. "Nice wording by the way. You and I are going to play house."
Finally getting moving into the actual storyline! Let me know your thoughts!
Gabrielle
