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Chapter 20 - President Shepherd

The Doctor was singing when he got out of the shower. Finally, a warm shower to himself that didn't burn his skin. Taking showers with Rose was amazing, but she enjoyed the water temperature a lot hotter than he did. He only could imagine it was because he was used to having a body temperature being a few degrees lower than hers for so much of his life. He would find himself turning the water cooler every time he took a shower with her whenever he could safely do it without her noticing. So far, she hadn't caught on yet. She just figured the hot water was running out. He smiled at his ruse.

He looked at himself in the mirror and rubbed his chin. He decided there was no need to shave. He had shaved before they had ate dinner last night with President Harriet Jones, and his stubble wasn't too bad. He put back on his jeans and jumper he had been wearing earlier.

He walked out into the sitting room and checked on his growing TARDIS in his box. Everything looked great. He thought for a moment about turning down the foldback harmonic to give it a bit of a break with its' accelerated growth. But, he decided against it. Rose needed to get out of here as soon as possible. He checked a few more things before he wiggled back out of the box. Satisfied, he stood up and put the lid back on the top of the box. He then took it and slid it into his bigger on the inside jeans' pocket.

He went back out to the deck and made himself another cup of coffee. He was surprised he wasn't that tired. Between his thoughts and Jake's visit, he hadn't slept at all the night before. He had lost count of how many pots of coffee they had called down for in the night. He imagined his rubbish human body was currently being fueled by caffeine. He could feel it all through his body.

There was a knock at the door. The Doctor took his coffee over to answer the door. It was Shakes. His suspicions about the storm changing their departure schedule was correct. They were now planning on taking off at 9:00, sharp. It was already 7:18. He needed to wake up his sleeping Rose.

He thanked Shakes and closed the door.

During his shower, he had been thinking about how he was going to wake Rose up since he had put her into such a deep sleep last night. He had finally worked it out.

He came back into the bedroom and lay down facing her. She was curled up into a pillow that he had put under her head to substitute his chest when he had gotten up last night. He lay his hand on her head and sent a projection to her.

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Rose was standing in a grand ballroom. It reminded her of the ballrooms like she had seen in movies set during the 1920s. It was magnificent with gold pillars and long red drapes throughout. It was dim, but loud with activity at the amount of people who were there. A big band played. She could see a woman standing on stage getting ready to sing. The singer was dressed as a flapper.

Just as she started to focus her eyes on what was going on, someone grabbed her hand and spun her around. It was the Doctor. He was wearing a black suit with a black shirt and tie. He also had on a Fedora. He looked so handsome, but seeing him wearing the hat made Rose laugh out loud. He pulled her into his arms.

'You look lovely.' he told her.

She looked down to find that she was wearing a dazzling silver flapper dress. Complete with all of the fringes all the way around. She wore white gloves, long pearls and could feel a headband in her hair.

'Where are we?' she asked.

He walked her over to the dance floor as the band begin to play 'Glory Box' by Portishead. He took her into his arms and begin to slow dance with her.

'We are still on the cruise ship, my dear!' he told her.

'Looks like we are in a ballroom.' she informed him.

He leaned back so she could see his face. He spoke slowly, 'I thought I would take a page out of your book and wake you up in an interesting way. I know you love to dance. I've always thought this song belonged in this time period.'

Rose laughed. 'So, you're in my head?'

He continued to dance with her, 'Yep!' he said. Popping the 'p'.

She laughed and shook her head as they danced. 'Life with you is just madness.'

He laughed back at her. 'Oh, Rose. You just don't even know.'

'But, I love it.' she told him.

He kissed her on the end of her nose.

She lay her head on his shoulder and continued dancing with him. She could smell him. Feel him. It all felt so real. He stroked her back as they moved to the music. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

'We are going to get off of this boat today.' he reminded her. 'A storm has decided to roll in, so we are going to have to leave a bit earlier than we planned.'

'Ugh. I don't want to stop dancing, yet.'

'We'll have to stop soon. The song will end.' he informed her.

'Can we dance to just one more?'

He reflected on her question for a minute as he continued to dance with her. 'Okay, one more, but then you have to wake up.'

'Thank you, love.'

'Slow song or what?'

'It's equal to me. Whatever you want.' she told him as she kissed his neck.

The Doctor moaned as his eyes rolled back in his head as he thought about it, 'Hmmm... what song should we dance to next...? Oh! I know!'

'Oh goodness, you seem too excited about this. What are you thinking?' Rose asked him.

The band ended their song only for the music to be replaced by a man who walked out with an electric guitar.

'They had those in the 1920s?' Rose asked.

He looked at her like she had just dribbled on her dress. 'No. This is a dream, Rose. We can listen to anything.'

The Doctor picked up the tempo of them dancing as the band started playing Big Data's 'Dangerous.'

'Dangerous. Like my pink and yellow ninja who will punch you out of the bed and break your wrist.' the Doctor teased her in his silly deep voice.

Rose laughed out loud. 'You are so ridiculous. You are never going to forget that are you?'

'Never!' he said as he spun her around as she laughed.

They danced for a bit more.

'I love this trashy guitar. I should learn to play the guitar. I've always wanted to.' the Doctor told her.

'You should! You have some time on your hands now.'

'Oh boy, do I ever! Life, the long way round! It's not for the faint at heart!'

She laughed at him. 'People do it every day. You're doing fine.'

He grunted in disapproval as they danced a few more moments.

The Doctor spun her around and sang along, 'I bet you didn't know someone could love this much...'

She laughed at him. 'You can't sing at all.'

He laughed back at her. 'I have a beautiful singing voice. I just choose not to use it.'

'Now that's true! A beautiful lullaby voice. This is horrible what you are doing here.'

He continued to laugh out loud at her as he danced.

'Okay, sweetheart. You need to wake up now so we can get to our flight.'

The projection faded and Rose woke up laying in the bed. The Doctor was laying in front of her, kissing her neck. He held her close.

She raised up and looked at him.

"What?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "Nothing. That was just strange." She told him as he put her hand to her head.

"What? Don't like my choices in music?" he smiled.

She laughed. "No, that was fine. Just the entire thing was strange."

He looked considered. "Good strange? Bad strange? Don't ever do that to me again or I'll punch you strange?"

She rubbed her head as she finished sitting all the way up. She chuckled. "I'm not going to punch you for that. That was amazing. You are a better dancer in my head."

"Isn't that always the case?" he teased her as he rolled out of the bed.

She noticed he was already dressed with wet hair. "You're already awake and ready?"

"Well, yeah. I've been up a while." he told her.

She stood up, walked over to look him over closer in the face. He looked worried. Did she know what he had done to her? He rolled his neck back to try to get away from her without moving.

"Your eyes are completely dilated. They both look completely black. What have you done?" Rose demanded.

"My heart is beating like mad, too! I think I've had too much coffee!" he exclaimed.

"How much have you had?"

"At least four pots too much!" he told her.

Seeing the look on her face, he quickly added, "I'm kidding, Rose!"

"Have you been up all night?" she asked him as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

He put his hand in his hair. "Yeah. I couldn't sleep. My mind wouldn't cut off."

"So, you just lay in the bed awake? I've had nights like that, too." she told him. He kissed him quickly on the lips.

"Woo! You taste like coffee!" she exclaimed. "It must have been strong. If you can't sleep, why are you drinking coffee you daft alien? Like that's going to help!"

He rolled his eyes as he held her in his arms. "I figure if I'm going to stay up all night I should commit to it."

Rose laughed and shook her head and chuckled.

"How did you sleep?" the Doctor asked her. Anxious to see what she would say after he had put her into such a deep sleep.

She thought for a minute. "You know, I don't think I've slept that good in a very long time. I must have been more tired than I thought."

"Well, I noticed the ship was rocking more last night than it had in the past few days. Maybe that's what helped."

"Hmmm...maybe." she agreed. "I need to jump in the shower and get ready. Are we all packed up otherwise?"

"Yeah, I'll handle everything else. Don't worry. Enjoy your shower." he told her as he let her go. She walked away to the bathroom. He started to pull his hair again, nervously.

"Alright. You go drink some water and try to relax. You on a caffeine high can't be a good thing."

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They were currently flying on a helicopter tilt rotor that reminded the Doctor of the V-22 Osprey from the Prime Dimension. The inside of the plane had been sound proofed as much as possible, and it was very quiet. The seating had rows, and then sections where seats were put together in a square so people could chat comfortability. He figured that since they didn't have airplanes, these types of aircraft were probably used rather frequently to take people places quick. A Zeppelin was just so slow.

As soon as the Doctor had ate breakfast and drank some water, he lost his caffeine buzz he had been enjoying. He was sitting on a couch with Rose, sitting perpendicular to the chairs that Harriet and Shakes were sitting in. He propped his head up on his fist and caught himself drifting off a few times. He didn't remember any of it happening, but Rose finally took him and forced him to lay down on the couch. She had someone bring him a pillow and a blanket. He lay down and slept soundly. This body of his just couldn't take saying up all night.

Rose now had Shakes' seat. Shakes had excused himself to go sit with his men. Rose noticed he had propped his head up against the wall and was sound asleep as well. She wondered if he hadn't slept last night either.

"What in the world kept him up all night?" Harriet asked Rose about the Doctor.

"Who knows? He had a hard time sleeping the night before, too. He took a nap in the middle of the day yesterday, but it wasn't that long. I don't know."

"Maybe he had ate too much candy after all." Harriet suggested.

Rose laughed, "That might be it!"

"He's bad about keeping things to himself. Blaming himself for stuff that has nothing to do with him." Rose told Harriet as she chewed her thumb.

"That's the sign of someone with a big heart. He cares. Maybe too much. It's an annoyance, but not a fault."

Rose agreed. "Yeah, I suppose you are right. I just wish he would let me in. Let me help him."

"Maybe he will in time. He's used to being on his own. Maybe he's worried he will scare you if knew everything that goes on in his head."

Rose chuckled. "I can see that. The stuff I do see is pretty scary."

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Rose sat down on the couch next to the Doctor and rubbed his chest to wake him up.

"Are we there already?" he asked her without opening his eyes or moving.

"Nearly. I figured I'd wake you up. Did you sleep good?" she inquired.

He sat up and rubbed his face, then rubbed his hands through his hair making it stand up. He seemed surprised to find he had a blanket laying on him.

"Where did this come from?" he asked her.

"I didn't want you to get cold. I knew you were exhausted. Did you not sleep at all last night?" Rose asked him.

He rubbed his face again. "I told you, I just couldn't get to sleep. I'll get some coffee and be alright. I feel better. I've been asleep for... gosh 5 hours and 49 minutes. Wow. I'll be good."

Rose raised her eyebrow at him. "You know that's weird you can tell that. How do you do that?"

He seemed more awake now. He leaned over, took his index finger and bopped Rose on the end of the nose. "Is there anything to eat? I'm starving." he whispered to her.

"Yeah, Harriet just went to see if they would make you something. We ate already." Rose told him.

"Oh, I like her." he told Rose. Then patted Rose on the thigh, "And not just because she's feeding me."

Rose laughed at him. "You silly old man."

Harriet returned with a tray. She handed it to the Doctor.

"Thank you Harriet. You didn't have to bring this over to me."

"Nonsense." she chuckled. "I had to get up and stretch my legs. I have been sitting too long. I've been enjoying the wonderful conversation with Rose."

The Doctor looked over at Rose, who was sitting next to him on the couch. He looked worried for a moment. "Talking about me?" he asked.

Rose laughed, "You might have came up a few times. I promise. I only said nice things about you."

He smiled as he started eating his ham and cheese sandwiches.

"No, we were talking about where you planned to go after staying at Camp David. Have you given it any thought?" Harriet asked the Doctor.

"Honestly no. We had planned on going to New York, but I'm not sure. I figure I'll let Rose decide." he said as he took a drink of tea.

"I'm good with still going to New York. And I have a surprise for you once we get there!" Rose told him.

His eyes lit up as he swallowed his bite. "For me? What is it?"

Rose shook her head. "Nope. That's not how a surprise works. You'll have to find out once we get there. I've already arranged everything. Shakes is excited about it, too."

"What? Shakes knows? But I can't?" he complained.

"Yep! What was it you asked me a few days ago? 'Isn't it nice not knowing?'" she asked him with her tongue in her teeth.

Oh how he loved it when she did that. He laughed and blew out his frustration as he smiled. "Okay, I'll just be surprised. Looking forward to it." He told her as he leaned in to kiss her.

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They landed in a lovely field of grass surrounded by a forest. A beautiful river was the first thing they saw as they exited the plane. The Doctor held Rose's hand as they turned around and saw the huge home known as Camp David. It looked like a hunting lodge in the middle of the forest.

Harriet came up behind them. "Could I possibility be so forward to ask you to escort me to the house, Doctor?"

He held his arm out as she took it. "It would be my honor Madam President." he smiled. Rose was on his other arm. All three of them were all smiles as they walked toward the house.

They were almost at the door when a short, very round man wearing a cowboy hat ran out of the house to meet them. As soon as he reached them, he took off his hat to show his very short grey hair.

"Harriet! How the hell are you?" he demanded as he ran up to her.

She let go of the Doctor's arm and took the man's hand. He pulled her in and kissed her on her cheek. "It's damn good to see you!" The Doctor noted his very Texan accent.

Harriet laughed, "It's wonderful to see you too, Howie! You remember Rose Tyler-" Rose let go of the Doctor's arm.

"Of course! How are you my precious piece of calico?!" He exclaimed as he kissed Rose on the cheek as well. Rose blushed as she laughed.

"I'm just wonderful, Howie. How are you?" she told him.

The Doctor looked confused. Rose knew the President of the United States on a first name basis as well? He hadn't figured that.

"Now, who is this high falutin fellow?" he demanded as he noticed the Doctor standing there.

"This is Rose's boyfriend." Harriet introduced him.

"Doctor Johnathan Smith." The Doctor said as he shook the President's hand.

"Well, if that doesn't take the rag off the bush! Yer most welcome. Pete hasn't stopped talking about you since he got here, Doc. Death-on since dawn. He talks as if you are his wheel horse. He's already at the bar painting his toenails." President Howard told him.

The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sorry, Pete's doing what?"

"Drinking! What the hell do you foreigners call it? I'm too hell-fired to get anything productive done today, so we're just going to tie one on. Bring all the shoot on in the house. The hands will bring in the caboodle." Harriet took Howie's arm as he escorted her into the house.

"Sure thing. We'll be right in." Rose called after them as they walked in the house.

The Doctor was trying to control his laughter. As soon as they were out of earshot, "Oh my god, Rose. Is he for real?"

Rose chuckled, "Oh yes. I couldn't wait for you to meet him. Can you understand anything he says?"

The Doctor continued to laugh with his eyes as big as saucers. He ran his hand through his hair. "I think I need to ask for subtitles. Geez. I've never met anyone I couldn't follow until now. This will be interesting. Can you understand him?"

"Not really. I catch a few things. Tony does a hilarious impersonation of him." Rose informed him.

"He does a hilarious impersonation of himself." The Doctor remarked, not removing his hand from his hair. "How the hell does he run the country talking like that. Can anyone understand him?"

Rose laughed, "That's the funny part. He doesn't talk like that in his political life. But, this is really him. You can understand everything he says when he's giving a speech or whatever."

The Doctor was still in a state of disbelief. "Wow. When you think you've seen it all."

He shook it off and looked down at Rose who was laughing under her breath at him. He laughed and said, "Well, let's go then you little piece of calico."

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